New Beer Sunday (week 584)

Mornin' @cavedave

Thanks for the early start. That usually means more good beer to hear about.

Raining and chilly here in SE PA this morning. Might be moving your way.

Lots of errands and chores indoors today but expecting to peek back in now and then and to be back this evening for a tick with review number 1000. Expect it will be new beer for me from Troegs (LaGrave) that seems like it ought have real potential given how many of their other beers I enjoy.

Cheers!

 

Morning @cavedave Do you feel alright! I'm gettin' there.

 

After no beer for the 8 days of Passover, I am "re-charging" with a 2016 Parabola tonight....yum.

 

Preview of my NBS today! Looks to be a great one! See everyone later.

 

Oh, wow!

Oh, wow! You're in for a treat with the 10.

 

Good morning everyone. Thirsty Dog is a darn good brewer that has a number of styles and all representing well. I fell in love with Siberian night. They make a shwarzbier, a miabock, a lager, a scotch ale, a wee heavy, and this their Rise of Mayan Dog a stout made with chocolate and honey. Cheers!

Happy New American Stout Sunday

This pours lightly but with rich colors. Almost no head at first then tan fizzy and thin. Brown and rich with excellent clarity. nose is fragrant with honey, big roasty malt, chocolate. I am in love already. Hop pepper, flower petals. Fudgy with caramel and nutty. Mouthfeel is light and the beer flows sweetly. Sultry toast brings all kinds of chocolate, nuts and honey cleanly and briskly across the palate like a silken piece of chocolate cake. A mouthfeel masterpiece. This beer was like a love potion filled with spice, tempting with honey that actually lightened the finish to show you herbal hop pepper and a few bubbles. Lingers dark with some clean bitterness and strong flavors. Deceptively light and like a bouquet of scents and textures. A lesson in lightness. It's like escaping.




Eve 6 doing a cover. Who likes covers? me =)

 

I got my bottle of New Holland Dragon's Milk Reserve Coffee / Chocolate by happy chance earlier this week. It may be a bit later, but my wife and I are definitely drinking it at some point today. I'll probably start with an In-Tents IPL from Base Camp that I got in the mail, have a Stone Delicious or two, and finish with the Dragon's Milk.

 

First one up is the Rochefort 10.

Poured 330ml bottle into chalice. It is a deep, dark amber brown. A thick 2 finger khaki head remains for the entire session and provides abundant lacing on my glass. Sweet and dark fruits behind yeast and alcohol. Some toffee and spice. Flavor is of cinnamon raisin bread and toffee with yeasty notes and other spices. Wonderful dark fruits and caramel with just a hint of chocolate. Medium body with a soft carbonation. Easy drinking with some warmth. A remarkable Quad.

 

Hello New Beer Sunday.

Another day off work requires a breakfast beer, and well, this one seemed like a good idea.

And from my review of it here.
3.77/5 rDev -4.6%
look: 4 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75

This beer pours fairly thick into the glass, with a bit of a brown head.
The nose is minimal. A sight coffee hint.
The taste is interesting. I get a hint of coffee first. Then a bit of sweetness. Then a slight bitterness in the end.

See you all for my next one later today. I'm guessing it will be the Hayloft Hefeweizen Ale from Take 16 Brewing in Luverne, MN

 

So a huge thank you to @Mcballz13 for this amazing giant 14.2%ABV Barrel Aged Imperial Stout. Poured agressive at room temperature into a 16 oz snifter bottled on 12/10/15. This thing pours as black as midnight on a cloudy winter evening, with a solid 1 plus finger light brown head, that leaves some lines of lace as it takes its time settling into a layer of light brown bubbles. 4.75 Smell is roasty expresso, vanilla, hints of leather, tobacco, smoke, and a nice shot of oaky bourbon, oh my this is as good a nose as any I have had...... 5 Taste follows perfectly, maybe even better than the nose if that is even possible. Roasty strong expresso just assaults the tongue, vanilla, oak, leather, tobacco, smoke all lend a tiny little hand, and then a very subtle yet tasty and perfectly balanced bourbon shot in the fairly dry finish. 5 and if I could give a higher grade I would.

Mouthfeel is a little larger than medium, very creamy, I think the fact that the temperature is perfect helps bring out the creamyness, moderate carbonation as you would expect from a beast of a brew, definitely on the dryish side again as expected, and the drinkability is mind numbing for its girth. 4.75

Overall it is hard to put into words how tasty and well crafted this beer is. I have had many pleasant surprises lately since I started trading, but this is out of this world. Keep your eye out for this brewery, both beers from them I have had, have absolutely exceeded my expectations. As good a Barrel Aged Stout as have ever touched my lips. Seriously! 4.75

 

A world-class triad!

 

A world-class triad!

 

7% alcohol. 67 IBU. Introduced in 2011. Brewed in New England.

3.21/5 rDev -13.2%
look: 3 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.25

Harpoon Black IPA has a thick, spongy, beige head, a semi-clear, dark, red-brown, bubbly appearance, and heavy lacing left behind. The aroma and flavor are a bit difficult to pin down, but I smelled fairly dark-roasted malt, wheat bread, some citrus, and some very subdued hop oil. Taste is of medium-to-heavy roasted malt char, citrus, mellow hop bitterness (67 IBU?), and bread crust. Mouthfeel is medium, and Harpoon Black IPA finishes dry and mellow.

RJT

 

Classic American Pilsners – Heurich’s Lager vs. Jack’s CAP

Today’s new beer is Heurich’s Lager: Pre-Prohibition style Lager brewed by DC Brau Brewing Company.

This beer is a reconstruction of an old time beer and there is a very interesting story behind the brewing of this beer. For the interested reader: http://www.dcbeer.com/news/homebrewing-heurichs-lager

Perhaps a short back-story on the style of Classic American Pilsner (CAP) is in order. A CAP is a term we homebrewers use to refer to AAL beers brewed in the past (e.g., before Prohibition). I personally became aware of the CAP style from the writings of George Fix and Jeff Renner. For the interested reader an article by Jeff Renner: http://www.morebeer.com/brewingtechniques/library/backissues/issue3.5/renner.html

A quick description of the CAP style:

“The creation of Classic American Pilsner is the result of an influx of German immigrants to this country at the turn of the 19th century who longed for the pale lagers of their homeland. The German brewers met this demand by adapting to domestic ingredients. By adding approximately 20% to 30% corn grits to their grain bill, they could smooth out some of the rougher edges from the American 6 row malt intended for Ales. This also lightened the body and imparted a distinct sweet grainy flavor. Cluster was by far the most common hop and was used for bittering. More expensive imported noble hops were used for finishing.

Unlike the American light lagers of today the Pre - Prohibition lagers had a noticeable malt/hop profile, more body, and a higher alcohol content. (Starting Gravity: 1.050 –1.056) (Finishing Gravity: 1.008 –1.014) (30 - 40 IBUs).”

Another advantage that adding corn with the American 6 row malt was that it created a beer that did not suffer from chill haze and it increased beer stability.

The CAP that I homebrew is based upon both an amalgamation of what both George Fix and Jeff Renner wrote on this topic (and their published recipes).

So, how does a commercially brewed CAP beer stack up to a homebrewed version? As the wise owl stated: “Let’s find out”.

Served in my Pilsner glasses:

Appearance:

Heurich’s Lager: A bright golden color with a one finger white head

Jack’s CAP: A bright golden color with a HUGE white head.

Aroma:

Heurich’s Lager: There is malty sweetness on the nose with a hint of herbal from the hops.

Jack’s CAP: A robust combination of biscuity malt aroma with plenty of herbal & spicy aromas from the hops.

Taste:

Heurich’s Lager: The predominant flavor is malty sweetness which borders on syrupy but there is some herbal hop flavor as well.

Jack’s CAP: The flavor follows the nose; big biscuity malt flavor accompanied by robust herbal and spicy flavors from the hops.

Mouthfeel:

Heurich’s Lager: Thick - medium body with an unexpected semi-sweet finish.

Jack’s CAP: Medium bodied with a pleasant crisp & dry finish

Overall:

Heurich’s Lager: An interesting take on a CAP; too sweet for my personal palate. I am thinking that maybe the high alcohol (7% ABV) content is making this beer off-kilter?

Jack’s CAP: A robust and enjoyable Pilsner combining biscuity malt flavors with spicy/herbal hop flavors.


Hopefully other breweries will produce commercial CAP beers.

Cheers to DC Brau for making the effort to produce this beer. Perhaps on their next effort (if they choose to try brewing a CAP again) they will back of the malt content to produce a less syrupy beer.

@smakawhat @telejunkie @rotsaruch @jesskidden @Sixpoint

 

Good morning Maria! Someone likes honey more than I do! To me, this just seems to be an excuse to dump more sugar into a beer - ok if it ferments but if not...

 

Interesting post! Thanks for the articles to read. It should keep me busy through my coffee at least.

Also, this might be a stupid question (since I don't brew), but is being a lager the main difference between a CAP and a Cream Ale, or are they "cornier"?

 

Happy Sunday NBS players. Starting out a bit early here but I'm pretty stuck in full work mode when it comes to sleeping so I'm up and at it. Looks like it is going to be a rather rainy and grey day here on the island. I don't really have to much planned except for some house work, and relaxing.

My first new beer today is Coffe Milk Stout, from Kent Falls brewing in Kent CT. The beer checks in at 7% alc, and no apparent bottle date but I'm assuming it's pretty fresh since it just hit shelves here this week.

Right away, the nose is pungent with coffee grinds, chocolate, and lactose. Very nicely floral. The pour yields a slick light black pour with fast carbonation. The drinking starts with heavy malts and lactose hitting the palate hard. Lots of nice sweet coffee tones carry right over from the nose. Notes of roasted coffee, grinds, chocolate, vanilla, milk, and sugar. The mouth feel is on the lighter side but it really works well with the brew. I find it to be rather unique in that it's not thick or sticky but it still maintains excellent flavor.

Overall, just a really nice beer. If you are looking for a full flavored coffee stout that isn't too heavy this is highly recommended. I'm in the low to mid 4's all around,

 

Jack I can attest to your love of this style and for me too, I love it too. Cheers. (This website is hinky this morning - roast not toast , I wasn't too late =)

 

And Good morning New BSers! Another beautiful day in scummy Pennsylvania - cold, dark, and wet - basic spring day. I see BA is running slow again - all other sites are burning along so the only sloooow site is BA. Xin loi - life's a bitch! Today's NBS breakfast beer is from @superspak via NBS BID #3:



I gotta say, this burns my esophagus all the way down. The alcohol isn't buried well, unlike the coffee which never makes an appearance. After 90 minutes open, it mellows out and would raise my score except how many of us wait 90 minutes or more to drink an open beer? Still, it's not too shabby.

Bottle received from @superspak for NBS BIF #3
Undated bottle (2015 vintage) at 42 degrees into a hand washed and dried JK snifter, allowed to warm to 50 degrees
Aroma roasted malt, some molasses-like aroma, some alcohol comes through, no bourbon
Head small (< 1 cm, aggressive pour), light brown, frothy, rapidly diminishing to 2 mm ring and no layer
Lacing - none
Body dark brown/black, opaque
Flavor roasted malt, molasses, alcohol (REALLY burns); no bourbon, no coffee, no hops, no diacetyl
Palate full, creamy bordering on sticky, soft carbonation
For my tastes, this needs to age longer to smooth out the overwhelming alcohol burn. But then, mea culpa for drinking this now.

Appearance 4, Aroma 4, Flavor 3.75, Palate 3.75, Overall 4. Rating 3.88. Avg: 4.36, rDev -11.0%

I'm sure that as other people rate this brew, the average will continue to drop closer to 4.