New Beer Weekend #22

Dankful a 7.4 ABV West Coast IPA from Sierra Nevada. This is a recently released brew that showed up near me this week. This beer is very fresh canned on 11/30/20.
Poured into a Tulip this beer in gold in color with a thick white head. Strong aroma of fruit, pine and a bit of malt. Like all West Coast IPA this beer is about the hops. A blend of Ekuanot, Mosaic, Idaho 7, Columbus, Nelson, Sauvignon and Neo-Mexicanos is used. The hops are well blended, no single taste stands out. There is also a bready malt taste. This brew is better balanced than most West Coast IPAs. Full mouthfeel long lasting finish. Another fine beer from Sierra Nevada as is expected

 

Pours a cherry color with a slight head and lacing.
Aroma has cheery hints.
The taste follows the nose with a tart cherry flavor
A light bodied decently carbonated beer
A well made cherry Flanders

 

New Anthem - Clapback

16oz can served in a big snifter. 20 306 is printed on the bottom, which might be November 2nd. Bought it from Tavour.

Pours super hazy, light yellow, medium to small head. Smell is tropical juice.

Taste is softer tropical juice and a strong bitter finish.

Mouthfeel is medium, learning toward thick. Overall, very nice beer.

 

Day 2 of NBW, Fox Farm beer #2 (I had some others in between). PE'A, an 8.4% special NEIPA from them. Strange name, not sure of the origin. A Google search says that the word represents a Polynesian male tattoo that covers the body from waist to knees.
Here is the brewery's description-
Earlier in 2020 we proudly shared our first batch of Pora and now, we look forward to offering it’s scaled-up and re-imagined companion, Pe’a. Once again, we were blown away by the complexity and softness of the hop. Throughout the process, Pe’a maintained a certain roundness even fresh off a substantial dry-hopping – not necessarily showing the rough edges many Double India Pale Ale's demonstrate in the cellar. A special addition to close out the year! 8.4%


4.22/5 rDev -0.5%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

Poured from a 16oz can dated 12/16/2020, to a Nonic at Fridge temp.
Deep orange opaque body, small white head, tilt the glass and back up to see a multitude of bubbles from the lacing climb back up to the surface. Its a pretty cool effect. Head settles to thin, dense layer of tiny bubbles. Lacing is similar.
Dank, sweet aroma with pine and citrus and mango notes.
Taste is bitter and sweet, on and off, rather complex. Dry finish. Remote sense of alcohol.
Mouthfeel is medium but tongue coating stays after the swallow.
Really a good beer. Nice to have it so fresh also.

Oddly, when I wrote that review there was one rating (no words) dated this past Friday. When I refreshed the page it was gone. I am currently the only reviewer as of this writing.

A moment ago Edit Delete

 

Going Belgian on the next one.



Poured from the bottle into a tulip glass. Review is for Scaldis, not Bush, not sure if they are the same beer they might be.

Faint khaki colored head, real big fine and milky like retention, but large at three fingers with lots of staying power and fine bubbles. Whipped cream like topping sits on a muted dark rusted orange and opaque body. Slight glow to this around the edges also. Very nice looking beer, and a hint of aggressive presence here.

Peach aroma is big on this, but smells more like Del Monte in a can. Hints of syrup sweetness, even pineapple like character also. This is really right out of the grocery store shelf. Its fine, not horribly sweet, but also blocks any other beer like aromas getting through to enjoy.

Palate is a pleasant improvement. First sip is a spicy, and playful carbonated dry yeast and mouthfeel flavor on the tongue. Big dry earth followed by a touch of peach like flavor in the mid palate that is balanced nicely. Hints a little creamy vanilla as well, even in the swallow. Finishes with light earth and sweet peach quality.

It's a mass market peach flavor on top of a real good beer. Works pretty good, but gives impression of spiked beer, then something that was crafted together. Still the result is pretty solid luckily in the end.

look: 4.25 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4 | 3.84/5

Cheers!

 

Greetings, fellow NBWers,

We're reaching towards the Finish Line of this damn strange year. I'm not sure I'll be posting next weekend because, in theory, I'm doing something vaguely resembling Christmas at my folks' place down in the Tri-Cities, 150 miles from my digs. Because I'm the only one in the family who's basically been out and about, having a job that I have to go to for most of the week, whereas my parents are retired and my brother and his wife work from home and have been pretty much cocooned as of late, apparently we're doing a socially distanced gift exchange in my Dad's shop next Sunday. I'm going to be staying in a motel the night before, and probably immediately driving back to Spokane afterwards. God, what a weird year.

Anyway, yesterday, after waiting in line to enter a toy store in a mall filled with oblivious yuppies to get a toy for my 5yr old niece that she'll probably have forgotten about by next Xmas, I was needing a beer last night, so I tacked a tallboy of a "quintuple dry hopped" DIPA from Trap Door Brewing, in Vancouver, WA:

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/43810/524393/?ba=woemad#review
This will probably appeal to someone, and I might've enjoyed a smaller serving of this, but 16oz of this was too much of a sweet, tropical booze bomb for me to enjoy.

Afterwards I switched to bourbon and enjoyed that more.

Today I accompanied a scary Seahawk game, where at one point they were poised to lose to Dwayne Damn Haskins, with an IPL brewed by Boneyard in collaboration with Cloudburst:

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/23066/339773/?ba=woemad#review
I rather liked this. No flavor bomb but eminently drinkable. Boneyard is often behind some hop monsters (and I'm not saying that's a bad thing) but this was, by their standards, downright malt forward. Kinda like a pils brewed with New World hops.

 

Whoa! Congrats, @Roguer!

 

First new beer for today, and a cross post from the online holiday beer tasting.

N'Ice Chouffe Strong Ale
ABV: 10.0%
IBU: 25



Look has a dark ruby-brown body, clear with active carbonation feeding the thick, off-white to tan head. The head recedes quite slowly, dropping by pock-marks and valleys in the curface.

Taste starts with the malty dark fruits, fig, raisins, plum - especially plum, a bit sweet, with licorice, brown sugar, and spice. There is a mild bittering starting in the middle and carrying though to the finish. The interplay among the fruits, sugar, and spice is quite nice. The finish is somewhat sweet, but well short of turning this into a sipping beer (although the delightful flavors will encourage you to savor rather than gulp). There is no alcohol apparent in the flavor or the feel.

The feel is smooth, albeit a tingly smooth, with a bit of a coating on the tongue.

Overall, excellent, and as is true for many Belgian strong ales / quads, far too much of an easy drinker for the ABV (this is not a criticism; just a warning!)


L: 4.0 | S: 4.0 | T: 4.5 | F: 4.25 | O: 4.25 | Rating: 4.28

 

NBS/NBW Brew comes from my Nelson loving friend @JayORear special Beer Box.
Extra Toppings DDH Hazy DIPA w Strata and Nelson. A collab between Slice and Cellarmaker - Love the can art!
Pour is a hazy yellow with a rocky white head that settles to a thin ring with little to no lacing.
Aroma is wow. Tangerine, passionfruit, pineapple, kiwi, gooseberry, blanc grapes, sticky fresh bud.
Taste follows with citrus, tropicals, grapes and grapefruit pith. Full flavored and delicious.
Body is medium, slightly sweet up front with a bitter pithy finish, fairly balanced, soft pillowy in the mouth, nice hoppy tongue buzz, lasting tiny carb, not flat. No hint of 8.2%.
So lucky to have had the opportunity to taste this with my newest favorite hop Strata and my always favorite Nelson. What a combo. Excellent beer!
Loved it. Thanks Jay!

 

One more holiday ale for the weekend, Hopewell Ya Filthy Animal, thank @FBarber!
4/5 rDev 0%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Thank you FBarber for this
12 oz can poured into a pint glass

A- A clear dark ruby red when held up to the light, more brownish when it’s not held up to the light, small fast fading tan head.

S- Tart, nutmeg, some allspice, dark fruits, hint of pale malts.

T- Dark fruits, currents, some plums, a little tart, allspice, some nutmeg, touch of malt sweetness.

M- Smooth, light to medium body.

O- A tasty tart spiced beer, nicely balanced.

Cheers!

 

Good Sunday afternoon, New Beer Sippers and commentators. It's certainly a strange Christmas season for us all. And due to the preoccupation with PPP loans earlier in the year, our group has been overwhelmed with year-end real estate transactions, which in a perfect world would have started sooner. I've been working seven days a week for over a month. So I'm not sure whether I'm Scrooge or the Grinch right now!

I enjoy Tröegs' Mad Elf every year and always buy a sixer or two. But for some reason I've always passed on the Grand Cru version - until now. My bad! It's bottle conditioned on Balaton cherries which are naturally sour. As you see, the color is a pretty burgundy with an attractive pink head and lacing. I poured this out of the fridge (a mistake) and the nose is dominated by the cherry but as it warms there is more clove and cinnamon. The flavor is terrific. It's neither overly sour nor cloyingly sweet. In fact, it's surprisingly refreshing. The spicing is understated but accentuates the cherry. It has a full mouth feel with pleasant carbonation. And it doesn't drink like 11%. In fact, it's so easy to drink that you have to pace yourself. In the big cork and cage bottle format, this brew should be shared. A 12 oz. bottle would be fantastic. Overall, I like this a lot and if I see it again this season, I'll buy it. The price point was very reasonable at $11.99. Here's the score:

4.19/5 rDev +2.4%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

I have a fun photo of this to post on the holiday beer tasting thread and I'll be back with a local IPA to which I've been looking forward. Cheers, NBW!

 

Wow thats fanastic. Congrats!

 

Final beer of the weekend (and another X-post from the holiday thread)
Hardywood's Bourbon Barrel GBS (GingerBread Stout).
This has turned out to a very nice ber to end the day with.


A mild bourbon aroma from the newly opened bottle and bourbon, vanilla, and coconut from the glass. The taste follows with the addition of coffee, cocoa, and ginger. Picture a cup of black coffee with a shot of bourbon in it, a dark chocolate mounds bar, and a gingerbread cookie. Take a swallow of the coffee, a bite of the mounds bar, then follow with a bite of the cookie. I don't usually drink BBA stouts so maybe I'm getting more of the barrel. I'm finding the bourbon and the (not unpleasant) coconut/vanilla prominent all on top of a solid coffee/cocoa backbone with the ginger showing up as a background spice and, most noticeably, a peppery zing at the end of the swallow.

I wouldn't care to have BB GBS on a weekly basis, but it is a very, very good holiday/winter beer.
4.46/5 rDev +2.1%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5

 

Kettlehead's Quest DIPA is up next... I've been enjoying most of these guys' beers, but some have certainly been better than others. Let's hope this one is of impeccable quality!



Pours a pretty typical but good looking NEIPA. Very dense and yeasty with a beautifully-built head that comes into existence with almost three fingers of foamy suds that eventually settle to a half-finger ring, leaving behind excellent lace and good legs. Pretty great surface coverage, too! Hard to really blow me away with a pour in this style these days, and this doesn't quite get there either, but it's definitely a positive first impression.

No idea what hops are used here (though the can does say it is double dry-hopped with four varietals), but the nose comes across a bit oniony and dank with some guava, mango, and cannabis crossed with hints of pomelo and earthiness. Slightly grassy and catty, so I'm thinking this probably has a lot of Citra with maybe some Simcoe, Cascade, and/or Centennial. Wouldn't be surprised to hear some newer hop was used, like maybe Strata or something like that, perhaps. Ethanol seems a little present but not obtrusive or bothersome at all. I'm into it, though it doesn't seem mind-blowing.

Flavor is definitely pretty flavorful and chewy with nice oat-like cereal grain in the front of the palate crossing with a burst of passion fruit, guava, mango, and chive-like grassiness. More cannabis/green/dankness and hints of grapefruit, tangerine, and pineapple kicking around. Again, it's not doing anything that feels particularly exciting, but it's well-made and has solid flavors. I will say that the ABV is well-hidden and it barely drinks like an IPA over 7%, so that's a point or two for them here as well. Feel is somehow both dense (chalky/yeasty) and lithe (massaging carbonation and aforementioned less-strong alcohol flavor) with a hint of creaminess that lends good drinkability to the experience. I'll definitely continue drinking beer from these guys if I stumble upon it, but most of it hasn't been exciting enough to actually seek out or truck-chase for it, though it seems like some people do enjoy the thrill of the hunt with this brewery these days.

One more in a while... a doozy. Excited!

 

No brainer best post of the thread. Congratulations!!!