Category Archives: 4 – Good (buy)

4 - Good (buy), Bayerische Staatsbrauerei Weihenstephan, Beer Reviews, German Dunkelweizen, Germany

Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier Dunkel

Wednesday, 29 July 2015 kitch Leave a comment

Brewery: Bayerische Staatsbrauerei Weihenstephan
Country: Germany
ABV: 5.3%
Style: German Dunkelweizen
Other Notes: 14 IBUs

Brewer Description: (from website) Our dark wheat beer is impressive with its creamy white foam. A fruity-fresh sweetness and hints of mature bananas harmonise with delicious flavours of roasted malt, sparkling and full-bodied with a light caramel taste on the first sip. An excellent accompaniment from hearty meals and game to chocolate and nut desserts. Brewed according to our centuries-old brewing tradition on the Weihenstephan hill.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.22
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.1

Intro: A 500ml bottle with a best before date of 16th September 2015 and poured into a weizen glass.
Appearance: The beer poured a hazy copper colour with a nice three finger cream head that stuck around for a long time leaving some spotty lacing.
Aroma: Mainly caramelised banana with hints of bready malts, caramel and a tinge of pear.
Taste: Bready malt base followed by ripe banana, bubblegum and caramel. Hints of grape and raisin in the finish.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with medium crisp carbonation.
Overall: A very nice dunkelweizen that is very easy to drink. I would buy this again if it was available in Hong Kong, but for now, I will just have to keep bringing it back from Thailand and South Korea.

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Belgian Witbier, Belgium, Brouwerij van Hoegaarden

Hoegaarden Original White Ale

Friday, 24 July 2015 kitch Leave a comment

Brewery: Brouwerij van Hoegaarden
Country: Belgium
ABV: 4.9%
Style: Witbier

Brewer Description: (from website) 500 years of hard work went into making this beer that features the aroma of orange peel, coriander and herbs that the merry monks imported from sunny Curacao. Speaking of which: pouring Hoegaarden is just like letting the sun fall into your glass: light yellow and naturally murky. And the soft foam adds a cloudy finish. And then there’s the soft taste, light and slightly sweet and sour and with subtle citrus notes… ah, just go ahead and taste it instead of reading about it!

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.8
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.6

Intro: A 330ml bottle with a best before date of 2nd March 2016 and poured into a Hoegaarden pint glass.
Appearance: The beer poured a hazy straw yellow with a one finger white head that dissipates slowly into a thin creamy layer with nice curtain like lacing.
Aroma: Starts with wheat bready malt aromas before leading into some banana, honey, spice and bubblegum.
Taste: Some breadiness at the beginning followed by banana, honey sweetness and a tinge or citrus orange and clove to finish.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with medium to high carbonation.
Overall: A good beer that is refreshing and quite tasty. Internationally, it is probably the most recogniseable and easily accessible witbier. In Hong Kong its price is very competitive as most good craft is at least double the price.

4 - Good (buy), Anderson Valley Brewing Company, Beer Reviews, Gose - Fruit, USA

Anderson Valley Highway 128 Blood Orange Gose

Thursday, 23 July 2015 kitch Leave a comment

Brewery: Anderson Valley Brewing Company
Country: USA
ABV: 4.2%
Style: Gose – Fruit
Other Notes: Malt – Pale Two-Row, Malted White Wheat. Hops – Bravo.

Brewer Description: (from can) Copious additions of blood orange during fermentation impart tangy citrus notes and a slight sweetness to compliment the salinity and tartness typically found in a Gose style ale.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.93
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.8

Intro: A 12 fl oz can poured into a pint glass.
Appearance: The beer poured a slightly hazy golden orange colour with a two finger white head that dissipated quickly with no lacing.
Aroma: Strong tangy citrus and candy like orange and lemon.
Taste: Tart and tangy sour orange with a salty finish.
Mouthfeel: Light bodied with medium carbonation.
Overall: I enjoyed this. It’s a great drink for a hot summer day as it goes down easy and is very refreshing with its tart, tangy and salt finish. I prefer this over Anderson Valley’s regular Gose.

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Black Isle Brewing Co., Scotland, Smoked Beer

Black Isle Smoked Porter 2014 (small batch)

Tuesday, 7 July 2015 kitch Leave a comment

Brewery: Black Isle Brewing Co.
Country: Scotland
ABV: 5.5%
Style: Smoked Beer
Other Notes: aka Black Isle Organic Smoked Oktobeer.

Brewer Description: (from website) Initially brewed for Jocktoberfest, where it was by far the biggest selling cask beer, we thought we would make this more widely available for those that missed out (this does not mean that if you were present at the event that you can’t relive the experience in the comfort of your own armchair!)

This is a blend of German roasted malts and our local smoked barley which might even put a smile on a disgruntled German Chancellor’s face. Balance is what this little beauty is about, something that takes great skill from the brew team and boy they have achieved it here in bucket loads, or we should say conditioning tank loads, one to be specific.. and even then not a full one.

Grab it while you can, it won’t be around forever.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.9
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.7

Intro: A 330ml bottle from the 2014 small batch, bottle number 6488 of 8480 with a best before end date of October 2015. It was poured into a pint glass.
Appearance: It poured a dark brown with a thinnish cream tanned head that did not stick around too long.
Aroma: Aromas of roasted malts with a bit of chocolate, licorice and slight peat smoke.
Taste: Starts slightly sweet caramel and chocolate maybe even some toffee, but finish is definitely smoky, bitter and lingering ash.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with light carbonation
Overall: I’ve had quite a few smoked beers before and although this was not at the top, it was still pretty good. I would buy this again.

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

Sierra Nevada Hoptimum

Monday, 29 June 2015 kitch Leave a comment

Brewery: Sierra Nevada Brewing Company
Country: USA
ABV: 10.4%
Style: American Double IPA
Other Notes: 100 IBUs, yeast (Ale yeast), hops (German Magnum, Chinook, Simcoe, plus an experimental variety), malts (Two-row Pale, Munich, Wheat)

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Hoptimum is the biggest whole-cone IPA we have ever produced – a 100 IBU, whole-cone hurricane of flavor. Aggressively hopped, dry hopped AND torpedoed, Hoptimum delivers ultra-intense flavors to hop fanatics everywhere.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.93
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.9

Intro: A 12 fl oz bottle packaged on 10th April 2015 and poured into a Duvel tulip glass.
Appearance: Poured a clear copper colour with a one and a half finger white head that slowly dissipates into a thin foamy layer that lasts throughout.
Aroma: Strong piney hops and a light citrus grapefruit aroma. There is also some caramel malts.
Taste: Mainly pine hops and grapefruit citrus flavours along with some slight caramel malt which is sweet and sticky. There is also some alcoholic booze aftertaste.
Mouthfeel: Full bodied, medium carbonation, creamy and sticky.
Overall: I really liked this beer and its hoppiness. It’s very close to a must buy for me. I think the two things that hold it back for me are that the caramelly flavours make it a bit too sweet and the booziness that comes through towards the end is stronger than I would have liked it. But having said that, I would buy more from time to time.

words of another dreamy traveller