Review: Stanley Park SunSetter Summer Ale

This is the first time I've tried anything by Vancouver's Stanley Park Brewery. Their beer has been available in most of Manitoba for approximately a month now - one week in my town. At the liquor store, their Sunsetter Summer Ale popped out at me - I like a nice wheat ale on a hot prairie summer day and.. it was something new! One of the guys at the LC told me he really enjoyed it and that he didn't expect it to be a peach flavoured beer.. seeing that the word "peach wheat ale" is in very tiny print on the bottle.

Appearance: SunSetter pours a hazy orange/golden body. Good amount of bubbly carbonation, half a finger of creamy beige head. Reminiscent of most wheat ales I drink in the summer time.. more appetizing looking than Sam Adams' Summer Ale, so far.

Aroma: Mother of god.. it's as if Stanley Park bought out the entire annual production of Okanagan peaches just for this beer. It's incredibly sweet, incredibly peachy, almost reminiscent of the fruity malt based beverages that people seem to love right now. It brings me back memories of McAuslan's St-Ambroise Apricot Ale - that sweet. Well.. I do love me some sweet fruity wheat ales in the summer time. There's a light amount of tartness in there, a bit of a grainy wheat profile and honestly.. that's it.

Taste: Honestly underwhelming. I was expecting a mouthfull of peach in here, but it's just.. bland. There's very minimal sweetness in there, a hint of tartness and a gritty wheat taste. Light amount of metallic and apple aftertaste.. but just underwhelming.

Overall Thoughts: Really underwhelmed me. The aroma teased me with peaches galore, but the flavour just lacks the sweetness.

http://www.stanleyparkbrewery.ca/our-beer/sunsetter/

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