New Beer Sunday (Week 793)

Well it was supposed to be cold and rainy all weekend, and I suppose there's still plenty of time for the afternoon to turn that way, but we just got back from a nice long neighbourhood walk with the dogs and it's blue skies with the occasional cloud drifting by. I wouldn't necessarily call it warm, but once we got into the sunshine I felt like my sweatshirt and vest were more than I really needed. Next week is when we're supposed to start getting low summer weather. Ughh. It's barely May!
So the good news about the weather looking like this is that I was casting about for what I've got in the fridge that would be both new AND feel appropriate for a cold rainy day and the options were fairly limited. Lucky me then that it went that other way. I've been hanging onto the second mystery beer from @Harrison8's wonderful box of KC goodies from NBS BIF #11 for just such an occasion, as the only information I have is a wrap of tin foil with cryptic glyphs reading: 3.6% (ok that's not cryptic at all, but I'm trying to get into a mood of mystery!). I figured a low ABV can probably would best suit warmer weather or at least sunshine so I'm taking my opportunity dammit!



SPOOKY MYSTERY

Right off the bat I see that my preconceived guesses/instincts were incorrect as it pours a medium chestnut brown with big wet bubbles culminating in a decent swell of offwhite head that dissipates but not completely leaving a wonderful record of foam long gone along the glass and several tufts of chunky drifts along the top of the liquid.

Nose is initially nutty and sweet with caramely and decoction-reminiscient malt presence. This calms down a bit to leave a grainy underbelly with some light roast that is faint and could be my imagination.

Flavour starts off with toasty malts bordering on char. Toasty and bitter and dry. The dryness leads to an impression of thinness carrying through the second half that's a little disappointing. There's some spicy bitterness and teh final swell after the super thin second half is just a faint impression of spicy noble hops. I dig it but wish it had a little bit more structure to carry through. I don't get any of the sweet caramel or other stuff I describe in the first half of hte aroma.

Overall it's dry and thin with effervescent carbonation that's actually quite nice and helps play up the spicy hops and give it something during that bit where it just kind of disappears.

I'm leaning to the smaller darker german styles like Schwarzbier/Roggenbier/Alt, something in that range (and in order of likeliness).

AND FOR THE BIG REVEAL!



English Mild from Apex Aleworks. Ha, I was way off. I got too caught on the caramel/melanoidin aspect of the nose and thought for sure German. I like it better as an english mild than I did thinking it was one of those others, oddly enough (the power of suggestion and style, huh?). It fits the style guidelines as laid out here on the site better for what it actually is than for what I was thinking it was (which probably tells you way more about me than about the brewers, ha), and I can definitely see how it would fill the mild role perfectly of being able to sit and have an evening of them while offering flavour and that without being overwhelming or causing... let's say disorientation. I do think (as in typical American fashion) it's a little hopped up for the style traditionally, but that's a minor complaint and I do find myself enjoying what the hops offer, personally.

Thanks Harrison for sending this along! It's always fun doing these blind tastings and I enjoyed both cans that you sent along as such (as well as the various bottles, but those weren't blind!)

Hope y'all are staying safe and sane and have something tasty in your glass as well!

 

Another new to me brew, this one an extra in my recent trade box from @rmank - “Churned”, an Imperial Milk Stout with Peanut Butter and Chocolate, from Charles Towne Fermentory, Charleston, SC:




Canned 02/07/20. Poured at 56 degrees. Black with grey/cola edges; tight dark tan head; poor cap retention; thin ring; minimal lacing; medium legs. Strong roast peanut nose; some cocoa as liquid warms. Chocolate, milk chocolate, Nestle’s Quik, lactose; peanut butter; sweet caramel malt base. Slick, smooth, oily, liquid peanut buttery feel; heavy minus full body; light carbonation; no warmth from 11% abv. Overall, this stout has a pleasing peanut butter flavor; not quite a Reese’s PB Cup, but plenty enough chocolate to keep up; amazingly, no alcohol in nose or on palate; better than most PB stouts I’ve had, no artificial or adjuncty tastes or feel; a quality offering from an outstanding brewery - CTF; I’d gladly drink again.

4.25 | 4.0 | 4.5 | 4.25 | 4.25

Added to data base...Score: 4.29

 

Beck Bräu Helles


Pours a golden color with a medium sized, bubbly head.


Smells of dried grass, straw and of well water, together with a lighter note of toffee.


Has a light body to it, with a fitting, well nuanced, lively carbonation, making this quite refreshing.


Tastes of lighter straw, sweeter, caramel accompanied wheat and a profound, dry hop appearance. This well balanced, intriguing start gets continued by stronger growing straw, bread crust and some crackers, balanced by both the hops and the caramel, creating a very well working rusticness. Finishes dry with a crisp aftertaste and a solid straw backbone among cooked lentils and soft toffee.


This drinks fantastic. Way dryer than your average Helles, with a fantastic light and refreshing, yet unique maltiness to it, making this a real stand out beer.

 

Damn man that sounds delicious. I think filet in its buttery almost neutral flavor is a perfect candidate for the sous vide method. And then of course butter is essential as well. I love compound butter on steaks. Love cast iron too nothing compares in getting that crusty outside. Yesterday I grilled strips and made a Bearnaise butter which is basically shallots, tarragon, lemon juice, white pepper and salt. Cheers to you though sounds awesome. I could talk about food all day just like beer.

 

Goose Island Lost Palate NEIPA, 6.9% ABV. Pours hazy orange with a 2+ finger white head that left decent lacing. Nose is not smelling much here, maybe slight citrus. Taste is slight citrus, lactose, some cinnamon, slightly sweet, no bitterness. Creamy mouthfeel, overall good, though pretty bland. If they didn't tell me it was a NEIPA, I'd have guessed a cream ale or something equally boring. Inoffensive is the best I can say. Oh well, it was a free sample.

3.56/5 rDev -1.7%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.5

Another beautiful spring day here, but spent the day de-cluttering one room, several more to go. We're planning to get the interior painted and do some new flooring in the fall, so figure de-cluttering will make that go easier.

 

Back with a very unique Sixpoint. Atomic Res. This beer used a liquid nitrogen technique I have never heard of in the brewing. Read the can in the 2nd picture.
Another unique thing was the 2nd part of the stamp on the bottom of the can. Pretty specific- "BB 25 JUL 2020 1745PM". Reminds me of a King of the Hill bit-




3.93/5 rDev +1%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Poured from a 16oz can dated 27 Jan 2020 to a nonic.
Orange with decent white head.
Kind of smells like a mixed drink I can't identify. Maybe some citrus, unsure. Quite a unique smell. Sorry that I'm speechless.
This baby is dank. Slight hop burn, but I expected that. Unlike most NEIPAs the citrus only hits you on the back end. There is alcohol present, but it mingles with the hop burn.
Overall, a very unique beer. Not sure if this is my thing, but interesting to experience

 

First, I forgot to compliment @zid before on a great opening; a little alliteration a la @cavedave. NBS #2, a Berliner Weiss courtesy of @FBarber. This is not a style I drink much but I've had a couple of other fruity offerings from New Glarus Brewing Co. before - Serendipity and Wisconsin Belgian Red - and really enjoyed them. If you like green apple and pear, then this is your beer! Perfect on the first really warm day of the season. Thanks, Frank! Here's my review:

4.18/5 rDev -0.7%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

I received a bottle from @FBarber. Poured into a cylindrical glass. It pours a hazy, golden straw color with a large, fluffy, bright white cap and thick, creamy lacing. Lots of tiny bubbles ascend the glass. On the nose there is tart apple and a bready malt smell. The taste is fruity and delightful with tart, green apple and pear. It has a nice balance of tartness and sweetness. There's also a wheat taste that nicely balances the sweetness of the fruit. As expected, it's lite, crisp, and effervescent. The ABV isn't listed on the bottle or the website but I can't imagine it's much over 4%. Overall, if you like a fruity Berliner, then this offering will impress!

Cheers, everyone!

 

Hey all, hope everyone is having a beautiful Sunday. I found this info from the United Nations today. I found it interesting.

The United Nation's (UN) World Food Program (WFP) warned that the response to combat COVID-19 will lead to an uptick in global poverty and starvation, which may end up killing more people than the virus by the end of 2020. Source: UNWFP, 1 May

Anyway, my new beer today I bought on a whim while in the drive through so Rebel Kettle a couple weeks ago. I'm glad I got it. It's excellent. The brewery describes it:

Brewed with 500 lbs of mango puree, this beer is based on Mango Lassi - a smoothie-like dessert one of our brewers fell in love with on his travels to India. We added a hefty amount of lactose to bring you a treat that is tangy, sweet, soft, and juicy – essentially your new favorite dessert in a beer glass. This is the way.



Pours a bright, beautiful orange color, almost looks like Tang. No head and no lacing.

The smell is powerful with overripe mangos and a bit of lacto.

The taste is like drinking pureed mangos mixed with champaign. It's barely tart.

The mouthfeel is thick and tongue-coating. Really adds to the pureed mango feel of the beer.

This is a great and unique beer. Very glad I got to try it.

 

White Elm Apricot Saison, 5.5% ABV. Pours slightly cloudy pale yellow with a 2+finger head that left no lacing. Nose is vaguely fruity with slight funk. Taste is apricot, pepper, a little funky, slightly salty, slightly sweet, no bitterness. Decent mouthfeel, overall outstanding.

4.21/5 rDev +2.9%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25

Much better than the GI NEIPA I just had. Really starting to appreciate saisons. One complaint I have with White Elm is that on their labels they insist on running the name in one line, so you can't capture it in a picture.

 

Eagle Park Brewing Citra On The Dock Of The Bay courtesy of @GreenBayBA. Thanks !. Not usually a fan of the NEIPA style but enjoyed this one more than any I can recall. 4.25 across all attributes.

 

Howdy NBSeurs and NBSeuses!
It is a beautiful day here in Montreal and I am having a relatively chill Sunday after spending yesterday finishing up some spring cleaning. Finally getting around to finalizing taxes hopefully. Ugh...
On that note, for my beer today I have an interesting one that is a good barometer of the current state of affairs both in the bad, general way--god I missing just casually going to a bottlehsop and perusing the aisles.... And in the pretty good, beer way. A canned beer made with kveik.

This is a beer from a very new localish gypsy Brewer kind of "place" called Epitaph. I've had a couple decent beers from them so I'm looking forward to this. What really interested me and what made me order it for delivery this last week is that it's an classic Quebec beer that has an interesting story behind it. One that I can't quite wrap my head around.



MacKroken Flower is a wee heavy recipe heavily featuring honey that I am fairly certain was a homebrew recipe from the late '80s-early '90s that was then brewed by one of the first biggish craft brewers up here in the 90s. "What's interesting about that," I hear you asking. Well, it has kind of become an unofficially opensource beer in Quebec. There is one brewer here that makes it year round, but I've had at two commercial versions in my short time here and there is at least one more made by a brewery that disappeared before I lived here. This will be my third take. What's awesome about this is that as a consumer you get a window into how important process, equipment, ingredients, etc. are, something that is usually the purview of brewers themselves since clones aren't really a thing that happens in the commercial world for obvious reasons

Well this is a new one and as we are living in the times we are, the twist here is of course that it is made with kveik. Let's see how this one turned out.

It pours fairly clear ruby-brown with a thick tan head that slowly tightens up, but sticks around. Good retention; sheets of lacing. The aroma is candied figs and some slight astringency and maybe even some oxidation up front.

Flavor wise it is kind of a rollercoaster. Very complex. It actually left me speechless. Brown sugar and dried dark fruits that intermingle with caramel before shifting into an earthy bite and some baking spices. Throughout there is a wavering orangey Tang that bobs in and out before finally taking us into the finish with some rum raisin booziness.

It is sticky and decadent, with a medium boozy presence and a long-lingering finish. This is a tasty, tasty beer. It's a looker. However, it smells surprisingly meh, for lack of a better descriptor. Not bad but unimpressive with a bit of oxidation that takes away from it. The rest of it, though, is very nice! A super complex beer flavor-wise. One of those where you can feel you tongue shift gears as you drive to the finish (and beyond). Toffee, banana bread, light spice, orangey brightness, rum. Very enjoyable. The feel follows suit, benefitting from a hefty body and some noticeable booze. As it warmed (from 50°) the oxidation started to creep into the flavor. It definitely didn't kill it for me and did make it a little more complex, but the it's presence was basically the difference between it being amazing and very good for me. I'd happily have this one again and if it was fresh or on tap I might even go out of my way for it

Hope you all are healthy and hanging in there. Preferably not in public...

Santé!

 

Now up Pipeworks Spicy Spittin’ Seeds, thanks @Franfab!

4.06/5 rDev +6.3%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Thank you Franfab for this
16 oz can poured into a pint glass

A- A slightly hazy golden straw with a small white head.

S- Tart, limes, watermelon, hint of peppers, slightly sweet.

T- Tart, lime, some watermelon jolly ranchers, nice spicy pepper.

M- Smooth, medium body.

O- A really fun combination of flavors that work well together.

Cheers!

 

Text
Picture

 

Ignore this partial post.

 

This year has more punch from the hops, and just more oomph overall.

 

New 3F beer #2
I missed the initial bottling of this one and was disappointed. Looks like they've bottled a second run, so here we go...

3Floyds Sköll
The review:
12oz bottled 04/15/20 poured into a tulip pint glass at just above fridge temp 8.5% ABV 41 IBU per 3F website. The beer pours dense black with no light penetration. The head is rusty dark brown in color. It builds quickly and recedes to single layer of bubbles leaving micro dots of lacing all down the glass. The aroma is mild to medium strength and features chocolate, spicy pepper and dark malts. The taste is dark (not roasted) malt and cocoa up front with woody oak and vegetable pepper mid-palate tapering off with pepper heat, mild bitterness and drying oak. The mouthfeel is medium plus bodied with average carbonation and a mostly dry finish. Overall, very good. I love a spicy stout or porter and this one delivers. Balanced and complex with just enough heat.

Great intro today @zid! I've struggled with the new format some and having you & @cavedave kick things off the last two weeks made things feel a little more normal. That's all the new beer I have for today. Cheers all and enjoy your Sunday!

 

Since it's so nice out, I figured I'd go for the second of three different Urban Artifact "Midwest Fruit Tarts" courtesy of @ovaltine in the recent NBS BIF #11. I enjoyed the first one I tried (The Gadget) quite a bit, so had high hopes heading into this one.

Pours a unique rust color with very little head and no lacing. In the sun, it's an interesting color, but in the shade, I find the color almost off-putting. Other reviews describe it as salmon, which probably is about right, but for some reason just isn't a color that appeals to me in a beer. I just see rust (again, when out of the sun) Smell is also a bit unique. I expected a strong berry scent, but detect almost none. Almost smells a little off. Almost no carbonation, but overall feel is solid. Taste also has less strawberry than I expected, and is not at all tart. Still tastes pretty good, just not what I was expecting.

Overall, this was a bit of a let-down. Solid beer, but for some reason it just wasn't doing it for me. That said, like the rest of you I love trying out new beers, and was really glad I could give this one a try. Can't wait to try the other one in the series that I still have in the cellar.

 

Wow, that's saying a lot. Does IA deliver to Bergen County?