Category Archives: Beer Reviews

3 - Indifferent (might buy, probably drink), American Strong Ale, Beer Reviews, Founders Brewing Company, USA

Founders Bottle Shop Series – Highball Drifter

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Brewery: Founders Brewing Company
Country: USA
ABV: 11%
Style: Strong Ale – American
Other Notes: Ale aged in bourbon barrels with orange peel and cherry. 25 IBUs

Brewer Description: (from bottle) There’s a new sheriff in town – meet Highball Drifter, a barrel-aged sipper inspired by our favorite bourbon-based cocktails. The second entry in our Bottle Shop series, Highball Drifter presents aromatics of caramel and vanilla, dried fruit and spice while hints of cherry and bitter orange peel whisk you away like a tumbling tumbleweed. Call us old fashioned, but we think you’re going to love it.

My rating: 3+
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.01
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.9

Intro: A 12 fl. oz. bottle, bottled on 6th July 2021, poured into a snifter glass.
Appearance: A rusty orange brown colour with a thin half finger beige head that dissipated fairly quickly while leaving nice lacing.
Aroma: Cocktails, orange bitters, dried orange peel, caramel, vanilla, with light candied cherry notes.
Taste: Lightly sweet, malty, candied dried fruit, orange bitters, orange peel, citrus zesty, candied cherry, oak, with notes of bourbon and vanilla.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: An enjoyable sipper that’s very cocktail like, as it’s name suggests; and also with an aroma that was really good.

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Belgian Strong Dark Ale, Belgium, S.A. Bières de Chimay

Chimay Grande Réserve Vieillie en Barriques: Châtaignier neuf, Chêne, Cognac 15/03/2016

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Brewery: S.A. Bières de Chimay
Country: Belgium
ABV: 10.5%
Style: Belgian Strong Dark Ale
Other Notes: 38% French oak, 22% American oak (second utilization), 22% new cognac barrels & 18% new chestnut

Brewer Description: (from bottle) The “Grande Réserve” barrel aged is an exceptional beer that benefits from triple fermentation and extended maturing in barrels. Unfiltered, unpasteurised, this beer has an incomparable rounded, wooden flavour.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.1
My ratebeer.com rating: 4

Intro: A 750ml corked and caged bottle, bottled on 15th March 2016, with a best before date of end of 2021. Poured into a Chimay goblet glass.
Appearance: A dark amber brown colour, with a thin half finger beige head that dissipated fairly quickly to a ring around the glass, and a gently replenishing centre, while leaving some nice lacing.
Aroma: Light to moderately sweet dark fruit, plum, prunes, raisin, oak, with light toffee notes.
Taste: Sweet dark malt, dark fruit, plum, prunes, caramel, toffee, oak, cognac, light booze, and a touch bitter on the finish.
Mouthfeel: Medium to full bodied with moderate to soft carbonation.
Overall: It’s a nice complex sipper, but my preference is still the base beer, which is just so good. Despite this, the barrel aged variants are still very interesting, and I would love to keep trying more.

3 - Indifferent (might buy, probably drink), Beer Reviews, Deschutes Brewery, Stout - Imperial, USA

Deschutes Peanut Butter Obsidian Stout

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Brewery: Deschutes Brewery
Country: USA
ABV: 9.7%
Style: Stout – Imperial

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Whiskey barrel-aged ale brewed with peanut butter.

My rating: 3+
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.83
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.7

Intro: A 355ml bottle, with a packaged on date of 31st March 2022. Poured into a snifter glass.
Appearance: Black in colour with a thin tanned head that dissipated fairly quickly, while leaving some lacing.
Aroma: Light roast, sweet malt, chocolate, molasses, peanut, and whiskey notes.
Taste: Lightly sweet, moderately bitter, roasty, dark chocolate, whiskey, peanuts, hints of vanilla, and a touch boozy.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with soft carbonation.
Overall: It’s a good boozy sipper, and there was some nuttiness, but it wasn’t really peanut butter, which I was really hoping for.

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Farmhouse Saison, Hudson Valley Brewery, USA

Hudson Valley Valley Beer Winter 2020

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Brewery: Hudson Valley Brewery
Country: USA
ABV: 5%
Style: Farmhouse – Saison

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Blended and bottled in the Winter of 2020. Valley Beer is our Hudson Valley Sour Farmhouse Ale brewed with 100% New York ingredients. It is fermented in our foudres with wild yeast and souring bacteria and aged for up to a year in oak barrels. This beer is bottle conditioned with local wildflower honey, so please open cold, pour carefully, and expect some sediment.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.06
My ratebeer.com rating: 4

Intro: A 750ml baby blue waxed bottle, bottled in the winter of 2020, poured into a Tilquin stemmed glass.
Appearance: A nice very slightly hazy golden colour with a one finger white head that had decent retention and left some nice lacing.
Aroma: Tart, funk, damp wood, hay, yellow stone fruit, with light notes of honey and orange peel.
Taste: Lightly sour, tart, funky, damp wood, apple cider vinegar, green apple, yellow stone fruit, honey, and a touch of citrus peel.
Mouthfeel: Medium to light bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: I’ll accept that they call it a Farmhouse Ale, but it does trend more towards a Wild Ale in my opinion. The funky notes in both the aroma and taste keep it interesting along with the fruitiness and honey.

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, FiftyFifty Brewing Company, Stout - Imperial, USA

FiftyFifty Imperial Eclipse Stout BKR (Bookers Barrel)

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Brewery: FiftyFifty Brewing Company
Country: USA
ABV: 12.2%
Style: Stout – Imperial
Other Notes: 2019 vintage, yellow wax – Bookers Barrel

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Now in it’s 12th vintage, 2019 Eclipse is our rich Imperial Stout aged to perfection in whiskey and spirit barrels. All Eclipse start with the same base beer bringing hints of dark chocolate, espresso, and a smooth complexity, with each barrel treatment delivering its own unique character after a minimum of 180 days of aging. BKR is aged in select bourbon barrels. DSP-KY-230.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.12
My ratebeer.com rating: 4

Intro: A 500ml dark yellow waxed bottle, 2019 vintage. Poured into a snifter glass.
Appearance: Dark dark brown to black in colour, with a thin tanned head that dissipated quickly, while leaving some spotty lacing.
Aroma: Bakers chocolate, molasses, bourbon, and a touch of almonds.
Taste: Light roast, chocolate, coffee, bourbon, molasses, raisin, with light notes of toasted nuts.
Mouthfeel: Medium to full bodied with soft carbonation.
Overall: A fuller body would help this Imperial Stout, but there are some enjoyable flavours with this sipper.