BOTTLE, BEER

Description: BROWN GLASS BOTTLE WITH GOLD CAP AND GREEN LABEL ACROSS THE BODY. LABEL READS “ALBERTA’S PRIDE” IN WHITE SCRIPT AND DEPICTS AN ILLUSTRATED BEAVER SITTING ATOP A GLOBE, IN FRONT OF AN ORANGE MAPLE LEAF. UNDERNEATH THIS LOGO IS WRITTEN “LETHBRIDGE BREWING & MALTING CO. LTD, LETHBRIDGE, ALBERTA” IN BLACK TEXT. GENERAL DIRT AND SCUFFS, WITH SOME WEAR ON LABEL. *NOTE* IN NOVEMBER 2015, CONSERVATOR JULIET GRAHAM PERFORMED A SUCCESSFUL TREATMENT TO REATTACH THIS BOTTLE’S PAPER NECK LABEL. IT FELL OFF POST-DISCOVERY BY THE DONORS AND PRE-ACQUISITION BY THE GALT.

History: THIS BEER BOTTLE WAS FOUND BY DAVE READ, A CONTRACTOR DOING RENOVATIONS IN THE PERSONAL RESIDENCE OF DAVID COCKS AND KARLA MATHER-COCKS ON/ABOUT DECEMBER 8, 2012. READ FELT THE BOTTLE INSIDE THE CAVITY OF THE EXTERIOR WALL, WHERE IT HAD BEEN RESTING HIDDEN BEHIND THE HOME’S ORGINAL LATHE AND PLASTER WALLS. CITY ASSESSMENT RECORDS DATE THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE PROPERTY TO BETWEEN 1907 AND 1910. ‘ALBERTA’S PRIDE’ BEER WAS ONE OF FRITZ SICK'S EARLIEST BEER VARIETIES AND WAS POSSIBLY BREWED THROUGH THE 1920S. IT WAS ADVERTISED AS “THE BEER WITHOUT A PEER”. FRITZ SICK FOUNDED THE LETHBRIDGE BREWERY IN 1901 AND FORMED THE ASSOCIATED BREWERIES OF CANADA IN 1928 WITH HIS SON EMIL (WHICH BECAME SICK’S BREWERIES LTD IN 1944). SICK WAS BORN IN GERMANY IN 1859, AND EMIGRATED WITH HIS WIFE AND YOUNG SON TO NORTH AMERICA IN 1883. PRIOR TO SETTLING IN LETHBRIDGE, SICK TRAINED IN BREWING FUNDAMENTALS IN CINCINNATI, WORKED IN BREWERIES IN SAN FRANCISCO, TACOMA, AND SPOKANE, AND ESTABLISHED BOTH THE TRAIL BREWING CO. AND FORT STEELE BREWING CO. IN BRITISH COLUMBIA. SICK’S BREWERY IN LETHBRIDGE BECAME FAMOUS FOR ITS OLD STYLE PILSNER, WHICH IS STILL PRODUCED TODAY BY MOLSON’S BREWING CO, FOLLOWING MOLSON’S PURCHASE OF SICK’S BREWERY IN 1959. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION SEE PERMANENT FILE.