Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8.5
Thanks to hopdog for this brew, get all the cool stuff from Steve. Fortunately, the wax comes off rather easily. The beer was poured carefully and made only a small head. The beer is a very dark amber color, not shining at all, just dark cannot see through it until I look at it in the light. In the light, I still can’t see through it but can see in it a bit; some carbonation bubbles in there shooting up to the surface. The aroma is pretty strong with an earthy and subdued cherry-pit brettiness. Its cool with the surrounding dark-soggy bread Belgian maltiness. Its not woody or acetic, just earthy yet lightly wild. Some light, non-tart strawberry as well. The flavor has a very nice dark, earthy sweetness from the malts added to it. This mixes just very beautifully with the the other aspects and gives the flavor a different dynamic from the beer. This also provides good reason for decent age-ability. Just a bit of an herbal and drying brett at the end, The bottom of the bottle shows the bottle conditioning with thick brewpub/homebrew dregs. The mouthfeel is medium with an average carbonation and a lightly tickling feel at the back of the throat. This is good stuff, not overly one-dimensional with brett being just one aspect and a solid malt character.
750mL red wax and capped brown bottle in a Selins Grove 10th Anniversary rounded goblet.
madmitch76 (40782) reviewed McKenzie Wee Heavy from McKenzie Brew House 16 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 6
11th October 2008. GABF. Slightly hazy dark brown beer. Sweet malt. Light and champagne crisp - unusual for the style! Dry finish.
madmitch76 (40782) reviewed McKenzie Abbey 8 from McKenzie Brew House 16 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 6
11th October 2008. GABF. Sweet aromatic malt. Crisp and dry palate and finish. Very drinkable.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6
11th October 2008. GABF. Probably should have had this before the ’De Luxe’ version but this still stood up to it’s big brother. Slightly hazy gold beer. Sharp and crisp with nice rye aromatics. Very dry finish.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 6
11th October 2008. GABF. Presented as a ’Winter Biere De Garde’. Clear amber beer. Crisp palate. The flavours are difficult to pin down but this beer is well balanced and refreshing.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7
11th October 2008. GABF. The may have intended to call this ’Saison De Luxe’ but it was presented as ’Vautor De Luxe’ here. Cross checked with the GABF 08 brochure. Hazy gold beer. Dry palate. Some wheaty flavours and some sourness. Typical saison aromatics but more so. A really full on Saison!
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7
GABF2009 - my first saison of the evening - a very tangy and spicy saison, with some rustic grassy notes, lemony notes, and a distinct wheaty quality - the addition of rye adds a bit more heft than your average saison (this saison rue, with a little less body), and compliments the spices and lightly bitter hops really well - a decent saison, but I expected transcendence given this brewers reputation.
Appearance - 4 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7.5
Bottle 75 cl. Hazy and opaque golden with an off-white head. Aroma of bourbon and caramel with a lightly oxidized touch. Full-bodied, sweet caramel and a vague woody touch. A whiff of peppermint also. Warming alcoholic finish. 110709
yespr (55573) reviewed McKenzie VuuVe XXxXX from McKenzie Brew House 16 years ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7
75 cL bottle. Pours hazy orange with a small white head. Fruity and yeasty aroma, slight phenolic. Fruity and slight phenolic flavoured. Caramelish and yeasty fruity flavoured. Light phenolic finish.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 4 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 4.5
@Pauls Girardin chugging courtesy of egajdzis-750ml bottle–pours a think film sediment and cloudy yellow color. Aroma is wood, tart lemon, funk, yeast. Taste is wood, funk, earthy.