New Beer Weekend #258

Cheers on a great milestone! Free Will flies well under the radar but brews some amazing beer.

 

Thanks!

 

Another gem from @2beerdogs Altamont Beer Works Maui Waui IPA, 6.5% ABV; 4.13 overall

Pours an effervescent & bright gold with one finger of tight pearl colored head. Average-ish head retention & good lacing

S: Tropical fruit, a little maltiness, citrus

T: Passion fruit, green melon, oranges & guava up front. Traces of pink grapefruit, a little dryness, some mango as once this beer is warm, pomelo also. Finishes with passion fruit, mango, a little dryness & pomelo

MF: Medium body, delicate carbonation. Carbonation picks up a bit once warmer; good balance

Drinks super easy, body waned a bit, but a solid AIPA

 

Happy NBS!

Having a pretty tasty/juicy NEDIPA from Outer Range (CO). Made some chili.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/47922/408304/?ba=Wasatch#lists

Cheers!

 

Last of the four beers I picked up from PIVO in Calmar, IA, Waucoma Dubbel Bock:

Appearance: Dark Brown, ok head.

Smell: Roasty, very mild fruit.

Taste: Balanced start, then moves into a slightly roasted note, and an earthy dark fruit flavor that reminds me of a dubbel. Medium bodied. Earthy fruit through to the finish.

Overall: Kind of confusing, the beer's name appears to be “Dubbelbock” instead of Weizenbock now, but the brewery's website still refers to it as a German ale. I think this seems more like a doppelbock than a weizenbock, but mostly it seems to be its own thing, as it seems to be a little more Belgian-influenced (therefore “dubbel”) than anything. Least sweet “doppelbock” that I've ever had. Still, an interesting and tasty beer. Just ignore the style designation I suppose!

 

Welcome to a West Coast edition of New Beer Sunday 1062.At Aces and Ales Tenaya, one of my favorite craft beer locations. Starting with a collaboration.

Beachwood Brewery & 595 Craft & Kitchen

3.4/5 rDev 0%
look: 4 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.25




6/29/25 - (Draft - Aces & Ales - Tenaya) (Las Vegas, Nevada) Bar Notes: 16 oz $9. 6.7% ABV IPA. Collaboration between Beachwood Brewery & 595 Craft Kitchen.

Appearance: Crystal clear golden blond base, bright white head leaves generous thin lacing and a complete creamy cover over the base. Minimal carbonation after initial burst. Looks good. 4.0

Aroma: Citrus, tangerine, caramel. Light in strength, what I gather is OK.. 3.25

Taste: A little stronger, citrus hops and caramel malt the takeaways, grapefruit and tangerine back tenderly. 3.5

Mouthfeel: Mildly dry and bitter. More malty than expected or preferred with an IPA. Drinks at the 6.7% ABV. Balanced, consistent with a Midwest IPA. Caramel and citrus Start to Finish. 3.25

Overall: This is a OK beer, pretty much a 200 drive down the middle. Enjoying, but likely a one and done for me. 3.25

Should have one or two in me before the thread closes.

 

Last night's nightcap at the Beaverton, OR location of Breakside Brewing:



That's Mrs. vurt's Down To Clown IPA on the left. On the right, my 3rd New Beer of the weekend (but only the 2nd one I wrote a review for).

Breakside Against Interpretation Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout

Look:
The darkest dark chocolate brown, completely opaque with a pile of tan bubbles that coalesce into a disk of dense foam that persists down to the second half of the glass. No lacing, but great legs.

Smell:
Dark chocolate and bourbon. A detailed sniff includes dark chocolate cake batter, chocolate milk, toasted walnuts, chocolate buttercream icing. A cocktail of liquid brownies and lots of booze.

Taste:
Much like the smell: dark chocolate and bourbon. Devils food cake batter and salted chocolate chip cookies against a backdrop of bourbon. As it warms, and as I adjust to the payload of alcohol, I get salt, cookie dough, toasted brown bread, butterscotch, roasted mixed nuts, chocolate ganache. Every sip is a study of neat bourbon and melted chocolate chips, with carbonation. It displays less of the molasses character that appears in every other Breakside bourbon-barrel-aged stout. (Or maybe it's just harder to pull it out from all that chocolate and bourbon.)

Feel:
Full-bodied, creamy and oily. Carbonation is mellow but insistent, and it exacerbates the powerful alcohol burn. (As I write this, Against Interpretation is the 2nd strongest beer Breakside has ever made. And it shows.)

Overall:
At the risk of repeating myself, this beer has two things to say: bourbon and dark chocolate. Sometimes it uses the phrasing "an impressive amount of bourbon barrel character, imposed on brownie batter." Towards the end it resorts to "booze and fudge." It is an impressive but ultimately tiring beer, and not one of the better barrel-aged stouts from Breakside.

 

OK, landed on one more here before closing out. This is from Pure Project, one of my favorite San Diego breweries still standing.

Pure Project Milagro

4.15/5 rDev +3.8%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25



6/29/25 - (Draft - Aces & Ales - Tenaya) (Las Vegas, Nevada) Bar Draft Notes: 16 oz $8. 5.3% ABV, Dry Stout on Nitro into a shaker pint glass.

Appearance: Near black dark brown base, tan creamy luxurious head lingers for some time, consistent with a Nitro pour. Me likely. 4.25

Aroma: Rich roasted coffee and bakers chocolate, strong and delicious. 4.25

Taste: Consistent with the aroma, chocolate and caramel malt, coffee takes a back seat, lighter roast than the aroma leads. Very nice. 4.0

Mouthfeel: Light and easy drinking. More creamy and a little thicker than a typical nitro pour. Sweet flavors contained with the coffee and whatever hop action is lurking below the surface. Drinks at or a bit below the 5.3% ABV. Sweet, but not overly, nice full caramel, bakers chocolate finish. 4.25

Overall: This is a solid nitro dry Irish stout. Full flavor, thickly creamy, decadent, a great dessert offering, also solid for those looking for a full flavored Nitro pour. Will gladly order with confidence in the future. 4.25

 

Hammonton also famous for Bruni's Pizza ( another location in Wildwood, too. Just as good).

 

Congratulations on 2000 reviews @bbtkd !

 

Good evening all, it’s been a hot day today and I wanted something cold. As most of my beers are in the cellar, the small beer fridge was opened.
Duvel released a mixed pack for their beer for their 150th anniversary and this was one of them.

Spoilers, it’s really good.
The pour is amber in color with a tall near white head, right now it looks great.
The aroma is sadly lost on my nose, Covid took that.
The taste is cloves and banana, some other spices join the party, a little black pepper and coriander. The floral hops are present but not overpowering.
The feel is light and almost crisp, just enough body for the flavors carried in each sip.
Better than Gatorade in my opinion.
I’ll have one more later for my gaming beer.
Cheers!

 

Is there a moon tower in the town or is it a nod to one of my favorite movies, Dazed and Confuse?

“Party at the moon tower…”

 

Thanks!

 

Another weekend winds down but we have a long one coming. Thinking of telling my team to go home at noon on Thursday or maybe not show up at all. I think I only have one person in anyway.

@bbtkd - sweet milestone. Thanks for your contributions to the cause.

So here's tonight's volunteer:



Not a style I normally go for - Berliner weisse 5% ABV from Kettlehead Brewing Company in New Hampshire. I guess the name is drawn from a TV show where vampires state they dont menial tasks. The flavors drew me to this one - pomegranate, cranberry, cinnamon, vanilla, Graham cracker.

Pours a reddish gold color, crystal clear. Two inch white cap that's fairly short-lived. Falls to a thin covering and even clings a bit to the glass.

Smells exactly as described. Not strong, but each component is clearly identifiable. The Graham cracker and cinnamon are fairly light. Fruits and vanilla lead the way.

Flavor - everything hits at once and sorts itself out afterwards. The pomegranate and cranberry kinda combine into an acidic dark cherry-like taste (a taste I know quite well...one of our blends). The vanilla calms that down and adds a bit of sweet to balance the acidity of the fruits. Cinnamon is a bit player and the Graham cracker comes in a little at the end. The aftertaste is fairly acidic. There's a definite phenolic sting and just a bit of bitterness.

Feel is light, dry, and it's quite lively yet not overcarbonated. It's carrying quite a big flavor but remains fairly refreshing. Sourness comes across as fruit-driven.

Overall I'm liking this quite a bit. The flavors play well and while assertive but not overdone. Keeps things in the spirit of the style. Thinking in the 4.0 ballpark for this one. Nicely done.

 

I was in Colorado awhile while ago and picked up some stuff that we don’t get in Michigan.
This is one of those-

My gaming beer.
Ghost World from Crooked Stave in Denver.

The pour is stout black with a 3 mm beige head that left sparse lacing.
The taste is good, enjoyable, but not wow.
Half Imperial Stout dominates the total. There were snippets of barrel, or bourbon, but it isn’t always there.
The feel is very viscous, considerably more than I expected, not unpleasant, just unexpected.
Most likely my final for the day, so I wish you all well and we will meet next on, I’m guessing, Friday the fourth.
Cheers!

 

@HoppingMadMonk reviewed this beer yesterday. Many thanks to @jonphisher for my chance to drink and review it today.



Tonewood Modern Country Rye Lager

The body is a slightly hazy golden yellow. Great color. The bright white foam lasts into the bottom half of the glass and leaves plenty of lacing in its path. The nose is rather helles-like, with lots of toasty and mildly sweet malt. I also smell floral hops and subtle spicy notes of dried orange peel. I don't smell any rye, though, even after the beer warms. The taste starts with bready malt that's a notch or two sweeter than the nose suggested. It dries out a bit in the middle, with notes of unsweetened tea, lemon peel, wheat toast, and a pinch of something earthy. The finish is crisp, semi-sweet, and softly bitter. Some warm and spicy rye comes through at the end of the aftertaste, and it is very much worth waiting for. Medium-bodied and a little creamy, with spirited carbonation. Marvelous drinkability. And while I wish the rye were a bit more prominent, this is still another winner from Tonewood Brewing. Thanks Jon!

 

Midnight Peddler
6.2% English porter by Beards Brewery




Poured from a twelve ounce can, the body is dark brown with one finger of slightly tan head.

Aroma is a combination of chocolate and roasty notes.

Taste follows nose as the chocolate malt carries the load. A light sweetness pairs well with the roasty-but-light bitterness at finish. A porter on the less bitter side, I’d prefer a bit more malty char, but it’s very easy to drink.

Mouthfeel is medium, smooth with strong carbonation.

Easy drinking simple porter.