Category Archives: 3 – Indifferent (might buy, probably drink)

3 - Indifferent (might buy, probably drink), Beer Reviews, Deschutes Brewery, Stout - Imperial, USA

Deschutes Peanut Butter Obsidian Stout

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Brewery: Deschutes Brewery
Country: USA
ABV: 9.7%
Style: Stout – Imperial

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Whiskey barrel-aged ale brewed with peanut butter.

My rating: 3+
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.83
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.7

Intro: A 355ml bottle, with a packaged on date of 31st March 2022. Poured into a snifter glass.
Appearance: Black in colour with a thin tanned head that dissipated fairly quickly, while leaving some lacing.
Aroma: Light roast, sweet malt, chocolate, molasses, peanut, and whiskey notes.
Taste: Lightly sweet, moderately bitter, roasty, dark chocolate, whiskey, peanuts, hints of vanilla, and a touch boozy.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with soft carbonation.
Overall: It’s a good boozy sipper, and there was some nuttiness, but it wasn’t really peanut butter, which I was really hoping for.

3 - Indifferent (might buy, probably drink), Beer Reviews, de Garde Brewing, USA, Wild Ale

de Garde The Law of Motion Réserve

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Brewery: de Garde Brewing
Country: USA
ABV: 6.5%
Style: Wild Ale

Brewer Description: (from bottle) A spontaneous Wild Ale with Cider apples aged in oak barrels for four years. Made with our friends at Baird & Dewar.

My rating: 3+
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.97
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.8

Intro: A 1 pint 9.4 fl. oz. corked and capped bottle, bottled in April 2021. Poured into a Tilquin stemmed glass.
Appearance: A nice clear golden colour with a one finger white head that dissipated fairly quickly to a ring around the glass, while leaving some lacing.
Aroma: Tart, funk, apple peel, green apple, apple cider.
Taste: Tart, sour, apple peel, apple cider, lemon juice, with light oak and pineapple notes.
Mouthfeel: Light to medium bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: The aroma was what I was expecting, but the taste didn’t quite reflect in the same way. I thought the lemony sourness overpowered the cider a bit and the nice funkiness that I got in the aroma wasn’t very noticeable.

3 - Indifferent (might buy, probably drink), Beer Reviews, England, Mills Brewing, Wild Ale

Mills Running Beer

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Brewery: Mills Brewing
Country: England
ABV: 5.5%
Style: Wild Ale
Other Notes: Mills Brewing make beer with minimal modern intervention, relying on local wild yeast cultures and the influence of nature to ferment

Brewer Description: (from bottle) This beer is a blend of four brews produced in November 2018, January/March 2019 and May 2020. The worts were made using malted rye and aged hops. They fermented and matured in a mixture of oak barrels previously used by French Burgundy wine and American Bourbon whiskey producers. Running beer was the first recipe we designed for Mills Brewing. This is blend eight.

We still have no set recipe for Running Beer, but blend to a similar flavour profile each time. We produce a variety of worts and welcome the natural variation we are given by the barrels.

My rating: 3
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.82
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.7

Intro: A 750ml corked and capped bottle, blend eight, bottled in November 2021, with a best before date of November 2031. Poured into a 3 Fonteinen stemmed glass.
Appearance: A lightly hazy golden colour, with a two finger white head that had good retention and settled to a nice thin cap and good lacing.
Aroma: Funky, farmhouse, wood, apple, lemon zest, and slight whisky notes.
Taste: Tart, lightly sour, funky, musty, green apple, lemon zest, lightly vinous, oak.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate to soft carbonation.
Overall: Interesting aroma and flavours, maybe not my favourite, but it does work.

3 - Indifferent (might buy, probably drink), Beer Reviews, Chien Bleu, Switzerland, Wild Ale

Chien Bleu Giotto

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Brewery: Chien Bleu
Country: Switzerland
ABV: 6.5%
Style: Wild Ale
Other Notes: 660 bottles

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Giotto is a blend of three beers with red fruits. We have blended 60% young prune beer with 20% grape beer (pinot noir) and 20% spontaneous cherry beer from 2019.

My rating: 3
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.83
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.6

Intro: A 750ml corked and capped bottle, with a best before date of June 2023. Poured into a 3 Fonteinen stemmed glass.
Appearance: A not so appealing hazy pinkish brown colour, with a half finger white head that dissipated fairly quickly to a ring around the glass, while leaving some decent lacing.
Aroma: Fruity, mainly prunes and cherry, funky, light wood, and a touch vinous.
Taste: Lightly tart, prunes, cherry, red wine vinous, light funk, with notes of wood.
Mouthfeel: Medium to light bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: The unappealing look of the pour made me check the photos on Untappd, and there seems to be quite a bit of inconsistency from the murky pinkish brown, like my pour, to a more appealing burgundy red, which is unfortunate. The aroma and flavours were better than it looked though, and made for some easy drinking.

3 - Indifferent (might buy, probably drink), Beer Reviews, Equilibrium Brewery, IPA - New England / Hazy, USA

Equilibrium Light at the End of the Tunnel

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Brewery: Equilibrium Brewery
Country: USA
ABV: 6.8%
Style: New England / Hazy IPA

Brewer Description: (from Untappd) Light At The End of The Tunnel uses Photon as its inspiration with some modifications and upgrades including an all Survivable hop blend for the whirlpool and a large dose of Lupomax Citra in addition to a supersized Photon hop bill. Aromas and flavors of soft pineapple, navel orange, stone fruit, EQ’s rainbow melon, and lime juice radiate with a touch of pine resin at the finish making this beer an easy drinking accompaniment to celebrate the fact that we hopefully have the finish line in site.

My rating: 3-
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.56
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.5

Intro: A 1 pint can, with no clear canned on or best before date. Poured into a winebar glass.
Appearance: A hazy orange colour with an almost two finger white head that had good retention and left some nice lacing.
Aroma: Orange, melon, lime, with maybe notes of pineapple.
Taste: Bitter, orange rind, melon, lime, lemon zest, and a touch herbal, floral spicy.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate to soft carbonation.
Overall: It’s drinkable, but generally the aroma and flavours just wasn’t exactly my thing, especially when compared to other Equilibrium NEIPAs that I’ve tried.