Archive record · Brewery
Greenwood Breweries
Greenwood, British Columbia, Canada
Also known as Greenwood Brewery (Liebes & Forschner)
- Founded
- 1897
- Closed
- 1902
- Archive ID
- TB-WRV97ZJJ
- Last checked
- Not yet checked
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From the record
Summary
SFU dates Greenwood Breweries 1897-1902. CHECKED 2026-09-24: no source names a 'Greenwood Breweries' distinct from the Elkhorn; "in 1900 [Greenwood] contained... four breweries and distillers" is the only count found. Possibly a variant name for the Elkhorn (elkhorn-brewing-greenwood-historical, TB-CXNRPQCT) or one of the undocumented others; the Boundary Creek Times' business columns are the next read. CORRECTION 2026-09-24: the CHECKED note of earlier today said no source named a Greenwood brewery distinct from the Elkhorn; the Boundary Creek Times of 1897-98 does — Liebes & Forschner's, licensed in July 1897.
A summary written during research. The sourced facts are in the sections below.
The Museum
Timeline
- 1897Liebes & Forschner's Greenwood brewery, July 1897
Boundary Creek Times, 17 July 1897: "The Greenwood brewery will be in operation within a week. Messrs. Liebes & Forschner, the proprietors, have everything in readiness and are waiting for their license. Both proprietors are experienced brewers"; 9 October 1897 they asked the council "that they be allowed to sell beer by retail for four weeks when they will be in a position to bottle beer and sell by wholesale". (PRIMARY) So there WAS a Greenwood brewery a year before the Elkhorn — this record is not a variant of it. Whether Forschner is the Louis Forschner who founded Merritt's brewery about 1908: UNKNOWN.
- 1898Liebes sells to Andrew Woolslagher
Boundary Creek Times, 4 June 1898: "Mr. Liebes has sold his interest in the Greenwood Brewery to Andrew Woolslagher." In February 1899 the creek was to be channelled "near the Greenwood brewery".
- 1909'Formerly proprietors of the Greenwood brewery' — the Portmann brothers
Boundary Creek Times, 20 August 1909: "The Dynamo is operated by the Portman Brothers, formerly proprietors of the Greenwood brewery" — the Portmanns who ran the Elkhorn to 1906, so by then the two names may have described one business, or the Portmanns had held both. When this brewery closed: UNKNOWN (the SFU row says 1902).
Show your working
Sources
- 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 2026-08-19Claim 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.
Straight answers
Common questions about Greenwood Breweries
- Is Greenwood Breweries still open?
- No. Greenwood Breweries has closed (1902). SFU dates Greenwood Breweries 1897-1902. CHECKED 2026-09-24: no source names a 'Greenwood Breweries' distinct from the Elkhorn; "in 1900 [Greenwood] contained... four breweries and distillers" is the only count found. Possibly a variant name for the Elkhorn (elkhorn-brewing-greenwood-historical, TB-CXNRPQCT) or one of the undocumented others; the Boundary Creek Times' business columns are the next read. CORRECTION 2026-09-24: the CHECKED note of earlier today said no source named a Greenwood brewery distinct from the Elkhorn; the Boundary Creek Times of 1897-98 does — Liebes & Forschner's, licensed in July 1897.
- When was Greenwood Breweries founded?
- Greenwood Breweries was founded in 1897 in Greenwood, Canada.
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