Category Archives: 4 – Good (buy)

Bottle Logic Upside Down

Brewery: Bottle Logic Brewing
Country: USA
ABV: 5.3%
Style: Sour Ale

Brewer Description: (from can) Tart ale brewed with blackberries & vanilla.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.16
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.1

Intro: A 1 pint can, canned on 17th January 2024. Poured into a winebar glass.
Appearance: A deep red colour with a dark purple hue, and a just over one finger lavender head that had decent retention, eventually settling to a ring around the glass, while leaving some lacing.
Aroma: Sweet, tart, jammy, blackberries, and vanilla.
Taste: Sour, tart, light jammy sweetness, blackberries, with light vanilla notes.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate to soft carbonation.
Overall: Great aroma, nice flavours, refreshing and enjoyable to drink.

Samata Pineapple Yuzu Cardamom

Brewery: Samata Brewing
Country: Thailand
ABV: 4%
Style: Sour Ale – Smoothie / Soda / Pastry
Other Notes: Pineapple, yuzu, cardamom

Brewer Description: (from can) Escaping the summer season to refreshing oasis with our most exquisite blend. This fruited-sour introduces symphony of extraordinary aroma from sweet essence of ripe pineapple and the energetic flavor from yuzu, all harmonized by the cooling note of cardamom essence. Enjoy this drink extra cold for uncharted territories of flavor.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.13
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.9

Intro: A 330ml can, canned on 15th July 2024. Poured into a winebar glass.
Appearance: A murky dark orange colour with a thin white head that dissipated fairly quickly, while leaving some lacing.
Aroma: Sweet pineapple juice and yuzu juice.
Taste: Moderately sweet, lightly sour, pineapple juice, and yuzu juice.
Mouthfeel: Medium to light bodied with soft to moderate carbonation.
Overall: Aroma and taste were nice, refreshing and enjoyable. I probably even finished it faster than any other beer I’ve drank without downing it or messing around. I’m just not sure I’d call it beer as opposed to juice.

Samata Orange Creamsicle

Brewery: Samata Brewing
Country: Thailand
ABV: 4%
Style: Sour Ale – Smoothie / Soda / Pastry
Other Notes: Orange, vanilla, milk sugar (lactose)

Brewer Description: (from can) Close your eyes and picture the sunny days of your childhood, this fruited-sour will travel you back in time with the refreshing citrusy burst of ripe tangerine dancing in harmony with comforting richness of vanilla and light touch of lactose to complete the creaminess. A transport to childhood sweet nostalgia.

My rating: 4-
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.05
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.8

Intro: A 330ml can, canned on 15th July 2024. Poured into whatever glass was available at the hotel in Bangkok.
Appearance: A hazy milky orange colour with a layer of thick milkshake bubbles, that just stuck around.
Aroma: Fruited milk candy, orange, mandarin, vanilla, sugar syrup.
Taste: Moderately sweet, citrus milk candy, mandarin, orange peel, vanilla, sugar syrup, with a light sourness in the background.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with soft carbonation.
Overall: Quite close in taste to the orange popsicle with vanilla ice cream in the middle. Easy to drink and the kind of thing you want on a hot day.

West Coast The Black Book BV

Brewery: West Coast Brewing
Country: Japan
ABV: 14%
Style: Stout – Imperial

Brewer Description: (from can) Imperial Stout w/ blueberries and vanilla beans.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.25
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.1

Intro: A 500ml can, canned on 9th April 2024. Poured into whatever glass was available at the hotel room in Bangkok.
Appearance: Black in colour with a thin brown head that dissipated fairly quickly to a ring around the glass, while leaving only sparse to no lacing.
Aroma: Dessert, cake, milk chocolate, blueberry, vanilla, with notes of coffee.
Taste: Light to moderate sweetness, chocolate, blueberry, vanilla, with a roasty, coffee, bitter finish.
Mouthfeel: Smooth, creamy, full bodied with soft carbonation.
Overall: Nice blueberry dessert characteristics, but not like overly sweet pastry stouts as there is enough roasty coffee bitterness to balance. A good enjoyable sipper.

Het Boerenerf Symbiose – Lambiek Cider Mede

Brewery: Het Boerenerf Eylenbosch
Country: Belgium
ABV: 7%
Style: Lambic – non-Lambic Blends
Other Notes: Lambiek Cider Mede 2021

Brewer Description: (from bottle in Dutch) De oudste fermenten. Gegist. Gerijpt. Gerust.

(translated to English) The oldest fermentations. Fermented. Matured. Rest assured.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.14
My ratebeer.com rating: 4

Intro: A 750ml corked and capped bottle, 2021 vintage, with a best before date of 23rd January 2027. Poured into a Tilquin stemmed glass.
Appearance: A lightly hazy golden colour, with a big two finger white head that had good retention and left some nice lacing.
Aroma: Sweet, honey, green apple, apple cider, musty, funk, with a splash of lemon.
Taste: Moderately sweet, honey, green apple, apple cider, sweet and sour, candied lemon, woody, with light funky notes.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with fizzy moderate to high carbonation.
Overall: First time trying a lambic, cider and mead blend, and I think it works quite well, with an interesting sweet and sour feeling. The only thing I’d say with the 2021 blend, was that the carbonation was perhaps a bit too much.