Upper Canada Brewing Company facts for kids
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| Industry | Alcoholic drink |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1985 |
| Headquarters | Guelph, Ontario, Canada |
| Products | Beer |
| Owner | Sleeman Breweries Ltd. |
The Upper Canada Brewing Company is a part of Sleeman Breweries. It is located in Guelph, Ontario, Canada. This company makes different kinds of beer. It started brewing beer in 1985 and grew to be one of the biggest independent breweries in Canada.
Contents
How It Started
The Upper Canada Brewing Company was started by Frank Heaps and Larry Sherwood. Larry Sherwood also helped start Granville Island Brewery. The company began making beer in 1985. It quickly became one of the largest independent breweries in Canada.
Selling Beer on Sundays
When the company was independent, its main location was in Toronto. It had a special "gift shop" there. This shop allowed the brewery to sell its products on Sundays. At that time, most other stores that sold beer in Ontario, like the Beer Store chain, were not allowed to open on Sundays. This gave Upper Canada Brewing a unique way to sell its beer.
Becoming Part of Sleeman
The company was sold to private investors in 1995. Then, in 1996, it became a public company. This means people could buy shares in it. Finally, in 1998, Sleeman Breweries bought the Upper Canada Brewing Company.
Sleeman paid $28 million to buy the company. After the purchase, Sleeman changed some things. They decided to make fewer types of Upper Canada products. This was because some of them were similar to Sleeman's own beers. Sleeman also closed the original brewery in Toronto. All the brewing work moved to Sleeman's main facility in Guelph, Ontario.
What Beers Were Made?
Even after the sale, some Upper Canada beers continued to be made. Two popular ones were:
- Upper Canada Lager: This was a German-style lager.
- Upper Canada Dark Ale: This beer had a strong malty taste and a rich chestnut color.
A New Brewery Begins
After Upper Canada Brewing was sold to Sleeman, Frank Heaps helped start a new company. He gave some money to his son, Cameron, and his friends Greg Taylor and Greg Cromwell. These friends used to work at Upper Canada Brewing. In 2000, they opened a new brewery in Toronto called Steam Whistle Brewing.
