Throughout the history of the former Esquesing Township (present-day Halton Hills), the majority of the area’s early businesses were closely associated with agriculture in the typical manner of flour mills, tanneries and butchers, but the village of Hornby was linked to farming in a unique way.
Upon the clearing of land, the early settlers of Esquesing found the soil to be arable and fertile, ideal for the growing of barley and hops, especially in the township’s south end. While Hornby, settled in the 1820s, was mostly known as a farming community, the village eventually became renowned for its use of grain for the production of beer.
It was in 1832 when John Brain established the Brain Brewery as a result of several requests from neighbours who knew of his brewing skills, which he had developed in England before coming across the pond in 1823. After living for a few years in Pennsylvania, Brain moved up to Canada and settled on Lot Two, Concession 9, just east of Hornby. This is where he had a farm and a small shingle factory prior to starting his brewery.
The first facility was made of logs and is said to have handled 300 bushels of grain. By 1834, as demand for his beer quickly grew, Brain constructed a new brewery of bricks, which would handle over 10,000 bushels of grain, producing 5,000 barrels of beer annually.
It is to note there was a brewery, under the name of Brinkershoff, that operated for a short time on Main Street in Georgetown, but did not achieve the success of Brain’s Brewery. Most of the success of the brewery in Hornby was in part due to its ideal location as it was situated near the main travelling route of Trafalgar Road and along the border of Esquesing and Trafalgar Townships.
Farmers would use Trafalgar Road as a way to travel to Oakville to sell their grain at the harbour on Lake Ontario, and there were 21 hotels that operated on the 23-mile stretch from Ballinafad to Oakville, making it quite a lucrative business for Brain’s Brewery.
Most of the grain used at Halton’s largest brewery was harvested in the Hornby area and the brewery had its own coopersmith who made barrels and kegs, which would be hauled by teams of horses to hotels in Acton, Georgetown, Milton, Norval, Glen Williams, Oakville and other neighbouring communities.
Originally, Brain’s beer was made with 80 percent alcohol content, but was soon knocked down to 30 percent after customers complained of it being too strong. Beer in those days was kept cool by ice blocks in a cellar and could sit in an open pail for weeks without going flat.
The brewery sold the beer directly to the customer and it was quite common for a group of lads to put their money together for a keg or barrel and send someone to retrieve it with a team of horses.
While the Brain Brewery enjoyed much success for close to a century, it was often a target for Temperance groups, who were against the consumption of alcohol. In 1916 the province went under prohibition of drinking, forcing the brewery to close its doors and never to reopen after the 1927 repeal.
Even though the once-mighty Brain Brewery is now long gone, it remains a historically unique example of a business that was closely tied to Esquesing Township’s large agricultural industry of the day.
Article written by Scott Brooks, with information from Dills Collection/EHS/Halton Sketches/Halton County Atlas of 1877.
