Archive record · Brewery
Vancouver Brewery
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
- Founded
- 1888
- Closed
- Year unknown
- Archive ID
- TB-EVJJBCIE
- Last checked
- 2026-10-12
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
Established 1888 by Charles Doering at Scotia Street and 7th Avenue in the Brewery Creek district of Mount Pleasant. The firm became Doering & Marstrand in 1892 when Otto Marstrand joined, and the site carried into early Vancouver Breweries Ltd. Possible involvement of Joseph Kappler in the founding or early operation is UNCONFIRMED and is not claimed here. Distinct from Vancouver Brewery (Victoria), an unrelated 1883-1894 brewery on Vancouver Island.
A summary written during research. The sourced facts are in the sections below.
Ownership & corporate history
- Founded by Charles Doering1888
- Owned by Joseph KapplerDate unknown
Open questionRecorded, not yet proven. It stays open until a source settles it.
What the sources say
Possible Kappler involvement in the founding or early operation. NOT confirmed and NOT treated as founder — Charles Doering holds that. Recorded so the open question is visible rather than absent. No date is asserted.
Ownership history is kept as dated events, so a change of owner never overwrites the one before it.
Where it brewed
- Scotia Street & 7th Avenue1888-c.1910Vancouver, British Columbia
Original brewing site
Operated by Vancouver Brewery / Doering & Marstrand / Vancouver Breweries Ltd.
Site detail
The original Vancouver Brewery site, in the Brewery Creek district of Mount Pleasant. Charles Doering established the brewery here in 1888; the firm became Doering & Marstrand in 1892 and the site carried into early Vancouver Breweries Ltd. Production transferred to the Yew Street plant approximately late 1910. THIS IS NOT THE YEW STREET SITE.
- 255 E 7th Avenuec. 1913Vancouver, British Columbia
Surviving ancillary structure - garage
Operated by Vancouver Breweries Ltd.
Site detail
The Vancouver Brewery Garage. The STRUCTURE SURVIVES and has heritage protection; the original brewery complex does not. Construction dating is UNCONFIRMED: circa 1913, with some heritage material giving a broader 1913-1926 range. Held unresolved pending building-permit evidence.
These are different physical places. A brewery moving premises is not the same brewery continuing, and the archive keeps them apart.
The Museum
Timeline
- 1888Doering's Vancouver Brewery on Brewery Creek
Charles Doering built the Vancouver Brewery at Scotia and 7th in 1888 — "a three-storey building made of wood, brick, and fieldstone" with "a 1500-gallon-per-day brewing capacity" — and "dammed Brewery Creek and used it to power the brewery's mill".
- 1892Doering & Marstrand
By 1892 "Doering hired Danish brewmaster Otto Marstrand" and the firm became Doering & Marstrand — the partnership the archive holds as the organization ORG-00000001.
- 1903Expansion permit
A building permitted in October 1903 as "an expansion of the Vancouver Breweries Ltd. complex" at 280 East 6th Avenue, later a candy factory, is now fourteen townhouses.
- 1918Vacant; then a garage
The Scotia Street building "became vacant in 1918" in Prohibition and was "repurposed as garage in 1920". The original lot "now houses Main Street Brewing" (BC Ale Trail). The year brewing stopped here: UNKNOWN beyond 'by 1918'.
- 1910Brewing left Scotia Street (1910 or 1913)
SFU's archive history gives 1910. SFU's timeline data gives 1913, when brewing moved to the new Yew Street plant, built in 1912 (City of Vancouver Archives). Sources disagree.
Straight answers
Common questions about Vancouver Brewery
- Is Vancouver Brewery still open?
- No. Vancouver Brewery has closed. The archive has not established the year it stopped. Established 1888 by Charles Doering at Scotia Street and 7th Avenue in the Brewery Creek district of Mount Pleasant. The firm became Doering & Marstrand in 1892 when Otto Marstrand joined, and the site carried into early Vancouver Breweries Ltd. Possible involvement of Joseph Kappler in the founding or early operation is UNCONFIRMED and is not claimed here. Distinct from Vancouver Brewery (Victoria), an unrelated 1883-1894 brewery on Vancouver Island.
- When was Vancouver Brewery founded?
- Vancouver Brewery was founded in 1888 in Vancouver, Canada.
Help keep this record
Do you hold a piece of Vancouver Brewery's history?
A photograph, a label, a bottle, a ledger, a newspaper clipping or a family story. Send it through the tray: if it checks out, the record is corrected and you are credited on it.
Share what you know →