New Beer Sunday (week 553)

Had it on-tap at Deschutes back in July and thought it was delicious. I preferred XXVI, but both are awesome.

 

Gopher it. lol. especially if you have access to more.

 

Funny thing is we haven't gotten any bottles in NM yet. Received one in a trade randomly. I did a vert of these earlier this year and that really endeared this bear to me.

 

I sincerely hope up bottles show up near you. Well worth trading for but available locally kicks arse!

 

We've gotten it every year, but lately, we've been getting shut out of lots of stuff we normally get. For some odd reason, the usually reliable Lagunitas doesn't send us things as of late. No High Westified, no bottles of Citrusinensis, and looking like no Doppel Sticky (extra sad as I really wanted some of this).

 

Happy NBS! I must be getting old because I fell asleep during the Wisconsin football game last night. I work up and it was over...

Enjoying another amazing Saison from Hill Farmstead.

A - Pours hazy, deep straw yellow with a nice 3 finger white head. Retention is excellent and there is plenty of lacing all over the glass.

S - Aromas of citrus, lemon/lime, and floral, honeysuckle notes. There is breadiness from the pale malts and some grassy/earthy notes followed by hints of spice and funk.

T - Quite tart/citrusy, with lemons, limes, and oranges. Floral with home honey sweetness and earthy hops along with grassy notes fill in with a bready or cracker like malt. Just a bit of spice and funk on the finish.

M - Light and crisp with fantastic carbonation. Quite easy to drink on a warm fall day.



I also snuck down to Tyranena Brewery in the afternoon yesterday to enjoy a BB Maple Porter. It was so good and the taste is similar to Whose Your Daddy, but with a subtle maple flavor. It had oak and some bitter chocolate with roasted malt with the vanilla and caramel.

 

Re Lagunitas, the only 2 in town right now are Sumpin Sumpin and the extra. Way more previously. Seems like Brewery distro in Casper comes and goes.

 

I assume Heineken deal will mean more distro for Lagunitas.

 

I can only hope Sucks! returns to town. By far, my fav.

 

Greetings friends,
We have been under a shield of cold, rainy weather for three days, and I love it! This is the stuff that grows these beautiful hardwoods, feeds us, and keeps the hordes from Sunday morning walks. We saw not a soul, but did sight a Louisiana Heron, a Great Blue Heron, a Kingfisher, and a myriad of others birds, including a Great Crested Flycatcher. My hounds let me know that there was lots of wildlife action overnight. Except for being in North Carolina, this reminds me of Scotland.
Breakfast is over, the spinach and mushroom omelets just delicious. The day moves along....two hands of gin and a game of Scrabble later, here's my beer for NBS.
Today's beer is Weyerbacher Sunday Morning Stout. I remember when this beer was released and there were many reviews and comments on here and elsewhere, so I thought I would wait a bit and let it "evolve". My son still works for the company that my wife and I started, and he gave this beer to me a while back for some future Sunday. I reached out to Dan Weirback in the early 2000s and we were able to have the privilege to bring his beers to North Carolina. He came and visited, to interview, and I was charmed by his nice easy going style. It worked out well. I have been eager to give this one a try.
This is an unusual beast, creamy, roiling, hugely aromatic, boozy, very heady, beautiful in the glass, and staring at me like, "I dare you"! This beer is very good, with the true Bourbon notes, a slight alcohol burn, and with complete opaque presence. I will let it sit for hours to revisit, because it would most likely put me to sleep with that stated 11.3%. It is a big strong beer, but oddly easy to drink. This is more like a night cap than a morning beer, but it is very well done. Weyerbacher is hardly ever given credit for being way ahead of it's time for producing barrel aged beers. This is a good one, but one might just last all day. I want to watch the Panthers and Saints in a bit!
I saw Ed Sheeran last night on the Global Citizen production and was amazed that I didn't know of him. Where the hell have I been? This guy is off the charts talented!
Here's Kiki, a feral cat from these woods. She is the sweetest most beautiful cat that I've ever been around. She is truly appreciative to be a part of this dog and cat household.
Here's one of my favorites, from an artist that pretty much covers my conscious life. Paul Simon, my friends and cheers on a rainy Sunday from here in the upper Piedmont!

 

Should be a cakewalk for the Panthers today. Feel bad for the Saints at this point.

 

Happy NBS everyone! Really solid beer here.

4.05/5 rDev -1.2%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
A- Pours nearly black with an off-white head. Steady lacing and decent head retention show fitting carbonation.
S- Toffee, coffee, bittersweet chocolate, vanilla, and a touch of cherry. Huge nose for a porter.
T- The taste is similar with a withdrawal of vanilla and an addition of earthy hops. A hint of dusty pine pitch really brings the drink together.
M- Low to medium carb. The slick mouthfeel works in tandem with bitter hops and roast to keep the beer dry and alive.
O- Great brew. Somewhere between a scotch ale, porter, and export stout.

 

Loved it too!!

 

I've been working to try every style on BA and have about ten left to go. Today's NBS is also a NSS (New Style Sunday) and I'm trying a faro.

It's Lindeman's Faro which is about the only one I've ever seen available anywhere, although I know that 3F makes a version that's supposed to be good. For the unfamiliar, candi sugar is added to a Lambic to make it more appealing to the non-sour crowd.



And my review:

3.96/5 rDev +8.8%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4

"375mL bottle poured into a wine-style beer glass.

Pours a murky and ruddy brown raisin color. Somewhat unexpected appearance, as it's neither as clean or as visually appealing as most Lambics. 3.75

Lots of funk hits me as I pour this, that's another surprise as I was expecting something highly sweet. But this smells all the way tart, lemony and heavy on the earthy funk. George Clinton in the mud. Some stone fruit presence, but despite the color, very little in the way of malt. 4

How this flavor diverges from the nose so much is beyond me. It's still got some tartness around the edges and that lemon quality, but there's a rush of sweet syrup and a raisin wine taste. Caramel malt and figs are all over this. A touch of funk emerges. It's like a Burlington-based Parliament tribute band type of funk. Interestingly, though this beer isn't at all vinegary, the flavor at times make me think of vinegar. Something connects the two, but it's much more related to the malt than the bacteria. 4

Sweet and syrupy but wrapped in tartness. Medium carbonation that crescendoes towards the finish and creates an interesting lingering feel of sticky sweetness and acidity. It's akin to an overly sweetened lemonade with mineral water. 3.75

I mostly picked this up for the style tick, but it's enjoyable and I'd like to try other brewery's attempts at it, particularly the Drie Fonteinen version."

I'll be back later with another beer or two, I think. Headed to Chihuahua, Mexico in the morning and I don't expect I'll be drinking much beer for the next week (but I'll be looking into Mezcal Advocate to see if I can post there), so might as well go big today.

Cheers, NBSers.

Oh and thanks to @cavedave for attempting to track down a beer for me and for starting this always awesome thread.

 

Happy Sunday from rainy North Carolina!



A – Pours jet black with a fluffy head and viscous lacing.

N – Belgian yeast for days with a chocolate malt undertone.

T – Rich chocolate malt and astringent yeast.

M – Thin and bitter and carbonated like a damn beast. The cork exploded out of the bottle and shot across the kitchen, hitting the far wall hard enough to bring my girlfriend running in from the living room. "What the hell was that?"

O – Not a huge fan. Unsure what they're going for here - it's not a stout, nor is it a saison.

GO PANTHERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

New American IPA? Sunday

It has been a few weeks since I have participated. Last weekend involved quite a few new beers as I attended Oktoberfest with 650K other people in Cincinnati. However, Saturday's transgressions led to no beer of any kind Sunday. We took the kids apple picking and to one of our neighboring counties ice cream producers the previous Sunday, and I had no new, non-Chocolate Rain beers on hand.

Here are some pics and a few brief notes of beers I have tried recently.

3 Floyds Yum Yum
4.22/5 rDev +5%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25

A hazy orange, gold. Very nice fluffy, off-white, mustache leaving head that expectedly leaves a lot of lacing.

Surprisingly, it smells very malty. Tons of biscuity/cracker aromas with some citrus in the form of orange.

Tastes really how I expected. Orange rind is ripe and slightly sour, combined with sweet biscuity, almost wheat like malts. Very juicy. The hop notes are really subdued, especially for a 3F brew, but it is much greener cold, and the bitterness shows up in the end and lingers through the aftertaste along with some herbal/ floral hops. It really, really lingers. Kind of sneaks up on you.

I find the body to be pretty full and creamy for the ABV. Very smooth and a nice amount of resin slickness. I can see some people finding it a little heavy, but I can't imagine doing much better here.

There are not too many sub 6% beers that I have been excited about. This is outstanding though. I rated it as a straight up pale ale, but if there were a "session ale" category, it would score higher. Along with Carton Boat, and Fat Heads Sunshine Daydream, it is one of the best.



Ever make a pie with one apple?

Not sure if anyone outside of Ohio has had any, but this is the home of Velvet Ice Cream in Utica. They have been around since 1914.



Schlafly Kolsch
3.64/5 rDev -2.7%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75

Looks great. Billowing white fluffy head. Smells very good. Yeasty, fruity aroma. Light cracker malts. The hops are very reminiscent of a Marzen, but lend some green cut grass flavor. Very crisp. A little too sweet though, and a very dry finish

Forgot to type notes for the Dunkel, but in my quest to revisit nearly every beer that I have not rated, I did finally do a "review" for their Oktoberfest.

3.51/5 rDev +3.8%
look: 3.25 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.5

A little bit too hoppy, spicy, yeasty for a Marzen. There is a lot more grain flavor here than Vienna malt. It looks more like a Helles, and drinks like a combination of a Pilsner-Helles. A very good lager, but it doesnt strike me as an Oktoberfest. I would swear it was a Helles.

Me with my brothers, and cousin pre gaming at Hofbrauhaus. My wife was already mad at me by the time we left here, but I literally had 2 beers

Now, a better picture


Sorry for jacking all of this page. On to today's brew.




3.9/5 rDev 0%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Poured from a bomber with no date.

It is a hazy orange-gold with an average frothy, off-white head. Spotty lacing.

Go figure, it smells very citrusy. Honestly, it reminds me a lot of Jai Alai. There is that musty/earthy smell among a bunch of orange/tangerine, and some lemon. There is a noticeable, albeit faint, sweet malt.

This is where my Jai Alai comparison ends. I don't think it tastes as good as it smells. It is fairly bitter right of the bat, and only builds, ending with an aspirin like aftertaste to me. There is still plenty of orange, lemon, and grapefruit which gives it enough sourness to barely notice what seem like caramel malts. I would swear that there is a touch of mosaic hops in there too. I am not real good at identifying different varieties, but that one usually stands out to me. Either way, there is a flavor that doesn't seem to belong here. In all fairness, this beer does taste best closer to the recommended 48 degrees.

It is fairly crisp, and it is sticky and resinous as advertised. A solid medium body overall. Alcohol doesn't jump out at you, but I would say it is noticeable.

First thing I want to note, is that the Ba listing for this beer is "American IPA" when it clearly says on the label "This is a double IPA". Therefore, I really think it should be changed. Especially since it is 8% ABV. That being said, I think my score would be a little bit lower as a double/imperial. It just isn't balanced enough. I actually think it is an enjoyable beer, and I am a big citra fan, but there are just too many other great beers I would drink before this one.

 

Congrats, Poobah!

 

From Henniker Brewing of New Hampshire comes their Ora. An 8.5% ABV Tripel that was released in July 2015 as part of their limited edition Off The Grid Series. I just spent a week at a conference n Atlanta, Georgia where I tried lots of new beer. New to me anyway because when I travel I always try to find the local beer that I cannot find in my area. I particularly liked the Drafty Kilt Scotch Wee Heavy from Monday Night Brewing in Georgia. Unfortunately, I don't travel enough.

This beer pours a heady medium-amber orange with a complex collection of barley, oats, wheat, pepper, spice, overripe fruit and of course Belgian yeast. Bold smooth body. No booze in the taste but plenty of spicy, grassy, peppery notes with those toasted barley and oats. Finishes dry. It reminded me of Duvel. I was impressed by this one.

 

"It's like a Burlington-based Parliament tribute band type of funk" I need this in my life.

 

Since I love theming things, today is a triple dip for me (not to be confused with a tripel-dip, which this is not; though if my memory serves, several members of our congregation would likely enjoy such an endeavour...). Since I had three different ones just sitting in my fridge, I figured what the hell, let's compare these three porters and see how things shake out.
St. Elias is a little brewery in Soldotna, AK. They also have a gorgeous logo. They are represented by their Colonial Porter (added!). Silver Gulch brings the (hopefully kick-ass) Pick-Axe Porter, another one I brought back with me from Alaska. Finally, King Titus is from MBC via Texas (thanks @Domvan!). Gotta touch all the corners!

-The pour offered a range from the clear mahogany masquerading as dark brown with no head presented by the Pick-Axe, through a questionably murky brown capped by the beautifully bountiful brown brow of the Colonial, to the almost-jet-dark-brown with a likewise massive brown head majesty of King Titus. I'll take Titus>Colonial>>Pick-Axe. This will be a common theme.

-St. Elias takes the win for aroma with a billowing chocolate-tude hemmed by black coffee and a dry ashiness. The King merely shows here, with a similar profile, but more prevalent coffee and generic roast, opting away from the folds of rich chocolate of the other. Pick-Axe was startlingly... fruit sweet. Faint in general, but sticky dark stone fruits and some caramel and roast. A foreshadowing of things to come?

-Swigs swing back in Titus' favour, though it's a fairly close contest. Both the King and the Colonist opt away from the strong chocolate underpinnings of the nose. Titus hues truer to this root with a roasty creaminess while focusing the main of its forces into dark chocolate/coffee with a touch of molasses and a fair roastiness. Elias offers a drier/ashier experience, though it also swings more sharply into the sweet side of the chocolate when it does harken back. This is probably Pick-Axe's strongest section, and strongest challenge, but it is ultimately a muddled mess of cherry and caramel sweetness, the bitter finish of an amber, some slight roastiness, and the faintest hints of thinking of dreaming about aspiring to lofty realms of creamy vanilla.

-Final tally: King Titus was 1st in a two man race with a third participant. St. Elias' Colony put up a fair struggle, but ultimately was unable to topple the established heavyweight. Silver Gulch boasts of being the northernmost brewery in America. At least this beer was able to boast about something?


The three contestants with the light of my life who shares a name with their unifying theme.

It's never easy to lose a patient who you've spent shift after shift caring for, but there's something... weird about finding out about their passing via the facebook belonging to the quarterback of your hometown team. And, no, that was not superbowl joke. It's just surreal. RIP. It's been a rough week on that front.


This is what Vicious Lies and Dangerous Rumors should have sounded like.

Cheers all!