New Beer Sunday (Week 677)

Oh shoot, I didn't either.

 

Good Evening NBS
I've been looking forward to this all day at work. @TongoRad @Roguer

Before the review, I'll speak to @cjgiant opening comments about hauling beer. I make the 5 hour trip from SW Indiana to NE Indiana frequently to help out my parents and grandparents. I always take a cooler and take my stops at stores where I know I can find beer that never makes it to my corner of the state. I loaded up on Aecht Schlenkerla this trip and was especially excited to find fresh Helles, in a new format, with an actual date. Let's try it...

16oz canned 12/21/17 in Connecticut poured into a willibecher glass at fridge temp 4.3% ABV. The beer pours slightly hazy straw yellow with a quickly fading off white head. The aroma is light campfire smoke and a hint of ham. The taste is light malt before the smoke takes front stage. Mouthfeel is thin to medium bodied, adequately carbonated and mostly dry in the finish. I find no trace of hops or bitterness and the slight bite and smoke do the balancing of the malt. Overall, excellent. I don't know that this beer is truly a Helles, but it is delicious. The best choice from this brewery to see if you enjoy what they do.

Cheers all, not sure if I have another in me or not.

 

Final new beer for NBS.


Lazy Monk Brewing Imperial Pilsner.

Checking in at 8.1% ABV, this beer really kicks arse. I mean, holy cow! I am not a Pilsner fan, but I really like an Imperial Pilsner. The flavor really hits. Nice malt, and a nice pine flavor from the hops. There's a lot more going on with this beer, but I really am not good with describing it. I will describe it as delicious.

4.11/5 rDev 0%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25

This beer pours a nice clear golden color. The head is slightly off white, frothy, 2 finger, and retention is quite good. Some nice lacing on the glass.
The nose is very slight. There's a little bit of malt, and a slight sweetness.
Taste - Interesting. I get a good malt flavor. It's really hard to describe, because it's a lot more than malt. There's a crisp flavor. There's some hops that are there, but not too strong, but I get the pine of the hops.
Feel is full bodied, and crisp.
This is a damn good beer. I stated before about the head retention, well, the residual foam from the head clings to the glass like crazy. It really looks good. But the flavor is damn good. I'm not a big Pilsner fan, but Imperial Pilsner, yeah, I like it. I would love to try more from this style. I would also hope Lazy Monk releases this again, because if they do, and it's there when I'm there, I'd buy it again in a heartbeat.

This will be it for tonight. I will see you all next week for the next New Beer Sunday!!!

 

I am all for it, but it may be a quick day. I left off at 7% ABV & I have several at the R end of the bell curve at 12%. I'm leaving my options open to others' input. Rack City time!

 

Stuck with the same brewery for round two, this one was a silver medal winner at last year's GABF, Knee Deep seems to do the Mosaic/Simcoe combo pretty well.

Pours a crystal clear golden orange with two fingers of foamy white head.
Smell is tropical fruits, citrus, and pine.
Tastes follows, pineapple, grapefruit, citrus pith, mint, resinous pine balanced really well.
Medium bodied.
Overall a tasty Mosaic/Simcoe Imp IPA that I could see being a regular staple in my fridge.

 

Oh. I've asked woodchipper what he's using, but was apparently gone at that point, so never saw it. Google Photo? I can answer that : the default is Private, and only those who you extend (& accept) an invite, can see them.

 

Had this on tap a few years ago at WW, very different, but I liked it.

 

La Chouffe belgian ale, pours a cloudy gold yellow color. Above average carbonation as well as a fairly heavy feel. Aroma is yeast,candied fruit, spice, and a bit of fruit. Taste is identical, a bit dry, not overly sweet. Overall it's an excellent version of the style and one I would try again

 

Hey NBSers.
Today's offering is from Beer Tree Brew Co. , the brewery ~3/4mi up the road, that opened in October. I've shown a few of their beers here on NBS, but did no official reviews, figuring to give them a grace period to get used to the new EQ, and get their feet under them. I felt that they've progressed to the point that I feel comfortable reviewing their beers, so added the brewery to the database. To that end, this one is the 1st to be reviewed for real.

It was a good choice, IMHO. You may have seen Equilibrium's dhop2 in these parts recently. This is comparable in flavor. Maybe a half a bubble under, because of feel. (& afterall, quite a bit lower abv, to be expected, but on an absolute level, dhop2 is a little better) Overall , a damned fine offering, & glad I went with it.


Maybe a little better on the color :



4.24/5 rDev 0%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

Note : The "Crush" part is from the brewery website, but at the brewery it was listed as "Port Crane Pineapple". ???

Whatever it is called, on to the beer :
From a growler , it pours a very hazy, opaque, gold, with a slight orange tint. 3/8" creamy white white head.

Aroma is fresh tangerine juice, a little grapefruit, with intermittent hints of pineapple juice and dough(malt).

Flavor is grapefruit pith, (yellow)grapefruit, [ More to the bitter, rather than the sweet, side of the grapefruit spectrum], a little pineapple juice, finishing with an undefined mixed tropical fruit flavor and a touch of pine. There is a pleasant lingering light bitterness after the finish. [Ed] :As it warmed, I got a very slight boozy/floral aroma & flavor , as one would expect from the higher end of the DIPAs . It's not unpleasant, & makes me think I'm getting a DIPA for my APA$.

Feel is moderate, & smooth, with very fine carbonation tingle on the tip of the tongue, at the finish.

Overall, very well done. Reminiscent of some of the fine offerings of (slightly) older up-and-coming NY breweries , that have been getting much love on BA recently. I highly recommend it.

 

I remember seeing that. Quite awhile ago. Not sure how long. I don't remember if I ever tried it.

 

Damn!!! I hope it's "cleaning products" and not the beer. I don't know of any infection issues with that beer. Please let me know how it goes.

 

My next new one is a classic that I’m pretty sure I’ve never had, Fuller’s London Porter-



4.31/5 rDev +2.9%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25

Look- dark brown, almost black liquid; bubbly off white head that fades to a ring around the edge of the glass

Aroma- coffee grounds, dark chocolate, a little bit smoky

Taste- Intense chocolate and coffee right to start, followed by subtle smoke and bitterness

Feel- light bodied

Overall- outstanding porter, very flavorful

 

Wow. I never knew.

 

21st Amendment - Tales From The Kettle - Not Your Cup Of Tea

This Scotch ale was the winner of 21st Amendment’s employee recipe contest. It is brewed with black tea.

When the glass is full, it’s near black with truly pleasing ruby highlights.

At first, smoked malt really makes itself known. Surprised me because I honestly and idiotically forgot that Americans make their Scotch ales like this. One winds up getting acclimated to the smoke and it disappears as a truly distinctive element. Oddly, there’s also a sweet fruity quality that’s there initially but really vanishes before one is half way done with the glass.

The beer ends up turning into an unpleasantly bitter beer that tastes of raisins if raisins lost all sweetness. Is this the effect of the black tea? Could be. I wouldn’t know this had tea in it if I wasn’t informed... but this could be the unpleasant bitterness.

The beer started off layered but quickly became a chore.

 

You're laid back approach leaves me wanting. Dang, really let that lyrical beast loose!!

 

Going for another new beer tonight. I've got a bunch sitting in the fridge.

Sweetwater Brewing
The Woodlands Project
Sinner's Son
BBA Imperial Stout with coffee
12.4% abv



A strong pour brought no head, a small ring, with minimal lacing. The color is deep brown.

The smell is a very mellow coffee, some dark malts, and a little whiskey.

The taste is coffee forward with dark chocolate, sweet caramel, vanilla, and bourbon.

The mouthfeel is very smooth but the carbonation is so low it's almost flat, which detracts a bit from the feel.

Overall a nice, sweet beer with a good balance of flavors.

 

No Tidepods? Old Fogey!

 

My dad was a cop back in the day, and agents would hang out at the Delaware Liquor Stores and just watch for Pa plates. It was common guys would run for weddings and such because of the prices, they'd radio ahead and bust them after they crossed into Pa. I believe he mentioned they confiscated cars too.

 

Thanks for that! Young's Oatmeal Stout was another beautiful London ale. I still have people around here talking about the few places that had it on draft back in the 90s.The best draft beer I've ever had!!

 

Not seen anything that complex from those guys over here in a while. They may just be happy selliing middling PAs & IPAs up here in NWA...