Monthly Archives: May 2022

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, England, Farmhouse Grissette, Mills Brewing

Mills Grisette Perry

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Brewery: Mills Brewing
Country: England
ABV: 4.5%
Style: Farmhouse Grisette
Other Notes: Mills Brewing make beer with minimal modern intervention, relying on local wild yeast cultures and the influence of nature to ferment

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Grisette Perry was made from a turbid mash containing barley and oats. The resulting wort was hopped with Sorachi Ace in the boil and Amarillo in the coolship. Fermentation took place in a single ex-Scotch barrel with juice from Gloucestershire grown Gin perry pears. The finished beer was primed with Conference pear juice to provide the sugars for bottle conditioning.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.29
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.2

Intro: A 750ml corked and capped bottle, bottled in December 2020, with a best before date of December 2025. Poured into a Holy Mountain tulip glass.
Appearance: A lightly hazy golden straw yellow colour with a big almost three finger white head that dissipated fairly quickly to a thin but fluffy cap, while leaving some nice lacing.
Aroma: Funky, wood, pear, apple.
Taste: Tart, sour, pear, apple, lemon juice, funk, oak.
Mouthfeel: Light to medium bodied with moderate to high crisp carbonation.
Overall: Light, bright and enjoyable. Just so easy to drink with refreshing pear notes.

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Belgium, De Struise Brouwers, Stout - Russian Imperial

De Struise Black Damnation XXIV – Octopussy

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Brewery: De Struise Brouwers
Country: Belgium
ABV: 13%
Style: Russian Imperial Stout
Other Notes: Bottle 1275/2000, 2012 vintage

Brewer Description: (from bottle) A massive stout from Flanders aged in Octomore barrels.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.3
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.2

Intro: A 750ml bottle, number 1275/2000, 2012 vintage, bottled on 23rd March 2017. Poured into a snifter glass.
Appearance: Black in colour with a thin half finger brown head that dissipated fairly quickly, but left some spotty lacing.
Aroma: Roasted malts, peat, leather, whisky, chocolate, leaning sweet from the dry dark fruit, prunes, raisin.
Taste: Light to medium sweetness, whisky, peat, roasted malts, chocolate, candied prunes, brown sugar.
Mouthfeel: Medium to full bodied with soft carbonation.
Overall: Generally, Octomore is among my preferred whiskeys, and it showed up nicely in the aroma. In the flavour, the peat was not coming through as strongly as compared to the aroma, although I’m not entirely sure if it’s because of aging as I did not take notes when I tried it in 2018 and 2020. It’s still an enjoyable sipper and among my favourite Black Damnations along with Coffee Club and Hollow.

3 - Indifferent (might buy, probably drink), Beer Reviews, Black Project Spontaneous & Wild Ales, Sour Ale, USA

Black Project Mallow

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Brewery: Black Project Spontaneous & Wild Ales
Country: USA
ABV: 7.4%
Style: Sour Ale

Brewer Description: (from can) Sour Ale with blueberry and vanilla.

My rating: 3
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.75
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.6

Intro: A 473ml can, canned on 21st July 2021, poured into a 3 Fonteinen stemmed glass.
Appearance: A lightly hazy copper orange with a pinkish hue, and a two finger lightly pinkish head that dissipated quickly while leaving some lacing.
Aroma: A bit weak but what’s there is nice, tart, blueberry, lemon zest, vanilla.
Taste: Sour, tart, bubbly, blueberry, vanilla, lemon zest.
Mouthfeel: Medium to light bodied with overly high carbonation.
Overall: This sounded good, but in the end I was a bit disappointed. The vanilla definitely saved this beer, and without it, I don’t think I would’ve like it at all. Other than that, it was also overly carbonated as each sip just coated my gums with bubbles.

3 - Indifferent (might buy, probably drink), Beer Reviews, Black Project Spontaneous & Wild Ales, Sour Ale, USA

Black Project Cipher

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Brewery: Black Project Spontaneous & Wild Ales
Country: USA
ABV: 7.1%
Style: Sour Ale

Brewer Description: (from can) Sour Ale with apricot and plum.

My rating: 3
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.79
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.7

Intro: A 473ml can, canned on 20th July 2021, poured into a 3 Fonteinen stemmed glass.
Appearance: It was a lightly hazy copper orange colour with a just over one finger off white head that dissipated fairly quickly to a replenishing cap, while leaving some lacing.
Aroma: Tart, apricot, plum, raspberry, lemon zest, with notes of candied fruit.
Taste: Sour, tart, plum, lemon, and light apricot, with a slight candied element.
Mouthfeel: Medium to light bodied, with moderate carbonation.
Overall: The aroma was nice, but flavour wise, while not bad, there was not much complexity and a bit of a one dimensional sour.

3 - Indifferent (might buy, probably drink), Beer Reviews, Brown Ale - Imperial, Founders Brewing Company, USA

Founders Velvet Rush

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Brewery: Founders Brewing Company
Country: USA
ABV: 11.1%
Style: Brown Ale – Imperial
Other Notes: Barrel aged series. 2021 release

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Borrowing elements from both high-end craft cocktails and moody jazz clubs, Velvet Rush takes the bourbon barrel-aged brown ale up an octave with free-flowing notes of coffee, chocolate and vanilla extract. Milk sugar aides in weaving together this complex tapestry of flavors to create a unique sipping experience that really ties the room together.

My rating: 3
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.86
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.8

Intro: A 12 fl. oz. bottle, bottled on 5th August 2021, poured into a snifter glass.
Appearance: A clear dark brown colour with an almost one finger beige head that had decent retention and left some nice spotty lacing.
Aroma: Sweet, brown sugar, chocolate, vanilla, milk, caramel, roasty, coffee bean, espresso, oak, with light bourbon notes.
Taste: Moderate to high sweetness with slight bitter notes, caramel, brown sugar, chocolate, vanilla, coffee, bourbon.
Mouthfeel: Medium to full bodied with soft carbonation.
Overall: Excellent aroma as the bourbon crept through as it warmed. The flavours were a bit sweet for me though, and didn’t make it as easy to drink as I would have liked.