The Bennett Brewing Company, Limited

Status: Historical / acquired 1962. Memorial University archival material traces Bennett Brewing Company's recorded history to 1827 and identifies it as Newfoundland's first brewery. The older brewery name Riverhead Brewery is preserved as a former name. It was acquired by Canadian Breweries Limited in 1962; exact legal/operating end date after acquisition is not guessed.

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

1. 1827
   Established by Charles Fox Bennett, before 1827

   McGrath (Newfoundland Quarterly, 1997) states the company was established prior to 1827 by Charles Fox Bennett and was one of the first industrial businesses on the island; the early premises also held a sawmill, flour mill, iron foundry and distillery. Brands remembered: Haig Ale, Dominion Pale Ale, Rainbow Beer, Dominion Stout, Golden Lager. The mill stood at Riverhead on Water Street West, water-powered from Mundy Pond by Mullins Stream and the Bennett's Dam reservoir.

2. 1884
   Edward W. Bennett takes over; the Riverhead Brewery becomes Bennett Brewing

   Sole proprietor from 1890 (McGrath, 1997). Industrial Canada (Canadian Manufacturers' Association), May 1967 adds two things McGrath does not: in the founder's day the brewery was known as the Riverhead Brewery and "did not assume its present name until after it was taken over in 1884 by Edward W. Bennett, who was no relation of the founder." A shared surname is not a family line, and the archive holds "Riverhead Brewery" as an alias for this reason.

3. 1902
   John R. Bennett assumes control; incorporated as a limited liability company

   On E. W. Bennett's death in 1902. Sir Michael Cashin among the new managers (McGrath, 1997).

4. 1908
   A clerk absconds with the bank deposit

   Hedley LeMessurier, sent to the bank on 20 February 1908 with $459.24, did not deposit it; manager A. A. Lush's letter of 2 March 1908 to the company secretary records the theft, first reported in the Evening Telegram of 4 March 1908. The letterhead reads: The Bennett Brewing Co. Ltd., Brewers and Bottlers of Bennett's Celebrated Ales, Beers, Stout and Porter, Riverhead Brewery, 258 & 260 Water Street West, St. John's (McGrath, 1997).

5. 1916
   Prohibition: near-beer

   With prohibition in 1916 the company produced near-beer, and stronger beers again when they were reintroduced (McGrath, 1997).

6. 1962
   Purchased by Canadian Breweries Limited

   Two contemporary sources name the year and the buyer in their own words. Industrial Canada (Canadian Manufacturers' Association), May 1967: "In 1902 the company converted to a limited liability public company and in 1962 it was purchased by Canadian Breweries Limited." Alcock, Marketing at Bennett Brewing Company (MUN BComm, May 1968), p. 3: "In 1962 it was taken over by Canadian Breweries Ltd. At that time many marketing policies were changed as the old brewery did not have an extensive marketing department or program." Both were published within six years of the event. McGrath (Newfoundland Quarterly, Spring 1997, pp. 44–45) instead gives a sale in 1963 to O'Keefe's; that reading is retained here as the minority one. O'Keefe was a Canadian Breweries brand, and by 1967 O'Keefe Ale and Old Vienna Lager Beer were among Bennett's principal products, so a conflation of the parent with its brand is possible — no source read here establishes that, so it is not asserted. Both references supplied by the Centre for Newfoundland Studies, Memorial University.

7. 1967
   Own malting, and four principal products under Canadian Breweries

   Industrial Canada (Canadian Manufacturers' Association), May 1967 records that the brewery did its own malting in its early years and that the old malting floor still existed in 1967, alongside "100 per cent automatic equipment". Principal products at that date: Dominion Ale, Haig Light Beer, O'Keefe Ale and Old Vienna Lager Beer — the last two Canadian Breweries brands, five years after the purchase.

8. 1969
   Packaging Association of Canada awards

   Awards for construction and for surface design in the association's annual competition for folding and set-up paper boxes, won by the company's O'Keefe Ale and Old Vienna Beer wrap-around carriers; Dominion Ale and Black Horse Beer named as its provincial brands. Operations Manager Toby (T. F.) McDonald, Bottling Superintendent Frank Walsh; Kevin Walsh of the Brewing Department won the firm's 1968 safety prize (Newfoundland Journal of Commerce, April 1969, p. 29).

9. 1969
   Employees raise $182 for the Holloway Fire Relief Fund

   Union members (Local 354, Brewery and General Workers Union, president Roy Taylor) and office workers raised $91, matched by the company; Promotion Manager Ray Simmons (Newfoundland Journal of Commerce, May 1969, p. 39).

• 1969

  Awards for construction and for surface design — folding and set-up paper boxes (O'Keefe Ale and Old Vienna Beer carriers)

  Packaging Association of Canada

Only awards we could attribute to a named body and year appear here. An empty section means unresearched, not unawarded.