All posts by kitch

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, USA, Wicked Weed Brewing, Wild Ale

Wicked Weed Medora

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Brewery: Wicked Weed Brewing
Country: USA
ABV: 6.6%
Style: American Wild Ale
Other Notes: American sour with blackberries and raspberries

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Medora is a blonde sour ale aged in red wine barrels with one pound of blackberries and raspberries per gallon. The result is a beautiful, fuchsia ale with bright berry character.

The daughter of a king, Medora was wrought with the burden of expectations. Her father did his utmost to speak confidence into his young daughter. Time passed and with it the king, leaving Medora his sole heir. Her melancholy deepened. One night a great meteor flashed across the northern sky. Her father’s words lit into her heart: “Choose happiness; no expectation or circumstance can usurp your will to rejoice in them.” Medora thrived, and as for imposed expectations; she never gave them credence again.

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

Intro: A 500ml bottle, bottled on 8th January 2016. Poured into a Lost Abbey teku glass.
Appearance: A cloudy raspberry red colour with a two finger off white head that had good retention and left nice sticky lacing.
Aroma: Red wine gum berry candy, vinous, oak, earthiness and a light funk.
Taste: Very lightly sour, raspberries, mixed berries, vinous, oak and slightly funky.
Mouthfeel: Medium to light bodied with moderate carbonation and a dry-ish finish.
Overall: I tend to enjoy these berry flavoured Wild Ales and this was no different. It was surprisingly not very sour at all, but the oak barrel character in the aroma and taste was quite strong. Definitely enjoyable.

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, USA, Wicked Weed Brewing, Wild Ale

Wicked Weed Brettaberry

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Brewery: Wicked Weed Brewing
Country: USA
ABV: 5.5%
Style: American Wild Ale
Other Notes: Tart Farmhouse Ale with berries & honey

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Brettaberry, a tart farmhouse ale whose inspiration is drawn from freshly baked berry pie, features a half-pound per gallon of strawberries, blueberries, and blackberries. The sweet acidity of the berries paired with the mild farmhouse funk of our house culture is rounded by the addition of full bodied, Haw Creek Honey.

Memory is not a fleeting picture grasped only in the mind’s eye. Memory is a guileless traveller, discovering avenues through the sights, aromas, and flavors of our daily experience. As brewers, our daily experiences orbit around creating beers that convey something more than flavor, we use the palate to express ideas and feelings. The bottle you hold contains more than a complex, balanced beverage. It holds the aromas that echo fresh cut blades of humid august grass, the fizzing noises of warm summer rain on a slate, and tart flavors of ripe berries that roll over us like floured pins over dough. This is our connection to beer – we hope it will be yours as well.

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

Intro: A 500ml bottle, bottled on 20th November 2015. Poured into a Lost Abbey teku glass.
Appearance: A slightly hazy strawberry orange pink colour with an almost two finger white head that dissipates fairly quickly but left lots of clingy lacing.
Aroma: Tart mixed berries although it seems strawberry is most prominent, brett funkiness, barnyard, mustiness with hints of honey.
Taste: Tart, lightly sour, strawberry, raspberry and blackberry with mild funkiness and perhaps a touch of lemon and pepper.
Mouthfeel: Medium body with moderate carbonation and a dry-ish finish.
Overall: This was nice, refreshing and easy to drink. I’m not getting much of the honey as it just seems like berry sweetness, but I’m sure its mixed in with that and also guessing that the honey adds to the body.

3 - Indifferent (might buy, probably drink), Beer Reviews, Belgium, Brouwerij De Ranke, Euro Sour Ale

De Ranke Kriek

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Brewery: Brouwerij De Ranke
Country: Belgium
ABV: 7%
Style: Euro Sour Ale
Other Notes: On base of old Flemish beer, Lambic and sour cherries (25%)

Brewer Description: (from bottle) 70% Belgian Sour Ale fermented with cherries with 30% Lambic added.

My rating: 3
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.55
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.5

Intro: A 750ml bottle with a best before date of 26th August 2021. Poured into a Lost Abbey teku glass.
Appearance: A very nice clear ruby red colour with a just under two finger pinkish head that dissipated fairly quickly while leaving only sparse lacing.
Aroma: Sour, tart, funky, vinegar, musty with only hints of cherry.
Taste: Tart and sour, lots of lemon, lemon zest, vinegar and funk with only a hint of cherries.
Mouthfeel: Medium to light bodied with moderate to light carbonation.
Overall: This was ok but the Belgian Sour Ale felt like it overpowered everything else, such that there was hardly any cherry in either the aroma or taste, which was not so good for a Kriek type beer.

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project, USA, Wild Ale

Crooked Stave Raspberry Origins

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Brewery: Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project
Country: USA
ABV: 7.5%
Style: American Wild Ale

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Burgundy Sour Ale aged in oak barrels with raspberries.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.42
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.3

Intro: A 375ml bottle, bottled in December 2015. Poured into a Cantillon ballon glass.
Appearance: A dark burgundy ruby red colour with a just over one finger off pink with a dark orange hue head that dissipated fairly quickly to a thin cap with some nice lacing.
Aroma: Very nice sweet and tart raspberry jammy aromas with perhaps a hint of oak.
Taste: Sour and tart raspberries and lemon to begin, followed by some light sweet jammy raspberries and a hint of oak. It finishes sour again with lemon, some citric acidity and a touch of grapes.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate to light carbonation and a dry-ish finish.
Overall: The aromas were stunning and while the taste didn’t quite match up to the aroma, it was still very good.

5 - Excellent (must buy), Beer Reviews, Belgium, Brouwerij Rodenbach N.V., Flanders Red Ale

Rodenbach Caractère Rouge

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Brewery: Brouwerij Rodenbach N.V.
Country: Belgium
ABV: 7%
Style: Flanders Red Ale
Other Notes: Aged on oak casks

Brewer Description: (from tag) The exclusive Rodenbach Caractère Rouge, with an alcohol content of 7%, is the result of a 6-month maceration with fresh fruit (sour cherries, raspberries and cranberries) of a beer which matured in oak casks for 2 years. After its maceration, the beer is re-fermented in the bottle. Rodenbach Caractère Rouge is vinous with a ver complex, fruity nose of raspberry and cherry combined with notes of wood and caramel. The undertone consists of an aroma of violets, leather and a hint of tobacco. Flavourwise this fruit beer has a rather sour taste, but of an exceptionally pure nature. Its light, residual sugars balance out the triangle of sour, sweet and dry flavours. This dryness mainly stems from the cranberries, which lend the beer an exceptionally long and pure aftertaste.

My rating: 5
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.77
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.6

Intro: A 750ml corked and caged bottle with a best before date of 19th May 2017. Poured into a Cantillon ballon glass.
Appearance: A dark ruby red colour with a half finger off white head that dissipated quickly and left some sparse lacing.
Aroma: Berry fruit forward, lightly sweet with raspberry, cherry and cranberry. Finish is lightly tart with earthy oakiness.
Taste: Great balance of tart, lightly sour and lightly sweet, with raspberry, cherry and cranberry followed by some nice light oak woodiness.
Mouthfeel: Dry-ish, medium bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: This is just really good. Nicely balanced, smooth and very fruity. I could drink this all day. Even though this particular bottle was nearing its best before date, it felt as if it would still be good to drink over the next few years.