What microbrewery started in 1930, won “best in class” beer — beating England in a competition with the commonwealth, and is Manitoba owned and operated?
If you guessed Fort Garry Brewing Company, you would be correct!
Fort Garry Brewing Company History
As the pioneers of craft beer in Manitoba, Fort Garry Brewing Company (FGBC) has a rich and compelling history dating back to 1930, long before craft beer became popular.
From 1930-1960, Fort Garry Brewing Company was created for the purpose of creating “completely original and delicious beer.”
The beer was so good that it was purchased by Molson breweries, who later merged with Carlin O’Keefe, which led to the initial shut down of FGBC in 1990.
The microbrewery renaissance of the 90s created another push for craft beer, which pushed Richard Hoeschen to re-establish FGBC, the only microbrewery in Manitoba in 1994.
The brewing techniques and recipes are time-honoured traditions that have been passed down through generations and are still used today. Fort Garry Brewing Company only uses the finest raw ingredients to brew their fine ales and lagers.
Richard also developed a new line of full-flavoured beers that would later become household names.
Sadly, Richard passed in 2002, but his legacy for crowd-pleasing beer lives on.
Later, Andrew Harris, President of Russell Brewing in BC, would taste and love Fort Garry brews. He saw the similarities between Russell Brewing and Fort Garry, along with the pride Manitoban had in FGBC. Andrew made Fort Garry a subsidiary for Russell Brewing the next year.
As of 2016, FGBC was bought out and officially became Manitoba-owned and operated again!
Now, Fort Garry Brewing Company is here to stay and continuing to brew classics, as well as create new and delicious IPAs, sours, radlers, seltzers and more. They paved the way for other craft breweries in Manitoba and are still around to share and tell that story.
Our Partnership
The team at Advance Paper Box has been working with Fort Garry Brewing Company for about three years now, and it’s a partnership that just makes sense. Both companies have a rich history in Manitoba and value supporting the community.
“As a local brewery, we rely on the community to support us, and in-turn we want to support as many local companies as we can,” says Scott Shupeniuk, General Manager, Fort Garry Brewing. “It was an easy decision to switch from our previous supplier to the team at Advance Paper Box.”
Both companies pride themselves on delivering quality products to the people of Manitoba and beyond.
“Our community thrives when local companies support each other. We always enjoy working with the team at Fort Garry Brewing Company and we are proud to print their creative designs on our packaging,” says Gerry Choquette, owner of Advance Paper Box.
Scott Shupeniuk says he always has great communication with Tyler Spencer, Sales Executive of Advance Paper Box, and he can’t see their relationship changing any time soon.
“The quality of the products that Advance Paper Box produces is second to none, and the pricing is competitive,” says Scott.
Learn about the benefits of working with our team, like setting your products apart from the competition and the Advance Paper Box advantage, when you contact our team at .