Category Archives: Style

2 - Maybe (likely wouldn't buy, might drink), Beer Reviews, Gweilo Brewery x Far Yeast Brewing, Hong Kong, IPA - New England / Hazy

Gweilo x Kagua Yuzu Hazy IPA

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Brewery: Gweilo Brewery x Far Yeast Brewing
Country: Hong Kong
ABV: 6%
Style: New England / Hazy IPA
Other Notes: 60 IBUs. Collaboration

Brewer Description: (from can) Brewed with our friends at Kagua to mark our launch in Japan, this is our first ever collaboration brew and it is a very special one. With a Denali, Amarillo and Citra base, we’ve also pumped this baby full of yuzu smuggled into Hong Kong by our friends at Kagua. The result is a tropical, juicy explosion of pineapple and yuzu.

My rating: 2
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.53
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.3

Intro: A 330ml can, with a best before date of 24th August 2019. 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 lots of nice lacing.
Aroma: Fruity, yuzu, lots of citrus peel and rind, lightly floral.
Taste: Bitter, lightly sweet, tons of yuzu, lots of citrus rind, peel and zest, grass, light floral and light biscuit.
Mouthfeel: Medium to light bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: Aroma was great, full of yuzu. In fact, taste was full of yuzu too but this time, overly so. The amount of yuzu seems to have created a bitter like harshness on the palate, almost like you have a mouthful of citrus rind.

3 - Indifferent (might buy, probably drink), Beer Reviews, Lambic - Gueuze, Lindheim Ølkompani x Oud Beersel, Norway

Lindheim x Oud Beersel FiftyFifty Spontaneous Blend (Friendship Series)

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Brewery: Lindheim Ølkompani x Oud Beersel
Country: Norway
ABV: 7.6%
Style: Belgian Lambic (Gueuze)
Other Notes: Spontaneous ale

Brewer Description: (from bottle) FiftyFifty spontaneous blend. This beer is half Belgian, half Norwegian. 2015 lambic from Oud Beersel was shipped from Belgium to Gvarv and blended with our 2014 coolship beer. The fifty-fifty blend makes a 100% spontaneously fermented beer.

My rating: 3
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.88
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.8

Intro: A 375ml corked and caged bottle, production date of 2014/2015 and bottled on 11th November 2016. Poured into a 3 Fonteinen stemmed glass.
Appearance: A hazy golden orange colour with a two finger white head that dissipated quite quickly and left only sparse to no lacing.
Aroma: Funk, farmhouse, light tartness, apricot, peach and citrusy notes.
Taste: Funk, barnyard, oak, sour, tart, lemon with hints of stone fruit and citrus.
Mouthfeel: Medium to light bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: Aroma was quite nice, but it seemed to have lost much of the nice fruitiness from the aroma in the taste as the funk and wood were quite powerful. As I drank more and more, it did grow on me though.

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, The Ale Apothecary, USA, Wild Ale

The Ale Apothecary Sahalie – Fresh Hop

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Brewery: The Ale Apothecary
Country: USA
ABV: 9.45%
Style: American Wild Ale
Other Notes: Fresh hop. Mixed fermentation ale brewed with honey, aged in wine barrels

Brewer Description: (from tag on bottle) our infamous shield maiden. (* wild & open fermented in the woods of OR. * Mecca Grade Estate Malt + wheat + Goschie Farms hops. * barrel-aged over a year & dry-hopped in oak. * OR honey + sour wort + our yeast = 100% natural carbonation from bottle fermentation.)

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.42
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.3

Intro: A 750ml corked bottle, batch bottled on 13th November 2017. Poured into a 3 Fonteinen stemmed glass.
Appearance: A lightly hazy golden orange colour with a two finger white head that had decent retention and left some nice lacing.
Aroma: Funk, brett, oak, pineapple, lightly tart, grapefruit zest and hints of apricot.
Taste: Lightly tart, lightly sour, oak, apricot, stone fruit, a touch herbal and a hint of pineapple.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: Very nice. I liked this even more than the original base version.

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, The Ale Apothecary, USA, Wild Ale

The Ale Apothecary Sahalie

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Brewery: The Ale Apothecary
Country: USA
ABV: 9.32%
Style: American Wild Ale
Other Notes: Mixed fermentation ale aged in wine barrels

Brewer Description: (from tag on bottle) our infamous shield maiden. (* wild & open fermented in the woods of OR. * Mecca Grade Estate Malt + wheat + Goschie Farms hops. * barrel-aged over a year & dry-hopped in oak. * OR honey + sour wort + our yeast = 100% natural carbonation from bottle fermentation.)

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.34
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.2

Intro: A 750ml corked bottle, batch bottled on 7th July 2017. Poured into a 3 Fonteinen stemmed glass.
Appearance: A lightly hazy golden orange colour with a big three finger white head that dissipated fairly quickly but left some nice lacing.
Aroma: Tart, funk, brett, grapefruit zest, lemon zest, orange and pineapple with hints of apricot.
Taste: Tart, sour, pineapple, apricot, grapefruit zest and a touch of oak.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: Very nice aroma and taste. There was a light booze on the finish that was barely noticeable, which I guess shouldn’t be too surprising that it was there, given it was more than 9% ABV, but it’s these little things that knocked it down a fraction or two.

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Belgium, Brouwerij ‘t Verzet, Flanders Oud Bruin

Verzet Whole Lotta Bluebs

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Brewery: Brouwerij ‘t Verzet
Country: Belgium
ABV: 6%
Style: Belgian Flanders Oud Bruin
Other Notes: Oud Bruin with Wild Maine Blueberries. Oud Bluebs. Ale brewed for Novare Res Bier Café’s 10th Anniversary

Brewer Description: (from bottle) This beer is a collaboration with Novare Res, a revolutionary and one of the most imPortland beer bars of the New World. On a hectic, snowy day we gathered in our barrel room to carefully select the blend for the collaboration. We added dried blueberries from Maine and let them ferment in the chosen barrels for 2 months. The result is a red-brown, purplish sour beer with a very fruity taste and woody nose. Be our guest and enjoy the Maine offerings from Verzet and Novare Res.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.05
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.8

Intro: A 375ml bottle, Bluebs ’18, with a best before date of 14th February xxxx (the rest was smudged off). Poured into a 3 Fonteinen stemmed glass.
Appearance: A dark brown colour with a reddish orange hue and a one finger off white head that disappeared almost immediately and left no lacing.
Aroma: Light funk, barrel, tart and mixed dark berries.
Taste: Lightly sour, tart, oak, blueberry skin, blueberries, mixed berries, with light funk and vinegar.
Mouthfeel: Light to medium bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: Nice and enjoyable. The aroma while not bad, came through a little weak at times, especially the fruit. No such problems with the taste, which was a good balance of sour and blueberries.