New Beer Weekend #12

Good evening NBW
You have to enjoy the occasional happy accident. Case in point:

I thought I was buying a limited release imperial stout, but it's actually an old ale (entered as an American strong ale here in BA). Stouts are everywhere and easy to get. Old ales, not so much & I really enjoy them.

Dragon's Milk Solera by New Holland Brewing Company:
12oz bottle stamped PULL #1 07/21/20 (about 3 months old) poured into a tulip glass at just above fridge temp 10% ABV. The beer mostly bright dark amber with light chestnut highlights and khaki colored head. The head recedes to a thin ring and single layer of bubbles. The aroma is mild with dried fruit, brown sugar, faint vanilla and wood. The taste is semisweet raisin, prune, dark brown sugar, vanilla, very faint bourbon barrel and sweet cherry. Mild bitterness on the moderately dry finish. The mouthfeel is the bummer here. Medium bodied at best with lively average carbonation that's out of place for the style. Overall, smells and tastes great, looks good, feels ok. Still, it has potential and I will be picking up more to see if future pulls morph into the fantastic old ale I know this can be.

Cheers all! I'll be back with another momentarily.

 

Energy Cone Fresh Hop IPA from Single Hill. Collaboration with Bottleworks and Full Throttle Bottles.

16oz can served in a big snifter. Dated 10/01/20. Bought it at Bottleworks yesterday.

Pours a hazy pale yellow with a medium sized head and medium carbonation. Smell is fresh hops, nice.

Taste is mild tropical, lots of pith, juicy but not sweet.

Mouthfeel is medium thickness, moderate grit sensation. Overall, nice beer.

 

Happy Birthday!

 

Greetings, NBW swillers and NBS BIF participants. I've been looking forward to this reveal weekend since this iteration of the BIF was announced. I've been enjoying working my way through the boxes that @jvgoor3786 sent my way. I'm saving my two mystery beers for tomorrow, but that's not going to stop me from having a few today, too. This is the first of the haul that sent me from East Sixth Brewing in Little Rock that I've opened. This one is interesting because it's a collaboration with some amateur homebrewers, and was the winning recipe at the Central Arkansas Fermenters Pro-Am 2020 Competition. That competition sounds like an interesting concept and it produced an interesting beer.

This Cinnamon Roll Pasty Stout(aka Bev's Sweet-N-Sticky) clocks in at 9% abv, but drinks much smoother. When I think of 9% pastry stouts I'm immediately thinking that this will be a thick and very sweet stout. Instead this one poured with what I'd describe as closer to a medium body with a fizzy head. The aroma was that of roasty malt and cinnamon with some cocoa in the background. I expected the flavor to be mostly geared towards the decadently sweet icing that tops most cinnamon rolls, but was instead treated to a deeply roasty malt flavor that indeed contained some bittersweet chocolate notes. The cinnamon was more evident on the finish. This beer is in fact not all that sweet at all, but contains some nice depth of flavor. Alas, just a touch more sweetness might have pushed it into a higher tier for me. All in all, this is a solid stout that erred on the side of restraint instead of overkill and was a nice start to the day for me. Cheers, all!
3.87/5 rDev +1.6%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75

 

Whole hog pumpkin ale
Semi clear amber
...medium carbonation with a slightly thin body
...aroma is definitely pumpkin pie spice with some pumpkin, brown sugar, and malt
...taste similar to aroma is spice forward. Some pumpkin, brown sugar and malt. Slightly sweet with the squash and spice coming off real and not artificial.
..enjoyable, not the best but still good for what it is

 

Yeah, where have all those fresh hop beers gone?
Right here.
Fremont's Field to Ferment. 6%
Canned 9.17.20 and that's pretty damn good for around here since we don't get a ton of (good) fresh hops beers. This was the best hoppy beer I had this last week...

4.21/5 rDev +2.2%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25

L - Golden, unfiltered, goodness; decent head, and good lacing for a 6% beer
S - Hops and hope unified in a glorious floral explosion on the nose; stick my head in a hop bush bro. Wow.
T - Follows on the taste, fantastic hop depth and hop flower expression, resinous, almost sticky. Pretty fresh for around here (9.17.20 canning, opened 10.10.20)
F - Great carbonation, not exaggerated, proper. No issues, nice oily hop impression too, without feeling sticky.
O - Damn this beer is great, get it if you see it or it's distro-ed near you. Cheers.

 

On NBS BIF #12 “share weekend,” I’m going across multiple BIF’s with beer and glassware. First up, this magnificent helles lager from @Roy_Hobbs. You are truly a rockstar, Ross.





4.42/5 rDev +5.2%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5

A nicely hazed (hello unfiltered) straw color with a creamy white head, this gorgeous beer sports ample grassy aromas up front, with some bread and crackers following.

Resisting the urge to gulp this down is truly a challenge, because the grassy flavors, which are dominant, are complemented so well by the doughy bread flavor and that little speck of cracker. Truly the definition of crushable.

The mouthfeel is strikingly crisp, lending itself to the crushable factor. What a pleasure it is to drink this world-class lager from a world-class brewery.

 

Holy Mountain's Festbier.

16oz can served in a big snifter. Can doesn't have a date on it. Just says "BREAKFEST" on the bottom. I like Holy Mountain, but what a stupid decision. Already stamping their beers, but not putting useful information on it? Just stupid.

Pours clear light amber or deep brassy gold with small head that fades to nothing with no lacing. Smell is lager and grain, unoppressive and nice.

Taste is not light, but lighter and crisper, not at all sweet, but still grainy. Lots of bitterness, some nuttiness.

Mouthfeel is light and surprisingly crisp. Enjoyable beer.

 

#2, courtesy of @Roguer in NBS BIF #11, as is the glassware. I love collab beers, and this excellent BA imperial stout is another example why that is so.





4.37/5 rDev +1.9%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25

This pours nearly black, more of a cola color with a tan head that dissipates pretty quickly, which isn’t a surprise. There’s also some carbonation bubbles on the side of the glass, which are usually present in big stouts in my experience.

The nose is magnificent, with a heaping helping of the apple brandy barrel, accompanied by the maple and vanilla, and the slightest hint of chocolate.

The maple and vanilla are forward on the taste, and there’s a hint of chocolate - and then the barrel takes the wheel and pegs the accelerator, with a fruity flavor and an almost cognac quality that coasts into a boozy, warming finish. Wow.

The mouthfeel is fairly substantial, is the slightest smidge watery. When I saw “Apple Brandy Barrel Aged” on the label, with all the other flavors, I was curious how the breweries would pull this off.

Exceptionally well indeed, IMHO.

 

I’ll be saving the NBW BIF mystery beers for tomorrow. Today it was my first pumpkin beer in several years from the generous @Ozzylizard. I used to like them a lot, got tired of the ones that were all pie spice and nothing else, and have been on hiatus as a result. My wife was excited by this one, as she has always liked pumpkin beers. So, we shared.

Lancaster Baked Pumpkin Ale



Pours a deep clear copper with a moderate head that dissipates slowly.

Sweet on the nose with the requisite baking spices taking centre stage. Pumpkin flesh hides behind the spice but pokes its head out enough to let you know it is there.

Sweet first sip. The spices and the pumpkin blend together on the tongue and the sweetness finishes the swallow. The sweetness is pleasant and the spice and pumpkin levels are perfect.

Light body with unexpectedly strong carbonation.

This is a nice reintroduction to pumpkin beers. I really enjoyed it.

 

They're too cool. Same way they don't have a public phone number to call. Just too hip.

 

Was hoping I’d come across this beer and I did so I grabbed a single. I enjoy trying these b united canned offerings when I come across them and I’m happy I can grab singles...



Picture pretty accurately portrays the color of this beer. Not crystal clear but almost so, leans the darker side of amber. Not much head retention from my pour but that could be me.

Smell is mostly grain and bread but it also has a crispy smell to it, if that makes sense not sure how else to describe it.

Taste is hearty bread and lots of malt as to expect sweetness but there isn’t any sweetness to speak of.

Mouthfeel is full but very crisp and clean. I love the carbonation on this beer to smooth and creamy make it go down very easy.

overall a very enjoyable a very enjoyable marzen. It’s a hearty beer but it goes down very smooth and clean. The heartiness is instantly gone and it makes for a very drinkable beer.

 

Without looking back at my review, I think yours is almost identical to mine. It was a good beer but not what I was expecting given the name.

 

Never one not to succumb to peer pressure, and being the inveterate trend-chaser that I am, I too am sharing brews from NBS BIF #12: Rocket Balls and Estonian ticks.

My first entry today comes from @RedhawkPoke , and American Solera; I wanna Talk About Mosaic. It was fine, I presume a Single hop murkbomb. I keep going back and forth on Mosaic, some beers I like it, and some I don't. This was kinda in the middle for me. I'll crack my mystery beer beer tomorrow, and the only clue I have about is that it's 14% ABV Hooo-Boooy! If my posts tomorrow seem less sensical than usual, that's why.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/46299/502446/?ba=beertunes#review

 

Following in the footsteps of @Pinz412, I'm going to break out the big guns from his NBS BIF box. I have a mystery beer for tomorrow. But since my wife got me a birthday beer, I'll be drinking that tomorrow, so I'm very excited to break out bottle 101 of 420 of

11th Hour Brewing
Burn Your Suit
2020 Imperial Stout
Aged 18 months in Weller bourbon barrels

I have been staring at this since he sent it. With the kids safely watching a movie and the wife at the Alabama game, I have some time to enjoy the incredible smell of this beer as it warms.





The beer pours a medium black with no head and no lacing

The smell hits immediately and reminds me of BCBS. It's a glorious mix of bourbon and dark chocolate I can smell from three feet away. There's a touch of vanilla hiding in there also.

The taste continues to bring the bourbon to the front but there's char and a hint of leather. The taste changes through the finish with sweet vanilla, a hint of caramel, then a strong smoky flavor right at the end.

The mouthfeel is very smooth, low carbonation, and tongue-coating thick.

Overall, this is nearly perfect. If I'm trying to explain why this doesn't get a perfect 5 from me, I'd say the smoke is a bit strong on the finish (for my taste) and the mouthfeel could be a hair thicker. But I'm being very picky here. This beer is amazing. Thank you, Justin!

 

https://postimg.cc/308kYw4C
I hope everyone is having a great Saturday. Today I’m drinking The Fall from Foam Brewers. Foam calls this an Autumnal Beer. I would say it’s a Festbier. This I beers pours a deep amber color with a slight white head. Smells of caramel. The taste matches the smell, nicely malty and spicy. It has a medium body and lightly carbonated. This is a nice version of a Festbier. Perfect for watching football.