Category Archives: 4 – Good (buy)

Anchorage The Ghosts In Their Eyes

Brewery: Anchorage Brewing Company
Country: USA
ABV: 8%
Style: Brett IPA
Other Notes: Ale fermented in oak tanks with brettanomyces

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Brett IPA brewed with Citra and Galaxy hops. Fermented in oak tanks with a Belgian yeast and two strains of Brettanomyces. Dry hopped with Citra and Galaxy hops. Bottle conditioned for natural carbonation. Enjoy.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.09
My ratebeer.com rating: 4

Intro: A 750ml corked and caged bottle, batch #1, poured into a Holy Mountain tulip glass.
Appearance: A slightly hazy golden colour with a thin half finger white head that dissipated fairly quickly, and left only sparse to no lacing.
Aroma: Tart, tropical fruity, mango, peach, orange zest zing, funky, brett, musty, and damp wood notes.
Taste: Light sourness, lemon zest, grapefruit, lightly bitter, funky, brett, peppery spice, with hints of mango and peach.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate to high carbonation.
Overall: It’s a good and enjoyable brett IPA. It’s not my favourite style, but this was done well.

Het Boerenerf Oude Schaarbeekse Kriek

Brewery: Het Boerenerf Eylenbosch
Country: Belgium
ABV: 7%
Style: Lambic – Fruit
Other Notes: 2020 harvest

Brewer Description: (from lambic.info) Boerenerf Oude Schaarbeekse Kriek is a blend of handpicked local and own grown Schaarbeekse cherries. It its bottled in 75cl bottles and listed as 7% ABV.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.12
My ratebeer.com rating: 4

Intro: A 750ml corked and caged bottle, bottled on 16th January 2021, with a best before date of 9th November 2041. Poured into a Tilquin stemmed glass.
Appearance: A slightly hazy but very nice deep ruby red colour with a one finger pink head that dissipated fairly quickly, but left some nice lacing.
Aroma: Intense cherry, cherry skin, cherry pit, almond, marzipan, with light leather notes and hints of tartness.
Taste: Sour, tart, cherry, lemon juice, almond, marzipan, leather, with notes of oak, cherry skin and cherry stone.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate to high carbonation with some acidic sharpness.
Overall: First try of this new blendery that started its project in 2020, and it was good. It’s popping ruby red colour and aroma was great and the flavours were intense, although I would have preferred less lemon and a slightly toned down sharpness. But still, very enjoyable and can’t wait to try the other products in their lineup.

Casey Oak Theory

Brewery: Casey Brewing & Blending
Country: USA
ABV: 5%
Style: American Wild Ale

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Ale aged in oak barrels.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.09
My ratebeer.com rating: 4

Intro: A 750ml corked and caged bottle, bottled on 22nd December 2015. Poured into a 3 Fonteinen gueuze glass.
Appearance: A slightly hazy golden colour with a thin white head that dissipated quickly and left only sparse to no lacing.
Aroma: Funky, damp wood, hay, lemon juice, pear, with light apple and floral notes.
Taste: Light to moderate sour, lemon juice, citrus rind, pear, apple, with light funk and notes of lime and wet wood.
Mouthfeel: Light to medium bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: I heard this was described by someone as a table beer, and I thought that this was pretty accurate. It was brewed with the Senne Belgian sours in mind, so I’d call it a table gueuze when compared to the best of the gueuzes as although everything was enjoyable and worked together, it was still relatively muted in comparison.

Mills Saison Hallertau

Brewery: Mills Brewing
Country: England
ABV: 5.6%
Style: Farmhouse Saison
Other Notes: Mills Brewing make beer with minimal modern intervention, relying on local wild yeast cultures and the influence of nature to ferment.

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Saison Hallertau is a blend of four barrels from three worts brewed in January, March and August 2019. It was dry hopped with whole leaf Hallertau Blanc, Mandarina Bavaria and Fuggles. This beer is a bitter amber saison with a good balance of malt, yeast and hop flavour.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.13
My ratebeer.com rating: 4

Intro: A 750ml corked and capped bottle, bottled in July 2020, with a best before date of July 2030. Poured into a Holy Mountain tulip glass.
Appearance: A slightly hazy golden orange colour with a big three finger white head that had pretty good retention, while leaving some nice lacing.
Aroma: Citrus rind, orange, funky, hay, damp wood, with some light stone fruit notes.
Taste: Similar to what you’d expect from the aroma, lightly bitter, orange, mandarin, citrus peel, funky, hay, musty, damp wood, and light tropical stone fruit.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: An enjoyable and very drinkable, nice solid funky saison.

Deschutes The Dissident

Brewery: Deschutes Brewery
Country: USA
ABV: 11.1%
Style: Flanders Oud Bruin
Other Notes: 2015 Reserve. 65% ale aged in French oak wine barrels and 35% ale brewed with cherries

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Introducing our wildest brew yet, The Dissident – a distinctive Belgian-style brown ale. Fermented with wild yeast, we have to isolate this brew so as not to influence the others. Otherwise, we just might have anarchy on our hands. Here’s to solitary confinement and shared exploration.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.04
My ratebeer.com rating: 4

Intro: A 1 pint 6 fl. oz. waxed bomber, 2015 Reserve, with a best after date of 30th October 2016. Poured into a Holy Mountain tulip glass.
Appearance: A mostly clear amber brown colour with a one finger beige head that had decent retention and left some nice lacing.
Aroma: Tart, cherry, vinous, light acetone, oak, caramel notes, and a touch of vinegar.
Taste: Lightly sour and tart, cherry, red grape, plum, vinous, oak, caramel, light boozy.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: ABV was higher than expected, although the waxed bottle probably should have hinted in that direction. There was a slight boozy feel, but despite that it was still smooth, enjoyable and easy to drink.