Reninge Bitter Blond à Lambiek

Brewery: Seizoensbrouwerij Vandewalle
Country: Belgium
ABV: 8%
Style: Euro Sour Ale

Brewer Description: (from bottle paper wrap) High fermentation beer with a positive taste evolution because of the refermentation in the bottle. Handcraft beer based on natural ingredients: water, barley, malt, hop from Poperinge (40%), live yeast and lambic. This beer is brewed using three different flavours of bitter hop and has unmistakable fresh taste. After the main fermentation, this beer is blended with Lambic and matures for eight months in the bottle. Unfiltered and unpasteurised. Preserve this beer upright in a cool and dark place, preferably with a steady temperature of 4-6°C. Pour out slowly in a dry and neat glass.

My rating: 2
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.33
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.2

Intro: A 375ml paper wrapped, corked and caged bottle, bottled on 11th November 2013 and a statement that says it preserves up to 4 years after bottling. Poured into a Lost Abbey teku.
Appearance: A hazy copper orange colour with a one finger white head that dissipated fairly quickly, while leaving sparse lacing.
Aroma: Tart citrus tangerine, funk, earthiness, oak and a herbal element.
Taste: There’s a light sweetness, followed by some bitter orange rind, sour lemon juice and a mix of dusty, funky and herbal elements.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: This was ok with interesting sweet, bitter and sour, but I wasn’t too fond of the herbal aspects that were there.

American Solera Foeder Cerise

Brewery: American Solera
Country: USA
ABV: 6%
Style: American Wild Ale

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Ale aged in oak tanks with cherries added.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.49
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.4

Intro: A 375ml bottle, 2015 vintage as per the date on the back label. Poured into a Lost Abbey teku.
Appearance: A hazy orange-red colour with a less than two finger off white head that dissipated fairly quickly and left only sparse lacing.
Aroma: Tart cherries and oak with hints of lemon and funk.
Taste: Tart and sour cherries with a touch of oak and marzipan almond-like flavours on the front end. The finish has a nice lemon and vinegary sourness.
Mouthfeel: Light to medium bodied with moderate to high carbonation.
Overall: A nice and refreshing Wild Ale with great tart cherry notes.

American Solera Foeder Gold

Brewery: American Solera
Country: USA
ABV: 5.6%
Style: American Wild Ale

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Sour Golden Ale aged in oak tanks.

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

Intro: A 375ml bottle, 2015 vintage as per the date on the back label. Poured into a Lost Abbey teku.
Appearance: A hazy golden orange colour with a one finger white head that disappears extremely fast and no lacing.
Aroma: Citrus mandarin and lemon with some tropical mango and pineapple here and there, in addition to oak and light funk.
Taste: Sour and tart, citrusy sour orange and lemon with hints of oak and funk.
Mouthfeel: Crisp, refreshing, medium to light bodied with moderate to high carbonation.
Overall: This was nice refreshing and easy to drink.

Oskar Blues Ten Fidy

Brewery: Oskar Blues Brewery
Country: USA
ABV: 10.5%
Style: Russian Imperial Stout
Other Notes: 65 IBUs

Brewer Description: (from website) Ten FIDY Imperial Stout – This titanic, immensely viscous stout is loaded with inimitable flavors of chocolate-covered caramel and coffee and hide a hefty 65 IBUs underneath the smooth blanket of malt. Ten FIDY (10.5% ABV) is made with enormous amounts of two-row malt, chocolate malt, roasted barley, flaked oats and hops. Ten FIDY is the ultimate celebration of dark malts and boundary-stretching beer.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.46
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.3

Intro: A 12 fl oz can, canned on 13th October 2016, with a note that said “Midnight on a moonless night”. Poured into a Lost Abbey teku glass.
Appearance: It was black in colour with a nice two fingered mocha brown head that had great retention and left lots of nice sticky lacing.
Aroma: Roasty coffee, rich dark chocolate and light char with hints of molasses and licorice.
Taste: Roasted malts, molasses and dark fruit plum and raisins to start, followed by rich dark chocolate, roasty coffee, caramel and a light char. Finish is lightly bitter.
Mouthfeel: Rich, velvety, creamy and smooth. Full bodied with moderate to light carbonation.
Overall: A wonderful Imperial Stout from Oskar Blues which is nicely balanced and great to drink.

Hanssens Oudbeitje

Brewery: Hanssens Artisanaal
Country: Belgium
ABV: 6%
Style: Belgian Lambic (Fruit)

Brewer Description: (from bottle) (translated from Dutch) Pure Lambic, with fresh strawberries, 100% natural product.

My rating: 2
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.14
My ratebeer.com rating: 2.8

Intro: A 375ml corked and caged bottle with a notched Lotnr of H (not sure what this means). Then there are two dates. The first I translated from Dutch to: “to consume preferably before” 7th August 2027. The second I translated from French to: “best before” 7th August 2034. Not sure why there are two different dates for different languages. Poured into a Cantillon ballon glass.
Appearance: A lightly hazy dark golden orange colour with no head and no lacing.
Aroma: Oak, vinegar, acidity, strawberry and funky.
Taste: Sour, tart and acidic with notes of vinegar and berries.
Mouthfeel: Light bodied with extremely low to no carbonation and quite a harsh acidic feel.
Overall: For me, this could use more carbonation. In addition, I wasn’t really getting much strawberries in the flavour, and any berry flavour I did get was quite light. The main thing though was the quite harsh acidity as each swallow felt a light burn on my throat.