Archive record · Brewery
The Establishment Brewing Company
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
- Founded
- 2019
- Archive ID
- TB-ZQNVFC7D
- Last checked
- 2026-08-07
Who owns this brewery?
Named in dated ownership records. No parent company is held, and each owner's sources are shown below.
From the record
Summary
Founded by homebrew champions, quickly capturing national awards for wild fermentations, barrel-aged sours, and crisp lagers.
A summary written during research. The sourced facts are in the sections below.
Tally’s Take
Homebrew champions who went pro and immediately started winning national awards for wild fermentation. Calgary got a serious brewery almost overnight.
The founding thesisThree friends spent a decade homebrewing in an Erlton basement they nicknamed 'The Establishment' — then turned the nickname into Canada's Brewery of the Year.
Ownership & corporate history
- Owned by Mike Foniok and Dave RonnebergDate unknown
What the sources say
Quote (Canada Homebrews, brewery feature, May 2019): "now we own a brewery". Owner cell kept as the research wrote it; not split.
Ownership history is kept as dated events, so a change of owner never overwrites the one before it.
Where it is
51.01433, -114.06247
Supplied by the research pass; method not recorded
Open on a mapThe Museum
Timeline
- 2000sThe basement called The Establishment
Mike Foniok, Dave Ronneberg and Brandon Hart spend a decade homebrewing in an Erlton basement they'd nicknamed 'The Establishment', bonding over records as much as beer.
- 2013The flood
The Calgary floods devastate Erlton and end the basement era. The name survives the building.
- 2019Opening in the Manchester Brewing District
The taproom opens in January 2019, with a decade of competition-winning homebrew experience behind the brewhouse.
- 2021Canadian Brewery of the Year
Named the top brewery in Canada — two years after opening.
The People
Behind the beer
Over 100 Canadian homebrewing awards and named a top homebrewer in Canada in 2016. Brought the mixed-culture and wild fermentation work with him when the hobby went professional.
One of three founders with more than a decade of homebrewing behind him before the brewery opened.
Co-founded The Establishment after years of brewing in the Erlton basement that gave the brewery its name.
Current first-party team/story sources identify Dave among the commercial-brewery founding group; 2021 company news called him co-owner/general manager.
The Beer Library
Beers
Gold Past Life
Year-RoundCzech Pale Lager (Světlé)
The house lager, and the beer to judge the brewhouse by.
Drank this? Add it to your passport →Left My Wallet In El Segundo
LimitedLichtenhainer
A revived historical German style — smoked, soured, and almost nobody else brews it.
Drank this? Add it to your passport →Travel Guide
Plan a visit
- Pet-friendly patio
- Outdoor seating
- Family friendly
- Snacks
- Outside food delivery allowed
- Wheelchair accessible
Barley Belt — a few doors from Annex Ale Project, which makes the two an easy pair.
On the record
Awards
- 2025
Bronze — Double/Imperial IPA — Fluffy Tufts
Alberta Beer Awards
- 2025
Bronze — Pilsner — Surfer Rosa
Alberta Beer Awards
- 2024
Silver — Light Bodied Ale — My Best Friend's Girl
Alberta Beer Awards
- 2024
Bronze — Other Flavoured Beer — Left My Wallet in El Segundo
Alberta Beer Awards
- 2024
Bronze — Barrel-Aged Beer — Into The Void
Alberta Beer Awards
- 2024
Silver — Mixed Fermentation Beer — Erlton Street 2023
Alberta Beer Awards
- 2024
Silver — Mixed Fermentation Beer with Fruit — Rare Hearts
Alberta Beer Awards
- 2024
Gold — Low-Alcohol Beer — Chaise Longue
Alberta Beer Awards
- 2024
Silver — Belgian-Style Sour Ale — Erlton Street
Canadian Brewing Awards
- 2024
Gold — Historic/Regional Beers — Range Life
Canadian Brewing Awards
- 2023
Gold — Best in Show — I Left My Wallet in El Segundo (Lichtenhainer)
Alberta Beer Awards
- 2023
Gold — Low Alcohol — Chaise Longue
Alberta Beer Awards
- 2023
Gold — UNKNOWN — My Best Friends Girl
Alberta Beer Awards
- 2023
Silver — German Kolsch Style — My Best Friend's Girl
Canadian Brewing Awards
- 2023
Bronze — Baltic Porter — Faithful Guide
Canadian Brewing Awards
- 2022
Gold — Belgian-Style Brett Beer — Funkmorphosis
Canadian Brewing Awards
- 2022
Honorable Mention — Wood and Barrel-Aged Strong Beer — Back Pocket
Canadian Brewing 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
- nameConfirmed
The brewery is named after an Erlton house damaged in the 2013 Calgary flood. The house has since been demolished.
The Establishment Brewing Company — About · The Establishment Brewing Company
BreweryHigh reliabilitySource accessed 2026-08-07Brewery-statedClaim last checked 2026-08-07
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.
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