Tag Archives: beer

Almanac Farmer’s Reserve Blueberry

Brewery: Almanac Beer Co.
Country: USA
ABV: 7%
Style: American Wild Ale
Other Notes: Farm to barrel. Sour ale aged in wine barrels with blueberries

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Every year, the blueberry harvest heralds the coming of summer. We selected the very best hand-picked berries grown in the hills of Butte County, California, and added them to a sour golden ale aged in wine barrels. The resulting beer is infused with the essence of these jewel-like berries, creating a fruity character reminiscent of mom’s blueberry pie and a reminder of long summer days.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.17
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.9

Intro: A 375ml bottle, bottled in October 2015. Poured into a Lost Abbey teku glass.
Appearance: A very nice clear ruby red colour with a one finger white head that dissipated quickly and left sparse to no lacing. (Note: the final 1/6th poured extremely cloudy and colour became a murky reddish purple colour).
Aroma: Tart, cherry, blueberry, vinous white wine and wood.
Taste: It’s what you expect from the aroma, sour, tart, acidic, blueberry and cherry, with a vinous white wine and oaky finish.
Mouthfeel: Dry, light to medium bodied with moderate to high carbonation.
Overall: Nice, enjoyable and refreshing.

Stone x Marble x Odell Megawheat Double IPA

Brewery: Stone Brewing Co. x Marble Brewery x Odell Brewing
Country: USA
ABV: 8.4%
Style: American Double IPA
Other Notes: 2017 Stone Collaborations. 70 IBUs. Hops – Motueka, Mosaic and Mandarina Bavaria

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Kick back and crank it up – we’ve done all the brewing… the we being Stone and the special guest appearances of two heavy hitters in the indie craft beer industry: New Mexico’s Marble and Colorado’s Odell. Credited with 58 years of brewing chops, our trio built a wheat ale foundation on the classic “C” hops. Then we rocked a pure hop triad of “M” hops to achieve a supercharged succession of orange, tangerine, lemon, lime, spice and dankness. The undulating rifts of Motueka, Mosaic and Mandarina Bavaria hops slash through the wheat haze with equal footing, never playing over one another. The cacophony of flavor is what fans would expect from a name like Megawheat. So join us as we forge ahead on a path that directly leads to the main stage… and then off the front of it, into the crowd! If you feel the urge to smash the bottle afterwards, don’t. That’s what guitars are for.

My rating: 3
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.46
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.4

Intro: A 22 oz bomber, bottled on 9th January 2017 and to be enjoyed by 6th April 2017. Poured into a Lost Abbey teku glass.
Appearance: A clear copper orange colour with a two finger white head that had great retention and nice lacing.
Aroma: Orange flesh and peel with hints of honeydew melon.
Taste: Bitter with lots of citrusy orange peel and pith, pine, dankness and hints of apricot plus melon. I’m also getting a tinge of alcohol here and there.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: This was ok, but mainly, I’m just not fond of getting any sort of alcohol booziness in any IPA, and in this case, I kept getting a tinge of just that, here and there.

Omnipollo Bianca Blueberry Lassi Gose

Brewery: Omnipollo
Country: Sweden
ABV: 3.5%
Style: Gose – Fruit
Other Notes: Brewed and bottled by Omnipollo at Buxton Brewery in the UK (England)

Brewer Description: (from website) A milky gose brewed with buckets of blueberries, lactose sugar and rock salt. Dry hopped with Mosaic.

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

Intro: A 330ml bottle with a best before date of 1st April 2017. Poured into a Lost Abbey teku glass.
Appearance: A deep dark purple-ish red colour with a one finger purple-ish pink colour head that dissipated fairly quickly while leaving some sparse lacing.
Aroma: Tart and sour with a Ribena like aroma of blueberry, blackcurrant and grape with hints of grapefruit.
Taste: Tart and lightly sour. Again like the aroma, the Ribena comes through with blackcurrant, blueberry and grape. There is also hints of salt. Sourness increases towards the end along with acidity.
Mouthfeel: Light bodied with high spritzy carbonation.
Overall: Very refreshing and very easy to drink with nice amount of fruit and tartness.

O/O Muscles

Brewery: O/O Brewing AB
Country: Sweden
ABV: 8.2%
Style: American Double IPA
Other Notes: Pronunciation guide: O/O Brewing = Oh! Oh! Brewing

Brewer Description: (from bottle) A potent Imperial IPA brewed with the finest hops around. Muscular, childish, likeable. Unfiltered & unpasteurised.

My rating: 3
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.68
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.6

Intro: A 330ml bottle, batch 038, with a best before date of 29th May 2017. Poured into a Lost Abbey teku glass.
Appearance: A very nice hazy golden straw yellow colour with a one finger white head that dissipated quickly but left nice lacing.
Aroma: Pineapple, unripe mango, grapefruit, pine and grass.
Taste: Sweet pineapple and candied orange followed by bitter grapefruit, orange peel and pine. Long and lingering bitterness on the finish.
Mouthfeel: Dry, medium bodied with moderate carbonation and hints of alcohol.
Overall: This was pretty good, but I’m not so sure about the sweetness, and I was definitely getting some alcohol here and there which wasn’t ideal.

Magic Rock Common Grounds

Brewery: Magic Rock Brewing
Country: England
ABV: 5.4%
Style: American Porter

Brewer Description: (from can) Triple coffee Porter.

My rating: 3
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.48
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.4

Intro: A 330ml can with a best before date of 28th August 2017. Poured into a Lost Abbey teku glass.
Appearance: Black in colour with a nice two fingered tanned head that had pretty good retention and left nice lacing.
Aroma: A good amount of fresh black coffee and chocolate.
Taste: Like drinking iced black coffee with a touch of chocolate, toffee and vanilla.
Mouthfeel: Light bodied with light carbonation.
Overall: I thought that it looked and smelt great. However, taste was a little one dimensional coffee, and unfortunately, in a way, I would prefer regular iced black coffee. In addition, body was a little light and could do with higher carbonation.