Category Archives: 4 – Good (buy)

4 - Good (buy), Almanac Beer Co., Beer Reviews, USA, Wild Ale

Almanac Farmer’s Reserve Blueberry

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Brewery: Almanac Beer Co.
Country: USA
ABV: 7%
Style: American Wild Ale
Other Notes: Farm to barrel. Sour ale aged in wine barrels with blueberries

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Every year, the blueberry harvest heralds the coming of summer. We selected the very best hand-picked berries grown in the hills of Butte County, California, and added them to a sour golden ale aged in wine barrels. The resulting beer is infused with the essence of these jewel-like berries, creating a fruity character reminiscent of mom’s blueberry pie and a reminder of long summer days.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.17
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.9

Intro: A 375ml bottle, bottled in October 2015. Poured into a Lost Abbey teku glass.
Appearance: A very nice clear ruby red colour with a one finger white head that dissipated quickly and left sparse to no lacing. (Note: the final 1/6th poured extremely cloudy and colour became a murky reddish purple colour).
Aroma: Tart, cherry, blueberry, vinous white wine and wood.
Taste: It’s what you expect from the aroma, sour, tart, acidic, blueberry and cherry, with a vinous white wine and oaky finish.
Mouthfeel: Dry, light to medium bodied with moderate to high carbonation.
Overall: Nice, enjoyable and refreshing.

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Gose - Fruit, Omnipollo, Sweden

Omnipollo Bianca Blueberry Lassi Gose

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Brewery: Omnipollo
Country: Sweden
ABV: 3.5%
Style: Gose – Fruit
Other Notes: Brewed and bottled by Omnipollo at Buxton Brewery in the UK (England)

Brewer Description: (from website) A milky gose brewed with buckets of blueberries, lactose sugar and rock salt. Dry hopped with Mosaic.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.28
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.1

Intro: A 330ml bottle with a best before date of 1st April 2017. Poured into a Lost Abbey teku glass.
Appearance: A deep dark purple-ish red colour with a one finger purple-ish pink colour head that dissipated fairly quickly while leaving some sparse lacing.
Aroma: Tart and sour with a Ribena like aroma of blueberry, blackcurrant and grape with hints of grapefruit.
Taste: Tart and lightly sour. Again like the aroma, the Ribena comes through with blackcurrant, blueberry and grape. There is also hints of salt. Sourness increases towards the end along with acidity.
Mouthfeel: Light bodied with high spritzy carbonation.
Overall: Very refreshing and very easy to drink with nice amount of fruit and tartness.

4 - Good (buy), American Double IPA, Beer Reviews, Stigbergets Bryggeri, Sweden

Stigbergets Api Lairepmi

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Brewery: Stigbergets Bryggeri
Country: Sweden
ABV: 8%
Style: American Double IPA

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Imperial progressive ale.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.25
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.1

Intro: A 330ml bottle, batch 578, with a best before date of 4th July 2017. Poured into a Lost Abbey teku glass.
Appearance: A hazy dark orange-yellow colour with a nice two finger white head that had great retention and left nice lacing.
Aroma: A very nice and intense mango yoghurt with touches of apricot and papaya on the side.
Taste: Strong bitterness at the beginning, followed by tropical mango, apricot and orange peel.
Mouthfeel: Dry, medium to full bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: I completely loved the mango yoghurt aroma that it was giving off. However, when it came to the taste, I thought that the bitterness kind of wiped out a lot of the tropical fruit flavours that you’d expect from such an aroma. It is still tasty though and doesn’t feel at all like its close to 8% ABV.

4 - Good (buy), AleSmith Brewing Company, American IPA, Beer Reviews, USA

AleSmith IPA

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Brewery: AleSmith Brewing Company
Country: USA
ABV: 7.25%
Style: American IPA
Other Notes: San Diego-style India Pale Ale

Brewer Description: (from can) Our hometown of San Diego is considered the epicenter of its namesake style of India Pale Ale – extremely crisp, highly drinkable beers brimming over with hop aromas and bright yet not overly bitter hop flavors. AleSmith IPA is the progenitor of this rightfully popular style. A bright bouquet of grapefruit and tangerine aromas gives way to an abundance of fresh piney, tropical notes on the taste buds with lingering resinous sensations in the finish for quintessential San Diego IPA experience showcasing the versatility of American hops.

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

Intro: A 12 fl oz can, canned on 5th October 2016. Poured into a Lost Abbey teku glass.
Appearance: A lightly hazy, light copper orange colour with a nice two finger off white head with good retention and great lacing.
Aroma: Tropical pineapple and apricot with citrus orange, pine and sweet biscuit malt.
Taste: Citrusy and bitter orange peel, mandarin and grapefruit followed by sweet-ish pineapple, biscuit malt and pine. The finish has a nice long resinous bitterness.
Mouthfeel: Crisp, dry-ish, medium bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: A wonderfully tasty and balanced West Coast IPA. Also loving the cans!

4 - Good (buy), American IPA, Beer Reviews, Stigbergets Bryggeri, Sweden

Stigbergets West Coast IPA

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Brewery: Stigbergets Bryggeri
Country: Sweden
ABV: 6.5%
Style: American IPA

Brewer Description: Could not find any information on this beer in English on their website or on the bottle.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.26
My ratebeer.com rating: 4

Intro: A 330ml bottle, batch 579, with a best before date of 10th July 2017. Poured into a Spiegelau IPA glass.
Appearance: A hazy darkish orange colour with a one finger white head that had pretty good retention and left nice lacing.
Aroma: Strong pineapple and papaya with hints of mango, grapefruit and pine here and there.
Taste: Pineapple and mango tropical fruit starts and ends quickly, followed by a long lemon peel, lemon tea, pine and grapefruit bitterness.
Mouthfeel: Light to medium bodied with moderate to low carbonation.
Overall: What I liked about GBG and Amazing Haze was the tropical fruit flavours. With this West Coast IPA, the tropical flavours were there, but only for a second; they disappeared too fast. Having said that, it is still a very nice and enjoyable IPA.