Kelpie Seaweed Ale - Williams Brothers Brewing Company

BedetheVenerable

Missouri

4.15/5  rDev +14%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

Presentation: 16.9oz brown pop top with cool label, nice ditty about the beer, and a best before date clearly marked and notched

Appearance: Beautiful dark brown almost black beer with brilliant ruby highlights. A medium pour produces a moderate light tan, somewhat soapy head which soon fades into a thick film.

Smell: Very mild, sweet, and delicious; there is a strong sweet roasted barley presence, along with chocolate, a touch of smoke, and just a hint of salty sea air. I had no idea what to expect, but this is quite nice.

Taste: Stout-like roasted barley (more like a milk stout than a dry stout) with burnt caramel and chocolate notes and a hint of roasted coffee on the finish; this is combined with a hint of smoke and light (but clearly discernible) salty/earthy notes (I'm assuming that's from the seaweed). It's kind of like a sweet stout, with a bit more earth to it. Nice

Mouthfeel: Medium bodied and silky smooth

Drinkability: Session. Dark. Ale

Conclusion: This brewery just doesn't seem to know how to brew a bad beer. I mean, you see "Seaweed Ale" on a bottle and you're probably terrified; the mineral-y ocean like notes are very very mild, and under that is a fantastic dark ale that has complexity and drinkability written all over it. Good job to Heather Ale Ltd on another outstanding Scottish beer!

Serving type: bottle

04-22-2009 03:10:57 | More by BedetheVenerable

seinfeldette

Ontario (Canada)

3.5/5  rDev -3.8%

05-16-2013 20:19:23 | More by seinfeldette

Murrhey

Montana

2.4/5  rDev -34.1%
look: 2 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 2.25 | overall: 2.25

Poured from a standard pressure-cap 500ml bottle into a conic pint glass in high elevation Libby, Mont. Reviewed live.

A- Half-finger off-white head with low retention. Limited spotty lacing. Dark chocolate color, very little light permeates.

S- Caramel, toffee, funky-earthy smell. Slight salinity in the nose, along with a very distinct fun that must be the seaweed. Very hard to describe.

T- Earthy, slightly watery, funky. Caramel, toasted malts, some vegetation.

M- Very watery. Not a very nice feel.

O- Swing and a miss.

Serving type: bottle

05-14-2013 02:18:15 | More by Murrhey

lenbert

Indiana

4.25/5  rDev +16.8%

05-05-2013 01:08:27 | More by lenbert

blknikon

Massachusetts

3.25/5  rDev -10.7%

04-30-2013 20:00:30 | More by blknikon

TheRevMatt

Wisconsin

3.75/5  rDev +3%

04-28-2013 16:27:41 | More by TheRevMatt

BDeibs

Colorado

2/5  rDev -45.1%

04-27-2013 00:48:59 | More by BDeibs

weaselchew

Pennsylvania

4.25/5  rDev +16.8%

04-25-2013 03:48:33 | More by weaselchew

schoolboy

Ohio

3.76/5  rDev +3.3%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75

Alright, here is something very out of the ordinary for me. And unique works for me most of the time - this not being an exception.

It looks great in the glass with a firm head. The aroma is a typical English malty with a hint of freshness from herbs (seaweed?).

The flavor is lightly roasty, slightly bitter, a little bit herbal, all nicely balanced into a very palatable beverage. This was a cool treat.

Serving type: bottle

03-31-2013 20:54:08 | More by schoolboy

SadMachine

New Jersey

3.75/5  rDev +3%

03-22-2013 04:39:33 | More by SadMachine

spycow

Illinois

3.25/5  rDev -10.7%

03-11-2013 04:21:51 | More by spycow

Arborescence

Finland

3.9/5  rDev +7.1%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Appearance: Dark, but not pitch black. Pours a nice, fairly creamy and persistent one finger head.

Aroma: Malty, but with some fresh & salty sea aromas. Somewhat mild aroma.

Taste: A little sharp at first, with a citrus-like bitterness. Quickly settles to a nice malty flavour though, with a salty aftertaste, probably due to the seaweed.

Mouthfeel: Quite thick and smooth, medium to heavy body.

Overall: This is an old acquaintance, one of the Scottish druid / ancient recipe ales that I quite like. For me, they deserve points for originality (even if the recipes are ancient!). Many contemporary attempts at herbed or spiced ales don't produce similar results.

Serving type: bottle

02-20-2013 16:55:07 | More by Arborescence

Beerstorian

District of Columbia

4.25/5  rDev +16.8%

02-16-2013 14:05:46 | More by Beerstorian

DmanGTR

New York

3.75/5  rDev +3%

02-10-2013 16:16:18 | More by DmanGTR

Nachos4two

Illinois

2/5  rDev -45.1%

02-07-2013 21:31:36 | More by Nachos4two

matjack85

Illinois

4.25/5  rDev +16.8%

02-02-2013 06:47:51 | More by matjack85

JackRB

Ohio

2.75/5  rDev -24.5%

01-31-2013 02:17:38 | More by JackRB

wonothesane42

New Jersey

3.5/5  rDev -3.8%

01-25-2013 00:01:48 | More by wonothesane42

Thorivan

3.5/5  rDev -3.8%

01-24-2013 05:38:19 | More by Thorivan

Casterbridge

Connecticut

3.75/5  rDev +3%

01-04-2013 21:18:59 | More by Casterbridge

seymourbottoms

2.1/5  rDev -42.3%
look: 2 | smell: 2 | taste: 2 | feel: 3 | overall: 2

Ok, here it goes. Long-time crafty drinker, first-time reviewer.

Pours very dark and quite uneventful. Even with a heavy pour, there is minimal head and little more than a dense and dark looking brew here. Carbonation looks to be somewhat minimal, however will be addressed later.

Smell is not surprising with this style, so neither a disappointment or a surprise, just merely, and mostly, non-existent.

On to the taste. We have a beer that uses seaweed as its primary highlight and it shows here. This is definitely the saltiest beer that I have had, and the salt is well balanced. However, I get very minimal accompanying flavors. If you are into very straightforward taste in your beer, then this could pique your interest.

On to the only surprise that i had with this beer. While I saw very minimal head, and little signs of carbonation with this beer, it does have quite a bit of soda-like carbonation on the tongue while drinking. Still a relatively light feel, and somehow it reminded me of drinking a coke if i took all of the sugars out and replaced it with a bit of salt.

There it is... my personal breakdown of this somewhat mediocre beer. At least in this advocate's eyes.

Serving type: bottle

01-02-2013 02:26:17 | More by seymourbottoms

dog-ear

3.25/5  rDev -10.7%

12-22-2012 06:42:33 | More by dog-ear

stereosforgeeks

Virginia

3.75/5  rDev +3%

12-17-2012 15:36:13 | More by stereosforgeeks

flyingpig

United Kingdom (Scotland)

2.38/5  rDev -34.6%
look: 3 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 2 | overall: 2

Dark brown in colour with an almost black look to it and a lively looking body. There is a thin, centimetre tall head on top that is an off white colour and settles to a patchy lacing after a few seconds.

Almost nothing in the way of an aroma here when I first smelt it. There is some roasted malts and a hint of chocolate along with a faint stout like aroma. There is also a smell similar to miso soup as well but none of the smells are strong ones.

Basic in taste as well with some basic dark malts and a hint of chocolate along with that same basic stout characteristic. It does seem a lot stronger than the 4.4% mentioned on the bottle though.

Light medium bodied with an alcohol laced flavour and medium carbonation. There is a slightly gassy feel to the beer as well.

A rather poor beer for me here, it was far too light on the nose and tasted with a cheap stout mixed with salt water. Nothing about this one really appealed to me and it won't be one I'll have again.

Serving type: bottle

12-14-2012 14:35:03 | More by flyingpig

ChelseaD

3.25/5  rDev -10.7%

12-05-2012 22:24:51 | More by ChelseaD