New Beer Sunday (week 503)

New American Pale Ale

What a beautiful Sunday in West MI! Blue skies, and temps in the mid-60s made for a great day to get outside with the family.

As things quieted down around the house, I took the opportunity to crack open a real winner from Short's. Apparently, my iPad and the reviewing option don't want to work together right now, so the review will be forthcoming from my notes. In a nutshell, it's full of citrus and tropical fruity goodness. As you can see from the picture, it's a beautiful brew as well. Listed as an APA, it knocks it out of the park. Labeling describes it as an IPA, so I felt it may have been a bit subdued for the style. Either way, I'd buy it again when I want a good dose of fresh Michigan hops and the ability to walk straight after putting back a few.

 

I found I really liked this as a hoppy fall beer.

 

Ok, had to work in one more new beer. This is easily the best. It's a beautiful golden color and has bright apricot and tangerine aromas along with biscuity malt that reminds me of saltines. Flavor follows with juicy hop flavors and a super clean, crisp malt profile. Almost no lingering bitterness, and the result is that this is superbly drinkable. Harpoon really nailed it!

 

It's finally starting to feel like Fall around here. We have a serious lack of decent pumpkin ales around these parts. I don't think I had a single pumpkin beer last year. That's just criminal. I mean, I really dig that squash by gosh. Anyway, when I saw Fat Jack (for the first time) I had to have it. And like the Charlie Brown Christmas tree; it may not be the best one out there, but it celebrates something special just the same.


I really like the nice transparent copper/orange color. Super appealing. This thing laces a glass like your great gramma laced her side tables. Great look.

I find most SA brew falls short on the nose unless it's got fresh hops, for whatever reason. Jack is no different. Faint sweet plum, fig, and caramel apples...if you close your eyes and think really hard about it.

Cold, this beer is a bit jacked up. Oh, sorry. That was just wrong. Upon warming, this brew improves ten fold. I definitely get the pumpkin, nutmeg, and cinnamon. It's still very figgy and has some sweet caramel apple going on. Nice doughy pie crust for an aftertaste. Feels moderately bubbly with a round, medium to full body. Comforting.

I know there are better pumpkins out there, but I'm fine with Fat Jack. Where Jack falls short compared to others, he makes up in labeling. C'mon, that label is about the best out there as far as pumpkins go! Besides, Jack is the best available here. Salute Fall y'all!

 

Founders Dark Penance Imperial Black IPA. What a Black IPA should be IMO…an IPA first, and a dark beer second. Too many black IPA's are basically a hoppy porter or stout. This is hop-forward, with a nice nuance of milk chocolate.

Grapefruit peel and juice, tangerine, slight lemon, bitter pine sap, light cocoa, and light carmel. Very bitter and hop-forward, yet has a nice milk chocolate sweetness. Very nice for the style. Reminds me of a more intense NightTime Ale by Lagunitas. Cheers!

 

First 'New Beer Sunday' for me.



The bottle isn't dated, which normally means no-go for hoppy beers in my view, but it was only a few bucks, and I was curious about beers made with hop hash (so called 'pure lupulin'), so I figured it was worth a shot.

I like this a lot! I'm wondering if it's old, but there's pretty much no bitterness, all juicy hop flavour, which doesn't mesh with most of the reviews on this site. The result is just liquid hop candy. Delicious, sweet tangerine, honey. The only thing missing is an aroma.

 

New American Black Ale

Tonight's entry is an "Imperial Black IPA" from Founder's. It definitely comes off more as an IPA, than "stouty" as has been my experience with some others. That said, there's still some pleasant coffee and chocolate to go along with the fresh, leafy hops. Full review to come, but it's gonna end up around a "4" with the aroma being a highlight (tons of fresh hops).

 

Greetings All:

Today the new beer is DirtyFace Amber Lager from Icicle Brewing. I filled up one of my Tap-A-Draft jugs with this brew yesterday, at Growler Guys. This is a very nice amber lager. It goes well with the fall season. I can't post a review right now because of some unanticipated consequence of a site update. I'll catch up to a review later.

Nice fall day here in the Columbia Basin, sunny with temps in the upper 60's. Fall chores earlier, now I'm watching the Seahawls try to finish off the pesky Cowboys. Can't believe the game is this close.

Happy Trails!

 

I used to live a mile or so from the brewery. Really like the series. This isn't as big, in malt, hops or booze, as Dissenter, but it is more quaffable as a result. Jacks Abbey Mass Rising might be the closest comparison I've had. You can try it at Beervana, they will have it.

 

Looks like a very tasty start to the day, delay on my part

 

I'm not a Sam Adams guy and even I liked this beer.

 

Corsair Distllery here in Nashville starting to brew to go along with their spirits "black Ice" smoked rye porter aged in a triple smoked whiskey barrel then freezed distilled to 11.3 %. Aroma is whiskey/boozy, flavor smoke and porter. A bit harsh at first but mellows out to "this could be trouble". Pic posted but usually goes away not sure what I am doing wrong

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?u...tt&th=14906b7f4a790174&attid=0.1&disp=safe&zw

 

Another try

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?u...tt&th=14906b87b50b277b&attid=0.1&disp=safe&zw

 

Harsh in a good way, just sit and think

 

New Imperial Stout Sunday


Just waiting to take in the Walking Dead premiere with the wife (or as I call it now, Zombie Soap Opera. I miss season 1) Technically, this is new. However, I have had Vampire Slayer (though I noticed I never scored it). Having trouble with the site again (cant review under listing) so I will guess at an overall here.

$9 Bomber poured into snifter at basement temperature

Appearance - as black as the souls of the people involved in ridiculous law suits regarding beer name trademarks. Thank God they do though, because we are clearly not educated enough to tell the difference. Also, a nice mocha head that leaves a ring throughout.

Aroma - very boozy, chocolate, deep roasted malt, hint of tobacco. Reminds me a little of Founders Imperial

Taste - surprisingly, the alcohol is really not noticeable. Would have lost that bet. Fudge like dark chocolate, smokey/ashy,

Feel - pretty creamy and full bodied. I would say a little on the plus side of medium. Nice

Overall - one of the few beers in this style that I think is better colder. The dark fruit aspect is a little too strong for me, but still an excellent beer. 4.1 ish

 

New American Black Ales

Happy NBS everyone! It was a nice day here in Central Ohio today, and I'm still a little pumped up from going to the Blue Jackets home opener last night and seeing them beat the NY Rangers, so I'm in a good mood today! My first new brew of today was Founder's Dark Penance: http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/1199/127483/?ba=bluejacket74



By no means was this a bad brew at all, it was good but it just didn't impress me. Not a good sign when I rate this below the BA average (as I tend to always rate things above it). I expect better from Founders, and it seems pretty overpriced at $13.99 a 4-pack.

My next new American Black Ale I liked better, but even then I still rated this one below it's BA Average. The other new brew was the Brew Kettle's Black Rajah: http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/2470/86195/?ba=bluejacket74



Maybe I wasn't in the mood for Black IPA's today. These were both good brews, but they weren't as good as I expected for whatever reason. I would have posted before, but I had problems with BA letting me rate these beers so I wasn't able to do that until a few minutes ago. And for those interested, I'll have all the beers I've drank today posted in the What Are You Drinking Today thread soon. Cheers everyone!

 

I really wish I bought more.. hoping there is still some in the walk-in next time I return. Nose is all pineapple-y star fruit. Taste is very similar- sour, bright star fruit. Finish is abrasively bitter, and reminds me of Hoptimum. A very slight astringency, but much less than I expected for 10%. The 3 others don't stand a chance.. Cheers!

 

I paid that much for Backwoods this past Friday. Dark Penance was $10.99, which I unfortunately was too late for. This store is known for very little mark-up, but that is a little ridiculous IMO

 

And the rains continue to fall, so time for another new beer. When I heard FW's DDBA was being retired, I knew I had to grab a bottle to try before it went away forever. We did a little shopping while in Seattle for our anniversary, and stumbled on a bottle shop with both 2013 and 2014 vintages so I grabbed one of each.

Tonight, I went with the 2013 vintage, and it was everything I was hoping for in an English style barleywine. Nice rich toffee and caramel mixed with fruity notes. This is one fine brew!







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