Ontario Beer by Alan McLeod

Author:Alan McLeod
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing Inc.
Published: 2014-01-14T16:00:00+00:00

LAGER

Except for eastern centres like Kingston, by the end of the nineteenth century, lager would make up a quarter of the total volume of beer sold in Ontario, although there is some reason to doubt that commonly accepted figure. There is the possibility that it is significantly lower than the real figure.

One of the difficulties in the regulation of the brewing industry in the rapidly expanding province of Ontario in the late 1860s was keeping accurate records in order for the government to collect the duty owed it. Given that the figures were collected annually, and that they were supplied by the breweries themselves, inaccuracy was a real concern. For one thing, brewery production would have increased on a yearly basis as the population of the centres around each brewery expanded. For another, there has always been the temptation for a business that is not being scrutinized to underreport its sales.

It did not help that some of the agents acting on the behalf of the government were grossly incompetent. In 1866 and 1867, two agents named Godson and Romain were tasked with an investigation into the sales figures of the lager breweries in Waterloo County. Suspicions had been raised when it became apparent that the total volume reported for the 1865–66 brewing season was 78,552 gallons of beer, or just over 2,450 barrels. This laughably low figure represented the total reported output for thirteen lager breweries in Waterloo County. The charge of fraudulent sales made it clear that a single brewery was selling more than half of that amount annually in the lager saloons of Hamilton alone. It meant that no one was paying any taxes.

The agents performed a perfunctory two-day tour of a handful of breweries in the county, taking testimony from brewers whose natural inclination would have been to lowball the figures. Even those dubious accounts vastly outstripped the reported volume. Upon declaring the allegations unsubstantiated, Godson and Romain were given a sound drubbing in the newspaper for their incredulous gullibility. This episode illustrated the fact that the sales of lager in Ontario at Confederation could easily have been five or even ten times as high as common wisdom would suggest.

There were many facets of brewing lager that could be advantageous to brewers. In terms of courting public opinion, lager was viewed as a beverage of temperance, which helps to explain the timing of its adoption. The passing of the Canada Temperance Act in 1878 meant that local-option prohibition was a possibility. This fact was not lost on Eugene O’Keefe, who had provided testimony at local-option hearings. He took out a full-page spread in the Globe barely a month after his lager and pilsner were introduced: “Messrs. O’Keefe and Co. contend that the benefits accruing to the country by the introduction of first class malt beverages cannot be over-estimated, and will tend more to the interests of TEMPERANCE than all the legal enactments and repressive measures that any Government may introduce.”

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