Beer Ratings: Most Recent

Twin Elephant Brewing Company Chatham, New Jersey

Peach amd orange nose. Opaque amber, medium head. Apricot, marshmallow fluff. Full body, easy carbonation. Juicy, quite nice.

Zero Gravity Craft Brewery Burlington, Vermont

5/9/24 - Albany, NY - Rosanna's Restaurant - 12 oz can. Light golden, hazy lemonade-like pour, initial off-white head fades quickly. Coriander in the aroma, some lemony accents. Sweet flavor, some tangerine fruitiness, coriander spice. Nice spritz to the mouthfeel.

4 Hands Brewing Company St. Louis, Missouri

More pine and citrus pith than I expected, with some peach and tropical/berry notes and a lengthy resinous, bitter finish. Not bad.

Three Floyds Brewing Company Munster, Indiana

Aroma is wheat and sweet lemon. The flavor is wheat, big blood orange/lemon and a slightly sweet/citrus hop finish.

Russian River Brewing Company Santa Rosa, California

Small pour. Appearance: clear pale golden with a white head. Aroma: lots of candied citruses, bold, caramel. Taste: along the same lines, piney, quite bitter, malty, a bit sweet. Finishes with a high hoppy bitterness. Overall: good old school IPA.

Ettl Bräu Teisnach, Bavaria

Helle, recht trübe Farbe. Schaumentwicklung für ein Weizen eher mittelmäßig. Geruch fruchtig floral. Antrunk ungewöhnlich malzig für ein Bier dieser Färbung. Dann kommen deutliche Noten von Zitronensaft- und schale hinzu (ohne dabei jemals Richtung "sauer" oder "bitter" zu rutschen). Auch die Hefe spielt geschmacklich stark mit rein. Trotz einer ordentlichen Menge Kohlensäure hat man ein eher sämiges Mundgefühl. Ein schöner, leicht "fettiger" Film bildet sich auf Zunge und Gaumen. Auch wenn es mich nicht vollends zu überzeugen weiß, ist dies ein recht charakterstarkes helles Weizen.

Industrial Arts Brewing Company Garnerville, New York

5/9/24 - Albany, NY - Rosanna's Restaurant - 12 oz can. Slight haze to the medium golden pour, frothy, snow-white head, nice lacing. Pleasant aroma, light spruce, a dash of pineapple. Tropical, papaya-like fruitiness, a hint of citrus, some bready notes. Nicely textured mouthfeel.

De Garde Brewing Tillamook, Oregon

Shared with Farees. Appearance: murky straw with a white head. Aroma: nice funk, bold, some minerals. Reminds lambics for sure. Taste: not as good as aroma, quite bitter (from Brett and/or hops?), still bold, but not as complex. Overall: ok. Good try, but requires some work for sure.

Brouwerij de Dool Helchteren, Limburg

One of apparently two beers brewed by De Dool for Geistinger Vinkenbier, a 'bierfirma' in Geistingen (part of Kinrooi in Limburg) based on the history of a former local village brewery called Vinken which was erected in 1866. Apparently their other beer, Geistinger Vinkenbier, has been in existence since 2013 already, later joined by this tripel; it is odd that I never came across it in all that time, considering how I try to track down every brewery and client brewer in Belgium (still a daunting task - even more so today than in 2013). Very thick, egg-white, foamy, densely moussey, plaster-like lacing, very firm head on an initially clear warm orange blonde beer, almost amberish, with a column of steady sparkling in the middle, turning misty further on. Aroma of crumbled Betterfood cookies, old dry biscuit, dried orange peel, freshly cut grass, apple blossoms, unsalted peanuts, dried peach, sweetclover, coriander seed, hints of dried rosemary, calvados, patchouli, breakfast cereals, ripe persimmon, soap, lavender, tulips, honey waffles, dust, dry earth, white pepper. Sweetish onset, fruity in a well-organised way, hinting at baked banana, autumn pear and dried apricot with a dash of red apple, medium carbonated (but still actively and minerally so - fit for the intended style) with full, rounded, soft and fluffy mouthfeel. A red apple-like element as well as something 'rubbery' (but not in an unpleasant way) continues along a pleasantly amber-malty, bit peanutty, bit biscuity and bit cereally malt sweetishness, with some residual, honeyish sugars on top - yet avoiding sticky sweetness. Impressions of dried, sweet fruits, 'ethereal' patchouli and light clove grace a warming, medium long finish, with a soft floral hop bitterishness (a tad too soft, perhaps) and warming, calvados-like alcohol following suit. Lacking a bit in hop character, sweet and friendly though with lingering minerally and fruity flavours - but the booze is relatively well positioned (though still very much there) and there is a kind of 'extra' maltiness to it which sets it apart from the more 'commercial' tripels, which typically settle for simplistic pale maltiness. The fact that this one vaguely resembles a Walloon 'ambrée', albeit in a far cleaner, less earthy, bitter and yeasty way, lends it personality and charm, a bit more so than I am used to from Dool. Not a bad tripel at all.

Alliteration Ales Boise, Idaho

On tap slightly foggy medium brown mahogany. Thin tan fine head. Light sweet toasted maltiness. Light on any bitterness smooth and soft malty.

Liars' Bench Beer Company Portsmouth, New Hampshire

Pours lightly hazy amber with a one finger, white head. Aroma is honey, bread and roast. Taste is honey and light raisin, moving to bread and roast. Finish matches the taste.

Private Press Brewing Santa Cruz, California

On tap at Tørst. Pours black without head. Bourbon, toffee, biscuit, salted caramel, roast, little soy, a miso umami note, nutty, dark chocolate, dried cherry, tobacco, leathery, boozy, extremely intense. Nice oily body. Good.

Gravity Well Brewing Leyton, Greater London

On tap at the Southampton Arms, London on 9th May 2024. Hazy brigh golden amber with dense white foam affording full lacing. Rich and intense Citrus and tropical fruits aroma. Explosive burst of tangy tropical fruits and grapefruit zest in-mouth, and a full-on citrus finish. An orgasm of flavour. Medium bodied with a zingy mouthfeel.

Iron Pier Brewery Northfleet, Kent

Cask at the Southampton Arms, London on 9th May 2024. Thick sepia with deep tan foam affording almost no lacing. Rich and intense coffee in aroma. Rich roastiness in-mouth, with bitter chocolate and coffee, and a lengthy coffee roast malt finish. Medium bodied with an engaging texture.

Milestone Brewing Newark, Nottinghamshire

Cask at the Southampton Arms, London on 9th May 2024. Hazy amber with shallow, dull foam affording initial lacing lacing. Tangy tropical fruits in aroma, citrus in-mouth and a bitter finish. Medium bodied with a smooth mouthfeel.