New Beer Sunday (Week 693)

Narrow Gauge NEIPA not sure when it was canned, but I trust juice bomb is fresh. Pours like a glass of pineapple o.j with a solid finger head that leaves little spots of lacecall over the sides of the glass, with excellent retention. 4.5

Smell is passion fruit, guava, tangerine, pineapple, and some faint grapefruit. 4.25

Taste really is bigger and bolder, with a ton of tropical fruit. Passion fruit, tangerine, pineapple, start the party with guava and grapefruit in the final show down. Really balanced and really tasty. 4.75

Mouthfeel is a little bigger than Yogi, soft with plenty of life, just covers your palate with a sticky Hop forward film, and at 7%ABV really goes down too easy. 4.5

Overall good gravy this stuff is just what I hoped it would be,?everything about it screams Trillium and that isn’t a complaint at all. Thanks @bstyle for another wow beer. 3-3 so far man, floured again. 4.5

 

Stopped in at Heist on my way back from DC on Monday. That's my new 'if I'm passing through Charlotte then I'm getting a dew beers" place. Thanks to @Dragginballs76 for that recommendation. Enjoying rhis one poolside while watching the boys play.


Poured a hazy yellow with a thick white head.
Smells of citrus, grapefruit and orange primarily. Some resinous dank notes as well.
Taste is more tropical than the nose implies, mango, pineapple. The grapefruit is there as well. Some mild oniony notes as well.
Medium to full bodied. Very well balanced between the sweet tropical juiciness and the bitter citrus.
Overall another great beer from Heist!

 

New Beer Sunday: A Saison

Evenin’ NBSers, back with another saison, this time one for fans of Brett in Saisons.

This evening’s new beer is the Saison Brett from Boulevard Brewing. Been looking forward to finding this one since Tank 7 from Boulevard is one of my favorites.

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

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/423/36333/?ba=drtth#review


Being from the 2017 bottling, this bottle has several months of age on it so that up front in the Aromas/Flavors there’s a lot of lightly musty and earthy character from the Brett. There’s also a bit of tartness, a bit of sweetness and a bit of bitterness, all in a nice balance with each other and backed up by some light grapefruit, some light lemon, some white pepper and a touch of floral fruitiness. As a fan of what Brett brings to the table I’d really like to assemble a 3 year vertical of this beer. I know a few Brett fans who’d love to try out such a tasting. That all said, this is not a beer for everyday drinking. Instead it should be saved for a special occasion or to turn a bad day into something special. For everyday drinking I’d go with Tank 7 over Saison Brett.

Tonight's music on the Player is a version of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony. While the recording of this sympony on my player doesn’t have any video associated with it, I once found on YouTube a fun performance of the the final movement of Beethoven's 9th.

Ode to Joy

Cheers, all!

@Roguer

 

#2, a chocolate cinnamon bomb of a BA imperial stout.



4.45/5 rDev +1.1%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

A pour that is purely black props up a substantial tan head that coats the glass as you enjoy this beer. The Templeton barrel is notable on the nose, but it is in balance with the significant char notes that accompany the chocolate, cinnamon, and vanilla aromas. Wow. Just wow.

The taste picks up all the notes mentioned above, with the cinnamon especially taking the lead, and if anything the barrel is lurking in the weeds - and as I drink this, I can literally feel it sneaking up on me. Stealthy barrel indeed.

My only wish is for a fuller mouthfeel - it’s too spritzy for a beer this big and flavorful. But this is still a magnificent stout.

 

Back for one more new beer. It's after dinner and this local one is billed as a "dessert IPA." This was a collab between Southern Grist and Mikerphone:


Dessert IPA? Chocolate IPA? It looked a lot like a big viscous imperial stout on the pour:


Whatever it is, I liked the looks of it's medium-sized dark tan head that left great splotchy tracks in the glass. The aroma was milk chocolate with almost a minty quality, probably from the hops. Closer sniffs revealed citrus with grapefruit and orange, and also some vanilla. As expected, there was a big chocolate taste, followed by a citrus and fairly clean bitter finish. In fact, the finish in isolation tasted like a typical citrusy IPA. The beer was like a black IPA in which the roasty malt was subbed with sweet chocolate and lactose. The feel was slightly sweet and sticky, like a milk stout. A hoppy milk porter perhaps? Whatever this is, I like it.

 

From Bent Hill Brewery, Braintree, VT.

Just rec'd 5 different beers from these guys on Thursday, this, their IPA, will be followed up by their DIPA after I get dinner going.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/36100/349252/




Moderate pour yields a nearly one inch white head over a very hazy golden body with some sticky lacing. Nose of tropical fruit, sweet citrus, and a bit of pine dankness. Taste of almost all dank hop bitterness with not much else, although the fruit is there but pushed way, way back into near oblivion. After some warming it mellows a bit with the fruit coming into play a bit more. Good feel and overall, not too bad as it looks juicy, smells juicy, but doesn't taste juicy. Cheers!

3.77/5 rDev +0.3%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75

 

Time for me to relax. I got everything done that I needed to get done today, and I think I've earned something special. Thankfully I was holding on to this one sent by @richj1970 during our previous BIF-


Dark Matter- a bourbon barrel quad by Rocket Republic Brewing out of Madison, AL.

Ooh- what a fantastic nose. It's gently sweet with a well incorporated blend of dark sugar, figs, dates, orange peel, allspice, wood, honey, vanilla, dark rum...it just seems to keep going on like that, with no rough edges at all. I'm even getting a distinct whiff of wine cookies, which is a southern Italian holiday specialty item.

The first sip is a bit more straightforward, heavy on the wood, dates and brown sugar, and not as plush as the nose suggested. I'm even getting a touch of a sour twang on the finish, just enough to lighten the mood. It's airy and pretty well-carbonated, fairly light on its feet. After a few more sips a rum raisin ice cream flavor becomes more prominent, the wood is starting to die down, and some spice cake is creeping up to the fore.

This is a tasty and easy-drinker in the end. It may not have the richness and depth that it seemed to have at first glance, but almost makes up for it by avoiding any cloying and syrupy qualities, hiding the alcohol incredibly well and going down pretty smoothly. A really nice beer, and just the thing I was hoping for. High B+ (3.9). Thanks again, Rich!

 

Happy New Beer Sundays

Today's New Beer is Peak Organic the Juice with my brand new "El Dorado" hop glassware!

It's a citrus forward, floral and bright unfiltered Pale ale thats refreshing and full flavored.

Excellent beer, Cheers!

 

Happy New Chile Beer Sunday!
Got to the trailhead, temps around 65, windy, raining, waited about 30 minutes, left. Having a kinda tasty brew, not really a big fan of this brewery, but wanted a bomber for NBS. Picked up some chicken tacos on the way home.
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/923/85468/?ba=Wasatch#review
Cheers!

 

I actually opened this bomber last night and am still working on it. It's 10.5% ABV and tastes every bit of it. Maybe too boozy for me. Hints of chocolate. A slight touch of sweetness. Not much head. Nice mouthfeel. Not gonna win any awards but pretty good.

 

Prairie Deconstructed Bomb Vanilla, 11.8% ABV. Pours black with a half-finger brown head, which is a lot for a Prairie stout. Nose is vanilla and peppers, taste follows, plus coffee, not picking up chocolate so the vanilla is overpowering it. Decent mouthfeel, overall near outstanding.

Still unsure the purpose of the Deconstructed Bomb series, other than novelty. I've had all four now, and they are all less than Constructed Bomb. Coffee was my favorite.

 

You have to make a stop at Resident Culture sometime, about 10 minutes or so from Heist and they are killing it as well.

 

Hopefully on my next trip through I will have more time to stop. I'm just thankful that the hours at Heist are so late as it's been nearly midnight when I've been passing through. Those do looks quite tasty.

 

Another can from today, Triple Milkshake IPA - Extra Vanilla

4.32/5 rDev 0%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25

16 oz can, dated 5/31/18, poured into a teku

A- A hazy golden straw color with a two finger white head.

S- Dank, fresh abrasive hops, vanilla, citrus, some tropical fruits, a little green.

T- Citrus, mango, melons, vanilla, dank, some lactose.

M- Smooth, creamy, medium to full body.

O- Maybe a little green, but one of the more balanced Milkshakes. Honestly I thought it was going to be over the top sweet but I really like it.

Cheers!

 

Another from Braintree, VT.
Seems like they've dialed this in.
It's better than the last one.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/36100/284392/




Moderate to vigorous pour yields a huge white head over a cloudy, almost murky body with some nice sticky lacing. Nose of tropical fruit and citrus. Taste mirrors nose but with a bit of dank pine bitterness on the finish. Very nicely done although the mouthfeel is a bit lacking. Overall, much better than their latest IPA. Cheers!

4.15/5 rDev +2.7%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4

 

Flying did exit ten brown ale
.. color is an almost solid murky brown
..about a medium body,maybe just a bit thick with medium carbonation
..aroma is malt,raisins,chocolate, and what seems like yeasty dough
..taste is similar,sweet but not cloying. It's definitely raisins and no other dark fruit that stands out the most with the chocolate following. Had a little bit of a raisinet candy meets beer rsdte
..overall it was surprisingly enjoyable,the candy taste was not overpowering at all and the brown ale base still came through nicely

 

New Roak Session NEIPA. Love the re-branding they did. This was delicious. Awesome head retention and thick lacing on the glass. Flavors of orange, lemon, grapefruit, peach, pear, red apple, pineapple, mango, melon, citrus peel/zest, mint, and light pepper/pine hops; with moderate wheat, biscuit dough malt balance; and herbal, floral, grassy hop earthiness. Similar/muted aromas. Light pine, citrus peel, herbal, grassy, peppery bitterness on the finish. Medium carbonation, light-medium body, and fairly crisp finishing. Creamy/bready/grainy malts and some sticky hops in the mouthfeel. Slight resins, increasing dryness, no hop astringency. Very flavorful/refreshing, 4.7%. Nice soft feel for the style. Very juicy, dank, and vibrant hop complexity; nice bready malt backbone, with minimal residual sweetness. They went with Amarillo, Calypso, Denali, and El Dorado; so it's more stone/pome fruity than tropical, but still delicious. Well made style example. 3.91


This was amazing! Great head retention and spotty lacing on the glass for the ABV. Aromas and flavors of huge nutty dark roast coffee, milk/dark chocolate, cocoa, caramel, molasses, toffee, marshmallow, fudge, brownie batter, vanilla, bourbon, toasted oak, and dark bread; with light notes of coconut, licorice, smoke, leather, tobacco, and dark fruits. Touch of booze in the aroma as it warmed, but not overwhelming. Very mild roast bitterness and bourbon/oak spiciness on the finish. Mild carbonation and very full body; with an insanely rich, creamy, silky, and velvety mouthfeel that is amazing. Minimal chalky roast, oak tannins, or dryness. Zero cloying sweetness. Mildly increasing warmth of 13.5%, zero barrel booze. Dangerously smooth sipper. Mind blowingly rich and complex flavors. Amazing balance of fruity/nutty coffee, cocoa, and black/roasted malts; with perfect barrel integration. Not overly roasty on malts nor tannic on the barrels. I am buying more, price doesn't even matter. 4.38


Cheers, have a good night NBS

 

Woke up hours earlier than I planned to today thanks to noise from the roomie, but it's ok we had some good bonding time over disparate breakfasts before she jetted off to begin her full day of fun and I settled in for a combo of doing some reading, teaching myself a new game, and watching the Ms pull out yet another incredible/improbable win. The Rays pitcher is a local kid from the Seattle area, and got absolutely Félixed in his Safeco debut... against Félix (his childhood idol), who finally looked like the crafty veteran we've all been clambering for him to become the last couple of years since he dipped from annual Cy Young contention.
This was all aided, of course, by the annual June gloom (replacing the oddly nice weather we had for most of May: consistently sunny and in the mid 60s to mid 70s, even pushing into the mid 80s once or twice. *shudder*) descending and giving me an excuse to stay inside and perpetrate said activities in lieu of going to the park and playing basketball or lounging in the hammock.
So in light of all that, I think the following brew is apropos... even before considering that the rest of my evening is going to involve the beginnings of a new Dungeons and Dragons campaign: the first one I've played in from the get go, starting with level 1 and everything in probably 20 years. Once again: @FlintB with a level of prescience about me and my personal life and proclivities that he didn't even realize.

Neckbeard Nectar indeed.



Honestly I was a little underwhelmed on the pour. Coming out of the bottle it appeared thin and a little light. Thankfully this was just a poor first impression, as we will see. Some looping soapy brown bubbles settle in pretty quick to little more than a ring clinging to the glass.

Nose immediately reinforces the labels assertion of vanilla, and adds to it a sweet molasses with a back end of coffee char that never really pronounces itself any more than just to give a little balance to the sweeter leads.

Flavour is like an iridescent melange of these same characters: vanilla, sweet molasses, a bit of coffee, round caramel hints, and faintly smoky char. They come together in an ever moving tightly choreographed dance that is really quite enjoyable.

As feared off the bat, the body is medium-thin, but it's ok as the carbonation is stumpy-prickly but not particularly strong, and it somehow crosses between sticky and dry on the finish, with the round sweetness of the vanilla, but more of the lingering treacle sweetness of the molasses smoothing the peaks of craggy acrid coffee.

Another very enjoyable offering from Michigan thanks to Brian's generosity during NBS BIF#007 (I highly recommend everyone to come have fun with the next round whenever that might be). I've really been enjoying sampling some of the excitement that the mitten has to offer, and this one is no exception. If my math is anywhere close to correct, I've got it as my 6th favourite of the options he sent, out of the 32 I've gotten to so far (side note: 32. Holy shit. [side side note: if one does decide to join the next round of the BIFs, don't be intimidated... Brian's generosity is incredible. He sent probably the most voluminous haul in addition to including incredible quality. 32 is an outlier. And I'm lucky AF to have been the recipient of those 32 {with plenty more still to be explored}.])
So there you have it. Verdict? Mariners? Good. Entdecker? Promising. Neckbeard Nectar? Awesome. @FlintB? Incredible.

Thanks, man!



And cheers all y'all goobers joining in on this fine Sunday.