New Beer Weekend #145

Afternoon, BAs! Getting to the NBS BIF with my second selection of the day: Mach 8, a NE-style IIPA and my second-ever brew by Celestial Beerworks, both courtesy of @budsNpils .



This is excellent! It leans more citrus than tropical (I'm not super familiar with the hop varietals here, so I don't know whether or not I should be surprised by this expression). Lemon and grapefruit lead the way, balanced by mango, melon, and bright kitchen herbs. Crisp and super drinkable for the ABV.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/54486/650121/?ba=Roguer#lists
4.18 / +2.0% (1st full review / 2nd overall rating / super large grain of salt)

Cheers!

 

NBW time for me. Its a dreary rainy day and we had a soccer game for my daughter this morning. Im enjoying the coaching, but it was cold today!
Back home and defrosted my core, so now it is time for an early beer. This is another brew from the boxes that are my entrance into NBS BIF #17. SOOO many beers from the west coast from @snaotheus Thank you so much! Really appreciate it!

This is Chuckanut Chuck Light lager from Burlington, WA. This is a 3.8% beer.

onto my review:


Sampling a 12 oz can poured into my .5L dimple mug. No date stamp that I can find on the can.
The beer pours a clear straw yellow color, very light from the can and settles into my glass with tints of gold.
A fizzy bleached white head of 1 cm foams up and fades to the thinnest of edge layers and several active streams of carbonation rising from the bottom of my glass.
Aroma is some faint crackery malts and a bit of white grape, with very mild spicy hops character. Nose is mild all around, but those are the scents I detect.
First sip reveals a light body with smooth texture, bordering on watery. Fine tingly carbonation tickles my palate. Beer drinks super easy on the physical traits. This is sort of what I expected for the style.
Flavor is similar to the nose and is also pretty mild. I get some crackers and a bit of biscuit dough. Hops are again spicy but mild. Finish is some lingering hop character and fairly dry. Never any ABV hints and the beer drinks fast and my mug is almost empty before I finish this review.
Pretty much what you would expect from a light lager.
3.98 in the BA DB

 

Verboten Brewing & Barrel Project
Kentucky common ale
ABV: 5.8%; pouring temperature: 43 °F; canning info: n/a
Source: local purchase (Coaltrain Fine Wine, Craft Beer & Spirits)



4.05/5 rDev +5.7%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Poured a clear mahoganyn color; nice off-white head, pours fairly thick then fades to thin ring and patches of foam. Wonderful lightly roasted nose; light yet rich smell of cocoa and rye. The taste brings some earthy sweetness and rye bread crust to the palate; a light cocoa flavor; delicate earthy spiciness; light bitterness. Medium mouthfeel; smooth and richly slick on the palate; lightly sticky.

The brewery lists this as a Kentucky common beer. The beer grows more expressive as it warms up. Some may describe this as a dark cream ale. I can also see this as similar to a dark mild or brown ale. Regardless, this is a tasty little number.

 

Dewey Beer Co. -- Black Taxi
English toffee stout
ABV: 12.0%; pouring temperature: 45 °F; canning info: n/a
Source: local purchase (Coaltrain Fine Wine, Craft Beer & Spirits)



4.34/5 rDev 0%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

Tar black and opaque body; thick, sudsy head, tan colored. Powerful aroma comprising rich chocolate, toffee, toasted coconut and vanilla elements. Incredibly rich flavors; dark milk chocolate; caramel; a twinge of maple syrup; spicy undercurrent, cinnamon; subtle booziness; charred grain bitterness. Heavy body; dense and chewy; sludgy residual sugars; fine alcohol warmth seeping through the sweetness.

This is a mammoth-sized beer, dense and complex.

 

Brauerei Kundmüller / Fat Head's Brewery - Grischbeerla

Session IPA with Sultana, Cascade, Cashmere, Sabro and Cryopop hops, from Germany (4.5%).



Pours a hazy, dark orange coloration with a medium, fluffy head. Smells of doughy, biscuity malt and citrus, tropical hops, with notes of orange, grapefruit, pineapple and papaya, as well as some herbal accents.

Taste is an excellent balance of doughy, biscuity malt and fruity, juicy, slightly herbal and floral hops, with citrus and tropical notes of orange, grapefruit, pineapple and papaya, as well as hints of lemongrass, mint and potpourri. Finishes with a light/medium bitterness and some orange, pineapple and mint lingering in the aftertaste. Smooth mouthfeel with a light body and medium carbonation.

As with all their Fat Head collaborations, this makes for an excellent brew that's surprisingly flavorful for a Session IPA, while also lacking that overly grassy, chalky quality that some SIPAs take on. It does feel just a tad soapy due to the strong flloral potpourri accents, but has also got some rather vibrant citrus and tropical notes to it, as well as some light herbal undertones as well. Very refreshing and easy-drinking, I could certainly see myself knocking back a few of these on a hot summer day.

 

@cjgiant well, I'm a week behind, but aaaaaaaaaaaahm gettin'-to-it!



OK, this is a massive beer, and I have quite a bit left, so I'm going to keep this short and sweet. This beer has no right to work as well as it does, but make no mistake about it: it works phenomenally well.

I recommend approaching it more as a strong ale than an IPA (or barleywine). It's a slow sipper (surprise!), and everything comes to play: the huge amount of hops, the massive malt base, the brute force alcohol, and the year spent in Utopias barrels. The bourbon seems like it's too much ... right until it isn't. It's too hoppy .... until it isn't. It's too boozy ... until it isn't.

Color me beyond impressed for a beer I was near certain wouldn't work well. Not only does it work well, it works awesomely.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/64/540659/?ba=Roguer#lists
4.42 / -0.2%

 

Blech.Brut - Orange Stripes

Double New England IPA with Mosaic, Loral, El Dorado, Idaho 7 and Citra hops, from Germany (7.5%).



Pours a hazy, orange coloration with a medium, fluffy head. Smells of light biscuity malt and tropical, citrus and stone fruit hops, with notes of mango, orange and peach, with some light floral accents as well.

Taste is a great balance of light biscuity malt and fruity, juicy, floral. slightly spicy and earthy hops, with tropical, citrus and stone fruit notes of mango, papaya, orange, grapefruit and peach, as well as just a hint of black tea and peppery spice coming through as well. Finishes with a light bitterness and hop burn, with some orange, mango and peach lingering in the aftertaste. Soft mouthfeel with a medium body and carbonation.

The El Dorado hops are very dominant here, bringing that typical starburst fruit candy character to this brew that I'm not necessarily a huge fan of myself, but certainly stands out quite bright and vibrant here, while Loral and Idaho 7 provide a good counterpoint with some floral, earthy and spicy accents. Considering that I'm neither a big fan of El Dorado nor Loral hops, I enjoyed this well enough. There's a good balance of fruity, juicy and earthy, floral notes to it, while that floral character from Loral doesn't become too overpowering.

Unfortunately, final pour had a lot of sediment to it, which turned the light hop burn from first pour into battery acid and made the last third of the brew pretty much undrinkable, hence the bad overall score.

 

Circular Beer Co. -- Home
American lager
ABV: 5.0%; pouring temperature: 42 °F; canning info: 04/04/23
Source: local purchase (Coaltrain Fine Wine, Craft Beer & Spirits)



3.61/5 rDev 0%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

Clear, golden body; modest carbonation presence; thin yet lasting head, white and sudsy. Very nice light malt grain tone on the nose; herbal grassiness. Mundane flavor; very light malt flavor; light to moderate hop bitterness; a touch of corn. Light to medium-light body; soft and velvety; light prickliness; semi-dry on the palate.

A decent yet mundane American lager.

-------------------------------------------------------

...actually my second time having the beer....the first was a couple of days ago, but neither the brewery nor the beer were in the BA database yet...

 

I should point out that while I found this a very hoppy beer, I found it hoppy in the way that regular 120 minute is hoppy. That is to say, big and bitter, but not necessarily with a lot of hop flavor expression. There's also less bitterness here than in a similarly bottle of fresh 120 minute, but that no doubt has to do with the year the beer spent aging in Utopias barrels (and dry-hopping will add hop aroma, but little to no added bitterness). It's very similar to aged 120 minute, now that I think more on it.

My partner hates IPAs - and it's about the hop flavors, not bitterness in and of itself. She didn't love this, but she was intrigued, and didn't hate it. That speaks to the lower overall hop expression.

I've always found 120 minute to drink a whole lot like wine, in a weird way, and I found this one to be no exception.

My uncharacteristic brevity was due, no doubt, at least in part to my inability to fully describe what I was tasting here.