Archive record · Brewery
Interior Breweries Limited
Fernie / Nelson / Creston, British Columbia, British Columbia, Canada
- Founded
- 1950
- Closed
- 1972
- Archive ID
- TB-RQ2WH6V8
- Last checked
- Not yet checked
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From the record
Summary
Interior Breweries purchased Fernie-Fort Steele Brewing Company in 1950 and consolidated Kootenay operations toward Creston. Museum-object records explicitly state Interior Breweries changed its name to Columbia Brewing Company in 1972. Creston Valley Tourism says Labatt purchased the brewery in 1974. Interior entity therefore ends at the 1972 corporate rename; the Creston Columbia facility remains a separate active successor entity.
A summary written during research. The sourced facts are in the sections below.
The Museum
Timeline
- 1950Incorporated; buys Kootenay Breweries and Fernie Brewing
"incorporated under the British Columbia Companies Act (originally under the name of Interior Holdings Limited) on February 10, 1950", public from 29 May; on 8 June 1950 it bought control of Kootenay Breweries Limited and, separately, 97.2 per cent of Fernie Brewing Company, Ltd. (Cranbrook Brewing its subsidiary), the rest in August.
- 1959Everything to Creston
"In 1959, nine years after being purchased by Interior Breweries Ltd., operations were moved to a newly constructed plant in Creston" (Nelson Museum) — Columbia Brewery, the Kokanee brewery; Fernie's move is given as 1956 by another account. A museum bottle carries 'Fernie Beer; Interior Breweries Limited; 1959-1972'.
The Beer Library
Beers
Show your working
Sources
- recordProbable
Brewery record taken from Tally's British Columbia master, Pass 57, which cited https://epe.lac-bac.gc.ca/100/205/301/ic/cdc/fernie/10/brewery.html?nodisclaimer=1 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 Interior Breweries Limited
- Is Interior Breweries Limited still open?
- No. Interior Breweries Limited has closed (1972). Interior Breweries purchased Fernie-Fort Steele Brewing Company in 1950 and consolidated Kootenay operations toward Creston. Museum-object records explicitly state Interior Breweries changed its name to Columbia Brewing Company in 1972. Creston Valley Tourism says Labatt purchased the brewery in 1974. Interior entity therefore ends at the 1972 corporate rename; the Creston Columbia facility remains a separate active successor entity.
- When was Interior Breweries Limited founded?
- Interior Breweries Limited was founded in 1950 in Fernie / Nelson / Creston, British Columbia, Canada.
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