John Sleeman Presents India Pale Ale

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

Like drinking slightly rusty carbonated water. There’s a decent aroma of light hops and some fruit, but the metallic taste really ruins this one. Decent head and some minimal lacing. Not a good APA, PA, IPA, or anything else.

Hazed orange gold amber with minimal head. Nose is mild fruit. Apricot. Some hop character. Flavor is metallic and very much so at that. Not much else seems to be able to move past that for a while. After a few sips you get a more hop influence that is present but subdued and not overdone and stays even and smooth. Feel is good. Nice level of bubble and a thicker feel on the liquid. Drinkability is so-so. The prevalent metallic flavor profile is not as complex as I would hope for and grabs too much spotlight since it is the most memorable attribute.

Not a very great hop smell, or just smell in general. A decent haze colour, but honestly this beer isn’t that great. I can smell the hops, I just really don’t like it. The hops are okay, and fruity, but I do not like the aftertaste of the beer. It starts out well, but finishes poorly. The hops are not high quality, from what I can tell. The beer doesn’t have much of a malt flavour to speak of. The beer just seems like the company decided to use low quality products. I do like the hops but the hops are cheap and have no supporting flavors. Decent but also not very good.

Name: India Pale Ale
Date: 04/01/2007
Mode: Bottle
Source: Brewfest, Classic City

Appearance: hazy light yellow, frothy white head,
Aroma: light hop aroma,
Flavor: light sweet malt flavor balanced by light hops, light bitterness,
Overall: is this what passes for an IPA in Canada?

Aroma: 4/10; Appearance: 6/10; Flavor: 4/10; Palate: 6/10; Overall: 9/20
Rating: 2.3/5.0
Drinkability: 7/10
Score: *4

I picked up a sixer @ a NJ liquor store under the "46*" monicker and a little over six bucks. I know very little about Sleemans beers, and wasn’t sure what to expect. Golden ale, malt aroma, chalk, and bitter with a citrus undertone. Not sure if Sleeman’s is pulling my leg claiming its a a recreation of a century old recipe. Above average at best, and I thought it was neat that it came in retro embossed bottles.

Bottle from Friar Tucks in Champaign, IL. Pours amber with a two fingers eggshell retentive head. Faint aroma of caramel and fruity hops. Whoa! This shit is really bad. It has a cheap macro malt profile. like grass, hay, and corn. The hop bitterness is just a bad, like freezer burnt stale hops. This foul concoction is so bad that my drain is not worthy of this. A total toiletpour. Worst pale ale I have ever had. Infected homebrew is better than this. Hey Sleeman, let’s spend a little less time on the bottle and focus on the beer.

Mild citrus, fruit aroma. Copper with a creamy head. Mild lite hops, watery flavours. Smooth with mild bitter finish.

A golden body and quickly diminishing head. This Sleeman actually has an aroma, mainly of citrus hops and a little bit of malt or bread. Pretty crisp. A bit of bitterness. Flavor is identical to the aroma. Got that chalky feel at the end again; though more subdued than all the other choices. Maybe I really like IPAs (or at least ones that are named IPAs...), but this was the best Sleeman out of the variety pack. But why pick this when there are many more options.