Archive record · Brewery
Union Brewing Co. (Nanaimo)
Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada
- Founded
- 1891
- Closed
- 1921
- Archive ID
- TB-N7YV8YHM
- Last checked
- Not yet checked
Who owns this brewery?
The archive is still digging. That is a gap in the research, not a finding of independence.
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From the record
Summary
SFU timeline dates Union Brewing 1891-1911, then as part of BC Breweries Ltd through Prohibition and to July 1921.
A summary written during research. The sourced facts are in the sections below.
Tally’s Take
Twenty years on its own, then absorbed. SFU dates Union Brewing 1891 to 1911, after which it ran as part of BC Breweries Ltd through prohibition and on to July 1921. That month is the real one: three separate Nanaimo brewery lines end in July 1921 — Union, Empire and Lansdowne. The town's first brewing era does not die when prohibition arrives in 1917. It dies when prohibition lifts.
The Museum
Timeline
- 1891Opens
Independent until 1911.
- 1911Into BC Breweries Ltd
Continues as part of the consolidated company.
- 1913Original company changes status on the BC registry
OrgBook BC records a Conversion/Dissolve/Other status change on 12 September 1913 for The Union Brewing Company Limited Liability (QD0000031), two years after the 1911 amalgamation into B.C. Breweries Limited (20 February 1911, per Evans via Illustrated Vancouver). The registry entry does not say which of the three it was.
- 1921Line ends
July 1921 — alongside Empire and Lansdowne.
Follow the money
How it changed hands
1 recorded move- 1891Founded
- 1911Into BC Breweries Ltd
Continues as part of the consolidated company.
No current parent in the archive's records — the moves above are history, not present ownership.
What the archive does not know yet
Open questions
- DisputedclosedEnd year DISPUTED: 1921 in this record (SFU Archives, the end of Prohibition) and 1919 in Evans's Beer Barons of BC as quoted by Illustrated Vancouver. Neither is chosen.
- UnknownorganizationIdUNKNOWN: a later company named Union Brewing Company Limited (BC registry BC0001591, status change 28 December 1967) exists, but no source found on 2026-10-01 connects it to this brewery, to its successors or to any later owner. It is not linked.
Know the answer? Write to [email protected] with a source, and the record is corrected and credited to you.
Show your working
Sources
- recordProbable
Brewery record taken from Tally's British Columbia master, Pass 57, which cited https://www.sfu.ca/archives/archives-program/research/bc-beer-history-archive/bc-beer-history-archive-resources/timeline-pre-prohibition.html for this entry. The cited page has not been opened by the archive.
Tally's British Columbia master, Pass 57 (research workbook) · Tally's Beer Universe research workbook · 2026
CommercialMedium reliabilitySource accessed 2026-08-19Claim last checked 2026-08-19 - historyProbable
Continuity dates as recorded in BC Pass 57: 1891, 1911, 1921.
Tally's British Columbia master, Pass 57 (research workbook) · Tally's Beer Universe research workbook · 2026
CommercialMedium reliabilitySource accessed 2026-08-19Claim last checked 2026-08-19 - closedDisputed
End year DISPUTED: 1921 in this record (SFU Archives, the end of Prohibition) and 1919 in Evans's Beer Barons of BC as quoted by Illustrated Vancouver. Neither is chosen.
British Columbia Breweries Limited stock certificate (1913) · Illustrated Vancouver · n.d.
SecondaryMedium reliabilitySource accessed 2026-09-24Claim last checked 2026-10-01 - organizationIdUnknown
UNKNOWN: a later company named Union Brewing Company Limited (BC registry BC0001591, status change 28 December 1967) exists, but no source found on 2026-10-01 connects it to this brewery, to its successors or to any later owner. It is not linked.
OrgBook BC: Union Brewing Company Limited (BC0001591) · Government of British Columbia, OrgBook BC
Primary (registry)High reliabilitySource accessed 2026-10-01Claim last checked 2026-10-01
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 Union Brewing Co. (Nanaimo)
- Is Union Brewing Co. (Nanaimo) still open?
- No. Union Brewing Co. (Nanaimo) has closed (1921). SFU timeline dates Union Brewing 1891-1911, then as part of BC Breweries Ltd through Prohibition and to July 1921.
- When was Union Brewing Co. (Nanaimo) founded?
- Union Brewing Co. (Nanaimo) was founded in 1891 in Nanaimo, Canada.
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