Archive record · Brewery
Pacific Western Brewing — Prince George Brewery
Prince George, British Columbia, Canada
Also known as Caribou Brewing Company Ltd., Old Fort Brewing, Pacific Western Brewing Company
- Founded
- 1957
- Archive ID
- TB-382YMM44
- Last checked
- Not yet checked
Who owns this brewery?
Independent ownership is recorded. No parent company is held in the archive.
From the record
Summary
Long-running Nechako River brewery site. Corporate/operator names changed repeatedly; physical-site and ownership chronology preserved separately. Legal entity: Pacific Western Brewing / current corporate structure not fully reconstructed. Production evidence: Current industrial production — first-party current brewery address and brand portfolio. First-party claims independent BC-OWNED; exact current legal ownership chain HELD. Owner as recorded: Kazuko Komatsu became seventh owner in 1991; current exact legal/equity structure HELD. Status as recorded: Long-established independent BC-owned brewery; current first-party site maintains Prince George production/contact location. STANDING IDENTITY NOTE 2026-09-24: the Ginter years of this site (1962-1978, Tartan Brewing / Uncle Ben's Brewery) are a separate operator record, uncle-bens-tartan-brewing-prince-george (TB-0DQR89FN). This record is the site lineage; do not carry Ginter's dates or claims onto it, and never merge the two.
A summary written during research. The sourced facts are in the sections below.
Ownership & corporate history
- Owned by Kazuko Komatsu1991
Open questionRecorded, not yet proven. It stays open until a source settles it.
What the sources say
PWB identifies Komatsu as seventh owner in 1991; current exact equity is held.
- Owned by Taizan KomatsuDate unknown
Partly settledCurrent evidence supports this, but the record is not fully resolved.
What the sources say
First-party 2020 article explicitly calls Taizan Komatsu PWB owner; current first-party describes PWB as independent BC-owned. Exact 2026 beneficial ownership/cap table remains unpublished.
Ownership history is kept as dated events, so a change of owner never overwrites the one before it.
Where it brewed
- 641 N Nechako Rd, Prince George, BC V2K 4M4Prince George, British Columbia
PRODUCTION
Operated by Pacific Western Brewing — Prince George
Site detail
Long-established independent BC-owned brewery; current first-party site maintains Prince George production/contact location.
The Museum
Timeline
- 1957Caribou Brewing opens on the Nechako
Investors were invited in 1956 "to share in the profits of Central and Northern BC's first brewery"; the Caribou Brewing Company Ltd. opened in 1957 under president Donald Lauder of Vancouver, brewing Cariboo Lager — at a cost of $1.2 million against a $550,000 estimate.
- 1962Bankrupt; Ben Ginter's Tartan Brewing buys the plant at auction
"By late 1961 Caribou Brewing was bankrupt and its stockholders were informed that the company had been losing money from the day the doors opened. Into the void stepped Ben Ginter's Tartan Brewing which bought the plant and equipment at public auction in January 1962 for a bargain basement price of $150,000." Ginter's years are on uncle-bens-tartan-brewing-prince-george.
- 1978Prince George Breweries Ltd.
After a labour dispute and a BC Federation of Labour 'hot' edict, "It took until February, 1978 to iron things out. That's when the BC Supreme Court approved the sale of the brewery to Prince George Breweries Ltd.", headed by Bob Naismith (prince-george-breweries-ltd, TB-VSDPCYPS).
- 1981Old Fort Brewing, then Ledcor's Pacific Western
"In 1981, Prince George Breweries morphed into Old Fort Brewing after being purchased by a group from Edmonton headed by Ron Hodgson. In 1985, control of the Brewery was passed to Ledcor also out of Edmonton. They changed the name to Pacific Western Brewing" and listed it on the Vancouver Stock Exchange.
- 1991Kazuko Komatsu
"it was not until 1991, when the brewery was purchased by Kazuko Komatsu, that it really started to claim its place as a stable, job-sustaining, quality-focused, community-oriented cornerstone". Komatsu died on 31 July 2018, aged 70; she is described as the first woman to become CEO of a BC-based brewery. Who has owned the company since 2018: UNKNOWN.
The People
Behind the beer
The Beer Library
Beers
Cariboo Genuine Draft
Year-RoundLight Lager
Current PWB Cariboo portfolio; exact current ABV not captured in this pass. (CURRENT BRAND) [Canada Pass 102]
Drank this? Add it to your passport →Pacific Pilsner
Year-RoundPilsner/Lager
Current Pacific portfolio. (CURRENT BRAND) [Canada Pass 102]
Drank this? Add it to your passport →Canterbury Dark Mild
Dark Mild / copper-coloured lager
Current PWB brand page. (CURRENT BRAND / HISTORICALLY LAUNCHED 1982) [Canada Pass 102]
Drank this? Add it to your passport →TNT Strong
Year-RoundStrong Lager
PWB states 8% ABV in BC. (CURRENT BC BRAND) [Canada Pass 102]
Drank this? Add it to your passport →Dude Beer
Year-RoundLager
Current PWB brand page. (CURRENT BRAND) [Canada Pass 102]
Drank this? Add it to your passport →Ironhorse Strong
Year-RoundStrong Lager
Current PWB brand page. (CURRENT BRAND) [Canada Pass 102]
Drank this? Add it to your passport →Uncle Bens Malt Liquor
RetiredMalt Liquor
PWB calls it Canada's first malt liquor. (HISTORICAL — LAUNCHED 1969) [Canada Pass 102]
Drank this? Add it to your passport →Travel Guide
Plan a visit
On the record
Awards
- 2019
Bronze — Light Lager — Cariboo Genuine Draft
Canadian International Beer Awards
Only awards we could attribute to a named body and year appear here. An empty section means unresearched, not unawarded.
Show your working
Sources
- recordProbable
Brewery record taken from Tally's British Columbia master, Pass 57, which cited https://pwbrewing.com/ 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 Pacific Western Brewing — Prince George Brewery
- Who owns Pacific Western Brewing — Prince George Brewery?
- Pacific Western Brewing — Prince George Brewery is independently owned — there is no parent company above it on record. It is based in Prince George, Canada.
- Is Pacific Western Brewing — Prince George Brewery independent?
- Yes. Pacific Western Brewing — Prince George Brewery is recorded as independent, with no parent company. Independence is recorded as the brewery states it; where a stake is a minority holding or joint venture, this archive leaves it unmapped rather than calling it ownership.
- When was Pacific Western Brewing — Prince George Brewery founded?
- Pacific Western Brewing — Prince George Brewery was founded in 1957 in Prince George, Canada.
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