New Beer Sunday (week 563)

Being in Kansas, I rarely get to buy most beers I see on BA. When I saw Prairie Christmas Bomb on the shelf, I became excited for today. Keep in mind Prairie Artisan are from Oklahoma, so I do in fact have access to most of their beers, but this one excited me.

I poured the beer into my St. Bernardus glass and used my home made Christmas tree coaster. The beer poured out blacker than Death with no head forming until the last drop poured out -- then a dark khaki head settled to a modest wisp with no lacing.

Aroma is peppery and spicy -- cinnamon and allspice perhaps. Really dark and roasted malts with bitter coffee.

Taste is a combination of rich dark roasted malts, bitter coffee, dark chocolate, vanilla, ancho pepper(?) and cinnamon spice.

Mouthfeel is thick, heavy, creamy.

Overall, its been a while since I've had Prairie Bomb! but I think this is right along those lines, maybe more cinnamon and/or vanilla for "festive" flavor. But upon looking at my Prairie Bomb! review, I rated this one 4.25 and Bomb! 4.65. And honestly, the description is almost the same. Who knows, this won't be a continued December purchase for me, but I did jump at the chance to buy it, and it is easily available. I could have bought a sixer of Stone's Xocoveza for much cheaper price per bottle and enjoyed it as much or most definitely more.

 

hello people, great football day!

I love hell style german weissbier and here is my first offering



poured out into my new glass (2$ at resale shop)
straw with nice white head that goes down to nil. 4/5

good clove notes and some bread (banana?) 3.75/5

juicy sweetness and the clove is proportionate to this beer
wheat malt plays nicely here. 4/5

some carbonation and tangy feel.crisp finish 4/5

good drinkable beer, warming up even gets better, I opened at about 45 deg. now it is 55.
good lounging around beer! overall, i'll say a tad under 4/5

 

New "Porter" Sunday

It has been a busy week around here featuring a battle with Christmas lights that I seem to losing, the first 2 swim matches of the year for my oldest, and a birthday party and custom built doll house (wife's idea) for my youngest. On the plus side. It saved about $100 + and I can have a hell of a fire when she is done with it. I also scored some leftovers for lunch as my mom was the only other person to eat my creation.

Since nobody felt inclined to help my Buckeyes out yesterday, I am in full Bengals mode now. Here is to new beers and hoping the Browns don't drag us down the their level.



This beer had NBS all over it. It is intriguing not just from the flavors standpoint, but coming from a brewer that around here is cheap Yuengling. I have been waiting for my local grocery store to put some in the singles cooler so I didn't have to buy a $9 four pack. Low and behold, this week there it was hanging out with new friends with a sexy new $2.25 sticker on the neck.

This is about midway through the head settling into the beer.


3.63/5 rDev -6.7%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25

The pour looks fantastic. The viscosity is decent. There is a large fluffly, milkshake like head that fades to a nice film on top of a black base with some reddish brown highlights if held to the light. Reminds me of a Taddy Porter.

The aroma is overwhelming carmel. It is so strong that you really can't detect anything else, and it starts to take on a buttersctoch smell. If you really huff on it there is some faint chocolate.

The flavors are better. The salty caramel is still up front and dominant, but there is quite a bit of chocolate. It starts to give you a tiny bit of porter qualities toward the end with a lingering aftertaste of roasted-ashy malts.

The body is a soild medium, and pretty smooth. Maybe a bit syrupy. There is a sticky feel. I am expecting my lips to be stuck together.

This is a tough one to score. Objectively speaking/to style, it is ok to good at best in aroma and flavor, but very good to excellent in feel and appearence.

On the other hand, it delivers as advertised and I really enjoyed it, at least for awhile. It is not something I would drink a bunch of as it wears you down with sweetness. I feel like this is approaching Southern Tier's Creme Brulee territory. An occassional treat that should be in 6 oz bottles. Therefore, I gave it an overall score of 4.25. If you are a carmel junkie, or like the idea of a liquid Rolo then I would grab one.

 

@utopiajane @Ozzylizard @cavedave @JackHorzempa @Roguer

Getting into that Holiday mode this Sunday, having some of those winter beers....find myself on the West Coast for a few days, so decided to procure some of the local goods.

Always thought it was weird growing up....I am from Wisconsin, and every Christmas we were usually buried in snow. I guess I just assumed that everyone had the same experience. When you're a kid, you don't know any better.

There's not a drop of snow in sight here. Sure, you see all of the imagery of Christmas, but its kind of hard to evoke that feeling when its sunny and palm trees are blowing in the wind!

Here's a holiday brew that hails from the PNW....great scene up in the PDX area around Christmas. Lots of folks have the lights in their yards, and there is definitely a lot of holiday cheer. Some really great beer festivals too...

Anyways, about the beer...this one is a play on the "Double Alt" style - which for some reason is making a bit of a comeback lately. An obscure style, this one has a robust hop bitterness, but not a whole lot of flavor and aroma. I do get a bunch of that fig/cherry/tobacco flavor in here, with a real robust intensity to it. Its not a sipper, and its not a gulper - its just a good, rich, and robust holiday brew. I'm glad I picked some up, and I will be looking for it on tap around town before I leave in a couple days to head back to BKLYN.

cheers!

 

New English Barleywine Sunday
Greeting NBS participants,
SCMN is losing the several inches of snow obtained earlier in the week. Anything to shorten winter is fine with me. Should be low 40's all week. I'll take it.
Even with this warmer shot I am partaking in a winter ale, for sure. A nice English barleywine from Summit Brewery from St. Paul, MN. Nice mix of hops and malts with both carrying some unique ingredients. I'm not so sure about the yeast. A very smooth and nicely blended drink with no harshness.
http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/467/189292/?ba=garymuchow

Grandkid today (truly nothing better than decorating a tree with a 6 year old- it's the little things, really), plus the local football team and the MLS championship game. I think I'll be busy.
Best to all.

 

Jack, do you recall if you had Cold North Wind, their barley wine? When I visited this brewery and had some tasters, I remember liking this one the best. It was VERY drinkable - perhaps so much so that one wouldn't peg it as a barley wine. That's all I can recall about it.

 

My first NBS beer is this gem I picked up at the brewery yesterday.



Supernaut IPA

New England Brewing Co.
American IPA / 5.80% ABV

4.25/5 rDev -3.4% | Avg: 4.4
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

L-The beer pours a slightly hazy gold. The head is a full fluffy white inch. Lacing is copious.
S- The mosaic hops shine through in the nose with a strong grassy, herbal aromas.
T- This brew is a single hop mosaic IPA. In that vein the taste follows the nose. Grassy, herbal, and with a moderately lingering bitter finish.
F-Carbonation is moderate. The brew coats my tongue and gives an overall moderate mouthfeel.
O- This is an excellent example of a single hop mosaic brew. I would highly recommend it to someone who wants to get a feel for what mosaic hops bring to a beer.

 

Decided it was about time to make a big pot of soup today. A sausage and lentil soup that is similar to the one they serve at Carrabba's restaraunt.

Quick shot of the ingredients



Soaking some lentils



Browning some spicy sausage



Oh, and trying out a new beer while it simmers.

Not sure why I never picked this one up before, but Sierra Nevada is always solid so why not try the stout.

True to form, this is a perfect example of a well executed basic stout. Nice roasted aroma and flavor. Hints of coffee and chocolate. Rich creamy mouth feel. Very well done.



http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/140/283/?ba=richj1970

 

This brew pours a solid copper color with a nice foamy white head which lasts for a while. There is also good lacing.

The smell is cracker like, with a little wet grass smell combined with bubble gum.

The taste is sweet malt, caramel and cracker; slightly bready along with some grittiness finishing with light spicy hops and kind of dry.

Overall this is a really nice to drink, simple but good lager.

 

I thought I was going to be the only one doing lentils today! I got a lamb shank stew and need a side... so there we have it!

 

Good morning BAs! New beer for me this Sunday is Bretticent by Wicked Weed which I picked up on a recent visit to Asheville, NC.

Pours A pretty semi-hazed, straw color with A slight off-white head that dissipates rather quickly. Lacing is minimal. Smells of barnyard, horse blanket, and just earthy funk. Hops smell of herbal variety. Taste hits you with a subdued Brett presence with a light malty flavor. Very mild on the tart qualities Feel is kind of crisp and carb'ed. Overall...3.87/5

 

I just ate my computer screen.

 

Good NBS Morning BA's.

It has been a busy month for me strangely and I have been here there and everywhere but finally get to settle down for the rest of the month, I think. Thanks to utopiajane for opening up this weeks thread and congrats on the promotion to Poobah!

Since it's the holiday season I thought I would share a new beer I recently picked up which really surprised me, my NBS for this week is:

Stone Brewing Co. - Xocoveza: For the Holiday and New Year.

I'm generally not big on hoppy, super bitter beers and thus don't jump on Stone Brewing Co. offerings much, not to say they are not an outstanding brewery just that most of their stuff is not my jam. That being said, I'm so glad I decided to pick this up as it totally surprised me.

Poured into a grand snifter at about 50F it displays solid black with a nice, thick foamy tan head. A decent head retention with noticeable lacing that dissipates quickly enough. The nose is that of a pleasant amount of cinnamon and nutmeg, following through with subtle cocoa and vanilla.

The surprise for me was the mouthfeel and taste. The mouth is creamy, malty and just plain full bodied massaging my palate instead of punching it. The taste is inverse from the smell (my opinion of course), the cocoa and vanilla are more dominant initially finishing with subtle nutmeg and cinnamon. I was never able to notice any peppers which is what I was expecting, sort of a NB - Coco Mole style arrangement. The 8.1 AVB is masked very well and just warms your chest nicely.

This is such an enjoyable sweet stout and was really served well by not being too cloying and most of the other sweet stouts I have tried. I strongly suggest this to anyone who has reservations about sweet stouts or holiday stouts in general. Kudos to Stone Brewing Co. on this one!




The technical:
http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/147/201248/?ba=StartedwithSAM

 

Chris, I do not recall that beer as being one of the samples that we had. As I mentioned in my post, I enjoyed drinking all of the samples except for the Radler. I neglected to mention that after sharing the samples with my wife I ordered a half-pint of the Porter. That beer was my personal favorite for that given day.

Cheers!

Jack

 

I love BA Stouts. Just, like, in general. I know there are plenty of cliches and stereotypes that I have now appended to myself, but ultimately, I don't care.
Hi, my name is Kestrel, and... I love BA Stouts.
Today, I opted to indulge that love and crack into my bottle of Lagunitas' Scare City High West-ified Imperial Stout for my offering to the great Ninkasi (not that one, the older one) on this day dedicated to her awesome powers and influence. Yes, as of this paragraph, I have already finished the whole bottle. Verbosity to (continue to) follow!
As stated I love BA Stouts. One aspect of said style I am less fond of is their propensity to let the sour of the mash creep in, especially on the finish. I don't know my whisk(e)ys as well as I should/wish I did/pretend I know beer, so if that's inappropriate terminology, I apologize, but it's the best descriptor I can think of. Anyway, as much as I love BASs and most of the characteristics found within (the general heat, vanilla/oak/smmootheness that tends to accompany the chewy smootheity.... all sorts of notes I can make up), that tendency towards memories of strolling the streets of my island with a bottle of Evan Williams (I make no excuses for the vagaries and follies of youth) are enough to taint the experience. So why do I dedicate almost an entire paragraph to this? Said verbosity, of course! But more topically, because this beer does a very good job of presenting the pleasant aspects of whiskey aging without allowing much space for that unwanted squatter to take up residence. It's not a perfect beer; I wouldn't even call it a GREAT beer, but it is absolutely a very good beer.


(this was about the only angle I could find that hid the reality of my apartment still being a mess of empty boxes and piled of items that have been 'unpacked' from their boxes. Ah.... moving....)

It pours a standard deep dark cola velvet, that turns reddish brown at the corners. The head is tight and prim and brown and soft and also... velvety (I need to diversify my vocab). Settles in, but leaves the glass coated like curtain drapes. Nose is smoothe and clean. Vanilla and booze intermingle with espresso and dark chocolate. It's not a particularly unique aroma, but it is incredibly clean, soothe, and inviting. The flavour follows the same themes with less emphasis. Dark chocolate, espresso, vanilla, oak, whiskey, and now introducing a touch of molasses! Finish is the bitterness not of solitary tears and too many lonely bouquets, but of late night espresso in a coffee shop escaping the cold, of boutique dark chocolate whose overhead is too much to justify continued existence. Of the chars of a bonfire that has run out of fuel and the cold truth of dawn is cracking. Of shitty poeticalisms from someone who should really know better.
Point is, the sour booziness I detail at length above makes an appearance, but is tactfully folded back into the greater whole. This is a very good beer, a well crafted BAS. It is not one to agonize over. It does not create future timelines in the timestream. It fills its roll with verve and gusto, but it does not wonder, "how come?"

Umm... sorry, I stepped out there for a moment. I didn't bother to read the above paragraph my dog hammered out. I suggest you do the same. Triple nights are over: now one night of respite, then back for an encore.

Hope everyone's enjoyed their weekend, and even more importantly, whatever they may have poured into their glass on this fine day...

(I blame @beertunes for this one. Though, otherwise you probably would have been stuck with either Skynyrd or Radio Moscow, so... maybe thanks are in order instead....)

EDIT: take three... it turns out this particular tune does not lend itself to youtube videos featuring other than *ahem* individuals of the fairer sex dressed in a manner unsuitable for the current weather patterns in my locale. Though maybe not unsurprising if you think about their catalogue

 

That beer looks like a kriek! Kind of surprised based on your description and it being a Christmas Ale.

 

Cool to see someone from Vermont going after Connecticut beers. I think most people assume it's the other way around.

 

How do you feel that Ninkasi beer compares with the Altbier you guys did with Adnams? (assuming you had some, and besides for the "double" aspect)