Category Archives: 4 – Good (buy)

Moonzen Flaming Mountains

Brewery: Moonzen Brewery
Country: Hong Kong
ABV: 6%
Style: Bière de Champagne / Bière Brut
Other Notes: Muscat Bière De Champagne

Brewer Description: (from bottle) In Journey to the West, Monkey King encounters an impassable flaming mountain. Too busy fanning out the flames with his magic palm to continue his journey that he missed this tasty creation. Turpan, Xinjiang is a fertile land of delicious fruits, with a unique desert climate and mountain water oasis. In this unique collaboration, Moonzen journeyed 3000km to harvest muscat grapes from Puchang Vineyard for this provincial beer. With an enchanting aroma, it drinks like a beer at warmer temperatures and a sparkling white wine at cooler temperatures.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.11
My ratebeer.com rating: 4

Intro: A 330ml bottle with no bottled on or best before date. Poured into a Lost Abbey teku glass.
Appearance: A cloudy dark straw yellow colour with a one finger white head that dissipates slowly and settles to a thin layer while leaving only sparse lacing. Very lively with lots of bubbles throughout.
Aroma: Nice citrusy lemon, lemon zest, white grape and light malt. Floral and perfume-y on the finish.
Taste: Green grapes, vinous, white wine, grass and a touch of lemon. Like the aroma, finish is floral and perfume-y.
Mouthfeel: Crisp, dry, light to medium bodied with spritzy moderate to high carbonation.
Overall: Nice aromas and taste which made it refreshing to drink.

Evil Twin Imperial Biscotti Bourbon Maple Syrup Barrel Aged

Brewery: Evil Twin Brewing
Country: USA
ABV: 11.5%
Style: American Imperial Porter
Other Notes: Produced and bottled for Evil Twin Brewing by Westbrook Brewing Co., Mount Pleasant, SC

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Imperial Porter aged in bourbon flavored maple syrup barrels. BLiS Because Life Is Short

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.11
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.9

Intro: A 22 fl. oz. bomber with no bottled on or best before date. Poured into a snifter glass.
Appearance: Black in colour with a thin brown head that dissipated quickly to a ring around the glass and left only sparse to no lacing.
Aroma: Bourbon, chocolate, pancake batter, molasses and maple.
Taste: Sweet maple, oak, bourbon, chocolate, caramel and coffee with hints of vanilla and soy.
Mouthfeel: Creamy, full to medium bodied with low carbonation.
Overall: It’s sweet, but luckily only on the borderline of being too sweet for me. I also get some maple flavours, but prefer it to be even more distinct. But despite this, it was still a nice an enjoyable dessert beer.

Midnight Sun Berserker

Brewery: Midnight Sun Brewing Co.
Country: USA
ABV: 12.7%
Style: American Imperial Stout
Other Notes: 30 IBUs. Imperial Stout ale brewed with maple syrup & molasses and aged in oak bourbon barrels

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Vicious and viscous, this menacing brew pours opaque black with a dark maduro-colored head. Its aroma offers seductive bourbon, chewy wine, dark fruit and lavish tobacco. This imperial stout invades your taste buds with in-your-face flavor. Berserker is out-of-control. Give it a good fight.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.24
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.1

Intro: A 22 fl. oz. bomber with no clear bottled on or best before date. Poured into a snifter.
Appearance: Black in colour with a one finger brown head that dissipated fairly quickly to a ring around the glass while leaving some sparse lacing.
Aroma: Molasses, brown sugar, maple, chocolate, banana bread and bourbon with hints of coffee and oak.
Taste: Sweet molasses, milk chocolate, maple, dark fruit and bourbon with hints of oak, bitter char, smoke and coffee.
Mouthfeel: Creamy, smooth, medium to full bodied with low carbonation.
Overall: Nice aromas and taste but perhaps just slightly too sweet for me. The molasses were also a bit overpowering and I would have preferred more maple coming through.

Young Master Fake Juice

Brewery: Young Master Brewery
Country: Hong Kong
ABV: 6.5%
Style: American IPA
Other Notes: 30 IBUs. Juicy, hazy, hoppy.

Brewer Description: (from website) It’s really not fruit juice, but we won’t blame you for thinking so. Fake Juice. Real Beer. NE IPA. Loaded with Citra and Mosaic, Fake Juice is a NE IPA without any fruit addition. This is a hoppy, juicy, hazy IPA filled with note of grapefruit, guava and mango. Combination of soft bitterness and fluffy body makes this beer as sessionable as a glass of juice, if not more.

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

Intro: A 946ml crowler, filled on 21st December 2017. Poured into a Lost Abbey teku glass.
Appearance: A hazy dark orange colour with a just over one finger white head that had good retention and left some lacing.
Aroma: Mango, orange rind and a touch of lemon.
Taste: Like the aroma, there’s tropical and citrus fruitiness, mainly mango, citrus rind, grapefruit and a touch of pineapple.
Mouthfeel: Light bodied with moderate to low carbonation.
Overall: Nice, juicy and easy to drink.

Threes x Alefarm Misnomer

Brewery: Threes Brewing x Alefarm Brewing
Country: USA
ABV: 8.2%
Style: American Double IPA

Brewer Description: Not much information available, but from what I can gather: “Hop Dust, Coconut Tropical Extract, Superfruit, Cornucopia, Soft. Collaboration with Alefarm.”

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

Intro: A 1 pint can, canned on 18th October 2017 and printed “make it right”. Poured into a Lost Abbey teku glass.
Appearance: A hazy mango orange colour with a one and a half finger fluffy white head that had good retention and left nice lacing.
Aroma: Nice fruity grapefruit, pineapple and mango.
Taste: Lightly bitter grapefruit and lightly sweet pineapple and mango along with some grass, pine and a hint of coconut on the backend.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate to low carbonation.
Overall: My first Threes Brewing (although not Alefarm) beer and it’s nice, juicy and highly drinkable. Can’t wait to try more.