Category Archives: 4 – Good (buy)

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Bellwoods Brewery, Canada, Wild Ale

Bellwoods Jelly King Plum Cherry

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Brewery: Bellwoods Brewery
Country: Canada
ABV: 5.6%
Style: American Wild Ale
Other Notes: Dry-hopped sour ale w/ fruit

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Jelly King is a juicy dry hopped sour with punchy hop aromatics and tart, tropical, fruity flavours. To this batch we added a healthy dose of plum and cherry for exponential fruit enjoyment.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.3
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.2

Intro: A 500ml bottle, bottled on 25th February 2021, and poured into a 3 Fonteinen stemmed glass.
Appearance: A cloudy darkish maroon colour with a slight purple tint, and a just over two finger beige pinkish head that had pretty good retention and left some nice lacing.
Aroma: Sweet cough medicine cherry, spritzy ginger ale, and notes of lemon zest.
Taste: Lightly sour, tart, moderately sweet, plum, cherry, with a touch of pink guava and lemon zest.
Mouthfeel: Light to medium bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: I really enjoyed the aroma and this fruity flavour combination worked for me. A good easy drinking variety of Jelly King.

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Bellwoods Brewery, Canada, Wild Ale

Bellwoods Jelly King Raspberry & Blackberry

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Brewery: Bellwoods Brewery
Country: Canada
ABV: 5.6%
Style: American Wild Ale
Other Notes: Dry-hopped sour ale w/ fruit

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Jelly King is a juicy dry hopped sour with punchy hop aromatics and tart, tropical, fruity flavours. To this batch we added a healthy dose of raspberry and blackberry for exponential fruit enjoyment.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.19
My ratebeer.com rating: 4

Intro: A 500ml bottle, bottled on 17th February 2021, and poured into a Tilquin stemmed glass.
Appearance: A cloudy cross between beetroot and merlot reddish purple colour, with a two finger pinkish head that had decent retention, but left only sparse spotty lacing.
Aroma: Jammy fruity mixed berries, especially raspberry, sparkling tangy lemon zest, with light notes of yoghurt and wheat.
Taste: Sour, tart, moderately jammy, mixed dark berries, raspberry, blackberry, lemon zest, with light bready notes in the background.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate to soft carbonation.
Overall: I’m not sure how much of the dry hop came through with the jammy fruit representing itself strongly, but this same jammy fruitiness was also what made it thoroughly enjoyable and easy to drink.

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Burning Sky Brewery, England, Farmhouse Saison

Burning Sky Saison Anniversaire 2020

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Brewery: Burning Sky Brewery
Country: England
ABV: 6.5%
Style: Farmhouse Saison
Other Notes: Adjunct – Pink peppercorn, grains of paradise and caraway seeds

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Brewed just once a year, Anniversaire is a celebration of everything we at Burning Sky love about saisons. Lightly spiced in the boil, this special edition beer was fermented and aged entirely in French Chardonnay barriques using our house saison and a blend of wild yeast strains.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.1
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.9

Intro: A 750ml corked and caged bottle, bottled on 21st September 2020, and with a best before date of 21st September 2030. Poured into a Tilquin stemmed glass.
Appearance: A very nice slightly hazy golden colour with a two finger white head that had pretty good retention while leaving lots of nice lacing.
Aroma: Funky, vinous, grape, white wine, lemon zest, straw, with light floral notes.
Taste: Lightly sour, tart, funky, floral, lemon zest, white wine vinous, woody, lightly floral, and a slightly spicy peppery finish.
Mouthfeel: Light bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: Good balance of sour, funk and citrus fruit. The Chardonnay barrel was a little light overall, and I think if it was stronger, it would have been very interesting. Still a very easy drinking beer, that was especially good on a hot summer, but rainy day.

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Burning Sky Brewery, England, Wild Ale

Burning Sky Elderberry Monolith

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Brewery: Burning Sky Brewery
Country: England
ABV: 9.7%
Style: American Wild Ale

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Our wild black beer spent 18 months in oak before being aged for a further 6 months on local elderberries. The result is reminiscent of a deep, earthy Burgundy.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.27
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.1

Intro: A 750ml corked and capped bottle, bottled on 15th February 2021, and with a best before date of 15th February 2031. Poured into a Tilquin stemmed glass.
Appearance: A nice deep dark purple colour with a two finger purple head that had good retention and left some lacing.
Aroma: Lightly tart, dark berries, raisin, earthy, oak, woody.
Taste: Lightly sour and tart, dark berries, blackberry, blackcurrant, raisin, earthy, woody, oak, a touch of chocolate, with red wine vinous notes.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: I’m not sure what elderberries tastes like, but there’s lots of good dark berry flavours here. There’s a good balance of fruit, dark malt, earthy, woody and vinous that gives it good complexity, and the ABV is also well hidden, such that you don’t notice it at all.

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Hong Kong, Wild Ale, Yardley Brothers Brewing

Yardley Brothers Frederiksdal Cherry Sour Ale

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Brewery: Yardley Brothers Brewing
Country: Hong Kong
ABV: 7%
Style: American Wild Ale
Other Notes: 2020 Limited release. Aged in French oak Beaujolais barrels. Collaboration with Frederiksdal Kirsebærvin and Good Beer Project

Brewer Description: (from bottle) A collaboration with world-renowned cherry wine producer Frederiksdal, this sour ale was aged in a French oak Beaujolais barrel for 12 months and blended with Stevnsbær cherries.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.16
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.1

Intro: A 375ml bottle, 2020 vintage, bottle 454 of 500. Poured into a 3 Fonteinen stemmed glass.
Appearance: A very nice ruby red colour with a two finger pink head that had good retention and left some nice lacing.
Aroma: Slightly tart, cherry, oak, with notes of vanilla, almond and maybe red wine.
Taste: Moderately sour, cherry, red berries, red wine, oak, with light notes of cinnamon.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate to soft carbonation.
Overall: Looks great with some nice flavours. Don’t know much about Beaujolais, so not sure if it’s just the way Beaujolais barrels are, but more and stronger barrel character with some funk would have added some interesting complexities to the beer.