Way too unassuming and non-specific to compete with genuine brown ales. Pleasant hop toasting ensues before giving way to wobbly nutty caramel urge and watered down dirty grain finish.
All posts by John Fortunato
SEA DOG BLUE PAW BLUEBERRY WHEAT
Sour blueberry essence sharpens bitter hop bite for green apple-soured orange rind follow-up of burnt amber-clouded moderation. But honeyed wheat factor gets lost in eye-squinting tartness and dry acidic mist. Strangely, ’06 tasting proved sweeter, with overripe blueberry essence enlivening slick malting and perfumed floral tangent. Blue labeled 2024 canned re-tasting had sweeter blueberry bubblegum aspect. Tartly sugared blueberry syruping picked up phenol lemon spritz above mild honeyed wheat base.
SEA DOG BLONDE ALE
Resilient strong blonde drapes bitter-grained hop sharpness atop delicate citrus perk to astringent straw wheat backbone. A feisty li’l sucker punctuated by sinewy pale malt heft.
SEA DOG BISCUIT MALT AMBER ALE
Wafting spice hops softly embitter creamy caramel malting and buttery biscuit linger, invading the senses for middle of the road medium-bodied amber. Decent barleymalt finish rounds things out, but lack of body keeps this from getting two paws up.
SEA DOG APRICOT WHEAT
Mildly hazed amber ale brings tangy bruised apricot sweetness and unripe peach souring to increasingly tart lemon pucker. Hard-candied center picks up excessively vinous white grape dryness alongside Jolly Rancher-like green apple bittering. Depreciable earthen straw wheat base erased by fizzy hop patina.
SCROOGE & MARLEY RED ALE
Sweet caramel apple tongue welcomes amber-hued moderation. Nice butterscotch touch and meager red grape reminder done in by diacetyl finish.
SCHWELMER PILS
Nondescript clear-toned pilsner suffers from dank soapiness and phenol spicing lesser Eastern Euro competitors succumb to. Soft-hopped piquancy, dulled wheat cracker snippet, and sullen fruitiness develop cardboard-y banality, deterring green tea, pumpernickel, and baked bread illusions.
SCHWELMER HEFEWEIZEN
Prominent candied banana intensity and dry-hopped lemony tangerine tang get clove-cinnamon accent to buttress perky quince-pear-cherry medley, but soapy finish rebuffs puffy white-headed, slightly turbid, sunset-hued moderate body.
SCHWELMER BERNSTEIN
Doughy amber lager with suspected Jewish handle receives plain matzoth bread punctuation tempered by rye-dried sesame-pumpernickel-tobacco wisp. At dankly sweet finish, chewy yeast, toasted barley, and dank honey embittered by belated hop sass.
SCHWELMER ALT
Amiable dry-bodied auburn-paled altbier secures sour honeyed compaction for candi-sugared tongue, white-breaded yeast endurance and earthen dried fruiting. Cola flow picks up tea, birch wood and walnut-chestnut illusions, but metallic oxidized finish disturbs.
SCHOUNE 1702 BLONDE ALE
Lively bubbly-foamed farmhouse-brewed blondie brings effervescent orange zest and tangy tangerine-apricot ripeness to vanilla Creamsickle theme. Nectarine illusions continually sweeten its already steady citric promise.
SCHOUNE REB’ALE
Ethanol-charged bottle-conditioned Belgian-style dubbel with explosive champagne fizz, cloudy amber turbidity and large bottom-floating yeast clumps. Zippy orange blossom entry ripens apricot-peach-grapefruit tang after lustful carbonation and lengthy alcohol burn subside. Off-dry sour-fruited finish picks up oaken acridity.