Tag Archives: against the grain

4 - Good (buy), Against The Grain Brewery x Brouwerij De Molen, Beer Reviews, Stout - Imperial, USA

Against The Grain x De Molen Bo & Luke (Red Wine Barrel)

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Brewery: Against The Grain Brewery x Brouwerij De Molen
Country: USA
ABV: 13%
Style: American Imperial Stout
Other Notes: 2016 purple wax. Red Wine barrel aged

Brewer Description: (from bottle) It beats all you ever saw! This barrel-aged ale uses the staple ingredients barley, rye and corn, plus cherry wood smoked malt to create a huge imperial stout. To top it all off, we barrel age the beer for three Kentucky months! The result is a rich and complex Imperial Smoked Stout with hints of caramel, vanilla and spice.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.29
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.2

Intro: A purple waxed 750ml bottle with no clear bottled on or best before date, but should be 2016 vintage. Poured into a snifter glass.
Appearance: Dark dark brown to black in colour with a half finger tanned head that had decent retention and left nice spotty lacing.
Aroma: Light roast, chocolate, vinous, red grapes, kyoho grape jelly, with hints of bourbon sweetness.
Taste: Chocolate, cocoa, roast, sweet bourbon, grape jelly, red grape, red wine, vinous, and light booze.
Mouthfeel: Medium to full bodied with soft carbonation.
Overall: At times it felt a little sweet, but I love the kyoho grape aroma in this. Unfortunately, all the smoked malts from the original seems to have been lost in all the bourbon, grape and vinous characteristics, but this was still an enjoyable sipper on a cool night.

4 - Good (buy), Against The Grain Brewery x Brouwerij De Molen, Beer Reviews, Stout - Imperial, USA

Against The Grain x De Molen Bo & Luke (Islay Scotch Barrel)

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Brewery: Against The Grain Brewery x Brouwerij De Molen
Country: USA
ABV: 13%
Style: American Imperial Stout
Other Notes: 2016 green wax. Islay Scotch barrel aged

Brewer Description: (from bottle) It beats all you ever saw! This barrel-aged ale uses the staple ingredients barley, rye and corn, plus cherry wood smoked malt to create a huge imperial stout. To top it all off, we barrel age the beer for three Kentucky months! The result is a rich and complex Imperial Smoked Stout with hints of caramel, vanilla and spice.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.09
My ratebeer.com rating: 4

Intro: A green waxed 750ml bottle with no clear bottled on or best before date, but should be 2016 vintage. Poured into a snifter glass.
Appearance: Dark dark brown to black in colour with a one finger tanned head that had decent retention and left nice spotty lacing.
Aroma: Peat, whisky, bandaid, medicinal, smoked meat, with notes of chocolate and roast hidden in all that peat.
Taste: Scotch, peat, lots of peat, smoke, char, medicinal, with notes of chocolate and dried dark fruit.
Mouthfeel: Medium to full bodied with soft carbonation.
Overall: I knew before I opened it, that it was Scotch barrel aged, but little did I know, that it was an Islay barrel. Full on peat in the aroma and taste does overwhelm pretty much everything else, so for sure, this is only for those that like peat. Luckily, I love Islay whisky, so this is right up my alley.

4 - Good (buy), Against The Grain Brewery x Brouwerij De Molen, Beer Reviews, Stout - Imperial, USA

Against The Grain x De Molen Bo & Luke

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Brewery: Against The Grain Brewery x Brouwerij De Molen
Country: USA
ABV: 13%
Style: American Imperial Stout

Brewer Description: (from bottle) It beats all you ever saw! This barrel-aged ale uses the staple ingredients barley, rye and corn, plus cherry wood smoked malt to create a huge imperial stout. To top it all off, we barrel age the beer for three Kentucky months! The result is a rich and complex Imperial Smoked Stout with hints of caramel, vanilla and spice.

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

Intro: An orange pinkish waxed 750ml bottle with no clear bottled on or best before date. Poured into a snifter glass.
Appearance: Dark dark brown to black in colour with a thin tanned head that dissipated quickly and left nice spotty lacing.
Aroma: Bourbon, chocolate, black coffee, light roast, oak, smoky, charred wood, caramel, vanilla, dried dark fruit, raisins, and prunes.
Taste: Roasty, sweet, bourbon, charred oak, light smoke, caramel, vanilla, with hints of rye spiciness and dried dark fruit.
Mouthfeel: Smooth, full bodied with soft carbonation.
Overall: A very nice warming Imperial Stout for a cool night. The smoked malts added a nice touch and balanced the bourbon sweetness.

3 - Indifferent (might buy, probably drink), Against The Grain Brewery, Barleywine - English, Beer Reviews, USA

Against The Grain London Balling

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Brewery: Against The Grain Brewery
Country: USA
ABV: 12.5%
Style: English Barleywine

Brewer Description: (from can) Balls Deep! Big, ballsym barmy and barrel aged. London balling is not typical. It’s a skirmish of flavor. The barrel imparts oak and vanilla, mixed with the caramel sweetness from a malt bill with brick, that’ll knock your bloody bollocks around. Hey bloke?… fancy that, and you’ll be gobsmacked.

My rating: 3
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.72
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.5

Intro: A 1 pint can, with no clear canned on or best before date. Poured into a snifter glass.
Appearance: A rusty orange brown colour with some floating sediment and a thin beige head that dissipated fairly quickly, but left some spotty lacing.
Aroma: Sweet malt, caramel, toffee, oak, vanilla, and grapefruit hard candy.
Taste: Sweet, sweet malt, caramel, toffee, vanilla, bourbon, dried dark fruit, raisin, dates, brown sugar, slightly bitter and a touch boozy.
Mouthfeel: Medium to full bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: Not my favourite English Barleywine as sweet and boozy doesn’t really work for me. It’s ok to sip, but a whole 1 pint can, took me a good while to finish.

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Hong Kong, Moonzen Brewery x Against The Grain Brewery, Stout - Imperial

Moonzen x Against The Grain King Yama’s Underworld Stout

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Brewery: Moonzen Brewery x Against The Grain Brewery
Country: Hong Kong
ABV: 11.5%
Style: American Imperial Stout
Other Notes: Brewed with Sichuan peppercorns and Bourbon barrel wood chips

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Dark and Smoke drove too fast, crashed their car and didn’t last. Underworld King Yama reigns, bargains should they live again. Dark and Smoke must brew a stout, tasty enough to let them out! Chopped ATG Kentucky bourbon barrels, burning incense sticks, smoked Cherrywood malt and cracked Sichuan peppercorns create an “under” of this world combination so decadent that Dark & Smoke may never want to leave Yama’s Underworld anymore!

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.03
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.9

Intro: A 650ml bomber with no clear bottled on or best before date. Poured into a snifter glass.
Appearance: Dark dark brown to black in colour with a huge three finger dark tanned head that had great retention while leaving only sparse spotty lacing.
Aroma: Roasted malts, chocolate, cocoa, oak and floral perfume-y with hints of smoke and Sichuan peppercorn.
Taste: Quite similar to the aroma with roasted malts, chocolate, wood and that distinct floral perfume-y characteristic. There is an interesting light spiciness that appears at the back of the throat at the end.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate to light carbonation.
Overall: This was interesting with its floral and perfume-y character that really stands out, and a surprise positive for me as I don’t normally enjoy floral beers. I actually think that with the aroma, this floralness comes from the Sichuan peppercorns, but unfortunately with the taste, the light tingly spiciness in the background does not appear distinctly as Sichuan peppercorn like it does so well in certain batches of King Yama Sichuan Porter, but nonetheless, still probably better than not having it there. Mainly though, body was too light and there was probably a bit too much carbonation for me, but other than that, with everything else, this is worth a try.