Category Archives: Beer Reviews

4 - Good (buy), American Solera, Beer Reviews, USA, Wild Ale

American Solera Foeder Cerise

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Brewery: American Solera
Country: USA
ABV: 6%
Style: American Wild Ale

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Ale aged in oak tanks with cherries added.

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

Intro: A 375ml bottle, 2015 vintage as per the date on the back label. Poured into a Lost Abbey teku.
Appearance: A hazy orange-red colour with a less than two finger off white head that dissipated fairly quickly and left only sparse lacing.
Aroma: Tart cherries and oak with hints of lemon and funk.
Taste: Tart and sour cherries with a touch of oak and marzipan almond-like flavours on the front end. The finish has a nice lemon and vinegary sourness.
Mouthfeel: Light to medium bodied with moderate to high carbonation.
Overall: A nice and refreshing Wild Ale with great tart cherry notes.

4 - Good (buy), American Solera, Beer Reviews, USA, Wild Ale

American Solera Foeder Gold

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Brewery: American Solera
Country: USA
ABV: 5.6%
Style: American Wild Ale

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Sour Golden Ale aged in oak tanks.

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

Intro: A 375ml bottle, 2015 vintage as per the date on the back label. Poured into a Lost Abbey teku.
Appearance: A hazy golden orange colour with a one finger white head that disappears extremely fast and no lacing.
Aroma: Citrus mandarin and lemon with some tropical mango and pineapple here and there, in addition to oak and light funk.
Taste: Sour and tart, citrusy sour orange and lemon with hints of oak and funk.
Mouthfeel: Crisp, refreshing, medium to light bodied with moderate to high carbonation.
Overall: This was nice refreshing and easy to drink.

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Oskar Blues Brewery, Stout - Russian Imperial, USA

Oskar Blues Ten Fidy

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Brewery: Oskar Blues Brewery
Country: USA
ABV: 10.5%
Style: Russian Imperial Stout
Other Notes: 65 IBUs

Brewer Description: (from website) Ten FIDY Imperial Stout – This titanic, immensely viscous stout is loaded with inimitable flavors of chocolate-covered caramel and coffee and hide a hefty 65 IBUs underneath the smooth blanket of malt. Ten FIDY (10.5% ABV) is made with enormous amounts of two-row malt, chocolate malt, roasted barley, flaked oats and hops. Ten FIDY is the ultimate celebration of dark malts and boundary-stretching beer.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.46
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.3

Intro: A 12 fl oz can, canned on 13th October 2016, with a note that said “Midnight on a moonless night”. Poured into a Lost Abbey teku glass.
Appearance: It was black in colour with a nice two fingered mocha brown head that had great retention and left lots of nice sticky lacing.
Aroma: Roasty coffee, rich dark chocolate and light char with hints of molasses and licorice.
Taste: Roasted malts, molasses and dark fruit plum and raisins to start, followed by rich dark chocolate, roasty coffee, caramel and a light char. Finish is lightly bitter.
Mouthfeel: Rich, velvety, creamy and smooth. Full bodied with moderate to light carbonation.
Overall: A wonderful Imperial Stout from Oskar Blues which is nicely balanced and great to drink.

2 - Maybe (likely wouldn't buy, might drink), Beer Reviews, Belgium, Hanssens Artisanaal, Lambic - Fruit

Hanssens Oudbeitje

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Brewery: Hanssens Artisanaal
Country: Belgium
ABV: 6%
Style: Belgian Lambic (Fruit)

Brewer Description: (from bottle) (translated from Dutch) Pure Lambic, with fresh strawberries, 100% natural product.

My rating: 2
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.14
My ratebeer.com rating: 2.8

Intro: A 375ml corked and caged bottle with a notched Lotnr of H (not sure what this means). Then there are two dates. The first I translated from Dutch to: “to consume preferably before” 7th August 2027. The second I translated from French to: “best before” 7th August 2034. Not sure why there are two different dates for different languages. Poured into a Cantillon ballon glass.
Appearance: A lightly hazy dark golden orange colour with no head and no lacing.
Aroma: Oak, vinegar, acidity, strawberry and funky.
Taste: Sour, tart and acidic with notes of vinegar and berries.
Mouthfeel: Light bodied with extremely low to no carbonation and quite a harsh acidic feel.
Overall: For me, this could use more carbonation. In addition, I wasn’t really getting much strawberries in the flavour, and any berry flavour I did get was quite light. The main thing though was the quite harsh acidity as each swallow felt a light burn on my throat.

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Belgium, Brouwerij Girardin, Lambic - Fruit

Girardin Kriek

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Brewery: Brouwerij Girardin
Country: Belgium
ABV: 5%
Style: Belgian Lambic (Fruit)

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Minimum of 150g of cherries with pits per finished liter.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.37
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.3

Intro: A 375ml corked and caged bottle. The cork had the words Diam AX 2017 and the number 01 on it, which I think I’ve worked it out to mean Batch A, bottled in January 2016. Poured into a Cantillon ballon glass.
Appearance: A clear ruby red colour with a one finger pinkish head that dissipates quickly while leaving some lacing.
Aroma: Cherry Lifesaver hard candy. What this means is cherry, almond and lightly artificial, although this aroma is right up my alley.
Taste: Sour cherry and grapes with an interesting hint of vanilla.
Mouthfeel: Crisp, light bodied with moderate to high carbonation.
Overall: The aroma was wonderful, and while the taste didn’t quite match up to the aroma, it was still great to drink.