New Beer Sunday (week 525)

Wow, you make it sound really good. Prairie is awfully hard to come by where I am. I have an old friend from Oklahoma that I may have to get in touch with to get some of this quickly. Good review. I love the name Limo Tint. How much a part of the flavor profile is the chocolate and how would you describe it?

PS. Good choice of accompanying music...

 

Spring time – Troegs Cultivator Helles Bock

Technically it is winter for another 5 days but it sure feels like spring in Southeastern PA. The snow has all melted and the temperatures sure feel warm after the very cold winter we had. Another sign it is spring – Troegs Cultivator Helles Bock is available!!

There are a few beers I personally associate with spring – Kolsch, Saison, Wit and the aforementioned Helles Bock (sometimes also called a Maibock).

Classically a Bock beer in America was a darker colored beer with the urban legend being that a Bock beer is the crud from the bottom of fermentation vessels. A Helles beer is light in color (helles is German for pale or bright), so a Helles Bock is light in color but with a BIG malty flavor.

Enough with the chit-chat; lets drink!!

Served in my 0.5 liter Willi Becher glass.

Appearance:

A beautiful golden color with a billowy white head.

Aroma:

The aroma is bready along with some biscuit/cracker qualities. There is also a noticeable herbal hop note.

Taste:

The flavor follows the nose with bready/biscuit/cracker flavors. The hops provide nice balance with low-moderate bitterness and a perceptible herbal hop flavor.

Mouthfeel

Low-medium mouthfeel with a crisp yet soft finish. There is no residual sticky sweetness which I think is a BIG plus.

Overall

A very tasty Helles Bock (Maibock). I very much look forward to drinking the rest of this six-pack.

 

Thank you. Wonderful description. It sounds delicious...

 

I'm a big fan of Maine Beer Company, and am happy to try Beer 1.
In a MBC pint glass the beer is a clear golden color. There is a nice white head which dissipates quickly, and leaves some nice lace.
Very nice fresh, floral aroma.
Citrus and pine taste primarily. A hint of onion sneaks in.
This is not a terribly hoppy beer.
Overall, another great effort from Maine Beer Company.

 

Good morning BAs! And good morning to @utopiajane for staring the thread and @TongoRad and @31Sam13 for being on the thread this early. I'm running late myself - couldn't sleep last night so I slept in until 0815 this morning. It's another overcast cool day here in NW PA - may rain or snow later.

The contractors are ripping right along - the final mudding and sanding will be Monday and Tuesday respectively, followed by priming on Wednesday. Now my wife has to pick out the colors - it'll be her quilting room and my entry to the garage which, like the rest of the house, is full of all the stuff that was in the two rooms being remodeled. It'll be a relief to walk through the house in a straight line again!



Today's new brew is from Drake's Brewing in California - Drakonic. It's an imperial stout priced at $ 6.99/bomber from Craft Shack (What - not distributed in PA?) and does demonstrate roasted malt and some bitter chocolate flavors and aromas. I don't detect any of the licorice overtones which are allegedly present, but that could be a palate deficiency on my part. The 8.75 % ABV is well hidden until it hits the gut then a warming effect is detected. This is hopped to 40 IBUs but the hops are not really noticed - the light bitterness could as well come from the roasted malt. Overall, not a bad brew at an appropriate price, but I won't be paying shipping for any more.

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/3835/12172/?ba=Ozzylizard

 

Troegs makes some great seasonals, and I'm surprised you didn't get this one last year. I think I read that they're canning it this year, too, so it must be popular enough. It's great having beers like this on the shelves.

 

They are canning it, but you have to buy a twelve pack if you want them instead of bottles.

 

This beer almost didn't happen, but with 45 minutes until game time and the coffee pot empty ... well ..

-4% rDev. Boulevard Imperiel Stout X (Coffee Ale)

Great lacing from a black body, mocha head. Looks really nice in the Breckenridge balloon glass.

Aroma: Charred grains, roasted malts, faint notions of bitter coffee.

Taste: Less coffee but more roasted malts and charred grains. Faint black licorice. Faint smokiness comes in.
Mouthfeel: Seemingly light for 11% ABV

Overall: When I drink this, I'm just not getting any coffee, but it's a very smooth 11% stout. A lot of roast and malt. I liked it, I was expecting more coffee.

 

New Coffee Stout Sunday on the Ides of March...


Morning clouds persist, cold air shuffling in through open windows...


...the anniversary of the day that saw Caesar assassinated by cowardly Senators...


Boulevard Brewing's Imperial Stout X features Sidamo coffee beans from Ethiopia... very strong coffee flavor, which I like, but the stout qualities I enjoy seemed to be lacking - rather thin on the palate, mild acidity, hints of oak and wood, maybe a pinprick of citrus from the beans; mildly bittersweet, mild on the chocolaty malts... Good, but not a fave...

Cheers...

 

Wow - we had pretty different experiences with this in regards to the coffee!
I thought it was all coffee, a little thin on the "stout" - but I see we both rated it below the abv, eh? Cheers, bro

 

Good morning NBS friends, Thanks to Maria for the kick off today.
The slow, and orderly (thankfully) melt is in full swing here in WMass.
Today is a new saison for me, Anchorage Brewing's Rondy Brew.
This is the 2014 version, still very bright and quite nice, We got to see some live music
last night, Kat Edmonson at Mass Moca, and tonight Zoe Darrow in Northampton.
The music schedule is certainly filling up.
Cheers all

Rondy Brew (2014)

Anchorage Brewing Company
Saison / Farmhouse Ale / 6.00% ABV

4.06/5 rDev -0.2% | rAvg: 4.07
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Poured from a batch #3 bottle into an HF wine glass.
A - Color of those first bright rays of morning light, honey gold. An active carbonation relentlessly chasing upward to feed the never ending 1/2" cloud of white froth. Cirrus cloud style lacing clings to the glass through the entire experience. First pour is exceptionally clear, then of course the clouds set in as you get a little deeper in the bottle.
S - Warm summer hay, lemon and green grape peel, dance together with notes of white Burgundy, chalk and warm leather. Wonderful dance of delicate esters, herbal lemon, and funk provide hopeful insight to the flavors to be had. With time the funk begins to show who's the boss for sure.
T - Bright herbal, citrus and warm lite biscuit start the show. Pithy tartness is next, with dry grainy center, The green grape skin and barrel notes are welcome elements for sure. Spice notes and a bit of salinity add some edginess to the flavor mix.
M - Starts with a light palate coating, then tartness around the edges, and a rounded cap. The carbonation keeps the palate dancing, as the tart notes build with each sip. The funkiness is cumulative, and the lingering moves between honey drop candy, lemon, and that Brett bite.
O - A beautiful offering from Anchorage. Delight the senses, challenging in its depth.
The flavors, aromatics and body all work so well together.
To be enjoyed for sure.

 

Serpentine! We watched that movie last night and laughed our asses off in spots. What a comedy team Arkin and Falk were.

 

Happy NBS! With temps in the mid 60's today, I'll be getting some things done outdoors. I also have to watch the Badges with the Big10 tournament over the Spartans.

Enjoying a Rush River BA Nevermore stout this morning. Aromas of roasted malt, bakers chocolate, mild espresso and burnt caramel. Hints of bourbon, milk chocolate and vanilla are also present.

The taste begins rather big on the roasted malts with some bitter espresso notes. Moves into the dark bakers chocolate, but yields to some sweet mil chocolate and caramel. The barrel is subdued, but there are traces of bourbon and vanilla.

This had nice flavors but is an average barrel aged stout in comparison to many others I have had in the past. The barrel notes were faint since it was a 60/40 blend.

 

A general observation that may explain this. @JuicesFlowing mentioned the coffee pot being empty. If he had just finished up a couple cups of joe, it probably had something to do with his experience being different. It would be similar to trying a pilsner after a hoppy ipa. I have done this with several beers and foods or other beers before. Did you have anything else beforehand or are you a regular coffee drinker?

 

That's one of the cool things about NBS (and BA in general) - different takes of the same beers. Sometimes I find myself in agreement on some levels of both, others I'm convinced they (or I) must have had a bad bottle.

 

Yah, good point - he may've burnt out his "coffee-sensing taste buds" - while I always start my day with a cup of coffee (I've even had Sidamo in the past), that was @ 7:00 - I did all my chores (good boy points +10) and had breakfast hours before I got around to my beer

 

Greetings everyone,
It's a nice brisk and blustery pre-Spring day, the birds are hugely active, and the season is changing right now! We took a very long walk with the hounds today, the woods oddly empty of people, but I loved it! I walked through these woods when I was 5 years old.
Today's beer is Kyritzer Mord and Totschlag (murder and manslaughter) from Nuezeller Kloster Brewery in N.E. Germany. This is a very beautiful Schwarzbier, deep roasty brown, opaque, so I can only imagine the fine bead streaming up to the perfect tan cap. This is a traditional northern German brew dating back to the 1600s, apparently as fuel for the Knights of Kyritz an Der Knatter. It is utterly delicious, like liquid pumpernickel, and smells of deep roasted malt and even better dark bread. Wow! I love this beer and will buy all I can get. Also, some mild vinious notes with a pure German pedigree.


The year after Woodstock I went to The Atlanta Pop Festival (1970) in Byron, Georgia, between Atlanta and Macon. It was at an old race track, with drug vendors and highway patrolmen working in tandem. I was with my 2 best friends- one is now very ill and fighting for his life- but we were young, it was fiercely hot, we had a Plymouth Valiant full of beer, and all was good. It was a formative moment. I saw Jimi Hendrix (4th of July Star Spangled Banner), The Allman Brothers in their backyard, Bob Seger System, 10 Years After, Poco and on and on....
I think this may be the first Andy/Barney moment. Cheers all!

 

Michael,

Are you still using your Willi Becher glass? A Helles Bock is a tasty beer style in this glass!!

Cheers!

Jack