New Beer Weekend #268

Wayfinder Original Cold IPA
4.37/5 rDev +8.7%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
07/11/25. Poured into a Samuel Adams Perfect Pint.

A: Slightly hazy bright gold with 2-finger frothy white head with good retention and solid lacing.

S: Bright pine and citrus hop aroma with pineapple, lime, orange, and white grapefruit with pine and lighter resin. Minimal esters.

T:Flavor is clean with punchy citrus hoppiness with pineapple, orange, lime, and guava with pine and lighter herbal honeysuckle notes also. Lean malt backbone provide structure and very light pils malt sweetness which meshes well. No significant esters and bitterness is not as aggressive as I expected after reading so many articles and listening to many podcasts about Cold IPA.

M: Incredibly light for the ABV with light body, moderate+ carbonation, and very dry finish. Dangerous mouthfeel - could drink many quickly.

O: Wayfinder Original Cold IPA does not disappoint as the archetype for the cold IPA style. Light body with superior drinkability but blasts of citrus, pine, and herbal hop flavors provide an awesome drinking experience.

 

Cabarrus Brewing Co. 2024 Scotch Doppelbock, 9.0% ABV ( aged in Lagavulin Barrels for 12 months; 3.92 overall

2024 bottle served at 47 degrees F

Pours a chill hazed hazel with 2 fingers of tan head. Average head retention, better lacing, drops bright

S: Peaty, some brown sugar & toastyness once warm

T: Follows the nose, some brown bread & toffee notes, plus dryness & a little leafy hop up front. Some cakeyness fights through the peat as this beer warms up, you certainly get barrel dryness as well. Finishes dry, damn peaty & with just a little toasty

MF: Medium body, fairly firm carbonation

Drinks pretty good for the ABV, too much peat for me, this probably could've sat at least another year. Got better as it warmed up

 

Good evening friends. Packed up my office this week - all my guys were there and helped. I left a lot behind - not anticipating any use for my food engineering library... The HR watchdog actually was very respectful - left us alone and I thanked her for that. Kinda got the health insurance thing figured out...maybe... it was not the easiest day - my team was/is tight.

So on to a new beer. Local shop put a bunch of cellar beers on serious markdown. I'll be enjoying them in the future, but for tonight something fresher:



OEC Fritz Walrus Edel Weisse, a 5.5% hefeweizen brewed in collaboration with Nod Hill Brewing for Walrus Alley. I discovered that is a Southern BBQ-ish restaurant in CT. Not sure who Fritz is unless he's the owner. The twist is they used American hops. Lets see what it's all about...

Pours a slightly hazy deep gold color with a fluffy pure white head. Head lasts a bit and falls to a ring with one island.

The smell is of yeasty bread with some typical Belgian character. There's a tad bit of banana and a fair amount of spiciness. There is a mild lemon and orange smell. It's pretty much dominated by the yeasty bready smell.

The taste is super smooth. Definitely has a yeasty bread taste with a little wheat tang. The spice note is quite a bit more pronounced in the taste - clove-like and fairly phenolicy. It gets a bit more peppery after a few sips. There's banana underneath the spice and just as you think it's a typical hefe, there's this very bright lemon taste that emerges. Mild bitterness mid- taste.

The feel is silky smooth - very creamy. The spice tingle lingers for a long while. Medium body and far from dry.

This is a good brew with a subtle twist. So you don't need the lemon slice... good flavors, fantastic texture. The spice build is a little intense but that's being picky. Right around the 4.0.

 

Enjoy the retirement.

 

A little earlier than planned, but I think it's going to work out fine. Thanks!

 

Last night: Wren House - Festbier

16oz can served in a curvy Monhegan pint glass. Can date is illegible, but seems to have an "07" in the middle and a "25" at the end. Fairly sure I picked this up in New Mexico and brought it home.

Pours clear light amber, medium sized head on the pour, settles into a thin even skin that gets sparse near the edges but clings nicely for almost a centimeter up the side of the glass. Smell is bready and grassy with a little earthy / dusty background, barley tea is quite evident.

Taste is similar -- moderate grainy sweetness, nice grassy earthy bitterness. Very crisp bitterness in the earthy direction, nice background of rising bread.

Mouthfeel is light, smooth, clean, crisp. Very nice beer.


Right now: Maplewood - Kingmaker

16oz can served in a tulip. Dated 02/18/2025. Bought it during a recent Illinois visit.

Pours dark ruby-brown with a small, dense, creamy head. Small amount of slow, fizzy carbonation. Smell is date and raisin sweetness with a non-trivial booziness. Wet, fermenting grain.

Taste is roasty, toasty bread, dates and figs, dark bread. Molasses, maybe a little bit of walnut to be more specific.

Mouthfeel is surprisingly light, almost thin and watery, particularly for 9% abv. Overall...it's tasty and good, but not stellar.

 

You can always go part time if you're bored. I don't have that kind of work ethic unless it's fun

 

I'm with you! At the moment, the work ethic is less than zero. The abrupt stop kinda hit the off switch and I really didn't know I had one of those.

 

So, I made a visit to The Blind Pig Brewery in Champaign, IL today. After my amazing concert, seeing Dave Holland and John Scofield...I will never get tired of saying that ha.

Anyway, The Blind Pig use to be one of my favorite breweries. They did a ton of different styles, and all really well done. This last year, they changed locations and ownership. Moving from one of the more unique dive bar locations for a brewery, to well, basically an Applebee's brewery...the atmosphere is so generic its almost depressing. Especially considering what it was (the old brewery was made from the pieces of a near 200 year old barn for one thing). Anyway...lets see about their beers.

Maibock, 8.3% ABV



Pours a much more cloudy, nearly opaque copper/orange color. A white head and lace left behind. They call this an unfiltered lager, but even so, that shouldn't mean opaque...Unless we are getting into the dreaded "hazy" lager territory.
Aroma is malty and bready, kind of grainy. That is about it. Fairly nondescript, but fine for what it is.
Taste wise, again, up front is that malty, bready, grainy character. Plenty of sweetness. Which is all fine, but a bit standard. Then an odd, almost citrus/orange hoppy character lingers on. Not bad at all...just odd.
A much lighter body than something of this ABV would suggest. Its almost watery. With moderate carbonation, and just kind of there and wet. While none of this is particularly bad, its just all rather OK, and not something I'm really wanting to come back to.

The first new beer I have had from the new brewery, and its perfectly...eh. I can't really say this is much of a Maibock, but its also just an OK malty, slightly hoppy lager. With a higher than normal ABV, but that also seems very light in body. Which I don't know is a good or bad thing...it just is. I remember Blind Pig making excellent lagers in the past, this is far from excellent...just OK.

Overall score is 3.38, B-
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/20982/661211/?ba=champ103#lists

Next from Blind Pig...

West of the Sun IPA, 7.1% ABV

IPA with Citra, Nelson Sauvin, Galaxy, Krush, and Quantum Nectaron hops.




Pours with a light haze, a pale yellow color. With a small white head that forms, receding to nothing quickly. Light lace left behind.
Aroma is citrus and orange rind. Some pine and grapefruit. Very standard, but in a comforting way.
Taste wise, that citrus, orange rind, grapefruit, pine hoppy character is up front. A nice and substantial lingering bitterness as well. Simple, and doesn't reinvent the wheel, but nice.
A medium body and moderate carbonation. Becomes a bit scratchy in the throat, for lack of a better way of saying it. A perfectly fine IPA to come back to while at the brewery.

They used a lot of hops here, and I can't say I can pick up a lot of those individually...not that I would want to as that would be too busy. Though for as much that went into this, it is rather standard. Which isn't a bad thing, its just...why go to all that trouble when this can be achieved with way less? Oh well, again, a nice IPA that I can come back to when at the brewery. If not exceptional, just enjoyable.

Overall score is 3.83, B+
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/20982/761431/?ba=champ103#lists

Maybe one more stop on my vacation? I travel through and stop at Little Rock on my way back to Houston, so I'm sure there will be something I come across there

See everyone later...

 

Asbury Park watermelon summer
A nice gol/orange appearance with a quarter inch lasting head
....around a medium body with just below average carbonation
...aroma is fresh watermelon, rind, with some cereal and grain following
...taste is watermelon and rind with it coming off almost candy like. The base beer has malt and grain but seems heavier on the cereal
...overall its an enjoyable beer that delivers on flavor

 

I had the pleasure of seeing the Dave Holland Quintet at the Jazz Bakery in Los Angeles back in the late 90s. Just an incredible show. Never saw Scofield, though. At least not yet.

 

My second fresh hop beer of the day was my first New Beer of the day. And what a treat it was.



Ferment Brewing Company Fresh Hop Hallertau Pilsner (with fresh Hallertauer Mittelfrüh hops from Goschie Farms)

Look:
The beer has a medium-gold body that has a tiny bit of haze to it. The head is paper white with a texture that looks rich and creamy. The head quickly retreats to a thin skin and collar that leaves attractive lacing.

Smell:
Soft, doughy malt balanced by spicy/floral Noble hop character, a drop of honey, and a hint of sulfur. Floating above these scents is a different kind of floral character that's a bit woody. Elusive and intriguing.

Taste:
Starts with nice clean malt, slightly toasty and not too sweet. A delicate herbal/licorice hop flavor emerges in the middle, and then the beer just...blooms. The herbal character shifts into something that triangulates oregano, dried mint, and tarragon. The floral character in the nose takes on a subtle mixed citrus note (mostly lemon) that persists into the finish. None of this is particularly strong, but it's distinctive. The beer ends with mildly sweet malt, notable hop spice, and just enough bitterness to balance the malt.

Feel:
Medium body that's soft and rounded yet finishes crisp. Dense swarms of tiny bubbles provide lively carbonation.

Overall:
I've enjoyed a number of fresh hop pilsners over the years, but I can't remember one which had such a wealth of nuanced and detailed fresh hop character. Ferment Brewing Fresh Hop Hallertau Pilsner offers outstanding layers of fresh floral/woody and herbal aromas and flavors, yet still remains well balanced with an excellent depth of malt flavor. A truly eye-opening beer.

 

Other half yuzu lager
...very pale light gold appearance
...medium carbonation with about a medium body
....aroma is lime fruit and peel, tropical fruit, rice and a bit of sweet malt
...taste is mixed fruit and peel with some very mild hop and citrus peel bitterness. Theres some sweetness and grain as well as a bit of earthiness
....overall its definitely interesting, well made and enjoyable

 

Good hunting