Archive record · Brewery
Lion Brewing Company
Rossland, British Columbia, Canada
Also known as Lion Brewery
- Founded
- 1897
- Closed
- 1907
- Archive ID
- TB-9JSWNSHS
- Last checked
- 2026-09-23
Who owns this brewery?
The archive is still digging. That is a gap in the research, not a finding of independence.
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From the record
Summary
Rossland Museum documents Louis Blue's Lion Brewery/Lion Brewing Company; it absorbed Yuengling Brewery in Trail in 1899, merged with Columbia Brewery in 1900, claimed to be B.C.'s largest brewery, and closed in 1907.
A summary written during research. The sourced facts are in the sections below.
Tally’s Take
The Kootenay consolidator. The Rossland Museum documents Louis Blue's Lion Brewery absorbing the Yuengling brewery at Trail in 1899 and merging with Rossland's own Columbia Brewery in 1900, after which it claimed to be the largest brewery in British Columbia. It closed in 1907. Three other records in this archive — Columbia, Yuengling Brothers and their predecessor J.R. Myers — end exactly where this one grows, which makes Lion the centre of the Kootenay brewing map rather than just another brewery on it.
The Museum
Timeline
- 1897Louis Blue's Lion Brewery
Rossland.
- 1899Absorbs the Yuengling brewery at Trail
Per the Rossland Museum.
- 1900Merges with Columbia Brewery
Claimed thereafter to be British Columbia's largest brewery.
- 1900'The largest brewery in British Columbia'
Louis Blue's brewery stood "on the corner of Seventh Avenue and Elmore Avenue"; after absorbing the Yuengling brewery at Trail in 1899 and merging with the Columbia Brewery in 1900 it "claimed it was, at the time, the largest brewery in British Columbia" (Rossland Museum).
- 1907Closed
Ten years.
Follow the money
How it changed hands
2 recorded moves- 1897Founded
- 1899Absorbs the Yuengling brewery at Trail
Per the Rossland Museum.
- 1900Merges with Columbia Brewery
Claimed thereafter to be British Columbia's largest brewery.
No current parent in the archive's records — the moves above are history, not present ownership.
What the archive does not know yet
Open questions
- DisputedhistoryContinuity dates as recorded in BC Pass 57: 1890, 1899, 1900, 1907.
Know the answer? Write to [email protected] with a source, and the record is corrected and credited to you.
Show your working
Sources
- recordProbable
Brewery record taken from Tally's British Columbia master, Pass 57, which cited https://www.rosslandmuseum.ca/vices-alcohol 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 - historyDisputed
Continuity dates as recorded in BC Pass 57: 1890, 1899, 1900, 1907.
Tally's British Columbia master, Pass 57 (research workbook) · Tally's Beer Universe research workbook · 2026
CommercialMedium reliabilitySource accessed 2026-08-19Claim last checked 2026-09-23 - foundedConfirmed
Founded 1897, not 1890. The Rossland Museum page this record already cites states: "In 1897, the Lion Brewing Company was opened by Louis Blue, located on the corner of Seventh Avenue and Elmore Avenue." SFU BRW-87 independently reads 1897-1899; the museum's own object 1990.30.2 is circa-dated 1897-1907; and Rossland was not incorporated until March 1897, its boom beginning in 1895. No source located supports 1890, which came from BC Pass 57 and is withdrawn rather than preserved as a competing date - a competing date needs a source, and it has none.
Rossland Museum — Vices: Alcohol
PrimaryHigh reliabilitySource accessed 2026-08-23Claim last checked 2026-09-23
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 Lion Brewing Company
- Is Lion Brewing Company still open?
- No. Lion Brewing Company has closed (1907). Rossland Museum documents Louis Blue's Lion Brewery/Lion Brewing Company; it absorbed Yuengling Brewery in Trail in 1899, merged with Columbia Brewery in 1900, claimed to be B.C.'s largest brewery, and closed in 1907.
- When was Lion Brewing Company founded?
- Lion Brewing Company was founded in 1897 in Rossland, Canada.
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