New Beer Sunday (week 558)

this picture has so much going on like a craft beer I cant even begin to explain! LMMATFO! Thanks !

 

2nd new beer of the day...probably last.


I’ve been thrilled with the last few visits to local beverage spots over the past week: Victory Vital on Tap on at Shatzis’s in Poughkeepsie on Tuesday. Born Yesterday pops up on Wednesday. Cans of Vital (a little late but typical around me) on Thursday PLUS Founders Harvest (late, but that again seems the norm around me) AND finally Victory Harvest on Thursday (not as good as I recalled but still very good).

So while I had noticed Pipeworks was in is town I wasn't really worked up about showing them up in NY. Kind of an afterthought. Couldn’t pull the trigger on Ninja Vs Unicorn (which was kept "behind the counter"). Too many good beers out there to pay the inevitable outrageous asking price so I went with what I could find among the “common” beer: Lizard King APA.

L: Hazy light straw in color. Smallish head that lingered and lacing was quite nice and sticky

A: Herbal up front but then more typical APA aromas: pine, melon and citrus. I’ve had some Lagunitas’ Born Yesterday’s recently and perhaps my nose isn’t what it should be after some of those hammered my senses but this is pretty muted. Not bad though. Have to remind myself it’s an APA even if its 6%.

T/M: Taste is sweet and lightly bitter. Green tea and orange peel predominant. This is really easy drinking. I mean REALLY easy drinking. Finish is a little bitter but super easy. I catch a little tropical fruit at the tail end.

O: Not overwhelming but super easy drinking (have I written "easy drinking" enough?) IPA level alcohol at an APA feel. This can catch up on one quick. I would readily throw this into my rotation if not for the price (which I don’t expect will get cheaper since it’s NY). It’s still very good and I wish I had more. Not overly complex (so I’m complaining that 6% is well hidden I guess?). Well crafted though. I could rip through 16 oz in no time.

Gave this a 4.29/5.0 which is pretty high for me—I don’t go over 4 all that often and over 4.25? That’s a really good beer.

Again enjoy your Sunday beers all.

 

Happy Birthday!
And I find myself moving the cursor back and forth as the beer warms to look and nose. I also like to do feel before taste on occasion, especially if I think the taste will change.

 

MGood morning all NBS followers and participants. I attended a great Halloween party with some friends last night but as the one that doesn't fit in as I'm the only craft beer drinker in the group. I chose to be the DD but a great time was had by all and it allows me a reason to start a little earlier this morning. There were costume pictures but my Mr. Clean costume didn't win any prizes. (possible pictures later)
My new beer this Sunday was picked up yesterday in my trip over to the coast. I hadn't made the trip to Deciduous Brewing yet and on the way home thought it was time. There list of beers was great and styles to cover any ones taste. The Jack-O-Lambent Gose, a pumpkin Gose was amazingly good, salty pumpkin doesn't get much better. So my new beer for today comes from Deciduous Brewing. There take on a Russian Imperial Stout called Introspection brewed with deep roasted malts, crystal malts, maple syrup, cacao nibs and almonds. This beer is then fermented with a single strain of Brettanomyces.

This beer poured into a dark black color with a nice creamy tan head.
The nose is both complex but intriguing. There is a nice cacao aroma and some great earthy smells with a little sharpness in end, perhaps a better word would be funk that you get from the Brett yeast used in this beer.
The taste I wasn't sure where to start but chilled this bottle to about 48* degrees a little colder than I would normally for an RIS. The flavors were sort of muted at this temperature with a slight bitter after taste. After the first pour I allowed the rest of the bottle to warm to about 58* and this is where all the hidden flavors come out of this beer. Lots of roasted malt with some cacao and then in the back you find the sweetness of the maple syrup.
The mouth feel is smooth and soft not a lot of carbonation but the way an RIS is supposed to be.
I do like this beer a lot but I tend to like most Beers done with strains of Brett. This beer isn't for everyone but I hope that everyone at least gets to try this very different approach to an RIS.
Cheers to all and I'm hoping the weather clears a little bit here in central NH I'd like to get outside this afternoon and perhaps take a short hike if the weather allows

 

New Lagunitas - Devil's Backbone Sunday (*not an actual collaboration)

I had this Lagunitas during the witching hour thanks to @Highbrow. Twice actually. Nothing like looking down at your phone and seeing 1:15 with a full glass and again when you are finishing it up.

4.19/5 rDev -4.6%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

A 2/12 bottle date poured into a snifter.

It is a bit on the warm side, but it has a massive dark tan, frothy head that lasts forever.

Smells very sweet. Lots of chocolate and whisky.

Very rich. Tastes like brownies with milk duds. Among the chocolate explosion is some rye,vanilla, and oak flavors. I really don't taste any coffee at all, which is as surprising as it is disappointing at only 8 months. Maybe just a little hint of mocha.

Body is full and creamy with a decent amount of carbonation.

I can see this being a world class beer with a little more coffee bitterness to balance it out. Still an outstanding beer though.



Now by 11:00, I have already had my second new beer of the day. This one was from @cjgiant. Beautiful label.



3.66/5 rDev -2.7%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75

It has moderate/average head at best that disappears quickly even with a really hard pour into a Sam Adams Perfect Pint. It does leave a decent light brown film on top though. It is dark copper in color, and cloudy.

It smells fairly sweet, almost like caramel malts, and bread crust.

There is an moderate rye like spice initially, then sweet malts with a hint of floral hops and lots of cracker and toast flavors. It is malt dominated. I think the lingering sweetness really hurts it. I had it at 4 initially, and worked my way back to 3.5 by the end.

It has a pilsner like crispness and is very clean feeling. It drinks like a little bit lighter bodied Marzen. Probably the best aspect.

Although the flavors are very good, they lack a little depth. Everything just hints at being a little better. Still a very nice lager.

 

Happy Birthday !

 

Hello everyone! Haven't had a new Sunday beer for awhile. But today I'm trying Mosaic Saison by Anchorage Brewing. Boy is it good! Pours a golden color with a big fluffy head of foam. The aroma is just wonderful: a little tart, a lot of funk, some sweet citrus, and a fair amount of hops.

As for taste, this is one complex, delicious, hoppy saison. Like the smell, the taste is somewhat tart without crossing over into sourness, but nicely funky. There's lots of subtle fruit going on here- maybe lemon, tangerine, pineapple. A little bit of spice, and a healthy dose of mosaic hops leaves a clean bitter finish.

Anchorage really manages to blend hops with Belgian funkiness and make it work. If you like Bitter Monk, or, say, Le Terroir, you'll probably love Mosaic Saison. Highly recommended. Cheers!

 

I can see some of you are relaxing too soon - look at the Lions - but you need to remember, "people" may have taken off the "masks," but the barriers are still down... *sunset* ...And even then, we enter the darker half of the year - how safe we are from what's already slipped through?

Randomly grabbed this at the store yesterday...

Bad Mother Shucker

An imperial oyster stout (8% abv)...

I enjoyed Marooned on Hog Island a few years ago. Basically indifferent to the "oyster stout" style. Neither compelling nor off-putting. Not sure why I grabbed this other than to secure a new beer.

Aromas are sweetly reminiscent of dark malts and molasses. Taste is sweet up front, settling in for some mildly roasted malts and caramel in a dark bittersweet body. Despite the descriptors, I found this to be rather uninspiring. Marooned on Hog Island made me think of oysters - there was a brine aspect to it - just a bit - and I liked it (though I've never sought after it since). This beer is smooth and soft, understated carbonation, a little sticky sweet, but nothing that brought me to the sea, so to speak, which is what I anticipated. Some licorice/anise to the molasses-like sweetness, a bit of chocolate offered up from the dark and roasted malts. A little paler on the pour than I expected, and in the glass, the edges of the beer catch a bit of dark brown translucence. Nice looking lace trails, creamy and ephemeral.

There's nothing "oystery" about the beer, least not that I noticed, and it might be a good dessert-type stout for the sweet-tooths out there. I liked it well enough, but it didn't have anything that really endeared me to it.

Gonna have some lobster paste on tiny brioche rolls to go with it... Ain't that special?

 

Someone who shall remain namelss, (@RonaldTheriot) just had to post on another website about those saints maybe beating the giants. I ain't no saint anyway ! Cheers @Greywulfken =)

 

Ok so again like last week im trying a new imperial stout in an attempt to acquire a taste and open up a whole new world of beer for myself.
Last weeks candidate was tenfidy...this week its Prairie BOMB!..excited about this one I've heard amazing things..

L: Pours jet black with a rough pour no head was forming at all yet once it sat for a sec after the pour it stared to form a nice tan ring that is still sticking around as I type ..

S: I get immediately a slight alcohol burn (or could it be the peppers?) some chocolaty sweetness not super impressive imo

T: After the alcohol like smell I was nervous but as soon as it touched my tongue I knew this was special..
I get a smooth amazing coffee some roasty malts no alcohol to speak of as it warms I get vanilla and chocolate as it goes down.. really amazing stuff never thought I could like a stout so much..

F: Velvety smooth no carbonation at all the perfect thickness imo

O: This may have thrown me into the darkside....like I said never thought id be able to enjoy a stout so much!




Happy new beer sunday everyone! some great posts today

 

Well the blackmail photos finally got posted from the Halloween party last night and if anyone actually cares I thought I did a fairly good job of Mr. Clean.

 

Greetings gose goblins and devilish doppelbock drinkers, it's time for your favorite nun-when-juh (NWNJ) {is that gaining traction yet?} beer reviewer, me. Life is a whirlwind of activity recently, including Cicerone results (nope, didn't make it for a second time), employment news (employed, but a thankless seasonal retail position I may or may not be asked to stay at come January), and a much-needed re-connection with friends yesterday at a house-warming/birthday party (theirs, not mine). It's an overcast, chilly day up here in the woodsy, sleepy town of Stanhope.

On with the review. I've decided from henceforth to only provide the link to my review, forcing those that really care about what I have to say (roughly 1.5 of you out of the 70 or so that might post on NBS) to read it via my blog, which I try very hard to keep updated and engaging despite a busy existence of searching for a real job.

Read my review here.

@Greywulfken - that green tint to your avatar? Creepy. Well done.

 

Mr. Clean never looked that happy! He had a JOB to do.

 

The Dude's. Grandma's Pecan English Brown Ale

 

Outstanding! Mr. Clean welcome to New Beer Sunday =)

 

Black Cauldron kicks ass!

Cheers!

 

We go way back when it comes to their cellar reserve beers, don't we?

 

Good afternoon my fellow NBSer's. Its a gorgeous fall day here in Jersey and I'm off beer hunting but wanted to post before I head out. I usually limit my weekly post to one new beer but last night I tried 2 and they are both worthy of mention here. First up was a stop at Magnify brewing in Fairfield. For a new brewery they have already come out with some killer brews. They did a nice job with the tasting area and the people there are great. I was very surprised by one brew. They call it 30 hours - I didn't expect much as it is loaded with Peach ( locally sourced which I like ) and that's not normally my style but damn - this was one extremely tasty beer. The Peach is def there but very subtle. Nice flavor all the way through and a wonderful mouth feel. Light and extremely drinkable, go's down easy even with a 8.0 ABV. Excellent job guys.
My second newby was Cigar City's Jai Alia IPA. I am a IPA guy and I've heard good thing so my expectation was high on this one and it did not let me down at all. It was better than I had heard actually. Poured nice and light but loaded with flavor. Nice hop blast right away then nice smooth flavor. Def lived up to the hype and I will search out again. If you see either of these brews ( Magnify is small and only distros to Jersey as of now ) don't hesitate to give them a try. Superb brews both. Cheers

 

This is a brand new offering from Henniker Brewing Company of Henniker, New Hampshire. Released in October 2015 from their Off-the-Grid series. It is their King Misanthrope Russian Imperial Stout. Get a load of this excerpt from the label's description: "The king doesn't care about your opinion or Untappd score, just let him drink his beer and get out of his face." Touche!

This is 10% ABV that is black and bold. It is aged on toasted maple wood and cured with whiskey from a New Hampshire distillery. Yup - it is black with a lingering tan head. Lacing. Solid coffee notes in the aroma and in the taste. The alcohol is well masked in the the aroma but a tad more noticeable in the flavor. Bitter ending. I really enjoyed this but I tend to be biased because Imperial Stouts are among my Top 5 favorite styles. I'm not a hop head like so many other craft beer fans are. I need to buy a second one to put in the cellar for a year before I can no longer find it.

 

New German Pilsner Sunday

It's been a long time since I've posted for New Beer Sunday, but I used to do so pretty regularly a few years ago.

Here in central NJ, it's overcast and in the low 60's. We're going to have something of a heat wave through this first week of November, with the temperatures in the low 70's Tuesday through Friday. After going out to dinner last night (drinking a Half Acre/Tired Hands American Youth and a Stone Enjoy By 10.31.15) and going to two Halloween parties (drinking Victory Vital IPA and Sierra Nevada Celebration) I felt like returning to something a little more German today. Fortunately, my grocery trip to Wegmans turned up some very fresh cans of Smuttynose Vunderbar. German Pilsner is my favorite style, but I tend to be a little bit of a homer with constant access to fresh Victory Prima and Stoudts Pils, as well as Troegs Sunshine when it is in season. Consequently, this is my first go at Vunderbar, though I will say that I tend to enjoy Smuttynose's offerings, in general.



Poured into my Prima Pils glass, the beer is a lovely straw yellow with the slightest bit of haze. A few fingers of very attractive foam.

The aroma features everything that you expect from Saaz hops...plenty of pleasant spicy and grassy character. There's a subtly sweet malty note in there, as well.

On the first sip, there's a pronounced and crisp hoppy bite. Lovely. A little bit of sweet malt follows, but the finish is plenty dry and bitter. The mouthfeel is actually slightly fuller than I expected, but not to its detriment.

This is a very nice pilsner. It's not going to take the place of Prima in my fridge, but it's a fine beer and one that I'll definitely revisit.