New Beer Sunday (week 590)

Can't believe I have never reviewed this beer from Bells. Hazy burnt orange body with 2.5 finger white head. Fades quickly and leaves webbed lacing on my glass. A soft rye scent with a sweet citrusy aroma. Orange, grapefruit, and pine hops with a caramel malt. The rye flavor is rather soft and pleasant, but still has a spice to it. Hops are citrusy, orange, grapefruit, along with pine. Malts are sweet caramel. Finish is bitter. Soft carbonation and medium feel. Dry and spicy on the finish. Easy drinking and delicious APA.

 

New Old Ale Sunday

Happy NBS everyone! It seems like a nice day out here in Central Ohio, but I've been inside most of the day watching the Euro 2016 games, and now I'm getting ready for the Copa America games tonight. Just a lazy day for me. I'm taking tomorrow off of work anyways so I'll spend more time outside then. For my first new brew of the day, I just finished a bottle of Avery's Old Perseverance barrel-aged old ale: http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/30/199236/?ba=bluejacket74#review





I thought it was pretty good, a nice boozy and sweet brew if you're into old ales. I'll be back on here in a little while with another new beer, one that's just slightly less boozy than this one was. Cheers!

 

No, and I guess I should have been more clear. I'm near the NY border so I got it in Rockland County. But NJ has Urban Chestnut, which I'm also enjoying a lot.

 

Speaking of stellar-that is a stellar review. I love that brew and you picked out a few things there that I hadn't even noticed. Nice

 

After a long busy day at work, I'm ready to contribute (such as it is) to NBS. My first beer today is from harpoon and just based on the nose as I type this, some will likely find it an abomination.



Camp Wannamango

Harpoon Brewery & Beer Hall
American Pale Ale (APA) / 5.00% ABV

3.89/5 rDev +4.9% | Avg: 3.71
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75

Enjoy by 08/15/2016

L-The beer pours a pale clear orange color. It's a nice looking beer. The head is approximately 2 fingers high, white, and frothy. Lacing is adequate as the head recedes to a thing ring with sporadic islands.
S- The commercial description lists a "subtle aroma of Passionfruit and Mango. Well they delivered on the Mango and Passionfruit, but subtle is not how I would describe it. It's subtle like a punch in the face. Not bad, but not subtle either. If the taste follows the nose, it'll be like drinking juice.
T- Thankfully this tastes like beer first and not like the nose suggested. Initially their is some light malt with some mild spicy hops mid palate. The mango comes in shortly there after and lingers to the end. The mango tastes like real mango, but dialed back considerably and the beer doesn't become cloying at all. There's enough mango so you can tell it's there without tasting like juice.
F- The body of the beer is pretty light, and the carbonation quite prickly. The beer drinks like the summer seasonal that it is intended to be.
O-I was pleasantly surprised with the execution of this beer. A fruit beer that isn't to heavy on the fruit, but still makes it presence known without tasting artificial. It's not something you're going to want to drink regularly, but I'd totally tip back a couple of these on a hot summer day.

 

Picked this new release up from Southern Tier this afternoon and rather enjoying it!



4.24/5 rDev -5.4%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

A - Dark, dark brown pour (borderline black hue) with a butterscotch colored creamy layer, very thick lacing.

S - Deep, rich caramel cream aroma, with some chocolate undertones.

T - The alcohol is very noticeable right away and persists throughout. There's some saltiness to the beer but caramel and some dark chocolate (other than the alcohol) dominate. Some light char pokes through, possibly delicate oak tannin.

M - Big bodied, full, some alcohol warming and effervescence on the back end, and lip smacking stickiness.

O - I'd buy this again. "Sorta" in the realm of Southern Tier's infamous Creme Brulee.


I posted this over in the "What Beer Are You Drinking Now" thread, but this was good I wanted to share with the rest of "all ya'alls"!

This one's for @Premo88 , just got a bunch of these today ...

 

Just opened this while watching the second half of the Mariners/Rangers game.

de Garde Anián. As the label says, a wild farmhouse ale aged in an oak tank with fruit added.

Beautiful to behold, tart and crisp, oaky and dry tempered by a fruity sweetness. Really nice balance and super drinkable and refreshing. Another home run from de Garde. Cheers!

 

Ethan, have you ever had a Dirty Hoe: a mix of a Witbier (e.g., Hoegaarden) and a Framboise (e.g., Lindemans Framboise)?

I order this beer cocktail whenever I am in a beer bar and they have these two beers on tap. It is a pleasant and refreshing drink!

Cheers!

 

Oh man I don't think I have laughed so hard!!!

Hey bartender I want a dirty Ho!

Why don't you check the alley behind us!



Actually wouldn't that be in correct pronouncing A dirty Who actually?

That being said I am a bit of a beer and also cocktail purist.. but this has great appeal as a spiked shandy like brew.

The Amer is real delicious, very neat aperitif, I have already done a video for it which I am working on soon for my channel.

That said I now think I want a dirty Ho and am kinda craving one..

 

I just want to take credit for this... yup gonna say it

 

First new beer: Dogfish Head Biere de Provence



I could not resist buying a single of this beer. Whenever I had to go to France on a business trip, my boss always had me pick up some wine and some herbes de Provence. I begrudgingly would pick up the items and haul them back to the US. I always wondered if he'd notice if I just bought some wine in NY instead. I always looked high and low for interesting beer in France, but I generally never found much. An amazing coincidence @smakawhat , but I did make a point of having a Picon Biere while there because I love beer and I love a bitter aperitif/digestif. Anyway, cheers to my boss, I raise this Dogfish Head beer to you.

From the brewery website:

I really really dislike the analogy to "art censorship," but barring my sensitivities, Dogfish would have been better off protesting less loudly. Yvan De Baets famously (well, at least by beer geek standards) stated that, "A saison is not by any means a spice soup," and, "one shouldn't be able to detect [spices] individually." Maybe Dogfish was protesting that idea too.

The beer has lavender, bay leaves, chervil, marjoram, and so on. This beer does indeed taste like a "spice soup." The lavender jumps out at the drinker immediately. I am too ignorant to know what chervil or marjoram taste like. I add bay leaves to my chili when cooking some, but since you can't eat it, I don't even know what it tastes like exactly. I feel like there is actually a very good beer hiding underneath all this stuff. The beer is shockingly drinkable given the alcohol and spice. It's a lovely amber color (amber as in the common usage... not the color beer drinkers typically refer to). Any saison characteristics or yeast character have been swallowed up by the spice. I think it's even a little bit of a stretch to call this beer a saison as opposed to a spiced beer.

I saw that @TongoRad reviewed this last week and @cjgiant reviewed it this week. I skipped their reviews so as not to bias myself and am eager to check back to see what they thought.

Second new beer: Bell's Hopsoulution



If I posted this notion in another thread, I think the idea would be the object of ridicule, but I think Bell's has one of the best lineups of pale ales around. From Oatsmobile, to Amber, to Midwestern, to Two Hearted, and the imperials. Hopsoulution falls into the last category and it doesn't disappoint. It's a dark amber color. The beer fits its classification perfectly and tastefully - alcohol, malt, and hops. It has a citrusy quality. Malts, body and alcohol give a strong foundation. It's somewhat dry all things considered. It doesn't reinvent the category because it's confident that it doesn't need to.

Third new beer: Anchor Meyer Lemon Lager



Anchor came out with a line of fruit flavored beers. When I realized it was more than just one beer in this family, my first thought was, "Oh dear." I have a lot of respect for Anchor and some love for their beers. Lately, I've found myself not clicking with their beers as I've done in the past. This is due to their house character, which to me comes across like a dirty banana. When this flavor pops, I do not like their beer, when it's hidden, I love some of their offerings. I tried their Mango Wheat beer and let's just say that this wasn't a beer designed for me. The lemon lager was much more suited to my tastes. It's refreshing. My wife liked it (I think). This beer was well balanced. Nothing was screaming for attention (which is surprising given the lemon addition. Another surprise: this beer has Cluster hops. I was still getting that house character, but it was subdued. I don't know if this character is a result of the yeast, but I get it in their beers that use their ale yeast and the beers that use their lager yeast. Is my reaction more psychosomatic than actual? Could be. The can art is unique and very attractive... even as a big departure, it's still somehow fitting with the brand.

Cheers!

 

I was reading earlier and you were speaking of the Dunkel and the "exacting" nature of the style: Have you had Neumarkter Lammsbrau Dunkel? For my tastes, this beer hits all the "good" spots. I love the roasty/creamy interplay, the crispness, and simply the looks of it!

 

Hey gang, I'm back for another and a interesting trip down memory lane with my next beer. I picked up the Fat Tire and Friends 12 pack when I was in Michigan last weekend. It was something I was searching for as Fat Tire was one of the beers that got me on the path to better beer. It seems like it was yesterday when Bill the bartender at Lonigan's in Estes Park Colorado poured me a sample back in the early 90's. It was love at first taste and my quest for drinking better began in earnest!

Enough backstory, let's pop the crown on the Fat Hoppy version brewed in collaboration with Firestone Walker. A twelve ounce bottle with an Enjoy By code of 16 OCT 16 and the abv. listed at 6.0%. Let's pour this mystery in my New Belgium snifter for the unveiling.

Pours a clear light amber color leaving a small amount of quickly settling white foam. The smell is passionfruit heavy with some pineapple, floral, and butyl notes. The taste is juicy passionfruit, solid floral notes, pineapple and butyl. Feel is slick but rather thin with a slightly bitter and semi dry finish.



A very interesting and juicy hop version that bears no resemblance to the original. The biscuity-nutty flavor is squelched in a sea of hop resin. The color is a lighter shade as well. In all, a tasty albeit completely different spin on the old classic. I like it and can't wait to try the rest. My score was 3.98 / rDev -0.7%.



I drank this one along side the original included in the pack for comparison. It was a fun trip down memory lane and worth the price of admission. Thanks Bill wherever you are for starting my education! Here's the scorecard.......

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/192/217618/?ba=Prager62#review

 

Despite living in a bordering state, this is my first West Virginia beer.

Hellbender from Bridge Brew Works



Massive, erupting, billowing beige head. At one point I poured enough to make a muffin top but I did get a picture of the swirly foamy top.



So other than massive head, it's dark and opaque.

Nice piney hops are almost muted by an almost anise maltiness.

Taste is fairly all over the place. Starts out with that anise thing, quickly moved along to what can only be described as sacharin sweetened corn syrup and finished in a patch of molasses covered rye.

It's a little bad but a little good as well. It's got an intriguing quality but again, It's a little all over the place.

 

Thanks for the reminder- that one has been on my list for a while now. It probably always slips my mind at the store because most places keep the organic beers separate and I never seem to make it to that section. I'll just have to make it my #1 priority next time. Cheers!

 

Hey NBSers! Wanted to try something different, and this has been in the fridge for two months since my wife bought it at the Field Museum. That's where she gets her favorite, Tooth and Claw Lager (yes, they sell craft beer in museums in this town). This is called WARI.


It's a corn, pepper, and berry beer, a single batch release from Off Color with an over 1300 year old recipe Field Museum scientists provided.
It's a hazy red with little carbonation. Very fruity smell with a strong lactobacillus scent. Between that and the taste, it reminds me of a fruit sour. Tart strong berry presence with very little spiciness (there's no pepper listed on the label, but two of the articles I read about it list it in the ingredients). Very mouth watering beer, alcohol is slightly there in the scent and taste, refreshing and easy to drink.
A: 4 S: 4.25 T: 4.5 F: 4.25 O: 4.25 rating 4.34

 

Oskar Blues Beerito Mexican Lager
Vienna Lager - 4.0%



3.45/5 rDev -7.5%
look: 4 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.5

This has been a rough weekend for all like myself living in Orlando. My thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families.

Canned date of 5/16/16 printed on the bottom of the can.

12oz can poured into a pint glass. The aroma is biscuity malts and hints of hops. The taste is a rather clean lager with toasted malts and a mild hop bitterness in the finish. The mouthfeel is light bodied with a high amount of carbonation. Overall, a solid Vienna Lager that is a solid sessionable beer at a modest 4%. This is a perfect tailgating/outdoor beer in my opinion.

 

I agree "art censorship" is a bit of a hyperbole, but I think DFH beers are often not meant to really fit a style. Fitting into classic style guidelines is rarely Sam's goal - so I could see him effectively "protesting" both.

If you get a chance to go back and read my 1.5 reviews, I definitely thought this as well at first - and I think I was actually fairly close to your impressions, generally speaking. But I came to think the spice didn't fully drove the beer as much as I did at first - there was a certain presence of what I perceived as the base beer throughout. That said, I would agree one should probably go into this beer thinking it's an herb beer with a saison base versus an herb-accented saison.