Flash forward to 1988 when John W. Sleeman, great-great-grandson of
John H., received his ancestor's recipe book as a family heirloom.
He got inspired by the family legacy and decided to revive Sleeman
as a brewery, using recipes straight from the leather-bound volume.
Today Sleeman is one of the fastest-growing brewers in North
America. The beers still come in the company's trademark clear
glass bottles, introduced at the turn of the last century. Brewed
especially for export to the U.S., the Premium Lager has a smooth
body and complex, balanced flavors.
BIG ROCK GRASSHOPPER WHEAT ALE ($7 per six-pack)
If there's one thing you can find in the vast western province of
Alberta, it's grain, from wheat and barley to oats and rye. Is this
the perfect place for a brewery, or what? Just ask former attorney
and barley farmer Ed McNally, who created Big Rock Brewery in
Calgary in 1985 and named it after an 18,000-ton glacial boulder
found nearby.
Ed hired European brewmaster Bernd Pieper to create a line of beers
that follow the German Purity Law, a regulation dating back to 1516
that stipulates that beer should be brewed using only malt, hops,
yeast, and water. Some craft brewers scoff at the Purity Law as too
restrictive; others swear by it. You can decide for yourself, but
in my book, Big Rock's Grasshopper Wheat Ale is a perfect summer
beer, with clean-as-a-whistle wheat flavors and an understated but
refreshing hops finish.
TROIS PISTOLES ($9 per four-pack)
This dark, bottle-fermented ale comes from
Quebec's adventuresome
Unibroue brewery. Their French motto - Boire moins, boire mieux
("Drink less, drink better") - is definitely in order with this
bruiser, which has a butt-whomping 9 percent alcohol. The color
hovers intriguingly on the border between black and brown. On the
palate, the beer unleashes deep malty flavors swathed in a rich,
mouth-filling texture. Like other Unibroue products, Trois Pistoles
is bottled on the lees - that is, with the yeast left in the
bottle, giving it a distinct flavor and (for you health nuts) an
extra helping of vitamin B.