> So, in your professional opinion, are we seeing the decline of Unibroue at
> the hands of Sleeman?
>
I spoke with the brewers a couple months ago at a Baltimore promotional
tasting, and they said Sleeman's policy was "we only own you; don't change a
thing". They said the only possible change *might* be Sleeman leveraging
better malt prices as a big buyer than Unibroue could as a small brewery,
but the Unibroue people were dead set against any actual changes in recipes.
Of course, if creating new recipes, they might glance at what Sleeman's malt
bins have handy............

Of course, we've heard this "no changes" story before (see Wild
Goose/Frederick). Make of it what you will.

We sampled 10, 11, and 2004 at the tasting; the agreement was the 2004 was
WAY too young, much more green than the 10 and 11 were upon release. I
suggest aging it for a couple YEARS............

Alexander D. Mitchell IV
Baltimore correspondent, Mid-Atlantic Brewing News