What beer are you drinking now? #834

First time with this legend. World class quad for sure.



Cheers!

 

Let's get it started!!

 

Fresh growler of Double Bastard.

 

I picked it it up over the holidays while visiting family so this is actually my first time trying it. For me it has just the right amount of "funk." It also has a nice citric character as well. Sorry i can't find the bottled date.

 

Super Bowl, Super Beer (love the hop burst in this SN creation) .....



Super Beer, Super Football (chills hearing this voice describe football) .....

 

Started light with a Lagunitas Double Dry Hopped New Dogtown
...Now it's time to break out the big guns (this one is 18.82%)

 

Sooooo Gooooooood .

 

Kulmbacher Mönchshof Schwarzbier.

 

Love this one!

 

Hope you're all enjoying your Super Bowl Sunday! Cheers.

 

Anderson Valley Blood Orange Gose, absolutely fantastic!

 

This lineup tonight:

 

"I'm liking your style! We need more Brew Standoffs right @Act25?" - @ShroudOfdoom.

Super Beer Standoff...
I propose a New England vs Seattle, or NE v NW battle of the beers.
As you can see below, it’s a tie for 3 beers each, until the 4th quarter, when New England wins by 1 point in overtime:

New England: 16
Seattle: 15

Here are 4 random ales from each:

Ipswich India Pale Ale (I.P.A.) - Ipswich Ale Brewery
4.16/5 rDev +9.2%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Best American IPA? Could be...
You know how wine drinkers inhale over their tongues? This is an IPA that makes you do that.
A: darker, cloudy ipa. A deep copper orange (like Dales Pale Ale). Big frothy head. Good lacing
S: balance of biscuity malts, and citrus, pine/grassy hops. Like a hike up the Central Coast of California.
T: Great interplay of lemon/ Pine balanced with malt backbone of caramel. dry and refreshing! Tingling. grassy/piney arc and finish. nicely bitter. Well balanced.
M; Chewy. Tingly. Refreshing. Good weight. All seasons.
O: An All-American IPA up there with Anchor Steam Liberty and Dales Pale Ale and Great Divide.
Fine quality. Earned a permanent place in my house. *whole foods NJ

Space Dust IPA - Elysian Brewing Company
4.15/5 rDev +1.2%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
Poured from 22 oz bottle into a wine glass a little at a time.
Appearance: pours a clear amber color with a large head that slowly falls. Thick lasting lace. Sticky.
Smell: big floral, tropical, hoppy, and citrus notes predominate over malts. Pleasant, inviting, big.
Taste: A malty, bready, grainy backbone with caramel, orange, hops, and mango. Great bitterness balances the beer. Perfect taste tension. A great, large ipa.
Mouthfeel: medium bodied. Great food beer, (tonight spinach salad with meat tomato sause over pasta), stays crisp throughout with a refreshing dryness in finale. Leaves mouth in great place. Great food beer, large!
Overall: Awesome IPA will definitely try anything from this brewer who is 2 for 2 with me!


Whale's Tale Pale Ale - Cisco Brewers Inc.

3.7
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
12oz bottle poured into a .5l glass.
A: Amber-orange in color with mahogany hues. clear with white head that is foamy, creamy, and rocky. OK head retention, excellent lacing. Good appearance.
S: Mild. Bready. Toast w/ hints of caramel and toffee. balanced by hops, lemon and citrus. Complex includes grass and oil and richness.
T: Initial caramel and toffee. Fresh bread and coffee. Earthy, grassy hops in background. Modest bitterness, tea-like. Semi-dry finish with soothing caramel, fresh bread, and bitter hops.
M: Medium bodied, creamy. Moderately low carbonation.
O: The malt is balanced by the hops. It's a good beer. I found it sessionable. Good first beer of evening or with pub fare and comfort foods. *(grilled burger on pretzel roll, heirloom tomato, grilled peppers, garlic, asparagus, mushrooms)

Loser Pale Ale - Elysian Brewing Company
3.7/5 rDev +2.7%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
APA is my favorite style. This one is original, and worth trying.
A: Pours a deep amber color, with a midsized off-white head that fades normally and leaves only a little lace.
S: The aroma is too faint. Some grassy hops, caramel malts and citrus. Grassy.
T: The taste follows the smell but is much more interesting, starts out honey sweet with a nice arc of sweet citrus, fresh flowers, and bitter piney hops.
F: The finish is lightly hoppy and slightly sweet, sticky.
O: Easy beer to enjoy, wish I had another.

Harpoon Chocolate Stout - Harpoon Brewery & Beer Hall
3.7/5 rDev +4.1%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75
This beer has no business being consumed cold. Needs to be at cask temperature. Cold it would receive lower rating.
A – A deep brown, near black, with a tan, two finger, dense head. Only bit of lacing on a chalice glass named Stella.
S – The aroma is the best part. Prominent, dry, with mix of chocolate and a roasted malt smell. Also a caramel machiatto coffee with cinnamon, vanilla and cream. Almost egg nog.
T – Follows the sweet milk chocolate and caramel macchiato with a moderate roasted flavor. These sweet flavors are the base upon which float char, roast, dry stout flavors, so it's a neat balance once it warms up. Very original, and more chocolate, and Starbucks, than most, say Brooklyn, etc.
F – Reviewers found this beer thin, but I'd say it's medium and it's fine. Nothing to write home about.
O –I wanted to ding this as a light weight when I drank it cold, but letting it warm made it very enjoyable, and original, a neat mix of a lot of chocolate and caramel coffee with a dry roast stout base.

Split Shot Espresso Milk Stout - Elysian Brewing Company
3.7/5 rDev -5.3%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75
Elysian is adventurous Seattle brewer, a city famous for craft and coffee. But this one is mid-pack.
I am an avid expresso drinker, drink it half-caff all day long, and often side by side with beers, and sometimes poured into a beer. So no stranger to coffee. However, almost as much as with fruit juices, I much prefer to add my own than have the brewer add it.
A: Pours opaque black coffee body, just like from my espresso machine, a little darker, head fades to about the same crema. Good lacking. A bit lacking in body.
S: The Coffee is not over-done. It's all dark roasted malt, wood char, hay. with hints of coffee, espresso, and cream. A bit too subtle
T: Follows smell, malts with more bittersweet espresso, more like a dry stout, drier than expected, from there it's a nice finish well balanced between sweet and bitter, good tingle, good long finish, lands slightly sweet but not cloying.
M: A little thin compared to most milk stouts, smooth, chalky, medium-light body.
D: A light-drinking stout, roasty with plenty but not too much espresso and milk. I'd prefer a full on milk stout like Left Hand or Nitro.

Harpoon Rich & Dan's Rye IPA
3.9/5 rDev +3.4%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
From a bottle into a wine glass - tasted against Ballast Pt Big Eye and a bowl of sauteed shrimp, garden spinach, tomatoes, baby potatoes, carrots, walnuts, lemon oil, provolone, italian bread.
Appearance: Pours a clear, coppery body with a frothy, full, white head, that laces well all the way down and settles out to a thin film that covers most the beer.
Smell: Excellent, and grows nicely over time. Bready, pale maltiness w catty, hoppy stink, and a hint of sweet bread. Very citrusy, resiny, lightly earthy hops. - Reminds me of Dales Pale Ale.
Taste: Follows the smell with sweet malts with caramel, sweet grain. Also - Citric, lemon, grapefruit with high mountain pine forest. Good bitterness. Drying, bitter, citrusy on finish. Great clean aftertaste. Goes great with food.
Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied, carbonation, and tingly mouthfeel with kissing bitters.
Overall: Great beer. Wish it came in cans. Harpoon consistently interesting, original, dependable.

The Immortal IPA - Elysian Brewing Company
3.85/5 rDev +0.3%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
Poured from bottle into .5l cylinder marked Spaten.
A; Pours orangy amber with slight haze. The head is ample, cream-colored, firm and tacky. Moderate last and lace.
S: The peachiest of IPA aromas I have found. Bready malt with inviting fruit and hay. Upon enjoying a second, I think it's too fruity for me. I like the craft, but it's a bit too floral/fruity/peachy.
T: Very well-balanced; with the hops winning over the see-saw with the malts. More citrus rind, pine, classic west coast IPA. DEEPLY enjoyable. Great with food in this case fresh romaine sauteed with pine nuts, mozz, tomotoes, olives, shrooms.
MF: body & mouthfeel is creamy smooth.
Overall - No need to make a DIPA out of this.
The clear tell is it gets better and better over time and with food. This brew starts off too fruity and in your face, the opens up, calms down and gets better as it warms.

 

Definitely in my top 3 beers from Jersey. So glad this came back around

 

Gonna take it easy this evening....



Or not.

 

Enjoying this hook up from a friend with my bro while watching the game. Pretty uneventful up until a minute ago. Tasty brew from Hailstorm in Tinley Park Illinois. Cheers!

 

Deschutes Fresh Squeezed IPA.