Category Archives: Country

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Garage Project, New Zealand, Stout - Milk / Sweet

Garage Project Chocolate Beer

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Brewery: Garage Project
Country: New Zealand
ABV: 4.7%
Style: Milk / Sweet Stout
Other Notes: Whittaker’s. Now on nitro

Brewer Description: (from can) One whole block of chocolate worth of Whittaker’s cacao nibs infused into every can. Unbelievably rich, dark and creamy. Brewed with chocolate malts, lactose, and infused with vanilla and freshly batch roasted cocoa beans. Tiny bubbles of nitrogen make it smoother and even more delicious. If it was any more chocolatey we’d have to put it in a wrapper.

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

Intro: A 330ml can with a best before date of 3rd May 2019. Poured into a Mikkeller pint glass as per the instructions for a ‘perfect nitro pour’.
Appearance: A clear dark brown colour with a slight amber hue, and an almost two finger light tanned head that had excellent retention and left some nice lacing.
Aroma: Strong, rich, chocolate, cocoa beans with a touch of vanilla and nuttiness.
Taste: Bittersweet chocolate, milk chocolate, just a lot of chocolate with hints of cream and vanilla.
Mouthfeel: Creamy, smooth, medium bodied with soft carbonation.
Overall: A good and wonderful chocolate drink. It may not be complex, but the rich chocolate in the aroma and taste made it easy to drink. If the vanilla was even stronger, I think this would have been even better.

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Gweilo Brewery x Magic Rock Brewing, Hong Kong, IPA - New England / Hazy Double

Gweilo x Magic Rock Solitaire NEIIPA

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Brewery: Gweilo Brewery x Magic Rock Brewing
Country: Hong Kong
ABV: 8.5%
Style: New England / Hazy Double IPA
Other Notes: 35 IBUs. Collaboration

Brewer Description: (from can) Brewed with our friends at Magic Rock, Solitaire is a seriously juicy Double NEIPA. No expense has been spared on this bad boy with a huge dry hop of Galaxy, Aloha, Citra Cryo, El Dorado and Denali. These are carried by the base of pale malt, wheat and oats to create a super rich, tropical hop bomb. Gently roll the can before opening and drink it fresh to ensure maximum juiciness.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.16
My ratebeer.com rating: 4

Intro: A 330ml can with a best before date of 30th November 2019. Poured into a Lost Abbey teku glass.
Appearance: A hazy darkish orange colour with an almost two finger white head that had decent retention while leaving behind some lacing.
Aroma: Strong tropical aromas. Mango, peach, and citrus zestiness.
Taste: Tropical stone fruit, ripe mango, peach, citrus zest and rind, nice light bitter finish.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate to high carbonation.
Overall: Very nice tropical juiciness with good light bitterness to balance and good body. It’s got pretty much everything I asked for when I reviewed the Nebulous DDH NEIPA. Carbonation was perhaps slightly too high, but not to take anything away from it, this was good and very enjoyable to drink.

3 - Indifferent (might buy, probably drink), Beer Reviews, Knee Deep Brewing Company, Porter - Imperial, USA

Knee Deep Imperial Tanilla

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Brewery: Knee Deep Brewing Company
Country: USA
ABV: 10%
Style: American Imperial Porter
Other Notes: 48 IBUs. Imperial Porter brewed with vanilla beans

Brewer Description: (from can) Imperial Porter brewed with vanilla beans, which compliments this wonderfully balanced yet full-bodied brew with aromas of chocolate, vanilla and espresso.

My rating: 3
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.53
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.4

Intro: A 12 fl. oz. can with no canned on or best before date. Poured into a snifter glass.
Appearance: A deep dark brown colour with a nice two finger beige to light tanned head that had pretty good retention and left lots of nice lacing.
Aroma: Light roast, coke, chocolate and light smoke.
Taste: Roasted malts, chocolate, cocoa, coffee, light herbal and light bitterness.
Mouthfeel: Moderately creamy, medium bodied with low carbonation.
Overall: This was ok. The roastiness, chocolate and coffee base was good, but the herbal and bitterness didn’t do anything for me. I was also hoping for the vanilla to really come through, whereas I pretty much did not get any in the end.

3 - Indifferent (might buy, probably drink), Beer Reviews, Knee Deep Brewing Company, Stout - Milk / Sweet, USA

Knee Deep Stoutello

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Brewery: Knee Deep Brewing Company
Country: USA
ABV: 6%
Style: Milk / Sweet Stout
Other Notes: 40 IBUs. Chocolate Hazelnut Milk Stout

Brewer Description: (from can) Stout brewed with cacao nibs and natural flavor added.

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

Intro: A 1 pint can with no canned on or best before date. Poured into a Spiegelau Stout glass.
Appearance: Dark dark brown in colour with a two finger mocha brown head that had pretty good retention while leaving behind some lacing.
Aroma: Roasty, nutty, hazelnut, chocolate and mocha.
Taste: Moderate sweetness, chocolate, light roasted malts, coffee, hazelnut, lightly bitter finish.
Mouthfeel: Rich, smooth, medium bodied with moderate to low carbonation.
Overall: Aromas were great while taste was decent. I think that if the roastiness and nuttiness could have been stronger, it would have been even better.

3 - Indifferent (might buy, probably drink), American IPA, Beer Reviews, Denmark, Mikkeller ApS

Mikkeller Henry & Sally’s IPA

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Brewery: Mikkeller ApS
Country: Denmark
ABV: 6%
Style: American IPA
Other Notes: Brewed by Mikkeller at Gweilo Brewery, Hong Kong

Brewer Description: Not much in the way of official description I could find.

My rating: 3
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.43
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.4

Intro: A 330ml can, with a best before date of 2nd November 2019. Poured into a Lost Abbey teku glass.
Appearance: A moderately hazy golden yellow colour with a two finger white head that had decent retention while leaving some nice lacing.
Aroma: Lemon tea, apricot, lemon zest, pine and grass.
Taste: Grapefruit, apricot, floral, pine, lemon zest and grass.
Mouthfeel: Medium to light bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: An easy drinking IPA, although the floral notes weren’t my favourite. The one good thing was that Mikkeller brewing some of their recipes in Hong Kong means it should be easier to get some fresher beers.