Category Archives: 5 – Excellent (must buy)

5 - Excellent (must buy), Beer Reviews, Sante Adairius Rustic Ales, USA, Wild Ale

Sante Adairius West Ashley

Saturday, 10 September 2016 kitch Leave a comment

Brewery: Sante Adairius Rustic Ales
Country: USA
ABV: 7.3%
Style: American Wild Ale
Other Notes: Saison aged in French Oak Pinot Noir barrels with apricots

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Orange, lactic, and bursting with apricot aroma, West Ashley is built for consideration and conversation. While Ashley starts as a simple Saison, careful aging in French Oak Pinot Noir barrels with apricots, our house microbes, and warm encouragement transform her into a tart, complex and delectable beer. To enjoy all that she offers, we encourage you to rouse the residual yeast, bacteria, and fruit into solution before serving West Ashley in your favorite stemmed glassware. Sante!

My rating: 5
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.6
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.5

Intro: A 750ml bottle at Himmergiet with no discernible bottled on date on the bottle although the menu states that it was 2016. Poured into a mini wine glass.
Appearance: It poured a hazy golden straw colour with a minimal white head and sparse lacing.
Aroma: An initial whiff of something that reminded me of tuna salad followed by tart, apricot, berries, funk, grass and hay.
Taste: Sour, tart, apricot, raspberry and cranberry.
Mouthfeel: Light to medium bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: My first SARA beer and it was a very enjoyable and refreshing sour. Now I really want to get my hands on more West Ashley and other SARA beers if possible. Just not so easy for me…

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

Cantillon Blåbær Lambik

Thursday, 8 September 2016 kitch Leave a comment

Brewery: Brasserie Cantillon
Country: Belgium
ABV: 5%
Style: Belgian Lambic (Fruit)
Other Notes: 400 litre barrel with 100kg of bilberries added

Brewer Description: (from 2015 bottle) 10 years ago, shortly before we opened Ølbutikken in Copenhagen, Denmark we approached our friends at Cantillon and asked them if they would make a special beer for our little store. 50 bottles came out of that first batch. 10 years later we make the same beer once a year and this is the 10th Anniversary vintage. We are happy about our continued friendship with Jean and his family and are excited about every years new batch! Enjoy! Jeppe Jarnit-Bjergsø.

My rating: 5
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.72
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.6

Intro: A 375ml bottle at Himmergiet of the 2015 Vintage. Poured into a mini wine glass.
Appearance: It poured a slightly hazy ruby red dark purple colour with a one finger pinkish purple head that had good retention and sparse lacing.
Aroma: Blueberry, tart, funk, some acidity and lemon.
Taste: Blueberry, sour, tart and light funk.
Mouthfeel: Light bodied with moderate to high carbonation.
Overall: Wow, this was just special. One of the best Cantillon offerings I’ve tried along with the Lou Pepe Framboise. It’s just too bad I missed the 2016 release in Copenhagen by two days as I would have loved to open another bottle.

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

3 Fonteinen Oude Geuze Cuvée Armand & Gaston

Wednesday, 7 September 2016 kitch Leave a comment

Brewery: Brouwerij 3 Fonteinen
Country: Belgium
ABV: 6%
Style: Belgian Lambic (Gueuze)

Brewer Description: (from bottle) (in French) Assemblage de jeunes, mi-vieux et vieux lambic, brassés par 3 Fonteinen. Cent pour cent naturel, authentique, spontané et un peu têtu, mais toujours élégant et plein de caractère. La Pure Passion, comme Armand et Gaston l’ont toujours fait.

(English translation) Blend of young, middle-aged and old lambics, brewed by 3 Fonteinen. One hundred percent natural, authentic, spontaneous and a bit stubborn, but always elegant and full of character. The Pure Passion, as Armand and Gaston have always done.

My rating: 5
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.67
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.6

Intro: A 375ml bottle at Himmergiet, bottled on 7th October 2015 and best before 26th October 2035. Poured into a mini wine glass.
Appearance: It poured a slightly hazy golden orange colour with a one finger off white head that had pretty good retention and left nice lacing.
Aroma: 3F funkiness, sour, tart, barnyard, leather and lemon citrus.
Taste: Sour, tart, apple, farmyard, oak, grape, grapefruit and lemon juice.
Mouthfeel: Crisp, light bodied with high carbonation.
Overall: Another amazing gueuze from 3F. Perfect mouthfeel with wonderful matching aromas and taste. Must buy if you can find it!

5 - Excellent (must buy), Beer Reviews, Denmark, Lambic - Fruit, Mikkeller ApS

Mikkeller Spontantripleblueberry

Thursday, 1 September 2016 kitch Leave a comment

Brewery: Mikkeller ApS
Country: Denmark
ABV: 7.7%
Style: Belgian Lambic (Fruit)
Other Notes: Brewed by Mikkeller at De Proef Brouwerij.

Brewer Description: (from Mikkeller webshop) 1500 grams of blueberries per 1 litre.

My rating: 5
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.75
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.6

Intro: On tap at Mikkeller & Friends (Stefansgade), Copenhagen, into a Mikkeller tasting glass.
Appearance: It was a dark purple colour with a one finger purple head that quickly dissipates but has nice lacing.
Aroma: Blueberry, oak, barrel and tartness.
Taste: Tart, sour, tons of blueberries and other berries.
Mouthfeel: Light to medium bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: This was wonderful. Great tart and fruitiness especially if you like blueberries.

5 - Excellent (must buy), Beer Reviews, Brouwerij De Molen, Netherlands, Stout - Imperial

De Molen Hel & Verdoemenis Port Charlotte (peated) BA

Wednesday, 31 August 2016 kitch Leave a comment

Brewery: Brouwerij De Molen
Country: Netherlands
ABV: 11%
Style: American Imperial Stout
Other Notes: Smoked Imperial Stout-ish. Malts – Pils, Caramel, Chocolate, Roasted and Brown. Hops – Saaz and Columbus.

Brewer Description: (from website) We were looking forward to this beer… and it turned out we were right to. With 11% ABV it’s a strong beer for beer lovers that enjoy their peated flavors. The original bitter coffee and chocolate flavors of Hel & Verdoemenis (translates as Hell & Damnation) are enriched with the peat, woody, roasty tastes of the exceptional Port Charlotte barrels. The beer aged in these barrels for over 6 months.

About Port Charlotte – Two miles south of Bruichladdich (Scotland), lies the village of Port Charlotte and ruins of Lochindaal Distillery, that ran spirit for 100 years between 1829 and 1929. The heavily peated Port Charlotte single malts of Bruichladdich are a tribute to the men who once worked this great, now silent, distillery. The spirit is matured in wooden barrels of the original old stone warehouses in Port Charlotte.

My rating: 5
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.59
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.4

Intro: On tap at Brouwcafe de Molen, into a De Molen snifter glass.
Appearance: It was black in colour with a two finger beige head that had good retention and nice lacing.
Aroma: Whisky, chocolate, coffee, wood and liquorice.
Taste: Peat, whisky, coffee, chocolate and oak.
Mouthfeel: Full bodied with low carbonation.
Overall: Brilliant! The base H&V was already very good. I thought that barrel aging it in peaty Port Charlotte barrels was even better as the nice peat and whisky notes make for a great sipper.

words of another dreamy traveller