Upper Canada Brewing Company is a brewery that is currently located in Guelph, Ontario, Canada. Founded by Frank Heaps in Toronto, they started brewing beer in 1985 and grew to become one of the largest independent breweries in Canada.
Their location at 2 Atlantic Ave. in Toronto included a "gift shop" that allowed the independent brewer to sell alcohol on Sunday, something that Ontario's licensed outlet Beer Store chain, which had a virtual monopoly on beer sales, was not permitted to do at the time.
The company was sold to private investors in 1995, went public in 1996, and was finally acquired by Sleeman Breweries in 1998. Soon afterwards Frank Heaps' son (Cameron) used the profits his dad made from selling Upper Canada Brewing Co. to open another Toronto based brewery, Steam Whistle. As for Upper Canada, its production moved to the more efficient brewing facility in Guelph, and is still, to this day, available for purchase on Sunday, at the Guelph Brewery retail store.
There has been somewhat of a revival for the brand in the last couple of years, as it was repositioned as a value-craft beer ("Craft beer without the Premium price"), and sales have skyrocketed.
UCBC products are found at most Beer Store outlets in Ontario in 24 pack formats ($29.95), as well as at select locations of the government owned LCBO liquor store chain in 6-pack bottles ($8.95).
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