Tag Archives: oak barrel aged

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.

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.

3 - Indifferent (might buy, probably drink), Beer Reviews, Farmhouse Saison, Prairie Artisan Ales, USA

Prairie Puncheon

Friday, 30 September 2016 kitch Leave a comment

Brewery: Prairie Artisan Ales
Country: USA
ABV: 8.5%
Style: Belgian Saison
Other Notes: 25 IBUs. Farmhouse ale fermented in oak barrels. Brewed and bottled by Krebs Brewing Co., Krebs, Oklahoma

Brewer Description: (from website) Puncheon is a farmhouse rye ale fermented in large oak barrels with several different wild bacteria strains. Tropical citrus notes and sourness can be detected with hints of oak.

My rating: 3
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.7
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.6

Intro: A 16.9 fl oz (500ml) bottle with oddly no bottled on date visible. Poured into a d’Achouffe tulip glass.
Appearance: It poured a cloudy golden colour with a big three finger white head that dissipated quickly but settled to a thin cap and leaves nice lacing.
Aroma: Strong earthy musty farmhouse funk and damp wood, citrus lemon and orange as well as tropical apricot.
Taste: Tart, lightly sour, light funk, lemon, honey, apple peel, pepper spice and a touch of alcohol creeping through.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: This was quite good but there was a distinct lack of oak barrel notes that I had expected. On top of that, it was a little disappointing that a bit of the alcohol creeped out into the taste.

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

Crooked Stave Origins

Friday, 23 September 2016 kitch Leave a comment

Brewery: Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project
Country: USA
ABV: 6.5%
Style: American Wild Ale
Other Notes: Burgundy sour ale aged in oak barrels

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Our hommage to the history of barrel-aging and those who have influenced us along the way.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.18
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.1

Intro: A 375ml bottle from batch #5, bottled in May 2015, and poured into a Cantillon ballon glass.
Appearance: It poured a clear but dark burgundy reddish brown colour with a one finger beige head that had decent retention and left spotty lacing.
Aroma: Fruity grape, red wine, blackberries and cherries. Lightly tart with hints of oak.
Taste: Sour and tart, fruity grape, cherry and red wine with a touch of lemon, oak and vanilla.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: Nice, balanced and easy to drink.

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, BFM (Brasserie des Franches-Montagnes), Bière de Garde, Switzerland

BFM Abbaye de Saint Bon-Chien 2014

Saturday, 27 August 2016 kitch Leave a comment

Brewery: BFM (Brasserie des Franches-Montagnes)
Country: Switzerland
ABV: 11%
Style: Bière de Garde
Other Notes: Ale aged in oak barrels

Brewer Description: (from website) Don’t be afraid of sour beers! Love them! L’Abbaye de Saint Bon-Chien is an antique beer, a strong sour ale with 11% abv, aged in old wine oak barrels during one year. After the aging period, the different casks are blended together in order to obtain complexity and lots of flavours. Saint Bon-Chien is one of the world’s flagship’s sour beers coming from a mixed fermentation. It first ferments with wine yeast, then during the cask’s maturation, lots of microorganisms coming from the casks change the beer’s flavour profile.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.39
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.3

Intro: A 250ml pour on tap of the 2014 vintage at Moeder Lambic Fontainas into a Moeder Lambic snifter glass.
Appearance: It was a slightly hazy dark amber brown colour with a one finger tanned head with good retention and nice lacing.
Aroma: Tart, plum, cherry and oak.
Taste: Sour, tart, balsamic, plum, cherry, oak, lightly medicinal plus hints of grape bubblegum sweetness.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with light carbonation.
Overall: Very nice! A bit boozy and a little sweet but still delicious.

words of another dreamy traveller