New Beer Sunday (week 577)

Oh, it's definitely a friendlier environment for specialty bottle shops in NY. There are more of them to the north and east of me than even in NJ. There may be some in PA, like Abe's in Bethlehem, but I'm sure they are few and far between.

I just figured that since you mentioned that sometimes visit Long Island, it might be worth a side trip along the way.

 

New Coffee Stout Sunday



Terrapin Single-Origin Coffee Stout - Ethiopia

It was damn warm in southeastern Pennsylvania this week. Now that it's back down in the low 60s and overcast, it's feeling quite fall-like. Perfect weather for another coffee stout. Ethiopia is the last I'm trying in the sampler.

This one pours mahogany black with a finger and a half of soapy mocha-colored head. Smells of fresh ground coffee with a hint of fruitiness, vanilla and chai spices. There are fruity dark malts up front in the taste, with the coffee following, accentuated by strong carbonation.

This has the best mouthfeel of the bunch. It doesn't feel thin at all, and works well with the coffee. There's a little vanilla in the aftertaste, and none of the bitterness and acidity you sometimes get with coffee.

This may be the best of the four-pack. I gave this one a 4.01, Guatemala a 3.99, Kona a 3.98 and Sumatra a 3.53. This was a fun grouping of beers. I hope others will do sampler four-packs like this.

Now to catch up on some BIF hints and figure out my sender.

 

Good afternoon NBS drinkers. Finally got around to trying one of those Sam Adams Nitro beer. Selected the coffee stout. The most interesting part is the nitro wiget. Pours dark and very creamy with a large head. Mild roasted flavors are present but the nitro mouthfeel dominates. Not bad, but not great. Would drink again but not buy again.
Cheers all!

 

Thanks for those sentiments.

Since my mother in law died two years ago the visits to Long Island have greatly diminished.

Cheers!

 

great color and head on that beer!

 

Jack, contact me privately I think I have access to Uerige.

 

Oh- I didn't realize. My apologies.

 

I haven't had a beer from them I didn't love. And Epiphany is in my top beers period. After that review I'll be on the lookout for that beer for sure. Thanks!

 

Naw, it doesn't seem to get into PA at all so you'd have to go out of state to drink it. Since I know you'd not buy a bottle or two and carry it back here. ​

 

Hell no! But I might bring back 3-4 bottles!?!

Cheers!

 

Anchor Saison a Spring Ale
This is a very enjoyable beer to drink. Anchor calls it a Belgian style Saison with a California twist, the twist being Lemongrass and ginger.It Pours a nice slightly hazy golden color. It has a thick white long lasting head that leaves nice lacing. Taste is of lemon and pepper with a touch of ginger. Mouthfeel if full. This brew is very refreshing and thirst quenching and will be a great hot weather beer if it stay around.

 

Happy Sunday NBS players. A beauty of a day here on the island. Warm and tranquil with grey overcast and the slight threat of rain showers to come. Feeling a bit behind thanks to losing the hour. Took a good walk down to the deli and grabbed a sandwich and I'm spending the rest of the day getting shit done round the house. Very nice to be breaking out the lawn furniture and seeing the flowers starting to come out.

My new beer today is Kick'em in the Pilz, Imperial Pilsner, from Two Brothers Brewing. It comes in at 7.5%, 45.2 IBU's, and no visible bottling date but I just bought it last week so pretty fresh.

A golden/yellowish pour with hazy clarity, and fast and subtle carbonation. The nose is mostly bready malts with a definite wine quality to it. A tangy start on the drinking with a rush of sweet malts upfront, and a bitter hoppy finish. Very well balanced for a lager. Sweet sugars come on with definite tones of bread, spicy grasses, and sugary fruits. The mouth feel is moderate to pretty full bodied with a slight sticky feel to it.

Overall, a pretty decent beer. It really falls on the heavier side of the style and really flirts with characteristics more in tune with of an IPL. I'm right around a 4 on it.

 

Ok, thought I had to get to this beer since I bought it a couple weeks ago for NBS. However, reading the label, I didn't need to be in a hurry, as it is a "dark ale built to age." This is Port City's fifth anniversary Old Ale. This brewery got a nice award from GABF this past year, Best Small Brewing Company, on top of the 3 medals it won for its beers. I've always thought their beers were well made and stuck to style, making them fairly suitable for a wide variety of beer drinkers. Let's see how they do a special beer. This is Colossal Five:


Looks a little hazy, but the color is deep enough it's hard to tell. The head didn't seem to build up too much on the pour (which was a little light), but it lasted nicely as I let the beer warm before diving in. The nose isn't very strong, though the style guidelines say the aroma can be "tame" - so I guess this fits. I get chocolate early, but it becomes more spice-like as it warms, specifically cinnamon and the like (fall to winter cooking spices).



The taste reminded me of a recent bold American brown ale I recently had from Three Notch'd on the first sips. That chocolate came out and then it faded into a decently clean bitterness. It wasn't long until the chocolate faded and the cola impression took over, perhaps aided by a nice massaging of micro-bubbled carbonation. Finally as the beer warmed to cellar temps, the openings combined and added that spice from the nose. The bitterness starts to turn a little woody from clean, but it's not too woody. The fig note generally sticks to the ending, coming out late and lingering into the end taste.

I really enjoyed this beer. Unsurprisingly from this brewer, it isn't big and bold. But I was happy it wasn't too subdued in its flavors. I see Hibernation is in the same style. The Hibernation is a little cleaner and a little more bitter, and I think I like the softness that the carbonation and more muddled flavors of this beer brings, though I feel it's not as clean as I've had in other beers of the same style.

 

MSU looking good at this point, it's NBS. My target in BIF is a DIPA fan so I might have this in the box for you. No promise though, it will require some restraint!

Shorts Superfluid, a double IPA coming in at 8%. The look is an opaque orange, poured aggressive but a bit disappointing in the head. Smells wonderful, big strong pine dankness, the taste is big time grapefruit, with some bitterness but balanced finish. This is a winter release from Shorts and I wish I had picked it when I saw it a month ago, get it if you can, it's a good one!

 

Errands done... time for more beer!

Gulden Draak Brewmaster's Edition - Brouwerij Van Steenberge N.V.


Brouwerij Van Steenberge - Gulden Draak Brewmasters Edition 2014 by imbibehour, on Flickr

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Poured from the bottle into a tulip glass. Bottled Feb 2014. Big pop off the cork, once the caged loosened it just flew out KABOOM! No gushing.

Deep ruby grapefruit orange body and opaque with a real nice rising column of carbonation in the middle. Head creation is a bit minimal but still makes it's presence. Off white and tan, with a soapy two finger appearance. There's a bit of cling in lace, but mostly a big bubbled collar and thin puck is left that is easily repopulated.

Spritzy slight nose with hints of a bit of gas dioxide at first then slowly gets a bit quiet strangely. There's some faint phenols a bit, maybe a bit of clove sticking out, but was really expecting more and not getting much of really anything here. Very closed nose here.

Palate manages to at least bring more to the table. Carbonated but playful mouthfeel is the first thing I notice, with some good fruity character provided by yeast and sugary classic sucrose. Very gaseous finish though, but manages some excellent vanilla and caramel tones taken from barrel aging but very small. Was expecting more of a bigger mouthfeel but the flavors transpire without any trouble. Hints at orange citrus sweetness interestingly, a light touch of warmth and some small brown spice character.

A very neat beer, but seems to lose a bit of Belgian quality, and also doesn't give the impression of largess barrel aging. Hits somewhere down the middle but is a very solid brew even for someone like me who is not the biggest Gulden Draak fan to begin with.

look: 4.25 | smell: 3 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4 | BA Generated Score: 3.78

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Interesting animal as I have more and more of this, as the booze character continues to creep up ever so slowly and unexpectedly too.

 

i'm sorry, but your getting all A's for your presentations today! cheers

 

The next time C-nut releases the Sticke, I'll see if they'll bottle me a couple to send you.

 

Today i am pulling one from the cellar....a doppelbock because i always just love having these beers when winter feels like its finally gone and spring starts coming near. I think its an excellent transition style between the heavier beers of winter to the lighter beers to come in spring and summer. Smuttynose S'Muttonator (2014), this vintage is actually the latest and greatest as they didnt brew it in 2015 and according to their current schedule wont in 2016 either. I had this beer last year and was so impressed i went and picked up 2 more for the cellar. As of now, this beer is 1.5 years old (bottle conditioned).

It pours just an amazingly perfect color....it has a nice mahogony color put it really pops with some bright brown/orange notes when you hold it to the light. The head is fairly thin, off white color, and dissipates fast. Lots of nice lacing on glass.

The smell is of toasted grains, rich malty sweetness, bready. Dark fruits galore, mostly raisins and figs, that chewy time of rich fruitiness. Some brown sugar and syrupy aromas flash as well.

The taste is much of the same, a toasted loaf of raisin bread. Just amazing dark fruits, toasted grains, caramel and toffees.

Mouthfeel is amazing.....incredibly smooth, creamy.

Overall....the abv on this one is 9.8%, most traditionalists might say that is on the very top end for a doppelbock. But the fact that the abv is so high and its bottle conditioned lends this one so well to aging. This beer has aged so incredibly well, and can go on much longer i think. Im so glad i have another bottle to crack open next March....and let me say its a shame Smuttynose will go two years without brewing this. Their recent Big Beer Series selections has had me scratching my head for sure, and not including this one is probably at the top of my list (along with barleywine and wheatwine).

 

It looks like they called it a "Dobbelsticke." Uerige bottles one of these too!