New Beer Sunday (Week 665)

This was not planned but great minds think alike! I'm enjoying a tasty sour from @Wasatch in a familiar glass. Really enjoying this one which is taking the sting away from the Redskins snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. I've been married for a long time and rooting for the Skins is one of the few things my wife makes me do. Onto the beer:

Chainsaw Princess of Karate, Big Choice Brewing, CO



This one was brewed with passion fruit and dragon fruit. A moderately hazy pinkish-orange color with a large, frothy white head. Great foam retention, leaving concentric rings in the glass. I was impressed by the aroma, apparent on the pour. Bright passion fruit, berries, and sour cherries. Not sure what dragon fruit is like, but probably this. Kettle soured but with no off-flavors. Moderately tart with prominent fruity notes as on the nose. A slight funk was also present. The passion fruit came around on the finish with a slight amount of residual sweetness. Medium-bodied with a clean finish. Cheers and thanks Wasatch!

 

It's funny - once I started getting into craft beer my wife joined me and immediately gravitated to hoppy old-school DIPAs and then imperial stouts and BA beers. Nothing subtle about her tastes! We always laugh when we are at a bar and the server mistakenly gives her the Pilsner and me the stout or IPA...

 

Anchor Our Special Holiday Ale ( 2017), solid as always 3.69 overall

Pours a scarlet tinged brown with 2 fingers if rocky tan head. Pretty good head retention & lacing

S: Medicinal notes, not a lot else maybe a little maltyness

T: Leafy hops, a touch of herbal & medicinal flavor with a little dryness up front. A little fig, leafy hops, a touch of mintyness, plus dryness as this warms, plus a little horehound. Finishes dry with medicinal notes, a liitle ainise & leafy hops

MF: Medium body & fairly firm carbonation

A timeless classic, pretty much worth always picking a sixer up

 

Bought one of these for review last night.

 

Had to go a sixer, but that's alright. They age gracefully

 

Good evening NBS, hope everyone is enjoying the end of the weekend once again. Thanks to @cjgiant for getting us started off this week. Had a pretty busy day today. Had to make my usual bottle returns and grocery run, then I drove all the way out to Mt Clemens for an IP trade with someone. Made a big new beer haul today as well, I don't even know where to start with them. Found so much stuff I've been wanting to try today. I am going to slow it back down to normal pace now on reviews. I hit 6000 on Friday night with Rodenbach Alexander, new top 5 beer. Will take a break over the holiday weekend as usual, but I will be home next week for 666 with more new reviews. Will definitely be making a nice Ohio haul this coming weekend.

New Beers:

Thanks to @The-Adjunct-Hippie for this one. I have had more New Glarus in the last month than ever. (2 different trades lol). Great head retention and lacing for the style. Crystal clarity. Very delicious stuff! Aromas and flavors of cracker, white bread dough, and lightly toasted biscuit malts; with some herbal, grassy, light peppery noble hops. Touch of yeast fruitiness in the aromas, nothing significant. Light-moderate herbal, grassy, spicy bitterness on the finish. Moderately crisp/clean finishing. Medium carbonation and light-medium body; nice bready/grainy malt mouthfeel with light hops stickiness. Lightly increasing bitter dryness, no no hop astringency. Perfectly clean lager flavors, no fruity/yeasty notes. Extremely refreshing, very flavorful for 4.25%. Never watery at all. Clean pils malt flavors with nice noble hop presence for the style. Really well done as expected from this brewery. Definitely has some German Pilsner style influence going on. 3.88


Delicious gose. Aromas and flavors of tart lemon, lime, peach, pear, red/green apple, coriander, citrus zest, sea salt, peppercorn, agave, wheat, cracker, hay, straw, herbal, grass, and light lacto funk. Light-moderate fruity/lactic tartness and yeast/coriander spiciness on the finish. Medium-high carbonation, light body, and moderately crisp/clean finishing. Balanced grainy wheat, lactic acid, and spice stickiness in the mouthfeel. Light-moderate increasing lactic/spicy/carbonated dryness, no pucker. Kind of unique, but on point with expectations for the style. A lot lighter bodied, and not as lactic as expected; but it makes it a real easy refreshing drinker. Very flavorful for 4.6%, never watery. Well rounded fruity Lacto complexity; balanced salt, agave, lime, spice, and wheat malts. Very well done. Would buy again. 3.93


Fruity pebbles IPA. Super murky. Solid head retention/lacing. Really great otherwise! Aromas and flavors of big tangerine, grapefruit, peach, pear, pineapple, apricot, passion fruit, papaya, mango, melon, guava, berry, lemon zest, orange peel, light pepper, and pine hops; with moderate caramel, lightly toasted biscuit malts; and herbal, floral, grassy hop earthiness. Light-moderate pine, citrus peel, grassy, spicy bitterness on the finish. Medium carbonation and body; balanced bready/grainy malts and sticky hops in the mouthfeel. Light resins/rinds, increasing dryness, no hop astringency. Super easy drinking. Great mix of juicy, vibrant, and dank hops; balanced malts, with no residual sweetness. Tastes like heavy Aussie/NZ hops and Mosaic all around. Super fruity as expected, but can't taste the cereal since it's all sugar. Does have the FD&C food coloring from the cereal listed on the can, weirdly enough. The color is a bit odd, so it is noticeable. 3.97


2017 vintage. Still haven't had regular Mexi Cake, so this will do. Wow, insane stuff! Aromas and flavors of huge milk/dark chocolate, cocoa, nutty coffee, caramel, brown sugar, toffee, vanilla, cream, cinnamon, chili pepper, fudge, marshmallow, and toasted dark/brown bread; with light notes of molasses, raisin, plum, fig, cherry, smoke, char, and herbal spice earthiness. Light roast/char bitterness and cinnamon/pepper spiciness on the finish. Light-medium carbonation and full boded. Very creamy, silky, velvety mouthfeel. Light chalky roast and spice stickiness. Lightly increasing bitter/roast and spicy dryness. No acrid/astringent flavors. Minimal warming 10.5%, slightly increasing pepper heat after the finish. This is on par with the best Mexican stouts out there. Insanely smooth and perfectly balanced spice/stout flavors. Super rich, but never cloying. Great pepper flavor with minimal heat. Completely amazing. 4.47


Cheers, have a good evening NBS!

 

I haven't posted in NBS in ages! However, this is is a good week to post as I have a unique new beer to talk about.

Firestone Walker Leo vs Ursus Release #3 Inferos a Rye Beer

L-pours a hazy brown with fluffy tan head, lacing
S- citrus burst, rye
T- caramel laced with rye, some sticky resin that turns into pine on the finish
F- has a nice smooth feel to it, pretty drinkable despite being a 8.2% ABV rye beer
Overall this is a unique beer and the malt bill makes this totally different than the other ones in this series, that being said I am looking forward to the next one

Cheers till next time BA!!

 

Soon.

 

Empyrean Rum Barrel Aged Peanut Butter Porter, 8.9% ABV, 23 IBU. Pours black with a slight tan head. Nose is peanut and rum. Taste follows, slightly sweet, strong peanut, almost no bitterness. Excellent mouthfeel, overall outstanding. They had me at rum, but could have cranked up the rum a bit for my taste.

 

I have the same issue - I've been sitting on a 12 oz bottle of that for a month or so because it scares me. Every time I look in the fridge for a beer, it looks back at me - and it taunts me.

I just know it does.

 

Yeah, I found the basil/lemon overwhelming. Had trouble finishing a pint. Interesting beer, but one-and-done for me.

 

Good evening and happy New Breakside Sunday, NBSers! Full disclosure, I've had this brew at the brewhouse here in beautiful Portland, Oregon, but it was just a couple of sips. I loved it so much that I bought extra so I could send a few to some BA's out there, and perhaps age a couple more for myself. But first...my brother in law and his wife are visiting us this week through Thanksgiving, which means of course that we needed to do a couple of things today. Started with another beautiful hike which, as luck would turn out, was opened fully after some nasty damages earlier this year.





And then we warmed up a bit at Deschutes Brewpub downtown before doing a little shopping. But now it's time for my new beer.

Breakside
Cultivating Mass- Imperial Porter aged 18 months in Heaven Hill bourbon barrels.





Cultivating Mass pours like a cave without a hint of light. Black as sin with a thin espresso head that crests the glass, with only a small island patch in the middle.

The glorious sweet bourbon, vanilla, and marshmallow notes consume the air all around. Searching deeper, overly toasted bread, molasses, and oak shed some life through the black fluid. Deeply roasted coffee beans bring some balance.

If Heaven Hill made a porter, this would be it. It dominates once again. A bit more so than I remember fresh from the tap. Bourbon, oak, burnt sugar, molasses, dates, and charred bread.

The feel is wonderful. Not too rich, not too light. Silky smooth, yet still fluid enough to flow easily. Very much on the sweet side of the spectrum, with just enough carbonation to tingle the taste buds. The alcohol is very warming, but not exactly overwhelming.

A potent and intense bourbon slightly distracts from the typical Baltic Porter characteristics. A delicious brew that I would say will definitely benefit with age. I'm glad I picked up some extras. Cheers!

After my official review , I gave this a rating of 4.23, with an rDev of+1.2%.

 

Saranacbig moose winter ale.cloudy orange/Amber color,above average carbonation but still an easy drinkable beer. Aroma is an odd mix of yeast,malt pine and citrus. It's like it's not sure if it's an ipa or something else. Still it seems to work and is a decent beer after a chilly fall day.

 

Good evening from a very windy central NH. I actually started this review at about 11:30 this morning but there has been a lot of water under the bridge since then.
To enter the question of the day on converting anyone to craft beer. I can only take credit for one friend that has become a regular craft drinker thanks to me and have even gotten him to come to a couple of festivals and releases with me.
I think for the first time in 6 years we are not traveling for Thanksgiving this year. For which I'm more than grateful. I hope to be able to hit a couple of releases over the weekend and other than feeding all the local family on Thursday it should be a relaxing weekend.
On to my new Blood Orange Millie from Wander Brewing thanks to @beertunes for providing this beer for my enjoyment.

This beer poured a slightly reddish golden color into my tulip glass. There was a thin lacey white head that disappeared quickly.
The nose was tart and clean with hints of orange and tropical fruit.
The taste was smooth nice orange coming through in the back. Really crisp and clean and not overly on the sour side.
The mouthfeel had great carbonation which last through the whole glass.
To me a well done sour style beer that would be really good on a hot summer evening sitting on the deck.

 

Very few misses from those guys

 

Based on your review, I may sit on mine a while...

 

Back with another new beer - this time a local one. Bearded Iris is dialing in their IPAs and I've been happy that they seem to have eliminated the occasional "hop burn" present in their super-fresh IPAs. They are now regularly releasing various DDH versions of their base beers (like Trillium, etc.). Homestyle is their flagship brew and is a Mosaic based beer. I love the Citra/Mosaic combo, so I couldn't pass this one up.


A moderately hazy amber-orange color with a modest white head. Nice retention and lacing in the glass. Huge aroma from just cracking open the can - tropical fruit, guava, some berries, and resin - not obviously Citra but definitely a brighter aroma than in the regular Homestyle. The Citra was more prevalent on the palate up front, but it gave way to the familiar Mosaic notes with berries and a dank quality. For me, the flavors played well together, especially as the beer warmed. There was a nice slight citrus presence on the finish. Gentle warming from the alcohol and a fairly soft feel. Overall a great variation on their signature series.

 

Cigar City Bourbon Barrel Aged Marshal Zhukov's Penultimate Push



4.82/5 rDev +10.3%
look: 4.5 | smell: 5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 5 | overall: 4.75

750ml bottle poured into an El Catador snifter. Bottling date of 04/10/17 etched on the neck of the bottle. Coffee, vanilla, bourbon on the nose. The aroma is just fantastic! Really nice smooth, thick, chewy mouthfeel with moderate carbonation. The taste like the aroma is dark roasted malts and bittersweet coffee up front, oak, vanilla, and a lingering sweetness in the finish. There is nothing to dislike in this brew, another fantastic brew from Cigar City. The barrel aging takes a really good beer in Penultimate Push and makes it outstanding.

 

Good to know, I really enjoyed the Oktoberfest, sounds I like should find other stuff them!