MAP 547 - Panoramic view of the City of Vancouver, British Columbia, 1898, via the Vancouver Archives. Here you can see a detail of Brewery Creek, and that smoke stack in the centre of the image? That’s the site of Charles Gottfried Doering’s Vancouver Brewery, later known as the Doering & Marstrand Brewery. Actually, after a merger with the Red Cross Brewery, it became known as Vancouver Breweries Limited. There are so many subtle name changes in Vancouver’s beer history, it’s hard to keep track! More about that some other time.

The City of Vancouver Archives recently announced on their blog that thanks to funding from the British Columbia History Digitization Program, they have completed a project to digitize 512 maps and plans.

Maps are great archival records, filled with meticulous details of the city, typically accompanied by exquisite penmanship. However, they are like many early illustrated works—difficult to attribute. The map above, one of the most popular birds eye views of the city, states in very fine print at the bottom right hand corner: “Entered according to act of Parliament of Canada in the year 1898 by J.C. McLagan at the Department of Agriculture.” In a larger embellished font, the map also states “Published by the Vancouver World Printing and Publishing Company, Limited.”

Both of these details are interesting because J.C. (John James Campbell) McLagan was the editor and owner of The World newspaper which operated from 1888-1924. Bessy Lamb gives an excellent early history of The World among other early Vancouver newspapers in this 1942 research paper at UBC, and when you’re finished reading that, you can followup with this paper on women in the early BC newspaper trade, as McLagan’s wife Sara Anne took over the paper after his death. But back to the fine print on the map; it’s still not clear to me what all of this means. Was J.C. McLagan also employed by the Department of Agriculture?

I dug deeper and discovered this Vancouver Board of Trade annual report from 1892, indicating that he was indeed on the standing committee of Agriculture, along with S. Oppenheimer and E.E. Penzer. Actually, J.C. was also on the Immigration committee, so he must have been a busy man! What I really want to know is who was the cartographer?! Did J.C. McLagan actually have time to draw maps in his spare time, along with chairing meetings and running a newspaper?

I believe the answer lies here, in this document on Archive.org (original document in the National Library of Canada). Manitoba and the Great North-West was published in 1882, and it features a full page birds eye view map of the city of Winnipeg, very much in the same style as this map above. J.C. McLagan’s name is clearly stated on the title page, responsible for the “Sketch of the Rise and Progress of Winnipeg”. If the history books have not yet noted John James Campbell McLagan as an excellent cartographer, I believe they now stand corrected.

I hope you this has demonstrated just a few of the things you can learn from an old map! Take that, Google Maps!

Expo 86 Beer Stein made in 1983 in Japan, via ebay.

Beer ads from the Vancouver Daily Province, December 20, 1940. First, an ad for Coast Breweries of New Westminster, followed by an ad for Vancouver Breweries Ltd.

Note how similar the branding appear in these competing ads; Lucky Lager is the one beer that looks unlike all the rest with it’s distinctive cross label, and ironically, it’s the one brand that appears to have fared the best. Burton Ale and Old Country Ale could go head to head, while Britannia Beer and Pilsener Lager Beer would also be fairly matched. The brand UBC Bohemian seems an odd curiosity today, and 4x Cream Stout was over 10% alcohol!

Rainier Beer is a personal favourite of mine, and typographically, it competes well with Cascade. I’ve included a full colour Rainier Beer label here, brewed at the Westminster Brewery Ltd. in New Westminster, BC. It’s true Rainier was originally an American brand, but it was purchased by the Sick’s beer empire in 1935 after American prohibition, as described on the Rainier wikipedia page. It has changed hands a number of times since then, and brewing finally came to an end in 2003. The Rainier brand has since been revived and is now brewed under license, albeit south of the border.

I was contemplating why nearly all these brands have disappeared; I’m sure the consolidation of breweries and post-war advertising were factors, but I guess tastes also change. And it’s probably easier to introduce a new brand than it is to update an older one. The fact that Lucky Lager continues to be produced here in Canada is a small miracle, although I think it wouldn’t be out of the question for more of these lost brands to make a resurgence.

If you’d like to OD on some more vintage beer labels, check out this acquisition of 3,000 beer labels at the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library in Toronto. Oh, and be sure to sing along to this Labatt beer-drinking songbook from the 1930s!

Happy Christmas everyone, and once again, please drink responsibly!

If you haven’t already seen the new Steamworks Brewery bottle designs, allow me to present to you a tour de force of beer branding. Tim Pawsley already blogged about the design of the Steamworks Pilsner bottle when Steamworks launched their Pilsner and Pale Ale bottles 3 months ago. Tim commented that the design is the work of Brandever run by Bernie Hadley-Beauregard, who has also shaken up the wine label arena with successes for brands such as Blasted Church, Laughing Stock, and Tantalus. 

Since September of this year, Steamworks Brewery has continued to release more brews, including their Frambozen, Wheat Ale, Oatmeal Stout and Pumpkin Ale. Each one of these bottles are designed with whimsical references to the Gastown brewery, and a good dose of respect to the steampunk aesthetic.

And just a few days ago, they launched their Christmas special, a 9% alcohol Blitzen Pilsner. Rudolf wearing steampunk goggles crashes out of a snow globe (to astute viewers, resembles a certain Vancouver landmark!)

If I could ask for just one thing, it would be a subtle change to the Angel of Victory, who appears on the side of the bottle alongside the phrase “Return for Redemption”. While the angel is wearing goggles, she is missing her laurel wreath, just like the real monument in Vancouver. So a note to Walter Cosman and the Steamworks team; since you’ve already received a gold and bronze award at the 2012 Canadian Brewing Awards, perhaps it would be fitting to return the laurel wreath to the angel, as seen in the Montreal casting of the monument?

Once again, hats off to designer Bernie Hadley-Beauregard, Steamworks president Walter Cosman, and the entire brewery team; well done, everyone! And please enjoy your brews responsibly this Christmas. Stay tuned, tomorrow I shall post a few more historical beer ads & labels of yesteryear.

Imagery from the exhibition Made in BC; Home-grown Design at ECUAD. This exhibition was based on the BC150 Applied Arts Project from 2008 and it toured across the Province, including a stop at North Vancouver’s Presentation House from November 26, 2011 to May 2012. It was on display at Emily Carr from August 5 - 25, 2012.

I’m sorry I couldn’t tip you off earlier about this, but perhaps you were already informed by Scout Magazine or the Georgia Straight. The show was co-curated by Sam Carter and Patrick Gunn, with assistance from a host of other individuals and organizations. And what a fantastic show it was! In case you missed it, here was the introduction to the exhibition:

Diverse functional two and three-dimensional objects represented in this travelling exhibition reflect phases of design, creativity and innovation in BC, from the earliest to most recent residents.

The working definition of BC Design for this project is “created by any person born or residing in BC”.  Included are designs produced and manufactured outside of BC, designed/styled by BC born, or residents of BC.  Both vernacular (popular-folk designs) and works created by professional graphic and industrial designers are included in the exhibition.

Designs created and made by BC farmers, tinkerers, engineers, architects, printers, clothiers, jewelers, glass makers, potters, guild-craftspeople and other makers, including design professionals of recent decades illustrate Made in BC: Home-Grown Design.

From the origins of Vancouver School of Decorative and Applied Arts in 1925, today’s Emily Carr University of Art and Design’s students, faculty, staff and administrators have contributed greatly to the history of BC design.  

Co-curated by Professor Emeritus Sam Carter and alumnus Patrick Gunn, this teaching collection is inspired by the University’s online course, BC Design History. Visit the BC150 Applied Arts for additional information.

There are all sorts of gems in this exhibit. Take for example, the great use of large scale banners in the exhibit; I’ve shown the branding and beer label banners, which I have a personal affinity towards. Especially rare is the Non-Tox Beer from Silver Spring Brewery Ltd. in Victoria, BC; see my restored beer label of the same beer, brewed by Westminster Breweries in New West. The exhibit recognizes many of the recurring themes that I’ve discovered here at Illustrated Vancouver; the popular genres of restaurant menus, luggage labels, fairs & exhibitions, and streetscapes & bridges to name a few. Congratulations are in order for Sam Carter and Patrick Gunn; great work on this show!

A common stock certificate from British Columbia Breweries Limited, dated June 28, 1913. The engraving featured on this certificate is, in fact, an imaginary view not actually depicting Vancouver. Perhaps it’s a fantasized view of Brewery Creek, with idealized mountains in the background and a river (or False Creek?) in the foreground. I wouldn’t normally include such an ambiguous piece, but since it represents an important artifact of Vancouver’s early beer industry, I’m making an exception. My favourite new source of information on the early brewers of British Columbia is the book Beer Barons of B.C. by Bill Wilson, which you can order directly from the author (bcbeerbarons at hotmail dot ca), or you can find it in the Mount Pleasant branch of the Vancouver Public Library. I believe the first printing of the book (2011) was limited to 500 copies, so get your copy soon!

From this book, I’ve learned that B.C. Breweries Limited was a holding company formed February 20, 1911, initially comprised of these three companies:

a.) Union Brewing Co. Ltd. (Nanaimo) 1891-1919
b.) Vancouver Breweries Ltd. 1900-1949
c.) Canadian Brewing & Malting Co., Ltd. 1908-1918

In May 1911, another firm was added:
d.) Pilsner Brewing Co. (Cumberland) 1909-1916

The real roots of these companies date back even earlier. The Vancouver Brewery can be traced back as early as 1887, when Charles Gottfried Doering and Louis Blum partnered and established their operations at the corner of Scotia Street and E 7th Ave in Mount Pleasant. Doering would join forces with a number of other brewers/breweries along the way; August Schwan, Otto Marstrand (aka Alexandra Brewery), and John Williams (aka the Red Cross Brewery).

The Union Brewing Co. Ltd. in Nanaimo was established by Henry Reifel, but this was not the first time he had started a brewery in BC. “He had operated the short-lived San Francisco Brewery in Mount Pleasant in 1888 with his brother Jack and Charles Miller.” All of this info is paraphrased from Beer Barons of B.C., which contains much much more info about early breweries all across British Columbia.

The Canadian Brewing & Malting Co. Ltd was also established by Henry Reifel in 1908, and incorporated in 1909. It was located at the corner of 11th Ave W & Yew Street in Kitsilano.

I love the amount of detail Bill Wilson has poured into his book. The date of this stock certificate (1913) demonstrates that this stock offering came at a tumultuous time in the company’s history. Again from Beer Barons of B.C.:

On November 1, 1912, B.C. Breweries was sold to a British-backed firm and renamed British Columbia Breweries Ltd. The new firm had major operating problems according to Doering & Williams, who reported irregular bookkeeping and improper company filings with the Registrar of Companies, plus other issues. It went into receivership in 1915 and was run for two years by Sam Prenter. After a lengthy investigation by the Registrar of Companies, a liquidator wound up the affairs of the company in 1917 (Source - Evans Thesis). It was then reorganized as British Columbia Breweries (1918) Ltd. In 1923, it became Brewers & Distillers of Vancouver. Henry Reifel was president from 1918-33.

If things weren’t confusing enough already, there were two more acquisitions to the holding company.

e.) B.C. Distillery at New Westminster - acquired in 1921.
f.) Pioneer Distillery at Amherstburg, Ontario - acquired 1927.

There’s lots more detail I’d like to go into about these locations, from the Mount Pleasant brewery at 263 E 7th Street to the Kitsilano castle-like brewery at W 12th and Yew, and even further away, the BC Distillery in New Westminster. The sad reality is, these locations barely echo their original industrial prominence and historical significance. And one more irony; the City of Vancouver website used to retrieve nuggets of historical information from documents like this Development & Building Policy Report or this communication between Engineering Services and City Council. I’ve just learned that now, regretfully, these pages appear to be coming up 404! More history, lost to redevelopment. 

Cascade Beer - The Beer Without a Peer, from the back of Fruit Magazine (December 1909), seen on archive.org. The name “STAHR” appears in the bottom right hand corner of the image.

Cascade Beer was an early brand of the Vancouver Breweries Ltd, the Reifel family’s brewing empire. If you don’t already know the Reifels, take a look at a few of their contributions to our city: they built the Commodore Block, the Vogue Theatre and the Studio Theatre (the Studio was across the street from the Vogue, which later became the Eve Theatre (1972-78), the Lyric, the Towne Theatre, Tonic, and now Joe’s Apartment); they donated property for the original Vancouver Art Gallery on Georgia Street; they built the “Casa Mia” (recently under contention as the owners want to convert it to a seniors’ hospice) and the “Rio Vista”, two mansions on Southwest Marine Drive; they farmed sugar beets during WWII on Reifel Farms; and as I’ve mentioned before, they donated the land for the George C. Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary in Delta. Oh, and yes, they may have participated in sending alcohol into the US during prohibition. But more about that some other time.

Cedar Cottage Station as sketched by a Grade 7 student at Lord Selkirk Elementary School. From Chuck Davis’ website:

In 1910 Vancouver’s Cedar Cottage neighborhood got its name from an Interurban train stop there. The station, in turn, was named for the Cedar Cottage Brewery.

And more from the Gibby’s Field Group site:

1902 (ca.) Cedar Cottage Brewery established by John Benson at Westminster Road (Kingsway) and Knight, on the banks of Gibson Creek at the site of the present-day Safeway building King Edward Village.

According to the book House of Suds: A History of Beer Brewing in Western Canada by William A. Hagelund, five other local breweries in Vancouver circa 1900 included:

1. Stanley Park Brewery
2. Red Cross Brewery
3. Royal Brewery
4. Columbia Brewery
5. Doering & Marstrand (Vancouver) Brewery

Again, thanks for your submissions, Sid!

More beer labels for sale on ebay. These aren’t even all depicting Vancouver, but I don’t care - they’re super! From the same collector, in Warsaw Poland. No doubt there is a great story behind this collection. I’ll be very curious to learn where all these labels are going to end up! An emerging book, perhaps, or decoration in a brewmaster’s den?

Update: Yep, it turns out, these labels are part of the largest collection of Canadian beer labels in Europe, according to the seller! Spectacular! Labels from Saskatchewan, Newfoundland, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia will be up for sale next week. You heard it first hear, folks. Breaking news brought to you by Illustrated Vancouver!

Vintage Vancouver beer labels, from Capilano Brewing Company and Vancouver Breweries Limited, seen this week at auction on ebay, from a seller in Warsaw, Poland of all places. The Capilano Brewing Company dates back to 1934 (note the label is stamped 621+35, my guess indicating 1935) and the second label is a special Jubilee beer for the city’s 50th birthday in 1936 (note the label is stamped 4+8+36, most likely indicating 1936). Vancouver Breweries Limited dates back even further to 1901, and became part of the holding company British Columbia Breweries in 1911, and continued to operate under the name Vancouver Breweries for a good while. Cursory brewery details obtained from the book Brewed in Canada: the untold story of Canada’s 350-year-old brewing industry by Allen Winn Sneath.

Granville Island Brewing signage, artist unknown, seen last week at Go Fish Ocean Emporium.

Capilano Beer ad, from the book Vancouver’s First Century: A City Album, 1860-1960. edited by Anne Kloppenborg, et al.