Sleeman Brewery not hiding its notorious past

Way back when I interviewed John Sleeman in 1996
or so, this is exactly what he looked like. In fact, my
photo of him was set up so similarly, I think this
library photo might actually be mine. If not... close.

Way back in 1995, I became the editor of the Oakville Journal community newspaper after stints as editor for a couple of smallish Toronto newspapers. The Oakville job was preceded by those larger-circulation Toronto papers but followed by editor posts on even smaller circulation papers in a couple of even tinier communities.

Except for a six-month contract stint as a copy editor on the daily Toronto Sun sometime in the early-90s, I never worked at a big paper - in fact, they got smaller as I went along...

So do good things come in small packages? Not really. Long hours, no showers, sucky low paycheques that bounced with alarming frequency... you name it. I remember a funny little Danish man (usually blotto by noon), who owned one of the Toronto papers, had a unique response to bouncing one of my cheques. Me: "My cheque bounced." Him: "Yeah, I coulda told you that was gonna happen." Me: "Why not tell me?" Him: "Thought you'd get mad." Me: "I am mad!" Him: "Yeah, I can see that. Can I buy you a beer?" Me: "A beer?" Him: "Okay, a couple." See? That's my problem - everyone knows my Kryptonite. On the positive side, the small papers came with an incredible amount of editorial freedom and, well... let me just say I remember, at one point, doing the horoscopes. If you were an Aquarius, like me, every week was a good week. Any other sign? All bad, up to and including a predicted demise in a most gruesome manner. That Danish publisher? Once he got: "You're an ass. Not the donkey kind. Pay your employees." (Yup, his horoscope got printed.)

How Sleeman looks these days - ever the dashing brewer!

Anyways, back to that Oakville paper. Community newspapers write about municipal council, budgets, road repairs, local crime... that sort of thing. Not exciting but people read it anyway. So when John Sleeman moved to Oakville in, I believe, 1996, I jumped at the chance to interview him at his Guelph brewery because he now had an Oakville "hook", as we called it. A beer story!! Finally!!! Someone else would have to cover the strawberry social that afternoon - I was driving to Beer Heaven.

John, himself, turned out to be an engaging and charming story-teller - part of which revolves around the fact he had a helluva story to tell. For starters, in the 1600s, the Slymans (as they were then known) were beer-making pirates. Actual Jack Sparrow-type pirates but beer, not rum.  After a couple of centuries, even though pirate business be good, arrrrr, they decided to go legit, changed their name to Sleeman (because who's gonna crack that code?) and opened bars in England.

Al Capone: "Me and dah boys loves us our
Sleeman's beer. Fresh Canadian well water!"

Eventually, his great-great-grandfather John came to Canada in 1836 and started a brewery in St Catherine's. Because the Industrial Age was in full-swing, the water in St Kitt's was sketchy so he shifted operation to Guelph where they could tap fresh spring well water. His son, George, took over the business in 1867, Canada's founding year. And so they continued on successfully, son to son. Well, until the Canadian Temperance Act reared its ugly head in 1916, forcing brewers to sell only ginger ale and malt. Fortunately, at that point, one of the Sleeman brothers in charge found a profitable sideline, harkening back to their pirate days. They started to bootleg beer to the USA... notably the Detroit and Chicago areas... and even more notably to Al Capone. That was, of course, a double-edged sword in 1933. Incredibly lucrative... but even more so, incredibly illegal. The Canadian government found out and shut them down cold - banning them from making beer for 50 years! Let's face it - even the pirate Slymans got a better deal than that. Granted, no record of them ever being caught... arrrr, scurvy dogs that they be...

Sleeman Brewery in 1850 with the family homestead, left

This was not an issue for John's folks who were abstainers. According to him, the brewery history was never mentioned in the household as he was growing up. He never knew. But he told me even if he had known his family's brewing past, he wouldn't have cared. At 17, he set off for his own to England in the hopes of establishing pubs. Never happened. British banks were reluctant to bankroll the upstart Canadian guy. However, returning here with a British wife, he decided to create a British pub here in the mid-70s. This time, British brewers - big ones - were more than willing to export their product to him, a rarity in Canada at that time.

The Sleeman Brewery now, Canada's third-largest brewer

Another small problem? Distribution of British beer in Canada was illegal unless you had the proper authorization. He didn't so he cut a deal with the government that allowed him to do so but over the years, he began to wonder if it might not be more profitable to dump the British bar and use his (now considerable) connections to start distributing British beer in Canada, even though the government would have taken a huge cut. (Anyone else thinking the government is simply a better organized, legal version of, well, gangsters or even pirates? Well, that is, unless my MP is reading this because you, sir, are a saint in a three-piece suit. A saint, I say... Note to self: find out who my MP is and if need be, Eddie Haskell that suit reference to "lovely dress.")

The OTHER thing Sleeman is notorious for: their clear
bottles. You know, after the pirates and bootleggers...

Well, here's where things get interesting, or at least more so. Turns out a great-aunt of his had been saving that brewery recipe book all those years and presented it to him, imploring him to restart the family's brewing tradition. Much reluctance on John's end - no one starts a brewery because someone hands them a recipe book. Well, okay, I would... but no one sane. But he did, regardless, restarting the brewery in 1988, less than five years after their 50-year ban expired. Since then, through numerous acquisitions, they have become the third-largest brewer in Canada behind Labatt's and Molson. While I was interviewing John in 1996, he was on the verge of buying BC's Okanagan Spring Brewery (which he did a couple of months later); in 1998, they bought up Toronto's Upper Canada Brewing in 1998, Maritime Brewing in 2000 and then, from where I'm sitting, the biggest jewel in their crown, Quebec's outstanding Unibroue in 2004.

This is definitely one of their best, included in their Spring
Selection pack. Then, their Silver Creek Lager and Porter

Then in 2006, turn-about became fair play. According to John in a Canadian Business Journal story, the two Canadian big brewery boys were sniffing around Sleeman and he feared it would not be a pleasant experience - that the brewery, now a player albeit a smaller one, would get bought out... and then shut down. To that end, Sleeman said he found a "white knight" in Japanese giant, Sapporo, who bought them out for $400 million - a deal that left him in charge of the Canadian operations and kept their 1,000-plus employees with jobs, his biggest fear.

So what is Sleeman's place on the Great Canadian Beer Landscape? That depends. If you're a mainstream beer drinker, Sleeman's is considered the "Fancy Dan" stuff. If you're a craft beer drinker, they are considered mainstream, notably because they have 2% of The Beer Store (something made possible by the Sapporo acquisition.)

How does Sleeman deal with their sketchy past?
Well, they use it in their radio ads, for starters!

So how's their beer? Some really good... some less so. Throw RateBeer out of the window for this one. They get panned hugely there. Their best, by far, is their Bock, which I just had for the first time recently. This is not a heavy bock, nor should it be. Caramel on the nose, an interesting bittersweet malt on the tongue. For a larger brewer, this is precisely the bock you want to make, one that may sway a few mainstream drinkers to the, well, dark side. After that, I'll offer up two more I enjoy - their Fine Porter and Silver Creek Lager. The Fine Porter is based on the porters founder John Sleeman used to drink in England. Chocolate and lightly nutty on the nose, it's also nutty on the tongue and a tad bitter. Had I had better porters? Yes, a few from the crafties. Have I had any porters with more history behind them? After all, this is the exact same recipe that was brewed in the 1800s. No. Not even close. So props...

Sorry, RateBeer, this is one of my favourite Canadian lagers.

Okay. Silver Creek Lager (Silver Creek was one of the brewery's 1800s names). I have always been a fan of this beer. Back when I interviewed John, as I was exiting through the retail area, he stopped me and said, "No one leaves here without a 'thank you'," gesturing towards their beer and clothing. I left with a 12-pack of Silver Creek and a sick sweatshirt. I didn't have the heart to tell him that in community newspapers, unless you were on the front paper for something illegal, all business stories were what we called "fluffy bunnies", meaning their stories were told with great deference. And by "didn't have the heart", I mean, I got paid squat... so freebies always welcome. To me, for what many would consider mainstream lager, I think this is one of the cleanest, crispest ones going. I don't drink lagers much anymore but I would always drink this one. It's damn tasty.

A good dark beer but not an
outstanding one. That said, hand
me one, I will  happily drink it...

In the middle of the Sleeman's pack is their Dark ale, a beer that is solid but not blow-your-mind-good, like, say, Mill Street Tankhouse. I am a fan of their Original Draught, simply because on a hot day at Donny's Bar and Grill, a draft goes down easily on the patio. But these days, a hard-core IPA or punchy pale ale goes down just as easy. The Sleeman IPA is a malt-driven, hops-free British-style IPA, not surprising given the brewery's roots - but I think we know I shun those for the American style hop-bombs. The Cream Ale, their second best seller, suffers with me simply because that's my least-favoured kind of ale (other company's, including crafties, do not fare any better with me) and the Honey Brown Lager does not stack up well against some of the amber lagers out there I love, such as Barking Squirrel.

Beyond that, both the Sleeman Light and the low-carb Sleeman Clear I've never had because well, those styles don't appeal to me. They might well be excellent in those categories but the honest truth is I'll never know. They both sell well, especially the Clear - that much I know.

And that is the story of Sleeman Brewery. Pirates. Bootleggers. The little train that could. And for all three of those things, I have no small amount of admiration for John and his crew. And here's a reason why. Okay, think craft beer will always be the little guy in the room? Think again. In Portland, Oregon, they just surpassed the big national brewers as the bigger sellers in the first major American market ever. Check it out here: Crafties kicking ass in Portland Remember, my friends at Flying Monkeys, Amsterdam, Mill Street and, of course, my homeboys, Nickel Brook... that was Sleeman in 1988 - look where they are now. It's a big market... with evolving tastes. And as a beer drinker, buoys and gulls, the more the merrier...

Okay, gang, next time, Katie goes to Vegas and the Beer Musketeers (including Stevil St Evil in New Zealand) invade Donny's Bar and Grill. But until then, guys and dolls, that's it, that's all and I am outta here! As always, I remain...