New Beer Sunday (Week 769)

Porter #3, a Baltic porter, so, in truth, more of an Imperial Stout Porter. I was excited to find this one on the shelf of a PNW liquor store. Besides being a highly thought of beer, it is my first beer from Poland. I saved this for last. I hope my anticipation is rewarded.

Komes Baltic Porter
IBU: NA
ABV: 9.0%



Sweetish aroma, fruits, caramel, molasses.

Deep black color; you only get slight fringes of dark ruby around the edges with a backlight. Tall, thick, creamy, dark tan head with moderate-to-short retention; its down to a 1/8 inch after 5 minutes, leaving no lacing. (But disconnected spotty lacing as you drink.) Eventually, the head completely disappears and the sides of the glass are completely clean.

Moderate body and feel, smooth.

Initial taste is an interweaved complex of malt flavors: bread, sweet molasses and caramel, plums, fruit, chocolate liqueur, dry roasted malts, playing back and forth. Semi-sweet in the beginning, with no bittering initially. It becomes somewhat bitter, starting in the middle and carrying on into the finish and aftertaste. It remains semi-sweet through the middle, but ends semi-dry in the finish. Very slight alcohol presence on the roof of the mouth. Some sweetness returns in the aftertaste. The complexity and interplay of the flavors, sweet-to-dry-to-sweet, and balancing bitterness is just great.

The anticipation is greatly rewarded. Fantastic.

L: 4.25 | S: 4.25 | T: 4.75 | F: 4.0 | O: 4.25 | BA rating of: 4.43.

 

Just sneaking this one in under the gun as the twins are waking up from a long nap and I’m on solo parent duty while the wife works as an extra on a film set for the day.

Half Hours on Earth Blue Thunder. A wine barrel aged wild beer with blueberries.






4.03/5 rDev -5.4%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Pours a deep reddish/purple with very limited head that almost completely disappears before the pour has ceased. Lots of what appears to be fruit particles join the rush into the glass.

Red wine jumps out on the nose. Hiding in the background is a little oak, blueberry

Very tart up front. The blueberry comes through along with some wine barrel and a good deal of wood that leads to a very dry ending. The tartness is quite overpowering. As it warms, however, the blueberry really begins to shine both in taste and aroma. Still bloody tart.

Moderate body.

The extreme tartness is not usually to my liking, but there is a enough blueberry here that I enjoy the beer. I’d like it more were it a little more gentle, but still, another winner from Half Hours on Earth.

 

A-Pours a brownish color with a slight head and lacing
A-Aroma has vanilla hints
T-The taste follows the nose with a vanilla flavor
M-A light bodied well carbonated beer
O-A decent Porter

 

From an in-person with @GreenBayBA comes White Elm’s “Casual Friday.”



(L) Looks as it should: Ink-black, with a brown-tan head. Excellent lacing:



(S) INCREDIBLE nose! Toffee, light espresso, plum and burnt raisin, and a touch of marshmallow creme. The nose is worth the price of admission, but trust me — the 12.5% ABV is worth sticking around for...

(T) Sweet and plummy... raisins and caramel apple and rum and suffering, all on the first sip. This is the sickness and the cure, and the dream of every good boy leaving the nightclub alone...

(F) Warming*... and also insufferably sweet (for some) across the palate, and while it DOES improve as it warms, I know that this modern ‘pastry’ take on the RIS/American Strong Stout really doesn’t fly with everyone. And that’s okay. More for those who DO enjoy it!

(O) Drinkability is outstanding, and this is one worth tracking-down. Definitely one of the best “standard” RIS I’ve had in years, and a great first impression of a brewery which is totally new to me.

Cheers!

*Warming, but not burning, an
d the heat is kept in-check enough to make this an excellent sipper. Extremely well-done, and absolutely recommended for those who can lay their hands on it.

 

Sorry to hear! I hope everything works out okay for you.

 

You learn something everyday... As they say here in Québec (this is a ham-fisted literal translation) I'm gonna go to bed less stupid tonight.

 

NBS #2. I rarely review Magnify IPAs on NBS because I buy them during the week and tend to drink them right away. I'll admit that I had a sample of Trouble by Design at the brewery earlier this week but didn't make any notes, except a mental one that I really liked it. So I went back yesterday and bought cans. Magnify brews a lot of fruity, creamy TIPAs. They've become very good at it. These beers are typically 10% or 10.5% but they're surprisingly lite and the flavors delicate. They don't bludgeon you. Here, they've used a great combination of tropical tasting hops: Mosaic, Azacca, Cashmere, Galaxy, and Citra Cryo. It's more fruity than bitter. Magnify has been criticized for pumping out so many hazy IPAs (at least 2 per week) but they've become very adept at it. And it pays the bills and allows them to brew some good stouts, sours, and other beers. I admit I'm a homer but it's great having a brewery like Magnify close by. Here's my review:

4.29/5 rDev 0%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

Reviewed 12 days after can release. Poured into a Magnify tulip glass. It pours an opaque, apricot-orange color with a large, creamy, bright white head and very thick lacing. A nice fruity nose with lemon, tangerine, grapefruit, and some other tropical notes. The taste opens fresh and fruity with lemon, lime, grapefruit, tangerine, and honeydew melon, along with pine needles. Magnify's made nice use of the fruity Mosaic, Cashmere, Galaxy, and Azacca hops. There is little bitterness. It's a very refreshing beer. It has a very pleasing mouthfeel: creamy and rich with moderate carbonation, and it drinks surprisingly easily for its 10% ABV. Overall, for such a big beer, Trouble by Design is surprisingly lite and refreshing. Magnify really excels at brewing flavorful, fruity TIPAs that aren't overpowering.

 

Founders Porter was the beer that addicted me to craft. For that I'll always be grateful!

 

Oh man, I'm very sorry to hear that.

 

Happy CANtinuing New CANming Straight Outta The Bronx This Sunday, yo (Week 768) from Gun Hill & Heading for Brooklyn (Week 769)!
I routinely head to King of Prussia/Conshohocken/Gulph Mills for the 3rd Saturday of every month as an old drinking friend hosts a monthly beer share at his home. I used to go out on Saturday morning & spend the night, but now he picks me up at Paoli on Friday night & drops me off on Sunday. That acCANts for my lateness in joining yinz today.

Last week, I got cut off by the thread's closure before I could share:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/27035/208243/?ba=woodychandler#review
,
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/27035/246002/?ba=woodychandler#review
&
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/27035/319878/?ba=woodychandler#review
.
Boo hoo.
Now that we're caught up, lemme pull aht th' Gunz. Hill, yeah! Starting with:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/34149/253989/?ba=woodychandler#review

Yeah, cool cats, it's a party now! I gots some other tricks up my sleeve so lemme get down to bizniss & I'll return with some groovy stuff that'll put the pitter in your patter, dig?

 

My final NBS this week is Lawson's Finest Liquids Fayston Stout.


4.16/5 rDev -0.5%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4

Poured from a 12oz can dated 10/23/19 to a diagonally-cut tumbler.
Opaque black body sits below a minimal-height tan head. Head does produce some lacing.
Malt dominates the aroma, but there is a hint of maple and burnt wood.
Taste is intense and complex. Upfront it follows the aroma, progresses to an alcohol hit and finishes with maple syrup and wood. Semi-sweet in front, slight bitter and dry finish. 10.1% is evident through out.
Body is medium to light relative to the taste.
Impressive, but you have to have the right session set aside for this one.

 

That is a beautiful beer head sir.

 

Mountains Walking Double Grazing Clouds

Happy Sunday, BAs. Today’s new beer comes to me courtesy of @r0rschach in NBS BIF X.

It pours a cloudy, murky banana yellow with a half finger of creamy white head that leaves solid lacing.

Fresh clementine juice shows in the nose with a little pineapple upside down cake, pith and herbs.

It’s creamy and sweet tasting up front, with some cake batter and a little pineapple, with orange-flavored seltzer mid-palate and some herbs, onion and pithy bitterness in the finish.

Medium bodied and creamy feeling with low carbonation.

This is definitely sweet, but there’s enough of a mix of flavors in this to keep it interesting. Best NEIPA from Montana I’ve had to date. Thanks, John.

 

OK I am back, got the laundry in the dryer. Thank god I took my work laptop out of the car this weekend, so I can still work from home tomorrow.

Rustic Leaf Idaho...No Udaho. Fantastic DIPA. Lasting rocky head retention/thick foamy lacing. Aromas and flavors of huge mandarin orange juice, red grapefruit, lemon, peach, pineapple, apricot, passion fruit, papaya, mango, honeydew melon, berries, citrus peel/rind, peppercorn, and pine hops; with moderate caramel, brown sugar, brown bread, toasted biscuit malts; and herbal, floral, grassy hop earthiness. Light-moderate pine, citrus peel/rind, herbal, floral, woody, grassy, peppery bitterness on the finish. Medium carbonation and medium-full body; balanced creamy/bready malts, sticky hops, and some resins/rinds in the mouthfeel. Light-moderate increasing resin dryness, no cloying/astringency. Very smooth/soft, not aggressive, mild increasing warmth of 9%. Fantastic Idaho 7 profile. Very juicy, vibrant, and fairly dank/earthy hops; with a nice sized dark/bready malt backbone. Mild residual sweetness with lingering resin dryness. Very impressive! 4.23


Cheers

I don't even know what to listen to after the last 12+ hours, but this will do fine.

 

Thank you!

 

As the British would say... bugger! Hope it's not too expensive for you.

 

Guinness Stock Ale - Take 2

Opened a second bottle of this - This time at room temperature pretty much. The higher temp did a big favor for the beer. It came together better. Got more dark chocolate this time but otherwise the same flavor notes. I’m still not a fan though. This is one of those rare cases when I’m judging a beer for what it isn’t more than what it is (I guess). Bottom line, it’s not bad, but I’d rather be drinking any other variety of Guinness stout than this one.

Cheers.

 

Happy Sunday NBS players. Another pretty cold day here on the island. Had some snow flurries during the morning hours. Worked most of the day, once again, but got home in time to catch the late games- which I'm still watching. Also, re-watching another Jets victory.

My first new beer today is yet another selection from the NBS BIF boxes that I received from the great ba known as @Lingenbrau . This is Festbier, from Occidental brewing. The brew checks in at 6.7% abv, and has an 8/21/19 canning date.

A rather dark and almost pure amber color on the pour. Good clarity with an almost non-existent head of white bubbles. The nose is sweet with malt and sugar. The drinking hits with full flavored malts upfront. Decently hoppy as well with a good amount of sweetness to it. A moderate body that drinks a little bigger and heavier than most in the style. It has a sweet and slightly syrupy feel at times. Additional notes of sweet toasted bread, caramel, and dark candied fruit.

Overall, this is ok but not great. Its a touch too sweet and heavy for my liking. I don't mean to kill it Phil as it was a pleasure to try it. I find that I have a lot of trouble finding good fest/marzen on my/the local craft level. Still finishing/pondering but probably gonna score it in the mid 3’s at best.