Category Archives: Country

3 - Indifferent (might buy, probably drink), Beer Reviews, Fruit Beer, Gweilo Brewery x Culmination Brewing, Hong Kong

Gweilo x Culmination Fruitburst

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Brewery: Gweilo Brewery x Culmination Brewing
Country: Hong Kong
ABV: 5.8%
Style: Fruit Beer
Other Notes: 15 IBUs. Collaboration with Culmination

Brewer Description: (from can) Brewed with our friends at Culmination Brewing, Fruitburst is a beer erupting with tart tropical fruits. We’ve used a light wheat base and pumped it full of guava, peach and passionfruit purees shipped over from Culmination’s home state of Oregon. The result is a juicy burst of fruit with a tangy kick.

My rating: 3
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.65
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.5

Intro: A 330ml can with a best before date of 20th August 2020. Poured into a Holy Mountain tulip glass.
Appearance: A cloudy peachy orange colour with quite a bit of sediment. A big three finger white head that dissipated quite quickly and only left some sparse lacing.
Aroma: Fruity, guava, unripe banana, peach, apricot, and passionfruit.
Taste: Fruity, moderate to light sweetness, guava, passionfruit, tangy.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate to light carbonation.
Overall: Enjoyable aroma, and the simple fruity flavours were pretty good.

2 - Maybe (likely wouldn't buy, might drink), Beer Reviews, Gweilo Brewery, Hong Kong, IPA - New England / Hazy

Gweilo Hopfensaft

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Brewery: Gweilo Brewery
Country: Hong Kong
ABV: 4.9%
Style: New England / Hazy IPA
Other Notes: 25 IBUs. Limited Batch

Brewer Description: (from can) Hopfensaft NEIPA pays hommage to three German hops: Ariana, Mandarina Bavaria and Huell Melon. This medley of hops creates a juicy beer bursting with flavours of grapefruit, gooseberry, blackcurrant, orange, melon and vanilla. At 4.9%, it’s scarily sessionable!

My rating: 2
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.13
My ratebeer.com rating: 2.9

Intro: A 330ml can with a best before date of 3rd September 2020. Poured into a Holy Mountain tulip glass.
Appearance: A slightly murky dark orange colour with a two finger white head that had decent retention while leaving some nice lacing.
Aroma: Bready, citrus zest, grapefruit rind, melon and orange.
Taste: Bready malt base, melon, moderate bitterness, grapefruit zest and rind, citrus peel, orange, and tea.
Mouthfeel: Medium+ bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: Aside from its hazy appearance, it doesn’t have the characteristics of a good NEIPA for me. There is fruit, but the juiciness seems restrained and the strong bready malt character takes over. I can only say that this one is not really for me.

3 - Indifferent (might buy, probably drink), Beer Reviews, Gweilo Brewery x Mikkeller ApS, Hong Kong, IPA - New England / Hazy

Gweilo x Mikkeller Skyline IPA

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Brewery: Gweilo Brewery x Mikkeller ApS
Country: Hong Kong
ABV: 5.5%
Style: New England / Hazy IPA
Other Notes: 25 IBUs. Collaboration with Mikkeller. Collectively redefining

Brewer Description: (from can) Brewed with our friends at Mikkeller, Skyline IPA delivers a huge hit of citrus, backed up by subtle notes of pineapple and mango. These intense flavours are the result of a 25g/L dry hop of Amarillo, Azacca and Galena. We use wheat, oats and London Ale yeast to give Skyline a juicy mouthfeel.

My rating: 3
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.7
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.4

Intro: A 330ml can with a best before date of 4th September 2020. Poured into a Holy Mountain tulip glass.
Appearance: Poured a hazy golden orange colour with a two finger white head that had decent retention and left some nice lacing.
Aroma: Tropical and citrusy fruit forward. Mango, pineapple, orange juice and grapefruit zest.
Taste: Fruity, unripe mango, moderate bitterness, citrusy orange rind, grapefruit zest, spicy hop burn on the finish.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied, moderate carbonation, rather uncomfortable spicy hop burn finish.
Overall: Great aroma, but taste and mouthfeel were affected by a rather uncomfortable hop burn, which is quite strange for me since I’m usually ok with hop burn and don’t necessarily consider it a problem. In this case though, the spiciness definitely affected my enjoyment.

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Magpie Brewing Company, Sour Ale, South Korea

Magpie Juicybox – Blueberry & Yuja

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Brewery: Magpie Brewing Company
Country: South Korea
ABV: 4.5%
Style: Sour Ale
Other Notes: 5 IBUs

Brewer Description: (from can) Sour Ale w/ blueberry & yuja

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.99
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.8

Intro: A 500ml can, canned on 1st July 2019. Poured into a Holy Mountain tulip glass.
Appearance: A hazy candy red colour mixed with a bit of purple and an almost two finger pinkish head that dissipated quickly while leaving only sparse to no lacing.
Aroma: Juicy, blueberry, yoghurt, with light citrus notes in the background.
Taste: Lightly sour, juicy, blueberry, mixed berries, and citrusy yuzu (which I just found out is the same as Yuja).
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate carbonation. The thickish sediment towards the end was not a good feeling though.
Overall: Very juicy and tasty. The berry and citrus flavours complemented each other and made for easy drinking. It may not be a complex beer, but minus the bottom of the bottle, I do enjoy drinking it.

5 - Excellent (must buy), Beer Reviews, Belgium, Brouwerij 3 Fonteinen, Lambic - Fruit

3 Fonteinen Intens Rood

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– aka 3 Fonteinen Intense Red Oude Kriek (ratebeer & beeradvocate)

Brewery: Brouwerij 3 Fonteinen
Country: Belgium
ABV: 5.9%
Style: Belgian Lambic (Fruit)

Brewer Description: (from bottle in Dutch) 3 Fonteinen “Intens Rood” wordt bekomen door het macereren van hand-geplukte volle krieken op jonge traditionele lambik gedurende minstens zes maanden, in een verhouding van één kilo per liter. Daarna wordt de kriekenlambik geassembleerd met jonge lambik tot een intensiteit van min, 450 gram fruit per liter wordt bekomen. Na minstens zes maanden flesrijping onstaat een intense Oude Kriek die doet denken aan een rond pinot noir. Natuurlijk fruit, zonder toevoeging van sappen, siropen, of suikers. Ongefilterd en ongepasteuriseerd.

Deze specifieke botteling van Intens Rood heeft niet minder dan 7 maanden fruitmaceratie gekregen en heeft een finale fruitintensiteit van 480 gram krieken per liter.

(translated to English) 3 Fonteinen “Intense Red” is obtained by macerating full hand-picked cherries on young traditional lambic for at least six months, in a ratio of one kilo per liter. The cherry lambic is then assembled with young lambic until an intensity of minimum 450 grams of fruit per liter is obtained. After at least six months of bottle aging, an intense Oude Kriek is created that is reminiscent of a round pinot noir. Natural fruit, without the addition of juices, syrups, or sugars. Unfiltered and unpasteurized.

This specific bottling of Intense Red has received fruit maceration for no less than 7 months and has a final fruit intensity of 480 grams of cherries per liter.

My rating: 5
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.5
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.4

Intro: A 750ml corked and caged bottle, blend n°35, season 16/17, bottled on 21st June 2017, with a best before date of 26th October 2037. Poured into a 3 Fonteinen stemmed glass.
Appearance: A very nice clear ruby red colour with a one finger pinkish head that dissipated quickly and left only sparse to no lacing.
Aroma: Light tartness and light funk, cherry and oak.
Taste: As you’d expect from the aroma, sour, tart, cherry, cherry pie, oak and a splash of lemon.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: Very nice intense cherry flavours. It was not as sweet as I remember it to be, but actually, the good amount of tart and sourness was a good balance to the cherry pie and oak notes.