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

Black Project Mallow

Brewery: Black Project Spontaneous & Wild Ales
Country: USA
ABV: 7.4%
Style: Sour Ale

Brewer Description: (from can) Sour Ale with blueberry and vanilla.

My rating: 3
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.75
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.6

Intro: A 473ml can, canned on 21st July 2021, poured into a 3 Fonteinen stemmed glass.
Appearance: A lightly hazy copper orange with a pinkish hue, and a two finger lightly pinkish head that dissipated quickly while leaving some lacing.
Aroma: A bit weak but what’s there is nice, tart, blueberry, lemon zest, vanilla.
Taste: Sour, tart, bubbly, blueberry, vanilla, lemon zest.
Mouthfeel: Medium to light bodied with overly high carbonation.
Overall: This sounded good, but in the end I was a bit disappointed. The vanilla definitely saved this beer, and without it, I don’t think I would’ve like it at all. Other than that, it was also overly carbonated as each sip just coated my gums with bubbles.

Black Project Cipher

Brewery: Black Project Spontaneous & Wild Ales
Country: USA
ABV: 7.1%
Style: Sour Ale

Brewer Description: (from can) Sour Ale with apricot and plum.

My rating: 3
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.79
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.7

Intro: A 473ml can, canned on 20th July 2021, poured into a 3 Fonteinen stemmed glass.
Appearance: It was a lightly hazy copper orange colour with a just over one finger off white head that dissipated fairly quickly to a replenishing cap, while leaving some lacing.
Aroma: Tart, apricot, plum, raspberry, lemon zest, with notes of candied fruit.
Taste: Sour, tart, plum, lemon, and light apricot, with a slight candied element.
Mouthfeel: Medium to light bodied, with moderate carbonation.
Overall: The aroma was nice, but flavour wise, while not bad, there was not much complexity and a bit of a one dimensional sour.

Founders Velvet Rush

Brewery: Founders Brewing Company
Country: USA
ABV: 11.1%
Style: Brown Ale – Imperial
Other Notes: Barrel aged series. 2021 release

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Borrowing elements from both high-end craft cocktails and moody jazz clubs, Velvet Rush takes the bourbon barrel-aged brown ale up an octave with free-flowing notes of coffee, chocolate and vanilla extract. Milk sugar aides in weaving together this complex tapestry of flavors to create a unique sipping experience that really ties the room together.

My rating: 3
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.86
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.8

Intro: A 12 fl. oz. bottle, bottled on 5th August 2021, poured into a snifter glass.
Appearance: A clear dark brown colour with an almost one finger beige head that had decent retention and left some nice spotty lacing.
Aroma: Sweet, brown sugar, chocolate, vanilla, milk, caramel, roasty, coffee bean, espresso, oak, with light bourbon notes.
Taste: Moderate to high sweetness with slight bitter notes, caramel, brown sugar, chocolate, vanilla, coffee, bourbon.
Mouthfeel: Medium to full bodied with soft carbonation.
Overall: Excellent aroma as the bourbon crept through as it warmed. The flavours were a bit sweet for me though, and didn’t make it as easy to drink as I would have liked.

Oxbow First Fruits

Brewery: Oxbow Brewing Company
Country: USA
ABV: 6%
Style: Wild Ale
Other Notes: Barrel-aged farmhouse ale with fruit. Production time: 12 months

Brewer Description: (from bottle) First Fruits is a mixed-fermentation farmhouse ale aged on cherries, raspberries, and strawberries.

My rating: 3
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.9
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.7

Intro: A 500ml bottle, bottled on 1st July 2021, poured into a 3 Fonteinen stemmed glass.
Appearance: A lightly hazy strawberry pinkish red colour with a very thin light pinkish head that dissipated quickly, while leaving only sparse lacing.
Aroma: Jammy, strawberry, raspberry, cherry, oak, tart, an acetone and vinegar zing, with light funky notes.
Taste: Light sweetness, sour, tart, sharp, strawberry, raspberry, cherry, fruit vinegar, light funk.
Mouthfeel: Sharp, medium bodied, with moderate to soft carbonation.
Overall: Nice fruitiness in the aroma and flavour, but the acidity was just a bit too sharp to be easily enjoyed.

Oxbow Past Tense

Brewery: Oxbow Brewing Company
Country: USA
ABV: 4.5%
Style: Farmhouse Grissette
Other Notes: Dry-hopped stainless-aged farmhouse ale with sea salt and lime

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Past Tense is a farmhouse ale brewed with wheat, sea salt and lime juice, dry-hopped with whole leaf American hops and conditioned with Brettanomyces.

My rating: 3
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.71
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.6

Intro: A 500ml bottle, bottled on 17th December 2020, and poured into a 3 Fonteinen stemmed glass.
Appearance: A nice hazy golden straw yellow colour with an almost two finger white head that dissipated fairly quickly, while leaving only sparse to no lacing.
Aroma: Strong citrus zest and rind, lemon, lime, brett, funk, leather, hay.
Taste: Citrusy, lime zest, lime soda, floral, lavender, dishwashing soap, funk.
Mouthfeel: Crisp, light bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: The aroma was great and the citrusy part of the flavour was enjoyable, but there was also this floral and soapy flavour on the back end that just wasn’t my thing.