If I was rooting around in the attic and found some recipes from my great-great-grandfather, they would probably be for moose sausage or venison pie. But not John Sleeman. No, he finds all the Sleeman brewmaster recipes from the 1800’s, coincidentally just 50 years after Sleeman was banned from brewing beer for 50 years due to prohibition bootlegging and tax evasion. Not running for political office, Sleeman decided to embrace the family brewery’s nefarious past and in a brilliant marketing move combined with some tasty brews, turned Sleeman into a national success story. *
Is Sleeman my favourite former craft brewer now owned by a major? ** Could be. The missus is like me, one and done. Although for her it’s one beer a year (Superbowl Sunday) and the only beer she will drink is a Sleeman Clear 2.0 out of the bottle. Not the first time she has made a great choice. *** One of my first craft beers was probably a Sleeman Honey Brown Lager. Not long ago I enjoyed what I believe was their most recent release, their Honey Blonde. ****
The Sleeman beer of the hour is their Cream Ale. Time to see if this brew is the cream of the hop crop.
Another no time to doddle, straight out of the bottle, full throttle quaff. Golden and clear. It has a smooth nice mouthfeel, with a malt body and a dry but not crisp finish. If there is such a thing as a dry aftertaste than this beer has one. No lager sweet initially, just middlin’ malt to dry finish. Now a bit of sweet enters the equation. Even though I am a one and done guy (COMDB AGM excepted) this is the type of beer I could definitely have more than one of. The first couple of swigs we were trying to figure each other out, by swig three I was sold.
A beer as easy going as I am? Ok not quite that easy, but definitely a smooth refreshing quaff.
No, not Farmer Steve’s Little Black Book these are the Sleeman family brew recipes.
*Editor’s Comment: Don Redmond in his blog Brew-Ha-Ha gives us the history of the Sleeman family and beer. McCleod & St. John also cover the history in their book Ontario Beer. Supposedly going back to the 1600’s, the Slymans were beer brewing pirates. Fast forward to the 1800’s and with a slight name change to leave their pirate past in their wake, in 1834 John Sleeman comes to Canada. After a brief period of brewing in St. Catharines, he moves his brewery to Guelph for the fresh spring water, Silver Springs Brewery. George the son takes over in the 1860’s and in 1867 Sleeman Brewing begins operations.
During prohibition they illegally shipped beer to the USA, unsubstantiated legend has it that Al Capone enjoyed Sleeman’s beer. Busted for bootlegging they made a deal with the Canadian government. They were granted clemency so they could pay back the taxes that would have been generated by that business. Defaulting on the tax payments, they were charged with bootlegging and tax evasion. In 1933 they were convicted and banned from doing business for 50 years. Enter John Sleeman’s great Aunt who hands him the 1800’s recipe book and encourages him to take up the family business again.
**Editor’s Comment: Sleeman was a Canadian owned craft brewer until Sapporo bought them in 2006 for a reported $400 Million. Shortly after they were no longer deemed to be a craft brewer due to their increased volume of production.
***Editor’s Comment: I can think of at least one questionable choice she has made..
****Editor’s Comment: Sleeman Honey Blonde was released on April 9th, 2025.
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