New Beer Weekend #306

Mad props to @Whyteboar for this beer. The MI greatness sent my way is much apricated Craig.

Perrin Brewing Co. Double Barrel Vietnamese Style Coconut Porter ( Aged in Bourbon Barrels, duh ). 18.0% ABV; 4.24 overall

Pours an effervescent chestnut/mahogany with rapidly disappearing mocha colored head. Viscous as Hell, zero head retention & lacing

S: Vietnamese Coffee & a little barrel, figs & dark cherry once warmed up

T: Mostly barrel, dak fruits, some Vietnamese Coffee up front. Dark Chocolate, plenty of Bourbon, vanilla notes, dark cherry & figs mix in as well once this beer warms up, coconut as well, also more pure, raw oak barrel notes. Finishes with a boat load of Bourbon Barrel, vanilla, dark chocolate & a kiss of coffee & some coconut

MF: Medium/chewy body, fairly assertive carbonation & assertive warming, Body thins as this warms up

Monster of a beer, but drinkable as can be for what it is

 

Good evening BAs. This new beer comes from Canyon Creek Brewing, Billings, MT - “Stout”:



On tap at brewery; poured black with ruby edges; khaki head; poor cap retention; solid ring; some spotty lace; no legs. Nose is roasted malt. Bittersweet dark chocolate entry, followed by bitter roasty malt. Some body from oats, otherwise, medium minus; lite carbonation. A fine English style stout, light body with a nice bitter roasty malt linger.

4.25 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0
Score: 4.02 rDev 0 My review is the first.

Lighy body/roasty bitter linger. Drinks like a Guinness. I wouldn’t turn it down. Cheers!

 

Looking good, Doc! Cheers

 

Safe travel, hope you have a ton of fun and drink some good beers. Are you going to @muchloveforhops3 compound on your trip?

 

Welcome one and all to New Beer Sunday #1107! Have a special selection, like yesterday shared by my brother Andrew. Thought about getting a short bottle pour around release, or a pricey bottle, but glad this fortuitously came my way! Never had the first version.

(InBev) Goose Island Beer Company King Henry II

4.72/5 rDev +5.6%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 5 | feel: 5 | overall: 5



Full review linked above. This is an outstanding experience, perfect balance sometime lacking in overly sweet English Barleywines. This is by memory my favorite barleywine, even against the best Revolution Straight Jacket variants. So grateful for this bottle from my Brother. Expensive if you can find, but definitely worth the splurge if planning to share on a special occasion.

May return after the Sox game with an outing, but also may just let this review sit as the definitive record for today, it would be very hard to approach this level of greatness.

Cheers!

 

Guess we’re done watching hockey @ChicagoJ for the players sake I’m pulling for the Canes cause they’ve got so close so many times.

As a Leafs fan I really hope Marner gets the cup, greatest passer in the NHL. I missed watching him all year.

 

Cheers, everyone! Allow me to present my first experience with Coastal Evacuation DIPA from Cape May Brewing. As stated on the can, it is big and bold. Definitely not for haze fans. It's an old school and meaty offering of piney, herbal, earthy, and somewhat fruity hops. I love that this side of the IPA family is coming back to the forefront of craft brewing once again



4.35/5 rDev +10.7%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

This is a well above average American DIPA as it checks all the boxes of hop attributes, including: strong resinous and piney foreground, floral and herbal hop astringency, hints of orange colored fruits, deep and lasting finish with more than acceptable bitterness. Coastal Evac reminds me of a bigger/bolder version of Two Hearted with its Centennial hop characteristics. Overall, way underrated, but so goes things if it's not a NEIPA these days.

 

Another new to me beer, and another super solid brew from Zero Gravity



Jaws
Czech / Bohemian Pilsner | 5.4% ABV
Zero Gravity Craft Brewery in Burlington, Vermont


4.1/5 rDev +3.3% | Average: 3.97
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Rating this on its own merit versus style, I feel it is in close competition with other good craft versions of Czech Pils. Jaws drinks well from first pour sipping through prodigious foam to last sip with dry floral and herbal hop bite. A bready, cracker, and somewhat honey laden maltiness gives this beer plenty of flavor and body as well. Sweetness is low to almost nil, the way it should be IMO. Jaws is full flavored at 5.4% ABV, yet also thirst quenching. Absolutely worth a try for the craft maven and the casual macro drinker alike.

 

That's one of the best BBA English Barleywines I've had, really incredible.

 

Howdy, NBWers! I found a new American-made Belgian-style farmhouse ale from a favorite in-state brewery:


Jester King's Detritivore • wild ale • 5.5% ABV • January 2025 batch

This is one of those JV team beers Jester King makes where they make the varsity-level beer then reuse the fruit from that batch to make up the JV team's roster ... if you dig. In the case of Detritivore, they reuse the cherries from another beer (Montmorency vs. Balaton) and referment them into this version.

It's good, but as you can imagine, a beer well over a year old made from reused fruit is likely not going to be that fruity, and this one is not. No surprise, I knew what I signed up for when I bought it. In fact, if anything it showcased an amazingly sweet fruit candy aroma off the pour, like strawberry or cherry Jolly Ranchers. It's a bit of tease b/c that flavor never shows up in the flavor and kind of disappears in the aroma over time. Again, though, this isn't my first rodeo with refermented fruit beer, and as such, it's very enjoyable. A perfect summer sipper ... tart and thirst-quenching without being overly funky, bitter or sour.

Official review:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/24018/128242/?ba=Premo88#review
4.17 (-2.1% rDev)

I wouldn't recommend this beer unless you're a fan-boy of the style/brewery or you can find a fresh version ... say, no older than 6 months and closer to 3 months would be better. My bet is the actual brewery is the only place you'll find such a thing.

Thanks for starting us off @Whyteboar and great question. As for an answer, how much time do you have?

The styles most underrated IMO start with:

American adjunct lager
European pale lager
the entire English pale ale family (bitters, pale/dark milds, ESBs, pale ales, IPAs)
German and Czech pilsners

Those are the biggest ones. There are more, and at times it feels like if it isn't an American IPA or imperial stout, it's underrated by most.

With that said, there does seem to be a growing love for really good pale lagers with more and more American breweries making admirable versions of pils and helles, in particular. I've also noticed maybe a pinch more love for the maltier, lower ABV UK styles and even a few pockets of BAs living here stateside who are finding American places that do proper cask ale.

Cheers!

 

4.25/5 rDev +1.4%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25

Look: deep gold, clear, nice creamy head, left good lacing rings

Smell: pine, resin, caramel malt, grapefruit

Taste: pine, resin, grapefruit, tangerine, citrus rind, piney bitterness

Feel: med body, lower carbo, dry

Overall: 8% abv. This is old school for sure. Starts piney and resinous. I like it! I can taste the grapefruit and tangerine which is a nice compliment but fades out. Wonderful citrus rind and piney bitterness on the back end. Strong concentrated pine and resin seem to beat down any sweetness but with that being said, this brew drinks quite easily. Only ordered 2 bottles but will buy more IF/when I see it in my area. Hope I do. This brew pairs well with Hey Stoopid by Alice Cooper Cheers!

 

Finally joining in this weekend with a local MN beer, Pryes Course Correct:

Appearance: Hazy yellow-gold, lots of particles, good head.

Smell: Started with stinky socks (I usually get this with citra-heavy beers), then a sweetened citrus smell.

Taste: Moderate citrus to start, bitterness is pretty low. Kind of a mix of citrus and fruit cup. Medium bodied. Finish is citrus with a bit of the hazy-yeasty-mealy mixed in.

Overall: A pretty decent hazy, I think I liked the first two cans better, this one shows a little too much of the mealy taste/feel I get from a lot of hazies. Pretty good overall.


As for @Whyteboar 's opening question about under-appreciated styles, I'd go with Porter. Everybody and their brother has a Stout but I prefer the Porter, though some will say it's splitting hairs between the styles. At least when I was getting into craft beer, I vastly preferred Porters over Stouts, but at this point the style distinction is pretty blurry. Don't sign me up for the debate team!

 

Anderson Valley BBA Salted Caramel Imperial Porter, 9.5% ABV. Pours brownish black with a 2.61 finger beige head that left very little lacing. Aroma is bourbon and caramel. Taste is caramel and salt, some bourbon, faintly sweet, slightly bitter. Decent mouthfeel, overall very goodish.

3.83/5 rDev 0%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75

OK, my bad. A few months ago, desperate for something to review, I picked up a number of stouts/porters I usually wouldn't. They've been haunting my fridge ever since, but I'm clearing some space for better beers. Barrel-aged a whole six months. Doesn't totally suck, just unremarkable.

 

Right after you were talking about how lucky you are with finding good beers and +rDev values…you jinxed yourself.

 

Opened my fridge and flashed back to that. Damn. But I have some great ones coming soon.

 

As anyone who follows me should know, I am a big fan of Sip Of Sunshine, I actually refer to it as my "house beer" because I think it's great and always available fresh in Connecticut. So I knew I had to try Easy Sip which seems to be a tuned down version of SOS. However they never mention the big and bigger brother (Double Sunshine) on the can, but they do have the same sun logo.

3.53/5 rDev -7.3%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
Purchased cold at a local store 2-days ago and kept cold until served. Poured from a 16oz can stamped “CANNED ON 05.15.26” to a nonic.
The body is an almost clear light gold (SRM 4). I can see my fingers through the glass, but not my fingerprints. The 1.25in/32mm head is white does not last 3-minutes but does keep a full surface layer. Lacing is medium to low.
The aroma is mild orange/lemon rind.
The taste is similar. Lemon and some spice and a hint of floral.
The mouthfeel is light, carbonation is appropriate.
Overall, a good beer for a tuned down SOS. But it's no substitute. It’s a good option if you're watching calories and alcohol though.

 

Was curious about this one Sip has always had too much heft for me and little sip ain’t that little so this one is up my alley. You didn’t know anything about bitterness, how is the bitter and how is the finish, snappy or lingering?? Inquiring minds would like to know.

 

Good Sunday afternoon, New Beer Swiggers and commentators. Thank you, @Whyteboar, for hosting this week and for soliciting our thoughts about underrated styles. The timing of your query is perfect. One style I've always really liked, but isn't all that common, is Cream Ale. When I was in college my favorite brew was Genny Cream (which sadly is now hard to find in North Jersey). Cream Ale is my favorite summertime crusher style - I like it more than most Lagers. Our local brewery, Autodidact Beer, released a Cream Ale this weekend called Blurred View. I'll have to ask about the origin of the name. Unlike Genny Cream it isn't overly sweet; you can taste the corn but it is understated. At 4.9% I could pound these all summer if Auto canned enough of it!

Reviewed 3 days after can release. It is a slightly hazy, grassy yellow with almost a finger of bright white head and lacing. It is effervescent with lots of bubbles ascending the glass. The nose is sweet with bready malt, corn, grains, and just a whiff of lemon. Its taste is less sweet than the smell. I'm getting well-toasted white bread, lemon peel, grass, cereal, and dry earthy notes with just a hint of sweetness. It is nuanced and nicely balanced. The mouth feel is lite and crisp with lively carbonation, and it is a crushable brew at 4.9% ABV.

4.18/5 rDev 0%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

Incidentally, Blurred View is the 100th Autodidact Beer I've reviewed on BA. Not bad considering the brewery opened in March 2023. I'm very fortunate that it's located only 5 minutes away. Cheers!