Moosehead Breweries Limited is Canada's oldest independent

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 b ...

, located in

Saint John, New Brunswick Saint John () is a port#seaport, seaport city located on the Bay of Fundy in the province of New Brunswick, Canada. It is Canada's oldest Municipal corporation, incorporated city, established by royal charter on May 18, 1785, during the reign ...

. The brewery was founded in 1867 and is still privately owned and operated by the Oland family. The company is now in the sixth generation of family ownership. In 2003, Moosehead Lager won a Gold award at the

World Beer Cup The World Beer Cup is an international beer competition organized by the Brewers Association, a trade group A trade association, also known as an industry trade group, business association, sector association or industry body, is an organizatio ...

, and earned another at

Monde Selection Monde Selection is an annual non-competitive award open to food, drinks, and cosmetics products, created in 1961. It is run by the commercial company, International Institute for Quality Selections, Brussels Brussels, officially the Brusse ...

in 2005. In 2015, Moosehead won a single Gold award in the Canadian Brewing Awards where most of the winners are craft beers. In 2016, two of the company's products won a Gold and a Silver award, respectively. This company had an estimated four percent share of the Canadian domestic market in 2018. Since all major competitors are owned by multi-nationals, Moosehead is now the largest fully Canadian-owned brewer. This is a private company that is not required to release financial information, but the IBISWorld Industry Report on Breweries in Canada stated the company was expected to generate $263.8 million in revenue over 2016.

History

In 1865, Susannah Oland moved from England to

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...

, Canada. With her husband John and nine other employees, Susannah opened The Army and Navy Brewery in 1867, a name that came after their most appreciative customers. After John Oland's untimely death in 1870, the brewery changed its name to S. Oland, Sons and Co. Over the next eight years, the brewery faced two fires, but recovered after each. In 1886, Susannah Oland died, and the company went to her two sons, Conrad and George. With the approach of the 20th century, the company changed its name to the Maritime Brewing & Malting Co. It faced hard times once again when the

Halifax Explosion On the morning of 6 December 1917, the French cargo ship collided with the Norwegian vessel in the harbour of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. ''Mont-Blanc'', laden with Explosive material, high explosives, caught fire and exploded, devastat ...

of 1917 killed Conrad Oland and destroyed the brewery. A year later, George Oland and his sons moved to Halifax and bought another brewery. In 1928, George bought a second, larger brewery in the city of

, site of the present day facility. In 1931, the symbol of the

moose The moose (: 'moose'; used in North America) or elk (: 'elk' or 'elks'; used in Eurasia) (''Alces alces'') is the world's tallest, largest and heaviest extant species of deer and the only species in the genus ''Alces''. It is also the tal ...

came into existence as George launched ''Moosehead Pale Ale''. After the success of its ''Pale Ale'', the Oland-owned brewery changed its name to Moosehead Breweries Ltd. in 1947. Thirty-one years later, in 1978, the brewery president Philip Oland expanded the brand and launched ''Moosehead Lager'' in the United States. In 1982, Derek Oland, then the president of the company (after succeeding his father P.W. Oland), expanded the company worldwide. In his autobiography ''Lucky Man'',

Michael J. Fox Michael Andrew Fox (born June 9, 1961), known professionally as Michael J. Fox, is a Canadian and American actor and activist. Beginning his career as a child actor in the 1970s, he rose to prominence portraying Alex P. Keaton on the NBC sitcom ...

relayed how he told

Jay Leno James Douglas Muir Leno ( ; born April 28, 1950) is an American television host, comedian, and writer. After doing stand-up comedy for years, he became the host of NBC's ''The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The Tonight Show'' from 1992 until 200 ...

as a guest on ''

The Tonight Show ''The Tonight Show'' is an American late-night talk show that has been broadcast on NBC since 1954. The program has been hosted by six comedians: Steve Allen (1954–1957), Jack Paar (1957–1962), Johnny Carson (1962–1992), Jay Leno (1992–2 ...

'', that he did not like American beer, describing it as 'too watery' and that he instead would drink'' Moosehead Ale''. Not long afterwards, a huge truckload of ''Moosehead'' Ale made its way to Fox's house as a free gift from the company. Once a popular premium import beer in the United States that was distributed by

RJR Nabisco R. J. Reynolds Nabisco, Inc., doing business as RJR Nabisco, was an American conglomerate, selling tobacco and food products, headquartered in the Calyon Building in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. R. J. Reynolds Nabisco stopped ...

, Moosehead lost vast market share in the 1980s when it lowered its price in an attempt to compete with larger US brewers on price instead of quality and prestige. Today, Derek Oland's sons Andrew, Patrick and Matthew are the sixth generation of Olands to own and work for the family brewery. Andrew is the current president, Matthew is a Vice President and Patrick is the CFO. Moosehead sells its beer throughout Canada, in many US locations, and in 15 countries around the world. Moosehead USA has recently become its own importer, replacing its importing partner

Gambrinus Gambrinus ( ) is a legendary European culture hero celebrated as an icon of beer, brewing, joviality, and '' joie de vivre''. Typical representations in the visual arts depict him as a rotund, bearded duke or king, holding a tankard or mug, a ...

. Moosehead wholly owns the Niagara Falls Brewing Company in Ontario. In 2005, Moosehead Lager won Gold at the prestigious Monde Selection; the company had also won Gold medals at the World Beer Cup and 2003 Canadian Brewing Awards. In 2008, Moosehead sold its minority interest in McAuslan Brewing to Les Brasseurs RJ. McAuslan will continue to brew and distribute Moosehead beer in the province of

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

. In the same year, Derek Oland's son Andrew assumed the role of President. The annual Canadian Brewing Awards recognizes the best beers in Canada using blind taste tests. Most of the 2015 and 2016 winners were craft beers. However, some were made by larger brewers, including Moosehead; this company won a Gold in 2015 for their Pale ale and a Gold and Silver, respectively for their Alpine Lager and Cracked Canoe in 2016. For the 2017 competition, new rules allow for entries only from fully Canadian-owned breweries (and that includes Moosehead) for the 55 categories of beer. In June 2016, the company announced plans to build a small-batch brewery. In January 2017 however, Moosehead announced that the plan had been cancelled because it could not be achieved within the intended budget. In addition to overwhelming success, the Oland dynasty has also experienced tragedy with the Murder of Richard Oland who had been a Vice President of Moosehead until 1981. (Richard Oland had vied with his brother Derek for the control of Moosehead. Their father, P.W. Oland, decided to select Derek to succeed him as president; Richard subsequently left the company.) On July 7, 2011, the body of 69-year-old Richard Oland was found dead in his Saint John office at the investment firm Far End Corp. Oland had been bludgeoned to death. His son Dennis Oland, a financial planner, was charged in 2015 with second degree murder. Throughout the high-profile court case, intimate details about the private lives of the entire family were revealed. On conviction in December 2015, Dennis Oland was sentenced to life in prison, with no possibility of parole for at least 10 years. Less than a year later, in October 2016, the

New Brunswick Court of Appeal The Court of Appeal of New Brunswick () (frequently referred to as New Brunswick Court of Appeal or NBCA) is the appellate court in the province of New Brunswick. There are five Justices, one Chief Justice, any former judge of the Court of Appeal w ...

threw out his conviction based on errors made by the trial judge, and ordered a new trial. The Crown attorneys said they would ask the

Supreme Court of Canada The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC; , ) is the highest court in the judicial system of Canada. It comprises nine justices, whose decisions are the ultimate application of Canadian law, and grants permission to between 40 and 75 litigants eac ...

for leave to appeal the lower court ruling; the defense said it might request a full acquittal from the Supreme Court. In 2018, the company decided to redesign the labeling of its products for a "fresh and modern look and to attract millennial consumers while not alienating an older demographic", starting in April. At the time, Moosehead products had a 4% market share in Canada, and 5% in the province of Ontario. In 2019, the

Canadian Premier League The Canadian Premier League (CPL or CanPL; ) is a professional Association football, soccer league in Canada and the highest level of the Canadian soccer league system. The league comprises eight teams, from five of provinces and territories of ...

announced that Moosehead would be the official domestic brewery for the league. In 2025, Moosehead Breweries introduced the "Presidential Pack", which contained 1,461 cans of Canadian lagers. The pack was promoted as a way to endure political uncertainty and was available for purchase on the brewery’s website for CAD 3,490 plus tax and deposit.

Stolen batch

In August 2004 a truck driver transporting over 50,000 cans of Moosehead beer to

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

for a Mexican supermarket chain disappeared with the beer, leaving the nearly empty transport truck abandoned in a parking lot in

Grand Falls, New Brunswick Grand Falls () is a town in northwestern New Brunswick, Canada, on the Saint John River (Bay of Fundy), Saint John River. Its name comes from a waterfall created by a series of rock ledges over which the river drops . 2023 New Brunswick local ...

. Easily identified by the Spanish writing on the labels (which is not distributed in English and French speaking Canada) the beer was slowly tracked. The first signs of the missing beer showed up in

Fredericton, New Brunswick Fredericton (; ) is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of New Brunswick. The city is situated in the west-central portion of the province along the Saint John River (Bay of Fundy), Saint John River, ...

, with two empty cans; another report of two cans were reported later in northern New Brunswick. Police working on a tip eventually found the truck driver in

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

; earlier in the same week, police discovered nearly 8,000 cans of the stolen beer in a trailer that went off the road near Woodstock, New Brunswick. With most of the beer recovered and the driver in custody, the police in the New Brunswick area began to look in wooded areas for the remaining beer. Knowing the area in which the police were looking, many civilians took up the search as well. Because of the media attention on the story almost all of the beer was quickly found by civilians and police, and most of it was returned to Moosehead Breweries. The final piece of the story occurred in October 2004 when 200 cans of the stolen beer were found at a

marijuana Cannabis (), commonly known as marijuana (), weed, pot, and ganja, List of slang names for cannabis, among other names, is a non-chemically uniform psychoactive drug from the ''Cannabis'' plant. Native to Central or South Asia, cannabis has ...

growing operation in the forest near Doaktown, New Brunswick about 100 kilometres northeast of Fredericton. "Six of the cans were discovered with bite marks in them indicating a bear had, at one point, been into the beer," the

RCMP The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; , GRC) is the Law enforcement in Canada, national police service of Canada. The RCMP is an agency of the Government of Canada; it also provides police services under contract to 11 Provinces and terri ...

said in a news release. The release said there was no sign of either the animal or the people who had stashed the beer. Eventually, after a lengthy investigation, a total of 14,000 cans were recovered. Wade Haines, a New Brunswick truck driver, was found guilty of stealing the shipment and was sentenced to 19½ months in jail. The unique and quirky nature of this crime story made international headlines and resulted in publicity for Moosehead; it has also been the basis of a book.

Second stolen batch

In September 2007, two tractor trailers carrying 77,000 cans and 44,000 bottles with a reported retail value of $200,000 were stolen from a transport company in

Mississauga Mississauga is a Canadian city in the province of Ontario. Situated on the north-western shore of Lake Ontario in the Regional Municipality of Peel, it borders Toronto (Etobicoke) to the east, Brampton to the north, Milton to the northwest, ...

, Ontario. Peel Region police arrested a man from

Vaughan, Ontario Vaughan ( ) (2022 population 344,412) is a city in Ontario, Canada. It is located in the Regional Municipality of York, just north of Toronto. Vaughan was the fastest-growing municipality in Canada between 1996 and 2006 with its population increa ...

during the first week of October 2007 and charged him with possession of stolen property. Police believe he is responsible for the theft and of selling the beer to bars and after-hours clubs and that he may not have worked alone.

Brands

Moosehead and its subsidiary The Premium Beer Company brew/market the following beverages: *Moosehead Lager *Moosehead Breweries Anniversary Ale *Moosehead Pale Ale *Cracked Canoe *Moose Light Lager *Moose Light Radler *Moose Light Radler Raspberry *Moose Light Radler Watermelon *Moosehead Premium Dry *Moosehead Dry Ice *Moosehead Dry Light *Moosehead Dry Lager *Alpine Lager *

Sam Adams Samuel Adams (, 1722 – October 2, 1803) was an American statesman, political philosopher, and a Founding Father of the United States. He was a politician in colonial Massachusetts, a leader of the movement that became the American Revolu ...

' Boston Lager *Sam Adams' Octoberfest *Sam Adams' Summer Ale *Sam Adams' Winter Lager *Sam Adams' Rebel IPA *Sam Adams' Fresh as Helles *Twisted Tea Original, Half & Half and Raspberry *Coney Island Root Beer *Coney Island Orange Cream *Coney Island Lemon Lime *Estrella Damm *Daura Damm *Inedit *Truly Spiked & Sparkling *Angry Orchard Hard Cider *Hop City Brewing Co. *Ten-Penny Old Stock Ale

References

External links