O Canada

[stringsx24now]

Thinking about Canada lately. Don't really know why. Had some beer related Canadian questions for the group. Mostly just curiousity….
1. It has been well documented that the US is at or above the previous all time high of number of breweries in the country--well over 4000, probably approaching 5000. Has the craft/microbrewery craze spread to Canada as much? Are there breweries in each little town/city up there like here? So how many breweries are in Canada now?
2. Dumping: one occasionally hears about dumping in Canada, but not much. Are there not prime areas up there to dump as well? Or is it just a numbers game: fewer people to drink less beer plus fewer of us to look for beer cans in the ground? Or were they enviornmentally concerned way before us and did not bury their trash?

3. Canadian cones are cool. Were they distributed throughout the country, or were they more regional? When (what year) was the first Canadian beer can, and what was it?

4. What is the Holy Grail of Canadian cans?

5. Are there still as many Canadian collectors as there was, or are they diminishing in numbers and activities like in the US?

[Beercanpete]

Good questions! Not sure how much I can help with these, but …

I think a lot of the older Canadian cans were made for export (mostly to the U.S.), which is why you don't hear much about dumping in Canada. I am certain there are dumps up there with cans, but it might just be a numbers game, not nearly as many dumps with cans as you'd find in the U.S.

As for a Holy Grail … all of the cones are pretty tough, but especially the Brading Lager, Frontenac White Ale, and Frontenac Blue Label--you can probably count how many of each exist on about one hand. The Class book for Canada says the Doran's with "Imported from Canada" on the side and the Heidelberg with "Product of Canada" at the bottom are unique, but I wouldn't vouch for that. They are definitely super tough. There are a lot of other flats that are real tough--the first two Brading's Ales, Dow Ale "Cool Control", the first Black Label and Laurentide flats, etc. I've got my list of cans from the Canadian Class book down to about 50, and it's a really good year if I can find one can from that list in a year.

[curt]

Back in the late 40 and early 50's when cans were introduced they were only in a few provinces Quebec, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick these 3 provinces are where cones were distributed) and cans only accounted for a fraction of a percent of sales. As late as the 70's cans were only about 5% of total sales. It is only in the last 20 or 30 years that sales of beer in cans in Canada has really took off.

Ontario which is the most populated province by a long shot only started to sell canned beer in 1964 I believe.

I agree with Pete, the holy grail is a Bradings cone but there plenty of Canadian cans with only a handful known. i have added 3 cans so far in 2018 after 0 in 2017 so a good start.

[bantam10]

I agree, awesome question.
I’ve personally dumped Canadian cans here (and seen others dump them) on a number of occasions, so I’m sure many of them were exported here.

Plus theres tons of canadian dump diggers on YouTube, so the collectors are out there. However, very few were concerned about the cans, even when they were cones!

[jinsequa]

Good questions! Not sure how much I can help with these, but …
The Class book for Canada says the Heidelberg with "Product of Canada" at the bottom are unique, but I wouldn't vouch for that. They are definitely super tough.

Do you know the provenance behind the "Product of Canada" Heidelberg? Was it found in South Africa or was it picked up in Canada prior to export? Do you know what year it was produced? Just wondering.....I collect Heidelbergs and have almost all from US and Canada yet I don't know anything about that one.
I do know it took me forever to find a "Master Brewed" Canadian Heidelberg, so I am guessing that one is no slouch either?

Eric Palmer

[foreigncanman]

Good questions! Not sure how much I can help with these, but …
The Class book for Canada says the Heidelberg with "Product of Canada" at the bottom are unique, but I wouldn't vouch for that. They are definitely super tough.

Do you know the provenance behind the "Product of Canada" Heidelberg? Was it found in South Africa or was it picked up in Canada prior to export? Do you know what year it was produced? Just wondering.....I collect Heidelbergs and have almost all from US and Canada yet I don't know anything about that one.
I do know it took me forever to find a "Master Brewed" Canadian Heidelberg, so I am guessing that one is no slouch either?

Eric Palmer

The Heidelberg is thought to be unique. Some of the collectors in Toronto may know the provenance of the can. It was in Horst's collection and I believ e he obtained it but I do not know where. Tom

[Matt Menghini]

The comments above about the beer cones are spot on. YOu can over time assemble all of the Canadian cones except the ones that are mentioned above. Also good to collect is the soda cones - lots of soda cones from Canada and that is a set that you can complete, except for the Brio from Pure Springs. Matt

[Summitcan]

The comments above about the beer cones are spot on. YOu can over time assemble all of the Canadian cones except the ones that are mentioned above. Also good to collect is the soda cones - lots of soda cones from Canada and that is a set that you can complete, except for the Brio from Pure Springs. Matt

I do not collect many soda cans but I think the Lucky Strike cones are my favorite soda can

[dtsoc]

Hi Matt,
What’s the Brio can? Is that a soda?
Thx, DT

[foreigncanman]

Hi Matt,
What’s the Brio can? Is that a soda?
Thx, DT

Brio was an Italian soda made and sold in Canada , It used to be available at pizzerias and grocery stores.Tom

[Clarkston1]

Here is a pic of the Brading’s cone which I think showed up on eBay a few years ago.
Sharp can....don’t know who ended up with it?
EDIT - Added another picture from an old thread.
viewtopic.php?t=42794

[Beercanpete]

Funny that the Brading's looks photoshopped or something--but I KNOW that's what a legit can looks like. Tough enough can that I have never seen one in person!

[Leon]

Link to Brio unknown Cone. LEON.

http://www.therustybunch.com/phpBB3/vie ... hilit=brio

[Mark (expired)]

Dave Fowler and Ted Bartolacci put together a compendium of Canadian cans from 1948-1984 - and it has a rarity scale from 1-10(hardest). As much as such ratings generate lots of second and third guessing and get out of date because of subsequent "finds", they do help with at least some relative understanding of what is out there and which ones are thought to be harder to get than others. I tried to do a quick count - and they list 8 cans as RR=10 - including a green pull tab Heidleberg for South Africa and a 132 oz Keg Draft Ale?

I have heard that the copper colored Black Horse cones are likely "first" for Canada dating to 1948. The Molson Export Ale wood grain flat is thought to be the earliest flat top and may be 1949/50?

[roosterman]

I have had pretty good success dumping in Canada. I find the Muskoka region just north of Toronto to be right full of treasures. Most cottages would carry their groceries in but would not carry out the garbage. Most dumps are in or over banks behind the cottage. I do phone repair in cottage land so everywhere I visit I take a stroll out back to find the dump. Curt is correct in that cans were not introduced in Ontario til 64-65 so the oldest cans to be found are zip top. Only a small fraction of beer went cans so even the zip tops cans are rare. They went to a tear drop lid by 67. Since soda was 10 oz and beer was 12 oz, You can very quickly tell by the size of the lid worth digging it up.