New Beer Sunday (week 546)

Since I rarely seem to find myself drinking new brew on the first day of the week (for some reason I'm never able to discern whenever New Beer Sunday rolls around), I'm pleased to be drinking a new one today. Pleased, yes, but lazy, oh so lazy... so this half-arsed NBS entry comes to you through the amazing power of copy/paste, straight outta WBAYDNsville.

Hey hey yeah yeah yeah yeah, it's Hopfenpop, a new one from Pretty Things which they tongue-in-cheekily dub a pre-Prohibition style DIPA.



Pretty Things has brewed a bunch of ace historical recreation beers that make up their "Once Upon a Time" series. Well, this one's an entry in their new "Never Upon a Time" series, which should give you a clear enough sense of how a pre-Prohibition brew could be a DIPA featuring Sorachi Ace and Mosaic hops: It couldn't be, I'm guessing. Hey-o! Regardless, this is quite nice. They've lightened up the body with corn grits [insert "craft" beer purist spit-take here] and piled on the hops, with juicy fruity results. I'm glad I got two of 'em and I hope to get more.

Happy Sunday, folks.

 

Happy New American Imperial Stout Sunday!

I thought last week would be my last NBS from Utah, but surprise surprise surprise (Gomer Plye voice), I found a new brew when I was at Rooster's Friday (A guy I was talking too told be about it). Today is a nice sunny day, around 80. Nice to see this brewpub put out something new and at a higher ABV than the usual stuff they do.

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/13423/185575/?ba=Wasatch

Cheers!

 

I think the KBS wins out in terms of sheer drinkability, but it was several months older than the SMS, so maybe that was due to a little bit more time to mellow. SMS I found more flavorful, and it scored a little higher in the looks dept., but it was also a bit more brash. In the end, both were fantastic, and all of you who live where either or both are available, you're very lucky people.

 

Good afternoon to all the NBS participants and hello to all the first timers. I've had a busy weekend to say the least as my bicycle group of friends did a 100 mile charity ride yesterday which makes #6 for this summer for me. A great time was had by all and a good sum of money was raised for the charity. Today we left the house early to hike Pitcher Mountain in Stoddard NH for a nice little hike but the real reason was the harvesting of the wonderful wild blueberries that grow at the top. We picked about 2 quarts and then hiked back down and drove to our next excursion at Island Pond and spent about 2 hours out in our kayaks happened by this lovely Loon.
Then it was back home to start the smoker and get dinner started we're having smoked chicken breast stuffed with jalapeno's and goat cheese, then wrapped in bacon and smoked over some nice pecan wood.

well now that the news update is done were on to the important item of the day my beer for NBS which is a 2014 Fluxus from Allagash Brewing, an ale brewed with spruce tips and honey.

I have started to become more of a fan of the great beers from Allagash and this is no exception. It poured a wonderful dark golden color when poured into my tulip glass. There is a nice lacey white head which lasts and lasts.
The nose comes through with the smell of a nice wild honey with the earthy tones found in local new england honey there is a slight aroma of yeast something along perhaps a touch of brett but not totally that.
The taste is earthy with a little sweetness from the honey I really fail to find anything of the spruce type flavor unless this is the earthiness that I am seeing here.
The mouthfeel is crisp and clean with nice flow for this wonderful summer day.
This beer stands for itself it is a very drinkable beer and am glad it came in a 750ml as I'm looking forward to a second glass. I think another trip to the bottle shop is in order to perhaps get another to cellar for a while.
I'll be back later with a second beer and some pictures of the chicken when it comes out of the smoker.
Cheers

 

Happy new beer Sunday folks. I felt inspired to write a review so I figured I would share:

Firestone Walker SLOambic



From 12oz bottle.
A: pours a pretty dark red, almost maroon with wispy off-white head that fades quickly. moderate carbonation.
S: lots of fruit notes on the nose, raspberry, blackberry, dark currants. lemon and fruit skin smell lets you know that it its going to be sour. wood notes, vanilla.
T: very tart upfront with lemon, lemon rind, fruit (plum?) skins. Nice raspberry / blackberry jam as the sourness fades, fruity but not particularly sweet. some wood notes from the barrel, hay, little earthy funk. finishes clean without much lingering sourness.
M: a little thinner than some fruit sours. carbonation was nice but faded by the last 1/3 of the glass.
O: overall i liked this a lot. i'm not overly familiar with olallieberries, but sort reminded me of a cross between raspberry and currants. liked the wood notes. definitely no off flavors and not an acid bomb. this is a nitpicking, but for my taste i would have liked a little more funk, more carbonation, and a slightly less tartness.

i've been impressed with barrelworks (and really the whole FSW barrel program), almost everything i've been lucky enough to try from them has been great with only 1 or 2 stinkers (ahem..agrestric). i hope the duvel buyout doesn't change the quality.

 

And, as I'm having a bite to eat (breakfast after 3 beers? Good planning there, T.) at The Local here in Bellingham, I'm also pre-funking for the Bellingham Bells final home game of the regular season. We had a good year, won our division, and made the playoffs, @sharpski 's Bend Elks had an outstanding season, and I foresee a championship series between the 2 best small beer cities in the PNW. Perhaps a beer wager is in order?

Again I delved into @garymuchow 's Box 'o Tasty, and found a sheer, full-on, licorice assault: http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/13014/114153/

 

Made a road trip up to Chicago with the wife for my birthday. Time for a whole bunch of Birthday NBS while I smoke some ribs and sit out on the deck. Lets start with a Vellejo

 

Hmmm... I had to double check my review, as I recall being unimpressed by this beer. As it turns out I had this when you could give a beer a straight rating down to the hundredths. I restrained myself slightly, and gave it a 3.4, but I also can't explain exactly why. I asked my girlfriend to look up her rating, and she gave it a 4/5 (in her system, it means order it again if you are considering it).

So two things learned:

• even a quick review of a beer can help. Although I hate "useless" reviews, I do write "short" ones occasionally more for my own use, but I try to make them mildly useful to others.
• I can probably grab another bottle of this, since even if I am still in the 3.4 range, my GF should enjoy it.

 

Wow, that food sounds pretty delicious. I suppose that's why you ride 100 miles, go hiking to the top of a mountain and go kayaking within what sounds like a 48 hour period!

 

Here's hoping you do enjoy it more.

I won't be entering this as an official review just yet; there's always the possibility that my mood is effecting the review somehow. I usually wait until I've had a beer a few times before doing a 'true' review. It's definitely the perfect beer for the moment, though - and I do love it when a new beer turns out to be pretty much how I was hoping it would be.

 

I might actually have to check that one out whenever or wherever I find it available. As someone who enjoys drinking Ouzo, I suspect I'm a lot more licorice-friendly than you.

 

I enjoyed Funnel Cake so I wanted to try Forgotten Boardwalk's witbier. It's dry, rather sour, and on the whole quite enjoyable!

 

Onto new brew #2

Another solid citra hopped APA. Similar profiles to the PseudoSue. Lots of sweet juicy citrus tangerine, resinous pine bitterness and a very subtle peppery malted rye that adds a nice compliment. Very well put together beverage! Thank you @Shroud0fdoom for another solid beer!

 

HOORAY Metabolism!

 

this is my afternoon sunday treat, this beer poured orange with a tan head that reduced to a thin layer

I get scents of pear for sure, also orange,and a whiff of cake batter.

I can taste fruitsand also a hop presence. no large alcohol presence either.but its there , the salt comes in last minute

thick mouthfeel great beer for me, I love this style but more smoke would be a +

enjoy this if you seek it out, I am

 

It's no big thing, mate.

 

Back with another one today.

I'm not sure why, but I never bothered to buy any of Good People's IPA until now. It's practically local for me, and on the shelves everywhere. I guess I figured it to be a solid but not outstanding IPA, and there are so many other options out there.

Turns out to be about right... Nice solid IPA but nothing fancy. Easy drinking and refreshing. I should add it as a regular purchase.



http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/17282/44713/?ba=richj1970

 

I love this Brew! I would gladly get Diabetes drinking this.

 

And the final (for today) entry of a Minnesota brew: http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/41487/182037/.

As I mention in the review, most breweries 'round these parts have left Brown Ales behind. And that kinda gives me the sads. Sure, I like the latest barreled, sour, quintuple-hopped, Orca as much as anyone, but there's a certain beauty in doing the basic styles really well. Good to see that some brewers still are grounded in the fundamentals. I look forward to trying more of this breweries beers.

 

The name alone is classic, but it sounds like something I'd like to drink as well. Still, I think the real star of his post was that doughnut!