Sleeman The Bards Beer

Formerly brewed at Sleeman Brewing & Malting Co. (Sapporo)
Style: Premium Bitter/ESB
Guelph, Canada

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.

Tap at Chaucer’s in London, ON. This one pours beautifully into it’s own special chalice. Chestnut coloured with ruby hues, billowing beige froth tops it off. Roasted nuts and burnt malts start out the aroma, followed with fruit (plum) and caramel with a toufh of hops. Flavour profile is nice and bitter upfront, burnt sugars, lots of malts here, bready, leading to an earthy and substantial finish. Nice prickly carbonation. Why don’t they make stuff like this on a regular basis?

At The Shakespeare Arms in Guelph, being recently rolled out for the Shakespeare Festival in this town. Served in a special glass, Sleeman being a good resident. This half pint has the head right at a crown protruding from the large glass. A grapefruit amberish body with this white head, quite the appearance. And this left a generous lacing.Hoppy aroma, what have we hear? I mean here. concurrent bitterness, malty cream all fresh. Malty finish. A good one from Sleeman. Lots of hop in subsequent sips, leaf sucking bitterness. Would love it on cask.Aggressive carbonation.

Draft at The Bow & Arrow, Toronto, Ontario. Amber brown body with a creamy foamy head that leaves surprisingly impressive lacing on the glass. Very lightly toasty malt in the aroma. Slight note of a Sleeman house character in the aroma. Flavour is lightly roasty initially but that fades, moderate caramel malt flavour. Average palate. Quaffable but not particularly exciting. I would drink another but would not necessarilly buy another.

Draught. At Chaucer’s in London, Ontario. The Sleeman rep was in the house - when I told him it reminded me of their porter, only not as syrupy, he agreed, but I think he was being polite. Poured a deep clear mahogany with a large lasting creamy/frothy beige head. Smells very much like a Sleeman product, sweet slightly syrupy malt, generic grain, some cereal and light herbal character, caramel. The taste initially did nothing for me, the caramel sweetness (not in a good way) carried me away at first, but I started to get oats, light chocolate toffee, some herbal (if stale seeming) hops and even alcohol - what is the ABV, anyway?? - a little metal in the finish, but not much. Average body, slightly chewy, mildly astringent, ever so slightly harsh aftertaste. Really a lot like their (pretty lame) porter, less syrupy, grainier - pretty good .... for Sleemans.

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.

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.

Sampled at Shakespear arms 01/14/07...special Brew made for local consumption only during the Shakespear in Canada festival. Tapped a copper color with ruby highlights puffy off white cap..didn’t last all that long but laced well. Medium body, soft mouth feel, caramel- malty character You get a lick of toasted malts in the front but these dissapate mid palate and the beer thins out...kent goldings are detectable and some fruity esters from the yeast appear...fast clean caramel finish. A fair all malt ale, drinkable and clean with no off tastes but really non discript in character...hard to tell what it is style-wise but it has enough carmelized malt to satisfy and is unoffensive enough to quaff in sessions.