Tag Archives: barrel aged

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Burning Sky Brewery, England, Farmhouse Saison - Fruit

Burning Sky Cherry Saison

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Brewery: Burning Sky Brewery
Country: England
ABV: 6.8%
Style: Farmhouse Saison – Fruit

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Sour Morello cherries from Kent were delivered to us fresh and added to a nine month old foudre aged saison. Further ageing and refermentation has drawn out a beautiful colour and complexity of cherry fruit, almond and oak flavours.

My rating: 4+
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.39
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.2

Intro: A 750ml corked and capped bottle, bottled on 23rd August 2021, with a best before date of 23rd August 2031. Poured into a 3 Fonteinen stemmed glass.
Appearance: A very nice pinkish orange colour with a just over one finger white head that had good retention and eventually settled to a thin cap, while leaving nice lacing.
Aroma: Sweet and tart cherry, candied grapefruit, light funk, with a touch of almond and oak.
Taste: Tart, funky, sour candy cherry, candied grapefruit, with notes of lemon and oak.
Mouthfeel: Crisp, refreshing, light bodied with high carbonation.
Overall: Really refreshing with a good balance of sweet, sour and funk. Especially great on a hot summer day.

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, 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.

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Belgium, De Struise Brouwers, Stout - Russian Imperial

De Struise Cuvée Delphine

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Brewery: De Struise Brouwers
Country: Belgium
ABV: 13%
Style: Russian Imperial Stout
Other Notes: 2019 vintage

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Black Albert, 4 Roses barrel aged.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.32
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.2

Intro: A 330ml bottle, 2019 vintage, bottled on 17th November 2021, with a best before date of +5 years. Poured into a snifter glass.
Appearance: Black in colour with a thin brown head that dissipated fairly quickly, while leaving some spotty lacing.
Aroma: Light roast, coffee, lots of dark fruit, fig, prunes, raisins, dates, vanilla, bourbon, with a light ashy note in the background.
Taste: Roasted malts, coffee, milk chocolate, moderate sweetness, dark fruit, prunes, dates, bourbon, vanilla, and a touch boozy.
Mouthfeel: Creamy, medium to full bodied with soft carbonation.
Overall: An excellent enjoyable sipper with good aroma and flavours. I think I prefer the base Black Albert just a tiny bit more, but this was still good.

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Belgium, De Struise Brouwers, Stout - Russian Imperial

De Struise Black Damnation IX – Beggars’ Art

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Brewery: De Struise Brouwers
Country: Belgium
ABV: 18.1%
Style: Stout – Russian Imperial
Other Notes: 72 IBUs

Brewer Description: (from bottle) A Belgian Royal Stout from Flanders aged for 2yrs in Ardbeg whisky barrels.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.28
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.1

Intro: A 330ml bottle, bottled on 5th May 2021, with a best before of +5 years, poured into a De Struise tulip glass.
Appearance: Black in colour with a one finger beige head that had pretty good retention, while leaving some spotty lacing.
Aroma: Roasty, chocolate, coffee, caramel, dried dark fruit, prunes, raisins, with some nice boozy whisky notes, although surprisingly only lightly peaty.
Taste: Roasty, chocolate, coffee, dark fruit, fig, raisin, licorice, whisky, light char, a touch peaty, with light leather notes.
Mouthfeel: Smooth, creamy, full bodied, with soft carbonation.
Overall: There was surprisingly less peat than expected. It was actually strange in that the peat was noticeably strongest while the beer was colder, whereas when it warmed, this peatiness was somewhat tamed. Also 18.1% ABV? If the ABV was this high, it certainly did not feel like it as it drank easy and smooth. Even easier than some of the lesser ABV Black Damnations. Despite these two comments, the beer did have good aroma and flavours, and drank surprisingly well.