New Beer Sunday (week 496)

New Beer Camp APA Sunday

Greetings to all NBSer's,
and special thanks to our hostess UtopicaJane for her magnificent intro.
Hot, hot and muggy today. For the end of summer not unwelcome, considering how few days we have had like this in summer '14. Already spent the 1st 1/2 of today making an StoneIPA close for a homebrew celebration and gathering for early Oct. It's only 5 weeks away, so that should be plenty fresh and hopefully the hops will be too. Much of the rest of today, other than some R&R, will be the continued process of launching our 3rd and final child off the school this Friday. Yes, next week for NBS theis household will officially be an empty nest. I think 31 years spend directly raising kids is plenty. At least it is for me. I'm quite ready.
I'm nearing the end of the Band Camp 12 pack, selected randomly out of the box (eeny, meany, miney, mo style) and ended up with the 3F pale ale today. As noted in the review - solid but not exceptional. Big head limited the aroma.
http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/140/127722/?ba=garymuchow
For music I'll go with the nautical theme introduced by the hostess.

Best to all this final week of summer.

 

Greetings, fellow NBSers,
74 degrees and partly sunny in my little spot 20 or so miles west of the Washington-Idaho border. Things are definitely cooler at the moment, or at least seem so after what has been a rather hot summer. This weekend was spent watching sports. Friday night I enjoyed watching the Seahawks show what looks to be a more potent offense than last year, and yesterday I got to watch my alma mater officially start off the college football season with a win over an outstanding opponent. God, I love football, though I'm confused by the fact that there's still a reason to watch the Mariners - an out of character development in late August!

After a breakfast of coffee and pancakes that was so late (for me, anyway) that it might well be called a brunch, I went with Stone's Coffee Milk Stout:

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/147/124424/?ba=woemad

Not bad, and more flavorful than I expected for a milk stout that's no stronger than a Bud Lite.

 

At the local brew pub, Saison D' Ete. Unfiiltered, dry, lemony, and spicy. Nice stuff.

 

New German Pilsener Sunday

Hello all! Warm, sunny, humid day here in the Milwaukee area!

Today's brew is a gem! A wonderfully made German pils. It fits style so well, I'm wondering if I scored it on the low end. Very true to style. If you like pilsners and are in Wisconsin, I highly recommend the Hometown Blonde!

Cheers!

 

Which local brewpub are you in Dennis? (I'm from NJ and am curious...)

 

New DIPA/BarleyWine/ Strong Ale Sunday, barrel aged edition!

Ok, where to start off. The weather today was perfect, so my work day went nice. Well enough about my day, time for a new beer! Sorry @utopiajane I told her I was going to do Divine Retribution for NBS. I clearly LIED! This is the new brew..



First off let's look at this brew. Looks nice like some murky iced tea brown body, nice off white head. Time to smell the old girl. She's an aged one comrades, with a simple "Best before 2015". Ok back to the aroma. Huge toffee notes with that burnt sugar aroma. Also some dark fruit characters pull through with a nice touch of French Vanilla in the back ground. Very nice! Now fourth with the flavor! Very fruity and toffee with almost a noble hop floral bite. This brew is very interesting with almost a sour bite yet not enough to make it's self known. It grabs on the sides of the palate. There isn't huge notes of Chardonnay barrel, yet it finishes dry and clean with a lingering toffee, vanilla and subtle hints of fruits in the aftertaste. The feel of the beer is Medium-light smooth body, par carbonation that tickles the tongue instead of abusing it.

Overall: Since I seen that this was a barrel aged DIPA, I thought it was going to be a Vinegar Bomb! Yet it's not. It's more of a BarleyWine/Strong Ale and a damn fine one at that. This brew is 10.5% ABV nicely masked. No booze in the aroma nor taste. I don't know how much of a hop bomb this was at fresh, but age has done this brew wonders. This brew is Recommended! I give this brew a rating of: A-. Exceptional!

Cheers my Fellow NBS'ers!

 

Good afternoon, NBSers!

After a work week that finally ended yesterday evening, the time has come again to pull a gem from the collection.

At work yesterday afternoon, gettin paid to watch the sun go down...I must be doing something right.


Not much done today: a few errands run ($125 spent on pet food ), new flowers purchased to replace the ones that I clearly didn't plant correctly last weekend (80% of them died ), dog feast prepared for their dinner, and now a tasty treat to accompany my research while watching the Chargers/49ers game.

It has been said before that my dog eats better than I do...tonight's offering: sirloin steak slow roasted with carrots, spinach, green peas and some blueberries.


Finally, and most importantly, my new beer! Today's new beer for me: Mikkeller Black Hole. No bottle date on this 13.1% ABV gem but I know that it has been in the collection for at the very least, a year. Upon opening the bottle, I got a little nervous because it smelled like metal. I poured it semi aggressively and ended up not really needing to since the head was a nice tight build up. Based on the smell, my first thought was...oh dear, I guess it was in the collection too long. Nope. First sip let me know that it is deeeelicious. Where is the alcohol?? I had to re-read the bottle, 13.1% ABV...no hint, none. Burnt, roasted coffee, maybe a little hint of sweet vanilla. Thick in the mouth with noticeable carbonation. When the collection is smaller, this one is on the list to pick up again if I see it. I know the alcohol is in it, my head can feel it, but the coffee flavor is much more prevalent which is just how I like it.


I leave you today with an easy listener. I've seen Jack Johnson a couple times in concert, last time was a few years ago and he did bring Paula Fuga out to sing this song. Brings back memories of a really good time.


Side notes: Good thoughts going out to my family and friends north of me in Napa County, 6.0 earthquake this morning. And heres hoping for a safe week at work...the waves were big last week, will be huge this week.

Cheers!

 

Trap Rock in Berkeley Heights. A place you have reviewed.

 

Nbs in the house. New beer and new brewery with an ipa from aspen brew co. Pretty average on the nose and pour. Taste comes off with bitter hops that don't really stop. Fruity and citrus notes as it warms. Decent malt sweetness really smoothed it out. Nothing earth shattering but a solid 4/5 for me,

 

After being shook out of my slumber at 3:20 this morning by the quake was only able to get back to sleep for a couple more hours.
Knocked out some early chores, 46 miles on the bike and now enjoying this, thanks to @jzeilinger, bottled 2010...

So delicious! Sweet on the nose but not overly so in the mouth. I think maybe a small notch below Bigfoot.
No burn, great mouthfeel and delicious.
A great beer and an amazing extra.

 

I've had a few Bell's brews, never really been impressed with them.

 

Yeah. They are a solid brewery, but literally every beer I have had is great or whatever to me. Expedition hits from both sides. Doesnt do anything for me fresh, but love it after 18-24 months. To each his own, but I will take Founders, Dark Horse, and New Holland lineup when it comes to Michigan.

 

Love the Oak Horizontal. I will send you one of those next time.

 

I grabbed a bomber at some random health food store last time the wife and I were in Chico (her home town) but I don't think I'd say no to this beer at any time!

 

Where did you pick this up at? I am now intrigued!

 

I have some Oak Ho, if interested?

 

Dang- I heard the quake was big.. Hope all is well

 

Back with my second and (probably) final new beer today, a Belgian IPA from the wilds of Tacoma, consumed while listening to the Mariners seemingly come apart in the 9th, yet escape by the skin of their teeth.

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/24029/72808/?ba=woemad

I swear, when I looked up this beer after buying it a few days ago, this was listed as an American IPA. Certainly there's no mention on the label of it's "Belgianness". Weird. It's like a mellow interpretation of a Belgian IPA, yet with supposedly 83 IBUs. More drinkable than most of the earlier reviews & ratings convey, but not something that will make me turn down a bottle of Infidel.