New Beer Weekend #127

Got home last night from an enjoyable vacation. I find that no matter how great a vacation was, it's always nice to be back home. Today it's time to wrap some presents, watch some football, hang out with the family and enjoy some new beers. I'm going to start off with a beer that comes courtesy of one of the most generous BAs out there, @Coronaeus.

This is Bourbon Barrel Aged Cafe Rat Queen - an Imperial Milk Stout with Coffee from Barncat Artisan Ales

Poured at ~50 degrees. Initial reaction is that this is a nice looking beer. Deep, deep brown with a slight red tinge on the pour. Decent dark tan colored head that hung around for a minute or so. Persistent ring around the edge of the glass. Aroma is not shy, coming out of the glass in waves. From afar, I almost thought I got some maple syrup, but up close the sweetness seems to be more of the lactose variety. Nice barrel notes round out the overall aroma. I'm not getting any coffee.

In the mouth, this is excellent. While the aroma was slightly sweeter than what my personal preference would consider ideal, that's not at all the case on the tongue. The barrel greets you right up front, but without being so in your face as to distract from the roast an faint coffee. The sweetness shows up more on the back end, but I find it rounds out the flavor profile quite nicely. Full bodied and extremely smooth. Very nice beer. Thanks, Peter!

 

Stone 26th Anniversary

Appearance: Clear gold, big head.

Smell: Smells rich, then moderate grapefruit aroma.

Taste: Some bitterness to start, then a balancing malt sweetness before the grapefruit hits again. Big and bold.

Overall: Congrats on 26 years to Stone. This is a big ol' DIPA, old school grapefruit bitterness and big malt body. Nice to see another old school DIPA widely distributed.

 

@Roy_Hobbs I'm 100% with you by the end of our vacation each year we’re always sad to leave but always always always want to get back home.

 

Couch Surfer imperial oat cream IIPA by 3 Sheeps Brewing. Strata and Galaxy hops. Oats and lactose. I am indeed a couch surfer today. My family is clergy and medical workers, so they always work on the holidays. I will see them next weekend. I will see my kids tomorrow morning, so today is all about beer and classic Christmas movies. Absolute peace. Absolute joy. This beer glistens with a snow-white foamy Santa Claus stocking cap, with a peach/apricot dark orange color. The smell is bubble gum, orange, peach, and lime juice. The taste is melon, ripe citrus fruits, tangerine, lime zest, with light hoppy bitterness. The mouthfeel is creamy, thick, rich, and smooth. Overall, this is a fresh, fruity, refreshing, and powerful beer, perfect for my lineup today. It would also be perfect for a hot summer day in Wisconsin.

 

Lena 10 by Schilling

4.04/5 rDev -2.9%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4



Brewers Notes: Brewed with a traditional barley variety grown locally in NY and malted in MA by Valley Malt. Balanced light grassy malt character with a floral hop aroma and smooth bitterness. Fermented with a yeast strain from Pilsner Urquell and lagered in one of our horizontal lagering tanks. Akin to the early days of Pilsner brewing, well balanced and sessionable. Brewed with the famed Haná landrace barley, originally from the Czech Republic, grown by Poormon Farms in NY, and malted by Valley Malt in MA. Pouring a crystal clear straw yellow color with a bright white cap of foam, Lena 10° is lightly grassy while displaying a clean malt character and smooth bitterness. Balanced and sessionable this Pilsner is decocted and fermented with our house Czech lager strain

16oz can poured into a Pretentious Beer glass , clear golden liquid, one finger white fizzy foam cap, settles to a thin layer, spotty lacings

Aroma is grassy, floral, whiff of lemon citrus

Taste is grassy, floral, lemon citrus, crackery Malts

Clean , crisp, light, semi dry finish, gentle hop nibble

Good beer

Merry Christmas!

 

Hi NBW and happy Christmas Eve. This is Von Trapp and Counterweight - tmave pivo



Nice tan head and a dark, but some light bleeding body. Head hangs around. Smell is delicate: roast malt, coffee, brown sugar, soft water, herbal bitterness.
Taste is clean and smoothly lagered. A good deal of roast malt lending itself to smoke, like a sweater smells the day after you’ve been on the Weber. Not much by way of sweetness. Just malt, leading into smoke and a good deal of herbal bitterness at the back end.

Nice pint from these guys, expected nothing less

 

Dang you I’ve been waiting for that in NJ for a month now. Their NJ distributor doesn’t have it for next week either, I’m guessing 2023 we’ll see it finally.

 

Ah that’s frustrating. Yeah happy I spotted it pretty quickly. Haven’t been too happy with CT distro across the board lately. And counterweight didn’t have it available at the taproom unfortunately. Fingers crossed for ya!

 

Cheer to @ovaltine for this BIF 16 bre, Metropolitan Brewing Dynamo Copper Lager ( Vienna Style ), 5.6% ABV; 3.84 overall

Pours an effervescent honey/amber color with a pinky of eggshell colored head. Slight haze, better than average head retention & lacing

S: Bready, not much else, some grassyness once warm

T: Bready, some caramel, grassyness, a touch of lemon & grassyness & just a kiss of dryness up front. Breadyness & a touch of cakey sweetness, plus woody hops as this beer warms up. Finishes dry, bready with a little caramel & grassyness

MF: Medium body, subdued carbonation

Drinks easy enough, spot on for the style

 

I'm excited to have another Other Half today. However its a poor consolation. I am not trying to bring everyone down, but there is only one thing on my mind all day- Our beautiful Great Pyrenees Ivory was killed by a car 1st thing this morning. I debated writing that here, but I need the therapy. I hope you understand.

4.57/5 rDev +1.6%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
Poured from a 16oz can stamped with an illegible date to a Nonic at fridge temp.
The body is completely hazy and opaque but it lights up with a bright glow when held to the light. It has a 2-finger pure-white head that fades within a minute but laces beautifully..
The aroma is strongly orange rind, mild mustiness.
The taste is similar, orange rind bitter giving way to sweet tangerine and subtle peach. But the finish is dry and almost bitter. Very nice trip up and the taste profile.
Mouthfeel is medium creamy and the carbonation clears it out nicely.
A very good NEIPA.

 

Here’s another VT option, Long Trail - Triple Bag.



Pours a nice viscose copper with a slowly receding head. It’s relatively opaque. Nose is big and loud, boozy and sharp. There’s a lot of malt sugar and some herbal quality about it. Not spicy but herbaceous for sure.

Taste mostly follows. Some fig and maybe apple, stewed fruit basically. Caramelized white sugar, toffee and some biscuit. Port. Syrup/molasses. Rather bitter at the end as well. Supports the drinkability this way I think. Reminds of double bag in some ways but then morphs that perception completely in other ways. Definitely feels boozy but well balanced. Im serving it after some time outside the fridge so I think it’s good to go.

Really tasty, bold but well balanced. A good blend of big malt sugar coupled with sharp finishing bitterness and boozy warmth.

 

That is so sad. They are such beautiful and sweet dogs. Sorry to hear about that. Hopefully you can still experience a joyful Christmas.

 

After years of buying BCBS and variants I haven't bought any the last couple years, both because I still have plenty of past years on hand, but also because I've found that there are so many more great stouts out there at a fraction of the price that it 's not really worth it for me. Do you all find yourselves buying as much BCBS as you used to, or do you just buy a few to try each year + variants? Just curious.

Very jealous. Looks amazing.

Maynard, does Schilling distribute? I keep intending to get up to the brewery in the warmer months when we're up in NH most weekends anyway, but I've never made the actual journey.

I do not need more beer, but if I see this I will have to pick it up. Style I love from two breweries I greatly respect.

So sorry for the loss of your dog. I'm sure you'll eventually be able to cherish the memories, but there's not getting around the fact that today (and probably the next few days) will be tough. Life has a way of kicking us in the #$% periodically to re-ground us. I just learned this morning that a former co-worker whom I had lost touch with but was close enough to that we went on vacation to the Outer Banks together a couple times ~15 years ago passed away two days ago in his very early 60's. Life is precious.

 

The last few years, it's mostly just a few to see how it is. I'm never disappointed. In years past, I have bought more and accumulated enough to do verticals and things like that, but lately I've been trying to reduce that overall. Before that, it wasn't even available in my state.

 

Jeez, that is horrible...I can't even imagine; I know nothing but time will help but I'm so sorry for your loss. I'm always amazed at animal spirits, they come and go and each leave an imprint on us that lasts forever. Sorry again @woodchipper

 

Great little brewer …Yes, they distribute in MA. Worth the visit if you are out there and they are up there. Nice brewery on the river with a restaurant and covered bridge. Nice little town with a busy Main Street

 

Next up for me is Confessions (Ghost 999) from Adroit Theory, received courtesy of @Haze.

Dark brown bordering black in appearance with almost no head. Aroma is notably non-descript. It doesn't smell bad or good, there's just not much aroma to it in general. Taste is less boozy than I expected given the 16.5% alcohol. There are some nice roast notes that hide the alcohol fairly effectively. I don't believe this is barrel aged, but consumed blind I think I would have guessed it had spent time in bourbon barrels. Slightly thin feel for the ABV. Overall, more evidence that I love stouts!

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Three random Christmas tree questions (for those who have them)
1) Fake or natural?
2) How tall?
3) What's your decorating preference? Themed / "classy" or hodgepodge of ornaments you've picked up over the years?

For us, it's natural (cut our own every year), 8' - 9' and as full as possible, and an absolute hodgepodge of ornaments. Homemade stuff from our kids (and even one of mine from 1976 when I was in pre-school), random things we've given each other over the years etc. We have everything from Homer Simpson as Santa to Bill the Cat to Snoopy to Harry Potter to Zach Ertz, to things that are more "classic" Christmas (snowmen, angels etc.) It's a glorious mess and we love it!