George A Sleeman

After receiving a good education, George A. Sleeman returned to Guelph to join the family business. George A. spent the next decade learning the family craft and recorded every detail in his notebook, including original family recipes. This notebook would later become the inspiration that led his grandson, John W. Sleeman, to reopen the brewery in the 1980s and allowed the Sleeman legacy to continue.

In 1898, George A. was sent to Ottawa as a sales agent to expand their operations and to open new breweries. Described as a quiet man, George A. did not particularly enjoy his role as a salesman and hoped this was his opportunity to open his own brewery in Ottawa. Although the brewing operations did not flourish, George A. was fortunate to avoid the infamous smuggling operations of Henry O. and his other brothers by virtue of being in Ottawa. Once the family was charged with smuggling in 1933 and lost their brewing rights, George A. stayed in Ottawa and worked for a construction company that was responsible for constructing and maintaining the Parliament and Governor General’s residence grounds.