New Beer Sunday (week 554)

yes, I am about a 15 minute walk from there, however, I have arranged a beer trade with another place on beer advocate called Brewberry, look them up. I brought some beers for a trade.i have a list handy so I get some great (rated) beers in return.

 

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/429/150766/?ba=Bitterbill


C
C&Ps out of the way, good day new beer sunday faithful!

A cold and rainy day in Casper today
I hope the weather in your neck of the woods is better than mine.

I'm also having a new pumpkin beer, from Alaskan brewing:

Best before February 10th 2016.
Served near room temp, it pours a clear 24 karat gold. Nice one finger head of foam that leaves a lot of nice lacing behind.
The smell is of Pumpkin and spices and are up to snuff when I compare it to other pumpkin beers that I have had.
Nutmeg seems to be the most prevalent spice that I can pull out of this beer.
The taste is true to the smell. Nutmeg dominant with the usual spices that give you the impression that you're tasting real pumpkin. Caveat, I really don't know if they use real pumpkin in this beer.
It has a creamy smooth mouth feel and is very drinkable.
This is not my favorite style of beer but this is pretty good.

Prost!

 

It is definitely fall as the cool weather took over this week. I have moved into the darker beer category (finally!).

Today's first offering is very tasty! Dry Dock Double Coffee Porter 2014 vintage.

A - Dark coffee brown with a very thin tan head. Fizzes away quickly and does not leave a collar or lacing.

S - Wafts of light coffee roasted malts and dark chocolate are the biggest aromas. Soft and mellow bourbon and vanilla with a hint of cola. The cold brewed coffee really makes this beer smell terrific.

T - The coffee is present and delicious and the bourbon vanilla flavors compliment it nicely, without overwhelming it (this could be from the age). Sweet and roasty and overall sublime to sip on. I pick up a bit of bitter chocolate on the finish.

M - Soft carbonation with a medium feel, smooth and creamy.

O - This was pretty much what I would want in a BB coffee porter. A wonderful coffee flavor and soft, mello bourbon notes. Well done!



Cheers and see you later with another new beer.

 

Photobucket did some changes so I can no longer simply long finger my pictures to bring up the copy image option in the drop-down menu. Dammit.

 

I think I'm working too much.

The extra hours have been great... I don't really do much on my nights off anyway, so picking up extra hours in anticipation of having to move at the end of the month (Seattle's expensive, man!) is great. BUT. I don't think I'm giving my dog enough attention. She is such a well behaved dog, especially for her age, and ESPECIALLY for the long hours I work. She usually is absolutely fine by herself at night (with the occasional visit from my neighbour every couple of days/weeks) but I can tell that I'm not giving her enough attention when she starts to get into trouble. Walking in the front door I could smell the trouble. Turns out she got bored last night and broke down my barrier to her giant bag of food and helped herself until she was so stuffed that she couldn't hold it all in. To her credit, both times she's done this (both in the middle of long stretches of me working in a row) she's confined herself to the bathroom. Anyway, dog poop on the floor first thing in the morning isn't ideal, but at least I have a bunch of sterile gloves on hand left over from work? Luckily I've got some time this week and we'll have to go have some real adventures.

Fall is in full swing up here in the PNW, and among other things, that means fresh hops! Today's offering is the Mosaic/Equinox variation of the Cowiche Canyon Fresh Hop series. Short review: It's great. superlative, really. There's a... bright, clear quality that fresh hops bring that just can't be matched elsewhere. So I decided to forgo any other activities for the morning (after cleaning the bathroom thoroughly) and sit on the 'patio' with a fantastic fall beer and watch the sunrays dance their gentle waltz through the remaining leaves while those already landed play in the wind.
-This particular example pours a clear, inviting amber, with a white soapy head that isn't massive, but which respectfully arrives, introduces itself, and sits down to share some intimate moments with old friends, leaving its mark on the walls and the memory.
-On the nose is when it really starts to jump out and shine. As soon as the lid comes off it's tropical fruits and citrus (from a mosaic-based ale? YOU DON'T SAY!). Malts don't call attention to themselves but provide a body and balance to make it cozy.
-Those fresh hops present bright and clear with a tip toed approach of those same tropical/citrus notes. Progresses from there to the bitter side of citrus, though still juicy, and builds from there to silent strength based in pith with shee of seet juice still layered above to dull the corners.

I'm convinced Cowiche Canyon is The Great Valley to which Littlefoot and his crew ventured.


What ever happened to the Bluth Company?


Cheers!!

 

Howdy fellow NBS advocates!

It's been dreary and drizzling rain almost all weekend, so what better time to enjoy a nice new beer.

Today's selection is Blue Pants 5th Anniversary TIPA featuring Chinook wet hops. The label says that it doesn't pretend to be anything other than an explosion of hop flavor and aroma, and I would say they accomplished that in spades.

The hops about knocked me over as soon as I popped the top. Both flavor and aroma were dank hops for days, but very drinkable at the same time. In some ways, this reminds me of Stone's Ruin Ten which is a favorite seasonal for me.

Very nice beer and highly recommended. I have been enjoying all of the wonderful things Blue Pants and @honkey has been doing these days, and looking forward to what's next from these guys.



http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/23966/191820/?ba=richj1970

 

They bolted back to Greensboro around 10 and are OK. Thanks.

 

Sweet S2S glass!

 

I just talked to my daughter and they're now back in Chapel Hill. My son in law's mom lives on The Black River upstream from Georgetown and the river is way up above the boat docks. They were there last night and she said she had never seen or heard rain like that!

 

Hey again NBS-ers! I wanted to get another one in before kickoff & I guess I just made it in time! Still on a sour theme today thus far (at least on this thread) - I wanted to try a new brew that was nearly forced on me by one of my guys at my fave bottle shop I guess they know what I like over there...
Thus...I'm onto this:

Allagash Golden Brett (Oak Barrel Aged)


First, some BA stuff:

A: 4, S: 4.25, T: 4.25, M: 4, O: 4, BA says: 4.16

My official review:

375ml corked & caged bottle into my Duvel tulip.

A: Pours a hazy-yet-vibrant gold/copper/orange with 1 1/4" thick white head that recedes at a moderate pace. Retention is quite good, lacing is just-above-average. This brew has a very enticing look to it.

S: Brilliant! There's a dichotomy going on here. I initially detect strong citrus rind & slightly sweeter tropical fruit notes, but they are almost immediately supplanted by a big brett quality. Although, both seem to linger & blend on the nose with each whiff. There's a stunning, sharp candied fruit note on the tail end - again punctuated by the brett. I love that the funky barnyard mustiness is not dominant, but complimentary to the other factors. Despite the brett, the nose has an overall pleasant sweetness.

T: Comes on with an almost-sharp tang that quickly reveals more of a musty quality. As this leads gradually into the mid palate, I'm detecting more well-defined fruit notes - most notably overripe apple. The oak finally shows itself near the finish which is characterized by a cedar-chip & brett duet. Although the depth of flavor seems to bottom out at a certain point, what is there is elegantly balanced & developed.

M: High-ish carb married to a dense but delicate body. It provides an ideal backbone for the type of flavors being offered here.

O: This is truly one of the most well-thought-out & executed Allagash brews to have ever passed my lips.

So, another winner! This brew is decidedly framed by the brett, but it manages to bring more to the table. The oak adds a clear sense of depth & elegance. The more fruity components provide a perfect counterpoint, not excessive, but not hidden either. I'm stunned by how well Allagash has coaxed depth out of a relatively simple formula here - this is definitely a step forward from their last Sour offering.

Wishing you all good beer & good cheer!

 

Stepping in and stepping up - good stuff @smakawhat - cheers!

Coupla beers I can report on today. Enjoying one of 'em right now...

Stillwater Brewing out of Georgia getting distro here in NY now...

Hop Hash seems to be their front-runner, garnering some hype around here...

This is one o' those beers shooting for that "dank" experience...

It having sold through right quick, my beer guy at the store held onto and gifted me a bottle....

I was so blown away, that I actually drank one without taking pictures . And then, when I went to post, I didn't have any pictures! lol I didn't expect to see it around again, but @zid confirmed that Sweetwater was officially getting distro here in NY. I checked BeerMenus and - sho' nuff - a nearby store had 6-packs in stock

Bonus points: I also e-mailed John at Seek-A-Brew about the new distro

So, anyway, the beer was a real stunner - I posted it in the "Latest Wow Beer" thread - because I really wasn't expecting much - it has a medium body-feel, moderate carbonation, and an almost oily character, because it truly is "dank."
I don't care about the term one way or another, but I know what it means - it alludes to a resinous dark oily pine character, reminiscent (to some) of cannabis. This beer is all over it. Dank-heads will love it. I loved it. Bitter shellac, dense with resin, coats some soft fruit impressions with a tongue-wrapping glaze. Something of a "specialty" ale I suppose, as I can imagine some folks not liking it because of it's chewy, bitter shellac...

This one's going straight to the dome...

Cheers, NBS...

 

Love that stuff, nice to see it getting the full-on @Greywulfken treatment! :-)

 

This beer is so new I had to add the brewery to the Beer Advocate database. As of this writing it has not been officially accepted so I'll do a review on the Big Water Belgian Triple here. Big Water Brewery got its New Hampshire nano-brewery license in May 2015. One of about 20 new nano-breweries that have opened here in the last two years. This one is in the tiny town of Salisbury, New Hampshire, which is in the Central-Western part of the state. Not a whole lot there but rural homes but now they have a brewery.

This brewery released four bottles this past Thursday (I think). They put out their Belgian Double, Belgian Triple, Barley Wine, and Aztec Ale. Their slogan is "brewing the world."

This one is their Belgian Triple (yes, that is how they spell it on the label). It is aged for 3 months in pepperoncini barrels and the pepper sensations really seem to play up in the aroma and in the taste. It is 9.0% ABV. The booze does express itself to a lesser degree but the toasted malt and pepper notes tend be forward but this combination makes it end rather odd, although crisp, at the finish. Kind of yeasty too. I found these bottles at a small town convenience store of all places and not at the regular beer stores I shop in. I have no idea why they delivered the bottles there first but maybe the brewer and convenience store owner are friends.

 

Another Lazy New Beer Sunday #1

OktoberBeast - Aviator Brewing Company



3.05/5 rDev -18%
look: 3.5 | smell: 2.75 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3

OktoberBeast pours to a large (pour carefully!) off-white pebbly head that sticks around for a respectable length of time, leaving moderate rafts and ladders of lacing; the beer itself is very hazy, sparkling and dusky deep amber in color. The nose is understated, even for the style: hints of caramel, dry bread, apple and alcohol. On the palate, OktoberBeast introduces itself with bitter apple and hints of caramel; by mid-palate the toasted bread malt foundation is showing and the caramel has darkened and is expressing itself more forcefully, showing an odd bittersweet side of itself. Moderate alcohol notes and hints of spicy hops punctuate the back end of the palate, leading to a finish that is all alcohol and cheap caramel candies, then a flash of sweet, followed by the onset of a funky caramel flavor that lingers for a few minutes with a hint of noble hop spice and bitterness. Mouthfeel is on par with the medium body, and the texture is slightly creamy and slightly peppery from the carbonation, which is less present than the effervescence would predict. The way the malt expresses itself in this beer leaves something to be desired: the caramel notes are off-point everywhere but on the nose.

★ 1,211 characters

OldManMetal, A moment ago Edit Delete

 

Smuttynose Wheat Wine Ale (Big Beer Series)



2012 bottling, so it's got a little age on it.

Deep orange-amber-brown color with a finger of off-white head.

Big aroma of toffee, dates and alcohol. They carry over, combining into a sweet taste up front, followed by a somewhat yeasty and dry aftertaste -- as well as an ass-kicking of alcohol on the back end. No hop flavor or bitterness to speak of. Syrupy mouthfeel.

It's definitely a "big beer." Quite hot to my taste. There's a lot in there, but not too smooth or harmonious. I'm sure after the next two glasses, I'll be feeling more generous, but gave it a 3.62 after the first one.

 

Yakimaniac from Free State Brewing -- Lawrence, Kansas.

An opaque, hazy faded golden body sits under a decidedly white head that recedes to a nice soapy film. Light foamy lacing remains.

The nose picks up dry spicy cedar and a huge amount of grapefruit citrus. Throw in some lemon peel and orange too.

On the tongue it remains the same -- a bitter, juicy citrus bomb. There's a very dry element to this, I don't know if it's the ABV (can't find that info anywhere) or if it's the woody aspect in the middle of the taste profile.

Mouthfeel is medium bodied and dry.

Overall: This is a very citrusy, bitter IPA. I like it a lot, but I'm very irritated that Free State don't list the ABV anywhere, not even on their website. I have quite a buzz, but I couldn't even guess a close ABV. This beer is part of their Front Porch Series and I highly recommend any of them, this one included.

 

This is my new beer for today. I picked this up last weekend at a wedding in NOVA. This has a nice nose and the flavor is about the standard today for a session IPA which is pretty good. Upon warming though the hops went strange and no malt comes up. Not too surprising. A decent beer but nothing to write home about.

 

Coronado Collection Old Scallywag barley wine aged in brandy barrels.

A - A deep dark orange, decent amount of head that dissipated quickly.

S - Sweet dried apricots, plums and vanilla.

T - More medium colored dried fruits with a hint of apple/vanilla sweetness.

M - Very creamy sort of milky mouth-feel to it, very surprising (pleasant) for a barrel aged barley wine.

O - A better than average BBA barley wine, but overpriced compared to much of its competition.