To Øl Reparationsbajer

Newly crowned favourite brewers To Øl back with an interesting concept: a hangover beer.

Yes indeed, we've all been there and this beer is specifically engineered to help you out of your self-inflicted predicament. I can read a couple of words from the Danish label: 'burger' makes sense, 'pizza' yes indeed, and 'rottebazooka' just seems to sum up the situation beautifully.

The beer itself is an APA and delivers itself with poise. It's a balanced, soft complex malted nose that I'm surprised to see tips only 5.7% - though this still may be more than you are after in the circumstances I guess.  The mouthfeel on the other hand is light fruity and lovely. It's balanced and while flavoursome in both malt and hops, doesn't get all up in your face about it. This makes it comforting and compelling at the same time, and while it's billed as the hair of the dog I would happily drink it to get drunk.

I haven't yet tried this with a hangover but while it's no oily-french-toast-and-iced-coffee wonder cure breakfast in itself, I would endorse it to do the job beautifully. A true friend in times of need. 8.5

Epic Double Stout

Epic take on another highly contested field of war: that of the double stout.

It's labeled as a 'vintage ale' too.. I mean, it's hard to argue.. but still a strange way to put it in the circumstances.

The rest of the label tries to tell us of their brew day. It's that same old story: "let's put in double malt, double hops, double everything!". It seems lucky then to arrive at the advertised abv of 7.77%. It's also a bit of a shame that their prominent website link www.epicbeer.com/doubletrouble also leads to a page error (or at least it has every time I've tried it over the last few weeks). Double fail?

The nose on this is unifaceted and bitter, with a sticky head. Tastewise it's far too hoppy to be honest, a real assault on the senses that comes back to you after the mouthful. It delivers a treacly foreign extra stout sort of flavour behind that which nevertheless comes off a little empty and pale with the bitterness, far from the typical lush pillowy landscape you expect when you buy a double stout.

It does improve slightly as it warms, but we started these two glasses at what is normally a good stout temperature around 12C. I'd say it may be better when aged a bit longer too to mute the hops a little and expose the malts - but then, it's quite low abv for one of these too.

In the end I'd have preferred them to just double the water too and make a balanced, drinkable stout. As it is this is neither enlightening nor a good example of a stout, double or otherwise. It does however shed a little light on why the brew day website link doesn't work - "what happened on brew day was .. oh. An error." 4.5

Rogue Shakespeare Oatmeal Stout

Another Rogue, another delivery of their patented Pacman yeast strain.

This one needed to be sampled again on tap as the original photo was lost, however according to the bottle pictographs I had determined this one goes with "cows' heads" and/or "pies and wine". The container also informs us this is the 'world stout champion', though I'm not sure when or in which competition.

It's a really deep reddish brown pour, not quite on solid black, good for a six percenter. Aroma here is predominately chocolates .. wonder if it's chocolate malts driven, or some sort of addition? In any case it's pretty much the driving force here for both the aroma and flavour profile.

The beer itself definitely sits squarely in the chocolate stout camp but has a lovely round body to it that belies the comparatively low percent. Full flavoured through stages of chocolate, hops, and a burnt dry roastiness that keeps you coming back for more.

This is not a groundbreaking sort of a beer, but at the same time it's hard to complain when you can't think of much they could have done better. Excellent. 8.5

Epic Barrel Aged IPA

Another one of 'those labels' from Epic, but this one's got some presence in that 'big glowing clipart' sort of style they have going on.

It's also spent 8 weeks in the oak barrel which augers well for a complex IPA here. After a flattish pour the main aromas are pretty citrusy, I get tangerine, lemon flesh, maybe even lime just ahead of that woody barrel scent.

Rather than smack you with the bourbon (or rum, or whatever) hammer as a spirit aged beer might, this is a barrel-aged drop that takes on substantial funk and sourness ahead of the heft. The brett character up front is assertive and takes most of the hops out of the equation, so what you're left with is a pretty spiky experience rather than the warming alcohol hug you might have anticipated.

It's probably not the beer I was expecting, but not bad nevertheless. 7.5

Mikkeller Dry Stout

A hitherto unencountered combination I think - Mikkeller, doing a stout, that's light and sessionable, with no chili or herbs or buffalo or anything added. Curious?

Indeed this is a 4.1% dry stout in the mould of Murphy's or similar. If you're a dark beer nut like I am you might get obsessed with the bigger ones from time to time (phwoar eh) but this style is a tool in the dark arsenal and can be a rather pleasant session drink.

Mikkeller's effort is pretty much right on target - nose of predominately chocolate malt is on the light side, but appealing. The taste too is restrained from being too sweet, speaking more of dry cocoa than melted chocolate, but with a smooth dry lasting finish. Good stuff indeed when you want something to throw back with a bit of chocolate character and no heft whatsoever. Pick it up in growler / squealer format if you can, unless the Mikkeller moniker has ruined the price out of range for the abv.

It's all very light, sure, and you might normally call foul on its watery presence. The difference - this time it's by design. Respect. 7.5

Uncommon Brewers Golden State Ale

Another tallboy can from these guys - this time, it spends some length telling us that it's 'organic', whatever that means.

There's no head on the pour, which sticks true to the name with a very golden patina. The nose delivers far more lemon and wheat-beer aromas than expected. I'd been gearing up for some sweetness and depth given the belgian yeast used, and roast poppy seeds thrown into the mash but it's mysteriously dry.

So you start off drinking this and coming across witbier-esque notes from the start, a product of the yeast of course. Then someone in your drinking party says "Orange and Poppyseed Muffin" and you're done for - it's all you can taste thereafter. A belgian baker's muffin, and in a glass no less.

I found this far from 'quaffable' despite the claims. At 6.4% abv it probably needed to be right on the money to be a session beer in any case but it's a little sweet and sticky. I'd like to try it without the belgian yeast (ie with a cleaner ale strain) to be honest as the poppy notes are nice, but overall it's not something you'll ever really go back to. 5.0

Brewfist Burocracy IPA

Have to admit looking back on this I was convinced it was "brewrocracy", such is my pun loving nature.

I'll make a good dad.

Regardless this is an IPA from those finest-named of Italian brewers, they of the Brewfist. The photo's not far off the truth here - it comes through pretty damn dark for its 6%. Indeed if you poured it unknown, you'd be forgiven for calling it a DIPA or perhaps a brown based on looks alone. Nose is squarely in hoppy territory however, orange pretty dominant with a bit of spice and pine backing it up.

That spicy sort of character extends to the mouthfeel leaving it quite nice and dry despite the malt & fruit combo. It makes a big difference to drinkability in the end and lets you settle down to punch into what is an easy drinking but flavoursome IPA.

I'm not sure if they were aiming for such depth of colour - the extra malt does give it an almost bitter sort of edge - but not a bad drop if you can find it. 7.5

Cantillon Gueze 100% Lambic Bio

A latecomer to the record as such - I've had this several times now and loved it on each occasion.

This is a bit of a classic in the world of lambic Gueze and with good reason. It's a beer-like pour alright, grainy light amber delivery with a snow white top. Still, you won't be in any doubt as to what's coming if you have any sort of olfactory capacity whatsoever: the sour nose really fills the room, sharp and vinous.

Make no mistake, this beer is sour, above and beyond the usual Flemish tartness. It is more crisp than others in this field, more sharp, less grainy and more extreme. All of this is delivered via a slightly fizzy carbonation, but that again works well with the beer itself.

The clean sour notes are maybe closer to vinegar than white wine and drive through any and all things that came before as the ultimate palate cleanser. Beyond that though I find it a compelling beer in its own right, hitting a crisp clear note of sourness that becomes a real obsession. "The Champagne of Belgium" indeed.

A delicious and eye-opening drinking experience. Highly recommended to all who can finance the crippling addiction drinking it will surely bring. 9.5

Moon Dog Black Lung II

Another spirit aged stout - this time a revisit of a past brew with new edits and improvements.

My critique of the first one drew comment from other bloggers at the time, haha. But that's what's great about beer - it's alive, and is affected not only by palate and personal preference, but also by age within batches, and various things between batches too.

I found this second swing to be a bit more successful than the first - whisky more evident initially on the nose along with slight peat, and again that big chocolate. It's sweet up front, but moulds into peaty whisky barrels, and wooden dry spirit notes.

There's a bit more of a roasty edge here this time that I didn't really pick up on in the first, and it helps it to be a bit more easy going and less cloying over time. Evolution, you might say. 7.0

Harviestoun Ola Dubh 16 Year

Been a while since we ventured to Scotland for anything non-Brewdog.

Harviestoun however have put together a range to date that belies their small stature, beers of strong flavour and character throughout. This is a stout based on the excellent Old Engine Oil (apparently the name even translates to 'black oil') aged in 16 year old whiskey barrels from an award winning local distillery. There's a whole range of these at varying ages .. would be very interesting to do a vertical tasting on the range one day.

As it is this is indeed oily but at the same time very approachable. It's got a balanced mocha sort of nose with dark chocolate and coffee competing at equal measure, plus that hazy undefinable barrel complexity you get from extended exposure to the wooden residuals. Very flat delivery is on target for the style and allows you to really enjoy the slick alcohol back notes. It's smooth this and feels like it has lost some of the biting bitterness that Old Engine Oil leaves you with.

A mellow, settled and reassuring beer deep with complexity but also restrained in terms of booze and spirit notes. Very good indeed. 8.5

Peter Piper's Pickled Pepper Purple Peated Pale Ale

Never ones to shy away from a challenge, the lads from Moon Dog are back again and writing big cheques.

This time, they've teamed up with Yeastie Boys - themselves not known for introversion - and come out with something that starts with 'ambitious' and takes it up a couple notches for good measure. Beer with peat, and (capsicum) peppers, and god knows what else in it.

It's a pretty fruity nose that builds around a middle core of peat. Xerrex this ain't but it's definitely present. Big sticky head looks good though the body itself is a dark bruised shade of brown amber. Kind of purple, I guess?

The first mouthful is obtrusively carbonated which is a shame, as it fights against the peat and the wider complexity of the beer. Having said that it isn't really as berserk as expected - more like a really nice peat ale than what the label might suggest, and probably far more sessionable than you'd think. The carbonation is the only real downer.. I can see why they'd do it to combat the natural oiliness of peat, but in practice it's a bit overwhelming.

So yes, session peat beer with chillies. Wait, it's 9%? 8.0

Victory Storm King Stout

Great nose, burnt sort of double FES awesomeness going on from the first instant.

And indeed a rather nice progression of flavours, including a bunch of good choc / coffee / roast notes that work well in the style. What's different about this beer is the way they're presented - it feels like it's maybe backwards in a way, providing the comforting chocolate stout presence first up, before bitey aggressive roast smokiness second. The whole thing leaves you with a pretty powerful dry roasty mouth presence which is not unpleasant, but a bit different to the norm.

Good stuff here - perhaps not quite the traditional 'imperial stout' for mine tastewise, though it does slip through at an unobtrusive but substantial 9.1%. It's not that the taste or body is lacking - it just comes across as more like a hyper awesome full roasty FES party monarch than the sweeter and heavier, benevolent imperial king you were expecting.

Fun times to be a royal. 8.0

Moon Dog / Beer Here Freaks & Geeks

I've had this twice now (first review was sadly lost) and both times for some reason I expect it to come out a red sort of colour - instead it's pretty dark brown / black almost, a hue that means business at a substantial 7.6%.

Also having managed to miss the photo the first time I lined it up with the subtle backing notes of an old crappy microwave this time around. Beer photography awards here we come.

This is a mash-up brew between Moon Dog and Beer Here with all the craziness that entails. There's dark wheat, peat, rye, and oats on the label for just a start, all tied together with farmhouse yeast which makes its presence felt immediately on the aroma along with a slight berry sort of note. It's pretty funky and complex. Pleasing.

Taste wise too this is good stuff - layers of flavour, and I find the peat malt a nice accent to the other notes. I quite like the way it interacts with that funky yeasty character.. you get the feeling it's settled, deliberate and somehow balanced, in a pretty out there sort of way.

Overall not something I'd go out of my way for - but another interesting, flavoursome drop that's well worth a bash. Or two. 7.5

He'Brew Genesis Dry Hopped Session Ale

Got to say, it's a good name right off the bat - you know just what you're in for with this one.

And who doesn't like a dry hopped session ale? The racking does wonders for a lot of beers, producing that hop character we all love without the potential of alienating newcomers with monstrous IBUs.

This delivers a nice amber body with a sedate but nonconfronting aroma. It's good looking and would easily fit in atop a hardwood counter outside on a summer's day.

Taste is what matters in the end though so it's pleasing to confirm this one hits the mark there too. It's quite malty for a hopforward beer, delivering a bit of biscuity caramel in there in line with the hue it's got going on. The effect is kind of like a hoppy Australian ESB or similar and it's certainly a combination that works to produce a beer that's interesting and non-fatiguing: in other words, exactly what they seem to have been going for.

Nothing revolutionary here but a solid concept well executed. Good stuff. 7.5

Kooinda Milk Porter

Back to Kooi for a new arrival, their milk porter with lactose.

This is a slightly lighter than expected pour, with a loose uncommitted head that's soon gone. The wateriness comes through a little on the smell too which is a wavering cross between a foreign extra stout and a choc porter.

Hmm. It's not bad this, a milk porter very much in style, with the silky sweetness coming through nicely. Nothing revolutionary here but competent and on target.

While milk porters are never a massive beer, I felt this could have been a bit fuller malt-wise to take full benefit from the mellow lactose. As it is it's just a little too light on - pleasant but not compelling. 6.5

Mikkeller Hop Burn High

Had this before with its cousin Hop Burn Low down the pub, but now for review in bottle format.

This is one of a duo of beers, and another of Mikkeller's education lexicon of beer varietals. In this case, the Hop Burn High is fermented using ale yeast, while the Low uses bottom fermenting lager yeast instead. It's also pushing out 300 IBU, which explains the hop head on the label and his leather-eyed stare of dazed contusion.

It's a nice looking beer and sings of mandarin out of the glass - oddly enough, didn't get that drinking it on tap. There's some sediment here but probably to be expected given the weightiness of hops and malt in this 10% monster. That heaviness does carry through on the mouthfeel which is big bold and heavy. It's kind of oily pine and sticky without delivering quite as much hop character as you might expect - this could be the result of the distance travelled, though it's a relatively young bottle nevertheless.

I found the alcohol in this becomes really apparent as soon as it warms even slightly. Not bad, but you get the feeling if it wasn't Mikkeller it'd be nothing near what it's rated. Hard going at times, this is bold, brave and interesting but ultimately outshone by a distance by other efforts. 6.0

To Øl Goliat Imperial Coffee Stout

Back for another gunning run on the To Øl coffee cache, fresh from a pretty successful campaign debut.

It's a good looking pour again, and at a solid 10.1% these guys are serious. Big coffee again delivers beguilingly on the nose - draws you in for a taste. The body and palate both back it up beautifully but it's important to note it is not just about the coffee .. it's a beautifully rounded, heavy, satisfying cudgel of a stout this with all the creamy complexity this style deserves.

I love it when these sorts of beers have a development of flavours, and it's no wonder these guys learned the dark magics of Mister Mikkeller in sampling this one. If I had to nitpick I'd say maybe just ever so slightly too sweet - but that's really drawing flaws in what is another excellent beer. 8.5

Coney Island Sword Swallower Steel Hop Lager

Sword swallower? How risqué.

In any case this produces a flattish amber pour and promises an IPA styled beer produced with lager yeast. It's surprisingly high abv for the style too at 6.8%.

This beer smells malty, sort of amber ale territory almost, with vague indistinct hops. The palate is comprised mostly of mid level malts, with backing hops and a clear lager finish.

I can sort of see what they're going for here but to be honest, feel like the aim is a bit arse-about. If you hop up a pilsner, you can produce something that's easy drinking yet with a bit of character to it too. If you take a perfectly good ale and use lager yeast .. well, you lose a lot more than you gain in my opinion. The lower fermentation temp and dryer finish take a lot out of the malt complexity and you're left with something that's just not that memorable. I certainly wouldn't session this, nor drink it for fun or interest.

Ok as an experiment I guess. But again, who is this for? 5.0

Lindemans Gueuze Cuvée René

A quick shared snifter of gueze mid session always clears out the tasting valves, or whatever they are.

It's a corked effort this one, always nice to see. Nice bottle all round in fact and pours with a low patina of crisp white head.

Definitive gueze delivery here: bitey nose and bitey taste, with slight alc and wheat present on the finish. It is sour - not as much as some other lambics but still enough for people to make faces when they drink it.

Good reliable stuff, balanced and dry. I like the look, and I like the nose - but I want more and more sourness from these! It's a growing addiction.. 7.5

Clown Shoes Hoppy Feet 1.5 Double Black IPA

This one glowers amber in the light .. looks a bit light possibly for a double black, but right on the money at 10% abv.

I can't say i was overly looking forward to this one, maybe it's something about the branding leading me to not take these guys too seriously. One whiff of the nose though and any misgivings are soon addressed:  this is a serious complex malt bandit tending toward imperial stout character. Coffee is evident there along with other roasty notes - good stuff.

Taste wise for 75% of the mouthful you're thinking 'lovely light-bodied imperial stout' but then you're assaulted by a late burst of big pungent hops courtesy of a double dry-hopping of reliable trio Columbus, Cascade and Amarillo. It's definitely justified as a Black IPA despite the body, which is a pretty fair achievement for mine. They have managed to produce distinct elements of each beer while also tying it all in together with a tasty roast driven finish. Nice!

The appearance could perhaps be slighly better, but apart from that colour me impressed. 8.5

To Øl / Mikkeller Sleep Over Coffee IIPA

A mouthwatering combination brew here between young start-up To Øl and their past master Mr Mikkeller himself.

As mentioned previously, coffee plus IPA just sounds like a brilliant combo to me, though I'm yet to be wowed by one. This of course ups the stakes - at a remarkable 10.5% it's well and truly in imperial territory.

It's good looking too, heavy amber colour and strong lasting head. Aroma is just what you'd want here, malt driven, hops not evident to allow the coffee character to shine through. It's double percolated coffee castoff style aromas here rather than fresh beans but it works in nicely with that malt backbone.

Delicious malty imperial flavours up front, which meld into a lovely coffee finish. Despite its mighty heft, there is no alcoholic bang to it - instead it is smooth as you like, and delicious. It's hard to call it a definitive IIPA as such as the hops are bit-part players, but the label does acknowledge that it is the hybrid spawn of a strong ale / barleywine / IIPA and to me, I'd prefer to see boundaries broken for the sake of the beer experience rather than slavish adherence to styles.

All in all great beer: a concept proven. Any beer that has me looking forward to trying it again like this one has to be highly recommended. 9.0

Moon Dog Billy Ray Citrus

Woo, first impression is pretty sour aroma wise off the back of a light clear pour.

Sure enough there's Bavarian wheat yeast & lactobacillus doing the hard yards here, supported by some  citrus peel dry conditioning. I had wondered if it'd be a Japanese Sorachi Ace base off the nose, but it's the American all-rounder Simcoe.

My wife was part of the esteemed tasting panel for this one and immediately pronounced it to taste of, well, sausages - oddly enough after brief bemusement I can sort of see where she's coming from.

It's weird beer this (in a good way of course) .. not really as expected. I feel it smells like the beer it should be, but the taste is maybe only halfway there. Kind of doesn't quite know what it's doing - citrus peel is there yes but also wit / bready notes that hide the citric uniqueness this aims for. Can't say it's very tasty, refreshing or illuminating.. but it is interesting.

I'm not too down on this despite the score - love to try these experiments - just this one's not their best. 4.5