The Dominion Brewery was a

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 ...

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most pop ...

, Ontario, Canada. It operated from 1878 until 1936. The brewery was founded by

Robert T. Davies Robert T. Davies (May 19, 1849 – March 22, 1916) was a Canadian businessman, as well as a Thoroughbred and Standardbred racehorse owner and breeder. Life and career Born in Toronto, he studied at Park School and Upper Canada College. In the e ...

in 1877. Davies had been a manager at his brother Thomas' brewery, the

Don Brewery The Don Brewery (originally the Don Bridge Brewery, and later the Davies Brewery) was a brewery in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was one of the largest breweries in 19th century Toronto. It was located along the Don River in the Corktown neigh ...

on the

Don River The Don ( rus, Дон, p=don) is the fifth-longest river in Europe. Flowing from Central Russia to the Sea of Azov in Southern Russia, it is one of Russia's largest rivers and played an important role for traders from the Byzantine Empire. Its ...

at Queen Street East in Toronto. The new brewery opened in 1878, built less than two city blocks away, on Queen Street just west of Sumach Street. Davies had brewed

ale Ale is a type of beer brewed using a warm fermentation method, resulting in a sweet, full-bodied and fruity taste. Historically, the term referred to a drink brewed without hops. As with most beers, ale typically has a bittering agent to bal ...

and porter varieties, but hired German experts to make

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 "stora ...

. The name of the brewery was synonymous with its aim, to be available across Canada, which stretched more Ontario east to the Maritimes. The brewery won awards in 1885 at a competition in New Orleans and continued to enter its products in competitions, with the awards prominently displayed on the labels of the bottles. Being especially proud of its win for an India pale ale product, the label of the beer was replaced with a replica of the award certificate and renamed White Label Ale. By 1888, the brewery shipped over one million gallons of beer annually. The brewery was sold in 1891 to British interests for , and Davies remained its managing director until 1900, when he retired from the brewing business. In 1926, the brewery was sold to the Hamilton Brewing Association, which owned the Regal Brewery in Hamilton, becoming part of the acquisitions forming Canadian Brewing Corporation. In turn, Canadian Brewing Corporation was merged in 1930 with the Brewing Company of Ontario (later Canadian Breweries) conglomerate being set up by

E. P. Taylor Edward Plunket Taylor, CMG (January 29, 1901 – May 14, 1989) was a Canadian business tycoon, investor and philanthropist. He was a famous breeder of Thoroughbred race horses, and a major force behind the evolution of the Canadian horse-racing ...

. In 1936, Taylor moved production of Davies' beer to the Cosgrave Brewery. Cosgrave founded in 1860s would be acquired by O'Keefe Brewery in 1945. The brewery's west wing and south main wing are both still in existence, having been converted to commercial space in 1981. The nearby

Dominion Hotel The Dominion Hotel is a restaurant and former hotel in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Constructed in the late nineteenth century in the Corktown neighbourhood, it is a heritage hotel structure that has not been torn down and replaced with a modern s ...

, an affiliated business, operated for a number of years, however since 2015 it is now home to the pub Dominion on Queen.

References

* * ;Notes {{Commons Category Brewery buildings Buildings and structures in Toronto Food and drink companies established in 1878 Food and drink companies disestablished in 1936 1878 establishments in Ontario 1936 disestablishments in Ontario 1926 mergers and acquisitions Canadian companies established in 1878