Tag Archives: wine barrel aged

5 - Excellent (must buy), Beer Reviews, Farmhouse Saison, Hill Farmstead Brewery, USA

Hill Farmstead Table Dorothy Wine Barrel Aged

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Brewery: Hill Farmstead Brewery
Country: USA
ABV: 4.5%
Style: Farmhouse Saison
Other Notes: Farmstead Table Pale Ale aged in wine barrels

Brewer Description: (from website) Our low-abv Farmstead® table pale ale – crafted from American malted barley, malted wheat, New Zealand and American hops, our distinctive yeast blend, and water from our well – was conditioned in wine barrels and then dry-hopped before packaging and bottle conditioning. Nine months in wine barrels and then dry-hopped with Citra®, Mosaic®, and Simcoe® before packaging and bottle conditioning.

My rating: 5
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.78
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.6

Intro: A 375ml bottle, bottle conditioned since November 24, 2020. Poured into a Tilquin stemmed glass.
Appearance: A hazy golden straw yellow colour with a very nice one finger white head that had good retention and left some nice lacing.
Aroma: Tropical and citrus fruit mix. Mango, peach, lemon zest, calamansi, yuzu, oak, light funky notes, and a touch vinous.
Taste: Lightly sour, citrusy, calamansi, yuzu, lemon zest, oak, yellow stone fruit notes, white wine vinous, a touch funky, and a touch bitter.
Mouthfeel: Crisp, clean, light bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: Really enjoyable and easy to drink with great flavours and complexity. I could just keep drinking this again and again and again.

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4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Farmhouse Saison, Hill Farmstead Brewery, USA

Hill Farmstead Nonconformist 03

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Brewery: Hill Farmstead Brewery
Country: USA
ABV: 6%
Style: Farmhouse Saison
Other Notes: A farmstead ale aged in oak barrels. Hops – Cascade. Adjunct – Buckwheat and Vermont Buckwheat Honey. Time in oak – 1 year

Brewer Description: (from website) This is the third entry in our novel exploration of blended beers, aging techniques, and often unexplored ingredient combinations. In the summer of 2018, we brewed a beer with a base composition of 20% Vermont buckwheat honey, 48% organic buckwheat, 32% malted barley, and cascade hops. After a year of respite in wine barrels, the beer rested in the bottle, moving through its own hopeful arc towards achievement over the course of nearly three years. The result is a delicate, floral expression, displaying differing facets of this ancient grain within the context of our Farmstead® ale framework. Once again, the label features the imaginative artwork of our creative collaborator, a close friend, who has inspired and supported the Hill Farmstead journey since the very beginning, Alex Peltz of Peltz Creative.

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

Intro: A 375ml bottle, bottled on August 16, 2019. Poured into a Tilquin stemmed glass.
Appearance: A hazy dark orange colour with a one finger white head that had pretty good retention, while leaving some nice lacing.
Aroma: Zesty, mandarin, funky, wine barrel, oak, vanilla-ish.
Taste: Tart, sweet, apricot, grapefruit, oak, pineapple, and a touch vinous.
Mouthfeel: Light to medium bodied with moderate to soft carbonation.
Overall: Easy drinking and balanced. Needed some time, but I think it got better after a while.

3 - Indifferent (might buy, probably drink), Beer Reviews, England, Mills Brewing, Wild Ale

Mills Running Beer

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Brewery: Mills Brewing
Country: England
ABV: 5.5%
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) This beer is a blend of four brews produced in November 2018, January/March 2019 and May 2020. The worts were made using malted rye and aged hops. They fermented and matured in a mixture of oak barrels previously used by French Burgundy wine and American Bourbon whiskey producers. Running beer was the first recipe we designed for Mills Brewing. This is blend eight.

We still have no set recipe for Running Beer, but blend to a similar flavour profile each time. We produce a variety of worts and welcome the natural variation we are given by the barrels.

My rating: 3
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.82
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.7

Intro: A 750ml corked and capped bottle, blend eight, bottled in November 2021, with a best before date of November 2031. Poured into a 3 Fonteinen stemmed glass.
Appearance: A lightly hazy golden colour, with a two finger white head that had good retention and settled to a nice thin cap and good lacing.
Aroma: Funky, farmhouse, wood, apple, lemon zest, and slight whisky notes.
Taste: Tart, lightly sour, funky, musty, green apple, lemon zest, lightly vinous, oak.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate to soft carbonation.
Overall: Interesting aroma and flavours, maybe not my favourite, but it does work.

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Cerveza Granizo, Chile, Stout - Imperial

Granizo Foxy Lady

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Brewery: Cerveza Granizo
Country: Chile
ABV: 11.5%
Style: Stout – Imperial
Other Notes: Hot Imperial Stout matured in wine barrels

Brewer Description: (from can in Spanish) La unión entre una dominante cerveza negra y un rebelde ají putamadre, da a luz a Foxy Lady, una Hot Imperial Stout! Disfruta notas de pimienta, ají, café y madera que se funden con el calor del putamadre que perdura por unos segundos. No la olvidarás!

(translated to English) The union between a dominant black beer and a rebellious putamadre chili, gives birth to Foxy Lady, a Hot Imperial Stout! She enjoys notes of pepper, chili, coffee and wood that blend with the heat of the putamadre that lasts for a few seconds. You won’t forget her!

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.11
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.9

Intro: A 473ml can, canned on 15th February 2022, with a best before date of 15th February 2025. Poured into a snifter glass.
Appearance: Black in colour with a nice one finger tanned brown head that had great retention and left lots of lacing.
Aroma: Roasty, dark chocolate, coffee, chili pepper, with slight vinous notes.
Taste: Creamy, roasty, bitter notes, dark chocolate, coffee, pepper, chili, light spice, with slight vinous notes.
Mouthfeel: Medium to full bodied with moderate to soft carbonation.
Overall: Was hoping for more chili spice as it was definitely more muted than I thought it would be, and maybe softer carbonation. But the base was good and the barrel notes did go nicely with what chili I could feel.

3 - Indifferent (might buy, probably drink), Beer Reviews, Belgium, De Struise Brouwers, Stout - Russian Imperial

De Struise Black Damnation XXVI – Froggie

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Brewery: De Struise Brouwers
Country: Belgium
ABV: 13%
Style: Stout – Russian Imperial
Other Notes: 72 IBUs

Brewer Description: (from bottle) A massive stout from Flanders matured in Bordeaux wine barrels. Margaux, Pauillac & St.-Estèphe.

My rating: 3+
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.88
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.8

Intro: A 750ml bottle, bottled on 25th July 2018, and a best before date of 24th July 2023. Poured into a snifter glass.
Appearance: Black in colour with a nice frothy one finger brown head that had good retention and left lots of nice lacing.
Aroma: Roasted malts, light char, chocolate, cocoa, raisin, fig, dates, and a touch red wine vinous.
Taste: Roasted malts, bakers chocolate, espresso, light char, licorice, and red wine notes.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with soft carbonation.
Overall: The wine barrels add an interesting dimension to the aroma and flavour, but it’s not among my favourites of the Black Damnation’s. It’s a decent sipper, but I didn’t think it was better than much of the whiskey barrel aged variants.