True Brew

Name some icons of Canadian ­consumerism. Poutine? Maple syrup? A certain doughnut shop’s coffee? Ketchup potato chips? Of course, many would say beer. Such is the material basis of Canadian identity. Yet sometimes the Canadianness is superficial and fleeting. Maple syrup is not exclusive to Canada; that doughnut shop is owned by a Brazilian investment firm. And ask any scoffing beer snob, this one included, and you’ll learn that our three big brewers are not even Canadian anymore. How did we get here?

In Brewed in the North, the Carleton University historian Matthew J. Bellamy traces the growth and internationalization of what was arguably at one time the most Canadian of breweries, John Labatt Limited. From the birth of the company’s namesake, John Kinder Labatt, in Mountmellick, County Laois, Ireland, in 1803, through to the takeover by the Belgian juggernaut Interbrew, in 1995, Bellamy tracks the growth of what was once a small regional brewery in London...