Craft Beer Reviews & Tasting Notes
If you’re a fine member of The Beer Vault, you’ll find your reviews and tasting notes below. The Vault Reserve comes first, and you’ll find the Lock Box below that. We cover many of our beers in-depth so that you can learn as you taste, developing your Craft Beer knowledge over time.
The Vault Reserve: Our Reviews and Tasting Notes
(You’ll find the Lockbox below!)
Harbour Bordeaux Barrel Aged Dunkel Bock
| 6.5% ABV. | Dunkler Bock | Bodmin, England | 330ml bottle | An eyebrow raising combo of fruity red wine barrel and robust dark Bavarian style lager, and a truly delicious example of the boldness and creativity of British craft brewing in 2015. A rare beer that deserves to be savoured as such. It’s still very early days for the craft beer movement in the U.K. but as it continues to grow and mature, we’re already seeing the first signs of creative and exciting long term wood barrel aging programs of the sort that every state in the U.S. already has multiple of as we enter 2015. Back home the likes of Cornwall’s Harbour and many others are now following boldly in the wood pioneering footsteps of Wild Beer Co., Harviestoun, Siren Craft Brew and BrewDog by putting interesting beer styles in wood for extended maturation and enhancement. The practice of wood aging beer is hardly new, it is in fact of course the way beer was fermented and stored for most of the history of brewing. The age of affordable and much easier to manage and sanitise mass production steel meant that wood fell out favour almost overnight. Much was gained in the beer industry with the introduction of steel, cleaner beer and the ability to quickly produce more of it in a shorter space of time being the most obvious and significant gains. It’s safe to say that most beer drinkers, publicans and brewers didn’t miss wood all that much to begin with. That said, something was indeed lost when wood was taken out of the... read more
Blaugies La Moneuse
| 8.0% ABV. | Saison | Dour-Blaugies, Belgium | 750ml bottle | A quintessential dry and funky rustic saison brewed in rural Belgium by a small family run brewery. Saisons don’t get much more authentic or small batch than this. Saison is a beer style born during the 19th century in the Wallonia region of southern Belgium. Traditionally these beers were brewed by farmhouses in the winter months when fermentation temperatures were naturally amenable. Winter also tended to be a slower season for farmers than spring and summer thus allowing more time to fit in time consuming brewdays. Saison is French for ‘season’ and these beers were usually stored for many months after being brewed so they could be used to quench the thirst of seasonal labourers who worked the farmland in summertime. Water at the time was often of questionable cleanliness, so having a good stock of provisional ale on hand provided a beneficial substitute. The fact that these often robust beers provided a significant amount of spent grain was also a bonus as it could then be used to feed hungry livestock during the harsh winter months. These rustic and storied ales were a vital part of farmhouse life and indeed survival during the 19th century in rural Belgium. To ensure their storage potential and in an effort to avoid spoilage and infection during their many months in the cellar, saisons were usually brewed to a fairly robust ABV. (alcohol by volume) of somewhere between 5.0 – 8.0%. They tended to be fermented out until very dry and were often brewed with herb and spice additions which could provided... read more
Westvleteren 12 (XII)
(10.2% ABV. Quadrupel, Westvleteren, Belgium) 330ml bottle Westvleteren 12 (XII) is the most sought after beer on the planet, bar none. A world class Trappist Belgian quadrupel style beer with few peers. The most limited production, regularly brewed, Trappist ale. Laden with rich candied dark fruit and bittersweet molasses flavour and aroma. Matures incredibly well when cellared. With few notable exceptions, Russian River’s Pliny the Elder and Younger, and Three Floyds Dark Lord aside perhaps, no beer has ever garnered so much buzz and rumour as Westvleteren 12 (Westy 12 to its friends). For many beer lovers and beer geeks, Westy 12 is an extremely elusive fermented pot of gold at the end of a hoppy rainbow. To say you have actually tasted the beer continues to be a point of pride for beer drinkers both old and new. A mark as it were, of just how serious a beer nerd you actually are. There are a few simple reasons why this one Belgian beer has become such an iconic point of desire. It is brewed in relatively small amounts at the Trappist monastery Abbey of Saint Sixtus of Westvleteren, alongside only two other beers; Westvleteren Blonde, a 5.8% ABV. Belgian style pale ale and Westvleteren 8 (VIII), a malty 8% ABV. mahogany coloured Belgian style Dubbel. With the exception of a small amount that was sent to market a couple of years ago in Europe and the U.S., the beer is not distributed at all and must be collected from the brewery itself. This lack of distribution combined with the fact that the beer garners the highest ratings... read moreThe Lock Box: Our Reviews and Tasting Notes
Siren Undercurrent Oatmeal Pale Ale
| 4.5% ABV. | American Pale Ale | Finchampstead, Berkshire England | 330ml bottle | A spritzy and bright West Coast American style pale ale loaded with fresh grapefruit aroma. Smooth, with a tart fruity body and a dry finish. We can’t really discuss the outstanding Siren Undercurrent before talking a little bit about Cascade hops. Cascade hops were born in 1972 in Oregon, the product of a U.S. Government funded program to create new, interesting, and yes, profitable hop varieties. It’s safe to say that few involved with the creation of this yellow citrus fruit evoking new hop could have predicted it’s importance to the oncoming craft beer revolution, then still some years off. But, important it definitely proved to be. Few other single ingredients or single factors have done more to provide our 21st century juggernaut of a craft beer industry with such an appreciated and exciting identity. Cascade’s fresh and vibrant grapefruit character is the cornerstone around which Sierra Nevada’s now iconic Pale Ale is constructed. The beer that more than any other inspired so many brewers and brewers to be up and down the West Coast of America to brew beers of a similar expressiveness, flavour and aroma. In many ways, Cascade is “West Coast pale ales”. This new and lively style of pale ale, dry and loaded with yellow citrus aroma, still inspires many new craft brewers around the world who look to the style when designing their core beer offerings. Siren Undercurrent is definitely an American style pale ale that draws heavy inspiration from Sierra’s granddaddy of the craft beer movement. Brewed with... read more
Beavertown Holy Cowbell India Stout
| 5.6% ABV. | American Stout | London, England | 330ml can | An extremely hoppy American style stout with huge licorice, black treacle and sappy pine needle notes. This is most definitely not your father’s stout. It’s loud, hopped to hell and bristles with bitter character. Beavertown are one of the most experimental, yet consistently delicious, of London’s many, many new craft breweries. The brewery started life in late 2011 in the kitchen of Duke’s Brew and Que, in De Beauvoir, Hackney, London. Beavertown have moved twice since those humble beginnings and now operate out of a much larger facility brewing 30 barrels of beer at a time. That much loved old brewkit, on which they mastered many of their early beers, hasn’t been forgotten though and still has pride of place in the new brewery where it’s used to brew their freestyle Alpha series beers. Beavertown are probably best known as we go into 2015 for Neck Oil and Gamma Ray, their flagship IPAs. Their striking branding and the fact that they’re one of the only craft breweries in the U.K. canning beer, has also gone some way to helping catch the attention and taste buds of many new customers. If you’re a founding Lock Box Member, you will know that we featured Neck Oil in our first shipment in December 2014. We’re long time fans of Beavertown at The Beer Vault. Holy Cowbell India Stout is Beavertown’s latest beer to make the jump to cans. It has appeared as an occasional bottle before, but is now primed and ready to reach a much wider drinkership. The beer’s beautiful... read more
Redchurch Great Eastern India Pale Ale
| 7.4% ABV. | American IPA | London, England | 330ml bottle | Quite possibly the juiciest India pale ale brewed in the U.K. Loaded with orange, mango, papaya and sticky marmalade flavour and aroma. In other words, a right juicy banger! Redchurch Great Eastern India Pale Ale is what some of today’s British beer commentators refer to as, “a juicy banger”. What the heck is a juicy banger? I hear you ask. To answer that, we first need to talk a little bit about hops. Hops are the vital bittering botanical and preservative ingredient in beer. They vary as much in character – more so in fact, than wine grape varietals. A fact that continues to raise the eyebrows of many wine drinkers, and indeed, beer drinkers. Some hops are extremely herbal and are evocative of sage and pine, others effervesce yellow citrus and are overtly lemon and grapefruit, some are unctuous, sweet and tropical, and so on. All of the major hop growing countries of the world – England, Belgium, Czech Republic, Germany, New Zealand, Australia and the U.S. have unique native and nationally bred hop varieties. Hop producers all over the world these days are rushing to cross breed and create new and interesting hop varieties for a booming craft beer industry ravenous for the next thing. It’s the U.S. hop varieties in particular that have driven the modern craft beer explosion. At the heart of many classic American craft beers and beer styles, are the so called ‘Big C’ hop varieties – Cascade, Centennial and Columbus, with an honourary fourth variety in Chinook. Between them these hops... read more
Celt Hallstatt Deity Pomegranate Fruit Saison
| 6.6% ABV. | Saison | Caerphilly, Wales | 330ml bottle | An unfiltered Belgian farmhouse ale brewed with a boatload of tart and luscious pomegranate and aged for 2 months before bottling. We’ve featured a few saisons in our beer boxes during our first two months of business here a The Beer Vault – both British brewed and Belgian. This noble and storied Belgian farmhouse beer style went for far too long unnoticed and thus underappreciated here in the U.K. Not only was it hard to find saisons on shop shelves, save for the occasional bottle of Brasserie Dupont’s classic, it wasn’t a style that any British brewery cared to brew either. Thankfully all that has changed now. For a few years now, many forward thinking British breweries have turned their hand to this beautiful and most versatile of beers, some even brewing many variations of the style – London creatives Partizan spring to mind immediately, as do new Brighton based brewery Burning Sky. Both seem to have a particular affinity for the style and thus brew saisons throughout the year, many brewed with all manner of interesting flavouring ingredients. Caerphilly based Celt Experience are another brewery that in recent years has made no secret of their love of farmhouse ales, and not just saisons either, but it’s even more esoteric French cousin the Bière de Garde. We have discussed the story of saisons at length in our reviews of previously featured beers, Buxton Saison, Partizan Iced Tea and Blaugies La Moneuse, so if you fancy reading about the style in more depth that’s a great place to... read more
Arbor Smokescreen Robust Smoked Porter
| 5.5% ABV. | Smoked Beer | Bristol, England | 500ml bottles | A bold mashup of traditional British and German beer styles. Loaded with dark chocolate and smokey bacon notes. Impressively decadent and characterful for a session beer. Smoked beers or Rauchbier (“smoke beer” in German), are traditionally the domain of Bamberg, Germany. It’s here that the art of beers brewed with wood smoked malt has been elevated to an art and has been perfected over many generations. The smoky bacon flavour is imparted by drying malt over an open flame. In the era before more industrialised indirect kilning technology, this flavourful method was a point of practically more than anything else. Smoky flavoured beer was at one point pretty common all over the World, but new brewing technology meant that this, and many other old beer making techniques were eventually supplanted in favour of producing a more consistent, profitable and “clean” end product. Thankfully though, the populace in the Bamberg region of Germany rather enjoyed the smoky character of their beers and were in no rush to clean them up, as it were. And so, a small pocket of the World retained its much loved smoky beer. In today’s lively and creative international craft beer industry, many brewers around the World are eager to try their hand at every beer style imaginable. Smoked beer is one such style that many brewers in the U.K. and U.S. are have been keen to experiment with. The smoked malt produced by Bamberg maltster Weyermann is the most highly prized in the World. Proof, if ever, that holding on to old ways and means, isn’t... read more
Partizan Iced Tea
(3.8% ABV. Saison, London, England) 330ml bottle Like tea? Like beer? So do Partizan, so much so that they’ve carefully fused the two most enjoyed beverages in the world together for your enjoyment. Partizan love saisons and clearly love experimenting with adjuncts in them. In beer terms adjuncts are anything other than malts, hops, yeast and water. In the past, the bold and clever bods at Partizan have spiced saisons with everything from black pepper, thyme and mango to lemongrass, fennel and lychee. The practice of adding unorthodox grains and fruit to farmhouse ales isn’t without historical precedent. French and Belgian farmers would frequently use leftover small batch grains and fruits to add fermentable sugars and flavours to their provisional ales. With Iced Tea, Partizan have taken this notion and ran with it in a quite literally fresh direction. The beer is brewed with lemon, lime and orange zests and a healthy amount of green tea. The result is a spicy and refreshing Belgian farmhouse table beer with an earthy, slightly astringent body and dry finish. Needless to say the aroma erupts with citrus notes. We think Partizan are one of the most exciting new breweries in Europe, so expect to see more beers by them in future Beer Vault... read moreBrowse the Rest
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