New Beer Sunday (Week 738)

Barrier - Classic

I'm featuring two Barrier beers today. Barrier has stated that this is a new year-round core beer for them. That seems a little presumptuous to me (let's see what the consumers think), but I wish them luck. This is a witbier brewed with blood orange and coriander. The front of the label states that this is a "classic white ale," but the side/back states "a new take on a classic recipe... northeastern white ale." Well... which is it? Those contradict each other. Looking at the fonts and layout below compared to the above, one would think that it was a variant of the above beer. Nope, same label.



One would guess that this is gonna be a NEIPA inspired witbier. There's some synergy there since earlier craft witbiers supposedly struggled at first due to their cloudy appearance being a break from expectations.

I suppose the beer in the glass supports this idea. This one is an opaque dried apricot color. Great/strong fruity aroma - peach, lemon, mango. Small head. Light bodied, but coarse and prickly. Taste seems like a big dulling down of the aroma. There's a slight bitterness that doesn't mesh with the beer. Tastes of orange, lemon, camomile tea, and dough. I'm not digging this.

 

Alright, alright, allriiight.

This is one I’m excited about. It went on my wishlist as soon as it was announced and @TheGent was generous enough to send it to me as a surprise.

Beer: Velvet Hand (ESB)
Brewery: Kane Brewing Co. (Ocean, NJ)
ABV: 5.3%

Pouring from a 16 oz. can into a whiskey tumbler glass, this beer pours out resembling a sweet tea. A deep amber/dull copper color with a murky finish. One finger worth of tightly packed, eggshell colored bubbles sits as the crown.

The nose carries a caramel that is similar to the caramel used for dipping apples, however it’s got a toastiness to it. There also seems to be an almost honey sweetness to it as well before it melds into light fruit notes of apricot, apple, maybe candied orange? and even notes of very slight lemon peel. The orange I’m picking up is almost like an orange dessert of some kind the way it mixes with the sweetness. I also get reminded of a sweetened tea with some lemon sitting at the bottom. I would like some more pronunciation on these notes, as I feel like I’m having to take pretty deep breaths to find them but they are pleasant and delightful, nonetheless.

The taste proves those light fruit notes that the nose was throwing my way. It starts off with apricot and apple before morphing into the quick and slight candied orange and finishing with a lemon peel presence. Those light fruit notes sit on top of a balanced and sweet, toasted malt backbone with the likes of toasted caramel and honey showing. Picture a fresh brewed tea on a hot sunny day that you pour over a few lemon slices and then drizzle some warm honey in. There is some butter that shows up at the very end; but it’s not thick like some ESBs I’ve had, where it resembles movie theater popcorn butter, it’s more of just a morph of everything going on.

I would say the mouthfeel is heavy medium bodied; full bodied for the style. Even though the sweetness is balanced in the taste, it contributes greatly to a thickness in the body.

Overall, this is a treat of a brew. It offers very respectable balance while showing different layers and complexities that all tangle together to make a winner for me.

Thanks to @TheGent ! I can’t wait to see what you have to say about it.

And hopefully @thebeers too!

 

In Jackson's Beer Companion, when he wrote about imperial stouts, he broke that chapter into geographic regions covering things like Britain, Estonia, "Baltic porter," and "tropical stouts." The latter focused on stouts produced in tropical regions such as Lion stout.

 

New Beer #4. Thanks @jhavs !

BA Table Dorothy - Hill Farmstead
Wine barrel-aged Table Beer - 4.6% abv
Score: 4.35 (-2% rDev)



Review:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/22511/399845/?ba=CanConPhilly#review

Synopsis:
Not at all what I was expecting. For a 4% table beer, I expected this to be light on flavor. In reality, this has lots going for it. Super-funky, noticeable bright citrus hops, with the wine barrel imparting lots of oak and tannins (but little booze). One of the best “bang for your abv buck” beers I’ve yet encountered. If you dig sessions that taste like they’re not, you will love this. Thanks again Jon!

 

Good afternoon to all the NBS faithful and many thanks to @lordofthewiens for a great start as always.
Well I can truly say that that yard work is in full swing here in central NH. Trying to get an early start on such things as getting the camper ready to go as we have a mid may trip to Virginia planned this year. So I've decided enough work for today except for the smoked lamb chops I'm making for dinner but that come later. Now on to my first beer today. This one is from my NBS BIF #9 box from @Ozzylizard and it is Weyerbacher Reserva

4.06/5 rDev -1%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Poured into a Weyerbacher tulip type glass it pours a murky reddish brownish color with a nice 1/2 whitish head on top.
The nose is funky with a nice tart raspberry smell perhaps a little earthy oak.
The taste is sour but not overly so lots of raspberry going on here. Really a nice blend it's hard to believe this is a 10% ABV beer.
The mouthfeel is pleasant lot of carbonation but not over the top.
I'm assuming this is a recent bottling as there is no date on the bottle that I can find. Very pleasant to enjoy now I would like to let one age a few years to see how it holds up.
I'll be back a little later with my mystery beer.

 

Lovely spring morning here in NE Illinois, reminds me a bit of January. I'll just keep warm with a BA Dark Secret from Brickstone.

Looks like dirty motor oil coming out of the can, thick and black. Very small dark brown head that's gone quickly, minimal lacing, but it leaves an oily film.
This has just about everything a big BA Imperial Stout should have. Coffee, vanilla, chocolate, caramel, ash and just the right enough bourbon notes to let you know its aged. I've have been trying to get Chicagos and Illinois best BA stouts this season and this is among the best!

 

Cool, and that makes sense. I happen to have the New World Guide at hand so I took a quick look, and in that one his terminology is different; saying how the West Indies Porter eventually gave way to the Foreign Double Stout. They're all very much in the same ballpark, no doubt, but it's still kinda cool to see these older terms resurrected.

 

That is some evil shit right there. Diabolical! I love it.

 

Good afternoon, everyone! (Well, it's afternoon here in the Central Time Zone...)

I'll swing back to catch up, but today with lunch, I'm having

Summit Cabin Crusher Kölsch with Lime



If you avoid the Kölsch style because you think it is boring and lacks flavor, don't let the Kölsch name cause you to turn away. It is certainly not boring nor lacking in flavor (although it strays from the traditional Kölsch.) I like it a lot.

Tall white, thick, creamy head from a vigorous pour, receding moderately and leaving sheets and spikes of lacing. Hazy straw, plenty of tiny bubbles visible.

Aroma is biscuit and faintly, lime.

Biscuit in the taste, with the lime more prominent than in the aroma, carrying on through the middle, resulting in a refreshing finish. At the initial taste, the lime obvious and bold. While the bold hit of lime does fade through the middle, it never disappears completely, remaining into the aftertaste. Other than the citrus, there is little to no bittering sensation. Biscuit malts, some sweetness, but the sweetness is offset by lime.

Moderate to thin body.

Refreshing and crisp. This is a great summer beer.

L: 3.75
S: 3.5
T: 4.25
F: 3.5
O: 3.75

BA: 3.87

ABV: 4.8%
IBU: 30

 

Retirement is a way down the road for me. Sad thing is, I'm ready now. I love the work with my students, but it just sucks up so much of my life. Don't get me wrong, I'd still find myself back at my school, but on on a voluntary basis---no paperwork, no compliance, no BS.

I wanna shout out to @foundersasap for sending me an amazing brown ale. I know a lot of people are, shall we say, uninspired by this style. But when one finds a good one, YASS!

Electron Brown by Michigan's own Old Nation Brewing Co.

Pours a deep brown. Sandy to tan, fluffy head rises up over a finger high, slowly recedes. Little retention after 2 minutes. Scattered lacing.
Smell is a rich espresso. But not one dimensional. It's bold, deep, complex. Not just a dark roast bitter aroma. There are aspects of a fruity coffee bean there, along with nuanced dark chocolate, caramel, and a smell similar to pecans being gently warmed in a pan.
Flavor is wow. Much of the same complexities mentioned in the nose, and then some. The espresso is assertive, but so graceful. Could sip on this for an hour, and probably still find more going on. Coming to the show now is an earthy note, some date, and hints piloncillo (unrefined Mexican sugar). Finishes with a round espresso bitterness that nods toward a greener fruitier coffee.
Mouthfeel is better than most browns. A tad chewier.
Overall, this is one of the best takes on a brown I remember trying.

4.09/5 rDev -1.9%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Plan on coming back with a mystery beer.

 

It's possible that it's a classic case of a brewer looking at terminology in a Jackson book and using the term for a beer style... even if Jackson wasn't implying that it was really a "style" in the first place.

 

That's some great milk!

 

It was indeed!

 

I’ve been listening to Neverlove since we talked about it the other day. It’s been 4 years since it came out and he apparently hasn’t released anything since. His style is pretty much the same on most tracks but with a different vibe on the musical selections. If you can find it, the title track on the deluxe edition I downloaded off the Apple store it is one of my favorites of his of all time. Feels like his old stuff the most. I searched YouTube but it’s not on there. I’ve enjoyed discussing all this with you this week. He used to put out an album almost every year so it seems like a winding down in his career.

A few friends and I lived in Bozeman and had a live hip hop band and dj show once a week at the local bar that all these guys would play when in town. Buck 65 was one of the few I’ve never seen live sadly enough. Headed there Wednesday to see Sage Francis and B Dolan play. Looking forward to that. Cheers amigo.

 

New Beer Sunday: German Pilsner

Afternoon NBSers, with an alert for folks in SE PA, there’s another fairly well done Pils showing up in cans.

This afternoon’s new Pils beer is the Sterling Pig Shoat. Sterling Pig is based in Media and has recently started canning some of their beers, and they also date them. This particular can was packaged on the 7th of March and so is still fairly fresh.

My review, still in progress but almost finished, can be found here:

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/41165/181204/?ba=drtth#review


The aromas and flavors are light but definitely present. There’s some herbal and very light floral character from the hops. The crackery malt provides some nice sweetness that seems almost honey-like and balances the herbal bitterness most of the way to the dry anding. I’m enjoying the beer and would be quite happy drinking another. It’s light, crisp, clean and refreshing (especially after a bit of yard work). While I don’t think it’s the best German style Pils I’ve had it does have some things going for it and I’ll definitely pick up some more of this one. I might even set up some side by side tastings with some of the other locally brewed Pils beers that are part of my regular rotation.

Cheers, all!

 

Cypress brewery alva
..cola brown color
..odd prickly carbonation with a slightly thin body
...aroma is roasted malt,cocoa, milk chocolate,
..taste is everything bitter, black coffee, bitter dark chocolate
..overall the body has a weak feel to it but it has a decent taste if you enjoy bitter chocolate/coffee flavorwhere is my nearest shell petrol station

 

Aack, where's my sun?! Yesterday was beautiful, but today's gloomy and overcast- so guess which day I set aside to work outdoors?

In any event, I'm enjoying a nice afternoon treat thanks to @Harrison8 -

Hang 'em High, an IPA by Torn Label brewing.

The nose is pretty vivid, yet somehow rounded at the same time. Tropical fruits dominate (pineapple, mango), but not too far behind there's also lots of tangerine and apricot. Mostly fruity, though, but way underneath there does seem to be a touch of that weed-y/sweaty hop funk giving just the right touch of pungency.

The palate does follow suit for the most part, although some citrus peel is also making a strong impression. The feel is mostly satiny smooth, initially sweet but finishing way dry, with a good kick of bitterness that ties in very nicely with the citrus peel aspects. Strangely there's a sense of delicateness and intricacy here, too- more in how everything's assembled rather than how potent the flavors actually are, reminding me more of Hill Farmstead IPAs than any other beer I've had to date.

I'm really digging it, and about 8 oz. into the glass it hasn't budged from the A range yet (4.4). Thanks again, Harrison!

 

Lollihop from Troegs.
3.94/5 rDev -1.3%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Pours a very slightly hazy golden color with a half inch white head that left a lot of lacing. Smell is on the mild side with citrus, tropical fruit and a bit of malt. Tastes of lemon, orange, cantaloupe, pineapple, sweet malts and a bit of bread. Medium bodied and carbonation, minimal bitterness, smooth mouth feel, very easy drinking.