New Beer Sunday (week 525)

Happy NBS everyone,

I never post pictures on the internet (although I do not care if someone esle does). The one excetion I make is for this thread. I have posted 5 pictures on the internet and all have been in this forum. By far my favorite thread on BA.

Saisons are quickly becoming one of my favorite styles. They are refreshing, yet complex, and pair incredibly well with a wide variety of foods. Saisons might be the most versatile beer on the planet. Its interesting, because thy were one of my least favorite up until a year ago or so...

Allagash Saison:

Look: Brilliant color (yellow with a slight orange hue), almost no head after the first couple of minutes, and slight lacing
4.5
Smell: Clove is the overwhelming smell, but pepper, citrus, and malt are slightly there in there background
4.25
Taste: Clove, slight citrus fruity finish, malty, and that distincitve flower hop taste from german hops
4.25
Feel: High level of carbonation, smooth mouthfeel, leght, and refreshing
4.5
Overall: Great beer. This and Sorachi ace are great Saisons in 4 packs. I love the format and price point.
4.25

Edit: Suprised this beer is only a 3.89...

 

That sounds like it is unintentional and rushed, then. I wonder if they know that some batches have diacetyl problems. I don't mind some 'd' in certain styles, but it really doesn't go in hoppy American beers.

 

Love that brew!

 

Happy Sunday everyone!

I have been itching to try this since it (very recently) came out. Old Knobby is a bourbon barrel aged version of Old Nebby, a stock ale, from East End Brewing Company. Frankly, the general consensus on the Old Nebby has always been generally weak. But this has been very well received, and after trying it I can see why.

A really good example of how barrel aging can properly define a beer's character. Mild vanilla tones with firm, but nowhere near obnoxious degrees of bourbon. A fairly full bodied feel more on the level of a barleywine as opposed to a big stout (if that makes sense). It's a bit muddled and thick on the feel as well, but overall it works. A nice sipper. Something tells me it should not be aged and is probably better when enjoyed now.

 

I found this to be a decent beer replacement for an orange-soda (like Sunkist). That actually sounds like a jab, but I like the beer a lot, but I like the base 128 Kimmie better. That said, if I'm not in the mood for a coffee-based stout for beer-breakfast, I might be in the mood for an OJ-based beer breakfast...

 

Late for me post:
Spent day at a pseudo-release part for a local brewery. Got to try a bourbon-barrel aged version of a beer I liked fairly well to begin with. Enjoyed the BBA version better in this case. Separately, got home and broke open a beer from @richj1970 for my official NBS beer for today. This collage from my photo-altering app is weak, but...


The beer today is Snake Handler. Looks are beautiful, nose is weaker, and taste is fairly standard. Little malty up front and onion-y in nose and taste, hoping for a little more than green-ness from the hops to balance the malt. I think it's worth a try if you get a chance to judge for yourself.

 

Getting a late start today... Spring was in the air with temps over 75 this afternoon and had to get a few things done outside...

Today's new beer is from Wiseacre out of Memphis. I've heard really good things about them, and enjoyed the one saison I had tried previously, so I thought I would give Snowbeard a go. Their take on a barleywine.

Right off the bat, the label artwork is insane. Love it.

Aroma and flavor wise, this one is average. Enjoyable and drinkable, but lacking any depth or complexity. It does open up a touch as it warms, but still ended up with a negative rDev...





http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/32679/111277/?ba=richj1970

 

Damn edit cutoff.... * hoping for a little more green-nees (negate the "than"). As the beer warms, the ending has some grapefruit/pith to it - but I (personally) want a stronger pop of bitterness. Sorry for the interruption of the flow of beer enjoyment . Carry on!

 

FYI. That can was from the 2/2/15 batch...

Cheers!

 

What up, duderoonis! I just finished and reviewed a bottle of Prairie Artisan Ales 'MERICA, that brewery's beautiful mixture of 2-row pilsner, Nelson Sauvin, two strains of Brett, and one of wine yeast. Check it:

Prairie Artisan Ales ‘MERICA (4.39/5.0)

Straight pour from a 16.9oz/500ml pry-off bottle to an oversized wineglass (Jester King stemware). Looks like it was bottled on January 16, 2015, at 9:27PM, if I’m reading this code correctly (“00241B2 21:27 01615”), which would make this bottle just under two months old. It’s been refrigerated for over 24 hours since purchase, and given the type of mixed fermentation involved, I’m not too worried about freshness at two months.

Appearance (4.0): This one’s a foamer! Three fingers of light, bubbly, thick foam rise off of the pour immediately, capping a glowing golden, virtually opaque body. VERY hazy. Just a little bit of lacing as the beer recedes, but it still foams eagerly and the carbonation is gorgeous—it improves as time goes on, turning thick and clingy with wide swaths of glass covered on the far side.

Smell (4.25): This is most definitely funk-apparent, which I expected (and hope for!). Fresh-cut grass, vinous aromas—white grapes, a little oak, mineral undertones—moderate passion fruit, a fresh rain, and a little bit of slightly cheesy (in a good way), basement funk. As it warms, passion fruit and a little bit of white grape come to the front. This is goddamn lovely.

Taste (4.5): Passion fruit, for sure, undercut by a moderately strong, minerally bitterness with wet grass thrown in. Dry straw, floury French country bread, orange peel and pith. There’s a tangy, citrusy funk that picks up on the back end of the palate, thickened and boosted by that dry, bready malt character. More passion fruit—on the lighter, pithy, more bitter end of the fruit’s flavor—mixes well with the beer’s minerally, vinous tones. Yellow grapefruit peel’s in there, too . . . especially in the finish, which drops off cleanly and smoothly. Excellent stuff, with a beautiful mix of funk and clean malt and bright fruit.

Mouthfeel (4.75): The body is soft and full but not heavy, the hops are drying and pithy, and the alcohol’s nowhere to be seen. The malt is clean and lean, and the yeast is funky, just barely chalky, complimentary, and it allows the hops to pop. This beer maintains the perfect drinkability for a beer this size: physically, every sip asks for the next one, but the complexity and sturdiness of the flavor slow down the process considerably, pushing you to savor every little bit. This is fantastic.

Overall (4.25): I really, really like this beer, a whole hell of a lot. If I brewed beer, this is exactly the kind of thing I’d want to make every single day. The mix of funk, body, drinkability, and complex mixture of bread, fruit, and vinous character make for a dynamic beer that’s easy for anyone to enjoy. I love this beer, but I sure do wish it didn’t cost $10 a bottle. Ah, well . . . and occasional pleasure, I suppose. But at least it gives me something to shoot for when judging other, similar beers, and hopefully the type of beer I brew in the future. Thanks, Prairie! I’ll definitely be pulling the tigger on your brews more often now.
​

But that's it for me today. Hope you've all had a wonderful Sunday! Saude, folks!

 

Good afternoon/evening to NBS BA'ers! NBS has really made me sit down and be mindful of what I am tasting for the first time. It's a good exercise to put our senses to a test and I am quite enjoying participating!... I think still a novice at describing somethings, but improving no less! Late entry but better late than never.



New American Barley Wine Sunday - Lagunitas Olde GnarleyWine 2015 10.60% ABV

Appearance: Reddish, copper hue with thin creamy top. Looks quite pretty in the sunlight.
Smell: I would say grapefruit dominates, but evident are pine and flowery notes.
Taste: Fruity, molasses-like sweetness, but not overdone. I can taste raisins and slight booze when I let it sit.
Feel: Thin sweetness followed by decent roasty finish, nice warmth considering it's 10.6% ABV.
Overall: Gnarly indeed. I really enjoyed this one. It is refreshing for how complex it is and it's not too overwhelming. For the $5.99, I think I will go back and buy more to see what burying it for a while might do!.

 

Nice! I've been playing the shit out of that album the last week. Interesting directions SW is going in, more electronica stuff than his previous straight solo albums or PT stuff, but still great.

 

Happy New American Barleywine Sunday!

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/147/151769/?ba=MadCat

So it's nice to see the weather starting to warm up a bit, but the rain and wind have picked up, so I'm not really sure I'm loving it yet. I have decided I need to finish off some of these barleywines and stouts soon so that I can gear back up for spring and summer brews. So here's Old Guardian Extra Hoppy. It has been a little while since I've drank fresh OG (hard to get bottles sometimes so they usually get aged) but this doesn't seem like the brew I remember. Or like the brew I remember with a pile of hops added. I need to drink my regular 2015 bottle and compare. But I figured with this being Stone and all, they would release something that is well put together, and a nice hop bomb. Really this is just a bitter bomb with an incompatible malt profile without a whole lot of the hop flavor and aroma. Just not doing it for me. Since it doesn't seem to have been dry hopped, it may benefit from aging, but I'm not going to waste any money trying to find out. Though I might have to dig out a 2011 Belgo OG for fun and compare. Because I would rather that. Sorry for the rant, but this is a major disappointment. Hope your beer choices run out better than mine!

Cheers!

 

Since I had a negative rDev on my first post, I thought I would crack open another new one.

I picked up this bottle of Schlafly's BA Imperial Stout on a recent shopping trip to Nashville. This is definitely more up my alley. Lots of nice bourbon, chocolate, and vanilla notes. Very nice BA stout, and I would pick up another bottle in a heart beat.



http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/583/33894/?ba=richj1970

 

In Search of Hops: NBS Edition

Sierra Nevada Hop Hunter reaches new territory, MD!



A (3.75): Golden yellow body with a good collar and layer of residual bubbles. No lacing though. Minimal head on the pour.
S (4): Smells quite good, like a fresh hop beers usually do. Deliciously floral and earthy. This might be absurd, but it almost seems like you can tell that it is from an oil. It seems like the scent is essence of hop, almost like a perfume or cologne. Pine is the dominant note here.
T (4.25): Tastes like it is perfumed as well. The hops seem a bit artificial and the carbonation is a bit too aggressive, but dies down as it warms up a bit and sits a bit. This mellows to a pretty good IPA. The finish is a bit artificial and doesn't have that overly bitter/resinous aftertaste.
M (3.75): Richly carbonated, with quite the bubble punch.
O (4): This one really gets better as it warms up slightly and releases some of its carbonation. It'll be interesting to see how this tastes after a few weeks, but I will let others test that out.

B+ (4.06 vs. 4.08, the actual): I might say that this is my favorite IPA from SN now, but that is because it doesn't have that characteristic SN flavor.

Saving the good stuff for later tonight.

 

Having a Pinner IPA from Oskar Blues. Good light IPA. Would be a great beer for someone wanting to try a craft beer but doesn't want to be overwhelmed with a hop bomb