Birdsong Brewing Co. Be-Bop-A-Ree-Bop Barrel-Aged Wild Stout with Rhubarb

Posted on by Evan

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Thanks to Brawley’s Beverages for this Charlotte beer, Bridsong Brewing Co. Be-Bop-A-Ree-Bop Barrel-Aged Wild Stout with Rhubarb, 8.0% ABV. This wild stout is aged in oak wood barrels, but I am not sure for how long. Be-Bop-A-Ree-Bop pours a deep black color with a two finger beige head with some decent retention and skinny whips of lacing left behind. The aroma is coca sweet with notes of a slight tartness, some raisins/currents, and slight dates. Smells decent but nothing really worth wild stands out. Be-Bop-A-Ree-Bop has a taste that is slightly bittersweet upfront with some tart flavors in the middle of the mouth and a faint bitter smooth note in the back of the mouth. You don’t really get any of the barrel characteristics in this beer, nor did I get any Rhubarb. This Birdsong beer has a slight bittersweet finish and faint coca tart after taste. The mouth feel is full but somehow light. Overall this beer has a lot going on and it is okay but I didn’t like it that much, so I give this a C-/D+. It’s drinkable and not such a bad beer. I found no barrel flavors or much of the Rhubarb in Be-Bop-A-Ree-Bop. That is let down. I think I don’t like wild sour stouts. So don’t try Birdsong Brewing Co. Be-Bop-A-Ree-Bop Barrel-Aged Wild Stout with Rhubarb. I don’t think it’s worth really trying. Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!

Council Brewing Co. Béatitude Guava tart Saison

Posted on by Evan

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First off I would like to thank Brawley’s Beverage (www.brawleybeverage.com) for this Council Brewing Co. Béatitude Guava Tart Saison, 4.5% ABV, Council Brewing Co. located in San Diego California brews Béatitude which is French for bliss, with house culture of Brettanomyces, Lacobacillus and Saison yeast. Then it’s aged on guava. Béatitude Guava Tart Saison pours a hazy grapefruit color with a one finger quickly fading head with very little left behind, but a tart tropical aroma with a little bit of a funky note. Taste is easy with tart tropical notes from the guava with some slight funky yeast/doughy notes coming through in the middle of the mouth; more tartness comes in on the back, and Béatitude finishes tart and fruit with a slight faint doughy note that gives way to an tart tropical somewhat mouth puckering after taste. The mouth feel is medium with some slight fullness. Council Brewing Co. Béatitude Guava Tart Saison is a great take on a Belgian Saison. The fruit addition adds a real tropical refreshing quality to a great beer style making Béatitude Guava Tart Saison an A+. This Béatitude comes in a variety of fruits and is one beer that you should try for yourself. Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!

The Unknown Brewing Co. Bright Ass Tank Top Rum Barreled Key Lime Gose

Posted on by Evan

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The Gose style, an old German style of beer has grown in popularity among craft brewers, and craft beer drinkers. I see them popping up here and there with some pretty creative brews and such. Here is a local Charlotte, North Carolina example, The Unknown Brewing Co. Bright Ass Tank Top Rum Barreled Key Lime Gose, 4.1% ABV. I pick this up in a one pint four-pack from Pop The Top Bottle Shop (www.popthetopclt.com). It’s a relatively new shop where East Blvd meets West Blvd. Bright Ass Tank Top pours a murky yellow color with a two finger white head that fizzy away quickly with minimal lacing left behind. The aroma is salted citrus fruit with some faint sweetness, and has an easy taste of salty lime with some little vanilla notes and of course the tartness you usually get on a Gose. The mouth feel is light and easy that makes a nice light salted tart lime finish with a light sweet and tart after taste and lingers for a bit. I like the Gose style and find it refreshing, as is Bight Ass Tank Top. It is balanced with all the flavors and does not over power your taste buds. The Unknown Brewing Co. Bright Ass Tank Top Rum Barreled Key Lime Gose is an A+. Does it take over Westbrooke Brewing Co. Gose spot as my number one favorite Gose? No but it is in close second, and you should try it. Thank you Pop The Top Bottle Shop for carrying this beer. I recommend you head over there and check out Pop The Top Bottle Shop. Cheers! Please Enjoy responsibly!

Stillwater-Artisanal Insetto Dry-Hopped Sour Ale with Italian Plums

Posted on by Evan

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Here’s another beer from a recent Brewpublik delivery I received, what a good service. This is Stillwater-Artisanal Insetto Dry-Hopped Sour Ale with Italian Plums 5.0% ABV. Insetto is the Italian word for an an insect. I’m not sure why Stillwater-Artisanal named this beer Insetto, other than it’s an Italian word and Italian plums are used or maybe insects like to eat at plums, you know fruit flies, they like plums and are a kind of insect, so maybe that’s it. Anyhow, Insetto pours a peachy dark pink color with a one finger clear fizzy head with nothing left behind and Insetto has tart aromas of slightly sweet plums, plum juice, and some candied fruit. Taste is pretty much what you read on the can, tart plums with plum juice and a bit of a slight sour note on the back of the mouth. The flavor makes your lips pucker a bit special after each swig. Insetto finishes with a sour yet tart plum and plum juice flavor leaving a tart and slightly sour plum juice aftertaste. This Insetto has a one-sided flavor profile, but it’s not bad and yes it’s refreshing and easy to drink. I give Stillwater-Artisanal Insetto Dry-Hopped Sour Ale with Italian Plums an A-. I am not a huge fan of plum juice, but I do however like to eat plums. I don’t know why that is. This is just to much plum flavor here but that’s okay, I think there needs to be a flavor of maybe some slight hops to cut down the intensity of the juicy plums. But the big plum flavor is not a bad thing; it is just that I don’t think you’d get past two cans of this stuff without having everything else you put in your mouth taste like plums. That’s where I think it falls off just a bit. Insetto is still high at an A-. I recommend trying Stillwater-Artisanal Insetto Dry-Hopped Sour Ale with Italian Plums. Good Stuff! Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!

Omnipollo Beer Shploing!! Mango S’mores

Posted on by Evan

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Craft beer is booming in Sweden. There is a big popularity of craft beer in that country, mostly with pale ales and IPAs, from what I found while there. Yes there are a few American crafts there like Sierra Nevada, and Brooklyn Brewery. But what I have here from Brewpublik (www.brewpublik.com), is Omnipollo Shploing!! Mango S’mores, 7.0% ABV. This unfiltered IPA is brewed with marshmallows, graham cracker, salt, Lacto sugar (sugar found in milk), mango, and vanilla. Omnipollo Beer is from Stockholm, Sweden. Shploing!! Mango S’mores pours a thick orange juice yellow color with a one and a half finger of fizzy white head, with an aroma of big juicy mango fruits with a little sweetness and some slight hop notes. Taste is big with mango and bitter hops and a slight sweetness that coats the mouth. You get a pinch of a salted note that comes in the middle of the mouth. On the back you get a faint sweetness that is probably vanilla and there is not really any graham cracker or marshmallow flavor here. You will find little sediment at the bottom of the glass, and that is perfectly normal because this beer is unfiltered, which is becoming a popular trend with IPAs right now. Mouth feel is full with a hoppy full finish and a bittersweet mango after taste that lingers on the tongue and in the mouth for a while. This beer looks better than it taste, but doesn’t taste half bad, so I give Shploing!! Mango S’mores a B+. This beer looks and smells amazing, but you don’t really get any of the graham cracker, marshmallow or much vanilla like described on the can, and that holding this beer back slightly. If you describe the beer on the label I think it should deliver the said flavor, or come really close to that. I think that this is a beer one that you should try just because it’s so different and interesting for an IPA, and it’s kind of good. Thank you to Brewpublik for this cool beer! Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!   

Eviltwin Brewing A Is For Apricot

Posted on by Evan

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I like apricot beers but I’ve never really eaten an apricot and I think that they might not be good, just by how an apricot looks. I know that sounds a bit strange. I have here Evil Twin Brewing A Is For Apricot, 4.5% ABV, that I picked up through a recommendation from Good Bottle Co. (www.goodbottleco.com). Thanks to them for this beer! This brewery is from Copenhagen, Denmark and they also have operations in New York City. Eviltwin usually doesn’t brew the same beer more than once , very few  they do. This beer is a Gose-style ale brewed with salt and apricot added. A Is For Apricot pours a hazy bright yellow color with a quickly fading white head that leaves very little to almost nothing behind. Aroma is tart with some apricot, slightly salty/briny, with the taste not far off from the aroma with more tart apricot flavors with a salted briny flavor and a faint sour note in the middle and more on the back of the mouth. Mouth feel is medium to light, but more on the lighter side. A Is For Apricot finishes tart slightly salty with some apricot and with a more tart finish with a little sour salted note. A Is For Apricot is light and refreshing with ease of drinking and gets a B+. I think the apricot is good and the Gose base is good, together they kind of drop off a bit. I have had much better Goses, Westbrook Brewing Co. Gose is one for example, but not to say that A Is For Apricot is terrible, it isn’t. I thought it was refreshing, had good flavor, but it’s not the worlds best. I just think that some Gose beers are better than this. The apricot kind of takes just a little bit way from the Gose base beer; the apricot slightly over powers the salty notes upfront and they linger on your tongue in the middle and back of the month. I do however recommend Eviltwin Brewing A Is For Apricot. Good warm weather beer that is refreshingly easy top drink. Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!