Red Wing Brewing Company Ltd.

Status: CLOSED. A brewer's licence was issued in 1930 under General Breweries Ltd., later renamed Red Wing Brewing Company. Contemporary 1933 newspaper advertising proves Red Wing beer production in Prince Albert. Prince Albert Breweries Ltd. acquired Red Wing on 1936-01-02, absorbing staff and three brands. [Canada Pass 26]

A summary written during research. The sourced facts are in the sections below.

1. 1921
   Hiram Fletcher's drug-store brewery

   "In April 1921, Hiram Fletcher made an application for a brewer's licence to sell beer to drug stores. His small brewery was located at 2317 – First Avenue East" — a 16-gallon mash tun, two 40-gallon kettles, a 30-gallon cooler and three 140-gallon fermenters. When Canada Malting would ship no less than 2,000 pounds, "he decided that he would build a larger plant at 59 – 17th Street West". Fritz Sick later bought Fletcher's licence for the 1924 Prince Albert Brewing Company.

2. 1930
   Licensed as General Breweries Ltd.

   "A brewer's licence was issued in 1930 in the name of the General Breweries Ltd. (later renamed the Red Wing Brewing Company)." Directors Omer Demers, a farmer from the Debden area, and A. J. Hanson, the local sheriff; brewer George Kiewel, "whose father had started in the brewery business in 1882, and whose family had breweries in Minnesota and Manitoba".

3. 1936
   Acquired by Prince Albert Breweries, 2 January 1936

   "On January 2nd, 1936, the Red Wing Brewing Company was acquired by the Prince Albert Breweries Ltd." Kiewel became joint manager with Bill Quinn; "Between 15 and 20 employees and three brands were absorbed". "The site of the Red Wing Brewery re-opened as the Central Cold Storage Company (now the business premises of Charles' Repair)."