Archive record · Brewery
Trench Brewing & Distilling
Prince George, British Columbia, Canada
- Founded
- 2018
- Archive ID
- TB-F9HW4KH4
- Last checked
- Not yet checked
Who owns this brewery?
Independent ownership is recorded. No parent company is held in the archive.
From the record
Summary
Listed in the BC Ale Trail brewery directory (checked August 2026). Independence is as-listed by that directory and has not been independently Founding year not yet on the record.
A summary written during research. The sourced facts are in the sections below.
Tally’s Take
Trench Brewing & Distilling pours in Prince George, British Columbia. The full profile — founding, people, beer library, travel — is still to be written.
Ownership & corporate history
- Owned by Craig Schwenning2018 – 2024
Partly settledCurrent evidence supports this, but the record is not fully resolved.
What the sources say
Opening-era evidence identifies Craig and Esther Schwenning and Jesse and Bailey Hoefels as owners. Esther died in 2024, so this four-person human-owner configuration cannot be treated as current after that point. Bailey is independently current through 2025; Jesse remains a strong current owner lead from social evidence; Craig's current Trench equity and any Esther-estate succession remain unresolved. Source: https://nldenture.ca/about-esther-schwenning/
- Owned by Esther Schwenning2018 – 2024
Partly settledCurrent evidence supports this, but the record is not fully resolved.
What the sources say
Opening-era evidence identifies Craig and Esther Schwenning and Jesse and Bailey Hoefels as owners. Esther died in 2024, so this four-person human-owner configuration cannot be treated as current after that point. Bailey is independently current through 2025; Jesse remains a strong current owner lead from social evidence; Craig's current Trench equity and any Esther-estate succession remain unresolved. Source: https://nldenture.ca/about-esther-schwenning/
- Owned by Jesse Hoefels2018 – 2024
Partly settledCurrent evidence supports this, but the record is not fully resolved.
What the sources say
Opening-era evidence identifies Craig and Esther Schwenning and Jesse and Bailey Hoefels as owners. Esther died in 2024, so this four-person human-owner configuration cannot be treated as current after that point. Bailey is independently current through 2025; Jesse remains a strong current owner lead from social evidence; Craig's current Trench equity and any Esther-estate succession remain unresolved. Source: https://nldenture.ca/about-esther-schwenning/
- Owned by Bailey Hoefels2018 – 2024
Partly settledCurrent evidence supports this, but the record is not fully resolved.
What the sources say
Opening-era evidence identifies Craig and Esther Schwenning and Jesse and Bailey Hoefels as owners. Esther died in 2024, so this four-person human-owner configuration cannot be treated as current after that point. Bailey is independently current through 2025; Jesse remains a strong current owner lead from social evidence; Craig's current Trench equity and any Esther-estate succession remain unresolved. Source: https://nldenture.ca/about-esther-schwenning/
Ownership history is kept as dated events, so a change of owner never overwrites the one before it.
Where it brewed
- 399 2nd Ave, Prince George, BCPrince George, British Columbia
PRODUCTION
Operated by Trench Brewing & Distilling
Site detail
Current brewery/distillery; guild-established 2018.
Events
- Opening co-owner/co-founder Esther Schwenning died in 2024. Her human ownership role ends at death; disposition or succession of any ownership interest remains unknown.2024
Opening
Direct memorial/professional sources confirm her death and legacy.
The People
Behind the beer
Opening-era BC Ale Trail identifies Craig and Esther Schwenning with Jesse and Bailey Hoefels as owners.
Esther Schwenning was an opening co-owner/co-founder of Trench and died in 2024. Her human ownership role therefore ends no later than her death; any estate/share succession is a separate unresolved legal question.
Opening-era BC Ale Trail identifies Jesse as an owner.
Prince George Chamber June 2025 explicitly identifies Bailey Hoefels as owner; CKPG March 2024 independently calls her co-owner.
The Beer Library
Beers
The Fang IPA
Year-RoundHazy / East Coast IPA
First-party description; ABV supported by secondary current catalogue. (CURRENT / FLAGSHIP) [Canada Pass 102]
Drank this? Add it to your passport →Pine Pass Pale Ale
Year-RoundAmerican Pale Ale
First-party description; ABV supported by secondary catalogue. (CURRENT / FLAGSHIP) [Canada Pass 102]
Drank this? Add it to your passport →Bramble Raspberry Vanilla Wheat Ale
Year-RoundFruited Wheat Ale
First-party description; ABV supported by secondary catalogue. (CURRENT / FLAGSHIP) [Canada Pass 102]
Drank this? Add it to your passport →Viking Amber Ale
Year-RoundAmerican Amber Ale
First-party description; ABV supported by secondary catalogue. (CURRENT / FLAGSHIP) [Canada Pass 102]
Drank this? Add it to your passport →Arctic Pilsner
Year-RoundCzech Pilsner
First-party description; ABV supported by secondary catalogue. (CURRENT / FLAGSHIP) [Canada Pass 102]
Drank this? Add it to your passport →Six Mile Stout
Year-RoundStout
First-party description; ABV supported by secondary catalogue. (CURRENT / FLAGSHIP) [Canada Pass 102]
Drank this? Add it to your passport →Show your working
Sources
- recordProbable
Brewery record taken from the BC Ale Trail brewery directory, which cited https://trenchbrew.ca/ for this entry. The cited page has not been opened by the archive.
BC Ale Trail — brewery directory · BC Ale Trail
ReferenceMedium reliabilitySource accessed 2026-08Claim 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 Trench Brewing & Distilling
- Who owns Trench Brewing & Distilling?
- Trench Brewing & Distilling is independently owned — there is no parent company above it on record. It is based in Prince George, Canada.
- Is Trench Brewing & Distilling independent?
- Yes. Trench Brewing & Distilling is recorded as independent, with no parent company. Independence is recorded as the brewery states it; where a stake is a minority holding or joint venture, this archive leaves it unmapped rather than calling it ownership.
- When was Trench Brewing & Distilling founded?
- Trench Brewing & Distilling was founded in 2018 in Prince George, Canada.
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