Has anyone tried the new Craft Beer, Sea Witch?

[calisilent]

Hi,

 

I'm a craft beer fan and wondering how the reviews are on Princess' craft beer offering of "Sea Witch"?:)

[Thrak]

It's better than the usual swill offered by Princess but nothing for a beer snob to get excited about. We tried it. My wife loves good beer. Her opinion was: Meh...

 

I was equally unimpressed. I'm certain many will like it a lot - especially in comparison to the other "beer" onboard. We are both beer snobs and drink only good craft beers. The Seawitch is definitely many (many) grades above "standard" American beers but those (Budweiser, Coors, etc.) aren't really something one should call beer in the first place.

 

Give the Seawitch a try. You will love it or loath it or something in between. It's worth investing in a bottle to form your own opinion.

[PORT ROYAL]

Hi,

 

I'm a craft beer fan and wondering how the reviews are on Princess' craft beer offering of "Sea Witch"?:)

 

An americanised basic IPA, hyped up to eyeballs to extract maximum profit for Carnival. Not a true craft beer (let alone a real ale) as one would know it.

[calisilent]

It's better than the usual swill offered by Princess but nothing for a beer snob to get excited about. We tried it. My wife loves good beer. Her opinion was: Meh...

 

I was equally unimpressed. I'm certain many will like it a lot - especially in comparison to the other "beer" onboard. We are both beer snobs and drink only good craft beers. The Seawitch is definitely many (many) grades above "standard" American beers but those (Budweiser, Coors, etc.) aren't really something one should call beer in the first place.

 

Give the Seawitch a try. You will love it or loath it or something in between. It's worth investing in a bottle to form your own opinion.

 

That's too bad. I like hoppy west coast IPAs, so I was kind of excited about it. Oh well, There is always this autumn when The Great American Beer Festival comes to Denver again! I'll sample my hoppy delights there if I can be lucky enough to get tickets again!

[Corfe Mixture]

An americanised basic IPA, hyped up to eyeballs to extract maximum profit for Carnival. Not a true craft beer (let alone a real ale) as one would know it.

 

Thanks for that very clear and unambiguous response.

 

I guess I can't expect it to compare with any of the offerings from breweries like Ringwood, Brains or Ruddles ;).

 

I don't even really like good IPA, so it sounds like I'll just have to survive on cans of Boddies. :(

Edited May 6, 2015 by Corfe Mixture

[RickEk]

An americanised basic IPA, hyped up to eyeballs to extract maximum profit for Carnival. Not a true craft beer (let alone a real ale) as one would know it.

 

Okay... :rolleyes:

 

It's brewed by a craft brewer in San Jose... Strike Brewing Company. Like Thrak said, it's not the greatest IPA I've ever had (not even close), but it was, IMHO, drinkable and better than most of the beers onboard.

 

From what I understand, they're going to be debuting a Seawitch "Denali Red" brewed by Alaskan Brewing Company for the Alaska season. I'll certainly have a taste on my Alaska cruise in August... :)

[Potstech]

I tried it and found it had a bitter taste to it. A friend of mine tried it also and said the same thing. Not to my taste so will not order it again. The only way to really decide is to drink one and form your own opinion.

[beg3yrs]

Okay... :rolleyes:

 

It's brewed by a craft brewer in San Jose... Strike Brewing Company. Like Thrak said, it's not the greatest IPA I've ever had (not even close), but it was, IMHO, drinkable and better than most of the beers onboard.

 

From what I understand, they're going to be debuting a Seawitch "Denali Red" brewed by Alaskan Brewing Company for the Alaska season. I'll certainly have a taste on my Alaska cruise in August... :)

 

I agree with you Rick. It's not the greatest IPA I've ever had, but it was a lot better than many IPAs I've had. I'd put it right in the middle of the pack, which IMHO isn't bad at all.

 

A previous poster referred to Denver's Great American Beer Festival. Tucson, where I live, has its own beer festival each year and we've sampled a lot of beer. There are some local Tucson IPAs (Dragoon comes to mind) which are outstanding. Something about Tucson's water having a high mineral content leads to good IPAs coming from this area.

 

Anyway, I was very happy to enjoy the Seawitch IPA last month on the Golden Princess. Personally I think Princess hit a home run and Seawitch was my go-to beer on our last cruise. I even made a point to tell them on the after-cruise survey. I'd love to see them create a premium light beer for those days when you want more but less, if you know what I mean.

 

Thanks for the heads-up on Denali Red. DW is a self-proclaimed beer girl and just loves Alaskan Amber when she's in Juneau. I'll use this information to see if we can do a last minute Alaska cruise this year.

[OCruisers]

We didn't like Sea Witch and would never order it again.

[beg3yrs]

I tried it and found it had a bitter taste to it. A friend of mine tried it also and said the same thing. Not to my taste so will not order it again. The only way to really decide is to drink one and form your own opinion.

 

Exactly. You must form your own opinion.

 

As a Scotsman once told me about something about whisky (the correct spelling for whisky from Scotland BTW) which I think applies to many other things, "There are no bad whiskys, some are just better than others."

[shellbeachjim]

Exactly. You must form your own opinion.

 

As a Scotsman once told me about something about whisky (the correct spelling for whisky from Scotland BTW) which I think applies to many other things, "There are no bad whiskys, some are just better than others."

This. +1000

 

I will try it on our next cruise and decide if it's right for me. I admit to being spoiled. Our local brewery is Firestone-Walker, so I am always having an excellent brew from them. My fave is their DBA (Double Barrel Ale). Their 805 is now found throughout California, although it is only supposed to be sold locally. People have buying it in large quantities here so they can sell it elsewhere (not legal, but it's happening).

[RLK33853]

Four of us tried it last month and none of us were very impressed. It is certainly hoppy but doesn't have any finish and is unbalanced.

 

I too am a bit of a beer snob but after trying it several times (face it beer is occasion driven so you have to try it at different times) we have to say this one is a miss.

 

My go to beer on Princess is Bass or Grolsch but hope that Princess will wake up and stock some decent beer.

 

On the upside the Alaskan beer is really quite good - too bad they only stock it for the Alaskan itineraries.

[CruisingObsessed]

An americanised basic IPA, hyped up to eyeballs to extract maximum profit for Carnival. Not a true craft beer (let alone a real ale) as one would know it.

 

Agree. I think it was gratuitously hopped, even for an IPA---making it more bitter than it needed to be. Do keep in mind that I'm from Portland, and I am a beer snob.:p Others might like it, however I didn't see anyone with more than one bottle of it in front of them (hinting that they ordered a refill).

[kodiac]

Hi,

 

I'm a craft beer fan and wondering how the reviews are on Princess' craft beer offering of "Sea Witch"?:)

 

The wife and tried this IPA on the Royal Princess. It was ok, not excellent. I would order it again, and in fact may do so in October. I think the wife liked it more than I did - go figure.

[Cruise Raider]

I tried it and found it had a bitter taste to it. A friend of mine tried it also and said the same thing. Not to my taste so will not order it again. The only way to really decide is to drink one and form your own opinion.

 

My DH loves Lauganitas (sp?) and so tried the seawitch beer. His first words were "it's too bitter". He is not a fan and he usually likes what I would think of as bitter beer.

[4x4bob]

I was looking forward to trying the new to Princess Sea Witch beer.

 

Was really disapointed with it. Strong bitter taste and after taste that was not pleasant.

 

The Wife looked me when she saw that I was just looking at the bottle and not drinking. Asked what I thought. I told her "tastes like ditch water, but good ditch water." :D

 

Princess needs to find another source.

 

Bob

[300dtc]

We too like beer, not quite beer snobs, but really looking forward to our days in Vancouver, BC sampling local beer before our Alaska cruise. I saw that there are some special beers onboard the Alaska itinerary? Can anyone expand on that? Also, one of my DH's go to beers is Fosters..do they serve those onboard? Thanks everyone!

[Fuzzyape]

I enjoyed the Seawitch. My only complaint (and you might find a solution) is that the Seawitch seems to be bottle conditioned. So if you don't like yeast, and have to make two pours into the glass (I think they should give full pint sized glasses with Boddingtons, and 12oz glasses for the other beers), your second pour is going to be heavy with yeast. That also may be true if you drank from the bottle.

 

At least that was my experience. Have a good trip.

[PORT ROYAL]

Okay... :rolleyes:

 

It's brewed by a craft brewer in San Jose... Strike Brewing Company. Like Thrak said, it's not the greatest IPA I've ever had (not even close), but it was, IMHO, drinkable and better than most of the beers onboard.

 

From what I understand, they're going to be debuting a Seawitch "Denali Red" brewed by Alaskan Brewing Company for the Alaska season. I'll certainly have a taste on my Alaska cruise in August... :)

 

Fair point, but in England the definition of an English craft brewer's beer, or ale, differs from that of our American friends.

 

Each to their own.

[PORT ROYAL]

I enjoyed the Seawitch. My only complaint (and you might find a solution) is that the Seawitch seems to be bottle conditioned. So if you don't like yeast, and have to make two pours into the glass (I think they should give full pint sized glasses with Boddingtons, and 12oz glasses for the other beers), your second pour is going to be heavy with yeast. That also may be true if you drank from the bottle.

 

At least that was my experience. Have a good trip.

 

It should be a second fermentation in the bottle to finally fully condition the beer/ale.

 

Does any person know if the USA brewer uses live or sterilised hops (Goldings or Fuggle etc)?

Edited May 7, 2015 by PORT ROYAL

[sherryf]

We too like beer, not quite beer snobs, but really looking forward to our days in Vancouver, BC sampling local beer before our Alaska cruise. I saw that there are some special beers onboard the Alaska itinerary? Can anyone expand on that? Also, one of my DH's go to beers is Fosters..do they serve those onboard? Thanks everyone!

 

They have had Alaskan Amber and Alaskan Summer on all of our Alaskan cruises. Much better than any of the other swill they serve. I wish they'd serve Alaskan White also, since that's my favorite.

[PescadoAmarillo]

It's not awful but I wouldn't order a second one. I like dark, full bodied beers but it was fairly bitter. Someone liking lighter beers would not likely be impressed. Still, I added the bottle to our decades-old beer bottle collection.

[philv]

I tried it on last cruise. Not great IPA. Got to try it once though. ;)

[Corfe Mixture]

It should be a second fermentation in the bottle to finally fully condition the beer/ale.

 

Does any person know if the USA brewer uses live or sterilised hops (Goldings or Fuggle etc)?

 

I see your post code is BH13, in which case you should be aware that the late Peter Austin, the founder of Ringwood Brewery and the first Chairman of the Society of Independent Brewers, supplied equipment to, and helped during the start up phase of, over 70 of the earlier and more famous US craft breweries, including Shipyard Brewing Company / Sea Dog Brewery.

 

Indeed many of the founders of these companies have stated that he taught them their craft.

[PORT ROYAL]

I see your post code is BH13, in which case you should be aware that the late Peter Austin, the founder of Ringwood Brewery and the first Chairman of the Society of Independent Brewers, supplied equipment to, and helped during the start up phase of, over 70 of the earlier and more famous US craft breweries, including Shipyard Brewing Company / Sea Dog Brewery.

 

Indeed many of the founders of these companies have stated that he taught them their craft.

 

Only moved here last week, and just finished fully unpacking:eek:

But will Google the history. Very interested. Thank you!