Category Archives: 5 – Excellent (must buy)

5 - Excellent (must buy), American IPA, Beer Reviews, Stigbergets Bryggeri, Sweden

Stigbergets Amazing Haze

Friday, 10 March 2017 kitch Leave a comment

Brewery: Stigbergets Bryggeri
Country: Sweden
ABV: 6.5%
Style: American IPA

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Double dry hopped Mosaic IPA.

My rating: 5
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.65
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.4

Intro: A 330ml bottle, batch 583, with a best before date of 17th July 2017. Poured into a Lost Abbey teku glass.
Appearance: A hazy darkish orange colour with a just over one finger white head with great retention and nice lacing.
Aroma: Strong tropical and citrus fruits. Mango, pineapple, apricot, grapefruit and orange rind.
Taste: Blast of mango and pineapple sweetness balanced with grapefruit and orange rind bitterness, for some bittersweet goodness. A dry and long bitter finish.
Mouthfeel: Dry, medium bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: In my opinion, although not quite as good as GBG Beer Week 2016, this was another home run by Stigbergets. It’s got the stunning aromas, and the wonderful juicy tropical and citrus flavours that I enjoy, on top of the nice lasting bitterness. Brilliant stuff.

5 - Excellent (must buy), Beer Reviews, Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project, USA, Wild Ale

Crooked Stave Silly Cybies

Wednesday, 1 March 2017 kitch Leave a comment

Brewery: Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project
Country: USA
ABV: 9%
Style: American Wild Ale

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Belgian Style Dark Ale aged in oak barrels with raspberries.

My rating: 5
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.71
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.5

Intro: A 375ml bottle, bottled in November 2015. Poured into a Lost Abbey teku glass.
Appearance: A clear and extremely dark red colour with a two fingered tan-ish red head that had decent retention and left some nice lacing.
Aroma: Intense freshly crushed raspberries and raspberry jam.
Taste: Sour and tart with a combination of mixed berries; raspberry, blackberry and blueberry. It is also very jammy but the sweet only lightly shows through the tartness.
Mouthfeel: Dry, medium bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: This is amazing. I don’t get any of the 9% ABV which is great, but I’m also not getting much of the oak barrels that it was supposedly aged in, which while disappointing, actually meant that it was very raspberry jammy and tasty. Crooked Stave have done it again with Silly Cybies, which is a must buy for me.

5 - Excellent (must buy), American IPA, Beer Reviews, Stigbergets Bryggeri, Sweden

Stigbergets GBG Beer Week 2016

Tuesday, 28 February 2017 kitch Leave a comment

Brewery: Stigbergets Bryggeri
Country: Sweden
ABV: 6.5%
Style: American IPA

Brewer Description: (from bottle) GBG Beer Week, 17-25 mars 2017.

My rating: 5
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.88
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.7

Intro: A 330ml bottle, batch 573, with a best before date of 30th June 2017. Poured into a Lost Abbey teku glass.
Appearance: A hazy golden straw yellow colour with a two finger white head that had pretty good retention and left nice lacing.
Aroma: Sweet tropical and citrus fruits. So juicy, full of mango, apricot, pineapple, grapefruit rind, lemon peel and a touch of pine.
Taste: Sweet and juicy fruits to begin. Passion fruit, pineapple and grapefruit zest with hints of orange and mango. Light to moderate lasting hop bitterness on the finish.
Mouthfeel: Light bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: Wow, this was the best IPA I’ve had in the last few months. Extremely juicy and extremely drinkable. I could easily crush a few bottles of this. I’ve heard that this is close to the last batch that they will produce, which if true, is definitely a disappointment. This IPA is a must buy and try in my book if you can still find it.

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

3 Fonteinen Hommage

Monday, 2 January 2017 kitch Leave a comment

Brewery: Brouwerij 3 Fonteinen
Country: Belgium
ABV: 6%
Style: Belgian Lambic (Fruit)
Other Notes: Batch #3. 30% Pajottenland raspberries and 5% sour cherries

Brewer Description: (from bottle) A blend of lambic beers brewed at 3 Fonteinen, with an addition of 30% whole fresh raspberries from the fabled Pajottenland and 5% sour cherries. This unfiltered beer will enjoy a spontaneous refermentation in the bottle. No artificial colors or flavor enhancers are added. Lambic is brewed only from 60% barley malt, 40% unmalted wheat, hops and water.

My rating: 5
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.62
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.5

Intro: A 750ml corked and caged bottle, bottled on 30th June 2015, and best before 30th June 2025. Poured into a Cantillon ballon glass.
Appearance: A hazy deep ruby red colour with a thin pinkish head that faded fairly quickly and left only sparse to no lacing.
Aroma: Strong cherry tartness with jammy fruit sweetness and oak. There are hints of raspberries, lemon zest and light funk.
Taste: Sour, tart, cherry, raspberry, oak, lemon zest and vinegar with a touch of funkiness.
Mouthfeel: Light to medium bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: This was just great. Surprisingly the cherry was much more prominent than the raspberries and the funkiness was less than expected but, this was still extremely drinkable, tasty and enjoyable. On my must buy list.

5 - Excellent (must buy), Beer Reviews, Belgian Tripel, Belgium, Brouwerij Bosteels

Tripel Karmeliet

Thursday, 22 December 2016 kitch Leave a comment

Brewery: Brouwerij Bosteels
Country: Belgium
ABV: 8.4%
Style: Belgian Tripel

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Blond, robust, smooth and fruity 3 grain beer, with final fermentation in the bottle. Brewed with pride and patience after Carmelite tradition with wheat, oat and barley. 100% natural beer.

My rating: 5
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.63
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.6

Intro: A 330ml bottle with a best before date of 12th March 2017. Poured into a Chimay goblet.
Appearance: A wonderful clear golden colour with a two finger foamy white head that had pretty good retention, nice curtain lacing that eventually settles to a thin foamy cap.
Aroma: Wheaty, banana, clove and peach with light citrus and vanilla.
Taste: Zesty lemon sweetness, sour peach gummy candy, yeast, lightly bready and spicy with a hint of honey, banana and clove.
Mouthfeel: Creamy, medium bodied with moderate to high carbonation with some obvious booziness every now and then.
Overall: Wow, this has to easily be one of my favourite Tripels and I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to try it. It would be almost perfect if the booziness was toned down a bit. Having said that, it’s still a great beer and easily a must buy beer for me.

words of another dreamy traveller