New Beer Sunday (Week 680)

Great start @lordofthewiens ! My dreams aren't usually that complete, sexually explicit? Yes. With that level of intricate story telling, never!
Nevertheless this is my first entry in quite a while and it finds me imbibing the last beer from the last round of the NBS BIF#6 (Roadrunner vs. Coyote) from @oline73 .

Voodoo Brewery Poznan Piwo Polish Style Lager


Poured from a 16 oz. can into a Brew Hub Teku glass. Canned on 08/22/2017.

Appearance: Unfiltered dark golden almost apple cider body looking with no head to speak of.

Aroma: Grains and bready malts.

Taste/Mouthfeel: Crisp clean lager with a nice bitterness on the end, finishes dry. Refreshing on a hot day.

Overall: Not a bad lager, super easy to drink and not too heavy so you could easily drink a few of these; and at 6.3% abv that won't be a problem.

Cheers!

 

The beauty is, it doesn't look much different. Still mostly untouched on a housing stand point and remarkably breathtaking. One of the main reasons we moved here.

However, I'm sure you can imagine our disgust and disapointment at the man inspired fires that ruined some serious acreage and the opportunity to explore them this past year. No joke, people were in tears and ready to string up the kid, mostly because he showed zero remorse.

 

Picked this beer up at the brewery last weekend. Honestly, I had a 3 or 4 oz pour soon after buying the bottles however I was too drunk to pick apart the beer. Sat out last week due having a massive hangover from waiting in line and sharing beers. I have read a lot of negative Prairie press since the release and can understand some of the frustrations. Girlfriend and I got in line around 5 and still weren't anywhere near the first 200. Stood in line for roughly 6 hours for this beer however...

Prairie Pirate Paradise


4.97/5 rDev +7.1%
look: 4.5 | smell: 5 | taste: 5 | feel: 5 | overall: 5

A: Beer pours a very black body. Very little head or lacing, as common with Prairie stouts. Head color looked almost like a Cherry Coke. Very dark red colored head. Look was very typical for a Prairie stout.

S: Large amounts of rum at first pour. As the beer warmed some of the rum aromas gave way to some sweeter smells. Vanilla, chocolate, and coconut become more noticeable as the beer got closer to room temperature.

T: Very nice balance of rum flavors mixed with multiple layers of dessert like tastes. Similar to the nose, the beer is very heavy rum and molasses in the beginning before somewhat dissapearing to give way to sweeter flavors. Nice amount of vanilla and chocolate mixed with some coconut as the beer gets warmer.

M: Thick full mouthfeel. Many sweet dessert like beers become too cloying here but Prairie did this one right with the addition of rum. Very full flavored and warming. The ABV is obvious while drinking and afterwards but somewhat subdued due to the coconut and vanilla.

O: Remarkable beer. Only negative is the lack of head or lacing. One of the best beers I have had regardless of style. So many beers in this style go overboard with sweetness but not here. Nice balance of alcohol and sweetness.

 

Einstok Icelandic Winter Ale

Moving to the next Icelandic strong ale. This one comes in an odd bottle size. Like the "Wee Heavy," this one has smoked Icelandic barley. They've gotten rid of the Viking currency here and have added spruce tips instead - a popular choice.

Beer is pretty much opaque dark brown. My first impression is very positive. Nice oily feel. Don't come here looking for smoke and spruce - you won't be hit with that. Instead, this one is attempting to be much more cohesive and it succeeds. This beer just reinforces what I said about the brewery in my previous post.

This one feels bigger than the Wee Heavy even though the ABV is the same. It also feels like a middle ground between the Wee Heavy and Jacobite. While not nearly as smooth as the Traquair ale, this one brings the sweetness and fruitiness back to the party. A nice beer for a malty strong ale lover. Like Traquair, this one tastes of dates (plus fruit cake), but it also has a zippy, assertively herbal quality that separates it from the Scottish beer. I'm not going to point a finger strictly at the spruce tips/smoke because it has to do with the alcohol and carbonation texture as well. Well marketed as a "winter ale" because this would be a nice Christmas barley wine.

A very satisfying brew.

Thank you @TongoRad

 

New Big Craft Sunday beer #2



New England IPA

Boston Beer Company (Samuel Adams)
American IPA / 6.80% ABV

3.75/5 rDev -3.6% | Score: 3.89
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75

L-The beer pours an opaque orange gold with a large 3 fingers of fine white bubbles. The head lasts a substantial time before receding to a thin film. Huge clumps of lace dot the glass.
S- The nose has some mixed citrus of mild intensity. There is a light crackery malt presence underlying the light mango and orange notes.
T- On the palate the beer starts with the light mango and orange notes and quickly transitions to the crackery malt. Bitterness is mild and drying.
F- Mouthfeel is medium overall. The carbonation is fairly light. There is a softness typical to the style and the dryness in the finish makes the overall experience a good one.
O- The beer is a good example of the style barring the slightly muted nose. If Sam Adams can improve that aspect and sharpen up their flavor profile they'll have a big winner on their hands. They already have the look and mouthfeel dialed in nicely.

 

I have experienced the bad effects of age on those beers, but there's nothing out there like their Urbock anyway - it's rarely not worth it! (I've never been into the Eiche.) What Kolsch beer is your favorite? To be honest, the German Kolsch beers seem to hold up remarkably well all things considered. I'm only saying that because I buy them a lot and it's very rare that I'm unhappy with a purchase.

 

This one seems appropriate at the moment, as it's named for the PNW hops. The style seems to follow suit as well:

It's another very nice Bare Hands beer that comes to me thanks to @LloydDobler , Westy IPA.

And boy howdy, that aroma is fantastic right off the bat- so vibrant and perfumy. I'm getting as much tropical fruit (mango, pineapple) as I'm getting citrus (tangerine), a good amount of floral (carnations), all backed up with a smattering of hop funk (sweat/cat pee, which I actually really like). The palate is crisp and bitter, with just enough residual sugar to do the job- it comes across as drier than it probably really is. Most of the fruitiness is taking a back seat now, with citrus pith, pine, hop funk dominating. And that citrus pith bitterness lingers for quite a while after the swallow.

Damn, this is a nice IPA- aggressive yet incredibly drinkable. If the best aspects of the aroma carried over to the flavor it would go up a notch, but it's still something I could see myself drinking regularly if it were available to me. Very nice A- (4.25), and thanks again @LloydDobler !

 

Just so happens that this is also my first NBS entry for the week! Howdy all, and cheers to @Greywulfken for unknowingly-predicting my starting review. Got a four-pack of cans from the same batch, so let's see how our reviews compare! I have had some of Springdale's barrel-aged/sour stuff as well as a few of their hazy IPAs, but this is definitely out of the ordinary for them if their launch ouevre was any indication.



Pours with an intense head of light mocha-ish foam which sits atop a "vantablack"-esque dark beer which seems to absorb all nearby light. The head eventually sinks down to about two fingers in my glass, leaving behind a surprisingly nice web of lace. The surface itself is heavily obscured and only sees a little bit of the body peeking through around the edges. Overall, a very nice looking stout with a dense and impressive collar of foam.

The nose here is very roasty with some slightly milky notes. Espresso acidity feels fairly concentrated toward the front, but the semi-sweet chocolate yields a dusty and expressive note that tempers the roasted coffee elements. Some slight dark fruit ester notes coming across here; I assume this is unfiltered and that the house yeast comes through a bit, giving this some interesting character that something like, say, Founders Breakfast Stout doesn't have.

Smokier on the palate than I expected, with moderate roast, firm dark chocolate flavors and intense espresso elements. Nice creamy flavors toward the mid-palate and the transition to the finish. Lactose is moderately-utilized here, which I am down with. It doesn't taste like a milk or sweet stout, and this adjunct seems used only for balance to help smooth out the roast and slightly heady coffee elements.

Feel is heeaaaavy and thick like a milkshake. This is definitely a beer better suited to cellar or even room temperature. It's awesomely filling and works super well within the style they were going for. So glad I picked up a 4-pack!

 

Very glad you enjoyed it, and it was definitely a more subtle beer than you'd think from reading the description. That was its best quality, imo, and it really was nice to have on those cold nights. I just hope (1) that they make it again next year and (2) that they make more of it so that it's easier to find- a couple of stores told me it was extremely limited this year.

 

New beer #6.

Extrovert - Left Hand
IPA - 7.1% abv
“Best by 4/23/18”



L - 1.5 finger head atop a translucent orange body.

S - pine, spruce. Some other spices. Citrus.

T - Tastes like whar kissing a tree would taste like. Pine-forward. Tree bark, a little citrus, some booze, a lot of sweetness.

F - medium-light body with medium carb.

O - a middling ipa. But I’d rather drink this than a pizza beer.

 

Getting ready for the Big 10 game, Go BLue! Drinking Sam Adams NE IPA, I like the format, 4 pack 16 oz cans, paid $10, not bad, great aroma jumped right out nearly filled the room! Smells of pine, little sweet, lots of orange, mango nice and fruity, head generation was frothy, hazy very typical look, head did not stay long though. I like this beer and feel its a good representation of the style.

 

Melvin Lambda Lambda Lambda IIPA 13%.

 

English barleywines are my favorite, so when I saw this can on my travels down south, I had to reel it in - but was it worth it?



Bike Rack's English Style Barleywine.

Pours a murky burgundy-brown with a finger of pinkish-khaki head. Head retention is okay. Aroma is grapefruit, lemon zest, figs, pears, and toasted and nutted malts. Flavor profile is grapefruit, lemon zest, herbal, sour and tart pears, resin, and citrus hops, and toasted and nutted malts. It comes off sweet, but not in a malty way, more in a hoppy, citrusy way. Mouth feel is medium in thickness, with a slight velvety texture, but otherwise it's smooth and water-like. Overall, it's a bit off from a barleywine in the English style.

Score: 4 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 3.75 | 3.5 | BA Score: 3.56 | rDev: -0.8%

 

Central Waters Brewer's Reserve Rum Barrel Coconut Porter, 12.2% ABV, 29 IBU. Pours black with a slight tan head. Nose is rum and slight coconut. Taste is mostly sweet rum, no notable coconut, and a slight bitter close. Excellent mouthfeel, overall nearly outstanding. I had higher hopes for this since I enjoy most of their other BA beers, and I like Rum BA beers, but this didn't knock my socks off.

 

We don't get it here, but I order it from France 44 once in a blue moon. I love this IPA, it's a dank bitter bomb, it's really a perfect beer.

 

Good Sunday afternoon, New Beer Sippers and commentators. And thanks to @lordofthewiens for a most interesting intro. Doc, have you considered leasing your dreams? Sadly, mine are much more pedestrian! I thought I might miss today's festivities. While we never lost our power during the Nor'easter on Friday, we did lose Optimum cable and internet until around Noon today. Thankfully, we resumed communications in time to watch our alma mater win its semi-final conference tournament game. One more win and we're dancing!

Today, I'm reviewing Monstrosus, a 14.7% BBA Stout from Southern Tier. I generally like Southern Tier but some of its stouts are gimmicky (think Creme Brulee, Choklat Oranj, etc). This one isn't. It's a really solid BBA Stout with lots of dark fruit notes, which I really like. Here's my review:

4.35/5 rDev +0.9%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

Bottled July 2017. Poured from 22 oz. bottle into tulip glass. It pours jet black with a half finger of creamy, mocha-colored head and lacing. It's a very attractive pour. Lots of bourbon on the nose, along with roasted malt, chocolate, anise, char, tobacco, and a slight oakiness. The bourbon is evident in the first sip but it doesn't overwhelm the other flavors: dark chocolate, burnt coffee grounds, oak, tobacco, raisin, and fig. The dark fruit is outstanding! This stout has a creamy, fairly viscous mouth feel with light carbonation, and there's no escaping the 14.7% ABV, which is clearly evident from the first sip. It's best to share the bottle! Overall, I'm very impressed. Southern Tier sometimes brews gimmicky beers but this is a solid barrel-aged Imperial Stout.

I hope everyone's enjoying a great new beer today!

 

Greetings, fellow NBSers, and thanks to @lordofthewiens for getting this particular herd of cats underway.

Currently it's 41° and partly cloudy in my fair city. Last night Gonzaga did what they were supposed to do in WCC tournament play, beating Loyola Marymount. Some rumblings in the press about the 'Zags having talks with the Mountain West folks. These kind of rumblings have happened before, and Gonzaga has repeatedly chosen to stay a bigish fish in a relatively small pond. Would be interesting if that happened, though, as BYU would probably leave the WCC soon after.

During the week I over-imbibed a bit, had several new beers. The only one I can decently review was a variation of Iron Goat's Galaxy-hopped IIPA, Impaler, brewed with roasted Pasilla & Habanero peppers
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/29334/331381/?ba=woemad#review
Very subtle and drinkable stuff for something one might call a "pepper" beer. You never forget it's base beer.

Today I'm drinking a hazy IPA from Seattle:
Haven't posted a review yet, but I'm actually feeling slightly underwhelmed the more I think about it. It's extremely drinkable stuff, easy to session. However, some hazy IPAs are so accessible as to come off rather bland, and I'm finding this to be one of them. Frankly, Fremont makes a number of IPAs I think I'd opt for rather than this.

 

Good afternoon, all, and Happy New American Barleywine Sunday! Thanks to @lordofthewiens for the, um, interesting opening remarks. My dreams seem to linger on the periphery of my short-term memory for only a few minutes before fading away altogether. I dreamed one time that I had an idea for a great new million-dollar invention. When I woke up, I couldn't remember it long enough to write it down. I should keep a notebook and an astronaut pen on the bedside table, like Jerry Seinfeld did. Fax me some halibut (?) Oh, well, enough of that. On to the beer.

I picked up a single of 2018 Bigfoot yesterday for NBS. I'd been saving a '16 and a '17 for a vertical, and I had added an '18 to the stash a couple of weeks ago. After sampling this one, I'm thinking I might have to cellar the other '18 for a few months. The brewer claims 90 IBU on this, as aggressively hopped as it is. Now, I absolutely love intensely bitter beers when the bitterness is done right. This one, though, seems a little out of balance, with a resiny tongue-coating finish that I really don't care for. It's very good otherwise. It'll be interesting to see what effect a few months of cellaring has on it.

3.77/5 (rDev -8.9%)
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75



I had been looking for a trifle dish for work and finally ran across one at the thrift store. The clerk looked at it, pronounced it a tip jar, and sold it to me for two dollars. "You call that a tip jar? Now this is a tip jar!" Hand-cut crystal snifter, 64-ounce capacity. I am now a two-fisted drinker. Out of necessity.