John Sleeman Presents India Pale Ale

Brewed by Sleeman Brewing & Malting Co. (Sapporo)
Style: American Pale Ale
Guelph, Canada

Dosen’t smell anytthing better than sleemans’ with hops. Looks like regular sleemans’ and tastes like any old sleemans with the ’x’ flavour being hops. No particular kind, just a general hops flavour. Taste’s ok, but overly compartmentalized flavour reminds me that this brewery is now owned by a ’uge MNC and the recipies have been scrutinized too much and are lacking in robustness. I shed a tear for the sleeman’s of yesteryear.

Pours a coppery orange with a one and a half finger sized white head. Sweet malt and a good amount of Golding hops. Apples, honey, and spice. Tastes, actually pretty good (for a Sleeman product). A good balance of sweet and bitter. Nice mouth feel. Sticky, in a pleasant way. Really a quite nice traditional IPA. I really didn’t have high hopes for this one, but this one surprised me! Not bad at all!

Poured from bottle. Poured a dark golden color with a decent head. Very nice aroma. Malty, sweet smelling. Full malt flavor which was very nice, with a biterness at the end. Maybe a bit too bitter for my liking. I have found most Sleeman products just O.K, but this one is very good.

Bottle. Copper pour. Typical honey-malt aroma you find in most Sleeman beers. Moderate bitterness and a malt underline a slight hoppyness. Probably would like a little more hop, but overall a pretty enjoyable beer.

341 ml bottle from a trade with jessem. pours copper with a small white head. no retention. aroma of crytal malts, honey, and light hopping. clean flavour profile with some malty sweetness up fresh and a small bitter finish. easy to drink but not big in the flavour. passable.

341mL bottle from a BS 12-pack. I was in the mood for something new despite my general hatred of Sleeman, the wannabe craft brewery. Nice looking bottle, outrageously mediocre beer. Pours out an attractive golden-copper with a very large, rocky white head. The aroma is very typically Sleeman, a beer trying its hardest to be good but still held back by lousy near-macroness. Not impressive malt bodyw with only the subtlest hint of the advertised Goldings hops. Nothing horrid, not skunked, though nothing impressive. The flavour is weird, indistinct maltyness with some bitterness that must be from the hops, at least they did something right as it adds a nice little pricklyness on the palate. Finishes with some banana aspects and mild fruity esters which might actually be legitimate and not synthetic, although this is Sleeman’s after all so who knows. There’s a bit of a plastic aspect to it all that is really unappealing and very typical of this brewery. Meh, as far as this style goes it’s pretty low on the spectrum of good examples, but still better than any other Sleeman product I’ve ever had. Lacks that characteristic macro awefulness that creeps in on the aftertaste, so kudos on that I guess. At least it looks nice and if they are using an adjunct there’s nothing apparent in the flavour. I think its most redeeming quality is just that it doesn’t make me want to hunt down John Sleeman and punch him in the dick, but it is still over-priced for what it is.

Bottle. A very poor APA. Pours a weak gold color with no head. Light citrus and pine aromas. Flavor is very very weak. Body is too light and thin. Very disappointed.

12oz bottle. Pours golden orange with white head. Aroma is malt and light hops. Flavor is malty with some light hops. Not really an IPA. It is actually light for a Pale Ale. Not very good and a very poor example of an IPA but not a drain pour by any means.