New Beer Sunday (Week 654)

What's cracking NBS? Got a couple new brews lined up. One is special, the other not so much. I'm starting with the latter and while not mind blowing at all it still is a very enjoyable beverage.

Modern Times Ice - A pilsener clocking in at 4.8% ABV

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Pint can poured into a pint glass.

Look is of a typical Pilsener. Straw colored and very clear. Plenty of carbonation and a light bubbly head.

Smell is of some hoppy straw and wheat. Some banana and clove in there also.

Taste is light apple, malty wheat, lemon, and a skunky grainy cracker flavor. Pretty nice.

Feel is of a crisp and refreshing beer. Not much body to it.

Overall a nice take on a pilsener. I admittedly don't drink many pilseners so take my review with a grain of salt.

3.89/5 rDev 0%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4

I think this may be the first time I've had my ratings end up being the exact average. I guess I did well on my review for once ??

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Cheers all and I'll be back soon!

 

Here's the story behind that...

 

1. Cellar selection. Vintage 2015. This is off the charts good. Caramel, toffee, bourbon, vanilla, fig, brown sugar-but not too sweet. Head gorgeous and retention superb, lacing excellent.World class drinking right now and I cant help myself from drinking 11.6% quickly.I've had this before. And honestly just copied and pasted from WBAYDN. Ive held this for two years. Perfection right now. So damn good. Sorry for "cheating"!

 

Alrighty as promised coming back at ya with something I've been meaning to try for a very long time.

St. Bernadus Abt 12 clocking in at 10% ABV

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12 oz bottle poured into a Teku. Not sure of the bottle date.

Pours a dark and murky amber color. Finger head with good amount of carbonation. Some visible sediment at the bottom.

Smell is huge on the plum and dark fruit! Some nice spice in there also.

Taste is much of the same. A caramel and grape combined with plum and almost a licorice spice to it. A lovely malt flavor to it also. More dark fruits and even some apple is detectable. Lovely.

Feel is typical of a world class quad. Drinks like a meal and is a sipping beer. Thick and chewy with little carbonation.

Overall an incredible offering right here! Can't believe I've waited so long to try this. One of the best Quads I've had thus far and truly a world class beer.

4.74/5 rDev +7.2%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.75

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Cheers all!

 

One last entry as I park my tired stuffed behind on the couch for some college football. It was a nice evening to grill and now I'm in the mood for some dessert. Let's open this pint can of Fakie New England session style pale ale with pineapples from Windmill in Dyer IN that I purchased at the brewery release last Thursday. The abv. is 5.5% and the IBU's 30. I'm pouring this in my heavily used 12oz. trusty tulip glass.

It pours a semi hazy pale yellow producing a small finger of soapy white foam. It rapidly settles revealing a little lacing. The smell is fresh pineapple, floral and malt. Taste is pineapple forward along with some orange zest, floral notes and a slight peppery spice in the finish. The feel is very light and thin with a slightly bitter dry finish.

I'll be upfront in saying I'm not big on the session style, but decided to give this a whirl because Windmill has been brewing some outstanding beer. It's a pretty good change of pace lower abv. brew that has a nice pineapple and slightly floral taste. I'll grab a fresh four pack to pound whenever it's released. My score is 3.85 / rDev +4.1%.

You can stick a fork in me tonight after a skillet of mac and cheese to accompany a NY strip.


Enjoy your holiday tomorrow, let's do this again next week! Here's the official scorecard.....

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/41990/286117/?ba=Prager62#review

 

Good Evening NBS
It's late as I joined my new crew for a 6a-6p shift today and for the next three days. My curiosity was peaked for this beer when I saw the #2 placing in the 2016 Paste blind Oktoberfest. This particular can would have placed as well, but variations happen.



16oz canned July 2017 poured into a.5L krug at fridge temp 4.6% ABV. The beer pours bright and a lighter golden shade of copper. The head is khaki and short lived. No lacing. The aroma is bready and not sweet. The taste is full, bready and then a touch of caramel. Not overly sweet. Mouthfeel is thin bodied, well carbonated and finishes not dry enough. There is a bitter (not hops but seltzer like carbonation) finish along with a bit of oily/soapy aftertaste. Overall, good, but not what I expected having seen this place #2 overall in the 2016 Paste Magazine blind Oktoberfest tasting. It's a good value at $7/4pack at Aldi, but not a repeat purchase for me.

This is my 19th unique Oktoberfest review this season and I'm really surprised how many are flawed to my expectations. I chose to review as many (of one fresh style) as possible to really see if I am, in any way, consistent with my scoring and comments. I'm not, but it's a learning experience.

Enjoy the new beer in your mug and thanks for listening!

 

Ok, I'm Disgruntled! I was asked, for the second time today, if I was the original owner of my business, a business that started in 1948 - a full 25 years before I was born. I either really look good for 100, or really bad for 44.

Either way, I'm Disgruntled.


Disgruntled Brewing Toasted Blonde.

HOLY CRAP!!!!! First off: how the hell does Minneapolis get Disgruntled Brewing crawlers, when my central MN home (which Disgruntled would have to pass through to deliver to Minneapolis) not get it?

This is a crying shame in my book. I'm willing to travel the 2 hours to get there, by the time I got off work, and I go there, it would be well past the 10 pm legal cut off for crawler sales. At least if I've got a serious Disgruntled fix, I can take the hour drive, after work, to Minneapolis, for Disgruntled crawlers. I just wish I remembered more about the crowler I had last Sunday with my friend, besides it was amazing.

Anyone traveling to Minnesota needs to try to get Disgruntled.

 

Jigsaw from Bearded Iris crowler poured into glass , filled last weekend

Hazy golden yellow , pencil thin white foam head , some lacings , settles to white ring

Aroma of tropical fruits pineapple, mango , passion fruit

Taste of tropical and citrus

Fizzy micro carbonation

Good beer

 

And that's all the fun! Nice self-realization, and one I know I mirror, though I try...

 

Always look on the bright side of life (if I could post videos, assume I added the Life of Brian video here), that you look good for 100 (or that people don't realize how old the company is)

I'll help by linking your review in an attempt to not disgruntle you more

 

OOPS! I thought I copied it into my post. My bad. Thank you.

 

The hard-drinking Ray Milland plays @cavedave in "The Lost Weekend 2: Recovery in Time for NBS"

That's crazy Harvey crawled his sorry ass all the way your way. I think we see a little of it in @TongoRad's photo from the Bethel Woods Harvest Fest. (?) Either way, Harvey is welcome to piss off and never come back and take his sister Irma with him, too. Jerks!

I'm way behind but just opened a New Half-Growler Full of American IPA and ready to catch up:


Blackwater Draw's Gringo IPA

the beer menu — Gringo IPA listed here as a "White IPA"

It is very pale, arguably SRM 1 or 2, but other than that, there's not much "white" about it. There is much American IPA about it, and, man, that first pour is what it's all about with these hoppy stateside brews. Grapefruit bomb goes off in my kitchen, and all I want to do is smell it! There's also a lot of what I always call "green" in the hoppy beers, grass, cilantro and pine ... real green pine ... but the super fresh grapefruit leads the way. The flavor is identical with an added layer of sweet biscuit malt, very Lone Pint Yellow Rose-esque, cutting down the sharpness of the bitter bite. At 52 IBUs, you'd think it was in the mid-20s. Lots of malt. But the beer is either super fresh (which it should be based on BWD's lineup) or very well made or both, because that big load of malt is adding without muddling. It's not a caramely mess ... it's super tasty sweet hop juice.

The review:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/33495/301025/?ba=Premo88#review
4.32 (no rDev yet ... I just added the beer to the database and mine is review No. 1)

Blackwater Draw scores big points for the two half growlers I had them fill this weekend. Since they began canning, I've mistakenly thought of them as mediocre, but the lowest I've scored any of their stuff is 3.58 with everything else 3.8 or above. That's solid, and I plan on bringing more of these BWD half growlers to share with you boys and girls.


I got a lot of catching up to do in here ... looking forward to reading y'all's hard work!

Cheers!

 

Firestone Walker Parabola

If anyone is on the fence about joining the NBS BIF, this beauty came to me courtesy of a generous BA that participates and simply posed the question in the sign-up thread "Anyone not try Parabola yet?" The BIF closes for entry tonight. Just saying.

Anyhow.... This 2017 bottle pours a dark, rich brown that approaches black, with a fat finger of dark tan head that leaves modest lacing.

Big aroma of wood, dark chocolate, bourbon, vanilla, distant cherry and earthy hops.

Earthy, almost tobacco-like taste with bitter chocolate and hops, a hint of marshmallow underneath and a strong alcohol burn on the backend.

Thinner bodied than expected, but still with a full, mildly creamy feel that coats the mouth, and just enough carbonation.

I put this squarely in the "not effing around" category of BBA stouts. Dark and rich from start to finish. Absolutely delicious. Thanks, @SammyJaxxxx, for the opportunity.

 

What a day it has been! Started the day off standing in the room where the Declaration of Independence and Constitution were signed, that was a little overwhelming. Checked that one off the bucket list.
Spent the rest of the morning walking through Philly admiring the archtecture, pretty amazing to this old country boy. Don't see how city folks deal with the traffic though.
Anyway, finally got to hit Tired Hands, knocked that off my beer bucket list.
First up was Eviscerated Pathway of Beauty.

Pineapple orange juice appearance, thin white head that left some lacing. Man this beer smelled wonderful to me, tropical fruits, citrus. Taste followed pineapple, orange, grapefruit with a touch of dankness there too.
Feels slick, smooth with a medium carbonation. Overall a great hazy Citra DIPA if you're into those, I am.
Also had Daydreaming of Indiscriminate Human Extinction

Appearance nearly identical to the first, smell was a bit sweeter, the dank hop flavor was a bit more pronounced. Another tasty one!
Alien Church

This one was a bit lighter in color, nose was similar to the other two. Taste was juicy, pineapple, mango, a hint of blueberry. Smooth drinking as the others were.
Overall a great brewery and the cinnamon roll was amazing!

 

Good evening and happy New Brewery-to-me Sunday! Thanks for the wonderful opening, Doc, and for this Labor Day weekend, the Lingenbrau family decided to labor our asses off! Enjoying 'Chapter 2' after a week into getting settled in, we decided to go exploring the beautiful Forest Park. So after fighting for a parking spot to enter Lower Mcleary Trail only to find it was closed, we walked ourselves silly through the NW neighborhoods (which are insanely beautiful by the way) to detour to Wildwood Trail instead. Finally made it to the cottage and the creek, had a little lunch, then made our way home for our first hosted barbecue at the new homestead...after putting the god damn barbecue together of course!







Enjoyed a few beers with the family, and currently enjoying this:

Silver Moon Brewing
Chapter 2- Casual Ale







A: Pours a lovely and inviting golden color with a lively white head that dissipates and leaves low retention.

A: Instantly smells like a session IPA despite (or well suited) it's "Casual Ale" title. Honeydew melon, blueberry, citrus, pine, and some bready biscuit goodness.

T: Taste follows, blending each note seemlessly together. Light and grainy sweetness lead and follow through on this dance.

F: Exceptionally light feeling, crisp, medium carbonation and we'll balanced. A very fitting title to this easy drinking beer.

O: I wish I had brought this beer on the hike. A very easy beer to drink and well suited for any type of beer drinker. Clearly meant for all day consumption at 4.7% abv and 30 ibu, this beer is a winner for those marks. May very well see this one frequently during the warm summer months.

Cheers everyone, and I will see you all soon!

After my official review, I gave this beer a rating of 4.05, with an rDev of +0.7%.

 

My 3rd new beer of the day. Floral, tart, tangy. Mild finish makes it quaffable. I like this much more than the Founder's Mosaic I had earlier. I totally understand why the masses don't drink extra-hoppy and bitter beers but an ale like this tastes like it could be a hit with everybody from the beer nerds to my mother in law (who knows a thing or two about beer).

 

Good evenng, LNNBS. Still Sunday by the clock. Nothing much beyond a lazy day around the kingdom,se here is the beer:



Pours straw colored, very slightly hazy, lucious head that falls to a thin layers, laces pretty nicely. Smells very inviting. Cracker and bread, floral component is pretty strong, peppery spice, mild citrus. The taste more or less follows, with this stopping just short of being a pilsener. Nice, clean bready taste, a little bitter early on, then a very nice layer of floral hops that is very aromatic...almost perfume. Just a bit f rang, a nice level of peppery spice, bitter comes at the end but nicely tempered by the malts. It is to the lighter side of medium, cabonation appropriate, a bit of a citrus and spicy aftertaste lingers pleasantly. Not super-refreshing, but very solid and enjoyable to drink.

Very good brew here in the style of a Kolsch. This will come in around 4.0 - 4.2 I think when all is said and done. Recommended.

 

Thorn... Relay ipa...with Simcoe, Amarillo, Centennial, Citra. Really good.

 

Okay, I tried to see if I could create a new thing... (spoiler alert: I failed)



Tried adding a few salts to the basil [watermelon] beer that was so odd from The Farm Brewery at Broad Run. Though I say "fail" there were some interesting outcomes. Less than half the salts I added were drain pour bad. The more "regular" salt added a softness that distracted from the weirdness, but was "obvious" in its (read: my) attempt.

The smoked salts (first off - I've had these a while, the fact they still have a potent smokiness is surprising (to me) and were more interesting, thought the Carolina hickory was too overpowering (in the equal volumes I added them). I think the apple wood was nice, and actually made an interesting (though lightly smoked) beer.

It should be noted the GF disagrees with everything I have just said and thinks what I am have done is a crime against humanity.

Anyhow, hope you enjoy my transgression of true NBS for this late night post. Cheers, either way!

 

The sequence of your pictures looks like a storyboard for a commercial for that beer (especially with that can art).