New Beer Sunday (Week 733)

Good evening NBS, hope everyone is enjoying the end of the weekend once again. Really windy out there today. Been going to a new local brewery every weekend now to get new beers to review. Went to Fillmore 13 and got 17 prowlers and a handful of bottles this afternoon. Will have to decide where to go next weekend. Will probably still stop in other places I already went before, to get the new stuff that went on tap since I was there last month. Review 8100 will be this week.

Beer:

Excellent NEIPA. Fantastic fluffy head retention/thick foamy lacing. Aromas and flavors of big tangerine, red grapefruit, lemon, lime, peach, pear, pineapple, apricot, passion fruit, papaya, mango, honeydew, watermelon, berries, citrus peel/zest, wood, mint, peppercorn, and pine hops; with moderate wheat, cracker, biscuit dough malts; and herbal, floral, grassy hop earthiness. Light pine, citrus peel/rind, herbal, floral, woody, grassy, peppery bitterness on the finish. Medium carbonation/body; creamy/bready/grainy wheat/oats, some sticky hops, and slight lingering resins/rinds in the mouthfeel. Lightly increasing lingering bitter dryness, no hop astringency. Super smooth/soft, minimal warming 7%. Awesome Simcoe, Amarillo, Azacca, Mosaic profile. Very juicy, vibrant, and fairly dank/earthy hops; with a great balancing wheat/oat/malt backbone. Mild residual sweetness with lingering dryness. Spot on NEIPA. Would buy again. 4.03


Cheers

 

I just back from grocery shopping at my local Wegmans. I noticed they still had a good size stack of 12-packs of Genny Bock there.

There is also a HUGE amount of Nugget Nectar there as well.

Cheers!

 

How about now (2019)?

Cheers!

 

I visited a new brewery in Houston today, True Anomaly. They only have a few beers on right now, and focus more on the pale side of things. Actually, looking at my pictures it was a little hard to tell which was which. As they all kind of have that same slightly hazed golden/yellow color. Though all three are very distinct from one another flavor wise.

First up, Small Giant Grisette/Low ABV Saison. 4.6% ABV.

Pours a golden/yellow with a good foam cap that rises to about two fingers. Plenty of lace. The aroma is very neutral. Almost nondescript, but a touch of crackers and grains poke through. Even a faint whiff of spice. Flavor is all cracker malts and light grains, with again a very subtle spice from the yeast. Crisp, dry, and clean. Enjoyable to drink, and something I can come back to with ease when at the brewery. If the Saison yeast character was more apparent, I think this would be stunning. Overall score 3.66 (I think I enjoy it a bit more than the numeric score would indicate). Full review below:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/55586/402908/?ba=champ103#review



Then I had Contact Light. A bigger Saison, dry hopped with Mosaic and Amarillo. 6.7% ABV.

Pours with a deeper haze, with a big two finger white head that forms. Good retention and plenty of lace. The hops are up front and center. With grapefruit, berry, and melon. Pine and bitterness lingers. Just a touch of spice and even some phenolic yeast. A medium body, with very good carbonation. Finishes dry. Again, for a Saison, I would like the yeast character to be more assertive. Though that does little to take away from my enjoyment. A good hybrid with an American IPA. Score is 3.82. Full review:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/55586/402981/?ba=champ103#review



The last beer I had this afternoon is Unless. A Berliner Weisse with no fruit or other additives. At 3.2% ABV.
Like the rest, pours with a touch of haze. At first a two finger white head forms, but recedes quickly. This is very simple, with orange rind and lemon. Acidic and tart. That acidity builds as this warms, with a bit of crackers and grains to help balance. This never becomes overbearing, with just enough pucker to keep me coming back. Downed in big gulps, and something I want to come back to again and again. Right now my favorite from the brewery. Score is 4.05. Full review below:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/55586/402910/?ba=champ103#review



Overall, I enjoyed everything I had. I would like a more assertive Saison yeast character for the two I had in that style. Though for only being open for two weeks, they are pretty good, and will be looking forward to more of these and other expressions of the style in the future. I really liked the Berliner Weisse. Glad they are keeping things simple with unique styles, and without a bunch of additives/flavorings/adjuncts for now. They also had a Belgian Dubble, American West Coast IPA, and NEIPA. I will certainly be back to try more.

OK, off to finish Yukio Mishima's Sea of Fertility "Tetralogy" this afternoon. The last book is "The Decay of the Angel" and I am almost done ...

 

The Dreamiest, a 7.8% abv imperial oat cream IPA from Other Half...

Features Mosaic, Citra, and Galaxy hops, oats and lactose; DDH with Galaxy hops and Citra and Mosaic cryo hops... 2/20/19 canning... Typical pale gold/orange juice-looking beer with a finger or so of white foam on top... The solid hop bill translates well, as this beer delivers a brightly fruity, citrusy, plush, and tingly profile... Like a lemon-orange creamsicle of beer...

Cheers...

 

Interesting to see them alter the abv for the canned US version. I wonder if the increased abv (i.e increased degree of attenuation) is intended to improve the shelf stability of the beer. I would imagine that this is the motive behind it. At 14.5% plato and 5.5% abv the original has quite a bit of residual extract, and if the beer isn't pasteurized they might worry about exploding cans in the US market. The bottled version strikes me as being rich with a definite sweetness, but I could see that being reduced by increased attenuation. I think the richness adds a rustic quality to the beer (along with the hops) and I'd personally be disappointed to see the beer changed for the sake of shelf stability.

 

NBS #2 is The Patsy (named for Patsy Cline), a 6.7% American IPA from Smoketown Brewing Station in Brunswick, Maryland. I bought this yesterday while visiting my sister and her family. The website describes it as a New England IPA but it (at least in my opinion) isn't. I had bought some Double Duckpin and wanted to find something local in that part of the state, the central part along Route 15. I didn't expect much but this is okay. Here's my full review:

3.84/5 rDev -0.8%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Named for Patsy Cline, which I approve wholeheartedly. Poured from undated can into a Spiegelau IPA glass. It pours a cloudy, golden-honey color with a large, fluffy, bright white head and thick, soapy lacing. The floral nose features lemon peel, tangerine, pineapple, and light hops. It opens with a lot of citrus: lemon, pineapple, and tangerine; very pleasant. There follows a wash of bitter, biting hops. I checked both the can and the website and the hop bill is not listed. But it finishes decidedly bitter. It has a full, rich mouth feel with a pleasant level of carbonation, and in this day and age the 6.7% ABV is pretty tame. Overall, while I wasn't expecting much this is an easy drinking, pleasant American IPA. The website describes it a a New England IPA, which I think is misplaced. Nonetheless, while there are many better American IPAs on the market, for a local brewer The Patsy is pretty good.

 

Happy New England IPA Sunday!

Pretty nice day on the Western Slope, cloudy, some sun, around 46 at the trailhead. Trails are drying up pretty nicely, but suppose to get some rain tonight or tomorrow. Having a very tasty brew from these guy's, glad to see them around here. Watching some Star Trek reruns. Might be back with another new brew later on.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/20680/401147/?ba=Wasatch#review

Cheers!

 

Interesting write up and comparison Jack. I would imagine that Genesee's Bock Beer is brewed to no more than 13% plato max (maybe lower still if it's lightly hopped and still not very sweet), akin to an American amber lager. With a German bock you know it will be at least 16% and the brewer will need to decide on the balance of flavors, richness and sweetness vs dryness and hops, for the higher gravity brew. I would think that this would make for an obvious difference between German bock beers and Genesee's Bock beer or something like Shiner Bock which as per their old FAQ is brewed to 10.9% plato (lower even than the average 11.3% German pilsner).

 

Fat Orange Cat milkshake IPA. This was very nice. Murky appearance, great head retention/lacing. Aromas and flavors of big juicy/lightly tart/tangy strawberries, mandarin orange juice, red grapefruit, lemon, peach, pear, pineapple, apricot, passion fruit, papaya, mango, honeydew melon, guava, blueberry, gooseberry, citrus peel/rind, peppercorn, and pine hops; with moderate vanilla, cream, wheat, cracker, biscuit dough, light honeyed malt sweetness; and herbal, floral, grassy hop earthiness. Light-moderate pine, citrus peel/rind, herbal, floral, grassy, peppery bitterness; and light fruit tang/tartness on the finish. Medium carbonation and medium-plus body; very creamy/silky/bready/grainy malts/lactose; some sticky/resins/rindy hops in the mouthfeel. Light-moderate increasing resin dryness, minimal hop astringency. Very smooth, minimal warming 7.3%. More bitter, resinous, and drying than expected; but not overwhelming. Feels like Citra, Mosaic, Galaxy hops. Well balanced between jammy strawberries, and juicy/dank/earthy hop complexity; with a nice sized lactose and wheat/oat/malt backbone. Minimal residual sweetness with lingering resin dryness. They have done far better on other NEIPAs in the past. 3.85


Cheers

 

Hi everyone. After a beautiful day yesterday, today is an icy, snowy mess. Here’s to something great in everyone’s glass.

Got this beautiful golden American Wild with fruit from the always generous @FlintB


Careful pour yields a slightly hazed straw colored brew with thin bubbly collar that leaves a hint of sticky lacing on the sides of my glass as I swirl.

Aroma of fresh ripe peaches bursts from the glass, sweet and earthy.

The flavor is full of up front peach. Tart and sweet, rich and juicy. A tiny bit of funk and balancing oak adds a deep layer of flavor and richness.

Champagne yeast gives the brew a lively, but smooth carbonation on a medium body brew.

Excellent flavor and beautiful execution of peach addition. Fruit flavor is perfect level, subtle but not ignored.

 

Hello NBS friends. I have a couple of beers from the Northeast today. First up, this DIPA featuring Curaçao orange peel.



4.34/5 rDev -0.7%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25

Pours a hazy orange color with a a soapy off-white head. Looks like an Alchemist DIPA.

The nose is filled with dank citrus aromas, and a prominent aroma from the orange peel. The orange peel is even more noticeable on the taste, to the point that it approaches distraction, but then the malt reels it back in, providing a much needed balance to this uber flavorful DIPA.

The mouthfeel is full, with a grip - nothing pillowy here. If you don’t like orange peel flavors, this beer will be a challenge, but if you do, it will be in your wheelhouse. I do, so I really appreciate the execution that Alchemist always brings to their beers in my experience.

 

Delicious Rye English pale ale. Fantastic head retention/thick soapy lacing. Flavors of big lemon, orange, peach, pear, melon, apricot, red apple, licorice, citrus peel/rind, wood, mint, peppercorn, and pine hops/yeast; with moderate cracker, spicy rye, biscuit dough malts; herbal, floral, grassy hop and yeast earthiness. Similar/muted aromas. Slight touch of diacetyl. Light-moderate pine, citrus peel/rind, herbal, floral, woody, grassy, peppery bitterness on the finish. Medium carbonation/body, and fairly crisp/clean finishing. Balanced creamy/bready/grainy rye, sticky hops, and some resins/rinds in the mouthfeel. Light-moderate increasing bitter dryness, no hop astringency. Very flavorful, pretty refreshing, 5.5%. Great balance of clean pale/rye malts, citrus/earthy Mt. Rainier hops, and restrained English yeast fruitiness. Really delicious. Was not sure what it was supposed to be at first(Just said Golden Rye), but the English yeast stuck out immediately. 3.91


Cheers

 

Wiseacre Symphonic with Pears, an Oak Aged Wild Ale with Bartlett Pears, 8.1% ABV 4.16 Overall, bloody tasty!


Pours an effervescent gold with one finger of fast falling eggshell colored head. Some haze as the bottle empties, zero head retention & lacing

S: Pears & funk, fades a little down the stretch

T: Follows the nose, tart lemon as well & a little grassyness as well up front. Dryness mixes in with sour, tart & sweet pears, alittle lemon sweetart as well & pineapple. Finishes tart with dryness & pineapple kind of dominating the fruitty notes mostly sweetness coming through

MF: Medium body, delicate carbonation, a little acidity creeps in once warm

A welll done wild, that is very drinkable

 

Oh. I gotcha now. Their description just raised an eyebrow before I opened it due to logic. I liked the beer a lot and it was just what I’d expect from a modern American notion of a Belgian table beer (which is a bigger beer than what I’d expect from a Belgian or French table beer). Cheers.

 

Awesome DIPA. Great rocky head retention/soapy lacing. Aromas and flavors of big mandarin orange juice, red grapefruit, lemon, peach, pear, pineapple, apricot, passion fruit, papaya, mango, honeydew melon, guava, blueberry, citrus peel/rind, wood, mint, peppercorn, and pine hops; with moderate honey, white bread dough, toasted biscuit, light caramel malt sweetness; and herbal, floral, grassy hop earthiness. Light-moderate pine, citrus peel/rind, herbal, woody, floral, grassy, peppery bitterness on the finish. Medium carbonation and medium-full body; very creamy/silky/bready malts; some sticky/resinous/rindy hops in the mouthfeel. Light-moderate increasing resin dryness; no cloying/astringency. Dangerously smooth, not overly aggressive, minimal warming 9%. Fantastic Galaxy/Mosaic profile. Super juicy and fairly dank/earthy hop complexity; with a nice sized dark/bready malt backbone. Light residual sweetness with lingering resin dryness. Not overly sweet/heavy. Glad I got the 4 pack as expected. Spot on Midwest Style stuff. 4.1


Cheers

 

#2, you put maple syrup in a stout, you will need a restraining order to keep me away from it.



4.44/5 rDev -0.2%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

The pour is obsidian black with the most gorgeous dark tan head you’ve ever seen. The maple is immense identifiable on the nose, and there’s also coffee and vanilla notes, too.

The maple is prominent on the taste, too, and there’s also cinnamon and coffee notes, and vanilla at the very end of the taste. The mouthfeel is creamy and full, to a greater degree than I’ve seen in most of not all beers of this style I’ve had.

Tree House is known for their IPA’s. I thin their stouts are better.

Yep, I typed that.

 

I've had the same experience with a lot of midwest and east coast IPAs that describe themselves as west coast IPAs (and west coast brewers who think they're brewing NE IPAs, really). Maybe it's what the brewer thought they were doing, but, no.

 

Kind of a late entry for me this week, but there are reasons! Was taken out by the girl I've been seeing last night for my birthday (which isn't actually until next Saturday but I'll be away then)... she got us reservations at a Brazilian steakhouse I've never been to and surprised me by inviting our mutual friends, which was spectacular! She's a special one for sure. So we stayed out pretty late and I went out with family today for a birthday lunch celebrating my birthday as well as my mom's and sister's (we're all in the same mid-late March birthday period). Finally done grocery shopping and drying some laundry now, so it's a good time to sit down with a new beer.

I've never heard of Offshoot Beer Co., but I did notice that the can says "From Your Friends At The Bruery," so I guess this is, well... an offshoot? The can also says this is brewed "in Placentia, CA and under special agreement Lakeland, FL" which I'm just going to assume means that Cigar City is helping them out in some way here. Anyway, that's not super important... how's the beer?



Pours an utterly opaque creamy golden/orange color with a massive head of dense, sudsy foam. The first small pour of this one built up to almost four fingers, which nearly spilled out of the top of my glass! Since then, I've been pouring a bit at a time and mostly getting about a half-finger each time. Interesting. Not much lace here, but the head is well built and the legs are solid enough. It looks the part, essentially.

The nose is yeasty and laden with the requisite tropical notes of passion fruit, pineapple and mango with slight undertones of apricot, melon and grapefruit/tangerine peel. It definitely has that dusty and estery, yet strangely-creamy note (reminds me of Cream of Wheat hot cereal in a way) I've picked up in some bigger-distribution NEIPAs. Last one I had that sorta reminded me of that was Bell's Official, which was kind of plain. This pops a little bit more than that one did, but it still has a sense of anonymity to it, which I'm sure isn't helped by the fact that it just hit our market but was packaged on 1/12/19. I'm not sure why these bigger breweries with national distro think they can make any real difference in the local hazy IPA market when they're pushing out stuff that hits shelves almost two months old right off the bat, but that's another argument for another time.

The flavor here is tight and punchy, with a good hit upfront of melon, papaya and mango flesh with a mid-palate consisting of oat-like maltiness that turns over into creamy and soft juiciness in the finish. Very smoothie-like despite no adjuncts, for sure. Once again, though, it's just sort of plain. I expected this, of course, but I wanted to give it a good shot. I think it was pretty affordable compared to a lot of other NEIPAs, but I would rather pay a little more to be blown away than buy more of this sort of thing. Enjoyable, but nothing special.

Cheers all!