Sea Dog Summer Ale

Brewed by Sea Dog Brewing (Shipyard Brewing Co.)
Style: Golden Ale/Blond Ale
Topsham, Maine USA

Any first impressions?
-A disappearing veil garnishes the shiny golden clarity.
-Wet grain and surfacing butter offer few dimensions for the nose.
-Honeyed cereals dominate the flavor profile.
-Watery passages diminish the lean body, which is softly carbonated.

What if you dig deeper?
-Featureless, supporting hop bitterness is almost a no show.
-Frail grassy hops emerge from the aroma’s sweet cereals.
-A blond estival ale without a story to tell, a ubiquitous Maine recipe, it seems.

Bottle; best before Aug ’06.

Pours yellowwith a thin white head. Smells of wildflowers, dry malt. Tastes sweet and perfumy with a soft finish.

Best before September 2006 bottle consumed on 7/3/06.
Actually got some head out of this one, surprisingly, but then, when Sea Dogs are fairly fresh, they do produce a decent head. Large, white and foamy, it eventually recedes to a ring, with some very minor, spotty lacing. Deep, near-pencil-yellow color, with some brass-golden tones and a medium-high level of clarity.
The nose has some light herbal, leafy hops in it. Very lightly bitter, plant-like almost and quite sharp (or is that some soapiness?). Not much in the malt, some touches of base malt, bit of very lean caramel and mostly cookie dough. Though it isn’t overly sweet in the nose, with the sharp hops cutting through any of that.
The flavor starts off dry, crisp and hoppy, overcarbonated, but still at least manageable because of that (manageable in that it cuts the sweetness). Bitter, almost soapy hops run through the middle, really souring/bittering the palate, as some light dough and graininess finishes things off. As Porterhouse says, there’s something not quite right here? An ester or a phenol, perhaps, that I don’t recognize, some soapiness maybe?

Light copper/deep gold clear and small head with slight carb. Aroma is sweet and malty. nice subtle malt and hoppy flavor. Not as watered down as other summer ales. Surprisingly this is one of the better offerings from seadog.

(Draught) Sampled at Sea Dog Brewery in TopSham, Maine. Amber with thin, white head. Little nose of hops. Weak hops flavour. Thin and bland.

Bouteille de 12 oz achetée chez Hannaford (Brewster, ME). Arôme: Odeur de céréale avec une pointe fruitée. Apparence: La couleur est dorée avec une moyenne densité de bulle. Présence d’un mince col mousseux et d’une fine dentelle sur le verre. Saveur: Goût de céréales avec une pointe d’houblons herbacés. Durée moyenne de l’arrière goût. Palette: Le corps est mince avec une texture légèrement huileuse. Faible effervescence en bouche. Légère présence de zeste de citron en arrière goût. (Rating #1898)

12oz bottle from Clarkvv. Pours a clear dark yellow color with a white fizzy head. Nose is corn and hay, some fresh grass. Palate is clean and crisp but watery. Flavor is sweet honey, hay, some grass and corn.

Deep golden hue. Thick, foamy, rocky white head. Grainy malt nose. This sure isnt an amber...Pale sweet malts, faint honey notes, light bodied, grassy herbal hops in the finish. Not full of incredible flavor, but a nice summer refresher. This reminds me more of a light pils, or blond or something else.