New Beer Sunday (Week 752)

That lead in on Shady Grove is an unforgettable piano piece. My son was a professional skater and used that Nicky Hopkins riff for his video. Check out Will Gordon. Hashassins.

 

Well, we are back from our two weeks in Maine. This is the first time we have ever taken two weeks back-to-back. The first week with grandson in a family friendly location, the second week more remote and total peace and quiet. Maybe not so much for the bass...excellent fishing!

We visited some breweries, of course. Footbridge in Boothbay Harbor is brand new. Great location, decent view of parts of the harbor and a very nice tap room. Beer...I hope they are still dialing things in. Bland, watery, not quite up to snuff in my opinion. Oven's Mouth pale ale - brewed with jalapeno peppers, maybe a bit too much, very vegetal. Winner of the flight was Winter Bush, spiced wheat ale with coriander and lemon, quite nice. Salty Dog...a gose that wasn't even close, water weak, no salt, no sour, just bland. Tugboat Stout...good flavors, just not quite enough of a presence.

On to Lake St. George...four very good beers, and a nice chat with Danny. An interpretation of a kitsch style beer using Citra was interesting. An excellent oatmeal stout, a pilot batch DIPA that was very West Coast, and their regular Kolsch.

Nothing new going on at Allagash on the way home. Will have one new beer from them later today. Did pick up their collaboration brew with DuPont...9 bucks for the 22 ounce bottles? Sounds like a deal, but could be a fire sale.

Surprise of the trip was Foundation. We have pretty much ignored that side of the corner. I know its heresy, but Bissell Bros wasn't out bag. Foundation seemed like a "me two", and Austin Street never seemed to have much to try. Seems like Foundation is hitting a nice stride. Always liked Epiphany and Zuurzinger. The surprise of the days was Tropical Jam, something which really isn't my jam, but it was a great blending tropical flavor with passion fruit being prominent. Forge stout...hmmm...initial smell and taste was phenomenal, but about mid taste there is something I don't enjoy and seemed out of place, maybe the non-traditional hops? What we tasted was good to very good overall, so we did bring some home.

New beer and question of the day later, folks.

 

OK, here is my shot at a list. With over 43K tracks in my library I know I missed something !

Friend Of The Devil-Grateful Dead
You Can't Always Get What You Want-Stones
Gimme A Ride To Heaven-Flatlanders
City Of New Orleans-Steve Goodman
Baba O'Riley-Who
Desolation Row-Dylan
Mash Theme-Bill Evans
Candy Man-Mississippi John Hurt
You're Probably Wondering Why I'm Here-Zappa
Souvenirs-John Prine

 

Was Kid Leo a deejay on WMMS? I know he's from Cleveland. I listen to him on Little Steven's Underground Garage almost every night driving home.

 

It's hot enough that I'm treating myself to a second new beer. This one is by the TO OL (and that second O should have a slash through it) brewery in Belgium, which I believe is a newer "craft" brewery. I don't know anything else about them other than recalling an interesting thread of some sort about them popped up on the main board a while back. This is their orange gose they're calling GOSE TO HOLLYWOOD because the oranges they used are from California. It's touting a modest 3.8% ABV.



Look: Well we're off to a bad start here. This is a gusher. I managed to get about 1 inch of beer in the glass and the rest was foam. I then let it sit for a while and tried again and even on the gentlest pour the foam quickly overflowed the glass and got all over the damn table. The ultra airy head then immediately dissipated and left an ugly, splotchy, mess on the sides of the glass. The beer itself is an attractive enough slightly hazy golden honey color.



Smell: Nose is of musty wheat, orange peels, and a faint note of composting fruit/garbage.

Taste: Taste up front is very tart, bordering on too tart but not quite. There's a subtle wheatiness, a pleasant taste of orange peels, and a slight farmhouse funk despite the fact that I don't think this has any funky yeast in it. Thankfully none of the garbage smell on the nose comes through on the taste (or it transformed into the funk). Can't say I taste the salt very much.

Feel: Despite the gushing head, the body is light, crisp and pleasantly carbonated. Finishes quite dry with just a hint of sweetness and some lingering tartness.

Overall: We'll leave the gushing aside since who knows whose fault that is. This has an appealing bitter orange peel flavor and a decently malty and flavorful base for a beer of its ABV. The slight funky note makes it a bit more interesting than I was anticipating, but it's too tart to be the refresher I was hoping for. Good enough beer, but not something I'll pay $4 a can for in the future.

Cheers!

ETA: Duh. I don't know why I was so slow on the draw here, but does the gushing combined with the unexpected funk taste indicate a pretty clearly infected beer? If so I've had worse beers that weren't infected

ETA2: Oh for crying out loud. I wasn't being date sensitive since I didn't think it mattered too much for a gose and was at a generally reliable store, but I just happened to notice: February 14, 2018. I suppose all things considered it could have tasted much worse.

 

Right now on an Acoustic Folk/Americana/Blues kick, so:

Lost Dog Street Band - Green Eyed Gal
Middle Brother - Daydreaming
Tyler Childers - White House Road
Deer Tick - Baltimore Blues No. 1
Mandolin Orange - Wildfire
Nathaniel Rateliff - I Need Never Get Old
The Avett Brothers - Murdered in the City
The Cave Singers - Dancing on Our Graves
Decemberists - June Hymn
Lonesome Shack - Wreck

Returning to beer I'm trying a papaya-full double from a recent "tick off some states" trade!

 

New Farmhouse Ale Sunday (Week 752)
Greetings fellow NBSers from on the ridge in MId Hud Val, NY.

Well, let's not say anything about this frustrating season for shroomers around here, nor the extreme heat. I am victims of both today. Instead let's talk about the cure for all those bothers, beer.

This is my second attempt at this beer, but I feel like it is the first one. I tried once to make this a NBS beer, and I was not doing well that day, I barely tasted it. I recall saying I would be back on a future Sunday with a better attempt. Here I is. Suarez Domain Batch 4. Edit- can't believe I couldn't taste this last attempt

Just an aside about Dan Suarez. He is not only a master brewer of styles he calls crispy littles, i.e. low ABV, super clean and crisp thirst quenchers, and farmhouse styles, but he is a master blender. Domain is a changing series of aged and blended beers he does that I am less familiar with than I would like. I always seem to miss the releases, and friends do as well.


Full aroma featuring honey, lemon, sourdough, chamomile, apple, and overripe peach. As it warms very light notes of unidentifiable spiciness come into the mix.

Med./full taste. Very faithful rendition of flavors in the aroma, with oak flavor added. Very nice richness and contrast to this impeccable balance of flavors. This is called a blend, but the flavors are individual and bright, appear at various points of the sip, and in changing proportion as the beer warms. Complex and delicious. End of sip is a lightly spicy bitter

Soft on palate, easy drinking and refreshing, med. viscosity for style, spritzy carb., and killer clean finish.

Another drinkable-art creation of blended genius from the master.

Hope you also have a Great American Beer in your glass. Cheers!

 

Wow, that must have been fantastic! I have that album, and still remember when it came out. I got into him earlier than that, but it's pretty much thanks to Jeff Beck- his version of "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat" on Wired sent me looking in that direction. One listen to Mingus Ah Um and I was hooked for life. That combination of incredible compositions with such spirited ensemble playing is rarely matched.

 

Now up DFH Ouvert Operation, wild ale with Himalayan peppercorns aged in gin barrels. This is a really nice beer and reminds me of why I was initially drown to DFH, it’s a strange and fun beer.

4.25/5 rDev +4.2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

375 ml bottle poured into a snifter

A- A fairly hazy golden straw with a two finger white head.

S- Sour, lemons, gin, peppercorns, mild funk, pine needles, citrus.

T- Tart, citrus, grapefruit, lemons, pine needles, gin, oak, mild funk, nice touch of peppercorns.

M- Smooth, light, dry.

O- A very nice sour in gin barrels. Barrels add some really nice, unique and balancing flavors.

Cheers!

 

Wow, you weren't kidding. What a voice! If you hadn't mentioned she was from MN I would have guessed she might be Icelandic. Something about how she sings sounds like she has that intoxicating accent mixed in there.

 

Happy Sunday NBS players. Another boiling hot summer day here on the island. The humidity is so damn thick but some relief will be coming in tomorrow night and Tuesday. A rather busy day for myself but I'm finally home and able free of any responsibilities till tomorrow. I've got a bunch of new beers on hand but we'll see how many I actually get to.

My first new beer is Baby Genius from Bissell Brothers. The site lists it as an American blonde but I'm putting as a session ipa. The brew checks in at a mere 4% abv and has a 6/5/19 canning date.

A murky very pale yellow color with a frothy white head. Seems to resemble lemonade. A light nose with citrus fruit again mostly lemon. Rather hop forward upfront on the first few sips. Lots of tangy citrus fruit notes. Notes of lemon, lime, orange, and mango. A pretty light body that drinks crisp and refreshing. Despite the light feel it is rather flavorful which seems to really keep it from being watery which is rather nice.Very smooth on the flow and finish as I can gulp this down like water.

Overall, I really wasn't expecting to much from this but I'm rather surprised at how well made it is. The unbelievable humidity probably helps my thoughts on this as well. I will score it in the 4 range.

 

I love the Beatles and love their songs, especially the ones more influenced by Lennon. But as a lyricist I was urged by someone I greatly respect to examine one of their songs. "Yesterday" is the song about which I speak. The lyrics to that song are actually some of the most schlocky and horrible lyrics to be written by them. Not a surprise, in a way, since McCartney's "You Only LIve Twice" contains the worst lyrics ever written. The music to "Yesterday" is so magically evocative that I am pretty sure any lyrics put to it would sound profound and beautiful. I actually hadn't ever noticed until prompted by a mentor.

Born To Run definitely on my top 1000, what a great song!

 

I can’t believe I left off my favorite song of all freaking time: Pancho and Lefty! I’m so disappointed in myself that I’m going to have another beer.



It’s so damn hot here and now I’m drinking a gose. Westbrook’s Gose.

The appearance is a hazy translucent straw yellow with two fingers worth of stark white head. Aroma is salinity with some lime. Translates perfectly to the taste. Very crisp and refreshing with a little pucker. Mouthfeel is light and prickly. Overall this stuff is awesome for the style.

 

Happy New Munich Dunkel Lager Sunday!

Pretty nice day here on the Western Slope, at the trailhead around 95, sunny. Having a nice thirst quencher, would not mind seeing others from this brewery around here. Going to watch some The Invaders series.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/5855/129119/?ba=Wasatch#review

Cheers!

 

Her name is Channy Leaneagh. She and her now ex-husband (Alexei Casselle) started Roma Di Luna 8 or so years ago. She is a violinist as well as a singer, and she writes most of her own material. She has also been a member of the Minneapolis synth-pop band Poliça (maybe still is, IDK).

Roma Di Luna broke up when their marriage broke up, but they got back together (the group, not the marriage) last year and released a new album (which had the track "Crying" on it).

I like pretty much the whole catalog of Roma Di Luna (not Poliça, though. Not even her voice can warm me up to synth-pop).

Here's another example, from several years ago. This song was written by Channy. (That is her husband - at the time - sitting in the chair playing guitar.)

 

Loved seeing him the times I was lucky enough. Still try to catch David Lindley when he comes through, one of the most unknown, underappreciated string geniuses out there. Raising a glass to them both!!