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

3 - Indifferent (might buy, probably drink), Beer Reviews, Oskar Blues Brewery, Scotch Ale / Wee Heavy, USA

Oskar Blues Old Chub

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Brewery: Oskar Blues Brewery
Country: USA
ABV: 8%
Style: Scotch Ale / Wee Heavy
Other Notes: 30 IBUs. It’s Like Sputnik, a virtual planetoid

Brewer Description: (from website) Old Chub is a brobdingnagian celebration of aggressively shattering the status quo. This jaw-dropping Scottish strong ale (8% ABV, 30 IBUs) strays far from convention, as it’s brewed with a recklessly bodacious amount of malted barley and specialty grains, and a dash of beechwood-smoked malt. It features semi-sweet flavors of cocoa and coffee, and a wee bit of smoke. It’s a powerful, head-turning trip for malt heads and folks who think they don’t dig dark beer.

My rating: 3
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.94
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.8

Intro: A 12 fl. oz. can, canned on 10th May 2019 ‘eyes up here’. Poured into a snifter glass.
Appearance: A dark amber copper colour with a one finger beige head that dissipated fairly quickly but left lots of nice spotty lacing.
Aroma: Sweet, caramel malt, dark stone fruit, plum, cherry, cherry coke and pine.
Taste: Light sweetness, light roast, chocolate malt, caramel, coffee, with a hint of smoke and dark stone fruit.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with soft carbonation.
Overall: I like the aroma, but flavour while not bad, didn’t quite match my expectation after that initial whiff.

3 - Indifferent (might buy, probably drink), Beer Reviews, Belgium, Brouwerij De Ranke, Wild Ale

De Ranke Back To Black

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Brewery: Brouwerij De Ranke
Country: Belgium
ABV: 9.5%
Style: Wild Ale
Other Notes: Aged on wood

Brewer Description: (from bottle) This beer has been designed as an old Export Porter. It has been brewed as undrinkable bitter and then aged in wood for 9 months. The result is a strong dark beer that has a perfect bitter/sour balance.

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

Intro: A 750ml bottle with a best before date of 13th October 2021. Poured into a snifter glass.
Appearance: A hazy rusty orange brown colour with a thin beige head that dissipated fairly quickly but left nice spotty lacing.
Aroma: Tart, plum, prunes, cherry, light funk, with only a hint of roast and chocolate.
Taste: Sour, tart, plum, prunes, raisin, orange, citrus peel, and oak.
Mouthfeel: Light to medium bodied with moderate to soft carbonation.
Overall: I was expecting an Imperial Porter so my first impression wasn’t great. But as a Wild or Sour Ale, this was interesting with its citrusy orange finish. The body didn’t seem like it’d support such a high ABV beer, but at the same time, it didn’t feel even close to being 9.5% ABV.

3 - Indifferent (might buy, probably drink), Beer Reviews, Carbon Brews, Hong Kong, IPA - Session

Carbon Brews Staying Alive

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Brewery: Carbon Brews
Country: Hong Kong
ABV: 4.6%
Style: American Session IPA
Other Notes: 41 IBUs. Malts – Pale Ale, Carahell, Carapils, Abbey and Wheat. Hops – Warrior, Citra, Mosaic, Idaho 7, Simcoe Cryo, Centennial Cryo and Cirra. Yeast – US-05. Experience – Sessionable, citrus

Brewer Description: (from can) Session IPA.

My rating: 3
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.81
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.6

Intro: A 330ml can, with a best before date of 8th April 2021, but should be less than a month in the can. Poured into a Lost Abbey teku glass.
Appearance: A lightly hazy golden colour with a two finger white head that had good retention and left nice lacing.
Aroma: Melon, papaya, grass, pine, with citrus lemon peel notes.
Taste: Lightly bitter, orange pith, orange zest, with hints of grass and pine.
Mouthfeel: Crisp, light bodied with moderate but spritzy carbonation.
Overall: Easy drinking and great during the hot summer.

3 - Indifferent (might buy, probably drink), Beer Reviews, Belgium, Brouwerij De Ranke, Lambic - Gueuze

De Ranke Mirakel

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Brewery: Brouwerij De Ranke
Country: Belgium
ABV: 5.5%
Style: Belgian Lambic (Gueuze)
Other Notes: 2018 vintage. Spierelambic

Brewer Description: (from bottle) The lambics used in this blend are one, two and three years old. Two of them are real lambics made by traditional producers of the valley of the Senne river. The third one is made in our own brewery and we’ve called it Spierelambic, after the tiny river that runs near the brewery. We love this style and decided to try to make it ourselves. That it seemed to work, was a miracle to us.

My rating: 3
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.55
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.4

Intro: A 750ml bottle, 2018 vintage, bottled in June 2018, with a best before date of 8th June 2023. Poured into a 3 Fonteinen stemmed glass.
Appearance: A lightly hazy golden straw yellow colour with pretty much no head and no lacing.
Aroma: Light funk, barnyard, oak, lemon peel, apricot, and Champagne grape.
Taste: Lightly sour, funky, oak, lemon, green apple, with notes of apricot.
Mouthfeel: Light bodied with soft to no carbonation.
Overall: Aroma and flavours were not as bold or funky as some of the better Gueuze’s I’ve tried, and I wasn’t fond of the lack of carbonation.

3 - Indifferent (might buy, probably drink), Beer Reviews, Belgium, Hanssens Artisanaal, Lambic - Fruit

Hanssens Very Special Old Red (V.S.O.R.)

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Brewery: Hanssens Artisanaal
Country: Belgium
ABV: 6.5%
Style: Belgian Lambic (Fruit)
Other Notes: Fruit: 7% blackberries, 13% sour cherries, 3% strawberries, 17% raspberries

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Fresh strawberries, black berries, raspberries and sour cherries – 7 months macerated in lambic oak barrels.

My rating: 3
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.49
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.3

Intro: A 375ml corked and caged bottle, bottled on 16th November 2018. Poured into a 3 Fonteinen stemmed glass.
Appearance: A hazy dark red colour with an orange hue, with a thin off white head that left no lacing.
Aroma: Tart, cherry, strawberry, raspberry, acetone, with musty, damp and balsamic notes.
Taste: Sour, intense sour, cherry, raspberry, oak, acidic, balsamic vinegar.
Mouthfeel: Sharp, acidic, medium bodied with soft carbonation.
Overall: A few bottlings of Hanssens have had strong sourness and harsh acidity, and after the first sip I thought that this was going down that similar route. But thankfully things improved somewhat after that first sip, and I think that the berries somehow toned down the acidity to a slightly more acceptable level.