New Beer Sunday (Week 732)

Enjoying another from @LloydDobler

Pours a mostly clear pinkish red with a thin white cap.
Smells of cherry, oak, slight funkiness.
Taste follows, very well balanced.
Overall a nicely balanced fruited sour.

 

I gave it a good sear on all sides alongside a couple of cloves of garlic in plenty of butter and olive oil. Then popped it in the oven for 15-20 minutes until it was cooked about medium rare, sliced it and served it with some homemade fries and bearnaise. Probably one of my top 3 steaks ever. It was really delicious. Hopefully I will get an internship at the butcher I got it from and I will have a lot more steaks like that in the future.

 

Very nice!

I wish for a lot more steaks like that in the future for you. And for me too!

 

I started this operation on Sunday, but as soon as I started to pop the cap , it started gushing. On to my headphones, among other things.

Orval was one of mine , on the What Beers Have You Inexplicably Not Had? thread, so here it is. Bottled 1/03/2017. Not sure if that is US, or European dating, but 2 yrs old +/- .
Whoa! ~2/3 head , to start with. Settles fairly quickly though.
Orangey-amber, with orangey-white head. Smells like raisins, dried figs, and bread crust . The taste is bread crust, dried orange rind, and leather. (It still seems like I'm holding a bit of rawhide in my mouth. I feel like I should tie something. ) . Moderate, lingering bitterness. Feel is medium, with some moderate carbonation tingle. Overall, I like it, though judging by others' descriptions, some aromas and flavors have faded, & it would be better fresher.

4.02/5 rDev -4.3%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/37/129/?ba=mikeinportc#review

 

Speaking of travel trips...
When I was getting ready to go to Phoenix a couple of weeks ago to visit family I did some research here on the ol' BA about what I should keep my eyes out for. Consistently I saw some variation of, 'get you some Tombstone hops.' Well, the dude abides.
I picked up a can each of Tombstone's base IPA as well as their Simcoe single hop, and have been looking forward to doing them as a side by side for, well, ever since I got back.


(my camera weird glitched as I was taking the picture. This is unadulterated and unintentinonal).


Appearance:
Both are decidedly opaque, with initial offerings of fuzzy little white heads, though the Simcoe edition seems a little more active right from the get go, and when it settles it finds itself with larger bubbles while the baseline IPA is more of just a dusting with the cuff. Initially the base IPA seems to leave the better lacing, but after working through them it's probably a slim lead the other direction. Base IPA is definitely more of the colloidal opaque variety, while the Simcoe edition can't be seen through, but looks like it might have a path towards clarity at least.



The base IPA has a more expressive nose as it leads in with bright tropical fruits and citrus... pineapple and orange a bit of mango and a touch of almost like cinnamon that I sometimes find in orange juice. The Simcoe by contrast is much more of the orange citrus and a touch of peach. I expected more earthy pine based on other simcoe beers I've had, but nah.

Sipping on them they were actually more similar than I expected, though I think I slightly preferred the Simcoe. Gone from the base IPA was the juicy sweet fruits, replaced instead with a pleasant bitter lead in that carries over to more dull bitterness with earthy orange pith.
The simcoe was very similar with the soft citrus character starting before the simcoe takes over with a decisive bitterness.

The simcoe was much drier and more bitter while the base IPA was incredbily creamy/smoothe with an odd coating/numbing sensation to the tongue.
Overall I think I preferred the simcoe version, but both were solid, though I was expecting more of the classic NEIPA, especially from the IPA. Other reviews suggested a profile closer to that, but with no date anywhere on the can I have no way of knowing if it was old or if my calibration is just different.



Glad to have gotten to try some Tombstone hops, but to be honest I found the Koffee Kolsch down there more interesting and even within the NEIPA style that's not my favourite I had other examples I found more compelling.

Cheers y'all!

Hopefully future NBS entries will reflect upcoming travels as well and I can review some new South African options!

 

So. I read that as " hell the fuck yeah you fuckers, of course I'm in!", right?