Category Archives: USA

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

Goose Island Goose IPA

Wednesday, 8 March 2017 kitch Leave a comment

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.

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

Crooked Stave Silly Cybies

Wednesday, 1 March 2017 kitch Leave a comment

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.

2 - Maybe (likely wouldn't buy, might drink), Beer Reviews, Belgian Tripel, Boston Beer Company, USA

Samuel Adams (Barrel Room Collection) New World Tripel

Monday, 27 February 2017 kitch Leave a comment

Brewery: Boston Beer Company
Country: USA
ABV: 10%
Style: Belgian Tripel
Other Notes: A Golden Tripel with notes of spice and tropical fruit

Brewer Description: (from bottle) This Tripel was born from the Old World Belgian technique of barrel aging and the New World of craft brewing innovation. With its pale golden color and uniquely refreshing taste, this big flavorful, and complex brew has a subtle herbal hop character combined with the tropical fruit and spice notes of its special Belgian yeast. One of our brewers’ favorite places to experiment is in the barrel room at our Boston Brewery. It’s here that each of our Samuel Adams Barrel Room Collection brews was born.

My rating: 2
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.43
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.2

Intro: A 1pt 9.4 fl oz corked and caged bottle with a best before date of 1st February 2018. Poured into a Chimay goblet glass.
Appearance: A clear dark copper orange colour with a slightly less than two finger off white head that had great retention, eventually settling down to a nice creamy layer, while leaving great curtain like lacing.
Aroma: Belgian yeast, banana, clove, honey and pear with hints of spice.
Taste: Some light banana and clove at the beginning, followed by spice, candi sugar, orange and pineapple with quite a strong hit of alcohol on the finish.
Mouthfeel: Creamy, full bodied with moderate to high carbonation.
Overall: It looks great, and smells nice, but the strong alcohol on the finish was quite harsh in my opinion.

2 - Maybe (likely wouldn't buy, might drink), American IPA, Beer Reviews, Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project, USA

Crooked Stave Hop Savant (Citra)

Monday, 27 February 2017 kitch Leave a comment

Brewery: Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project
Country: USA
ABV: 7%
Style: American IPA

Brewer Description: (from bottle) American brettanomyces India Pale Ale with Citra.

My rating: 2
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.22
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.1

Intro: A 375ml bottle, bottled in May 2015. Poured into a Lost Abbey teku glass.
Appearance: A clear golden yellow colour (as there’s still a lot left in the bottle) with a huge rather uncontrollable frothy white head that dissipates slowly while leaving a fair bit of soapy lacing.
Aroma: Band-aid, barnyard, brett, citrus lemon and apricot plus hints of pineapple.
Taste: Lots of brett, band-aid, leather, pepper spiciness, orange peel and apricot.
Mouthfeel: Dry, medium to light bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: There’s just a lot of funky brett with some light fruit sweetness towards the end. For me, it just seemed to be missing some tart and sour fruit to help balance out the flavours a bit.

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

Crooked Stave Mama Bear’s Sour Cherry Pie

Thursday, 23 February 2017 kitch Leave a comment

Brewery: Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project
Country: USA
ABV: 7%
Style: American Wild Ale

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Burgundy sour ale aged in oak barrels with Colorado Montmorency cherries.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.17
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.2

Intro: A 375ml bottle, bottled in September 2015. Poured into a Lost Abbey teku glass.
Appearance: A slightly cloudy dark reddish brown colour, with a just over one finger reddish beige head that dissipated slowly and left some sparse lacing.
Aroma: Tart and sweet cherry, oak and perhaps a light funk.
Taste: Sour, strong lemon juice with some cherry and oak creeping through here and there and hints of almond. Long acidic sour finish.
Mouthfeel: Medium to light bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: While there was some sweetness in the aroma, it was pretty much mostly sour with an acidic bite in the taste. I think you really have to like sour things to enjoy this beer and luckily I do like sour things. Would have preferred it, if more cherries came through though, since cherry pie is in the name, but that is not a deal breaker.

words of another dreamy traveller