Pacific Western Brewing Mourns
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PRINCE GEORGE – The Little Brewery That Could has lost a major presence. The owner of Pacific Western Brewing, Kazuko Komatsu, has passed away.
“We are devastated by her loss,” says Tom Leboe, Brewery Manager. “Kazuko has been an inspiration to all of us over the past 27 years. Her style of leadership taught us to strive to be better every day and to excel at every task. Through good times and bad, her loyalty and commitment to the PWB.”
Kazuko owned the brewery for the past 27 years and was at the helm when it achieved a number of milestones. For example, PWB was the first North American brewery to achieve ISO 9001 quality standards. It was also the first Canadian brewery to export to Mainland China in 1991 and then to Russia in 1996.
After moving from Japan to Canada in the late 1970s, Kazuko began buying and exporting Canadian goods to Japan. This included PWB’s Dragon Dry beer. In 1990, however, the owners of Pacific Western Brewing had run into serious financial difficulties. Kazuko decided to buy the company and a year later became the brewery’s seventh and longest-serving owner.
