In 1892, the Times Printing Company of Hamilton, Ontario, published the following in “Hamilton, the Birmingham of Canada (1892)”:
“There is no better known brewery in Canada than that of the Grant-Lottridge Brewing Co. (Limited) in this city. It is known as the Spring Brewery, and the ales and lager beer made here have a Dominion reputation. The brewery is situated at the corner of Bay and Mulberry streets. The Spring Brewery is the oldest, having been established in 1842, and from a small beginning in the early days, when people were few in Hamilton, it has been gradually enlarged and developed until it is now not only able to supply nearly all the ale used in the city and a preponderating proportion of the lager used here, but it sends its products far and wide throughout the Dominion. The ale made by the Grant-Lottridge Brewing Co. (Limited) stands indisputably with the best of imported English ales.”
“The rapidity with which lager beer became a favorite beverage in this part of Canada only a few years ago, induced the Spring Brewery people to go into its manufacture, and they put in the very best modern plant. The most approved appliances are used in this department by a most skilled staff of lager beer brewers, and the result is a popular beverage of which an immense quantity is daily consumed. The product of this brewery has never, since the establishment of the business, been in any way cheapened or deteriorated by the use of substitutes or adulterants. The beer is a pure extract of malt and hops. No other ingredients are used in its manufacture. It is claimed that when the Grant-Lottridge Brewing Company’s beer is drank it will invigorate and tone up the system much more efficaciously than the majority of widely advertised tonics, whose only claim to excellence is the fact that the principal constituents of Grant’s beer are used in small amounts in their makeup.”
Well, it seems that a partner in that successful brewing company was Mr. Peter Grant. He was born in England in 1813 and at the age of 20 he emigrated to Canada. At the age of 24 he served with the cavalry in Hamilton during the rebellion of 1837. The rebellion was short-lived and he decided to remain in Hamilton.
His first business was a grocery store. He then partnered with a Mr. Snowden and they began the brewery. It was known by many names such as: P. Grant & Sons Spring Brewery, Grant’s Spring Brewery, and the Grant-Lottridge Brewing Co.
Peter Grant lived with his wife and eleven children at the corner of King St. East and what is known today as Grant Ave. He died in 1872 and is buried at the Hamilton Cemetery.
Lucas, Steele & Bristol.
The Grant-Lottridge Brewing Co.
Hamilton, the Birmingham of Canada (1892)
Entered according to the Act of the Parliament of Canada, in the Office of the Minister of Agriculture, by the TIMES PRINTING COMPANY, of Hamilton, Ontario, in the year one thousand eight hundred and ninety-two.
