NBS BIF #13: Peninsular Envy 2 (The Rocket-Ball Inception)

Would bang again. When I lived back east, and visited central PA a lot for the sprint car races, I drank quite the number of Yuengling Black & Tans, especially the cans. Some bell was ringing in the back of my head, but I didn't listen to it. Great choice!

 

@ovaltine

mystery beer in progress .. I can say it carb was close to. Gusher and seems a lot of old school hops.

let the tasty begin

 

Copied from the NBW forum as I wanted too make sure I covered all the bases!
Cheers!

Greetings fellow BAers!
Today is the official share date for BIF #13 (and let me tell you it has been a blast so far and it is still rocking)
Anyway, the beer is from beer nerd supreme @Mbgreg who generously sent me an amazing selection of new to me breweries and beers. Most dominant was Westbrook, so I will begin there.

Poured into the Willi belcher (sp?) that he included a hazy apricot color with an impressive ivory head.
The aroma was all tart, grapefruit? Not quite but what?
The taste was definitely tart, grapefruit or/and lime and a curious flavor after the swallow. Graham and coconut maybe?
I got nothing, no idea and nothing in Westbrook’s list of beer has grapefruit and lime. So I have to look:

Key Lime PI! How was I getting grapefruit from this? No idea, apparently my palate is still in need of much more training.
Tasty beer Mark, great fun trying to guess, thanks much!

 

Mystery Beer Review Thanks to @ovaltine .

16oz can no can date, nor other info as wrapped in foil, poured into surly tasting snifter aslo from Ovaltine

L: glowing orange with a huge fluffy white that exploded from the can upon cracking. Amazing lacing, a touch of haze since blind not hazy like NEIPA but not bright either

S: pure old school goodness, notes of resin /pine some caramel and finishings some citrus, even before you sip you know it will be hoppy. 4.5

T: the nose is touch strong the taste was expecting a touch more bitter, strong bitterness and pine light toffee malts on the backend. 4

M: high carb, not bone dry but dry and crisp for what Im assuming is IPA of some sort 4.25

O: with not knowing what I was drinking one thing is for sure, it was tasty, well done and really enjoyed. I can not wait to see what it was and if it was new to me 4.5

 

Back to the review from @FrankenMiller



So the first taste was very tart. I poured my wife some and wondered if we'd be able to get through the crowler. I picked up on blue raspberry, but wasn't sure if that was just me thinking how anything blue should taste. The second taste I was able to get lemonade. So I'm thinking some sort of blue raspberry lemonade kettle sour. It definitely got easier to drink after the first sip and happy to say we knocked it down quite easily.

Looks: Pours an electric, popsicle blue with very little carbonation. (4.0)

Smell: I get the artificial blue raspberry smell, much like a bomb pop. Very refreshing (4.0)

Taste: As I mentioned, blue raspberry lemonade is what I'm getting. Guessing a kettle sour, although it's not nearly as tart as I'm used to with kettle sours. (4.25)

Feel: Smooth and easy to drink, especially after a couple sips. (4.25)

Overall: I'm a fan, and happy to try it. Like I said, it was an easy drinker, which I definitely didn't anticipate (4.25).

And the reveal....



Sirene Bleue Hard Seltzer

Very sneaky! So I nailed the flavors and it makes sense that it's a seltzer as it didn't seem tart enough for a kettle sour, but seltzer never crossed my mind. Thanks for a fun treat, Gene.

 

slezter in crowler is great mystery “beer”

I’m not sure what I would have done with that

 

Mystery beer chilling after another grueling drive on I95. I’ll be back....

 

So the box I got from Kevin for this NBS BIF included both "new" beers and some "old" beers from his cellar. My two mystery beers were similarly labeled "new" and "old." With some of the older bottles being from 2014, I wasn't sure if that was also the age on this "old" mystery beer. With no hints as to abv or style, I poured it into a Spiegelau tulip. Looked and smelled like a stout, so gave it some time to warm up.



Mystery beer "old" from @LehighAce06 from NBS BIF #13

A - Dark chocolate black with a thin layer of mocha head that settles to a thin ring.

S - bit of roast (is that coffee?), tons of chocolate, and something sweeter, might be vanilla?

T - Alcohol is strong, might be barrel aged although I didn't get any barrel on the nose, chocolate, tobacco, roasty malts.

M - medium body, low carb, alcohol heat lingers a bit

O - Definitely a stout, higher abv, might be barrel-aged? Don't think there's any adjuncts. Nose suggested something sweeter, but on the palate it's a pretty straightforward tasting stout with noticeable alcohol heat. Can't think of any brewery that was canning stouts in 16oz cans back in 2014, so what is this?

And the reveal:





Tired Hands - Gatherer 2017 - Honey Imperial Stout - 11.3% abv

Stout "brewed with Appalachian allspice, mugwort, honeysuckle, lemon balm, mint, and local wildflower honey."

Love the artwork! And it's quite fitting for a blind tasting.

The honey explains the sweeter aroma, but if any of the herb/spice adjuncts were there, I think time has muted them, and the alcohol is more up front as other flavors have faded. I would not have guessed it was four years old however, as I didn't really notice any oxidation or off-flavors. Thanks for this, Kevin! On to the "new" mystery next...

 

Mystery beer.

Definitely a lager of some type. Nice pour, and a nice head, maintained the head and lacing to the end. My nose is off but sweet soft malts. Strong malt backbone, but the hops aren’t overwhelmed, very clean, definitely carrying to the finish. I’d guess a nice easy drinking Pils.

Apologize for not tagging @Whyteboar , yesterday was a shitty I95 drive of 8 hours with a puppy and a bitchy wife. I was spent when I drank the beer, AC in the car died north of Richmond, wife freaking out we had ants in the house, toilet misbehaving, yesterday kinda sucked.The only Bells I see here is 2H and the odd special release, but enjoyed the beer after yesterday, thanks again.

 

Review 1484

Thank you @swenny916, I appreciate the beer. Never tried anything from this brewery, excited to dig into this beer. The beer has a simple salmon color label. The beer is 45 degrees and served in a tulip glass. The pour of the beer produced a two-fingered foamy creamy head with good retention. The head dissipated fairly quickly but left loads of lacing on the glass. The color of the beer is SRM 4, pale straw with golden hues. This beer is hazy. Overall, this is a beautiful beer.

The initial aromas in the beer are oranges, papaya, guava, pineapple, and lemons. Next, I smell grapefruit rind, biscuit, floral esters, and wet grass. Lastly, I detect a hint of pine, bay leaves, a touch of a dank basement, and earthiness.

The flavors in the beer are pine, pineapple, lemons, oranges, guava, grapefruit, herbal, floral esters, biscuits, lightly toasted bread crust, dank basement, and earthiness.

The mouthfeel of the beer is slightly carbonated, creamy, and coating.

The body of the beer is medium-plus, medium-minus carbonation, and a full finish.

This beer surprised me! It is awesome. The flavor profile is spot on with a NEIPA. I am so glad Jay sent this to me. Excellent beer.

 

Name of beer? Brewery?

 

Happy share day, fellow BIFers! It's been a blast to see the blind tastings and kudos to those of you who dove into the barleywine sub-theme for the weekend. I'll head in that direction after dinner, but first, I'm getting into another of the cans that @Ozzylizard was kind enough to send my way.

The New Now from Brewery Vivant is a double dry-hopped double IPA with Cryo Simcoe, Idaho 7, and Mosaic. Musical accompaniment is courtesy of Pagan's Mind's "Heavenly Ecstasy" album. With this album just a month shy of its tenth birthday, I'm pretty damn ready for them to finish up the new material that they've seemingly been working on for several years now.

Pours a hazy dark bronze with nearly an inch of dense, slightly off-white head that takes its sweet time receding, leaving resilient lacing on the glass in its wake.

The nose opens with a big wave of fresh-out-of-the-tree pine sap, but an array of fruit quickly broadens the aroma, featuring grapefruit zest, orange flesh, mangos, guava, and faint blueberries. An herbal component adds depth, dovetailing with the piney side to curtail any perceived sweetness from the fruits. Bare wisps of light caramel sweetness and wheat bread represent the malt bill's contribution, while the fermentation profile is incredibly clean, leaving the hops firmly in control of the nose.

Juicy citrus hits first on the palate with ruby red grapefruit and ripe oranges. Pineapple, guava, and hints of papaya move the flavor in a more tropical direction as it heads towards the mid-palate, where bitter, resinous pine sap and an assertive caramel note both hit hard. Hints of blueberry and floral hops poke through as it moves towards the backend, giving way to a finish that largely mirrors the aforementioned pine and caramel pairing. The light, fruit-driven moments at the front and back of the tongue present a somewhat odd juxtaposition when compared to the old-school mid-palate. Each combination has its merits, but it feels segmented and would benefit from more continuity and integration.

The body is a tad on the heavy side, even for an 8% ABV DIPA, but it's well-carbonated and goes down easily thanks to the dry finish.

Overall, the hop profile is quite lovely, but the body and somewhat disjointed nature of the palate could both use some tweaking. All the same, it's an enjoyable beer, and I'll be polishing this off as I prep Sunday dinner.

Thanks again, @Ozzylizard, and cheers to all of my fellow BIFers!

Score: 3.6

 

The artwork looks like Hop Butcher, but that's all I got.

 

Hop Butcher Presto Change-o.

 

Yeah I total blew that one

 

Review 1484
Thank you @swenny916, I appreciate the beer. Mr. Green this is a Mystery beer. The beer is 46 degrees and served in a tulip. The pour of the beer appears to be an IPA of some sort. The pour created a massive two-fingered head with good retention. I would have like to have seen the head last longer than it did. The frothy creamy and airy head left a good amount of lacing as it dissipated. The color of the beer is SRM 4, pale straw with golden hues. This beer is hazy.
The initial aromas in the beer are pine, grapefruit, oranges, and floral. Next, I smell biscuit, toasted crackers, lemons, and herbal. Lastly, I detect honey and a subtle earthiness. I am going to say this beer is an IPA. Let us continue with the review.
The flavors in the beer are orange, toasted biscuit, crackers, lemons, honey, a touch of pine, grapefruit, floral esters, and earthiness. I would say this beer is eclipsing toward an IPA, maybe a double NEIPA.
The mouthfeel is creamy, coating, and creamy.
The body of the beer is medium, medium-low carbonation, and a full finish.
This beer is a NEIPA, maybe closer to a double. I took the green wrapper off and noticed it is from Phase Three Brewing. Never heard of them. I picked up on the orange and honey in the beer but I thought the hops could have been amped up more for a double IPA. This is an awesome beer. I could sip these all night long. Thank You @swenny916, I appreciate the experience.

 

My mystery beer is from @kemoarps , he of the cryptic clues, so antennae are up for tricks...




No clues available from the can as it’s well-covered with ‘laboratory film’ (which I find mildly concerning), though ‘Firewatch with me’ is printed in the bottom. So here goes...



A: Pours an attractive clear orange-amber with a foamy off-white head that leaves some whispy lacing. Not a brown ale, maybe an amber?
A: Loads of toast, grains, nuts. Now I’m thinking lager - I’ve had a couple dark milds recently and this is leaning that way but it’s not really dark enough, so maybe a bitter??
T: Toasty and chocolate malts, some light caramel sweetness, orange, dry nuttiness and a dose of bittering hops. Alcohol seems mild. Ok, definitely a lager, still thinking bitter.
M: Medium crisp carb, medium body, long finish that morphs from initially malty to increasingly grassy and bitter.
O: Balanced, well-made and very tasty. I’ll stick with a bitter, maybe a strong bitter, though this beer is hoppier than I’d expect. Maybe an amber ale, but that doesn’t seem quite right either.

The reveal:



Holy Mountain Watchman’s House Oak Fermented Common Lager 5.6% !

A swing and a miss at a bit of a curve ball! Knew it was coming and still couldn’t hit it lol. Never would have gotten that... including the obvious one (which I love) I’ve only had about three of this style so it wasn’t even on the radar. Not to mention I completely missed the oak. Many thanks to Kestrel for this - a tricky and entertaining mystery and a delicious beer. He also sent a couple undisguised beers from Holy Mountain, as yet unopened, so this is my first from them - very much looking forward to the others!

 

In general I am in love with Tired Hands' can art, and I REALLY love this one; super trippy, and I love that the skeleton is "Gathering" stuff, to go with the name.

The can of this that I had recently I picked up a bit of spices in the flavor, but I agree that the adjuncts are more muted than when this was fresh; I think the honey comes through as well as it ever does though (not that it's a flavor that would be expected to fade, mind you).

Glad you enjoyed, and I hope you enjoy the "New" one as well!

 

Mystery beer review from @colts9016

Born on 2/21, fresh by 7,2,21

12 oz blank silver can poured into a stemmed New Glarus glass



Thin pink layer that quickly fades over a hazy , pulpy watermelon / salmon colored liquid, streams of carbonation

Aroma is fruity, slight tartness, strawberry, raspberry, red berry, guava

taste is slight tartness , guava,vanilla, apricot,

Low sudsing , crisp fruity finish, semi dry finish

My guess is a guava Berliner Weiss

@colts9016 , who is the brewer and what is this beer?

 

Opened up the mystery can from my sender @nc41 and am immediately hit with Citra hops as I'm pouring it. It doesn't have quite the punch of Citra that single hop beers often do, so there's probably some other hops in here too.

A touch of haze, but it drinks very crisp and clean; a bit of alcohol but the body is too light for it to be particularly high ABV, so regardless of what they call it I'm pegging it as being in the in-between space between IPA and DIPA. The bitterness, flavors, and lack of haze point to a West Coast IPA/DIPA for sure.

Aroma - Very hoppy, distinctly Citra; citrusy, I'd say tangerine mostly maybe a bit of navel orange flesh and a bit of pith.

Appearance - Two inches of pillowy head that dissipates but not too quickly, leaves a fair bit of lacing. Brightly golden with a little haze; certainly not "hazy" just not winning any clarity contests (not that I need it to). No turbidity.

Taste - Lots of that tangerine/navel orange flavor, including in the aftertaste, but there's also a bit of pineyness up front that does not stick around like the citrus flavors. Sharp bitterness but not overwhelming, clears the tongue relatively quickly so pretty low residual sugars which further reinforces the West Coast style.

Overall - Solid WC IPA, true to form in bitterness and flavors. A good reminder why this style was so popular for so long.

The reveal - Heist Brewery - Digital Lines. West Coast IPA, 7.4%, with Strata, Citra, Sequioa, and Centennial hops. So, other than guessing the name of the beer I had this pretty much dead to rights.