New Beer Sunday (week 528)

New Beer Sunday: A nice Vienna Lager.

Evenin' NBSers, with a special greeting to fans of Various Versions of Vienna Lagers.

Today was a nice family oriented day with lots of kids and grown ups enjoying a meal and chatting together. Tonight's new beer is another from a relatively new local brewery, Neshaminy Creek in Croydon PA which is up a bit north of Philly in Bucks County. They've definitely been brewing some quite good beers and I'm pleased to have found a bottle shop near where I live and I can get individual cans to sample. On for tonight is their Churchville Lager which is a nice Vienna Lager.

As is usually the case my review is in progress (and is subject to change as I finish the beer):

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/29021/95919/?ba=drtth

Since this beer style was was developed and first brewed in Vienna, tonight's music has been from composers who lived and worked there.

First up is Beethoven. Beethoven lived and worked for many years in Vienna. One of his piano Sonatas is performed by a guy named Daniel Barenboim who was a world famous concert pianist for many years. His performance takes place in an ordinary nondescript palace that could be any of several but might well actually be in Vienna.




Mozart was another composer who lived and worked in Vienna for several years and died there, where he was interred in an unmarked paupers' grave. The conductor of this bit is that same Daniel Barenboim from the first clip who went on to develop a second musical career as an outstanding conductor.





In this final clip Barenboim is clearly enjoying himself while conducting the audience in their role as performers in a one of the New Year’s Eve concerts broadcast from Vienna. The music is by Johann Strauss senior, the father of the Waltz King, Johann Strauss, Jr.




Cheers all!

 

Having a Slow Ride Session IPA for new beer Sunday. Very light, crisp and drinkable. Will be a great summer beer!!

 

Round three tonight thanks to @cjgiant.

Barleywines are a favorite of mine and Dogfish Olde School is a nice basic American style barleywine. A nice blend between hops and malts. A touch hot, but enjoyable. I need to find a few more of these to age a bit.



http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/64/6533/?ba=richj1970

 

Good evening NBS. Still giddy over that Wisconsin win last night, but would also like to show some love for the great play in the women's NCAA Tourney. The finish of the ND/ South Carolina game was something, eh?

On to beer. My new beer for the day is Puck by North Coast. Billed as a "petite saison," it comes in at a mere 4.0 ABV. Pours a golden yellow in a teku glass. The nose is Belgian yeast, clove, and a hint of lemon. The taste starts the same, but falls off very quickly, with not much there in the mid-palate, but ending with a touch of bitterness and a hint of pepper. As the beer warmed, the bitter finish becomes the predominant feature. Overall this is a light and refreshing session saison (although the concept of sessionability is a bit lost on me since I rarely have more than two beers a day). I'll be buying this again once the weather heats up.

Music whilst waiting for the UConn game to start: Patti Smith Group, Easter (what else?).

Cheers!

 

My first beer from Three Taverns. Solid, but seems a little muted (most of the fruit you get in the middle then fades a little fast), and I wish there was some funk or sourness. Not bad though.

 

Kind of the point I was trying to make earlier. There was some very cool stuff happening back then, but there's cool stuff now, too, and the stuff now tends to be recorded better, and we can now hear it in better ways than back in the days of transistor radios and mono mixes, and thanks to guys like Steven Wilson, we can hear the things recorded back in the day in ways we never could back then.

 

What do you think of Trappeze? I hit Athens about once a year but haven't been able to get there yet - I swear it's harder to park in town every year!

 

I wound up strolling over to the nearby River City Tasting Room and having a pint of their Inconceivable Imperial Pilsener (rated before, never reviewed formally - one of these day's I'll bring home a growler and do it proper) and their Heritage English Pale Ale, plus a couple of tasters ( I didn't solicit the second, merely mentioned to the lovely bartender how similar the nose was to the Heritage) of their Another Chance Dark Ale, a beer that apparently turned out totally different from what was intended, but has since been allowed to be put on tap as a one-off. Here's a couple of capsule reviews, if you will.

Another Chance - a dark russet color, with a big aroma not unlike orange peel and raisins, and a flavor that struck me as more like fruitcake than anything else I could think of. I think this could work as a Christmas beer for those not into all the Celebration clones everybody makes as an Xmas beer these days.

Heritage English Pale Ale - I got a little bit of the same orange peel aroma I got from the above beer, reinforced by the second sample of that beer given me by the lovely Brittany when I mentioned it. This is a variation of the classic English bitter, but it's stronger at over 6% abv, with a hop bite just enough to keep things from being too malty, but also not with the usual citrusy and piney taste we tend to associate with beers like SNPA.

I may come back with yet another beer from the vast assortment sent me by @beertunes, but if I don't, have a great week, and see you next time, NBSers!

 

My first review on new beer Sunday, here goes:

Logsdon Seizon
7.5% ABV
No wax

A: pours hazy orange with loads of rocky white head, tight bubbles, plenty of lacing

Aroma: a little muted on the nose. straw, hay, melon and black pepper notes

Taste: farm house character with straw/hay, light funk, bright tropical fruits (honeydew melon? pears?), black pepper. a faint bit of bubblegum or sweet bread malt character. finishes dry. no detectable alcohol for 7.5%

Feel: spritzy, light mouth feel with lots of carbonation. refreshing, very drinkable.

Overall: 92/100, really lovely balanced saison. there are no extreme sour/funky/sulfuric flavors to overtake the subtle flavors. maybe a little high in abv and carbonation. I wish I had a few more bottles to drink throughout the spring and summer

Cheers BA

 

And an extra like for Neil!

 

just a dog .

 

Dude - only the last seven words were an attempt at humor!

 

Happy New American Double / Imperial Stout Sunday!



http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/1199/19960/?ba=MadCat

So sad I missed last week! Prior to that I had a bit of a cold or something and had to lay off beer, but on Sunday I thought I was going to be good to go. That day a friend/coworker flew in from San Diego, so my wife and I took her out for sushi, which was lovely. Unfortunately shortly after dinner I started feeling the cold again, so I had to head to bed instead of joining in here. Said friend has already left after her short trip and I'm finally feeling good again, so here I am. Today was crazy, one of those days that makes it hard to be happy that my in-laws are so close. I love them, but they drive me up the wall. So I decided to push off last week's planned brew for next week, in favor of one that should be a nice treat. New Jersey finally got a reasonable allocation of KBS, so I managed to snag two bottles finally. While it is very good, it is not worth the pain and cost to obtain. I'm glad I got it, but this is one whale I don't need to hunt again. I will say, it is a fantastic sipping beer, bringing out nice flavors as it warms.

Cheers!

 

And now for my second NBS entry:


Hops & Grain - The One They Call Zoe.

Received this one from @ajaylock as part of my 30lb. "preliminary" box in the current Stouts BIF round.

What a pleasant surprise. This beer is super fruity, citrusy, and effervescent. Would absolutely love to down a few of these on a hot Texas night.

Thanks again Ajay!

 

Good evening NBS! Hope everyone enjoyed the holiday weekend. Made a huge haul this weekend of more new beers so I am set for a while now for sure. Despite rain this week, I am definitely going to ride some trails at least a few days if possible. Definitely tomorrow as it wont rain until 2 am tomorrow night or so.

Here's today's new beers:

Very nice IPA. Really nice head retention and lacing on this one. Aromas and flavors of grapefruit, tangerine, pineapple, mango, lemon zest, orange peel, and pine; with moderate caramel and toasted bread malt sweetness. Nice herba/floral/grassy hop earthiness as well. Good amount of pine and citrus rind bitterness on the finish. Really nice complexity of bright hop flavors with a nice malt backbone that isn't overdone. Good balance of bitterness with the malt sweetness, but still comes off fairly assertive on the bitterness(but never cloying or astringent). Very smooth, crisp, and moderately sticky mouthfeel and finish; some slight creaminess present as well. Very drinkable, minimal complaints. 3.9


Really good. Good head retention with a fair amount of sticky lacing down the glass. Aromas and flavors of lemon, cracker, bread, herbal, floral, grass, pepper, and yeast earthiness. Aromas came off as a bit too estery/fruity, but not too bad. Taste was cleaner, but not optimal. Moderate herbal/spicy bitterness on the finish. Nicely robust and balanced earthy hop and pils malt flavors; with balanced bitterness. Very smooth and crisp; moderate dryness, but not too much with some lingering tastes after the finish. Very enjoyable overall. If it was cleaner on the lagering I would have gave it higher marks, but it is pretty much spot on to what I expected style-wise(as expected). 3.78


Awesome stuff. Big aromas and flavors of dark roasted coffee, dark chocolate, cocoa, toffee, vanilla, rye whskey, toasted oak, and light char. Moderate roast/coffee bitterness along with peppery oak/rye whiskey spiciness on the finish. Really well balanced malt, coffee, and barrel complexity. Balanced bitterness/sweetness of roasted malt flavors. Very smooth sipper with some lingering warmth on the finish and a slight touch of whiskey booziness. Moderately creamy mouthfeel, not that heavy in the body considering 12%(a bit above medium I'd say) Really well put together all around with great balance. 4.2


Cheers, have a good night NBS!

 

On this Easter Sunday, I will get into a style that is usually not so interesting. Usually. And that style is the session IPA.

I think the words make people cringe at the thought of a possibly watered down or weaker IPA. In all honesty, I find many of them to be lacking and not really bringing the punch I want in a hoppy offering. There have been a few exceptions though, and this will end up being one of them.

The nose really struck me as I poured this one and strong pine tones were evident. Flavor has a very grassy tone to it. Earthy character is certainly there. Also a touch of hoppy spice with some pine and very minimal floral edges. Kind of a sweet thing as an aside. Very pleasant in an east coast IPA kind of way. May still be thin and not as strong as people might want, but I find it a good brew. DayTime from Lagunitas will remain my favorite session IPA (after getting it 3 days after bottling once). But this is something I would go for if I wanted a beer but didn't want to get too buzzed.

Listening to some Glitch Mob:

And if you would like to see someone's emergency device save them from ground impact while skydiving, here ya go (no gore or anything disturbing, the guy just goes crazy low):

 

Wel;come Aboard...Nice opening shot!

 

It's been 4 years since I've had CBS - and that was a small sample. This was a full pour at a Founders release in Athens GA.It was delicious, rich chocolate and coffee flavors dominated. Much sweeter than KBS because of the maple barrels. The nose was magnificent - chocolate, wood and a bit of booze. Wonderful beer and a great way to begin the day. Hope you all had a grand Easter!

 

The 14 KBS had a lot more going on than the 15. Both were served too cold, but as they warmed the coffee made itself known in both the nose and taste. The mouthfeel was a letdown, sadly, I was sad to find both years were less viscous than I'd hoped. Still, great coffee and chocolate from what's considered a world class beer. Cheers!