Rhinoel
Lost Rhino Brewing Company

*From Notes*
The beer certainly has an interesting look that resembles a red grapefruit with a red spot in it. The beer is also cloudy. It actually resembles more of a cocktail than anything else.

The smell and taste are a bit disappointing but just as interesting. The beer has some strong barrel notes and strong cherry notes. The barrel notes are both woody with a bit of vanilla to it and those tend dominate the other notes. The grapefruit hop notes do come out but easily gets lost in the cherry. While there is a tart note to the beer, it easily gets lost in the wood.

The feel is smooth with some light carbonation to it. It feels kind of like juice.

Overall, an interesting beer but I wouldn't take time out of my day to look for it.

 

 

22 oz bottle, poured into a goblet

Appearance: Pours a beautiful, completely opaque, deep, dark mahogany color, speckled with reddish and orange highlights, and an extremely thin lacing of white-colored head that quickly and completely dissolved away into no head what-so-ever.

Aroma: Interesting, yet odd aromas. Very fruity, yet very vinegary at the same time. Has it soured? Skunked? Did the brewer intend the vinegary aromas? I get a lot of bready, toasted malt as well as dried stone fruit, such as dates, raisins, prunes, and sour cherries, as well as some candied sugar, and funky, dank, Belgian yeast.

Taste: Very interesting flavors too. Nice flavors of toasted malt, brown sugar-like sweetness, dried stone fruit, such as dates, raisins and prunes, candied sugar, funky, dank, Belgian yeast, a touch of sour cherry, and a touch of odd, vinegary-like sourness.

Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied and extremely smooth as there is very little carbonation. With an ABV of 7.5%, there is no alcohol on the palate.

Overall: I’m a little conflicted on this beer. It’s certainly odd and a little vinegary and sour, but I don’t necessarily dislike it. However, I don’t necessarily like it either. It’s an odd beer.

 

 

Pours a cloudy ruddy brown with a very short-lived fizzy white head. No retention at all. Visibly carbonated. The aroma is a little musty, but as it warms it gains some caramel sweetness and some dark fruit qualities. The taste is pretty close to the aroma, good but also a little underwhelming. The body is also a little thin a over-carbonated. It's good but nothing spectacular.

 

Sweet, dark fruits, Belgian yeast, spice, banana bread.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A rather nice and welcome local take on the Dubbel style.

Presentation: 75 cl brown corked and capped bottle. Blue and black illustration over a vanilla background of the Rhino with a sledge on the back over a snowy forest-mountain background (Loving the barcode shaped like Rhino). Small side paragraph noting style, intent, and main flavor. Shows 7.5% Alc. by Vol. Served in a tulip glass.

A - Lightly hazy amber/brown pour, with a nice frothy head, moderate retention, fair surface memory and some touches of lacing.

S - Pleasing if somewhat soft and a bit subdued nose with yeast, malt, caramel and fruity notes...

T - …holding up the flavor with dexterity. Malty, caramel, soft dark fruit, a hint of spice that may be goes beyond the yeast with some nutmeg or all spice? Subtle and well in any case.

M - Medium body with medium carbonation providing a fair smooth tingly finish over a nice lightly creamy flow.

O - Very pleasing flow, quite a nice take on the Dubbel. Glad to give props to Lost Rhino on this one.

Notes: The surprise lies in that this might be quite a capable, and beyond, local take on a Dubbel. Obvious challenge is that a Dubbel is not too popular a style, more so in terms of sales. However I find hard to fathom that beer aficionados may not be able recognize that this is quite a notable local brew for the style. I had it first on cask on a Xmas tap menu, and for the first time on me Lost Rhino made a dent. Shortly after I saw these discounted bottles. And I don´t know about the original release, but quality-price ration on this offer was stellar. I sure wish I could have picked up more. LR, keep on brewing?

On tap at Evening Star Cafe. Served in a tulip.

Pours a nice reddish-amber color with a hefty off-white head and a good bit of lacing. Great retention. The nose carries some faint spice and loads of dark fruit. Some cherry there as well.

The flavor falls downhill from the nose, as there's quite a bit of grain tannin coming through and drying the beer and giving it a somewhat-unpleasant bitterness. Fruits are there covering up a lot, and the other malt flavors are nice, but it's a bit too much to look past. The same goes for the feel. No real alcohol presence.

The nose was promising in this one, but the grain issues really hurt the finished product.