5.8/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 6
Flavor 5
Texture 6
Overall 6
Pour is an amber with a white head. Aroma is a nice mix of caramel malts and a nice pine hop. Flavor is a bit weaker than the aroma. It is about half of the malts and hops you would expect in a IPA. More of a lazy APA if anything. Still this cost about 92 cents a trader joes so there is the value aspect.
Tried
on 28 Jan 2007
at 16:42
4.1/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 3
Flavor 4
Texture 4
Overall 4.5
From Trader Joe’s, label just says "Sea Dog Wheat Beer." Dated "best before May ’07," but this has a bit of skunk when opened. brownish wheat color, fluffy head that dwindles away in a hurry.Taste is a bit like a wheat, just a sting of basic German hop, interefered with by the remaining skunk notes. Forced carbonation gives a too fizzy mouthfeel.
Tried
on 18 Dec 2006
at 21:55
5/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 4
Flavor 5
Texture 6
Overall 5
12 oz. bottle from Trader Joe’s. Back to the grind after the excitement of a beery Michigan trip and rating #1,000. What we got here is an allegedly hoppy beer that’s missing its hops. Nothing in the smell (and it’s "Best by April ’07"). Even so, it’s got a nice bit of malt smell. Dark color for an IPA, a clingy thin foam. Again, not much of an IPA taste, but pretty decent as an amber, if they would just relabel it.Rated as "Kennebunkport IPA," Oct. 9, ’07. Same beer, two brands, both at Trader Joe’s. This one actually has something of a hop smack to it, but it just doesn’t match well with the rest of the beer.
Tried
from Bottle
on 13 Dec 2006
at 22:06
5/10
—
Appearance 2
Aroma 7
Flavor 5
Texture 6
Overall 4
Brown 12 oz bottle. I get nervous when a beer says ’flavors added’. Pours a clear yellow in my steeler stein, which is surprizing for a wheat beer. Aroma is very sweet and appealing, like fresh blueberries. Initial taste has a little bit of blueberry flavor is in the background. Average carbonation. Nothing that great but has no offense to it like many fruit beers I’ve tasted. Very little if any bitterness on the finish. Pretty refreshing.
Tried
from Bottle
on 06 Dec 2006
at 11:56
5.5/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 4
Flavor 6
Texture 6
Overall 6
12 oz. bottle from Trader Joe’s. Hazelnut in a porter? Not too sure about that. Pouring shows a properly porter-colored beer, but with an anemic. I let the bottle sit open for a few minutes as the Bears took the lead away from the Giants… oh, wait, the Bears scored again as I type this… and I just picked up a basic beer smell. Taste is okay, though. A nice roasty malt with a touch of coffee. There is a bit of nut brown ale quality here, but I guess I really don’t know from hazelnuts. Turns out to be a nice beer, but needs a little backup at the finish… oops, the Giants just pulled back to within 4 points…
Tried
from Bottle
on 12 Nov 2006
at 21:48
4.2/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 4
Flavor 4
Texture 4
Overall 4
Bottle from Trader Joe’s. Yes, we all notice that it’s "with Pumpkin flavor added." Which seems to mean less pumpkin flavor than any beer with pumpkin in the boil or ferment. Attractive light amber color at least, Smell of some indistinct spices. Slightly roasty malts, but the main taste I get is nutmeg and a little cinnamon. No roast pumkpin sweetness or fresh pumpkin veggie taste. Just light spices over an unremarkable ale base.
Tried
from Bottle
on 31 Oct 2006
at 20:53
4/10
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Appearance 4
Aroma 5
Flavor 4
Texture 4
Overall 3
This beer might be a misnomer. It tasted more like a spiced ale, rather than a pumpkin one because of the pumpkin flavour was seriously lacking. I have had only a few other pumkin ales and this one had the least pumpkin flavour. Overall it is not a bad beer, but not pumpkin enough.
Tried
on 31 Oct 2006
at 01:47
5.1/10
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Appearance 4
Aroma 6
Flavor 5
Texture 4
Overall 5.5
Bottle from Trader Joes; Nose of pumpkin, cinnamon, and nutmeg; gold with a medium white head and quite a few bubbles; flavor shows a tiny bit of caramel malt masked by the pumpkin and spices.
Tried
from Bottle
on 28 Oct 2006
at 21:47
4.4/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 3
Flavor 5
Texture 4
Overall 4.5
Update: 10/2/07. Now my local Trader Joe’s has both the Sea Dog and the Kennebunkport label versions of this same beer on its shelves. Don’t know, it doesn’t taste a bit different that I recall. If they’d ferment on blueberries instead of using "Natural Flavor Added," they might have something different. Or it might just become too dry and sour. Bottle, "Best before" 05/07. Yeep! You know those four dispensers of fruitish syrup on every table at IHOP? You know the bluebrry one? That’s exactly what this one smells like when I open it. It’s worrisome that the label reads "Wheat beer with natural flavor added," making it an adulterated regular beer instead using blueberry juice in the ferment. At least its color is okay, not like the pinkish abominations some fruit beers become, but a light amber instead, under a nearly nonexistent head. Can’t pick up too much of the beer base, but instead some fruit tartness from the blueeberry flavors. Then at least a little solid malts are felt. I like the comparison from other raters to a Berliner Weisse with blueberry syrup. But this needs a little more character to match it.
Tried
from Bottle
on 27 Oct 2006
at 22:23
5.6/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 6
Flavor 5
Texture 6
Overall 5.5
Pour is black with a small tan head. Aroma is deffinatly nutty and chocolate. Flavor is very sweet and almost soda like. There is some malts and choco but nothing really stands out. Just so-so.
Tried
on 14 Oct 2006
at 19:48