New Beer Sunday (week 502)

Hello NBS peoples!

Big new stout today: Stone's 2014 Series Fyodor's Classic (2013 Stone Imperial Russian Stout aged in bourbon barrels).

13.9 A.B.V.
This is simply an amazing BA stout. Huge nose full of coffee, chocolate, and bourbon. Taste follows suit. I put this a tick above KBS (that's how good it is!) and just a tick below GI Bourbon County.

Very glad I had the chance to try it.

Music selection: Ravel's Bolero.

 

Cheers everyone and Happy New Beer Sunday! Today I have the latest form Omemgang's Game of Thrones series. I don't watch the show but yowsa! This is a good beer. I have to admit I have been hot and cold with some of the beers from Game of Thrones. last one, Fire and Blood was particularly uninspiring. BUT I love this one.



4.28/5 rDev +4.1%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25

Pours handsomely. In the natural light it is hazed orange with amber hues and sunlight golden highlights. In the soft light of the room it sports a ruby hue. Tan head of creamy foam that falls slowly, leaves lace for a bit and then fades to a thin ring.

Nose is soft and demure. Flower petals and ripe red fruits. Berries or cherries. Dark dried fruits behind that. A good whiff of candi sugar up front and a faint trace of honey. A light caramel.

Drinks just like the nose. It reminds me of a wildflower. Something soft and small. Something pretty and cheerful. The fruits are dynamic and they really engage the palate between the contrast of the ripe red fruits and the dried sweetness of the darker fruits. The malt is light and fluffy. A terribly light and very dry biscuit with only a faint trace of honey on it. The mouthfeel is sensual in that the malt has an astute presence on the palate even though it is not heavy or complex. The bit of honey is tempting and engaging. The caramel light as a feather. There is a faint trace of prune on the tongue that is the culmination of the dark fruits but it is without bitterness. There is impeccable balance between malt and hops even though the hop presence is largely unsung except for a bit of sweet green herbal you can notice as the beer warms. There is a ticklish bit of spice and even a faint bit of pepper in the dry finish. The carbonation approaches bubbly but is just shy of it so it is enlivening and has only a small bite. The marriage of flavors in this also shows balance. None of the flavors outdoes the others. It is a quiet drink that way.

Ommegang has made another perfect dubbel.

 

I'll start in reverse order this morning. Right now I am enjoying Lake Louie Grade 10 IPA. This small WI brewery released 6 new beers this year and Bunny Green Toe IPA really took the cake in the spring. I hope it makes a return this month (rumor is that it will), because I could not get enough of it.

Grade 10 is a softer IPA bordering on a big APA. It starts off sweet and bready, but moves into a bitter finish. I find that there is mostly a flavor of bitter grapefruit, but I also noticed some hints of onion along with herbs and grass. It is a pretty standard IPA flavor, but the onion detracts from it a bit.

 

New Red Lager Sunday

Greetings NBSer's,
Hooray for another Sunday of sharing beer stories and Thanks to cavedave for kicking this off. Cool past week to be followed by another this week, leads to be gradually drawn to larger beers as the weather cools. All the fun Christmas beers are just around the corner and the weather here is preparing me for that.
http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/22951/97342/?ba=garymuchow

Heard a band play this last night, so thought I'd throw it on here today.


Best to all this week

 

I got a couple Lake Louie beers in a trade a few years ago, wasn't particularly impressed with the beers, but they had my favorite beer label ever. It was a drawing of a fish, carrying a fishing pole, on his way to the lake, to catch himself. For some reason, that label cracked me up, and still makes me grin just thinking about it. http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/793/27947/

 

Happy New Beer Sunday De Garde Denizens and Sour Seekers,

As you have come to expect from me I bring you a regional Southeastern US beer in front of a fish tank! What a surprise eh? I am just so tickled with myself I am getting the hang of pouring beer and not making a mess of the job. (Scoff if you want.)
http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/10990/22343/?ba=Roxie_B

A nice regional fall beer. Very nutty and toffee warm. The biscuity characteristics and malt forward profile puts me in mind of pecan pie. I wish it had a bit more vanilla in it but I am pleased. This one is pretty to look at too!

 

This IIPA was recommend to me by @BottleCaps80 and I trust his judgement since we are both big Toppling Goliath fans. Hop the Pond is only my sixth beer from New Belgium, even though they are all over WI. I just tend to drink more local or regional beer.

The flavors are of ripe juicy tropical hops with herbal and leafy notes. The bitterness is contained by the sweet biscuit malts and honey. I love the how the hops and sweetness collide, this blend really works well for my taste buds. The hop profile and sweet malt backbone remind me of Golden Nugget from Toppling Goliath. This 22oz beer is only $4.99 in WI and an all around fantastic beer.

 

After a couple hundred pours you tend to get the hang of it. There is always a beer or two that will surprise you with too much carbonation.

 

I got a couple from Maine brewing co

 

Welcome aboard! What did you think about those brews? How's the weather where you are? Whatcha doing today? Do anything fun or special this week? What sets NBS apart from WBAYDN is that we take a moment to tell each other about the beer, and what's what's up. You don't have to do a full-on review, just a few sentences to let us know. Cheers!

 

This beer, Casey Jones Imperial India Pale Ale from Iron Springs Brewery (located in Fairfax CA) is my New Beer Sunday beer. The Casey Jones came highly recommended however, as one who consumes a lot of T/D/IPA, it's not my cup of tea which makes it fairly hard to comment constructively. I'm used to a much thicker, stickier, creamier or even oily mouth feel from the DIPAs I consume and at 9.5% ABV, the CJ is perhaps a little thin to me. It has a fairly decent head but the thinness of the beer's mouth feel could be from what I perceive as a lack of carbonation... It sort of sits on the tongue in a way that water does - a quality in beer that is very offputting to me.

The bottle is a few months old, dated 7/23/14 so maybe that has something to do with the messy faded hop character in stale IPA that is generally referred to as 'malt forward'. Aside from the low carbonation, I'm pretty sure this beer would be better if it were fresh but only average at its best. I drain poured the remainder. Off to something else.

What am I listening to? Actually... my wife is running a marathon today so I downloaded this song on iTunes to motivate her before she left...I'd been drinking beer, listening to this over and over - and chuckling a little - while feeling totally inspired by my wonder woman of a wife.

 

A couple of months ago I was like:

But now I am getting the hang of it.

 

St. Ambroise The Great Pumpkin Ale. It's that time of year and for the first time I am trying this one. Good nutmeg, and pumpkin spice character but there is a vague grape fruitiness. Yeasty. Medium to full body. This has a keen bitterness at the end.

 

G'day Davend to the rest of the NBS crew. 2 days of near perfect autumn days here in Casper. My new brews, plural, if you notice:

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/32400/121215/?ba=Bitterbill
http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/825/90903/?ba=Bitterbill
http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/14046/39607/?ba=Bitterbill

Pics copied from WBAYDN:

 

New local Sunday.

Last night I went to a fairly new local brewery and brought home a 32 oz growler of one of the two beers I didn't sample at the brewery. Barreled Souls Dubbel Shot, a Belgian Dubbel made with Maine Coast Roast coffee (6.5% abv). I had this earlier this morning with my scrambled eggs. Slowly center poured into the Barreled Souls glassware I also purchased last night, a deep amber beer with a light beige head that doesn't last long, leaving minimal lacing. Aroma is dark fruits and coffee. The beer has a good amount of carbonation. Noticeable flavors of caramel, dates, and cherry and a bitter coffee aftertaste. This one doesn't have a huge coffee presence but it's just enough to play nicely with the malty sweetness. I believe this is one of the staple beers for the brewery and it is one I would get again.

 

Picked this up yesterday at my Local beer store. There was only one left, I had never seen this before, and, the price was right so hey, let's give it a try. The description is nice...."a double IPA rendered citrusy, tropical and resinous care of Citra, Nugget, Mosaic and Simcoe hops.

In my opinion, that was a fair description. I pick up more pine in the aroma but the taste is grapefruit and tropical (pineapple maybe?). No freshness date that I could find but the hoppiness is there. Nice up front bitterness but finishes slightly sweet and dry. Pours clear with nice half inch of off white head. Very enjoyable and I wish I could find more. Time to sit back, watch some football and enjoy.

 

very nice presentation