Crown Brewery
Brandon, Manitoba, Canada · Est. 1888
Tally's Take
Why this matters
A separate Brandon brewery from 1888, closed in 1895 after a run of ownership changes — and then the part worth keeping: the Manitoba Historical Society records the plant becoming the basis for Empire Brewing in 1899. Crown's seven years ended, but the building went on making beer for another thirty-two. In this archive that turns out to be the rule rather than the exception. A brewery dies far more often than a brewhouse does.
The Museum
Timeline
- 1888Opens
A separate Brandon brewery from the 1885 company.
- 1895Closed
After ownership changes.
- 1899Plant becomes Empire Brewing
The building outlasts the company by decades.
Show your working
Sources
- recordProbable
Brewery record taken from Tally's Manitoba master, Pass 26, which cited https://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/mb_history/56/beveragerooms.shtml for this entry. The cited page has not been opened by the archive.
Tally's Manitoba master, Pass 26 (research workbook) · Tally's Beer Universe research workbook · 2026
CommercialMedium reliabilityAccessed 2026-08-19Reviewed 2026-08-19 - historyProbable
Dated evidence as recorded in the source pass: 1888, 1895, 1899.
Tally's Manitoba master, Pass 26 (research workbook) · Tally's Beer Universe research workbook · 2026
CommercialMedium reliabilityAccessed 2026-08-19Reviewed 2026-08-19
Only the claims above are sourced. Everything else on this page is the archive's own research and has not yet been tied to a document — which is worth knowing rather than hiding.
Straight answers
Common questions about Crown Brewery
- Is Crown Brewery still open?
- No. Crown Brewery has closed. Manitoba Pass 26 master. Research brewery ID: MB-B0029. Entity type: Historical brewery. MHS documents Crown Brewery as a separate Brandon brewery operating from 1888; after ownership changes it closed in 1895. The plant later became the basis for Empire Brewing.
- When was Crown Brewery founded?
- Crown Brewery was founded in 1888 in Brandon, Manitoba, Canada.
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