New Beer Sunday (week 610)

Ah, Time will tell. As for puns, my family and friends likely think them to be a "friendly" curse.

 

Next up is the other Iron Goat that @woemad passed along - Impaler DIPA. This will also serve as my official "Halloween beer" due to it's name be in the proximity of "Vlad the impaler".



Most interesting in the appearance is the fact that the body and label are nearly identical in color. Big beige head that is turning out to be a bit stingy in lacing, as just a few sticky legs have endured.



Sweet candy fruity thing followed by some vegetable earthiness immediately on the nose, rounded out by some soft, bitter and syrupy happening.

Taste is immediately bitter with a softness and sweetness rolling up at the same time with that earthy thing and a little mango. Upon the very dry exit there's a tiny hint of cherry and a lingering sweet bitterness from this minimally carbonated, medium bodied beer.

 

Warm again on Long Island, but counting on some rainfall and dropping temps later to let the spirits cross the boundaries between planes in style... \m/

Opening big with Mélange No. 14 (there were 13 others?) from the Bruery...

I haven't had a big beer like this in a while, and I sure do appreciate it. $27.99 here on the island long, but that's okay - been at least a year since I paid this much for a single beer...

Watching some cool early morning football on Fox - I don't know if people take exception to London games, but I love 'em - nothing wrong with all-day football far as I'm concerned. Not too invested in the outcome, though I'd rather see the 'Skins win than the Bengals.

Onto my second pour at this stage of the game... Body just shy of black - has a vaguely translucent dark brown edge - and a finger of dark tan foam that slims quickly into a slight film. Various aromas, as you might expect, suggesting dark boozy fruits, roasted coffee, woodsy notes, and sweet molasses and cocoa. The flavors are equally muddied and muddled - a true mélange - which was the goal - and I like all the components: imperial stout, old ale, barleywine, and bourbon barrels. The body is medium-full, with a smooth slickness and subdued carbonation - a real sipper - an almost tobacco-and-leather-like aftertaste. Real good stuff.

Got nothing more new on tap for the day, but three nods to recently consumed new brews...

White Oak Aged Jai Alai (a.k.a., "holy shit, this is good")

Rich golden color and a few fingers of ivory foam. Aromas of herbal citrus and oaky tannins. Flavors of sweet tropical and citrusy fruits, like banana, mango, papaya, and orange, are blended, muted, and rounded-off with oaky tannins and suggestions of musky vanilla and coconut. Creamy smooth and softly carbonated. Impossible to just drink one.

Sixpoint's 5Beans

Okay, so we're up to 5 beans now? Vanilla, coffee, cocoa, romano, and now black cardamom pods - assuming the romano beans are still in there, but there's no mention of them on the box or can. Pitch black brew in the glass, with a creamy albeit slim head. The nose on this thing is tremendous - it'll find you across the room - big coffee and chocolate and vanilla. Cardamom comes through a bit on the taste as something earthy and spicy, for lack of better descriptors. Smooth with a medium-heavy body and a vague tingle of carbonation. Dug it more than 4Beans, which I liked a little better than 3Beans. A must-buy if you've been following the series.

And a local rarity from Grimm, Awoogah IPA...

Golden and hazy ale under a full white head. Fruity and floral aromas supported on the tongue with both tropical and orchard impressions, along with a more herbal edge to round off the citrus aspects. Light-medium feel with ample carbonation and a creamy smoothness. Clean finishing. Always a shame these are one can limits in my area.

Alrighty then, NBS - here's to new beer in your glass - cheers...

 

I, for one, try to be concientious in my expectations and excitement over trying a new beer.

Another factor for me is the aroma upon opening, pouring, post pour, and of course while I'm imbibing. I really love the variety of what my nose picks up while the head is active, popping, and bursting (both upon the popping, pouring, and just after), and while it warms in my glass.
This is quite apparent in yeasty Belgians, Saisons, the broad category called "sours", most lagers, and hoppy lovelies. Many stouts also show me soon much in the initial turbid moment.

TO sum it up, beer is great. Involve the olfactory at all times.

 

I love reading your thoughtful analyses.

 

Good afternoon all, I am getting started on anther great beer sen to me via NBS #4 MWK from @jhavs . This fine sunny morning I was in need to something light and refreshing and this Bissell Brothers Seed really hit the spot. I had been eyeing this since it came in and was waiting for just the right time to open it. I have to say it completely caught me off guard, I was not expecting as much fresh fruit flavor and refreshing feel that I got.The tartness of the raspberries combined with the sweetness of the strawberries made for a delicious morning fruit drink, I almost forgot I was drinking a beer!!! Hope everyone has a great Sunday, Go Cowboys!!

Appearance 4 - Pours cloudy pinkish color with light fluffy white head that does not last very long but leaves a nice string of lacing all around the glass. Reminds me of pink lemonade.

Smell 4.25 - Fresh strawberry with a hint of raspberry, fresh lemon. There is just a hint of funk.

Taste 4.5 - I was really surprised at the amount of fresh strawberry and raspberry, very mild tartness. There is a nice balance between the sweetness and tartness both are perfect.


Feel 4.25 - Really light and refreshing, great carbonation not too dry.

Overall 4.34 - I have to say I am impressed at the fruit flavors and the tart/sweet balance. I also was not expecting the refreshing feel. This has such a fresh taste I was expecting to bite into a strawberry seed.

 

Happy Spooky New Beer Sunday. In honor of Haloween, I will make sure my beer has a theme today!

First up is Alien Church from my BIF sender @larryi86. It pours cloudy pale gold with a big 3 finger fluffy white head. Fads very slow and plasters the glass with foamy blobs. It is very aromatic and loaded with tropical notes, mango, papaya, sweet kiwi along with citrus. Flavor is a blend of tropical and citrus fruit juice. Pick up tangerine and mango with hints of pineapple and grapefruit. There is probably some malt, but it faves the juicy hops. Feel is medium light and well carbonated with a slightly dry finish. TH makes outstanding IPAs, that is all.

 

Breaking out a big boy for beer three, hoping it brings good luck to the Redskins in their overtime adventure.

Olde Hickory Lindley Park



Pours a one to one and a half finger coppery brown head atop a predictably black body. Little to no lacing at all.

Nose has a lot happening. Molasses, raspberry, vanilla, brown sugar(that too much like molasses??) and caramel.

Taste is bursting with raspberry, tell you that right now. I mean wow, this is absolutely a raspberry bomb. Massive. I've had beers before that promised raspberry, this is the first to deliver, and deliver it does, in spades. I mean, damn. OK, getting past that, we have some chocolate and hints of vanilla. Virtually no heat at all, as this is a chocolate covered raspberry aperitif.

This beer is just about the most well thought out adjunct enhanced beer I've ever had. Again, damn.

 

What am I? Chopped hops?!? NOT punny enough for you? I have NEVER heard that CANplaint, but instead, just the opposite!

 

New Found Friends a 7.4% ABV "Fall" IPA from Twin Elephant Brewing. Unlike many of the newer IPA's the brew is not all about the hops. There is a big bready malt backbone. A small amount of malted Rye is used. The aroma is of warm bread. The taste starts with a strong but dry malt flavor it lingers until the hops kick in. This IPA is double dry hopped with Mosaic and Belma. The Mosaic hop stand out and work well with the malt to make an outstanding beer.

 

So there was a knock at the front door a few minutes ago, and it was a monkey yielding a rather large knife.

He politely reminded me that it was NBS, and that I needed to crack open one of the offerings from @smanson56's box, and who am I to resist?

Today's new beer is Peach of Mind from Burlington Beer Co - an American wild ale.

Looks are all East coast IPA - cloudy with a creamy white head that leaves tons of lacing.

Aromas are dominated by peaches and stone fruits, fresh hay, and a little funk.

Flavors follow suit with peaches heading up the show. Just a hint of tartness, but not over the top.

Mouthfeel is one place this beer truly shines. Not overly carbonated, and a nice creamy texture.

Overall, this is an excellent beer. Other than the use of wild yeast strains, I see quite a bit of commonality between this one and Peach on Earth which I also enjoyed.





https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/33136/243924/?ba=richj1970#review

 

Good afternoon to all the NBS faithful and welcome to all the newbies. And thanks to Dave for the great send off as always. After another much needed day of rain here in NH yesterday it has cleared to allow me to try to remove the daunting accumulation of leaves that now covered my yard. I sent about 4 hours this morning with a rake in hand as it was too wet even for the strongest leaf blower. I managed to make a dent in the cover and get the rest of the bulbs pulled from the flower beds.
I'm going to follow what seems to be the masses today and review 5Beans from Sixpoint. Having read the previous reviews I think we all were pretty close on our tastes.


This beer poured a nice dark brown color into my Teku glass. it had a thick creamy tan head on top.
The nose is strong towards the coffee used in this brew. There are some soft cocoa overtones very faintly in the back ground. I don't seen to find the vanilla that is supposed to be there.
The taste follows the nose for me coffee in the front then some mild cocoa and as I've let the glass warm there may be some very faint vanilla flavors (it may be more in my hopeful mind than in the actual taste).
The mouth feel to me is a little on the thin side for the 10% abv I would like to see a little thicker mouth feel.
Don't get this wrong this is a solid beer. I don't think as well done as 4 Beans was, but not having a 4 beans to do a side by side I'll have to go by this aging memory of mine. Solid beer but I don't think I'll buy another 4 pack.
3.98/5 rDev -1.7%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4
I'm hoping to get back with another beer this afternoon but may decide to take a trip to Nightshift this afternoon as they are releasing Darkling today.
Cheers to all!

 

Really turning into a nice afternoon, I think - maybe a tad warmer than ideal, even, but that "complaint" isn't going anywhere near the suggestion box. This beer became a nice choice for the growing warmth:

Starr Hill Basketcase is an Americanized version of a Munich Helles. Now usually when I see/hear this, I expect it to mean "a considerably more bitter version" of a classic style (think DFH and Stone). That expectation is quelled a bit by the fact that this is Starr Hill brewing the beer. They are not a brewery that goes big and bold like the breweries mentioned. Let's see...


I start off a little disappointed - and my mind immediately harkens back a week to the discussion of looks. This beer pours a little darker golden than I expected, which leaves a "less clean" impression on my mind. I can get around that, as the beer is clear - if not completely, then damn near it. But then the head is also a bit light, and almost completely disappears early into the pour. The combination is not horrible, but doesn't leave me salivating. It also has me wary that this will be what I expect it to be.

The nose brings me back, though. If you had just handed it to me, I'd have assumed it was a German lager you had handed me. It has nice baked bread malt notes with just a little light herbal notes thrown in. After you tell me to look for some American hops, I can detect a little vague citrus (ruby red grapefruit, if I had to choose a fruit) notes with deeper inhalation.



Taste is no surprise after taking those deep whiffs. Malty sweet bread opening with a nice, balancing bitterness. To me this balancing is accomplished via more classic bittering flavors - light grassy herbs. It's not until the beer regains its balance that I start to get the citrus hints in back (tangerine, orange, sweeter grapefruit). Similar to the nose, these are more accents than core flavors.

The feel is fairly full body and a decent level of smoothness, perhaps at the expense of carbonation, which I would like to have a little more of.

I am glad to have purchased this beer. It's not really a hybrid, and it's not really a classic "Americanization" of a style. It is, in my mind, a nice adaptation of a style that doesn't lose said style. I think it could be a little more brash, but I wouldn't want to push it too far. I could see me grabbing another six pack for a lighter offering or doing a Throwdown with the Hofbrau Original we have in the fridge to get a better contrast in real time.

 

Woody, I am happy to read your book(s) too. What is the title(s) of your book(s)?

Cheers!

 

I thought there would be some Pumpkin brews today? I guess not.

Cheers!

 

You can do it!

Cheers!

 

I love Olde Hickory. As much praise as they receive , they deserve even more. Lindley Park takes its name from a great old Greensboro neighborhood, and it is very good for sure.

 

If you don't mind, I'd like to make a point of swinging by the brewery and showing your post to them. I've never had one of those bottles do that. FWIW, I think they are now bottling that in 500ml bottles, so that one might have some time on it.

 

Good afternoon NBS-ers! Soooo many beers in the fridge right now from @beertunes and @SammyJaxxxx it was hard to choose, so I just grabbed the first one I saw in the front!

Magnify Brewing Mouth Feelings


Poured from a 16 oz. can into a Teku. No canned on date.

Appearance: Brewed with oats so I am expecting a turbid look a la Tired Hands; and that is what it had. Pulpy orange juice. No real head formed, in fact it doesn't look like there's too much carbonation at all.

Aroma: Orange, grapefruit, plenty of citrus, a little melon an pine.

Taste: Plenty of citrus and pine without being a tongue lasher.

Mouthfeel: Nice medium mouthfeel with that smooth body you get from using oats. I do think it needs a little more carbonation.

Overall: A really tasty beer! Could easily drink tons of this with no problems. Low abv, smooth body, and a great taste.

Cheers!