New Beer Sunday (week 542)

You know it's summer in Texas when you walk outside into 90 degrees midday and I think, "Hey! It's cooled off a bit."

Saw this one mentioned in the recent kolsch forum and figured what the hell, so it's a New American Blonde Ale Sunday over here:



Simple but strong, Victory's Summer Love has one hell of a hop bite. Whatever it's official IBU rating, I'd say add 20-30 to it in how those hops are perceived. It's easily the most bitter blonde ale I've tried so far, and the hop bite is really led by the Tettnang hops IMO. Earthy, peppery ... a bit floral but nothing over the top, allowing the bitterness more than the flavor to really sink in. I might like this better than Prima Pils and I LOVE Prima Pils.

My favorite aspect of Summer Love: It doesn't have that awful creamed corn flavor so many blonde ales get -- a flavor that possibly has something to do with freshness over recipe, but either way, this bottle of Summer Love doesn't have it.

BTW, the best-by date is Sept. 8, 2015. Anybody got a clue what that means in terms of its born-on date?

The review:
http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/345/59987/?ba=Premo88

4.12 (+11.1 rDev)

Cheers!

 

Yeah but some of us look up to the "dorks".

 

I have a bottle of vienna left to try and I'm looking forward to it.

 

that's a really solid beer

 

I shop at Dorks "R" Us!

 

Birrificio del Ducato La Luna Rosa, American Wild Ale on draft at Duckworth's, Park Road, Charlotte NC.

Pours with little to no head and a splendid purple color, almost a black cherry appearance. The nose is vinegar, dark fruit and bready yeast. The taste is incredible - loads of balsamic and tart vinegar, especially in the finish. Thin but oily mouthfeel with a sticky finish. If you like sours I highly suggest you seek this nearly perfect beer out. Quite dangerous at 8%.

Happy Sunday, geeks!

 

My wife and I visited my 90 year old mother and took her out for lunch at Frontier. My mom had the bloody mary, my wife had a Rita Hayworth (some kind of margarita), and I took the opportunity to try La Griseta from Oxbow. It turned out to be the perfect beer for a sweltering (at least what passes for sweltering in Maine) day.

Served in a pint glass the beer was a vibrant yellow color with a thick white head that left a good deal of lace. Kind of a bite to the aroma, some citrus. I lost the acrid bite in the taste. Hoppy and lemon. Wonderful. A nice, crisp beer. Will have this one again (and again and ...).

 

Afternoon/Evening all! And of course thanks for the very cool and interesting start this am from @utopiajane.
My favorite portion of the week has arrived again- Love NBS and hearing how everyone's days and week materialized. Seems like it wasn't a great week for some and I'll jump on that bandwagon. Very slow business wise which allows time for plenty of errors - be it self inflicted or out of my hands. Been happening for years. When I cooked for a living whenever it was slow you either had more complaints or a guy couldn't cook a steak right. Busy- no mistakes. Ah the way of the world. To Beer!
Proclamation Harper I Apricot. Sour ale fermented in oak barrels with apricots.

Pours a hazy yellow/orange straw color with 1/2 " white head that disappears quickly leaving no ring and no lacing on the sides of the glass

The nose is a sensory explosion of apricots and fruity peaches, tangerines and flower blossoms. There is a bready/yeast aroma and a peek of wood with a ever so slightly bretty funk. Fruits the star here.

Sour Apricot fruit blast like biting into a fresh Apricot with the acidity to match. Nice balance with yeasty fruit and sweetness, then the wood dries out the finish. Perfect Brett/lacto accompanies. This is fruit beer candy. I've been delving into this style alot lately and this just has a great depth of flavor and length of finish. Best fruit sour I've had this far.

Body is medium thin with tiny bubble carbonation and a dryness that stops before becoming astringent. The fruit and oak coat the tongue making you crve another sip yet you want to savor every drop for minutes.

Two weeks ago on NBS I tasted Keraterra their dry tart ale hopped with Mosaic and thought it phenomenal. Now I am thoroughly digging this. May not be your typical sour. Just another well thought out combo. Great on this hot day too.
These guys are blazing trails here right in little RI. A growler trip and tasting is long over due.

And NOVS : REM Orange Crush. Thanks all you vets and active duty people. We thank you for our freedom.
Have an incredible week and as always thanks for listening!

 

Indeed. That must be nice living so close. If you're ever interested in doing any beer trading, shoot me a BM.

 

Hey Dave. I just had that one yesterday. I guess it was New Beer Saturday for me. But our scores are with a few hundredths apart. I agree, not a standout APA, but good enough.

 

Pretzels sourdough. Yum. And mustard yummier.

 

Now time to tick a new style for me Euro Dark Lager thanks to @garymuchow! Really enjoying this bottle of Schell's Cave-Aged Barrel-Age Lager, looking at others reviews I would say there are a few people hating on lagers because I could think of a few regular stouts and porters that aren't as good as this.

4.19/5 rDev +2.2%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25

Thank you garymuchow for this!
12 oz bottle, batch 9, poured into a snifter

A- Dark brown with a two finger light tan head.

S- Milk chocolate/coca, hints of smoke, oak, faint vanilla, some bourbon, hints of toffee/caramel sweetness.

T- Dark chocolate, slightly chared oak, cocoa, some caramel malts, hints bourbon add a great sweet touch.

M- Silky smooth, creamy, medium body.

O- A very tasty lager, nicely balanced. I feel that it would be better if it was more barrel forward, but still nicely done. Worth seeking out.

 

And...? How is it?

 

Mildly buzzed from the first NBS beer, a 750, and now moving into this

Bottled 5/11 and can't tell if the maltiness if due to "freshness" of difference in style.
But whatever the case, this beer still is kicking.
From all of the five rating categories, this is 4+ on all. People with 3 Floyd's distro...do the do ANYTHING wrong?
Damn Gina!

 

Few hundredths apart? Wooaaahhh. Great minds think alike.

 

You nailed the Julian dating nicely. Just a heads up that Czar is typically a yearly release, with the last one coming in October 2014. Usually the actual month and year are listed in the foil label itself. Look on the lower right of the label. The interesting thing about the 2014 batch was that its 8.5% ABV deviated substantially from the typical 10-13% (it varied from year to year but is in that range). In spite of that, I thought the 2014 was outstanding. Glad you enjoyed it.

 

MADNESS REIGNS....

 

New Beer #2 for me:



This one might be a slight NBS foul. I'd swear I've had All Day IPA before, but I didn't review it, and I saw a 15-pack of relatively fresh cans (inside 3 weeks -- not bad for a Michigan-to-Texas trip, no?) yesterday on my dinner break so figured let's do it.

Glad I did. For me, All Day is almost all onion with some grass and grapefruit, and all three flavors are on my list of favorites for American pale ales. There's not much sweetness, very little malt flavor, but that's working for me nicely. I'm glad I didn't buy the two-month-old 6-pack and went for the 15-pack. It won't be hard killing it.

Review:
http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/1199/58914/?ba=Premo88

4.21 (+9.1% rDev)

I'm shocked it's overall score is only 3.86. BAs need their ABVs I guess.

Bougainvillea shot:



Got them a couple months ago, and they really stretched out this last growth period.

(btw, why do kitty cats/puppy dogs like to fill their tummies with grass and weeds, so they can empty their tummies of everything?!? I love big Midnight, but boy is he dumb )

Cheers!

 

"What?!? Why do drink?"

"He is Conan, a Cimmerian. He does not drink, so I drink for him."

 

"The two most important days in your life are the day you are born
and the day you find out why."

~ Mark Twain

Samichlaus Helles is brewed according to the purity law of 1516.
Not available in Ohio. This bottled purchased in Florida this past spring for $7.99.

Helles means light and simply refers to the color of this beer.
For me, this an event beer.

Samichlaus Helles is intense like the other beers from this magical brewery. Yes, I say "magical". I've never been to Brewery Schloss Eggenberg, but I'm biased by my travels to Austria and Bavaria and interactions with the friendly folk. Fresh locally brewed German or Austrian beer drank with friends under chestnut trees on a sunny breezy afternoon cannot be replicated here in Ohio. However, this beer may have improved over it's long journey, that ends here in my Eggenberg glassware. Brewed once a year on December 6, and aged for 10 months before bottling.

Deep fruity essence of mysterious fruits from heaven. Receives an 85 BA rating. A polarizing score possibly due to it's arrogance and sweetness. I sip it slow. Sipping allows this beer to fully reward my taste buds and thus, the sweetness for me is held in check. Each sip is a euphoric explosion in my unworthy mouth. There is balance to be found...but I must really look for it. Velvety, luxuriant and attractive. I love you Austria.

I will probably follow this with a Lake Erie Monster DIPA to slowly bring this experience back down to earth.

Musical selection: Wagner, The Ring Without Words (Lorin Maazel)
Activity: Wife inside making dinner whilst I watch the grass grow and clouds form.

Cheers!