Brewery: Yeastie Boys Country: New Zealand ABV: 4.4% Style: American Pale Wheat Ale Other Notes: Brewed for Yeastie Boys at Invercargill Brewery.
Brewer Description: (from bottle) A delicate session-strength beer with hints of orange blossom, coconut, vanilla and a refreshingly clean finish.
My rating: 1 My beeradvocate.com rating: 2.7 My ratebeer.com rating: 2.5
Intro: A 330ml bottle from batch 6 with a best before date of June 2016 and poured into a pint glass. Appearance: It poured a hazy golden straw colour with minimal white head with some stringy lacing. Aroma: Light aromas of orange and peach with maybe a hint of vanilla. Taste: Orange and floral tea with coconut in the background followed by some vanilla towards the end. However, the coconut mixed with the vanilla for some reason gave me a plastic-ey taste that wasn’t too pleasant. Mouthfeel: Light bodied with medium carbonation. Overall: It was kind of fine until the vanilla came out. That mixed with the coconut really didn’t work here for me unfortunately.
Brewery: Mikkeller ApS Country: Denmark ABV: 6.2% Style: Euro Sour Ale Other Notes: Brewed and bottled by Mikkeller at De Proef Brouwerij
Brewer Description: (from website) Beer brewed with blackthorn berries.
My rating: 1 My beeradvocate.com rating: 2.62 My ratebeer.com rating: 2.3
Intro: A 330ml bottle with a best before date of 7th February 2016, poured into a Duvel tulip glass. Appearance: It poured a rather unappealing murky light mud brown colour. Looks like a cloudy thick apple juice. There was a one finger frothy and thick off white head that settles down to a thin but puffy layer with some thick sticky lacing. Aroma: Somewhat sour funkiness with a fruity element leaning towards apple juice and cider. There is also an acidic vinegary touch. Taste: Tart and sour at the beginning but there is no distinct lasting flavour but some bitterness. Its like as soon you get the sourness, something just cancels out all taste and its weird. Hint of vinegar, blueberry and apple, but at the same time, not really. Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with mid to high carbonation. Overall: Sour beers are good, but this was just a mess. The aromas were fine, but its taste and especially its appearance left something to be desired. I believe this was brewed once only, and that’s probably a good thing. Definitely not going for this again.
Brewery: Brouwerij Van Honsebrouck N.V. Country: Belgium ABV: 4.5% Style: Belgian Flanders Oud Bruin Other Notes:
Brewer Description: (from wrapping) A typical Flemish beer with a pleasant wine-like taste and a rich past. This dark brown beer, which is matured in oak casks, has a slightly acid aftertaste.
My rating: 1 My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.44 My ratebeer.com rating: 2.9
Intro: A 375ml wrapped bottle with a best before date of 25th November 2016 and poured into a Duvel tulip glass. Appearance: It poured a clear dark brown colour with a less than one finger tanned head that dissipated quickly but leaves some nice stringy lacing. Aroma: Mainly tart cherries with some grape, apple juice and vinegary elements. Taste: Taste is similar to the aromas with tart cherry sourness and grape bubblegum sweetness with hints of apple juice and brown sugar. Mouthfeel: Light bodied, with mid to high carbonation. Overall: This was better than the Kriekenbier version that I tried before. However, unfortunately, according to the wrapping, it seems they add Stevia to the beer. I don’t use sugar substitute sweeteners in anything ever, and I don’t see why I need to start doing so in beers.
Brewery: Black Market Brewing Co. Country: USA ABV: 3.8% Style: German Berliner Weisse Other Notes: 6.2 IBUs. Malt – Wheat and Pilsner. Hops – Czech Saaz.
Brewer Description: (from website) Based off of our wildly popular “1945” Berliner Weisse, this blackberry flavored sour was created for both the crossover drinker and those who find few sessionable style sours can options. Our goal in creating this 6-pack can line was to give the craft beer drinker an alternative to the typical craft beer styles found in cans.
My rating: 1 My beeradvocate.com rating: 2.32 My ratebeer.com rating: 2.3
Intro: A 12 fl oz can with no visible best before date on the can. It was poured into short stemmed wine glass. Appearance: It poured a cloudy purplish-red colour with a two finger pinkish head that dissipated fairly quickly with almost no lacing. Aroma: Dark berries and cherries with an unfortunate strong whiff of heated butter before finishing with a light breadiness. Taste: Tart sour blackberries and cherries which is rather juice like with a bready finish which does not last at all. Flavour is too one dimensional for my liking. Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with light carbonation. Overall: The buttery smell was really not my thing and you get it with every sip. On top of that, the taste really just suddenly stops as soon as you swallow and is a bit too juice like.
Brewery: Brouwerij Van Honsebrouck N.V. Country: Belgium ABV: 6.5% Style: Belgian Pale Ale
Brewer Description: (from bottle) Top fermented beer, contains barley malt.
My rating: 1 My beeradvocate.com rating: 1.92 My ratebeer.com rating: 1.9
Intro: A 330ml bottle with a best before date of November 2015 and poured into a Duvel tulip glass. Appearance: The beer poured a clear golden colour with a one finger white head that dissipated quickly leaving a very thin soapy layer and some spotty lacing. Aroma: Starts with caramel malt and fruity orange, lemon before turning grassy, pine and a metallic iron finish. Taste: Metallic iron overpowers everything else. Other than that though, there is some light caramel malt sweetness at the beginning and then lots of floral and herbal bitterness that lasts long into the aftertaste. Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with medium carbonation. Overall: Ughhh, I like hops. But this… It started off all well and good with a nice pour. It actually looked tasty. But then it all went downhill with the aroma first and then even further with the taste. I just really did not enjoy the taste at all. This one was not for me. I don’t even want to categorise this under Belgian Pale Ale…
words of another dreamy traveller 