New Beer Sunday (Week 795)

My wife and I picked up a few Crowlers from Little House Brewing yesterday. Today I am drinking Jants, a dry hopped NEIPA with Strata and Sabro. What's with that name you say? Well a month or so ago they had an NEIPA called Jorts, which refers to jeans cut into shorts. Jants, as a lot of funny text on their web page and video on their Facebook explains, turns jean shorts into... wait for it... pants, jean pants to be specific. Think of how great jean pants would be! Well I did drink the Jorts, did not review it though, and I can say Jants is a bigger (longer?) NEIPA.

Pours out to create a thick looking head, like it could support change. Minuscule bubbles on the side of the glass, mixed sized on top. It fades in only a few minutes but does create some nice lacing. The body is deep murky orange.
Aroma is one of the best I've experienced in weeks. Strong orange Creamsicle, some dankness, some apricot.
Warning! Overused phrase about to appear..... Taste follows aroma. But it really does. Creamsicle up front, dank in the middle, finish is actually pretty sweet. This is "only" a 7.5% ABV, but you can sense the alcohol. Its not off putting, but it is there.
Mouth feel is creamy, especially if you dig in before that head fades.

I really love this beer but I am not sure how long it will be available. Little House keeps moving on to new beers constantly and reappearances are rare, but they do happen infrequently when something sells really well. Keeps things interesting I guess.

 

Great review. And excellent dogs!!

 

Poured into a 16 oz Snulip glass canned on 5/1/2020. Pours a dark hazy orange with a finger plus sticky white head that leaves big streaks of lace with nice retention. 4.5

Smell coconut, pineapple, mandarin, papaya, and a hint of apricot. 4.25

Taste follows coconut, pineapple, orange, papaya, and apricot very little bitterness. 4.5

Mouthfeel is about medium, gentle carbonation, sticky not dry, and 6.4% very easy going down. 4.5

Overall this is really tasty, some don’t like a hint of coconut, I actually enjoy it. 4.25

 

Thanks! They pretty much run the house, especially Gilbert who is bravely guarding my snifter.

 

3 Belgians in Europe, March 3, 2020 - Just got out of EU in time!
Abbaye De Saint Bon-Chien | BFM | 11% Biere de Garde
4.53/5 rDev +3.9%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
Belongs in the 100 class in my view. Enjoyed Beereau in Berlin, on tap, by Henrik the owner. My best Berlin spot.
a) Brown body with lashes of lace.
s) Tart, wine-like, oaky, church-like, incense, plum, more wood shop.
t) Follows all this aroma into a deeper complexity.
f) Wine like, astringent, fruit without sugar.
o) One my favorite beers of all time. Deserves its higher regard.
De Ranke Guldenberg | Brouwerij Brasserie De Ranke | Abbaye 8.5%
4.46/5 rDev +10.1%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
At Family Beers in Brussels. lovely quiet place amidst the din. Fragrant beer, fragrant, gentle place, 100s of beers.
Guldenberg is a tripel-style abbey ale containing 8.5% abv.
a) Perfect Abbaye beer, golden, fine bubbled body with massively lacing head.
s) Floral And spice rise big from the beer, lighter higher nose, and less over the head yeast.
t) Loving this, makes me want to try everything they brew.
f) Mid and ticklish. Impish kissy, mouth feel.
o) Best Hallertau hops beer ever.
Extase | Brouwerij De Dochter van de Korenaar } 8.5%
4.25/5 rDev +7.1%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
Enjoyed at Family Brews, Brussels. Must stop here if it's still open. Great beer curation and quiet.
This has changed from earlier reviews to a clear, darker amber color with a 2 finger dense,fluffy white head with great retention, awash with lace. Supports a big lasting head.
s/t) Subtle and precise aromas of grapefruit, tangerine, peach, lemon, orange, rind, and then long in pine, peppercorn, light caramel, with some bread, flowers, grass, and herbs.
f) Has the green peppercorn/pine notes that cleanse your palate.
o) Gets better as it warms. A top Belgian DIPA brewed by a Dutchman

 

Congrats, and welcome to the world Noah. What a time to join the party, huh?
Woke up before dawn for no reason. That's fun. A couple of long long walks with the dogs helped the weather transition from rainy grey to sunny and warm and back to overcast. Springtime in paradise. Pub ale seems appropriate!

Soho, London from Ravenna Brewing was billed as a 'pub ale' when I picked it up at the brewery last week, but has since disappeared from the website so I'm not 100% sure what the most appropriate classification here would be. UT has it as an english pale, but I wonder if a bitter would be more approriate?



The thing pours a beautiful crystal clear light copper. Clear enough I can read the label through the glass as they're sitting near each other. Initial big two fingers of rocky off white foam, but that settles off as I'm messing around trying to get some good pictures of the clarity and only retains some stray wet bubbles.

Nose is an inviting intertwining of floral and almost perfume-y hops with some toasty nutty malts. Mildly fruity. Actually just what I'm looking for right now.

Body is medium-light with a slick kind of feel to it with discrete bubbles of carbonation, this one nails its goal of drinkability.
Flavour wise there's some mild floral and fruity hops that have a dull earthy bitterness to them sitting astride fruity/nutty malts. The whole thing is appropriately understated and I think is well executed, though admittedly it's somewhat out of my sphere of experience. It's certainly hitting the spot and I could definitely see myself sitting and drinking a couple of these for an afternoon.



Cheers!

 

Happy New New England IPA Sunday!

Pretty nice day here on the Western Slope, around 83, some sun/clouds at the trailhead. Having a pretty tasty brew, don't see much of them around. Watching some Picard. Should be back with another new brew.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/56330/437696/?ba=Wasatch#review

Cheers!

 

My Junie had floaties, too!!! First time I’ve seen those in a stout. They don’t bother me in IPA’s, but I’ll freely state that they were ..... a bit disconcerting.

Fortunately, the taste, as you stated so well, was on point. You stick caramel in an imperial stout, Imma peel razor blades off the bottle to get at that bad boy.

 

There are just certain flavor adjuncts that just don't seem to want to stay in solution and become floaties. I had a collab TIPA about a year ago from Levante and Grist House that I was really looking forward to, but the banana puree they used look more like banana pulp. It was that way straight from the canning to the point that they included a disclaimer on the release. I should have known better at that point, but curiosity got the best of me. The flavor was fine, but I couldn't get past the look/feel. I even tried pouring it through a bar strainer and it barely helped.

 

I'm late to the party this NBS today, largely because I had bad insomnia last night/this morning, so I slept in and was kinda sluggish today.

71° and partly cloudy today in Spokanistan. Been a bit rainy and windy this past week, and will be again later on today and for the next week or so, from the sound of things. Been doing a lot of reading in the hours I'd otherwise be at work (I'm still an "essential worker," but with the airport I work at serving approximately 3% of the normal amount of travellers, I've been dropped down to three days per week) or in a bar, taproom or show somewhere, so, aming other projects, I've taken back up, for the first time in about 15yrs, the Aubrey-Maturin novels. I finished Master and Commander about an hour ago, and will next take up Post Captain.

I amused myself Friday by visiting Whistle Punk Brewing, River City Brewing and Community Pint for some bottles, cans & crowlers. Had several new-to-me local beers on Friday and yesterday.

Today I'm hitting a crowler from the aforementioned Community Pint. This is Double Berry Shake, from Great Notion:

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/41869/477297/?ba=woemad#review
This is so damn good. It's an imperial sour (not really a style, but, hey, it's 9%), made with Oregon Marionberries and vanilla. The hand that dealt the vanilla did so with a fairly light touch (I find a lot of brewers go overboard with vanilla), so it hints and sweetness and milkiness without dominating things. They combine with the Marionberries to give it a texture, aroma and taste not unlike a Marionberry Milkshake. The aroma, especially, is absolutely divine.

Not sure what I'll have later if I do another new beer today. I've no shortage of candidates, either from my recent beer buying or the dwindling yet still extant stock of NBS BIF beers from @Whyteboar. If I'm not back later, have a great week, y'all, and stay safe & strong.

 

Deschutes BA Fresh Squeezed Old Fashioned DIPA, 8.1% ABV. Pours copper with a small finger of white head that left a foamy ring of lacing. Nose is orange, bitters, and cherry - old fashioned. Taste follows, with slight bitterness. Excellent mouthfeel, overall excellent to outstanding. This is better than the competing entry from Central Waters.

4.21/5 rDev +9.1%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25

 

Moving on to Pilsner number 2, Wander Doglost, thanks @beertunes!
3.88/5 rDev +6.3%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75

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

A- A fairly clear golden straw color with a small white head.

S- Biscuits, sweet malts, earthy, a little floral, touch of citrus.

T- Sweet malts, biscuits, earthy, slightly floral.

M- Smooth, light body.

O- A tasty and easy to drink Pilsner

Cheers!

 

Congratulations!

 

I am not doing any traveling for at least four months which means limited Charlotte, Asheville, Charleston, or Athens beers this summer, and probably no trips to New York or Massachusetts. I am not pleased at this turn of events, but the local brewers need people like me, so that is where my bucks are going. This afternoon I had for the first time a local 7% ABV IPA from Hazelwood Brewing.

Standup white head, full lacing, clear golden hue
Strong citrus and pine scents, with a yeast note that all their pale ales seem to have.
Nice bitter citrus and pine flavors right in line with most West Coast IPA's, and a light sweet aftertaste. Lasting carbonation, no off flavors or sediment.
This brewery is located in an old textile mill that like many others,has been repurposed into retail space.

The area under the smoke stack is the boiler room which hadn't been used since the 1960's. The Hazelwood Brewery folks cleaned it out and made a very attractive workspace and taproom. For the time being all sales are from a window up front.

Their marketing stresses a farm to pint local sourcing philosophy. I have had several of their IPA's which were all good. I am more excited about the Belgian style beers that were among their first releases. If they can stay afloat in the rough waters of 2020, I plan to buy a lot of beer there.

 

I would imagine what you're tasting comes mostly from the Passion fruit. I had the opportunity to try fresh Dragonfruit on the Big Island last year. It's spectacular looking, but fairly bland in taste. Should I ever make it back there again, I'll skip the Dragonfruit and buy fresh pineapple in it's stead.
EDIT: I did a better job of reading your description, and see you looked up Dragonfruit. I'd not disagree with you. It looks cool, and has a name that's downright metal, but, yeah, it's a letdown.

 

That huge bottle cap made me do a double take!
A dumbstruck second for sure. "wait that's not just placed close..."

 

Back with a new one! My back is feeling better, and I figured that a 5% Kellerbier from Off Color can't kill me, right?

Plus I can't Take It Anywhere Nice, so might as well.

TL;DR: Off Color "You Can't Take Me Anywhere Nice" Kellerbier. 5%. No date on can.
Malts: Pils, Carapils, Pale Malt
Hops: Magnum, Perle, Tettnanger
Secret Ingredient: Distance (Stay at home order joke). Ha.

Appearance: Proper, unfiltered look to it, great head on it on the first pour (not even aggressive), keeps a gold glow going throughout. Fine. 4/5 (no issues)

Aroma: A bit of muted sourdough starter and a hint of saltine cracker impression on the nose, and I did NOT have this too cold. A little lager-y tang on the old schnoz as it warms though. 3.75

Taste: Drinks like a fine, unfiltered Lager. Impeccable balance of malt, dough, cracker, really nice backbone to this with the "Lager" impressions saved for the back palate and throat. Pretty darn nice, not as flavorful as some other Lagers had recently (Maplewood/Dovetail). But clean as hell as a finish. Nice and cracker dry at the end. EDIT: a 4, a solid 4. Better at 55 than at 50 degrees.

Mouthfeel: really good, continuous bubbles, solid carbonation, nothing crazy, proper for a Keller. (apparently an unfiltered version of their Pilsner). 4

Overall: a really solid Lager from a brewery that doesn't necessarily specialize in Lagers (mostly wild, sours, etc.) but I really enjoyed it. Off Color continues to put a distinctive stamp on their angles, beers, and priorities. I for one appreciate it. If you find some, I think you would too. I'd say a 3.75 overall. I'd buy this if I lived in Chicago.

Cheers, NBSers!

 

Greetings NBS friends. I have a couple of beers from Indiana breweries this rainy Northern Indiana evening, the first an hour or so away and as iconic a brewery as there is in our beer nerd world, the other about 3 hours away southwest of Indianapolis on the way to Bloomington (Go Hoosiers!!!), and a definite “under the radar” brewery I visited 5 years ago with my brother-in-law that I think is a little hidden gem.

First up, a decidedly hazy IPA that is decidedly NOT in the traditional “NE-style IPA” category (even if it is listed as such here). This is Hati from Three Floyds.





4.35/5 rDev +7.4%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

Hazy golden sunshine color with a Velcro white head that clings to the glass like a dog that just spent two weeks in a kennel whilst its Mom & Dad went on vacation clings to them when they pick him/her up.

There’s strong citrus notes on the nose as well as a dank earthiness - and pine. That last component bodes well for this beer, IMHO.

The taste is led by grapefruit and pineapple in waves, but the back end of the taste is all resiny pine - literally a truckload of resiny pine that imparts a significant amount of bitterness to this “Nu Skool/Old School” IPA. It certainly looks like a NE-style IPA, but this beer will bite your nose off off with the bitterness it imparts for minutes after a pull.

This is the Three Floyds I love - the brewery that eschews industry trends and brews what it wants to brew. At 109 IBU’s this beer is indeed not normal.