Wigram Ginger Jerry

Interesting idea here, combining a ginger beer and a witbier, but for what result?

Pour immediately comes off as nearly clear, no real head to speak of, and unexpectedly flat. My experiences with ginger beer both homebrewed and commercial had conditioned me to expect a bit of fizz here but it's really rather mellow, and pushes out just 4% abv. Nose is of dry ginger ale, with an edge of something a bit sweeter - maybe the yeast?

Mouthfeel is again quite flat but light. I'd actually prefer a little more carbonation here to make it slightly more refreshing. It's not a very beery beer on the whole, but there is a slight edge of possibly psychosomatic wit if you're investigative.

I found this a little too sweet and a little too flat to really have fun drinking it. Ice cold and with a little more fizz? I'd be there for beach drinking all day. 5.5

Mountain Goat Seedy Goat Coffee IPA

I have to admit, I positively salivated at the sight of this one up on the specials board.

I mean, coffee.. and IPA? Brilliant plan, can't wait to try it. And indeed it turns up looking quite attractive with a pillowy cloud of frothy head (crema?).

Time to bury the sniffer in for a blast of the good stuff then right? But from the outset the coffee is not incredibly evident, with the nose delivering mostly the standard pine / fruit / light sweetness bill. Drinking it is a similar experience in a way - the coffee is only really there is you go searching for it and while it does add a nice rounded note to the mid carbonation and otherwise fine flavours, it's really not the star of the show, and that is somewhat disappointing.

I'm not sure what to say about this. My initial thought is to raise the frankly baffling suggestion to dial back the hops to let the coffee shine. But .. dial back the hops? In an IPA? Defies the point, really. I'd like to see the talented crew here keep having a crack at this idea in any case as there's the kernel of a truly delicious and innovative brew starting here - just short of the mark at present. 7.0

Mountain Goat Red Saison

So, another first in a supposedly 'red' saison.

Phone based photos in low light conditions do a better job of pizza than beer, but this shot has certainly captured the depth of dark colour in this beer. It's beyond red really, pushing a dark molasses sort of colour.

Interesting beer to experience here - I don't think I'd have picked it as a saison in a blind tasting. The yeast character is certainly there and it's funky on the nose, but the ongoing spice and orange rind character to me puts it as more of a witbier. I'm not sure how this beer was crafted but I get strong lingering aniseed going on here which is interesting .. but not perhaps the best compliment to the standard wit or saison experience.

I like experiments like this and want to encourage further pushing of boundaries in the future - this beer as it stands though was not bad, but a bit of a struggle. 5.0

Haandbryggeriet Dark Force

A nice quiet introduction to this Norwegian brewer with a double imperial wheat stout.

Wait, what?

For a beer so removed from the norm, this doesn't really show it with a lovely mocha coloured vortex-like head atop a solid black body. The aroma likewise is largely in line with typical imperial stout characteristics though there is an element of clean, non-fruity booze and a slight edge of what could possibly be the wheat in there also.

First reaction on sipping is a bit of soy that keeps on through the mouthful. There's sufficient malt backing and imperial malt fruit there too, but it all seems a bit more 'front of mouth' than the norm for the more rounded (.. or maybe just non-wheat) examples of this style.

After the initial shock it's more or less a regulation imperial stout, just perhaps a bit cleaner, a bit lighter, and a bit .. well, less good. In saying that though I fully approve of this effort to do something different and it's far from a failure, delivering a solid body and some nice roasty flavours in there along the way. Interesting - a good effort. 7.5