Category Archives: Country

3 - Indifferent (might buy, probably drink), Beer Reviews, Ireland, Lambic - Gueuze, Land & Labour

Land & Labour Spon: 2 Year Blend

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Brewery: Land & Labour
Country: Ireland
ABV: 5.8%
Style: Lambic – Gueuze
Other Notes: A blend of 1 & 2 year old spontaneously fermented beers

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Spon: 2 year blend is our lambic-inspired spontaneously fermented beer. Brewed with a traditional turbid mash & boiled for several hours with aged hops before being cooled overnight in our coolship. Each beer has had a spontaneous ferment in wine barrels where it remained as it evolved & matured for up to 2 years. This blend is assembled from barrels brewed on the 8th April 2018 & the 9th March 2019. Bottled on the 23rd November 2019. Released in May 2021.

My rating: 3
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.8
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.7

Intro: A 750ml corked and caged bottle, with a best before date of 23rd November 2029. Poured into a 3 Fonteinen gueuze glass.
Appearance: A lightly hazy golden colour with a one finger white head that had decent retention that eventually settled to a nice cap while leaving some lacing.
Aroma: Funky, earthy, oak, lemon, with some light vinous notes.
Taste: Sour, tart, white grape, vinous, lemon, apple.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: Flavour felt a bit simple, as despite getting interesting funk and oak in the aroma, there was a distinct lack of it in the flavour. This being a 1 and 2 year blend, perhaps adding some 3 year old beers would help and improve it.

3 - Indifferent (might buy, probably drink), Beer Reviews, FrauGruber Brewing, Germany, IPA - New England / Hazy Double

FrauGruber Cloak Of Feathers

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Brewery: FrauGruber Brewing
Country: Germany
ABV: 8.6%
Style: New England / Hazy Double IPA
Other Notes: Hops – Mosaic Spectrum, Simcoe, Galazy, Rakau and Citra BBC

Brewer Description: (from can) Imperial India Pale Ale.

My rating: 3
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.89
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.8

Intro: A 440ml can, with a fresh before date of 2nd June 2022. Poured into a winebar glass.
Appearance: A hazy, slightly murky orange colour with a two finger white head that had decent retention and left some nice lacing.
Aroma: Mango, melon, grapefruit zest, citrus rind, resinous, pine.
Taste: As you’d expect from the aroma, fruity, mango, melon, grapefruit zest, citrus rind, floral, a bit soapy, resinous, piney.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate to soft carbonation.
Overall: This was interesting and mostly fine, but it had this soapy, floral, zesty flavour mix that didn’t quite work for me.

3 - Indifferent (might buy, probably drink), Beer Reviews, FrauGruber Brewing, Germany, IPA - New England / Hazy Triple

FrauGruber Super Sonic

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Brewery: FrauGruber Brewing
Country: Germany
ABV: 9.8%
Style: New England / Hazy Triple IPA
Other Notes: Hops – Select, Galaxy, Citra BBC and BRU-1

Brewer Description: (from can) Double dry hopped Triple India Pale Ale.

My rating: 3
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.91
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.7

Intro: A 440ml can, with a fresh before date of 1st June 2022. Poured into a winebar glass.
Appearance: A hazy orange colour with a one finger off white head that dissipated quickly, while leaving only sparse to no lacing.
Aroma: Tropical, sweaty, mango, papaya, pineapple, with notes of citrus orange zest and maybe pine.
Taste: Light to moderate sweet beginning, tropical, papaya, mango, pineapple, light bitterness, orange, citrus rind and zest, light onion notes.
Mouthfeel: Medium to full bodied with soft carbonation.
Overall: The flavour profile was not my favourite, but it was still quite good, just not ‘wow’. There was a good balance of sweet and bitter, and despite nearly 10% abv, any alcohol was well hidden.

5 - Excellent (must buy), Beer Reviews, Equilibrium Brewery, IPA - New England / Hazy Double, USA

Equilibrium dHop 2

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Brewery: Equilibrium Brewery
Country: USA
ABV: 8.5%
Style: New England / Hazy Double IPA

Brewer Description: (from Untappd) dHop2 is a DIPA that investigates the interplay between our ale strain and an intensive Mosaic and Citra forward hop bill woven four times into its creative process. It pours a very murky tangerine color, releasing notes of orange juice (with pulp) and earthy grass. The taste is highly resinous, dank-citrus, pine juice, with a chewy mouth feel and a firm and pointed bitterness.

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

Intro: A 1 pint can, canned on 7th April 2022, poured into a winebar glass.
Appearance: A hazy orange colour with a one finger white head that had good retention and left nice lacing.
Aroma: Orange juice, citrus rind, melon, mango, with notes of grass.
Taste: Juicy, sweet and bitter. Sweet, tropical, mango and pineapple to start, followed by citrus, mandarin, citrus rind, and resinous, dank, piney notes, with a lasting bitter finish.
Mouthfeel: Smooth, medium bodied, with soft to moderate carbonation.
Overall: An excellent NEDIPA that’s just delicious and goes down so easy. It has a good sweet and bitter balance with the type of juicy combo that I enjoy.

3 - Indifferent (might buy, probably drink), Beer Reviews, Equilibrium Brewery, IPA - New England / Hazy, USA

Equilibrium Fractal Eclipse

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Brewery: Equilibrium Brewery
Country: USA
ABV: 6.8%
Style: New England / Hazy IPA

Brewer Description: (from Untappd) A fractal is something simple at the core yet can produce wonderful and amazingly complex results. Fractal Eclipse only has pale malt and a brand-new Australian hop called Eclipse (Previously called HPA-016). Investigating how different hops manifest through our processes allows us to optimize both our use of hops and our hopping techniques. Fractal Eclipse pours a resinous-hazy-yellow releasing dramatic aromas of Five Alive fruit drink, Sat AM cartoons, mimosas, pineapple, and spring grass. Its flavors are citrus cocktails and Australian grass blades all with a melon twist. Delicate, juicy, and balanced this is the perfect beverage to watch the sun fade into party light.

My rating: 3
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.7
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.6

Intro: A 1 pint can, canned on 14th April 2022, poured into a winebar glass.
Appearance: A nice hazy orange colour with an almost two finger white head that had good retention and left nice lacing.
Aroma: Melon, strawberry, pineapple, grapefruit peel, orange rind, leafy, grass.
Taste: Citrus zest, unripe mangoes, melon, pineapple, grapefruit, orange, grass, lightly bitter finish.
Mouthfeel: Light to medium bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: There was a lot of fruit flavours here, but it just didn’t seem to come together as well as it sounded. Not sure if it was the hop, since it was my first time trying Eclipse, but Equilibrium have a lot more beers that I prefer.