New Beer Weekend #273

I had to go into work for a bit because the strip mall was having their fall festival today. Great turnout. Now I am at Koronis Brewing in Paynesville, MN, and they're having their Oktoberfest today. Might as well dig in.

Merchants Marzen- 5.9%

This is a fairly new brewery, but they're making pretty good beer. I am happy that I made the drive here. This is a solid Marzen.

Review:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/70266/765441/
3.67/5 rDev 0%
look: 4 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75
On tap at the brewery.

This is a clear pouring beer. It is somewhat between a golden and amber color. There's a bit of a white head to the beer.
Very faint caramel malt nose.
There's a lot of caramel up front in this beer. The front has a bit of sweetness to it. The finish goes to a cereal grain flavor.
The body has a nice depth to it. It is slightly clingy feeling.
Tasty beer overall. Worth the drive.

I may run over to next to a place that @GreenBayBA knows about well - Spilled Grain. cheers.

 

Bon weekend, fellow beer geeks. Continue to tragically drown in fresh hops.

Cloudburst - While My Guitar Gently Wets

16oz can served in a curvy Monhegan pint glass. Dated 09/23/25.

Clear light yellow. Medium sized head on the pour, settles into a thick layer, lots of active carbonation at rest. Smell is fresh hops, resin and melon rind, moderate grain husk.

Taste leans toward floral honey and resin bitter, nice accumulating bitterness, light and delicate balance between the resin and sweetness.

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

 

Wish I was there

 

I'm planning on putting a fresh hop package together for someone else tomorrow, if you want one of your own...

 

There was a slight change of plans. I got to the area of Spilled Grain Brewing, and people were parked a couple blocks away. That is a pass, so I am in Buffalo, MN at Hayes Public House.

Rye Brown Ale - American Brown Ale- 5.1%

Decent flavor to this beer. The star is the feeling - so damn creamy and smooth. A hit in my book.

Review:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/33504/765454/
3.71/5 rDev 0%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 3.75
On tap at the brewery. Traditional hand pull pour.

Nice dark brown looking beer with amber hues at the bottom of the glass. There's a 1 finger creamy, and sticky looking tan head. Clingy lacing on the glass.
Faint malty aroma. Hints of a nutty aroma. Slight sharp aroma, but everything is light.
The flavor is malty. I get some caramel notes, but light. I am getting a bit of a coffee flavor in the beer. There's a slight sharpness in the flavor from the rye. There's also a creamy flavor to this beer.
The body has such an interesting creamy feeling to it. It is a fairly smooth beer.
This is a good beer overall. I am enjoying it.

Probably will head home after this one. See you all later.

 

Um, yes please!

 

On it

 

Will catch up when I return home. My free shift beer from their anniversary Oktoberfest food pantry fundraiser.

Dovetail Framboise

4.27/5 rDev +6.2%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25



10/11/25 (Dovetail Brewery Chicago, Illinois) - Comped pour, volunteer shift.

Appearance: Dark bronze rust base, bright white bubbly head, leaves lacing on the small 7 oz plastic cup. 4.0

Aroma: Beautiful medium full strength raspberries, smells delicious. 4.5

Taste: Consistent with the aroma, tart raspberries, dark cherries, blends well. 4.25

Mouthfeel: Medium acidity, drinks light and easy, fruity sweet, but acidity balances this out. Raspberries start to finish. 4.0

Overall: Solid pour, Dovetail produces great lambic and fruit beers and glad to finally rate this one. 4.25

 

cheers!

 

Soccer games done, got a little wet in the rain and were gone from home half the day but now its good to be back on a cold dreary day, with more cold dreary and wet incoming. Now it is time for beer...

My dad surprised me with this beer that he brought back from a recent trip to Portugal, he said "hey I got this beer for you that was popular where we were." Its in a cool mini bottle, much like those new Sierra Nevada Pils, it is the same size, 250 mL (8.45 oz), this is my first and possibly will be my only Portuguese beer.

Sagres Cerveja



Pours light gold, crystal clear, white head; nice textured cap with above average retention and some light lacing.

Nose is "beer" has a cooked corn smell, pungent sweet bite, grain; and just generic “sweet” that reminds me of pale malt extract smell from early home-brew recipes.

Taste has some redeeming qualities, still cooked corn vibes to me but nowhere near what I thought it would be from the nose, just pale malt, lightly syrupy, flavor is not offensive in anyway, can't say I detect any notable hop presence other than, they're there.

Light body, again sort of residual sweetness lingers on the tongue, other than that it’s quite nice, crisp finish, with little to no bitterness; moderately refreshing.

This beer is what it is, and it does its job well for most I’m sure; the only thing I disliked was the nose; other than that it’s your classic mass produced crispy and mostly clean, lager, I'm sure sitting on a beach in Portugal drinking this I may have a different reaction to it.

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

That is probably it for me new beer wise this weekend, another soccer day tomorrow and also I gotta try and clear some fridge space our beer saint @snaotheus said he sent a "politish" box of fresh hop goodness, arrving this coming week, just in time for next weekend's thread. Cheers all and have a great week ahead, after tomorrow that is.

 

Bale Breaker - Fresh Hop Topcutter

16oz can served in a curvy Monhegan pint glass. Packaged on 09/10/2025.

Clear dark gold, medium sized head. Smell is both bright and dank. Some honeysuckle or other unrecognizable flowers, some grass and resin.

Taste is more on the dank side, nice bitter twist at the end that makes me think almost of pine bark. Sweetness is there but not a wreck.

Mouthfeel is medium bodied, smooth, not cloying or sticky. Very good beer.

 

Like I said beer saint, we need a badge dedicated to the generosity of @snaotheus.

 

Bizarre + Hildegard - Tago Mago, fresh hop table lager (3.8%)

16oz can served in a curvy pint glass. Canned on 09/16/25.

Pours clear light yellow with a small head, moderate carbonation. Smell is bright and floral, lots of grass and leaves, something very green about the aroma. Little earthiness, something that reminds me of green wood.

Taste is earthy more than funky, slight hint of funk. Something kind of sweet but hard to pin down. Almost makes me think of turbinado. Hops come across more as a firm tap on the shoulder than a slap across the face. Hard to miss, but missable if you're distracted enough.

Mouthfeel is extremely light, clean, smooth. Overall, nice, tasty, interesting beer.

 

Home now, and having my last new beer of the day.

DECADEnce - Take 16 Brewing - Luverne, MN - American Imperial Stout - 12%

Wow, this is a totally delicious beer. I am just digging the whole package here. So glad I bought a can of it while there a week ago.

Review:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/37664/764602/
4.46/5 rDev 0%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
From a 16oz can. Canned on 09/03/2024

This beer pours totally pitch black in color - no chance in hell of any light shining through the glass. There's a 2 finger brown colored head. The head retention for this beer is insane, considering it is 12% ABV. There's some damn good looking lacing on the glass when the head finally dissipates.
The aroma starts off with a dark roasted chocolate malt aroma. I am getting some licorice on the aroma. There's a lot of dark fruit hitting my nose, with plum being the main aroma note.
The beer hits me right away with dark fruit, and mainly plum flavor. This flavor doesn't leave my throat, and is added to with other flavors. I do get a hint of licorice that hits my taste buds. There's a wonderful dark, bitter, baking chocolate finish to this beer.
The body is interesting, but good. I am getting no burn on this beer from the ABV. There's a nice smooth feeling here. There's a bubbly feeling to this beer.
Well it's been a good 10 (now 11) years for Take 16. This is a great beer to celebrate this brewery.

My plan is to see you all tomorrow with a locally made fresh hop beer. Cheers all!

 

Greetings, all you New Beer People! Special shout to @Beersnake for opening the thread with a review that had me smacking my lips (that Two Threads beer sounded phenomenal).

My first New Beer is a special version of a Czech-style dark lager with (not nearly enough) smoked malt added.



Wayfinder Smoked Secret Secret

Beautiful chestnut brown body with thick tan foam that lasts halfway down this half-pint glass and leaves abundant lacing. The nose offers bready, semi-sweet malt that's slightly nutty, with notes of caramel, barely burnt toast, and an almost imperceptible whisper of smoke. The flavor is similar, leading with dark malts that start semi-sweet and get drier and more roasty through the middle. Notes of caramel, coffee, fruity dark chocolate, nutty multigrain bread. Hop character is mild and leans earthy and floral. Smoke is very hard to find. I wish I had a can of regular Secret Secret for comparison. Body is light-medium, carbonation is graceful, drinkability is top notch. This is a very tasty Czech-style dark lager, but the paucity of smoke character is disappointing.

 

Wow, lucky you. I have the Bale Breaker/New Trail collab, Fresh Hop IPA. It's fantastic, but I can only imagine what it would be with RR on the other end.

 

Good evening, all. Pretty nice, somewhat crisp fall day today. Got our groceries out of the way today since there's supposed to be a dreaded nor'easter due here tomorrow. Apparently we weren't alone with that thought as the store was pretty busy but fairly orderly - not the typical pre-storm "we're out of our minds" thing. One of these days the prognostocars will be right and we will get hammered. I did pick up a few yard things that could get airborne and will park my truck on the lawn away from tree branches I don't trust.

So here we go:



From the shop that's closing - Great Lakes Barrel Aged Blackout Stout. Never expected to find it around here so no way I was passing it up.

It looks black in the glass but it's more like really rich coffee black - quite a bit of brownish involved at the edges. About 3/4 inch of khaki soapsudsy foam that laces only a little after falling to a respectable cap. I looks a tad bit thin...

Aroma is pretty subdued. No alcohol. Chocolate, roast malt, a little oak, very faint bourbon. Hmm...not too impressed here.

The flavor starts with chocolate and roasted malts. There's a pretty faint bourbon note and a bit of woodiness. There's a barely perceptible bourbon/vanilla sweetness in the aftertaste and a tiny bit of aromatic anise flavor. No sign of the 12-ish% ABV. As it warms, the bourbon comes out more clearly as well as dark fruit. There's a decent amount of coffee taste that lingers with just a bit of char.

The feels seems thin for the style, but it's a smooth drinker. Dangerously easy at the stated ABV.

I'm not sure what to make of it. I've never had the base beer so I don't know how it compares. It does bloom a bit when it warms, but it's either a very subtle barrel treatment or it's just not a big difference from the non-BA version. Flavors are nice - it doesn't scream barrel at me. I'm thinking 3.8 to 4.0 or so. Glad to have it, but probably would not buy it again.

 

United brewing long days short years helles lager
....clear very light amber appearance with a quickly dissipating head
...medium carbonation with about the same for the body
....aroma is yeast, bread,toast,grain and some cereal.
...taste has a very slight sweetness thats matched with an equally mild earthy bitterness. Cereal and grain as well as some toast and bread.
....overall its actually a very good helles,great attempt at the style