New Beer Weekend #63

My weekend begins!

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/28663/556083/



Latest canning from Pro Pig Brewery at Zero Gravity in Burlington, VT.

16 oz. can.
Canned 09/02/21.

Moderate to vigorous pour yields a one inch white head over a hazy, light golden body with lacing.
Nose of tropical and citrus.
Taste of mostly citrus (orange) and slight tropical fruit.
Finish is slightly sweet citrus with very light to light citrus pith bitterness.
Tasty and quite refreshing!
Nice feel and overall, a job well done from the Pig.
Cheers!

 

Now that *is* interesting! I have one friend with this issue so I'll let her know there may be hope. Thanks!

 

Jul-ish by Treehouse Brewing

4.25/5 rDev -1.8%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25



Canned 9.22.21, opened 10.3.21, poured into a treehouse teku

One finger white foam cap, good retention, sticky lacings, settles to a layer over a turbid orange liquid

Aroma is mango, tropical fruits, and orange

Taste is mango , tropical fruits , orange

Sudsy mouthfeel, smooth with gentle hop bitterness , slightly dry finish

Good beer, treehouse has a stable full of hood beers and some exrcellrnt beers. This is a good beer

 

Loving the early Fall weather we had this weekend. Cool, no humidity. We had a family event yesterday for my sister in law who turned 65 and retired from nursing. So with 15 extra people, the weather was even more welcome. Smoked up 16 pounds of pork shoulder, the wife made cowboy caviar (kicked up bean salad), and my favorite quick cook of boneless chicken thighs on the gas grill - can do all kinds of flavors, cheap, fast, forgiving on temperature. Tried a new jerk spice that was awesome, some huli huli, and some good old Italian dressing.

So old favorites were consumed yesterday. I went with Foundation's Bocce Pils previously posted here and I really wish I had bought more. Oh well...tonight's victim is pretty much in a different league:


Smuttynose/Smuttlabs Cranberry Ginger Fizz. It says it is a sour, and I am guessing maybe it'd be a Berliner, but I haven't checked how it is classified here.

Pours nicely clear and golden in color, flashing a very brief bubbly head that vanishes. So it looks pretty.

There is not much going on in the aroma department. Faint, earthy ginger and a vague fruitiness.

The flavor is pleasant enough. There's just not a big impact which I would expect from two such assertive components. Bready malt peeks out just a little.The ginger is mild, mainly contributing the earthy tones.The cranberry presents as a slightly acidic and very faintly fruity. One thing I know after 40 years in the industry is cranberry flavor and there's just not much there. It's present, but definitely dialed back. I can find the cranberry phenolic flavors, a little tannin, and a mild (but quite characteristic and familiar to me) acidity. The right characteristics are present, just not strong, but they do come on more strongly with longer sips.

Light, reasonably lively mouthfeel. It is refreshing. A little astringency and ginger bite on the end of the swallow.

All that said, it is not a terrible brew. It works as a Berliner weisse, but I was expecting more intensity. I think I should calbrate my expectations here with the intent of this brew. It is pretty clear that this was not intended to be a flavor bomb. I like it more than I probably should, but it isn't one I'd run out to find again. Probably landing this one right around 3.6 - 3.7 or so, but slightly negotiable. I am beginning to convince myself, as I sip thru the beer, that it is a demonstration of restraint using the flavors in a nuanced manner versus the sledgehammer more is better approach.

 

Good evening friends,
Whilst perusing the Oktoberfest biers in my local bottle shop, this caught my eye as I normally like darker beers. (Okay, stouts. Porters. More stouts. You get the idea) but I am also trying to broaden my knowledge, so fest beer was fun. This one just needed today; too much working out in a drizzle.
The lighting isn't good, it wasn't this dark. More cola brown. Finished the pour straight down the middle but could not generate much of a head
Smell was lost on me today, to much fire yesterday.
The taste was what I've come to appreciate from a doppelbock - malty and caramel like sweetness with dark fruits blended in, seems like it might make an excellent base for a mulled beverage if you could get enough of it.
The feel was good, quite viscous and fitting for the style.
OA, might be too sweet for a regular repeat, but it certainly wouldn't be a bad thing to drink another one.

 

Another from our Seattle trip a few weeks ago, now that I finished my fresh hop beers I brought back time to start on the lagers. I was really excited for this one, I don't know i just had a feeling about it when I grabbed it. Hand numbered batch #, a good sign for me. I think they are from your area @BBThunderbolt

Otherlands Brewing - Excessive Celebrations



This beer is very pretty, crystal clear gold, just a tint on the darker side of gold. The head is as beautiful as it looks, the retention was so good it took forever for me to pour this glass and in fact I still couldn't fit it all. That head just linger and lingered, it did finally subside into soapy white islands, with some spotty lacing.

Sweet bready malts, some honey, floral notes from the hops, all very well balanced. No aroma overpowers the other.

This beer is like drinking a biscuit that has some sort of dried flower in it that was then just drizzled with the smallest amount of honey. But at the same time there is a crisp bite to it which reminds me of refreshing lemon. The sweetness is just perfect, its just enough to notice and then its gone.

This beer drinks like the German festbiers, it has some body to it but it goes down like water and just begs for the next sip. I'm halfway done and its been about 10 minutes, not intentional, this beer is some wizardry.

This really reminds me of Paulaner Oktoberfestbier but I honestly think it is better...It has the same beautiful look, taste and feel but its just snappier and crisper. I think this is freshness showing itself front and center as this beer is only a month or so old, I think. This brewery has caught my eye now and I'm curious as to what other beers they brew. To pull off a beer like this. Wow!

One more on the horizon before I call it a night.

 

This one's been sitting on our cooler shelf for a few weeks.
Less than a month old and it's time to try it!

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/46275/570941/




16 oz. can, no date, rec'd less than a month ago.

Vigorous pour yields a one inch white head over a cloudy golden body with some lacing.
Nose of pineapple with other tropical fruit aromas wafting in and out.
Taste is pineapple, a bit of white grape, and various other tropical fruit that I can't quite pin down.
Finish is pineapple with slight citrus pith bitterness.
Nice feel and overall, another fine offering from Tunbridge, VT.
Cheers!

 

Collaboration between Stone and Deschutes, Let's Bee Homies hazy IPA at 7.5% ABV, supposedly with honey from blackberry and from orange blossoms. Very few BA ratings averaging just a shade over 4.0. Color, head, and lacing as shown. Head is large texture and loose and not long lived. I got nearly zero honey, and the Mrs. (who is photo-bombing my pic because she hates the time I spend on BA ) confirmed that if the label did not scream "honey" neither of us would detect it, much less what flowers it came from. (The Boulevard Kveik IPA that I described yesterday had more honey and is a better beer IMO.) Mouthfeel is fine, maybe with imagination you could pick up some honey-ish medium to heavy body. Mild carbonation. Waaaay too much suspended crud for a IPA of this moderate to low likeability (see picture). I will be dinging them hard for that in my review. Too many really nice hazy IPAs have zero suspended crud to have to put up with this unappetizing stuff.. Barely there sweetness. Flavor is some mild floral.
Overall unimpressive.

 

While I haven't had that one yet, you chose wisely. Ben, the owner/brewer, stopped by my work a couple days ago, and it was the first time we had a chance to chat a minute. He's always busy when I'm there (it's mostly him, his wife Karolina, her mom, and a smol handful of bartender/servers), but always has a moment to say hi. Great folks, making great beer.

 

That is awesome, I’m very happy I chose wisely I was just on their site reading about them. Seems like a really cool and special place that would be really neat to have a beer at.

 

Evening all.

It's a clear 70° right now near the end of a beautiful fall weekend. Yesterday I had a number of new beers at Precious Things Fermentation Project and Garland Brew Werks. The latter were holding their Oktoberfest and had college football on, and the powers that be there were switching back and forth between the two college teams I follow. Although UW came up short vs OSU in OT, my EWU Eagles beat a very good Montana team and are thus far undefeated. And today, after a very unimpressive start, the Seahawks buckled down and beat a tough division rival on the road.

During the 2nd half of said Seahawk game, I cracked open this Head Full of Fresh Hops that was one of six FH beers left on my building's doorstep by @kemoarps, who happened to be driving through Spokanistan.

Only 9 days after canning, this was spectacular, with tropical fruit-like aromas from the Citra & Mosaic hops. Taste followed that path, along with a slight peaches and cream taste, and a light, dry bitterness at the finish. Great stuff! Thanks, @kemoarps!

 

Next time you come out west, make time for a couple days in Bellingham. We'll go out to Nooksack falls, up to Artists Point. Maybe take a brewers cruise around the bay, or visit the islands. We will certainly visit a lot of the breweries here in town. Which will most certainly include Otherlands.

 

I certainly hope to one day. We want to explore that state proper, plus I gotta come back, I owe @snaotheus some beers.

 

Making up for missed beers all weekend. This is the last one for me, naturally I did visit one store while in Annapolis for the wedding and I came away with this one.

Union - Foxy IPA

*spoiler i like this beer a lot, back to back home runs




Another beautiful looking beer. Awesome crystal clear dark red, with a light brown head that laces and stays in the form of a thin creamy layer that linger and lingers.

The smell is very pungent and resiny. I’d say it’s pretty close to sticking your nose in a sack of spruce needles and taking a whiff, heavenly! Also hiding in there is some roasty malt notes and if even say a touch of something fruity. I’d say dark berry if I had to pick but I like the “fruity” descriptor just fine.

The taste is much the same very very pine forward, followed by a malty fruity backend. The fruit sort of comes out and lingers after the sip. But again the pine, and I’ll go far as to say sap, is front and center.

Mouthfeel takes the pine to the next level. All the aspects of it accentuate that pine for me. It’s very bitter and finishes clean and dry giving it a very resin/sappy vibe. To be honest this mouthfeel almost reminds me of the fresh hop beers I had in Seattle. Mouth coating hop presence.

This is one of, if not the best hoppy beer I have had in years. I love every aspect of this beer. I really miss hoppy beers like this.

 

Third Moon S’mores Bestowed imperial stout with chocolate, marshmallow and Graham cracker.

If you like pastry stouts, this Bestowed series has been pretty good so I’m looking forward to trying this one.



A vigorous pour yields a substantial head that dissipates very slowly to leave several millimetres of cappuccino covering. Thick lacing coats the side of the glass as the beer disappears.

Chocolate jumps out on the nose. Sweet milk chocolate. A little Graham cracker pops out as it warms.

Sweet on the tongue with strong chocolate and marshmallow notes. Limited Graham.

Very thick but not syrupy. Creamy.

A solid s’mores stout. Recommended.

 

Yup, we are very fortunate to have so many high quality locally brewed Pilsners in our area.

Cheers!

 

Well thanks to @TongoRad in a prior NBS BIF, I am a little sour right now. In a good way.

Brattleberry by Hermit Thrush Brewery

A ruby-tinged amber elixir that has a slight, white head that rises a finger or so in height, and quickly retreats to a thin ring. A constant stream of bubbles gurgles up in the center of the glass sending the minuscule bubbles toward the side of the glass, reminiscent of Sauron's eye atop Barad-dûr.
The nose is straight up sour and tart. Raspberry for sure. Apple cider vinegar notes are on the smoother side. I don't know if I'm finding a bit of sour apple because I'm searching for it or because it's actually there.
Flavor expresses more nuance. Most definitely sour raspberry and sour acidity takes the spotlight. But as I dig in a little bit mote, wash it around, breathe it in, I'm picking up some dry tannic notes, hints of wood, hibiscus, pomegranate, and leathery dried apples.
A bit dry sparkle at the end finishes of this slightly slick yet actively carbonated sour. Nice click at the end.
Overall, quite nice.
4.13/5 rDev -1%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

 

Wasatch Black O' Lantern Pumpkin Stout, 6.66% ABV; 3.6 overall

Pours an effervescent scarlet tinged chestnut with a thumb of tan head. Below average head retention & lacing

S: All spice, nutmeg, cocoa showing up once warm

T: Follows the nose, squashyness, cinnamon & dryness up front. More of the same as this warm, some all spice as well, a little cocoa sneaks in as well. Finishes very dry, with cocoa, cinnamon, & all spice

MF: Medium body, low carbonation, thins out as it warms

Not bad for what this is, a stiffer malt backbone would've worked better for me

 

I thought I posted this 3 hours ago, but I am old and (apparently) very forgetful.





4.5/5 rDev +1.6%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

Pours a beautifully hazy golden orange with a creamy off white head that is Velcro on the glass. Gorgeous beer. The nose is crammed full of dank citrus notes, with mandarin oranges, grapefruit rind, and mango most prominent. I’m officially salivating.

The oranges and grapefruit are forward on the taste, with a decent amount of mango mid palate, and a substantial sweet oat flavor at the back of the palate. This is my hazy DIPA sweet spot.

The mouthfeel is full with a prickly drying note that is welcome. I’m a big fan of Bissell, and this beer is an example of why that is so, because this is done exceptionally well, IMHO. World class stuff.

 

Juice project citra & galaxy by treehouse

4.27/5 rDev -3.4%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

Canned 9.9, opened 10.3



Watching the local football team

Can poured into a teku , turbid pale orange liquid , two finger white foam cap , good retention, sticky landings settles to a thick layer

Aroma is passion fruit, orange

Taste is lemon citrus, orange, orange rind, passion fruit , hint of pineapple

Good sudsing, dry finish

Good beer