Category Archives: USA

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Evil Twin Brewing x Prairie Artisan Ales, Stout - Imperial, USA

Evil Twin x Prairie Bible Belt

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Brewery: Evil Twin Brewing x Prairie Artisan Ales
Country: USA
ABV: 13%
Style: American Imperial Stout
Other Notes: Brewed and canned for Evil Twin Brewing at Westbrook Brewing Co, Mount Pleasant, SC

Brewer Description: (from can) Imperial Stout aged on coffee, vanilla, chilies, and cacao nibs.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.4
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.3

Intro: A 1 pint can, canned on 22nd September 2017. Poured into a snifter glass.
Appearance: Black in colour with a one finger brown head that had pretty good retention while leaving some sparse spotty lacing.
Aroma: Roasty, chocolate, cacao, coffee, with hints of vanilla and a splash of booze.
Taste: Rich milk chocolate, vanilla, roasty, coffee, light smokiness.
Mouthfeel: Smooth, velvety, medium to full bodied with soft carbonation.
Overall: Nice easy drinking flavours means it doesn’t feel like 13% ABV. I’m not getting much (if any) of the supposedly chili though. A slightly heavier body would also have helped it even more. But really, I’m just nitpicking now.

3 - Indifferent (might buy, probably drink), Anderson Valley Brewing Company, Beer Reviews, Stout, USA

Anderson Valley Wild Turkey Bourbon Barrel Stout

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Brewery: Anderson Valley Brewing Company
Country: USA
ABV: 6.9%
Style: American Stout
Other Notes: Aged to perfection in bourbon barrels

Brewer Description: (from website) Aged for three months in Wild Turkey® Bourbon barrels, this luxurious stout has a deep ebony hue and a beautiful mahogany head. The woody, vanilla-like notes imparted by the barrels mingle with aromas of fresh baked bread, toffee, and espresso and envelop the rich chocolate and roasted barley flavors with a fine bourbon character.

Our exclusive partnership with Wild Turkey® gives us a world class, consistent source of barrelage, allowing our brewers to explore new frontiers in barrel-aged craft beer. Since its introduction, Wild Turkey® has maintained a distinctive distillation and aging process that gives it a smooth taste and a lingering flavor. They also use differentiated process whereby the bourbon is distilled at a low proof to seal in its flavors. Very little water is added to the bourbon, resulting in a full-flavored authentic taste similar to what one would get straight out of the barrel. Wild Turkey is a genuine drink with a sought after “burn” that comes from its high proof, an attribute fundamental to the brand and critical in maintaining its authentic bourbon characteristics.

My rating: 3
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.59
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.5

Intro: A 650ml bottle with no clear bottled on or best before date. Poured into an Anderson Valley ‘can’ glass.
Appearance: Dark brown to black in colour with a big almost four finger tanned head that had pretty good retention and left some lacing.
Aroma: Roasty, chocolate, bourbon, vanilla with hints of coffee and oak.
Taste: Bourbon sweetness and oak with only hints of any roast, chocolate or stout in the background. The roastiness comes out more as it warms, but in the end still not enough for me.
Mouthfeel: Light to medium bodied with soft carbonation.
Overall: Too much bourbon and a lack of stout identity for me. For the amount of bourbon, body was also lower than I prefer.

3 - Indifferent (might buy, probably drink), Beer Reviews, Grimm Artisanal Ales, USA, Wild Ale

Grimm Psychokinesis

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Brewery: Grimm Artisanal Ales
Country: USA
ABV: 5%
Style: American Wild Ale
Other Notes: Dry-hopped sour ale

Brewer Description: (from website) Hazy golden wild farmhouse ale, dry hopped with Mosaic, El Dorado, and Huell Melon. Beautifully balanced acidity, glowing hop aromas redolent of guava, watermelon candy, pineapple, and ripe mango. Conditioned on oak for light tannin structure. Don’t age this beer; drink ASAP.

My rating: 3
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.92
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.7

Intro: A 22 fl. oz. bomber, bottled in January 2018, and poured into a 3 Fonteinen stemmed glass.
Appearance: A lightly hazy golden colour with a big three finger white head that had good retention and some nice lacing.
Aroma: Tart, passionfruit, guava, lemon sherbet, with hints of orange.
Taste: Lightly tart and sour, tangy, unripe mango, passionfruit, lemon, guava, orange and orange rind with a touch of sweetness throughout.
Mouthfeel: Light to medium bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: I enjoyed the aroma, but taste while having lots of fruit, were not of my favourite combination.

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, IPA - New England / Hazy, The Alchemist, USA

The Alchemist Focal Banger

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Brewery: The Alchemist
Country: USA
ABV: 7%
Style: New England / Hazy IPA
Other Notes: Drink from the can! Drink from the can! Drink from the can!

Brewer Description: (from can) Focal Banger is an American India Pale Ale. We have a real love for IPAs here at The Alchemist, and we strive to offer you the best hop experience that we possibly can. This beer is brewed using Citra and Mosaic hops and our favorite British malts. Truly, an abundance of hoppy goodness… Freshness and control have always been my main concern when it comes to our beer. We are committed to providing you with an unfiltered and unpasteurized hop experience. Why do I recommend that you drink it from the can? Quite simply, to ensure a delightful hop experience. The act of pouring it in a glass smells nice, but it releases the essential hop aromas that we have worked so hard to retain. If you MUST pour it into a glass, you may find that some of the hop resins have settled to the bottom – leave them in the can when pouring. This beer is perishable and at its best when it is young, fresh and hazy. Keep it cold, but not ice cold. Drink this beer today, you could be dead tomorrow….

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.29
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.1

Intro: A 1 pint can, with no clear canned on or best before date (although my source says mid-March). Poured around half into a Lost Abbey teku glass and drank the other half from the can.
Appearance: A hazy golden orange colour with a two finger white head that had good retention and left some sticky lacing.
Aroma: Mango, pineapple, pine, grapefruit peel, mandarin zest, fruit tea.
Taste: Light bitterness, grapefruit zest, citrus peel, mango, pineapple, melon, grass, pine, and a light but lasting bitter finish.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: Nice, refreshing and enjoyable to drink.

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Council Brewing Co., USA, Wild Ale

Council Broken Wand Boysenberry

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Brewery: Council Brewing Co.
Country: USA
ABV: 6.7%
Style: American Wild Ale
Other Notes: American Dark Sour Ale oak foeder aged with boysenberries. Brewery closed in December 2018

Brewer Description: (from bottle) The giant, wind up Owl, guardian of the Magic Factory and conjurer of darkness and truth, comes bearing the Broken Wand, which has turned this ominous beer into darkness. This foeder aged sour beer with scrumptious boysenberries is the result of carefully selected microbes from our Deadlock barrel program that worked their magic in this beer. This dark concoction has intense flavors and aromas of, dark berries, chocolate, vanilla, and soft oak tannins.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.31
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.2

Intro: A 375ml bottle with no clear bottled on or best before date. Poured into a 3 Fonteinen stemmed glass.
Appearance: A hazy dark dark purple red colour with a two finger pink head that had decent retention, and eventually settling to a nice replenishing thin layer, while leaving some nice lacing.
Aroma: Mixed berries, jammy, blueberry, blackberry, oak.
Taste: Sour, tart, blueberry, blackberry, lightly vinous, oak, and vanilla.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: I actually don’t know what boysenberry tastes like, but I’m getting a nice mix of blueberry and blackberry. The barrel aging also imparts some nice oak and vanilla notes.