New Beer Sunday (Week 645)

2 is my favorite. Cheers!

 

First half of a 32oz grumbler of Woodgrain Lime Kölsch, 4.9% ABV, 27 IBU. Pours thin and golden, with a one finger white head. Nose is malt and citrus, taste follows, with a slight bitter close. Excellent mouthfeel, not too dry, but very smooth. Overall excellent. Love me some Kölsch, and this is a new local.

 

Hi ho gang! Mrs. Z has started feeling somewhat better the last few days/week, and couple that with 2 months of cabin fever, she agreed (notwithstanding my prudent counseling otherwise) to watch our friends' cats/dog in Arlington VA while they visit England/Scotland the next 2 weeks, so she can get out and about and see something new...so we start this summer's adventure!

Full disclosure: I bought this 4 pack on Friday in Chucktown and split a can 3 ways with my friends in NC that evening. I took no notes, my non IPA pals really liked it, and I hope you accept my "new" beer thoughts this evening as I devote some time to review this otherwise "new to me" brew - Revelry Brewing Co.'s "Lefty Loosey", a "Left Coast" IPA (7%) that is "dry and bitter", from Charleston, SC:





For what it is worth, I like the art work...canned 6/13/17.

Pours a pale amber (9) with big loose off white foam;



Long cap retention; moderately heavy lacing; excellent clarity. 4.5



Lite citrus, earthy, lite skunky hop nose. 3.5.

Very lite lemon peel, a touch of pine; otherwise lite earthy/skunky hop flavor. 4.0

Medium lite mouthfeel, moderate carbonation. 3.75

Overall, this IPA was well balanced and good tasting with a very lite bitter citrus linger...but, it was not bright, it was not citrus forward, there was no complexity and the pine is an afterthought. 4.0

This IPA tastes like a typical (now I guess I have to say Southern, South Eastern USA) what used to be eastern IPA with dull earthy skunky hop taste with marginal bitterness holding itself out as a west coast style with little to no citrus flavor to back up the claim. Again, this was a well balanced, relatively harmless IPA that my friends who don't like IPAs found very enjoyable. My guess is that this IPA plays to the local market's flavor preferences; I'm down with that flavor profile...but west coast style? No.

The above was a lot to input on my iPhone, so probably no more "reviews" tonight; still hope to have another beer though - Cheers!

 

My problem is that every time I think I have one favorite I hear one of the others (e.g., 3 or 6) and I begin to wonder if I have a favorite at all. :-)

This is one reason I plan on doing the back-to-backs for each of the remaining four in the next four NBSes.

 

Agreed, the intensity and complexity of them is not something that easily lends itself to picking a favorite. Stands as "one" of the most amazing creative achievements of man.

 

Smells of black coffee and typical porter-ish roasted malt.
Taste is ...oh! ...huh? ..sour + back coffee + (sweet) brown bread (a la ginger bread, minus the ginger.) Finishes with a tip-o-the-tongue piercing bitterness/ prickle.

Unsure if I forgot to clean the glass (I know I did, but don't specifically remember it.) , I washed another glass, had a bite of mozzarella, and a couple sips of water. Next...... same thing. Huh? It comes across as a coffee/sweet bread Berliner weissebier. Uh ....no-go. No apparent dating (C'mon, brewers!), so could be old/off. I'd give it another chance. From the singles' rack at Wegmans (yesterday), so who knows? The Westbrook Gose that I got at the same time, is dated 6/13/17, so fresh ones are possible.

I wouldn't classify this as quite bad enough to be drain-pour caliber, but as I have too many others waiting, I'm not going to waste my time/palate/cal. Today it is.

 

Having some adjustments moving from Photo Fuckit, to Imgur, so here is the image of Scream.

 

Was happy to be involved with Derek (brewmaster at Kent Falls) when he was working on all his recipes as a fellow homebrewer and friend. This one in particular was a favorite of his and one he was quite proud of back in the day. He asked us for suggestions for names, glad he picked Waymaker, and its iterations, instead of the corny suggestions we had

 

Hello New Beer Sunday!!
Sadly, I'm back home this Sunday. I can't tell you how peaceful, and relaxing Northwest Angle is. As we were leaving Tuesday, I said "goodbye, second home". Yes, I felt at home, even more so than I do at my actual home. Oh, well, all good things must come to an end.

Now to the main event - the beer.

Colonial Ale from Spilled Grain Brewing in Annandale, MN. The brewery describes this ale as an "historical ale". Well, this was a problem for me when I entered it into the system - there is no "historical ale" in the system. I decided to list it as black ale. Honestly, it looks more like a brown, but it really isn't. I just don't know what to call this beer style, but I do know that I like it. It is moderate bodied, just the right amount of sweet, and balanced with a nice hop finish. I have a feeling I'll be making the trip to Annandale to get more of this while it's on tap - maybe even tomorrow, since they're open extra hours due to the 4th.

Review:
4.02/5 rDev 0%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4

Brewers Notes: This beer uses ingredients that our country's Founding Fathers would have used to make beer - corn, molasses, and English barley/hops/yeast.

This beer pours a dark brown color. The head is off white, around 1 finger. The head didn't last too long.
The nose is has a faint hint of sweetness to it, maybe from the molasses.
The taste is quite complex. I get a slight sweetness up front. There's a mellow flavor in the middle and on the backside I get the hops.
The feel of this beer is moderate. Not too thick, but not too watery either.
Overall, it's interesting to drink an ale that is made with "older" ingredients. It makes me wonder if this is something my namesake would have brewed back on his western Virginia farm back in the 1700's? I like this beer.

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Will this be the last new beer for tonight? As of right now, I don't know. I'm very tempted to have another. We'll see. If not, see you all next Sunday, and of course WBAYDN.

 

This show is the best anywhere. Thanks for all of the ideas, recommendations, pictures and stories. This particular recurring thread is the essence of kind discourse and is notable for that alone. But the erudition, humor, innocence, controversy, and general benevolence is a marvel. You guys are a great crowd in this brave new world of anonymity. I really know many of you and that fact speaks well for us all. Exploring ideas, having divergent conversations.....damn, it's like college, but straight out of the ether. Cheers all, I do love you.

 

It's been a few weeks since I've posted here for some reason. But I'm back with a nice sour from @oach.

It's been a long day of church activities and yard work. Now I'm ready to relax for a while. I'm working tomorrow, so it'll be a weird week coming up.

Upland Sour Ales
Revive Fruited Sour Ale
Oak barrel aged blend of pineapple and chamomile with the base blonde sour ale.



Poured from a bottle dated September 2016. The beer pours a clear amber/yellow color with a very quick, fizzy white head that left no ring and no lacing.

The smell is lacto, oak, sweet/ripe pineapple, and some apple.

The taste is not overly sour with tons of Granny Smith apple hitting immediately. After the apple flavor there is a nice, mild some fruit that carries through the finish.

The mouthfeel is effervescent with medium body.

Overall this is a really nice beer. The fruit flavors are great, it's not overly sour, and the oak barrel doesn't overpower the other flavors. Very enjoyable.

 

Eh, who knows? I enjoyed trying the beer, and, it wasn't completely terrible, but, I haven't bought in to the style yet, and this one exemplified what I don't like: Ugly, muddy flavors, no direction. Thanks for the beer though, it was truly appreciated.

 

I did not finish this and was generous with the rating.
Sue me!
A gift from a Stowe second home owner along with a 3 day old Big Bird from Trillium.
Thanks Larry the Lizard!



Canned 02/07/17
"For Realsies"
stamped under the date.

Moderate pour yields a 3/4 inch white head over a cloudy, murky body with some lacing. Since this can is almost 5 months old I didn't pour the bottom of the can until later as I knew there would be an ugly mess down there. (There was an ugly mess down there.) Wonderful nose of tropical fruit (peach, mango, orange, pineapple; you know, all the good stuff!) Flavors follow aromas to a "T." Feel is where this, and other juice bombs like it, fall short. After a little while the carbonation seems to be replaced by some sort of gritty feeling which doesn't agree with my taste buds. That being said, I think from this juice bomb forward, a "3" for feel is all any of these JB's get. For real!

4.16/5 rDev -6.5%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.75

 

Last new one for today.
Wow! This lives up to the name. So clear that I could see my fingerprints through it, at arm's length.
It's similar to their Hefe, but filtered. A bit more clove than I prefer, but I still like it.


4.26/5 rDev +5.7%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25

Pours VERY clear gold. (I can clearly see my finger prints through the glass, held at arms length. ) Bright white head, that leaves a thing ring of lacing.

Aroma is banana,clove, a touch of pear juice, and an element that seems to alternate between saltine cracker and sweet sausage. (Sounds strange, but it is pleasant.)

Flavor is a subtle mix of ripe banana,clove, black pepper, and biscuity malt, finishing with a more noticeable touch of clove.

Feel is smooth, slightly oily, and finishing with a little carbonation prickle on the tip, and back-sides of the tongue.

I only like clove in the smallest of doses, and this is a touch more than I prefer, but I still like this , overall.

 

There's never enough Kolsch in my life...

Travelin’ Light | Left Hand Brewing Company


Left Hand Brewing Company - Travelin' Light Kölsch by imbibehour, on Flickr

Poured from the can into a stange glass.

Very impressive right out of the can. Frothy build up of bright white cascading foam. A good reaching easy three controlled fingers right out of the glass. Rocking and frothy rich head, clumpy with shampoo consistency but lots of staying power and clumpy character. Can we talk about this more? Apparently all day as it sticks around. Add to that a solid brass gold and decent clear body with loads of pinhead rising carbonation. Good Kolsch looking greatness!

A very solid nose. Mild sensing herbality of hop, quite a bit small. Clean and fruity notes a bit, and a sense of some lighter malt presence, but stays away from papery or flour like smells. A decent malt backbone that makes a simple presence for the aroma mostly overall.

Palate makes some decent inroads if taking it a bit for granted. Almost session like feel and flavor, but with a light sense of faint white bread. A little bit of fruity flavor in estery quality, but also missing a bit of denser and more malt body and just a hair of hop presence. Finishes almost lager clean like strangely.

A decent passable Kolsch which bangs it out on looks, but lacks a bit on everything else. Things could be far worse believe me.

look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75 | Final Score: 3.86

 

Hello NBSers! It's been awhile since I had a chance to participate but my son went to bed and I am relaxing and enjoying unibroue a tout le monde

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/22/241288

 

Yea, OK. Tell me about that Ballantine church key. I know there's a good story there!

 

Thanks!
I may have to give that style a try. Especially since Diamond Brewery just had a Zwickel draft release.