Tag Archives: ba

5 - Excellent (must buy), Beer Reviews, Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project, USA, Wild Ale

Crooked Stave Silly Cybies

Wednesday, 1 March 2017 kitch Leave a comment

Brewery: Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project
Country: USA
ABV: 9%
Style: American Wild Ale

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Belgian Style Dark Ale aged in oak barrels with raspberries.

My rating: 5
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.71
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.5

Intro: A 375ml bottle, bottled in November 2015. Poured into a Lost Abbey teku glass.
Appearance: A clear and extremely dark red colour with a two fingered tan-ish red head that had decent retention and left some nice lacing.
Aroma: Intense freshly crushed raspberries and raspberry jam.
Taste: Sour and tart with a combination of mixed berries; raspberry, blackberry and blueberry. It is also very jammy but the sweet only lightly shows through the tartness.
Mouthfeel: Dry, medium bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: This is amazing. I don’t get any of the 9% ABV which is great, but I’m also not getting much of the oak barrels that it was supposedly aged in, which while disappointing, actually meant that it was very raspberry jammy and tasty. Crooked Stave have done it again with Silly Cybies, which is a must buy for me.

3 - Indifferent (might buy, probably drink), 8 Wired Brewing Co., Beer Reviews, New Zealand, Wild Ale

8 Wired Wild Feijoa Sour Ale 2013

Wednesday, 1 March 2017 kitch Leave a comment

Brewery: 8 Wired Brewing Co.
Country: New Zealand
ABV: 9.5%
Style: American Wild Ale
Other Notes: 2013 vintage. Aged in wine barrels. Refermented in bottle, please decant carefully of the sediment

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Ale brewed with feijoas & aged in wine barrels.

My rating: 3
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.77
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.6

Intro: First thing first… so what is a feijoa? After reading wiki, I’m still not really sure how to answer this correctly, other than that it is a fruit which is supposed to taste like pineapple, apple and mint. Anyway, this was a 500ml bottle with no clear bottled on or best by date other than that it was a 2013 version. Poured into a Lost Abbey teku glass.
Appearance: A hazy copper dark orange colour with pretty much no head and no lacing. Sounded like I was pouring a bottle of soda into the glass with all the fizzing sounds.
Aroma: Sour, fruity, grape, white wine, apple and wood.
Taste: It’s what you’d expect from the aroma. Sour, white grape, vinegar, wood, apple juice and hints of citrus.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with low carbonation (which was unexpected considering the soda like pour I heard).
Overall: At 9.5% ABV, the alcohol is well hidden. I still don’t really know what feijoa really is, but this sour ale is quite nice. The wine barrel aging also really comes through and adds nice woodiness, wine and grape flavours to the beer (unless it actually comes from the feijoa’s… lol…).

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project, USA, Wild Ale

Crooked Stave Mama Bear’s Sour Cherry Pie

Thursday, 23 February 2017 kitch Leave a comment

Brewery: Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project
Country: USA
ABV: 7%
Style: American Wild Ale

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Burgundy sour ale aged in oak barrels with Colorado Montmorency cherries.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.17
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.2

Intro: A 375ml bottle, bottled in September 2015. Poured into a Lost Abbey teku glass.
Appearance: A slightly cloudy dark reddish brown colour, with a just over one finger reddish beige head that dissipated slowly and left some sparse lacing.
Aroma: Tart and sweet cherry, oak and perhaps a light funk.
Taste: Sour, strong lemon juice with some cherry and oak creeping through here and there and hints of almond. Long acidic sour finish.
Mouthfeel: Medium to light bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: While there was some sweetness in the aroma, it was pretty much mostly sour with an acidic bite in the taste. I think you really have to like sour things to enjoy this beer and luckily I do like sour things. Would have preferred it, if more cherries came through though, since cherry pie is in the name, but that is not a deal breaker.

4 - Good (buy), 8 Wired Brewing Co., Beer Reviews, Flanders Red Ale, New Zealand

8 Wired Le Fût

Friday, 6 January 2017 kitch Leave a comment

Brewery: 8 Wired Brewing Co.
Country: New Zealand
ABV: 6.7%
Style: Belgian Flanders Red Ale
Other Notes: 2013 vintage. Aged in Wine Barrels

Brewer Description: (from bottle) A complex sour red ale brewed in the Flemish tradition and aged in French oak barrels for two years. Blended from 15 unique barrels to create the perfect combination of acidity and sweetness, funk and fruitiness.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.04
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.9

Intro: A 500ml bottle, 2013 vintage. Poured into a Cantillon ballon glass.
Appearance: A clear copper red colour with a one finger light tanned head that dissipated quickly, but leaves some nice lacing.
Aroma: Cherry, vinous red and white wine, oak and wet wood with a touch of balsamic.
Taste: Lightly sour, tart, cherry, raisins, oaky wood, vinous red wine, soft funk and a red wine vinegar plus pepper punch at the end.
Mouthfeel: Dry, medium to light bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: I thought that there was less fruit and a more oaky vinous character than traditional Flanders Red Ales, but in this case, that was to be expected since it was aged in wine barrels. Enjoyable, I like it!

4 - Good (buy), Avery Brewing Company, Beer Reviews, Stout - Imperial, USA

Avery Tweak

Wednesday, 28 December 2016 kitch Leave a comment

Brewery: Avery Brewing Company
Country: USA
ABV: 17.5%
Style: American Imperial Stout
Other Notes: Batch No.2. Stout with Coffee added, aged in Bourbon Barrels

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Our very own Parker, of the cartoon and cat loving variety, created this cult classic character back in our 17th season. Appearing in several episodes under another stage name that was deemed inappropriate, our executive producers and editors decided that a name change and further character development – a 4-month hiatus in bourbon barrels – were necessary to satisfy our most ardent and demanding viewers.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.34
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.1

Intro: A 12 fl oz bottle, Batch #2, bottled on 25th January 2016. Poured into a snifter glass.
Appearance: A dark brown to black colour with a one finger mocha head that had decent retention and left sparse spotty lacing.
Aroma: Very nice cocoa, chocolate fudge, espresso coffee, vanilla, raisin, cherry and bourbon.
Taste: Sweet plum, prunes, raisin, bittersweet chocolate, vanilla, molasses, coffee and strong but not overpowering bourbon.
Mouthfeel: A little bit thin at medium to full bodied, with low carbonation. Definitely some boozy heat, but its not overdone.
Overall: A very nice Coffee BA Imperial Stout that’s not overly sweet and has great aromas and taste. At 17.5% ABV, you get the boozy heat, but it’s still a very nice sipper.

words of another dreamy traveller