New Beer Sunday (week 610)

Third and final new beer of this NBS, hoping it's a good one. We just started getting Crooked Stave around my neck of the woods apparently. I had their Hop Savant Brett IPA the other night and really enjoyed it. Let's see how they do with a fruited sour!



Pours somewhat similarly to my previous beer in this thread... interesting. A little headier in the carbonation department, which makes sense given that this likely contains Brett. Bright orange-ish color with a reddish/pinkish tint to it. Retentive head of bone-white foam. A lot of tiny micro-bubbles stick around on the bottom of my glass. Lace is surprisingly prominent as well. This looks pretty solid!

Nose is very lacto-heavy with a prominent yogurt-like component along with the slight twang of blueberries in there. A bit of lemon peel and slight vanilla... almost has a meringue-like scent. Interesting. I'm typically a bit turned off by things that go too far into the "yogurt" side of lacto/pedio bacteria, but this is coming around for me over a few minutes and sips.

Pretty shockingly sour right up front on my first small drink, but it actually seems to come across sweeter on the subsequent few. Blueberry sour candy, lemon zest, bright fleshy citrus, some Brett funk and light notes of toasty oak combine pretty effortlessly on the palate. Pretty dry and white wine-like in the finish. Lingering flavor of blueberry skin and vanillins from the oak. Tasty stuff. A nice low ABV sour sipper with a well-rendered fruit component. I'll be looking forward to getting my hands on more of the Petite Sours, and Crooked Stave's beers in general, as they arrive here! Hooray for improved distribution!

Currently listening to one of my favorite albums of this year, a fantastic atmospheric/prog rock inspired black metal album by a promising young band from Minnesota.



From their Bandcamp:
"Powerful melodic movement combined with vivid lyrical imagery create what the band hope is an unforgettable, atmospheric means of escape."

 

Happy Halloween

My wife’s favorite Halloween beer is a blend of Pumpkin Ale and a Chocolatey Stout. She calls this blended beer a Chocolate Pumpkin,

Today’s Chocolate Pumpkin is half Dogish Head Punkin Ale and half Young’s Double Chocolate Stout.

Needless to say but this beer has a blend of chocolate and pumpkin pie spices flavors.

Below is a photograph of this beer along with the scary Jack O’Lantern that my wife carved.

Cheers!

 

Well I made it back for a second round on this now once again rainy Sunday here in central NH.
I did make a trip to Night Shift this afternoon but my second beer for this Sunday comes from a more local Brewery. This Brewery would be 603 Brewery in Londonderry NH. The beer which according to the bottle was bottled on 10/24/2016 is there Bourbon Barrel Aged Granite Stout.


Well I looked for a listing here on BA for this beer but didn't find one and decided that I didn't want to add it myself so here is my review.
This beer pours a dark black color with a minimal head at the best.
The nose is rich from the barrel aging from this beer. Lots of bourbon and smooth roasted malts come to the front.
The taste is mellow with a smooth bourbon flavor and the rich roasted malts. The base beer is not over powered by the aging in this beer.
The mouthfeel is smooth with a light amount of carbonation present.
This is a smooth drinking Bourbon Barrel Aged Beer. I hope to pick up a few more bottles to put away a couple to see how it ages. But at the least it is a nice drinking beer at this point. I see it being in the 4 to 4.25 range.

 

This the listing you were looking for?

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/30434/254885/

It needs a first review....

 

Happy NBS. Trying this Biscotti Break Raspberry Umami. Cheers.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/24300/248810/?ba=cindyjeffsmith#review

 

Wow! Thank you. That means a lot.

Cheers.

 

I had a hectic as hell weekend, revolving around our annual garage sale, but now it's all over with for another year. Fortunately the weather cooperated, and we got two nice sunny days, although the traffic could have been better. We wound up doing pretty well overall, though, and emptied a lot of boxes. Sometimes you take a chance doing it this late in the season...

So, here's my reward for a job well done-


Sunday Morning Stout, courtesy of @jhartley . Hey, at least it's a Sunday. I'll be doing my crossword in bed later on, too .

The nose is dominated by a dark roast coffee quality, with touches of nutty toffee, wood and bourbon underneath. The palate is rich and smooth, not a thing jarring or out of place, not too sweet or strong; again it's all about the coffee, although it's rounded out nicely with tootsie rolls and that slight hit of woody bourbon (especially on the finish). Midway through the glass some vanilla is coming into play as well. This is very well made, and exactly what you'd expect in this kind of beer. I could see tweaking the bourbon up a smidge and the coffee down the same amount, but that's just a minor quibble. Solid A (4.5). Big thanks, Jeff!

Here's hoping your weeks are coming to as pleasant close as mine. Cheers, BA!

 

Glad ya liked it! When I learned you were my target I really started to second guess myself on whether or not I should send that one along, since you might have had fairly easy access to it. But glad I did! Did you have the Free Will Brown Beard yet? I don't remember.

 

Hello to anoher New Beer Sunday. Frustrating day. My date had to get postponed due to car issues on her end, and she was annoyed also. Thrsday can't get here fast enough. She said there will be a lot of selfies. Too bad only her half will look good - she thinks otherwise.

Ok, beer time

Surly Ten Ale


It's not bad. Maybe a little sweet for my liking, but not bad at all.

4.14/5 rDev 0%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25

This is a fairly thick pouring beer. The head isn't too thick, 1 finger. The nose is interesting. It's hard to describe, almost smells barrel aged. I do like the smell of it.

The taste of this beer is somewhat sweet. Slight bitterness. It also tastes like it is barrel aged. Itteresting flavor. It feels carbonated on the backside. Very interesting beer.

★ 356 characters

At 10.5% and a bomber bottle, I'd say that's all folks till next week.

 

Thanks for sending it- it seems to be the exact thing I needed tonight, too!

I did get to that Brown Beard a few weeks back on the BIF reveal day. That was another nice one, but I wound up enjoying the SMS more.

 

Damn! That's right. I am getting even more forgetful in my old age.

 

Good Evening all and thank you @cavedave for the eloquent kickoff once again. Tonight will be short and sweet since its late for me. My two cents on the descriptors for a beer- and ive been thinking about this all day and it just so happens its in the name of the beer above. I use this term in a very loose sense: Umami. Painting with a broad brush here and not referring to just taste. Another sense you get with certain beers: Whether its a taste memory or it unlocks something in one of your memories or senses: A smell from when you were in a certain time or place. A vision of somewhere you've been or someone you had a beer with for example. I guess what I mean is unlocking a sensory memory of some sort. The really good ones do that for me. And even some of the not so good. Point is you tie the beer to that and all its attributes create a chain. Anyhow you probably think I'm on acid but maybe some will understand.

JACKS ABBY FRIEND REQUEST BIERE DE GARDE, Collab with Stoneface
Pours a chill hazed dark bronze with a huge beautiful tan head that lingers and leaves lots of wonderful lacing.
Aroma is of sweet bread malts, dusky mushrooms and forest floor and a hint of citrus. Nice funky yeast.
Taste is toasted malts, brown sugar, some fruity esters, and again some orange and or lemon. Nice earthy taste with some clean bitterness that helps balance the sweet. Really tasty.
Feel is lager like with a touch more body. Finishing crisper than you might imagine with a nice carbonation and no off flavors.
A style I really like but haven't had much of. And this one is very enjoyable. If you're into the this style I would highly recommend this brew. A different take but not so much as to steer you into a different direction. A well crafted brew between these two brewers- not a surprise
Hey enjoy the rest of your Sunday and thanks for taking the time.

 

Greetings, NBSers. This beer is another from the incredible box @beerloserLI sent me .....



This is my first beer from Barrier, so when I received it, I looked it up here to see how it rated - and the first thing I saw was a review from @Greywulfken, one of my favorite posters, and he liked it, so I figured I'd like it, too (since we're both big fans of Zombie Dust).

Correct! It pours a brilliant golden straw color, a bit cloudy, and there's a finger or two of slightly off-white head. Simcoe hops have an astringent quality which some don't care for (look up reviews on the 2015 iteration of Surly Wet), but I enjoy the bite of this hop, and this beer has that bite - but there's also a fruity quality I don't associate with Simcoe which really changes the direction of this in a most enjoyable way. I could drink this until it came out my ears.

Rated 4.35.

 

New Beer Sunday: Imperial Stout with some Bourbon Barrel.

Evenin' NBSers, with special greetings to all you Inspired Seekers of Imperial Stouts.

Back again with a second new beer already started and intended to be sipped very slowly duing the Eagles-Cowboys game starting about now.. (At least the Broadcast starts at 8:30. )

This evening's second new beer is the Boulevard Imperial Stout, some of which is aged in Bourbon barrels before blending.

As usual my review, subject to revision through the football game or the end of the beer, whichever comes first, is in progress here:

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/423/45541/?ba=drtth#review

Overall I thought this was an excellent Imperial Stout that shows the effects of Bourbon barrel aging but doesn’t conceal that fact there is a stout in there as well, so the blending works for me. This seems to be a quite complex beer with some dark chocolate, dark fruit and roasted malt bitterness that are in a layer of flavor just under the vanilla and oak but are in no way hidden by them. Rather those underlying stout flavors are a supporting cast that enhance the effects of the Bourbon barrel. For me, it’s definitely a beer to have and sip slowly when you have plenty of time and are having only one.

Some might think of this as being a beer to pull out of the cellar for a special occasion. Personally I prefer to think of it as a beer to make a day special. It will work either way this evening since the Eagles will either win or lose. So it is one of the beers you might have when you are in the kind of mood described in the music liked to below. (Which is also actually also appropriate to thinking about Boulevard beers since their Dark Truth Stout is being retired.)

Boulevard of Broken Dreams.

Cheers, all!

 

Getting ready for the Eagles/Cowboys game, go birds! Thank you @richj1970 for this bottle of Straight to Ale Unobtanium Bourbon Barrel Old Ale, tasty boozy beer like it a little more than Illudium, both and great, cheers!
4.19/5 rDev +1.9%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

Big thanks to Richj1970 for this
22 oz bottle poured into a tulip

A- A dark brown with ruby red highlights and a two finger light tan head.

S- Oak, vanilla, bourbon, figs, caramel malts, some hints of earthy hops.

T- Oaky, figs, hints of cherries, caramel malts, hints of roasted malts and earthy hops, bourbon, hints of vanilla.

M- Smooth, medium body.

O- A tasty Old Ale, bourbon works well with it. Not as sweet as Illudium but just as good.

 

#2, I can't believe I've not had this before .....



The exceptional quality of this beer is the HUUUUUUUGE butterscotch and toffee aromas and flavors this beer yields, and then the barrel kicks in as it warms. Just a creamy delight to sip and enjoy on a chilly Minnesota evening.

This resides in the same space as Backwoods Bastard and Central Waters BA Scotch Ale. It's not as good as those, but it's very enjoyable.

Rated 4.21.

 

Back with a barrel aged Dubbel that is, to take a subtle, low key approach to beer description, is fucking fantastic.
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/28798/254896/?ba=woemad#review

Don't know why this is in my head.

 

G' evening you NBS-ers! My last entry tonight comes from that generous ninja from Jersey once again, the one, the only..... @SammyJaxxxx !!

Perfect for watching last week's re-run and this week's newest TWD episode!

Poured from a 16 oz. can into a Snorkel glass. Canned on 10/17/16 BORN TO ROT

Appearance: Dark black body with brown along the edges. A tiny cap of head forms and leaves little to almost no lacing in the glass.

Aroma: Dayum!!! Roasted malts, cacao, molasses, coffee, milk chocolate a pepper like smell.

Taste: Plenty of dark roasted malts up front, french roast coffee, chocolate, and bakers chocolate.

Mouthfeel: Full mouthfeel, but with a silkiness to it that shows no hint of the 10.1% abv.

Overall: This is a great beer. Nice and chewy body and a ton of flavor. I like the lactose addition, adds a nice sweetness and smoothness. A really well made and balanced beer.

Cheers!

 

Okay, #3, but only to bring the Cubs luck .....



This looks like a Marzen, but it tastes ..... like a sugar bomb. Just all kinds of sweet piled on top of sweet. There's no discernible hop flavor, which is a disappointment, because tossing some Noble hops at this would move it from "barely drinkable" to "pretty nice."

Rated 2.81.

 

Good evening NBS, hope everyone is enjoying the end of the weekend once again. Thanks to @cavedave for getting us started off this week. Kegged a saison yesterday and plan to brew something else in the next week or two thanks to 2 corporate holidays off work. My 4800th beer review will be showing up next week around Wednesday I think.

New Beers:

Very nice coffee porter. Aromas and flavors of nutty medium roasted coffee, chocolate, cocoa, caramel, brown sugar, toffee, vanilla, and toasted brown bread; with light herbal hops and dark fruity yeast notes. Light-moderate herbal hop and roasted coffee bitterness on the finish. Medium-plus bodied; very creamy and a fairly silky; with some light sticky/chalky notes from roast malt, coffee, and hop oil in the mouthfeel. Lightly drying. Very much an American porter all the way through; but does have some nice background English style character from the yeast and malts. Very well balanced and well rounded in complexity. 3.9


Rochester Mills just released a bunch of BBA styles last week, so I will be the first to review them; as usual with the local stuff . This was really good! Aromas and flavors of caramel, brown sugar, vanilla, toffee, bourbon, toasted oak, and brown bread; with light notes of butterscotch, roast, and plum/apple yeast fruits. Light earthy hop/roast bitterness and bourbon/oak spice on the finish against sweetness. Medium bodied; fairly creamy and slightly slick/silky in the mouthfeel; touch of chalky roast and light dryness. Very drinkable and no barrel booze or ABV warmth(6.8%). Very well done. The diacetyl was pretty much threshold levels for me. Well within the style guidelines, and I think the barrel had a bit to do with it as well. 3.78


Swedish sour I found last weekend on my new beer hunt. I get to be the first one to review this too it seems. This was outstanding! Aromas and flavors of huge tart/sour lemon, lime, orange peel, green apple, cherry, berries, pear, white wine, oak, pepper, leather, hay, straw, and lacto funk; with some wheat/bready malt; and light vanilla, bourbon, and white vinegar. Nice sized lactic sourness with tannic/spicy yeast and oak on the finish. Medium bodied; very acidic, tannic, and dry; with some light grainy wheat malts in the mouthfeel. Fairly puckering, but never astringent. Damn this definitely delivered. Not anywhere near as expensive as authentic Belgian lambics(I think it was $16, vs $30-40 for the same size bottle of Tilquin etc); but this delivers a similar level of complexity of many of the popular Gueuze. This is a multiple bourbon barrel aged blend, but I doubt it is a multiple year blend like the Gueuze style. Still extremely impressive though. 4.2


Cheers, have a good night NBS!