New Beer Sunday (week 473)

Yes!

My entry will be much later today - I have to go visit my 2-day-old niece first!!! Welcome to the world, Addison Rose Guglielmo!

But it will hopefully be worth the wait, it's another of my most wanted beers ever! Cheers Matt & the rest of the NBS crew!

[Moderator Edit - 2 posts have been merged... ]

I'm baaaa-aaaacccckkkk

So we didn't go see my niece because as it turns out, she's not out of the NICU yet. So I thought I'd probably drink beer

I was so damned excited for this beer...I wish I had 20 of them!





Review: http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/14064/56082/?ba=markgugs

Possibly the most anticipated beer I've ever had! thanks to the wicked BA Abbbp for the trade. 22oz. bottle poured into a NEBCO tulip.

A: What a beautiful beer! Golden, sunburst orange, gigantic frothy cream-colored head. Within 1 minute, the head has reduced to a bubbly coating, resting gently on the remainder of the beer. Leaving spiderwebbed, sticky-looking lacing all the way to the end.

S: Gadzooks! So bright, so fresh, I can only imagine what the brewhouse smelled of as this was being made. A subtle grain base features layer upon layer of slightly sweet, floral, fruity hops. I spent a good several minutes inhaling deeply, certainly in no rush to stop!

T/M: Ohhh, so this is what heaven tastes like, glad I now know. Slight bit of toasted sweetness up front, but still almost raw in nature. And then kablammo! Hops after hops after hops...on a tropical island and if hops grew on palm trees. Oh, doesn't make sense? Well after all the mango, peach, and especially pineapple that coats the tongue, it will. Tight carbonation produces an extremely creamy drinking experience. This would KILL on a nitro tap. Perfect in every way.

O: Alright, so here's a good example of a beer living up to its hype and then some. 'Nuff said. Get you some.

look: 4.75 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 5 | feel: 5 | overall: 5
BA Score: 4.94/5 rDev +7.4%

 

Cheers all!

First new brew up today, a newish beer that I added to BA, a session IPA from Big Sky:

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/751/115705/?ba=Bitterbill

Pygmy Owl Itty Bitty IPA. At 4.2% abv, it satisfied my discerning tastes.

 

NEW BARLEYWINE SUNDAY

Congrats to Uncle @markgugs, babies are awesome! I love being a dad and hope I get try my hand at Uncling sometime.

Health scare with the wife terrified me to my core this week, but she's home and healthy now thankfully. I was up late last night half reading and half counting my blessings while sipping on this.

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/112/92655/?ba=DIM



Cheers and hug your loved ones today!

 

My second new beer, also consumed earlier this morning, is the Rye PA from New Belgium: http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/192/114109/?ba=Bitterbill

The best of the Hop Kitchen series I've had, me thinks.

 

I am sooo glad the wife is okay now. Wheww.
I hope, and it seems, the North Coast version was better than what I experienced with the Deschutes one. I think I gave the one I had the lowest review of any Deschutes beer I've drank.

 

Do you know if they used the same recipe? I think I remember your NBS review of the Deschutes offering.

 

My NBS entry today is an awesome beer I received in trade, Big Bad Baptist. Figured it is a coffee stout so its just fine to drink at 10AM on a Sunday

 

I have no clue. I suppose the recipes should have been close, at least. The overall ratings between the 2 aren't far off. Maybe fresh is the reason I gave it a 2.56?

 

I drank this one in the wee hours of the morning. Working nights screws up your schedule for the weekends. Bitches' Brew from Dogfish Head. I've had this one sitting around for a few months now and finally decided to give it a whirl. Very interesting flavors competing in this beer, a lot of sweetness and a bit of a bitter finish. The more I drank the more I enjoyed it as I warmed up to the flavors and aromas.

 

WooHOo! We will wait for you =) Congrats .

 

I hope everything stays fine for like . . . ever. =) Love is everything.

 

Hi You all! I havd a most uneventful week except for the weather which was like riding a pendulum. Warm one day, a named storm the next. When did we start giving a name to every time some snow fell? That seems kind of silly to me. Anyway the debate around town is between the old timers and the newbie college kids. The old timers say that this winter was much more like a normal winter even thought there was not as much total snow fall as there could have been, and the college kids said "where's my mommy?" There's one guy keep seeing around town with a bald head and no hat. DAMN YOU PUT ON A HAT OK?

I had some Saxonator Dunkels Dopplebock by Jack's Abby this mornign and it sure did start my day off right. Simply excellent. The body is a bit thinner than some of the german dopplebocks but with impeccable balance and with flavors that captivate this beer is contemporary and stylish. Cheers !

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/26520/76396/?ba=utopiajane

 

:-) My wife is the toughest person I know, she'll be fine.

I meant to suggest something to you last week. You seemed to enjoy Korbinian, one of my favorites. You should put Aventinus on your to try list, its a wheat doppelbock. My only 5 do far.

And you are right, love is everything!

 

Found out this week that for my preceptorship I'll be working the 7p-7a overnight shift. Works for me, except... They also want me to be at class during the day and have my other clinicals all afternoon. Something will have to give...
For the time being, however, I am back on my nocturnal schedule, going to try one more new beer before bed. My first new beer for this fine Sunday was a German that I picked up on a whim. Honestly, didn't really have much hopes for this one. Cracked it open and it turns out it's pretty good. Log on to the interwebz and find out that not only does this site agree with that assessment, but one of the most recent reviews was from none other than our very own @utopiajane! Sweet and malty (as well it should be), it's got an almost mustiness to it that pairs really well with the fruits and breads that form its backbone. For some reason I couldn't get the image of antique furniture out of my head while drinking it. Miniscule flashbacks to specific houses that I can't quite pinpoint...



Early morning dinner was leftover deep dish that I made for pi(e) day, followed up with an apple/pear/ginger crumble from the same. Hope y'all enjoy your Sundays, while I sleep through the rain and sleet we're expected to get all afternoon. Slainte!

 

Bottling date is scratched away on this one. I believe a single bottle was $2.29. Poured into a Sam Adams Perfect Pint (ah, my favorite).

Appearance: The bottle art is less appealing than some of Odd Side's others, but it's still interesting -- some mystery creature behind a curtain with glowing blue/purple eyes. The beer pours a beautiful rusty orange sort of color with only a slight haze. A thin layer of head floats on top for most of the drink, and there's some pretty heavy lacing on the glass. Beautiful looking IIPA.

Smell: Interesting. The smell at first turned me off, because it had "that smell" that I got in another beer and really disliked. I still don't know if it's a variety of malt or particular yeast. It smells like it's a yeast, but it'd probably make more sense if it's a malt. Anyway, it punches with a bit of funk. One reviewer mentioned sour cheese or something, and I can actually get where he's coming from. There's also a strawberry/cherry aroma overlying that. I know, sounds incredibly unappealing, but it works. Funky and strange. Not exactly a beer that'll make your mouth water, but it's still good.

Taste/feel: Moderate thickness on this beer with a medium, prickly bitterness is the first thing I notice as it glides across my tongue (ooo, sexy). The flavor maintains some of that funkiness, with a lot of sweetness, but even more bitterness -- this is a bitter beer, to be sure. More bitter than your average DIPA. Strawberry/cherry sort of fruitiness on the start turns into bitter pine on the aftertaste with a very dry finish. The crystal malts (presumably... it tastes like they're here) add a sharp sort of sweetness to combat the sharp bitterness as well. Actually a quite unique beer from a DIPA category that seems to go one of two ways -- piney as hell, or tropical as hell. This one offers a sort of funky strawberry and cherry vibe with a dry, piney aftertaste.

Instigator IPA is actually a really good beer. Should I be surprised? Odd Side is constantly killing it. I can for sure see the mixed reviews on this one, as it may not be what you're expecting. As usual, Odd Side changed things up a little bit with this one and went off the beaten path. The price is a bit high, but if you're looking for a DIPA that's a bit different, this would be a nice choice... assuming you like a bitter beer.

4.01/5



These guys were on Fallon, and I've been listening to them a lot. Also known as "Shaun White's band" ... yes, that Shaun White.

 

I will look for it! Thanks. * I forgot my reive.w above. I put it up now.

 

I can't do the full post yet but my hope today is to make it through this lineup. Definitely more than I should have but for education purposes I don't want to space it out over more than one day, two at most. Had to take the picture while everything is intact. "One" is in the glass now, check back in a few hours for comparative notes

 

Awesome little gem I brought back from Seattle last October.

This is the 2013 Vintage, I believe. I can not find a date code on the bottle… it's 12.7% ABV, which I believe is the 2013 release. The description in the main page says it's aged in red wine and whiskey barrels, but this bottle clearly stated "oak bourbon barrels." That said, the barrel is very subtle in this beer, compared to the typical ones I have had of late. The molasses and maple syrup are also well balanced in this stout. This beer is very roasty, and has strong dark flavors of coffee, bitter chocolate, and raisin.

The bourbon is coming more forward as the beer approaches room temp, but I started the bottle at 49°F.

This is my first NBS review… getting pumped up for the Ratdog concert tonight! (Hence the "Midnight Sun Brewing Co." choice of beverage….)

Cheers!

"Bobby! Bobby! Bobby!….."

 

For my second (and final) entry to this lovely tradition, I am partaking in a highly acclaimed brew, FIS, that I somehow overlooked, and almost passed on completely. Holy mackerel am I glad I did not. It may not have the bitchin' swing top of my earlier German offering, but man it has just about everything else. Smoothe, creamy, thick, chewy, delicious, beautiful... I can't even come up with an appropriate analogy it's that good. The closest I can come is a forced Darryl Dawkins reference, so I'll spare you all the embarassment.
I made a realization the other day: the two best Star Treks both turned the corner definitively from solid to amazing when primary male crewmembers found their facial hair. Riker's beard and Sisko's goatee were real turning points in their relative series'. So much for sparing embarassment.
I think it's time for me to finally knock out, because my alarm goes off in less than six hours, and I'm convinced that Clare Winchester looks like my HS best friend on a solo voyage around the galaxy. Yep, definitely time to log out and catch some sleepings. Stay safe, stay healthy, and drink well!
Yes, I changed the song on my previous post from the following to something else. I know everyone cares so much about my posts to notice this. It just seemed to fit this beer much better. (hint: what's the date...)