The Saskatoon Brewing Company Limited

Status: CLOSED. Successor/renamed company to the Hoeschen-Wentzler brewery lineage. It survived Saskatchewan prohibition by producing low/non-alcoholic products. Federal records still list The Saskatoon Brewing Company Limited in 1959. Labatt acquired the site/company around 1960. [Canada Pass 26]

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

1. 1914
   Renamed from Hoeschen and Wentzler, Hoeschen in sole charge

   City of Saskatoon heritage register, Hoeschen House (City of Saskatoon Built Heritage Database): "By 1914 Wentzler had moved on to other pursuits, leaving Hoeschen in charge of the Company, which was renamed as the Saskatoon Brewing Company." The predecessor is held as [hoeschen-and-wentzler-brewing-company-ltd], founded 1907.

2. 1915
   Prohibition, 1915–1925: the only Saskatoon brewery to survive it

   City of Saskatoon heritage register, Hoeschen House (City of Saskatoon Built Heritage Database): "This brewery was the only one in Saskatoon to survive the prohibition years (1915-1925), resorting to selling two percent beer called \"Near Beer\" or \"Hoeschen's Lotion.\"" Near Beer is already held as a beer on this record at 2% ABV, with the Hoeschen's Lotion name in its notes. The claim to be the ONLY survivor in the city is the register's and is not independently checked here.

3. 1927
   Hoeschen moves off the brewery site

   City of Saskatoon heritage register, Hoeschen House (City of Saskatoon Built Heritage Database): "Hoeschen initially lived on the site of the brewery until 1927, when he had the house at 309 Saskatchewan Crescent built." That is civic corroboration that a residence stood on the brewery site — a photograph circulating in a Saskatoon history group shows a house beside the plant, said to be the manager's house and office, which this supports without establishing. The house itself, Hoeschen House, is red brick Georgian by the architect David Webster and is listed under Holding Bylaw No. 6770 — a 60-day hold against demolition while Council considers designation, NOT a heritage designation.