New Beer Sunday (week 575)

Good advice. Thanks!

 

If you can't complain about sitting through all 12 hours of Der Ring (withoug any beer in hand :-)) you must have slept through long periods of the performance. :-)

Wagner's was a genius composer who needed a good editor.

Typical Wagnerian dialog:

I'm going to kill him. (10 repetitions)
I'm killing him. (10 repetitions)
I've killed him. (20 repetitions).

:-)

 

This brew pours a solid black color with a 1.5 finger head which dissipates quickly however some remains until the end. There is also a good amount of lacing.

The smell is full of sweet oats, chocolate, burnt coffee and toasted oats. There is also a hint of lightly spiced hops.

The taste, happily, follows the nose with oats dominating but balanced by the bitter coffee the whole way through to the end. The chocolate taste as well as the toasted oats underlie everything from start to finish. There is a very light taste of mild hops at the finish. The finish is just slightly dry however the feel is mostly smooth and creamy. Overall this is my new WOW beer.

 

Good morning New BSers! Maria, after that start I'm ready to take my beer and go home. Fortunately I'm already there so it'll be a short trip. But speaking of short trips, it's off to Erie to pick up some Vegemite and other bacterial and fungal produced foodstuffs for my micro class. I'm planning on giving them a night off from class while grossing some of them out with foods they may not ordinarily try. After last Wednesday's exam (range 51 -100, mean 68) some of them are going to need a food binge. I'm also planning on taking them out to dinner after their field trip to a clinical lab but that's an upcoming surprise,

Anyway, I'll be in TX Thursday and off to Jester King Friday and Saturday to see what I can pick up for the NBS BIF #3. I've got a beerfest on tap for next Sunday in New Braunfels so maybe I'll post later with some photos of that, assuming I'm sober enough to work my camera.

Today's new brew is another California offering since only Illinois and California will ship to PA, as far as I've been able to determine.



Undated 16.9oz bottle at 42 degrees into hand washed and dried JK snifter, allowed to warm to 50 degrees
Aroma very heavy roasted malt, some coffee
Head small (< two cm, aggressive pour), light brown, creamy/frothy, rapidly diminishing to three mm ring and partial layer
Lacing excellent - complete tight ring of tiny bubbles
Body dark brown/black, opaque
Flavor heavy roasted malt and a hint of coffee, lacks the roasted malt bitterness; no hops, no alcohol, no diacetyl
Palate medium to full, creamy, soft carbonation, leaves my lips slightly sticky

Appearance 4, Aroma 3.75, Flavor 4.25, Palate 4, Overall 4. My rating: 4.04, Avg 4.01, rDev +0.7%

This is a decent coffee/brown sugar/oatmeal blend stout in which the coffee is under powering, a pleasant change from many stoutish coffee brews currently available, including the one I brewed last month.

Cheers!

 

I love the Narwhal!

 

7% alcohol. 70 IBU. Introduced in 2015. Brewed in Michigan.

4.18/5 rDev +6.4%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

Azacca IPA has a fairly thick, bone-colored, soapy head, moderate lacing left behind, and a mostly clear, burnt orange appearance, with some bubble streams and powdery sediment, throughout. The aroma is of fruit, mango-like hop resin, and white bread crust, and the flavor is the same, with increasingly strong, yet, never harsh, hop bitterness, setting in. The mouthfeel is low medium, and Founders Azacca IPA finishes smooth and drying.

RJT

 

What cracks me up about this is Seifried, the alleged hero, is so one-dimensional compared to almost everyone else - I'd rather have Brunnhilde covering my back than Seigfried. Seigfried's parents were brother and sister - you can almost see the deleterious gene combinations piling up. At least the repetition gives you time to figure out what's going on!

 

Basically it is heavily salted brewers yeast, pretty nasty to my taste buds!

 

Not to mention a slap upside the head every now and then for his non-musical opinions.

Operas are rarely about the plot, @lordofthewiens. Usually the plots are nothing more than a framework to hang music and singing, and are often convoluted, nonsensical, or entirely silly (Mozart's were often all three). Generally, it's best not to worry too much about the plot the way you would a movie or play and just enjoy the music (if you like or at least can tolerate classical music that will certainly help). If it's not your thing, just hit whatever alcohol options are available during the intermissions and confine your attention to whenever your niece is on stage and you'll get through it!

 

Greetings fellow NBSers!!! I come before you this morning with a proclamation: LAST CALL FOR NBS BIF #3!!!!! LAST CALL FOR NBS BIF#3!!!!!! If you are undecided, well decide to join! we've got about 20 participants already and we're trying to hit the 30 mark. If you want to join in the hijinks, respond to this thread: http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/triple-threat-nbs-bif-3.388922/ . That is also the thread that we will be using as our Hints and Hauls thread. A lot of your NBS friends are doing it, and you want to be a cool kid, don't you? It's not like you'll put an eye out. You will however, end up with a bunch of new NBS entries. Join in the fun!!!!!

 

That's pretty hard core, starting off by sitting through all of Wagner's Ring in one sitting. I think a lot of opera houses actually break it up into several consecutive nights. So, when you learned to swim, did you hurl yourself into the deep end of the pool?

Back in the 80s, when I was an adolescent, my parents took my brother and I to several operas in Seattle, back when the Seattle Opera had developed a reputation for quality but had not yet become enormously expensive to attend. Back then they were especially known for their Wagner productions and were actually putting on the full Ring around that time, but over the course of 4 nights (we didn't go - logistically, alone it would have been a nightmare, and at that age my brother and I would not have reacted well to nearly a week of 3 hour operas).

 

Greetings NBS crew and thanks once again to Maria for kicking things off. Wifey is off to a bridal expo today trying to get her new wedding planning business kicked off. This business is her dream and I really hope this gets things going for her. I'm home with the 3 kiddos and while the 2 youngest run around dressed as a ninja and batman, I need some mental lubrication until I get these guys outside.

I've been holding on to this classic for a little while and figured I'd get this one opened today to share with NBS. Bottled 4/24/14 so approaching 2 years. Enjoy the springlike weather today.



Bottled 4/24/14

Pours nearly opaque black with a little amber/ruby red highlight when held up to light. Head is ample 1 1/2 finger light tan color. Looks like an espresso. Head receeds to a nearly full film on top with tight bubbled collar. Collar widens as the top film dissipates.

Nose is heavy chocolate and coffee and signifies there's a lot of depth. Ever so slight licorice scent but reminds me of the chocolate licorice more so than black licorice. Some alcohol/ booze in far background.

Initial taste is medium roast coffee with a fairly prominent vanilla component to compliment it. A slight twang of roast and bitterness on the back of the tongue. Opens up to some bitter-sweet bakers chocolate but when cold, the bitterness overtakes the sweetness. 12% is nowhere to be found. Bitterness from the roasted malts later excuses itself somewhat to some chocolately and caramel sweetness as it warms.

Medium to full bodied and silky feel complimented by low carbonation. Lingering bitterness on back of palate. Has a milky texture.

I've been holding on to this bottle for a while and figured I'd give it a crack today for NBS. Did not disappoint one bit. Full bodied feel offers a range of all the flavors you'd expect in a coffee stout. ABV is invisible and not sure if it's because of the age or just the artistry in how this one was crafted. Nonetheless, I need more of this.

4.47/5 rDev +2.3%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.5

 

The question is, does it still work?

I have a friend who once drunkenly hurled his down a street in the mistaken belief he was doing so with the empty water bottle he held in his other hand. His phone looked much like yours, but damn if it worked just fine afterwards!

 

Short's Soft Parade

Picked this up on a whim, trying a couple Shorts offerings when first seeing them at my local bottle shop last weekend. Didn't realize this was specifically brewed "for those ladies who like their wine."

Pours a pale strawberry-rhubarb color with a thin bright-white head that quickly dissipates to a thin white crown. Definitely looks fruity.

Unfortunately, it has a strong burnt-toast (more like a burnt hotdog bun) aroma with only some faint mixed berry behind it. Thought maybe I was having a stroke, but no, it's only when sniffing the beer that I get that. Had my daughter take a whiff, and, unprompted, she said "burnt garbage and ginger." She doesn't have the trained nose I do, but kids' senses are supposed to be sharper.

The taste is the same as the nose. Nothing else to say there. It's got a very thin-bodied, watery mouthfeel, with the burnt bun flavor lingering into the aftertaste.

Overall, I'd say stick with the wine, ladies. Hope to have something better to share this afternoon.

 

Good Morning BAs: Today, not only am I reviewing a new beer that I've been waiting a looooong time for, it's also the day I turn the big 4 OH! So.....with creaky knees, brittle ankles and a shot back, I give you Firestone Walker's 14th Anniversary Beer.


L: 4.25 Poured into a snifter/tulip, this one pours a rich-looking dark molasses-colored brown that leaves a mahogany color when swirled in the light. Not a lot of head left on this one as it only produced about a fingers' worth of nutty-brown head. Not a lot of retention and nearly no lace at all.
S: 4.5 Yep. This is where this beer really gets me! What an amalgamation of all six beers blended in this thing. Sweet toffee and caramel, robust nuttiness, oak, vanilla, and a bit of the bourbon left in here. Really nice.
T: 4.25 Sugary sweet almost. Some chocolate notes come in as well as the aforementioned nuts, vanilla, wood and caramel. Bourbon has definitely mellowed out in this one.


M: 4.25 Feel is coating and heavy medium. Not motor oil viscosity, but on the verge of heavy. Some booze in there, obviously at 12.5%, finishes sweet and warm.
O: 4.25 This beer, with all of its blends, tends to lean to Stickee Monkey, imo. That's what I'm picking up the most. Didn't get any of the coffee, as expected since this beer is going on 5 years old. All in all, still a great pour.

 

Stegmaier's Porter. Apparently it's awesome. Will also have this year's version of Terrapin's Pumpkinfest (expiration date of 12/15 and found at a store for a $1). Figured I'd give it a try.

 

So I need to thank @jzeilinger for helping knock this off my bucket list. This is my 600 reviewed beer and 900 rated beer, yes that wasn't an accident. Poured into my favorite glass, canned on 1/28/16. Pours a bright orange with a beautiful 2 finger head that has excellent retention and leaves behind streaks of lace as it settles into a thin film of bubbles. 5

Smell peach, mango, tangerine, pine, and grapefruit very nice. 4.5

Taste follows very well, starting with loads up tropical fruit upfront and then passing the torch to pine and grapefruit, very well balanced. 4.75

Mouthfeel is one of the largest for a DIPA I have ever had, moderate carbonation which works wonderfully, on the lush side, and 10 % ABV never seemed better hidden. Overall this didn't dissapoint at all. Sometimes you have high expectations and it is in possible to deliver, well not here. Everything I wanted this to be and more.

 

My first NBS beer today is this Double Brown ale brewed by Clown Shoes. There is no date on the bottle, but I suspect it is past it's prime. As a side note it is no longer being brewed.



Brown Angel

Clown Shoes
American Brown Ale / 7.00% ABV

3.58/5 rDev -7.3% | Avg: 3.86
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75

L- Pours a dark cola brown with a towering foamy 3 finger head. Lacing is copious and lasting.
S- The nose is typical caramel malt sweetness without much hop characteristic.
T- Caramel sweetness with a mild ashy bitter finish. Definitely a bit of oxidation going on here.
F- The feel is light with a low prickly carbonation.
O- This beer is probably past its prime, but still possesses some nice qualities of your typical brown ale. Nothing earth shattering.