New Beer Weekend #72

It almost seems unfair to review another brew after the majesty that was Westy XII, but, here on NBS we must endeavor to persevere. Thanks to @jonphisher for this Don't Panic ESB from Carton. It's, uh, somewhat unique, but very enjoyable. I've had several brews from Carton now, and I'd be happy to both drink more from them, and to have them as local/regional brewery. I think they do very nice work.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/26817/118342/

 

Here is something interesting, I'm not going to do my normal proper review. Mostly cause I don't really know how to rate this.

At Holler Brewing in Houston. Berliner Weisse, 4.7% ABV on cask. This is their base beer they use for a lot of the fruited sours they do. Which are normally well received for what they are, but not my cup of tea, so to speak. As they get a little too sweet for me. They have never released just their base Berliner Weisse though, and on cask to boot has me interested.



After the pour settles, this is a clear golden/yellow color. A two finger white head forms and gently recedes. Plenty of tart citrus fruits up front. Lemon and orange rind. A toasted/bready malt character comes into play as well. Then the tart fruits become more acidic, which lingers on.

The mouthfeel is a bit odd, as its that typical ultra smooth cask conditioning. Where I would expect a crisp effervescent bite. Certainly not flat, or even under carbonated. Though just seems a bit weird to me. While I did enjoy my pint, its not really something I would come back to. Its more interesting than anything, and I think that has more to do with the feel from the cask rather than anything.

They always do wonderful English styles, they have both a Bitter and Dark Mild on currently. Both I find excellent, and hope either of those make it to the cask engine next, as they are both great IMO. Those, I will always gladly drink again and again on cask, probably not going to be the case with this.

 

Treehouse Green


Another outrageously good New England IPA from the masters of the style at Treehouse. 7.5% ABV is hidden. A beautiful yellow-orange body with lacing throughout.

The nose is a wonderful tropical aroma of tangerine, pineapple and melon. I let this one sit in the glass as I exercised, and the aroma was still pungent and pleasant an hour later. Soft mouthfeel with a trace of bitterness. Crazy good. At least the equal of Julius in my book. I imagine this one is bananas on tap. Cheers!

 

And man I thought all the beers I sent were drank, forgot about that one @BBThunderbolt

I too unfortunately picked up on the yeast. I believe it’s the first time they even can conditioned a beer, you live and you learn I guess. I got accustomed to it and didn’t notice it much after the first couple sips.

 

I liked it! It added some spice to counter the fruit aspect.

Plus, I think I've got one more of yours. Your mailman should make you happy soon, BTW.

 

I just thought you were going for the atmospheric dark seas effect!

 

Prairie Watermelon Girlfriend Sour Ale, 5.0% ABV; 4.13 overall

Pours an effervescent & hazy pink with rapidly disappearing beige head. There is some pulpyness to this along with zero head retention & lacing

S: Tangerine notes, watermeon

T: Watermelon, tangerine, saltyness, & lime up front. Watermelon, salt & lime as this warms. Finish with salt, watermelon juice & general tartness

MF: Medium body, slight carbonation

Through the roof drinkability, loved the flavor. Make this a Spring/Summer release & it is in the rotation, a real thirst quencher

 

Continuing on with my gifted calendar.

German Black Bock - Privatbrauerei H. Egerer



Poured from the can into a pokal style glass.

Deep copper red with hinting chestnut brown. Microscopic carbonation and a real creamy head, forming just a little over two fingers and settling to one simple finger creamed capped top. Great looking dark lager here, really showing nicely in this glass too.

Very nice clean aroma, with a flirting touch of caramel sweetness and nearly toffee crisp. Just barely faint hints of milk chocolate too which is real nice, and a touch of good barley like grain on the nose also.

Palate just gets the job done. Nice and light bodied like a bock should be, but even more impressive with a creamy coating and almost vanilla rich texture. Succulent mid palate that gulps light chocolate malt and marzen like caramel to toffee note, but with a lighter base. Aftertaste is just cream flavored, rich in texture coating down the throat to go with it.

Real exceptional bock, that has a much bigger profile but stays in the pocket, or perhaps bolts out the doors in taste. Either way it's a great drinking experience, I would love to have more of this lager any time.

look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25 | 4.25/5 Overall

Cheers!

 

Future me self portrait

 

Poured into a 13 oz tulip glass not sure when it was canned, but I trust where it came from in the last 4 weeks. Pours a hazy yellow with a finger sticky white head that leaves thin bubbly lace with excellent retention. 4.5

Aroma guava, passionfruit, maybe a little marijuana, tangerine, apricot, and pink grapefruit rind. 4.25

Taste follows guava, passionfruit, tangerine, dank marijuana, apricot, and a little grapefruit bitterness. 4.25

Mouthfeel is big, soft gentle carbonation almost creamy, maybe a tad sticky from all the fresh hops but not dry, and at 10% ABV this goes down very easy, but loaded with flavor. 4.5

Overall this is excellent, I really love a big bold beer like this. Thank you @jzeilinger for this treat. 4.25

 

New beer number two today, Other Half DDH Double Viridian Beams.
4.43/5 rDev +5.5%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

16 oz can, dated 11/11/21, poured into a teku

A- A hazy golden straw with a two finger white head

S- Citrus, earthy, papaya, slightly dank, some tropical fruits

T- Citrus, papaya, some passion fruit, lime zest, some grapefruit rind, earthy/dank.

M- Smooth, slightly creamy, medium body.

O- Another tasty NEIPA from Other Half, hops linger wonderfully

Cheers!

 

Another from the barrage of brews sent to me in NBS BIF #14 by @Ozzylizard , Cocodiculous by Saloon Door Brewery. A coconut Imperial Stout that drinks waaay too easy for being almost 12%.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/45335/545512/

 

Evil Genius Santa! I Know Him (Festive Saison Ale with rose hips, chamomile, black currants, dark candi syrup) - EG is kind of like a local version of Dogfish Head, as they are innovating constantly and throwing in all sorts of whacky ingredients. And like DFH some beers are a hit with me and some are a major miss. Let's see how this one does...

Full disclosure I'm not the biggest Belgian fan; middle of the road style for me. But I'm also tired of IPAs and not drinking much beer lately so I'm coming in with a pretty fresh palate. Beer pours from a can a dark amber color with a decent head. Smell has the Belgian yeast at the forefront but some sweetness in there as well. Taste has that whole Belgian yeast thing going on that I don't love but don't hate either, the kind of flavors that I can take or leave. Ends just a tad sweet but not too sweet and while I can't pick out the other flavors this beer has in it, the sweetness is interesting and cuts down on the Belgian tastes just a bit so that's good for me.

As it warms it blends together nicely and is more enjoyable to me.

Not bad, I would drink again if handed one but won't seek it out. Prost!

 

The beginning of my weekend starts now!

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/46703/580184/



16 ounce can.
Packaged 21328 (328th day of 2021.)
About 11 days old.

Moderate pour yields a one inch white head over a cloudy, light golden body with very sticky lacing.

Nose of citrus (lemon, lime) and tropical fruit.

Wonderful citrus taste with lime overshadowing the lemon flavors a bit and tropical fruit taking a back seat to both. Quite delicious!

Nice moderate mouthfeel with slightly above average carbonation.

Overall, a tasty APA from Ten Bends Beer that is worth seeking out.
Cheers to the boys up in Hyde Park, VT for another fine offering!

 

The wonderful @snaotheus sent me this. This is actually a brewery I got to visit with @BBThunderbolt , but have yet to try any of their IPAs.



Structure's Fuzz.

Pours an opaque dark orange with two fingers of off-white foam. Aroma is papaya, grapefruit, pineapple, tangerine, lemongrass, and guava. Grassy and earthy hops come in later. It leans into semi-bitter ripe grapefruit and pineapple, and sugary sweet papaya. Not overly sweet, nor overly bitter - a pleasant central hop balance. Flavor profile is grapefruit, pineapple, papaya, tangerine, guava, and orange zest. It leads with that rindy, semi-bitter, ripe grapefruit, but quickly shifts into sugary sweet tropical fruits, such as tangerine and guava. Balance is established between the hops, which is to say, balance for the whole NE IPA, as malt presence is absent. Mouth feel is a consistent silty texture that's carried by a medium-thick thickness. Overall, a hop stew that retains balance between citrus and bitterness. It's consistent throughout, not forming lumps or pockets of notes on either side.

Score: 4 | 4 | 4.25 | 4.25 | 4 | BA Score: 4.13 | rDev: +1.5%

 

Glad we got a couple decent days in this weekend. Next week looks to be a mixture of miserable. Made the vain attempt to get the snowblower to start. That was fun... But did get our solar lights out for the season.

So tonight's victim is Cocoboi Massacre from Provlamation, canned 10/08. A little looking informs that this beer is a Halloween take on their Cocoboi RIS. According to Proclamation, the riff features raspberries, toasted coconut, vanilla, cacao, and lactose. Supposed to taste of toasted coconut macaroons, raspberry, chocolate, coffee.

Warning, Will Robinson...danger???



So it pours more or less like a stout should. Poured pretty aggressively for that little bit of foam that leaves a small island. It looks dang near flat...

The smell is nowhere near as riotous as all that chatter would imply. It is a couple months old, so maybe it has mellowed and come together. It sure has everything stated, but not in an overwhelming manner. It's actually pretty soft, kind of a chocolate raspberry truffle aroma with the toasted coconut along for the ride. So far so good.

If there are high marks to be had, then this beer gets them for nailing the brewer's intent. It delivers EXACTLY what the write up says it will. Take a chocolate raspberry truffle, squash it between two toasted coconut macaroons, dip it in French vanilla coffee for a second - pretty much how it rolls. I get some other dark fruit flavor in the background, so the RIS base is there but integrated into the entirety. Sweet, very slight bitterness. No hint of alcohol on the nose or in the taste.

Not thick, a little creamy, eventually a little dry, yet leaves a bit if stickiness on the lips. Nice warmth from the otherwise well hidden 11% ABV. It's mellow.

I have to say I am liking this beer quite a bit. Definitely hits the bull's eye for what Proclamation intended to deliver. Is it up there with KBS variants...not really but it's gettin' there. Is it showing enough of the RIS? Hmmm... The thing is I really dig the flavors and how it all works and I think if it were more "stouty" it wouldn't work as well with these flavors. I am feeling a 4.0 on this, heavily influenced by enjoyment factor.

 

Remembered I have one new beer in the fridge for this weekend...



This is Other Half's DDH Go With The Flow, a 6.5% ABV IPA canned on 11/11/21. According to Untappd, this beer utilizes Citra, Simcoe, and Motueka hops with an additional dose of Citra and Simcoe powder. Sounds very good!

Pour is pure opacity in liquid form. Damn, there is absolutely no light penetration here, but the body looks nice and saturated and is an extremely pale color that is probably nearly 4 SRM. I imagine if this were a clearer beer, it would be almost transparently pale. Head formation and retention is wonderful, with a clear 2 fingers of head lasting for minutes before eventually slowly tapering off to a half-finger with consistent, sheetlike lacing throughout the entirety of my enjoyment of the can. Very good looking if you're into hazebois.

Very happy to immediately pick out Motueka's lime-forward aromatics, and these are followed up by cantaloupe, tangerine, and some light piney dankness from the Simcoe. I usually don't really like melon-biased elements in my IPAs, but the bright and intense citrus aspects balance them well here and actually make them really intriguing. Some touches of florals and herbs in here after it warms a bit, and I'm just excited to get into sipping it...

Powerful flavor on this one. Definitely my favorite OH beer I've seen in distro around MA so far. Refreshing and light but with a superb, distinct hop flavor that isn't just a boring bland mess like many other hazier IPAs these days. Cuts through with strong lime and mango along with some crackery pale malt bite in the mid-palate. Cut grass in the finish with a short-acting dank aspect, not much in the way of bitterness. Quite drinkable stuff. Would definitely enjoy again.

 

Finally getting around to this gem!

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/1199/548457/

Blurry background pic is from 1968.
My Ludwig Black Oyster Pearl kit with Zildjian cymbals.
Still in my possession.



12 ounce bottle.
Bottled on 09.03.21.

Moderate pour yields a one inch tan head over a near black body with very sticky, sheeting lacing.

Great nose of cinnamon, with vanilla and cocoa right behind!

Taste mirrors nose with cinnamon spice throughout; all the way to the cinnamon spice and bourbon booziness at the finish.

Not quite velvet mouthfeel, but quite satisfying.

Overall, another excellent KBS variant worth seeking out!
Cheers!!