Category Archives: Bière de Champagne / Bière Brut

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Bière de Champagne / Bière Brut, England, Mills Brewing

Mills Islay Brut

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Brewery: Mills Brewing
Country: England
ABV: 9%
Style: Bière de Champagne / Bière Brut
Other Notes: Mills Brewing make beer with minimal modern intervention, relying on local wild yeast cultures and the influence of nature to ferment.

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Islay Brut is a blend of four barrels from three separate worts produced in March, May, and August 2018. One of the brews fermented in two small Islay whisky barrels, imparting aromas of maritime peat. The blend was refermented with golden caster sugar to produce a strong and dry beer. Finally, it received a large dose of primings to produce a Champagne type carbonation. Serve at fridge temperature.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.4
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.3

Intro: A 750ml corked and capped bottle, bottled in August 2020, with a best before date of August 2030. Poured into a Tilquin stemmed glass.
Appearance: A hazy golden orange colour with a big three finger white head that had good retention and eventually settled to a fluffy cap, while leaving some nice lacing.
Aroma: Grapes, peat, leather, with oak and lemon zest creeping through.
Taste: Light sour, tart, super lemon candies, grape, oak, peat, with light mineral notes.
Mouthfeel: Dry, medium bodied with moderate to high carbonation.
Overall: I think you have to like peat to enjoy this, and luckily I do. It’s really well balanced as the peat is obviously there, but it doesn’t overpower everything else. The champagne like effervescent carbonation was also enjoyable, while the 9% abv was well hidden.

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4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Bière de Champagne / Bière Brut, Side Project Brewing, USA

Side Project Blanc de Blancs

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Brewery: Side Project Brewing
Country: USA
ABV: 10%
Style: Bière de Champagne / Bière Brut
Other Notes: Blend #2

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Ale fermented in wine barrels with California chardonnay grapes.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.3
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.2

Intro: A 375ml bottle, blend #2, poured into a 3 Fonteinen stemmed glass.
Appearance: A clear golden colour with a half finger white head that dissipated fairly quickly to a ring around the glass while leaving only sparse lacing.
Aroma: Sweet, lightly tart, vinous, white grape, oak, honey, with light funky notes.
Taste: Sour, tart, vinous, white wine grapes, honey, oak, funk, with notes of sharp acidity but not overly so.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate to soft carbonation.
Overall: Solid beer with nice aromas and flavours with abv completely hidden.

3 - Indifferent (might buy, probably drink), Beer Reviews, Bière de Champagne / Bière Brut, Garage Project, New Zealand

Garage Project Pas De Deux

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Brewery: Garage Project
Country: New Zealand
ABV: 11.6%
Style: Bière de Champagne / Bière Brut
Other Notes: Garage Project + Nautilus. Methode Aro Bière 2016

Brewer Description: (from bottle) A duet of perfect unison – strong blonde wort and the finest clear pressed pinot juice from Nautilus Estate’s sparkling vineyard. First blended and fermented together using a mixture of Belgian beer and champagne yeasts, then bottled and allowed to condition ‘sur lie’ for 18 months before being riddled and disgorged in the traditional method. The result of this intricate, painstaking process is a seamless union of beer and sparkling wine. A true pas de deux.

My rating: 3
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.91
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.7

Intro: A corked and caged 750ml bottle, Methode Aro Bière 2016, poured into a 3 Fonteinen stemmed glass.
Appearance: A lightly hazy golden colour with a one finger white head that dissipated fairly quickly to a thin ring around the glass, while leaving some nice lacing.
Aroma: White grape, grape gummy candy, with ice wine notes.
Taste: Moderately sweet, vinous, white grape, candy sugar, with notes of apple, caramel and booze.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate to low spritzy carbonation.
Overall: This was interesting, maybe more of a sipper for me, as the sweetness and booze combo is not my favourite.

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Bière de Champagne / Bière Brut, Denmark, Mikkeller ApS

Mikkeller Nelson Sauvin Brut Dry Hopped!

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Brewery: Mikkeller ApS
Country: Denmark
ABV: 9%
Style: Bière de Champagne / Bière Brut
Other Notes: Brewed by Mikkeller at De Proef Brouwerij, Belgium

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Dry hopped Belgian Wild Ale aged in chardonnay barrels.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.05
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.9

Intro: A 750ml foiled, corked and caged bottle with a best before date of 7th March 2022. Poured into a 3 Fonteinen stemmed glass.
Appearance: A cloudy amber copper colour with a big three finger off white slightly orangey head that had decent retention and left lots of nice lacing.
Aroma: Brett, funk, grape, white wine, oak, with some floral and herbal notes.
Taste: What you’d expect from the aroma with brett, funky, grape, white wine, oak, apple peel, lemon rind and floral notes. Some sweet, some sour and some bitter.
Mouthfeel: Medium to light bodied with moderate to soft carbonation.
Overall: Alcohol was well hidden but I was hoping for more carbonation. Aromas and flavour was good though and well worth trying.

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Bière de Champagne / Bière Brut, Hong Kong, Moonzen Brewery

Moonzen Flaming Mountains

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Brewery: Moonzen Brewery
Country: Hong Kong
ABV: 6%
Style: Bière de Champagne / Bière Brut
Other Notes: Muscat Bière De Champagne

Brewer Description: (from bottle) In Journey to the West, Monkey King encounters an impassable flaming mountain. Too busy fanning out the flames with his magic palm to continue his journey that he missed this tasty creation. Turpan, Xinjiang is a fertile land of delicious fruits, with a unique desert climate and mountain water oasis. In this unique collaboration, Moonzen journeyed 3000km to harvest muscat grapes from Puchang Vineyard for this provincial beer. With an enchanting aroma, it drinks like a beer at warmer temperatures and a sparkling white wine at cooler temperatures.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.11
My ratebeer.com rating: 4

Intro: A 330ml bottle with no bottled on or best before date. Poured into a Lost Abbey teku glass.
Appearance: A cloudy dark straw yellow colour with a one finger white head that dissipates slowly and settles to a thin layer while leaving only sparse lacing. Very lively with lots of bubbles throughout.
Aroma: Nice citrusy lemon, lemon zest, white grape and light malt. Floral and perfume-y on the finish.
Taste: Green grapes, vinous, white wine, grass and a touch of lemon. Like the aroma, finish is floral and perfume-y.
Mouthfeel: Crisp, dry, light to medium bodied with spritzy moderate to high carbonation.
Overall: Nice aromas and taste which made it refreshing to drink.