Category Archives: 4 – Good (buy)

Garage Project Chocolate Beer

Brewery: Garage Project
Country: New Zealand
ABV: 4.7%
Style: Milk / Sweet Stout
Other Notes: Whittaker’s. Now on nitro

Brewer Description: (from can) One whole block of chocolate worth of Whittaker’s cacao nibs infused into every can. Unbelievably rich, dark and creamy. Brewed with chocolate malts, lactose, and infused with vanilla and freshly batch roasted cocoa beans. Tiny bubbles of nitrogen make it smoother and even more delicious. If it was any more chocolatey we’d have to put it in a wrapper.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.3
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.2

Intro: A 330ml can with a best before date of 3rd May 2019. Poured into a Mikkeller pint glass as per the instructions for a ‘perfect nitro pour’.
Appearance: A clear dark brown colour with a slight amber hue, and an almost two finger light tanned head that had excellent retention and left some nice lacing.
Aroma: Strong, rich, chocolate, cocoa beans with a touch of vanilla and nuttiness.
Taste: Bittersweet chocolate, milk chocolate, just a lot of chocolate with hints of cream and vanilla.
Mouthfeel: Creamy, smooth, medium bodied with soft carbonation.
Overall: A good and wonderful chocolate drink. It may not be complex, but the rich chocolate in the aroma and taste made it easy to drink. If the vanilla was even stronger, I think this would have been even better.

Gweilo x Magic Rock Solitaire NEIIPA

Brewery: Gweilo Brewery x Magic Rock Brewing
Country: Hong Kong
ABV: 8.5%
Style: New England / Hazy Double IPA
Other Notes: 35 IBUs. Collaboration

Brewer Description: (from can) Brewed with our friends at Magic Rock, Solitaire is a seriously juicy Double NEIPA. No expense has been spared on this bad boy with a huge dry hop of Galaxy, Aloha, Citra Cryo, El Dorado and Denali. These are carried by the base of pale malt, wheat and oats to create a super rich, tropical hop bomb. Gently roll the can before opening and drink it fresh to ensure maximum juiciness.

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

Intro: A 330ml can with a best before date of 30th November 2019. Poured into a Lost Abbey teku glass.
Appearance: A hazy darkish orange colour with an almost two finger white head that had decent retention while leaving behind some lacing.
Aroma: Strong tropical aromas. Mango, peach, and citrus zestiness.
Taste: Tropical stone fruit, ripe mango, peach, citrus zest and rind, nice light bitter finish.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate to high carbonation.
Overall: Very nice tropical juiciness with good light bitterness to balance and good body. It’s got pretty much everything I asked for when I reviewed the Nebulous DDH NEIPA. Carbonation was perhaps slightly too high, but not to take anything away from it, this was good and very enjoyable to drink.

Gweilo Tropical Pilsner

Brewery: Gweilo Brewery
Country: Hong Kong
ABV: 4.2%
Style: American IPL
Other Notes: 25 IBUs. Collaboration with Potato Head (restaurant)

Brewer Description: (from can) Crafted with our friends at Potato Head, Tropical Pilsner will have you kicking back in no time. Our crisp Pilsen malt base showcases the explosion of citrus, melon and papaya hop notes. The tropical fruit flavours and dry finish deliver a hit of refreshment and are the perfect partner for Indonesian cuisine.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.08
My ratebeer.com rating: 4

Intro: A 330ml can with a best before date of 1st November 2019. Poured into a Lost Abbey teku glass.
Appearance: A clear golden straw yellow colour with an almost three finger white head that had great retention and left some nice lacing.
Aroma: Light grains, grapefruit rind, melon, passionfruit, papaya, floral, lemon zest and grass.
Taste: Light sweet grain pils malt, grapefruit, melon, papaya, passionfruit, lemon zest, floral, tea.
Mouthfeel: Crisp, light bodied with moderate to high carbonation.
Overall: Self described as a tropical Pilsner, I believe its probably closer to an IPL, but regardless, the resulting aroma and flavours were right up my alley. Nice crispness makes it very easy to drink.

Cloudwater Red Lorry

Brewery: Cloudwater Brew Co.
Country: England
ABV: 6%
Style: New England / Hazy IPA
Other Notes: Autumn-Winter

Brewer Description: (from can) Red lorry, yellow lorry, red lorry, yellow lorry, red lorry, yellow lorry, red lorry, yellow lorry, red lolly, yellow lorry, led rolly, yellow lolly, rell rorry, lellow yolly, red lorry, yellow lorry, red lorry, yellow lorry, red lorry, yellow lorry, red lorry, yellow lorry, red lorry, yellow lorry, red lolly, yellow lorry, led rolly, yellow lolly, rell rorry, lellow yolly, red lorry, yellow lorry…

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

Intro: A 440ml can, canned on 16th November 2018. Poured into a Lost Abbey teku glass.
Appearance: A hazy golden yellow orange colour with a just under two finger white head that had pretty good retention and left some nice lacing.
Aroma: Mango, melon, papaya, grapefruit rind and mandarin.
Taste: Sweet, quite juicy, melon, unripe cantaloupe, mango, orange juice and orange pith and rind.
Mouthfeel: Creamy, medium bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: An easy to drink NEIPA. Less tropical and not quite as juicy as Yellow Lolly. The canned version seemed better than the when I tried it on draft. But of the two, my preference is Yellow Lolly.

Cloudwater Yellow Lolly

Brewery: Cloudwater Brew Co.
Country: England
ABV: 6%
Style: New England / Hazy IPA
Other Notes: Autumn-Winter

Brewer Description: (from can) Red lorry, yellow lorry, red lorry, yellow lorry, red lorry, yellow lorry, red lorry, yellow lorry, red lolly, yellow lorry, led rolly, yellow lolly, rell rorry, lellow yolly, red lorry, yellow lorry, red lorry, yellow lorry, red lorry, yellow lorry, red lorry, yellow lorry, red lorry, yellow lorry, red lolly, yellow lorry, led rolly, yellow lolly, rell rorry, lellow yolly, red lorry, yellow lorry…

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.22
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.1

Intro: A 440ml can, canned on 20th November 2018. Poured into a Lost Abbey teku glass.
Appearance: A hazy golden yellow orange colour with a slightly less than two finger white head that had good retention and left lots of nice lacing.
Aroma: Tropical mango and pineapple with a hint of melon and citrus rind.
Taste: Juicy, tropical, mango, peach, apricot with an orange rind lightly bitter finish.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: A juicy, easy to drink NEIPA with good strong tropical notes. I easily preferred this one over Red Lorry.