Category Archives: 4 – Good (buy)

Amager x 18th Street Lawrence Of Arabica

Brewery: Amager Bryghus x 18th Street Brewery
Country: Denmark
ABV: 7%
Style: American Porter
Other Notes: Malts – Pilsner, Roasted Barley, Caraaroma, Chocolate, Flaked Wheat, Wheat and Rye Crystal. Hops – Tomahawk and Citra

Brewer Description: (from bottle) One day we received an email from the Mikkeller HQ saying that they had an American gentleman coming to Copenhagen. The name of this gentleman was Mr. Drew Fox who not only happened to have his own brewery close to Chicago back home, but who also would love to come visit Amager Bryghus to brew a beer. That kind of proposal is simply impossible to turn down, so we found an open slot in our brewing schedule. For quite some time we had been curious about brewing a beer that had both coffee and orange zest, and since Drew has brewed several excellent coffee beers at his 18th Street Brewery we sat down to create Lawrence of Arabica, a Coffee Orange Porter. A mild and easygoing Porter, with an orange twist. We don’t hesitate to call Drew one of the kindest and friendliest dudes in the craft beer world, and we are honored to have made this beer with him.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.96
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.8

Intro: A 500ml bottle, batch no. 1095 with a best before date of July 2018. Poured into a Lost Abbey teku glass.
Appearance: Dark dark brown in colour with a one finger mocha head that dissipates quickly and leaves only sparse lacing.
Aroma: Coffee, chocolate and dark roasted malts with only subtle hints of orange peel.
Taste: Strong bitter coffee, milk chocolate, roasted malts and a light herbal element with only hints of candied orange peel in the background.
Mouthfeel: Light to medium bodied with low carbonation.
Overall: Nice and easy drinking Porter with good strong coffee flavours. The orange was perhaps a little light such that I probably would have missed it if it wasn’t written on the label. Still pretty good though.

Modern Times Devils’ Teeth

Brewery: Modern Times Beer
Country: USA
ABV: 10%
Style: English Old Ale
Other Notes: Special Release. 60 IBUs. Imperial Stout with coffee added. Malts – Barley, Oats, Munich, Chocolate, Midnight Wheat, Black Barley, Aromatic Roast Barley, Flaked Barley and Biscuit Malt. Coffee – 75% Ethiopian Hambela and 25% Sumatra Mandheling

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Devil’s Teeth is a hybrid of an Old Ale and an Imperial Stout, two English beer styles designed to withstand long voyages and dark winters. It brings rich maltiness & robust roastiness in a thick, tongue-coating, aggressively flavorful package. To this chewy mix of old world beasts, we brought a massive dose of our house roasted Black House Blend coffee, a complimentary mix of blueberry-forward Ethiopian and chocolate-forward Sumatran coffee.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.05
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.9

Intro: A 22 fl. oz. bomber with no clear bottled on or best before date. Poured into a snifter glass.
Appearance: Dark brown in colour with a nice one fingered tanned head that had decent retention and eventually settled to a ring around the glass while leaving only sparse spotty lacing.
Aroma: Sweet dessert like, chocolate, brown sugar, dark fruit, molasses and coffee.
Taste: Lightly bitter coffee bean, sweet chocolate, roasty coffee, nearly burnt caramel with hints of dark fruit.
Mouthfeel: Creamy, medium bodied with low to moderate carbonation and light booze.
Overall: A self described hybrid Old Ale and Imperial Stout. At first I thought, definitely Imperial Stout, but the more I drank and as it warmed, it grew into an enjoyable Old Ale with its nice chocolate, caramel and dark fruit.

Young Master Days Of Being Wild – Mixed Forest Berries

Brewery: Young Master Brewery
Country: Hong Kong
ABV: 7.5%
Style: American Wild Ale
Other Notes: Single foeder sour ale series

Brewer Description: (from website) Inspired by the tradition of lambic style brewing in Belgium, this is the first mixed fermentation program of its kind in Asia. With a mixed-culture fermentation featuring a medley of wild yeast and bacteria strains, these beers have haunting complexity, natural farmhouse funk and refreshing fruitiness. We plan to release variations every couple of months. With our single-foeder sour ale as the base, we blended in a medley of mixed forest berries and fermented it a second time in brandy barrels. Intense berry flavors combined with funk and acidity from the base beer makes it incredibly complex, yet extremely refreshing.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.02
My ratebeer.com rating: 4

Intro: A 750ml bottle, 2017 vintage, bottle 160 of 250. Poured into a 3 Fonteinen stemmed glass.
Appearance: A nice clear ruby red colour with a big two finger pinkish head that dissipated fairly quickly to a small ring around the glass that keeps replenishing with lots of small bubbles, while leaving only sparse lacing.
Aroma: Mixed berries, raspberry, strawberry and blackberry with mild tartness and light funk.
Taste: Mixed berries, mainly raspberry and blackberry, there’s also some oak, lightly sour and light funk.
Mouthfeel: Medium to light bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: Good berry aroma and flavours although the berry flavours end a little abrupt. Still though, it is well worth a try.

Prairie Apple Brandy Barrel Noir

Brewery: Prairie Artisan Ales
Country: USA
ABV: 12%
Style: American Imperial Stout
Other Notes: Brewed and bottled by Krebs Brewing Co., Krebs, Oklahoma

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Imperial Stout aged in apple brandy barrels

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

Intro: A 12 fl. oz. bottle with a Julian bottled on date of 13316, meaning that it was bottled on 12th May 2016. Poured into a snifter glass.
Appearance: Black in colour with a very thin tanned head that dissipated quickly and left pretty much no lacing.
Aroma: Apple brandy, caramel, chocolate, vanilla and a light whiff of alcohol.
Taste: Sweet apple brandy, chocolate, fudge, vanilla, raisins, oak, caramel and toffee before ending with apple brandy once again.
Mouthfeel: Rich, smooth, full bodied with low carbonation.
Overall: Another great sipper from Prairie with wonderful aromas and nice taste. The apple brandy did make it almost too sweet for me, but this was kind of kept under control so long as I only sipped it slowly.

Prairie Coffee Okie

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

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Imperial Brown Ale aged in whiskey barrels with coffee beans.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.21
My ratebeer.com rating: 4

Intro: A 12 fl. oz. bottle with a Julian bottled on date of 33415 (I believe), meaning it was bottled on 30th November 2015. Poured into a Lost Abbey teku glass.
Appearance: A clear dark brown colour with a thin tanned head that dissipated quickly and left only sparse to no lacing.
Aroma: Coffee, caramel, vanilla, chocolate, oak and sweet whiskey.
Taste: Sweet, caramel, butterscotch, vanilla, chocolate, coffee, oak, whiskey and booziness.
Mouthfeel: Creamy, medium to full bodied with low carbonation.
Overall: A nice sipper, maybe a touch on the sweet side, but still great on a cold day.