Sleeman Clear

I spent A few days in Toronto, Ontario, Canada last month. Specifically March 13-15. What did I do? Well, I drank beer. Lots of it actually.  Well I guess that's not all I did. I made A few great friends too. Yeah, that actually never happens. It did though, I swear... Anyways, over the next many posts I plan on reviewing all of the my libations.

Lets get started.

Sleeman Clear
Sleeman Brewing and Malting Company
Guelph, Ontario
"Light Lager"
4% ABV

Look: Right off the bat you can see the beer.  It comes in A clear bottle, it's impossible not to be able to. It's A very light, "corny" yellow color.  Poured almost no head at all. What did form was about an inch and A half of a rocky, bubbly head.  A sad looking beer.

Smell: Very grainy.  Before I even got close to it, I could smell fresh cut grains and heaps of corn.  Underlying all of that is A musty hint of some old apples and maybe some rusting metal.  I am not detecting anything too discernible except for maybe the corn and the metal.

Borrowed photo from Libres-Penseurs. I neglected to take A photo for some reason.

Taste: Yep, it's A light beer. The first taste I get is actually the non-existent taste. A crisp, watery, drink.  Some light hints of corn and sweet apple linger throughout the entirety. Maybe the faintest taste of some hops.  Surprisingly the beer wasn't skunked because of the clear bottle. I guess you need to actually have hops in the beer for it to skunk though. All in all, it doesn't taste bad, but it doesn't really taste like anything.  It sort of reminds me of Coors light with that hint of fruity banana or apple flavor.

Mouthfeel: Carbonation doesn't sting as much as I thought it may have for A beer like this.  Medium carbonation. Very smooth and easy to put down, especially on A hot day.

Overall:  It's not the worst thing in the world, but it's also not the best.  It's A light beer.  Primarily water.  I can't say that it didn't go down really good after walking around Toronto all day. I'll give it that.

Sleeman Clear gets A 2/5 from me.  I'd drink it again if the circumstance are right.

Modelo Especial

Modelo Especial.
4.40% ABV.
Brewed by Grupo Modelo S.A. de C.V.
Mexico

Gold foil wrap...this is fancy as all hell.  I will not be putting any limes in this one. Not A fan of putting fruit in my beer. If it can't stand alone, it can't stand at all. Am I right? Am I right?

Look: A clear bottle...why? Why could this not be in A brown bottle, or at the least in A green bottle. Like most Mexi-lagers, this one follows suit. The beer pours A very light golden color. Nothing to special about it. It looks like most others. Perhaps A bit more dark.  A thick, off white head forms with an aggressive pour and quickly dies out. Some carbonation trickles upward from the bottom of the glass. The beer does leave a bit of decent lacing around the glass though. Not that this creates A special beer or anything.

Smell:  By the grace of whomever, this beer does not smell skunky.  It does smell A bit cheap though.  Some stale malt is about all I'm getting.  It smells very sweet.  I'm not really A fan of overly sweet lagers, so hopefully this doesn't follow into the taste.  After sitting A bit I was able to pick up just the faintest trace of hops.  I have no idea what variety of hops they use in this brew.

Taste: Here we go. The beers sloshes into my mouth and goes right down my throat without any problems. A tad sweet on the mouth. Some toasted malt and A touch of honey up front, followed by A bit of bitterness to balance. A bit of earthy hopping thrown in as well. Nothing is really too discernible.  Very unoffensive. At least, I was not offended. An easy drinker.  I also am picking up some metallic aftertaste.  Not really against that though, It could have ended A cloyingly sweet. The beer finishes semi-dry and even A bit sticky. A simple lager that you could down easily on A hot day. I guess that is the aim of these brews.

Mouthfeel: Smooth. Easy to drink. Moderate carbonation. Surprisingly doesn't burn my mouth or throat. I don't really like it when the beer feels like I'm swallowing tons of little needles with every gulp.

Overall: This really isn't bad. It's actually one of the better Mexican lagers I have had. It's leaps and bounds ahead of Corona in my opinion.  I would get this again. I would like to try it from the can some time in the future.  It is A bit pricey though.  I paid $28 for A case of it at my local distributor.

Modelo Especial gets A 3.5/5 from me.
 It's not amazing but it's also not disgustingly awful. A middle of the road brew for people tired of the Corona.

Dogfish Head 90 Minute Imperial IPA

You can check out the web page for this brew HERE.

Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA is an American Double/Imperial IPA.  Served in a 12oz bottle into a mug.  Comes in at 9% with 90 IBU.

"90 Minute IPA was our first continually-hopped beer, which is a method of hopping that allows for a pungent, but not crushing hop flavor. Since introducing the world to the continual-hopping method with our 90 Minute IPA, we've since released a continually-hopped 60 Minute IPA, 120 Minute IPA and even a 75 Minute IPA (a cask-conditioned blend of 60 & 90 Minute IPAs).: "

As you can see from the quote from the website...This brew is all about the hops. I guess there other 2 are as well but this is the one I picked up.  So how does it fare for this guy?  Time to find out.

Look: The beer poured a very dark, hazy, golden, amber color.  Very beautiful glow radiating through out the glass. For some reason I was only able to get about a half an inch of a fluffy, off white head.  Subtle carbonation bubbles up from the bottom of the glass.  Not as sprity as some other "IPA's" i've had in the past, but truthfully...I prefer it this way.   90 Minute IPA left some pretty decent lacing in my glass as I quenched my thirst.  

Smell: Some toasted malts right up front, in your nose.  A little bit of light caramel and a heaping load of toffee. I'm also picking up something a bit sweeter...perhaps some donuts? Yeah, donuts. Also wafting from the glass is a blast of some fresh, sliced grapefruit and some dry orange peel. No doubt from the hops.  The smell isn't as strong as I would expect from all the hop bragging, but we'll see when it comes to taste.

Taste/Feel: Very moderate body.  A little more watery than I had expected but it actually fits with the taste quite well.  It actually is a little sticky in the mouth.  It just doesn't slide down, it is sort of like you are drinking some goo that nickelodeon use to dump on people. What was that stuff called? Ahhh...I can't remember now for the life of me. Anyways. I picked up some hints of toasted malt that came across as some light caramel and toffee. Just as I picked up in the nose when testing the smell. Vanilla.  Yes, I am picking up some vanilla...not cheap, fake vanilla but real vanilla bean. 

Now on to the bitterness, which this beer, surprisingly doesn't overwhelm you with. I was really hoping for a more bitter beer but this one did not deliver as bitter of a bite as I could have hoped.  It seems like these IIPA beers are always letting me down when it comes to bitterness. Oh well...maybe it's just me? Perhaps I set my BU hopes to high? I dont know. The hop flavors I picked up were reminiscent of grapefruit, that is the prime flavor that sticks around for most of the end of the beer. A little bit of lemon rind sneaks in just to splash your tongue with a bit of lemony bitterness that drops off into a semi dry finish with almost no sign of alcohol to be found anywhere in this 9% beer.

Overall it's a pretty good showing for an IIPA.  After finishing this beer quite quickly I did end up with a bit of a buzz from the 9%.  Maybe it was because I hadn't eaten anything all day too. 

This is a pretty good beer and I would recommend it to anyone who is into IPA's and stronger beers. However it does come at a bit of a price.

I give Dogfish Head 90 Minute Imperial IPA 3.8/5.  I just couldn't give it a 4 because the lack of bitterness let me down a bit.

Charmsoju

I'm going to switch it up a bit this time and review a different form of drink.  This one coming all the way from South Korea.  Soju. What is Soju you ask?  Well, Soju is a distilled alcoholic beverage traditionally produced from rice.  

I picked this up at my local liquor store for about $4. Comes in a 375mL green bottle.  A clear alcohol. Coming in at 19.7% abv

Look: Soju doesn't have anything special to the look. It is very clear and that's it. Just clear.

Smell: Mostly alcohol with a bit of a sweetness and a little bit of a lemony tartness.  There is citric acid and sugar added to this drink, according to the label.

Taste: This tastes almost like vodka.  It is more sweet and the alcohol flavor is a bit subdued due to the sugar but the taste is almost there.  This kind of reminds me of Sake just with more alcohol and water.  Quite crisp and very clean.  This would mix very will with many juices.  Ah! What an idea. I need to try this with some cranberry juice...or maybe pineapple?

Overall I will definitely be purchasing this again. I've had it before and there is no reason to quit.  I really do enjoy it on a hot day or even a cold day.  It's crisp, clean, and not overpowering.  Sweet and just a bit tart with a decent alcohol kick in the back.  All I have to do now is try mixing it with a few juices maybe...I guess that goes against tradition though.

I give Charmsoju a 4/5  in the Soju department. Mainly because I have not had any other Soju.