4 - Good (buy), Barleywine - American, Beer Reviews, Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, USA

Sierra Nevada Bigfoot

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Brewery: Sierra Nevada Brewing Company
Country: USA
ABV: 9.6%
Style: Barleywine – American
Other Notes: 90 IBUs. Malts – Caramelized & Two-row Pale. Hops – Cascade, Centennial & Chinook

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Extreme in the ‘80s and a force of flavor today. Bigfoot is a timeless beast of a beer, forever tracked for its enormous malt body and sheer hop intensity. Drink it fresh, or cellar each year’s expedition to unleash a world of new flavors over time.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.23
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.1

Intro: A 12 fl. oz. bottle, 2023 vintage, packaged 10th January 2023. Poured into a snifter glass.
Appearance: A slightly hazy copper amber colour with a half finger beige head that dissipated fairly quickly to a ring around the glass, while leaving nice lacing.
Aroma: Fruity, candied mixed berries, sweet grapes (muscat maybe?), piney, orange peel, caramel, toffee, and a touch of tea leaves.
Taste: Sweet beginnings, with a light to moderate bitter finish. The middle is a collection of candied dried fruit, pine, toffee, caramel, and orange peel.
Mouthfeel: Full bodied with soft carbonation.
Overall: Nice balance between sweet and bitter. Now that I don’t think I can find this regularly, I want more…

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Denmark, Insight Cellars, Wild Ale

Insight Cellars Sunstead: White Peach

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Brewery: Insight Cellars
Country: Denmark
ABV: 6.3%
Style: Wild Ale
Other Notes: Danish Wild Ale with fresh white Saturn peaches. 2023 vintage. 2657 btls

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Our Sunstead series captures the essence of perfectly ripe stone fruits, allowing us to savor the warm flavors of summer all year long. The base beer is a blend of one, two and three-year-old Danish Wild Ales aged in white wine barrels. We racked this onto freshly destoned and crushed white Saturn peaches at a rate of over 600 grams of peaches per liter, and left it to macerate with the fruit for over a month before bottling. This complex, soft and juicy beer tastes almost like biting into a fragrant peach, transporting you back to the high days of summer no matter when you drink it.

My rating: 4+
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.47
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.4

Intro: A 750ml caged and corked bottle, 2023 vintage, bottled on 31st August 2023. Poured into a Tilquin stemmed glass.
Appearance: A hazy golden orange colour with a one finger white head that dissipated quickly, while leaving only sparse to no lacing.
Aroma: Juicy, fresh juicy peach flesh, peach skin, with light wood and a touch of funk.
Taste: Lightly sour, super juicy, ripe peach, peach juice, a splash of lime, and light notes of funk.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: Very juicy ripe peaches in both the aroma and flavours. Really enjoyable and easy to drink.

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Denmark, Insight Cellars, Wild Ale

Insight Cellars Rhineland Harmonie

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Brewery: Insight Cellars
Country: Denmark
ABV: 8.5%
Style: Wild Ale
Other Notes: Rose-inspired Danish Wild Ale with Riesling and Pinot Noir grapes from Germany. 2021 vintage. 1860 btls

Brewer Description: (from bottle) This beer is a blend of 75% two-year-old Danish Wild Ale macerated with fresh Riesling grapes from the Mosel wine region in Germany and 25% three-year-old Danish Wild Ale macerated with Pinot Noir grapes from Rhodt unter Rietberg, Germany. We carefully crafted this blend to evoke the pink hue, mild tannins and delicate fruit flavors of European rosé wines. The final blend was then aged in stainless steel to achieve a deeper and more harmonious wine character. Like a fine wine, this beer is an excellent candidate for extended aging due to its high proportion of German Riesling grapes.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.03
My ratebeer.com rating: 4

Intro: A 750ml caged and corked bottle, 2021 vintage, bottled on 2nd August 2023. Poured into a Tilquin stemmed glass.
Appearance: A slightly hazy pinkish orange colour, with a thin pink head that dissipated quickly while leaving only sparse to no lacing.
Aroma: Tart berries, redcurrant, gooseberry, grape skin, rose vinous, wet wood, with light funk.
Taste: Sour, tart, mixed berries, redcurrant, gooseberry, green apple with peel, grape skin, rose vinous, a touch green, and notes of wood.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: Aroma and flavours were pretty good although a bit green for Riesling.

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Belgium, Brouwerij 3 Fonteinen, Lambic - Fruit

3 Fonteinen Pruim Opal

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Brewery: Brouwerij 3 Fonteinen
Country: Belgium
ABV: 6.5%
Style: Lambic – Fruit
Other Notes: Blend°22, Season 22/23

Brewer Description: (from bottle) For this Pruim, we macerated Opal plums from De Kleinaart in Limburg – a small orchard with organic plums. Maceration happened on young lambik, and blended with three-year old lambik. The lambikken originated from two different barrels and five different brews. We macerated for almost six months, rendering the weighted average age to more than 22 months. The final fruit proportion is 477 grams of plums per litre of Pruim. Almost 60% of the cereals used while brewing, were sourced in our Cereal Collective. 100% 3 Fonteinen. Bottle count: 807

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.21
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.1

Intro: A 750ml corked and caged bottle, blend°22, season 22/23, bottled on 5th January 2023. Poured into a Tilquin stemmed glass.
Appearance: A cloudy orangey pinkish colour, with a thin white head that dissipated quickly, while leaving only sparse lacing.
Aroma: Tart, plum, lemon zest, grapefruit rind, a touch of minerals, and some funky, plastic notes at the end.
Taste: Sour, tart, plum, lemon juice, lemon zest, honey, minerals, funk, and light notes of damp wood.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate to soft carbonation.
Overall: Enjoyable with a good balance of plum and citrus.

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Belgium, Lambic - Fruit, Publitasting

Publitasting Druif-Rabarber Geuze

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Brewery: Publitasting
Country: Belgium
ABV: 6.3%
Style: Lambic – Fruit
Other Notes: Limited edition (102 liter) – 2023

Brewer Description: (from bottle in Dutch) Blend met 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 en 6 jaarse traditionele lambiek uit de Zenne vallei van Brouwerij Eylenbosh (Kobbegem), Brouwerij Sako (Pepingen), Brouwerij Den Herberg (Halle), en Brouwerij De Troch (Wambeek). Druif Boskoop Glory, Druif Vroege van der Laen en Rabarber.

(translated to English) A blend of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 year old traditional lambic from the Zenne valley, from Brouwerij Eylenbosh (Kobbegem), Brouwerij Sako (Pepingen), Brouwerij Den Herberg (Halle), and Brouwerij De Troch (Wambeek). Grape Boskoop Glory, grape Vroege van der Laen and rhubarb.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.27
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.1

Intro: A 750ml corked and capped bottle, 2023 vintage, with a best before date of 31st December 2028. Poured into a Tilquin stemmed glass.
Appearance: A nice lightly hazy pinkish orange colour with a one finger white head that dissipated fairly quickly, eventually settling to a ring around the glass while leaving sparse lacing.
Aroma: Lightly tart, grape skin, mixed berries, lemon zest, rhubarb, with notes of leather and funk.
Taste: Tart, lightly sour, grape skin, mixed berry sweetness, lemon zest, rhubarb, green, light leather and a touch of funk.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: The barrel was muted, and just light funk, but there was good enjoyable fruitiness from the aroma and flavours of grape and rhubarb.

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