Historic British American Brewing Co., British Ale Light Beer Pint Glass, Windsor Ontario Canada

The rise and fall of Windsor, Ontario’s Original Six breweries is a tale of brew masters, risk-takers, gangsters, roadhouses, and the transformative impact of Prohibition on Windsor’s brewing industry. Windsor wasn’t exactly a pioneer in the Canadian beer–brewing industry; that would be ​​La Brasseries du Roy started by Jean Talon, in Québec City in 1668. 217 years later, Windsor finally boasted its first full–fledged beer–making enterprise: the British–American Brewing Company, launched in 1885. Despite a lack of local brewers, it wasn’t as if Windsor was a dry town. Our forefathers could easily enjoy fresh beer in this region. “Back kitchen” home brew, neighbour Detroit’s well-established brewers, London, Toronto, Montreal and other regional brewers helped quench our ancestors’ thirst. Detroiter Louis Griesinger Jr. erected one of Windsor’s earliest breweries at the corner of Bruce and Sandwich (British-American Brewery: 1885-1969), then built a small home across the street. Griesinger had apprenticed at the massive Christian Moerlein Brewing Company in Cincinnati; his father Louis Sr. was an architect who designed and built many of Detroit’s finer breweries, including the famous Stroh facility. Griesinger Jr. found a market for his first batch of Cincinnati style beer in Chatham; its first six barrels were well received. A spur-of-the-moment conversation with an agent resulted in branding one of his brews as “Cincinnati Cream.” Before long, Griesinger’s Cinci cream ale appeared locally; within a few years, the brewery shipped considerable quantities of brewed-in-Windsor beer to Detroit. B-A eventually expanded to encompass four city blocks. From a few hundred gallons in its first year, production steadily increased to 5,000,000 gallons annually by the mid-1950s. Cincinnati Cream Ale became a beloved brand on both sides of the border. Griesinger died from injuries sustained in a fall at his brewery in 1902. In 1912, his brother-in-law Louis A. Irion was named president and brother Raymond Irion became secretary-treasurer. In 1927, the Irions brothers sold their interest in the B-A brewery to brokers in Detroit. Enjoy your favorite beverage in this clear pint glass printed with a meticulously digitally restored label.