Past due #1: Sea Level Brewing (Dec 13, 2009)

NOTE: These past due posts are from before the blog's existence. They're recent, but a bit hazy in memory and thus will lack a bit of detail included in future posts.

Tried a sampler of some Sea Level Brewing beers at The Port Pub in Port Williams, NS.

The group consisted of four of their standard brews, a specialty beer and a seasonal. Overall, I wasn't terribly impressed. I wanted to be, as the location (riverside) and feel of the pub were great, but the beer was pretty mediocre. I suppose I should have known better when their guest book consistently mentioned great food, but had almost nothing about their beer. Some thoughts below (with links to the ratebeer reviews).

• Planters Pale Ale - Bit malty for my taste, lacking a nice hoppy finish that I've come to expect from American pale ales. (5/10)
  
  
• Blue Heron ESB - Best of the bunch. Nice balance with a clean finish. I'd drink this again if I found it. (8/10)
  
  
• Rojo Mojo Red Ale - Nothing memorable (literally, can't remember this one...). Not bad, but not good. (5/10)
  
  
• Port in the Storm Porter - Drinkable, but I prefer a finish with a bit more chocolate. Better than the bottle of it that I tried a few months back that had a foul sour milk aftertaste. (7/10)
  
  
• Crossing Muddy Waters Brown Ale - Nicely balanced and quite drinkable, but I felt the flavors were a bit muted. (6/10)
  
  
• Hoppy Holidaze Winter Ale - Seriously? This fruity, confused ale was barely drinkable. Yes, that's right. It was hard to finish a 4 ounce glass of it. Also, I don't enjoy names that are misleading...there was nothing 'hoppy' about this. (2/10)

Sadly this sampler wasn't nearly as good as it looked... At least the price was decent (less than $5).