Den Herberg Cuvée Devillé

Brewery: Den Herberg
Country: Belgium
ABV: 6.2%
Style: Belgian Pale Ale

Brewer Description: I could not find much in the way of any official information.

My rating: 2
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.31
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.1

Intro: A 330ml bottle with a notched best before date of what appears to be September 2021. Poured into a Chimay goblet glass (as I read somewhere that it was supposed to be an Orval clone).
Appearance: A hazy golden orange colour with a one finger white head that had decent retention and eventually settled to a very thin but replenishing layer, while leaving some lacing.
Aroma: Lightly funky, light brett, grape, musty, straw, earthy, Belgian yeast and notes of wood.
Taste: Lightly sour, funky, brett, Belgian yeast, earthy, straw, hay, with a bitter finish.
Mouthfeel: Medium to light bodied, feels a touch watery, and soft carbonation.
Overall: Taste didn’t really work for me with this combination of brett, yeast, funk and earthiness. It was strangely on and off for me. Mouthfeel also seemed a tad watery at times.

Jandrain-Jandrenouille IV Dark Saison

Brewery: Brasserie de Jandrain-Jandrenouille
Country: Belgium
ABV: 6.5%
Style: Belgian Saison

Brewer Description: I couldn’t find any official information, but as per (beer webshop Etre), this IV Dark Saison has a similar recipe to the IV Saison but with dark malts and oak chips.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.11
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.9

Intro: A 750ml bottle with a best before date of January 2020. Poured into a Holy Mountain tulip glass.
Appearance: Dark brown to black in colour with a big four finger rather uncontrollable tanned head that had excellent retention while leaving behind some lacing.
Aroma: Roasty, coffee, chocolate, caramel, nuttiness with a hint of dark fruit.
Taste: Lightly sweet dark fruit, caramel, toffee, roast, coffee, bittersweet chocolate with a light spice.
Mouthfeel: Medium to bodied with moderate to high carbonation.
Overall: Pleasantly surprised. Although the roasty ‘dark’ part comes through stronger than the ‘saison’ part of this dark saison, it was still balanced enough to feel the Saison portion. Also, the higher carbonation maybe doesn’t go so well with the roastiness, but it was still very enjoyable.

Strange Brew Mandy Black

Brewery: Strange Brew
Country: Greece
ABV: 7%
Style: Foreign / Export Stout

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Beyond the reefs of howling wind, hides the rebel bandit Queen. She storms the ships of Union Jack, their Stout barrels to take back. And people sing with pints on hand “Here’s to you, o, Mandy Black!”

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.19
My ratebeer.com rating: 4

Intro: A 330ml bottle with a best before date of 9th December 2019. Poured into a Spiegelau stout glass.
Appearance: Black in colour with a just over one finger tanned head that had some decent retention and left some nice lacing.
Aroma: Creamy, roast, coffee, chocolate with a touch of vanilla.
Taste: Lightly sweet, roast, coffee, caramel and a bittersweet chocolate finish.
Mouthfeel: Creamy, smooth, medium bodied with soft carbonation.
Overall: Very nice and easy to drink with good bittersweet coffee and chocolate flavours.

Anderson Valley Wild Turkey Bourbon Barrel Stout

Brewery: Anderson Valley Brewing Company
Country: USA
ABV: 6.9%
Style: American Stout
Other Notes: Aged to perfection in bourbon barrels

Brewer Description: (from website) Aged for three months in Wild Turkey® Bourbon barrels, this luxurious stout has a deep ebony hue and a beautiful mahogany head. The woody, vanilla-like notes imparted by the barrels mingle with aromas of fresh baked bread, toffee, and espresso and envelop the rich chocolate and roasted barley flavors with a fine bourbon character.

Our exclusive partnership with Wild Turkey® gives us a world class, consistent source of barrelage, allowing our brewers to explore new frontiers in barrel-aged craft beer. Since its introduction, Wild Turkey® has maintained a distinctive distillation and aging process that gives it a smooth taste and a lingering flavor. They also use differentiated process whereby the bourbon is distilled at a low proof to seal in its flavors. Very little water is added to the bourbon, resulting in a full-flavored authentic taste similar to what one would get straight out of the barrel. Wild Turkey is a genuine drink with a sought after “burn” that comes from its high proof, an attribute fundamental to the brand and critical in maintaining its authentic bourbon characteristics.

My rating: 3
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.59
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.5

Intro: A 650ml bottle with no clear bottled on or best before date. Poured into an Anderson Valley ‘can’ glass.
Appearance: Dark brown to black in colour with a big almost four finger tanned head that had pretty good retention and left some lacing.
Aroma: Roasty, chocolate, bourbon, vanilla with hints of coffee and oak.
Taste: Bourbon sweetness and oak with only hints of any roast, chocolate or stout in the background. The roastiness comes out more as it warms, but in the end still not enough for me.
Mouthfeel: Light to medium bodied with soft carbonation.
Overall: Too much bourbon and a lack of stout identity for me. For the amount of bourbon, body was also lower than I prefer.

VBDCK Kerel Saison

Brewery: VBDCK Brewery
Country: Belgium
ABV: 5.5%
Style: Belgian Saison
Other Notes: 22 IBUs

Brewer Description: (from website) Everybody knows that if you want a great Summer body, you need to work on it during Winter. The same goes for this beer’s complex body of flavours. It is traditionally brewed during Winter and savoured during Spring/Summer. It’s usually very fruity with deep earthy yeast tones and a mild tartness. The VBDCK version has all of that, plus a dry character and medium bitterness perfectly suited to bathing-suit-season and beyond.

My rating: 2
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.21
My ratebeer.com rating: 3

Intro: A 330ml bottle, brew 1823, with a best before date of 27th March 2021. Poured into a Holy Mountain tulip glass.
Appearance: A hazy dark golden colour with a just over one finger white head that had good retention and left some nice lacing.
Aroma: Sweet malt, yeast, coriander, banana, bread and slight pepper.
Taste: Flavours were a little weak. Sweet malt, yeast, banana, light herbal, watery.
Mouthfeel: Light bodied with soft to moderate carbonation.
Overall: Flavours were quite light and watery while carbonation and pepper spice was not strong enough. But I did like the unique bottle shape.