New Beer Sunday (Week 652)

Good morning NBS and thanks @lordofthewiens for the start today, as a dog person all my life the reminder of how important a role all those pups have played in our lives put a tear of joy in my eyes.
Today's offering is from my friends at Cambridge Brewing Co, with help from their friends at Brasserie De La Senne, A Flanders red aged in barrels with Black Currant. This beer is delightful, tart and quite complex with some time spent. I could see this paired well with rich and runny cheese.
Cheers all

Vive Bruxelles

Cambridge Brewing Company
Flanders Red Ale / 6.80% ABV

4.09/5 rDev -1.2% | Avg: 4.14
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4

Poured from a recently purchased bottle into the De La Senne glass.
A - Dark copper, mahogany color, active carbonation crackled as it poured into the glass topping out with a towering froth. The cap quick to dissipate is followed by a thin but well supported ring.
Nice clarity allows for the full display of the interplay of carbonation unbound.
S - Dark cherry skins, oak, red wine, notes of shade tobacco, berry puree, as the offering warms more subtle elements like fig and lily sneak in.
T - Complex, strong cherry presence, black currant jam, sweet malts followed by leather and oak, mixed cultures keep the taste focused
M - Wow, walk off tartness strips the palate in quick action, recovered with a touch of sweet center followed by a delightfully dry and slightly tart finish. Light in body and well carbonated the offering is delightful on the palate
O - That's a fine how do you do! The Flanders style on full display, the tartness starts aggressive then settles in nicely. Rich flavors roll out slowly with a rise in temperature, Cherry, currant, toasted oak, burgundy wine, and dark grains.

 

Than you @lordofthewiens for a great start! I have a single of DKML in my fridge, but am hesitant to drink it. It could be months before I get around to it!

August is turning into a September like finish this year, which is okay in my book. September could very well by my favorite month for weather in WI. Low 70's, low humidity, no more mosquitoes, excellent for spending time outdoors.

This morning I bought a mixed six of Oktoberfest beers and a four pack of Untitled Art/3 Sons Oaxacan Stout.

It pours coffee black with a very nice, dense dark tan, 1.5 finger head. The cap fades slowly into a collar and beautiful webbed lacing clings to my glass. Very nice aroma of cocoa, cinnamon, roasted malt and dark chocolate. Flavor is a bit better with the cinnamon and pepper adding depth to all the cocoa and chocolate notes. It is not too bold nor spicy for me. A very smooth, sublime, medium mouth feel with soft carbonation. This was really well done and is the real deal. Similar to Abraxas or Huna. I wonder if any was set aside to age in bourbon barrels?

 

Cassian Sunset really opens up as it warms. I had the exact same reaction to it that you did last year when it was first released. Now I know the secret.

You should really have your sister pick you up some of the Oaxacan Stout that I am enjoying today.

 

For my first NBS entry today I beg a bit of indulgence from the group. I've had this beer 2 times before while in casual dining chains on family trips. Yuengling is not distrubuted in Vermont, so I took the opportunity to grab some. This is the first time enjoying this beer at home. I picked this beer up in western NY yesterday while getting my only child settled in at college for the first time. Many stairs were tread. Many tears were shed. It truly felt like a life transition. In short I feel old. It's hard to fathom how fast 18 yrs have gone by.



Yuengling Traditional Lager

Yuengling Brewery
American Amber / Red Lager / 4.50% ABV

3.47/5 rDev +3% | Avg: 3.37
look: 4 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

L- The beer pours a crystal clear amber with a fluffy 2 and a half finger white head. The head recedes to a thin ring leaving spotty lacing behind.
S- The nose is restrained, but made up primarily of malt sweetness.
T- Similar to the nose. Primarily a lightly sweet caramel presence. Hops restrain the sweetness to a point, but are ultimately overwhelmed. A bit of metallic undertone from the can detracts slightly.
F- Mouthfeel is light bordering on watery. Carbonation is moderate a prickly. A beer designed to be consumed in multiples.
O- A better beer on draft than from the can. As large mass produced lagers go this one is high up on my list with SA Boston Lager. A good choice where craft options are limited.

 

I agree that it opened up more as it warmed. I'm a slow drinker and reviewer taking my time compiling a post and sometimes alter my score upon completion. Not this one.... Thanks, I'll send her a text about Oaxacan!

 

Little bit about the beer and myself before the review. This is my first beer in mine and the girlfriend's new home. This beer will likely be drank again in a month or so when the weather cools and it is football time. Tailgating seems to be my preferred time to drink Oktoberfest beers.

3.95/5
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4

A: Redish-orange body. No head but a few bubbles from carbonation while drinking.

S: Malty and fall. Has a pumpkin all spice smell that is typical of these beers.

T: Similar to the smell. Lots of those fall flavors with a malty body.

F: Warming tingle that lasts after the beer is gone.

O- Solid Oktoberfest offering. Will likely have more before the season is over.

 

Happy NBS folks!

I would first and foremost like to thank @Dragginballs76 for the opportunity to enjoy this new to me beer . Thanks!

Secondly, I would like to apologize to @utopiajane . I am apologizing because I am not a lager fan, have a hard time reviewing to a style that I don't normally prefer and this will probably be the worst attempt at a lager review that anyone here has seen before. Probably an embarrassment to the community but I can live with that. After all, it's the effort that counts.....right?


The beer:





My review while drinking:

Look is a less transparent than expected golden straw. Pours with a half finger of bubbly white head. Maybe there is hope for this lager... 4.0

Aroma is maybe some grain, I'm not picking up any hops. As I struggle with this part I'm just going to say it smells very similar to other lagers. 3.0

Taste is grains, some very very light hops of some sort and a little touch of bitterness on the backend. Upon further tasting for some reason I'm picking up a hint of some sort of fruit peel like maybe orange or lemon. I'm sure that probably isn't correct so I'm going to move on to feel. 3.5

Feel is soft and smooth up front with a nice crisp finish. Carb appears to me to be somewhere between low and moderate. Actually it feels somewhat refreshing. 3.25

Overall I have no idea if this offering is proper for the style or not, but what I can tell you all is that this is the only lager yet that I would actually buy another of. Not my favorite beer by any means but god enough for me to revisit . 3.5

Upon edit my official score is 3.39 which I'm sure in unjust due to the other more proper reviews but i did give it a fair shake.

Cheers all!

 

Happy Preparation for Tomorrow's Solar Eclipse New Beer Sunday (Week 652)!

I almost hate to say it, but I am not a dog person. Never have been, nor do I have any pets, although a local has a litter of feral kittens, a couple of which are adorable. I most likely will not be pulling that trigger, however.

No, instead, this week, I am inspired by something that UtopiaJane said on another site, which inspired this week's bout of madness for me. Tomorrow is the first U.S. solar eclipse in nearly a century, in fact, WWI was still in full swing at the last one (chew on THAT for a seCANd), but the next will be in merely a decade. I have been present for two, both times aboard Navy ships out in the middle of the ocean. The first time, I was a helo crash & rescue team member, so I was on the flight deck in my reflective suit & welder's goggles, acting the idiot as usual. The seCANd time, I was a 50-cal machine gunner, so I just added welder's goggles to my gear that day since I was standing an 8-hour watch. I am debating watching it televised on CNN & The Weather Channel tomorrow or going to Spring House B.C. for their fete. In preparation, I have broken out & re-read Herge's "Tintin - Prisoners of the Sun" & queued up Black Flag's "Everything Went Black". I have to work 2nd shift today, so GLBC's Blackout Stout (2 vintages) will have to wait until tomorrow, but in the meantime, the blackness began to set in with:

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/284/149452/?ba=woodychandler#review
and CANtinued with:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/21505/238551/?ba=woodychandler#review

and then it was lights out with:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/26850/147432/?ba=woodychandler#review

Time for a Battle Nap & then off to the salt mines. I fully plan to pick up this theme upon my return & throughout the day tomorrow. Stay tuned!

 

Happy Sunday, NBS crew! I recently completed a trade that brought me several fresh Aslin cans, so the end of my summer break will now be a wee bit less painful. This is the one I was most excited about:


Aslin - Master of Oranges
DIPA - Canned 8/11/17 (9 days ago)

Look: 4.5 | Smell: 4.5 | Taste: 4.25
Feel: 4.5 | Overall: 4.5
Rating: 4.4 (rdev -0.7%)

Look: 2-finger white head is slow to recede. Body is a lovely deep orange, as advertised.

Smell: Oranges! Also grapefruit, lemon.

Taste: citrus, with a surprisingly bitter finish.

Feel: medium-full body.

Overall: another classic Aslin IPA. I had thought from the name that this would be orange overload, but it's actually a perfectly balanced brew. The orange notes are subtle, which is appreciated.

 

Greetings NBSers! I got a couple things I been wanting to, but my Sundays have been busy. Not today though. I'll be back later, but I wanted to send out a reminder about NBS BIF #6; we're nearing the end of the sign-up period, go here https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/nbs-bif-6-sign-up-thread.529897/ to check it out, and get on board. Boxes have already been sent! Ninjas and LIFs abound!

 

Six > 12% ABV Beers top to bottom (One-a-day vitamins)
Great when alcohol does not get in the way.

Mephistopheles' Stout | Avery
4.38/5 rDev +6.3%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25

Batch 12 - bottled 2016. Monster.

A: Pours a thick oily black body with a thick mocha head that rings and dots the glass with dark shards.

S: Rich, tarry aroma, with raisin, prune, and dark fruit, licorice, and everything dark you can name, chocolate, wine, port, charcoal.

T: Leather, espresso, tobacco, dark fruit, licorice, oil, cherries, and becomes bitter, hops, herbal, incense, and pepper in the finish.

F: Full bodied, syrup, good legs, with low carbonation, finishing in climax of warm bitter.

O: Give it time whether drinking old or young. Better probably if aged a bit. Complex.

Which would you rather a boozy zinfandel or this complex flavor bomb? Better than wine.

Old Stock Ale | North Coast
4.33/5 rDev +5.6%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5

I have not found a strong ale I really like yet, this might be it. This one made me keep upping my rating as it warmed, and I wanted cheddar cheese with it. A great cheese course/ final beer of the evening.
2nd time around - 1) got the cheddar cheese, 2) Home after 4 days traveling night cap, 3) Tulip glass, 4) Cellar temperature = Great results.

Appearance: Great color: jewel like dark amber; but otherwise uneventful. Rich head that fades too fast, returns with a swirl, very sticky lacing

Smell: Brandy is first note on a malt backbone, definitely one for a snifter!
Some molasses, cognac, vanilla, raisins, alcohol.

Taste: Brandy like as in the smell, and it's supposed to be consumed in a chalice at 60 degrees F. I agree. A "roller coaster" as one reviewer put it! It's a deep fast dive through complex flavors:
Malt, sweet raisins, caramel, molasses, pie crust, running into a spicy long finish. Warming.

Mouthfeel: Medium to syrupy, not cloying because of the fiery finish, which burns off the sweetness as it ends. A good kissy mouth feel.

Drinkability: Pretty much a MUST TRY, MUST CELLAR. One of a kind. Up there with other ancients like Belgians or Duchess of Burgundy, but really, I think this is as enjoyable. Try this instead of a brandy or whiskey.

Regular Coffee | Carton
4.3/5 rDev +3.6%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25

Place: Carton Brewing, a great, busy hang in Jan, best beer pub atmosphere and crowd in Monmouth County.

A: Hazy pale amber, mostly clear, with cream ale look. Surprisingly light. Faint head but leaves sticky lacing.

S: Regular coffee nose (lotsa milk and 2 sugars). As reliable a nose as regular gasoline.
Liquor-ish. But with a sting, like a B&B.

T: I love beer in coffee and coffee with beer. The yin-yang. While it's like a regular coffee with cream and sugar, it's also beer with hops, malt, grass. Alcohol well hidden.

M: Great body. Smooth, creamy, felt like coffee, minimal carbonation.

O: Another great, original beer experience. A must try. Can become a classic.

John Barleycorn - Bourbon Barrel | Mad River
4.18/5 rDev +1.7%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25

Maybe toward the end of the 10 one-oz flight, at the strongs and the olds and the barley wines - tasted at Mad River - the beers edged better. But John Barleycorn aged in a single bourbon barrel was 1 of my 3 favorites of the 10.

A Hazy copper, clearer than most. The head retains and laces well.

S Ample bourbon on the nose, along with brown sugar sweetness. Mild alcohol, well hidden, and rich. Caramel and vanilla in an almost after dinner liquor experience.

F Rich on palate, bourbon and brown sugar come through strongly. But again, great feel, great finish. Full, almost syrupy body. Finishes with tannic oak, brown sugar and booze. Must try.

Bourbon County Stout | Goose Island
4.15/5 rDev -7.8%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4.25

After spending time with BCBS, letting it arrive at room temperature, when it became very different, more of a dessert wine, I had to say, it's well-crafted, but not my idea of beer. It's more of a thick dessert wine, of which I am not a fan.

At the NYC store where I bought a single, I asked "$8?" And counter man said, "yeah, but it's 3 beers worth, it's all you'll need."

It certainly packs 3 beers worth of concentrated flavors as well as ABV, but the syrupy nature is … too much for me. It's like drinking the syrup that makes the beverage.

Appearance: Pours an opaque, thick espresso brown color with a so-so mocha latte head that fades fast, but sticks w lots of lace.

Smell: Bourbon in front and center, and it masks a bit the other delightful background notes, which are evocative of a European church: oak, dark chocolate, charred wood, incense, caramel, vanilla, late winter earth, and a hint of dried flowers.

(I cannot get as much out of the nose as others seem to do, due to too much bourbon alcohol.)

Taste: The bourbon powers from the start, then blends with duality of charred wood, varnished pews, incense, and the dark chocolate and vanilla syrups straight from the taps. I don't get as much fruit as others do. Interesting, meditation beer, but drinks -frankly like an over done dessert zinfandel. And although balanced, is a bit too sweet. I feel like it would be GREAT blended in a milkshake.

Mouthfeel: Full bodied and syrupy, with low carbonation. Must let it warm, but becomes more and more of an after-dinner dessert wine… flat, syrupy, thick. … And I am NOT a fan of dessert wines.

Had a hard time finishing so drank it along side my Dales Pale Ale for a while, and enjoyed it more with the contrast, and then, finally made a black and tan of them which was delicious and more balanced and interesting to me.

120 Minute IPA | Dogfish Head
3.8/5 rDev -4%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75

Absurd, but intriguing, should be on everyone's bucket list, if even a spit bucket.
a) Mine was bottled 90 days ago, so entirely too young, and barely a head over a cloudy, dark, petrified amber body, fully expect to see fossilized (crystalized) hops and grasshoppers frozen within. No bubbles show, the beer could be solid.
s) Fecund, fertile, ancient, dank. Hoppy, with set, spent floral character, and a candy store worth of malty sweetness. Hop bitter on the tail.
t) Extremely hoppy, with strong bitter, tongue biting finish. Malty sweetness masks the hop parade (avalanche?) Alcohol masks the subtle flavors. This is a bear to age/hibernate at least a year before consuming. Ample sugars again mask the floral hop nuance. A sipper. A flawed monster.
f) Smooth and wet, oily. Let it age for better feel.
o) Headachy? Next to a 6.5% IPA it's no contest in favor of the IPA.

 

New Stolen Macro-Brew Sunday here in sunny Bryan, Texas:

You've seen it, possibly/probably had it, might have a hot sports opinion or two about it. I swiped this bottle from my friend's fridge earlier this week in Houston because I CAN and because I knew my fridge here in the Brazos Valley, though quite full, had nothing new in it.

The review:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/29/39908/?ba=Premo88#review
3.36 (rDev +11.3%)

"Not terrible" might be the best compliment I can give it. It's suspiciously sweet, both nose and aroma, and it has this weird cheesecake flavor note that's not "off" but definitely different, so I'm tempted to guess this brew is doctored away from its witbier origins into something for the masses. But if it is, so what? The witbier is a bit of a lab experiment to begin with, and it's Belgian, so a little added whatever is called for.

Dogs, dogs, dogs ... I don't officially own one, but my BFF and I decided I do sort of own about 20-30% of this little guy, Huevos, pictured here in my very loaded-down car Wednesday morning in Houston:

He's 7 years old now, about 10 pounds, listens some of the time and helps me handle the start of my busy season at work this time each year with more tom-foolery than you care to know.


OK, enough of that. "Shameless" pics, as @Prager62 put it, is right.

Speaking of, that Bailey and Miss Payton ... wow. What a crew!!!

Hope your Sundays are going well and finish better!

Cheers!

 

Great thread as always I've rarely had a new beer to share, and I expect this one will be a popular choice for many as it looks like distribution is really hitting.

Let me say that I heartily approve of this beer, my palate isn't sophisticated and I'm not much of a wordsmith. But I love these collab versions from SN and they certainly don't suffer from age, which imo helps this style a bit.

Ok , so I've broken out my 70s vintage Pils glass, aggressive pour as always. Yep it looks like a Fest beer, nose nothing noteworthy. First sip at the beginning is a nice malt hit , I don't read it as super creamy but I'd say it's what I expect. At the first hit on the back on the tongue the hops explode and blend with the malt. Neither too sweet, nor too bitter, nicely balanced. Long finish too I can taste the slight bitterness of the hops 30 seconds after it's gone, but it lasts long enough that I might say that its a bit rough around the edges .Maybe a few weeks might mellow that? The taste is the thing here though, it's very well done , pleasant and poundable.

 

At river horse brewery having their farmers daughter ale. Odd to describe because there isn't anything particular that stands out. It has a weird fruit punch taste but not strong enough to be pleasing. Supposed to be a strawberry rhubarb blonde ale but needs a flavor boost

 

Up next:



A-The beer poured a nice amber color with a good amount of head and lacing.
S-Fruity winy aroma.
T-Malt and rich.
F-Rich and full bodied.
O-A good tasting solid beer.