8 Days a Week: 3.0 – It’s light, but it’s not a good beer so the infinitly drinkable tagline falls flat. Overall as a blonde ale this is just weak, has nothing that stands out, and lacks flavor.
Price Average: $10 for 8-pack
Website: https://www.stbcbeer.com/
Iridescent: 3.0 – Apricot flavor is the saving grace of this beer, but overall it’s a sour that is extremely upfront and doesn’t linger at all. The power is almost terrible because it’s too in your face. We understand that sours can be bold, but this is a slap that doesn’t even give you any bit of enjoyment. (if you catch our drift)
Price Average: $13
Website: https://www.uplandbeer.com/
Grimm Farmhouse Ale: 6.0 – There’s some banana. A bit of wheat and sour. It ends it’s flavor very quickly, and reminds you more of a german or belgian beer than a farmhouse from Virginia. That being said, it is a good beer.
Price Average: $14
Website: http://grimmales.com/
Life’s Trade: 3.0 – It’s like someone made a shandy with a sour? If that sounds like a really bad concept, guess what – it kinda is. Why would you want a sort-of watered down sour? It’s not a good beer at all.
Price Average: $8
Website: https://www.trvebrewing.com/
Chimay Trappistes Tripel: 3.0 – The closest way to describe this is imagine if a tripel attacked you. It’s got the taste of a tripel, but it’s very sharp and upfront about said taste, is not smooth to drink and the taste itself isn’t super delicious regardless. Maybe there’s a reason for not Chimay
Price Average: $11
Website: http://chimay.com/us/
Chimay Red: 4.5 – We’ve not actually reviewed Chimay here for some reason. Likely to do with the wealth of belgian and belgian style ales. This though is the standard that most people know when it comes to belgians, and as such is pretty much in the middle
Price Average: $11
Website: http://chimay.com/us/
Cerveza Provisional Farmhouse Ale: 6.0 – The agave aspect of the farmhouse is really nice almost like a sour. Its It’s really nice to drink. Also major props for not only adding agave, but aging in mezcal barrels – it’s nice to see people go beyond just a wine or bourbon barrel for beer aging.
Price Average: $14
James and Julie: 7.5 – Allagash once again finding it hard to screw up a beer have made a unique sour. The start of a brown ale compared to a regular farmhouse or saison gives it a more nutty nuance to the sour. It does have to follow that delicious Ghost Species though this week.
Price Average: $11
Website: https://www.allagash.com/
Vertumnus: 7.5 – It’s an interesting ale outright but the Brett adds a component that kills some of the flavor. It tastes nice though and thankfully isn’t super overpowering by the Brett or dry-hopping.
Price Average: $8
Website: https://www.bandedhorn.com/
Yodeler: 4.0 – This is a clusterfuck of a beer. It’s a barleywine style, it’s aged in Laphroiag casks, and is bottled with that Brettanomyces. But what is it like to drink? It is just as much if not somehow more of a clusterfuck. Let me put this in the oddest, and yet truest way we can – we detect notes of beef jerky. No seriously at certain times this beer tastes like beef jerky. There’s a tartness aspect going on from the brett, that jerky likely from the cask lingers melding with the fruitier tastes, and above all it’s just a high octane noise factory. Let this be a test case, and referral for when we call beers out as not being complex and that’s bad – this is the other side of that curve. This is too complex and it ruins what could be the ‘beer’.
Price Average: $11
Website: http://www.strangerootsbeer.com/