New Beer Sunday (Week 663)

I wouldn't know, but there might be other sites for that? This beer will also do the trick. Guaranteed! !

 

Happy Sunday, new beer samplers and commentators. This has been a tale of two days already. We started the day at the Shore with bright sunny weather and it was nearly 70 degrees when we went for a walk on the beach before we left.




By the time we arrived home two hours later, it was 15 degrees cooler and drizzling. Perfect weather for a Russian Imperial Stout, and boy do I have a great one courtesy of @FFFjunkie's BIF Box.


Three Floyds' Crack the Skye. It features both burnt coffee and freshly brewed espresso, chocolate, dark fruit, and more. It's just superb. My full review follows. Thanks, Dan!

4.42/5 rDev +0.7%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5

Bottled 8/31/2017. Poured into Three Floyds teku glass. It pours a dark walnut - nearly black - with more than a finger of fluffy, cafe au lait colored head and elegant lacing that lasted through the pour. The nose features roasted malt, black coffee, dark chocolate, tobacco smoke, and nuts. The taste is out of this world! Burnt coffee grounds, brewed espresso, rich dark chocolate, and hints of caramel, black cherry, leather, and tobacco. The flavors are all bold and yet blend in a subtle, delicious way. This stout is rich and creamy with only moderate carbonation. It's hard to believe the ABV is 11% - it's so well hidden. This really is a superb stout, well crafted and delicious. I can't say enough good things about it.

I hope you're all enjoying your new beers today. The reviews are great!

 

My (first) New Beer on this Sunday comes from the great BA known as @smanson56. Cheers Sandy!

This is the perfect fall beer from Henniker.

From the back of the can “ when are you guys going to make a pumpkin beeeer....With pride in our chest and fire in our eyes we answer “Never. Pumpkin beers are gross””.
Love it. Great answer. I’ve only found one or two pumpkin beers that are tolerable.

This Maple Double Brown Ale tastes like faint roast and chocolate notes, toast. Can I describe that it tastes like autumn & crunchy leaves? Because it does. Great beer.

 

I had a growler of that in June?. Once I got used to it, after a few sips, really loved it. Wayyyyyy too easy drinking for 9.5%.
If I may add one thing for those who haven't tried it, the (dry) finish had the best aspects of a very crisp pils, and a very dry white wine.

 

Coming back with another seasonal vegetable beer - I did not plan on this but it's a cool theme for the day. This one is courtesy of @mattflippin from Burial, featuring NC sweet potatoes:

A fairly hazy, medium-brown color on the pour with a medium-sized light tan head. The sweet potatoes were prominent on the nose bit not overpowering. Roasted malt and coffee was also there. The taste was more in line with a typical porter: roasted malt, char, coffee, and with only faint earthy, vegetal notes. Medium-bodied. Overall a nice porter - the sweet potatoes did impact the aroma in a very nice way. Cheers!

 

Checking out this bourbon barrel stout entry from Clown Shoes...

Double Chocolate Sonata imperial stout with cacao nibs...

Dark black pour produced a slim film of dark foam that slipped away quickly... Aromas of chocolate front-and-center, with vapors of bourbon vanilla and wood diffusing throughout... The flavors had much of the same, some brown sugar water sweetness and bittersweetness of cocoa and tannins of woods... Body was disappointingly thin after a couple of big-bodied bourbon barrel beers earlier this week... Slim and smooth, a little sticky, with some drying on the finish... Decent, but not on par with the big boys in the style...

 

Now that I've posted today's review, I want to respond to your question. NBS is, by far, my favorite thread on BA. I look forward to it every week. I very rarely post more than one new review on a Sunday because I treat the chance with so much respect. I really appreciate the responses I receive and enjoy reading others' reviews of new beers. I learn a lot and often seek out the beers I've seen reviewed. Like many, I frequent the local breweries and try to hit as many new releases as I can but I only pick one (or very occasionally two) beers for NBS. I wouldn't want to expand NBS to other days. I enjoy the time, the place, and mostly the comraderie, which includes so many regular contributors. I feel like I know many of you. WBAYDN is fine for many first time beers for me but there's only one NBS. Thank you, @cjgiant and @lordofthewiens, and @utopiajane and @cavedave, and earlier moderators, for hosting this really great weekly forum!!

 

Eli's Inferno?

 

Great Divide Strawberry Rhubarb Sour Ale 3.64 overall A training-wheels kind of sour

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/158/139592/?ba=russpowell#review

 

I'm pretty much fed up with the NFL period, and have given up watching games altogether, so I'm not even paying attention to how dreadful the Giants are this year.

 

I'm in the same boat. As a military veteran, I am not feeling the love for this league as much as I used to. If anything, and steering this convo in a positive direction, I believe I have gained a better connection with my son as I haven't turned on a NFL game since September. To me, it has been quite awesome to play with him a little bit more on Sundays and not be so glued to the tv.

The family time is the needed time.

Cheers, man!

 

I'd be LOL if it weren't so sad.

 

Catchy! But the reality is that he is just the innocent bystander getting run over by a bus, repeatedly, every week.

 

So happy you got to share those big ones. They can be a bit daunting to solo. But seriously, the fact that you reached out to other BA's, particularly NBSer's, gives me great satisfaction. Funny thing is, I just got a message today from our very own @cavedave and he told me he got to share one of the NBS BIF Monkeys with Knives bottles I sent him.
Beer advocacy indeed.

 

Happy to be back this week after missing a couple weeks with visitors and other commitments. It's a rather dreary day outside, so the pictures below are going to be lackluster at best as photography is not my strong suit.

Spending a Saturday a few weeks ago at the most-recent @Sixpoint release, I spent most of it talking beer and other things with @jrnyc. As seems nearly inevitable these days at NYC beer events, conversation turned briefly towards Other Half and their Saturday release culture. John had stopped by earlier in the day, but I noted that I rarely found the desire to devote time to waiting in line to get beer there -- I had enough homebrew to drink/make, and there are plenty of other options that are more "easily" available. Without hesitation, he reached into his bag and gifted me one of the big ticket beers that weekend (which you can find out more about below). His instantaneous generosity surely is no surprise that know him well -- a true BA.

On to the beer:






Other Half
All Infinity Everything
BA Score: 4.72

My rating: 4.47

L -- 4
Pours a hazy, nearly turbid yellow, very similar looking to orange juice -- not my preference, but I imagine this looks exactly as they wanted it to. Large, frothy pure-white head that reduces to a lacing around the edges. Some lacing, but not extensive.

S -- 4.5
Tangerine, dank, mango, papaya. Intense fruit aroma.

T -- 4.5
Very similar to the aroma -- intensely fruity. Citrus is the main note, both in terms of orange/tangerine juice, but also notes of tropical fruit. There is a pine/dank note, especially towards the end of the sip and on the back of the tongue. For the amount of hops that must have been used here, I'm happy to report zero hop burn.

F -- 4.5
Medium body, smooth. Not quite as smooth as I expected based on the look, or as soft, but I think that works well here. It makes me like the beer more as it less resembles a fruit smoothy and adds a stronger dimension of "beer"-ness, including a nice little bite from the carbonation.

O -- 4.5
This is a damn fine beer. The appearance throws me off based on personal preference, but the rest of the beer is stellar. I think this ranks as my second-favorite OH beer behind their 3rd Anniversary beer. This reminds me of that beer, in a way, based on the flavor profile. I think this can qualify as a leading NEIPA-style beer.

 

First, thank you for your service!! Second, I agree 100% about the ability to spend time doing other things. I've been a huge Giants fan all my life. Both my parents rooted for the G-Men. I used to watch 2 or 3 games every Sunday. But as the weeks go by, I'm not even missing it anymore. I read more, we go for walks and drives, and we're always back in time for me to partake in NBS. I really think the NFL doesn't appreciate how dangerous a game it's playing.

 

Happy Sunday NBS players. Another wet, grey, and rather dreary fall day here on the island. Spent the day watching mindless football and following fantasy stats. I will probably end my day with just that as well.

Finding new beers for NBS isn't really my problem its more of battle with my awful will power when it comes to consuming beers. NBS really embodies what I love about craft beer. Trying new beers, styles, and breweries. Not drinking the same mundane brew over and over. But more importantly sharing that experience and learning what others feel and why.

My new beer today is Pretty Willie's Imperial Stout, a bba RIS, from Against the Grain brewing. I passed this a few times being a tad pricey but after seeing the Wolf Man talk it up this week I figured it was worth a try. The brew checks in at 13.0% abv and no apparent bottle date.

A thick black color on the pour with a fast and frothy tan head. The nose is big with waves of bourbon and malt. Very smooth chocolate malts hit upfront, on the initial sips, with a rather thick and rich flow that finishes slightly bitter. A full bodied mouth feel with good stickiness that lingers nicely on the palate. Strong barrel notes of charred oak, boozy bourbon, and rich brown sugar along with vanilla and molasses. Additional notes of chocolate, smoke, burnt toast and caramel. The abv is big and boozy and lets you know it on every sip which I am fully enjoying.

Overall, really excellent stuff and one of the better new bba stouts I've had in a while. 26.99 a bottle so but it might be hard to not buy more. I'm in the 4.5 range here players,

 

Second new beer picked up in Nashville beginning of October. I’m a sucker for anything rye but end up comparing rye IPAs to Red’s Rye from Founder’s. Let see how this one measures up.


That’s Another Way To Rye.

Unreadable/indecipherable date code. Poured into tulip a rusty red colored. When held to light there is an orangish tint. The nose is caramels, candied citrus and rye. Faded hops? Taste is caramel sweet, rye toast, sweet, bitter citrus finish. Slick, chewy mouthfeel.
Overall, it’s an average rye beer for me. It lacks any big rye or hop punch. 3.52

 

Thanks, yup, I'm just glad to be done and settled in a wonderful beer state, lol, not sure how I wound up here, but I'll take it, haha.

Yes, I used to watch practically every game on Sunday, but with everything that has been going on, like yourself, I guess I realized the more important things in life.

And I would 100% agree with you that the NFL doesn't appreciate how dangerous a game that they're playing.

I have to admit, it's quite comical to me to see how they fight on the sidelines, dare I say hypocritical. Alright, enough said by me.

 

Time for one more new beer today courtesy of @crow121. Thanks!





Hope all you Ba’s are enjoyed this fine NBS! Cheers!