New Beer Weekend #259

Heck no! It caught me a little by surprise, but it's the first thing I craved after the bottle was gone.

 

Good evening NBW
Sought this out and almost picked up the Half Acre Firestone collaboration instead until I realized that it was 19.99 for 4, which made the 17.99 for Bell's seem reasonable

Tropical Hopslam

16oz can stamped 09NOV25 poured into a Spiegelau IPA glass at fridge temp 9% ABV. The beer pours bright medium amber with off white head. The head recedes to a thin cap and leaves plenty of lacing. The aroma is moderate in strength featuring tropical fruit and caramel malt. The taste is bittersweet caramel malt with tangy and pungent fruit salad. Strong final bitterness. The feel is medium bodied with average carbonation and a mostly dry finish. Plenty of sticky hop resin, but the malt sweetness is restrained. Overall, excellent.

What can I say, I like my IPAs bright and bitter. I'm a fossil...
Cheers all!

 

Back home after my short road trip, and here's my next new beer.

Dumps Like A Truck - Spilled Grain Brewing - Annandale, MN - Light Lager - 4%

It isn't nearly as hot today as it was yesterday, but this beer is tasting mightly delicious tonight. Light grain flavors, and a light body. So happy I found a beer there that I haven't had before.

Review:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/41674/753248/
3.62/5 rDev 0%
look: 4 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75
From a 16oz can purchased at the brewery. No date on the can.

This beer is a light golden color in the glass with a faint hint of murkiness. There's a 2 finger white head that had pretty decent retention. There's no lacing on the glass.
Very faint grain aroma. Slight buttery biscuit notes.
The malt flavor in this beer is actually quite good. There's hints of buttery biscuit up front. Some cereal grain in the middle. The finish is a honey like sweetness to it.
The body is light and refreshing feeling. Smooth and crisp feeling to it with a hint of bubbly finish on my tongue.
Very tasty beer on a hot day.

Probably my last new one today. See you all tomorrow. Cheers!

 

Courtesy of @RochefortChris

Hoptown Brewing Co. ( Mooresville, NC ) Dark Made Light Czech Dark Lager, 5.6% ABV; 3.62 overall

Pours an effervescent chestnut with one finger+ of sand colored head. Average head retention

S: Brown bread, some roastyyness late, molasses very late

T: Brown bread, slight roastyness, a touch of molasses & dryness up front. More roastyness, but also a little too much molasses sweetness for the style, some woody hops as this beer warms up, a trace of anise & just a little coffee. Brown bread & roastyness in the finish, more sweetness & some woody hops

MF: Medium body, slight carbonation, skews a little sweet

Not a bad, wanted a little more breadyness & less sweetness, drifted of style a bit too much for me for great marks

 

Luna Maria from Brick West Brewing

4.03/5 rDev 0%

look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

A 16 ounce draft pour into a shaker pint glass at a restaurant.

Look- Black, opaque, dark brown creamy head, well below average head retention and lacing.

Smell- Coffee, cocoa, roasted malt, weak strength of scent.

Taste- Roasted malt, cocoa, coffee, between medium and high strength of flavor.

Feel- Medium body, below average carbonation, moderately creamy, highly bitter, mildly mouth warming, mildly mouth coating.

Overall- Black and opaque with well below average head retention and lacing. The nose was a mix of coffee, cocoa and roasted malt. The flavor followed the bouquet, but had much more intensity. Feel was medium body and high bitterness with mild mouth warming and coating properties. Overall this was a solid American Stout with really nice flavors, but I wish the aromatics were stronger.

 

4.35/5 rDev -1.1%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
Poured into a Duvel tulip from 750ml. 2025 version I assume.

A: Black with brown edge with a minimal beige cap that doesn’t leave any lacing.

S: Heavy coffee, bourbon, and roast malt with a nondescript earthiness

T: Flavor is a big upgrade from the nose with black coffee, espresso roast, bourbon, wood, and lightly sweet maple in the finish. Dark chocolate and maple with tobacco in the finish and aftertaste. It is bitter but not ashy at all. Wow - this would be an amazing cigar beer.

M: Lush without being syrupy with low carbonation and full finish. Wood tannins help lengthen the finish.

O: Huge treat with good balance of sweetness and other elements including coffee, bourbon, maple, roast malt, tobacco, and wood tannins that help the feel. Great beer - definitely a need to find and I will buy another if it is sitting out at my shop.

 

A gem from @2beerdogs

Mother Earth Brew Co. Project Series Blended Reality Hazy IPA, 7.2% ABV; 4.37 overall w/Galaxy, Mosaic, Sabro & Nectaron Hops

Pours a super hazed gold with a thumb of cream-colored head. Average ish head retention & lacing

S: Tons of tropical fruit, some citrus & Melon. Pineapple late

T: Guava, passionfruit, tangerine, green melon, & grassyness up front. Hints of pineapple & coconut mix in with guava, dryness, lime, green & melon once this beer is warmer. Finishes with pineapple, guava, passionfruit, oranges & dryness

MF: Medium body, creamy carbonation, great balance & acidity late

So easy to drink & really delivers on the tropical favor

 

Good evening BAs! We’ve set up our “campsite” and have settled in for the night…I’m drinking a beer gifted to me by my friend Tegan (former owner of Hawthorne Bottle Shoppe) a 2017(?) bottle of “Madness” Old Stock Ale, by 3 Stars Brewing Company (that sadly went out of business in 2022, and co-owner died in 2024), Washington DC:



Deep amber/ruby with very good clarity; off white head vanished quickly leaving a thin ring and no lacing; no legs on swirl. Caramel and raisins nose; boozy retro nasal. Entry is caramel with sugared raisins right behind; dry dates; boozy oak. Medium light body; light to no carbonation; mouth warmth from 12.4% abv. Overall, this beer has held up well; no oxidation, no off aroma or taste; a slightly sweet boozy ale that had a slightly sharp alcohol finish. I’d drink again if any were still out there in the wild…

3.75 | 4 | 4.25 | 4.25 | 4.25
Score: 4.16 rDev +1.5%

A tasty beer even several years old. I remember drinking 3 Stars beers when we did a house-sit in Arlington back n 2017. Good beers. Sad to know Brewery and brewer are no longer around.

Cheers y’all!

 

Good evening all,
Still a little sore from this morning’s “float” down the Flat, but considering the 50 or so people waiting in line to get into the water at the starting point when we went back to get the kayak hauler (it was insane, we had never seen any backup at all and today there were 50 or more waiting to get into the water. Since the water was so low, it took longer to launch.
I wanted to scream out to warn them, but they likely wouldn’t have listened.)
Oh well, we had made it, so could they. Eventually. And with sore butts.
But enough about that, we’re here for beer.
My SAN group decided that fruit in stouts was universally bad. So I have to drink all the ones that I had bought for SAN myself. Poor me! ;-)
This is one I found at Crushed Grape, a bottle shop that often has old stouts that distributors must make quite the deal on.
This one was from 2021 I think.

The pour is stout black with a short (3mm) head that left almost no lacing. Not uncommon for barrel aged beers.
The taste leads with blueberry, no doubt about it. This is loaded with the flavors of blueberry. I may or may not have detected any lemon zest, I thought I had but it was so faint that it might have been my imagination. The “crumble” aspect was missing in action. Thought it interesting that would be the flavor that dropped out first.
Of course, the base stout was there, just swaddled in blueberry.
The feel is good, just enough viscosity to remind me to sip instead of gulping it.
OA, I enjoyed it for what it was - a stout with blueberries.
Cheers all, that will do it for me today.

 

Skydance 1491 Barrel Aged Stout ( 18 Month aged ) in Bourbon Barrels. 14.0% ABV; 4.23 overall

This date refers to Pre-Columbian times which I presume as a whole went better for the Indigenous People than now since most of us can read.

Pours an effervescent cola color with fast-falling mocha colored head. Viscous as hell, zero head retention & lacing

S: Bourbon, vanilla, figs & dark cherry brandy. Nose falls off a bit at the close

T: Follows the nose with a strong brown sugar, dark chocolate & cola presence, plenty of barrel/booze & leafy hops up front. Oaky, tons of dark chocolate, vanilla, plus figs, leafy hops, maple candy & Bourbon as this beer warms up. Finishes with plenty of barrel, some vanilla, maple, figs & leafy hops. Some dark Choclate on the fringes

MF: Medium/chewy body, dialed back carbonation, plenty warming, carbonation picks up a little once warm

Great take on a style that I really dig. I will be back for next year's version if possible. A bit boozy but this what you suspect & even get mad if it isn't. Verge of greatness

 

Half Acre Brewing Company - Daisy Cutter Union
7% ABV WCIPA, Collaboration with Firestone Walker Brewing Co.
It features a newly developed hop from the Hop Quality Group breeding program – HQG#4 – paired with Krush and Simcoe. Krush was previously known as HBC 586.
This was interesting; I got a lot of bubblegum notes on the aroma and palate, which I was not expecting. I also detected a lot of booziness in the taste, and for a 7% WCIPA it was a lot more than I wanted.
I usually love just about everything that Half Acre and Firestone Walker put out, but this one was a bit of a disappointment for me.

Cross-posted in WBAYDN #4642

 

Sklepník from Godspeed Brewery

A pretty nice Bohemian Pilsner

There are two versions of this beer. One is made in pitch lined wooden vessels and one is made in stainless tanks. This is the stainless version.

A 355ml can dated May 08, 2025, poured into a pilsner glass. A big three finger off white head on a slightly hazy gold. Excellent head retention. Lots of lacing.

Fresh grain, some grass in the nose. Some noble hop aroma. Taste is of bready malts. Sweet at first. A subdued but long dry hop finish.

A medium/light body with good carbonation. Overall a solid take on a classic style.

4.07/5 rDev +0.2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25

 

Good morning NBS/nbw and thanks to @Beersnake for hosting this week.
We have been enjoying a lovely summer weather weekend here in the 413, preparing for Team#1 arriving in a few days. It will be great to see them but mainly our only granddaughter, who is almost 4.
Todays offering is from Ridgeway Brewing, a really fine Porter.
One aspect I enjoyed was the snappy dry finish.

Cheers all

Bad King John

English Stout | 6% ABV
Ridgeway Brewing in South Stoke, England

Reviewed by SABERG from Massachusetts

4.08/5 rDev +10% | Average: 3.71
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4
Poured from a 500 ml bottle with a BB Date 15/03/26 so i suspect this is about as fresh as I will get this here.
A - Dark mahagony color, with a thin cap. a ring hangs on the glass during the experience.
S - Dark toast, a bit of dark chocolate, char, a hiint of earthy hops, foresty not grassy
T - All that aromatic with more pronounced malt elements, that dark toast and char again.
M - A solid feel with a snappy dry finish. Not as thick as some porters but very pleasant. Again with that snappy dry finish.
O - A very good porter, it stays in its lane quite well. excellent dry finish.

 

Yeah - Nice glass.,.,.,, Cheers!

 

The DC beer seen is ever changing these days, it seems. There are quite a few new start ups and many that have gone the way of 3 Stars.

I recognized the name, and had to check if I had ever reviewed that beer and it turns out I did over 9 years ago. Also turns out that we BA scored it the same (though with different individual scores). Cheers!

 

Another day and on to the next new beer. The hills are alive with the sound of beer today thanks to @CanConPhilly .

West Coast Pills - Von Trapp Brewing - Stowe, VT - IPL - 6%

There's a nice malt base to the beer, but the hops are quite interesting. They smell tropical, but the main taste is a nice bitter pine with a hint of orange peal on the very finish. Tasty as heck.

Review:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/22512/713197/#navigation
3.98/5 rDev -1.7%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4
From a 12oz can. No date on the can.

The beer has a nice golden color to it and has a hint of murkiness to it. There's a very thick 4 finger white head to the beer. The head looks quite fluffy and has great retention to it. There's a bit of lacing on the glass.
The nose has a hint of hops to it and the hops have a tropical character to them. I do get some mango in the aroma.
The flavor has a bit of malt up front that leans toward cereal grain. There's a bit of a floral element to the beer in the middle. The finish is quite full of hops, though the flavor is different than the nose suggests. I am getting a nice bitter pine flavor on the back. The pine does fade eventually but then I get a hint of orange peal flavor. Very interesting.
The feeling from the hops does cling in my throat. There's a good body to this beer.
I must admit that I really am enjoying drinking this beer it is quite interesting.

Be back later for one more. Cheers all!

 

Wow! Did I actually spell "scene" as "seen"?? Ugh!

 

Central Waters Twenty-Seven BBA Imperial Stout, 13.9% ABV. Pours thick and black with a ring of bubbles. Aroma is sweet bourbon, vanilla, and cream. Taste is chocolate, char, vanilla, and cream, moderately sweet, faintly bitter, slight bourbon burn. Excellent mouthfeel, overall world class.

4.61/5 rDev +1.5%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.75