Labatt

John Kinder Labatt, an Irish immigrant farming near London, Ontario, invested in a brewery there in 1847, and under his son it became Canada’s largest. During Ontario’s prohibition, from 1916 to 1927, it brewed full-strength beer for export and weak “temperance ales” for home, and it was the only one of the province’s 15 surviving breweries to keep its original management. Labatt 50, of 1950, was Canada’s first light ale and its best-selling beer until 1979, when Labatt Blue took over. Interbrew bought Labatt in 1995, and it is now part of AB InBev. Its main brewery is in London, Ontario, and it also brews Alexander Keith’s, Kokanee and Budweiser for Canada.