New Beer Sunday (Week 530)

Does it come in 6pks?

 

Hi you all and thanks to @Roguer for filling in this week. Boy oh boy we have had some lovely sunny days this week. I can't tell you how much I look forward to seeing the little woods behind my building come alive with flowers and birds and so many things. I am still a bit under the weather and so I tested my nose and taste buds with a beer I can't say is new to me. Southern tier's hop sun. I am enjoying all the posts thus far and look forward to a rollicking NBS! Cheers everyone

 

Hey what's going ON?!?

Holy cow I am exhausted. Just back from inside mowing the lawn... wait didn't I do this LAST Sunday?!?? ugh it's the season.. and I can't believe how thick and fast it gets. I do need the exercise, but went out early to do it, it's still a bit wet, and only a cup of espresso in my veins to do it so I feel whipped.

Settling in and the weather is just gorgeous. But it is starting to get hot, as it is in DC area.. Spring is short and then it's boom hot humid summer days with no warning..

I realized Saturday I didn't have any NEW BEERS?!?! OH NO! So Saturday made a nice trip to a place I hadn't been in some time and actually found some nice goodies, including a few brews that have always been on my radar. I actually got a box coming from Asheville and cant wait for those goodies either.. but Monday will have to wait.

It's playoff hockey.. and it's been great, if odd to always think about it with seeing green lawns, blooming flowers and sun. I grew up in Winnipeg but DC/Maryland is home as it has been for 14 years. I don't have cable (really no point kids) but I got the XM/Sirius cranked and been up listening to the games.

It's actually great cause I can sit here and listen and surf with all my beer loving friends while the games get relayed in the background. Foster Hewitt may be long gone (heck he is before my time I aint THAT old!), and I don't hear the crack of the radio bat like I did when I was with my Dad at times when we listened to baseball on the radio at times... but it's a nice feeling. Glad the Caps pulled off a great game on Friday so I got the game on the background..

As for the Jets my other team, well that first home game is going to be insane with the whiteout.

and never shall the two meet

But wait a sec! We gotta have some beers! And let's dig into that arsenal, cause everyday for your hero is new beer day! and it's Sunday! And I am THIRSTY!!!

What's new for our hero today?!?!?

Ipswich Oatmeal Stout - Ipswich Ale Brewery


Ipswich Ale Brewery - Ipswich Oatmeal Stout by imbibehour, on Flickr

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Poured from the bottle into a nonic pint glass.

Thick dark walnut brown with an almost purple reddish edge to it held up the light. Yup dark beer… you can do all those variants of dark brown to dark black bu yup in a big glass like that she is quite opaque and solid. Head is only just above 2 fingers, but with a creamy and almost nitrous top, very dark too with espresso brown color and nearly dark mocha. Very nice looker.

What a nice aroma. Wonderful fruit notes of cherry, and warm milk chocolate. Thick husky ripping roasted grain coming off of this and excellent senses of nuts like hazelnut and walnuts. Very inviting bouquet.

Palate goes for simplicity and giving the bouquet it's correct due. Light but also just enough creamy body to give some classic oatmeal depth. Roasting coffee like grain flavors wash everywhere, and thick malted cookie body. An almost mild like hop bitterness comes though just to give the palate a nice pop in the mid palate as well. It lingers also long after the final swallow with a bit of tea herbal like bitterness ever so slightly. Much of the nutty flavor comes out but much more in aroma than taste, as hazelnut and walnuts seem to give some tannic dryness just a bit, instead of a thick peanut butter action. Milked cream, nutty, roasty, delicious.

Overall just a real solid oatmeal stout, manages to keep the basics in control, and also be memorable. Sometimes you just don't have to get ultra big or fancy, but just do something really well and it's good enough.

look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4 | BA Score: 4.14

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Cheers! See you soon!

 

On the left are peanut butter dog treats, fresh from the oven. On the right are oatmeal chocolate chip walnut human treats.

 

Drink more and eat both - share with the dog, of course

 

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/7282/75323/?ba=Bitterbill

A little bit of cheating on my part for this particular brew. I had a bottle the other day and I enjoyed it so much that said to myself. .f the review for now. I hope I'm not the only one who has done that before.
PROST!

 

I'll take care of and love dogs as long as I'm able.

 

Ooh, I remember that one from my long ago Beer of the Month days. Cheers!

 

But has there ever been a line in an iconic movie where someone says,"Leave the gun, take the sfogliatelles,"?

 

Howdy, all!

Got off the late shift early this morning and couldn't wait to open this one:



So sour and so good.

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/30356/146510/?ba=Premo88

4.24 (+1.9% rDev)

Prairie Artisan Ales' Funky Gold Amarillo is more sour than anything else, lots of lemon and tart sour grapes ... at times I wonder if I'm not drinking the driest white wine on the planet. It's a yeast powerhouse -- ale yeast, wine yeast, lactobacillus and two strains of brettanomyces do the magic, says Prairie Artisan's website.

But the hops add this little bit of something that's equally magical. At first it tasted like grass ... or "green" ... and it showed up after the sour/tart notes subside. Over time, the hop flavor turned into something closer to tropical fruit, but it's hard for my uncoordinated palate and brain to name it. And the sweetness that shows up: could be from the hops, could be some malt poking out its head to say what's up ... ??? I don't know, but it's good. Tasted very much like Prairie Hop just a bit more sour.

Two quick notes then music. The clarity and color combine for brilliance if you can keep the sediment in the bottle. That's one. Two is sour vs. funky. This beer is quite sour. It's not what I would call "funky." I've only had one beer that came off as funky, and frankly I wasn't a fan of the funk note (the beer is Luchesa Lager, a kellerbier made by Oasis Texas, and a pretty dang good brew even if it sometimes brought dirty socks to mind).

Some of my favorite funky notes:


Cheers!

 

I will take a human treat

 

yeah could never find that brew...then just came across it Saturday... nice grab very tasty.. rain coming in allegedly too soon so hitting the spot..

going I think Belgian next to bounce it up, working on some lunch though need some solids

 

Well, it's a beautiful Spring Sunday here in New Jersey. Combine that with some manly chopping of wood and I thought Tank 7 from Boulevard would be the perfect beer to try for the first time. Boulevard's take on the farmhouse style is pretty damn good. Although my pic is a bit dark, it pours a beautiful golden orange. Carbonated and cloudy. Can't see through the liquid. Big fluffy head on top. Has a fruity Belgian-y aroma. Tastes great- got that farmhouse funk to it, tart, a little fruity. The hops come through a bit towards the end. The alcohol is very well hidden. Just a delicious take on the saison/farmhouse style. Now I don't really feel like doing any more work, except maybe to break the hammock back out. Cheers!

 

Definitely a fine brew. Boulevard has never failed me so far. Cheers !

 

It's never a bad thing to have more than one opinion on the same beer. For an extreme example, just look at last week's NBS!

 

Finally! The infamous (see video below) happoshu tick! After all these years and all these beers, a milestone that I wondered if it would ever happen.

This particular beer is made with sweet potatoes. Because of that it fits into the happoshu classification.

The sweet potatoes are definitely the main feature here. For me, probably a bit too much. Gives a full sweetness with a mildly syrup level of feel. It's an interesting beer that would probably be a good first craft beer for someone. For me it will probably be a bit difficult to finish and the more I sip, the more I yearn for some hops and bitterness.

 

Fun to get that beer, as for me it was my first Happoshu too, but there's no question that Happoshu is definitely a bit of a different realm than even this interesting beer. I do like the description though the brewer does give to it, cause it is technically a Happoshu.

I am thinking based on the glut of cheap Happo back in Japan, this is probably a good step up on that actual kind of beer I am taking a wild guess. I would still like to try a bunch of em though... uh.. just cause... I could if I had the opportunity.

 

I have had this one hanging around for a while. Since it is Sunday I will pull it out.




Not a lot to say about it. It's an export stout. The name implied darker and heavier. Nothing wrong with it I just expected something different from the name. Silly me.

 

It looks like the dog gets something to wash things down! What did the humans in your house do wrong?

 

I went to carton today and had their new tharsis saison. It's a saison with saffron and chile. Really a nice refreshing beer.