New Beer Sunday (Week 642)

First half of a 32oz grumbler of Crow Peak BA Baltic Porter, 8.6% ABV, 50 IBU. The place I bought this claimed it was bourbon and rum BA, but can't find info on this from the brewer as they only show rum or bourbon. Maybe a one-off small batch from this local brewery. Pours thick and black, with a half-finger tan head. Nose is bourbon and rum sweetness, malt, and a hint of coffee. Taste follows, with a bit of alcohol, and a slight bitter close. Well balanced, not showing the 50 IBU, and excellent mouthfeel. Not a strong barrel taste. Many would call this a stout as it is more robust than most porters. Overall outstanding. Since I am picking up bourbon and rum, I'll add this as a new beer.

 

Good evening NBS, this is a tough week here in WMass, lots of events in support of
Western Mass Beer Week, Today i enjoyed time and conversation with some great brewers and excellent people. 6 days left and then a rest will be needed.
This offering is from Brick and Feather from Turners Falls MA. Lawrence the owner brewer brings his full pedigree to our valley, and we are so fortunate to have his experience on full display here in Western Mass.
The Helles Lager was released today and what a treat on this hot day.
Cheers all
Helles Lager

Brick & Feather Brewery
Kellerbier / Zwickelbier / 5.40% ABV

4.16/5 rDev 0% | Avg: 4.16
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Enjoyed on draft today at the brewery, .5liter pour into a big ole mug
A - Bright straw color, gently carbonated with a full 1.5" cap of tight knit snow white froth.
S - Bread notes, noble hop adds floral element including cut grass, a bit of lemongrass and kiss of mint
T - Follows the nose, floor swept malts, then a bit of biscuit with a touch of orange jam spread.
M - A light touch, gentle carbonation cleans up nicely.Medium in body and excellent water construct.
O - Another well crafted offering from Brick And Feather, the brewer demonstrates true craft with this offering.
The water profile, gentle use of the appropriate hops and the refined carbonation are exceptional.

 

Good Evening NBS
I'm off work and ready to partake in a new beer. I had prepared my SN tulip pint for this brew, but thought @TheIPAHunter might take exception. Into the Spiegelau it goes.



16oz canned 4/28/17 poured into a Spiegelau IPA glass at fridge temp 7% ABV. The beer pours a hazy golden color with abundant and sticky white head. There is lacing left behind in a dense pattern as the head recedes to a splotchy cap. The smell is citrus, mostly grapefruit and tangerine, mixed with a background of rind and earth. The taste follows with citrus and malt sweetness trailing into an earthy, pithy, barely bitter finish. Mouthfeel is semi soft with plenty of carbonation. The finish is a typical mix of well attenuated dryness offset by hop oils. Overall, very good.

This reminds me of Born Yesterday and a couple of the more sought after 3 Floyds beers I've had. I'm sure it was logistically impossible to capture the essence of Tree House in a beer that would spend (in my case) over a month in transit. I certainly envy those of you who can honestly say "I have way better local options." I do not. Enjoy your Sunday & what's in your glass.

 

Another "new to me" from Frost Beer Works.



Bottled 5/26/17.

Moderate pour yields a 3/4 inch white head over a hazy, medium straw colored body with some lacing. Nose of citrus and pine. Tastes of the same with a bitter, dry finish. Very nice feel and overall another good one from Hinesburg, VT. As it warms, a bit of tropical fruit and candied fruit appear on the nose and a bit of tropical fruit on the palate as well. Cheers!

4.03/5 rDev -4.3%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4

 

New Beer Sunday: A new hazy IPA

Evenin' NBSers with special thanks to @lordofthewiens for his start today and special greetings to frequent hunters of hazy fruity IPAs.

Well, with a mostly sunny day here we did officially move into our first day of a 3 day heat wave--the second of the year. Most of the chores were around the house rather than outdoors since it was not a fit day for man nor beast out there.

Did get to pop into the site a little bit but got distracted from checking on this thread by making what I thought was a simple off topic observation in a different thread. After that things got fairly complicated as I let myself get sidetracked into issues I hadn't intended to address.

This evenin's new beer is the Heavy Seas Alpha Effect Hazy IPA. Since I like several of this east coast brewery's beers I thought I'd give this one a try. As usual my review, subject to change until I finish the beer, can be found here:

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/898/270264/?ba=drtth#review

For this IPA think lots of fruits all blended together. The flavors and aromas are both subtle and complex with a wide variety of fruits, some I’ve not been able to sort out yet. There are definitely some golden orchard fruits involved such as peach and maybe apricot. Then there are the tropical fruits such as mango and pineapple. Nicely in the background but still quite noticeable there’s both some citric bitterness and just enough sweetness from the malt backbone to help keep the bitterness noticeable but prevent it from being harsh or unpleasant. I'll probably be buying another just to check myself since when I may think a beer is interestingly complex I sometimes get it wrong.

One of the big advantages of having a few friends who are avid vinyl collectors is that you can arrange, if you promise to treat them carefully, to borrow recordings from a different era that might have escaped you since you didn't pay attention or you weren't old enough.

This evening's music is the work of a late 50s early 60s singer/song writer/movie star by the name of Bobby Darin. Every time I have a Heavy Seas beer I can't but help think of this song.

Beyond the Sea

Cheers, all!

 

Hello New Beer Sunday!!

If I only worked a standard 40 hour week, I would have almost done it these past 3 days. Yeah, I'm exhausted.

Something I've been working on lately is making sure my local breweries have their beer lists updated on here. I've also been wanting to try the ones I've entered. Tonight I'm doing just that: trying a beer I've recently entered.


This beer is called False Hope from Spilled Grain Brewing in Annandale, MN. It is a wheatwine, a style I've never had before. What should I expect? Does it combine the awesomeness of a barleywine with a wheat beer? Here goes nothing.

Well, it's ok, but nothing that knocks my socks off. A bit on the watery side. Just nothing special. Are wheatwines like barleywines? Is there a wheatwine that will blow me away? I don't know yet, but am willing to try more to see.

One and done tonight. We will see you next Sunday for New Beer Sunday, and, of course, WBAYDN throught the week.

3.98/5 rDev 0%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75

This beer pours a thick, brown color. It poured like motor oil. The head is minimal and white. Nice carbonation bubbles rising in the glass.

The nose is interesting. It has a hint of sweetness to it. It also has a bit of an alcohol aroma to it. It almost has a fruity nose also.

The taste is interesting. It has a bit of sweetness up front, then on the backside, there's a bit of bitterness, and a bit of an alcohol burn.

The feel is on the watery side. I wasn't expecting that from such a strong beer.

Overall, ok, but, to be honest, nothing that knocks my socks off. I've had barleywines that have blown me away. This is my first beer of this style, and I wonder if this style will have beers that blow me away?

721 characters

 

Good evening folks. I'm back with a new one, and I hope I can wrap my head around it before the bottle is all gone-

Fantome Del Ray, brewed in conjunction with, and at the facilities of, Jester King. Thanks again to my main man and JK supplier () @Premo88 !

First off, there's a fantastic harmony and complexity at the core of this beer. It's got a moderately full mouthfeel in conjunction with a bone dry finish and quenching tartness. Barnyardy funk is present, but willing to share the spotlight. As to the other flavors and aromas, there's definitely honey, peppercorns, dried flowers (chamomile and lavender), plum, caramel, dark bread crust, vanilla, oak and dried orange peel. Like previously mentioned, nothing rises to any sort of overbearing level.

But on the other hand...
There is an overriding coarseness and/or harshness that slaps your palate right off the bat. As I'm acclimating to it, it's starting to transform into a general woodiness with a slight astringent aftertaste. It sort of reminds me of chewing on popsickle sticks when I was a kid. This quality definitely keeps the beer grounded, and doesn't overly interfere with the beer's best qualities since it comes on very late. But it is a borderline unpleasant distraction nonetheless. I can't really come up with a score at the moment, but it's quite intriguing and it is something that I would gladly have again.

 

Softball team pulled off a win, so I'm enjoying one more brew before bed. This one landed via a trade as an extra from @TheHopsman .



Off Color Brewery's Dinosmores.

Pours black with a thin (less than a finger) of khaki head. Head retention is fair with no lacing left behind. The beer looks pitch black in the glass, but with large flakes of brown suspended towards the bottom of the liquid. Aroma is vanilla bean, and roasted malts with a light sprinkle of lactose. Lactose, toasted malts, and caramel bolster the otherwise vanilla bean and roasted malt dominated flavor profile. Mouth feel is smooth and velvety, with a slippery edge. It has a medium thickness. Overall, a slippery-smooth stout that provides a good presence in terms of mouth feel and flavor profile. Lovely brew.

Score: 3.75 | 4 | 4.25 | 4.25 | 4 | BA Score: 4.11 | rDev: +0.2%

 

Hey gang! It's hard to believe the week has gone by and another is about to begin. Summer has arrived with a welcome blast of 95 degree heat with tolerable humidity and I've been out making the most of it. I'm finally taking time after chowing a steak off the grill to get around to this beer I picked up yesterday while playing around in Michigan. A stop at Transient in Bridgeman yielded yet another NE style DIPA. Let's check out this pint can of Mind to Devour with no visible date and an abv. of 8.35% poured in my trusty Transient Teku style glass.

This beer pours a cloudy pale orange like fresh squeezed juice leaving a small finger of creamy white foam behind. It lingers around forever eventually revealing a little lacing. The smell is sweet pineapple slices, grapefruit, orange slices, mango, passion fruit and a hint of fresh rubber. Taste is a fruit basket of succulent pineapple, orange slices, grapefruit, passion fruit and some floral notes in the finish. The feel is thin and light with a slight acidic juiciness.





In a word? Wow! I bought a four pack and I'm regretting not buying another. Let that $20 price be damned because this is top notch. It may be their best attempt at the style to date? My score was a 4.62 / rDev+0.4%. I won't make that mistake again!

A warm evening on the patio with a brisk breeze that makes it comfy and is keeping the bugs at bay. Not sure where the rest of the evening is going, but it's been a pleasure as always. Have a great week, I leave you with the official scorecard....

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/34258/278497/?ba=Prager62#review

 

I decided to have the last beer from @CanConPhilly, the one @larryi86 reviewed earlier. Given his review, I wasn't expecting it to float my boat, but let's see.


Overall, this didn't work for me, though I did find it better by the end than I did initially. Much like I generally do not like rum in my stouts, I generally do not like vanilla in my IPAs (for the record, I doubt I'd like rum in my IPAs, though I have no evidence either way).

The beer pours nicely enough for a cloud in a glass. The nose has this grandmother perfume of vanilla. I'm not digging it, but since it's likely what they are going for with a vanilla milkshake beer, it's got it. There's also a little unsweet citrus in there (probably bitter-leaning but affected by the vanilla).

Taste has some of the same issues, vanilla as expected (but as intended??), with a bitter citrus to back it up. I enjoyed the sips where I didn't notice the vanilla as much more than those where it caught my palate decently.

I think I basically agree with Larry, this is missing something to pair with the vanilla. Those vanilla IPAs I've liked more have it more as an accent. The base beer doesn't live up to being that thing. I'm being as fair as I can on this one, and still am well below average. I always appreciate trying new beers, and thank @CanConPhilly for the opportunity, even if this one was a miss for me. And in fact, another thanks for all the beers from this trip!!

 

Yet another new Frost.



Bottled 5/25/17.
Gentle to moderate pour yields a one inch light tan head over a very dark brown body. Nose of chocolate and a bit of maple as well. Taste is where this shines as the maple, honey, and nuts come forward. Feel is a tad thin, but overall, yet another fine offering from this Vermont brewery. Cheers!

4.08/5 rDev 0%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4

 

That seems about as I recall it. Happy you seem to have enjoyed Ocelot's offerings.

 

Great review man!

 

Sierra Nevada/Saint Arnold Dry-Hopped Berliner-Style Weisse

Wowsa, this one caught me a little off guard. It pours a hazy, pale straw-yellow with two-and-a-half fingers of dense white head that leave thick rings of lacing.

There's a tart, yeasty aroma with flashes of lemon and lightly floral hops. Maybe some other light citrus, soap and biscuit malt behind.

Bigger tasting than I expected. There's almost a creaminess to the feel and the taste alike. Like a lemon-orange creamsicle with fresh-cut grass (hops) thrown in; but one made with real fruit so it's more tart than sweet.

This is more citrusy and even slightly more tart than most Berliners I've had, and the grassy dry-hopping is something else entirely. It's almost got a weedy quality to it, and it plays off the lemon in a really interesting way.

Not traditional by any stretch of the imagination, but a very fun beer to try. Great addition to the sampler, and perfect on a hot night. Cheers!

 

Cigar City Brewing Storming of the FloridaBlanca
Strong Dark Ale - 11.3%ABV w/ Licorice Rood Aged in Rum Barrels



4.35/5 rDev +9.3%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25

750ml bottle poured into an El Catador glass. Pours a dark black color that doesn't let any light in with a dark tan head. The aroma is sweet, roasty and full of rum and oak from the rum barrels used in the barreling process. The taste features a lingering sweetness, maybe a hint of the licorice notes, and a warming character in the finish from the high ABV and barrel.

I'm thankful that the licorice isn't overpowering as I'm not a huge fan of licorice. The licorice notes do become more prevalent in the nose and taste as the beer warms but I still don't think it's overdone. Overall, another solid barrel aged beer from Cigar City.

 

I must start this post saying that this is my first NBS post.. it's taken a while to work my way up. So take it easy on me!

I don't usually drink on Sundays but thought I could use it today. I decided that this weekend would be a good weekend to shift gears in my nursing practice and spend Friday-Sunday observing/working in a psychiatric ER in a mental health hospital. It was quite the experience as this is something I'm usually familiar with. It was a wonderful experience and I urge anyone (whether in healthcare or not) to become more familiar with mental sickness and help change the stigma against it.

Okay enough of the weekend. I decided to get an exceptionally dark beer to try out, even though it's supposed to be 99-103 degrees in the next week out here in west Texas.

For those who don't know, The Temptress by Lakewood brewing is just about unanimously known as the "stout of Texas". But with good reason, it's a very well balanced stout with a Belgian twist, as the owner is originally from Belgium. The best part about this stout is the many variants they put out. These include raspberry, mole, sin mint, and bourbon barrel aged (which typically sells out within hours in DFW). Beginning this year, Lakewood decided to bourbon barrel age all their different variants in very small batches. So I was lucky enough to stumble across the bourbon barrel aged raspberry variation of The Temptress (somehow in west Texas). So here it is, weighing in at 13.0%, poured from a 32oz growler.

Appearance- 4.0- poured from a growler, to a jet black appearance. Head clears within in a minute, inviting you do indulge immediately.

Smell- 4.75- really is hard to describe how much the smell made my mouth water. Initially got a whiff of fresh raspberries, followed by a quick reference of dark chocolate, just to be rounded out of a subtly boozy bourbon note.

Taste- 4.50- taste just about directly mirrors the smell. The Temptress already has layers of flavors, imagine adding raspberry and age it in bourbon barrels. Tastes like a chocolate covered raspberry to be finished with a boozy kick.

Feel- 4.25- feel was quite chewy, as you would expect from a BA stout. Yet just left me desiring something a little thicker. Was expecting it to be a bit heavier.

Overall- 4.5- this was a true treat for me. It combines my two favorite variations of the beer. So complex and deep. I know production was very limited, so I was ecstatic to try it. Very drinkable for a BA stout at 13%

 

A couple of new-to-me DIPAs today. Just finishing the 2nd one :
Traded an Annie for this. Three 20-somethings were at the counter at the same time as I was. One guy was eye-balling my beer and seemed to want to say something, so I made the offer. I think he got the slightly better end of the deal, but we both got what we wanted : a new beer, without buying a full pack. (Btw, he looked remarkably like the banjo player in The Dead South .
)
This is similar to the last Enjoy By I had, but maybe a touch more fruity.


Speaking of Annie (which, surprisingly to me, I haven't reviewed.) , I need to do a side-by-side, as , compared to my memory I can't tell this apart from Annie. (guessing that, as Annie is $3 less/pk, & closer, so more regular, she wins.) Sean at StBM made a downstate run, for stuff that normally doesn't appear in theses parts, so couldn't resist.
Love this one. Hit the spot, after a hot day at work.


The reviews :

SFY :
4.57/5 rDev +4.6%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.5
Canned 4/26/17
Pours slightly hazy amber, with off-white head .
Aroma is grapefruit,tangerine,pineapple juice, and a slight touch of fresh-cut grass.My nose is in Humulus lupulus heaven. : )
Flavor is similar to aroma, with a soft kiss of bitterness on the finish. The 9.4% abv is all but invisible.
Feel is a soft cloud, with the occasional tingle of very fine carbonation bouncing around, with a feather-soft touch. (Again) - my mouth is dancing in hop-heaven.
Overall, a top-notch DIPA.
*********************************************
Space Kitty
4.25/5 rDev +2.4%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
Canned 5/10/17 (I think - there's a black streak through the month.)
Clear orangey-amber, with long-lasting off-white head & lacing.
Aroma is dank, pine, citrus, and a little sweet malt. (Much like Enjoy By)
Flavor similar to aroma, but with a bit more emphasis on the citrus, plus a touch of pineapple. A pleasant brushstroke of bitterness on the finish.

Feel is smooth/oily, with the slight tingle of fine carbonation, on the finish.

Overall, very good, and I'd recommend it. : )

 

Welcome! Glad to have you aboard and feel free to stop by any Sunday you have a chance.

 

The summer breeze kept me in the mood for another so here we go! I made a stop yesterday at Greenbush in Sawyer MI for their 6 year anniversary party because I've been going there since the early days. They had a new release for the occasion that I had to purchase because I'm the curious type. It's a 12oz. bottle of Cockroaches, Twinkies, & Greenbush IPA with a bottle date of 6/8/17 and an abv. of 8.5%. The brewery statement claims it's all that will be left after a nuclear attack. Let's pour this crazy named beer in my Greenbush tulip for the occasion.

It pours a slightly cloudy dark gold with a small finger of frothy white foam that slowly settles revealing thick sticky lacing. The smell is mild floral perfume, sweet malt and green melon. Taste is floral perfume, pine, mint and a little malt sweetness in the finish. The feel is resiny thick and slightly creamy.

A decent enough but rather underwhelming IPA especially one brewed as their anniversary beer. Greenbush does a lot of things right, but unfortunately hoppy beers aren't in their forte. My score is 3.29 and I had the privilege of adding another beer and being the first to review it. My gut told me to buy a couple of single bottles and it turned out to be a wise move.

I'm out for this week as this old dog is tired after another weekend of fun. Take care, drink well! I leave you with this......

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/25937/286146/?ba=Prager62#review