We’re going to kick this review off with Arcobrau Zwicklbier. I think it’s only the second or third Zwicklbier I’ve ever had and it was a very refreshing beer with good citrus character. This beer got me the Das Boot Level 4 badge, for drinking German beers.
Caldera IPA disappointed me once again. It’s a beer that I’ve had a few times and it comes with big wraps. For me it’s not hoppy enough. Maybe it’s just not an IPA that travels well… Anyway at least it clocked up Land of the Free Level 5.
The Crisp as Day levels are going to fly by over summer I reckon. Palma Louca from Brazil is the latest one to pass my lips and it’s fair to say it wasn’t great. It’s very sweet for a German Pilsner and it’s not a beer I’d be rushing out to find. It’s a run of the mill lager, but if for some reason you are looking for a Brazilian beer you could do worse than Palma Louca.
Two fruit beers landed me Land of the Free Level 6 & Belgian Holiday Level 7. Founders Rübæus was an excellent example of a raspberry beer, with an initial sweet taste overpowered by a fantastic sourness towards the backend. Timmermans Kriek was the Belgian beer and is simply the best Kriek (Cherry) sour out there! If you haven’t had this one you like sours this is a must!
The Trip to the Farm badge was another one of the 12 newly released badges. As it’s coming into summer here this was always going to be an easy one for me to get. Simply knock off 5 different Saisons and this one is yours. Colette from Great Divide was the beer that got this one for me. It’s an interesting Saison with plenty of spicy coming from flavours of cloves and pepper, with citrus zest bring the whole thing together nicely.
Drink Like a Kiwi Level 2 has taken longer to acquire than I anticipated, I love New Zealand beers so I wonder whats happening. Harrington’s re-branded The Rogue Hop was the beer that clocked this one up and frankly I was pretty disappointed. There are some really excellent Pilsners being produced in New Zealand (Emerson’s comes to mind…) but this isn’t one of them.
Last Thursday I was at Alehouse Project for Temple’s Resurrection Dinner (Great to have you back guys!) Naturally I arrived early and the first beer I had was Garage Project’s Day of the Dead. I remember having the Double Day of the Dead at GABS and it was awesome. This was just as good as that, still plenty of chilli flavour but well balance and clocking in at a manageable 6%. Drinking this was good enough to earn Beer-giving (2013), just for drinking on Thanksgiving.
Abbotsford Invalid Stout was the first of three beers to earn badges on an epic day of drinking which will forever be known as Stout Day! It was the first beer of the day and earned Heavyweight Level 10 badge. As macro stouts (and especially CUB products!) go this was a really high standard beer. It’s a sweet stout and is definitely more creamy than many with roast and coffee flavours present but taking a back seat.
One of my favourite stouts brought in Land of the Free Level 7; Sierra Nevada Narwhal. It clocks in at 10.2% and has a huge flavour to match. It’s a rich flavour as well with decadent dark fruit and molasses flavours. If you are a stout lover and haven’t tried this beer you really need to work hard and get your hands on it, it’s worth the effort! We tried this straight after the regular Sierra Nevada Stout and that excellent stout is just blown out of the water by this beer.
Black Sheep Imperial Russian Stout is one of very few beers that I can think of that have the words Russian and Imperial that way around. This is a beer I’ve been that I’ve had in the cupboard for a very long time; Stout Day seemed the perfect time to bring it out. It had a very warming feel to the beer and felt like it had mellowed nicely with time. God Save the Queen Level 9 was the badge that this beer earned and was one of the last beers consumed on Stout Day.
That was an absolute monster of a review to cap off a monster month of work and drinking. Hopefully I will get my shit together soon and manage to pump out some more reviews. I’m going to start one right now for the beer I’m drinking now, I won’t say what it is in case I don’t finish it but I will say it’s amazing! Anyway, until next time keep your emails coming I will get round to them all eventually.
Remember it’s always Beer O’Clock somewhere in the world!
