New Beer Sunday (week 592)

Lindemans Kriek Cuvée René | Brouwerij Lindemans

4.31/5 rDev +4.6%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25

Nice little pink head!?!?!
Dark red body.
Wonderful cherry nose.
Taste follows nose with a very nice sourness; not too sour, almost perfect balance between fruit and sourness.
Nice mouthfeel and overall, I will buy a few more, thank you!

Imgur shit the bed just now, so I will add pic later...

 

I've been trying to get my photo sharing site to work for over an hour to no avail. So, no pix for me today. But, a new beer...

Peg Leg Imperial Stout, by Heavy Seas in Baltimore, Maryland.

Brief impression: tasty, enjoyable stout, but not as complex in flavor or presentation as the very best imperial stouts out there.

happy NBS!

 

Nope, went over White Pass, tag-team driving in the parental Bavarian. Looked like a number of cars were parked at Bron Yr Aur Brewing today, but negotiations would have taken too long with the two non-beerers in the car, so that's for another time. I did split a Selkirk Abbey Cuvee with my brother last night, and had a couple Somethin' Somethin's while at his house.

 

Good evening NBS, hope everyone is enjoying the end of the weekend once again. Thanks to @cavedave for getting us started this week. Finally got my bike back for the second time and was able to ride yesterday. A nice 4 hour ride that ended in heat exhaustion emergency. I chose not to go today after all. It was still really hot today, and my lungs were/are still sore. It is supposed to storm some time tonight, so hopefully it'll be dry enough tomorrow. It's supposed to be 90 again, so hopefully not too humid. Beer 4400 will be Tuesday night.

New beer:

Only my second Icelandic beer ever, first being the Lava smoked imperial stout. This is a delicious American Porter! Fantastic head retention and webby lacing down the glass. Aromas and flavors of chocolate, cocoa, coffee, toasted dark bread, caramel, brown sugar, and light nutty/smokey malts; with a fair amount of herbal/light peppery hops. Light-moderate herbal/spicy hop and roast bitterness on the finish. Medium bodied with a really nice creamy mouthfeel with some sticky/chalky notes from roast malt/hops. Lightly drying; increasing through the glass from lingering hop oil. Very impressive and well crafted beer. Spot on for an American porter with plenty of Munich malt flavors that I love. Coffee is added as well, but more of a balanced approach to the malt profile. Look forward to others from this brewery. Freshly bottled in March 2016, new to Michigan. Got this from a store friend. 3.98


This is a nice Gose. Aromas and flavors of tart lemon, lime, pear, green apple, and salt; with light agave/wheat/crackery malt; and some herbal/yeasty earthiness. Moderate acidic tartness and peppery yeast spice on the finish. Light bodied; moderately acidic; lightly grainy, sticky, and saline in the mouthfeel. Good dryness with no acidic astringency. Very crisp and refreshing. A little weak on flavor for a Gose, but is not watery at all. Very well balanced flavors. Could have used a bit more creamy wheat presence and salinity in the mouthfeel. May grab a single or two again. 3.68


Great saison! Aromas and flavors of big tart lemon, lime, grapefruit, orange peel, citrus rind, apricot, melon, peppercorn, red wine, hay, straw, leather, musty funk, toasted oak, herbal, and floral; with light bready malt and vanilla. Very spicy from yeast/oak tannins on the finish. Medium bodied; nicely sticky/acidic with light creaminess in the mouthfeel. Very crisp/dry from acidity/tannins. Medium-high carbonation. Very drinkable for an 8% beer; with a huge amount of Brett complexity and wine barrel influence going on; along with very prominent citrus/peppercorn spice. It is delicious. 4.1


Cheers, have a good night NBS

 

Found online a lot of pictures. The purple ball is a bowling ball and they seem to have changed the color of the ball for each of the three years they've brewed the beer.

I can't help identify the "reference" to the movie, but with the design of the flack jacket and the stylized letters on the label I think we can safely narrow it down to a movie about the Vietnam war.

 

Ninkasi Brewing Dawn of the Red
Imperial Red Ale - 7.0%



3.87/5 rDev -0.8%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75

12oz bottle poured into a snifter. Ninkasi Dawn of the Red is described by the brewer as a Red IPA. The color is more of an orangish amber color with an off-white head. The aroma is sweet toasted malts and tropical fruits. The taste begins up front with with a good dose of sweetness from the malts and finishes with a good dose of bitterness to help balance the sweetness. The mouthfeel is light bodied with prickly carbonation. Overall, a solid brew that is worth a try.

 

Unfortunately I am no longer near a supply of Jolly Pumpkin beers, so I'll have to throw that on my want list to remind me the next time I run into some of their beers. Definitely willing to try more after my experience with this one.

 

Greetings, all! As a public service to my fellow BAs, I decided to sample these brews from the Walmart "Trouble Brewing" variety pack: 'Round Mid Night Belgian White, Red Flag Amber Ale, and After Party Pale Ale. Appearance-wise, not too bad overall:


Unfortunately, the beer didn't measure up. Some observations:

'Round Mid Night - Tastes like an artifically-flavored approximation of a Belgian witbier. There is an odd oily aftertaste, unpleasantly bitter.

Red Flag Amber - Nice color, but no head at all. Strange metallic aroma, not much in the flavor profile. Thin mouthfeel, watery finish.

After Party PA - Really nice appearance. Bitter, but that's about it. No hop character, bland.

The bitterness in these beers has an almost artificial quality about it, and that's about the only way I can think of to describe it. It's like it's coming from something other than hops, and it just doesn't sit right on the palate. (Does this make any sense at all?)

I don't see Walmart carving out a big share of the craft beer market with stuff like this. Or even a tiny share, for that matter. This is a notch below run-of-the-mill, and you can get much better beer (e.g. SN) for about the same price.

"Drinking Crappy Beer So You Don't Have To"

 

New Cream Ale

It's a warm one. Yesterday the family packed up for our trip east. We made it to the Cleve and finished the long haul to Hoboken today. This was a welcome sight when we got out of the car.

It's very much a novelty style beer. A liquid funnel cake/waffle cone. A sweet treat, though not an everyday drinker. Full review to come, probably a 3.5 overall sort of brew.

 

I have been seriously slacking on my NBS duties the last few weeks. I intended to return to NBS today for tick #400. However, my run-in with Coors Light at the pool today put an end to that. So, here's tick #401. This is thanks to @jzeilinger
My review is below.



Poured from a crowler into a tulip. Pours a burnt orange/brown with nearly a two inch white head. Great retention and excellent lacing throughout. Smell is strong pine and citrus. Dank doesn't really mean anything, but it describes the smell of this beer. The taste follows the smell. The pine is up front and the citrus comes on the back end. There is a lingering hop bitterness also. Almost no alcohol burn, which is impressive for 10%. Feel is medium/heavy carbonation and a little slick. Overall this is a very good DIPA. It reminds me a lot of Founders Redankulous. Worth trying.

 

Please tell me this is all sarcasm and everyone knows it's a reference to "The Big Lebowski"?!?!
The Dude abides!

 

Maui Brewing Doppelshot Doublebock
Dopplebock - 8.2%



3.74/5 rDev -7%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75

12oz can poured into a snifter. This Doppelbock is brewed with local maui coffee. Dark amber color fills the glass with a thin off-white head that quickly dissipates into a thin ring of lace around the glass. At first whiff, you get a lot of spent coffee grounds and some of the sweetness from the malts. The taste like the aroma features a big dose of roasted coffee beans with a lingering sweetness coming in from the malts. Overall, an enjoyable brew.

 

Here's my NBS 750 saison for today - (an old) Fantome Hiver:



Reactions here.

Cheers.

 

So late to the party ... and so much cool stuff in here yet again ...

I picked up a four-pack of this one last week in Houston and now I need a four-pack of cases. I'm only half kidding ... I'm going to drink A LOT of this in the future:




8th Wonder's Rocket Fuel -- a Vietnamese coffee porter

It's roasty sweet and super light and only 4.6% ABV AND a year-round offering, making it (for me) about the greatest thing ever. In my Great Summer of the Coffee Stout, this one is just as good if not better than all of them. The sweetness is arguably a bit too much, but there's enough good dark-malt flavor to balance it, and at some point a floral aroma note helps give it some complexity, even a bit of flavor balance.

The review:
http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/28784/113236/?ba=Premo88#review
4.21 (+1.7% rDev)

That's as restrained a 4.21 as I've ever given ... in my heart, it's straight 5s.

Cheers, LNNBSers!

 

No sarcasm. Never saw the movie. So not everyone knows.

Said I could help with movie, so at lest I got that part right. :-)

 

Round 2 is a big, fresh IPA.

Big, spicy hops with a solid, breadth malt backbone. Just the balance I look for in an IPA. Glad I picked up the sixer.

 

Fair enough. You should watch it. Have a few beers first. Fantastic film by the Cohen Brothers.

 

Good Evening Late Night NBS

Such good reading today. Cheers to all of you who follow in the esteemed footsteps of our very own @cavedave and @utopiajane by putting such thought to comment and keyboard, the modern pen and paper, regarding our favorite imbibe. This is truly a great little corner of the inter webs.

As for me, it's fargin' hot in So Cal. Actually we had some humidity today. Now, I'm not claiming to be midwest or southern levels of humidity. But for us, 50% humidity in the 80's and 90's is comment worthy. I have had a great few weeks. Last week I commented about a nice trip to Indiana with my dad and brother. Many a great beer was drunk in Indiana, Michigan, and even Chicago. And the following week allowed me to continue drinking what I brought back.
I also volunteered at me school for a one week music & art camp. Amazing work, by some very talented teachers, teaching kids about storytelling, movement, arts, and both vocal & instrumental music. And the amazing thing is...to the kids it's all just play. The approach is called ETM (Education Through Music) and it's from the Richards Institute. "Learn to play to learn." What a great slogan. So I get to work with some of my students during this week, as well as take my daughters. But I am truly amazed at the level of dedication and divine skills of these teachers. Some come from as far away as Sacramento, Ojai, San Diego, to come all the way to our school in East, East LA. AND THEY ALL VOLUNTEER!!!
Anyway, enough of that. Here's a new beer for tonight:

Telegraph's IPA, out of Santa BArbara, CA

This one reminds of drinking IPA's 10-15 years ago. More subtle in the hop profile than many of today's offerings. But a solid beer.

Wow, gorgeous pour. Ever so slightly hazy. Swirl of golden copper with hints of russet launches a frothy 2 chubby fingers of off-white head. Lacing? Yes. And nice sticky globs too. Aroma is actually a really nice balance of biscuity malt and some understated piney, resiny notes. Flavor is more subtle. Pine, resin, gentle citrus, and a hint of peppery spice notes. Mouthfeel is lightly active. Overall, this one is very good. I would like to have a slighlty more assertive hop profile, but just a tad.

3.68/5 rDev -5.2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75

 

Late Night Beer Advocacy and another New Beer. Dugges/Stillwater Tropic Punch Ale. I went in with zero expectations with this beer and I loved it.




4.48/5 rDev +4.4%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5

From the bottle into a stemmed tulip.

Appearance resembles passionfruit juice, cloudy and tinged with a brown color. Head is fizzy and quickly dissipates. 4.5

Smells just like passionfruit. And fermented pineapple. And guava juice. And tremendously tart. 4.5

Man, that flavor is tart. And really like drinking an unsweetened passionfruit juice. With touches of guava or some other more sugary sweet tropical fruit. They nailed the tropical aspect of this. Wow. I do feel the flavor veers a little bit thinner on the finish, but in general, these guys seem to have nailed what they were after flavor-wise. 4.5

It's tart as hell, but I came around. Then really dry. And still juicy. It's got that tropical fruit juice quality, like passionfruit juice for example, in which it's alluringly sweet and prickly, but ultimately finishes so dry as to leave you thirsty and in need of water. So long story short it's refreshing but you'll want more. 4.25

This was an incredible find. Very tasty and perfect for summer. I don't like the format or the price but that's a whole other story.



Believe it or not, I'm already drinking another beer. One more post tonight from me.