New Beer Sunday (week 492)

My prediction for today...Rainy with a chance of "Oh my God, Parabola is awesome!"
Enjoy Maria.

 

Waits on pins and needles

 

I can't believe you've never had it. I'm glad that you are finally able to knock this one off of your list. You're in store for a treat. Cheers!

 

This Week's New Beer Sunday- Straffe Hendrik


Bruges, Belgium
Brewery De Halve Maan
Style- Quadruple
11% ABV

Since 1856 six generations have run this brewery in Bruges, Belgium.

I poured the beer in my Chimay glass and produced a thick 2 finger head. Over some time you still have a thin coating of foam lacing on the sides of the glass. The appearance is a very dark brown quadruple color. Textbook. The aroma of sweet malt, dark fruits and faint alcohol. The taste is creamy, smooth and very similar to a sweet port and cherries. Very enjoyable and recommended. One of my favorite quads.

 

It's on my want list too Maria! One of these days! I expect a full report!
Also, how was that blueberry wheat beer you chose instead.

 

Happy New HiPa Altitude IPA Sunday.

Happy Beering Maria, cavedave, beertunes, Matt, and all other NBSer's who keep this vibrant little corner of the BA inerverse alive.

Summer Vacation!! WooHoo. Got out of SoCal just as the thermometer started to rise, and headed north to more Alpine settings. June Lake, California nestled in the Eastern Sierra Nevada. A bit of fishing, not catching. Some s'mores for the kidlets around the campfire. And for this BA, a brand new brewery, 5 minutes away by foot under the bluest of skies.
The brewer/owner is an affable guy named Justin who loves talking, sharing, pouring beer. From San Diego originally, and still connected to the scene down there. His wife, who I forgot her name, is sweet and just as enthusiastic as Justin. He gives her credit for making everything run smoothly. He calls her his CEO. Anyway...here we go.

Junemontane HiPA

4.15/5 rDev +15.9%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Well Justin and his wife have definitely put the small alpine town of June Lake on the map.

This is a collaboration "HiPA", as they call it, with Cismontane.
The pour is orange blossom honey in hue. Short, loose frothy head.

The nose is pure bliss. Citrus notes, hints of orange blossom, and then POW...Resiny goodness.

Flavor is very consistent with the nose. The malt backbone subtly represents with a honey leaning maltiness. The Citra shines through here. But the melange of Amarillo, Cascade, and Chinook all give it that "West Coast" style, but it's more than just a hop monster. It's listed at 130 IBU's, but I find it so balanced, for this style. It's fantastic!!

Mouthfeel is on the lighter side.

It's sad that it will probably never be duplicated. Justin explained that they had to make some changes on the fly, and the result was this gem. So glad I got to have it on tap, and bring a growler to share with hophound and a neighbor. They were impressed as well.

Serving type: on-tap

 

Vaguely muggy and grey on LI - waitin' on sum rain. I'll take it. I'm a rain and grey guy anyway. Besides: air conditioning.

@utopiajane re: Parabola - I've had the 2011, 2012, and 2013. My stupid store's sittin' on two 2014's, tryin' to decide how to "raffle them off" or something. The 2013 was a worldview-changing stout. Don't know about 2014, but 2013 was a different beer than 2011 and 2012, and it is the reason that this is literally a top 10 all-time ale for me (actually comes up first in my ratings)... FW knows what they're doing with this beer, and you are obviously, enjoying it already. Cheers!


Love Stone (drank more beers from them than any other brewer ) and lately, DIPAs in general have been hittin' it outta the park with me. The Unapologetic IPA (<-- review ) is the most recent installment in that trend.
That said, I have never ever bothered to read all the crap Stone puts on its label - for any of their beers - I tried to make it through Double Bastard once, but I lacked the will (*not worthy*)

Started off with a tasting pour into my 471 IPA glass. So good. Immediate floral and citrus on the nose and tongue.

Second pour inta da pint got sum cheese - leftover Sartori's SarVecchio Parmesan (aged 20 months)

Cheers, NBS!

These three things happened...

 

New Kristalweizen Sunday

Greetings NBSer's,

Good times for beer drinking with the Band Camp series out and locally, at least, lots of new products presenting on a regular basis. Schell's has a series with 4 different wheat beers out now and below is my link to a review of their hefe recipe from 30 years ago (who says Schell's isn't a craft beer producer?).
Rather mild summer around these parts. A few oppressive days but many more days mostly in the 70's. Not complaining, just more cooler weather after one of the coldest winters recorded. 70's for highs today again.
Lots of grandkid stuff today. My better half, bless her heart, has a much bigger spirit than this old curmudgeon, when it comes to the grand kids.

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/417/127362/?ba=garymuchow

Best to all this week.

 

Sierra Nevada/Asheville Brewers Alliance Beer Camp Tater Ridge. I have never had anything from ABA even though this is brewed by SN. So far I have enjoyed all of the Beer Camp offerings but this one was a bit of a letdown for me. I like my Scottish Ales to be overloaded with malts and the malts seemed distant here. But the focus was on sweet potato and I got a little of that. But I might have preferred with with a bigger malt note.

 

Good day all you NBS followers.
We found the Beer camp 12 pack here in WMASS. A nice effort by all involved.
The Chico King Pale Ale is todays new beer.
And my sweethearts birthday, just visited electronically with our son in Taiwan, now for the review.

3.78/5 rDev +4.4%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75

Poured from bottle into a modified tulip glass.
A - light amber, beautiful carbonation builds, dances into a fine frothy head.
Lacing delicately all the way to the bottom.
S - Touch of tropics, some light spruce tip. A malt sensibility keeps the balance in the nose. Warming releases some light brown sugars, delightful.
T - A nice malt base, fringed with hop bite, the fact it opens up when warm is a treat. The pine, tropical notes are abundant with a little patience. The Chico comes rushing forward, then the hop bite, then the malt chalk finish.
M - Full bodied with a round feel. No tongue scraping hop monster. A lite carbonation presence all the way through. Finishes a little sweet.
O - The build up of a Chico based pale ale is a platform many have worked with, The 3 Floyd's/Sierra work here is a delight. Rich and full with some intrigue to keep us hooked.
Thanks for keeping this thread alive

Cheers all,

 

Interesting beer style that I was unaware of

 

ELMORE JAMES!!!! Nice Pull!!!
That's what Old School People call "Old School"

 

You realize, because of this, if I ever wind up trying to meet up with you for a beer, I'll walk past you looking for the woman who resembles a glass of Parabola

 

Happy NBS, err week for me. I received my Beer Camp box on Tuesday night and let the fun begin on Wednesday. It has been so much fun trying so many different beers from one box. I wish this sort of thing would happen more often.
Here are the ones I have had so far in order. They have all been quite good, not outstanding, but truly enjoyable. Most fit the flavor profile that you would expect from the style without taking many risks. A few that stood out. The Alt Route was a nice roasted malt treat with some earthy hops. I really enjoyed the Rye Bock as well, always find them too sweet, but the Rye added something to make it very good. Look forward to enjoying the rest. I'll finish up with New Glarus There and Back.