Bayreuther – Hell, Helles Lager, 4.9% 500ml bottle. Nice standard Helles Lager, a little sweet, a little spicy, nice moderate bitterness, clean, crisp. Sierra Nevada – Celebration, 6.8% 375ml can. No idea when this was canned, but still fine, old school stuff, a classic. Hargreaves Hill – ESB, 5.2% 375ml can. Bitter, malty, hits all the marks for style, decent beer. Sudden Death Brewing – Bull Dog Brown, Brown Ale, 4.5% 500ml can. First beer from these guys, surprised its German, canned March of 22 so…Instantly comes across visually and smell as too massive and dark, more like a Porter, on drinking its mild and a decent Brown Ale, nice enough even with the age. Fruh – Kolsch, 4.8% 500ml can. A perfect standard, a great beer. It is what it is every time. Rocky Ridge – Karls Date Turns Sour, Lemon Sherbet Berliner 2,6% 375ml can. Its nice, its a lemony sour, tart and sherbetty.
Nail Brewing Gareth Skywalker Golden IPA, its a good beer, no idea when this was last canned though, probably a year old! | Innate Heirloom Czech Pilsner is a nice beer, Innante make some interesting stuff, | Rocky Ridge Crispy Concord NZ Pilsner one of their recent collabs real nice | Rocky Ridge Staved & Confused Oaked WCIPA, another of the collabs big oakyness, nice stuff | Nowhereman Rice IPA a collab with a local bahn mi place (Le Vietnam), really prominent rice character in a good way, some light lemongrass and ginger, another nice one | Beerfarm Firkin of Duck Dry Hopped Sour, real tart, real “fresh” hoppy, great | Beerfarm Azacca Vodou Haze, an Azacca hopped hazy, again real nice stuff.
I think I drank this about 3 or so weeks ago, and just forgot to post about it.
Rocky Ridge & 8 Wired – Pflaume, Lichtenhainer Plum Smoked Sour beer. 4.5% 375ml can. This was canned in July, and its one of those rare styles, sometimes considered a “Lost Style”, and such a weird find at my local. Had not heard about this being released at all. The smell is a nice woody smoke, none of that bacon thing, and some plum and other red berry fruit? Nice big pinkish head on pouring, nice carbonation, hazy/opaque ruby colour. I believe this has some wheat in the grist, which is traditional and I think helps with some of the mouthfeel. The taste is initially a plum taste and sourness, a lighter ripe fruit sour, not overbearing or blunt. The plum also adds some fruit sweetness. Then its the smoke which is a wood smoke character, not the bacon or ham thing you often get in conjunction with a bigger and sweeter malt bill. And then you get a woody dryness from the smoked malts, like a well oaked red wine. The sourness just accentuating it all, making it pop, the whole time. Really really great beer and style. 3/5.
The Space Donut was sold out by the time I found the Rocky Ridge stand at Froth Fest (I’m sure there were maps but I’m and idiot and was stuck trying the great Artisan Brewing stuff). So I took a bus trip to a liquor store I knew had it in stock and grabbed 2 of them, then I saw the Double Dragonfruit (excellent and first “reviewed” here) and grabbed two of those. And lastly grabbed a Rosé Gose. I didn’t even want to try the Rosé Gose at Froth Fest, because its basically 2 things I’m just not a fan off, I was wrong, kind of.
Rocky Ridge – Rosé Gosé. 9%ABV 375ml can. Smells very Rosé wine, a light lacto funk, and the taste is like a big fucking punch in the mouth, Its basically Rosé grape juice, carbonated and soured, with a bit of Gose saltiness in there. But like 110% amped for all of it. Truly incredible in its just brutal fuck you-ness. Wild stuff. 3 because yes it is good, its, fantastic even and made well, and you do kind of adjust or succumb to it eventually and its actually nice, my personal dislike for Rosé wine put aside.
★★★
Rocky Ridge – Space Donuts Maple Bacon Stout. 8%ABV 500ml can. Great big tan head. Nice smoke, burnt sugar, maple syrup maybe? There’s some very roasted black malt smells. The taste is…. smoke and then… just the bottom of hell dark malt flavour’s. Fucking weird. There’s some sweetness to kind of try and level it out in the mouth, but that first sip is just a vertical drop into pure darkness. This needs to be in a bottle and aged for like at least a year or more and I would love to drink the results. Its not maple, or bacon, but its fucking awesome and bizarre. 3.5 stars. Even after it warms more and it gets a bit more sweetness its still just insane dark rich black roasted viscous insane malts. I don’t even know what the name is referencing.
Update 2/9/22: Just had this again and its a bit more boozy this time, more richer? viscous? More cloying, Still extremely dark and bitter, but it has this boozy almost sickly edge to it now.
★★★★
Rocky Ridge – Double Dragon Imperial Dragonfruit Sour. 8%ABV 375ml can. The thing I missed about this the first time was the a mount of strawberry in it. In all the gaps and bits of sides of your tongue where its not the big lacto sourness, or the more big citrus side stuff, its all just strawberry. The only Dragonfruit could possibly be just the smell. Weird beer, Great beer. Really big and intense and scary drinkable. 3/5.
Pirate Life – Raspberry Lamington Stout. 6.5% 355ml can. Smells like fake raspberry and coconut, but still has a nice dark malt scent. Tastes like a stout, then an artificial coconut and a cocoa/chocolate flavour, no real raspberry taste except maybe a kind of berry juice sourness which is probably just a dark malt thing. Its weird, its drinkable, but its too artificial for me.
★★
Pirate Life – Stout. 5.8% 355ml can. Its a stout. Really good, too. Not much else to say. 3 stars.
★★★
Rocky Ridge – You Put the Beer in the Coconut, Dry Hopped Sour with Finger Lime and Coconut. 4.0% 375ml can. I haven’t has a sour in so long, and this seems very sour. Theres sourness, maybe some lime sourness but mostly probably lactic acid. And thats about it. Sone lactic funk on the nose. Some hop bitterness is detectable. Its a nice sour drink, sure, but there’s no coconut or way to know its finger limes and not lemon juice or just lactic acid. 2 stars
★★
Rocky Ridge – Rice Crispy, Rice Lager 5.0% 375ml can. Its clean, crisp, slightly sweet malts, lager style smell and hopping/bitterness. A nice clean crisp lager. Good stuff.
★★★
Pirate Life & Eyre Roasted – Coffee Porter. 6.0% 355ml can. Really big coffee. Insane coffee. Hard to say if any of the bitterness is actually hops. Big coffee and some well balanced dark malts. Gets a bit sweeter as it warms up, a bit of cocoa and chocolate in there, gets slightly medicinal, and the hops are there in the residual bitterness.
Homestead Brewery – Midnight Blossom, Dark Cherry Sour. 5.5%ABV, 375ml can. This was really nice. Not as sour as most sours are these days, and I am going to assume it was kettle soured, which isn’t a problem. Its nice and fermented-fruit/wine characteristics with none of the weird almost fake taste that cherries can throw off some times. Mild dark cherry/dark fruit flavour, a slight cherry sweetness, and a nice mild sourness.
Lucky Bay Brewing – The Homestead, Farmhouse Ale. 6%ABV, 375ml can. Now this has the “wild” unrestrained fermentation stuff. Very Belgian, very farmhouse with lots going on flavour-wise with the yeast/bugs (some brett?). Nice malts leaning to a stronger Saison and almost a more straight Belgian Ale, but also some lager-like tastes and smells, both yeast and hops – there is definitely hops in here that become more noticeable as it warms, they seem really Pilsner-like adding to the afore mentioned lager-accents. Its good to see a more unrestrained ferment farmhouse ale like this. Definitely something we are seeing less of unfortunately.
Green Beacon – Apricot & Peach Sour. 5% 375ml can. Nice peach smell and a little sour funk. Its pretty hazy as well, nice head. The taste is mild, there is a hint of apricot, some fermented fruity flavours and a fruity sourness. Nothing crazy. A refreshing sipper. Nice.
Molly Rose Brewing Co – Nitro Persian Coffee, Vegan Desert Stout. 5.2% 375ml can Awesome coffee smell, like a cup of coffee but also of crushed coffee beans, some dark roasty malts. The coffee smells is fantastic and very fresh smelling, just awesome. The taste and mouthfeel is smooth, theres oats in here giving it a viscocity as well. A really nice big initial hit of coffee, dark and black malt with some bitterness from the malt and also I assume hops. After a few sips theres all kinds of things going on in here, it says cardamon is in there and yeah I guess, I also taste anise/licorice? There’s other stuff I just cant put a thumb on. Cant taste the rosewater or coconut listed, though they drop off pretty fast and this is nearly 2 months old. A great interesting stout even if the additions didn’t shine. This also seems like a rather interesting brewery and brewer, I have one more beer from them now but will def check out more from them.
Molly Rose Brewing Co – When Life Gives you Lemons , Farmhouse Ale. 4.2% 375ml can. This is, obviously, the other Molly Rose can I have. Straight off the bat its insane lemon into the nose. Its like sherbert, this is crazy. Interesting as hell. NOT a standard farmhouse ale at all. Very fine carbonation, great smooth sourness and mouthfeel. That first crazy lemon scent blast doesn’t follow through into anything overpowering at all. Its crisp, its soft but sharp. This is nice as hell. Not what I was expecting at all.
Brewery Omer Vander Ghinste – VanderGhinste Roodbruin, 5.5% 250ml bottle. A Belgian Roodbruin, a red-brown Flanders Sour ale made from blending what I gather is an oud-bruin type base beer that is blended with a Lambic and then aged in oak barrels for 18 months.
The colour is a brown – dark copper, its quite clear with a hint of reddishness. Very light head, just a ring with very mild lacing. Lots of carbonation going on in there. The smell is excellent, a real sour character as opposed to modern kettle sours, oakey barrel notes and a slight malty carmel sweetness. The taste is fantastic, an extremely well balanced caramel malt flavour, a nice sweetness, then a firm but not lingering sourness, before the oakey dryness on the end. Very interesting sweetness that sits well and is enhanced by while enhancing the nice sourness. Extremely drinkable. Really nice, and quite different as well.
