River City Brewing Co.
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada · Est. 1999
Tally's Take
Why this matters
The brewpub that broke Manitoba's fifteen-year drought. The Winnipeg Free Press has River City operating in Osborne Village in 1999 — the first local brewpub attempt since Fridays at the Niakwa in 1984 — and records the closure in 2003. The archive preserves it as its own physical brewpub and deliberately does not confuse it with the later businesses that occupied the same premises, which is the most common way a defunct brewpub gets quietly resurrected on the internet.
The Museum
Timeline
- 1999Opens in Osborne Village
First Manitoba brewpub attempt since 1984.
- 2003Closed
Winnipeg Free Press records the Osborne Village closure.
The Beer Library
Beers
Kringle's Cranberry Christmas Ale
RetiredCranberry Christmas Ale
Manitoba Pass 26 master. Research beer ID: MB-BE0250; research brewery ID: MB-B0062. Original availability: HISTORICAL / MLCC PRODUCT RECORD. Source type: Historical MLCC product list hosted by Manitoba Hotel Association. Pass added: 23. Historical MLCC beer list indexes 'RIVER CITY BREWING-KRINGLE'S, CRANBERRY CHRISTMAS ALE'. Exact ABV and production year remain UNKNOWN.
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Sources
- recordProbable
Brewery record taken from Tally's Manitoba master, Pass 26, which cited https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-life/2019/03/08/pouring-it-on for this entry. The cited page has not been opened by the archive.
Tally's Manitoba master, Pass 26 (research workbook) · Tally's Beer Universe research workbook · 2026
CommercialMedium reliabilityAccessed 2026-08-19Reviewed 2026-08-19 - historyProbable
Lineage dates as recorded in Manitoba Pass 26: 1999, 2003.
Tally's Manitoba master, Pass 26 (research workbook) · Tally's Beer Universe research workbook · 2026
CommercialMedium reliabilityAccessed 2026-08-19Reviewed 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 River City Brewing Co.
- Is River City Brewing Co. still open?
- No. River City Brewing Co. has closed. Manitoba Pass 26 master. Research brewery ID: MB-B0062. Entity type: Historical brewpub. Pass 16 closeout recovery. Winnipeg Free Press identifies River City Brewing as a Winnipeg brewpub operating in 1999 and later states the Osborne Village brewery closed in 2003. It is preserved as a distinct physical brewpub, not confused with later businesses occupying the same site.
- When was River City Brewing Co. founded?
- River City Brewing Co. was founded in 1999 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
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