Shea's Winnipeg Brewery Limited

The middle of Winnipeg's longest brewing line. Reincorporated out of McDonagh & Shea in 1926, it ran under the Shea name for thirty-one years — including four after Labatt bought a controlling 91% stake in 1953, because the federal brewery lists went on reporting Shea's as the Winnipeg brewery right through 1957. The Labatt's Manitoba Brewery Limited name does not appear until the 1958 list. That four-year gap between owning a brewery and renaming it is precisely the sort of thing that survives only in paperwork, and it is why the archive dates ownership and identity separately.

1. 1926
   Reincorporated from McDonagh & Shea

   Shea's Winnipeg Brewery Limited.

2. 1953
   Labatt takes 91%

   A controlling stake — but the Shea name stays on the federal lists.

3. 1958
   Becomes Labatt's Manitoba

   The successor name first appears in the 1958 federal list.

1. 1926Founded
2. 1953Labatt takes 91%

   A controlling stake — but the Shea name stays on the federal lists.

Sources

1. recordProbable

   Brewery record taken from Tally's Manitoba master, Pass 26, which cited https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/featured/2021/01/31/barley-bootleggers-and-... 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
2. historyProbable

   Lineage dates as recorded in Manitoba Pass 26: 1926, 1953, 1958.

   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.