New Beer Weekend #274

You're all in on it!

 

That food looks awesome

 

Social Project/OMF ( Denver, CO ) Collab Full Wets Fresh Hopped West Coast IPA w/Cryo Fresh Strata Hops, 7.0% ABV; 3.93 overall

Pours a bright and effervescent gold with 2 fingers of eggshell colored head. Above average head retention & better lacing

S: Guava & passion fruit, nectarines, fades a little once warm, nothing screams West Coast

T: Follows the nose, but also dryness, tangerine & a little cattyness up front. fairly weedy, a little dry with grapefruit pith as this beer warms up. Finishes dry with pomelo, pine & some weedy notes

MF: Medium body, dialed back carbonation, very good balance

Solid offering, the nose was out of whack though. Easy to drink

 

They say the aurora will be apparent 'better' by viewing/using a camera (e.g., your smartphones camera).

I have friends on a cruise right now off the coast of Norway. They sent me photos of the aurora they are seeing on the ship.

Cheers!

 

Good evening one and all!
And thank you @GreenBayBA for opening the weekend taps!
Tonight I have but one, it was gifted to me by @Blogjackets during a recent trip to Bell’s Brewery.

Oh my. This is almost straight up imperial stout with a healthy dose of bourbon poured in. Yowsa. And it’s exactly what I needed tonight.
(I’m a Kanban brain in an Agile sprint environment)
The pour is dark, not quite used oil dark but close, and the very short brown head leaves sparse lacing.
The taste. Well, this is a BBA Milk Stout. With coffee, cacao and vanilla beans.
Mostly it hits with the first B of the BBA. Sure it has chocolate and coffee, most stouts do to some degree. The vanilla usually amplifies the chocolate and might have here but I couldn’t discern it. Maybe if it’s left to settle down for a few months. Or a year. Or two.
The feel is almost perfect for the flavors, medium viscosity for a great sipping beer.
OA, not sure they hit what they were aiming for, but I really appreciated what it was.
Thanks Dave!

 

We are pretty much at the fringe of visibility, so I'm told. We've been playing with the phone cameras trying to figure it out as weve heard the same thing. On the other hand, we have a perfect view of the Big Dipper right over the pond.

 

Asbury Park festbier
... a really attractive amber appearance
...close to medium carbonation with a nice medium body that comes off with a bit of malty thickness
...most prominent part of aroma is caramel and pear which is really pleasant. Following is some cereal and bread.
....taste for the most part is malt,caramel sweetness with some doughy dessert pastry
...overall its a really nice enjoyable festbier

 

Camera is way better.

 

Just love being away from the light pollution

 

Part of the Boulevard BA Mixed 2x3, 6 pack

BA Vanilla Imperial Stout, 13.5% ABV; 4.07 overall

Pours an effervescent chestnut/cola color with 2 fingers of mocha colored head. Some head retention & lacing

S: Vanilla, cocoa, wanted some barrel it shows up closer to room temperature

T: Some barrel, raw & woody, vanilla sweetness & a little dry up front. Barrel notes, plenty of vanilla, fairly sweet, but not forced, a trace of butterscotch schnapps as well ( not in a bad way ). Twangy barrel & vanilla in the finish, faint coffee & cocoa notes & just a little Baker's Chocolate

MF: Medium body, fairly smooth carbonation, a little warming

The wheat makes it presence felt, pretty good drinkability, a sipper to be sure, a little more barrel & less sweetness would've elevated this

 

Singlecut frequency lager
...clear gold appearance
...medium bodied as well medium carbonation,overall a crisp effervescent feel
...aroma is yeasty white bread toast along with some cereal grain as well as some toasted grain.
...taste has a very mild sweet element at first which quickly changes to earthy hops which builds up a biting bitterness. Theres some grain and cereal but the hops take over a bit
...overall the hops seemed to dominate but still a very decent beer

 

Thanks for the kick off @GreenBayBA , and sorry about the Brewers. And don't discount those reasonably priced selections by solid to great breweries @Victory_Sabre1973 , especially if you have Trader Joe's nearby and can pick up their annual $5.99 750 ML Vintage Spiced Ale brewed on their behalf in Quebec by Unibroue.

Things haven't been great personally or in Chicago the past several weeks, but my daily beer gives me joy as well as many other things including Summer like weather this week; so staying on the positive path and hoping my Forest & Main weekend will turn out to be a joyous one.

Lager today and then a Saison Sunday is what I have plotted.

Forest & Main Sunray Lager

3.19/5 rDev -20.1%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 2.75 | overall: 2.5



10/18/25 - (Can - Home) (Chicago, IL) Can Notes: Purchased at Beer on the Wall at Park Ridge refrigerated for $4.55 including tax on September 12, 2025. Refrigerated upon returning home until opening this morning. 16 oz, no can date, distributed week ended 8/9/25. Lager, 5.2% Alcohol By Volume - Keep Cold - Drink Fresh - Recycle. Hops: Strata & Cascade. Malt: German Pilsner Malt. Brewed and packaged by Forest & Main Brewing Company, 241 N. Main Street, Ambler, Pennsylvania.

Appearance: Poured about 8 oz into a tall slender Pilsner flute glass, yielding a slightly unfiltered golden straw yellow base, heavy sustained carbonation like a thunderstorm, a full creamy bright bubbly head which results in limited clumpy lacing but a creamy sustained 1/4 inch cover over the base. 4.5

Aroma: Lemongrass and cracker. Faint but like the tiny sample I'm pulling. 3.5

Taste: Seltzer water backed by lemon candy, more like the European lemon candies in metal tins than the corn syrup lemonheads made today. It's OK, but not at all consistent with a Lager label, and I would guess this is a malt beverage vs. a beer, if I didn't read the label. Perhaps it is. 3.25

Mouthfeel: More fizzy than anything, add depth to a watery base. Sugar sweet and sustained fizzy flavorless carbonation. Drinks below the 5.2% ABV. Lemonheads, a movie theatre box. 2.75

Overall: This is the second head scratcher of the latest drop. Can see people who like Truly drinkers liking this. If you are looking for a traditional lager, you might want to find another brewer. Score lowered for departure from style, like standing on another continent. 2.5

Hoping my Saison will Save the Weekend.

 

Will you be hesitant to buy their beer in the future? To me, especially with the pricier breweries, if I’m burned once it’s hard for me to ever give a second chance. Or, it takes me a while to be willing to gamble again.

 

What is that beautiful looking concoction?

 

Wow that’s high praise from you. So glad you were able to try a TH barleywine. They’re phenomenal and this is their flagship that they release many variants of throughout the year. It’s really up there with the goats like what Revolution puts out. I just grabbed two of those myself yesterday as well as the port barrel aged version which is absolutely incredible. Cheers

 

Damn, that is some fine food offerings. I gots to get me there.

 

The menu changes every Friday. Wednesday is always wings day with standard and not so standard, Thursday is Burgsday with typical burgers and one or two "creative" specials. It's small but very relaxed and you definitely do not get the "ain't from around here" vibe at all. It's weird walking from the bar area to the dining room thru the brewing room, but maybe they will change that. Summer - tons of outdoor seating. Most of the beers are sessionable or close enough - to me that's a definite bonus as you can easily sample everything they have. They also have cider, mead, and wines. Basically if it can be fermented they have tried it.

 

Fukami from Godspeed Brewery

From a 355ml can dated Sept 2 2025. Poured into a pint glass. A two finger fine tan head on a hazy dark copper. Excellent head retention. Lots of fine lacing.

Faint caramel malts in the nose. Tastes of coffee and toast. It's a bit more roasty and toasty than I would expect from a Munich Dunkel. It finishes dry with a slightly bitter hop finish.

Medium body and carbonation. Overall interesting but a bit off the style.

3.65/5 rDev +11.6%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

 

Happy NBW everyone! Started my new brews today with a tasty local imperial stout from Ill Mannered:

Apeirophobic | Ill Mannered Brewing Co. | BeerAdvocate







Plan on having another couple new brews today, cheers!

 

I would gladly buy the beer again. It wasn't crazy, but good for the price.

Now, to my new beer.

Smoke Show - Tremendous Brewing - St. Peter, MN- Rauchbier- 5.1%

I am a huge smoked beer fan, and this is hitting in every good way with me. Delicious.

Review:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/69198/766107/
4.11/5 rDev 0%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
On tap at the brewery

Nice light amber colored beer. There's a steady carbonation stream that rises in the glass. Slightly off white head to the beer.
The aroma is a light pleasing smoke aroma that reminds me of a campfire, but a ways away from it. Light malt notes.
The smoke is malty up front. There's a nice sweetness to it. The campfire smoke hits next and is a pleasing building flavor. The smoked malts linger on my taste buds.
The body is clingy feeling. Smoke feeling lingers in my throat. Nice fullness to the body.
Wow, downright delicious.

Be back after my nephew's birthday/house warming party.