The Agassiz Brewing Company was a Canadian

brewery A brewery or brewing company is a business that makes and sells beer. The place at which beer is commercially made is either called a brewery or a beerhouse, where distinct sets of brewing equipment are called plant. The commercial brewing of bee ...

, founded by former Fort Garry Brewing Company brewmaster Gary De Pape. The company was established in 1998 in

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749, ...

Manitoba , image_map = Manitoba in Canada 2.svg , map_alt = Map showing Manitoba's location in the centre of Southern Canada , Label_map = yes , coordinates = , capital = Winn ...

and based there until 2010. It was named for the prehistoric glacial

Lake Agassiz Lake Agassiz was a large glacial lake in central North America. Fed by glacial meltwater at the end of the last glacial period, its area was larger than all of the modern Great Lakes combined. First postulated in 1823 by William H. Keating, i ...

which once covered much of Manitoba. Agassiz beer was available in Manitoba,

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a province in western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dak ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

, and

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

History

Agassiz Brewing Company was founded by former Fort Garry Brewing Brewmaster Gary De Pape. It was established in Winnipeg in late 1998 and opened on March 17, 1999. Agassiz was one of a trio of microbreweries, the others being Fort Garry and Two Rivers Brewing, that launched in Manitoba in the late 1990s to produce and bottle locally made ales and lagers for the Winnipeg and Manitoba market. Agassiz did very well during its first year, launching its version of a Mild Ale with Catfish Cream Ale as its flagship brand. It also released a Bohemian styled lager with its Premium Pilsner. Later it released Canada's first ever packaged German Hefeweizen with Harvest Haze Hefeweizen. That beer had tremendous and instant success. At the end of its first year, Agassiz launched a Bock Beer, made with

orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower *Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum * ...

peel and Manitoba honey in a limited edition six pack that sold out in hours. De Pape was the first Manitoba brewer to enter the American market when he signed a tri-state distribution agreement for

North Dakota North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minnesota to the east, So ...

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux Native American tribes, who comprise a large porti ...

and parts of

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

with the Miller Distributor, Beverage Wholesalers. But after pressure from his shareholders steered the company into a different direction, De Pape left to pursue other interests. As per that US distribution agreement, once De Pape left, Beverage Wholesalers wanted nothing to do with Agassiz and the contract ended. Immediately after, Manitoba and Saskatchewan sales of its beers dropped and Agassiz Brewing had difficulty covering operating costs as it was only selling a small volume, of its 600,000 litre capacity. After considering several options, including approaching rival Fort Garry, it closed its Winnipeg operation on January 31, 2002, sold its assets and went bankrupt to re-emerge as a contract brewer, known as New Manitoba Brewing Ltd. New Manitoba handled marketing, sales, and distribution, leaving brewing and packaging to Northern Breweries of

Sudbury, Ontario Sudbury, officially the City of Greater Sudbury is the largest city in Northern Ontario by population, with a population of 166,004 at the 2021 Canadian Census. By land area, it is the largest in Ontario and the fifth largest in Canada. It is a ...

. New Manitoba then came to terms with Fort Garry on a co-packing arrangement. On October 15, 2004, New Manitoba signed an agreement with its former rival for that company to warehouse, distribute and market Agassiz brands. Fort Garry ended that relationship in January 2010, saying they were too busy with their own brands to have room in their tanks for Agassiz's last brand, Catfish Cream Ale. Joe Constant, a partner in New Manitoba, said he and his partners tried unsuccessfully to get other small breweries to take on brewing Catfish.

Former Brands

* Catfish Cream Ale (5% alcohol by volume) * Bison Blonde Lager (4.8%), a

helles Helles or hell is a traditional German pale lager beer, produced chiefly in Southern Germany, particularly Munich. The German word ''hell'' can be translated as "bright", "light", or "pale". Flavour profile Helles-style beers typically are f ...

-style

lager Lager () is beer which has been brewed and conditioned at low temperature. Lagers can be pale, amber, or dark. Pale lager is the most widely consumed and commercially available style of beer. The term "lager" comes from the German for "storag ...

* Dark Lager, a Munich dark lager * Winnipeg Kolsch (available on tap only) * Harvest Haze

Hefeweizen Wheat beer is a top-fermented beer which is brewed with a large proportion of wheat relative to the amount of malted barley. The two main varieties are German ''Weizenbier'' and Belgian ''witbier''; other types include Lambic (made with wild ...

References

{{reflist Defunct breweries of Canada Manufacturing companies based in Winnipeg Food and drink companies established in 1998 Food and drink companies disestablished in 2010 1998 establishments in Manitoba 2010 disestablishments in Manitoba Canadian companies established in 1998 Cuisine of Manitoba Defunct companies based in Winnipeg Beer brewing companies based in Manitoba

History

Former Brands

See also

References