28/12/2018 0 Comments Beer Review - Yellow BellyBuxton x OmnipolloYellow Belly. Potentially the daddy of all beers, it's most certainly considered the daddy of imperial stouts. This beer has been around for years, and yet it's taken me until now to get round to trying it. Why? I'm not sure really. I think when I first started my craft beer journey, it was partly the price that put me off - paying the guts of £10 for a beer seemed outrageous to me. But as I grew to appreciate beer more, and just how complex and incredible the flavours could be, I realised that it might actually be worth it. Yellow Belly is a collaboration between Buxton Brewery and Swedish giants Omnipollo and is a 11% ABV imperial peanut butter biscuit stout (yes, you read that right). Here's the official description from the breweries: “Yellow belly” — a person who is without courage, fortitude, or nerve; a coward. To us, one of the most cowardly deeds is to act anonymously, hiding behind a group. A signifying trait of institutionalised racism. This beer is brewed to celebrate all things new, open minded and progressive. A peanut butter biscuit stout with no biscuits, butter or nuts. Taste, enjoy, and don’t be prejudiced." You may have seen this beer in the press lately regarding an ongoing legal situation regarding the name, and as a result it is actually being discontinued in its current form. You can read the full story behind this beer here. I picked this beer up from Hop Shop Aberdeen, as usual, as part of my Christmas stash, and Christmas Day seemed as good a time as ever to enjoy this beer. We can't talk about this beer before talking about the presentation. It is striking, potentially unlike anything else on the shelves, and to anyone who doesn't know the full story behind the beer - possibly quite confusing. But when you unwrap the bottle from it's white hood, and read the message on the bottle , then you realise exactly what this beer is all about. Yellow Belly pours from the bottle a dark brown, almost oil black, leaving a thin tan coloured head. The initial aromas are loads of peanut butter, roasted malts, hazelnut and sweet buttery biscuit. It really does smell incredible! After one sip of this beer then you know you are in good hands; big roasted malts up front combine with peanut butter, some bitter chocolate, butter biscuit and a hint of vanilla. This beer is incredibly full bodied, nice and creamy, with low carbonation. The flavours are faultless, and come together wonderfully to make this everything a great stout should be. Was this beer worth the wait? Absolutely. Does it live up to the hype? Absolutely. I'm just regretting the fact I left it so long to try it out, as I would have loved to have experienced it evolve over the years. I am, however, glad I tried it while I still had the chance - and if like me, you have left it this late to try it, then I urge you to do so before it's gone forever, in its current form at least.
Yellow Belly gets 5 out of 5 from me 🍻
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Evil Twin Brewing x OmnipolloWe all love a nice ice cold shandy on a refreshing day right? So when I seen that Evil Twin Brewing & Omnipollo had come together to brew an Old Fashioned Lemonade IPA, I was extremely interested in trying it out. Old Fashioned Lemonade is a 7% ABV IPA that has been brewed for Evil Twin by Dorchester (home of Marky Mark!) Brewing Company in Boston, Massachusetts. "A refreshing drink often associated with childhood nostalgia to others a pop-cultural symbol of emancipatiion. Whatever the association Evil Twin teamed up with Omnipollo to squeeze out a tasty, tempting and deceivingly well balanced IPA with sweet and sour notes of old-fashioned memories. Perhaps you can taste the dishonesty, it's all over your breath - it's Lemonade." When brewing giants come together, it usually produces good results, lets see what happened here... Cracking open this can and it is just lemons galore; the sweet citrus aromas fill your nose as you pour it into a glass. It pours a bright golden yellow with a foamy white head, with a surprising amount of murkiness to it.
This beer tastes exactly as you would expect it to - like lemonade. There is really no other way to describe it. From the first sip you get that instant sourness of the lemons coupled with a decent amount of sweetness. There's a slight hoppy/bitter backbone to it all that reminds you that you are in fact drinking a beer, and not a can of lemonade. The overall result is that this is literally the perfect summers day beer. It's so light, smooth, refreshing and the ABV is almost non existent that you could easily smash your way through a few of these. However, it didn't stand out enough from me and was too similar to other fruit beers I've had in the past. That's not to say I didn't enjoy it - I did, it was just missing something that could have took it to the next level. 3.75 out of 5 hops from me 🍻 Buxton x OmnipolloWhen life gives you lemons...make beer. That's what Buxton & Omnipollo did anyway. Original Lemon Meringue Ice Cream Pie is a 6% ABV fruit beer, that is described as; "This beer beer sits right between sour and sweet. In my mind it is the closest we’ve ever come to balance. Kettle-soured and brewed with added lactose, it is then conditioned on buckets of lemon juice. Perfect, like lemon meringue ice cream pie." I have previously reviewed Original Ice Cream Pale Ale and found it utterly spectacular, as well as sampling Original Rocky Road Ice Cream at #PunkAGM2017. I can now also confirm that Brewdog DID actually mess up at #PunkAGM2017 - I was DEFINITELY served this twice instead of the Original Ice Cream Pale Ale. I knew it. Not that I'm complaining too much, this is a great beer... Well, this is one zesty little number!
Pouring this into a glass instantly releases the sour, tart, zesty lemon aromas. The beer fills the glass a light, hazy yellow; like a cloudy lemonade, leaving a thin fluffy white head. The first taste is EXTREMELY sour & tart, clearly from the lemon juice, and is the followed up with a nice sweetness from the added lactose. After a few sips, the sourness becomes less extreme and it settles to become a very enjoyable beer. It may seem like a simple sour fruit beer, but I could happily sit and drink a few of these. Although it hasn't quite matched the heights of Ice Cream Pale; a rather special beer, Lemon Meringue Ice Cream Pie is a great beer that is perfect for a sunny day. 4 out of 5 hops from me 🍻 22/12/2016 0 Comments Beer Review - Ice Cream Pale AleOmnipollo x BuxtonOne four Ice Cream collaborations between Swedish giants Omnipollo & UK based Buxton Brewery; Original Ice Cream is a 4.6% ABV Pale Ale. Described as being a hop laden Pale Ale brewed with oats, wheat, lactose and 1000 fresh vanilla beans, this was one beer I was eager to try! I had previously tried the Lemon Meringue Ice Cream effort between these two on draft at CASC in Aberdeen, which was excellent - so this beer had a lot to live up to. Needless to say, I was not in the slightest bit worried... Well this beer was something special! Pouring from the bottle into a glass, you are greeted with a cloudy yellow beer and a big fluffy white head. There's a big creamy vanilla smell present and again on taste. Vanilla flavours rule the beer, with a sweetness coming from the "ice cream" also and a light hoppy, slightly bitter aftertaste. The flavour here was absolutely nailed, the beer actually tasted like ice cream. It was amazing!
Overall a sterling effort from these two breweries, and I am eager to try the rest of the collaborations:
4.75 out of 5 hops from me 🍻 26/11/2016 0 Comments Beer Review - Fruit BatBrewdog x OmnipolloWell this is an exciting combination... Fruit Bat, a 6% ABV raspberry smoothie IPA - the first of two collaborations between brewing giants Brewdog & Omnipollo. Described as being packed with fresh juicy raspberry flavour, wheat, oats & milk sugars have been added to give this beer the creaminess & depth of a fruit smoothie, which in turn balances out the tartness of the raspberry. The beer has then been single hopped with Mosaic to give it a touch of that familiar bitterness you associate with an IPA. Cracking the can & pouring into a tulip glass, I was hit with the scent of raspberries straight away. On taste, there is an incredible mouthfull of fruity flavour with a slight hoppy backbone. You get the flavour from the wheat & oats that also give it a thick smoothie like texture. All in all, fruit bat is an extremely tasty beer which is very refreshing. However, in a week of reviewing two fruit beers - Tropigamma is the winner for me.
If you can't find Fruit Bat at your local bottle shop then you can buy it online here: www.brewdog.com/item/1759/BrewDog/Flat-Pack-Fruit-Bat-Cans-w-Omnipollo.html You should without doubt try and get your hands on Fruit Bat whilst it's available, I'm definitely looking forward to trying out the second collaboration between Brewdog & Omnipollo 🍻 |
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