7.5/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8
Bottle in hotel room Orlando 2016... Dark brown black... Thin tan head... Soft licorice Spiced roast malts nose.. Ovaltine.. Dark sweet chocolate roast.. Big spice.. Soft biscuit (digestive biscuit) malts.. The more i have the more i enjoy. Thanks to alexdad06 for spotting the accidental 0.5
Tried
from Bottle
on 19 Feb 2016
at 18:55
6.6/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 6
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 6.5
Draught at EBF, 2/5/16.
A tough one to rate, as are most pepper beers. As usual, I fuckin love the balls-to-the-wall pepper heat and incredible spicy flavor. But then, it’s certainly dominant and is going to be very off-putting to those not looking for an extreme chili beer. As far as what it does for the beer itself, I do like that it helps dry out the otherwise powerfully sweet maltiness. There’s some ashy roast and very light coffee and vanilla, but by and large it’s a battle of chili pepper vs. richly chocolate and caramel-tinged base malts. I loved it, though I do think if they took the FG and the scovilles down somewhat, they’d have a really, really nice beer that would appeal to more people. But good for them for not doing that, honestly, and brewing a beer they wanted to.
A tough one to rate, as are most pepper beers. As usual, I fuckin love the balls-to-the-wall pepper heat and incredible spicy flavor. But then, it’s certainly dominant and is going to be very off-putting to those not looking for an extreme chili beer. As far as what it does for the beer itself, I do like that it helps dry out the otherwise powerfully sweet maltiness. There’s some ashy roast and very light coffee and vanilla, but by and large it’s a battle of chili pepper vs. richly chocolate and caramel-tinged base malts. I loved it, though I do think if they took the FG and the scovilles down somewhat, they’d have a really, really nice beer that would appeal to more people. But good for them for not doing that, honestly, and brewing a beer they wanted to.
Tried
on 17 Feb 2016
at 22:48
4.1/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 4
Flavor 3
Texture 4
Overall 3.5
Draught at EBF, 2/5/16.
Hazy, lime-olive-tinted golden body is topped by a suspiciously large, white head that shows strong retention.
In the nose you’ve got A LOT of pear. I won’t call it highly artificial, yet nor would I call it fresh and authentic. Something like a pear jelly bean, I suppose (which of course are artificial, but do have a pretty decent pear character). Not much beyond that, perhaps a touch of acidity from the yeasts/bacteria breaks through on the end, but it’s very, very dominated by the pear.
The flavor is, unfortunately, heavily, heavily given over to the pear, which comes across even less authentic than in the nose. Sugary, syrupy and rather artificial (though I’ve had much worse, in an overall sense), it’s hard to get much more than the pear from the flavor. Moderate carbonation can’t help things out much and it ends with a doughy, biscuity, almost plastic-meets-powdered sugar thing going on, which isn’t a whole lot of fun either. Did not finish a two ounce sampl and I will have to disagree with SlovakSniper’s claim that it’s "not undrinkable". Let’s get some real pear juice or pear puree in here next batch.....
Hazy, lime-olive-tinted golden body is topped by a suspiciously large, white head that shows strong retention.
In the nose you’ve got A LOT of pear. I won’t call it highly artificial, yet nor would I call it fresh and authentic. Something like a pear jelly bean, I suppose (which of course are artificial, but do have a pretty decent pear character). Not much beyond that, perhaps a touch of acidity from the yeasts/bacteria breaks through on the end, but it’s very, very dominated by the pear.
The flavor is, unfortunately, heavily, heavily given over to the pear, which comes across even less authentic than in the nose. Sugary, syrupy and rather artificial (though I’ve had much worse, in an overall sense), it’s hard to get much more than the pear from the flavor. Moderate carbonation can’t help things out much and it ends with a doughy, biscuity, almost plastic-meets-powdered sugar thing going on, which isn’t a whole lot of fun either. Did not finish a two ounce sampl and I will have to disagree with SlovakSniper’s claim that it’s "not undrinkable". Let’s get some real pear juice or pear puree in here next batch.....
Tried
from Can
on 17 Feb 2016
at 16:10
7/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 7
Draught at EBF, 2/5/15.
Forgot to ask the vintage of this particular blend, but it seemed very young, so I assume it to be a recent batch. They do indeed blend a one and three year sour ale and, as far as the owner/brewer? said, do expose it to ambient yeasts in the brewery. Did not want to come across fanatical, so I didn’t ask if they do a turbid mash...
Anyhow, the beer pours a gently hazy, soft-goldenrod/bronze color with gentle carbonation and a large white head that slowly fades to cover.
In the nose there is a good deal of oak/wood and light lactic acid mixing with brighter, fruitier brett acids. Light band-aid, limeskin and a fair amount of cereal and honey-like malts in the background. Doesn’t have the deep, intense funk of stuff like Cantillon or some of 3F’s weirder lambics, but smells entirely enjoyable, nonetheless, with no diacetyl or strong acetic component (nor is it over-oaked or boozy).
When drinking lambics, I can’t help but immediately compare it to the best stuff out there, and while this has some shortcomings, namely no real heavy horseblanket, no strong lactic component and a bit too much sweetness, it doesn’t skimp on bright acidity mostly in the form of brett and cider-like flavors. The oak/wood character is done well too, adding noticeable tannin and oaky character but not going overboard on it. Strong, tight carbonation helps add to drinkability and despite 6.4% being a bit higher than average for a gueuze, it doesn’t seem to succumb to the looseness that the higher alcohol often creates in the body.
In the end, yes, it’s still closer to an American sour ale/wild ale, but for comparison’s sake, I liked this about as much or more than Resurgam, though they both are a bit too sweet, overall and just don’t have the profound flavor profile and developed funk that the real stuff has.
Forgot to ask the vintage of this particular blend, but it seemed very young, so I assume it to be a recent batch. They do indeed blend a one and three year sour ale and, as far as the owner/brewer? said, do expose it to ambient yeasts in the brewery. Did not want to come across fanatical, so I didn’t ask if they do a turbid mash...
Anyhow, the beer pours a gently hazy, soft-goldenrod/bronze color with gentle carbonation and a large white head that slowly fades to cover.
In the nose there is a good deal of oak/wood and light lactic acid mixing with brighter, fruitier brett acids. Light band-aid, limeskin and a fair amount of cereal and honey-like malts in the background. Doesn’t have the deep, intense funk of stuff like Cantillon or some of 3F’s weirder lambics, but smells entirely enjoyable, nonetheless, with no diacetyl or strong acetic component (nor is it over-oaked or boozy).
When drinking lambics, I can’t help but immediately compare it to the best stuff out there, and while this has some shortcomings, namely no real heavy horseblanket, no strong lactic component and a bit too much sweetness, it doesn’t skimp on bright acidity mostly in the form of brett and cider-like flavors. The oak/wood character is done well too, adding noticeable tannin and oaky character but not going overboard on it. Strong, tight carbonation helps add to drinkability and despite 6.4% being a bit higher than average for a gueuze, it doesn’t seem to succumb to the looseness that the higher alcohol often creates in the body.
In the end, yes, it’s still closer to an American sour ale/wild ale, but for comparison’s sake, I liked this about as much or more than Resurgam, though they both are a bit too sweet, overall and just don’t have the profound flavor profile and developed funk that the real stuff has.
Tried
from Can
on 17 Feb 2016
at 15:53
4.8/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 6
Flavor 3
Texture 6
Overall 4
Bottle in hotel room Orlando 2016... Amber... Red wine sour balsamic funk... Big balsamic.. Odd medical funk
Tried
from Bottle
on 16 Feb 2016
at 19:01
6.2/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 8
Flavor 5
Texture 6
Overall 6
Bottle share Hazy pale golden Nice sour acidic aroma light pale mild sour wheaty flavors. Soft and almost watery
Tried
from Bottle
on 14 Feb 2016
at 00:07
7/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 7
Bottle share thanks to Jeff. Very fruity, light, not too fizzy. Could use a bit more body.
Tried
from Bottle
on 13 Feb 2016
at 20:36
8/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8
22oz bottle thanks to Jeff. pours out a crisp golden topped with a small head. nose is light fruit notes funk and some gueze notes. Taste is more of the funky barnyard and some pucker.
Tried
from Bottle
on 13 Feb 2016
at 20:12
7.4/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 8
Texture 6
Overall 7.5
Bottle share. Clear golden color, no head. Oak, fruit, funk nose. Sour funky taste, woody, some fruits. Good.
Tried
from Bottle
on 13 Feb 2016
at 20:09
8/10
Tried
on 06 Feb 2016
at 15:18