New Beer Sunday (week 603)

Hello NBS crowd. I'm home today which means I am able to contribute a little here for my second New Beer Sunday post. I believe this is my first grisette so I have no experience and little knowledge of it, other than learning that it is typically a low abv refreshingly hoppy saison-like blonde ale originating from the Belgian mining regions in the late 1800's.

Kent Falls is a small farmhouse brewery in Kent, CT. This grisette is made with toasted hay.

This beer pours a nice looking cloudy hazy bright golden yellow with a fluffy receding creamy frothy white foam head. The head retains fairly well as the beer goes down, leaving minimal head and nice lacing around the glass about half way through. The initial smell is quite Belgian yeasty but not overpowering. Rather than prominent cloves I'm getting more of a sweet cinnamon spice, almost black and white peppercorn mix, along with some mild banana and vanilla notes, some bready grain, musty toasted hay, lemony orangey citrus, with minty herbal earthy grass and fresh piney hops. The taste is quite bready as it warms, with slightly sour lemon and orange citrus notes, some mild banana, vanilla, cinnamon-esque spice, peppercorn medley, musty toasted hay, cereal grain, with clean minty herbal earthy grass and pine. The feel is light bodied, soft, smooth and creamy with tingly moderate low carbonation. Overall I thought this was a nice grisette. It has some unique aroma and flavors provided by the toasted hay, with light citrusy tartness, mild Belgian yeast notes, and some green earthy grassy hop notes to balance it out. At it's reasonable price I would buy this again. Go Kent Falls!

Cheers

 

This is the first time I have ever heard about toasted hay being used to brew beer.

Chris (@zid), did any of the Saisons you recently tasted have toasted hay?

Cheers!

 

Good afternoon NBS, thanks as always to @utopiajane for the kick off , blended with a truly
wonderful review. Thats the way to do it for sure. Today was a short field work day. Today's offering is from Crooked Stave and I must say, initial reaction was not so good, and then with time shared I really enjoyed the offering. I have saved a bottle of Civil Disobedience #1 for later, lets see how that has held up.
Cheers to you all

Hop Savant
Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project
American Pale Ale (APA) / 6.70% ABV

3.89/5 rDev -5.4% | Avg: 4.11
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Poured from an undated bottle into the modified tulip glass.
A - Apricot jam colored backdrop allows the carbonation to be displayed. Lively support of a 1.5" pillowy head. Lacing clings to the glass in large splotches.
S - Dust, a crawlspace under a barn, ash mingles with Gruyere. The Brett has taken this offer over completely. Orange reduction and dried papaya and hints of honey round out the experience.
T - Brett forward, lots of biscuit quality, some aged tropical fruits, a melange of pineapple, orange, and papaya. With a rise in temperature the fruits mix well with the ash rine cheese.
M - Dry start, dry finish, excellent carbonation adds a tickle to the whole experience. The linger is on the tongues tip the palate response is salivary.
O - A fine offering, the Brett is strong with this one, the feel is delightfully dry, and I do appreciate the ashen, dusty elements. There is a sweet bitterness to the experience. A very nice offering from Crooked Stave.

 

I have no fucking idea why, but Beer Advocate and the word processing program on my phone have stopped playing nice with one another and only a small portion of what I copy from a review actually makes it onto BA, so I guess I can't post reviews anymore, so here's what I thought of Crucial Taunt from The Veil Brewing,.courtesy of @gopens44 . My apologies to him, as I had a better post in mind, but this new development is really pissing me off:<EDIT: Which posts just fine here, but not when I try to post an official review. I love modern technology...>

16oz can from a box from Gopens44. According to the stamp on the bottom of the can, this was canned on August 23, 2016, apparently by someone named Cassandra, who has a <3 placed cryptically next to her name.

Poured into an Iron Goat shaker pint glass, this was a hazy shade of golden amber. Thick, bone-white, creamy head. Lots of lace.

Big, juicy, hoppy nose to this. Grapefruit, pineapple and pine jumping out to greet the workers at the olfactory. I can faintly detect a bready malt backbone as well.

While there's quite a bit of bitterness on hand, providing a little balance, the sweeter, fruitier aspects noted above lead the charge. For those looking for a bitter bomb, this is not for you. Big, juicy bite at the swallow, not nearly as dry as many IPAs.

Slightly creamy, slightly resiny mouthfeel.

This strikes me as a pleasant hybrid of east and west coast IPA styles. It leads with a sweet, juicy fruitiness, but there's just enough west coast style bitterness to keep it from tasting like a beery Orange Julius. Oh, and it comes in a tallboy! I don't know the origins of it's name or it's intriguingly goofy artwork, but I'd say that with this beer, America wins. A fine introduction to the beers of the great state of Virginia. Thanks, Gopens44!

 

Hello to another New Beer Sunday. Right now I'm waiting for my friend to get home, so I can head over to his place and watch the Vikings game (I'm supplying beer). So, while I'm waiting, New Beer Sunday seems in order.

Short's Brew Beard of Zeus. I had forgotten that I still had this in the fridge. I'd say this is a good find

And my review.

3.87/5 rDev +3.5%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75

This beer pours a hazy golden color. There is nice carbonation in the beer, and the head was fairly thick and frothy. Some lacing. The nose has a nice citrus hint to it. It has notes of orange to me. The taste is a lot hoppier than I expected. Nice hop bitterness to it. Very slight orange taste. I would say that it has a "dry" feel to it. Delicious brew from Short's.

★ 369 characters

 

There's some good discussion of grisettes over in the 750 saison thread if you haven't already seen it. I know I learned a lot at least.

 

Well, funny you should ask. I have had that beer - Lade Ø. I've had a bunch of saisons over the course of the thread that weren't in 750 bottles, and I plan on listing those before I stop posting in that thread (the end is near). For me, there were no notes of actual smoke in the beer. The beer was strange. It had an unusual dessert-like quality to it, but it in no way resembled a beer that's crafted to replicate a dessert. @StoutElk_92 mentioned cinnamon and vanilla in his post. Perhaps I was picking up those notes. Not one I'd get again - just a personal preference.

 

Hello gang, here we go again! I woke up around sunrise and lowered the flag to half mast to pay tribute to this most solemn day. Went out grabbed breakfast and ran my errands, which leads us now to beer.

Starting off with a pint can of Old Style Oktoberfest from a four pack I purchased when I was in Illinois on Friday having breakfast with a friend. There's a cryptic code stamped on the can bottom that may be the date, but I refuse to research it. Give me plain simple dates please! It's a fairly recent release and there's no abv. listed on the can either. I'm going retro by pouring this in a vintage 1982 Old Style stein for the review.

Pours a caramel root beer looking color with a generous amount of light tan foam that slowly settles leaving heavy lacing on the sides of the stein. The smell is burnt caramel, mild perfume and something akin to nail polish remover. Taste is caramel candy apple, cereal, and a sour vomit-like taste in the finish. Feel is thin, flat and uninteresting.



I don't think I can say anything more negative about this beer? I'll spare more words and your time by just adding that other than the cool looking can it was a waste of money even at the cheap price of $4.99 a four pack. My score is a 1.48 / rDev -52.7%. This may be my highest negative to date?



Watching the Bears-Texans and contemplating my next beer. There's nowhere to go but up! Here's the official scorecard.....

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/782/243279/?ba=Prager62#review

 

This is probably a completely stupid and non beer related question.
You always mention about "field work" in your posts. I am just curious as to what kind of field work are you suggesting? Is it good old farms or research work or you are a FBI agent?
Please enlighten...

 

So......ready to enjoy some beer todai, finally. Still working my Michigan pile down and have neared the end of the IPAs with this Blackrocks Brewery 51k IPA serving as new Michigan IPA caboose.



Looks real pretty. Pretty decent head, golden haziness.

Little bit of lemon, little tangerine and malty sweetness on the nose. Tastes pretty much identical with the only difference between nose and taste is a tiny bit of earthiness on the otherwise dry finish on this medium bodied beer.

Yet another relatively unknown Michigan IPA that deserves some attention. Good product from Marquette.

 

Good Morning NBS Friends and Fanatics.

Thanks and Respect to our very own Maria @utopiajane for the, as always, wonderful start.
I have not started popping the top off of anything as of yet. I do, however, wish to give proper thanks and accolades to our very own @Ozzylizard for a beer that I shared yesterday with a few grateful folks at a Bruery blending competition. (We were competing, trying to come up with a Black Tuesday blend for the annual release hoorah). Sadly, I did not win this year.
But, in a way I did. Because I popped this glorious offering that Mr Lizard crushed my porch with in our NBS BIF #3:

Weyerbacher's Riserva rDev 4.45
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5

Popped the cork and was immediately graced by a bright tart raspberry aroma. Oh this is going to be a good one.
Pours a slightly burnished rouge with tiny particles of deep pink fruit and bubbles. Active. Loose white foam rises 2 fingers and recedes to a thin, scattered foam. Light lacing.
Smell is glorious. It rushes at you like vinegar forward sours, yet it comes at you with a tempting sour & tart raspberry, carried on the shoulders of a mix of not overpowering sour vinegar and yeasty funk.
The flavors carry this forward with even more complexity. The sour/tart raspberry shares the spotlight with the acidity. This really brings your whole mouth into the experience. The yeast is assertive in its funk, but as a solid third costar. Also coming in, some tannic oak notes and some vinegar notes that are no where near one dimensional. It's stunning.
Mouthfeel is active and on the fuller side. Carbonation stays constant, allowing the dance to continue.
Overall, I love this, wouldn't change a thing, and want more.

Sorry, for the breach of protocol, but I really wanted to share about this one. I'll be back with a beer later.
Cheers

 

Tell them to send some south! The closest place to me that Beermenus puts it is in Maine .

 

Well, here's what officially appears when I post the review, and a pic.
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/41018/208581/?ba=woemad#review

 

Today, I tried Anchor's Dry-Hopped version of Steam.

Anchor seems to be on a kick of vandalizing their beer labels to draw people in:


I won't go into the specifics of this beer, but will just point out how it compares to regular ol' Steam.

Dry-Hopped Steam looks like Steam and tastes like Steam with one exception - there's definitely more bitterness and a little bit of a hop citrus quality. This beer reminds me of Liberty a little bit. Recommended if you're a Steam fan and that description sounds appealing.

 

I am on a Von Trapp kick lately. This one is not quite as good as the others. However, I feel I am probably very biased after consuming the excellent SN 2016 Oktoberfest this week.

 

Imperial Simcoe Slacker from Evil Twin Brewing a 7.5 ABV IPA. This beer pours a nice Golden color with a thick white head. It has a nice citrus aroma and the taste is citrus also. I find the mouth feel to be light and there is a nice dry finish. 5/6 years ago i would have been jumping up and down about an IPA like Imperial Simcoe Slacker. Today it's just another good IPA in an endless parade of good IPA's .

 

Hey what's going on?!?

Summer and blistering sweltering heat apparently.. We just cant kick this humid and hot days down here in the Washington DC area.

As some of you know, I was homebrewing yesterday. Eggad what issues... so dang hot out I couldn't kill my wort. I did use hops from my vine, I did read up about harvest times and pitching sizes, so I am crossing my fingers. Also my thermometer seemed to not be calibrated? working well? I dunnoo whatever...

have a homebrew...

Today was farmers market Sunday, and run a million errands that I am REALLY NOT IN THE MOOD FOR DOING RIGHT NOW BECAUSE IT MEANS I GET TO DRINK LESS BEER!!

...

but I am not bitter..

not the slightest..

That being said, one of the unfortunate errands was returning some chicken I bought which was so salmonella infected it would make you grow bugs on your face... no kidding... that stuff start stinking up my house and car by the time I returned it... just f'n nasty!!

But now... we settle in... with true BBQ chicken ready to go...

Time for a beer. Had this last weekend up at the beach crushing a bunch of Old Ox brewery beers, so now home to give it a full review.

Hardway Summer Lager


Old Ox Brewery - Hardway Summer Lager by imbibehour, on Flickr

-------------

Poured from the can into a Libbey style pilsner glass.

Brass yellow body color, and lengthy carbonation. A bit of haze but mostly clear with a nice white two finger head and minimal retention and good collar.

Aroma is and interesting mix of hop oils of herb and citrus zest.

Palate is sharp hops. A bit of odd bitterness that is a bit indistinct but sort of hints to a dry lime. Overpowers much of the lagers malts and subtlety. Slightly crisp as well for easy drinking. Odd aftertaste that is a bit pasty and bitter sticky, with the hops really not complimenting. With some time a bit of hop sting levels out and some of the bready character kicks in nicely. Basic and solid mouthfeel with no faults.

A pretty simple and solid straightforward lager.

look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5 | BA Generated Score: 3.7

Cheers!

 

Next up is going to be Luponic Distortion 002 from Firestone Walker



Clear yellowish gold with a fizzy white head. Nose is citrus sweet to start with maybe a pinch of pine before a little grassiness comes in. Speaking of which, taste is overwhelmingly grassy with a nice hint of maltiness that follows in with this very watery, almost slick beer.

 

One of the last weekends by the pool. Enjoying it with a grapefruit sculpin and a Stillwater On Fleek. $9 for a 4 pack of 13% killer stout? heck yea.

It's not a Sunday without a little Neil.

 

That's weird about your copying and pasting of reviews not working. I know that on mine if I cut and paste a review (but not if I copy and paste) it will occasionally include some weird little line of "code"/formatting something-or-other in the text. I always delete it, but maybe it is something like that???