Glenbow Archives M-9009-421-12
Pioneersof thebeerbusiness
NOT ONLY WAS A.E. CROSS ONE OF
the “Big Four” founders of the Calgary
Stampede, but he was also one of the
first in the late 1800s to bring beer to
the Wild West pioneers of what was then
known as the Northwest Territories. Part
of this territory became the province of
Alberta in 1905.
Cross founded the Calgary Brewing
and Malting Company Ltd. (CBMC)
in 1892, producing not only a quality
product but also a very popular beverage
that supported a successful company for
nearly 70 years. From its headquarters
in Inglewood, just east of the present
downtown, the company produced its
first beer and registered its well-known
buffalo head and horseshoe logo in 1893.
As the business grew, the CBMC went
on to buy several other Alberta-based
breweries. To assist with its marketing
efforts, the CBMC also owned and fi-
nanced many hotels across Alberta. The
CBMC created a subsidiary, the Ranch-
men’s Trust Company, in 1912 to handle
hotel purchases and mortgages. This
practice continued in the hotel business
until regulations introduced
by the provincial government in the late
1950s required breweries to divest of
hotels.
After A.E. Cross died in 1932, his son,
J.B. Cross, took over as president. Under
the Cross family, the brewery was very
community-oriented. It actively support-
ed local sports through the Calgary Buf-
falo Athletic Association, established a
fish hatchery and developed the brewery
grounds as gardens for the enjoyment of
Calgarians.
The CBMC was eventually bought
by Canadian Breweries in 1961. That
company was sold to Rothman’s in 1969,
renamed Carling O’Keefe in 1973, pur-
chased by Foster’s Brewing of Australia
in 1981 and finally taken over by Molson
Breweries in 1989. The Calgary brewery
closed in 1994.
As the CBMC and other breweries
grew over the years, so did malt barley
production in Western Canada. In 2015,
Canada produced about eight million
tonnes of barley, with malting barley
varieties accounting for roughly 70 per
cent of the total, on average. Canadian
maltsters typically buy about 1.1 million
tonnes of malting barley, one-third of
which is used by more than 520 Canadi-
an breweries to produce more than two
billion litres of beer each year.
AGAINST
THE GRAIN
Spring
2016
Grains
West
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