New Beer Sunday (Week 690)

Didn't you say it was your favorite Jackie O's these days? The same thing happened that did with the Pockets of Sunlight where the second pour with all the yeast and sediment made it hazy and changed the mouthfeel in such an awesome way.

I definitely agree I'd buy this beer in a 750ml in a heartbeat.

 

Back again NBS, this time with another sweet beer. Let's check out Decadent Ales' French Toast DIPA.


No canning date, but note it is a DIPA brewed with maple syrup and cinnamon.
Look: 4.00
Nice dark golden straw color. Looks more unfiltered than hazy. 2 fingers worth of head from non-aggressive pour, with heaps of residual lacing.
Smell: 4.00
Aromas of cinnamon, warm maple syrup with some flaked biscuit. The hops are detectible, giving a lemongrassy like smell. Slight orange, lemon and grapefruit notes, but the cinnamon and maple are more dominant. For a DIPA, this is a weirdly-nice smell.
Taste: 4.50
Follows the nose, with slight more hop emphasis. The maple is present first and foremost, giving a nice sweet flavor. Next is the cinnamon spice, which intermingles with some citrus flavor. The hops are presented earthy/grassy in taste, but seem to mesh well with the other flavors. For what it is, I am enjoying the taste. It does display some of the alcohol in the flavor, but it isn't off-putting.
Feel: 4.25
Medium in body and somewhat full-ish inweight, with moderate carbonation. The beer is very syrupy feeling, being that it coats the tongue and the entirety of my mouth.
Overall: 4.50
I think despite being strange, this is oddly tasty. Decadent did a good job at applying cinnamon and maple syrup to a DIPA, without making it gaggy. I am actually enjoying it. With that said, I wouldn't want this often, but more I feel it is an interesting take on the style, and well worthy of a try.
Final BA Score: 4.33
Cheers!

 

Back at home with NBS #2. You didn't think I'd come home without squeezing in another hike, did you? Of course not. This time, along the stunning Sandy River in Mt. Hood National Forest. No filter needed. I let mother nature do all the work:







Time for another thirst quencher.

Sierra Nevada
Sierraveza- Easy Drinking Lager



Let's call it what it is, a Mexican Lager. And it looks the part. Brilliantly clear, light straw color with a sturdy and foamy bone white head. Perhaps a little too ambitious of a cap compared to its inspiration from our amigos south of the border. Hell, it even leaves a little bit of lacing! Nonetheless, looks like a guzzler.

Not much to report on the aroma here. Grain, corn, a little bit of husks. A touch of dried flowers in the finish.

Pretty comparable in the flavor, but lacks that extra sweetness that makes the Mexican cerveza stand out. That bready touch that the Germans so well tought seems lost in this gringo version. There is that rice like snap, however. Ultimately, pretty much straight cracked grain with a mild spicy, earthy bit.

It is crisp and dry, but not enough of either. It actually feels, to me, more like a blonde ale. It has some heft to it, despite its strike of carbonation, and lands on the sweeter side, but not by much.

Bottom line, if I'm at a fiesta and there are some Sierravezas and some Modelo's, I'm still reaching for old tried and true, white and blue. Salud!

After my official review, I gave Sierraveza a rating of 3.59, with an rDev of -6.2%.

 

Just kidding!

 

Roughtail Sunny Days Apricot IPA courtesy @Beertracker

3.87 Overall

Pours a very hazed amber with 2+ fingers of pillowy cream colored head. Stays hazed, great head retention & lacing

S: Very citrusy, a little apricot

T: Apricot, a little grassyness, some pomelo & dryness up front, a little grapefruit up front. Orange peel mixes in with dryness & grapefruit once warm. Plenty of orange in the finish along with dryness, slight breadyness & a little apricot

MF: Medium body, slight carbonation, good balance. Carbonation picks up once warm

A solid IPA, easy to drink

 

New brewery to me thanks to @Vidblain Thanks for this cold brewed coffee. Lots of flavor.



4.29/5 rDev 0%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25

Can dated 3/15

A: pours dark brown with a 2 finger mocha colored head that leaves a lot of lacing on the glass

A: smells like a strong cup of fresh coffee, roasted malts

T: its like I'm drinking an iced coffee; slightly bitter on the beginning of the sip. the one thing that is missing is the barrel presence. I'm not getting the bourbon here from the coffee beans

F: a little thin and a little more carbed than I would prefer for this style

O: great aroma and a great coffee flavor. no sign of bourbon but it is still a drinkable beer

 

One more new one for the night.



My first Jackie O's beer. 10% stout brewed with walnuts.

Pours dark brown from the bottle, sits black in the glass. Khaki cap sticks around, but not much lacing left behind.

Smells of roasted malts, chocolate, coffee, nuts.

Taste follows. Lots of roast and bitter coffee. A distinct nuttiness which I can't quite place as walnuts specifically. Chocolate sweetness and some lingering alcohol on the aftertaste. Bitterness lasts for some time.

Medium bodied, slick and oily. Rather smooth. A worthy stout.

 

Thanks for the opening Doc, and thanks to all the others for sharing their thoughts about their mothers. My mom passed last July at age 85. I, and all my siblings, went home to help care for her in her home the last few weeks of her rapid decline due to cancer. She knew she was dying, had spoken with all of us, and the Parrish Priest, and was prepared...the last few days she was alert but mostly uncommunicative, and I believe relatively pain free...maybe two nights before her passing, she awoke in the middle of the night and her last words to me, the eldest, were “Are you just going to let me die?”...

Mom was a good woman and mother to all of us, and I wish I had spent more time with her the last year of her life. The knowledge of one’s own demise must be scary and harder than I can fathom. I suspect the passing of time will dim the memory of our last days together; yet her final words currently haunt me. I miss her.

A toast to all our moms, past and present!

I’m finishing today (and toasting) with a Double Barrel Aged blended Sour Ale - “Figtasma” by OEC Brewing (Ordinem Ecentrici Coctores LLC), Oxford, CT. “rewed with wheat, oats, molasses, and licorice root. Blended, 60% oak aged ale, 40% young ale. This special edition was aged& blended from a variety of barrels including Zinfandel (Napa), South African Red wine & Belgian Owl Whiskey Barrels. It was then Double matured for 12 months in a Merlot Barrel from Red Haven Vineyards (Napa) with fresh figs from our orchard.”



Dark opaque ruby brown/ruby brown; some clarity underneath a fast fizzy greyish beige cap, leaving a thin ring; spotty sheeting lacing. Strong red wine, oak, and fig nose; some alcohol (9.5%) on the exhale. Flavors of sweet figs, red wine, sour fruit/grapes which do not overpower the sweet jammy fig flavor. Dry medium full body; moderate minus carbonation; oaky tongue coating with vinous tannins feel. Overall very enjoyable; so well balanced the sour overtones do not interfere with the sweet figgy linger. I would drink again and heartily recommend. Score would probably shake out slightly south of a 4.5.

Happy Mother’s Day, and g’night!

 

Good evening, NBSers! I'm currently feeling something of a liver ache due to share pains from Saturday evening's mistakes - a friend is a currently trying to do a bit of cellar clearing, and I'm always game to help... so call me "victim #1". The damage from yesterday evening:



I kept thinking... "this basement room is nicer and larger than my entire house! What am I doing here! Who invites bums like me to a nice place like this? Well, I suppose you have beer that needs disappearing, you invite scumbags of all varieties, eh?"

So, here I am to demonstrate my complete absence of class. I woke up feeling less than great today, but I've still carried out my duties - which includes at least one new beer for NBS. But, again, my lack of class - no whalez this week, guys. I'm trying to clean out my own cellar, which entails a surprising number of Clown Shoes beers. I won't slag on Clown Shoes, because I'm actually a fan - but their beers don't rank up there with the legends, like Bottle Logic (as noted, last night). So my expectations were low when I poured this fella...



I drank about half of this bottle before heading outside to collect some pine cones and bag up some needles and leaves. The trials of Minnesota spring, let me tell you - winter is definitively NOT the worst season for some of us. Yay! Allergy season has begun! It's certainly a good reason to drink at least...

And let me tell you, I love a good rum barrel-aged beer. My gold standard for rum barrel beers, at this particular moment, is Pirate Noir - though I will note that Pirate Noir is a little thin. Hammer of the Holy, however, struck me as significantly thicker and creamier than Pirate Noir. Kudos, Clown Shoes. Hammer also boasts a tremendous malty, chocolate presence to the beer - and the barrels certainly aren't absent. The beer, though creamy and thick, also has a significant dry, oaky presence. I'm quite favorably impressed, though I still don't think that this is on a level with Pirate Noir.

But, honestly? I'm a Prairie Artisan *****, and you really can't expect me to be unbiased. Hammer of the Holy is so accessible and reasonably priced and delicious. I'm a big fan of Clown Shoes, and I continue to appreciate the lack of hype behind their beers - big thumbs up to this specific bottle. I recommend it, for sure.

I hope you all are enjoying your Sunday, beers and all. My mom has been dead for nearly twenty-six years now - but I wish you moms, and those of you married to moms, who have moms in the family and etc - the very best to all of you! You made us the people that we are today, and that deserves kudos and accolades out the wazoo. Well done, moms - cheers!

 

Happy New Rock & Roll Beer (& Other Stuff) Sunday (Week 690), Part Deux!

I am rockin' along today with my follow-on as a Flaming Lips collab:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/64/315536/?ba=woodychandler#review

that worked well, so I decided to stay with DFH just a little bit longer with:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/64/341543/?ba=woodychandler#review

Wow, man! That was a pretty trippy beer! Are you sure you didn't slip me a pint of white wine?!? I'm telling my mom on you!

Now, out of Rock & Roll Land & into the exploration of some of my newly-acquired glassware:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/26950/301567/?ba=woodychandler#review


Pilsners are like potato chips with me. No way am I stopping with just one!
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/20680/317220/?ba=woodychandler#review


Man, Tavour is really coming through for me with these West Coast CANned Pilsners! I may have another:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/47868/334322/?ba=woodychandler#review


and now, for my last of the day:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/22893/345022/?ba=woodychandler#review


Loving my new glassware! As for next week, I am to attend a monthly bottle share near KofP on Saturday & then spend an overnight. Last month, a downed tree between PHL & LNC meant that I did not limp home until 2330 on Sunday! I hope to be back earlier than that to join yinz again, but no promises. TTFN!

 

Gotta say, this was a thoughtful and moving post (in response to a moving post by @cavedave ). Cheers guys.

 

Had a few new ones tonight but just getting a chance to post now. The first is a local one, Liquid Hero’s Rye OatmealStout-



This one had a decent roast character reminiscent of espresso and dark chocolate in aroma and taste, along with a zippy black pepper zing, but had a metallic mouth-full-of-nickels thing going on till the beer warmed up a bit.

Next was 1/2 of this bottle of Lickinghole Creek’s Eternal President-



Strong roasty flavor on this, along with pretty heavy cinnamon and tequila. The flavors by themselves are pretty spot on, but they’re not quite coming together for me. Still nice to drink, though.

And finally, Sierra Nevada’s BFD-



This reminds of a light version of SN Pale Ale. Getting some Citrus in the form of lemon and orange, along with a pretty hefty dose of pine in the aroma and taste. Also getting some dank weed in the aroma. Not bad, but probably won’t get more.

Cheers all. Hope everyone had an alright weekend.

 

Very well put and insightful thoughts @DoctorZombies . Your mom raised a smart kid.

 

Back with another New Beer this Sunday night:

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/1141/15760/?ba=woemad#review
Heavier than a quad should seem, and the various elements of the flavor just don't meld together. I continue to be underwhelmed by this brewery.

 

Greetings late night NBS! It's been a busy day for me so finally getting to post a couple while enjoying one I picked up today.
I started the day having breakfast with my Mom and sister. Came back home for a bit to let the dogs enjoy some freedom while sharing this one with my neighbor before driving to Charlotte(Concord) to surprise my wife for her birthday. She is visiting my stepdaughter for a few days and was not expecting me but thankful to some behind the scenes planning with said stepdaughter she was quite surprised. I felt bad when she teared up but was glad she was happy to see me.
Anyway here was the first one, I shared it with my neighbor but in hindsight wish I had hoarded it for myself. He's a good one though, always sets my packages inside when I'm away and tends the dogs when I need a hand.

Poured a super hazy orange with a finger of white head.
Smells of tart strawberry and citrus.
Taste follows, tart strawberry, orange, pineapple.
Medium bodied with good carb level, very smooth.
Overall one of the better fruited IPAs that I've had.
Visited a little brewery in Concord while I waited on my wife and mother-in-law to get ready for dinner. It was a stone's throw from the hotel so why not.
Commoners Brewing they have only been open for seven months but it seemed like a cool little spot, I think he said ghey brew on a 4Bbl system so still pretty small. Bartender seemed pretty knowledgeable about the brewery and beers. I had a flight and sampled a couple of others, all were in the 3.75-4.0 range. Nothing really jumped out as awesome but nothing seemed off either. None of their brews are in the system yet so I'll try to add them and review next week.

 

I've been enjoying this one while catching up on the thread. When I decided I would try to hit a brewery in Charlotte while passing through today I reached out to @Dragginballs76 for a recommendation as it appeared he had tried every beer made in the city last week. Lucky for me they are open until midnight so I was able to stop in on my way home.

Poured from a three hour old crowler.
Pours a hazy yellow with two fingers of white head.
Smells of citrus, orange, pineapple, grapefruit, faint herbal notes.
Taste follows to a tee. Juicy sweet citrus balanced with a bit of grapefruit.
Medium bodied, super smooth.
Overall an outstanding beer. The best all Citra IPA I've had in awhile.

 

Thanks for the thoughtful reply, man, I have tried to excuse myself so many times, but the truth is I counted the days until I could leave home, and my hatred for the woman kept me from any sort of realization that could have helped her at a time when it might still have been possible to convince her to get that help. My Dad was powerless, he was trapped in his desire to shield us as much as possible from the madness and violence by taking it on himself when he dared, and never spoke against the woman to any of the children. On his deathbed he said as close to a negative thing about her, and it was the strangely ironic and sadly dismissive comment, "You know how your mother is." OTOH the inner turmoil turned me into a compulsively self-intuitive person, her bad example gave me a good foundation for raising my own children by doing the opposite of whatever Mom did, and continuously stirred a reservoir of raw emotion that has served me well in my writing hobby. Hopefully you have found the same sorts of positive results from negative experiences.

 

Saw in your review you scored this “to style.” Funny thing, is I tried to as well for this line-blurring beer, but it was listed as a fruit beer at the time.

 

Definitely some really sweet glassware, Cheers !

 

Glad to help, that is their flagship brew. I always pick up a few crowlers when I visit i hope you got to try the Uber as well?