Tag Archives: oak barrel aged

4 - Good (buy), Australia, Beer Reviews, Wild Ale, Wildflower Brewing & Blending

Wildflower Amber

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Brewery: Wildflower Brewing & Blending
Country: Australia
ABV: 6%
Style: Wild Ale
Other Notes: Australian Wild Ale

Brewer Description: (from website) Amber is a blended, barrel aged Australian Wild Ale. Amber Blend #27 is a blend of five barrels – 1727 (21 month old Amber), 1732 (17 month old Amber), 1754 (13 month old Amber), 1847 (17 month old Amber) and 1919 (9 month old Amber).

This blend has an intensely rich nose loaded with cola, fudge, currants and sweet spice. Sweet red fruits, cola, oak and spice fill out the palate and balance the acidity. Wonderfully moreish with great length and a hazelnut finish.

The base beer is brewed entirely with New South Wales cereals: Single Origin (S.O.) Riverina NSW grown Schooner Munich malt, Binya NSW grown S.O. LaTrobe Vienna malt and Riverina NSW grown chocolate malt from Voyager Craft Malt. It is made with filtered Sydney water and Saaz (CZ) hops. Finally, it was fermented with our house culture: brewers yeast, foraged wild yeast and naturally occurring souring bacteria native to New South Wales. It was bottled on 11 March 2020 and naturally conditioned through refermentation for 21 weeks. At bottling it was 6.0% ABV, 18 IBU and 1.4°P (FG = 1.006 SG).

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.38
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.2

Intro: A 750ml bottle, blend #27, bottled in March 2020, and with a best before date of March 2025. Poured into a 3 Fonteinen Zenne glass.
Appearance: A nice clear amber colour with a one finger beige head that dissipated fairly quickly, but settled to a thin ring around the glass, while leaving some spotty lacing.
Aroma: Coke, cherry, blackcurrant, fig, oak, acetone, with notes of caramel.
Taste: Sour, tart, cherry, plum, coke, oak, caramel, and lemon.
Mouthfeel: Medium to light bodied with soft carbonation.
Overall: Very nice aroma and flavours of blended Coke and Flanders Red type ales. Carbonation was a bit lacking for me, but other than that, this was enjoyable.

4 - Good (buy), Australia, Beer Reviews, Wild Ale, Wildflower Brewing & Blending

Wildflower Gold

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Brewery: Wildflower Brewing & Blending
Country: Australia
ABV: 5%
Style: Wild Ale
Other Notes: Australian Wild Ale

Brewer Description: (from website) Gold is a blended, barrel aged Australian Wild Ale. Gold Blend #27 is a blend of 6 barrels – 1705 (15 month old Gold), 1746 (4 month old Gold), 1769 (6 month old Gold), 1813 (13 month old Gold), 1821 (11 month old Gold), 1836 (12 month old Gold).

Intense nose – ripe citrus (Meyer lemon), slate and oak melded together. Full and well structured palate. Citrus dominant but supported with dark earthy spice, cellar funk and energetic acidity. Pops of stone fruit and vanilla. Incredibly long and persistent. A standout blend of our Gold.

The base beer is brewed entirely with New South Wales cereals: Single Origin (S.O.) Riverina NSW grown Schooner ale malt and Coleambally NSW grown organic Red raw wheat thanks to Voyager Malt & Chris and Sam Greenwood. It is made with filtered Sydney water and Motueka (NZ) and Saaz (CZ) hops. Finally, it was fermented with our house culture: brewers yeast, foraged wild yeast and naturally occurring souring bacteria native to New South Wales. It was bottled on 26 February 2020 and naturally conditioned through refermentation for 23 weeks. At bottling it was 5.0% ABV, 25 IBU and 1°P (FG = 1.004 SG).

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.45
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.4

Intro: A 750ml bottle, blend #27, bottled in February 2020, and with a best before date of February 2025. Poured into a 3 Fonteinen Zenne glass.
Appearance: A lightly hazy golden colour with a one finger white head that dissipated fairly quickly, while leaving some spotty lacing.
Aroma: Funky, leather, oak, lemon zest, white grape, with apricot notes.
Taste: Tart, lightly sour, white wine grapes, oak, funky, apricot, green apple, and lemon zest.
Mouthfeel: Medium to light bodied with moderate to soft carbonation.
Overall: My first Wildflower bottle and wow, this was enjoyable. Good balance of funky, citrus and stone fruit flavours.

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Denmark, Lambic - Fruit, Mikkeller ApS x Three Floyds Brewing Co.

Mikkeller x Three Floyds Blå Spøgelse

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Brewery: Mikkeller ApS x Three Floyds Brewing Co.
Country: Denmark
ABV: 7.7%
Style: Belgian Lambic (Fruit)
Other Notes: Brewed by Mikkeller at De Proef Brouwerij, Belgium

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Sour Ale brewed with blueberries and aged in oak barrels. Blueberry Bluebic.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.22
My ratebeer.com rating: 4

Intro: A 750ml bottle, with a best before date of sometime in 2026 (since the month was not legible). I suspect this bottle is a 2016 vintage. Poured into a Mikkeller stemmed tasting glass.
Appearance: A hazy reddish purple orange colour with a one finger pinkish head that had decent retention but left only sparse lacing.
Aroma: Tart, Spontan like funk, oak, blueberry skin, blueberries, Ribena, with notes of zingy lemon zest, pepper, and hay.
Taste: Sour, tart, funky, blueberry skin, blueberry, oak, plum, Ribena, lemon zest, with herbal, yoghurt and jammy notes.
Mouthfeel: Dry-ish, medium bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: Enjoyable and easy to drink with nice berry notes. I’ve tried it a few times, and admittedly, despite a best before of 2026, I think it may have just past it’s prime.

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Denmark, Lambic - Fruit, Mikkeller ApS

Mikkeller Spontandoubleraspberry

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Brewery: Mikkeller ApS
Country: Denmark
ABV: 7.7%
Style: Belgian Lambic (Fruit)
Other Notes: Brewed by Mikkeller at De Proef Brouwerij, Belgium

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Sour ale brewed with raspberries & aged in oak barrels.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.43
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.3

Intro: A 375ml bottle with a best before date of 29th May 2028. Poured into a 3 Fonteinen stemmed glass.
Appearance: A hazy dark ruby red colour with a two finger pinkish beige head that had great retention and left lots of nice lacing.
Aroma: Wood, lightly tart, jammy, raspberry, strawberry shortcake.
Taste: Lightly sour, tart, jammy, raspberry, lime, oak.
Mouthfeel: Medium to full bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: Enjoyable jammy raspberry flavours. One of the better ones in the Spontan lineup.

3 - Indifferent (might buy, probably drink), Beer Reviews, Belgium, Hanssens Artisanaal, Lambic - Fruit

Hanssens Very Special Old Red (V.S.O.R.)

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Brewery: Hanssens Artisanaal
Country: Belgium
ABV: 6.5%
Style: Belgian Lambic (Fruit)
Other Notes: Fruit: 7% blackberries, 13% sour cherries, 3% strawberries, 17% raspberries

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Fresh strawberries, black berries, raspberries and sour cherries – 7 months macerated in lambic oak barrels.

My rating: 3
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.49
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.3

Intro: A 375ml corked and caged bottle, bottled on 16th November 2018. Poured into a 3 Fonteinen stemmed glass.
Appearance: A hazy dark red colour with an orange hue, with a thin off white head that left no lacing.
Aroma: Tart, cherry, strawberry, raspberry, acetone, with musty, damp and balsamic notes.
Taste: Sour, intense sour, cherry, raspberry, oak, acidic, balsamic vinegar.
Mouthfeel: Sharp, acidic, medium bodied with soft carbonation.
Overall: A few bottlings of Hanssens have had strong sourness and harsh acidity, and after the first sip I thought that this was going down that similar route. But thankfully things improved somewhat after that first sip, and I think that the berries somehow toned down the acidity to a slightly more acceptable level.