New Beer Sunday (Week 686)

Happy NBS. Trying this 3 Tavern's Morning Smack a generous beer geek pal brought me today. Pretty sure it smells like Granny's making breakfast in heaven. Cheers all!

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/32375/332539/?ba=cindyjeffsmith#review

 

Good evening NBS, hope everyone is enjoying the end of the weekend once again. Thanks to @lordofthewiens for getting us started off this week. Pretty crappy weekend for weather. A lot of rain, then freezing rain this morning. Had to chip a thick sheet off my car this morning. Got all of my normal errands finished up for the day as usual. Got another new beer haul from my favorite stores this afternoon. Lots of stuff I was seeking out, plus other bonus goodies just for fun. Need to revisit some stuff.

New Beers:

Daily lager review. This was pretty nice. Great head retention/lacing on the glass. Aromas and flavors of lime, citrus zest, green tea, cracker, white bread dough, lightly toasted biscuit, and light herbal/grassy hop earthiness. Mild herbal/grassy/zesty bitterness and citrus tartness on the finish. Medium carbonation/body; bready/grainy malts and light sticky hops/zest in the mouthfeel. Lightly increasing lingering bitter dryness. Very flavorful for 5.2%. Easy drinking. Fairly clean lagering, not too fruity/yeasty. Not as smooth/refreshing as I hoped for, but well balanced between all flavors. 3.63


Fantastic witbier! Amazing head retention/thick soapy lacing on the glass. Aromas and flavors of big lemon, orange zest, pear, red apple, melon, coriander, peppercorn, clove, and light banana/bubblegum yeast; with balanced wheat, biscuit dough, light honeyed malts; herbal/floral/grassy spice and yeasty earthiness. Mild herbal/grassy bitterness, yeast spiciness, and wheat tang/tartness on the finish. Medium carbonation and medium-plus body; very creamy/silky/bready wheat mouthfeel. Light sticky spice/hops and increasing dryness. Super refreshing, 5.5%. Wowowow, one of the best wits I've had for sure. Very rich and flavorful for the ABV. Perfectly balanced yeast, spices, and pale/wheat malts. Very well rounded complexities. Going to buy a 6 pack. This is an instant go-to for the style! Can't wait to try more of the cans I bought today. Seems like they nail classic styles super well. 4.18


Guess I should try some more @MacMalt BIF beverages. This was excellent! Great head retention/lacing for the ABV. Aromas and flavors of big nutty medium roast coffee, honey, vanilla, cream, cracker, corn, white bread dough, and biscuit; with light notes of lemon, orange, dark fruit, milk chocolate, cocoa, and herbal/grassy/peppery hops. Light herbal/grassy/spicy hop and roasted coffee bitterness on the finish. Medium carbonation and medium-full body; very creamy/silky/bready malt mouthfeel; light slickness, sticky hops, and chalky roast. Lightly increasing lingering bitter dryness, no cloying sweetness. Lightly increasing warmth of 12%, mild booze. Smooth sipper. Really unique, never had anything quite like it; though I have had plenty of coffee blondes. This just turns it up to 11. Great balanced complexity of fruity/nutty coffee, lactose, vanilla, and pale malt/grains. Not overly sweet for the ABV. 4


Cheers, be back a bit later NBS.

 

Diving into a massive stout to close out my weekend and NBS posts. Cheers, all.



Lervig + Evil Twin's Big Ass Money Stout.

Pours black with a finger of khaki foam. Head retention is poor with no lacing left behind. Aroma is roasted and toasted malts, booze, caramel, toffee, and molasses. Alcohol content is huge, and pokes a hole in the aroma balloon here. Flavor profile is roasted, toasted, nutted, and biscuit malts with toffee, caramel, and molasses. While it hides most of the alcohol content, the 17%+ ABV still pokes through disrupting the flavor profile. Mouth feel is thick, with a hearty, velvety texture that matches the hearty ABV. Overall, the surreal ABV percentage is apparent in both the aroma and flavor profile, but not grossly so. Otherwise, it's a solid stout.

Score: 4 | 4 | 4 | 4.25 | 4.25 | BA Score: 4.08 | rDev: +1.7%

 

New Beer #1,669.14159265359.... Sunday

This enjoyable offering is another from the massive cross country shipment that @kemoarps sent me as part of NBS BIF #007. This one picked up a GABF medal in the sour category.



4.25/5 rDev -1.8%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

A 2018 corked and capped 375ml bottle

Even with a gentle pour, it produced a pretty thick white foam. Good retention with aayer that remains on top of an opaque, reddish tinted dark gold beer.

I wished I wouldn’t have read the label after I saw strawberries because I wanted a non influenced experience since I rarely notice it in most noted beers. This is not one of those. You can smell deep red berries like you were sticking your face in a fresh quart. They really come through in the taste too. More sour than sweet. I also smell the a vineous wine aroma with a bit of dark fruit, farmhouse yeast with some hay, and musty oak.

There is a very strong tartness. Like a green apple with lemon rind, but a strawberry wine flavor dominates. A little bit flowery at times. The only thing I don’t care for is a lingering green flavor that is hard to describe, but it is like a vegetable. Asparagus maybe?

The acidity level is lower and it is not super crisp/sharp with a lower carbonation. It has a dry finish though. It is very easy to drink.

An excellent beer. Refreshing, with just enough sourness to give all the fruitiness something to bounce off of.

 

With this cold windy spring day in CT, what better beer than a porter called Thinking Hard About The Weather Cocoa Porter.

4.39/5 rDev +7.1%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

Poured from a bottle dated 2/22/18 to a diagonal tumbler.
Dark enough to be opaque, medium light brown head.
Smells like a milk chocolate bar.
Taste is definitely cocoa powder up front, finishes a little sweeter than I would like, but acceptable. Mild alcohol after swallow.
Mouthfeel is a little light for a porter, but it seems to be appropriate for the overwhelming cocoa powder flavor.
Overall pretty good, but definitely something you have to be in the mood for.

 

So you got the barnyard as well, it seems. I think that part is a liberty that Kent Falls has taken, but they still pulled it off with style. Glad you enjoyed it!

 

My dad and mom divorced way back in 1981. My dad dated several women (some for a long time) afterwards but his final relationship was with a woman who left him because he simply wasn't willing to get married. 'I'm kind of a lone wolf' he used to say. He valued his privacy and ability to do his own thing and indeed "died alone" in 2011. If he had it to do over again I'm fairly certain he would have done the same thing.

I have a little bit of my father in me, and spent non-trivial amounts of time single before getting married at 40. Honestly the worst part of being single is having other people treat it as some sort of problem that needs to be solved.

Here's to everyone living the life that they want to lead. Cheers!

 

If there was a “Beer Hall Of Fame,” that beer would be a first-ballot entrant, IMHO. Just a phenomenal example of the style.

 

I have been married to my wonderful wife for 10 years, and I know with 100% certainty we will be married until death do us part.

I was given this beer for Christmas from my father. My cousin is a manager at Lazarus. I'd to get to Austin again to check out the brewery.





I added this to the database.
@GOBLIN @jzeilinger

Reviewing bottle #934.

Pours a golden color with almost no head and no lacing.

The smell is tons of white wine. If I didn't know better, based on smell and look this could be wine.

The taste is grapes, sweet malt, and white wine. A very nice, sweet lingering finish.

The mouthfeel has low carbonation with a slightly thick, lingering body.

Overall a very nice beer. This would be great to sip for dessert. I'm very glad I got to try it.

 

Wow, I love that tasting diagram! How fun and informative would it be if that sort of thing could be incorporated into an online database like here or elsewhere?

 

Hudson Valley Brewery passionfruit silhouette. Hard to imagine a more perfect and delicious take on the fruited sour/IPA/lactose thing. I'm no fanboy but this thing is just crazy good.

 

So I joined a beer club cause I drank my area out years ago and have to travel a long way even to have a chance to drink different beers. Hop Heads beer club. My first shipment was great! Here’s one of them Leviathan DIPA. Big, hoppy,boozy like an DIPA should be, should punch you in the mouth. Great deal in my world. I get 12 beers, 3 kinds, 4 of each of beer I’d just never get the chance to try delivered for just under $50 a month. Also got Take 5 session IPA and Iowa Pale Ale.... All were solid, can’t wait for my next shipment! Distribution of beer is just stupid and archaic, if you brew it legally you should be able to sell it where ever the hell you want and not have to go through an outdated absurd distribution network.Montana has amazing beers but I can only get some of them because of this insanity.......The distributors recently deemed us worthy to be able to get Lewis and Clark beers......It needs to change....




I

 

A-Pours a dark amber color with a decent head and lacing
A-Aroma has some fruity and malty hints
T-The taste follows the nose with fruity and malty flavors
M-A medium bodied beer with a strong malt presence
O-A decently made beer

 

Happy New American Impy Stout Sunday!

Went on a little hike, sunny, some clouds, around 64. Not a new brew, but the store did not have anything in the format I wanted. My last bottle of this one, holding up very well. Always a joy to drink an Abyss. Watching some NHL playoffs.

The Abyss (Brandy Barrel-Aged) | Deschutes Brewery

look: 4.75 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.75

Revisit: 15 Apr 18
22 oz. Bomber
Black Wax/Capped
2016 Remarkably Limited Release
Bottled On: 12/09/16
ABV: 13.3%

1.4 Years on this bottle, my last.

Poured into a tulip a very nice dark brown/black color, very nice carbonation, with a very nice thick/creamy one-finger tan head, which also leaves some pretty nice creamy sticky lacing behind. The nose is malty, with some chocolate/toffee, nice touch of vanilla, some licorice, a really nice dark fruit complex (cherries, figs, plums, dates), slight brandy/oak. The taste is really nice, malty, with some nice chocolate/toffee notes, vanilla, licorice, with a very nice dark fruit complex (cherries, figs, plums, dates), very nice touch of brandy/oak. Full Body, ABV hidden very well, a nice complex brew, nice sweetness, definitely a sipper. Overall, a very tasty brew.

22 oz. Bomber
Black Wax/Capped
2016 Remarkably Limited Release
Bottled On: 12/09/16
ABV: 13.3%

Poured into a goblet a very nice dark brown/black color, very nice carbonation, with a very nice thick/creamy one-finger tan head, which also leaves some pretty nice creamy sticky lacing behind. The nose is malty, with some chocolate/toffee, nice touch of vanilla, some licorice, cherries, figs, plums, slight brandy/oak. The taste is really nice, malty, with some nice chocolate/toffee notes, vanilla, licorice, cherries, figs, plums, nice little touch of brandy/oak. Full Body, ABV hidden very well, a nice complex brew, nice sweetness. Overall, a very tasty brew. Glad to see the variants around here again this year.

Cheers!

 

Some time last year Vermont was graced with a load of Jackie O's offerings, ten different beers to be exact. Here is one of those.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/1432/277189/




Moderate pour yields a one and a half inch white head over a slightly hazy, light golden body with some lacing. Nose of saison yeast with a real nice bit of funk. Taste of saison spiciness with a nice dry finish. A tad thin on the mouthfeel but overall a really good representation of the style. Nice job and cheers to Athens, Ohio!

4.04/5 rDev +1.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4

More new-to-me J O's to come...

 

I love the OP theme by @lordofthewiens, and it would be oh so easy for me to wax (maybe not so) eloquently about Mrs O and our 28+ years of marriage (kindly suggestion to all you kids out there: marry someone you like as a friend first), but I’d like to go a different direction.

Mrs O and I had beers and dinner last night with a buddy (okay, best friend) that I’ve known since I was 5 years old, or 50 years. We grew up literally next door to each other, went to the same grade school, high school, and college(IU in Bloomington).

He’ll move away, I’ll move away, we’ll each have get married and have kids (whose paths have crossed multiple times), we’ve played in multiple fantasy sports leagues together (we’ve shared a fantasy football team the last 6 or 7 years). We’re connected.

I’ve known him longer than anyone outside of my immediate family, and we settle into our lifelong roles with each other in seconds. We’re both terribly competitive, and we’re both beer nerds (he’s going with me to both of our first Dark Lord Day) of the highest magnitude.

So instead of reviewing two beers from NBS BIF #007, the first beer tonight is this little brewery-only gem from Half Acre and Vince (in a glass from @beerloserLI in NBS BIF #4), my best friend for 50 years. Cheers, buddy.



4.35/5 rDev +8.2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

The pour yields a beautiful crystal-clear golden orange beer with a slightly off-white head filled with creamy bubbles. Dank citrus notes of sweet oranges and juicy pineapple dominate the nose.

The taste has the fullness of the dank tropical hops, and there’s also a subtle biscuit malt flavor, and literally no evidence at all of the 8.0% ABV.

This is the type of hop bomb that Half Acre does so well, especially when it’s uber fresh, as this is (canned 4/2/18). I wanted a well-executed hop bomb.

Mission Accomplished.

 

Propolis is one of the breweries we have here in WA, that if it were in an area more prone to hype and chatter, that folks would be losing their balls over. They have their own farm, and use mostly ingredients grown, or at least hyper locally. All sorts of herbs, plants, and i don't even know what all. Interesting beers, they all don't push my buttons, but they are never "bad" beers.

 

First one for today is Westy by Bare Hands, courtesy of @ovaltine

Immediately upon cracking the can I get a whiff of tangerine. It pours a deep gold color, clear with white head that remains in a film over the beer. Nose is tangerine, pineapple, bread. Taste is grapefruit, pineapple, lime, very sweet malty finish. Mouth feel is medium, lively. Overall I really dig this one! Great West coast style while showing alot of layers and balance

 

My third and final entry for today's NBS, and a belated thanks to @lordofthewiens for the kick off and interesting topic, plus the discussion from others as the day has gone on. Jump starting the contemplative juices is a great idea when it comes to reviewing beer, as much of the process involves building relationships between what you're tasting and smelling and what you've previously experienced and know of the world around you. Which can be confounding -- how many times have you had a descriptor on the tip of your tongue and you just couldn't put 1 and 1 together to get there? It's something, but you're not quite sure what it is, so your review ends up having an:



Sixpoint Undefined Variable
NEDIPA, 8% and "0" IBUs. A companion to the Posse from earlier -- both were brewed with the same base, but UV has Enigma, Galaxy and Vic Secret vs. Posse's Nelson, Wakatu and Motueka
My Score: 4.74

4.5
Pours a hazy, golden color. Medium white frothy head that quickly dissipates to a ring around the edge. No lacing to speak of.

4.75
Sticky, dank weed jumps out as I pour it, but sticking my nose in for a sniff, and it’s assaulted by tropical and stone fruit. Passionfruit, apricot, pineapple, guava, peach, dragon fruit, mangosteen. The dankness pervades the aroma, creating a base layer upon which each of the fruits steps forward to leave its mark before gracefully passing the baton to the next player. Really easy to imagine someone in the next room is smoking a really fruity, dank strain of pot, swaying back and forth in their chair as they listen to their favorite musician.

4.75
Well, shit. Please see my aroma notes above, but add “perfectly ripe” in front of each fruit. Papaya emerges with the passionfruit at front, and the stone fruits and dankness move towards the back of the stage to let the juiciness craved in today’s market shine. Warmth shuts down the dankness, or nearly so, and the flavor ripens with peach and mango. By mango I mean the impeccably fresh sweet yellow mango you pick up from the fruit lady on Soi 20 just off Silom Road in Bangkok as you assemble your daily breakfast. I think what pushes UV above its competitors, though, is that there’s a distinct hop bitterness from all the cold-side additions that balances the beer in a way I don’t see from many NEIPAs. Juicy is great, but if that’s all a beer is, well, Dole is cheaper than craft beer. But this has that bitterness, that sharpening of the soft edges, that prevents it from becoming just another entry in the crowded NEIPA space.

4.75
Very soft, full body. Nice carbonation and a little resin that coats the tongue. It’s not quite pillowy, which makes sense given the hop bitterness bite, though I’d like to see if this beer could get to pillowy without losing its edge.

4.75
A really phenomenal beer. There's a ton of depth and diversity to the flavor and aroma, despite it being a juice-bomb. It's fruity, dank, lightly bittered, soft, rounded and, most importantly, balanced. Well, as a balanced as a beer style designed to blow your socks off with fruit and juice can be, anyway. Would love to see them use this base beer as a hop profile beer going forward, especially when the complex in Red Hook is fully operational.

 

Good to read this. I had this year's version and found it too "hot" for my liking, so the remaining 2 12oz are being cellared. Hope I like it as much in a year or two like you seem to.