New Beer Sunday (Week 679)

Good morning New BSers! Thanks to @cjgiant for today's opening salvo! Music. Ah yes. Sometimes I listen to music but not often when I drink because I get lost in the music, get maudlin, and forget to do whatever I started out to do. Thus, you'll rarely see me posting music on WBAYDN and never on this site.
Today's New Breakfast Beer is:






$ 14.61 (Including shipping)/750 mL ($ 0.575/oz) from Blackwell’s, San Francisco, CA.
Dated 08/17/17 in barely visible yellow above the label, stored at 42 degrees and served at 45 degrees (per bottle instructions) in a hand washed and dried Jester King snifter. After the cap is carefully removed, a column of foam tentatively emerges like Punxsutawney Phil watching for his shadow and slowly creeps down the side of the bottle.
Appearance – 3.5/4.
Body – Light yellow, hazy.
Head – None. After the foam after opening, a slow, gentle pour down the side of the glass seemed appropriate. While the beer fizzed continuously, it did not manage to produce any head, just a thin 0.5 mm to two mm ring fed periodically by effervescence. The second pour was more aggressive and into the center of the glass, producing a 1.5 cm dense white head which rapidly dwindles leaving an irregular 1.5 to six mm ring and a thin layer.
Lacing – None from the first pour. The second pour leaves irregular partial rings of tiny to small bubbles, connected by columns.
Pour – Initially nearly colorless, clear. Then becomes more yellow and cloudy as the pour continues.
Aroma – 3.5 – Very faint fruitiness and some hints of yeast. This does not last. After a few minutes, you really have to horn it to get any aroma at all.
Flavor – 3.5 – Not picking up any of the advertised spices. There is a light fruity presence with some tartness from the foeder but none of the oak flavor. The lactic acid leaves my oral cavity feeling squeaky clean. Basically, quite flavorless.
Palate – 3 - Light, watery, fizzy.
Impression and summation – 3.5/4 - No head, no lacing, yet carbonated enough to bring the sediment off the bottom and to foam out of the bottle. So much for pouring carefully. Seems over-carbonated, even for a witbier. Very thin and very little flavor beyond some faint fruitiness and some lactic acid. I do appreciate the information contained on the label. Will I buy another bottle? Probably, because this is so vapid that I won’t remember that I’ve already drank one and the price point is not particularly onerous.

I think more brewers should add more info to their labels:

 

Nice and rainy here on LI, as its been for a few days now, temp in the 40's I'd guess... Appropriately having some Hop Showers...

With the flood of NE-style IPAs on the market, many having a lot of similar qualities, and often coming from the same brewer, its easy for them to become fairly indistinct from one another... And while I am a big fan of the style, I've become more discriminating in terms of being really impressed by one over the others...

This one, canned 2/15, features the Amarillo and Citra hops common to the Hop Showers line, with double dry hopping here courtesy of Mosaic...

Perhaps it's the freshness, perhaps its the fact that it's my first beer of the day, in the morning when my palate is fresh, or perhaps there's something about the beer itself, but I found this brew particularly enjoyable... The bitterness is subdued, with the sweetness taking the fore, as is often the case with NEIPAs... Lots of tropical and orchard fruits in this smoothie - creamy stone fruit flavors from peach to plum to mango fill out the medium-weight and somewhat fleshy body... Peach impressions make a particularly strong assertion on the finish... Tangy citrusy notes percolate throughout the plush carbonation and provide a mild zestiness...

Good stuff; I liked it more than a few recent beers of this type from Other Half, but if it seems scored somewhat in the same range, its because they're all pretty damn good...

Here's to new beer in your glass, cheers...

 

Thanks @cjgiant for the great start to this weeks NBS. Will be back later on with a new brew.

Cheers!

 

Crooked Stave Von Pilsner Keller Pilsner

Today will be a canned Crooked Stave themed day for me here. First up is this Pilsner. Listed on this site as a Kellerbier although the brewer is calling it a Pilsner

It’s yellow and (as expected with the “keller” tag) cloudy. Label says it uses German hops but if I didn’t know that I’d say these were new school hops. Either they’re new German varieties, a mix, or the tropical fruitiness that I get is from somewhere else (like yeast choice... unwanted Brett?), or I’m simply doing a bad job figuring things out.

Regardless, there’s subtle tropical and lemony flavors up front. These flavors disappear and become replaced with a subtle bitterness with the finish. Body is creamy.

I’d like this one better if more malt character rounded things off... as it is, the flavors are a bit sharp. Despite that, the overall vibe here is one of carefull nuance. Nice and recommended if you’re already drawn to this sort of thing.

@TongoRad

 

Happy Sunday, NBS crew! I did a whirlwind trip through Brooklyn yesterday, and was lucky enough to meet up with some other BAs for the first time. @jrnyc , @frozyn , and some others that I didn’t get their BA handle. I ended up getting to hang with them for several hours at Sixpoint, which was an amazing experience. Great hospitality.

Previous to that I spent 2.5 hours in line at Other Half, and managed to acquire 5 beers, 4 of them new. Here is 1 of them...

Florets - Other Half
IPA - 6.6% abv
Canned 2/22/18 (3 days ago)
Score: 4.29 (rDev 0% - first review)



L - 2-finger fluffy offwhite head atop a dirty yellow, completely opaque body.

S - citrus, candy sweetness, earth/dirt, some vegetal notes (not broccoli though!), some tropical notes. Very complex and intriguing!

T - slightly sweet citrus at first. Mixed with bittersweet melon. Some dirt taste in the middle but it’s subdued. Not at all vegetal in the taste, thankfully. Very low perceived bitterness, with just a touch of booze on the finish.

F - Higher carb than I’m used to, but that could be due to extreme freshness. Medium body. Quite drying.

O - I never had the Broccoli beers, so can’t make a direct comparison, but this is a damn nice brew. Complex in its nose and taste, but highly balanced. Not a hop showcase like some of their other beers, but a damn easy drinker.

 

I don't go to WF much anymore because they have the most bizarre pricing structure and typically I'll pay more there than anywhere else e.g. Golden Monkey $12.99, other places $11.49. Sly Fox Helles $10.99, others $9.49 (and with seasonals it can be even worse). But I am interested in trying the TH so maybe I'll stop by one of these days.

 

For me living in the city, WF is the cheapest option. They have $9.99 Sierra Nevada 6-packs, which is far cheaper than anywhere else in Center City. But I’m sure there are much cheaper options in the burbs. I have no car so stuck with where the subway goes.

 

Good morning all! Today’s new to me beer is “Coffee Dino Smores” by Off Color Brewing, Chicago IL. An Imperial Coffee Marshmallow Stout bottled Jan. 9, (2018?):



Poured at 50 degrees, a lite watery brown with ruby hues; tan fizzy cola-like bubbles that popped immediately leaving no cap and an incomplete ring; no lace or legs. Oreo cookie nose. Cocoa nibs, chocolate cookie and coffee as liquid warms. Medium body yet thin feeling, with a cocoa powder graininess; lite carbonation. Overall not an attractive beer, and very thin for a 10.5% stout; the coffee was present, but I mostly tasted the coco; no hint of the alcohol or the vanilla; an ok coffee stout.

At $6.99 a 12oz bottle, I have lots of tastier coffee stout options at a fraction of the price; verdict = one and done.

3.25 3.75 4.0 3.5 3.75

Some yard work at my sister in law’s house, then hopefully another new beer. Have a great Sunday y’all!

 

That is really interesting, as I have tons of places around me and WF is one of the most expensive. Off the top of my head I do think that their SN regulars are still $9.99, though. But you should see the crazy pricing on SN seasonals and even some of Sam Adams'!

 

Indeed, agree on all counts.

To me Heady, Ephraim, and Abner started the whole NEIPA thing, and showed all the characteristics that have become synonymous with the style since their introduction. Are there softer NEIPA? Sure there are now. Are the aromas better nowadays in more modern NEIPA? They're different, for sure, since a lot of the hops common in NEIPA now hadn't been bred yet in 2004 when Heady came around. Better? I don't think so, Heady's aroma is out of this world. To me Heady has that bit of bitter I like in all my NEIPA and there are quite a few around that have it, just as there are plenty that have near zero bitterness.

 

New beer #2. @Sixpoint has a real winner here. Please distro this!

Pixel Dust - Sixpoint
APA - 4.5% abv
Canned 2/22/18 (3 days ago)
Rating: 4.42 (0% rDev - 1st review)



L - 1/2 finger dense cloud of a head atop an enticing orange juice body. Head sticks around forever. Look at this thing! Incredible look for a session.

S - oh, Citra! Tons of citrus. Smells like juice.

T - orange and grapefruit. Lovely biscuity malt in the middle. Noticeable bitterness. Low sweetness, and zero booze in the taste.

F - surprisingly full body for the abv. Medium carb.

O - this might be the best sub-5% beer I’ve ever tried. My God Sixpoint! I like Lo Res a lot, but this is on a whole other level. Wish I had ordered more than 1 6-pack. I would drink this all summer if it came in cases.

 

Crooked Stave can #2 - Colorado Wild Sage Brett Saison

Beer names can be like brightly colored skin on a poisonous frog - they can shout warnings to the buyer (don't drink me!). "Sage" saison is such a thing for me. If it's called "sage" in the craft beer market, it better freakin' taste like sage or people are unhappy with it. I don't want a saison that tastes like sage, but I bought this anyway. You see, animals also do what's called mimicry... so a frog can have brightly colored skin, and actually not be poisonous.

Is this beer a poisonous frog or a mimic? It's a poisonous frog.

It tastes like a sage drink the way that orange juice tastes like oranges.

I know that people probably think that my relationship to styles is bonkers. In some ways, I'm much looser than other people, and in others ways, I can be much tighter. To me, this isn't a saison... or even a brett beer. It's a "spiced beer." I know that saisons can be spiced, and that people view the category as being very loose. For me, if the beer tastes like a sage drink (or fill in the blank with another herb), it's a "spiced beer" and leave it at that.

 

Do you even know how much I love sage?! That sounds wonderful ! Cheers!

 

Firestone Walker 2017 Stickee Monkee

Happy Sunday, BAs. Congratulations to all the organizers of yesterday's throwback day. It was a thing of beauty. And congrats as well to all the NBS participants on the forthcoming anniversary. Anyone participating today been in since near the start?

Today I'm drinking a BBA quad gifted to me by the generous @SammyJaxxxx. He likes the Cowboys or the Jets or something, but off-season I can say he's still a pretty good guy.

Stickee Monkee pours a very dark ruddy brown with a half finger of tan head that's relatively quick to dissipate into a much longer-lasting wisp and soupy crown. Modest lacing.

Creamy aroma of fig, dark fruit, bourbon with light vanilla notes, molasses and wood. A touch of earthy hops. Hints of caramel, toffee and anise.

Super sweet tasting, but in a dark, non-cloying way. Brown sugar, molasses, strong vanilla, bourbon, coconut. Some fruit and leather in the finish, as well as some light earthy hops. The aftertaste doesn't linger quite long enough to my preference, but the various flavors and barrel addition are top notch.

Just a notch lighter than medium bodied with a creamy feel and nice carbonation.

Another amazing barrel-aged offering from these guys. Thanks, Greg, for the chance to try it.

 

Thanks I'll pick that up as soon as i see it. Have you had Sierra Nevada Hazy Little Thing IPA? If so how does it compare?

 

Greetings, fellow NBSers, and thanks to @cjgiant for getting us going and doing the NBS math,

As for his question, yes, I often listen to music while drinking a beer. I'm also often listening to music when I'm not. What kind? All sorts.

Yesterday, I was going to go to a big bottle share under the aegis of a local beer geek group on Facebook. I'd planned on contributing some beers I've received via a couple generous BAs. At the last minute, I chickened out, due to a nagging toothache and a general unease about the icy drive home with, perhaps, a lot of beer in my system. So, those beers I was to contribute are on deck for today.

I did have some new beers this week. I paid an overdue re-visit to Whistle Punk's Spokane taproom and had several tasty beers. I finally had a beer from St. Archer as well at a bar on the South Hill while buying canned IPAs for a box to go out tomorrow.

Yesterday I finally had my first beer from Belching Beaver, Deftones Phantom Bride:

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/30923/251067/?ba=woemad#review
Not bad. Past it's prime (canning date was smeared, but it happened sometime in 2017), but still quite drinkable. Just not dramatically exciting. I'll give it another shot if I come across a newer can.