Archive record · Brewery
Molson Brewery
Montréal, Quebec, Canada
- Founded
- 1786
- Archive ID
- TB-1GEQK0R8
- Last checked
- 2026-09-27
Who owns this brewery?
The direct owner is recorded. No company is held above it.
- Molson BreweryThis brewery
- Molson Coors Beverage CompanyConglomerate
Tally Answers Beta
- Who owns this brewery?
- Molson Coors Canada Inc.Verified
- Is this brewery independent?
- NoVerified
- Who founded this brewery?
- John MolsonVerified
- When was this brewery founded?
- 1786Verified
- What is this brewery's current lifecycle status?
- ACTIVEVerified
From the record
Summary
The oldest brewery in North America, founded by John Molson on Notre-Dame Street in Montreal in 1786. Beer was made on that founding site for 235 years until production moved across the St Lawrence to Longueuil in 2021; the company is continuous, the site is not. Formed a massive multinational macro entity after merging with Coors in 2005.
A summary written during research. The sourced facts are in the sections below.
Tally’s Take
The most useful correction in this archive is also the simplest: John Molson never brewed Molson Canadian. The brewery dates to 1786; the flagship launched in 1959, a hundred and seventy-three years later, into an age of television, national distribution and cold-chain logistics he could not have imagined. That does not weaken Canadian's heritage — it gives it the right one. The beer that actually bridges the eras is Export, a golden ale from 1903 that survived a century of pale lager and is still in the portfolio. And the company itself outlasted a fire that levelled the brewery in 1852, the colony, Prohibition and every competitor that tried to bury it — before merging into a global public brewer in 2005. Molson describes itself as the oldest brewery in North America; that is the company's claim, and the archive reports it as one.
Where it brewed
- 6125 route de l'Aéroport
UNKNOWN
Operated by Molson Brewery / Molson Coors Canada
- 1670 Notre-Dame Street East1786-2021Montreal, Quebec
Production brewery — the founding site
Operated by Molson Brewery
Site detail
John Molson began brewing on this riverbank in 1786 and beer was made here for 235 years. Molson Coors announced the move in 2017, built a new plant across the St Lawrence at Longueuil, and ended production on Notre-Dame Street in 2021. The company continued; the site did not. Heritage elements including the Molson sign and the clock face are being retained in the redevelopment of the complex.
These are different physical places. A brewery moving premises is not the same brewery continuing, and the archive keeps them apart.
Where it is
45.51710, -73.54800
Supplied by the research pass; method not recorded
Open on a mapThe Museum
Timeline
- 1785Sole owner
John Molson becomes sole owner of the Montréal brewing enterprise. Parks Canada records the date.
- 1786The brewery expands
Operations expand beside the St. Lawrence. No verifiable recipe survives for what was brewed — the archive does not invent one.
- 1852Fire, and rebuilding
A major Montréal fire destroys the brewery. Surviving stonework makes rebuilding possible. Longevity here is not the absence of disaster but recovery from it.
- 1903Export
Molson Export enters the market as a golden ale, and is still in the Canadian portfolio 123 years later.
- 1927Bottle return — company claim
Molson states it helped establish a bottle-return programme. This is the company's own historical claim, not an independently verified finding.
- 1959Molson Canadian
The national flagship launches — 173 years after the brewery's founding date.
- 1989Carling O'Keefe
Molson merges with Carling O'Keefe to become Canada's largest brewer.
- 2005Molson + Coors
Molson and Coors combine in a merger of equals, creating Molson Coors.
- 2016Full MillerCoors ownership
Molson Coors acquires the remainder of MillerCoors.
- 2021Brewing changes address
Production moves from the historic Montréal site to a new brewery and distribution centre at Longueuil, after 235 years. The company calls it its largest brewery investment anywhere.
The People
Behind the beer
Emigrated from Lincolnshire at eighteen and began brewing in Montreal in 1786.
The Beer Library
Beers
Molson Canadian
Year-RoundAmerican Pale Lager
The national flagship — and it launched in 1959, not 1786. John Molson never brewed it.
Drank this? Add it to your passport →Molson Export
Year-RoundGolden Ale
Introduced 1903. The clearest surviving beer link between the old brewery and the present portfolio, and it predates Canadian by fifty-six years.
Drank this? Add it to your passport →Molson Stock Ale
Year-RoundAle
Still listed in the current Canadian directory.
Drank this? Add it to your passport →Molson Dry
Year-RoundDry Lager
A late-1980s dry-beer brand. Often called Canada's first, though that rests on a trade retrospective rather than a brewery record.
Drank this? Add it to your passport →Molson Ultra
Year-RoundLight Lager
3% ABV, 70 calories, 2g carbs per 355ml — the moderation entry.
Drank this? Add it to your passport →Molson Exel
Year-RoundNon-Alcoholic Beer
0.5% ABV. Molson was in the alcohol-free category long before it became a growth story.
Drank this? Add it to your passport →Canadian Cold Shots
LimitedStrong Lager
Strong-format extension. Availability varies by province.
Drank this? Add it to your passport →Laurentide
QuebecBlonde Ale
Molson's Quebec beer, launched 1962 (earliest advertisement found: Sherbrooke Daily Record, 8 February 1963). Sold as an ale in the 1970s, labelled beer by 1989; the recipe changed more than once. It faded from the market — around 2000 by one account, from 2012 by another — and was revived by Molson in 2015 for Montreal's 375th (120,000 cases) or in 2017 after a citizens' petition; the two accounts disagree and both are kept. Listed by Molson Coors in September 2026 as a blonde ale brewed in Quebec. The Canadian registration BIÈRE LAURENTIDE ALE & Design (TMA235134) was expunged on 6 March 2025 for failure to renew — the beer is on sale with its registration lapsed. The plant that brews it: UNKNOWN. Not the Laurentide Beer Company of Penn Yan, New York.
Drank this? Add it to your passport →Molson Golden
USA only (2026)Blonde Ale
Introduced in 1954 by the standard histories (no primary found for the date). Absent from Molson Coors' own Canadian brand list and from the LCBO in September 2026, but still a live listing at a US retailer: gone from Canada, alive as an export. The Canadian exit date is UNKNOWN. A viewer of the archive's channel named it among Canada's disappeared beers on 21 September 2026; for Canada that is right.
Drank this? Add it to your passport →Travel Guide
Plan a visit
Follow the money
How it changed hands
3 recorded moves- 1786Founded
- 1989Carling O'Keefe
Molson merges with Carling O'Keefe to become Canada's largest brewer.
- 2005Molson + Coors
Molson and Coors combine in a merger of equals, creating Molson Coors.
- 2016Full MillerCoors ownership
Molson Coors acquires the remainder of MillerCoors.
Today the chain tops out at Molson Coors Beverage Company.
Straight answers
Common questions about Molson Brewery
- Who owns Molson Brewery?
- Molson Brewery is owned by Molson Coors Beverage Company. Molson Brewery is based in Montréal, Canada.
- Is Molson Brewery still independent?
- No. Molson Brewery is owned by Molson Coors Beverage Company and is no longer independent.
- When was Molson Brewery acquired?
- 1989. Molson merges with Carling O'Keefe to become Canada's largest brewer.
- When was Molson Brewery founded?
- Molson Brewery was founded in 1786 in Montréal, Canada.
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