Victoria Brewery / Victoria-Phoenix Brewing Co.
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada · Est. 1858
Tally's Take
Why this matters
Victoria's first brewery and the one that outlasted everything else: ninety-six years under three names. It opened in 1858, the year the Fraser River gold rush turned a Hudson's Bay fort into a port city, and it grew by absorbing rivals rather than outselling them — Victoria Brewery to 1891, Victoria Brewing and Ice to 1893, then Victoria-Phoenix after the merger with the Phoenix Brewery, running until 1954. The archive keeps it as one lineage rather than three breweries, because that is how SFU's BC beer history archive dates it and how the business itself behaved.
The Museum
Timeline
- 1858Victoria Brewery opens
The city's first brewery, in the year the Fraser gold rush made Victoria a port.
- 1891Victoria Brewing and Ice
Continues under a new name; ice was as saleable as beer before refrigeration.
- 1893Merger with Phoenix
Absorbs the Phoenix Brewery Co. and becomes Victoria-Phoenix Brewing Co.
- 1954Closed
Ends a continuous ninety-six-year run, the longest in Victoria brewing.
The Beer Library
Beers
Jack O’Hearts Pale Export Beer
HistoricalPale Export Beer
BC Pass 57.
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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 reliabilityAccessed 2026-08-19Reviewed 2026-08-19 - historyProbable
Lineage dates from SFU's BC Beer History Archive as recorded in BC Pass 57: 1858, 1891, 1893, 1954.
Tally's British Columbia master, Pass 57 (research workbook) · Tally's Beer Universe research workbook · 2026
CommercialMedium reliabilityAccessed 2026-08-19Reviewed 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 Victoria Brewery / Victoria-Phoenix Brewing Co.
- Is Victoria Brewery / Victoria-Phoenix Brewing Co. still open?
- No. Victoria Brewery / Victoria-Phoenix Brewing Co. has closed. BC Pass 57. SFU Archives dates the lineage: Victoria Brewery 1858-1891, Victoria Brewing and Ice 1891-1893, Victoria-Phoenix 1893-1954. This is treated as one continuity lineage rather than three unrelated breweries.
- When was Victoria Brewery / Victoria-Phoenix Brewing Co. founded?
- Victoria Brewery / Victoria-Phoenix Brewing Co. was founded in 1858 in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.
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