New Beer Sunday (Week 692)

I work for SKF Bearings

 

For me today is pretty simple; remembering my Uncle Dan USMC severely wounded on Iwo Jima, and my Uncle Tony USA killed in Sicily. My sons an Afghan Vet, he paid his dues and and he'll be paying on that for life.

 

More Fieldwork coming to you NBS. Up next is Strawberry Parfait. The previous Blackberry Parfait was absolutely delicious, so I'm stoked for this one.

Canned May 24, 2018.
Look: 4.50
Dark pink to bright ruby red in color. Unfiltered in appearance. Practically no head, with generous lacing.
Smell: 4.00
Lactose sweetness up front couple with a natural vanilla smell. Strawberry is noted in the smell, but it isn't as strong as expected. I am loving the full vanilla aroma that is being presented.
Taste: 4.50
This one has a nice natural strawberry flavor, with ample amounts of vanilla throughout from start to finish. This beer is sweet though, which translates to almost a syrupy sweetness. It is very tasty, but I keep thinking of Ihop's strawberry syrup.
Feel: 5.00
Smooth and silky. Medium in body and weight, with just the right amount of carbonation to give the beer a silky feel. It leaves a slick residual feeling on the tongue. Very nice, and very likable.
Overall: 4.50
I was excited to try another Parfait beer, and this didn't let me down. I preferred the blackberry more, since I felt the blackberry tartness meshed well with the lactose and vanilla, but the strawberry works. Ahh I love the vanilla.
My Final BA Score: 4.43
Cheers again NBS!

 

Thank you to @lordofthewiens for starting us off this NBS. Being Memorial Day weekend I want to extend a big Thank You to all our Vets, those currently serving, and those who gave the ultimate sacrifice. I also want to thank all our police, fire, and first responders for all that you do daily to keep us safe. My family and I thank you all and your never forgotten....

Today's beer is by Epic Brewing and it's their Big Bad Baptista 2017 Release. A very nice beer overall but a little hot still even after sitting for 6 mos, coffee was still nice as were the rest of the flavors. Overall it was good but not sure if I would get it again when compared with other beers of similar nature.



4.23/5 rDev -4.1%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25

A: Jet black with a creamy tan head and very sticky lacing.
N: Cinnamon, coffee, chocolate and whiskey.
T: Follows the nose, nice coffee hit with that signature cinnamon feel, soft chocolate, and barrel thru this one. The ABV is a little heavy and edging out the other flavors some.
M: Medium/Full
O: This was a tasty beer but I felt the ABV bite sort of overtook the other flavors. This was for the 2017 batch.

 

Oyez, Oyez! This court is now in session. Case number 6038086, The People vs Alaskan SMaSH Galaxy. Your Honors, The People will present irrefutable forensic evidence that this beer is a session DIPA. I would like to enter the following into evidence. Exhibit A: Premium Northwest Pilsner Malt. Light-to-medium body, clear, pale golden color, plenty of structure without taking over. Exhibit B: Galaxy hops. Aromas and flavors of tropical fruit and citrus, giving way to a floral finish. Exhibit C: Bitterness. Not a palate-shredding bitterness despite the 86 IBU, but a pleasant bitterness that you wish would linger on long after the beer is gone. Exhibit D: It's delicious and drinkable, and it pairs well with a variety of foods. Exhibit E: It's pretty. It looks amazing in this #proper pint glass. A beer this pretty begs to be consumed. Exhibit F: The alcohol (8.5% ABV) is virtually undetectable. And, finally, Exhibit G: The term "session" does not have a clearly defined meaning under the law. Your Honors, the jury has a question: Can they have two cases of this and six large pizzas delivered to the jury room? They say it's gonna be a long deliberation.



4.06/5 (rDev +6%)
look: 5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

 

Additions of fruit with summer. I see where you're going. I like it. And what a typically topnotch review, Maria.

 

Back with another one... err, two! Here's my weird entry of the day. I have a can each of Mikkeller's Hallo Ich Bin Berliner Weisse Gooseberry and Mango... why not try them side by side and then do a blending experiment with them?



Before we begin, I must admit that I don't know how to determine the ages of these beers relative to each other. The bottom of the Gooseberry can says 8/2/19 and the Mango one says 1/6/18. I assume those are best-by dates and that this Mango can is, therefore, past its date. Oh well. I've enjoyed most of the entries in this series so far, even though they're honestly a shadow of the Spontan series which similarly featured fruit-based sour beers (lambic in style vs. fruited kettle-sours, of course).

Anyway, I decided to pour some into separate snifters and then do a 50/50 blend of them in the main center glass shown in the above image. Here are some quick thoughts, since they're essential the same beer, along with how I think the blend does...

Gooseberry: Pours an opaque yellowish golden color. Amazing frothy head that lasts and lasts at about two fingers in my mini-snifter. Great lace. Funky and minerally nose with some light grassiness, acetaldehyde and white wine. A bit metallic on the tongue with light-medium lacto sourness, lemon, grapefruit and lychee-like flavors. More white wine grape as well. Minerally as well. Heavy feel for 3.7% ABV. Solid

Mango: Pours at least 1-2 SRM lighter than the Gooseberry and is slightly more clear. A lot of suspended solids here as opposed to the uniform opacity displayed in the other variant. Maybe age has an influence here? Amazing head, possibly even better than the other one, with super-consistent lace. Nose is overripe mango with a little bit of a "nearly-rotten" element that I don't like much. Somewhat syrupy as well, with a flavor profile that follows along. Moderate tropical fruitiness with light lacto and a heavy body. Fun but not fresh, I'm pretty sure... which is what I assumed.

The Blend: I'm not kidding when I say this has some of the best and most consistent lace I've ever seen in a Berliner. I like the color and general look of the blend, honestly. It has a moderate opacity/translucent aspect that feels right for the style. The nose is funkier than expected, with the weird old-ness of the Mango variant playing interestingly off the Gooseberry notes, giving off some catty, intense guava, passion fruit and grapefruit. Lemony twang on the tongue with solid acidity and flavors of white wine, passion fruit and mango. I think I like the blended version more than the individual components here. Glad I did this experiment! Time to blend the rest... they're only 3.7%, so 32 oz won't hurt too badly, right?

 

Thanks for the thoughtful start today. I wish to also thank those of you who have served our country, and send thoughts of respect and honor to those who have died in the service to our country, as well as wishes of comfort to those whom they left behind.

As for me, I started with a so-so beer.
Full Sail's Airstream IPA
At 4.8% I guess it should be considered a session IPA. Canned 04/02
3.4/5 rDev +8.3%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.25

Golden in color. White foam leaps up on a strong pour but quickly recedes to a thin film. Crystal clear. Almost no lacing.
Smell has bright floral citrus notes coupled with a subtle, almost generic grain note that hints at honey.
Flavor is subdued citrus with a hint of bready malt.
Mouthfeel is thin with medium carbonation.
Overall, if it followed the nose more closely and had tad more heft, I think I'd like it better.

Hopefully I'll move on to something better.

 

Switching to heavy stouts after some hop attention early in the day.



High Water Brewing's Barrel Aged Campfire Stout.

Pours black with a little shy of a finger of khaki foam. Head retention is poor. Aroma is roasted and toasted malts with lingering hints of coffee, chocolate, and bourbon. Bourbon is present, but not hot. Just a kiss on the back of the tongue. Flavor profile is roasted and toasted malts mingled with chocolate, coffee, and bourbon. It's all pretty mild throughout the flavor profile, although the bourbon comes back a little hotter as the beer warms. Mouth feel is medium in thickness, which feels a touch thin for this level of stout. Otherwise, it's smooth and lightly creamy. Overall, light bourbon notes mingled with a mellow stout to form a tame, dark stout.

Score: 4 | 4 | 4 | 3.75 | 4 | BA Score: 3.98 | rDev: +1.8%

 

We just rec'd a case of this on Friday and since I grew up in the Garden State and I'm a sucker for anything blueberry I had to try it. Definitely not blueberry pie in a bottle!



Moderate pour yields a one and a half inch pinkish purple head over a red wine colored body with some sticky lacing. Nose of a bit of minerality, slight funk, and blueberry skin tartness. Taste mirrors nose with a very dry and tart finish. Good feel and overall, a very unique offering for the brewers who shall not be typed (by my keyboard anyway!) Cheers!

3.98/5 rDev +4.2%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4

 

Hey, Hey. Welcome Back!

 

Hope everybody's having a great Memorial Day weekend so far. We had a blast yesterday, up at my parents' house for a big ol' get together. This year the theme was a New Orleans-style pig-out centered around a crawfish boil. Funny how that came about, too- over the Christmas holidays I was driving my son home from school and we were also transporting his new pet, which is a blue crawfish. Some time during the ride I must've made a comment like "we used to eat those things, you know", and one discussion led to another, which eventually led to my dad pointing out that he could get crawfish up in his part of NYS...

So, yeah, this thing has been in the works for a while, but that also gave us the time to get all the details right: oysters, shrimp, crawfish boil, chicken and sausage gumbo, fried catfish, red beans and rice, cornbread...and only one day to make it all disappear . We were up to the task, but man, was I moving slow by the end of it. And the younger generation took to all that stuff like fish to water, so it looks like it was the inaugural part of a new tradition for us.

So here I sit thankful that I have another day to recover, but that doesn't mean I can have a bit of fun doing it . Here's a special number sent by my Texas hermano, @Premo88


Jester King Spon 2017, a three year wild blend made in the spirit of Gueuze.

Wow, the nose is superb, and really does come across like a particularly funky Lambic blend- bringing to mind Mariage Parfait in this case. There's wood, straw, horseblanket, Meyer lemons, stone fruit and maybe even some chanterelle-like earthiness. It's potent, but also seamless, and there's nothing out of place. The first sip brings even more bang to the table. Yowza, it's like a tidal wave of sour and funk, with a pithy bitter/astringent finish. After a few more sips my palate has acclimated, but it's still powerful and relentless. Huge oaky barrel components show themselves initially, as a number of other elements start to come out on the finish: lots of spice and straw, funk and citrus, plum and unripe peach. Big time tartness still hits me, but it's not obnoxious, and even pleasant in its own way.

I'm really enjoying this. It's not as elegant as it's Belgian cousins, but I also kinda respect how Jester King is going in their own direction here. Texas deserves a beer as big as this . Wonderful stuff, solid A (4.5), and thanks again, Robert, for such a special treat!

 

Game of Thrones Hand of the Queen English barleywine from Ommegang...

Big Game of Thrones fan, and when I first got into beer, Ommegang (and Unibroue) were go-to brewers... Unfortunately, the Ommegang Game of Thrones beers have been mediocre, and after trying a couple of their beers, I gave up on the series. This purchase marks my willingness to latch onto anything Game of Thrones-inspired, as I wait the long winter, as such, until the final season is released in 2019...

Fruity, boozy molasses on the nose is followed by much of the same on the sip... You get the plum, date, raisin, prune, and fig, with suggestions of brown sugar, vanilla, and cherry... Medium-full-bodied, softly carbonated, a little sticky, sweet, not bitter... Leaves a mild shellac across the palate...

All of that might sound good - and it isn't bad - but this beer in no way elevates itself above the other Game of Thrones releases from Ommegang - it's just a barleywine, which might score some points for the abv and gravity of it all, but it is not an exceptional barleywine. That said, I think this would have been a good choice for the bourbon barrel, to air out the fruits with some graceful wood and whiskey notes, but I could probably make that argument for most English barleywines - I just like 'em barrel-aged - lol...

Not particularly expensive - $11.99 at Total Wine, so, for the 10.7% abv, not a bad buy, but its still rather unremarkable at any price-point... Geez, I even forgot to use my Ommegang Game of Thrones glass... I'll fix that over in WBAYDN...

That's all the new stuff I had on tap for the day - here's to new beer in your glass, cheers...

 

Happy NBS, everybody!
It was a warm, cloudy day here in Montreal and there was a nice breeze to keep it cooler and less muggy than it was yesterday. It poured like nuts earlier and is now cooled off. I am done with work and ready to try today's new beer and enjoy this year's version of my balcony beer garden.

This is a Belgian Golden Ale from an up-and-coming brewery in Gatineau, QC. From the handful of their beers I've had they seem to know what they're doing. Since they mainly seem to be aiming for the NEIPA market I am both excited and trepidatious (pretty sure that's not a word) to try a more "traditional/straightforward" style.

This is a very nice, well-made version of a style I really enjoy. It pours great. Looks Duvel-esque. The aroma is a little fruitier than I was expecting with a decent amount of spicy lemon. It tastes right along the same lines. Refreshing but filling. Warming but quenching. Sweet but spicy. This is a very well-made beer that I would have again without a second thought. I look forward to trying more of their beers in the future.


Here is my review if you care. Seems like I liked it better than some.

I will be off in the windy city next weekend. I'll definitely be trying new beers, but I probably won't have time to post here. So I hope everybody has a nice next couple weeks and a good Monday off.

If any of you fine folks live in Chicago and want to do a quick, simple solid-local-for solid-local trade for some Quebec beer, shoot me a message.

Santé!

 

New Beer Sunday: A New Special Export Stout

Evenin’ NBSers with special heads up to lovers of Export Stouts.

The weather was much as expected but we were spared the worst of the showers and T-storms since they mostly hit north and west of us.

Today’s errands and chores are finished so it’s time to relax with some Opera and a new beer.

This evening’s new beer is the Guinness Special Export Antwerpen Stout from the 200th Anniversary 12 Pack released late last year.

As usual, my review, subject to revision until the beer is finished, can be found here:

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/209/10848/?ba=drtth#review


The flavors/aromas of this beer are as complex, or more so, as any Export Stout I’ve ever encountered. They are, at the same time both smooth and firmly present. There’s lots of nutty roasted malt, some toffee and background flavors of dark fruits. The sweetness and some earthy bitterness are very well balanced in that both are noticeably present but the sweetness is not cloying and the bitterness is not sharp or burnt. I’m definitely enjoying this beer, looking forward to having the other two bottles from the 12 pack, and hoping that I’ll be able to find more of this stout. For me this is quite possibly the most enjoyable Guinness I’ve ever tried. I also have the distinct impression that there’s more going on here than I’ve captured.

Once again, in anticipation of tomorrow,

(Stands) (Raises glass) "To absent friends." (Sips)

This evening’s music on the player is the same opera that I was listening to last Sunday (Mozart’s The Magic Flute), but is a different recording of that Opera. Last week’s recording featured Maria Callas in a lead Soprano role. Here, doing the same music is a more modern day Soprano. (Before I first started listening to Opera as a musical genre I didn’t realize that the human voice could be capable of such “gymnastics.”)

The Queen of the Night — Diana Damrau

Cheers, all!

 

Might be my last entry for today as the wife and I decided we would make the 9 hour drive to get to Arlington National Cemetary, seems an appropriate way to honor those that gave their all. It's a bucketlist item for her, I went once as a youngster but have wanted to go back for awhile.
She's driving the first part of the trip so I don't feel bad for having this one before we left.

Pours a slightly hazy golden orange with minimal white head.
Smells of citrus, orange, grapefruit. Some piney hops as well.
Taste follows. Pretty well balanced between the sweet and bitter citrus, juicy.
Medium bodied with good carb levels
Overall a pretty good example of an American IPA.

 

Well in that case you definitely need to pick it up and review it! Up here they just brought Unibroue's other tripel (Eau Benite) back out of retirement and I think I might actually like it better. Its a little fruitier and a little less strong. I don't know if that is just a Canada thing or if you'll find it down there but since it's Sapporo, you never know.

That sounds like a pairing made in heaven!

 

That's a really good review. I had a 2015 Cascade Figaro last night with my son.at dinner. The .750 ml bottle was poured for three and sat there brooding.The beer had a wonderful aroma of rich dark fruit and it took about 20 minutes to drink. That's a beer that just keep on aging!

 

Well, I'm back. And hitting the lower ABV's to pace myself (disappointingly). So now I've popped Follow the Sun by Karl Strauss, in San Diego, CA.
It's a Pils...or so they say.
3.29/5 rDev -8.6%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.25

Light golden in color. Crystal clear. White foam rose a finger or so and almost instantly disappeared.
Slight peppery note followed by a subtle citrus smell. No malt to speak of in the nose.
Flavor is almost absent of any malt notes. It's mildly sweetness is hiding somewhere, generically, among the hops. Slightly floral hop bitterness with a slight pepper component.
While carbonation is not visible it does contribute to the mouthfeel.
Overall, I'm missing some of the distinctly Pils characteristics. And with no canning date to be found, I don't know if this is a fair example of what this beer is going for. But this is what I got.

I'm taking the kiddos to see Solo later, so I might have to talk the wife into driving so I can salvage this NBS.