Category Archives: 4 – Good (buy)

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Scotland, Sour Ale, Vault City Brewing

Vault City Pear & Vanilla Sour

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Brewery: Vault City Brewing
Country: Scotland
ABV: 6.8%
Style: Sour Ale
Other Notes: Modern sour beer

Brewer Description: (from bottle) After some heavy hitters we wanted to take a more delicate approach to our next release. Delicate, in season Williams pears piqued our interest as a very different flavour profile to pair with our Modern Sour Beer. Slowing down our mixed-culture for a gentler fermentation and lighter base sour allows you to take notice of the succulent floral pear character. The addition of Madagascan Vanilla rounds this beer out for a creamy, almost sorbet-like mouth-feel and finish. A perfect beer to enjoy in the warmer Autumn evenings whilst you spot signs of the seasons changing.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.41
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.3

Intro: A 375ml bottle with a best before date of 25th September 2022. Poured into a 3 Fonteinen stemmed glass.
Appearance: A hazy pale orange colour with a one finger white head that dissipated quickly, but settled to a thin cap while leaving some lacing.
Aroma: Lots of pear, cooked pear, and vanilla.
Taste: Sour, tart, sweet, pear, baked/poached pear, with notes of vanilla.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: I wasn’t sure if pear would work in beer, but Vault City did a great job, and this was just so enjoyable and easy to drink.

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Scotland, Sour Ale, Vault City Brewing

Vault City Cheeky Vimto

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Brewery: Vault City Brewing
Country: Scotland
ABV: 8%
Style: Sour Ale
Other Notes: Modern sour beer

Brewer Description: (from bottle) To add to our recent string of cocktail inspired beers we’ve let loose and devised a fruity concoction. Enter a high octane, high intensity Modern Sour Beer that’s so nice, it’s naughty… Equal parts silly and serious, our base sour beer has been ramped up to deliver a juice blackcurrant bomb. Bubblegum sweetness, berry tartness and touch of spice for a port-like finish; this is pure unadulterated fun in a glass.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.95
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.8

Intro: A 375ml bottle with a best before date of 18th March 2022. Poured into a 3 Fonteinen stemmed glass.
Appearance: A hazy reddish purple colour with a big three finger pinkish head that dissipated quickly but settled to a thin cap, while leaving some lacing.
Aroma: Lightly tart, fruity, blackberry, strawberry, and guava, with blackcurrant notes.
Taste: Tart, lightly sour, mixed red and dark berries, blackcurrant, with a hint of berry flavoured yoghurt.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: A fun and enjoyable modern sour beer with lots of nice berry fruitiness.

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Belgium, Gueuzerie Tilquin, Lambic - Gueuze

Tilquin Gueuzérable

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Brewery: Gueuzerie Tilquin
Country: Belgium
ABV: 10%
Style: Lambic – Gueuze
Other Notes: 2017-2018

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Beer of spontaneous fermentation, the Gueuzérable Tilquin is made from the fermentation of organic maple syrup in a blend of 1, 2 and 3 years old lambic aged on oak barrels. Unfiltered and unpasteurized, this beer is refermented in the bottle.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.03
My ratebeer.com rating: 4

Intro: A 750ml corked and caged bottle, with a neck label of 2017-2018, and a best before date of 9th October 2028. Poured into a Tilquin gueuze glass.
Appearance: A very slightly hazy copper amber colour with a slightly less than two finger beige head that dissipated quickly and left only sparse lacing.
Aroma: Tart, green apple, lemon zest, lime, hay, oak, funk, grape, with a slight hint of caramel and maybe maple.
Taste: Sour, tart, green apple, grape, lemon zest, lime, funky, oak, with a very subtle hint of unsweet maple syrup.
Mouthfeel: Dry, medium bodied with moderate to high carbonation.
Overall: The maple aroma and flavours were very subtle and not as obvious as I hoped it would be. The base Tilquin lambic is great though, so this was still good, and the alcohol is well hidden as you wouldn’t know that this was 10% ABV.

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Denmark, Mikkeller Baghaven, Wild Ale

Mikkeller Baghaven Rubus of Rose

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Brewery: Mikkeller Baghaven
Country: Denmark
ABV: 7.2%
Style: Wild Ale
Other Notes: Blend 2, aged 14 months

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Wine barrel fermented Danish Wild Ale aged on fresh raspberries.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.49
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.4

Intro: A 375ml corked and caged bottle, blend 2, with a best before date of February 2029. Poured into a Mikkeller Baghaven Zalto Bordeaux stemmed glass.
Appearance: A hazy ruby red colour with a two fingered pinkish head that dissipated fairly quickly, while leaving only sparse spotty lacing.
Aroma: Tart, jammy, raspberry, with slight funk.
Taste: Sour, tart, jammy, raspberry, redcurrants, hay, lightly funky, with notes of oak.
Mouthfeel: Medium to light bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: Really enjoyed the aroma and flavours here with intense jammy raspberry leading the way.

4 - Good (buy), Australia, Beer Reviews, Wild Ale, Wildflower Brewing & Blending

Wildflower St Henry – Apricot

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Brewery: Wildflower Brewing & Blending
Country: Australia
ABV: 5.4%
Style: Wild Ale
Other Notes: 2020 vintage. 2400 bottles. Australian Wild Ale

Brewer Description: (from bottle) St Henry is an Australian Wild Ale refermented with apricots. It is named for Chris and his wife’s second son. Saint Henry II was a Holy Roman Emperor during the 11th century. In 2020, this beer was made from golden mixed fermentation, barrel aged beer and 350kg of fresh, tree ripened Trevatt apricots hand picked from Thornbrook Orchard in Orange, NSW.

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

Intro: A 375ml bottle, 2020 vintage, packaged in June 2020, with a best before date of June 2025. Poured into a 3 Fonteinen stemmed glass.
Appearance: A hazy golden straw yellow colour with a one finger white head that dissipated fairly quickly while leaving some lacing.
Aroma: Lightly tart, apricot sour gummy candy, honey, green apple, oak, light funk.
Taste: Sweet and tart, apricot sour gummy candy, honey, woody, light funk.
Mouthfeel: Light bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: Enjoyable fruity apricot gummy candy flavours. Would be interesting if there was even more funk.