New Beer Sunday (week 497)

Mikkeller's Cascade

Pours a cloudy orange-brown with a dense light tan head that leaves plenty of lace all down the glass. Also some floaties -- a fair amount of chunks in the glass.
The aroma is excellent, citrus and a little grassiness and some sweet malt.
The taste is surprisingly more complex than I was expecting. Some peppery spice, notes of orange juice and a little pine and grass as well. And there is a decent malt backbone as well throwing in a little caramel and toffee.
The mouthfeel is really nice, smooth and creamy and going down easy.
Overall, a quite refreshing and drinkable IPA. Wish I had another...

 

Hey what's going on?!

It's Labor Day weekend, and I've been enjoying myself up in the Maine/NH area hanging out with the extended family inlaws and all that stuff. Ergo, it gives me new opportunities to grab some brews I don't always get the chance to have. God dam I can't stop thinking of Bissell Brothers Substance Ale. That stuff was incredible.


Bissell Brothers - Substance Ale at Robert's Maine Grille by imbibehour, on Flickr

I stopped in to Bert's in Manchester, great store, nice people. Chatted with the owner who mentioned after some talking, yeah I have 3 KTGs I don't know if I should drink them or hang on. To which my reply was you need to drink them now and give one to me of course... I mean DUH!?!?!?

Better yet visiting allows me some delectable delights food wise too that I can't take advantage of either.

So today for NBS is... what for our hero??!

It's new Gruit Day!!!

Portsmouth Ginger Wheat Gruit


Portsmouth Brewery - Ginger Wheat Gruit by imbibehour, on Flickr

Review here or read below, I am the only one who has reviewed this beer!! MWUHHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/596/135319/?ba=smakawhat

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Poured from the bottle into a Portsmouth Brewery globe glass.

Real nice creamy off white head, with spiny lacing and settling to a half finger puck. Real nice glowing opaque apricot orange body with plentiful carbonation.

Nice bouquet. Big on the ginger and feeling fresh grated and pungent. Some mild grainy quality, nothing too chewy sensing, but just a nice solid ginger focused brew so far, with perhaps a little bit of honey notes on the aroma.

Palate comes pretty simply and nice. Good full ginger notes but not overpowering. Some slight herbal like notes of chamomile and soft thyme. Milky like softness on the palate. Subdued wheat like body with a nice coating feeling all along the palate. Some fruit like orange and tangerine notes come out as well.

Always like a nice spiced ale, and not everything has to be about hops all the time either. A real nice refresher, and simply delivered.

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and with that, there has been much new beer and eats this weekend, and it will of course continue onward into eating.

I am going to eat well tonight.


Labor Day 2014 - Lobster Feast by imbibehour, on Flickr


and then I am going to play some Prong cause it was requested.. and it's awesome.

 

Taste off between 3 JUICY Pale Ales. All great, 2 new to me. NY, Scotland, Seattle.

Live - Southern Tier Brewing Company 4.1

A: All Southern Tier beers look and lace great. This one hazy gold, topped by yeasty, bottle conditioned, pin-point head that lasts and laces. Sticky. Steady stream of pin point bubbles rise.
S: Subtle, staying power, almost Euro, very yeasty, citrus, fresh.
T: An easy drinker, I'd definitely session this. Next to IPAs and DIPAs I keep reaching for the LIVE! Finely balanced, lots of staying power, gets better as it warms.
MF: Refreshing, keeps you coming back for more, med-bodied, great upbeat finish.

Alba Scots Pine Ale - Williams Brothers Brewing Company 4.1
This is great beer. A Scotch strong ale brewed with pine and spruce as in days of long sea voyage. Discovered in WFM craft 12. Vikings in their day drank a brew spiced with pine and spruce. Freshness date clearly marked.

Appearance: Orange, amber with chill haze - thin off white cap, but lots of dotty lacing redolent of juniper berries and twigs. 3.9

Smell: Herbal and piney with a tripel style of fruity esters. Faint medicinal aromas but not unpleasant. Far ahead of Yards version. 3.9

Taste: Malt base over topped by herbal, earthy, estery, and spicy flavors that resolve into a great finish of spruce/pine blend. Finish is long, drying, appetizing with pine hints. 4.2

MF: Full body and smooth with a creamy, crisp carbonation. Great feel: 4.2

Overall: Excellent strong ale with lasting flavors. Let it warm to room temp. Try it with cheesy and sausage-filled food.

Super Fuzz (Blood Orange Pale) - Elysian Brewing Company 3.95

Bottle into a .5 l cylinder named Spaten. Limited release that ought to be "on all the time"

A: Beautiful steep white head on top of a fuzzy, hazed apricot gold featuring sticky, lasting lacing and ample carbonation.

S: Aromatic, IPA like, hoppy, reminds one of Ballast Point Big EYE which is a grand marnier like IPA - but here with only 5.4% alcohol. Inviting, refreshing, and comes more to life, more tropical following a swirl.

T: Tastes like an IPA but more juicy, orange, peels and seeds. Lovely and refreshing. Great feel, not like a shanty. (You can try to make a similar by mixing ipa with Blood Orange pelegrino).

M: Mouthfeel remains refreshing, with soft fizziness emerging from a solid flavor arc.

Related beers:
Ithaca FlowerPower
Ballast Point Big EYE
Dales Pale Ale mixed with blood orange pelegrino

 

This brew sounds infected!

 

How do I tell? :/ It seemed okay.

 

I hate to be that douche but check out these articles.
http://www.bjcp.org/2008styles/style03.php

http://www.howtobrew.com/section4/chapter21-2.html

 

Ah! thanks. I'd read the first article but not the second. I think the presence of acetaldehyde notes is just a sign (according to the howtobrew link you kindly shared!) that this is just a bit young. I kind of liked it to be honest.

 

New beer for me. Society and Solitude #5. Worth every second in line to get it.

 

What about her review sounds like infection to you, though? Acetyldehyde is just an off-flavor. Cheers!

 

When you said tart apples and astringency in a Marzan, I was like, "that shouldn't be there". If you liked the brew, who am I to argue!
Cheers!

 

I thought about that after I posted. I've been slaying other brews tonight.

 

@Shroud0fdoom and @StLeasy I added a note and a credit to my review.

 

I really love this beer on cask, it's a whole new level. If you get the opportunity you must seek it out that way, it's wonderful.

 

Another new Belgian-Style Stout Sunday

Here's my second new beer review of the day, Ithaca's Obscurité Belgian-Style stout: http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/651/113228/?ba=bluejacket74

I liked this brew, but I thought it seemed more like a regular stout than a Belgian-styled one.



I still thought it was good, and certainly wouldn't turn down one! I'm not sure if I'll drink another new beer or an old one, but if it's a new one I'll post it here. If not, it'll be on the What Are You Drinking Now thread. Cheers and happy NBS everyone!

 

Ergo them new beers on Sunday doth continue...

Sebago Brewing - Hop Swap IPA (subject to change? vintages? 2014)


Sebago Brewing Co. - Hop Swap Subject To Change (2014?) by imbibehour, on Flickr

Review here or read below: http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/23973/130525/?ba=smakawhat

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Poured from the bottle into a stemless wine glass. Bottle label listed as subject to change.

A nice orange tangerine colored body, with some cola carbonation, but most of it quite fine in appearance. Fluffy and thick off white head, slightly tan in color. Clumpy island lacing with some big bubbles and sticky hanging edges.

Aroma and inviting bouquet. Soft orange hop and citrus notes, some possible cantalopue like melon quality also. Real nice and basic, maybe even a bit tropical. Malt angle a bit buried and subdued, but letting the hops come through nicely.

First sip on the palate give a good malt depth. Some nice sweetness and faint caramel but more towards lighter grain. Hop angle comes with a bit of floral and citrus burst, but mellow and tiny. Finishes mild astringent with a good pine bitterness. Some good finishing toasty notes as well after some warmth and time also.

Once again the citra fan boys will be happy with this one, and a decent IPA from the brewery as well.

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Rainy day in the Deep South, so I spent most of the day doing chores around the house, and then we hit the movies to watch The November Man. Decent flick with a kind of Jason Bourne / James Bond kind of vibe...

Today's new beer is Citrus Ninja Exchange from Westbrook. Even with bottle limit of one per person, this only lasted a few hours at the local shop. A really nice DIPA. Plenty of grapefruit punch with a honey sweetness. Probably the only DIPA I liked better this year was Ruinten.

Cheers!









http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/24134/131476/

 

New Hefeweizen Sunday

Hello all! Hope everyone is enjoying Labor Day weekend/last day of August! Hate to see Summer go, but Oktoberfest season is approaching, and that's not a bad thing at all. Beautiful day in Milwaukee! Today's choice was a solid winner! From Schell's:

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/417/127365/?ba=jwc215

Cheers!

 

Hey there neighbor! A wet day indeed.

 

And we're back.

Second offering this afternoon comes from an in-state brewery that I have a lot of respect for, as brewers as in addition to as members of their community. In fact, part of the reason I picked this particular bottle up (aside from the obvious: my previous experiences with their brews have been quite tasty) was related to the horrible string of natural disasters that befell that part of the state recently. After some of the worst fires the state has ever seen, the rains came and there was massive flooding, further damaging this wonderful part of my favourite state. As cheesy as it is, I figured I'd grab a local-to-that-area brew when I was down in the big city a couple of weeks ago, partly because I have this weird OCD about theme-ing things, and partly because, when the fires were ravaging the state, one of the local businesses that was called out in particular as going above and beyond to help the recovery efforts etc was Old Schoolhouse. So in my mind, not only was I stimulating the local economy after disaster, but I was rewarding good behaviour (as reported by the large news outlets, which admittedly makes me a bit wary... where does this cynicism come from??)!

Anyway, enough of my justifying spending money on an intoxicant to myself and anyone who happens to glance here...
Hooligan Stout pours a deep beautiful black, just how I like my stouts. As soon as I took the lid off the bottle, the aroma called to me and pulled me in: dark, creamy, sweet...
Taste follows suit, but with a side of bitter that manifests through a burnt flavour, while still keeping that soft milk chocolate edge. Quite tasty.

I like @Act25s 'similar suggestions' or however he phrased it (clearly scrolling up is too much effort). Well played, sir, well played.

 

Man, I hope I get to try this one!

BTW, if you think it was warm in Wisconsin, come down to Texas this time of the year ...