Tag Archives: white wine barrel aged

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Denmark, Insight Cellars, Wild Ale

Insight Cellars Sunstead: White Peach

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Brewery: Insight Cellars
Country: Denmark
ABV: 6.3%
Style: Wild Ale
Other Notes: Danish Wild Ale with fresh white Saturn peaches. 2023 vintage. 2657 btls

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Our Sunstead series captures the essence of perfectly ripe stone fruits, allowing us to savor the warm flavors of summer all year long. The base beer is a blend of one, two and three-year-old Danish Wild Ales aged in white wine barrels. We racked this onto freshly destoned and crushed white Saturn peaches at a rate of over 600 grams of peaches per liter, and left it to macerate with the fruit for over a month before bottling. This complex, soft and juicy beer tastes almost like biting into a fragrant peach, transporting you back to the high days of summer no matter when you drink it.

My rating: 4+
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.47
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.4

Intro: A 750ml caged and corked bottle, 2023 vintage, bottled on 31st August 2023. Poured into a Tilquin stemmed glass.
Appearance: A hazy golden orange colour with a one finger white head that dissipated quickly, while leaving only sparse to no lacing.
Aroma: Juicy, fresh juicy peach flesh, peach skin, with light wood and a touch of funk.
Taste: Lightly sour, super juicy, ripe peach, peach juice, a splash of lime, and light notes of funk.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: Very juicy ripe peaches in both the aroma and flavours. Really enjoyable and easy to drink.

4 - Good (buy), Almanac Beer Co., Beer Reviews, USA, Wild Ale

Almanac Farmer’s Reserve Grand Cru

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Brewery: Almanac Beer Co.
Country: USA
ABV: 10.2%
Style: Wild Ale
Other Notes: Farm to barrel

Brewer Description: (from bottle) An Imperial Sour Ale aged in white wine barrels with California grown muscat blanc grapes.

My rating: 4+
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.49
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.4

Intro: An admittedly forgotten in the cellar but still tasting good, 1 pint 9.4 fl. oz. bottle, bottled in Autumn 2015. Poured into a Tilquin stemmed glass.
Appearance: A nice lightly hazy golden orange colour with a one finger beige head that had decent retention, but left only sparse lacing.
Aroma: Fuji apple and apple peel sweetness, light tartness, peach sour gummy, lemon peel, white wine grapes, vinous, oak, and vanilla.
Taste: Sweet Fuji apple, tart, peach sour gummy, white wine grapes, lemon, light funk, oak, with light notes of vanilla.
Mouthfeel: Light to medium bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: Despite being forgotten in the cellar, this turned out to be still really good, with a good balance of sweet, tart, and funk. It drinks really easy and doesn’t feel ‘Imperial’ at 10.2% ABV.

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, England, Mills Brewing, Wild Ale

Mills Okay

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Brewery: Mills Brewing
Country: England
ABV: 6%
Style: Wild Ale
Other Notes: Mills Brewing make beer with minimal modern intervention, relying on local wild yeast cultures and the influence of nature to ferment

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Okay was made from a blend of two golden worts produced in April and August 2019. Fermentation took place in two ex Ross cider barrels and two white Burgundy barrels. Raw Scottish heather honey was added just prior to bottling. This provided sugar for conditioning as well as trapping the delicate earthy aromatics in the bottle. The resulting beer is relatively full-bodied with a surprisingly fluffy mouthfeel.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.98
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.9

Intro: A 750ml corked and capped bottle, bottled in November 2020, with a best before date of November 2025. Poured into a 3 Fonteinen stemmed glass.
Appearance: A slightly hazy golden orange colour with a big almost three finger white head that had good retention and left some nice lacing.
Aroma: Dusty, funky, white grape, apple cider, oak, hay, dried leaves with a twang of lemon zest.
Taste: Tart, lightly sour, juicy, white wine vinous, grapefruit, minerals.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: Not sure I get the honey, but this was just refreshing and enjoyable.

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Cascade Brewing, USA, Wild Ale

Cascade The Vine

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Brewery: Cascade Brewing
Country: USA
ABV: 10.1%
Style: American Wild Ale
Other Notes: Northwest sour ale. Ale aged in oak barrels with grapes. 2015 project

Brewer Description: (from bottle) House of Sour. The Vine is a blend of sour wheat and blond ales aged in white wine barrels for up to 16 months with Gewürztraminer grapes.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.28
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.2

Intro: A 750ml corked and caged bottle, 2015 project. Poured into a 3 Fonteinen stemmed glass.
Appearance: A lightly hazy golden colour, with a thin white head that dissipated quickly, while leaving only some sparse lacing.
Aroma: Tart, oak, funk, vinous, white wine, grape, grape skin, with light citrusy lemon and mixed berry notes.
Taste: Sour, tart, vinous, white wine, lightly sweet, grape skin, oak, wood, lemon.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: Complex and balanced with good sweet and sour notes and strong vinous and oak presence.

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Belgium, Brouwerij Oud Beersel, Lambic - Gueuze

Oud Beersel Oude Geuze Vieille Barrel Selection Foeder 21

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Brewery: Brouwerij Oud Beersel
Country: Belgium
ABV: 6.5%
Style: Belgian Lambic (Gueuze)
Other Notes: 2019 vintage. Bottled 20 years before best before date

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Foeder 21, originally used for the production of sweet white wine, has been in Oud Beersel’s cellar since 2011. This Oude Geuze is a blend of 4 year old Lambic from Foeder 21, and younger Lambic pulled from similar barrels.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.01
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.9

Intro: A 375ml corked and caged bottle with a best before date of 15th February 2039. Poured into a 3 Fonteinen gueuze glass.
Appearance: A very lightly hazy golden colour with a two finger white head that dissipated quickly and left only sparse lacing.
Aroma: Funky, barnyard, mouldy, funk, wet wood, musty, green apple skin and sharp lemon zest.
Taste: Lightly sour, funky, barnyard, musty, oak, lightly vinous, white grapes, and lemon juice.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: This was good, a little more musty and funky than I prefer, but still very drinkable with good balance of citrus and vinous notes.