Category Archives: 5 – Excellent (must buy)

5 - Excellent (must buy), American Imperial Stout, Beer Reviews, BrewDog, Scotland

Brewdog Black Eyed King Imp Vietnamese Coffee Edition

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Brewery: BrewDog
Country: Scotland
ABV: 12.7%
Style: American Imperial Stout
Other Notes: Vietnamese Coffee Edition

Brewer Description: (from brewdogrecipes.com) This is the Vietnamese Coffee Edition. At 12.7% ABV, Black Eyed King Imp is a super intense and twistedly complex brew, with intense notes of sweet vanilla, rich espresso, smooth molasses and bitter chocolate barely contained by the whatever container it’s in.

My rating: 5
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.69
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.6

Intro: A 330ml can with a best before date of 8th October 2020. Poured into a snifter glass.
Appearance: Black in colour with a less than half finger brown head that dissipated quickly and left some nice fine spotty lacing.
Aroma: Roasty, coffee, milk chocolate, vanilla and molasses.
Taste: Much like the aroma, wonderful roastiness, coffee, bittersweet chocolate, oak, vanilla and a touch of molasses.
Mouthfeel: Creamy, full bodied, soft carbonation with a touch of booze.
Overall: A wonderful sipper with excellent aroma and flavours. Easily the best BrewDog beer out there. I’m just sad that this was my last can.

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5 - Excellent (must buy), Beer Reviews, Fremont Brewing Company, USA, Winter Warmer

Fremont B-Bomb Coffee Cinnamon

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Brewery: Fremont Brewing Company
Country: USA
ABV: 14%
Style: Winter Warmer
Other Notes: Malts – 2-Row Pale, Crystal-120, Munich, Roast Barley, Carafa-2, and Chocolate. Hops – Columbus, Willamette and US Golding. Adjunct – Coffee and Cinnamon. Limited 2018 release

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Coffee Cinnamon B-Bomb: Imperial Winter Ale with Coffee & Cinnamon aged in Bourbon Barrels.

This year’s release of B-Bomb is aged in 8-12-year-old American Oak bourbon barrels and is a blend of 9, 12, and 24-month old barrel-aged Winter Ale. This special edition adds cold brew coffee and cinnamon bark to complement the bourbon, oak, cacao, leather, toffee, and dark coffee notes achieved from its extended barrel aging and barrel blending. Each barrel contributes a different note, and combining each barrel to create a coherent tone is a distinct art and true pleasure. Please do enjoy this unique barrel-aged ale today but know that Coffee Cinnamon B-Bomb will age gracefully for years to come. Don’t Be Afraid To Be Abominable.

My rating: 5
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.61
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.5

Intro: A 22 fl. oz. bomber, 2018 release. Poured into a snifter glass.
Appearance: Dark dark brown in colour with a thin brown head that although thin, stuck around, while leaving some nice spotty lacing.
Aroma: Roasty, coffee, cacao, caramel, toffee, bourbon, oak and cinnamon.
Taste: As you’d expect from the aroma, light roast, coffee, cacao, caramel, toffee, bourbon, oak, light cinnamon and a splash of booze.
Mouthfeel: Creamy, light boozy warmth, full bodied, with soft carbonation.
Overall: Amazingly balanced in aroma and taste with wonderful sweetness, light bitterness and alcohol warmth. Great coffee and cinnamon balance. Just a superb sipper.

5 - Excellent (must buy), Beer Reviews, Belgian Lambic (Fruit), Belgium, Brouwerij 3 Fonteinen

3 Fonteinen Speling van het Lot VII.iv: Zotte Kadeeën: Bosbes + Framboos – Blended & Alive

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Brewery: Brouwerij 3 Fonteinen
Country: Belgium
ABV: 5.3%
Style: Belgian Lambic (Fruit)
Other Notes: This fruit lambic is a blend of 10% blueberry lambic and 90% raspberry lambic. After the maceration, the fruit lambic has been blended with some young lambic and bottled. The total fruit intensity is still 63%, i.e. 630 grams of fruit per liter of bottled fruit lambic. Number of bottles – 665

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Brouwerij 3 Fonteinen “Speling van het Lot” (Twist of Fate) is a series of small batch experimental brews, barrel maturations, fruit macerations and/or blends. This 7th version features a range of fruit macerations on freshly emptied Bordeaux barrels from Château Pabus. These high quality French oak barrels were used for a unique integrated vinification technique, including grape peel maceration in the barrel itself. The name (“Zotte Kadeeën” – “Crazy Kids”) refers to the abundant creativity of our youthful, passionate team, that likes to explore within the traditional lambic boundaries. This fruit lambic is a blend of 10% blueberry lambic and 90% raspberry lambic. After the maceration, the fruit lambic has been blended with some young lambic and bottled. The total fruit intensity is still 63%, i.e. 630 grams of fruit per liter of bottled fruit lambic.

My rating: 5
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.61
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.5

Intro: A 750ml corked and caged bottle at 3 Fonteinen lambik-O-droom, blend n°33, season 17/18, bottled on 15th March 2018, with a best before date of 26th October 2038. Poured into a 3 Fonteinen ballon glass.
Appearance: A mostly clear orange red colour with a half finger white, maybe slightly pinkish head, that had decent retention, while leaving some nice spotty lacing.
Aroma: Tart, light sweetness, raspberry, jammy and blueberry skin.
Taste: Sour, tart, raspberry, light jammyness, maybe jello, blueberry and blueberry skin on the finish.
Mouthfeel: Light to medium bodied with soft to moderate carbonation.
Overall: Excellent taste and especially the aroma with a good balance of sour, tart and mixed berry jello jammyness.

5 - Excellent (must buy), Beer Reviews, Belgian Lambic (Fruit), Belgium, Brasserie Cantillon

Cantillon Magic Lambic

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Brewery: Brasserie Cantillon
Country: Belgium
ABV: 5.5%
Style: Belgian Lambic (Fruit)
Other Notes: aka Cantillon Framboise Vanille (RateBeer). Blend of 80% Lou Pepe Framboise and 20% Blueberry lambic with vanilla

Brewer Description: (from lambic.info) A lambic blend of 80% Lou Pepe Framboise and 20% blueberry lambic with vanilla.

(from bottle) (in French) Il n’y a pas que des gens bons à la tête de l’art… privé de subsides, le Magic Land Théâtre peut heureusement compter sur ses amis, au premier rang desquels la Brasserie Cantillon!

(Translated from French as best possible) There are not only good people at the helm of art… deprived of subsidies, the Magic Land Theatre can happily count on it’s friends, first and foremost the Cantillon Brewery!

My rating: 5
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.89
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.8

Intro: A 750ml corked and capped bottle at the brewery, with no clear bottled on or best before date, but I think it would be from Season 18/19. Poured into a Cantillon stemmed tasting glass.
Appearance: A very nice clear ruby cherry red colour with a half finger pinkish head that had pretty good retention and that eventually settled to a ring around the glass with some decent spotty lacing.
Aroma: Raspberry, cherry, jammy, vanilla and berry jello.
Taste: Tastes like you’d expect from the aroma, but almost ice cream like because of the vanilla. Lots of raspberry, cherry, jammy, berry jello and vanilla with a touch of oak.
Mouthfeel: Light to medium bodied with moderate to soft carbonation.
Overall: Wow, near perfect in my opinion. Must try if you have the opportunity to try this. Just great jammy and jello fruitiness with lots of raspberry, cherry and vanilla.

5 - Excellent (must buy), Beer Reviews, Belgian Lambic (Fruit), Belgium, Brouwerij 3 Fonteinen

3 Fonteinen Speling van het Lot VII.iii: Zotte Kadeeën: Braam + Hommage – Blended & Alive

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Brewery: Brouwerij 3 Fonteinen
Country: Belgium
ABV: 5.2%
Style: Belgian Lambic (Fruit)
Other Notes: This fruit lambic is a blend of 50% blackberry lambic and 50% Hommage lambic (75% raspberries and 25% sour cherries). After the maceration, the fruit lambic has been blended with young lambic and bottled. The total fruit intensity is still 48%, i.e. 480 grams of fruit per liter of bottled fruit lambic. Number of bottles – 555

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Brouwerij 3 Fonteinen “Speling van het Lot” (Twist of Fate) is a series of small batch experimental brews, barrel maturations, fruit macerations and/or blends. This 7th version features a range of fruit macerations on freshly emptied Bordeaux barrels from Château Pabus. These high quality French oak barrels were used for a unique integrated vinification technique, including grape peel maceration in the barrel itself. The name (“Zotte Kadeeën” – “Crazy Kids”) refers to the abundant creativity of our youthful, passionate team, that likes to explore within the traditional lambic boundaries. This fruit lambic is a blend of 50% blackberry lambic and 50% Hommage lambic (75% raspberries and 25% sour cherries). After the maceration, the fruit lambic has been blended with young lambic and bottled. The total fruit intensity is still 48%, i.e. 480 grams of fruit per liter of bottled fruit lambic.

My rating: 5
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.78
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.7

Intro: A 750ml corked and caged bottle at 3 Fonteinen lambik-O-droom, blend n°32, season 17/18, bottled on 15th March 2018, with a best before date of 26th October 2038. Poured into a 3 Fonteinen stemmed glass.
Appearance: A mostly clear ruby red colour with a one finger pinkish head that had decent retention and left nice spotty lacing.
Aroma: Tart, blackberry, black currant, raspberry, touch of cherry and just a whole lot of jammy goodness.
Taste: Sour, tart, blackberry, black currant, raspberry, a touch of balsamic and cherry.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with soft carbonation.
Overall: Looks great, aroma was nice, taste was near perfect. Just so good and balanced to drink.