by Libation Staff | Last Updated: June 18, 2022

Today I’ll be covering everything I know about the Canadian brewery widely known as FM Brewery. By the time you finish reading this, you’ll know everything there is to know about the company. So, pour a beer, and let’s dive right into things!

Review and History of F&M Brewery

Maybe you’ve heard about the F&M Brewery or have tried some of its products. No matter, because here we’ll talk more about the history of the F&M Brewery and how it transformed over the years to become the brand it is known as today.

How It All Started

StoneHammer Brewing was a brewery established by a group of friends in 1995. The brewery was situated in Guelph, Ontario, Canada, and was a member of the Ontario Craft Brewers Association or OCB.

The founders were four friends: Rich Fortnum, Bruce Fortnum, Antonia Smits, and Charles MacLean, who began operations with StoneHammer Pilsner, MacLean’s Pale Ale, and a dry-hopped dark mild blend. The brewery soon began contract brewing of several LCBO-licensed beers.

Products

The thing that raised this brewery’s popularity was their traditional fire-brewed StoneHammer beer made in a direct copper kettle, using only natural ingredients. The brewery used horizontal tanks to age the beer and then used the cold filtering process to filter and clarify it. The production was organized in small batches, and the beer was distributed only to a handful of distributors.

The proprietary beers they made were StoneHammer Pilsner, MacLean’s Pale Ale, Dry-Hopped Dark Mild, Dark Ale, Session Lager, Oatmeal Coffee Stout, Pale Ale, Maple Red Ale, and Baltic Porter. When possible, this brewery used locally sourced materials: maple syrup from the Shady Grove Maple manufacturer from Guelph. The coffee beans for the Oatmeal Coffee Stout were supplied by the local Guelph coffee roaster Planet Bean.

The H&M Brewery and StoneHammer Brewery produced several contract beers: Taylor & Bated Elora Pale Ale, Harvest Lager, and Harvest Ale, two of Canada’s more famous beers from the Taste of Ontario Harvest Series for the Neighborhood Group.

What’s The Future Look Like For FM Brewery?

The company changed ownership several times; in 1997 and again in 2015 when it officially became known as F&M Brewery. The brewery operated by producing several types of beers until they filed for bankruptcy in 2018. However, there are still loyal fans of the F&M Brewery products that can’t get over the fact that their favorite craft beers are no longer in production.