150 Years of Canadian Beer Labels

Shortlisted for the 2017 Taste Canada Food Writing Awards

Foreword by Ian Coutts, author of The Perfect Keg and Brew North

What's more Canadian than beer? Craft brewing has exploded across Canada, reinvigorating the country's love and appreciation for its favorite beverage. But Canadians have always treasured beer--a fact evidenced by these 150 vintage labels that showcase both stunning skills in typography and a true passion for the brewski.

In addition to the earliest vintage labels from iconic breweries like Dow and Molson, discover an eye-opening cross-section of the country's beer-brewing history through the artwork of ales, porters, lagers, and malts from brewers east to west, many of which are long forgotten.

A lifelong collector of beer memorabilia, Lawrence C. Sherk has amassed the second-largest private collection of beer labels in Canada. In 2011, he donated nearly 3000 of his labels to the Thomas Fisher Rare Books Library at the University of Toronto, where they can be viewed as part of the library’s paper-ephemera collection. Before retiring in 2000, Sherk was a renowned horticulturist, though history is his first love.