New Beer Sunday (week 508)

Cheers NBS! Today I am drinking a lovely and much lower abv stout from Samuel Smith. This beer was a lovely wakeup and I would gladly have it anytime. Sorry about the blurry photo.



4.13/5 rDev -2.1%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

Pours not completely black. It has darker brown hues and from the very middle of the glass emanating softly is a shy ruby blush. Fat mousse like head of mocha colored foam that lasts, falls to a ring and leaves lace. Nose is deep with roasted malt scents. There's a sweet lush caramel , a bit of weak coffee, bitter chocolate and some scent from oats in the background as well. This beer has an earthy woody scent too that is hard to pin down. Taste is luscious. Smooth, creamy and full. The sweet caramel is first to grace the palate and then a big roasty taste follows. It has a bit of bitterness to it and it dries on the tongue leaving the coffee a bit stronger than on the nose and the bitter chocolate to come to finish. At the last moments there is that woody and earthy taste again with that sweet and very soft caramel to linger alongside all those big roasty flavors of bitter malt. I detected no hops on the nose and I can find none on the palate save for that bit of woodiness and to say this beer is well balanced and a delight to the disposition if you ask me. I like it precisely because it's not too sweet although it has an ample sweetness. Finishes with a bit of bite from carbonation.


Hope all of you have a happy and lovely sunday!

 

Will be trying all three of these brews for the first time later! I'm very excited. My dad will be joining in on the fun as well! I'll be over my parents house later for the Eagles game (should be a great game). Don't know if I'll get the chance later (which is why I'm posting this pre-tasting), but I'll try to update how they drink.

Cheers and happy NBS!

 

New Helles Lager Sunday!

Hello NBS advocates, the clock struck noon and I was in the mood for a new beer so I got one. It looks like it is going to get cold around these parts next week which is cool . Anyway I have been passing up on buying this one for a while because I couldn't commit to a 50$ case or a 12$ six pack but finally found one for 2$ a bottle and pulled the trigger!

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/199/38861/?ba=FatBoyGotSwagger



And one other thing these Julian dating codes are a slimy crock of shit pardon my french. Even in the comfort of my own home the best I can get at with a calculator is that this one was brewed on the 233rd day of the year so 233/30= 7.76th month or late Augest/early September. I mean it is better than nothing but come on man!




Cheers to beers and ball!

 

Wow, I just realized it's been a ridiculously long time since I've had that beer, or indeed any Sam Smith beers. I think I'll be hitting that or their Imperial Stout (the first IS I ever had, IIRC) later this week.

 

Good day, NBS

In my brain on account of a game...


Meanwhile, expediting...

Cold and grey fall day

Start stout, stay strong...


Consumed and reviewed --> Bell's Expedition Stout

...and paired! (Sharing Your Pairing thread)

An excellent Russian Imperial Stout - right there with the best of 'em.

Glad I got another one in the fridge

Latest live clip fave from Eths...

Discovered that another fave band, He Is Legend, released an album a few months ago!
Track two...

Title track...


More beer and football to follow...

Cheers!

 

Totally with you on that. When you are in a store looking at freshness dates it's really annoying to have to stop and do math! The whole point of freshness dates is to clearly mark how fresh the beer is - turning it into a mathematical exercise tends to undermine that.

 

G'day, Dave and to the rest of the fine NBS crew!

Another cold day in Casper. We've had Temps as low as -18 this week.

2 new beers for me today. An Italian sour and the BA Narwhal

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/140/88880/?ba=Bitterbill



Here is the review of the Italian sour:
http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/23251/71308/?ba=Bitterbill

 

I carry a Julian date conversion card in my wallet.

I pulled it out when shopping with my 10-year-old son once & he asked me what it was. I told him it was a card that showed me what dates were on the bottle.

He said "oh, it's a calendar." I said, "no, not really." He looked at me like I was a weirdo & didn't ask any more questions.

OK. It would be easier if all breweries just had MM/DD/YY bottled on dates on their berwes.

 

A fine day to you, boozalicious British blokes and imbibing Irish idjits. A great guten tag, you genuinely germane Germans and Absolutely atrocious Americans, and lest we forget the myriad of major margins across the world and beyond: It's time for another anticipated and never duplicated NBS review from your resident Cicerone-in-study, JMS.

Today's pleasure includes: Smuttynose Wheat Wine (Big Beer Series)

Poured hard into my well-used Duvel glass

Sight- Raw sienna with orangey hues. Big beige head that recedes to a thin, caldera-like cap. Lacing leaves thick bands full of tiny pockmarks. Chill haze is present and settled, spread out on the bottom and sides of my glass.

Smell- Malty sweetness, a hint of hops. I also get a touch of fruit, but unsure of which one. Alcohol also present, but subtle for an almost 11% brew.

Taste- There is a definite malty sweetness here, balanced against a solid but not overpowering piney hops partner. At a cool temperature the alcohol is masked. As it warms, I’m sure it says “hello” with more confidence. I also get a woody dryness, sort of like the Lukcy Basartd I reviewed last week. Is there a touch of rye-like sour/spice, or is it just me?

Feel- It’s a full-figured woman of a beer (plenty of body). Medium or medium-plus coating, nice amount of carbonation.

Overall- Not as abrasive as its mainstream cousin, the barleywine, but VERY nice to drink on a chilly November in NWNJ.

And because I committed plenty of them in the paragraphs above, I present to you my musical contribution for today:

 

My first barrel aged narwhal
The bourbon is right there in your face. Hints of vanilla creme mingle with the bourbon.
A most pronounced bourbon taste on the palate.
Coffee vanilla creme chocolate they all mingle nicely and very refined. A most excellent sipper.
After my beloved eagles woup up on those cheese heads I'll have another.



Ladies and Gentlemen.... Bombino

 

Sept 13.

 

Fitz... my new standard for porter. Welcome to the club.

 

I think we have a new addition to "You know you are a beer geek when..."

Actually not a bad idea. If I encountered more brewers than just BP that did that, I might get one myself.

 

Now you're just showing off!

 

A happy new beer Sunday to you all...

So a few weeks Back I reviewed Guinness's Dublin Porter I'm back to review the West Indies Porter. I had been looking for these beers since they were released but Guinness seemed more interested tapping into the English market than they did the Northern Irish market. Anyone with a sense of irony will be tickled by that one.



So here we go... "To the review cave beer boy"...

3.86/5 rDev +0.5%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75

Appearance - Deep rich coffee black colouration with a dirty tobacco coloured rocky head that dissapates very quickly.

Smell - Smell of maple syrup and coffee with some mild stewed plum and some slight burnt toffee from the malt.

Taste - Burnt toffee and molasses with some light plum. Pretty heavy coffee flavour and smokey character.

Mouthfeel - Fuller than the Dublin Porter but still slightly watery and thin. More body that the Dublin Porter also but also quite cloying.

Overall - Reasonably good porter but still not on point for its style. But closer to its style than the Dublin Porter was to its. This beer still leads me to believe that Guinness rushed these Porters out in a desperate attempt to claw back some of the market it has lost over the last few years.

And now for no reason at all Echo and The Bunnymen...

 

Fuzzy Knuckles by Defiance Brewing in Hays, Kansas

You may notice the snow on the bottom of the glass and can. We got our first snow this season here in Kansas, and I can't think of a better beer to drink on New Beer Sunday than a homegrown beer that's brewed with cocoa nibs and coffee. This imperial stout is excellent. The cocoa nibs offer a chalky cocoa note, while the finish offers more tradition roasted malts and bitter coffee found in this style. If you stick your nose in it and inhale deeply, you'll get a fair amount of cocoa, coffee, and black licorice. 8% ABV. Hays, Kansas is a potty break on the way to Colorado, but Defiance Brewing make damn good beer there. Time to watch the Chiefs take on Seattle. Cheers.

 

Good Morning and Afternoon all,
Although not as cold as yesterday, it's chilly and a "perfect" day (if such a thing exists) to rake leaves. My wife and I hauled piles of hardwood leaves to the front yard, working hard, building thirst and maybe some character as well! It's one of those between Fall and Winter days and beautiful. We also walked the hounds about 3 miles preparing for our labor. Greta and Otis are asleep now, dreaming of heading out again.
The first photo is Harviestoun Old Engine Oil Reserve warming up, along with my post work NoDa Hop Drop'n Roll to help ease the old aching bones. Later, the Harviestoun on its own, beautiful, aromatic, a creamy looking wonder deep and dark, a touch dangerous looking! While weighing in at 9%, you'd think this baby to be sweetish, but the hop additions keep the alcohol and sugar at bay. This is a beautiful roasty and rich brew that is DEEPLY satisfying. I can imagine this lovely with a big stew, or to finish the evening with style. I highly recommend this one to anyone that hasn't tried the Harviestoun range of beers. It is excellent!
In keeping with the Scottish and British theme, these are my guitar heroes. Please listen to this picking and particularly to the passion of Richard Thompson. I've seen him twice here in Greensboro through the years and he is a genius for sure.

 

Happy sunday everyone! Starting off my sunday morning with a stout from Clown Shoes.

Apparently this beer used to be named Vampire Slayer but they got sued because of the name, leading to the artwork;


The appearance of this beauty is jet black with a chocolate brown one finger head. The lacing on this one is noticeable. On the nose I'm getting a hickory and chocolate type of smell, along with roasted malt aromas. Also getting hints of licorice in there. Taste wise, this one is a great imperial stout. Overwhelming chocolate flavor accompanied with a little wood spice from the hickory and ash. I'm also picking up some coffee notes in there as-well. The feel is quite smooth for such a big and bold beer. It is fairly thick and really lingers on the tongue after each sip. Overall this is a lovely beer, another great stout from Clown Shoes.

4.38/5 rDev +3.8%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

¡Salud!