New Beer Sunday (Week 784)

Another of the Costco Advent box I inherited from a friend. And, as is the case for several of the beers in this box, the actual brewer is different from the apparent "regular" brewer of the specific brand. No matter, the can says Kalea, so I'm going with that.

Kalea Schwarze Tinte Collab Stout Foreign / Export Stout
ABV: 6.2%
IBU: NA



Aroma is not roasty at all, which was a surprise. The aroma is quite subdued, but gives hints of non-citrus tree fruits, apple perhaps or pear. Hints of caramel, maybe, and very slight spice. Frankly, the aroma is so weak it is difficult to parse it.

Some roastiness finally makes an appearance in the initial taste. The roast remains throughout and lingers into the aftertaste. Other flavors in the initial taste are caramel sweetness. The hops present an earthiness in the middle, but no bitterness to speak of. The middle and finish also includes a slight spiciness. As with the aroma, the taste is also light and subdued.

The body is thin, but has enough there to avoid being too thin.

Easy to drink and refreshing (which is not an adjective I would normally expect to use with an export stout). Despite the ABV, I'm left with the impression of a light stout. Enjoyable enough, but this beer can't quite decide what it is.

L: 4.0 | S: 3.0 | T: 3.25 | F: 3.0 | O: 3.25 | Rating: 3.21

 

Good afternoon, NBS crew. Today I have a couple new beers from a place that few of you will run into any time soon, and in fact does not have an entry in the database here. Currently they share space and I believe often collaborate with a brewer in Ashburn, VA called Dynasty Brewing. Mieza Blendery is focused on the blending of flavors, relying heavily on mixed fermentation, and explains the difference in a video to explain its vision. In the video, they are expecting to get their own space at some point, but we grabbed these two offerings from our stop at Dynasty, where they were brewed and bottled:


As I typed up this intro, the lightly funky fruity notes were enticing my nose.

Keeper of the Dance
(Golden sour beer aged in oak with apricots and green cardamom)
4.0 | 4.5 | 3.5 | 3.25 | 3.5
Hazy sunburst yellow with a splash of orange. Head tightened from small bubbles to a foam as I let it warm (the glass is etched). Nose has a pretty large apricot component that has a slight vinegar edge to it. The cardamom adds a mix of light spice and herbal notes to the aromatics in a nice way. There's just a really light hint of funk in the mix as well.

Taste starts with an little bit of the malt and perhaps the earthy/woody notes of the cardamom. The flavor is fleeting as a fairly strong lemony sour note hits. After the first few sips, my palate has adjusted to it and the apricot is easily noticeable. The mix of sour and a fairly aggressive amount of tiny-bubbled carbonation adds a little more sharpness than levity to the beer. The a mix of oak and cheese flows out of the fizz, carried by the apricot that comes through as well.

Smoking Pixies
(Golden sour beer aged in Mezcal barrels with cranberries)
3.75 | 3.75 | 4.0 | 3.75 | 3.75
Similar haze to this burgundy-rose bodied beer. The head initially seemed to want to fizzle away, but held on (perhaps the glass wasn't rinsed as well as I thought). The smoke in this beer surprises me, despite the name of the beer. It tends to hide almost all other flavors, though there is a somewhat of a berry note sneaking out.

The flavor flips the nose, with a slightly watered down cranberry juice to open. A little bit of spice, then the contents of the barrel's previous occupant with the smokiness follow. The smokiness is light, and adds an interesting aspect to an at most lightly tart fruit beer. Feel is tame, with a light carbonation and a medium light heft.

I liked Smoking Pixies better of these two. It's a bid more tame in many aspects, and that works better for me. These beers are decent, but are also fairly expensive, likely somewhat justified by the fact that the process of making them seems to require more resources than a standard beer. There good enough to keep me interested and I will try more the next time we stop by Dynasty.

 

New Happoshu #2

The review:
10.14oz stubby bottle (cap stamped OB1903 200111) poured into a pokal glass at fridge temp 5% ABV. The beer pours hazy in a soft, green tinted yellow with nearly white head. The head recedes to a thin ring and leaves a few dots of lacing. The aroma is mild with sweet pear. The taste follows with semisweet pear and very little malt. No bitterness. The mouthfeel is thin bodied with average carbonation and a dry finish. No off flavors. Overall, enjoyable taste and feel. If I tried this blind & you told me it was a sparkling pear cider, I would not argue.

Thanks again @woodychandler! I thought it would be nearly impossible to tick this style. I never dreamed a Happoshu mixed six pack would show up on my front door.
Cheers all!

 

NBS #2. Industrial Arts Brewing's State of the Art DDH Wheat Stout. This Stout is hard to describe. The best I can come up with is an Oatmeal Stout with an unsalted Triscuit cracker substituted for the oatmeal. If I were to guess the ABV I'd say about 5.4 but it's actually 7.2% All that said, I like it! Here's my review:

4.08/5 rDev -1.7%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4

Canned on 1/24/2020. Poured into a snifter. It pours an inky, jet black with over a finger of foamy, ecru-colored head and thick, soapy lacing. A subtle nose; mostly roasted malt and wheat cracker. When first sipped, there aren't any strong flavors except for wheat cracker. However, as I swish in my mouth I'm tasting brewed coffee and a hint of cocoa. There are also some mild notes of earthy char and a hint of pepper at the finish. It has a smooth, fairly lite feel with moderate carbonation, and I wouldn't guess it's 7.2% ABV; it feels much lower than that. Overall, this is a very difficult beer to describe. It's like an oatmeal stout without the taste of oats. The taste reminds me of a Triscuit cracker but without the salt. It drinks very easily and is appropriate for casual drinking or paired with anything grilled.

 

Hey what's going on!?

Tasty beer that's for sure on this new beer Sunday.. why every day is almost a new beer for our hero!

What tasty treats lie in wait ? Let us see..



Poured from the can into a Spiegelau IPA glass.

Extremely pale amber in color, with an extreme almost thin clarity and crystal appearance. The beer looks nearly see-thru one could say. Head is a classic IPA rich and thick top with three fingers of bleach white head, but with fine soapy retention and a good dissolve. Leaves some pill lacing, a thick collar, and a pocked up top while settling.

Hop aroma forward for sure, but quite stinky in a way. Hits of soft pine and almost bee pollen like florality that is large. Hits with and earth juicy angle that is very green bordering on vegetative, but pleasant and solid.

Palate hits relatively nicely. Clean and very light bodied but with a decent almost honey like malt backbone for depth. Hop angle has much of that bees-wax like flavor not terribly (is that a thing??), but there's a nice juicy earth and pine herbality that snaps with an almost peppery bitterness and punch. The finish is a real excellent controlled hop heat, long since I have experience that on any IPA in some time. It hits with a peppery but not bitter control, with some touches of light herbal sweetness as well.

Interesting realm in the 355 series. Different Amarillo angle than I am used to. Still makes a solid IPA worth finishing.

4/5 rDev -3.6%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Cheers!

 

Continuing with my non-IPA TH haul, we now have Sense Of Wonder an Imperial Milk Stout. I resisted this purchase because I just don't really care for sweet stouts, but this was a good decision.
4.64/5 rDev +4.7%
look: 5 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.75

Poured from a 16oz can dated 2/06/2020 to a diagonally cut snifter @ approx. 50F.
Incredible presentation with a black body and dark brown frothy moonscape with large hills.
The aroma is like sniffing a bag of over-roasted almonds.
The taste is as if there was chocolate syrup floating above almond extract, but much more complex. Alcohol is only noticeable in a subtle way at the end of each swallow.
Body coats and coats, the sweetness not mentioned above seems to assist in this sticky effect.
I don't usually go for sweet stouts, but this is pretty damn good.

 

#2 from Legal Draft, this is Nowhere But Texas, a pretty decent American lager.



3.69/5 rDev +8.2%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75

Pours a slightly hazy golden sunshine color, lemongrass notes are dominant on the nose, and there’s a little bready note, too.

The lemongrass flavor is forward on the taste, and the bready flavor is a little sweeter. A really nice lawnmower beer, IMHO.

 

I have been trying to get a hold of this beer for a while, finally managed a few weeks ago. It was worth it! Cheers! I do plan on visiting the Brewery on my way to Asheville, just haven’t gotten around to it yet, but soon!

 

Drekker Thor is my Co-Pilot Lactose DIPA, 8% ABV. Pours bright hazy yellow with a two-finger white foamy head that left no lacing. Nose is lactose and light citrus. Taste is grapefruit, pine, orange, moderately sweet, equally bitter. Excellent smooth mouthfeel, thanks to the lactose, overall outstanding. Only belching small pine trees, so thumbs up.

4.15/5 rDev -0.5%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

Trying to drink through my February Drekkers because a new drop is set to arrive Wednesday. One left to go.

 

This is Helles Other People....a Helles Lager of course....from Tired Hands. As always, very interesting can art.


Kind of a dark, goth thing going on there. Honestly, if I had to pick a beer based on can art alone....I would have passed on this. But I digress. You can't judge a book, blah, blah,blah....let's get down to it.

Golden yellow in color with just a touch of haze that clarified as this warmed up. Poured with a moderate, creamy, bright white foam with excellent retention clean pilsner malt aroma with light crackery notes. No hop aromas. Medium light bodied with medium carbonation, a light smooth feel and crisp finish. Pilsner malt and bread crust flavors followed by light grainy notes. Medium light bitterness with light herbal notes and bready malt flavors to the end. Finished with a light crisp bite along with light bready and herbal notes. This was a fairly malty representation of the style which I thoroughly enjoyed. A fabulous, yet under-rated style, with it's subtle and delicate qualities.
Cheers!

 

#3 is another from the Costco 2019 Advent pack. 500ml can stamped EXP 05/2021. The can label says, "BREWED AND OWNED BY PRIVATBRAUEREI H. EGERER", and like the previous NBS beer, the BA listing is for a different brewer.

Going to the respective brewer's websites does not clarify the situation, either. It appears it may be normally a Brauerei-Gasthof Zwönitz beer that was brewed for the Advent pack by Privatbrauerei H. Egerer.

Anyway...

Privatbrauerei H. Egerer Zwönitzer Rauchbier German Rauchbier
ABV: 4.8%
IBU: NA



Brown semi-clear color beneath a very creamy and thick light tan head that recedes quite leisurely, leaving behind occasional strings of lacing.

Aroma is smokey malts, hinting of smoked meat (likely just in my brain...), bread and grain malts. The aroma is not at all overpowering; IOW, low key.

Smokey taste is stronger than the aroma, with an initial hit that builds throughout, ending with a somewhat bitter finish and aftertaste, with the smoke lingering. The finish and aftertaste are nothing special, with the overall thinness and slight bitterness somewhat discounting the smoke in the overall impression of the beer.

Mouth feel is thin.

Rauchbiers are not a style I would normally seek out, even so, this does not seem to be a particularly good example of the style. It is completely unremarkable at best, and a struggle to get through at worst. Understand, this is not due to the smoke; it has nothing to do with liking or not liking smoke beer, but it is due to the underlying beer. It is just not very good.

L: 3.75 | S: 3.0 | T: 2.25 | F: 2.5 | O: 2.25 | Rating: 2.55

Wow! I certainly hope I happened to grab the bottom 2 remaining beers from the box for today.

 

Happy NBS, everyone!
It is another Sunday here in Montreal fortunately I can see icicles melting so it isn't as bitter cold as it was yesterday. My in-laws came down for the weekend and so that was fun. We didn't do much but hung out, hit up the visiting mummy exhibit from the British Museum and had a nice dinner at a French place last night. It was the second time I'd seen the mummies and it was really cool this time too. Once again, one of my favorite parts was a wooden depiction of a brewery and some articafts from one. They also had a whole section showing different food and beverage ingredients that they used. There was even a crusty old pile of something brown. They said they "suspected" it was spent grain from brewing. Well I know that scientists try to be measured and accurate, but it was definitely spent grains. It looked no different (just way less fresh) than the grain pile you'd see at any brewery or homebrewer's house. I know their beers were much different and whatnot, bit it's cool to see first hand that some things aren't that different at all. The actual brewing process on the other hand...

I am semi-lacking (you wouldn't think it to look at my beer fridge, though) in new beers so I am going to dig into an Imperial Stout I brought back from Scotland a few months back.

It pours pitch black with an all right dark tan head. It fades to a thin cap that is very speckled looking due to the foam structure. The lacing is similarly speckled. The nose has chocolate, molasses, faint black cherries, brown sugar, medium roast.
The flavor is more on the mocha side than the nose is and it's very smooth. Coffee, dark chocolate, earthy 'dark'ness. There is a hint of oxidation in the nose that doesn't follow through to the flavor.
This beer is seriously smooth with a bit shy of a full body, moderate carbonation. I honestly don't know that I've had a British Imperial Stout other than old imported bottles of Samuel Smith's. I love how mellow it tastes compared to what is expect based on smell based on American examples. Well-hidden alcohol and a nice round flavor and feel make for a rich, warming beer. I am really enjoying this one.

Santé!

 

Last new beer of the evening: Flying Dog Mint Condition Mint/Milk Chocolate Stout. Full disclosure is that I love pretty much anything mint chocolate, Stouts, and FD and I have a bit of a personal connection and I love their willingness to experiment. The details:

ABV: 7.2%
Best By: 04/14/20

This beer is perfect. Just enough mint on top of the Stout goodness. I would gladly drink this again and if this is your type of thing be sure to try it before it disappears.

 

That happens to be one of my favorite Lone Pine beers. To be fair though for me it has nothing in common with Hopslam. I just drank my last Hopslam and it just wasnt crazy good for me. That beer is though to me. Thats what keeps this interesting- different strokes for different folks. Great review. Cheers!

 

Great choice on your beer! Love that one. The coffee definitely is brighter fresh, but it is excellent up to three years in my opinion. I personally prefer about a year old or so, and I don't often prefer aged to fresh. It's good whenever though truth be told.
As for finding it, I am a little surprised, but you never know with distribution. I only make it back there once or twice a year but almost always happen upon it in the Fort Collins and Denver area.

 

I just got home from a work trip and came home to a beautiful box of beer from the ever-generous @Vidblain! I didn't want to sleep on the hops so I opened this one first:


Wow is this good.
Somewhere between yellow and amber in color, a standard pour produced a generous white head that slowly receded, leaving sticky clumps of lacing on the glass. Very pungent aroma with pineapple, berries, resin, and bready malt. The taste was a punch in the face with bright fruity notes. Zero astringency or chalky notes. The feel was substantial and smooth. Honestly one of the best NEIPAs I've had in a while in all aspects. Thanks, Chris!

 

Almost a Time Waits for No One Woodford, but still mighty fine. Anchorage does some amazing things. Cheers!

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The first time I had it I found it in a nondescript grocery store in Hillsborough. The second time I found it at Sam's Bottle Shop in Durham. Our son and daughter both live in North Carolina and will bring me a bottle from time to time. I also was able to buy an Old Hickory pint glass for $1 at Beer Study in Chapel Hill. Getting a good deal on a glass makes the beer taste better! Cheers!