Tag Archive | "Sleepy Bulldog Summer Pale Ale"

Beer Mix and Match Competition


Recently I tried two Swedish summer beers, S:t Eriks Sommarlager and Sleepy Bulldog Summer Pale Ale that I thought were both very drinkable but couldn’t shake the feeling that each one was missing that little ‘something’.

I won't win any Photoshop awards with this masterpiece will I?

In the case of S:t Eriks Sommarlager I really enjoyed the sandpaper rough hoppy finish but to get there had to go through a rather tame malt and citrus beer that didn’t have the freshness and vitality of summer fruits that I was searching for.

As for Sleepy Bulldog Summer Pale Ale the complete opposite was true. A sit-up-and-take-notice burst of peach and lychee aromas followed by a juicy smack of fruit and pine flavours…..but then this bulldog whimpered with its tail between its legs towards a disappointingly mild bitter finish.

But after a while these frustrating beer moments got me thinking. What if you could take the front bit of Bulldog and graft it onto the back bit of S:t Eriks? Imagine what an amazing summer beer that would be!

After that I just couldn’t stop.

What if I could take the drinkability of a 4% English session ale and match it with the hop intensity of an American Double IPA? Or how about the roasted chocolate and coffee dryness of a great stout mixed up with a complex spontaneously fermented fruit beer?

Sounds like the perfect idea for a BeerSweden competition right?(Ed note: it’s been a while hasn’t it!)

So here’s the deal – send me an email to darren@beersweden.se telling me which two beers you would mix and match to create an awesome beer and most importantly why?

The person with the most imaginative answer will get this rather stylish set of six Three Towns lager glasses (which are beautifully etched at the bottom with landmarks from Stockholm, Malmö and Gothenburg) – courtesy of those jolly nice people at Galatea.

They’d be perfect for pouring my S:t Sleepy Sommarlager into………

The competition is only open to people living in Sweden and will run until the stroke of midnight on Tuesday, May 25th. The judge’s decision (that’s me) is final and the winner will be announced the next day.

So get mixing beers people and good luck!








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Beer Review -Sleepy Bulldog Summer Pale Ale


An American Pale Ale

Gotlands Bryggeri, Visby, Gotland (Spendrups) 5% ABV. Systembolaget Article Number 1613. Price 18.90. (330ml bottle) An American Pale Ale

Golden orange - with a slight tinge of peach - and a bleached white head.

Grass, dandelions and stinging nettles, plain crackers, sweet lemons and white grapes. Has possibly the most impressive nose of a Spendrups beer I've tasted.

This beer's bark is worse than its bite and it does not quite live up to the promise of the big nose. Nice initial peachy sweetness but not enough balancing bitterness for the style or my liking. This sleepy bulldog actually manages to fall asleep in the mid-palate, with low carbonation not helping matters. A somewhat watery and tame bitter finish but it makes this beer go down faster than an Italian footballer in the penalty box.

US Pale Ales are generally great BBQ beers, with their trademark crisp bitterness combing perfectly with meats from the grill. However Sleepy Bulldog Summer Pale Ale doesn't really pack the knock-out punch of a true APA. It is however a very easy drinking summer beer that can be enjoyed by itself after a hard day on the beach or after mowing the lawn.

Nerd note

Sleepy Bulldog Summer Pale Ale is the third in a trilogy of Sleepy Bulldog beers - a very welcome concept from the Spendrups-owned Gotlands Bryggeri on the sunshine island off the south east coast of Sweden. It is a respectable attempt to appeal to the current beer trend towards US hop aromas and flavours of citrus and tropical fruits although it could have done with just a little bit more of everything to truly capture the refreshingly intensity of the American Pale Ale style. Having said that drinkers of 'standard' lager might find this easy drinking summer beer a door-opener to more interesting styles. It's certainly one sleeping dog I won't let lie this summer and will be a regular in my fridge over the next few months!

Rating

3.0 of 5

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