Meilby Brewing Pain Killer

Pain Killer by Meilby Brewing, Belgian Strong Ale, 11% ABV, 37 IBU.

Pours a rather dark golden body that is ever so slightly hazy, and that’s topped with a large, white, long-lived head that laces the glass well.

Meilby Brewing Pain Killer, batch #016

The aroma is strong, sweet and crisp, this is like a saison-ish tripel: it’s got the crispy acidity of a saison and the thick sugary spicy sweetness of a tripel! Nice! I get quite strong notes of fruits, citrus and even some vague banana in the back, yeast and spices. The aroma has a pleasant vinous feel.

Almost a year in the bottle wasn’t long enough to mellow out the alcohol.

The taste is moderate sweet and moderate bitter. The flavours are utterly and completely dominated by harsh, stinging and tongue numbing notes of alcohol. Never has «well hidden alcohol» been further from the truth! Luckily there are also some quite nice fruity notes and sweet sugary elements in front, but the mid-palate and the finish are more or less ruined by the alcohol. In the late aftertaste some lovely yeasty notes manage to push away the alcohol, and this really save the Taste rating. The body is full, the texture is oily and the carbonation is soft, so if it hadn’t been for the violent alcohol the mouthfeel could have been very pleasant.

Conclusion: some nice elements both in the aroma and the flavours, but the unusually unpleasant alcohol notes makes this brew close to undrinkable.

Aroma:      7
Appearance: 4
Taste:      6
Palate:     1
Overall:   10
Ratebeer score: 2.8

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ClubGonzo's Leftover IPA

Leftover IPA by ClubGonzo, India Pale Ale, 7.4% ABV, 82 IBU.

The last couple of beers from ClubGonzo/JoKr Brewers that I’ve rated have been very clear and I’ve been able to almost empty the bottle without disturbing the sediments. This one however pours a hazy body even if I left some 2 cm of beer in the bottle. Not that this matters much of course, a slight haze just increases the craft beer feeling of the beer! The colour is medium amber, and the creamy, off-white head is very long-lived and laces the glass excellently.

ClubGonzo's Leftover IPA, batch 014.

The aroma is quite strong, but in my opinion an IPA should have an intense hoppy scent, and the Leftover IPA doesn’t quite deliver that. The aroma is very citric with some nice notes of tropical fruits, and in the back there are some vague but still slightly annoying metallic yeasty notes.

The taste is light sweet with a quite heavy bitter and reasonably long-lasting finish. The flavours are of moderate strength, again I miss some intensity. The flavour profile is of course hoppy with grapefruit, tropical fruits and resinous notes and a touch of caramel. And of course, I guess I’m obliged to nag about this when rating a beer from Bergen, some stinging notes of alcohol. To be fair the alcohol notes are just a tad too obvious, and mainly in the first few sips, so in the long run they’re not disturbing at all.

The mouthfeel is initially quite nice with a medium body and quite oily texture, but the soft carbonation soon fades away, leaving most of the glass seriously under carbonated.

Conclusion: a simple and quite nice IPA with a bit too faint aroma and flavour.

Aroma:      6
Appearance: 4
Taste:      6
Palate:     3
Overall:   12
Ratebeer score: 3.1