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

3 - Indifferent (might buy, probably drink), American Strong Ale, Beer Reviews, Founders Brewing Company, USA

Founders Bottle Shop Series – Highball Drifter

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Brewery: Founders Brewing Company
Country: USA
ABV: 11%
Style: Strong Ale – American
Other Notes: Ale aged in bourbon barrels with orange peel and cherry. 25 IBUs

Brewer Description: (from bottle) There’s a new sheriff in town – meet Highball Drifter, a barrel-aged sipper inspired by our favorite bourbon-based cocktails. The second entry in our Bottle Shop series, Highball Drifter presents aromatics of caramel and vanilla, dried fruit and spice while hints of cherry and bitter orange peel whisk you away like a tumbling tumbleweed. Call us old fashioned, but we think you’re going to love it.

My rating: 3+
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.01
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.9

Intro: A 12 fl. oz. bottle, bottled on 6th July 2021, poured into a snifter glass.
Appearance: A rusty orange brown colour with a thin half finger beige head that dissipated fairly quickly while leaving nice lacing.
Aroma: Cocktails, orange bitters, dried orange peel, caramel, vanilla, with light candied cherry notes.
Taste: Lightly sweet, malty, candied dried fruit, orange bitters, orange peel, citrus zesty, candied cherry, oak, with notes of bourbon and vanilla.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: An enjoyable sipper that’s very cocktail like, as it’s name suggests; and also with an aroma that was really good.

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.