Electric Light

“Be it known that We, Henry Woodward of the city of Toronto in the County of York, in the Province of Ontario Medical Electrician, and Mathew Evans also of the city of Toronto, in the County of York, in the Province of Ontario Gentleman, have jointly invented: New and useful improvements in the art or process of obtaining Artificial light by means of Electricity.” 

…otherwise known as The Light Bulb. Toiling at Morrison’s Brass Foundry on Adelaide Street, Woodward & Evans built the first electric light using a shaped rod of carbon held between electrodes in a glass bulb filled with nitrogen. They patented their invention in 1874, and attempted to form a company to raise money to refine and market their invention. For their efforts, Woodward & Evans were subjected to public ridicule (“Who needs a glowing piece of metal? Not a very bright idea”). Nonetheless, they obtained a U.S. patent in 1876. In 1879, some guy named Thomas Edison considered Woodward & Evans’ invention important enough in furthering his own research to completely buy the patents from them and all their Canadian partners. And the rest is history.

We brewed this light, refreshing lager in honour of these unsung Toronto pioneers who literally changed the world.