Monthly Archives: August 2020

4 - Good (buy), Australia, Beer Reviews, Wild Ale, Wildflower Brewing & Blending

Wildflower Good As Gold

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Brewery: Wildflower Brewing & Blending
Country: Australia
ABV: 5%
Style: Wild Ale
Other Notes: Australian Wild Ale

Brewer Description: (from website) Good as Gold is a 50/50 blend of barrel aged Gold with fresh Gold that has just completed primary fermentation. This blend is composed of barrels 1850 (19 month old Gold) and 1722 (22 month old Gold) equally blended with the 62nd batch of Gold brewed in March 2020.

At release, this blend’s aroma shows flinty, wet stone, citrus zest and hoppy spice with soft creamy overtones. The palate is bright and vibrant with clean citrus lines. Really nice balance, mild acidity and palate cleansing gentle bitterness.

The base beer is brewed entirely with New South Wales cereals: Single Origin (S.O.) Riverina NSW grown Schooner ale malt and Coleambally NSW grown organic Red raw wheat thanks to Voyager Malt & Chris and Sam Greenwood. It is made with filtered Sydney water and Motueka (NZ) and Saaz (CZ) hops. Finally, it was fermented with our house culture: brewers yeast, foraged wild yeast and naturally occurring souring bacteria native to New South Wales. It was bottled on 15 April 2020 and naturally conditioned through refermentation for 16 weeks. At bottling it was 5.0% ABV, 25 IBU and 1.1°P (FG= 1.004 SG).

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.32
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.2

Intro: A 750ml bottle, blend #9, bottled in April 2020, and with a best before date of April 2025. Poured into a 3 Fonteinen Zenne glass.
Appearance: A lightly hazy straw golden colour with a one finger white head that dissipated fairly quickly, while leaving only sparse spotty lacing.
Aroma: Funky, citrus zest, lemon peel, unripe mango, floral, and soft barrel notes.
Taste: Lightly sour and tart, funky, brett, mixed citrus juice, maybe grapefruit and orange, with a lemon zesty finish.
Mouthfeel: Light bodied with moderate to soft carbonation.
Overall: A very refreshing, light, and easy to drink Wild Ale. Great on a hot summer day, but seems like it could be an all year round beer for me.

4 - Good (buy), Australia, Beer Reviews, Wild Ale, Wildflower Brewing & Blending

Wildflower Amber

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Brewery: Wildflower Brewing & Blending
Country: Australia
ABV: 6%
Style: Wild Ale
Other Notes: Australian Wild Ale

Brewer Description: (from website) Amber is a blended, barrel aged Australian Wild Ale. Amber Blend #27 is a blend of five barrels – 1727 (21 month old Amber), 1732 (17 month old Amber), 1754 (13 month old Amber), 1847 (17 month old Amber) and 1919 (9 month old Amber).

This blend has an intensely rich nose loaded with cola, fudge, currants and sweet spice. Sweet red fruits, cola, oak and spice fill out the palate and balance the acidity. Wonderfully moreish with great length and a hazelnut finish.

The base beer is brewed entirely with New South Wales cereals: Single Origin (S.O.) Riverina NSW grown Schooner Munich malt, Binya NSW grown S.O. LaTrobe Vienna malt and Riverina NSW grown chocolate malt from Voyager Craft Malt. It is made with filtered Sydney water and Saaz (CZ) hops. Finally, it was fermented with our house culture: brewers yeast, foraged wild yeast and naturally occurring souring bacteria native to New South Wales. It was bottled on 11 March 2020 and naturally conditioned through refermentation for 21 weeks. At bottling it was 6.0% ABV, 18 IBU and 1.4°P (FG = 1.006 SG).

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.38
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.2

Intro: A 750ml bottle, blend #27, bottled in March 2020, and with a best before date of March 2025. Poured into a 3 Fonteinen Zenne glass.
Appearance: A nice clear amber colour with a one finger beige head that dissipated fairly quickly, but settled to a thin ring around the glass, while leaving some spotty lacing.
Aroma: Coke, cherry, blackcurrant, fig, oak, acetone, with notes of caramel.
Taste: Sour, tart, cherry, plum, coke, oak, caramel, and lemon.
Mouthfeel: Medium to light bodied with soft carbonation.
Overall: Very nice aroma and flavours of blended Coke and Flanders Red type ales. Carbonation was a bit lacking for me, but other than that, this was enjoyable.

4 - Good (buy), Australia, Beer Reviews, Wild Ale, Wildflower Brewing & Blending

Wildflower Gold

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Brewery: Wildflower Brewing & Blending
Country: Australia
ABV: 5%
Style: Wild Ale
Other Notes: Australian Wild Ale

Brewer Description: (from website) Gold is a blended, barrel aged Australian Wild Ale. Gold Blend #27 is a blend of 6 barrels – 1705 (15 month old Gold), 1746 (4 month old Gold), 1769 (6 month old Gold), 1813 (13 month old Gold), 1821 (11 month old Gold), 1836 (12 month old Gold).

Intense nose – ripe citrus (Meyer lemon), slate and oak melded together. Full and well structured palate. Citrus dominant but supported with dark earthy spice, cellar funk and energetic acidity. Pops of stone fruit and vanilla. Incredibly long and persistent. A standout blend of our Gold.

The base beer is brewed entirely with New South Wales cereals: Single Origin (S.O.) Riverina NSW grown Schooner ale malt and Coleambally NSW grown organic Red raw wheat thanks to Voyager Malt & Chris and Sam Greenwood. It is made with filtered Sydney water and Motueka (NZ) and Saaz (CZ) hops. Finally, it was fermented with our house culture: brewers yeast, foraged wild yeast and naturally occurring souring bacteria native to New South Wales. It was bottled on 26 February 2020 and naturally conditioned through refermentation for 23 weeks. At bottling it was 5.0% ABV, 25 IBU and 1°P (FG = 1.004 SG).

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.45
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.4

Intro: A 750ml bottle, blend #27, bottled in February 2020, and with a best before date of February 2025. Poured into a 3 Fonteinen Zenne glass.
Appearance: A lightly hazy golden colour with a one finger white head that dissipated fairly quickly, while leaving some spotty lacing.
Aroma: Funky, leather, oak, lemon zest, white grape, with apricot notes.
Taste: Tart, lightly sour, white wine grapes, oak, funky, apricot, green apple, and lemon zest.
Mouthfeel: Medium to light bodied with moderate to soft carbonation.
Overall: My first Wildflower bottle and wow, this was enjoyable. Good balance of funky, citrus and stone fruit flavours.

4 - Good (buy), Against The Grain Brewery, Beer Reviews, Stout - Milk / Sweet, USA

Against The Grain 70K

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Brewery: Against The Grain Brewery
Country: USA
ABV: 13%
Style: Milk / Sweet Stout
Other Notes: Bourbon Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout. Angel’s Envy barrels

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Double Down! Taking 35K to the next level and ratcheting up our disdain all in one shot! Imagine a silky smooth milk stout worth $35K. Imagine what it takes to double it. We did that. Bourbon barrel aged and big, this one is worth all the money.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.35
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.2

Intro: A 750ml tightly foiled bottle, with no bottled on or best before date. Poured into a snifter glass.
Appearance: Black in colour with a thin half finger brown head that dissipated fairly quickly but left nice spotty lacing.
Aroma: Dark roasty malt, chocolate, bourbon, molasses, oak, vanilla, boozy.
Taste: Sweet, light roast, bourbon, molasses, brown sugar, chocolate, oak, vanilla, marshmallow, with dried dark fruit and boozy notes.
Mouthfeel: Medium to full bodied with soft carbonation.
Overall: A very nice sipper with the sweetness balanced by good roast and chocolate notes.

3 - Indifferent (might buy, probably drink), Beer Reviews, Oskar Blues Brewery, Scotch Ale / Wee Heavy, USA

Oskar Blues Old Chub

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Brewery: Oskar Blues Brewery
Country: USA
ABV: 8%
Style: Scotch Ale / Wee Heavy
Other Notes: 30 IBUs. It’s Like Sputnik, a virtual planetoid

Brewer Description: (from website) Old Chub is a brobdingnagian celebration of aggressively shattering the status quo. This jaw-dropping Scottish strong ale (8% ABV, 30 IBUs) strays far from convention, as it’s brewed with a recklessly bodacious amount of malted barley and specialty grains, and a dash of beechwood-smoked malt. It features semi-sweet flavors of cocoa and coffee, and a wee bit of smoke. It’s a powerful, head-turning trip for malt heads and folks who think they don’t dig dark beer.

My rating: 3
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.94
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.8

Intro: A 12 fl. oz. can, canned on 10th May 2019 ‘eyes up here’. Poured into a snifter glass.
Appearance: A dark amber copper colour with a one finger beige head that dissipated fairly quickly but left lots of nice spotty lacing.
Aroma: Sweet, caramel malt, dark stone fruit, plum, cherry, cherry coke and pine.
Taste: Light sweetness, light roast, chocolate malt, caramel, coffee, with a hint of smoke and dark stone fruit.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with soft carbonation.
Overall: I like the aroma, but flavour while not bad, didn’t quite match my expectation after that initial whiff.