A stubby looking brown bottle with a white, red, and gold label just happened to catch my eye the other day so I thought it was time to give it a taste. The beer in question was Duvel, a Belgian strong golden ale that I can never recall ever seeing before. I have been really liking Belgian style brews so I thought this would fit right in with out a problem.

I was absolutely right. This small 330ml bottle of Duvel sure packs a punch at 8.5% ABV. I thought it was light and crisp on the mouth with a distinct sweet slightly carbonated taste. I thought it almost resembled the taste of a champagne but only better. This has to be one of the better beers I have come into contact with thus far. I think I have finally come to the realization of what good beer is suppose to taste like.

Do not let this tiny bottle fool you! At 8.5% ABV it will knock you on your ass. I know that I was surprised at how strong this tasty little guy ended up being. It almost makes me sad that I only bought one and I will have to hunt some more down before I can have it again.

According to the Duvel website:

With its subtly bitter bite and delicate aroma, Duvel holds a unique position within the rich Belgian beer tradition. After bottling, the beer continues to ferment for a fortnight after bottling in the warm cellars of the brewery. Finally, the beer is chilled for 6 weeks in the cold cellars. This extra long maturing process is unique and contributes to the exquisite flavour and pure aroma of Duvel.

Like I stated earlier, this one heads to the top of the list of my favorite beers.

I bought this beer because I have really been digging the wheat beers I have had recently. Not to mention that I thought the shape of the bottle was kind of interesting.

Here is a description of the beer according to the Meantime Brewing website:

A cloudy, golden-orange beer with a moderately dense white head displaying a mixed combination of banana, fruit, bubblegum, spice and zesty aromas and flavours, all created, in true Bavarian wheat beer style, by the use of a unique yeast strain that brings out the true character of the wheat malt used in the brew.

I thought the spice aroma was evident but I had troubles finding the banana and vanilla scents. It had a fruity aroma,  I found it to be more of a peach aroma rather than banana. I really enjoy the style, but I thought this was a little watery for my taste. Being brewed here in the United Kingdom I must say that they did a good job, just not as good as some of my favorite German style brews.

Serving Type: 330 ml bottle

ABV  (Alcohol By Volume): 5.0%

Weihenstephaner Kristall Weissbier is another wheat beer that I ended up really enjoying. Apparently it is brewed in the worlds oldest brewery, Brauerei Weihenstephan. I figured that simple fact is enough to warrant a taste test.

The aroma is spicy with strong hints of clove and nutmeg. I thought it tasted spicy with a slight hint of banana and stronger nutmeg and clove notes. As I stated in the first sentence, I really enjoyed this beer and could drink a few of these with no problem.

Serving Type: 500 ml bottle

ABV  (Alcohol By Volume): 5.4%

About a week or so ago I tried Wychcraft Blonde beer from the Wychwood Brewery and I thought it was pretty good.However, that wasn’t the first time that I came across a beer from the Wychwood Brewery. Actually, I was told about Hobgoblin almost immediately after arriving in England. My first thought was that I really wanted to try it simply because of the name. I mean “Hobgoblin” just sounds like a bad ass name for a beer.

According to the Wychwood Brewery website

Hobgoblin is strong in roasted malt with a moderate hoppy bitterness and slight fruity character that lasts through to the end.

The ruby red coloured Hobgoblin is full-bodied and has a delicious chocolate toffee malt flavour balanced with a rounded moderate bitterness and an overall fruity character.

I would say that this Wychwood beer is probably the easiest and most popular beer to get a hold that they make. I have seen Hobgoblin at just about every marketplace where beer is sold. However, I have had to do some looking around to get my hands on the other types of Wychwood brews.

I thought Hobgoblin was pretty good and I have now had it several more times. I am still sticking with the Wychcraft Blonde in terms of taste, but I plan on tasting many more beers from this brewery so stick around.

Serving Type: 500 ml bottle

ABV  (Alcohol By Volume): 5.2%

I was looking for a new beer to try the other day and just happened to catch a glimpse of a rather unique looking bottle. Being the curious fello that I am, I immediately snagged one off the shelf to read the name. To my surprise the bottle had a rather small label that said only the word “Lucky”. With a name like that, I had to try it out.

Lucky Beer is an Asian style lager made by the Lucky Drink Company and as far as I can tell is made in China. I have seen some other websites that state that this beer was made in Australia but I believe it was previously brewed in Australia and maybe outsourced to China. The luckydrinkco website states that it is made in China so I will go with that for now.

The unique design of the bottle is actually a seated laughing Buddha holding a large gold ingot above his head. According to their website Lucky beer is

A fusion of rice flakes, malted barley and Qingdao hops, Lucky Beer has a light aroma of hops with nuances of honey and malt; the precursor to a clean, silky, refreshing finish.

Overall I thought that Lucky Beer was kind of watery tasting but not bad. It isn’t one of my favorites but it isn’t terrible either. I think the cool bottle design is worth trying it out at least once.

Serving Type: 330 ml Bottle

ABV  (Alcohol By Volume): 4.8%