Northern Breweries

Northern Breweries

Northern Ale beer label.
Location	Sudbury, Ontario, Canada
Opened	1907
Closed	2006
Owned by	J.J. Doran (1907-?) Canadian Breweries (1971-77) employee-owned cooperative (1977-2004) Leo Schotte (2004-06)
Active beers
Name Type Northern Cream Ale Cream Ale Northern Premium Lager Lager Northern Premium Light Lager Northern Extra Light Pale Lager Red Maple Lager Wolfgang's German Style Ale

Northern Breweries was a Canadian brewery, with facilities in Sudbury and Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, in operation from 1907 until 2006.

The company was founded in 1907 by three families, the Doran family, the Mackey family and the Fee family. The organizer and operating head of the company was J.J. Doran. Doran, together with co-founders J.J. Mackey and Richard Fee expanded operations throughout Northern Ontario.

Construction and commencement of its primary facility began in Sudbury as Sudbury Brewing and Malting Co. in 1907. It began to expand in 1911, with the purchase of the Soo Falls Brewing Co. in Sault Ste. Marie, and again in 1913 with the acquisition of Kakabeka Falls Brewing Co. in Fort William.

In 1919, the company established its Doran's Brewery division in Timmins, and in 1948 it acquired the Port Arthur Beverage Co. in Port Arthur.

All of the individual breweries operated under their original names until 1960. In that year, all of the brewing operations were consolidated under one management, relinquishing their previous names and becoming known as Doran's Northern Breweries.

During its prime, the company's most distinctive product was the "draft ball", draft beer packaged in a large plastic ball instead of a conventional metal beer keg.

On August 31, 1971 the company was purchased by Canadian Breweries, although it continued to operate under the name Doran's Northern Breweries. In July 1977, the Doran's employees purchased the company back from Canadian Breweries, and Northern became the first employee-owned brewing cooperative in North America.

In 1979, the brewery began marketing its beers in Southern Ontario as well.

In 2004, the company was purchased by an investment group led by Leo Schotte. Schotte hired a veteran of the brewery business in Canada, William Sharpe, as president. In 2005, the company announced a major rebranding effort, retiring many of its old products in favour of more modern brews and brand identities.