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

The Bruery x Funky Buddha ¡Guava Libre!

Brewery: The Bruery x Funky Buddha Brewery
Country: USA
ABV: 7.5%
Style: Cream Ale
Other Notes: This collaborative brew with our Floridian friends takes a page out of both of our books – a bold, experimental beer with culinary inspiration. Specifically, a Cuban guava pastry

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Imperial Cream Ale brewed with lactose with guava and vanilla added. This sensory getaway transports you to a corner bodega with our friends at Funky Buddha in South Florida to recreate the flavors you’d find in a “pastelito de guayaba.” Championing the big, bold flavors that both of our breweries are known for, we brewed an imperial cream ale, adding lactose and vanilla to impart sweet, custard-like ribbons, and guava for filling its conceptual authenticity. It’s a collaboration that’s equal parts inspiration and admiration.

My rating: 3
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.35
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.2

Intro: A 750ml bottle, batch #430, bottled on 11th April 2017. Poured into a 3 Fonteinen stemmed glass.
Appearance: Very cloudy, dark orange murkiness with a one finger off white head that had decent retention while leaving some nice lacing.
Aroma: Heavy vanilla, condensed milk, caramelising sugar and guava with perhaps hints of caramel.
Taste: Sweetish, toasted malts, vanilla, sugar, milk with hints of guava and other mixed tropical fruits.
Mouthfeel: Creamy, medium to full bodied with moderate to low carbonation.
Overall: Not entirely what I expected as there was a lot less fruit and/or guava than expected, whereas the vanilla, milk, lactose were really dominant and perhaps overly so in my opinion.

J. Wakefield That’s The Ticket

Brewery: J. Wakefield Brewing
Country: USA
ABV: 13%
Style: American Imperial Stout

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Imperial Stout with chocolate, coconut, caramel & sea salt added

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

Intro: A 750ml bottle with no clear bottled on or best before date. Poured into a MBCC 2018 stemmed tasting glass.
Appearance: Black in colour with only a very thin mocha brown head that stuck around throughout while leaving some nice lacing.
Aroma: Chocolate, caramel and vanilla dominate with hints of coconut and roastiness. A bit like chocolate ice cream with chocolate sauce.
Taste: Chocolate and sea salt are strong, cacao, vanilla, lightly bitter dark chocolate, and hints of coconut, caramel and alcohol poking through.
Mouthfeel: Extremely creamy, full bodied, with low carbonation.
Overall: I thought that the sea salt was too strong. Normally I love caramel salted chocolate, but in this case, the strong sea salt combined with the booze and maybe even the light bitterness just didn’t work together as well as it could have for me.

Wren House Sad Boy Wally

Brewery: Wren House Brewing Co.
Country: USA
ABV: 10.5%
Style: American Triple IPA

Brewer Description: (from facebook can release page) Sad Boy Wally is our latest installment in the Wally Triple IPA series. Brewed with American pale malt, malted white wheat, and boiled alongside Arizona wildflower honey. Hopped and dry hopped with the most citrus forward hops we could get our hands on! Featuring Citra, Amarillo, Cascade Lupulin Pellets, and Columbus. We got a little crazy with this one and topped our previous hop usage record with a massive 9lb/bbl hopping rate. In order to highlight these huge citrus flavors we kept the abv in check at 10.5%. We’re picking up huge aromas of candied orange/grapefruit, a total citrus bomb!! Mouthfeel is super thick with almost no perceived bitterness. Absolutely our favorite Triple IPA to date!

My rating: 3
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.76
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.6

Intro: A 1 pint can, canned on 15th March 2018. Poured into a MBCC 2018 stemmed tasting glass.
Appearance: It was a cloudy mango juice orange with a half finger white head that dissipated fairly quickly, but left some thin but nice lacing.
Aroma: Orange juice, grapefruit, mango and light candied citrus.
Taste: Tangy, bittersweet, citrus, orange rind, grapefruit peel, pine and pineapple with only a hint of bitterness.
Mouthfeel: Full bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: This was pretty good, but perhaps too purely citrusy for me to fully appreciate.

Magnify Maine Event

Brewery: Magnify Brewing
Country: USA
ABV: 6.5%
Style: American IPA

Brewer Description: (from can) New England style India Pale Ale.

My rating: 3
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.72
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.7

Intro: A 1 pint can with no canned on or best before date. Poured into a MBCC 2018 stemmed tasting glass.
Appearance: A hazy straw yellow colour with an almost two finger white head that dissipated fairly quickly while leaving lots of nice lacing.
Aroma: A bit light, but there’s peach sour gummy candy, papaya, light citrus peel, pine, resin and a hint of milk candy on the finish.
Taste: Light bitterness, light mango, orange peel, orange rind, grapefruit, pine and resin.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: A nice IPA, but not really ‘juicy’, which is what I enjoy in a NEIPA.

Mikkeller NYC x Other Half All Royal Everything

Brewery: Mikkeller Brewing NYC x Other Half Brewing
Country: USA
ABV: 10%
Style: American Double IPA
Other Notes: Queen’s Edition. Collaboration with Other Half Brewing

Brewer Description: (from Mikkeller NYC menu) IIPA w/ Idaho-7, Amarillo, Mosaic & Citra.

My rating: 3
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.57
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.5

Intro: A 1 pint can, canned on 1st May 2018. Poured into a MBCC 2018 taster glass.
Appearance: A cloudy dark orange colour with a one finger white head that had good retention and left some nice lacing.
Aroma: Pineapple, pine, peach, mandarin, sweet marmalade and a touch of bitter grapefruit peel.
Taste: Sweet, peach, pineapple, malt, honey, with light spice, light herbal and light bitterness on the finish.
Mouthfeel: Full to medium bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: Aromas were good, but on the whole, perhaps too sweet for my liking. The light bitterness at the end was not enough to balance the sweetness from the malt.