New Beer Sunday (week 598)

This one is actually made with some kind of Welsh brown ale as well. It's a softer cheddar that could definitely double as a spreadable cheese at room temperature... has that nutty English complexion but with the piquancy of the mustard seeds. Very good stuff, and very expensive.

Yeah I love dropping that whenever I bring something to a bottle share. I have used it enough to trademark it at this point, I think... "alright, a six pack of this, a bomber of that, and a giant fuck-yourself stout!"

 

Cheers. Had this one today, I'm not a big Pils fan so I'll try to be objective. Clear yellow color and a foamy head, moderate lacing. It had a crisp carbonated mouth feel typical of that style of beer. The taste was a bit slick and slightly bitter and a dry finish. It defiantly was a good Pilsner if you are into them and I suggest trying it.

 

My NBS brethren, I present the most perfectly named beer in the world .....



..... if your name is Fred Durst. I keed, I keed.

By the name , you know this is a hop bomb, but it is a hop bomb gone wild. It pours a golden orange, nearly as murky as a Northeast-style IPA, with a finger of off-white head. The aroma is all hops, citrus/pine/dankoskity, but not NEARLY as strong as the taste.

The first sip yields an astringency that is not off-putting. There's citrus, there's pine, there's hemp (squared), but as this settles on your tongue, those flavors intensify, to the point that you're not sure you'll ever be able to cleanse your palate and taste anything but hops - ever.

But as you swallow, it evens out, with just a smidge of alcohol present, which isn't surprising, since this weighs in at 11% ABV. And you take the next sip, and the next sip, and the next sip, and it's evening out, and you're hopped up, and then, 20 minutes into the bomber, you're finishing it. And you're looking for another.

Rated 4.21.

 

#2 .....



Central Waters is one of the more underrated breweries in the beer nerd world, IMHO. This beer is another example why.

Full disclosure: I love Backwoods Bastard. But this is significantly better, IMHO. There's this malty caramel/toffee thing going on that should be illegal in 17 states. You pile the oak bourbon barrels on top? Well that's not even fair.

Rated 4.44.

 

Good evening NBS, hope everyone is enjoying the end of the weekend once again. Thanks to @cavedave for getting us started this morning. I made a nice big new beer haul yesterday morning, and I am set for another few weeks. Full case of singles and a handful of bombers. Also made another cyser this afternoon, will be Apple pie styled and 14% when it's done. Back to the normal work grind tomorrow otherwise.

New beers:

Really nice IPA. The appearance is a bit too murky, but has really great head retention/lacing. Aromas and flavors of big grapefruit, mango, melon, papaya, lemon, lime, tangerine, pineapple, peach, orange peel, citrus rind, pepper, and pine hops; with some toasted bread/light caramel malts; and herbal/floral/grassy hop earthiness. Good sized pine/rind/spicy bitterness on the finish. Very crisp and dry; sticky/resinous and light grainy malt in the mouthfeel. Minimal hop astringency. Medium carbonation/body Highly drinkable; and I was a big fan of the Equinox/Calypso fruitiness going on. Very unique. The hoppiness was still really bright as well, despite being bottled in March. 3.87


Really nice witbier. Aromas and flavors of big lemon, lime, tangerine, coriander, orange peel, pear, apple, peppercorn, clove, and light banana/bubblegum yeast/spice; with some wheat/crackery malt; herbal, floral, grass, and yeasty earthiness. Moderate herbal bitterness and peppery yeast on the finish. Medium bodied; balanced grainy wheat creaminess and hop/spice stickiness in the mouthfeel. Light-moderate increasing sticky dryness, and fairly crisp. Really liked this one. Only real complaint is the hop bitterness/spices are a bit too assertive/drying for the style; but not an obnoxious amount. Almost gets a touch resiny. Yeast/spice character were spot on to what I expected otherwise. Refreshing. 3.9


This was really excellent! Aromas and flavors of big dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee, toasted dark bread, chili pepper, and vanilla, light smoke/charred grain; with some herbal/piney hops as well. Bittersweet roast and moderate pepper spice on the finish. Medium-full body; with balanced creaminess and sticky/chalky roast/peppers in the mouthfeel; a touch silky. Light-moderate drying pepper spice, increasing through the glass. Pepper heat builds to a pleasing lingering warmth felt all the way to your core, but not overwhelming. Really loved this. Great well rounded stout complexity with a balanced presence of pepper flavors/heat, but not taken to insane levels. I love chili beers and this hit the spot just perfectly. 4.1


Cheers, have a good night NBS

 

Greetings again friends, I'm back at the scene 12 hours later with another that is a polar opposite in style from my morning beer. A sunny warm day of mowing and grilling has put me in the mood for something lighter and refreshing. Let's pop the crown on this 2016 12 oz. bottle of New Glarus Cran-bic that a gracious relative brought me from Wisconsin. There is no abv. listed on the label and I'm pouring it in my New Glarus Indigenous glass for the review. Ready?

Pours a hazy pale reddish-pink leaving a couple centimeters of pinkish-white foam that won't go away. The smell is band aid, sour cranberry and not much else. Taste is tart cranberry, mouth puckering citrus, band aid, some floral, and a hint of wood in the finish. The feel starts on the tart side then opens up to citrus juiciness with a slick finish.



Another solid fruit beer by the folks at New Glarus that has wonderful tart cranberry flavor without being too overpowering. A touch of citrus, floral and wood make it all the more interesting. I could slam a gallon of this nectar on a summer day without batting an eye! I'm going to be lobbying my relatives for more in the future. My score was 4.22 / rDev -5%.

The last day of the Wings of Freedom tour at the regional airport. I'm going to miss these old birds flying around the fields. Here's a gratuitous shot of a B-17 Flying Fortress captured from a video I took today. The clouds remind me of the Georgia O'Keefe Sky Above Clouds painting.



Have a great week, see you next Sunday. Here's the official scorecard......

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/590/231876/?ba=Prager62#review

 

Taking a break from saisons today to join you with a beer that I bet we will be seeing a lot of here in the coming weeks/months - the Mahrs / Sierra Nevada Oktoberfest.

First off, I was super thirsty when I popped the top. If I gave beers number scores (I don't), I'd automatically have to shave some points off due to thirst inflation. In addition, I drank this damn thing in a minute.

The beer is a gorgeous gold but the head is lacking. Pale Festbiers are truly an untapped area for American brewers (pun intended ). I get why they don't go there though. Cheers to Sierra Nevada for going there!

This beer is bread bread bread in the front. Awesome. Gulp, gulp. This is malt! The beer is nice and clean. The hops show up in the finish and then they take over. The hops provide a spicy character... maybe a little grassy. Are these the Record hops? Their presence is a bit too high in the mix.

Despite this, when it comes to new Oktoberfests this year (as opposed to the old faithfuls) - this is looking like it might be the new Okto of the year. I am looking forward to my second one and finding out if I think more or less of it.

I've skipped the other posts about this beer in the thread... gonna have to go back now and see what others thought.

I might be back tonight with another new beer.

Cheers.

 

Bissell Brothers
"Nothing Gold"
New to Me!




4.19/5 rDev -5.6%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25

Pours a nice 3/4 inch head with a very hazy body. Nose of all kinds of tropical fruit, Taste follows nose up to a point where it turns bitter. Medium mouthfeel. Overall, a nice stab at a New England style DIPA.

 

Good evening, NBS! Looks like some great new beers being had already today. I was down in Philly yesterday and each time I visit I'm more and more impressed with how great of a city it is for beer lovers. First stop was Yards Brewing, which is just so solid with all of their offerings. I had a Thomas Jefferson's Tavern Ale, Kölsch (!), and an Extra Special Ale. All delicious. Then it was off to Standard Tap where they had Victory Braumeister Pils on-tap, so you can guess what I drank the rest of the night. What an incredible Pils that is. A notch above Prima Pils, which is saying a lot.

My new beer today is from a brewery that is fairly new distribution-wise to my area, Urban Chestnut. My first and only other beer of theirs that I've had was the Zwickel and I enjoyed it immensely. This is their Dunkel lager, which I had while grilling dinner outside.

Urban Chestnut Dorfbier



Deep ruby brown color with a large, creamy, light tan head that rises above the rim of the glass. Great clarity, even through the thick dimple mug. Bready malts, caramel, and chocolate in the aroma. Rich malt flavor with a kiss of spice from the hops. It's a little sweet, but not cloying at all. Incredibly clean and soft. Medium-full body and very easy to drink.

Another winner from Urban Chestnut, and a spot-on version of the style, in my opinion. Prost!

look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

Score: 4.19/5

 

Hello all- traffic coming back from Long Island was a beast, and it's a bit late for me, but I just have to get this one in.

Sierra Nevada/Mahr's Oktoberfest

Clean bready malt dominates the nose, but there's just enough zippy herbal spice from the hops to keep it fresh and vibrant. The palate is rich and rounded at first, quickly giving way to a peppery hop punch, and then a long finish of pale-crusted bread. That hop quality on the palate is literally coming across as a 'tang', very sharp like the crack of a whip; what a very cool and interesting feeling, kind of like the hops are there to keep the malt from wandering off . They are doing a fantastic job of it, too, because the whole of the beer is structured and lively, even though that lush malt remains in the spotlight.

Needless to say, but I am loving the hell out of this beer, and regretting that it is the only glass I will be having tonight. My preliminary feeling, though, is that I am enjoying 2016 more than 2015; helluva job, Sierra Nevada!

 

Nice to hear your thoughts about this beer. Definetly a beer to have more than once.

 

Just finished number 5 of the [long...extended] session. To my mind it just gets better and better the more you drink of it. Spiciness mellows and the maltiness shines -- without exhibiting the least sense of overwhelming the palate. Stays crisp, drinkable, and richly rewarding after the equivalent of 2 liters. Love it.

EDIT: if anyone was ever wondering about the [past or continuing] hoppiness of Franconian beers, this one fits in perfectly within that ''tradition'' IMO and experience.

 

Good evening, all, and Happy New Session IPL Sunday! I didn't get going on this until late this afternoon, so I just now got around to reading @cavedave's introduction. What a fine, contemplative tribute to those microscopic organisms without which we'd be consigned to drinking grape juice. Vive le vin! Now on to the beer.

I decided to go with something quasi-local for today's NBS festivities. This is Holy L, a "session India-style pale lager" from West O Beer, West Okoboji, Iowa. Brewed with 100% Golden Promise malt, plus Cascade and Centennial hops. "We let the clean flavor of a lager collide with the classic hops of an IPA, resulting in a beer you will enjoy. Again and again. Obsessionable. Have another." Are they blowing smoke? We'll see. The appearance is quite nice, a pale golden yellow with a fluffy snow-white head:


Aromas of light malts and biscuit, with a hint of yeast and some earthy notes. These carry over to the palate, with lots of hop bitterness. The finish is crisp, with some lingering bitterness on the aftertaste. A very well-made pale lager, balanced and tasty with hop character that is assertive without being overpowering. This is yet another fine offering from West O, and it delivers on its promise.
Rating: 4.07/5 (+3%)

Apropos of nothing: The X-Files episode "Conduit" takes place at Lake Okobogee (sic), Iowa. The lake is depicted as being ringed by mountains. If you go to West Okoboji, do not waste your time looking for mountains.

 

That's an awesome beer/glass pairing.

 

The Gänstaller Bräu Zoigl I've mentioned in other threads was very hoppy.

 

A fellow fledgling cheese nerd here! That Cabot Clothbound is insanely good. More cheese and beer pairings on NBS please!

 

Happy Birthday =)

 

Thanks! There's something that just doesn't feel right to me about pouring a 12 oz bottle into a 0.5 L glass. Luckily those Urban Chestnut beers come in 4-packs of 0.5 L bottles, so I can give the Ramstein mug some proper use.

 

Empire - Black Magic Stout (Dry Irish Stout)
Given my previous experience with some of their other offerings, I was hoping for the best, but prepared for the worst.
And......this one....DELIVERS!. Yay. Pleasantly surprised.



Let it sit for ~10 minutes before opening. In the bottle, the aroma was of peat, charred wood, a touch of malt caramel/chocolate/sweetness, and a hint of sweet floral (hops?). Upon pouring (as per bottle instruction) the aroma was all peat and charred wood. The 1 1/2" brown head dissipated to what you see above, in the 20+ seconds that it took to sniff it, & get the photo. The liquid is opaque, and black, except for a slight chestnut brown at the edge .
The taste follows the nose, but more muted : smoke,peat,charred wood,caramel,chocolate (unsweetened), with a pleasant bitterness, that lingers. There is only slight carbonation, and a thin ,oily feel, all of which befitting a dry Irish stout. (so I read in the BA guide. Only the 3rd I've had.)
An easy-drinker, that I'd gladly have again.
3.88/5 rDev +4.3%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 3 | overall: 4