New Beer Sunday (week 517)

I've completely transitioned out of Winter Warmers and I'm ready to attack whatever early spring seasonals are filling the shelves. I'm an absolute sucker for any new beer from Colorado (or new to me I mean!), so I chose Fort Collins Brewery's 1020 Pale Ale today.

The color speaks for itself, but very light, cloudy, lots of sediment in there that you cannot see. Filthy lacing -- sheets of it, leaving the glass looking beautifully foamy.

The aroma is balanced with piny hops and that wonderful caramel sweetness I look for in pale ales. Great balance.

The taste is balanced too, but leaning on the hoppy side for sure. Magnum, cascade, and chinook hops come out to play. A little bit woody and spicy with a touch of grapefruit bitterness in the finish. Subtle malt sweetness up front.

The mouthfeel is watery. At 5.3% ABV this goes down very easy.

My overall impression: The aroma is wonderful and I get so much caramel sweetness mixed with pine compared to the more bitter taste, although the front end does bring the malty balance I love. This is a good beer. I always enjoy trying a new beer from Colorado, it's sort of my spiritual home.

On an unrelated note, my New Year resolution was to drink less. So far I'm doing really good. I'm drinking about 33% less than normal -- make of that what you will. I try to abstain on Friday and hold off until Saturday afternoon -- not easy for someone who follows the English Premier League, thank God for the DVR. I'm slowly adjusting. Funny thing is, I'm not spending less -- I'll try to figure that out. Cheers BA.

 

Bought this at Stein's Deli on Magazine Street in New Orleans ($2.89 for the bottle). Founders Imperial Stout has a medium, tan head, lots of lacing rings left on the glass, and a black appearance. Some slight brown does show up on the edges, under direct sunlight. The aroma is of sweet, sharp, intensely dark-roasted malt. Taste is of charred malt, sweetness, some cream, a bit of coffee, possibly chocolate and dark fruits, a shade of licorice, and high bitterness, seemingly from the burnt effects. Mouthfeel is heavy and slick, and Founders Imperial Stout finishes rich and impactful. The alcohol provides warmth, as the beer is consumed.

 

Greetings All,
I'm going to lurk around a bit today. My wife had some serious back and neck surgery Friday and I'm looking after her full time for 5 or 6 days. Cheers to everyone and I'll check in later. Have fun! Dick

 

Nice Selfie!

 

Priorities my man! Beer will always be here, cherish whats more important in life. Like @utopiajane said, I hope she has a Safe and Speedy Recovery!

 

I too need to drink less as well. I would probably spend more money as well on beer regardless of my drinking patterns though. Its funny though, I thought I was going to spend less this week on beer. When all and behold 50/50 Eclipse variants hit the shelf.

 

Hello, NBS and BA. Beautiful morning here in Oklahoma City with clear skies, hardly any wind and temps in the 60s. Samuel Adams Rebel IPA is my beer. Didn't get around to trying it last night (Boulevard and Bud got in the way) so here goes. Bottle notched Enjoy before March 2015. 6.5% abv. Poured into a stout glass, the color is classic pale ale. I call it orange, cuz I don't know how else to describe it. Nice fluffy head that settles down to maybe a 1/2 to 1/4 inch. Smells citrusy. First taste provides grapefruit, but not too heavy. Described as West Coast style, this has more of a malt backbone than I would have thought. Nice, really nice lacing. This is a good beer. A little thin and I probably prefer Latitude 48, but I wouldn't mind drinking another. So I will. Have a blessed day brothers and sisters, and remember.....

Go Colts!!!!

 

Yeah it's all about getting out of habits and patterns. Very difficult at first, but then it gets easier once you develop a new schedule or pattern. And the beer never gets cheaper lol

 

NEW AMERICAN BARLEYWINE SUNDAY

I'm making lemon, butter, basil, sun dried tomato, and goat cheese chicken for lunch and enjoying a barleywine whilst I work on this cold, drizzly Sunday morning. A b-wine before noon?!? Perhaps this is a cautionary tale I should listen more closely to. Maybe you all should as well.



I love that this song has the word barleywine in the lyrics.



http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/392/140625/

Not loving my new beer today, but it ain't bad either. Lunch will be good at least. Cheers NBS!

 

Feel lucky you got to have it. If I could, I'd be over there weekly trying their one-offs.

 

I haven't been to the brewery in years, lucky for me this was at a bottle shop in Lancaster.

 

Intriguing. Nice place out there. And not a beer desert either.

 

Happy NBS!

PB&J is my new beer this morning. The aroma of bourbon is noticeable with the Baltic porter. Hints of cocoa and vanilla yield to peanut aromas and some berry jam notes. The flavor starts off with the Baltic Porter and moves into bourbon, vanilla, and cocoa. Nuttiness in the middle along with some berry jam notes. A bit of alcohol heat on the finish

This was pretty good and I waited 6 months. It could have used another 6 months to temper the BB flavor.



I don't think the Packers will emerge with a win today. Aaron's injured leg and the weather favor Seattle. Hope it is a good game. Watch this gem from Taiwan I found on Youtube.

 

That certainly is a wallet dilemma...

 

For this week’s NBS my new beer is the newly released beer of Sierra Nevada Nooner Pilsner. I thought it might be fun to evaluate this new beer in the context of a side-by-side tasting with one of Bill Manley’s (@sierranevadabill) favorite Pilsners: Jever Pilsener.

Are you ready to rumble!?!

Appearance

Nooner Pilsner: Light straw color with a nice fluffy white head.

Jever: Light straw color with a nice fluffy white head.

Aroma

Nooner Pilsner: Aroma is predominantly a bready malt aroma. There is some hop aroma there as well; hints of lemon/citrus and some herbal tones as well.

Jever: Aroma is dominated by malt; there is a subtle Noble hop aroma


Taste:

Nooner Pilsner: The flavor follows the aroma with a nice balance of bready malt and hop flavor/aroma. A nice firm bitterness as well.

Jever: As with the aroma much of the flavor is malty with just a hint of Noble hop flavor. It also has a nice firm bitterness; I personally can’t detect a difference from Nooner Pilsner as regards bitterness.

Mouthfeel

Nooner Pilsner: A nice ‘chewiness’ from the malt but finishes dry. Not as dry as a Jever but pleasingly dry nonetheless.

Jever: A very dry finish. One of the features I enjoy about Jever is its very dry finish!

Overall

Nooner Pilsner: I personally really like this new beer from Sierra Nevada. I very much appreciate the nice balance of bready malt and hop flavor/aroma. I will most definitely buy more of this beer!

Jever: This has been (and will continues to be) one of my favorite Pilsners. Jever is not quite as balanced as Nooner Pilsner since it has a more subtle hop flavor/aroma. As I have already remarked one of my favorite aspects of the beer is its dry finish; this dry finish makes this beer very süffig (German for "drinkable") for me.

I want to give a shout out to the Sierra Nevada brewing team! Nooner Pilsner is a very, very solid effort from them; it is a legit German Pilsner!!

Cheers!

 

Good morning NBS, its rainy and cold here in WMass, Another week
working in Northern VT where yesterday a crisp -19 met us to start the day.
Good to be home.
This New Oatmeal Stout Sunday is brought to us by,Firestone Walker Velvet Merlin.
I hope everyone has a great day, and in deference to Kingofhop, Go Pats
This beer is enjoyable and approachable, certainly worth seeking trying.

Velvet Merlin
Firestone Walker Brewing Co.
Oatmeal Stout / 5.50% ABV

3.53/5 rDev -12% | rAvg: 4.01
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.5

Poured from a 12 oz. bottle dated 11/21/14 into a modified tulip glass.
A - Translucent, pour light slips through with little effort, initially a big
carbonation charge, settles down, leaving a thin off white cap.
S - Milk chocolate, light brown sugar and raisins, Reminds me of breakfast.
Oatmeal with yes, raisins and a sprinkle of light brown sugar. As the beer warms,
more cocoa notes develop, buried way in the back hides a little fig to tease the senses.
T - Medium roast malt, a kiss of black paten, slightly sweet, with ever present light cocoa. A delicate touch of hops tilts to a crispness that is quite pleasant.
F - Thin in body, with the light carbonation combine to leave a lot of edges. Velvet it is not, as an oatmeal stout it could use a fuller feel IMO. The beginning is muted, the finish like a quite exit, with no calling card.
O - I fell like there is something missing in this oatmeal stout, with respect to FW who do some great things. There take on this style is a little short.
Cheer all

 

I've been fortunate enough to try many Founders beers, but with no distro in my area I hadn't come across this yet. Wow, I was missing out. This is a perfect example of a robust, full-flavored porter!

 

@JackHorzempa... that was as beautiful description of a pils style beer as I've ever seen.