Dow Ale Bottles
[!dow-ale2.jpg](http://canadiandesignresource.ca/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/dow-ale2.jpg)
Here’s a brand that you don’t see anymore: Dow was the number one beer in Quebec until 1966, when the brand become associated with the deaths of 16 Quebec City men. The deaths (from congenital heart failure) were apparently linked to heavy beer consumption and while Dow was never directly named in the case, as the biggest selling beer in the province there was a strong association. Unfortunately, the company’s attempt to deal with the scandal by halting production and destroying almost a million gallons of beer only solidified this association in the minds of the public. The brand hung on for a long time (Molson stopped production in 1997), but Dow’s popularity never recovered.
These bottles were pulled from the walls of [Toronto’s Gladstone Hotel](http://www.gladstonehotel.com/) during renovations a few years ago. They’ve never been opened, so I guess this was someone’s stash!
[Source: Allen Winn Sneath, _Brewed in Canada_ (Dundurn Press Ltd., 2001)](http://books.google.ca/books?id=NVldNYzUMJAC&printsec=frontcover&dq="dow+ale"+tainted+beer&source=gbs_summary_r&cad=0#PPA183,M1)