There’s a new temporary exhibit brewing at the Galt Museum & Archives entitled, A Smile in Every Bottle: Sicks’ Lethbridge Breweries Ltd.
On display until Sept. 6, the exhibit focuses on the former Lethbridge brewery and how the Sick family built its brewing empire across Western Canada and into the United States.
Fritz Sick brought a wealth of brewing knowledge when he came to Lethbridge and opened the brewery in 1901. The brewery was a consistent employer in the city from its opening until 1990.
The exhibit also focuses on how the brewery impacted the community. The brewery’s flagship beer Old Style Pilsner hit the market in 1926, with the exhibit timed to celebrate its centennial anniversary this year.
Guest curator Stephanie Laine Hamilton’s interest in this subject matter came out of a book she wrote entitled, Booze and Bars: A Brief History of Pub Culture in Crowsnest Pass.
“What I noticed was a lot of hotels had been owned by breweries. I was really curious about this and wanted to know more and the first brewery I started looking into was my hometown brewery. I realized quickly there was a PhD’s worth of work to do with this, so this exhibit is an extension of some of my PhD research,” Laine Hamilton adds.
According to Laine Hamilton, the empire Sicks’ Brewing had built is quite a bit larger than people realized. “The massive success of Sicks’ Breweries is often overlooked as only maybe part of the rise of Molson’s on the way to becoming a big three brewer in Canada. However, without Sicks’ Brewing, they wouldn’t have been able to get a toehold in the western market of Canadian brewing.”
“It’s now much more connected than ever with contemporary brewing and the rise of the craft brewing industry and some of the brewers now able to brew in Lethbridge again after so many years,” she notes.
At its height, Sicks’ Brewing started off as a one-man show, and then it started to grow.
“The quality beer spoke for itself, and more and more beer was getting brewed in Lethbridge. In the 1980s, it would have employed about 150 people at the brewery, so the brewery was a significant employer in Lethbridge for years,” Laine Hamilton explains.
The brewery closed in 1990 and was demolished, but the Brewery Gardens remain, she adds. “I’m in the process of developing a tour we’ll be doing a little bit later in the summer that’ll be focused on the Brewery Gardens and the former brewery site. That’s just one of several different programs happening in connection with this exhibit.”
A Smile in Every Bottle also connects the past to the present by highlighting local breweries operating today along the Highway 3 Ale Trail.
An exhibition launch is being held May 1 from 3-8 p.m. The event will feature southern Alberta breweries, along with a variety of games and curator tours.
For more information or a calendar of events, visit online at galtmuseum.com/calendar.
