New Beer Sunday (Week 740)

The SPMA (you need to trademark this...’sup, ma?) has done major damage to my porch in the last month. @JBowenGeorgia hit me recently too, and I know he has devious intentions. Good thing I’m a big fan of Southeast breweries! Been waiting to use this J Wakefield glass for forever, and figured Funky Buddha was close enough!

 

Good morning NBS! I’ve been noticing more Half Acre on the shelves in Cleveland so had to check out their DIPA.

16oz can dated 4/4/19 poured into a tulip
A: Clear orange, 1.5 finger head, small bubbles
S: Tropical fruit, orange, honey, a bit of pine
T: Matches the nose, but more pine than honey
M: Medium to full-bodied, though as others have said surprisingly not full and the 10% abv is completely hidden
O: A well-made, tasty DIPA
4.5/4.5/4.25/4.25/4.25

 

Good Morning NBS and thanks to @lordofthewiens for the intro. I am astonished at how some view Vaccinations and the benefits to the individual as well as the greater public health.
Seems a good look back to before these were implemented should be part of basic education. For that matter add the improvements in water treatment over the last century to the same education.
Today's offering was suggested by my local beer shop buyer, and a good one at that. The use of Jasmine in a pilsner might cause me to pass, but his excitement was enough for me to try. Glad I did, not only is the base Pilsner quite good, the delicate use of the Jasmine adds a delicate herbal accentuation.
Worth trying for sure
We are of to Brick and Feather, its Slow Pour Sunday. The focus is on the release of thier Franconian Lager, and poured in proper lager fashion. Always a treat
Cheers all


Matsurika

Japas Cervejaria
Bohemian Pilsener / 5.00% ABV

4.09/5 rDev 0% | Score: 4.05
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

Poured from an undated can into the test glass
A - Goldenrod colored backdrop with excellent clarity. Steady and hypnotizing carbonation moves with determination. A quick to exit white cap can be coaxed, but is quick to leave.
S - Pilsner malts, floral hops a bit of green tea in there as well, a bit of lemon, and honeysuckle.
T - Semi sweet malt, cracker with a bit of lemongrass, again with the hint of green tea, adds a very nice thread to the offering.
M - Light on the palate, sweet start quickly dries out, Crisp but the texture is soft maybe from the Jasmine? Either way very pleasant. The linger is herbal and dry as well.
O - A very good Pilsner. The use of Jasmine is intriguing, and has only a positive impact on a delightful offering

 

I have been cutting back on IPAs/DIPAs lately but was in the mood for something hoppy and came across Fat Head's Benjamin Danklin and picked up two singles. Good beer and quite sticky and well, dank, and IMO better than Head Hunter and I would take this over HH if I had to choose.

 

That statement/thinking is a prime example of survivorship bias too... no medical training is required to demonstrate the logical fallacy.

 

Love their beers, this is one I haven’t seen , I’m meeting my brother next week in Gettysburg I’ll have him bring me a few beers. Have to say I enjoyed the Hardywood Lager I had last week, where I’m usually looking for something a bit hopper in a Pils.

 

Morning NBSers! I had a plan of chilling, knocking out some NBS brews and watching NASCAR today, but.

While working security for roller derby last night, got a text from friends asking if I wanted to day trip to Garden Path (a fermentarium owned by a couple former Jester King employees) in the next county south. Sure.

Will post from there.

 

Brouwerij Van Steenberge - De Garre Belgian Ale (Tripel)

First off, I'm cheating. I normally only feature beers here that are new to me and consumed on Sunday (go figure). This one is new to me, but I had it last night. Figured some might enjoy seeing this anyway so here goes.

Van Steenberge is most famous for their Gulden Draak... which they have called a dark tripel in the past (to the extreme annoyance of some... but there's nothing wrong with that claim). This beer is the house beer of the De Garre pub and it's also a tripel. It also happens to be the highest rated tripel on BeerAdvocate. At 11% ABV, one would think that the alcohol level has something to do with it being on the top of the list. I pulled out my new Corsendonk glass for the occasion (but in hindsight, I guess I should have used my Gulden Draak glass). Corsendonk's tripel is a new favorite of mine. The glass is a bit ostentatious, but I still like it.

The beer is a beautiful amber color. Prickly carbonation. The beer is heavy, rich and luxurious. Big body for the style. Alcohol is present, but not at all overpowering. It's spicy and sweet like many other tripels, but it's a bit louder in those departments. There's a fruit pie quality... like a piece of cherry and apple pie with a thick crust and a small scoop of vanilla ice cream on top. That makes it sound like a modern dessert stout, but I don't mean it that way at all... we're talking hints here... not liquid dessert by any stretch. There's a bitter finish to it as well.

This one was quite nice. It literally put me to sleep.

 

Your life is like a movie (at least from the outside looking in).

 

Ya oughta see it from the inside.

 

Maybe there are pouring instructions on the back of the can, but unless they obviously state "pour hard" (or whatever) on the packaging, I'm of the opinion that "the poor head production is all on" them rather than you for pouring it normally.

 

Good morning all y'all goobers.
@lordofthewiens thank you for that intro. I firmly believe that vaccines are the single greatest public health innovation since hand washing, and like @JBowenGeorgia encourage people who are sick (either themselves or their progeny) to stay home and for once at least ignore the old adage about sharing being caring. I understand the logistical concerns that can create, and without diving too deep into politics just wish that we had a better approach to such issues in general. As someone who works with an immunocompromised population, every time I'm sitting on the bus, or standing in line at the grocery, or (the worst) sitting on a plane and there's someone hacking and sneezing and generally sounding like they may lose an organ along with their secretions, I go into full chrysalis mode and silently and internally curse whoever isn't even bothering to cover their cough, instead opting to shower their neighbours with their internals because the alternative would involve the horrifying thought of putting their device down for a single moment and potentially missing who knows what.
/rant over.

Beer.

Ask @beertunes about Wander brewing. He likes them. (EDIT: and I typed that out BEFORE I saw Terry post about his incipient Skagit adventures!)
Today I've got an IPA they fermented on local grown cranberries called, She Wore a Cranberry Beret.



I'll be honest: aesthetically, I find this one pretty unappealing. The body is a muddy ruddy orange brown. Fizzy head of dirty snow off white dissipates pretty quickly leaving little more than a ring and a dot. Good thing appearance is the smallest component, yeh?

The nose is, thankfully, not a similar let down. This ends up being the best aspect of the beer, and I don't mean that as a slight to the flavour, either. Initial burst of citrus and some berries and, like... maybe elements of a deeper floral character? If we're talking specific hop characteristics above, my limited understanding suggests some mosaic and.... I dunno something starting with a 'C.' Really like this side of it.

Sipping gets an immediate bitingly tart/bitter note that is undeniably cranberry. Cold, it's sharp bitter cranberry (the bitter/tart of unsweetened cranberries or like the unripe aspect of other berries), and then buried underneath this is a richer ribbon of sweeter berry-ness. Citrus again and a dull earthy bitter throb.
Cold the impression is of a bell curve, where there's not as much build up as I would like, then a big swell of that bitter/tart described above, then not as much depth to the followthrough as I would like. As I work through the glass and it warms it gains depth and the edges of that bell curve fill out a bit, but I would still like a little more.
Body is thin for me with lively carbonation and a finish that is dull but also has some berry depth to it and is again undeniably cranberry.
One's feelings about this beer are ultimately going to hinge on their feelings regarding cranberries (unsurprisingly). It does a good job of doing what it presumably set out to do, but even as someone who likes (not necessarily loves, but likes) cranberry, my final verdict is that I feel its really more solid and interesting than it is necessarily great. It's definitely not one for everyone. I'm glad to have tried it, but I'm satisfied with a one and done.

Hope you've also got something good going on this AM, and cheers!


Come on: the musical accompaniment was never going to be anything else.

 

A-Pours a very dark amber color with a very generous head and lacing
A-Aroma has generous malt hints
T-The taste follows the nose with a malt flavor
M-A medium bodied well carbonated beer
O-A good India Pale Ale

 

For the 2ond week in a row Twin Elephant Brewing has thrown a curve ball. Last week they brewed a Helles Lager now they have brewed an English Bitter Ale. as usual they did a nice job. This ale is 4.3 ABV. It pours a golden bronze with a thin white head. There is a nice aroma of fruit and malt. I found it to be bready with hints of caramel. The mouthfeel is medium and the finish is day. Overall a nice session ale very enjoyable.

 

New Dogma Sunday

@2beerdogs sent me a couple of Mystery Beers for our traditional blind tastings. I had one yesterday, and in what may have been a NBS BIF first, and great idea, Derek tried to pull one over on me by wrapping up a beer I had reviewed before. I was pretty much on the same page as last time, but did find that it drank a little heavier than the style. Hard to get any Mosaic by me though. You can check it out in our BIF thread here:
NBS BIF #Nein: Awesome Bill from Dawsonville H&H thread
NBS BIF #Nein: Awesome Bill from Dawsonville H&H thread

This time he may have me.

Outside of Buddy Jesus, the only information provided is “52 degrees is fine”.

It looks like a raspberry- plum juice based smoothie, but it is very highly carbonated. As in audibly. It fizzed like a seltzer, producing a pinkish head that almost immediately disappeared.

Initial aroma is surprising. Lots of brownie like chocolate to me. And a marshmallow like vanilla. Starting to get roasted malts that are reminiscent of a barrel aged stout.

Definitely some bourbon barrel flavor right off the bat with some milk chocolate, and sweet marshmallow cream before it gets tart/sour with a raspberry/blackberry to red grape/plums fruit and a little bit of prickly feel.

The body is not as heavy as some of the traditional barrel aged stout flavors would normally be. I can get a little alcohol out of it though so I’m guessing it is still going to be higher than what the feel would indicate, which is more like 9%ish.

If I had to take a stab at it right now, I would say that this is a bourbon barrel aged stout featuring a fruit purée of raspberry and blackberries. If it was a truly blind tasting, I would suspect it was an infected barrel aged stout. Interesting. I will continue to let it warm to see if anything opens up.

 

A-Pours a nice clear amber color with a nice head and lacing
A-Aroma has malt hints
T-The taste follows the nose with a malt flavor
M-A medium bodied well carbonated beer
O-A good India Pale Ale

 

New beer #3.

Ain’t Nothing Nice - Other Half
DDH IPA - 6.2% abv
Canned 4/9/19 (19 days ago)
Purchased for $18/4 at Other Half
Score: 4.12 (-3.3% rDev)



Review:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/33510/288679/?ba=CanConPhilly#review

Synopsis:
Reminds me a lot of an aggressively dry-hopped Daisy Cutter, if such a thing existed. In-your-face grassy hops impart bitterness, with caramel malts providing equal levels of sweetness. Booze is invisible, and the heft of the body is impressive for a 6% ipa. Grassy hops aren’t my thing, but tried to rate this without that bias. Definitely full of flavor, I’ll give it that!

 

Poured into a 13 oz Funk Brewing Teku glass, bottled on 3/07/19 brewed with Dragon Fruit, Yumberry, Passion Fruit, Pear, and black carrot juices. Pours a very clear and attractive pinkish ruby, with a finger off white head with some pinkish hues and leaves thick streaks of lace as it slowly settles into a thin layer of white bubbles. 4.25

Smell is passion fruit, pear, rhubarb, and some hints of pink grapefruit not over the top and nicely balanced. 4.25

Taste follows getting what I a can only assume is the dragon fruit, passionfruit, pear, rhubarb, and pink grapefruit. 4.25

Mouthfeel is above medium, plenty of prickly life, maybe a tad dry, and has more flavor than most at 6.5% ABV but very drinkable. 4.5

Overall this is some really solid and as DFH often does, very unique stuff. Has a hint sour and mixed with an IPA, I am enjoying it. 4.25

 

Krusovice Imperial
Czech pilsner
5% ABV
Best Before: 19.02.2020 (no canned on date)

This was something I had never seen before in my area, and had almost a year left on the best buy date, so I grabbed some. According to the can's flavor-text the brewery is from the Zatec area of the Czech Republic, home of Saaz hops, and "their flavor is present in every sip of our beer." I will concur this is nicely hopped. Spicy floral with a lingering grassiness. There are prominent malts too, a wave of grainy sweetness peaks early and recedes quickly as the second wave of hop bitterness peaks a few seconds later and fades slowly. It's very good. We don't get enough Czech lagers in these parts. Glad I got it.



Edit: and thanks to @lordofthewiens for health PSA. I am all for a nuanced debate on most issues. I try to be aware and understand differing opinions and gray areas in our lives. But on vaccines there is no place. Disease and germs don't care about our moral debates or accept any compromises; they ruthlesslessly exploit any weakness provided. There is no middle ground.