New Beer Sunday (Week 709)

Happy Sunday, NBS crew! So @JBowenGeorgia bombed 4 of us yesterday with a synchronized strike of beyond-generous boxes, including this beer that I could not wait to open. Barely made it 12 hours in my fridge. John, you’re a madman!

DDH Ghost in the Machine - Parish
DIPA - 8% abv
Bottled 9/14/18 (9 days ago)
Score: 4.53 (-3% rDev)



Review:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/24822/316306/?ba=CanConPhilly#review

Synopsis:
Damn. There is a reason this is rated so highly. The hopping rate on this thing is off the charts. You can smell it from a mile away. One of the most intense ipas I’ve ever had, and very much a palate wrecker (uh oh). A pure expression of the Citra hop. So much tropical and citrus flavor, in addition to that rare “meatiness” that I only get in a handful of ipas. This is in my top 3 highest-reviewed ipas of the year, and it’s @larryi86 ’s #1 highest rated of 2018. Given the number of ipas we both drink, that’s saying something. Thanks again John!

 

Cool and grey, might get some rain today... Autumn way; football weather...

Opening with what may be my only new beer of the day...

Bourbon Barrel Aged Skipping Stone from Jackie O's...

2018 release with a 13% abv... Deep, dark brown body is basically opaque in the glass; center-pour into a goblet only produced a brief fizz of tan foam across the surface that quickly disappeared... On the nose presents a nice boozy dark fruit aroma, like prune and date and fig, soaked in bourbon with hints of vanilla... Similar flavors on the sip, soft fruits, a little bourbon, with a mild tannic note and some suggestions of oak barrels... Has an appropriate sweetness but doesn't approach anything cloying, and some impressions of chewy orange peels and treacle add a great edge to the flavor profile... Body is medium-weight, retaining its integrity as a quad despite the potential thinning effect of being barrel-aged... Smooth and graceful, a touch of stickiness, little to no bitterness - and a slight herbal spice toward the finish to put a little tickle on the tongue... Any trace of that 13% abv is buried in the basket of rich fruits and sugars... A very elegant quad...

Here's to new beer in your glass and a win in the win column, cheers...

 

I’m honored to be a part of your bold post title today! Not sure you’ll like any of the beers I gave you, but hey, at least they’re new! Also I think you will enjoy the draft offerings at Forest & Main more than their ipa cans. We (@larryi86 and @thebeers ) all enjoyed their English styles on cask most of all.

 

Pours gold with a large foamy, bubbly, lively head. Fades fast to a thin bubbly head.

Smells Funk light clove grassy.

Tastes bready, peppery yeast, earthy, lightly bitter grassyness, hint of orange peel and a moderate amount of funkiness. Medium body and fizzy high carbonation.

This brewery was started by the guy who owns oredock and he decided to start this one specializing in bottle conditioned farm house ales, saisons, basically funkier beers. They only bottle their beer. Even at the brewery there's no tap.

 

Anytime is Pils time, this one from Fair State Brewing . . .



Very light golden color with white cap and good lacing.

Aroma of sweet cracker malt with an unmistakable hit of floral, spicy Noble hops. Just a sprinkling like fallen flowers and herbs in a field of freshly mown hay.

Beautiful classic Pilsner taste from the start and I mean the very start. Malt is rich, bready yet dry as a cracker, fresh and clean. Hops carry a depth of bitterness made up of primarily spice but floral elements are still there. Complex, consistent flavors well melded together.

Medium texture with balancing carbonation.

After finishing my tasting impressions I went to the web site to find this Pils is made from just one malt, Pilsner, and one hop, Hallertau Mittelfruh. All of which shows that a great deal of complexity and flavor can be brewed from just a few ingredients. That is if you know your business which these folks clearly do.

 

I am like @Ozzylizard in that the older I get, the less I like being in crowds. No GABF or Oktoberfest for me, thank you.
Today I am drinking a non-Oktoberfest beer, Luponic Distortion No. 10. It was canned one month ago and is 5.9% ABV.
It is a bright gold color with a one-finger white head that retains quite well. There is some spotty lace.
The aroma is tropical fruit and citrus.
Mango taste up front, quickly overtaken and dominated by grapefruit.
I never appreciated the peach ring mentioned on the can.
Light-bodied, pleasant to drink.

 

Thanks for the great comparison! I bought an Edelstoff last month mistakenly thinking it *was* an Oktoberfest and absolutely loved it for that rich breadiness you describe. Too bad it's a bit on the pricey side and not all that common around here. And the Weihenstephaner is so far my favorite pale of the season.

Prost!

 

A-Pours a very dark opaque color with a slight head and lacing
A-Aroma has dark chocolate and hop hints
T-The taste follows the nose with dark chocolate, and slight hoppy and oyster flavors. The chocolate flavor stands out more as the beer warms to room temperature
M-A medium bodied moderately carbonated beer
O-A nice imperial oyster stout with a strong kick

 

I’ll let my picture say all I have to say about how amazing my day is, I hope yours is too!



Allagash Strictivus
In a tulip at the brewery
A: Dark orange, hints of red/brown, thin head
S: Mixed berries especially raspberry, a touch of vinegar and wheat
T: Matches the nose; tart, packed with flavor but a short finish
M: Light, tart
O: Tasty, if the berries were a bit more distinct and the finish a bit longer this would go from very good to outstanding

 

Other Half Double Dry Hopped Hop Showers

Happy Sunday, BAs. This is my favorite time of year. Football, Oktoberfests, cooler weather and boxes starting to hit in the NBS BIF thread.

Today’s new beer doesn’t come to me courtesy of the legendary @JBowenGeorgia, but does come from an up-and-coming legend in his own right — @CanConPhilly.

I was excited to try this one. Then Matt said in the BIF thread that it was the best beer in a recent box he sent. I’m still hopeful it’ll be drinkable.

DDH Hop Showers pours a very cloudy, murky, light orange color with a fat finger of yellow-tinted white head. The head eventually settles into a nice crown with a wisp of white across the top and leaves sloppy sheets of lacing.

Huge fruit juice dominates the aroma: peaches, mango, light grapefruit, light orange, cream, a little weed, a little white pepper.

It has a super creamy taste with citrus fruit (orange juice, grapefruit, lime?) the most prevalent up front and then a big herbal finish that gives way to a slightly nutty impression. A soft grassy, weedy bitterness lingers in the aftertaste. There’s some oregano in there, too.

It has a lightly creamy mouthfeel with fizzy carbonation cutting through.

Really nice mix of citrus and Italian herbs in this one, making it fun to drink. I think @utopiajane would enjoy pairing this with food.

 

Good late morning, NBS folks!
It is shaping up to be a fairly nice albeit cloudy day here in Montreal. It is definitely feeling like fall, which I love since I use my bike to get around everywhere and this weather means I don't even break a sweat and there are far fewer other people on bikes to deal with. In the interest of making it feel even more autumnal, I plan on spending the day doing some things around the house, "de-summerizing" my balcony and hopefully catching a football game or two while doing so.
In the mean time, I'll hang around here and ideally will share and review a couple new beers.

Once again this week, I am trying to work my way through a glut of NEIPAs from a recent trip. Since I want to keep my palate sharp for the big hoppy stuff, I'm gonna start off with a Brown Ale from Treehouse. This is the first non-IPA I've had from them and I'm really curious to try it, as browns are among my favorite styles.

It pours ruby right out of the can but is dark ebony in the glass. It sports a middlin' head that soon is gone. The aroma and flavors are both very much caramelized nuts and bready medium roast aromas. The flavor is along the same lines with a little bright hop flash underneath that kind of lightens everything up. It feels quite nice with a growing, coating, malt sweetness that lingers after every sip. This is a nice brown that I'd have again.

You can tell the weather's getting cooler cause she won't even leave me alone to review a beer...


Here is my full review if you want to see it.

Cheers!

 

Greenport Harbor - Hazy IPL [02] Local to Locals

Today I'm going local. I don't have an automatic association of local beer beer with excellent or terrible beer, but I've certainly experienced both types. I seem to place higher value on European imports and large American craft brewers than the typical "let me take a picture of my beer" consumer, but sometimes I find a local that hits one out of the park... even if it's rare for me. If the only thing I drank was 16oz canned IPA, things might be very different. This seems to be the space that many were "forced" into... do or die.

Just yesterday, I drank two "pilsners." One from a very respected place out in California, and the other was from a brand new local place that is currently(?) contract brewing at a different new local place. My expectations for the local beer were really, really low. Boy, was I surprised. That local pilsner was great, and I would easily purchase more over that California beer.

I currently live on Long Island, NY - outside of NYC. I reside between two established breweries, in my eyes: one of them is not something I want to spend money on, and the other is in my top 3 favorite NY state breweries.

There's a organization called "Local to Locals" that was formed to highlight Long Island manufacturers and retailers. It seems like the organization is essentially a beer-centric one currently - and was spawned from this realm. Maybe that'll change in time. My first two beers today are beers in a series made to highlight Local to Locals. 10% of profits from these products go to Long Island charities.




My two favorite Long Island breweries are Barrier and Greenport Harbor (in that order). I'd even keep those two on top if including all of the Brooklyn and Queens breweries as well. Those areas are technically part of the island although nobody here colloquially thinks of them as such (in fact, this statement would probably even start a riot here). Including Brooklyn and Queens brings the competition up tremendously. Those areas have exploded onto the consciousness of beer fans worldwide, and there are important breweries opening up there in the near future. We're talking: Brooklyn, Other Half, Grimm, Evil Twin, Stillwater, Mikkeller, Sixpoint, LIC, and so on. Yeah, I still like Barrier and Greenport even more than those. I know that makes me look like a fool to many, but I'm not new to the game and I'm confident enough in my opinions.

Greenport Harbor's beers are not all great... far from it. For me they are "hit or miss" with odds not being too great for the consumer. Every now and then, they make something fantastic though, and as far as I'm concerned, Black Duck porter is an area classic that I hope sticks around through every fad.

Today's first beer is Greenport Harbor's Local to Locals beer 2 - "Hazy IPL." ("hazy" and "juicy" on a label feel so dumb... but that's just my lame perspective) This beer was canned a few months ago, so it's not an ideal beer for review.

This was a really nice beer. It was gold and very hazy (in the true sense... not opaque murk). The taste is lime and tangerine with some bitterness for the finish. Slightly doughy. The overall feel was smooth. This was very tasty and more elegant than wrecking ball minded.

@Greywulfken @beerloserLI

 

I figured you’d like this less than Triple Citra...since I liked it more. Everything is right with the universe.

 

Barrier - IPA With Cryo Hops [05] Local to Locals

And now I'm on to a different Local to Locals brew. This one is from Barrier - my favorite Long Island brewery as discussed in the post above.

This is yet another 16oz local IPA that isn't clear (my contributions today will be that and nothing but). This one was nice, but a step down from the Greenport Harbor beer in my eyes. It tastes of orange, a little bit of pineapple, and some vegetal bitterness.

 

Fair State is one of the best breweries in Minnesota. If you enjoyed their Pils, I suggest doing what it takes to get your hands on their Vienna Lager. I feel it's their masterpiece.

 

New beer #2. This has been one of the best beer weekends I can remember. I’m up to 4 new “really wanted to try” breweries so far this weekend. Creature Comforts and Parish, thanks to @JBowenGeorgia ...and Southern Grist and Bearded Iris, thanks to @Jimmy_Kneecaps . It will be hard to top this weekend.

Attention Please - Bearded Iris
DIPA - 8.2% abv
Canned 9/4/18 (19 days ago)
Score: 4.37 (-1.8% rDev)



Review:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/39925/265640/?ba=CanConPhilly#review

Synopsis:
A superbly well balanced DIPA. Near perfect mouthfeel, with tons of tropical smells and flavors. If this is typical of what Bearded Iris produces, then I want to try many more of their beers. Happy to have 2 more at least waiting in the wings, thanks to @Jimmy_Kneecaps .

 

Black Duck Porter is by far my favorite beer from them and the only one I will buy in six packs.

 

Oktoberfest is in my future. I was born in Germany but never made it to October fest there. Have been to plenty of other Oktoberfests and my German club hosts their annual rendition.

My new beer is...


DDH Mylar Daydreams by Other Half
4.43/5 rDev -0.4%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

Canned 9.6.18, opened 9.16.18

Can poured into a teku glass

Hazy golden amber, pencil thin foam cap quickly recedes, some lacings, settles to a faint ring

Aroma is citrus, tropical fruits, pineapple

Taste is tropical fruits, citrus

Smooth , taste the hops, no bite, low sudsing

Good beer