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Archive record · Brewery

Empire Brewery (Nanaimo)

Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada

Closed · 1921Ownership unknownMicrobrewery
Founded
1891
Closed
1921
Archive ID
TB-4N4STF0E
Last checked
Not yet checked

Who owns this brewery?

Not yet establishedNot yet established

The archive is still digging. That is a gap in the research, not a finding of independence.

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01

From the record

Summary

SFU timeline dates Empire Brewery 1891-1917 and shows it across Prohibition to July 1921; distinct from Victoria's Empire Brewery.

A summary written during research. The sourced facts are in the sections below.

Tally’s Take

Brewing from 1891 to 1917, with its line running across prohibition to July 1921. Keep it distinct from the Empire Brewery in Victoria — a different business, a different island town, and two years to this one's twenty-six. Two breweries sharing a name in one province is the easiest mistake in British Columbia brewing history, and this archive holds them apart on purpose.

02

The Museum

Timeline

  1. 1891
    Opens

    Distinct from Victoria's Empire Brewery (1885–87).

  2. 1917
    Brewing stops

    British Columbia prohibition.

  3. 1921
    Line ends

    July 1921 — the same month as Union and Lansdowne.

08

Show your working

Sources

  1. recordProbable

    Brewery record taken from Tally's British Columbia master, Pass 57, which cited https://www.sfu.ca/archives/archives-program/research/bc-beer-history-archive/bc-beer-history-archive-resources/timeline-pre-prohibition.html for this entry. The cited page has not been opened by the archive.

    Tally's British Columbia master, Pass 57 (research workbook) · Tally's Beer Universe research workbook · 2026

    CommercialMedium reliabilitySource accessed 2026-08-19
    Claim last checked 2026-08-19
  2. historyProbable

    Continuity dates as recorded in BC Pass 57: 1891, 1917, 1921.

    Tally's British Columbia master, Pass 57 (research workbook) · Tally's Beer Universe research workbook · 2026

    CommercialMedium reliabilitySource accessed 2026-08-19
    Claim last checked 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.

09

Straight answers

Common questions about Empire Brewery (Nanaimo)

Is Empire Brewery (Nanaimo) still open?
No. Empire Brewery (Nanaimo) has closed (1921). SFU timeline dates Empire Brewery 1891-1917 and shows it across Prohibition to July 1921; distinct from Victoria's Empire Brewery.
When was Empire Brewery (Nanaimo) founded?
Empire Brewery (Nanaimo) was founded in 1891 in Nanaimo, Canada.
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