Sleeman The Bards Beer

On tap, The Only Cafe, Toronto. Brown, orange tinted pour, small white head. Faint malt and metallic notes in aroma. Taste is like a watery caramel malt homebrew kit gone bad. Man, was this ever thin, watery, and lifeless. Honestly, this is a homebrew kit done up by a first timer, standard wanna be brown ale stuff. What a waste of $5. And this coming from a place where turnover is extremely high on this beer, I am told. You guys are being very very generous with this thing rated at even a 3.

On tap. I was told that this resembles Waterloo dark, although in the final analysis it resembled dark loo water. Actually, it had some characteristics of a malty, buttery ESB, but it was so weak it basically defies description. Very lame.

Draught at The Bow & Arrow. Pours a clear amber-orange with a small somewhat-lasting off-white head. Aroma’s quite mild, sweet and a little metallic. Slightly watery flavour of caramel malt, also a little metallic and a very light bitter finish. Light to medium bodied. Maybe better then most other Sleeman beers but I still didn’t care much for it.

Served in a special edition glass, this very limited Ale was a nice change from the typical brew. Good head and a darker, amber colour. Definite malt taste, somewhat smokey. Good aftertaste, slightly bitter.

A suprise on tap at Chaucers in London. Served in a massive Challice that I tried to buy (unsucessfully) from the bar. This thing has a pic of the Bard on one side, his signature on the other, with the Sleeman logo just above the signature. A beautiful piece of glassware. But I digress... Dark amber pour with a foamy thick head. Malty scent with something else, hard to pick up in the pub unfortunately. Dark heavy mouth. A bit bready, Smoky. Tons of flavour. Reminds me of Sleeman Porter but better. A slight berry hint in the aftertaste. Very low carbonation. If there weren’t more beers to try I would happily drink this all night.