8.8/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 9
Flavor 9
Texture 8
Overall 9
(500mL bottle from brewery, consumed April 6) Pours a hazy bright medium orange with a medium-sized whitish head, lots of lace. Aroma really complex: peach, apricot, mango, lychee and more from the dry hops are the most apparent, but in behind there’s a good amount of both oak and Brett, caramel malt sweetness, a little earthy pine. Flavour as complex as the nose, initial punch of peach, lychee, blueberry juiciness backed by caramel malts, vinous, and then oak and Brett funk become more apparent along with a smoky, dry, herbal character and maybe a little sour cherry. On the finish there’s a fair bit of yeasty funk, herbal/medicinal hops, oak, fairly bitter, quite dry. Medium-full mouthfeel with soft bottle-conditioned carb, basically no booze. This beer plays with sweet, tart, sour, fruity and funky and manages to hold them all in check. Hard to write about, much much easier to drink. Here’s to another year of Bellwoods brews.
Tried
from Bottle
on 21 May 2014
at 14:21
7.6/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 8.5
(On tap at the brewpub, May 8 2014) Pours black with an inch of tan foam that lingered, was pretty lacy. Way too cold on arrival but with improved with sufficient patience to warm on the patio. Aroma fairly lactic, some soft fruit, seemed like sour cherry/red wine, touch of wood and some dry, dusty lightly ashy roast. On the palate, still predominately lactic with that fruity cherry-type character, vanilla/wood, light but ashy roast malts with quite minimal dark malt sweetness coming through. Finish quite dry, sour/tart and ash. Pretty sour overall, overpowers the stout quality a bit too much for me. Body medium full, fairly soft carb, no alcohol heat. Maybe I just wasn’t quite in the mood but I didn’t enjoy as much as No Sleep til Brooklyn. Still a good sour stout, would try again on draft or maybe in bottle.
Tried
from Draft
on 20 May 2014
at 11:54
8/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8
Awesome quad with light bretta. Great balance. Brown pour with good head and lacing. Floral yeast, with plum and prune and raisin. Finishes with some light sour and barrel. Great stuff. Bottle saved from release last year and shared at Epic Sour Tasting in DC.
Tried
from Bottle
on 19 May 2014
at 09:43
7.5/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 8
From a bottle shared at the DC Epic Sour Beer Tasting. Thanks solidfunk! Pours a hazy amber with an ecru head. Flavors of caramel and tart cherry. Hints of plums. Tart finish.
Tried
from Bottle
on 18 May 2014
at 08:02
8.6/10
—
Appearance 10
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 10
Overall 8.5
Bottle from robinvboyer, many thanks. Dark red brown color with medium beige head. Sour red fruits in aroma. Sour red fruity taste, coffee, wood, Brett. Tasty.
Tried
from Bottle
on 16 May 2014
at 12:58
8.6/10
—
Appearance 10
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 10
Overall 8.5
Bottle. Aroma has prominent bretty sourness with dark fruits, sweet. Very dark colour. Taste is intensely fruity, berries, brusnice, egrese. Mostly sour, but deliciously balanced with light sweetness. Only light light dark malts. Easy drinking.
Tried
from Bottle
on 16 May 2014
at 12:56
7.8/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 7
500mL bottle, sent from wilco (thanks a lot, Mike), pours a hazy orange with a large off-white head. Aroma brings out lots of funky fart, loads of brett, and yeast. Flavour brings out lots of wine, bretty funk, yeast, and slight residual hops. Hugely funky, quite vinous, and slightly hoppy. Really well-made stuff.
Tried
from Bottle
on 14 May 2014
at 21:18
7.9/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 7.5
500mL bottle, sent from wilco (thanks a lot, Mike), pours a cloudy golden with a small white head. Aroma brings out Belgian yeast, citrus fruity esters, and rustic notes. Flavour brings out traditional rustic farmhouse notes, fruity esters, a little banana, a little clove, and some funk. Really solidly made saison, with just the right balance of notes. Excellent stuff.
Tried
from Bottle
on 14 May 2014
at 19:34
6.5/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 8
Flavor 6
Texture 4
Overall 7
Crap, this stuff black as Rob Ford’s heart, with a brown head (we’ll call that Ford’s soul just to really overextend this metaphor) that didn’t really rise up to the challenge much. Smell of coffee, chocolate, hint of booze (add Crack and bacon to that and it too is just like Ford’s smell.) Taste is a little burnt, some caramel, ends with a notable bitter aftertaste. Not really picking up on the coconut, or vanilla in any significant way. Alright, infinitely better than Mill Street vanilla porter. Thanks Freakytikki for not suing me for stealing the Rob Ford bit.
Tried
from Draft
on 12 May 2014
at 15:14
7.8/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 8
(500ml bottle from brewery) Pours a hazy gold, average white head, no lace. Aroma pretty tropical, papaya, floral, some mango and orange/tangerine, bit catty and spicy. Flavour has sweet mango and tangerine flesh initially, then dries with zesty citrus pith, lightly catty with pepper, moderate bitterness, very dry finish, slight grain. Average body and carb, very drinkable and refreshing. A bit brighter tropical fruit than the Mosaic version with a little less depth and heft to it, but really nice APA for a sunny day.
Tried
from Bottle
on 11 May 2014
at 14:59