3 - Indifferent (might buy, probably drink), Beer Reviews, Garage Project, New Zealand, Porter - Imperial

Garage Project Cherry Bomb

Wednesday, 16 March 2016 kitch Leave a comment

Brewery: Garage Project
Country: New Zealand
ABV: 9%
Style: American Imperial Porter
Other Notes: Brewed with tart cherry and cacao nibs.

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Hello world, it’s Cherry Bomb imperial porter, a complex, decadent desert beer, spiked with sour cherries and cacao nibs. The finished beer has a rich ebony hue with a pronounced, bitter-sweet, dark chocolate and ripe tart cherry character.

My rating: 3
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.51
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.5

Intro: A 650ml bottle with a best before date of 15th April 2016 and poured into a Moonzen teku glass.
Appearance: It poured a dark dark brown colour with a one finger tanned head that did not stick around too long but left some sparse spotty lacing.
Aroma: Strong dark chocolate with some tart cherry. Coffee is also there but in the background.
Taste: Bittersweet chocolate at the start but the finish is tart sourish cherry with hints of vanilla.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with low carbonation.
Overall: Normally I’d say that chocolate and cherry goes well together. However in this case, it didn’t quite mix together too well. I’m thinking something like sweet milk chocolate would go better with cherry than the bitterness of dark chocolate. Having said that, it’s not bad, and its much more drinkable than the 9% would suggest.

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Belgium, Brouwerij Rodenbach N.V., Flanders Red Ale

Rodenbach Grand Cru

Tuesday, 15 March 2016 kitch Leave a comment

Brewery: Brouwerij Rodenbach N.V.
Country: Belgium
ABV: 6%
Style: Flanders Red Ale
Other Notes: Rodenbach Grand Cru is a blend of “young” ale (33%) and ale that has matured for two years (67%)

Brewer Description: (from website) Grand Cru by Rodenbach has on average been left for much longer in the oak casks (“foeders”) of the Roeselare “beer cathedral”, which results in a more pronounced version of the “Flanders Red-Brown Beer” style. Rodenbach Grand Cru consists of 1/3 young beer and 2/3 beer matured two years in oak. The result is a complex beer with a great deal of wood and esters, vinous and with a very long aftertaste, just like a Grand Cru wine.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.47
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.4

Intro: A corked and caged 750ml bottle with a best before date of 18th March 2016. Poured into a Cantillon ballon glass.
Appearance: It poured a clear dark amber brown colour with a thin tanned head that dissipated quickly but left nice stringy lacing.
Aroma: Tart, cherry, grape, green apple and vinegar.
Taste: Tart cherry, grape soda, grape, oak with some light caramel.
Mouthfeel: Light to medium bodied with medium to high carbonation.
Overall: A wonderfully tart and fruity beer that is well balanced.

5 - Excellent (must buy), Beer Reviews, Stout - Imperial, The Lost Abbey, USA

Lost Abbey Box Set Track #10 (Bat Out Of Hell)

Monday, 14 March 2016 kitch Leave a comment

Brewery: The Lost Abbey
Country: USA
ABV: 13.5%
Style: American Imperial Stout
Other Notes: Aged in American Oak Bourbon Barrels

Brewer Description: (from website) From the Ultimate Box Set: “A fresh track, Track 10 began as a fresh Serpent’s Stout base aged in bourbon barrels with oodles of coffee and cacao nibs added shortly before packaging. Late in November of 2011, our head brewer asked about creating a Coffee and Cacoa Nib version of Serpent’s Stout for the San Diego Strong Ale Festival. The beer was a hit with our fans. When we wrote up the syllabus for the Ultimate Box Set, we knew a version of this beer would be included. We waited until the very end of the release schedule to put this beer in a bottle so that the coffee and cacoa nibs really come through.”

My rating: 5
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.77
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.6

Intro: A corked and caged 12.7 fl oz bottle poured into a snifter glass. I believe this is a 2015 bottling as “2015” is printed on the neck.
Appearance: It poured an opaque pitch black with a thin less than half finger dark brown head that leaves nice stringy lacing.
Aroma: Strong bourbon and chocolate with some sweetness coming from hints of molasses, toffee and vanilla.
Taste: Very nice espresso coffee, crunchy coffee bean, dark bittersweet chocolate and bourbon notes.
Mouthfeel: Thick, full bodied with low carbonation and light alcohol warming.
Overall: This was really good. It was surprising that there wasn’t much coffee on the nose, but it definitely came out in the taste. A great sipper on a cool night.

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Stone Brewing Co., Stout - Imperial, USA

Stone Americano Stout

Monday, 14 March 2016 kitch Leave a comment

Brewery: Stone Brewing Co.
Country: USA
ABV: 8.7%
Style: American Imperial Stout
Other Notes: 65 IBUs. Hops – Amarillo, Cascade, Chinook and Columbus. A decidedly American Imperial Stout with espresso.

Brewer Description: (from bottle) The coffee notes in Stone Americano Stout are bold, rich and full of American swagger. We incorporated a mother lode of artisanal espresso beans into the mash and added in Columbus, Chinook, Amarillo and Cascade hops to invigorate the coffee taste with a slight citrus and resin hop presence.

Coffee roasting, like artisanal brewing, has risen to be a true art form in recent decades. Techniques that blend art, science and ingenuity have allowed roasters to create coffees that offer incredible depth, complexity and nuance. When it came to selecting our coffee, we chose San Diego roasters Ryan Bros. Coffee. These are the same guys who contributed their art to our sought-after 2013 Stone ESPRESSO Imperial Russian Stout. Their fantastic espresso helped us achieve the perfect match to our beer, one that’s certain to satisfy your coffee fixation. Rest assured… not a single decaf bean was used in the process.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.08
My ratebeer.com rating: 4

Intro: A 12 fl oz bottle with a bottled on 22nd January 2016 date. Poured into a Moonzen teku glass.
Appearance: It poured an extremely dark brown with a one finger tanned head that had good retention and left only a little lacing.
Aroma: Strong espresso aromas and sweet chocolate/mocha with a hint of cinnamon and coconut.
Taste: Espresso and dark chocolate. There was a bit of sweetness midway through, but the finish was a nice long lasting bitterness.
Mouthfeel: Mid to full bodied with low carbonation.
Overall: A nice Imperial Stout with coffee that has a wonderful lasting bitter finish. I think my one gripe is that it was not as full bodied as it could have been.

3 - Indifferent (might buy, probably drink), American IPA, Ballast Point Brewing Company, Beer Reviews, USA

Ballast Point Pineapple Sculpin

Saturday, 12 March 2016 kitch Leave a comment

Brewery: Ballast Point Brewing Company
Country: USA
ABV: 7%
Style: American IPA
Other Notes: 70 IBUs.

Brewer Description: (from website) Our Pineapple Sculpin IPA came from one of many small-batch cask experiments to enhance the flavor of our signature IPA. With so many tropical hop notes in Sculpin, how could we not try adding some sweet, juicy pineapple? The combination of fruity flavors and hop intensity definitely packs a punch.

My rating: 3
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.87
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.7

Intro: A 12 fl oz bottle with a Julian bottled on date of 16036, meaning it was bottled on 5th February 2016. Poured into a Spiegelau IPA glass.
Appearance: It poured a clear golden colour with a fluffy two finger white head that has good retention and leaves thick puffy lacing.
Aroma: Pineapple juice, sliced pineapple and a touch of mandarin.
Taste: The pineapple is there, but unlike how prominent it was in the aroma, it was pretty light and only in the background. Instead, I got mainly pine and grassy hop bitterness followed by a hint of pineapple.
Mouthfeel: Crisp, medium bodied with mid to high carbonation.
Overall: I loved the pineapple aromas coming from this beer. However, flavour wise, I like my pineapple’s sweet, so I think this may have been a problem when trying to incorporate pineapple flavours into an IPA. In this case, even the lightness of the pineapple doesn’t seem to blend in too well with the bitterness and just confuses my pallet. It just didn’t match up to the original Sculpin which was nicely tropical nor the Grapefruit Sculpin where the grapefruit matches well with the hop bitterness.

words of another dreamy traveller