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Archive record · Brewery

Empire Brewery (Victoria)

Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

Closed · 1887Ownership unknownMicrobrewery
Founded
1885
Closed
1887
Archive ID
TB-7VT8FP8N
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 Victoria's Empire Brewery 1885-1887; distinct from later Nanaimo Empire Brewery.

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

Tally’s Take

Two years, the shortest documented run among Victoria's nineteenth-century breweries in this archive. Worth keeping straight from the Empire Brewery that later operated in Nanaimo — same name, different island town, no connection established between them. Collapsing two breweries that share a name is one of the most reliable ways a brewing history goes wrong.

02

The Museum

Timeline

  1. 1885
    Opens

    Distinct from the later Empire Brewery in Nanaimo.

  2. 1887
    Closed

    Two years.

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

    Lineage dates from SFU's BC Beer History Archive as recorded in BC Pass 57: 1885, 1887.

    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 (Victoria)

Is Empire Brewery (Victoria) still open?
No. Empire Brewery (Victoria) has closed (1887). SFU timeline dates Victoria's Empire Brewery 1885-1887; distinct from later Nanaimo Empire Brewery.
When was Empire Brewery (Victoria) founded?
Empire Brewery (Victoria) was founded in 1885 in Victoria, Canada.
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