New Beer Sunday (week 556)

Well Dave, my wife makes a brilliant tomatillo salsa, but she's never worked with habaneros. Be careful my friend.

 

I love legal marijuana!!!!

 

Hello Everyone! this is the first time i have posted on NBS...i am an avid subscriber to see what new beers everyone is drinking. i am using my laptop and was able to upload this picture to the computer and post it..so i figured why not post in NBS. Drinkin Cycle Lost Dos (can see the letters in the bottle...one of my favorite label arts i have seen in a beer!), rare dos that Doug had forgotten about. it is aged 6 months longer than Rare Dos. Below is my review.



22 oz bottle opened at 55 degrees. Beer pours pitch black throughout with a 1/4" cafe head, just like all cycle beers do. Smell is of rich chocolate, bourbon fudge goodness. I cannot wait to take a sip, so i dive right in. The first sip has some bourbon heat up front, followed by roastiness and chocolate. As i yearn for another sip, i notice this huge fudge presence in the beer. This is the highlight of the beer in my opinion. Overall, this beer catapulted into the top 3 of cycle brews. the extra time in barrels has taken rare dos, which is already phenomenal, to another level. Definitely seek one out if you can!

 

New Seasonal Beer Sunday



Bottles 7/27/15

This is much more of a hoppy red ale than an amber ale, but not quite to the point of red IPA territory. As advertised, piney hop aromas lead the nose. The flavor comes out with the same piney hoppiness, but the finish is well balanced with with "red" malty flavor. There is noticeable and appreciable bitterness, but not quite to the 65 IBU assigned to it IMO, and it fades fairly quickly on the finish. This is a solid offering from Goose Island, and considering the price I would recommend this.

Cheers, BA!

 

Absolutely be careful!

@cavedave rubber gloves when handling those peppers should be the order of the day. In fact if you were "only" using Jalapeños there should still be rubber gloves for preparing fresh peppers for use.

 

Good evening NBS, hope everyone is enjoying the end of the weekend once again. Thanks @cavedave for getting this party started today. Last week at work went a bit easier than I expected with the new project I have to do, but it is far from done at this point. More fun coming in the next 3 weeks minimum.

Here are today's new beers:

Very good brown ale. Aromas and flavors are actually different in this case. Nose is a burst of grapefruit, tangerine, lemon/orange peel and piney hops; with some caramel, brown sugar, and toast in the back. A bit muted but pleasant. Taste: caramel, brown sugar, toasted bread, light chocolate/nuttiness, light citrus, pine, and herbal/floral hop earthiness. Light-moderate herbal/pine bitterness on the finish; with good balance between malts and earthy hop flavors; with good bitter/sweet balance. Very smooth with some creaminess and light hop stickiness in the mouthfeel. Some light dryness from bitterness as well. Overall very enjoyable. However, even with the English house yeast I am not getting any yeast ester qualities in the flavor or aromas profile. Plus, the big hoppy nose and fairly hoppy taste would definitely put this in the American Brown category for me. Regardless, I always rate to my perceived style and not the listings on the site. They are wrong more often than you would expect, at least in my experience. 3.78


Holy hell this is amazing. Great dense lacing and head retention. Aromas and flavors of huge dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee, molasses, raisin, plum, licorice, toast, dark bread, light smoke/char, and herbal/piney hops. Good amount of herbal/pine/roasted bitterness on the finish; with a nice balance of creaminess, hop stickiness, and roast malt chalkiness in the mouthfeel. Fairly dry finish from roasty bitterness as well. Zero hop astringency. Just downright incredible stuff. Big robust complex flavors and very smooth finish. Looks like I have another go-to stout. I hope this gets to Oakland ASAP, I got it in Wayne county. But if it comes down to it, I will just buy a pack next time I am down that way. This is exactly what American stouts are all about right here. 4.32


This is really nice! Aromas and flavors of big raisin, plum, carrot, pear, apple, light banana, pepper, clove, cinnamon, honey, vanilla, toasted bread, nuttiness, and herbal/yeast earthiness. Moderate amount of peppery yeast spiciness on the finish; with well balanced flavors between malt, spice, and estery yeast complexity. Very smooth finish with some light bready creaminess and spice stickiness in the mouthfeel. Minimal warming on the finish for the ABV. Minimal complaints. Very delicious! 4


Cheers! have a good night NBS

 

Good night NBS! Getting a fairly late start to the day today, but after a tasting group that I am a part of met up, I figured it might be time for one last beer. The highlight of the tasting was Wet by Surly, but I enjoyed every beer that was presented.

Up on the docket tonight is Fantastic Voyage by Perennial.

Milk stout with Coconut!!! Right up my alley.

Pour is pitch black with a nice lighter mocha colored head. The head retains fairly well, forming a ring around the edge of the glass as it dissipates.

Smell is upfront with bitter chocolate. A slight earthy hop presence is there as well. The coconut is a little more muted than expected. It's there, but not as present as I had hoped.

Taste begins with a bitter roasted chocolate, fading into a sweeter lactose and vanilla. Coconut is very present on the finish. A nice coconut and vanilla interplay.

Mouthfeel has a slight astringency that I find can be present in many milk stouts. Otherwise it is creamy yet light.

Overall a great beer, but it didn't quite live up to my expectations.

The music on for tonight:


I'll be working my way through everyone's posts. Cheers BA!

 

Well played!!! Welcome aboard the NBS crew.

 

I had two new beers today, both stouts, both very smooth and easy-drinking. I'm not very good at describing flavors so I will just say, two thumbs up.

 

this one is dedicated to @5EKF and his illustrious 32nd birthday...

bottled May 2015 batch no. 11


not a big fan of barleywine's and had I known this fell in that category probably wouldn't have bought it but had a few sours that day at the brewery and it ended up in the togo 6er... tastes like candy soaked liquor, second 12oz bottle I've had from Avery after an Uncle Jacob's stout and thought the same thing halfway through... should have shared this lol

got over that hump, looks like brandy in a snifter with the same burn, flavor of slightly hopped ethanol, not my style but I appreciate the buzz acquired after such an experience, the last 3oz or so closer to room temp smells of an accelerant used in arson you diluted rock candy into, overall a pleasant experience for someone who loves what he loves but really likes critiquing what he doesn't, if you are a fan of barleywines this is one of the best I've had, pretty sure I should have stashed it in a box and forgotten about it for a few years after ready a few other reviews but felt like going big on a special occasion, cheers NBSers!

 

Although those peppers are certainly hot I enjoy the fruity depth of flavor they provide. Unlike jalapenos which IMO just provide raw heat. Looks like some fantastic produce you have there.....

 

My first post in NBS. Thanks to @cavedave for getting things rolling in such eloquent style today.

We only recently began getting Sixpoint here in our area, and I have found all of their offerings to be exceptional. I am sampling a new one this evening, Sweet Action. Sixpoint touts this as as an "undefinable brew," while BA classifies it as a cream ale.


My review:

4.54/5 rDev +15.8%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

Poured from 12-ounce can into a TeKu.

A: A pretty, light copper color with a three-finger white head that lingered for a few moments, leaving some sticky lacing as it receded.

S: The first thing that hit me on the aroma was a strong hop presence that I was not expecting. Also some sweet malts and a hint of yeast on the nose. Very pleasant.

T/F: Has the sweetness and creamy mouthfeel you would expect from this style, with some resiny hops and a bit of bitterness on the finish.

O: Another world-class offering from Sixpoint. Perfectly balanced, very enjoyable either on its own or as a food accompaniment.

I knew I was going off the reservation with my review on this; the only question was how far. I'm no expert, but this beer just seems to defy classification. There are a lot of different stylistic elements that come together very nicely here. It stands very well on its own, but I found it to be a great pairing with my Treasure of the Sierra Madre Chili (i.e. "We don't need no steenkin' recipe!") as well.

Prost!

 

Welcome, and join us again - post is in the style I enjoy reading on NBS, at least.

 

LNBA meets NBS...

The day started bright and crisp here in the kingdom, but deteriorated into cold, cloudy, and a very wintry feel to the air.

Debated posting because it's a beer that I doubt anyone can say anymore about, but I had my very first Heady Topper courtesy of a friend at work. Her mom and dad visited from Vermont and asked if they could bring anything. My friend is a beer person, so she told them Heady Topper. I guess ma and pa really got into the pursuit...quite a bit showed up and I was given one.

As suggested, I poured a bit out and drank mostly from the can. The beer was quite clear, gentle pour into a taster. I did not find the aroma as potent from the glass...certainly didn't fill the room, but bright and citrusy. Quite a bit more intense from the can and more earthy, quite a few different notes of tropical fruit, some pine, maybe mint, junipery? Taste from can vs glass I thought was similar but I got a lot more layers and depth out the can. Not very carbonated, not very bitter, quite drying. The mouth feel stands out...silky and slippery, feels thick but not syrupy. Ok....same stuff, different BA...

An enjoyable experience. Will I go chase all over for it? No. I would absolutely.drink it again if I ran into some though...a worthy, righteous brew.

 

Late to the party as has been the case with me often lately. But with good reason, as I spent the weekend in Northern New Mexico and Southern Colorado celebrating my daughter's birthday. She turned three and is an avid train fan, so we took her on the Cumbres & Toltec ride from Chama, NM to Antonito, CO. If you're not familiar, look it up. Truly a gem.

Here are some pics:









As for my late entry into the New Beer Sunday, it's a beer I'd long passed over in shops, Samuel Smith's Yorkshire Stingo, which being an English Strong Ale, is also a style I'd never experienced:



4.03/5 rDev -1.2%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

2013 bottle poured into an oversized tulip glass.

I give this a vigorous pour and a frothy but creamy head emerges. The liquid is sort of a cloudy raisin color with light trickles of carbonation visible. The persistent head is a nice sight. 4.5

Quite the curiosity of a nose as it seems to cross elements of a Belgian quad and a dubbel. Raisin, plum and figs are prominent, but so too is a floral bouquet. Rich caramel shines too. 4

Interesting how the flavor seems to get away from the nose, as it's far less fruity than I was led to expect. Upfront flavors blend raisins and floral hops before giving way to an almost buttery caramel. Grassy notes close things out. 4

Lighter in body than I would have expected and desire, especially given the rich caramel and fruit aromas, plus there's more of a hop presence which again throws me for a loop. Still it has enough thickness and sweetness to linger pleasantly on the tongue and drink like something you'd want post-dinner. 4

First time with this style and I must say it's unique. Seems somewhere between a barleywine, old ale, and Belgian Quad, I guess. Perhaps lacking the body and bold flavors I expect from the greatest of these styles though. Still, as a beer that preceded so many, this deserves some respect for having standout qualities that would please today's consumer in need of aggressive flavors and feels.

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Thanks for your time, fellow NBSers. Always enjoy this thread and this community. A good week to all.

 

Unexpectedly ended up having two new beers today! Had the day off work from my new job (thankfully -- three early morning days in a row before today, and then two even earlier morning days after... without a break I would most certainly have gone insane and/or fallen asleep at work), so I drove up to visit a friend who was getting a group together to eat pizza and watch Back to the Future. Well, the original plan was to watch all three, but since so many people had to leave early we only ended up watching the first. Pretty great movie -- I'd somehow never actually seen it before and have no idea how or why considering that I've seen a good chunk of other popular '80s movies and it's one I've been aware of for a long time (and the references to the series are unavoidable on the internet. XD) Anyway... along with the pizza, there happened to be a wide variety of beers in the fridge, and they were offered to anyone who wanted one, and there were two I'd never had before in there... so I had one of each.



First one to catch my eye was Paulaner Oktoberfest Marzen. I like Oktoberfest beers, and have tried and liked Salvator before also, and it's even still October (though a bit late for the actual German Oktoberfest), so of course that was the first one I zoned in on. XD Anyway, it was a pretty nice beer -- had a good bit of a biscuity/crackery type malt flavor as well as some sweetness, couldn't really pick up any hops but it was 4 months old and of the Marzen style of Oktoberfestbier which I've read tends to be the darker, more malty style of making them. Pretty good with pizza also -- I've found the medium-darkish lagers tend to be good with pizza based on a few I've had with it in the past, so not too much of a surprise there. That's the one in the picture up above. It's barely visible, but it was in a Bell's glass my friend happened to have around -- which reminds me that I need to try some of their beers, I've been seeing Best Brown and Two Hearted around lately but have never actually had either!

Also had Lazy Magnolia's Southern Pecan brown ale. Didn't manage to get a picture of that one in the glass, though I do have a picture of both of the caps from afterward:


Also pretty good. This one smelled really good, actually -- there was a definite sweetness to the smell, like an almost maple syrupy sort of thing. Or maybe a little more like the sweet light-brownish stuff in a pecan pie, considering that it's a pecan beer and all. Taste was not as good as the smell, but still not bad. Malty and sweet, pretty much, but unfortunately the really nice sweet pecan-pie-filling sort of thing the smell had going on didn't translate 100% to the flavor. Seemed to go pretty nicely with the wasabi peas that were being passed around as a snack as we started to watch the movie and I was finishing off the last of my beer.

 

I almost grabbed this a week ago, having enjoyed a VA brewery's take on the style, but wasn't sure. You described it such that I am sure I will grab the next bottle I see. Thanks!