New Beer Sunday (week 461)

Local offering I've been dying to taste. Worth the wait.

 

Well finally popping the top on this bad boy!
Terrific roast aromas with a lil hoppiness to boot!
Smooth drinking milk stout not heavy at all with a nice amount of sweetness in the middle and a smoky finish.

 

New American Strong Ale Sunday

Happy NBS everyone! Just got done with my first new beer of the day, He'Brew Funky Jewbelation 2013. I wasn't sure what to expect from this beer since I really haven't tried a lot of Shmaltz's offerings. I did like the tartness in this brew, I know it's listed as a strong ale on BA, but maybe should be listed as a wild ale instead. Regardless of what style of beer it is, I liked it: http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/262/104718/?ba=bluejacket74

I should have another new beer review on here in a little while, and later I'll post my pics to the "What are you drinking now" thread. Cheers!

 

New American Amber Ale Sunday

Greetings NBSer's,
I feel truly a week late and a dollar short with this delayed entry and missing last week. Plus having a heck of a time with loading BA pages today. I hope this gets cleared up before long.

Rather cold December in these parts. Very few days above freezing and many in the single digits and teens. And so it was today as we enjoyed much of the day with the rambunctious grandchild. Grandparenting is this odd mix of greatest joy and great irritant simultaneously. In the long run the joy wins out.

Anyway, I'm with an ale from one of the many new breweries popping up in these parts. Little fanfare with the showing up of this one, but this is a solid offering with a nice malt character in the flavor to go with a typical, but pleasing nonetheless, hop character. I'll easily give another beer from this brewery another go.

Best to all and Merry Christmas.

 

Loving watching the Seahawks get their throats slit and enjoying this, thanks to @totalbangover...

The "12th man"?! Sounds like there are 12 men there now!

 

Greetings from Rhode Island, where I'm home for the holidays watching the Pats do some work on the Ravens with my good old dad. Got the chance to try a really solid local offering this afternoon, Be Hoppy from Wormtown. I thought it was solid, but a tad overhyped maybe:

http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/22200/57223/?ba=Mikecap

Happy Sunday!

 

>>>>>> New Milk Stout Sunday <<<<<<

I'm the snow man of sweet stout today. Thanks Matt for the intro.

Cozy Sweater Milk Stout from Iron Horse Brewing. A good milk stout, with a creamy texture. I'd love to try it on tap, or even better on nitro some time.
http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/11212/63887/?ba=RJLarse

As for the snow, we got about 3 inches on Friday, and so far it is hanging around. But there are 40 degree temps and rain in the short range forecast, so we may not have a white Christmas after all.

White, green, or if you are lucky enough to have a white Christmas on a white sand beach someplace, Merry Christmas to all!!

Happy Trails!

 

New English Barleywine Sunday

Here's my last new beer review for today, To Øl's Mine Is Bigger Than Yours barleywine: http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/24299/85464/?ba=bluejacket74

I thought it was a good malty English style barleywine, and a good tasty brew. Happy NBS everyone, and hopefully I'll have some more new beer reviews on here next week!

 

Enjoying some Bo and Luke after watching the Packers lose a close one. No pictures since it is from a growler. Here is my review.

Growler from the brewery shipped to me courtesy of Harold. Thank you!
poured 12-14oz into a snifter.

A - Obsidian with a 1.5 finger tan head. A thin ring remains after the head fades. Small spots of lacing trail behind as the liquid slides down the glass. Nice looking for a BB beer.

S - Tons of chocolate, vanilla, bourbon, caramel, marshmallow, and just a hint of light smoke. Smell is not bourbon dominated, but rich and decadent.

T - Huge sweetness from this beer, in a complementary way to the bourbon and smoke. Chocolate, caramel, vanilla, bourbon, and marshmallow lead the way. Faint wood and smoke linger around at the end. How is this 14%? The alcohol is so hidden, I best be careful.

M - Silky smooth, rich and creamy. Nice carbonation for the BB style.

O - I should be sipping this much slower than I am. It is a really nice BB stout that more people need to experience. I fell very lucky to have had the pleasure of drinking it.

 

New Dubbel Sunday

Greetings from Southern CT and happy final NBS before Christmas,

The weather is oddly warm here, humid and generally undesirable for my taste. We spent the weekend completing our long distance Christmas travel. While it was fun, it was also nice to be done with the stressful part.

I tried this Goose Island brew today

http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/1549/16807/?ba=CHADMC3

Looking forward to reading up on all the festive NBS action today.

 

Had to move on to another new one tonight. Yeah it's December, but this Octoberfest is really hitting the spot. Gotta love drinking small batch RI brews:

http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/26765/75562/?ba=Mikecap

If only I had a big soft pretzel and some spicy mustard!

 

Love me some IPA & IIPA's! This is a hoppy mofo too! Never heard of this brewery before, and was shocked when @jzeilinger gave it to me on Friday! Glad I didn't wait too long to drink this one, too!
Earthy, piny, pineapple, citrus. Easy drinking too!
I love IIPA's that hide their alcohol like it's nothing! Man you can't go wrong with this one!

Really looking forward to sleeping tomorrow too! Cheers NBS!

 

Howdy NBSers! I've had quite the busy week with work and the holidays, and today was no exception. Now that I get some time to sit back and rest me bones, I get to watch the Bears while I do it. I don't mind, and that's because I'm just meditating on how lucky I am to be able to see all the friends and family that I haven't been able to see in quite a while in the upcoming week and a half. That, and reading all your reviews. I feel like I'm drinking the beers you guys have been drinking every time I read your reviews (mmmmmmmmmm).

This week, I'm bringing out one that has appeared on NBS for the past couple of weeks. I personally can't believe this has made it 3 weeks without being consumed, but it couldn't have been opened at a better time. You can read all about it here: http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/1549/100421/?ba=offthelevel_bytheplumb

Hope you guys have a great holiday!
Cheers!

 

Its a rainy night in Southeast Alaska with the temps in the 30's and the snow now not exactly the best to ski in...sigh, I'm hopin' for some new stuff. But within the past week, I was awarded a beer from my hockey teammates for scoring the most penalty minutes in the first half of the season. A beer I'm thinkin' a fair amount of you know fairly well, http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/22/3635/?ba=kangarooAdam59, but its new to me.

Cheers, NBS-ers!

KA

 

Good evening everyone!

Tonight- I cracked open Thirsty Dog Wulver for the first time! I was slow sipping it, got the review done, and my husband stole the rest of it! He likes it a lot more than me-so that's ok! He doesn't have a BA account but says he'd give it "somewhere between a 4.5 and a 4.8"

Here is my review http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/12516/94714/?ba=PittBeerGirl

This beer is getting a lot of great reviews and is definitely worth a try if you can score any of it. I think its good-but not as good as Backwoods Bastard or some other scotches.

 

The Best

...and the rest

So let me tell you about these beers: L to R
Port Brewing Santa's Little Helper - Decent imperial stout that didn't have a lot of "Christmas" themed flavors going on. After having Older Viscosity on tap earlier this week I'd say this had tough competition.
Great Lakes Blackout Stout - One of my perennial favorites. Amazing how strong this beer seemed the first time I had it and how mellow it is now, guess my palette is being destroyed too often.
Pipeworks Citra Ninja - Good heavens this was amazing. I had some of the last batch but it was clearly past it's prime and getting some less than a week out of the brewery really made a difference. I wish every citrusy IPA tasted like this. There's a reason this is Pipeworks best rated beer.
GI Bourbon County Propreitors - The most hyped up beer of the year was finally sampled by me and a few friends and let me say it is everything you could hope for. The nose was boozy as hell but the taste was incredibly smooth. Even with two avid coconut haters we were all won over by this. Now I just hope they bottle this every year, mercy.
New Belgium Lips of Faith Yuzu - Not my cup of tea, tasted a bit sour with a banana aftertaste, I'll pass in the future.
Clownshoes Hoppy Feet 1.5 - Decent beer but not the hoppy black IPA I was hoping for. To me Pipeworks NvU Pajama Party was the best Black DIPA I've ever had and this doesn't come close. Still love the brewery but they can't all be amazing.

So a good day of beer was had by all.

 

These two beers
On draft were extremely close. The bourbon was weaker
On draft for BCBS compared to the bottle. They were both sublime!
KBS was just incredible draft though.

Really hard to say who comes out a winner
Of the two. Id put them both on the same
Level. I've had plenty of bottles of BCBS but have not yet tried KBS from the bottle. Doing a side by side on Christmas Eve! Both 2013's.

Any day you can open a KBS is a good day.

Also, got one(3rd bottle overall) as an extra as well and am in debt to him after we decided no extras! Cause he has no more room in the cellar.

Cheers!

 

Decided to crack open a Samuel Adams' Merry Maker today.

Upon cracking open the bomber, I noticed the smell was not quite as heavily spiced as I expected. The beer poured with a nice brim head into my snifter, and kept relatively nice throughout. Upon the first sip, I noticed the beer was incredibly dry, so this is definitely not something you'd want to drink unless you have a moist dessert or water by your side. The gingerbread, nutmeg and a bit of cinnamon were noticeable, but faint. As the beer warmed, the flavors came out more. Also too, I loved how for being a juggernaut 9% ABV, I had to try really hard to detect some alcohol heat.

Overall, not a bad beer by any mean, and a much better example of a dark gingerbread beer than the nasty drain pour that is Short's Gingersnap. I would've preferred a bit more to the somewhat watery body than was in the bottle, and slightly more cookie like flavor, but hey, this is Sam Adams', I don't expect the world =D

 

New Northwest Pale
UniversAle by Fremont Brewing

It's been two weeks since I've deigned to join this merry band of... blah blah blah
Stupid finals weeks.
Travel's always fun. Especially when you show up to the airport to discover your flight was never actually confirmed as booked and you have no way of getting home and catching your shuttle bus back up to the ferry landing where you will eventually be forgotten to be picked up.

D'ah well. Snow gave way to rain for the past couple of days: I truly am home. Sunday basketball is the usual: some good, some bad, lots of aches and pains and probably cumulative permanent damage to the joints. Worth it.

The beer: A decent pale. One I could drink on a summer afternoon. A little... it's not chalky, but that's one of the best descriptors I can come up with. Pastel, maybe?

Cheers y'all, it's good to be back amongst the midst of the many masses of... blah blah blah.