All posts by kitch

3 - Indifferent (might buy, probably drink), Beer Reviews, English Bitter, Goose Island Beer Co., USA

Goose Island Honkers Ale

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Brewery: Goose Island Beer Co.
Country: USA
ABV: 4.3%
Style: English Bitter
Other Notes: 30 IBUs. An English-style Bitter inspired by trips overseas. Combines a fruity hop aroma with a rich malt middle

Brewer Description: (from bottle neck tag) Golden sunset color, fruity hop aroma, biscuit malt flavor, soft body.

My rating: 3
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.2
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.1

Intro: A 12 fl oz bottle, bottled on 18th November 2016 and best before 18th November 2017. Poured into a Mikkeller pint glass.
Appearance: A nice clear copper colour with a one finger off white head that slowly dissipates to a nice thin creamy layer while leaving curtain like lacing.
Aroma: A bit light, but what I do get was grassy, nutty, sweet malt and hints of toffee.
Taste: Toasty biscuit malt, caramel, nuttiness with hints of orange citrus.
Mouthfeel: Light bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: Not my favourite style, but this is easy to drink.

3 - Indifferent (might buy, probably drink), Beer Reviews, English IPA, Goose Island Beer Co., USA

Goose Island Goose IPA

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Brewery: Goose Island Beer Co.
Country: USA
ABV: 5.9%
Style: English IPA
Other Notes: 55 IBUs

Brewer Description: (from bottle neck tag) Fruity aroma, set off by a dry malt middle and long hop finish.

My rating: 3
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.31
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.3

Intro: A 12 fl oz bottle, bottled on 18th November 2016 and best before 18th November 2017. Poured into a Spiegelau IPA glass.
Appearance: A clear golden copper colour with a close to three finger white head that had good retention and left great lacing.
Aroma: Piney with citrus lemon and lime followed by a light sweet malt background.
Taste: I’m not getting much in the taste. Some sweet and grassy malt and something along the lines of a bitter lemon tea.
Mouthfeel: Light to medium bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: It looks great and its aromas were quite nice. Taste was a little too light and one dimensional with just a combination of sweet and long lasting bitterness.

3 - Indifferent (might buy, probably drink), Beer Reviews, Belgium, Brouwerij De Troch, Lambic - Fruit Sweetened

De Troch Chapeau Framboise

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Brewery: Brouwerij De Troch
Country: Belgium
ABV: 3.5%
Style: Belgian Lambic (Fruit Sweetened)
Other Notes: 20% raspberries. Also known as De Troch Framboise Lambic

Brewer Description: (from lambic.info) Chapeau Framboise is a sweetened lambic with natural raspberry juice flavor added and natural sweeteners.

My rating: 3
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.44
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.3

Intro: A 375ml bottle with a best before date of 30th December 2017. Poured into a Cantillon ballon glass.
Appearance: A clear brownish colour with a slight red tint and a just less than one finger white head that dissipated fairly quickly while leaving some sparse lacing.
Aroma: Sweet raspberry jam and grape juice.
Taste: Similar to the aroma, it was very sweet, on the verge of being too sweet for me. Lots of raspberry jam, with hints of grape juice and apple.
Mouthfeel: Light bodied with moderate to light carbonation.
Overall: The aromas are nice, but its taste is on the verge of being too sweet in my opinion. Don’t think I can drink more than one small bottle in a single sitting.

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5 - Excellent (must buy), Beer Reviews, Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project, USA, Wild Ale

Crooked Stave Silly Cybies

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Brewery: Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project
Country: USA
ABV: 9%
Style: American Wild Ale

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Belgian Style Dark Ale aged in oak barrels with raspberries.

My rating: 5
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.71
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.5

Intro: A 375ml bottle, bottled in November 2015. Poured into a Lost Abbey teku glass.
Appearance: A clear and extremely dark red colour with a two fingered tan-ish red head that had decent retention and left some nice lacing.
Aroma: Intense freshly crushed raspberries and raspberry jam.
Taste: Sour and tart with a combination of mixed berries; raspberry, blackberry and blueberry. It is also very jammy but the sweet only lightly shows through the tartness.
Mouthfeel: Dry, medium bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: This is amazing. I don’t get any of the 9% ABV which is great, but I’m also not getting much of the oak barrels that it was supposedly aged in, which while disappointing, actually meant that it was very raspberry jammy and tasty. Crooked Stave have done it again with Silly Cybies, which is a must buy for me.

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3 - Indifferent (might buy, probably drink), 8 Wired Brewing Co., Beer Reviews, New Zealand, Wild Ale

8 Wired Wild Feijoa Sour Ale 2013

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Brewery: 8 Wired Brewing Co.
Country: New Zealand
ABV: 9.5%
Style: American Wild Ale
Other Notes: 2013 vintage. Aged in wine barrels. Refermented in bottle, please decant carefully of the sediment

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Ale brewed with feijoas & aged in wine barrels.

My rating: 3
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.77
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.6

Intro: First thing first… so what is a feijoa? After reading wiki, I’m still not really sure how to answer this correctly, other than that it is a fruit which is supposed to taste like pineapple, apple and mint. Anyway, this was a 500ml bottle with no clear bottled on or best by date other than that it was a 2013 version. Poured into a Lost Abbey teku glass.
Appearance: A hazy copper dark orange colour with pretty much no head and no lacing. Sounded like I was pouring a bottle of soda into the glass with all the fizzing sounds.
Aroma: Sour, fruity, grape, white wine, apple and wood.
Taste: It’s what you’d expect from the aroma. Sour, white grape, vinegar, wood, apple juice and hints of citrus.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with low carbonation (which was unexpected considering the soda like pour I heard).
Overall: At 9.5% ABV, the alcohol is well hidden. I still don’t really know what feijoa really is, but this sour ale is quite nice. The wine barrel aging also really comes through and adds nice woodiness, wine and grape flavours to the beer (unless it actually comes from the feijoa’s… lol…).

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