Category Archives: Style

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Belgium, Brouwerij 3 Fonteinen, Lambic - Fruit

3 Fonteinen Speling van het Lot XVI.iii: Oude Kirsebær

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Brewery: Brouwerij 3 Fonteinen
Country: Belgium
ABV: 8.2%
Style: Lambic – Fruit
Other Notes: Blend°63, Season 19/20. Number of bottles – 1530

Brewer Description: (from bottle) … so it was in the summer of 2018, we had the honour of visiting Frederiksdal, the renowned Danish kirsebær orchard and cherry wine maker. Not long after, September 13th 2019, we received a few hundred kilos of their sour cherries and macerated them on a charred oak barrel. We used a gentle 3 Fonteinen lambik from one barrel and two different brew days and macerated the lot for almost seven and a half months. While blending, we added one- and two-year old lambikken from three different barrels and three different brews, and some lambikwort from three different brews. We bottled this on Thursday April 16th 2020. The final fruit intensity is 400 grams of kirsebær per litre of this special version of Kriek. Tak til de venlige mennesker i Frederiksdal! 100% 3 Fonteinen.

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

Intro: A 750ml corked and caged bottle, blend°63, season 19/20, bottle 1253/1530, bottled on 16th April 2020. Poured into a 3 Fonteinen stemmed glass.
Appearance: It was a clear ruby red colour with a slight purple hue, and a thin pinkish head that dissipated fairly quickly to a ring around the glass while leaving some lacing.
Aroma: Cherry, oak, funk, bandaid, almond notes, with a splash of lemon zest.
Taste: Sour, tart, cherry, funk, oak, vinegar, and lemon.
Mouthfeel: Light to medium bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: Great aroma, and a fruit lambic that is enjoyable and easy to drink.

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Omnipollo, Stout - Imperial, Sweden

Omnipollo Noa Pecan Mud Willett Vanilla Barrel Aged

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Brewery: Omnipollo
Country: Sweden
ABV: 13.5%
Style: Stout – Imperial
Other Notes: Brewed at Dugges Bryggeri in Sweden

Brewer Description: (from website) We let the base for our barrel aged Noa Pecan Mud Cake Imperial Stout rest on select Willett bourbon barrels for more than 20 months before balancing the elegant barrel notes with an extra dose of Madagascan vanilla. Super limited amount of bottles.

My rating: 4+
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.45
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.4

Intro: A 330ml bottle, with a best before date (as best as I can make it out to be) of 15th October 2023. Poured into a snifter glass.
Appearance: Black in colour with pretty much no head, although there is some sparse spotty lacing.
Aroma: Roasted malts, vanilla, chocolate milk, caramel, bourbon, and a touch nutty.
Taste: As you’d expect from the aroma, light to moderately sweet, roasted malts, vanilla, coconut, milk chocolate, caramel, and bourbon.
Mouthfeel: Creamy, full bodied with soft carbonation.
Overall: This works for me as it’s not overly sweet and pastry like. Almost like old school flavours of roast, vanilla, chocolate, and bourbon. Just smooth and balanced. A wonderful enjoyable sipper.

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Omnipollo x Dugges Bryggeri, Stout - Imperial, Sweden

Omnipollo x Dugges Anagram Blueberry Hazelnut Coffee Cheesecake Stout

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Brewery: Omnipollo x Dugges Bryggeri
Country: Sweden
ABV: 12%
Style: Stout – Imperial
Other Notes: Brewed at Dugges Bryggeri in Sweden

Brewer Description: (from website) The 2022 version of our annual blueberry cheesecake inspired Imperial Stouts is a celebration of friendship. Together with Dugges we began the journey in Anagram, made sure the blueberries were really expressive and then added a new flavor component by adding hazelnut coffee. The coffee adds an incredible nuttiness that leads on to memories of blueberry hazelnut pies with freshly toasted hazelnuts and fragrant blueberry jam. Does not contain nuts.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.99
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.9

Intro: A 330ml bottle with a best before date (as best as I can make it out to be) of 19th January 2024. Poured into a snifter glass.
Appearance: Dark brown to black in colour with a very thin brown head that dissipated quickly, while leaving only some spotty lacing.
Aroma: Roasted malts, black coffee, chocolate, tart, blueberry, wafer, hazelnut.
Taste: Bitter, roasty, chocolate, coffee, blueberry jam, granola, wafer, nutty.
Mouthfeel: Rich, full bodied with soft carbonation.
Overall: The coffee was strong and it was quite bitter, whereas the blueberry was mostly hidden in the background. While it wasn’t bad, I preferred the Anagram Blueberry Cheesecake Stout more.

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Garage Project, New Zealand, Wild Ale

Garage Project Oh What a Lovely Day Let’s Go Out and Pick Some… Blackberry

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Brewery: Garage Project
Country: New Zealand
ABV: 7.4%
Style: Wild Ale
Other Notes: Foraged flowers, spontaneous ferment 2020 release

Brewer Description: (from bottle) The concept is simple. Freshly foraged blackberry flowers are plunged into a light golden wort creating a spontaneous fermentation using only the wild yeast present on flowers. Aged in oak and refermented on blackberry fruit, the result is a delightfully tart, vibrant red sparkling beer bursting with wild berry flavour.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.25
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.1

Intro: A 375ml bottle, bottled on 16th September 2020. Poured into a Tilquin stemmed glass.
Appearance: A nice clear red colour with a slight purple hue, and a one finger white head that had decent retention and settled to a ring around the glass, while leaving some lacing.
Aroma: Funky, tart, blackberry, oak, with notes of lemon zest.
Taste: Much like the aroma, funky, tart, blackberry, apricot, oak, and lemon juice.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: This was good. I’m not sure how much the blackberry flowers actually contributed, but the blackberry fruit came through nicely, and there was balance between the funk, sourness and acidity.

1 - Poor (never again), Beer Reviews, Denmark, Stout - Milk / Sweet Imperial, To Øl

To Øl Vanilje Mælk

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Brewery: To Øl
Country: Denmark
ABV: 10.5%
Style: Stout – Milk Imperial
Other Notes: Brewed & bottled by To Øl at De Proef Brouwerij, Belgium

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Imperial Vanilla Milk Stout.

My rating: 1
My beeradvocate.com rating: 2.58
My ratebeer.com rating: 2.4

Intro: A 375ml bottle, with a best before date of 9th January 2028. Poured into a snifter glass.
Appearance: Dark dark brown to black in colour with a nice one finger brown head that had pretty good retention and left some nice lacing.
Aroma: Roasted malts, chocolate, burnt vanilla, burnt sugar, with maybe notes of dark fruit, but really I think these burnt notes are hiding a lot.
Taste: Light roast, cocoa, followed by a whole lot of nutmeg, and something I don’t know how to describe, although I’m tempted to say metallic ashy gasoline.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with soft carbonation.
Overall: I like To Øl, but this really didn’t work for me. A vanilla milk stout sounds amazing, but here, the vanilla in the aroma was burnt, and it wasn’t in the flavour, or otherwise morphed into something quite unpleasant with all that nutmeg or even the ‘metallic ashy gasoline’…