Sleeman Steam
Sleeman Breweries Ltd.

Flashback #310

 

 

 

 

 

 

This pours a clear honey color, just a little lighter than amber, and a little darker than gold. Head and lacing are forgettable. The aroma is malty and grainy with a competent hop spiciness. The taste is an excersize in balance. Loads of well rounded malts, both caramelly and fruity meld flawlessly with a spicey floral hop flavor. In the middle a vegetal flourish emerges but is immediately beaten down by the ample hops. The finish is clean and bitter like a decent pilsner. This is much hoppier than I was anticipating. The mouthfeel is creamy and well carbonated.

Im impressed with this beer, its by far the best Sleemans beer IMO. It tastes similar to Anchor Steam, but Im not sure it uses the actual steam brewing process. Still it blows away the insipid and overly sweet typical Sleemans fair.

I’m glad I had tasted a number of west coast steam beers before I got to this, as Oakes says, you'd never know what real steam beer tasted like if this is all you had ever tasted....you’d think it tasted like a sweater spicey Sleeman lager with some light fruit tones and a sharper peppery finish. The amber like color ( actually a dark gold) didn’t translate to a maltier beer....and ,as usual, it was too carbonated...a fair commercial effort but really not enough taste, body or color to classify as representative of the style. Still the best product from this brewer and certainly the most malt of any Sleeman brew.

I'm surpised they can call this product "steam," as I thought Anchor had the name trademarked and tied-up. Light amber in the clear bottle. Poured a dense, tight head. A bit more carbonation than average, with a moderate hops profile that still had a nice bite. Malt flavors are very subdued, with a touch of caramel. Refreshing and a pretty good example of this uncommon style.

I can recall, quite vaguely, that there was a time that I once held this beer in a fair amount of esteem at the time. Although that was also back before my palate evolved and I used to drink most beers straight out of the bottle. Very rare to find anyone still carrying Sleeman's Steam out here anymore, so I grabbed a 6 out of a bit of nostalgia.

Poured from it's clear embossed bottle, a silver label around the neck. Sleeman does make decent looking beers, I will admit. A shame though that it usually ends there. This steam beer is a clear light amber in body, 2 fingers of white head on the pour that recedes to a very thin cap. Some lacing occurs as well. Grains are present on the nose, some light hopping, a small surge of sweet malt makes an appearance, closely followed by a bit of corn husk, or some sort of vegetable matter that does not resemble a hop profile. Husky grains finished by a quick dose of herbal hops is what I get from the flavour at first. And then the veggies appear. A leafy, cabbage-like taste throughout the whole swallow, and lingering on the aftertaste. Not impressive. From the clear bottles? I'm not sure, they're packed up pretty tight in those 6 packs, quite well protected from being light struck. The brewing process then? All fingers are starting to point in that direction. I can understand now why I didn't mind this back in the day straight out of the bottle, it managed to cover up that veggie off-taste fairly well. The mouthfeel is typical of Sleeman's, watery with a strong bite from the carbonation to over-compensate for the former. Nostalgia be damned, now I can understand why I don't see too much of this stuff on the shelves anymore.

Clear embossed bottle with silver neck label. Amber orange, small white cap of foam, though good head stability. Fruity and malty notes in the aroma, but still has little skunkiness that seems to dominate every Sleeman product (clear bottles). Malt and bitterness, but not a full flavor at all. Thin, highly carbonated makes this smooth and refreshing, easy to drink.

Looks pretty good. Clear amber colour, moderate head, quite good lace.

Smells sweet and malty, nothing either offensive or especially interesting. Overall taste is just a little too sweet. Some hop bitterness, but flavours that linger overlong.

Pretty much an average beer on most counts.