New Beer Sunday (week 551)

Thank you @cavedave for getting us going in NBS fashion this morning.

Well I am up and have been up for quite some time watching cheesy horror movies on TCM. It's Alive played this morning. I saw it for the first time in 1974 at the drive in movie theater. While I was trying to find some sheep to count I decided top try Saranacs Darktoberfest. I am not crazy about this beer and let me tell you why.


Happy New German Style Lager Sunday


Pours a very dark color , 25 on the SRM chart in my living room lighting. Certainly much darker than 16 which is the cap for either the vienna lager or oktoberfest. It has a burnished ornage hue on a dark brown body that shows glints of ruby. I actually was thinking "oh goodie" this is not another oktoberfest this must be a schwarzbier. It's not. It's malty and deep. Very rich and toasty. It's not roasty though. As I was trying to determine the style of beer I looked for caramel or chocolate and there was none. That lets out amber and schwarzbier. Nose is hop - less. None hops on this nose at all and none in the drink save for a breath of herbal at the very end. A mild moment of astringency. The beer does not have any bite from carbonation at all. Nor does it have any bitterness to finish it. It has a sweet finish. It's not like the vienna though with a crisp little bit of sugar to make the bubbles seem sweet before it dries out. This beer is sweet all over and has a touch of a fruity ester in the finish. It's not gargantuan but it does finish the beer. Without any bite from carbonation to distract me, that finish is too sweet, fruity and a touch cloying.





I will be back with Thunderstruck IPA later! Cheers you all and may your glasses be always full today!

 

Last night I found myself in a trance as I watched a 2 hour documentary about Johnny Cash on CMT. What a wonderful experience that was. Perfect end to a Saturday night. I put on a pot of Kona coffee this morning, and as I was sipping my coffee and browsing through the interwebs I was delighted to see New Beer Sunday pop up. I'll get this new beer out of the way now and think about doing a new marzen later. For now, I am excited to try Pipeline Porter from Kona Brewing. I like this brewery and I love coffee flavored beers so the expectations are indeed high.

Look: A hearty pour shows a very coffee colored body with ruby coming through at the base of the beer. The cream colored head is thick and foamy and holds up for most of the drinking experience. A foamy band of lacing covers the glass. Impressive.

Aroma: Not as prominent in the coffee, but roasted grains and bitter dark chocolate come out. I also get a lot of spicy hops ... weird.

Taste: Dark roasted malts transition into a nice kona coffee flavor. Just as I get used to the coffee, the beer brings some dark chocolate notes. A nice progression from roast to coffee to chocolate.

Mouthfeel: Medium to light in body, just about right for a porter.

Overall: I'm still not sure what I get out of the aroma but the taste is all in with the coffee and dark chocolate. A great looking beer with rich taste. I rated it 4.11 which gives it a +7.9 rDev. Another job well done by Kona Brewing in my opinion.

 

Love the way this started already @cavedave. Today will be a good day with the first Sunday of football season upon us. Although 8a.m. Is a little early for me I will join back in before my SEAHAWKS come on at 1 (I hope)

 

Good morning on this cloudy day in NWNJ, here this morning is your favorite witty writer, JMS1512. I had the pleasure of trying something fantastic all the way from Austin (not Boston). A shout out goes to Ozzylizard, he was solely responsible for my adult beverage enjoyment.

On the docket: 22 oz. bottle of Jester King’s Snörkel, Farmhouse style ale brewed with Oyster mushrooms and smoked sea salt. Bottle date: 6/17/2015.


Poured into: Brand new Snörkel snifter, courtesy of my generous BA friend, Ozzylizard


S: A golden-delicious apple gold body that supports a quickly dissipating thick, stark white head. Tiny bubbles journey to the top like they mean business. There’s a fair amount of haze in this one,


A: Lemony citrus greet the senses, mixed with a gentle spice and a bit of barnyard funk, as most would term it. No discernable hop aroma wafting off the head.


T: Wow. Lots of flavors working together in this beer. An initial lemon zest gives way to tart, almost mouth-puckering acidity. Tangy wheat and sour yeast. It certainly took me by surprise. There’s a bit of pale-malt doughy sweetness in there, but briefly. The conclusion of my first sip yielded earthy, woody, umami richness. It ends quite dry, and the mushroom presence lingers a few seconds after the liquid is on its way down. One should also take note of the sea-salt, and a very maritime, mineral like flavor, plus a bit of smoke not unlike peaty scotch. This would be an excellent addition to a plate of raw shellfish, especially the briny, salty varieties of oysters and mussels. It’s sort of like getting the whole “raw bar” experience in one beer- perhaps minus the cocktail sauce.


F: Light, well attenuated, and showcasing excellent effervescence for not being something like a Belgian tripel (my general benchmark for bubbles in beer). Long finish, as evidenced in the paragraph above.


O: Unusual but flavorful example of the farmhouse style. The components play well with each other, especially the funk and salt and umami. One of the best I’ve had, in part appealing to my love of mushrooms.


Suggested food pairing: Raw shellfish, salads with lemon based dressing, stir-fry with mushrooms, hummus and pita chips

 

This brew pours a copper/orange color, about 60% opaque, with a fluffy white two finger head which lasts a while. Some of it lasts as a collar until the end. Good carbonation and a little lacing.

The smell is sweet malts, biscuit, cracker, honey, candy and flowers. The smell improves as the beer warms up.

The taste follows the nose with lots of sweet malts and caramel, candy taste. There is a biscuit and cracker like undertone with a sweet malt backbone from start to finish. Very sweet, maybe honey and spices in there. Floral hops, not too strong. It is strange to drink something by Sierra Nevada with the hops so subdued but there it is. Too bad this is a one off for the 2015 season. Get it while you can.

 

Thank you, @cavedave, for getting NB started.
My wife and I went to an afternoon wedding yesterday, and when we got home, like @JuicesFlowing, watched the Johnny Cash documentary. Absolutely fascinating! It was preceded by Walk the Line, one of my favorite movies.

Today is cool and rainy, so no golf. My wife is working a 12 hour shift at the hospital. My duties for the day will be (in no particular order) beer drinking, grocery shopping, laundry, and preparing dinner.

Starting the day of beer drinking is Intensified, a bourbon barrel aged coffee porter from Brooklyn Brewery.
In a snifter it was a very dark brown, near black, with a hint of red. No head to speak of.
There was a strong aroma of coffee and booze.
The taste followed the nose. A lot of bourbon, a lot of coffee.
This was a fuller-bodied beer. I found it a little too boozy and not enough coffee, but also thought it was very good, so perhaps I quibbled too much.

 

Nicely described!

 

Good morning to all the early risers here on this slightly damp Sunday morning here in central NH. I'm not really up to a beer yet on this Sunday morning but be assured it is chilling in the fridge for later on this afternoon. But did want to share a couple of pictures of our morning glories in there grandest state on this perfect morning for them.


I have a list of things on my agenda for today but should be back with a review around lunch time. Hope you all enjoy this morning.

 

Neighborhood Beer Co. is now open in Exeter NH. Billed as German-Style with an American Twist. Have a growler of their Boss Flamingo Bronze Ale - 7.2%ABV. 62IBU

 

In 4 days, you turn 10. I turn 13 tomorrow.

 

OK so to make this a perfect Two Beer Sunday I am splitting a Thunderstruck IPA with my son who loves Stone. I definitely think that Stone has made it's mark on my palate. I look forward to their IPA's and that is what they are known for.

Here is Thunderstruck IPA




I did watch the video of the brewer talking about this beer in the other thread. Frankly when he named several fruits including raspberry it reminded of another video like that that I have seen . I honestly think that a beer that relies on dry hopping is asking to see big differences in the brewers tasting notes and mine. You will notice how many times that fellow said bitter. My bottle of this beer was bottled on 8/5/15. The fruity hop in this is called Vic Secret. The oniony hop in this is called Ella.



This poured so pretty with a soft haze that made it golden . I am pretty sure the haze was caused by dry hopping because it settled to the bottom of the glass. It was not super huge particles but I would guess that is how to tell the difference between haze from dry hopping and chill haze is that there is sediment that falls to the bottom of the glass. The beer actually had a soft glow from that haze that is quite pretty and not at all like turbidity or milky cloudiness. Good creamy head. Nose was a flourish of scents and I immediately thought the beer had been dry hopped because those scents were short lived on the nose. Something citrusy and something tangy and tropical that both waned quickly. Floral from hops and a strong earthy pungent spice. Onion. A light bright little sweet malt hid under all that. The taste was a surprise of strong onion flavor. It was sweet underneath with a bit of caramel. One of the most exciting things in beer is a pale malt that tastes lightly of caramel. (imo) I really thought the malt was nice but I did not get any real strong fruity flavors on the palate. A juicy middle from citrus. It was faint but it was good. The abv was a bit in the finish & there was a salty taste which I looked up. It has to do with chloride in the water. It had a strong bitterness which dominated the finish.The mouthfeel was resiny and a bit sticky. That resin smacks down on the palate and it's something I like and have come to expect from Stone IPA's.






Cheers you all and Happy Two Beer Sunday

 

Good morning to all and a happy NBS.

New beer for me this Sunday is Ayinger Oktober Fest-Marzen. With all the Oktober Fest threads and postings I got in the mood to try a few well-respected ones I hadn’t had.

(Pardon the photo quality—I rushed to start drinking this beer and never checked to see if photo was really a good one.)

L: Very nice copper appearance. Head dissipates in under a minute leaving the little coin shaped head seen in the photo. Almost seems flat.

A: Cereal and biscuit smell. Has the “Oktober fest smell” I'm familiar with. Sweet, but a mild aroma. Subtle.

T: Candy sweetness (honey, caramel). An all malt/cereal beginning and some kick of fruit near the end. The candy/fruit taste gets cloying a bit for me after the first 8/10 oz but as far as rating to style this beer tastes great. After finishing it I thought it even had a “prune-like” taste. Maybe best explains the candy/fruit combo.

M: Sticky — really coats the mouth. Aftertaste leaves some sweetness. Cannot taste alcohol at all. Could definitely have some more of these—doesn’t ruin the palate in the least.

I’m probably burned out on IPA’s and DIPA’s to appreciate the nuances of this beer but overall I really did like it and it well deserves its rep. A 12 oz version as opposed to a 16.9 may have worked better as I became anxious to move on to more Oktoberfests (a 12 oz Weihenstephaner Oktoberfestbier is up later)

I rated it 3.93/5 but I consider 3 average and 4 truly excellent so its not a knock on the beer I’m just a tough grader I suppose.

Enjoy your Sunday.

 

After an early adventure with the SN fall pack...

New for today: a brew from a distiller.



It's good!



At first, it's all whiskey. There's a nice heft, and a strange thin-to-thick feeling. The alcohol, I guess. It's balanced though, with a bit of oak and vanilla, sort of rye, builds to rather strong rye really, all carried in a smooth and velvety vehicle.

I'm glad I went for it.

 

Good Morning NBSers. It's a wonderfully cool morning and the windows are all open wide letting the breeze come in.

I have actually been awaiting this Sunday as I will be having a beer I have been wanting for a while. It was the start to a good week that ended on a mildly disappointing note. As I mentioned briefly on Labor Day, I found this beer at my local grocery store (not bottle shop), so snagged a couple of them. Of course, it didn't ring up, so they charged me $8 - which I agreed to as that is about what other AleSmith beers have gone for at bottle shops (and is likely a nice little discount from what they should go for).

Tuesday started softball season, and we tied and won in our double-header. We are now a tie away from the equivalent of our 2 wins from last season (both of which were against a team down a player). The team we played Tuesday had all its players for both games. I did tweak my calf near the end of the 2nd game; expecting it to be an ongoing annoyance at least (and hopefully no worse). Then on Thursday, a friend of mine paid me back some money I'd lent him, so that's always nice!

So for NBS, celebrating with the beer I was able to hold off on trying to share (sort of) with you guys. AleSmith Speedway Stout:


The pour looks awesome. I rarely take pour shots, but these came out ok. Color is pretty much black - can't see much light even through the edges. The tan head builds as you can see and sticks around. Lacing is pretty significant.

The nose is deep roasted notes, and most predominantly coffee, which is not a surprise given it is brewed with coffee. It's fairly straightforward with very little other scents punching through the roasted/coffee curtain. With some searching, maybe the lightest notes of wood, cherry, coconut - but I may be grasping a bit there, also.

The taste starts, like the nose, by hitting you smack up front with dark roasted coffee. The other thing it hits with, however, is the burn of alcohol. At 12%, it's not surprising, but as a comparison I didn't notice the alcohol nearly as much in Brooklyn's Intensified Coffee Porter (at 11.8%) - although I know others have. This beer is definitely bolder than the Brooklyn beer, and while this is not a comparison, it is more in line with what I expect in a highly rated coffee stout (we like bold here).


Letting the beer warm a bit smooths the edges some, but the main taste is dark, mildly astringent coffee. The edges start to add in some milk-chocolate cocoa, but the coffee and alcohol erase these notes before mid-taste. This leans just a bit to the malty side in the beginning, but ends up with astringent bitterness. In between, it's a little rough on the tongue with alcohol (and some carbonation early, which fades before I finish the glass).

So, this beer more or less delivers on its promise. It has bold flavors that are in line with what a coffee stout should probably be. The feel gets better with warmth, but is still a slight detraction for me. About the only other "criticism" is that the beer is maybe too straightforward. People might view that trait as good or bad, and even I am arguing with myself in this case as to which side it falls for this beer.

So UVa couldn't pull out the win yesterday, but they made the letdown from an otherwise decent week soft by playing well and almost pulling out the win. Maybe my fantasy team can kick off next week on a good note with a victory!

 

One of THE best evah!! Cheers!!

 

Interesting. Every bottle I've had of that, the head lasted deep into the pour. The rest of your review wasn't far off from what I'd experienced, though, especially if you have a bunch of IPAs as a contrast.

 

Happy anniversary, Old Timer!