Sleeman 20th Anniversary Ale

Brewed by Sleeman Brewing & Malting Co. (Sapporo)
Style: Golden Ale/Blond Ale
Guelph, Canada

Bottle at ’Toronto Festival of Beers 2008’. Pours a clear orange with a small diminishing white head. Aroma of grain, very light grassy hops and some faint sweet malt. Flavour: Ugh. Not awful but not good either. Grainy with light hops, some pale malt and a slightly unpleasant, light bitter finish. Average bodied. Shame on Sleeman, for an anniversary beer this is average at best and this rating is generous in my opinion.

Bottle pour. At Toronto Festival of Beers 2008. Shame shame SHAME on this wretched brewery for fobbing off this shite as a "special" anniversary beer - good lord it’s lame. Clear pale amber pour, flat-looking, a diminishing head (a reluctant 3/5). Smells like dry corn and caramel and paper, dead and weed-bitter, hints of skunk and plastic for added effect. Dead plastic taste - I’d swear it had been sitting in a plastic jug in the sun all day if I hadn’t seen the girl pull it from the ice chest myself - watery, dead, hints of cooked vegetable and an aftertaste that reminded me of pond water. Bad. Sleeman’s outta be ashamed. But they won’t be.

2008-08-10. Copper amber body with a modest white head. (3+) Mild grainy aroma with light yeast, and a grainy character that stirs vague memories of some other Sleeman’s product but I do not recall which. The grains carry over to the flavour, light astringency in the finish. Average palate. Bit dull, which I assume explains the severe boredom evidenced in the server’s face when she poured it.Bottle, Toronto Festival of Beer

A -hoppy and fruity A - Golden F - Bit sweet P - medium carbonation O - decent north american ale, but not compared to their IPA.

Bottle sample at Toronto’s Festival of Beer 2008. Deep gold-amber with a small white head. Aroma of nondescript malt, a hint of caramel, vague grassy hops. Medium bodied. Flavour is bland, but well-balanced. Fairly decent compared to Sleeman’s regular line-up, I suppose, but for an Anniversary beer, it’s pretty boring.

Red tinted gold pour. Foamy slightly tan head. Hoppy scent mixed with something sweet. Nice rich taste, a touch warm. Mostly hops with a touch of something more, nut maybe. Highly carbonated. Actually too carbonated. Not a bad offering from a local Macro.

Draught at Ship and Anchor, Calgary
Blond color, creamy head. Soft beer, can’t even tell if Ale or Lager. Useless.

341 ml bottle, clear glass (sigh), 4.8% a/v Pours a malty looking gold colour with a fair amount of carbonation and a slight, thick looking white head. The aroma is largely malt, some grassy scent too. The taste is pretty average in alot of ways, the malt expected is there, along with a biscit taste. There is the bit of yeasty doughiness contending at the back as well. A pretty full mouthfeel, and for a beer thats brewed 30 minutes from my house, ill buy this one again for sure.