Brewery: Toppling Goliath Brewing Company Country: USA ABV: 5.8% Style: American Pale Ale Other Notes: 70 IBUs.
Brewer Description: (from bottle) This seasonal pale ale was crafted with a perfect mixture of Millennium hops and Falconer’s flight blend. Inviting orange aroma and hints of lemon flavor in this medium-bodied beauty will make you want to drink yours at light speed!
My rating: 4 My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.36 My ratebeer.com rating: 4.2
Intro: A 22 fl oz bomber with a bottled on date of 7th July 2015. Poured into a Duvel tulip glass. Appearance: Poured a cloudy golden orange colour with a one finger white head that had good retention and nice stringy lacing. Aroma: Strong tropical fruits especially mango, pineapple and peach with hints of grass and citrus fruits like grapefruit and orange pulp. Taste: Hop-forward for sure, but very tea like at the same time. Its like a bitter and citrus (orange and lemon) tea with hints of bready malts. Mouthfeel: Light to medium bodied with light carbonation (too light in my opinion). Overall: A great pale ale that is very easy to drink. It kind of reminds me a bit of tea and makes it interesting. The only thing is that I would have preferred more carbonation in it although this may take away the interesting tea like feel that I currently get.
Brewery: Omnipollo Country: Sweden ABV: 6.5% Style: Belgian Pale Ale Other Notes: Brewed by Omnipollo at De Proef Brouwerij (Belgium)
Brewer Description: (from website) Tired of talking my friends into pit stops at beer bars before heading “out” – in fear of having to drink bland lager all night – I set out to craft an ale that would act as companion throughout the evening. Leon is assertively hopped and fermented dry using champagne yeast. The yeast and the hops in combination with a simple malt bill provides the beer with a quality of being rich in taste yet refreshing.
My rating: 3 My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.4 My ratebeer.com rating: 3.3
Intro: A 330ml bottle with a best before date of 25th June 2016 and poured into a Duvel tulip glass. Appearance: It poured a golden copper colour with very light haziness. Aggressive pour left a huge three finger yellowish head that had very good retention leaving some spotty lacing. Aroma: Mainly citrus lemon accompanied by apple, pine and some pepperness. Taste: Apple juice and lemon zest with hints of grapefruit, orange and pepper. Mouthfeel: Dry, medium to light bodied with high carbonation. Overall: This was a decent Belgian pale ale and although not the best from Omnipollo, I can’t wait to try more of their stuff.
Brewery: Omnipollo Country: Sweden ABV: 5.6% Style: American Pale Ale Other Notes: Brewed by Omnipollo at De Proef Brouwerij (Belgium)
Brewer Description: (from website) Mazarin is my take on a “thinker’s beer”. Rather than being big and undecipherably complex I wanted to create something that would calm a hop yearning nerve without fuddling the brain too much. In other words, a lavishly hopped ale of judicious ABV – an Extra Special Pale Ale if you will.
My rating: 4 My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.21 My ratebeer.com rating: 4.1
Intro: A 330ml bottle with a best before date of 9th April 2016 and poured into a pint glass. Appearance: The beer poured a hazy golden orange colour with a two finger white head that has good retention and leaves a thin foamy layer with nice stringy lacing. Aroma: Very nice aromas of citrus grapefruit, mandarin and orange followed by tropical pineapple, passion fruit and mango. It finishes with a hint of floral pine. Taste: There’s a very light caramel malt in the background but strong citrus grapefruit, orange and pineapple. There are also hints of mango and honey while finishing with a grassy pine light bitterness. As it warms, the caramel malts and pine finish were more pronounced. Mouthfeel: Medium to light bodied with medium carbonation. Overall: Wow, this reminded me of Fatamorgana for a while there. Not quite as good in the end, but initial impressions were great. The aromas coming off this beer were stunningly nice and fruity. I would have preferred more tropical flavours considering the aromas, but overall this was still very good.
Brewery: Asahi Breweries Ltd. Country: Japan ABV: 5.5% Style: English Pale Ale
Brewer Description: Unfortunately words on the can was in Japanese and I can’t read Japanese!
My rating: 2 My beeradvocate.com rating: 2.61 My ratebeer.com rating: 2.5
Intro: A 500ml can with a canned date of March 2015 and poured into a pint glass. Appearance: The beer poured a clear copper amber colour with a one finger white head that dissipates quickly. Leaves only some light lacing. Aroma: Starts mainly with sweet and bready malts, some caramel and apple juice with hints of plum, lemon and floral hop. Taste: Sweet biscuit malt and caramel, bland apple juice, light bitter grassy hops with a hint of lemon. Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with medium carbonation. Overall: This was ok, its not terrible or anything, but I’m not sure I’d spend money to buy this again.
Brewery: Brouwerij Van Honsebrouck N.V. Country: Belgium ABV: 6.5% Style: Belgian Pale Ale
Brewer Description: (from bottle) Top fermented beer, contains barley malt.
My rating: 1 My beeradvocate.com rating: 1.92 My ratebeer.com rating: 1.9
Intro: A 330ml bottle with a best before date of November 2015 and poured into a Duvel tulip glass. Appearance: The beer poured a clear golden colour with a one finger white head that dissipated quickly leaving a very thin soapy layer and some spotty lacing. Aroma: Starts with caramel malt and fruity orange, lemon before turning grassy, pine and a metallic iron finish. Taste: Metallic iron overpowers everything else. Other than that though, there is some light caramel malt sweetness at the beginning and then lots of floral and herbal bitterness that lasts long into the aftertaste. Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with medium carbonation. Overall: Ughhh, I like hops. But this… It started off all well and good with a nice pour. It actually looked tasty. But then it all went downhill with the aroma first and then even further with the taste. I just really did not enjoy the taste at all. This one was not for me. I don’t even want to categorise this under Belgian Pale Ale…
words of another dreamy traveller 