Tag Archives: barrel aged

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Holy Mountain Brewing Company, USA, Wild Ale

Holy Mountain Corpse Reviver

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Brewery: Holy Mountain Brewing Company
Country: USA
ABV: 5.4%
Style: American Wild Ale
Other Notes: Sour ale aged on meyer lemon zest

Brewer Description: (from menu) Corpse Reviver was fermented entirely in oak and then transferred into 3rd use bourbon barrels on top of a large amount of meyer lemon zest and juice, where it aged for 3 months, keg conditioned with brett.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.27
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.2

Intro: On tap at Holy Mountain Brewing, Seattle. A 9oz pour into a mini snifter.
Appearance: A clear golden colour with a half finger white head, while leaving some lacing.
Aroma: Meyer lemon zest and citrus juice with subtle hints of bourbon, almost like a refreshing long island ice tea.
Taste: Lightly sour, lemon zest and juice.
Mouthfeel: Light to medium bodied with moderate to low carbonation.
Overall: Very nice and refreshing. Would love a bottle to age a year or two.

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Bellwoods Brewery, Canada, Wild Ale

Bellwoods Motley Cru 2017

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Brewery: Bellwoods Brewery
Country: Canada
ABV: 6.3%
Style: American Wild Ale
Other Notes: 5th Anniversary release. Wild Ale with Passion Fruit. Blend of 1 and 2 year barrels

Brewer Description: (from website) Motley Cru is our anniversary release, with the only requirement being that the final beer must incorporate a blend of various barrels. This year’s edition is a wild ale with passion fruit blended from two mixed grain ales (containing pale ale barley malt, wheat, oats, and rye). Both new American oak barrels, and old use (wild ale program) barrels from Niagara and Prince Edward County provide an eclectic range of wild and local yeast strains, and several hundred kilos of passion fruit puree create a fantastic balance of old world sour flavours and bright tropical notes. Extra time spent conditioning in the bottle provides a lively carbonation.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.24
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.1

Intro: A 750ml bottle at the brewery, 2017 vintage, poured into a Bellwoods stemmed wine glass.
Appearance: A mostly clear golden straw colour with a thin white head that dissipated fairly quickly and left only sparse lacing.
Aroma: Sourish and tropical, passionfruit, apricot and pineapple.
Taste: Tart, sour, passionfruit and apricot with hints of lemon.
Mouthfeel: Light to medium bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: Light, refreshing and easy to drink.

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Bellwoods Brewery, Canada, Stout - Russian Imperial

Bellwoods 3 Minutes To Midnight

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Brewery: Bellwoods Brewery
Country: Canada
ABV: 11%
Style: Russian Imperial Stout
Other Notes: Imperial Stout with Cherry and Cocoa

Brewer Description: (from website) Fruited, barrel-aged Russian Imperial Stout. This rich and complex Imperial Stout gains a character that can only come with age (12 months in barrels), aided by the addition of tart cherries and cocoa nibs. Deep roasted flavours merge with cherries to create a complimentary tartness that marries the fruit and malt beautifully.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.31
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.2

Intro: A 500ml bottle at the brewery, December 2016 vintage, poured into a Bellwoods tulip glass.
Appearance: It was black in colour with pretty much no head and only sparse lacing, although what was there was mocha in colour.
Aroma: Cherries, prunes, raisins and oak with hints of coffee and chocolate.
Taste: Cherries, oak and raisins with hints of chocolate malt and cocoa.
Mouthfeel: Full bodied with low carbonation.
Overall: Very nice body, tastes great, and a very enjoyable sipper.

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

Omnipollo Noa Pecan Mud Cake Double Barrel

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Brewery: Omnipollo
Country: Sweden
ABV: 11%
Style: American Imperial Stout
Other Notes: Brewed by Omnipollo at Brouwerij De Molen in the Netherlands

Brewer Description: (from website) The pinnacle of our first run barrel project. An Islay and Cognac Barrel Aged Pecan Mudcake Imperial Stout. Brewed with aromas.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.23
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.2

Intro: A 330ml bottle with a best before date of 7th July 2020. Poured into a snifter.
Appearance: It was black in colour with a half finger mocha head that dissipates quickly while leaving some sparse lacing.
Aroma: Chocolate, pecan, caramel and whisky with hints of vanilla and cognac.
Taste: Sweet milk chocolate with a nice pecan nuttiness. There are also hints of oak, cognac and peat.
Mouthfeel: Full bodied with moderate to low carbonation.
Overall: This particular bottle was nice and tasty, but I don’t think that the barrels improved the base beer. It should be noted that this beer has had it’s share of infection. This is my third bottle now, of which I’ve had two good and one infected. The infected bottle clearly tasted sour and was just not pleasant to drink. You will know if you have an infected bottle, so I guess it’s a bit of the luck of the draw at this point.

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

Crooked Stave Mama Bear’s Sour Cherry Pie

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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.

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