New Beer Sunday (week 523)

So, my guinea pigs have been driving me crazy for the past 3-4 days. All of a sudden with the fighting, and one of them got bitten in the face. I kept them separated for a while, which they also didn't like , and made enough modifications to their habitat (pretty much removing all obstructions, and giving them room to get away from the other if they need to) that there shouldn't be any more shenanigans. Right now they are together, and nodding off peacefully, so hopefully that solved the problem. Oh well, boys will be boys...

On to my next beer-


Bell's Porter. Extremely solid beer here, textbook, really, and one that I can see drinking all night long. Dark chocolate dominates the flavor, but there is also just the right amount of caramel backing and the perfect touch of dried flowers from the hops. As with this style, its construction is critical, and that's where this one shines- neither too roasty nor syrupy, with the perfect snap of hops, and a lingering hint of dark malt on the finish, it's a real pleasure to drink. A- (4.25).

 

Greetings again NBSers.
Ok, I haven't popped the Alpha Drive yet. I took a left turn while bottling 2 homebrews and popped a Bruery Freckle.
It's pretty good. Worth a try, but I wouldn't "highly" recommend it.
http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/16866/156516/
Bruery Freckle
3.58/5 rDev -10.9%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

On tap at the Bruery.
Pours a rich dark burnt leather with a slight, loose tan head that quickly drops off.
Smell hints at some spice notes, maybe chile, maybe some roast. A tad of cocoa too.
taste starts with a blend of cinnamon, slight chile, cumin, and roasted malt. Pretty good.
Finish is roasty with a blend of lite chile and cinnamon. Slightly chewy. Alcohol lends a tad of warmth.
Pretty good, but not going to crave this one.

As for the homebrews, the Irish Red came out ok, maybe a week in the bottle will help (Ihope). But the Rye ale came out real good, about 8% with a nice hop profile.

Hopefully I'll catch up to y'all later.

Cheers All

 

Wasn't planning on having two new beers today, but I had more of these than any other, so.. My expectations were a little high after Trader, and this surpassed them by a long shot. I get Southern hemisphere hops on the nose, taste follows but with more pine and just overall wider spectrum of flavors than expected. Enjoy By Lite if I've ever had one. "Best By 6/11/15", I'd guess they use a 4mo. window by how fresh this tastes. Really can't wait to try more from Uinta.



Just now finishing up this album. Cheers again NBS!

 

New DIPA Sunday: Sixpoint Hi-Res

Greetings NBSers, with special Salutations to you Salubrious Sippers of Souped-up, Supercharged IPAs.

Well most of the day here has been spent taking care of prepping for the freezing rain we've been hit with today and tonight. Some side roads have accumulated well over 0.10" of ice on them and the PA DOT trucks have been busy today salting and re-salting the major roads for quite a while. Its been a quiet day but busy day around the house so now its time to have a beer.

Tonight I’m having a DIPA, the Sixpoint Hi-Res. While I have enjoyed most all of the DIPAs I’ve tried its not a style I drink regularly as I generally like my ABV a wee bit lower. But tonight I thought I’d give this newly reformulated version of Hi-Res a try, especially given how many folks have been praising it. Also there's the fact that I've never met a Sixpoint beer I didn't like. One of my first was the Bengli Tiger on tap and the server at the place where I was having lunch that day told me a few weeks later that the keg of Bengali Tiger (now known simply as Bengali) kicked faster than almost any beer she'd seen in 2-3 years at that bar.

As usual, my review is in progress here: (and subject to change as I finish this beer)

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/10607/110895/?ba=drtth

For music tonight I’m still digging through a collection of my own and some vintage loaner CDs both for music I’ve not listened to for a while and for deciding what to not keep. (Its time to do some house cleaning and thinning out of the CD part of the my music library.) The other night there was some Rush to play and while listening to some of their early stuff I got to wondering why some groups and their music persist while others are quickly come and gone.

Then the thought occurred to me that some of the music and performers that have lasted may provide a key to understanding more about how and why some breweries and beers (e.g., the Beers of Fame) have achieved long term success and might even be a help in predicting which of the newer breweries and beers may achieve long term success in the coming months and years. So using some history as a guide it seems to be related to the brewery’s willingness and drive to brew what they themselves want to drink and that they think others will also enjoy. Thus its not the size of the brewery that counts but rather their commitment to a belief in following their own pathway through life.

Much of the same as this same spirit is illustrated by the musical performers featured below.

This first man was popular for a good while and then had his recording contract abruptly canceled on him. But he didn’t let that stop him and this song describes his success.





This second man was a huge success performing in one genre of music and wanted to grow beyond that genre and into a new stage of his career. Sadly the crash of a small plane ended that plan but this song speaks nicely to his resolution and intent.





Finally, this woman had one of the most influential voices of her era and succeeded wonderfully well in reinventing herself.

 

My first NBS post and my first beer rating - not very good at describing it - decent mouthfeel and OK beer but there are too many other tasty brews I'd spend $ on - I remember particularly enjoying last year's Beer Camp version. Perhaps a decent gateway to craft beer for the BMC set.
3.13/5 rDev -20.4% | rAvg: 3.93
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.25

 

New Made-In-Michigan American Stout

It felt funny taking last week off (breaking the streak early this year). Happy to be back.

It's a great weekend in West MI. Temps peaking in the 20s feels downright balmy. Kept busy with errands and projects around the house. Just winding down with a quality brew from Vivant.


http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/24678/119715/?ba=GRPunk

 

New Old Beer Sunday

Hello NBS! It's been a long time since I've posted here, I've been busy with work and all that jazz, and been drinking most of my new beers during bottle shares on Wednesday evenings, but today I felt I had something worth posting. But first, a bit of an update. Since I last posted here, I've moved to Austin, gotten an awesome new job, and been able to go to Jester King basically whenever I want.

So that brings us to today, I was at Jester King for the second time this weekend for the Repose release (which despite being a Biere de Garde aged in French Brandy barrels with hay (?!?) was actually really damn good), and decided to bring along some of the very few bottles of theirs I hadn't ticked yet. So now, having had both Bonnie the Rare and Buddha's Brew, I've now had 48 of Jester Kings beers.

Buddha's Brew



This one was really fantastic. A blend of Jester King wild ale (Wunderkind I believe) and Buddha's Brew Kombucha, aged in oak and then released 2.5-3 years ago. I'm a huge fan of Buddha's Brew Kombucha and so I've been looking forward to trying this for a long time. Apparently there was a period of several months last year when it had fallen off and no longer been any good, but that time has passed. This was really nice stuff. Clean, crisp, tart, with great flavor. I'm going to have to go after more of them now.

So then I moved on to Bonnie the Rare.

Bonnie the Rare



So I was really worried to try this. It has long been one of Jester King's lowest rated beers, and I've heard time (3.5 years since release) hadn't been kind. The brewers, upon hearing I had this bottle with me, were less than excited. They said the beer was cursed, another said it was a Diacetyl bomb the last time he had it.

How was it? Not terrible. Just very meh. I was expecting a lot worse, but it still wasn't anything I'd go back for. Watery, slightly metallic, vegetal, herbal, a hint of apricot. And mostly, just not very sour at all. Glad I got the tick, but I don't recommend seeking this one out unless you're trying to tick them all like I have been.

So cheers, NBS! I've always enjoyed this thread and hope to participate more in the future.

Here's a song that I've been addicted to the last several weeks. Enjoy!

 

Bell's Special Double Cream Stout
Bell's Brewery, Inc.
American Stout / 6.10% ABV
4.03/5 rDev +1.8% | rAvg: 3.96
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

12 ounce bottle poured into a Bell's shaker pint

A: The big surprise, no head even with an aggressive pour, pretty dark, little light coming through around the edges,little to no carbonation, I'd bump this up more if I could pour a nice mocha creamy head, looks decent.

A: Coffee, roasted maltiness, definitely picking up the malts, smells great.

T: Coffee, roasted malts, picking up some oat flavors, don't know if they use oats, really coffee forward, dry finish, tastes great.

M: I am not getting a big creamy mouthfeel, more like a coffee bitter dry mouthfeel, it is low on carbonation, pretty good.

O: I like this beer, it's got coffee roasted malts, not sweet, but it smells and taste like it has oats, my only complaint is that there is little to no carbonation and lacks a nice mocha head on the pour, besides these faults, I could see this beer being a regular in my fridge, I like coffee stouts and stouts that have a coffee forward tastes to them even though they might not have coffee added, and this beer falls in this category.

 

New Flanders Oud Bruin Sunday

Hello all! I'm back with my second (and final) beer for the day. Enigma from New Glarus is truly a work of brewing art, in my opinion. My instinct told me to grab the four-pack, but I only bought a single. That's a shame, I really would like a second now. Anyway, it has a sour character but a rich malt backing gives it a sweet aspect as well and it all blends together. A wonderful brew and a nice way to end the day!

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/590/23459/?ba=jwc215

Cheers!

 

Those guinea pigs are studying your reactions to their actions. They must find you an interesting experiment participant.

 

Second entry, a good one. Very dark color(crude=), nice creamy top, grainy, coffee smell. Cocoa, coffee and super roasty taste. Some berry type fruit. A bit thin on finish, but overall a decent offering. I will definitely try more from them.
Cheers!

 

Sneak Peak sassion by 21st. Amendment, just okay. Now a Big Mountain Pale from Alaskan Brewing, kick ass beer for sure, heavily smell and wonderful taste highly reccomended!!!!

 

Now that you've done that if you sort the reviewers on that particular beer by top raters (looking at reviews only) you'll find several descriptions that will help you find the words you might want to use in future reviews/ratings. Sometimes the favors are there but we're just not sure how to describe them. But with a wee bit of practice the words can be found that fit what your are experiencing with a beer. (For me one of the benefits of reviewing is that I find I remember better what I liked about a beer and why.)

Enjoy!

 

Bell's Amber Ale
Bell's Brewery, Inc.
American Amber / Red Ale / 5.80% ABV
4.28/5 rDev +11.7% | rAvg: 3.83
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

12 ounce bottle poured into a Bell's shaker pint

A: Very hazy, orange, reddish, nice creamy off white head, looks very drinkable.

A: Caramel malts, picking up some floral hop aromas, smells sweet, like a slight brown sugar aroma, smells great.

T: Caramel malts, nice balanced bitterness in the middle, dry hoppy finish, not very sweet like the nose, very drinkable, great taste.

M: Very creamy, smooth easy drinking.

O: Very impressed with the drinkability, it's balanced with a nice bitterness in the middle, slight hoppy aromas and flavors. This makes me want to revisit some amber ales as I has been awhile since I've had one, I could see this beer fitting in where I might not want an IPA or a Pale Ale, I'd reach for this. This is definitely worth a try.

 

Posted this brew in WBAYDN as well, but it's a newbie and a good one so I am going to post it here too. Here are my thoughts:

4.3/5 rDev -1.6%
look: 5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

Served from a 750mL bottle into a snifter.

Viscous and oily in color and appearance, a chewy cappuccino-frothy head forms. It's substantial in height and mass and lingers for quite some time over the oil slick body. Beautiful. 5

Barrel-heavy aroma offers oak, fresh tobacco, sweet vanilla and caramel. Light bourbon notes and faint booze and chocolate. Maybe too much barrel aroma and not enough base beer but it smells great. 4.25

The barrel presence is pronounced on the palate, giving the tobacco, oak and bourbon-y spice the nose had. There's also a noticeable sweet and sugary flavor that is in fact subtler than the booze and barrels. The finish especially lingers with the earthy taste of barrels and cane sugar. The deeper I get into this beer the more it starts tasting if coconut. 4.25

Smooth, creamy and medium- to heavy-bodied mouthfeel with a slightly residual sweetness feel. The booze can feel potent or mellow from sip to sip but never becomes offensive. 4.25

Just a day earlier I ran through a number of BA beers with friends, many which had big-time hype or world-class reputations, and this tastes on par with the best of those.

And here's the beer of which I've written:



And I can't help but nod my head and break into full dance as the Rum King, with it's very island-like flavors due to the rum and cane sugar blend perfectly with this island music:

 

How was your day and weather out there? Interesting?

 

Second and last beer of NBS. I'm cheating, it's one I've had a number of times, but have never reviewed:
http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/29334/84615/?ba=woemad
A little more bitter than many oatmeal stouts I've had, but it's more complex than many I've had as well. It's serving as a very lovely dessert. I was glad to find out this will be one of Iron Goat's initial bottled offerings

Cheers!

 

Finally making it around to this weeks NBS entry:



Alpine Exponential Hoppiness. Super hoppy but with a nice malt backbone. Alcohol content of 11% is well hidden and this is a well balanced beer overall. Thanks to @wheelzntoys for sending me this and the rest of the Alpine goodness.

 

Beautiful day here. Sweatshirt weather and I was able to take my daughter to the park. This less than 48 hours out from a massive storm and maybe 4-6 inches of snow in Albuquerque. Much more up north in Santa Fe and Taos. Have you been eyeing the weather out this way?

 

Naw, two busy worrying about the weather around here. Freezing rain with ice, etc. But was curious about out there since it should be good. One of the nice things about NBS (as different from WAYBDN) is that it can be sort of like sitting around in a good bar just chatting and sharing...