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.
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!
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.
Brewery: Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project Country: USA ABV: 7% Style: American Wild Ale
Brewer Description: (from bottle) Burgundy sour ale aged in oak barrels with Colorado Montmorency cherries.
My rating: 4 My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.17 My ratebeer.com rating: 4.2
Intro: A 375ml bottle, bottled in September 2015. Poured into a Lost Abbey teku glass. Appearance: A slightly cloudy dark reddish brown colour, with a just over one finger reddish beige head that dissipated slowly and left some sparse lacing. Aroma: Tart and sweet cherry, oak and perhaps a light funk. Taste: Sour, strong lemon juice with some cherry and oak creeping through here and there and hints of almond. Long acidic sour finish. Mouthfeel: Medium to light bodied with moderate carbonation. Overall: While there was some sweetness in the aroma, it was pretty much mostly sour with an acidic bite in the taste. I think you really have to like sour things to enjoy this beer and luckily I do like sour things. Would have preferred it, if more cherries came through though, since cherry pie is in the name, but that is not a deal breaker.
Brewery: Oskar Blues Brewery Country: USA ABV: 6.5% Style: English Porter Other Notes: 25 IBUs
Brewer Description: (from website) Intense pure liquid cacao flavors swirl with popping coconut aromas, all supported by a semi-sweet porter made from loads of our dark chocolate and extra dark caramel malt. This limited release specialty comes around once a year to satisfy that sweet tooth, so get ’em while you can before they disappear. At 6.5% ABV and 25 IBUs, this choconut goodness will have you yellin’ “Pass. Dash. Hit.” all winter long.
My rating: 4 My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.08 My ratebeer.com rating: 3.9
Intro: A 12 fl oz can with a canned on date of 6th October 2016. Poured into a Lost Abbey teku glass. Appearance: Black in colour with a dark brown hue on the edges, a two finger tanned head that had decent retention and nice lacing. Aroma: Strong coconut and vanilla with chocolate, caramel and biscuit. Taste: Sweet-ish milk chocolate, coconut and vanilla. Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with low carbonation. Overall: I preferred the taste over the aroma as I felt that the coconut was a bit overpowering in the aroma. This was not the case with the taste which was on the sweet side but still nicely flavoured. An easy drinking Porter.
words of another dreamy traveller 