Archive record · Brewery
The Winnipeg Brewery
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Also known as Winnipeg Brewery
- Founded
- 1873
- Closed
- 1887
- Archive ID
- TB-RKS2NA1V
- Last checked
- Not yet checked
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From the record
Summary
Historical production brewery. MHS states Celestin Thomas established The Winnipeg Brewery in 1873 at Colony Creek. Ownership changed repeatedly (Roy & Poulin, Roy & Co., Allaire & Thomas, Cosgrove & Blackwood) before Patrick Shea and John McDonagh purchased it in 1887. Those owner changes are retained as lineage notes, not separate brewery rows.
A summary written during research. The sourced facts are in the sections below.
Tally’s Take
Winnipeg's brewing starts here, in the year the city itself was incorporated: Celestin Thomas built on Colony Creek in 1873. What follows is the most-traded brewery in Manitoba's history — Roy & Poulin, then Roy & Co., then Allaire & Thomas, then Cosgrove & Blackwood — before Patrick Shea and John McDonagh bought it in 1887 and made it stick. The Manitoba Historical Society records all of it, and the archive keeps those changes as lineage rather than separate breweries, because it was one brewery throughout. Follow it forward and it becomes Shea's, then Labatt's Manitoba. This creek-side brewhouse is the head of a line that ran for over a century.
Ownership & corporate history
- Owned by M. E. Roy & Peter Poulin1881 – 1882
Partly settledCurrent evidence supports this, but the record is not fully resolved.
What the sources say
MHS note preserves this ownership stage in the Winnipeg Brewery sequence. Source: SRC-CA-1802
- Owned by Roy & Co.1883
Partly settledCurrent evidence supports this, but the record is not fully resolved.
What the sources say
MHS note preserves this ownership stage in the Winnipeg Brewery sequence. Source: SRC-CA-1802
- Owned by O. Allaire & Celestin Thomas1885
Partly settledCurrent evidence supports this, but the record is not fully resolved.
What the sources say
MHS note preserves this ownership stage in the Winnipeg Brewery sequence. Source: SRC-CA-1802
Ownership history is kept as dated events, so a change of owner never overwrites the one before it.
The Museum
Timeline
- 1873Celestin Thomas builds on Colony Creek
Winnipeg's first brewery, in the year the city was incorporated.
- 1887Shea and McDonagh buy it
After Roy & Poulin, Roy & Co., Allaire & Thomas and Cosgrove & Blackwood.
The People
Behind the beer
Established Winnipeg Brewery in 1873 after earlier Middlechurch/home brewing.
The Beer Library
Beers
Shea's Select
RetiredLager
MHS identifies Shea's Select lager as the signature successful product of the Winnipeg Brewery lineage. (HISTORICAL / early 20th century) [Canada Pass 78]
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How it changed hands
1 recorded move- 1873Founded
- 1887Shea and McDonagh buy it
After Roy & Poulin, Roy & Co., Allaire & Thomas and Cosgrove & Blackwood.
No current parent in the archive's records — the moves above are history, not present ownership.
Show your working
Sources
- recordProbable
Brewery record taken from Tally's Manitoba master, Pass 26, which cited https://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/mb_history/74/brewing.shtml 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 reliabilitySource accessed 2026-08-19Claim last checked 2026-08-19 - historyProbable
Lineage dates as recorded in Manitoba Pass 26: 1873, 1887.
Tally's Manitoba master, Pass 26 (research workbook) · Tally's Beer Universe research workbook · 2026
CommercialMedium reliabilitySource accessed 2026-08-19Claim last checked 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 The Winnipeg Brewery
- Is The Winnipeg Brewery still open?
- No. The Winnipeg Brewery has closed (1887). Historical production brewery. MHS states Celestin Thomas established The Winnipeg Brewery in 1873 at Colony Creek. Ownership changed repeatedly (Roy & Poulin, Roy & Co., Allaire & Thomas, Cosgrove & Blackwood) before Patrick Shea and John McDonagh purchased it in 1887. Those owner changes are retained as lineage notes, not separate brewery rows.
- When was The Winnipeg Brewery founded?
- The Winnipeg Brewery was founded in 1873 in Winnipeg, Canada.
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