New Beer Sunday (week 607)

Holy Mountain Midnight Still (Coffee & Vanilla Variant)

Good morning, monkeys! I see @kemoarps had either a late night or very early morning on the West Coast. I'm drinking this one thanks to his generosity as part of the MWK NBS BIF. Thanks, brother!

Midnight Still pours a deep dark brown, approaching black, with a finger of mocha colored head that leaves a thick crown and solid lacing.

It has a big bourbon aroma ten months after blending. I'm getting cherry, nuts, vanilla and oak. There's some chocolate malt behind. This is delicious smelling.

It's lighter tasting than expected. There's very little heat to it, which surprised me based on the nose. I was bracing myself! More so, the mouthfeel also seems light bodied for the style, with good carbonation and some definite creaminess.

Again, there's a vanilla bourbon taste up front, with chocolate malts and light coffee notes behind, with the bourbon sweetness competing with the mild coffee and hop bitterness in the aftertaste. Tastes damn good, too.

I worry sometimes about heavy-handed vanilla additions, but this one is subtly and artfully done. The coffee at this late stage is maybe a little on the light side, but it still adds to the taste overall. This one's a definite winner. Very glad for the opportunity to try it. Thanks again.

On a random note, I'm watching/listening to the "Sounds of the Season" music cable channel this morning until football starts. It's still Oktoberfest season instead of Halloween. I just learned that Albert Eintsein worked Oktoberfest in Munich in 1896 screwing in light bulbs. I'm sure there's a joke in there somewhere.

 

Howdy NBSers!

I got off the late shift early this morning in time to give this new Texas beer a try:




Old Bat Rastard from Freetail (seventh anniversary version) is labelled as a winter warmer, though if you’d told me it was a wee heavy, I’d have bought it. It’s got plenty of the caramel sweetness and the peaty earthiness of the good Scotch ale, and those two notes dominate. In fact, all of the other aromas and flavors I detect are tangents of those two main features of caramel and peat/earthy hop flavor. For me, it works out beautifully because the caramel/sweeter notes are doing enough to keep the peaty/earthy notes from turning it into Scottish bogwater, which is what some wee heavies taste like to me .

There’s little alcohol flavor or burn, though the big ABV might be contributing just a tinge to the earthiness, if that makes sense. There’s also no spice flavor or anything else that doesn’t taste like malt, hops, yeast or water. The bottle lists Blackstrap Molasses as an ingredient, but everything else is from the holy quartet of beer, including Australian Stella hops, which I know nothing about but would swear they’re pumping out a healthy dirt-bite in this bottle that’s 9 months old.

The review:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/18823/47998/?ba=Premo88#review
4.06 (+9.4% rDev)

The beer is good enough that I’ll look for the eighth anniversary version … or another bottle of this seventh anniversary for colder weather consumption. It’s a darn good malt bomb -- and made well enough that I need to do some more Freetail research.

Cheers!

 

You are correct. Twice actually. Those two were easily mixed up and Bell's just had a makeover. Some of them were changed up a bit, and the rest basically went HD. At least that is how I describe them. Looks like they edited them in Photobucket.

Speaking of label changes. I thought that can was black and silver with a mad scientist/lab? Hold on. I will show you...

(this is odd as no time has actually passed for you)

I knew it! Can't say I like the change, but it doesn't sound like the beer has.

 

I am curious too as I feel that it is better than Black Butte

 

I have continued to enjoy reading your posts at Tap Trail, and sorta feel bad I can't be in the area to enjoy and discuss these brews with you. I actually forgot to read last week's posts, but catching up now, I must say I really enjoyed the write-up of Kulshan Brewing’s Fresh Hop Pale.

Also enjoyed your opinionated take on fresh hop vs wet hop .

 

Smuttynose Baltic Porter is a very good beer, IMO, as well. Oooh!! I need to do a Thursday Throwdown side-by-side Danzig (DB's GABF gold medal) and Smuttynose Baltic Porter. If I can find them together (Smutty's BP sat around a little while here last year; Danzig I think is a rotational, maybe; should I keep my internal thoughts to myself? Nah! BAs want to know. I think. Maybe.)

 

Nice write-up and a beautiful picture to boot! I go back and forth, but Vienna Lahers are definitely up there as far as my favorite styles go. The comparison to brown butter is spot on as far as the little oomoh that makes them really pop goes (whatever the hell that means). Browning the butter for a grilled cheese for the first time will change your life. Cheers!

It never ceases to amaze me how great of a community there is here thank god for beer and friendly folks. Cute lab too!

 

Same beer, the label has been "revitalized." Bell's has done that with a bunch of their beers.

 

Poured into a 16 oz snifter bottled on 6/29/16. Poured aggressive at a little above room temperature and got a 2 plus finger dark tan head that settled at record speed into flat looking motor oil, that leaves no lace. 3.5%

Smell is dates, booze, dark chocolate, anise, leather, tobacco, burnt coffee grounds, bubble gum, vanilla, smoke, and did I mention booze! 3.75

Taste follows anise, leather, tobacco, roasty coffee, vanilla, port wine, smoke, and alcohol from the 11.8% ABV. 3.75

Mouthfeel is not quite medium, very moderate carbonation, dry for sure, and a sipper, I have been making love to this for 2 plus hours and it really has grown on me. 3.5

Overall this is a very solid big beer, that has so much going on. I am not a fan of anise, but I still really enjoyed this beer. 3.75

 

First NBS offering of the day



Bottled on 09/28/2016

Plush

Frost Beer Works
American Double / Imperial IPA / 8.00% ABV

4.01/5 rDev -8.4% | Avg: 4.38
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4

L-The beer pours a hazy golden yellow reminiscent of OJ. The head is a modest one finger of white. This recedes to a thin film leaving good lacing.
S- The nose is what you would expect from a double dry hopped beer. There is grapefruit, mango, and some fruity sweetness.
T- I find this to be a bit disappointing. The elements of the crisp fruity nose are quite muted here. The bitterness overrides that fruitiness and lingers on the palate. Unfortunately its not a crisp piny bitterness, but a more dull pithy variety.
F-This is the best aspect of the beer. There is clearly some wheat or oat in the malt bill. The overall mouthfeel is on the higher side of medium. Carbonation is low, but far from flat. The beer coats the tongue and allows the bitterness to linger.
O- This is a research series beer. The mouthfeel is good, but on the whole I much prefer the Original Lush and Double dry hopped version of that beer far more. The beer promises a lot in the nose, but just falls kinda dull and flat on the palate.

 

If we are having an old timer, heavyweight throwdown, we should probably not forget about Anchor

 

With Founders' poised to enter the Seattle market, I wouldn't be surprised if Bell's doesn't follow suit.

 

I forgot Holy Mountain bottles anything. I need to track this down (prolly too late already).

 

Hey what's going on?

Very weird weekend. Hurricane remnants seemed to have passed by, was raining a bit yesterday making for a lazy indoor day, postponing the Nats/Dodgers game, and an excuse to just lay low. Today sun is out but the winds are pretty strong whipping up.

I am a bit annoyed this weekend. I woke up Thursday morning and somehow my jaw just got completely f'd up. I've been fighting with it all weekend and I can't properly close on one side. I have had this happen before, it doesn't happen that often but it makes eating a real pain in the ass, I am hoping it's going to work itself soon.

Another annoyance... the homebrew as I predicted was a bust. I am pretty sure the hot weather and poorly calibrated thermometer were to blame, but basically the beer never seemed to attenuate and its far too sweet. It's too bad it has a subtle hop flavor from the fresh hops but it's by far not what it should be... sighh..

Still I have other beer to drink at least so let's see what is new for our hero today...

Fruitlands - Blood Orange And Hibiscus | Modern Times Beer


Modern Times Beer - Fruitlands Blood Orange & Hibiscus Gose by imbibehour, on Flickr

Poured from the bottle into a wheat ale glass. Bottled September 9th 2016.

Grapefruit colored orange, and slightly pink colored body. Opaque and a little bit cloudy with some bit of light and hues to the body color as well. Head is a flashing pink white head, quite foamy and some what rich at three fingers. With a bit of snap and dissolve it settles quickly to a cola bubbled collar.

Salty sensing brine and fruit aroma, with a nice tartness on the nose. Slightly citrusy but tends towards more lacto sourness. A straight forward sensing malt bill, with less chew hinting wheat character, but has some degree of solid malt bill. With the added additions, it comes off more like a basic solid gose than anything which is quite nice so far on the nose.

Palate takes quite a unique angle. Salt water rich and parching in the mid palate. Bit of a wet body makes for very little lingering flavor or coating on the palate. A citrus orange tartness hits quite large in the mid palate. Juiced box flavors finish in the aftertaste with a thin body.

This is really lacking in a bready chewy malt depth, and comes off more like a fruited drink more so. It also has a bit of radler like quality minus the huge sweetness. A decent gose is hiding in here somewhere, but drinkable.

look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5 | BA Generated Score: 3.65

 

Happy NBS and BIF 4 share day! My sender was @larryi86 and he really loaded me up with some amazing beer. I can't thank him enough!

Tired Hands Shambolic pours a cloudy gold color with 1 finger white head. Quickly fades with almost no ring remaining. Lacing is almost non existent. A nice lemony citrus aroma with wet hay funk, light biscuit, and yeast. Taste is juicy citrus with some notes of lemon and peach that finishes with the yeast. It is tart and light bodied with soft carbonation. A delicious Saison that is up there with Hill Farmstead.

 

From recognition, I think that is Weyerbacher's Tiny, right? (Hard to see the label)

Not sure I've seen that too often around here, but as I look to set this up, I'll definitely take an extra look for another competitor .

 

Good morning to all the NBS followers and thanks to Maria for the great send of as usual. Today is the day that all participants in NBS MWK get to post reviews for some of the great beers we were able to share during this BIF. The boxes this time have gone way over the top and there are still more boxes to be delivered.
We are receiving some much needed rain here in central NH today. We did some work in the garden yesterday and the ground is so dry that dust like. We did mange to get a few plants moved and we are hoping they will survive.
My sender in the round of the NBS BIF was @Aguirre and the box that I received was out stand with beers from 2nd Shift and Side Project included. So for this first review for today I'll start with this beer from 2nd Shift call Funky Phoque.

And you have to love the artwork on the Label.

And now on to the review.
This beer poured a light golden yellow color into my Teku glass. A this white head formed on top which dissipated quickly. The nose is sharp with lots of funk from the brett strain of yeast used in the brewing. The bottle says barrel aged brett series so I am assuming this where I am getting that little extra smoothness in this beer. I have notice that beers aged in wood just seem to me softer feeling than those aged in stainless steel.
The taste is mellow some lemon and oak with a nice barnyard type funk. Not overly tart but crisp and very pleasant to drink.
There is a good mouthfeel with nice carbonation.
This is a better than average beer in this style IMO. I hope to have the chance to enjoy this again.
4.23/5 rDev -0.2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25

I'm in the process of loading my smoker right now with some goodies for dinner tonight and I have some more new beer thanks to @Aguirre to share today. So I'll be back a little later one with some more goodies.

 

Good morning NBSers still no power in my neck of the woods, thanks to a campstove we had bacon and scrambled eggs hope power is on before football time. I start the day with a fantastic beer that @jhavs graced me with for MWK BIF. It is a Tree House Julius i will do my best review i can since i am using my phone

Appearance
Cloudy dense orange, looks like a glass of orange juice. Dense thick white head great lacing.

Smell
Mango, grapefruit, orange, and any other tropical fryit you can imagine. It is like a tropical fruit explosion

Taste
Unlike any other IPA i have had, like a mildly hopped juice. Orange and mango stand out with just a touch of hops

Feel
Light to medium very well carbonated not very dry

Overall
This is an amazing IPA i would guess the best i have ever rated. It is very juicy amazing aromas and taste.

 

Boy, it's a shame you made out so poorly in this BIF.

 

Feel you on the "not as intended" homebrew. Hopefully the "far too sweet" doesn't throw it into undrinkable. If so, any saving techniques worth trying??