Category Archives: 4 – Good (buy)

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Belgian Strong Dark Ale, Belgium, Brasserie d'Achouffe

d’Achouffe Mc Chouffe

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Brewery: Brasserie d’Achouffe
Country: Belgium
ABV: 8%
Style: Belgian Strong Dark Ale

Brewer Description: (from website) Mc CHOUFFE is an unfiltered brown beer which is refermented both in the bottle and in barrels. Its fruity bouquet conceals a hint of bitterness.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.57
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.4

Intro: A 330ml bottle dated best before September 2016 poured into a Chimay goblet.
Appearance: It poured a medium to dark brown with a slight reddish tint. One finger creamy tanned head with nice looking bubbles that dissipated slowly leaving nice stringy lacing.
Aroma: Main aromas of dark fruits of fig and raisins along with some pear and grapes. As it warms, the grape smell became really prominent.
Taste: Strong tastes of dark candied fruits, plum, fig, grapes and raisins with hints of caramel and brown sugar.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with medium to high carbonation.
Overall: Overall, this was very good. Both the smell and flavours actually improve as it gets warmer. It is not too sweet and I especially enjoyed the dark fruit flavours. This is so close to being a must buy beer for me.

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

Omnipollo Nebuchadnezzar

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Brewery: Omnipollo
Country: Sweden
ABV: 8.5%
Style: Double IPA
Other Notes: Brewed by Omnipollo at De Proef Brouwerij (Belgium)

Brewer Description: (from website) “Neb” is a home brew recipe that has been scaled up with no consideration to economies of scale. Some say idiotic, and as an economist I would have to agree. Get fresh or die trying.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.42
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.4

Intro: This was an 11.2 fl oz bottle dated best before 7th August 2016 on the bottle cap and poured into a snifter glass.
Appearance: It poured a hazy golden orange colour with a one finger white head that dissipated fairly quickly leaving nice spotty lacing.
Aroma: Right from the pour you get a strong tropical fruit aroma. Mainly mango and pineapple followed by some citrus grapefruit, zest and pine. I thought the smells were amazing and raring to burst out at me.
Taste: Citrus hop bitterness up front of grapefruit and mandarin orange followed by some light tropical fruit… maybe pineapple and peach, but still the bitterness pushes through. There’s also a strong malt caramel background and slight sweetness from this, but it gets covered by the bitterness quickly and the lasting aftertaste is bitter with a small hint of tropical fruit.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with light carbonation and dry finish.
Overall: This was a very nice DIPA. The strong aromas set a high standard to begin with. I find most DIPAs have too much malt caramel sweetness in its taste for me, but in this case I absolutely loved the hop bitterness shining through. The slight fruitiness also helped here. Its on the expensive side, but I will definitely consider buying this again.

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4 - Good (buy), Anderson Valley Brewing Company, Beer Reviews, English Oatmeal Stout, USA

Anderson Valley Barney Flats Oatmeal Stout

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Brewery: Anderson Valley Brewing Company
Country: USA
ABV: 5.8%
Style: Oatmeal Stout

Brewer Description: (from bottle) A classic example of oatmeal stout: Deep garnet-tinted ebony in hue with a dense, voluptuous mahogany head. Aroma of fresh-baked bread, toffee, raisins, dried cherries and dark coffee. Pleasantly creamy, rich body with pleasing dark malt and freshly toasted bread aromas, finishing roasty and dry.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.96
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.9

Intro: A 12 fl oz bottle with unfortunately no bottled or best by date, poured into a snifter glass.
Appearance: Pours a deep black with a one finger light caramel head that disappears fairly quickly leaving some spotty lacing.
Aroma: There’s chocolate, toffee, raisin, some light coffee and a strong smell of something that I just could not describe. Admittedly I needed some inspiration to figure this out and then I saw steamed milk… wow, that is exactly the perfect description.
Taste: Sweet dark fruits followed by chocolate, roasted malts and a slight smokey finish.
Mouthfeel: Medium to full bodied, smooth and creamy, light carbonation and dry finish.
Overall: Overall this is a pretty good stout that’s not too sweet. I enjoy this style and although this may not be the best, its still something I would buy and drink to add some variety.

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4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Denmark, English Oatmeal Stout, Mikkeller ApS

Mikkeller Beer Geek Breakfast

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Brewery: Mikkeller ApS
Country: Denmark
ABV: 7.5%
Style: Oatmeal Stout
Other Notes: Brewed and bottled by Mikkeller at Lervig Aktiebryggeri (Norway)

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Oatmeal stout brewed with coffee.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.18
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.1

Intro: A 330ml bottle with a best before date on the bottle cap of 20th May 2019, and poured into a snifter glass.
Appearance: The beer poured pitch black with maybe just under one finger tan head that dissipates fairly quickly leaving nice stringy lacing.
Aroma: Aromas mainly of coffee and dark chocolate along with some slight cognac alcohol and raisin smells.
Taste: Espresso coffee dominates throughout along with a bit of dark chocolate leaving a long lingering bitter aftertaste.
Mouthfeel: Medium to full bodied with medium carbonation. A creamy beginning but dry finish.
Overall: I enjoyed this a lot as I regularly drink black coffee and the lingering bitter aftertaste was excellent. I would be very interested to try out all the different barrel aged versions if I ever get my hands on those bottles. However, this is not quite there at Founders Breakfast Stout level which is still my favourite non BA coffee based stout.

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4 - Good (buy), American Pale Ale, Beer Reviews, Denmark, Mikkeller ApS

Mikkeller Peter, Pale and Mary

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Brewery: Mikkeller ApS
Country: Denmark
ABV: 4.6%
Style: American Pale Ale
Other Notes: Brewed and bottled by Mikkeller at De Proef Brouwerij

Brewer Description: Folk Pale Ale (or basically not much description on bottle or their website!)

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.31
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.2

Intro: A 330ml bottle dated best before 8th April 2016 and poured into a Duvel tulip glass.
Appearance: The beer poured a hazy golden orange colour with between a two and three finger white head that dissipated slowly leaving streaky and blobby lacing behind.
Aroma: Aromas start with very nice tropical fruits mainly pineapple and mango followed by lemon and pine ending with strong grapefruit.
Taste: Grapefruit bitterness immediately comes to mind followed by a hint of lemon and hoppy pine and grass. There was a light malty background throughout.
Mouthfeel: Light to medium bodied, medium carbonation and refreshing.
Overall: This was a great and solid pale ale from Mikkeller. If it wasn’t so expensive in Hong Kong (I’m paying around USD 5 per bottle) I would drink this even more regularly than I do right now.

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