Sleeman Red Ale - Rousse
Sleeman Breweries Ltd.

Sleeman Red Ale - RousseSleeman Red Ale - Rousse
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From:
Sleeman Breweries Ltd.
 
Ontario, Canada
Style:
American Amber / Red Ale
Ranked #408
ABV:
5.5%
Score:
72
Ranked #27,798
Avg:
2.92 | pDev: 23.63%
Reviews:
11
Ratings:
34
Status:
Active
Rated:
Oct 22, 2022
Added:
Mar 23, 2005
Wants:
  0
Gots:
  8
Crafted from page 50 of the Sleeman family recipe book, this dark ale reappeared in 1993. With its rich sugary malt flavours – from a mix of Pale, Carastan and Black malts – and aromatic hops, it's a red ale that shares characteristics with traditional pale ale as well as brown ale.
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Photo of kw_pip
Rated by kw_pip from Vermont

3/5  rDev +2.7%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3
Draught.
Oct 22, 2022
Photo of TheHammer
Reviewed by TheHammer from Canada (ON)

3.21/5  rDev +9.9%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2.75
Appearance: Poured with a half pinky of head that retained surprisingly well and did give off some lacing. The body strikes that border between red and amber, depending on how the light hits it. Steady carbonation in the body.

Smell: Riche caramel and toffee malt with a bit of a brown sugar and spice vibe with a hint of floral hops in the background. Didn't really need much warming to come out, but decent on the potency front.

Taste: Milder then it seems, as fairly thin toffee malt starts of off but for a second you catch a note of berry, plum and walnut before floral and earth hops with a metallic twang ends that experience far too soon. It's like there is a gasp of brilliance trying to get through, but it just can't manage.

Mouthfeel: The transitioning is not good, going from mild and watery to a far to brief second of something good to a bad metal twang, the carbonation is good but the aftertaste seems to focus on that far too weak malt note and sadly comes with that metallic twang.

Drinkability: This is tough, I mean it is refreshing and on the thinner end of medium body, which you would think would lead to to be an easy drinker, but there's just enough here for me not to think this was an attempt to make some kind of guzzler, which isn't exactly what this style is meant for, but not out of the ballpark. I don't know, it just seems to be disappointing.

Final Thoughts: Way back, and I mean way back when I started on Beer Advocate, Sleeman was my go to, and I recall wanting to seek this beer out, only to find it was only available in Quebec. The brewery itself still is my go to for when I want generic lager in the summer, but it's rare I buy a lot of Sleeman now a days. Now, sitting 10 away from the big 1,000 I bought a mix pack of Sleeman and saw this was in it. I thought it would be interesting to see if my original reviews still held up, and for the most bar, they do. Now I know many don't feel the same way, but I do feel Sleeman Honey Brown holds up as a good beer, I think the Cream Ale is slightly better then what I gave it then, but this, well this was just plain disappointing, not because it was entirely bad, but because I saw glimpses of something good here. As it stands though, you will want to pass.
Dec 19, 2021
 
Rated: 3.39 by Electros from Canada (ON)

Feb 20, 2021
 
Rated: 4.23 by SFHbeerME from Maine

Jan 11, 2020
Photo of Pmicdee
Reviewed by Pmicdee from Canada (ON)

3.5/5  rDev +19.9%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
Dark orange in colour with a beige head. Lots of malt flavours, not bitter at all. Tastes like the red additive was added in at the last minute. Reminds me somewhat of PC Honey Red (neither are bad beers) Mouthfeel is a tad thin but this is a reasonable red beer. Not as good as their honey brown but still drinkable nonetheless
Nov 12 2021
Jul 27, 2019
 
Rated: 2.5 by rugene from Canada (QC)

Feb 06, 2017
 
Rated: 2.57 by derdtheterd from Canada (AB)

Jan 07, 2017
 
Rated: 3.25 by theDuck from Canada (QC)

Nov 26, 2015
Photo of papat444
Rated by papat444 from Canada (QC)

2.75/5  rDev -5.8%
look: 2.75 | smell: 2.75 | taste: 2.75 | feel: 2.75 | overall: 2.75
Flashback #308
Aug 19, 2015
 
Rated: 3.25 by Dbrag from Maine

Jul 21, 2015
 
Rated: 2.5 by Merlin68 from Canada (AB)

Dec 14, 2014
 
Rated: 3 by Mack from Canada (QC)

Dec 07, 2014
 
Rated: 3 by skriv from New Jersey

Aug 21, 2014
Photo of biboergosum
Reviewed by biboergosum from Canada (AB)

3.16/5  rDev +8.2%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3
1L howler from Sherbrooke Liquor store, an apparent coup, since this is only available in Quebec, according to some sort of outdated distribution tripe.

This beer pours a crystal clear, medium copper amber colour, with three fingers of puffy, barely foamy, and veritably bubbly pale beige head, which leaves some decent exploded webbed lace around the glass as it quickly and evenly subsides.

It smells of semi-sweet, bready caramel malt, metallic cinnamon-seeded brown sugar, weak bruised apple fruity notes, and soft leafy, weedy, and earthy hops. The taste is more of the same 'page 50 template' - gritty, pale grain-inflected caramel malt, bready wet crackers, a wan nuttiness, neutered orchard fruit, a bit of wayward yeastiness, and plain as the day is long earthy, weedy, and dead leafy hops. The 10 percent uptick in ABV (sounds big, doesn't it?) is conspicuous by its subtle background presence.

The bubbles are fairly innocuous, manifesting in a mere trilling frothiness, the body a so-so medium weight, and smooth, sure, but in a boardroom banality kind of way. It finishes deep into the off-dry realm, the metallic-tinged caramel malt lingering like it rules the roost (which it pretty much does), the bland fruitiness perhaps giving it a run for its...ah, fuck it, that's really about all there is going on here.

Nothing particularly bad about this offering (except for the fact that I had to start things from a negative stance, but oh well), but doesn't this macro-adjacent brewery produce enough amber-esque ales to at least tighten up their cross-border listings as such? Whatever, this is pretty much just an ode to my former Honey Brown Lager swilling days - sometimes one must be reminded of the baby steps of the past that brought them to their current station.
Jul 20, 2014
 
Rated: 4.25 by reizorc from Pennsylvania

Jul 03, 2014
 
Rated: 2.25 by Socialiste from Canada (QC)

May 13, 2014
 
Rated: 4 by boszormeny from Canada (ON)

Dec 05, 2013
 
Rated: 2.75 by TerryW from Canada (ON)

Nov 20, 2013
 
Rated: 3 by AnHeroicHippo from Canada (QC)

Oct 15, 2013
Photo of ZachT
Rated by ZachT from Canada (BC)

1.68/5  rDev -42.5%
look: 2.5 | smell: 2 | taste: 1.25 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 1.5
A clone of Rickard's red, without any improvements
Oct 10, 2013
Sleeman Red Ale - Rousse from Sleeman Breweries Ltd.
Beer rating: 72 out of 100 with 34 ratings