New Beer Sunday (week 557)

Just the brewpub. I had family in tow, they aren't thrilled with my affection for visiting bottle shops and breweries, so I have to pick my battles! I'll be going back early next year, will definitely try to visit both and buy CASES of the hoppy stuff--so good!

 

I shop close to me just got a bunch of Crooked Stave in, they are charging $9.99 a bottle and they all were bottled in 2014. Worth it?

 

Good evening all fellow NBS followers. As I stated before I had a dinner to prepare and well it turned out great at least IMO Chicken and Dumplings nothing better than this on a cool NH evening.

Now on to dessert which tonight comes in the form of Mott the Lesser from tributary Brewing in Kittery Me. A barrel aged stout.

Barrel aged first in apple brandy and port wine barrels and then finished for 2 months in bourbon barrels.
This beer pours a rich dark black color with a nice creamy tan head.
There is a rich bourbon nose with hints of the apple brandy aging.
The first taste is smooth with many wonderful flavors all rolled into one complex finish. There is apple, chocolate, Bourbon and many other flavors that all seem to blend together.
The mouth feel is velvety smooth very seldom seen in a beer this complex.
I was lucky to be able to attend the release of this fine beer and am enjoying my first bottle tonight. I have 3 more I intend to cellar for a while and see how it ages. There might be 1 bottle intended for a BIF in the near future but this is to be seen.

 

Started drinking a Sweetwater IPA earlier...

Citrus with pine undercurrents waft to the nose, followed on the sip by more of the same. Juicy, big bouncy character, full and round and softly sweet. Bitterness is resinous and gentle. Feel is soft and smooth. A super nice IPA. Might be my favorite new beer of the day. The Soul Style was spot-on, too, though... Best by date of 12/14...


Finishing it now with some crab-stuffed shrimp...

Cheers, NBS...

 

Hmm tough one I pay 9.99 for all the 375 ml's also I'm fairly inexperienced with aging and the st Bretta stuff seems to be around 5.5% so I assume they would not be nearly as good as the fresh stuff but the nightmare on Brett stuff is higher abv so would probably be better...

I'd try one anyway for the hell of it the st bretta I had was amazing also the Galaxy Brett ipa which was around 7% I think?

Cheers!

 

Had that one earlier this summer and was really impressed as well.

 

Since my last beer post, the GF and I took a little walk, I made dinner (as it were), and finished up laundry. Now it's on to the final two new beers from @5EKF - one's which I will cross-post in WBAYDN, since he frequents that thread. First the walk:


This one house had two vibrantly colored trees that the GF and I both took pictures. I can see the owner's now wondering WTF ?!?! Then dinner - chicken nachos with homemade guacamole. No idea why I've recently been posting pics and mentioning food on this site, but there it is. I wasn't surprised, but I need to learn to find the proper ripeness of avacado (this one was not ripe enough).

Now, the beers. @MUTINY wanted to know what I thought about this one. As I went to write my review, I realized I had given it a straight 4 a year and a half ago. I have no idea I ever had this beer, so I think I can claim it on NBS. Chicago's Half Acre GoneAway IPA.


Pours a hazy-leaning-cloudy orange/yellow color with a fairly nice white head that sits around for a brief while.
Nose initially misses me, or vice versa. Eventually I get light notes that I may be interpreting wrong they are light enough: apricot, pink grapefruit (near the rind), maybe a little melon.

The taste initially struck me as citrusy in that there was a tart tang that leaned that way - but the flavor was muddled by what I thought of as rye-bread like quality - bready with a little spice bite . The most noticeable flavors stick to the citrus, and in fact I might almost think it was an orange juice/grapefruit juice blend were it not for that malt inclusion. The ending does add a little hint of pith bitterness, but it doesn't make an impression until the late feel, which is somewhat coating during the taste.

The GF might finish this beer while I complete my write up and prepare the last beer for tonight...

 

Customarily I try to start off by thanking our host of the week, but it slipped my mind today, so thank you for once again refereeing our bout of beer drinking, @utopiajane!

After general housekeeping tasks, errand running, fantasy football checks, lunch, and more housekeeping tasks, I'm back with the BOMB!

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/30356/94350/?ba=woemad

Iinitially unimpressed by it's looks and it's aroma before it warmed up, I gotta say this is a great beer, and despite it's price, I'm glad to have it in 12oz format. Another 10 ounces would have been too much for one sitting. The balance is fantastic, with the vanilla and chilli peppers in enough quantity to contribute without becoming overbearing. Oklahoma, you're not out of my doghouse yet, but this is a step in the right direction.

Well, barring a run to Growler Guys up the hill, this is probably my last new beer today, and I'll almost certainly not be able to contribute next weekend, so have a great Halloween weekend, folks!

 

I digs this brew!

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/18006/105430/?ba=Shroud0fdoom

Cheers amigo!

 

Another New Brew Today!

New American Amber Ale Sunday!

Very tasty, worth checking out.

Dawn Of The Red I.R.A. Ale - Ninkasi Brewing Company

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/14400/109613/?ba=Wasatch

Cheers!

 

Good evening, all, and a special "Thank you" to @utopiajane for starting things off with such a great review! I had been seeing a lot of posts about Resin before we finally began getting Sixpoint here not long ago. I finally found this in the singles cooler at HyVee and couldn't wait to give it a try. The Best By date on the can was 17APR2016. Poured from can into Spiegelau IPA glass. First, my rating:

4.01/5 rDev -1%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

Observations:

Appearance - Stunning from beginning to end. A rather tentative pour still yielded several fingers of dense snow-white foam atop a limpid, deep copper-colored body:



The ladder-like lacing that remained on the sides of the glass was pretty enough for a Christmas card picture:



Smell - Not what I was expecting. Based on the name alone, I thought it might be a hop bomb. I was surprised at the up-front malts and yeast lending some balance to the aroma.

Taste/Feel - Lots of malt sweetness at first. Hop bitterness on the tongue without a lot of hop flavor. Creamy feel, resinous finish as promised.

Overall - This would not be a stand-alone brew for me. This is not a criticism, but rather a tribute to its great balance. I would never have guessed that this clocked in at 9.1% ABV and over 100 IBU. I would pair this with food. I think it would stand up quite well to spicy cuisine and aged cheese, but not too overwhelming for cookout fare such as burgers and ribs.

Prost!

 

Nice, after reading @MUTINY's review and now yours, and with a little warmth, I can definitely see that lemon note - in flavor, not in sour. I agree completely with this line: "This finishes Bitter-sweet with a lingering Resinous hop kiss in the aftertaste." In fact, after thinking about it and taking another sip, I upped my feel rating a notch.

 

It grabs that Candy-Esque Lemon Flavor ..not that actual Tooth Enamel Destroying Lemon Meat Flavor. I love Resinous Hop profiles as of late.

 

While I will tuck away an RIS on occasion I find this beer best fresh

 

Brother, I never knew you haven't had BOMB! before! If I would've known, I would've sent you a bottle or more for some more Workhorse!

 

Probably the most unusual flavor I've ever had in a beer.

 

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/style/52/

I found Belgians brew there's more Balanced where the Sweetness Compliments the Sour. Never tried an American Take on this Style though.

 

Good evening, NBSers. A couple tonight from Alpine. First up, this DIPA.



3.99/5 rDev -8.1%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4

Look: golden amber hues, a little cloudy, 2+ fingers of off-white head.

Smell: citrusy hops, but toffee aromas are pretty forward.

Taste: citrus and piney resin (a bit), but a significant amount of toffee/butterscotch flavor indicates this may not be uber fresh.

Feel: one thing I personally look for in a DIPA is an oily feel, and this really doesn't have that.

Overall: this is enjoyable, but I'm wondering if this isn't the freshest bottle of this beer. It's a bit stodgy, for lack of a better term.

 

Truly a "new" beer this Sunday, folks."The Wigglystick" by Garage Project, Wellington, New Zealand. This IPA is made with all Australian hops, and released at Frankie's Pizza (a downtown rock and roll bar) for Garage Project's Riff Off contribution to the last night of Sydney Craft Beer Week. Frankie's had a live band, and there were several canned beers from GP also. And the pizza was pretty good too.



The draft beer poured a light amber with a thick white head; good cap retention and very good lacing. 4.25

Pine and citrus nose, with an dank wet weed earthiness that envelopes the other aromas. 4

Wet dank hops to start, citrus and tropical fruit middle, bitter earthy bite on the finish...not shy this one! 4

Moderate carbonation and medium lite mouthfeel. 4

Bitter earthy hop linger with zesty citrus/fruit offset - I like! 4

Crappy photo of beer:


Garage Project makes some of the best handcraft beers I had while in New Zealand. I spoke briefly with one of the Brewers, Ian Gillespie, who advised that distribution to the U.S. should start next year. Looking forward to this envelope pushing brewery coming our way.

Frankie's Pizza's front door:


Cheers Sunday friends!

 

New Beer Sunday: 3 New reviews - all big - all strong - all autumnal - all in my top 10.
Orval
4.68/5 rDev +12.2%
look: 5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.75
Retried this in tulip at cellar temp at home. Thrilling. I have to have one of these a month.
Upped my review. Out of heavy glass vase like bottle, mine stamped 7-2012 so 2.5 years old.
** re-review on 10-25-15 a 1 year old edition. Equally good.
O: Get ready for a wild, subtle, flowery experience....
A: Pours massive unstoppable head, on top of a very hazy apricot body. The head becomes the tallest set of floating rocks and leaves lots of lacing that make it look tough to wash the glass. One of the best looking beers ever. In a tulip, a .5 l glass, a nonic pint, a wine balloon, and in a Leffe Chalice.
Smell: Strong flower shop plus citrus nose; smells like a box of oranges sitting in a wet barn full of hay with jasmine and lavender flowers growing outside. And a beautiful woman lifting her skirt as she crosses a fresh stream while chewing violet gum.
**must let it warm. Do not drink cold or without cheese!
Taste: Complex. Starts with hops, and bitter fizz, and runs a long arc of flowers, grass, wet hay, barnyard, citrus flavors then a long, long, long dry finish, like good wine. Great with Cheese as Jason wrote. (Tonight French Comte) (cheese almost a must, in another case Irish cheddar with fresh baked bread, and another late harvest garden tomato with balsamic). Ultimate fine and creamy cheese beer pairing.
**As soon as I poured, I went back to the fridge for the cheddar. Cheese a must!
Mouthfeel: Interesting twist. A wee heavy, and long finish with dry bitterness. WIne-like, long long finish. I like it like I'd like a Jayer Cote de Nuit.
Drinkability: This is a great Trappist beer. I think it just rose above Chimay for me. Shimmy over Chimay, make room for Orval... You must try it. It's not for everyone. But it must have a following because it's been crafted since 1100.
Belgian fans must.


Rochefort 10
4.57/5 rDev +2.2%
look: 5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
The best Rochefort by far. What I have been waiting for!
Amazing beer. As good as any wine. in my top 10.
Maybe one of the best beers ever made. up there with St. Bernardus Abt. 12.
A: The murky brown liquid pours with a turbulent smokey, rusty pour. A gravity defying, airy, tan head shows peppering of yeast, spice and sediment. The beer takes a very long time to settle with a half-inch head and lace specked with sediment.
S: Syrupy candy sweetness with fruitiness, spiciness, smokiness,and with a chocolate, tarry, treacle, brandy complexity.
T: Follows smell. Malty richness of dark sugars, caramels, and toffee melded with charred, toasty, chocolatey flavors. Fruitiness of a fall orchard of berries, grapes, dates, figs, plumbs, and apples - all slightly overripe and raisening. Next barrel aged woods with tang and autumnal, churchy mustiness.
F: Bold, full feel. The powder-sugar textures develop into a well-rounded beverage. Full, succulent textures balance the acidic fall fruit notes. Finishes with a dry, airy finish.
"A magical beer that defies modern brewing logic." as one reviewer wrote. A top 10!


Bourbon Barrel-Aged Arrogant Bastard Ale - Stone
4.54/5 rDev +16.4%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
Wow! this was on my top 10 list in its former incarnation and it gets even better.
Tasted off Rochefort 10.
I love beers and wine that remind me of Church - the centuries old wood, incense, beeswax, herbs, reverence, taboo, ritual, cedar and oak.
STONE is a peak beer experience, Arrogant Bastard is the one to take if you get banished to the moon.
A: Deep ruby body, one of the best colors. Slightly hazed big tan khaki head with thick, sticky foam that resolves slowly. Fine graffiti lacing remains.
S: Much bigger flavor - liquor or wine like. Aroma starts with big dark fruit - red wine, late harvest, plums, cherry followed by stronger oak notes, incense, tobacco, char, and alcohol. Mild bourbon notes in the back.
T: Starts with creamy big dark fruit, plums, cherry, late harvest wine, and continues with strong oak, varnish, church-like incense, cedar, and dark alcohol soaked fruit...finally hints of bourbon and fall leaves in the finish.
F: Mouthfeel is full with modest carbonation, and the weight of the Bourbon barrel that mellows and rolls out long and deep. A mediation beer.
See if this big beer grow on you. Sipper, meditate, converse.