New Beer Sunday (week 510)

6.2% alcohol. Introduced in 1995. I enjoyed it and thought it was in the "B+" (very good) range. Still, I think I'd reach for Abita Jockamo IPA over this one.

 

Jacks Abby Cascadian Schwarzbier. Pre game beer before the Browns start up. Only other in this style I can compare it to is Rogue Farms Dirtoir Black Lager which I didn't really enjoy. This one so far is a winner. I'm about half through the bottle as of writing this.

 

I have a few options for today's new beer, and this one wins hands down. Ladies and Gentlemen I present to you Weltenburger Kloster Asam Bock.

This cola colored brew looks good in a dimpled mug, but it smells and tastes even better. Toasted grains, chocolate, toffee, and even caramel emerge. It smells very fresh. The taste is spot-on with the aroma. I get a lot of Tootsie Roll chocolate notes in this, with toffee and charred grains filling in the holes. It drinks easy, with a smooth mouthfeel. I bought this for less than $5. This is an absolute beauty. It smells good, it tastes good, and I've never even heard of it until I saw it on the shelf last week. I rated it 4.39 but it's really close to perfect for me.

In unrelated beer news, we've been getting into the ol' Christmas spirit this weekend decorating our tree and the house as well. Oh, and listening to some Nat King Cole.

 

Cheers y'all and a Happy New Beer Sunday to all. I am enjoying some warmer than usual temps here today as it's about 45 degrees right now. That gave me a nice walk this morning. But alas I always lose my daily walk when old man winter really sets down to stay. I hope you all had a nice thanksgiving and from what I saw in WBAYDN I know you did. =)


New Xmas Beer Sunday




3.86/5 rDev +4.3%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 3.75

Pours a lovely caramel brown with a glowing orange blush to it. Slight haze, faint head of tan foam that would have been bigger had I poured more vigorously. It lasted and left a film on top and made a little lace. presents elegantly int he glass and twinkles like a xmas tree light.

Nose is like a piece of spiced cake has been set down in front of me. Bright orange peel, sensual figs, allspice, cinnamon and nutmeg. Clove and some soft notes of ginger. The ginger really peeks out brightly and lightens up the nose with a bit of gaiety. The malt is a light sugar cookie type scent with hints of brown sugar. There's some malty depth to it but not too much. This smells a lot like pumking only without the pumpkin.

Taste is lovely. The orange peel is the bright stage on which all these jolly spices play. They are well blended and none stands out more prominently than the others. The fig is a bit of voluptuous dark fruit to go with that dark malt. The malt plays a bit deeper on the palate and shows it's resilience but it has a melt in your mouth quality that is delightful. There is no alcohol on the nose or on the palate save for the very last moment when it tings with a faint medicinal. I feel this adds a bit of gaiety to the beer. There is even a touch of hops bitter to finish this one . Just as these spices are merrily dancing on your palate a small but noticeable hop bitter comes through and ends the beer with a discreet finish and leaves the malt to linger in the aftertaste.

I thought this tasted a lot like pumking without the pumpkin.

(pssst! . . . I might be one of the only people that likes this beer if you check the reviews) YEAH! CHEERS!

 

Hey what's going on?!?

Grabbing an early start this morning. Along with my usual omelette routine, this worked out fine and dandy. Lots of goodies as I set about getting back to normal after enjoying myself in Austin for the turkey holidays. Great times. Spending time with family, not shopping... Unless you want to count stopping by Jester King and buying some bottles. Great weather for the trip too. Lots of new goodies to dig into..

but what is first for our hero today?!?

Imperial Java Stout - Santa Fe Brewing Company


Santa Fe Brewing Co. - Imperial Java Stout by imbibehour, on Flickr

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Poured from the can into a large snifter glass.

A very nice creamy light tan almost orange hinting head off the pour. Grows a thick two fingers and slowly settles with minimal lacing and a creamed top. Deep walnut brown color, with some actual clarity up to the light and fairly clear actually. Really nice looking brew.

Mild notes of piping drip coffee. Good sense of cream and thick milk action a bit, with toned down sweetness. Hints of peanut butter and nut a little as well in the mix, and an almost black licorice quality to is as well. Kind of fun and pretty solid.

Palate seems to come as expected. Mild creamed coffee but with not much roast character. Borderline amped milk stout sweetness but far more bitter and with much more body. Mild roasting finish with a bit of hop oil bitterness on the aftertaste. Warmth brings some mild milk chocolate character as well with the coffee angle disappearing quite a bit. Very faint hints of metals slightly.

Overall a fairly tasty stout, but seems to loose it's coffee appeal after a bit and goes into milkier territory. Still comes off though as very well made regardless.

look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4 | Final personal score 4.05

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Cheers, probably more to come. Back home and have lots of yard work to do, so gonna work up a beer appetite!

 

I welcome all the new participants in NBS, but, we do have a couple simple guidelines that differentiates us from WBAYDN. First, take a moment to tell us a bit about what's up in your world. Hows the weather? Did ya do anything cool this week? Any big personal news? Second, take a few sentences to tell us about the beer, doesn't have to be a full-on review, just some solid thoughts. Basically, NBS is like we're all just hanging out together and bullshitting. Don't be a wallflower, join in!

So my birthday bottle-share last week went very well, about 100 containers of beer and cider were shared with about 50 friends. Some highlights off the top of my head were: 3 beers from DeGarde, a couple from Brassneck in B.C., Funkworks Saison, Sue from Yazoo brewing, and my friend Jen's homemade raspberry cider (all the pro brewers present told her she's good enough to go pro. Which may be the nudge she needs. I know she wants to get into brewing more than homebrew. Go Jen!!). I have to go to work here in a bit, and I'll be back later with my actual NBS entries. Cheers all!

 

Hazy and super-mild...

Like, mid-50's or something - and breezy; neither humid nor dry...

Having a couple of bottles of...

Boomerang IPA - one of three Snowpack beers I'm reporting on today...

A respectable IPA - perhaps nothing exceptional, but simply well-executed...

Paired my second glass with Piave cheese (think, Parmigiano-Reggiano...)

...and "bresaola" dried cured beef slices...

So, actually had it for the first time late last night...

...along with a couple of others from Sierra Nevada's Snowpack...


I've had the Pale, but everything else was new to me...

Mostly 'cuz I'm not a porter or middling-range-abv-stout kinda drinker...

Regardless, started last night off with their Porter and Coffee Stout...

Nothing particularly daring or unique, but both respectable takes on the styles...


Put up this year's new ornament...

How 'bout that coming down your chimney?

Metal... \m/




Football...
Didn't pick any major shockers today - took the home team in all the early games except for Cincy and NY.
Took the road teams in the final four games of the weekend lol...
We'll see...
Only games I actually care about are Indy beating the 'Skins (my lock) and Arizona beating Atlanta (because of Bruce Arians and Pittsburgh coaches' history in Arizona).

Hope yer beers and teams are good to ya - cheers!

 

A great brew! Last trip to Germany I drank way too much of it, according to my wife!

 

Good morning, afternoon and Sunday most everywhere. Cheers!
There was a new and welcome warmth to the sun this morning, a bit earlier than lately. It's a trick, Spring is not lurking at all, but I'll take these days and relish them- mid 60s today!
This is Finch's Beer Co. Nuclear Winter, billed as a Belgian style dark ale. It pours nice and frothy, with fine lacing and bead, blowing off true Belgian yeast aromatics. It's a brown ale with strength and deep apricot and pear flavors, finished with a prickly spiciness between sweet and dry. This is an excellent, heady dark brew with genuine character and surprising strength- although I knew it to be 8%.
Thanksgiving is always my favorite family time and these tunes ring so true for me. My Dad died at 58 and I'm 63. My son and I are great friends and play golf together often. That's my daughter and son on her wedding day in the background.
Cheers all. See you next week.

 

Good early afternoon BAs! Today's contribution was kind or a suprise but probably shouldn't have been.



http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/144/85763/?ba=Ozzylizard

As the brew warms up, the initial flavors fade to basically nothing, just kind of sweet. The lack of head wasn't really surprising because I've noticed that may BA aged beers have crappy heads and lacing - a surfactant related to the oak barrel perhaps? I shouldn't have been surprised by this mediocre offering because, when I added it to my data base, I already had some entries of OK to poor for this brewer. I enjoy wee heavies and there are many out there with better flavors and price points.

 

Great start to NBS folks. I know we all have weather to report... Even here in sunny So Cal we're getting some sprinkles and God knows that means accidents on the roads because so many Californians can't drive worth a spit when the roads get a little wet. More reasons to avoid the rabid consumerism of the weekend and imbibe at home with friends and family.
I'll contribute a bit later.

 

New very delicious Am. Dark Wheat Beer Sunday

Greetings NBSer's,
Man it is cold, again, and as it is suppose to be, I guess. I chose to live here, so no bitching, just reporting.
For the life of me I can't figure out why, on today's entry, the scores on this are so low. What's not to like. A unique take on a winter ale.

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/28/133488/?ba=garymuchow
Best to all this week

 

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/30035/86464/?ba=Bitterbill

Cheers to all of my NBS friends!
I bought a gift pack from the Trappist brewery in Austria that came with Benno, a glass, and my new beer for today which I posted a link to my review of.

 

A very inconsistent brewery, I find. I've had a few very good beers from them, but also quite a few, probably more, duds

 

quick little post i havea ton of S$&% to do today. ill be enjoying this later today in the fridge now
hopefully i can get back later tonite or in the a.m.

 

Greetings, shillers of sweet stout and proffers of pilsners, it's time for the often enunciated, but never duplicated NBS review by your none other than cicerone-in-training, JMS1512 (or, since it's time I let you guys in, John).

Today's subject? Angry Erik's Mary Mushroom Saison (Winter offering)

Pouring on draft at the brewery into a pint glass

Sight: A deep "brown ale" brown, maybe an SRM of 15-18. Translucent, showcasing a few small streams of tiny bubbles making their way to the top of the glass. One eye-opener- no head. Not sure why, but maybe the CO2 levels were a little off? Don't get me wrong, it was truly carbonated. Another note- no lacing. Not a beer clean glass, maybe?

Smell: One of the best features of the beer. I initially took in what I said to my wife was "cooking spices" in the sense that they weren't actual spices, but dried things I know we have on our rack in the kitchen. She said rosemary, and right she was. I didn't get much of a hop profile, but did get a sweetness off the aroma, maybe from the malt.

Taste: Earthy, forest floor (am I sounding like a wine snob yet?) and a herbal quality, again from the rosemary, and the 5! heirloom mushrooms that went into the brew. I swear I get a little brown sugar type sweetness. But then, I also claimed I smelled cinnamon on the aroma.

Mouthfeel: Light on the palate, but by no means thin or lacking. I get get a gentle carbonation and finishes in a very dry fashion. I later looked at the brewery's description. The dry finish might be due to their use of savory malt. Also, this is where I taste the hops- on the finish.

Overall: A nice, rustic and drinkable saison. Great use of the 'shrooms, there's a lot of things going on in this beer, and they all seem to work. Wonderful seasonal offering.

Keep up the good work, Angry Erik!

Side note- also had a pint of my first love, their 3-Ball Porter. Brought home a growler (it's official, I buy growlers of beer now) of their sweet stout, Fika.

To those on here that were able to catch their "Black Friday" event, I envy you.

And so, music to compliment the beer (in theory):