Category Archives: USA

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Sante Adairius Rustic Ales, USA, Wild Ale

Sante Adairius Four Legs Good

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Brewery: Sante Adairius Rustic Ales
Country: USA
ABV: 9.9%
Style: American Wild Ale

Brewer Description: (from bottle) What do a three-legged dog, a made-up beer style, and a giant oak cask have to do with each other? One great beer. Four Legs Good, our Blond Quad, belies its sweet nature with a dry, full finish and sneaky strength. Fermented first in puncheons with extensive aging in oak foudres, Four Legs Good doesn’t care what you call it as long as she is along for the ride. Four Legs Good, three legs better. Sante!

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.45
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.3

Intro: A 750ml bottle with no clear bottled on or best before date. Poured into a Chimay goblet glass.
Appearance: A hazy darkish orange colour with a half finger white head that dissipated fairly quickly to a thin fluffy and replenishing cap, while leaving some nice lacing.
Aroma: Tart, redcurrants, apple, oak, funky, peach skin.
Taste: Sour, tart, plum, prunes, apricot, redcurrant, and oak, with funky notes.
Mouthfeel: Creamy, smooth, medium to full bodied with soft carbonation.
Overall: Blond Quad? What’s that? Well, it is self described as a made up style. Before pouring, I thought it was a Quad, so I poured it into a goblet glass, but I’m going to call it a Wild Ale, and whatever you call it, this is still very good. Great sour, tart, fruity and barrel aging flavours, combined with a well hidden abv, just makes this extremely enjoyable.

2 - Maybe (likely wouldn't buy, might drink), Beer Reviews, Stout - Imperial, The Bruery, USA

The Bruery Share This: Mint Chip

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Brewery: The Bruery
Country: USA
ABV: 10.5%
Style: American Imperial Stout
Other Notes: Imperial Stout with mint and cacao nibs. We donate $1 for every bottle we produce in our Share This series. This release, inspired by mint chip flavors, supports the mission of Food Forward, which donates fresh produce to hunger relief agencies across Southern California.

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Share This is a series of beers that spotlights unique ingredients and important causes. This imperial stout is inspired by mint chip flavors, recreated by adding spearmint leaves and cacao nibs to a rich base. It supports the efforts of Food Forward, who is chipping away at hunger relief across Southern California, reaching over 100,000 people a month with recovered fresh produce.

My rating: 2
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.46
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.1

Intro: A 750ml bottle, 2017 edition. Poured into a snifter glass.
Appearance: Black in colour with a one finger brown head that had good retention and left lots of spotty lacing.
Aroma: Light roast, chocolate, and strong mint, maybe too overpowering.
Taste: Spearmint, light roast, and only a hint of chocolate.
Mouthfeel: Medium to light bodied with soft carbonation.
Overall: So I like a good mint chocolate any day, but the mint really overpowers anything else in this beer and there’s just not enough chocolate and roast to support the mint. The body is also lacking and feels too thin. You have to really like liquid mint for this.

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Stout - Imperial, The Bruery, USA

The Bruery Share This: O.C.

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Brewery: The Bruery
Country: USA
ABV: 11%
Style: American Imperial Stout
Other Notes: Imperial Stout with orange zest, cacao nibs and vanilla beans. We donate $1 for each bottle we produce in our Share This series. This orange chocolate release supports the mission of Food Forward, which donates fresh produce to hunger relief agencies in Southern California, including Orange County.

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Share This is a series of beers that spotlights unique ingredients and important causes. This rich imperial stout is inspired by orange and chocolate flavors. It’s a profile we’re quite fond of, given the abundance of orange trees in our own backyard. Food Forward takes it one step further – reaching over 100,000 people a month with recovered fresh produce.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.41
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.3

Intro: A 750ml bottle, 2017 edition. Poured into a snifter glass.
Appearance: Black in colour with a one finger brown head that had decent retention and left lots of spotty lacing.
Aroma: Roasty, dark chocolate, cacao, coffee, with notes of vanilla and citrus zest.
Taste: Much like the aroma, roasted malts, dark chocolate, cacao, coffee, vanilla, and orange notes.
Mouthfeel: Creamy, medium to full bodied, with soft carbonation.
Overall: An excellent Imperial Stout with great roast and chocolate flavours. The orange citrus notes also complement the chocolate well. I do wonder whether due to the age of the bottle (three years), any of the adjuncts have toned down a bit, but the chocolate to citrus proportion is great right now.

4 - Good (buy), Against The Grain Brewery, Beer Reviews, Stout - Milk / Sweet, USA

Against The Grain 70K

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Brewery: Against The Grain Brewery
Country: USA
ABV: 13%
Style: Milk / Sweet Stout
Other Notes: Bourbon Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout. Angel’s Envy barrels

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Double Down! Taking 35K to the next level and ratcheting up our disdain all in one shot! Imagine a silky smooth milk stout worth $35K. Imagine what it takes to double it. We did that. Bourbon barrel aged and big, this one is worth all the money.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.35
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.2

Intro: A 750ml tightly foiled bottle, with no bottled on or best before date. Poured into a snifter glass.
Appearance: Black in colour with a thin half finger brown head that dissipated fairly quickly but left nice spotty lacing.
Aroma: Dark roasty malt, chocolate, bourbon, molasses, oak, vanilla, boozy.
Taste: Sweet, light roast, bourbon, molasses, brown sugar, chocolate, oak, vanilla, marshmallow, with dried dark fruit and boozy notes.
Mouthfeel: Medium to full bodied with soft carbonation.
Overall: A very nice sipper with the sweetness balanced by good roast and chocolate notes.

3 - Indifferent (might buy, probably drink), Beer Reviews, Oskar Blues Brewery, Scotch Ale / Wee Heavy, USA

Oskar Blues Old Chub

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Brewery: Oskar Blues Brewery
Country: USA
ABV: 8%
Style: Scotch Ale / Wee Heavy
Other Notes: 30 IBUs. It’s Like Sputnik, a virtual planetoid

Brewer Description: (from website) Old Chub is a brobdingnagian celebration of aggressively shattering the status quo. This jaw-dropping Scottish strong ale (8% ABV, 30 IBUs) strays far from convention, as it’s brewed with a recklessly bodacious amount of malted barley and specialty grains, and a dash of beechwood-smoked malt. It features semi-sweet flavors of cocoa and coffee, and a wee bit of smoke. It’s a powerful, head-turning trip for malt heads and folks who think they don’t dig dark beer.

My rating: 3
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.94
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.8

Intro: A 12 fl. oz. can, canned on 10th May 2019 ‘eyes up here’. Poured into a snifter glass.
Appearance: A dark amber copper colour with a one finger beige head that dissipated fairly quickly but left lots of nice spotty lacing.
Aroma: Sweet, caramel malt, dark stone fruit, plum, cherry, cherry coke and pine.
Taste: Light sweetness, light roast, chocolate malt, caramel, coffee, with a hint of smoke and dark stone fruit.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with soft carbonation.
Overall: I like the aroma, but flavour while not bad, didn’t quite match my expectation after that initial whiff.