Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 5 | Flavor - 4 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 3.5
Bottle @ benzai. Sweet, peat, fingerpaint. I can't enjoy this. Rough barrel aging. I feel like they've made a mediocre stout and they threw it in a barrel just because that's the thing people do in 2017/2018.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 5 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 4
Bottle @ benzai. Amber colour with a huge offwhite head. Smells overripe fruits, weird, sourish, cherry peel, herbs. Tastes annoying, sweet, overripe fruits, sour, weird. Whoever made this up should be fired. Medium too full body, soft carbo. Hate it.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5
At MEUG, where it was sold as "Basement Barrel Aged Peated Whisky" apparently because the brewery is no longer allowed to use the brand name Ardbeg on their labels... Shared by Goedele. Stable, moussy, pale greyish beige head, black robe with thin mahogany edges. Aroma of strong iodine-like peat and evidently whisky, hot chocolate sauce, burnt toast, licorice, leather, teriyaki, walnut liqueur, butterscotch. Sweet onset, candied dates and raisins, sourish undertone, light umami hint; softish carbo, full and oily mouthfeel. Nutty, butterscotch- and eventually black chocolate-like malt body, toasty bitter in the end, where it is drenched in a whole lot of retronasal iodine (peat) and heating whisky; some woodiness and earthy yeasty notes as well as spicy phenols, but the peat is very strong - and tends to bring things out of balance, as is often the case in 'peated' stouts. Using peated whisky barrels is a difficult exercise in balance and restraint - an exercise HillDevils will have to repeat to create something truly great, I'm afraid. Maybe finetuning the basic beer, which is not the most refined imperial stout to begin with, could be a good idea as well...
Alengrin (11609) reviewed Red Hot Hilly Peppert from HillDevils 7 years ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7.5
Imperial stout spiced with chilli peppers, at MEUG in Antwerp. Medium thick, pale yellowish beige head with open middle, jet black robe. Aroma of very outspoken (dried) habanero and other chilli peppers, 'fondant' chocolate, toasted bread, hazelnuts, black peppercorns, leather, soy sauce, licorice, nutmeg, whisky. Very restrained in sweetness, some dried fig, sourish undertone, light cured meat-like umami; soft carbo, thick oily mouthfeel. Bittersweet malt base, nutty and toasty, more bitter than sweet with a licorice-like factor towards the end (as is often the case in these new 'impies'), lingering bitter black chocolate but above all, a strong, burning chilli heat dominating. A bit much to be taken all too seriously, actually - I had many peppered stouts by now but most manage to limit the chilli factor to a colourful accent of heat in the finish, accentuating alcohol and hops, but in this case the chilli heat overpowers too much even for me, being a great amateur of all forms of piquanterie, as is distracts too much from the beer's own features.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 8.5
At MEUG tasting festival, Antwerp. Hilldevils apparently have been working on a whole string of barrel aged beers, gathered under the "basement barrel aged" flag, and this is a DIPA aged on a cognac barrel - which cognac, however, remains undisclosed due to copyright legislation, quote the brewer. Lightly lacing, moussy, medium thick, egg-white head over a hazy, warm peach blonde beer with khaki tinge. Aroma - unsurprising for an aged IPA of any kind - is heavily coloured by cheesy notes, old abbey cheese, gorgonzola even, next to hints of dried peach, cognac but not too harshly so, old bread, honey liqueur, vanilla-ish oak, old cider, nougat, dried orange. Fruity onset in a cleanish kind of way, apricot and apple peel, sweetish even with notes of yellow raisin, over a light underlying sourishness; quite spritzy carbonation still. Supple, bit resinous mouthfeel, bready malt core, caramelly sweetish edges, long finish with a lot of boozy cognac yet somehow in a mellow, gently warming way, softly bittering dried citrus peel-ish hoppiness (very soft even for a DIPA), pleasant dryish woody tannins, lingering dried fruit sweetness and the expected retronasal dominance of old cheesy hops (even blue cheese). Skeptical as I was when I first encountered a barrel aged IPA, I can only say that all of the examples that crossed my path so far, were delicious and interesting. This one may not be the most refined example in this segment, but I sure enjoyed it a lot.
77ships (14506) reviewed Red Hot Hilly Peppert from HillDevils 8 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7
Tasting glass draft @ MEUG 2018. Black, little tanned head. Nose is dull iron, plastic, vegetable chilli, low liquorice, syrup. Taste is better but not optimal, chilli is bit vegetable, herbal, basic roasted malts, grainy, dark fruit & nice chilli burn that builds. Basic roasted, grainy body. Not optimal but okay with nice lingering chilli burn.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7
Thanks! Sampled @ MEUG 2018. Dark orange, creamy white head. Nose is strange yoghurt, sugar, orange peel, candy. Taste is way too dominated by yoghurt, strange sweet yoghurt, lacking much barrel & not a very good DIPA, caramel, sugar & yoghurt heavy body.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8
Thanks! Sampled @ MEUG 2018. Orange golden, creamy white head. Nose is dull orange peel, oak, basic bourbon, sugar. Taste is cheap bourbon, sugar, orange peel, bit thin with candy, low yoghurt almost but finish is pleasant oak & bourbon and I really enjoyed the finish on me, really grew on me and became rather nice, bit strange but oak & bourbon finish really did it for me. Nice. Bit thin bodied though.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7
Thanks! Sampled @ MEUG 2018. Black, tanned head. Nose is weird plastic, glue, green apple almost. Thin plastic syrup, green apple, hot alcoholic varnish, dark fruit, thin chocolate, tobacco, roast,..; Plastic syrup, roast. Really not what I expected upon seeing RIS & Wild Turkey, totally falters, not all bad but really not what it should be.
77ships (14506) reviewed India Pale Ale from HillDevils 8 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7
Thanks! Sampled draft @ MEUG 2018. Hazy orange, little white head. Nose is juicy white grape but also bit too much yeast, low yoghurt. Even more so in the taste, yeast & doughy chalky qualities dominate drawing out the white grape hop profile a bit. Not ideal but enjoyable for sure.