New Beer Sunday (week 480)

I am not sure if I have ever posted to New Beer Sunday, but since today is a passing of the torch so to speak, I decided to make it happen.

Today I am doing a side by side with two different Mikkeller beers.

We have It's Alive - White Wine Barrel Aged (on the right) and It's Alive - Chardonnay Barrel Aged With Mango (on the left).



On to the reviews:

It's Alive - White Wine Barrel Aged

Pours a murky dark orange with a foamy khaki head that settles to a partial film on top of the beer. Small streaks of lace form around the glass on the drink down. Smell is sour with malt, grain, funk, acidic, white wine, and wood aromas. Taste is much the same with funk, white wine, and wood flavors on the finish. There is a medium amount of acidity on the palate with each sip. This beer has a lower level of carbonation with a slightly crisp and dry mouthfeel. Overall, this is a good beer with a nice balance of sourness and wine barrel aging all around.

It's Alive - Chardonnay Barrel Aged With Mango

Pours a murky orange with a foamy beige head that settles to wisps of film on top of the beer. Tiny dots of lace slowly drip into the remaining beer on the drink down. Smell is sour with malt, grain, acidic, wine, wood, slight mango, and slight nail polish remover aromas. Taste is much the same with wine, wood, and slight mango flavors on the finish. There is a mild amount of acidity on the palate with each sip. This beer has a lower level of carbonation with a slightly crisp and dry mouthfeel. Overall, this is a pretty good beer with a mango presence that is fairly subdued all around.

I gave a 3.95 to the Wine Wine Barrel Aged version and a 3.76 to the Chardonnay Barrel Aged With Mango version. I am curious as to what kind of white wine barrels they used for the version without fruit.

Anyways, this was a fun comparison even if the white wine barrels weren't the same between the two beers.

Cheers everyone!

 

New Belgian Pale Ale

Brasserie d'Orval S.A. - Orval Trappist Ale

I kid you not this if my first ever Orval.


Pours a murky brown color with a booming 3 finger white head. The smell is a light earthy aroma with an authentic Belgian spice. My first sip of this started with a fantastic tart and spiciness upfront hat literally explodes on the tongue with the fantastic carbonation. There are some funky notes in there also but every note plays off each other so well it leaves me wanting another sip. Halfway through the head is still a good cm and resembles construction foam, the taste becomes increasingly spicy and funky. Notes of fresh grass, lemon, and spicy banana. What an incredible beer, I get it now.

Cheers!

 

garymuchow beermail informed me to participate one more time for your send off. Just so happens I did enjoy a new beer today: Clown Shoes Billionaire http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/22951/105195/?ba=morimech

Live large! Cheers mattcrill and malty for all these years of keeping NBS alive.

 

Greetings All:

Hopefully this thread survives. I came in around week 50 and I have enjoyed much of the last 8+ years. I'd pitch in myself as host, but the pacific time zone presents some challenges for the early morning. Great for prime time TV sports, but I would hate to be a stock broker in these parts. I don't see myself getting up at 4 AM to kick off NBS. If the thread persists I will continue to contribute.

This week it is Escape Route, the last of the SA Spring Sampler.
http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/35/109554/?ba=RJLarse

I'm not much on this style, so it's just OK.

Unsettled this weekend. I played a round of golf Friday afternoon (first of the year) which was great. Me and wife spent a blustery hour or so on the driving range yesterday. And just now the wind is starting to fade. Just in time to grill the Guadalajara Beef, and think about going to work tomorrow. As I get older it seems like weekends go by faster and faster. Maybe all of life? But at times the work week still drags by.

Until next week (hopefully).

Happy Trails!

 

New Munich Helles Lager Sunday

Hello all! I've been following this thread since the early days of it, and would hate to see it go. I'm sure someone will agree to run it! Interesting day today was, for me. I was going to a liquor store that it well-known in the area for carrying rare beers, but, I ran into construction delays and it was closed by the time I got there. So, I went to my local pub. Fortunately, they had a new beer on tap - New Belgium Summer Helles. Was it as good as I remember the brews of the style in Munich. Probably not. But, then, I haven't been to Munich in quite a few years. Still, I've had a fair number of helles lagers, and this one was very nice! It was a bit bready. But, had a nice malt base with a touch of lemon. Certainly had a dry, refreshing, crisp finish. I enjoyed it! I plan on going back to that pub Tuesday night (Panther Pub - Greendale, WI) and plan on having a few of these with tacos and trivia.

Cheers!

 

Ladies and Gentlemen, please feel free to cast your vote(s) AND make comments on hosting of future NBS threads over here:

http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/poll-who-should-take-over-new-beer-sunday-nbs.176052/

Thanks all.

 

Matt - thanks for all your work on this thread!! You will be missed.

I read this weekly and participate when possible. Just got my first bottle of Bells Black Note and planned to post here today, but alas, my chores got the best of me and I didn't have quality time to give it a review.

I'd love to see a trio of Cavedave, UtopiaJane, and Greywulfken keep this going! Glad there is interest because I always think about posting here when I pick up something new during the week.

 

New Russian Imperial Stout

Hoppin' Frog Doris the Destroyer double imperial stout



Pours an intense black color with no head except for a few bubbles that stick to the side of the glass. The aroma is fresh hops, dark chocolate brownies and some lightly roasted coffee super intriguing. Bright and clean hops blend seamlessly with a dark toasty chocolate taste. The mouth feel is smooth as silk. The hops linger in my mouth but with moderate bitterness that plays well on the sweet notes of chocolate and mocha. Amazingly dank stout, lip smacking good.

 

I was going to sit this fine Sunday tradition out this week, as I have a big test tomorrow and have been sick the last couple of days, but upon hearing the news of Mr. Crill's retirement I had to contribute to his farewell tour. As I understand it, he may not have been the originator of this fine weekly meeting, but he's been around since I started following the group and has been a level and enthusiastic advocate for the enjoyment of this fine craft we all like to drink.
I've never been that great at words, and everything I'd say here has already been said more eloquently, so I'll keep it simple:

Thank you.

As I was going to sit this one out, I had no particular new beer waiting in my fridge, so I decided I would try one of Mr. Crill's favourites (aka one of his highest rated). I had three (fairly obvious) criteria: it had to be a) one of his top rated, b) something I haven't had before, and c) something I could actually get my hands on. Seeing as most of those that fit the first criterion failed one or both of the others, my hopes were somewhat diminished until I realized that amazingly enough, I: I had a 2012 Mephistopheles sitting in my cellar calling my name (tied for his seventh highest rating, and the highest rated that fit my criteria), and II: I had never had it before. That it was sitting waiting for me in the cool and dark... serendipity. Or His dark machinations. Somewhere in there.

This is a stout lovers stout, bringing complexity and layers to the game: do you like the chocolatey/roasty types of stouts? This one has a layer like that. Do you prefer the sweet dark fruits? Check it off the list. More a fan of the bitter/dry tobacco type? Sure enough, it goes through that phase too. Really, it's quite impressive that it is able to be so many different profiles all within the same bottle. My one complaint is that even with a two year old bottle, the 16.2% alcohol is still very much present. I'm glad to have been able to enjoy such a high quality offering in honour of our friend Matt (even if I've never met him, or interacted with him in any way other than reading and enjoying his entries into a semi-anonymous internet community, I can still use that word right? Yeah, why not...), and I look forward to picking another bottle up and seeing what it can become with even greater age!

May the fourth be with you all, and don't forget to get out and watch that meteor shower this week!

(you knew it was coming. Someone had to post it, and I am fully comfortable with being That GuyTM....)

PS. (as if you weren't tired of my droning on and on as is... regulars should be used to it by now): I'd like to give a special thanks to the members of our community who went out of their way to reach out to those of us who may not have otherwise realized that it was Matt's last day to ensure that he went out with a bang. You know who you are.

And re: carrying the torch: I think the general community is dead on in who they've nominated to continue things, and I'm glad that said individuals have accepted the honour and responsibility of ensuring our weekly sandbox is maintained. If there is an empty week and we get desperate enough for it, I can offer my empty verbosity to stimulate the masses to action, but I doubt we'll get that desperate.

THANK YOU to @mattcrill for your bringing this community together and embodying the spirit of advocacy, and THANK YOU to the community at large for contributing and keeping this weekly tradition, "fresh, informative, and fun!"

 

First time contributor to this thread. Don't know why I waited so long to join the fun? Hope someone carries on the legacy of @mattcrill and his devotion to this long running thread.

I've been a fan of Goose since the beginning, so I'll try anything new I can get my hands on. This one sounded promising, but didn't deliver for me.

Aroma of pine, citrus, and some dankness. Flavor was overwhelming malt, followed by hop bitterness, with little apparent flavor from them besides a little citrus. The saving grace was the considerably high abv was well hidden.

In all, glad I tried, but I'll pass in the future.

 

Wheat Beer Week, All reviewed on Sunday:
A tie between Bell's Oberon Ale and Carton Wit Whale with the edge to Cartons, both 3.9.
Not far behind is Hoegarden Original Wit at 3.7 and DNF (Did not finish) Long Trail Mostly Cloudy 3.1.

Bell's Oberon Ale 3.9

look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Agree with other top reviewers - this is one of best US Wheat Beers.

Try Carton's Wit Whale for a brand new offering to compare.
A: Rich firm head, that overcaps the glass and descends very slowing to into a "man on the moon" crater face and canyons of lace.
S: Too mild. Low maltiness, but apricot style fruit. Low yeast. The taste is much greater than the aroma.
Taste: Wheat Malt with apricot/lemony fruit is checked by the bitter, mild hops - nicely balanced. Astringent citrus rind with a creamy body. (apricot/orange creamsicle?)
MF: A round, full body. Slightly spicy, peppery in the follow through. Very appetizing, great summer beer, great food beer, and like Carton Wit Whale built for summer seafood, esp shell fish. Ends crisp, refreshing.
Great summertime, must try. I wish this came in cans. Good boat beer.

Wit Whale - Carton 3.9
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Lemony 50-50% blend of wit and pilsner - perfect for summer seafood.
A: Tasted at the brewery on draft, first of the summer 14 season.

Pours a hazy, pale yellow color with two inches of white head and moderate retention and lots of lace.
S: Smells like a laid back American shore belgian. Not as intense spice, coriander, but a true cousin. Yeast and esters are well married to the pilsner. Reminds me of great pilsners as much as great Wits - as billed.

T: Follows the nose but it's both more powerful, with more body and back bone, so it will be matched well with clams, oysters, flounder, fish fry.

MF: Medium body, low carbonation, creamy. Compares very well with Bells Oberon.

O: Tied with Bells Oberon, and Alagash as America's best Wit that I have reviewed so far.

Serving type: on-tap

Hoegaarden Original White Ale 3.7
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.75
I'm not going to ding this beer review because it's common. This beer is reliable.
A; As a wit beer should, big pillow, lasting, lacing head, translucent, sunny, straw body.

S: Offers up the witbier essentials. Sweet, small orange zest, spicy coriander and tangy Wheat. Big Cream of Wheat.

T: It's all there, following that reliable aroma. Between smell and taste, I give smell the edge.. Tame, with orange peel being the long note on top of creamy wheat seasoned with pepper and coriander. Balanced.

MF: too thin, well carbonated, feels a bit mass produced. Not memorable like better belgians.

Overall: Steady eddie. Peppery, spicey in the finish.

Long Trail Mostly Cloudy 3.1 (ug!)

This Long Trail scores a flat 3.1 which is about how it feels. Pass this unless there's only bud to drink.

A: Nice iitial head but a fast fade to flat, yellow body. Not much to look at.

S: Not much smell, the faint components of citrus zest, spice rack, and tangy wheat, but all tame, and it has that marginal, metallic back ground that Vermonts Magic Hat seems to offer.

"Smells like a hair salon" - one wrote.

T: Faintly there. It's a session beer, but a bit lacking in the finish

MF: Fail. Thin, flat, metallic, and a cottony mouth finish. Feels like I inhaled some hair spray.

Downgrades the beer to an average 3.

 

New Berliner Weisse Sunday:

Hello, NBS'ers! I figured in Mattcrill's final thread, I was obligated to provide an entry this week. So after a week of more fantastic beer, like De Garde The Lily, which got my first ever perfect-five review, and King Sue, and several others, I opened up a humble berliner weisse.

Saint Arnold Boiler Room Berliner Weisse:


What did I think? It was pretty good. It wasn't fantastic, and I've had better. But it was good enough. Might want to try it with some fruit syrup.

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/337/116130/?ba=WTKeene

Until next week,

Cheers, BA!

 

New imperial IPA Sunday -

Tippin this glass for Matt of course - wow looks like some respected BAs came out to post today -


Lemme get right into it - Double Mountain hop lava - bottled mid February . I've seen it every other day I stop by the bottle shop so I'm glad they kept in the fridge! About 6bucks or so - pint bottle

The so called "Northwest ipa" oh c'mon


First off smells just fine - nothing over the top

Hop juice touches my lips! Ah hell yea - dope balance of hops and malts I kno typical explanation- but if you are on the fence about purchasing this one I would recommend it for sure -


Cheers y'all!!

For those BAs that have not posted here due to intimidation please come out and post! We gotta carry the torch now - no biggie difference then the wbaydn thread just try something new! And tell us about it!!

 

Shot out to Matt for his dedication to this thread. Glad to contribute. Find myself buying a lot of belgians recently, even though they are on the lower end of my beer totum pole. Leave no style behind! Anyway, picked up this 3 Floyds bomber for $12.

As always, will make a nice addition to my bottle collection (which my wife is thrilled about) at a minimum. Pours a nice deep golden straw color with big white foaming head. Smells sweet like most Belgian/ Farmhouse brews. Taste the typical yeast. Very sweet, with some citrusy, pineapple?, cloves, corriander-baking spices, and faint banana maybe. Kind of reminds me of a heffe. I like it.

So do they.

Nope, I believe it's my fried egg sandwich with pepper jack cheese

Review: More depth and flavor than many I have tried. I give in a 4. Would gladly drink again. Just like to see it in 4/6 pack.

 

Hey NBS'ers and a shout out to Matt and the wonderful effort you put forth for all those endless Sundays.

Glad to see others will keep the thread going as it has provided me with a chance to enjoy new beers and tell others about them. I am a total short-timer but have enjoyed my time thus far. Been through a cloudy-wet week with the sun and a touch of warmth breaking out this weekend. Got to enjoy some time in the yard and was also excited because we seem to have encouraged some nut hatch's to come and dine at our bird feeder. Love to get outdoors in my yard and enjoy the coming spring especially after our long, drawn out winter. Still a little nip in the air as the sun goes down so this seemed like a good choice.



Would not recommend a heavy pour on this one as the head just blows up on ya, reddish brown color with a 3-4 finger khaki head that settles down leaving behind some sticky lacing. Bready malts, raisin, fruity esthers, candied sugar and a hint of spice in the nose. Flavors of raisin, plum, cherry, with a light spice note, oak, and a bit of vinous character. Medium body, heavy carbonation, some tartness with a dry finish. I am not a connoisseur of the belgian style but the next time I visit my bretheren to the north I might be stopping in to pick up some more.

Cheers and good health to all.

 

Bustin out the pub glass for a hard pour -



Picked this up at the local shop on their grand opening - they had a bunch of out of market stuff - can't really tell ya how fresh it is - I can't slap a whoo cares tho cause it's a milk stout - I've had old IPAs old lagers but this is definately my first time having a milk stout that I had no idea where it was from-




Here goes nothing -



Success! I got that nitro burning funny bomb (I love Gwar)


NITRO goodness ^^^^^

Wow feels like someone just poured me a drink at a pub! Instantly I love this beer! I want more -

Smells a bit of coffee and chocolate malts - tastes kinda the same - a bit thin in the mouthfeel- my favorite part honestly is that it's not too sweet! Hops are almost gone tho- someone replied to me earlier saying that a "real good stout" barely has any hops - I personally thought he was wrong - as tasting the vague hops in stouts is one of the things that separates a cooks palette from an average palette-

Big ups to left hand - new beer Sunday new brewery Sunday -


This is the last "new" beer I have in the fridge for now - I got some stuff I'm saving for my trip to Vegas for the NFL draft -

Yea I'm taking my own booze - all my friend show up and clog the sinks with ice and 20pk of rolling rock - not me - I'm bringing along blk fist, parabola, expedition stout, Pliny, and a couple of my other favorites -

Matt! You da man! Thanks for all the Midwest weather reports


One last thing ! NO SHAMELESS NO TRUE DETECTIVE NO HOMELAND make jack a dull boy - this is all that's on right now -

 

Well, hasn't this turned into quite the little Bon Voyage party! I took my Nephew out walking and we visited Wander Brewing's newly opened taproom. They've had beer out in the system for about 3 weeks now, and they've been solid-to-good. I didn't take notes, so no formal review, but here's a couple of quick thoughts: Washington Uncommon, a California Common (screw off Fritz Maytag!) a pretty orange-amber color, with subtle hops on the nose, but bolder hops on the tongue, and a tart, dry, hop finish. Also up today was Belgian Brown, malty and sweet with a slight tart, funky finish. I think Wander will do a great job going forward. If y'all are on the Facebooks, go check 'em out: https://www.facebook.com/WanderBrewing

Ooopsie, forgot to add a May 4th song:

 

Long time reader, first time poster. Cheers to Matt.

Vivant hit this out of the park. Outstanding Biere De Garde. I had to knock appearance because head retention was horrible. Taste and aromas were outstanding. Big caramel, biscuit, pear, apple, red grape, tart red berries, brown bread, herbal, floral, light pepper, and yeast earthiness. Nice crisp and smooth body, lightly slick. Nice light earthy/fruity tartness on the finish. Extremely well balanced malt and yeast fruitiness flavors. I am so glad I got a full 4 pack.


Cheers everyone

 

Howdy NBSers!

I'd like to start by saying cheers to Matt for hosting the best thread on this website for so long. I appreciate your doing so since I've been participating, and your introductions will be missed on this end. Good luck to you in your travels, and I hope you will still be able to join us every now and then for a new cold one!

It seems that this thread won't be ending, and I would like to say thank you to those of you with the ambition to continue this fine thread for the many weeks to come! I know that many have already stated their willingness to help out as needed, but I would still like to offer my services to start the thread any time you need my help. I am more than capable to start it every week.

Now, on to the new brew! I was able to "score" three of the Blue Moon Farmhouse Red bottles for free from a tasting done at the bottle shop I work at. I figured if I was going to objectively taste a brew from a brewery that is so controversial to us beer advocates, why not share my findings with you guys! Well, I'm just about half way done with my third one of these bad boys, and here's what I thought of it:

Pours a clear red with a finger length of fizzy pink head that dissipates into a ring around the glass rather quickly, and there is a small amount of lacing left on the glass. The aroma that consisted of tart cherries, licorice and grain was rather faint. Taste really consisted of only bland barley and a very faint amount of tartness in the middle. The tartness did become more prominent as I continued drinking this beer, but not enough to satisfy my palate with the flanders red label on the bottle. Also, this beer literally finishes like water. I'm not exaggerating this at all! There is a slight bit of tart cherry in the aftertaste, but it ends rather quickly. I feel like two seconds after taking a sip, my mouth has no recollection of the fact that a beer just passed through it. The body is very light, and the carbonation level is low to medium.

As a non BMC basher (in fact, I buy their products somewhat regularly), I can't believe how underwhelming this beer is. When I need my lower priced fix on a sour beer, I'll continue buying Bell's Oarsman, and I will never recommend this beer when I am working.

Time for a tune! I'll offer up the original, and the dub version!


I'll be back later with one more.

 

Heya folks, not sure I've ever posted on NBS but there's a first time for everything, right?

I had Sweetwater's new Dank Tank release, Johnny Hash: http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/273/118298/?ba=fmccormi—a damn solid DIPA. It was lovely.

Have a nice night, fellas!