Category Archives: 4 – Good (buy)

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Clown Shoes Beer, Stout - Imperial, USA

Clown Shoes Chocolate Sombrero

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Brewery: Clown Shoes Beer
Country: USA
ABV: 9%
Style: American Imperial Stout
Other Notes: Brewed and bottled by Mercury Brewing Co., Ipswich, MA.

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Roasted dark malts plus extra chocolate malts plus ancho chilli plus cinnamon plus vanilla extract plus a chocolate loving, beer drinking, Clown Shoes wearing, multi limbed, gorgeous and glorious Mexican wrestler on the label. That’s the recipe for Chocolate Sombrero!

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.15
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.9

Intro: A 12 fl oz bottle bottled on 12th March 2015 and poured into a Spiegelau stout glass.
Appearance: It poured a deep dark brown colour with a one finger tanned head that dissipates quickly and leaves some stringy lacing.
Aroma: Strong chocolate aromas mixed in with a hint of vanilla and cinnamon.
Taste: Much like the aroma, chocolate is the main theme with a definite roasty element to it. There’s a hint of vanilla and the finish is chocolate ice cream. I don’t know what ancho chilli tastes like, but the spice in this one is very light and in the background.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with medium carbonation.
Overall: The first time I tried this, it was at a tasting and I didn’t like it too much, but now with a proper sit down, I enjoyed it. The aromas and taste was pleasant and you don’t get the 9% at all.

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4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Belgian Strong Pale Ale, The Lost Abbey, USA

Lost Abbey Inferno Ale

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Brewery: The Lost Abbey
Country: USA
ABV: 9%
Style: Belgian Strong Pale Ale
Other Notes: Brewed and bottled by Port Brewing Company, San Marcos, CA.

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Corruption, Greed and Lust. They’re all represented on the hooks today. Tomorrow, they’ll be stringing Gluttony, Desire and Sloth. Go ahead. Tell yourself you’re better than all of them. But you can’t. Hell can be funny like that. Down here it’s all just sin. Everyone here is screwed just like you. They don’t care who you sliced, diced or cheated. No one is escaping this heinous place.

Your roommate is an ax murder. Eerily, he’s not threatening. How can he be? Here, the Fallen Angel owns your body, mind and soul. As such, no one can take your life. It’s already been taken. Or was it given? Neither matters. Did you seriously think you were living a virtuous life? At least, Satan serves beer in Hell. He brews it himself right there in that flame stoked cauldron. Rumor has it the beer is straw yellow, bone dry and simply labeled Inferno.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.01
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.9

Intro: A 12.7 fl oz corked and caged bottle with no visible best before date and poured into a Duvel tulip glass.
Appearance: It poured a cloudy straw yellow colour. Despite pouring extremely carefully, there’s was a crazy huge five finger fluffy white head that has super retention but eventually leaves lots sticky clingy lacing on the glass.
Aroma: Pear, apple with some lemon and a hint of banana and clove.
Taste: Much like the aromas, there is pear, apple, white wine grape and lemon to start which then settles to some banana and clove. Finish had some light boozy alcohol feel to it.
Mouthfeel: Dry, medium bodied with huge carbonation.
Overall: An enjoyable solid Belgian Strong Pale Ale.

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

Sierra Nevada Hop Hunter IPA

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Brewery: Sierra Nevada Brewing Company
Country: USA
ABV: 6.2%
Style: American IPA
Other Notes: 60 IBUs. Brewed with farm distilled hop oil.

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Hop Hunter IPA is the first beer to feature oil from wet hops steam distilled directly in the field, minutes after harvest. We use this pure, powerful hop essence in concert with whole-cone hops in our brew kettle and in our Hop Torpedo to create the ultimate IPA experience.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.32
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.1

Intro: A 12 fl oz bottle with a packaged date of 10th August 2015 and poured into a short stemmed wine glass.
Appearance: It poured a nice slightly hazy golden colour with lots of nice upward streaming bubbles and a one finger white head that dissipates fairly quickly leaving some spotty lacing.
Aroma: Fruity tropical aromas of peach, pineapple and mango. In the background, there is a bready, grainy maltiness.
Taste: Starts bitter, piney, with some citrus lemon and grapefruit and a nice lemon tea finish.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with medium carbonation
Overall: A very nice IPA that I could drink over and over again. Hopefully it will officially make an appearance in Hong Kong soon.

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4 - Good (buy), Amager Bryghus x Three Floyds Brewing Co., American Pale Ale, Beer Reviews, Denmark

Amager x Three Floyds Arctic Sunstone

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Brewery: Amager Bryghus x Three Floyds Brewing Co. collaboration
Country: Denmark
ABV: 6%
Style: American Pale Ale
Other Notes: Malts – Pale, Munich, Melanoidin. Hops – Tomahawk, Citra, Centennial, Simcoe.

Brewer Description: (from bottle) The sunstone – much disputed among scholars. Did the Viking navigators really have such a tool that would help them point out what was east and what was west – even on a less than sunny day? We certainly believe so.

Many years later no sunstone was needed when Amager Bryghus was invaded by what very much looked like Viking ancestors of American descent. Hailing from Munster, Indiana, Chris Boggess and Barnaby Struve of Three Floyds Brewing arrived not with a vengeance but with very loud King Diamond on their portable mp3 player.

This was not a day for slaughter but for brewing. And brew we did. The mellow and dangerously quaffable Arctic Sunstone is proof that even Viking warriors can have a more subtle side to them. All hail to Three Floyds.

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

Intro: A 500ml bottle from batch #942 with a best before date of December 2015 (drank on 23rd November 2015) and poured into a Duvel tulip glass.
Appearance: It poured a cloudy orangey copper colour with a fluffy two finger off white head that had great retention and left nice sticky lacing.
Aroma: Citrus zest, grapefruit, sweet mandarin and pineapple with hints of caramel, pine and grass.
Taste: Much like the aromas, taste is mainly sweet mandarin, mango, pineapple, passion fruit, citrus zest and grapefruit. There is also some light caramel and candied sugar notes.
Mouthfeel: Dry, medium bodied with medium carbonation.
Overall: I enjoyed this and it was very easy to drink. It was sweeter than expected even though the citrus and hop bitterness was there in the background.

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4 - Good (buy), American IPA, Beer Reviews, Garage Project, New Zealand

Garage Project Garagista IPA

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Brewery: Garage Project
Country: New Zealand
ABV: 5.8%
Style: American IPA

Brewer Description: (from can) Embrace the Garagista spirit – ignore convention, experiment, test the limits, and look at things a little differently. Brewed and double dry hopped with New Zealand, Australian and US hops. Great things can come from the garage.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.01
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.9

Intro: A 330ml can with a best before date of 23rd December 2015 and poured into a Spiegelau IPA glass.
Appearance: Poured a slightly hazy orangey amber colour with a one finger white head that dissipated fairly quickly leaving good amounts of lacing.
Aroma: Mainly a fruity tropical and citrus mix. There’s tropical passionfruit and pineapple along with citrus orange and grapefruit. There’s also a hint of grass.
Taste: Light mango and passionfruit followed by some strong grapefruit bitterness, pine, grass and a hint of sweet malts.
Mouthfeel: Medium to full bodied with medium carbonation.
Overall: A solid IPA from Garage Project. Although this is my first GP review, I have quite a few other bottles of their beers that I look forward to trying.

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