New Beer Sunday (week 489)

<Argh! One finger slips while finishing typing my post and "poof" - post magically disappears! SO, once more, with feeling (not to mention dexterity...)>

Greetings, fellow NBSers,

Happy Birthday and near-Birthday to all the boys & girls it applies to, with a special shout out to Cavedave. Hopefully your medically mandated beer stand-down is at an end, but if not, I will expect an excellent birthday beer has been added to the on deck circle when you are back to beer drinking.

Right now it's 90 degrees and partly sunny in the largest city between Seattle and Minneapolis. Hopefully everyone had a good 4th. I had to work, but we put together a decent BBQ there (though it was slightly incongruous grilling hamburgers and sausages in the morning) I watched the Official City Fireworks display in Riverfront Park from my living room, as I had previously agreed to fill in at work Saturday morning and needed to stumble out of bed at 5.

Today I'm going with a PNW IPA from a brewery I might be able to see from my home, if I-90 had never been built:
http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/34277/128048/?ba=woemad

Decent, but it was also the only one of three IPAs from this brewery that didn't have diacetyl issues when I sampled them. I really want to support what is practically a neighborhood brewery, but if they want to survive in the increasingly saturated local beer scene, they really need to up their consistency.

Cheers!

 

Greetings All and Happy Independence Day (weekend) from the Great Northwest.

Today it is Armory XPA from the fine Folks at Deschutes, of Bend, Oregon.
http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/63/59921/?ba=RJLarse

A very good pale ale, but as I said in the review, among the Deschutes family it is better than the year around offering Mirror Pond but not as good as the seasonal Red Chair. Honestly I don't know why Mirror Pond is still around. I'd have made Red Chair the flagship APA years ago. But the Armory XPA would also be a grand successor to Mirror Pond..

Sunny and seasonal here in the Columbia Basin. Temps in the upper 80's humidity in the lower 20's. I'll take it.

Until next week,

Happy Trails!

 

I disagree. For me, Mirror Pond defines the style of Pale Ale. It's the beer I drink when I just want a beer.

 

Was a day early but had Voodoo Cowbell Imperial Oatmeal milk stout on nitro yesterday. Label me IMPRESSED!! Thick and creamy and perfectly balanced between sweet chocolate notes with mild toasty notes as well. For me, it is the single best milk stout I have ever had. To bad not bottled.

 

The last of the beach-town brews I'm putting up today: http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/1304/80463/?ba=beertune

Q: Why did the blonde get fired from the M&M Factory?

A: She was throwing away all the W's.

And, since I put Jimmy Page in the last video, it's only fair to put his old band-mate in this one:

 

New Helles Lager Sunday

Happy Borthdays to cavedave, modernnick, and rorjets, and happy NBS to all.

Hope everyone enjoyed the 4th festivities. What a great American holiday!

Southern CT continue use to be awesome weather wise after Arthur turned out to be a miss.

Lots of good brews and fine glassware on the thread today.

I picked up this PA lager from an awesome canning brewery last weekend:

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/10397/29773/?ba=CHADMC3

If you're valuing this for its style I would say its grossly underrated and an awesome session able brew. More love to Lagers.

 

What's up NBS, spent my day in the sun, at a little bday party, and now I'm home getting ready for Monday so I'm staying on the lighter side.

Grey Sail's Flying Jenny an extra pale ale from Rhode Island. It's a pretty straight forward light and hoppy ale. Very smooth on the finish with very little bitterness. No canning date but they use Columbus, tomahawk, and zeus hops. The spice and citrus that they go on to describe is very subtle if at all. A light easy drinking pale ale with not much flavor that is not worthy of an 87 ba ranking imo. I would put it in the low 3's all around,

 

Only my second ever post here. Decided I need to try and contribute more as I'm always sampling new things and should share my experience with the community.

Got this in a gift box for Christmas, and it got buried in my beer cellar.

Pours a dark brown with one finger head. Aroma is caramel, dank wood, faint bourbon. Taste is caramel, brown sugar, with faint bourbon notes. A bitter almost sour aftertaste which may be from the bourbon oak spirals it's aged on. It tastes better as it warms. In all, it's not terrible, just seems like a rushed interpretation of something that could have had potential. Decent enough, but glad it wasn't bought with my money.

 

This was definitely a good weekend, particularly since my brother got married yesterday We introduced many out of town guests to Great Lakes' beers at the reception. New Beer Saturday for them

Today onto a collaboration IPA I've had sitting around for a short while

Not a whole lot to say other than it's very solid, as would be expected from these two breweries. Very straightforward but well-made as far as IPAs go, with a nice herbal touch frequently absent depending on the hops used.

Edit to note that I didn't realize until after I made the initial post this is the perfect beer to drink the day following the wedding as the sunburst colors match their wedding colors perfectly except for the blue here is a bit darker. Awesome coincidence.

 

Good stuff - if nothing else, the can's a hoot!

 

New Ohio English Barleywine Sunday

Late NBS for me as working got in the way. Picked up what is only my 2nd beer from Jackie O's, as it is a terrible drive down that way and they just recently started to distribute 'round these parts. This one was worth the wait.


Pours a very dark ruby brown with very little head. Smell is world class. Caramel, brown sugar, toffee, bread. Just fantastic. The taste doesn't quite hold up to the aroma. The alcohol overpowers the flavor just a bit. It is still super outstanding though. You would swear that this is barrel aged too, but no mention thereof. I think this beer is just a hair away from being world class. I take into consideration that I really enjoy this style, but it if someone told me it was the Sucaba base I would believe them. Great English to wrap up a great weekend. 4.4 http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/1432/84565/?ba=WesMantooth

 

I'm ashamed of what I might do for this box of beer.

 

Well the next time you homebrew one let me and I'll enjoy it with you!

 

I've had two Jackie O's brews and both were above par!

 

The holiday weekend is coming to a close, so what better time for a new beer?

Tonight, I went with Black Betty from Nebraska Brewing. I picked this up in Kansas City a few weeks back since I always enjoy trying new stouts especially barrel aged and bottle conditioned. Lots of whiskey flavors and aromas on this one, but a tad one dimensional. If the coffee and chocolate notes were more pronounced, this would be a slam dunk.







http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/16504/55229/?ba=richj1970

 

Good NBS to all, this has been a great weekend. I hope you all enjoyed yours.
Finished the day out with Grassroots Brother Soigne. A superb saison.
Read the earlier review of the Jackie O's they do a great job, and are great guys.
Happy birthday to the aforementioned BA's.

Cheers all

4.46/5 rDev +1.1%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5

Poured from the most recent release 05/2014 into a modified tulip.

A - Beautiful color, deep straw, carbonation dances into a wonderful rich froth.
Lacing completes the picture, fine and thorough.
S - Fresh citrus, lime, and blood orange as advertised, a touch of funky barn, ever so slight. The nose continues as the beer warms into sweet and sour lime. Ever so enticing.
T - Wonderful tart snap to begin, then fine malt with a tease of refined hops. This is incredibly refreshing. Finishes with a wonderfully tropical, feel.
M - The mouth is coated but lightly as the carbonation with the lime and blood orange to balance the experience. Medium bodied but delicate to say the least.
O - The finest of the saison's I have had this year. The citrus, house yeast, perfect carbonation blend into a fantastic creation.
I hope this becomes one of their permanent portfolio.

Cheers

Serving type: bottle

07-07-2014 01:47:54

 

Contributing my #2400 review to NBS. Very nice overall. Taste of dark chocolate, cocoa, roasted malt, raisin, prune, vanilla, toast, toffee, oak, bourbon, pine, grass, and bourbon/oak earthiness. Moderate pine/grassy bitterness on the finish. Well integrated bourbon barrel notes with the dark/roast malts and fair amount of pine/grassy hops. Very enjoyable and well balanced flavors, but not too impressive. Definitely a nicely enjoyable brew though. No booze, good carbonation, and fairly creamy and very smooth for the ABV. 11/2011 bottled. 3.8/5


Cheers