New Beer Sunday (Week 742)

You know, I almost wished I had a glass like that!

I can’t believe I don’t! But yet Fake Gold keeps sending the beautiful thing!

 

I really enjoyed the natural grapefruit peel bitterness that you mentioned in your review. It’s why this one was my second favorite of the group.

I do not really like Jammer, as I think it falls way flat for the style, but I thought the citrus elevated it nicely with the acidity I sought in the base beer.

Overall, my favorite of the group. Hadn’t thought of it all coming together as “creamsicle” but that’s the best way to sum it up.

You must plan your pairings in advance?

You don’t always just happen to have the perfect dessert pairing laying around for the beer you’re drinking?

 

Next up is a beer from the BA who is generous on levels of monstrosity.
Ladies and gentleman,
@TheGent

This one I am very excited for, as I’m always interested in what Kane is doing. Not only that, this will be my first experience with the Sabro hops I keep seeing.

Beer: The Sea Stares Back Again
Brewery: Kane Brewing Co. & Troon Brewing (both NJ breweries)
ABV: 9.6%


Pouring from a 16 oz. can into a Tree House Willi Becher style glass (that was gifted from @TheGent as well), this beer pours out like a mix of what would be orange juice and blood orange juice. Completely hazy and forms a finger worth of tightly packed, tingy yellow bubbles to rest on top.

The nose brings in fruit notes of mango, orange, tangerine and even white grapes while having a creamsicle like sweetness as the background. Smelling deeply brings out a dank, musty skunkiness along with a kiss of pine tips.

The taste touches the tongue with that musty dankness before showing way to the fruit it has to offer. Peach flesh, dried cantaloupe, white grapes and wild berries.

The mouthfeel is dry, more resembling wine than beer at some points except for the spritz it leaves on the tongue and the creaminess it has to offer. It does dry your whole mouth out though. It also offers a sharpness that lets you know you are sipping on something close to 10%, but I wouldn’t say it’s causing an imbalance because of it.

Overall, I didn’t pick up any coconut I was expecting to because of the Sabro hops but nonetheless enjoyed the beer and experience. It’s complex with layers that are usually found in IPAs, but not tangling together throughout one IPA itself. For that, I enjoyed the experience.

Huge thanks to Anthony!
Cheers NBS!

 

If you can remember what swag you got, from, in which BIF, at this point; you are doing better than me!

 

Speaking of NBS BIFs, we did a Secret Santa mini-BIF last holiday season. I still have my Mystery Beer from that event. It's a 22, wrapped in gift paper, and the only clue @Harrison8 gave me (aside from being able to see the logo on the cap, which I don't recognize) is 10% written on the paper.

I'm going in, alone. If I don't make it out, well, it's been nice knowing y'all!

 

Welcome, man! I hope you enjoyed it. I thought it was a unique departure from Kane’s usual offering.

A couple comments now that you’ve had this...

This comment here is the reason why I said that Hop Butcher beer was my favorite Sabro IPA so far. Cause it thought it really dominated in that beer, unlike this Kane IPA. The Sabro did not stand out here, although I think it contributed to the beer.

These are part of the reason why this beer took me to Belgium.

 

Greetings all and a happy mothers day to any mothers in the crowd. Speaking of which, has Utopia Jane been around in a while? I miss seeing the pictures of her amazing looking dinners. Anyway, it's a miserably cold and dreary day today here in Boston but we had a nice brunch with my mom nonetheless.

I recently realized I've been ignoring a bottle of 2017 Bourbon County Stout at the back of my fridge that I purchased sometime last Fall. I kept waiting (in vain it turns out) for the right time to crack it over the winter and with it now being May, I figure I better take advantage of this chilly grey day. I'm pretty sure I haven't had a BCS since the 2016 vintage, so to the best of my ability to remember this is a new beer to me.



Look: Pours a thick jet black and I can't get much of a head to form no matter how roughly I pour it. Even some vigorous swirling in the glass only brings up a few wisps of bubbles which disappear quickly.

Smell: Soy sauce, black strap molasses, bourbon. A little licorice and tobacco as well.

Taste: still getting that soy sauce. There's a good hit of bourbon, as well as more of that licorice and molasses flavor. The bourbon sweetness lingers in the cheeks a bit. It's been a while, but this does not seem to be as complex as I recall BCS being. It's pretty blunt tasting.

Mouthfeel: I know this is never a particularly carbonated beer, but it feels notably flat and syrupy in the mouth.

Overall: I fear this got oxidized a bit. It seems overly flat and lifeless and the soy sauce flavor is much more pronounced than I ever remember experiencing. I generally think of BCS as pretty much the canonical example of the style, and this just isn't particularly good.

Since I only bought this last fall (where it then lived in my fridge ever since), my guess is that this bottle had a rough life before it found its way to me. I never have the discipline to age beers, so I was hoping I could cut corners by buying this already year old version which was priced the same as the 2018 bottles next to it. Perhaps that should have been a clue.

Oh well. Cheers all!

 

I’ve never seen that before. Sounds like a CANBIF bottle...

If you haven’t had Four Winds Nectarous, it is one to seek out. It sits deservedly in the top 5 of the top Canadian beers list here, in my opinion.

 

I remember the swag you sent, too (bottle opener and Wander glassware).

 

#2, this is DFH American Beauty, their APA collab with the Grateful Dead.



4.19/5 rDev +8.8%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

Slightly hazy copper color with a light tan head, the first aroma I get on the nose is a nice beefy caramalt, followed by the honey, then some nicenpiney hops.

The hops are more forward on the taste, but the honey is what I mos appreciate on the taste - that and the caramalt provide a flavorful balance that is really enjoyable. DFH did a really nice job with this, IMHO.

 

This, right here, is a damn fine barrel aged saison!
Cheers!!

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/9784/415959/




500 ml. bottle.
Bottled 11/29/18.
Moderate to vigorous pour yields a 1.5 inch creamy white head over a hazy, golden body with some lacing. Nose of funk (first and foremost), a bit of botanicals from the Tom Cat gin barrels, and slight cracker. Taste mirrors nose nicely and exhibits more of the barrel aged gin qualities. Nice feel with a refreshing, semi-dry finish. I've had the gin from these barrels, and a few beers aged in said barrels, but this is quite possibly my favorite result of their secondary use. Cheers!

 

I grew up and lived my first 40 years about 20 miles east of Rochester NY. Spent time in the Buffalo/Niagara Falls region. Somehow, never heard of Sponge Candy until now. In a beer. From Buffalo. Via Kansas City and @Harrison8 :

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/35586/127699/


Huh. I'll be damned.

Well, maybe I screwed up. @bstoos did you send me this in the Rookies BIF?

 

I think I sent two mystery beers that go-round and I don't recall what the 22 was, so... good luck.

I noted the ABV last minute, as my box contained a mystery beer that was 14%. It would have been one hell of a surprise to open up that crowler at the end of a night only to find out it was 14%. I'm thankful they listed the ABV!

 

Settling in for the night. This one from @kemoarps , thanks Kestrel!


12 ounce can dated Jan2919. Poured into a tulip glass.
I’d say it’s as close to black as you can get. Fluffy latte cap of foam, some lacing.
First whiff is heavy roast coffee, in fact it’s all coffee. Like strong espresso coffee.
Tastes is, you guessed it, Coffee first and foremost, rich chocolate, medium roast. This is a wonderful one dimensional beer. No bitterness or acridity from the coffee. This isn’t diner coffee, definitely a higher level of coffee you’d pay a premium for.
Grainy and on the thinner side, a slight knock from me.
If you’re a coffee fan, this is awesome. I am and I like it a lot.
4.14 right on point with the rDev 0%

 

Huh, don't remember that. I just went and looked, and I don't have any reviews from the right time frame of anything that big. I mighta took it over to a friends house and shared it, and never got around to entering a review. I'll dig through UT later.

 

Happy New American Impy Stout Sunday!

This one is very nice, glad to see it around here, pricey though for a 2 can pack.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/42755/392572/?ba=Wasatch#review

Cheers!

 

Misleading word choice on my part. The box that landed on my porch contained a 14% mystery beer in a 32oz crowler. It could have been an incredibly bad night had my sender not noted the ABV, thus I choose to label the mystery beers I sent out. An option I hadn't previously considered.

 

Oh, my bad.

 

Another from @The-Adjunct-Hippie. Fresh 1 month old. Awesome IPA. Great rocky head retention, spotty soapy lacing. Aromas and flavors of big tangerine, red grapefruit, lemon, lime, peach, pear, pineapple, apricot, passion fruit, papaya, red apple, mango, honeydew, watermelon, guava, berries, citrus peel/rind, wood, peppercorn, and pine hops; with moderate cracker, white bread dough, toasted biscuit, light honeyed malts; and herbal, floral, grassy hop earthiness. Light-moderate pine, citrus peel/rind, herbal, floral, woody, grassy, peppery bitterness on the finish. Medium carbonation/body, and fairly crisp finishing. Balanced creamy/bready/grainy malts, sticky hops, and some resins/rinds in the mouthfeel. Light-moderate increasing resin dryness, no hop astringency. Very smooth, nicely soft, not overly aggressive, no warmth of 6.3%. Feels like Mosaic, Galaxy, El Dorado. Very juicy, vibrant, and fairly dank/earthy hops; with a great clean pale malt backbone. Minimal residual sweetness with lingering crisp resin dryness. Highly impressive. 4.1


Cheers

 

Last one, this is S’Mores, a nitro imperial stout from Southern Tier.



4.4/5 rDev +0.7%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

Jet black pour with a creamy tan head, this literally smells like a s’more in my glass, with milk chocolate, creamy marshmallow, and graham cracker aromas.

What’s more incredible is that the aromas translate EXACTLY to the taste. This is a dessert beer on PED’s, maybe the slightest bit sweet, but still on the edge of world-class, IMHO.