Category Archives: 4 – Good (buy)

Council Béatitude Guava Tart Saison

Brewery: Council Brewing Co.
Country: USA
ABV: 4.5%
Style: Belgian Saison
Other Notes: Ale brewed with guava. Brewery closed in December 2018

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Béatitude is the French word for bliss which is what we float away on whenever we enjoy this specially brewed beer. This Tart Saison is brewed in the Belgian tradition of tart farmhouse ales. The magic happens when our house culture of Brettanomyces, Lactobacillus and Saison yeast throw an out-of-this world party in our fermenters. Aged on guava, this yields a beer with a lacto forward nose, an intensely tart guava fruit flavor, a doughy complexity, and takes the word “refreshing” to a whole new level.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.04
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.9

Intro: A 750ml bottle with no clear bottled on or best before date. Poured into a 3 Fonteinen stemmed glass.
Appearance: A lightly hazy straw champagne gold colour with a one finger white head that dissipated fairly quickly to nothing, while leaving only some sparse spotty lacing.
Aroma: Tart, guava, citric, lemon juice, dough and a nice funk throughout.
Taste: Sour, tart, guava, lemon juice, passion fruit, and a light funk.
Mouthfeel: Acidic, light bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: Easy to drink with good guava flavours. A little bit acidic for my palate, but still enjoyable.

Strange Brew Uncle Jam’s Tale #5 Galaxy Too

Brewery: Strange Brew
Country: Greece
ABV: 6.5%
Style: New England / Hazy IPA

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Uncle Jam’s handbook is full of mysterious & exciting tales. Let’s gather around this strange man. Sit back, take a sip & enjoy!

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.09
My ratebeer.com rating: 4

Intro: A 330ml bottle with a best before date of 15th August 2019. Poured into a Lost Abbey teku glass.
Appearance: A very cloudy hazy milky straw yellow orange colour with a two finger soapy white head that had good retention and left lots of nice sticky lacing.
Aroma: Fruity, tropical and citrus, mango, melon, mandarin, orange peel and grass.
Taste: Like the aroma, tropical fruit, papaya, melon, mango, orange and grass.
Mouthfeel: Light to medium bodied with soft to moderate carbonation.
Overall: Good fruity aroma and flavours. Enjoyable and very drinkable.

Satyr Brews Menace IPA

Brewery: Satyr Brews
Country: Greece
ABV: 5.2%
Style: American IPA
Other Notes: 40 IBUs

Brewer Description: (from website in Greek) Μετά την τρανή επιτυχία των πρώτων περιορισμένων παρτίδων Menace, η ναυαρχίδα μας που έδωσε το στίγμα των Satyr Brews και τάραξε το ελληνικό τοπίο στις IPA, με αποκρουστικές -για τους μη γνώστες- υπερβολές στη χρήση λυκίσκων (21 g/L) παίρνει την τελική της μορφή και τη βρίσκετε πλέον σε βαρέλι και σε μπουκάλι για κραιπάλες κατ’ οίκον. Διάβασε περισσότερα για τη Menace στο μπλογκ μας.

(best I can do is use Google translate) Following the tough success of the first limited Menace batch, our flagship Satyr Brews branded the Greek landscape in the IPA, with repulsive – for unconscious – excesses in the use of hops (21 g / L) form and find it in a barrel and a bottle of bruises at home. Read more about Menace on our blog.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.35
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.2

Intro: A 330ml bottle with a best before date of 9th November 2019. Poured into a Lost Abbey teku glass.
Appearance: A lightly hazy golden orange colour with a slightly more than two finger white head that had excellent retention and left some nice sticky lacing.
Aroma: Citrus and tropical fruit. Grapefruit zest, lemon rind, pineapple, mandarin, pine, and a light caramel malt base.
Taste: What you’d expect from the aroma, with grapefruit and lemon rind and zest, mandarin, mango, pineapple, tea, pine, grass, on top of a nice light caramel malt base. Light sweetness with a good lasting bitter finish.
Mouthfeel: Light bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: Light and easy to drink, with a great balance between the caramel malts and the fruity citrus and tropical hops, and a nice bitter finish.

Epic Quadruple Barrel Big Bad Baptist

Brewery: Epic Brewing Company
Country: USA
ABV: 11.9%
Style: American Imperial Stout
Other Notes: 2018 Rare Release. Imperial Stout aged in whiskey & rum barrels with roasted cacao nibs, almond flavor, barrel-aged coffee beans, barrel-aged coconut & barrel-aged almond

Brewer Description: (from bottle) We’ve taken barrel aging to a whole new level by aging shaved coconut, almonds, and Blue Copper’s Colombian coffee beans in whiskey barrels, while our Imperial Stout ages separately in both rum and whiskey barrels. Then our brewers hand-blend each batch creating the most complex and outrageous version of Big Bad Baptist we have ever made.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.35
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.2

Intro: A 22 fl. oz. bomber, 2018 release, release #9. Poured into a snifter glass.
Appearance: Black in colour with an almost one finger brown head that had decent retention, eventually dissipated to a thin layer and left some nice spotty lacing.
Aroma: Coffee, chocolate, cocoa nibs, brown sugar, vanilla, whiskey, rum, oak, light roast and a hint of toasted coconut.
Taste: Moderate sweetness, rich chocolate, coffee, brown sugar, cocoa nibs, nuttiness, almond, coconut, whiskey, rum, oak, with hints of dark fruit.
Mouthfeel: Creamy, full bodied with soft carbonation.
Overall: Enjoyable, but not quite as good as the original BBB or the Triple Barrel BBB.

Epic Big Bad Baptista

Brewery: Epic Brewing Company
Country: USA
ABV: 11%
Style: American Imperial Stout
Other Notes: 2017 Rare Release. Imperial Stout with Mexican coffee, cacao nibs, vanilla & cinnamon flavor added and 100% aged in whiskey barrels. Malts – Ultra Premium Maris Otter, Briess 2-Row Brewers Malts, Muntons Crystal, Weyermann Light Munich Malt I, 2-Row Chocolate Malt, 2-Row Black Malt and Roasted Barley. Hops – Nugget, Chinook and Cascade. Spices – Cinnamon, Vanilla, Blue Copper Mexican Coffee and Solstace Cacao Nibs

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Inspired by the spicy and bold flavors of a Café de Olla we added Vanilla and Cinnamon along with Mexican Coffee beans and cacao nibs to our 100% Barrel-aged Big Bad Baptist. The result is luxurious, complex, and the perfect after-dinner companion on chilly evenings.

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

Intro: A 22 fl. oz. bomber, release #8, bottled on 9th November 2017. Poured into a snifter glass.
Appearance: Dark dark brown in colour with a thin dark tanned head that had decent retention while leaving some nice spotty lacing.
Aroma: Roasted malts, coffee, almond, cinnamon, oak, with hints of chocolate and whiskey.
Taste: Roasted malts, chocolate, coffee, oak, moderate sweetness, whiskey, cinnamon and very light chili spice.
Mouthfeel: Creamy, moderate to full bodied with soft carbonation.
Overall: Nice and enjoyable. A good sipper, although spice could be stronger.