Category Archives: Beer Reviews

3 - Indifferent (might buy, probably drink), 8 Wired Brewing Co., Beer Reviews, New Zealand, Wild Ale

8 Wired Wild Feijoa Sour Ale 2013

Wednesday, 1 March 2017 kitch Leave a comment

Brewery: 8 Wired Brewing Co.
Country: New Zealand
ABV: 9.5%
Style: American Wild Ale
Other Notes: 2013 vintage. Aged in wine barrels. Refermented in bottle, please decant carefully of the sediment

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Ale brewed with feijoas & aged in wine barrels.

My rating: 3
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.77
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.6

Intro: First thing first… so what is a feijoa? After reading wiki, I’m still not really sure how to answer this correctly, other than that it is a fruit which is supposed to taste like pineapple, apple and mint. Anyway, this was a 500ml bottle with no clear bottled on or best by date other than that it was a 2013 version. Poured into a Lost Abbey teku glass.
Appearance: A hazy copper dark orange colour with pretty much no head and no lacing. Sounded like I was pouring a bottle of soda into the glass with all the fizzing sounds.
Aroma: Sour, fruity, grape, white wine, apple and wood.
Taste: It’s what you’d expect from the aroma. Sour, white grape, vinegar, wood, apple juice and hints of citrus.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with low carbonation (which was unexpected considering the soda like pour I heard).
Overall: At 9.5% ABV, the alcohol is well hidden. I still don’t really know what feijoa really is, but this sour ale is quite nice. The wine barrel aging also really comes through and adds nice woodiness, wine and grape flavours to the beer (unless it actually comes from the feijoa’s… lol…).

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.

2 - Maybe (likely wouldn't buy, might drink), Beer Reviews, Belgian Tripel, Boston Beer Company, USA

Samuel Adams (Barrel Room Collection) New World Tripel

Monday, 27 February 2017 kitch Leave a comment

Brewery: Boston Beer Company
Country: USA
ABV: 10%
Style: Belgian Tripel
Other Notes: A Golden Tripel with notes of spice and tropical fruit

Brewer Description: (from bottle) This Tripel was born from the Old World Belgian technique of barrel aging and the New World of craft brewing innovation. With its pale golden color and uniquely refreshing taste, this big flavorful, and complex brew has a subtle herbal hop character combined with the tropical fruit and spice notes of its special Belgian yeast. One of our brewers’ favorite places to experiment is in the barrel room at our Boston Brewery. It’s here that each of our Samuel Adams Barrel Room Collection brews was born.

My rating: 2
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.43
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.2

Intro: A 1pt 9.4 fl oz corked and caged bottle with a best before date of 1st February 2018. Poured into a Chimay goblet glass.
Appearance: A clear dark copper orange colour with a slightly less than two finger off white head that had great retention, eventually settling down to a nice creamy layer, while leaving great curtain like lacing.
Aroma: Belgian yeast, banana, clove, honey and pear with hints of spice.
Taste: Some light banana and clove at the beginning, followed by spice, candi sugar, orange and pineapple with quite a strong hit of alcohol on the finish.
Mouthfeel: Creamy, full bodied with moderate to high carbonation.
Overall: It looks great, and smells nice, but the strong alcohol on the finish was quite harsh in my opinion.

2 - Maybe (likely wouldn't buy, might drink), American IPA, Beer Reviews, Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project, USA

Crooked Stave Hop Savant (Citra)

Monday, 27 February 2017 kitch Leave a comment

Brewery: Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project
Country: USA
ABV: 7%
Style: American IPA

Brewer Description: (from bottle) American brettanomyces India Pale Ale with Citra.

My rating: 2
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.22
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.1

Intro: A 375ml bottle, bottled in May 2015. Poured into a Lost Abbey teku glass.
Appearance: A clear golden yellow colour (as there’s still a lot left in the bottle) with a huge rather uncontrollable frothy white head that dissipates slowly while leaving a fair bit of soapy lacing.
Aroma: Band-aid, barnyard, brett, citrus lemon and apricot plus hints of pineapple.
Taste: Lots of brett, band-aid, leather, pepper spiciness, orange peel and apricot.
Mouthfeel: Dry, medium to light bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: There’s just a lot of funky brett with some light fruit sweetness towards the end. For me, it just seemed to be missing some tart and sour fruit to help balance out the flavours a bit.

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project, USA, Wild Ale

Crooked Stave Mama Bear’s Sour Cherry Pie

Thursday, 23 February 2017 kitch Leave a comment

Brewery: Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project
Country: USA
ABV: 7%
Style: American Wild Ale

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Burgundy sour ale aged in oak barrels with Colorado Montmorency cherries.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.17
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.2

Intro: A 375ml bottle, bottled in September 2015. Poured into a Lost Abbey teku glass.
Appearance: A slightly cloudy dark reddish brown colour, with a just over one finger reddish beige head that dissipated slowly and left some sparse lacing.
Aroma: Tart and sweet cherry, oak and perhaps a light funk.
Taste: Sour, strong lemon juice with some cherry and oak creeping through here and there and hints of almond. Long acidic sour finish.
Mouthfeel: Medium to light bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: While there was some sweetness in the aroma, it was pretty much mostly sour with an acidic bite in the taste. I think you really have to like sour things to enjoy this beer and luckily I do like sour things. Would have preferred it, if more cherries came through though, since cherry pie is in the name, but that is not a deal breaker.

words of another dreamy traveller