Category Archives: USA

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Equilibrium Brewery, Porter, USA

Equilibrium Möbius Papua New Guinea Vanilla

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Brewery: Equilibrium Brewery
Country: USA
ABV: 7%
Style: Porter
Other Notes: American Porter with Papua New Guinea vanilla

Brewer Description: (from Untappd) Papua New Guinea is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean producing beans with a creamy and floral vanilla note. Pouring rich and creamy, we get roasted coffee, chocolate, and dark malts all balanced by a sweet cream, tropical floral orchid, and classic vanilla. The toasty notes harmonize with the unique vanilla and finish with the slightest hints of cherry and caramel. This makes the second of the series unique and a great success for our beloved Porter. Please enjoy Möbius Papua New Guinea Vanilla at 55°–60°F.

My rating: 4-
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.94
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.9

Intro: A 1 pint can, with no canned on or best before date. Poured into a snifter glass.
Appearance: Dark brown in colour with a half finger brown head that had pretty good retention and left nice spotty lacing.
Aroma: Roasty, black coffee, chocolate, with some caramel and vanilla sweetness.
Taste: Light roast, chocolate, coffee, light to moderate sweetness, caramel, and vanilla.
Mouthfeel: Creamy, medium bodied, with soft carbonation.
Overall: It’s essentially what you’d expect from a Porter with vanilla. Solid and enjoyable.

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Equilibrium Brewery x Harland Brewing, IPA - New England / Hazy Double, USA

Equilibrium x Harland Lab Fluff

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Brewery: Equilibrium Brewery x Harland Brewing
Country: USA
ABV: 8%
Style: IPA – New England / Hazy Double
Other Notes: Double India Pale Ale with Marshmallow

Brewer Description: (from Untappd) When the Harland crew from San Diego came by a few weeks ago, they tried the relatively new hop from @yakimachief HBC586 from a beer that we had on tap. Like us, they instantly fell in love with all of its saturated mango goodness and the principle hop for our collab was chosen. Using HBC586 and a touch of Citra in the whirlpool we dry hopped with Citra, Strata, and HBC586 and then put a Harland twist on things by adding a marshmallow Fluff treatment and Lab Fluff was born. Lab Fluff pours electric yellow, with huge frosted tropical notes. Flavors of ALL THE MANGO, vanilla frosting, fruit salad in cream, lychee and guava come together with a creamy push pop like finish.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.14
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.1

Intro: A 1 pint can, with no canned on or best before date. Poured into a winebar glass. The can was unfortunately obviously feeling light, and was underfilled by about 10%.
Appearance: A hazy intense orange colour, with a one finger white head that had decent retention, while leaving lots of nice lacing.
Aroma: Juicy, mango, orange creamsicle, cream, marshmallow.
Taste: Juicy and marshmallow sweetness, tropical fruits, mango, guava, orange creamsicle, cream, marshmallow, and a light citrus bitterness on the finish.
Mouthfeel: Medium to full bodied with soft to moderate carbonation.
Overall: The obvious underfill aside, the aroma and flavours were good, especially the aroma with it’s explosive tropical and creamsicle notes.

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Equilibrium Brewery, IPA - New England / Hazy Double, USA

Equilibrium Greenstone

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

Brewer Description: (from Untappd) Greenstone starts out with a Fractal grain bill before a Citra whirlpool and a healthy dry hop of Riwaka and Nelson. Greenstone pours an extremely vivid milky yellow with juicy notes permeating as soon as you pop the can open. Powerful flavors open up of bright orange, passionfruit, mango, and Riesling grape with lighter notes of berry, white pepper, and New Zealand earth. Greenstone has a beautiful creamy mouthfeel and our signature #EQjuice finish that will transport you to the lush and beautiful island rain forests of New Zealand in just a few sips.

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

Intro: A 1 pint can, with no canned on or best before date. Poured into a winebar glass.
Appearance: A hazy orange colour with a two finger white head that had excellent retention, while leaving nice lacing.
Aroma: Fruity, mango, grapes, citrus zesty grapefruit, orange peel, grassy, dank, and peppery.
Taste: Tropical fruity sweetness, mango, white wine grapes, light bitterness, orange rind, grapefruit zest, dank, green, and peppery.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: An enjoyable NEDIPA with good aroma and flavours. Nice balance of fruit, dankness, and pepper spice.

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Equilibrium Brewery x Parish Brewing Co., IPA - New England / Hazy Double, USA

Equilibrium x Parish Ghost In The Laboratory

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Brewery: Equilibrium Brewery x Parish Brewing Co.
Country: USA
ABV: 8.5%
Style: IPA – New England / Hazy Double

Brewer Description: (from Untappd) Using a mashed up grain bill from Straight Outta The Laboratory and Ghost in The Machine, we used a massive dose of CO2 extract, Citra Incognito, and our hand selected Citra T-90s on the hotside followed by an insane amount of Citra LUPOMAX and our hand selected Citra T-90s for the Double Dry Hop; the heaviest dry-hop in Equilibrium’s history. Ghost In The Laboratory pours opaque and vivid yellow and has very strong aromas of extreme mango supported by tropical nectar. The flavor is explosive with extremely saturated notes of mango smoothie, Grovestand Orange Juice with plenty of pulp, orange tang, tropical fruit cup in syrup, dank grass, and a rainbow melon creamsicle note from our #EQjuice finish.

My rating: 4+
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.46
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.3

Intro: A 1 pint can, with no canned on or best before date. Poured into a winebar glass.
Appearance: A hazy darkish orange colour with a nice big two finger fluffy white head that had excellent retention, and left nice lacing.
Aroma: Juicy, stone fruits, mango, melon, and orange citrus zesty.
Taste: Juicy, tropical, citrus, melon, pineapple, orange zest, with light to moderate sweetness, and a lightly bitter finish.
Mouthfeel: Creamy, medium bodied with soft to moderate carbonation.
Overall: Just good aroma and flavours with a great creamy mouthfeel.

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Belgian Quadrupel, The Lost Abbey, USA

Lost Abbey Box Set Track #8 (Number of the Beast)

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Brewery: The Lost Abbey
Country: USA
ABV: 13.7%
Style: Belgian Quadrupel
Other Notes: Ale brewed with raisins, aged in bourbon barrels with cinnamon and chiles

Brewer Description: (from bottle) To this day, little Johnny B. Goode remains one of Sister Mary Hightower’s favorite pupils. A ray of light heaven sent she often declared. Unfortunately, she was now teaching his younger brother Damian and most assuredly was not his biggest fan. Hard to believe one mother could produce two children of such different temperaments, but God works in mysterious ways she reminded herself. Damian had been her biggest challenge this year. The kids didn’t like him. The parents didn’t trust him and most of all, there was something lurking behind those shifty beady eyes. His presence in the classroom always troubled her. She thought him evil but couldn’t prove it. She set out to test him. Damian took his turn at the chalkboard, and the impossible question was presented. What is the square root of 443.556? As Damian finished writing the last 6 for his answer, he turned winked at her and returned to his seat. She finally had her answer. Sister Mary Hightower never returned to work…

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.18
My ratebeer.com rating: 4

Intro: A corked and caged 12.7 fl. oz. bottle, with no clear bottled on or best before date. Poured into a Chimay goblet glass.
Appearance: A murky dark brown colour with pretty much no head and no lacing.
Aroma: Dark fruit, raisins, prunes, plum, figs, toffee, bourbon, faint cinnamon, light roast, and a touch nutty.
Taste: Light to moderately sweet, dark fruit, raisins, prunes, plum, fig, chocolate, toffee, boozy bourbon, cinnamon, light chili spice.
Mouthfeel: Medium to full bodied with soft carbonation.
Overall: Although I’m unsure of the timeline due to a lack of bottled on or best before date, I’m pretty sure I’ve cellared this for quite a few years. The aroma and flavours were nice and intense, and it was just an enjoyable sipper.