New Beer Weekend #279

Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier Dunkel

Poured a 500ml bottle into a weizen glass. A three finger fine tan head on a cloudy amber brown. Good head retention. Plentiful fine lacing.

Malty smells.Tastes of banana, clove and cinnamon. Some fruity notes. Dry finish.

Fairly light body. Creamy texture. Mild carbonation. Overall a fine Dunkelweizen. Very smooth and balanced. Very drinkable. Top quality.

 

We get all their castoffs in Arkansas, prove me wrong Pipeworks...

 

Honestly this might be the way to go since 90% of these Pumpkin beers just seem to be generic beer with pumpkin pie spices & no pumpkin; despite my urging for them to be hefty to Imperial Stouts. That Prairie Kettle Sour I had earlier was good

 

Continued my stouturday with Braxton's Barrel Aged Opera Cream Mocha Stout. Wish it had more of a mocha kick:

Barrel Aged Opera Cream Stout Mocha | Braxton Brewing Company - Braxton Covington | BeerAdvocate





Not bad, but by Braxton's standards for imperial stouts this one was missing a bit for me. Should have another new brew or 2 next!

 

Hey Weekenders! It's been a while. Things are still a bit crazy at work, which has been cutting into my beer enjoyment time. Finally got a free afternoon to sit down and sip on a new beer. Likely my only new one of the weekend, so I hope you all enjoy the upcoming holiday.

Schilling Konstantin
5.0% Marzen



Pours a medium amber with a one and a half finger off-white head. The head lingers as a coating throughout the pint.

Aroma is all fresh bread, biscuit, bread dough off the pour at fridge temp. As the beer warms, some toffee and a bit of caramel comes through.

The taste is fantastic. The sip starts sweet with caramel and toffee along with white bread. It quickly rounds out with the addition of biscuit and bread dough and slight toasted bread. The contrast between the opening/middle and finish/aftertaste really elevates this one. After wallowing in all that malt goodness, the finish brings forward grass, pepper, and earth hop notes to blend with the malt characteristics, which then fade to allow a wonderfully lingering and dry bitterness to shine through.

Medium bodied with soft and fine carb give this beer a full and smooth feel.

Overall, a great Marzen and absolutely perfect for my palate.

 

Today I have a Treehouse "experiment". This is Orange is the Best Juice, an 8.4% ABV attempt by them to make the most orange colored beer they could. They really achieved that goal and the photo does not do it justice. I tried a flash photo, and the color looked closer, but the rest of the picture did not appeal to me.
Although its pretty good in the middle, there is a slightly harsh finish that affects my overall score.

3.81/5 rDev -9.9%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4
Purchased cold 2-weeks ago at Charlton in a mix-case. Kept cold until severed. Poured to a Nonic from the 16oz stamped “AHHRANGE 10.30.25”.
The body pours out orange (duh), but I mean really ORANGE SRM 5-7, but those numbers don’t really represent. The head is white, but less than .5in/14mm. It does lace in waterfall rings throughout most of the session though.
The aroma is orange fruit and a little medicinal, but this mimicking smell is nowhere near as intense as the color matching. I've never smelt fermented orange juice, but I bet this is similar.
The taste is of course citrus but there is a hop bite and alcoholic finish that is a little harsh.
Mouthfeel is lightly creamy but carbonation cleans that well.
Overall-Well they achieved their goal making the most orange colored beer I can remember. The taste is reasonable but the finish degrades the front end taste too much.

 

Blonde Lager from Amsterdam Brewery

From a 568ml can dated 07/08/25. Poured into a pint glass, a three finger fluffy white head on a clear pale gold. The head diminishes to a persistent layer. Lots of patchy lacing.

Sweet malts in the nose. The taste follows the nose. A bit thin. A mild softly bitter hop finish.

A light body with good carbonation. Overall a quality brew for the style but kind of bland.

3.52/5 rDev +11.4%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

 

Namacha-n - Oktoberfest Marzen 2025

350ml can served in a stemless rastal. Handed to me by @shigg85 a few months ago.

Pours clear golden amber with a medium sized head that settles into a thin dusting. Smell is grainy, nutty, hint of earth and toffee.

Taste is similar, but with a surprise lean to the bitter side. Earthy, not quite woody, more of a nutty bitter maybe.

Mouthfeel is medium to light, smooth. Overall, pretty nice beer.

 

Guinness Foreign Extra Stout - brewed in Lagos, Nigeria.

33 cl bottle, 7.5% abv. Packed on 13 July 2025, Best by 13 July 2026.

Pours deep brown, with an uncharacteristically light foam topper that ends up looking like a Coke.
Nose is aromatic, featuring molasses, licorice, roasty malt cereal.
Taste. This is Guinness in name only. It’s brewed with barley, additional hops, sorghum, maltose syrup. (They’ve been making it like this since 1963.) It hits me like the non-alcoholic Caribbean malt beverages I enjoyed in Miami.,. but not as cloyingly sweet. It’s nicely bitter, delivers a little kick. It’s actually quite good, but it’s not to be confused with, say, a dry Irish Stout.
Mouthfeel is medium, medium carbonation.
Overall, I’d love to braise a shank of beef with carrots, potatoes, maybe a spicy pepper in a bottle of this, and I would gladly drink it again.,.

 

Next up on stouturday was Boulevard's Espresso Martini Stout, definitely a good one!

Espresso Martini Stout | Boulevard Brewing Co. | BeerAdvocate





Thinking I'll have one more lower ABV stout next and then I'll be done with my new brews today.

 

Back with another before I head off to a local brewery's aniversary party. This is Hecto, a 4.5% Pale Ale from Suarez Family Brewery and a gift from @TCgenny.

4.12/5 rDev -4%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
Gifted from another BA, delivered cold, kept cold until severed. Poured to a Nonic from the 16oz stamped “CANNED ON 08.20.25 DRINK BY 12.22.26”. Not a typo by me, but maybe it is by them. Seems like a long shelf life for an APA.
The body is amber bordering orange, far from opaque but not clear. I would say SRM 8 or 9. The aroma is surprisingly bready with a citrus background.
The taste is definitely piney with notes of citrus and flowers. The malt does come through this with bread and a super subtle roasted affect.
Mouthfeel is light and carbonation is over medium.
This is a very good APA, even at 3-months old.

 

Tired Hands - Extra Knuckle NEIPA





3.96/5 rDev -7%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
A lighter take on NEIPA by Tired Hands. Pour and scents seem in order with a bouquet of tangerine coming forth to the nostrils. Flavors take on a one dimensional nature as an overwhelming dryness takes center stage. Mosaic hop flavors are available such as light berry notes with accompanying nectarine and tangerine. This gets dry and bitter fairly quickly subduing further development of flavors. Being a lower ABV NEIPA (6.1%), the lighter dryer body is apropos. A beer of this ilk is a matter of preference. Want more body? Go up the ABV chain. All in all, this is expertly crafted as you'd expect from Tired Hands. Just beware, don't hold this up against your favorite NEDIPA, they are not to be compared together

 

Namacha-n - Sakura Smoked IPA

350ml can served in a stemless rastal. Handed to me by @shigg85. Don't see a date on the can.

Pours moderately hazy light orange-amber, medium sized head. Smoke is quite aromatic. Beech or pecan, with a background of citrus and flowers.

Taste is bitter, resinous, and smoky. Citrus pith, earthy bitter, smoked nuts. Slow bitter finish, moderate honeysuckle sweetness that comes across as singed on the edges.

Mouthfeel is light, dry, smooth, slight liveliness. Really interesting, nice beer.

 

Sam Adams Winter Lager

Autumn is still in gear while I took a look for the SA Winter Break variety pack. Nice looking beer, light and smooth, balanced, not too spicy. Cheers!

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OCC - Barrel Aged Old Trash Panda 2023 (Old Elk?). Pretty sure @beergoot gave it to me.

22oz bottle served in a stemless rastal. Bottle 111/137.

Pours black with a dark brown head, about two centimeters on the pour and a thick and uneven layer culminating in a 1cm ring around the edges. Smell is booze, caramel, candy. Very sweet. Cotton candy or candy corn come to mind. Some toffee and nuts.

Taste is way more roasty bitter than I expected from the smell. Sweetness is there, but comes on pretty slowly, which seems like an odd sequence. Bitterness is palpable. Booze is noticeable. Vanilla and burnt caramel. Something in the vicinity of anise.

Mouthfeel is big, thick, borderline chewy. Surprising -- leans much more toward straight up RIS with some bourbon-iness rather than a BBA stout with some RIS characteristics. Overall, very nice.

 

Well, my last new brew of the day was this year's version of Great Lakes' Cookie Exchange stout, their Berry Jam Thumbprint:

Cookie Exchange: Berry Jam Thumbprint | Great Lakes Brewing Co. | BeerAdvocate





Wish GLBC would make different labels for each year's version of this brew. Pretty sure it's been the same label each year and you'd only know what version you were drinking from either the 6 or 12 pack you got and looking by the best by dates. Have to say that I do like their holiday packs where you get 6 of their Cookie Exchange and 6 of their Christmas Ale so that always works for me. I did like this year's version of the Cookie Exchange (Berry Jam Thumbprint) but the last 2 versions were better so maybe they'll bring one of them back next year or keep on with a different beer. I think this will be my last new brew of the weekend, but I'll try and check later tomorrow or Monday to see what everyone else has tried. Cheers again!

 

The statement at the end there...it's a RIS with BBA overtones instead of BBA with RIS overtones...that's powerful. This is nice.