Sleeman Breweries
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| Industry | Alcoholic beverage |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1834 |
| Founder | John H. Sleeman |
| Headquarters | Guelph, Ontario, Canada |
| Products | Beer |
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Production output
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1,200,000 hl |
| Owner | Sapporo Brewery |
| Subsidiaries | The Beer Store (2%) |
| Website | http://www.sleeman.com/ |
John H. Sleeman originally began brewing beer in Canada in 1834 and passed on the legacy to his sons and grandsons. The Sleeman family's brewery empire remained in business until 1933 and was restarted in 1988 by John W. Sleeman, the great-great grandson of John H. Sleeman. The new operation subsequently acquired other, smaller breweries and was itself purchased by a multi-national corporation.
Sleeman Breweries was purchased by Sapporo Brewery in 2006 for $400 million. The company owns 2 percent of Ontario's primary beer retailer The Beer Store. John W. Sleeman remained as CEO until 2010 when he relinquished that role and was made chairman of the Canadian company. The company is a significant player in beer in Canada.
The original Sleeman family brewery was forced to close in 1933 when their license was revoked for bootlegging, specifically, for smuggling beer into Detroit, Michigan, and for tax evasion. The company's current products are based on the family's original recipes, and recipes from Unibroue, a company that Sleeman had previously purchased.
The annual Canadian Brewing Awards recognizes the best beers in Canada using blind taste tests. Most of the 2015 winners were craft beers. However, one of the winners was Sleeman Cream Ale, taking a Gold in the Cream Ale category.
John H. Sleeman was born in Cornwall, England in 1805 and came to Ontario in 1834, first settling in St. David's, Ontario (Niagara-on-the-Lake) where he founded the Stamford Spring Brewery in 1836. He and his family moved to Guelph, Ontario in 1847 where they operated a series of breweries including the Hodgert’s Brewery, and the Silver Creek Brewery, which he opened in 1851. His son George Sleeman joined the company in 1859 as general manager and was named a partner in 1865. John H. died in 1893.
By 1890, George Sleeman had achieved great success with Silver Creek Brewery which had sales in Ontario and Quebec. He incorporated it into the Sleeman Brewing and Malting Company Limited with members of his immediate family. Due to excessive investments in his Guelph Street Railway Company, he lost the businesses to the banks in 1905; he then opened the Springbank Brewery. A year later the banks sold the brewery back to Sleeman. The family subsequently operated breweries in Guelph, often with success, until 1933.
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