New Beer Sunday (Week 721)

Good afternoon, NBS!

I'm recovering from a very long weekend of beer-related events, so I will be taking it relatively easy today. A little recap of events:

Friday - woke up at 2:45am to pick up friends and drive down to the Freedom Toast release at Forager (Rochester, MN). We arrived around 5:30, dropped our chairs, and shared with friends until the release at 10. Long morning - but, ran in to quite a few friends who I don't get to see very often, so that was great. Freedom Toast was a bit sweet for me, though very good - rich, thick, lots of cinnamon. Certainly on a par with your national hyped pastry stouts.

Slept through most of Friday evening - pretty exhausting day.

Saturday - woke up early again and drove out to Central Waters for the Maple release. After about eight hours on the road, I was happy to be home for a bit... until friends dragged me out for some more sharing.

Long weekend of beer. My body is tired, and I've been drinking way too much. Looking forward to a little break today. It's beautiful out here in MN and the snow is even melting a bit - going to take the dog out for a bit and try to enjoy the sunshine. He may not look it, but I assure you, he's poised and ready for action.



On to beer. I'm drinking an Untitled Art NEIPA today - the beer is a collaboration with Minnesota's Lupulin Brewing, of whom I'm a fairly big fan... of their IPAs at least.



This particular beer doesn't seem to conform particularly well to style - given the title, I was expecting thick, hazy, sweet, and juicy. Certain aspects do align appropriately - the beer is thick and opaque, and there's definitely some juice to it. But, that juice seems to be more of the grapefruit variety, with quite a lot of hoppy bitterness. It doesn't finish all that clean either, which is a big pet peeve of mine. I like to drink many IPAs in a row - when they finish dirty and unpleasant, I'm more inclined to go back to water and call it a day.

While the beer boasts some decent qualities, I'm not particularly pleased by it. I'd give it a 3.5 at best - this is one of Untitled's less appealing beers of late. Hoping for better, as I just bought a wholllllllle lot of their cans yesterday.

Cheers, folks - hope everyone is enjoying their Sunday. Back for more later!

 

Awesome start, there, @cjgiant ... channeling @cavedave a bit, I see... Four new ones today. All diverse and celebrating the wide spectrum of excellent American beer at the end of 2018!

First up is this tasty fruited sour ale from Evil Twin... F is for Fruit Salad. This beer is a gose-style ale with salt, clocking in at 4.5% ABV and featuring a bevy of fruits. Blueberry, strawberry, blackberry, peach and blood orange are all present in this one. Juicy!



Pours an unremarkable medium-amber. I guess I expected this, but still would've liked to see it a little more pink, or purple or something, given the heavier inclusion of red/darker fruits, but this'll do. Small ring of nebulous bubbles that quickly disappear into nothingness. No lace or legs, no retention. Moderately translucent body, but it still looks more like a drab version of ET's "A is for Apricot" from last year.

The nose is pretty focused on the sweet citrus of the blood orange inclusion, but there's less apparent twangy sourness than in Sanguinem Aurantiaco, ET's blood orange sour. I can pick up a little of the blueberry and some medium-tangy blackberry qualities as well. Strawberry somehow seems a bit lost, but maybe it's just blending in well... as it warms up and opens, however, there's a sweet, bright note behind the initial sniff that seems like it might just be the strawberry trying to poke out.

Very peachy and blood orange focused on the tongue... slight red grapefruit juice before a wash of blackberry-like tartness and jamminess crowds the palate. Less sour than I expected, somehow, with a definite minerality in the finish. Fun to drink and only 4.5%. While I think it could stand to be slightly more acidic, it's quite fruity and enjoyable. I wish the individual fruits were a little more apparent, but that's probably hard to do with so many different ones. I remember feeling the same about Two Roads' Tropical Fruit Gose... it had Barbados cherry, mango, guava, passion fruit and pineapple and just felt a bit messy and lacking in direction compared to some of the more focused versions of their gose. This has some similar problems, I guess, but it's also a bit more drinkable and sessionable.

 

Nightmare continues with more torture-themed beer...

Drawn and Quartered DIPA...

Medium-dark gold and opaque with a little murkiness to it; tall head of white foam on top... Quadruple dry-hopped with Nelson Sauvin, Galaxy, Enigma, and Citra hops... Lots of super-ripe fruit impressions on the nose, ranging from the tropics to stone fruit orchards to citrus - peach, orange, mango, lime, grapefruit, and pineapple notes all leap to the fore... All o' that continues on the palate, sweet and juicy, big-bodied and soft... Bitterness is mild to missing, with ample sugars to make this a decadent DIPA with a big 10% abv... I personally like things a little leaner and cleaner, but this is delicious anyway... Like Scaphism, probably a very limited distribution, and something you'd be a fool to pass up on if it hits your stores...

Cheers...

 

Hmm, I am noticing a citrus (orange) theme today!?!

Cheers!

P.S. I personally try to avoid looking at the Tired Hands artwork on many of their cans - I find them to be disturbing.

 

IMHO this may be the best BA Stout from the Chicago area this year, and I've tried most of the "usual suspects".

4.34/5 rDev +3.3%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

L: Poured from a can, extremely dark brown with a brown head that fades quickly leaving a small ring and an oily looking glass.
S: Barrel, roasted malts, licorice and cocoa.
T: Mildly boozy, raisin, molasses, toffee, and hint of coffee.
F: Thick body, pours like a Ten-Fidy, smooth and creamy.
O: My 4th beer from Buckledown out of Lyons, Illinois. These guys seem to have it nailed it. I see a tap room visit in the near future.

 

New beer #5.

I Bless the Reins - Bolero Snort
IPA - 7.1% abv
Canned 11/28/18 (18 days ago)
Score: 4.18 (-1.4% rDev)



Review:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/29850/376085/

Synopsis:
My first Bolero can. This is incredibly savory. Like drinking a liquified pepperoni pizza. I love this taste, but ymmv.

 

My next door neighbor, whom I've known for many years, is a dedicated adjunct lager drinker who keeps a keg of Keystone Light on tap in his garage at all times. Every-so-often, I'll bring him some new beers from my travels around the country. I think I'm wooing him over to craft side little-by-little. Last week, he surprised me with a bottle of Appalachian Brewery's Argyle Sweater IPA. He and his wife and been to that brew pub, enjoyed it, and brought a bottle for me. I'm having it now and it's good!




Here's my review:

A - Mostly hazy orange with a 1-finger white head and very good lace
S - Tropical. Mango, ripe pineapple, honeydew melon, grassy and herbal, plus a whiff of herbal spice. Pleasant.
T - Pineapple, mango, light pine, french bread crust, aspirin, grassy and herbal. Finishes pretty clean with lowish bitterness.
M - Medium body and low-medium carbonation. Smooth and resinous.
O - Leans towards the NEIPA style. This is a new beer from Appalachian, which is near me. The best one I've had from them so far; although it's the first one I've reviewed. It's worth giving a try.

 

Dual post here. Two beers from Pizza Boy Brewing Company both with coffee, one with hazelnuts. I had no clue there were so many variations on this brew! Here are two of them.



First up, I'll review the base coffee beer.



Pizza Boy + Al Hampden's Sunny Side Up.

Pours black with a finger of khaki foam. Head retention is okay. Aroma is big ol' roasty coffee that comes off bold, oily, and acidic, as if it was brewed in a French press or cold steeped with no paper filtration. Beyond the bold and thick coffee is roasty, toasty malts, a little bit of char, and chocolate. Flavor profile is much more decadent and smooth, hitting notes of roasty, toasty, nutty malts, dark and milk chocolate, lactose, and big-bodied, bold coffee, again - tasting like cold brew. Think coffee from Surly's Coffee Bender or Mother's Winter Grind. Nice kisses of molasses and caramel sweeten up the flavor profile a touch further, while continuing the focus on roasty, toasty malts and bold coffee. Mouth feel is nearing on a decadent velvetiness straight out of the fridge, but warms to a nice decadent, velvety texture. It has a medium-thick consistency. Overall, aroma is a bit earthy, biting, and a touch too bold, but the flavor profile really locks it in here, delivering a tasty coffee brew steeped with complexity and deliciousness.

Score: 4 | 4 | 4.5 | 4.25 | 4.5 | BA Score: 4.33 | rDev: +1.4%



Pizza Boy + Al Hampden's Sunny Side Up w/ Hazelnut.

Pours black with a thin layer of khaki foam fizzling on top. Head retention is poor. Aroma is big, bold roasty coffee with a thick oiliness, and sharp acidity. Roasty hazelnut, roasty, toasty malts, and hints of dark chocolate, molasses, and black licorice line and lace the remainder of the aroma. Flavor profile is roasty, toasty malts with bold, but refined, coffee coming on hard and fast. Coffee is medium-bodied, medium-roast with associated dark and milk chocolate. Roasty hazelnuts add a little earthiness to the flavor profile. It develops a light black licorice taste at the finale. Mouth feel is medium-thick with a nice velvety texture. Overall, big and bold, the aroma screams coffee with the flavor profile really refining and filtering that down to a more distilled hit of coffee and hazelnuts.

Score: 3.75 | 4 | 4.5 | 4.25 | 4.5 | BA Score: 4.31 | rDev: +1.9%

Personal notes: these beers, as you might guess, are pretty much the exact same save for the hazelnut. While hazelnut is far from a preference of mine, I can't dock it based on this, as it is clearly noted on the can. Only area the hazelnut version lags behind is the head formation.

Cheers to @PA-Michigander for these two. He totally surprised me with this delivery, but I am very grateful!

P.S. If you've read this far, should I walk over and get a draft of an annual release and review? I've reviewed the base and each of its variants, but due to its once annual release, and the fact that I tend to send out any bottles I get of it, means I haven't visited the base in a while.

 

Two 8% Beers Tied at 4.34 … dont miss…+ 3 more 4.2s...
My first notable new beers in over a month... slowing to 1/day...

Super Cluster | Lagunitas
4.34/5 rDev +6.9%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
One of my all-time favorites as an explosive, nova of an IPA.
Up with the greatest, and the best from Lagunitas.
a) Clear, brassy, golden body, laden with hop dust, with tight lacing head.
s) "Citra hops changes everything" wrote a fave reviewer with whom I agree.
Splendid honey, melon, and orange aroma. Big bold tropical, floral forest.
t) Very big caramel honey base layer to support the intense, honey-bitter top layers of mango, pineapple, papaya and apricot and ... more... then landing in a juniper, gin martini pucker.
f) As clean as a martini, fresh, dry, cleansing, scrubbing, maintaining the excellence in long flowing after taste again of juniper, lemon, and gooseberries.

Basic Coffee | Carton
4.34/5 rDev +2.1%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
Love the expression "kills it" when it applies to extending the frontier of beer.
a) Golden clear - w tinge of dark - body sports a 1 finger head that lasts and laces.
s) The spice rise above fresh coffee base.
t) Can you taste them all? cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice, cloves, vanilla beans, cardamom, mace and orange zest.
o) better half of coffee?

Tangled Up | Carton
4.2/5 rDev +8%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Sour done well, Buy this. Thrilled to be its first review
a) Pours a berry tinged inky golden body that sprouts and supports a decent finger of head and lasting lace (at brewer).
s) Blueberry, yes, but mainly a lively vein of tart marbling your senses.
t) Sour coming dominant. A tinge / whiff of blue berry, green fruit, yeast, pickle.
f) complex, intensely sour as you'd like it to be, no halfway here.
o) Buy this and share the sour as a 1-of-a-kind delight.

Little Sumpin' With Mangoes | Lagunitas
4.2/5 rDev 0%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
Best Mango beer ever.
Had on tap at Rattle N Hum West NYC (East is closing - sad)
a) CLEAR - no fruit pulp, lovely extra vibrant color, mid-head.
s) A treat - it's beer not fruit juice, but the vibrant, big mango pops through.
t) Perfect. is it beer, tea, juice, or brandy?
f) Oily, resinous, satisfying.
o) Must try 24.

BRETT 1 | Carton
4.2/5 rDev +1.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
Brett 1 surmounts the other brewers' board offerings - all of them good. Please to be its first review.
a) 10oz pour at brewer mounts a 1 finger head that lasts and laces over a mostly clear golden body.
s) AMPLE aroma of bright hops(simcoe, citra, el dorado) balanced over a roasty, pale ale body.
t) Punches above its 6% ABV with flavor, especially fat at the brewer.
f) Creamy, pungent, herbal, refreshing... a food beer.
o) Lovely construction where Brett wins by an edge over Augie, Chris et al.

 

A-Pours a very dark brown with a nice head and lacing
A-Aroma has strong spice hints
T-The taste follows the nose with a strong spice flavor
M-A medium bodied decently carbonated beer
O-A decent Belgian style Quad

 

Two roads holiday ale
..pours a very clear ruby color
..just below average body with equal amount of carbonation
..aroma is light but yeast,sticky sweet dough, cracker and malt
..taste is mildly sweet yet it has a malt candy type of taste that lingers. The malt sweetness coats the mouth and lasts in a pleasant way
....overall it's a very decent holiday beer
...

 

Hey NBS!
I am back and am going to move on to another beer from Lawson's. This one is a double IPA, as opposed to the "normal" IPA I started with and is also the amped up version of the beer of which I spoke so fondly in my first post today (SoS). Double Sunshine.

It pours a crystal clear orange almost the color of the can. The head is nice, but short-lived. Aroma-wise it is floral and resinous with some hints of fruity sweetness. The flavor is a coating blast of mascerated tropical fruit with a solid resiny bitterness in the middle with malt and alcohol to hold it all together. It is drinkable, but definitely a big beer and one that coats your mouth in what makes me imagine fermented pollen. Floral and fruity, citrus oily and lightly tropical with some pine there as well. Very nice!

Here is my official scorecard.

Cheers and have a great week everybody!

 

Taking a quick break from Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (fun as hell!) to try this new black IPA from Aeronaut Brewing Co... X-Ray Night Vision. This beer was brewed to celebrate the release of an album by the Boston based rock band The Lights Out. They are not my thing, but their visual/live gimmick is kinda cool... I guess the drummer made an LED system worn by each member in the form of goggles (and on the bass drum) which pulses and lights up in time with his drumming and the vocalist's singing. Interesting. Too bad it's boring alt-rock. Ah well, this beer is anything but boring! Might be one of the most impressive black IPAs I've had in a while!



Pours as a pitch-black liquid into my glass, topped off with a luscious, creamy head of light-khaki foam. Very little light penetration in this one, even around the bottom, which is impressive. Insanely tight lacing and pretty solid legs. The use of Midnight Wheat is certainly felt here in the appearance.

The nose is daaaaank. Columbus hops are one of the best purveyors of straight-up marijuana-like elements when used in copious quantities, and this is just loaded with that element. Grassy, and pine-y as well with a surprising light note of orange along with the style-requisite charred grains underneath. Reminds me a lot of an old Clown Shoes beer, Lubrication. Must've been back in 2011 or so when I first had that. This brings me back, for sure.

Roasty up front on the tongue, but with a quick transition to intense herbal pine and light chive. Finish is more dank greenery and a slight hit of smoke. Dense maltiness balanced just right by a powerful hop-load... this is excellent! It sits firmly on the "IPA" side of the "black IPA or hoppy porter?" spectrum I tend to consciously consider when drinking stuff like this. I think the use of a less-neutral ale yeast, as they specified they utilized on the can label, helps with this, for sure. The light amounts of fruity esters thrown out here (such as the orange peel noted in the nose and a tinge of white grapefruit on the palate) really tip the scales and make this highly enjoyable.

Feel is light-medium bodied with an airy but fairly-firm carbonation and general approachable density on the tongue. It's not too hoppy or too burnt/acrid... just well-crafted dark hoppiness for those who are picky about such styles. Wish I grabbed some more of this one...

 

Good afternoon NBS and thanks @cjgiant for the start today, after yesterdays effort by @LeperJim I needed to go the pale wheat route today.
Ran and got the tree, and as a side note there where 2 gravity casks here in WMass about 10 minutes from each other, first was Brick and Feather with Sauron's Nightlight with fresh rosemary, fantastic, then the Peoples Pint had there 2018 Imperial stout release on cask with Madagascar vanilla beans. Both were exemplary!
Today's offering is from Chicago, my sweetheart returned with this from a business trip,
Oogie Boogie with Roobios Tea and Blueberry, the tea adds a nice feel, blueberries in the aromatics and lesser on the palate, the wheat base is executed quite well
Cheers all

Jungle Boogie - Blueberry

Marz Community Brewing
American Pale Wheat Ale / 5.50% ABV

4.1/5 rDev +1% | Score: 4.06
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Poured from an undated bottle into the test glass.
A - Pours a hazy tawny color, steady carbonation feeds a frothy white cap.
S - Autumn grains, blueberry, cut grass, earthy tea notes, warming releases, some light brown sugar, and toasted malt
T - A bit of pine, earthy tea, some soil, grape skin skin, blueberry is present but in balance.
M - Lite on the palate, excellent carbonation, semi sweet start, with fruit sweetness quickly run out by those earthy grains. Finish is nice and dry, linger has the fruit resurfacing as a calling card.
O - A very nice pale wheat beer, the Roobios tea adds nice complexity and contributes to a smooth feel. Well executed offering from a talented brewer.

 

Happy Sunday NBS players. Another dreary, grey, and wet day here on the island but unseasonably warm. I'm looking at another long week of vacation time but a lot of that time will probably be spent on interviews, that I have lined up, and my first is on Monday morning. Strongly considering a career or company change for the coming year.

Anyway, with the Jets playing yesterday I will be relaxing, loosely following the rest of the game day action and working some dinner prep for London broil. I've got a ton of new beers on hand so I'm hoping to have a few posts/reviews.

My first beer today is Goliat, imperial stout w/coffee, from TO OL, brewing in god damn Denmark. I can't make that o with the backspace in it. The brew checks in at 10.1 % abv and no apparent bottle date.

An oil slick black color on the pour with a fast and fluffy brown head of bubbles. The nose is pretty subtle and I really just get chocolate malt and slight smoke. Those notes carry right over to the drinking with big and robust chocolate malt, and smoke upfront. A rather smooth flow that finishes bitter. Lots of nice robust and roasted notes going on. The coffee comes off on the subtle side and seems to be more prevalent on the finish. More of a coffee/sugary/lactose mix of a flavor. Additional flavor notes of vanilla, caramel, brown sugar, burnt toast, and charred leather. On the lighter side of full bodied but it holds up well and really goes down fast for the abv. I've almost finished the bottle while typing this.

Overall, perhaps a bit different from the American examples but still pretty enjoyable stuff. Not as coffee forward as I would like but it's got a lot of depth. I'm right around a 4 here players,

 

Afternoon. Crappy day with crappy football and another six day work week ahead. Lets do a few beers.
Ive had this beer technically drank well after midnight last night so it was Sunday.
Heavy Seas 23 Triple IPA brewed with Citra, Simcoe, Mosaic and Cascade hops.
Pours a beautiful clear copper color with a tan head that has some length and surprisingly a bit of lacing for the alcohol content. Nice looking brew.
Aroma is tropical, floral, pine and and orange rind and juice. The earthiness from malts and color also leads you to believe this will be a beer on the malty side.
Taste is lots of juicy citrus mainly orange with touches of grapefruit. Earthy damp pine, tropical flavors of pineapple and guava all set atop a perfect caramel malt base. The 11.5% is fairly well hidden.
The finish is bitter but no hop burn due to the support of the malt base. The beer is pretty well balanced all things considered and the body is medium.
A nice IPA powerhouse from Heavy Seas. The malt is perfect to support the hops and not over power like some of these big ones. Be careful it goes down rather easy for 11.5%!