New Beer Sunday (Week 765)

Good Sunday to you all!
It was a crisp, brisk day here in Montreal. Lovely weather actually. I gave tours all weekend and it makes for great walking and bike riding weather: too cool to break a sweat, beautiful leaves to look at and just cold enough that a decent chunk of the people that ride like idiots are done for the season. I'm still slowly getting over post-vacation blues and trying to start winterizing my balcony and whatnot little by little. Gotta prep the beer garden to be a snow garden...
There is hockey on early today so I am watching that and while I do so I'm unintentionally continuing my theme over the past few Sundays: Classics that I've inexplicably never had. This is one with an excuse in that it is only around now thanks to the provincial liquor people finally starting to actually do their job moderately ok with regards to beer. I was excited to finding and am looking forward to finally trying St-Bernardus Pater 6.

It pours opaque mahogany with a billowing dirty styrofoam head. Glorious looking. The aroma has cracked pepper, brown bread, faint dark fruits. The flavor is a little more straightforward with sweet roll dough, baking spices, rusty water. It is fluffy and almost feels like you are eating it with the head. Bubbly and dry but very substantive. Digestible, as they apparently say. This is a nice beer. It is my first experience with the lighter ABV Trappist beers. It really is like a light dubbel or quad.

As with their quad and many of the other trappists, this is just excellent. It is what it is and is very well made. The look and feel are really what stand out. The rest is "just" wonderful. It really is basically one of the bigger Belgian beers gently turned down a couple notches in terms of booze and also complexity. Not that it isn't pretty complex but it is really approachable. I get a little mineraliness and kind of thin something-or-other in the flavor which is the only real downside, I pick up on this flavor sometimes but I'm never sure what this is, not oxidation though. It is not bad but if I was gonna nitpick something, that'd be it. I can't believe it took me this long to try this one but I'm glad I finally got to.

Santé!

 

Preaching to the choir on all accounts. It felt like a sword to the groin the day the Astros got shipped to the AL (no offense, DH, Yankees-Red Sox, et. al.). That move sucked on all accounts and completely f-ed up my perfect world where an all-Texas World Series was a possibility, slim as that possibility was.

But somehow we endure.

If J.R. Richard pitched today with the radar guns measuring pitches at the release point and not at home plate, what would he be hitting? 103 mph? 104? And to this day I still think that rotation featuring J.R., Nolan and Joe Niekro had to have been as horrible a three-game set as any hitter in any era could've faced. But I'm biased, so ...

Damn ... now you got me thinking of 1980 and my favorite players ...

The five-tool wonder Cesar Cedeno (above) and the legend:

 

A sight no batter wanted to see:

 

Love their beers, not so much the bottle art.

 

With the yearly tasting that @thebeers hosting around the corner I just realized that I have been sitting on this bottle of Other Half Double Sunshine for almost a year. Don’t remember who brought it, but thank you to whoever did!

4.59/5 rDev +1.1%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

500 ml bottle poured into a teku

A- Black with a small dark mocha head.

S- Chocolate, coffee, vanilla, some alcohol, hints of dark fruits.

T- Milk chocolate, coffee, vanilla, hints of toffee, touch of lactose.

M- Smooth, creamy, full body.

O- A very good coffee stout, slightly sweet but it is still really well balanced.

Cheers NBS!

 

#2, this needs a LOT less carbonation.





3.43/5 rDev -10%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5

Pop the top - nearly a gusher, so rush to get it in the glass, and the head has that big soapy bubble look of a gusher, including in the can. It does have the black body and tan head to style, but it took 5+ minutes to pour this. When my wife says, “Why is your beer so foamy,” you know something is amiss.

The nose is toffee, char, coffee, and the slightest bit of maple, and those aromas translate to the taste, but the carbonation is SOOOOO spritzy, it’s distracting.

A stout should be creamy, IMHO - or at the very least, it shouldn’t drink like champagne.

This approaches that, which is unfortunate, because I think there’s a pretty good beer buried in this spritzy stout.

 

Good evening NBS, hope everyone is enjoying the weekend once again. Thanks to @cjgiant for today's introduction. Had another crazy weekend once again. Stayed up for over 36 hours Fr-Sat, and was drunk/high all Saturday. So I basically haven't eaten anything in 2 days, or drank anything in over 24-30 hours because I've been sleeping. Don't worry about me, I'll be OK. Met a few cool new friends along the way too. Started playing my guitar a bit more now, found one of my huge multi effects pedals in storage and it still works perfectly.

Beer:

Urban Family Fortune's End. No one added it yet. Amazing fruited black sour. Lasting fluffy head retention/foamy lacing. Aromas and flavors of huge sour/tart/tangy blackberry, raspberry, cherry, fruit skin/seeds, lemon, lime, orange, grapefruit, peach, plum, pear, apricot, red/green apple, currant, red grape/wine, oak, peppercorn, hay, straw, and grass; with moderate caramel, brown sugar, chocolate, cocoa, toasted/brown bread; with lighter notes of leathery/musty/lacto funk, and yeast/oaky earthiness. Light-moderate fruity/lactic tart/sourness, fruit tang, and yeast/oak tannic spiciness on the finish. Medium-high carbonation, medium body, and fairly crisp finishing. Balanced bready/grainy malts, lactic acid, and fruit tang/tannins in the mouthfeel. Moderate increasing acidic/tangy/tannic dryness; no pucker/astringency. Very smooth, not overly lactic/tannic, minimal warming 7.5%. Amazing balance of super jammy blackberries and Brett/Bacteria complexity; with a nice sized dark/roast/bready malt backbone against acidity. Killer stuff as expected of the brewery. 4.33


Cheers

 

We just received this yesterday when a month old.


https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/32763/424230/



16 oz. can.
Canned 09/18/19.
Moderate to vigorous pour yields a one inch slightly off white head over a hazy to cloudy, light golden body with very nice, sticky lacing. Subdued nose of tropical fruit, citrus and slight grassy hay. Taste is where this one shines: with tropical fruit, sweet citrus, and candied fruit finishing with an ever so slightly citrus pith bitterness. Very nice feel and overall, this is a great representation of how to use lactose in an IPA as it is a thoroughly enjoyable taste experience.
Cheers to our pals at Collective Arts!

 

Happy New American Strong Ale Sunday!

Back with another new brew, pretty tasty, but no AB. Nice to see something new from this brewery around here.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/192/355616/?ba=Wasatch#review

Cheers!

 

I've done a bit of taste training, and, it turns out my palate has a blind spot for diacetyl. Not that that's a hint or anything.....

 

Poured into a 16 oz stemless tulip glass. Canned on 5/29/19 pours a very dark brown with a solid finger light tan head that leaves some lace behind, with solid enough retention. 4

Smell is caramel, toffee, biscuit, vanilla, brown sugar, bubble gum, and some oaky booze. 4

Taste follows really loaded with flavor brown sugar, toffee, caramel, dates, vanilla, and hints of booze. 4

Mouthfeel is pretty big, enough life to hold your interest, a tad dry, and goes down pretty well at 11% ABV. 4

Overall this is a very balanced and easy drinking blend, will grab another can you age and see what it can become. 4

 

Bend away if and when. From El Paso to Beaumont, Lubbock to Brownsville, I might be able to point you in a good direction. And if you venture into the triangle formed by Houston, Austin and DFW as the points, I should be able to meet up.

 

Stillwater / Oliver - Strawberry Vanilla Shakerato. Awesome milkshake sour. Solid head retention/minimal lacing. Aromas and flavors of big juicy/tart/tangy strawberries, fruit skin/seed, lemon, lime, orange, grapefruit, peach, pear, melon, apricot, red/green apple, white grape/wine, hay, straw, and grass; with moderate vanilla, cream, nutty medium roast coffee, brown sugar, wheat, white bready malts; light lacto funk and yeast earthiness. Mild fruity/lactic tartness, fruit tang, and yeast spiciness on the finish. Light carbonation and medium-plus body; very creamy/silky/grainy lactose; some lactic acid, and fruit tang/tannins in the mouthfeel. Lightly increasing acidic/tangy dryness; no cloying/pucker. Very smooth/soft, mellowly lactic, zero warming 5%. Awesome balance of juicy/jammy strawberries, Lacto complexity, and fruity/nutty coffee; with a nice sized vanilla, lactose, and pale/wheat malt backbone against acidity. Light residual sweetness with acidic/tangy dryness. Really big fan. 4.1


Cheers

 

Bonus NBS entry because I'm a glutton for punishment.



Finback sour IPA called Moiré... Citra and Mosaic dry-hopped with vanilla and papaya added. Fun stuff.

Pours a still light-medium orange color with a thin head that disappears quite quickly. Not much going on in the appearance here, to be honest. A bit disappointing but I kinda expect this look when it comes to "sour IPAs."

The nose is milkshake heaven... this smells more like a tropical fruit smoothie than most beers billing themselves like that. Definite creaminess with strong berry-driven hop aromatics and the superb tropical aspects of papaya making themselves known quite apparently.

On the tongue, this is creamy and enjoyable with flavors of mango, papaya, and pineapple along with some earthy elements from the Mosaic hops combined with some bright citrus from the Citra. Not much else going on, and I wouldn't really say it's very sour, but it does have a little bit of tang to it for sure. It's more like a milkshake IPA than anything, so if you're on the fence with this one... there it is Feel is very round and satisfying. One of the best milkshake-esque IPAs I've had... does a lot with (comparably) very little. Low-ish carbonation and a very nice, long-lasting finish with a ton of papaya flavor. Yum.

 

It's gettin' to be dark(er) beer time of year so I went with Warsteiner Premium Dunkel.
Overall a very good value beer for an upscale import.



3.52/5 rDev 0%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

A strong pour from a 11.2-oz. bottle creates a finger of beige foam, creamy with some large bubbles. Average retention with islands of lace. Clear copper-brown color, amber highlights.

Roasted malt and toasted wheat greet the nose with a coffee-like bitterness, toasted multigrain bread, faint dough and old-world hops. Vague fruit way in the back.

Neutral on sweetness and mildly bitter from roasted malt more than hops. The mild taste mirrors the smell (minus the coffee) with added caramel malt, baked apple sneaks in. Hops are more noticeable and spicy. Drys a bit at the finish with a short spicy/roasty aftertaste.

Medium light body with above average carbonation. Smooth easy session drinker. Great balance, the roasted malt keeps the caramel in check. Roasted malt bitterness is moderated by a careful use of hops.

 

Had to add this one to the site to get my review in. Three Magnets Float On; a dry-hooped beer using Fresh Cashmere hops: https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/36113/446029/?ba=beertunes#review