Category Archives: 4 – Good (buy)

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Black Project Spontaneous & Wild Ales, USA, Wild Ale

Black Project Gnomon

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Brewery: Black Project Spontaneous & Wild Ales
Country: USA
ABV: Unsure as not on bottle (5% on BA and UT, 6.2% on RB)
Style: American Wild Ale
Other Notes: Spontaneous Raw Ale

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Gnomon is a blend of two sister beers, the first is similar to one of our traditional Lambic-inspired recipes, but we replaced the unmalted wheat with malted purple barley from our friends at Troubadour Maltings who acquired a special type of ancient, husk-less barley that has a deep purple color. We also didn’t boil the wort, making it a Raw Ale. It was inoculated via coolship and then fermented and aged the beer in Chardonnay barrels. The second part is also a spontaneous Raw Ale made with 100% malted purple barley. The beer was then fermented and aged in neutral oak barrels. The beers were blended and given a light dry hop prior to being bottled. The end result exhibits a unique, hearty grain character, which is backed by restrained bitterness and a moderate citrusy acidity.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.07
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.9

Intro: A 500ml corked and capped bottled, bottled on 12th February 2018. Poured into a 3 Fonteinen stemmed glass.
Appearance: A lightly hazy golden colour with a one finger white head that dissipated fairly quickly and left only sparse lacing.
Aroma: Sour, fruity, underripe mango, peach, wood, with hints of nail polish.
Taste: Light sour, fruity, apricot, oak, funk, and grapes.
Mouthfeel: Light to medium bodied with soft carbonation.
Overall: The light fruitiness was more tropical than expected and was enjoyable.

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, German Berliner Weisse, Germany, Kemker Kultuur

Kemker Prumen

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Brewery: Kemker Kultuur (Brauerei J. Kemker)
Country: Germany
ABV: 4%
Style: German Berliner Weisse

Brewer Description: (from bottle in German) Weisse nach Berliner Art mit Stromberger Pflaumen. Lebendige Brauspezialität fermentiert mit unserer Hauskultur aus Saccharomyces, Brettanomyces und Milchsäurebakterien.

(translated to English) White Berlin style with Stromberger plums. Lively brewing specialty fermented with our house culture from Saccharomyces, Brettanomyces and lactic acid bacteria.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.11
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.9

Intro: A 750ml bottle with a best before date of 31st October 2020. Poured into a Holy Mountain tulip glass.
Appearance: A lightly hazy golden colour with a one and a half finger white head that dissipated fairly quickly and left only sparse lacing.
Aroma: Tart, raspberry, plum, prunes, with notes of lemon and wheat.
Taste: Lightly sour, tart, plum, plum skin, mixed berries, lemon, and a touch of salt.
Mouthfeel: Light to medium bodied with moderate to high carbonation.
Overall: A nice refreshing and easy drinking Berliner Weisse.

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Hudson Valley Brewery, IPA - Sour, USA

Hudson Valley Pirouette

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Brewery: Hudson Valley Brewery
Country: USA
ABV: 6%
Style: American Sour IPA
Other Notes: Sour IPA

Brewer Description: (from website) Sour IPA w/ raw wheat & malted oat; hopped w/ Galaxy, Citra & Azacca.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.17
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.9

Intro: A 16 fl. oz. can, with no clear canned on or best before date. Poured into a Holy Mountain tulip glass.
Appearance: A hazy straw yellow colour with a big three finger white head that dissipated fairly quickly, but left only sparse spotty lacing.
Aroma: Tart, sour, guava, pineapple, grapefruit, lemon, and citrus zest.
Taste: Sour, tart, lemon, lime, grapefruit, with notes of guava.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with spritzy moderate to high carbonation.
Overall: Nice enjoyable and easy drinking Sour IPA with good citrus and tropical fruit aroma and flavours.

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Equilibrium Brewery, IPA - New England / Hazy, USA

Equilibrium Fractal Mosaic

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Brewery: Equilibrium Brewery
Country: USA
ABV: 6.8%
Style: New England / Hazy IPA
Other Notes: Simple . Complex . IPA

Brewer Description: (from website) Fractal Mosaic (6.8% IPA) was the first beer we ever brewed and was the first release from our small-batch Fractal research series. A fractal is something simple at the core yet can produce wonderful and amazingly complex results. We use the fractal series to investigate how different hops manifest through our processes, allowing us to optimize both our use of hops and our hopping techniques. Fractal Mosaic pours a resinous-hazy-straw yellow releasing complex aromas of dank blueberry, citrus, earthy grass, and tropical melon. The taste is a highly resinous blueberry cannabis, melon and pine with a juicy with a slightly creamy mouthfeel, and a firm but rounded bitterness. The medley of characteristics makes the name “Fractal Mosaic” warranted indeed.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.29
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.1

Intro: A 1 pint can, canned on 29th May 2020. Poured into a Holy Mountain tulip glass.
Appearance: A hazy straw yellow orange colour with a two finger white head that had excellent retention and left lots of nice lacing.
Aroma: Fruity, mango, blueberry, citrus zest and notes of melon.
Taste: Lightly fruity sweet, mango, blueberry, melon, citrus zest, with a lingering bitter finish.
Mouthfeel: Creamy, medium bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: Easy to drink. Great balance between sweet and bitter with lots of nice fruit flavours.

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Equilibrium Brewery, IPA - New England / Hazy Double, USA

Equilibrium South Street Experimentum

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Brewery: Equilibrium Brewery
Country: USA
ABV: 8%
Style: New England / Hazy Double IPA
Other Notes: Double India Pale Ale

Brewer Description: (from website) Juice experiments are well underway here to explore some of the new toys we have at our new South Street facility. We had two leading theories on how to best use one of our new toys, both rooted in solid science, preliminary results both looked good… but different. So we thought… lets try both! We brought back the South Street version of the familiar companion set Experimentum and Imperium (Latin for Experiment and Control). Both feature our DIPA sized 2-Row Fractal fermentation, fractal grain bill, and a hop bill of Citra, Mosaic, and Sabra. These beers are parallel in recipe but not process. The difference focuses on two distinct uses of an exclusive piece South Street equipment and Experimentum utilizes our coveted Energy treatment process #twovariables. Both beers have a candy-like-tiki-cocktail aroma. South Street Imperium has notes and flavors of assorted citrus, peach, and crushed Pez candy with dank and slightly resinous finish and punchy rollercoaster of #EQJuice. South Street Experimentum offers flavors of bright tropical fruit, deep navel orange characteristics with mango and papaya in a distinctly succulently soft body while and crossing the finish line with our EQJuice. With the same ingredients but two different processes, a showdown is underway. Which one do you prefer?

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.99
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.9

Intro: A 1 pint can, canned on 29th May 2020. Poured into a Holy Mountain tulip glass.
Appearance: A hazy orange colour with a two and a half finger white head that had excellent retention and left lots of nice lacing.
Aroma: Citrusy, lemon, lime, orange zest, with notes of melon.
Taste: Citrusy, orange, orange zest, melon, notes of papaya.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate to soft carbonation.
Overall: Not my favourite of fruit flavours, but still enjoyable. I preferred this Experimentum over Imperium.