Category Archives: 4 – Good (buy)

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Prairie Artisan Ales, Stout - Imperial, USA

Prairie Christmas Bomb

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Brewery: Prairie Artisan Ales
Country: USA
ABV: 13%
Style: American Imperial Stout
Other Notes: Brewed and bottled by Krebs Brewing Co., Krebs, Oklahoma

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Imperial Stout brewed with spices.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.42
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.3

Intro: A 12 fl. oz. bottle with a Julian bottled on date that has mostly been smudged off, but I do know that this is a 2017 vintage. Poured into a snifter glass.
Appearance: Black in colour with a half finger mocha brown colour that dissipated quickly to a ring around the glass, while leaving only sparse lacing.
Aroma: Spice strong with cinnamon, anise, nutmeg, roasty coffee, chocolate and a hint of dark fruity cherry.
Taste: Milk chocolate, roasted coffee, cinnamon, anise and nutmeg.
Mouthfeel: Creamy, smooth, light booze, full bodied with low carbonation.
Overall: Christmas spices compliment the nice roasty coffee and chocolate with a very nice smooth and creamy feel.

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Prairie Artisan Ales, Stout - Imperial, USA

Prairie Vanilla Noir

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Brewery: Prairie Artisan Ales
Country: USA
ABV: 11%
Style: American Imperial Stout
Other Notes: Brewed and bottled by Krebs Brewing Co., Krebs, Oklahoma

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Imperial Stout aged in oak whiskey barrels with vanilla beans.

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

Intro: A 12 fl. oz. bottle with a Julian bottled on date of 32117, meaning that it was bottled on 17th November 2017. Poured into a snifter glass.
Appearance: Black in colour with a thin mocha brown head that dissipated quickly to a ring around the glass while leaving some sparse lacing.
Aroma: Chocolate fudge, vanilla, marshmallow, whisky, brown sugar and caramel.
Taste: Chocolate, whisky, quite boozy (but not in a bad way), vanilla, marshmallow and caramel.
Mouthfeel: Smooth, full bodied with low carbonation.
Overall: A nice enjoyable sipper. Vanilla while there, seemed lighter than expected given the name, but not a big problem.

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Belgium, De Struise Brouwers, Flanders Oud Bruin

De Struise Aardnon / Earthnun

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Brewery: De Struise Brouwers
Country: Belgium
ABV: 8%
Style: Belgian Flanders Oud Bruin
Other Notes: 17 IBUs. Flemish Sour Ale, FSA blend in barrel, Vlaams Oud Bruin

Brewer Description: (from bottle) First blend was mastered from existing bottles in 2007 at Ebenezers Pub USA by Christopher Lively and our team. This blend occurred in barrel and has aged for seven years on Margaux barrels from Château Haut Breton Larigaudière. Enjoy!

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.47
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.4

Intro: A 330ml bottle, bottled on 18th February 2016, with a best before date of 17th February 2021. Poured into a 3 Fonteinen stemmed glass.
Appearance: Deep dark brown in colour with a ruby hue and a one fingered tanned head that had decent retention and faded to a ring but left only sparse to no lacing.
Aroma: Light roast, cherry, chocolate, coffee, lightly tart, grape gummy candy, fig and plum.
Taste: Sweet and tart, plum, cherry, fig, grape, blackcurrant, jammy berries, with hints of vinegar, wood, light roast and chocolate.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate to low carbonation.
Overall: Excellent, great aroma and flavours. Good complexity and extremely balanced.

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Belgian Quadrupel, Belgium, Brouwerij Westvleteren (Sint-Sixtusabdij Westvleteren)

Trappist Westvleteren 12

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Brewery: Brouwerij Westvleteren (Sint-Sixtusabdij Westvleteren)
Country: Belgium
ABV: 10.2%
Style: Belgian Quadrupel
Other Notes: Gold cap. Trappist beer

Brewer Description: Not much info on their website and obviously even less on the bottle.

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

Intro: A 330ml bottle with a cap date (bottled +3 years) of 1st September 2019. Poured into a Chimay goblet glass.
Appearance: After a careful pour to leave most of the yeast in the bottle, a clear brown colour with a copper red hue and a just over one finger off white head that had great retention, but eventually settled to a very nice self replenishing cap while leaving great lacing around the glass.
Aroma: Strong fruitiness, apple, plum, dates, fig, toffee with light clove and banana notes.
Taste: Sweet, plum, dates, fig, banana bread, toffee, yeast and a touch of spice.
Mouthfeel: Creamy, medium to full bodied, with moderate carbonation.
Overall: I’m not a huge fan of sweetness, and this definitely leans on the sweet side, perhaps overly so for me. I prefer both Rochefort 10 and St. Bernardus Abt 12 over this. It’s still good, and not by any means bad, but if I had to pick a special Westvleteren beer, it would definitely be a fresh bottle of the Westvleteren Blond, as that is just one of the best Belgian Pale Ale’s ever.

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Hong Kong, International Sour Ale, Yardley Brothers Brewing

Yardley Brothers Single Batch Mangosteen Sour

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Brewery: Yardley Brothers Brewing
Country: Hong Kong
ABV: 6.8%
Style: International Sour Ale
Other Notes: 19 IBUs

Brewer Description: (from facebook post) Sherbet citrus nose, rich and juicy, and very fruity, it’s an excellent remedy to the summer heat.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.06
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.8

Intro: A cool looking 650ml black bottle that was capped and waxed. Practically though, the wax was probably unnecessary and just made it a pain in the ass to open. Bottle was one out of a total of 250. Poured into a Lost Abbey teku glass.
Appearance: Immediately started slow frothing at the bottle lip as soon as I uncapped it, with no signs of stopping. A cloudy dark orange colour with an uncontrollable four finger beige head that surprisingly dissipated fairly quickly while leaving some sparse lacing.
Aroma: Tart, juicy, cranberries, cherry and lime.
Taste: Tart, sour, juicy, cranberry, strawberry, apricot, lemon, lime and light mangosteen.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: Admittedly my first Yardley Brothers brew as I haven’t even tried any of their regular lineup, but this one was definitely enjoyable. Nicely tart with lots of fruit and not overly sour. The uncontrollable head was a pain, as was the wax, but once you get through that, you can just relax and enjoy.