10 Barrel - Crush Huckleberry Sour 12oz can served in a stemless rastal. Dated 29MAR26 -- probably a best by date because I have zero recollection of when I bought it, but I remember bring it to a friend's cinco de mayo party and them bringing back to my house a couple weeks later... Pours clear pinkish-amber, little head on the pour dissipates to nothing but an extremely light dusting, not even a ring, some active carbonation bubbling up. Smell is jammy. Purple is the first word that came to mind. Welch's grape, blackberry (probably huckleberry, but...), something grainy in the background, light tartness. Taste is jammy, but not as sweet as I was expecting. More dry and watery with a bit of tartness. Little bit of the kettle sour note that I strongly dislike, but at least it's not very strong. Mouthfeel is light, smooth, a little filmy, pretty fizzy. Overall...it's unimpressive at best, even for a style I don't particularly like.
Chuckanut - Alt German-style ale 12oz can served in a stemless rastal. Canned MAR2326. Bought it a couple weeks ago at Chuck's Hop Shop, most likely. Pours dark, clear reddish amber with a big, two-finger head even without emptying the can. Lots of carbonation, medium-density head. Smell is grainy and nutty, earthy near-umami character, maybe a bit of toffee. Taste is earthy bitter, lots of grain, on the toasty side but far from smokey. Lots of nuttiness, bitterness comes across as a soft barkiness. Bitterness lingers. Mouthfeel is light, smooth, clean. Very nice beer.
Fort George - Short Sands, a light lager at 4.8%, maybe a helles? 12oz can served in a stemless rastal. Dated 12/23/25. No recollection of where or when I got it. Pours clear light yellow-amber, maybe a hint of golden orange. Head is fairly small, settles into a medium sized ring and a moderate dusting. Smell is mild, grainy, little bit of rising dough. A little lager funk. Taste is also mild. A little citrus, a little floral, a bit more earthy funk and a grassy bitter. More grain. Mouthfeel is light, clean, effervescent. Overall...solid, drinkable, nothing special.
I feel like this is an all too common comment from you you buy too much beer for others you just lose track, you're crazy and I love you for it.
Oh boy the day I had...getting caught in the flooding rains, not able to get out of the way. Having to find high ground in my neighborhood...which is called The Heights by the way, cause it is ABOVE the rest of Houston, at least the main inner loop of Houston. So, after being able to rush back home to take care of my pupper Moe, who hates all this...and after the rain finally passed by...I said to hell with it, I'm going Downtown bar crawling after the water drains from the streets ha. It actually became a pretty nice day after all the rain passed. Anyway, I was able to make it to one of my favorite downtown whiskey bars...that happened to have something on tap that I have not had before... I reviewed Eureka Heights earlier as well...but this is something I haven't had... Eureka Heights Business Casual Session IPA, 4.5% ABV. With Strata and Citra hops. Ignore the Old Fitzgerald Bottle In Bond...but its a fantastic Bourbon if you want to know Pours with a touch of haziness, a pale/yellow color. A two finger white head forms with excellent retention and lace left all the way down the glass. An almost perfume like hop aroma. With lots of fruity hops, that range from generic passion fruit, citrus, melon, and berries. Very nice. Taste wise, all the fruity flavors you would expect. From that passion fruit and citrus. To more specifically melon and berry flavors. As usual with this kind of IPA style, I find it a bit on the sweeter side cause of the fruity component. Also wanting more bitterness, but still enjoyable. A light body with crisp carbonation that finishes clean. Very easy to drink and come back to. For sure a session offering. Like I said above, my usual qualms with these kinds of IPA's is the fruity sweetness takes over, and not much bitterness lingers on. Still this is very well made for the style, and reminds me of Lone Pint Little Rose, which is a good thing. Overall score is 3.92 an east B+ (which I thinks is the same score I gave Lone Pint Little Rose ha ) Second review for the Old Fitzgerald coming up in the off topic Whiskey thread, a twofer ha. Pic of walking around downtown after the rain...
After School Special from The Bruery. A bourbon barrel-aged imperial stout with peanut flour, marshmallow fluff, sea salt, and natural vanilla flavor. 15.3% ABV. Poured at fridge temp. Pours a very thick black with almost no head. The nose is really smooth. I'm getting lots of vanilla, but not much in the way of marshmallow (although the separation line between them can be blurred at times). There is a chocolate-covered nut note, but it's faint. Not really picking up much barrel either. Overall, the nose seems a bit muted for what I might expect from a big stout like this. The taste is much different, with some really intense notes. Some roasted malts, coffee, burnt toffee, vanilla, nuts, a touch of soy sauce, brown sugar, and a very slight hint of burnt marshmallow. The mouthfeel is pretty thick and creamy, with a sugary sweet aftertaste. Overall, this is a really good BA pastry stout. 4.21/5 rDev 0% look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
We threw together a charcuterie board for dinner tonight so I wanted something light and it turned out light and a little weird... New Hampshire's Throwback Brewery Holy Chamoly - a fruited sour in their Party Pants series. This iteration features apricot, plum, lime (uh-oh), tamarind, hibiscus. And Chile de Arbol peppers. What's it gonna be - unique and tasty or an unholy mess? It pours a funky color - hard to describe. Kinda tangerine orange heavily tinged with pink. It's more orange in real life versus the pic. Short-lived short white head that vanishes quickly. Pretty much opaque. The smell doesn't reveal much detail to my nose. Vaguely citrus, sweet fruit, and a fairly prominent tea odor. Compared to the smell, this is a flavor bomb - different for sure but very flavorful. The tea note carries well into the taste and I'd guess the hibiscus. There's a fruity cranberry tartness and astringency and a mercifully (for me) light smooch of lime. There's a nice little apricot tang and a little plum sweetness. Earthiness and a date-like sweetness that I think says tamarind. I can't find the pepper until waayyyy into the aftertaste but once it starts it builds to a nice plateau. Slightly smoky and mildly spicy and lingering pleasantly. It's moderately sour and this offsets the real melange of flavors that shift a bit with each sip. The constant is the pepper at the end. Feel is pushing medium and it is quite dry and fairly astringent/phenolic despite the saliva-inducing sourness. Modestly carbonated. OK - revoke my BA card - it's a weird mixture loaded with added flavorants and I dig it. I can easily see this not being everyone's cup o' tea. There's lots of flavor but none of it feels heavy-handed. It's sour enough to keep the fruitiness from getting jammy. The tea and tart berry flavor is interesting. The smoky Chili de Arbol - nice delayed kick. Score? Damned if I know. It seems quite unique. Appears that a lot of care went into the recipe to create the dancing flavor effect. Nothing is overwhelming. Well made? I think so - seems it hits what they were aiming for. If I curb my enthusiasm it's probably a 3.75 beer that I'd gladly drink again. I don't know why I'd score it that low but I think that's where it belongs.
Ship bottom coastal living pilsner ....cloudy pale orange appearance with a medium lasting fluffy white head . Medium bodied with below average carbonation . Aroma is citrus,mostly lime peel and fruit. Grapefruit seed, slightly floral and earthy ...taste citrus juice and peel with bitter earthy hops building and taking over and lingering in the finish. Some cereal, grain and honey also show up ...overall a well done pilsner thats more bitter than expected
Happy Saturday denizens of NBW! Tonight I have a stout from Transient that is really good. I just now realized that people who like pastry stouts are all likely envious of some of these. Mostly they are wasted on me, not because I don’t enjoy a “big” stout, but because I prefer one without a lot of crap involved. But occasionally I understand why people like the style. This is one of those times. The pour is viscous and slow, regardless of how you are pouring it. Most well known BA stouts from Michigan tend to be on the thin side, this bucks that stat. The taste is in a word, amazing. Coffee and chocolate and whiskey and maple syrup, in that order, dominate the palate. It comes together very nicely. A host of malty notes are intertwined in these highlights as well. The feel is viscous, but not too thick. It matches the huge flavor profile well. OA, if you like the Transient treatment of BA stouts then you should try this. Unfortunately I just bought one. That’s one and done for me tonight, thought I might have a few today but that didn’t pan out. A kayak float tomorrow with Garth; should provide an opportunity for a second or third beer. Catch you all tomorrow for NBS! Cheers!
