New Beer Sunday (Week 764)

Good evening NBS & thanks for the opening @lordofthewiens. I am not a bucket list guy myself. If the next 8 years of my life pan out and my children make the transition to wage earning, self sufficient adults, my wife and I will need to find some hobbies or develop some type of list or we'll drive each other crazy.

On to a newly distributed beer here in Indiana in a style I'm normally highly not impressed with...

The review:
16oz can stamped M43 PKG ON 09/26/19 (17 days ago) poured into a Spiegelau IPA glass at fridge temp 6.8% 65 IBU. The beer pours very hazy, turbid, but without chunks. The color is orangish yellow with a nearly white head of big soapy bubbles. The aroma is pretty strong and features a fruit salad of peach, melon, grapefruit along with some dank earthy notes. The taste is pungent hops right up front with citrus and mild pine before a hint of the pils/wheat/oat malt wiggles through. The mouthfeel is medium bodied, adequately carbonated and dry in the finish with a real prickly hop bite. Overall, very good to excellent. This is a well executed beer in a style I normally avoid. The bitterness is key for me and this one is has enough IBU to counter the fruity hops and malt bill. Recommended.

I actually enjoyed this beer. Not sure if that's good or bad considering the price and the fact that it's dropping here fresh every 2-3 weeks. I do know that any other hoppy beer has no chance following this one so I will have to switch styles for a nightcap. Cheers all!

 

I haven't had that one in years...I wanna look for it again now. I always loved the name and the label.

 

And the award for least appetizing can art goes to...

 

No work tomorrow and kids go to school/wife goes to work. Seems like a good night to drink this. I bought it a year or so ago on a visit to Transient.



Pours a deep black color with a quick, fizzy, tan head and no lacing.

The smell is like a thick, chocolate, fudge, cinnamon brownie. It's pretty incredible.

The taste follows. It's incredibly sweet with chocolate fudge and cinnamon dominating. The cinnamon does not overpower. I was worried the flavor would disappoint after the smell, but it doesn't. There's very little notes from the barrel.

The mouthfeel is a bit fizzy and very thick.

Admittedly, I regretted buying this because of the price. However, it's earned my respect. Transient may be known for IPAs, but this puts many of them to shame.

 

David Lee Roth Van Halen is the best Van Halen: Change my Mind

 

Oxbow - Farmland

Oxbow beer number two is a “farmhouse ale” with all of the ingredients grown in Maine. The label says: “enjoy within 1 year,” but there is no bottle date. Stuff like that annoys me more than a brewer simply not dating their product.

The beer is a cloudy, pale yellow. This is such a straight up old school saison that it’s a breath of fresh air. Great head. The yeast is providing a nice lemon/pepper quality. There’s a great bitter touch from the hops. Very nice beer.

These days, it seems like every beer needs an angle. I guess the “grown in Maine” one allows a brewer to brew something in the spirit of Saison Dupont. I’ll gladly take that angle rather than all the other ones usually applied to saisons.

 

Definitely not a bucket list guy. I seem to have a natural aversion to lists, calendars and the like. As soon as I write something into a calendar, agenda, or to do list, and no one else is involved or expecting something, I am far less likely to do that thing. I suppose it is my free spirit side or something rebelling against constraints.

It is Thanksgiving weekend up here and I enjoyed a nice meal with my closest family. As my kids near 3 years old, we seem to be finding it easier and easier to take a drive, make a nice meal and visit with people. Naps aren’t as crucial to an enjoyable day as they once were, and my twins are starting to play alone and together for longer periods of time without much need for mom or dad to play security guard. No beer with dinner tonight as I was doing the driving, but now that the kids are asleep in bed, and the wife has passed out on the couch, I can flick on the ball game and crack into a can.

Tonight, Messorem Bracitorum Ok Bonne Nuit. This is a triple IPA from the hottest new brewery in Quebec. They are located in a part of Montreal I used to call home and, from the mouths of friends still in the area, have a nice little spot where one can enjoy a beer. I’m hoping to go in November.

The beer:



Darker, orange/gold. Light head that dissipates quickly and leaves little lacing. Murky.

Aroma is difficult to pin point. A little citrus, a little resin. Some boozy vapours peaking through as well.

Hit up front with a boozy kick. Fruitiness is more tropical that citrus on the tongue. A slight sweetness to finish the sip and boozy throughout. Limited bitterness.

Moderate body

Overall, a nice trip IPA. It isn’t a style I seek out as I find they tend to be more boozy that I like on a pale ale. I’m looking forward to trying other beers they make to be sure.

Cheers!

 

Nevermind. I found the date on the label. I take it back.

 

Oxbow - Black Light

Final Oxbow beer and last beer of the night. This one is their near-black saison and it isn’t clicking with me at all. There’s a roasty element and a saison foundation. In this particular case, the elements aren’t finding cohesion, nor are they developed enough to provide the drinker with something to grab onto. Cheers.

 

Hahaha ... yeah, I could see the pee-pee thing. If I didn't genuinely love adjunct lagers and lower ABV beers, I'd have come at from the top rope like Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka. Expectations were pretty low, too. Maybe I'm getting soft in my old age.

 

Indeed, that was a clip from My Name is Earl. Earl, decided he needed to divorce his new bride after her Van Halen statement. Couldn't blame him.

 

I've got another tea-beer teed up. This one is from Holy Mountain in conjunction with Jing A, a Beijing-based brewery.



Pours more clear than the option from Urban Family earlier this afternoon. Head is fizzier/less foamy. Also dissipates much more quickly.

Nose is soft and tart. Maybe some sweet floral and minor funk. Maybe some wood. Maybe some green tea.

Flavour is kind of fruity and tart. Is it the wine barrel? Is it the mandarin? I keep forgetting it was put on oranges. The 'fruity' is not citrus, so I think it's more the barrels and some from the hops. Washes across to a dry finish that I attribute to the teas used.

Effervescent and lively on the tongue. Dry.
Has some subtlety to it. Pleasant tartness. Has a significant amount of that classic Holy Mountain wild ale character that I can have a bit of trouble parsing discretely from one another, but that I quite enjoy. Some subtle variances, but ultimately falls within that bucket. Cheers!!

 

Happy New I'm CANming Dahn Offa the Platform That I've Been on Since Week 755 to Drink a Beer of My Own Free Will This Sunday (Week 764), The Grand Finale!
I left off with a parting collab between Platform & my next brewery horizontal. I was zonked last night so I am hoping to get this in before COB for the week:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/28091/325263/?ba=woodychandler#review

See yinz next week as this adventure CANtinues!