Tag Archives: Scotland

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Scotland, Sour Ale, Vault City Brewing

Vault City Cheeky Vimto

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Brewery: Vault City Brewing
Country: Scotland
ABV: 8%
Style: Sour Ale
Other Notes: Modern sour beer

Brewer Description: (from bottle) To add to our recent string of cocktail inspired beers we’ve let loose and devised a fruity concoction. Enter a high octane, high intensity Modern Sour Beer that’s so nice, it’s naughty… Equal parts silly and serious, our base sour beer has been ramped up to deliver a juice blackcurrant bomb. Bubblegum sweetness, berry tartness and touch of spice for a port-like finish; this is pure unadulterated fun in a glass.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.95
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.8

Intro: A 375ml bottle with a best before date of 18th March 2022. Poured into a 3 Fonteinen stemmed glass.
Appearance: A hazy reddish purple colour with a big three finger pinkish head that dissipated quickly but settled to a thin cap, while leaving some lacing.
Aroma: Lightly tart, fruity, blackberry, strawberry, and guava, with blackcurrant notes.
Taste: Tart, lightly sour, mixed red and dark berries, blackcurrant, with a hint of berry flavoured yoghurt.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: A fun and enjoyable modern sour beer with lots of nice berry fruitiness.

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Scotland, Sour Ale, Vault City Brewing

Vault City Piñazo Sour

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Brewery: Vault City Brewing
Country: Scotland
ABV: 8.5%
Style: Sour Ale
Other Notes: Modern sour beer

Brewer Description: (from bottle) As summer hits full swing, we’re craving tropical flavours to satisfy that holiday thirst. The vibrant sweet-and-tart flavour of pineapple merges effortlessly with our citrusy sour base beer. Creamy coconut rounds out a dessert-like and truly tropical taste. A ‘pinazo’ (literal translation) is a smack in the face. Pinazo Sour offers just that, with a fresh yet decadent flavour. As the Spanish phrase goes – when life gives you pinazos, make pina coladas!

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

Intro: A 375ml bottle with a best before date of 25th February 2022. Poured into a 3 Fonteinen stemmed glass.
Appearance: A nice golden straw yellow colour with a one finger white head that dissipated fairly quickly, and left only sparse to no lacing.
Aroma: Tart, pineapple, peach, mango, with light coconut notes.
Taste: Sour, tart, lightly sweet, pineapple, peach, lemon, coconut, fruit cocktail.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: Enjoyable fruity cocktail like sour with wonderful aroma and just really easy to drink.

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, BrewDog, Scotland, Stout - Imperial

BrewDog Dog F

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Brewery: BrewDog
Country: Scotland
ABV: 17.5%
Style: American Imperial Stout
Other Notes: 10th Anniversary Imperial Stout

Brewer Description: (from bottle & box) Dog F is very special. Before you is our liquid anniversary marking 10 years of brewing. A Decade of Dog. To celebrate, we have done what we do best – brew an incredible beer and barrel-age it to the edge of existence. Dog F is a 17.5% imperial stout brewed with copious dark malts, pure cacao and coffee, balanced on a knife-edge of Habanero chili. Our hottest Dog to date also has layers of resonance from months spent in Cognac barrels. This beer will age with grace or be the centre of the party right now – it’s your call. Thank you for being part of our Decade of Dog. But you know we have a long way to go yet…

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

Intro: A 330ml boxed bottle, batch 170226, with a best before date of 1st April 2027. Poured into a snifter glass.
Appearance: Dark brown in colour with a thin beige head that dissipated quickly while leaving some sparse lacing.
Aroma: Light roast, cacao, dark chocolate, caramel, coffee, toffee, light boozy (maybe cognac), and a touch of herbal chili.
Taste: Chili spice, cognac booze, caramel, toffee, light roast, with touches of chocolate and hints of coffee.
Mouthfeel: Creamy, chili bite, full bodied with soft carbonation.
Overall: Smooth, chili spice forward. Cognac booze is there, but less than I expected considering this is 17.5% abv. The spiciness balanced the caramel and toffee sweetness. Although there was less roast and chocolate for an Imperial Stout, it wasn’t as boozy as I thought it would be, and the spiciness was prominent, but very good.

2 - Maybe (likely wouldn't buy, might drink), Beer Reviews, BrewDog, Scotland, Stout - Imperial

BrewDog Tokyo*

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Brewery: BrewDog
Country: Scotland
ABV: 16.5%
Style: American Imperial Stout
Other Notes: Intergalactic stout

Brewer Description: (from bottle) This is a beer inspired by a 1980s space invaders game played in Japan’s capital. The irony of existentialism, the parody of being and the inherent contradictions of post-modernism, all so delicately conveyed by the pixelated arcade action have been painstakingly recreated in this bottle’s contents. We brew this complex Imperial Stout with copious amounts of speciality malts, jasmine and cranberries, dry-hop it with a bucket-load of our favourite hops then carefully age it on French toasted oak chips. It’s all about moderation. Everything in moderation, including moderation itself. What logically follows is that you must from time to time, have excess. This beer is for those times.

My rating: 2
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.33
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.2

Intro: A 330ml bottle with a best before date of 29th January 2026. Poured into a snifter glass.
Appearance: Black in colour with a thin brown head that dissipated fairly quickly and left only sparse lacing.
Aroma: Chocolate, coffee, licorice, dark malt, light char, oak, hints of dark fruit.
Taste: Sweet, caramel, syrupy, licorice, chocolate, dark fruit, raisin, prunes, cranberry and alcohol.
Mouthfeel: Syrupy, full bodied with soft carbonation.
Overall: As it warmed to a more Imperial Stout ‘ideal’ temperature, it actually became too sweet and syrupy for my liking. I actually enjoyed it more when the cold numbed and toned it down a bit. The combination of sweet and syrupy was just too much for me even just sipping, as there wasn’t enough roastiness to balance it.

3 - Indifferent (might buy, probably drink), Barleywine - English, Beer Reviews, BrewDog, Scotland

BrewDog Abstrakt AB:20

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Brewery: BrewDog
Country: Scotland
ABV: 14.2%
Style: English Barleywine
Other Notes: Tiramisu Oatmeal Milk Barley Wine

Brewer Description: (from website) Our interpretation of the classic Italian tiramisu dessert. A blend of epic English barley wine brewed with coffee, oats and milk, and a twisted complex rum cask-aged imperial stout.

My rating: 3
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.7
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.5

Intro: A 375ml corked and caged bottle, bottle 38,773 of 45,800, bottled on 14th March 2016, poured into a snifter glass.
Appearance: A cloudy dark brown colour with almost no head and no lacing.
Aroma: Coffee grounds, sweet caramel malt, dark fruit, figs, plum, licorice, brown sugar and alcohol.
Taste: Sweet, caramel, chocolate milk, dark fruit, fig, raisin and a boozy finish.
Mouthfeel: Creamy, full bodied with no carbonation.
Overall: Nice aromas and interesting flavours, but I would have preferred some kind of carbonation.