New Beer Sunday (week 529)

And currently on, emerging from the depths—



This one is odd—but also in a good way.

There's bourbon for sure, but then immediately, mouldy orange peels?? It doesn't say anything about adding orange, but I swear it's that green mould that grows on old citrus. Still, it's not unpleasant. It's very citrus, rather bitter—like yeasty bitter—with vanilla, and a thick creamy head. It's like yoghurt, lingering citrus, some fruit juice.

It's also borderline gusher:

which does make me wonder if they really got everything under control here. But anyway, for now, it comes out nicely.


edit: also, meant to mention—sorry to hear you're feeling down and out this week, utopiajane! =(

 

That Third Coast is pretty amazing. Was a favourite discovery when I lived in the middle, and I am eagerly anticipating the various bottles I grabbed to age that are currently doing just that!

 

Must be Summer? Yuengling Summer Wheat

Well, it is technically spring but it is so warm today maybe a ‘summer’ beer is in order?

I typically am not a fan of beer ‘season creep’ but the fact that summer beers like Yuengling Summer Wheat and Victory Summer Love are available is not irking me one iota. I guess I am just a sucker for summer beers!?!

The beer of choice today is Yuengling Summer Wheat which is an authentic German style Hefeweizen. I really, really appreciate that Yuengling, which is a Regional type brewery IMO, is making genuine craft beer now. Yuengling Summer Wheat was first brewed in 2014 and for a brewery which was started in 1829 (America’s Oldest Brewery) that means that this beer is still a ‘new’ beer in 2015 in the big scheme of things!

Yuengling Summer Wheat ‘splashed’ onto the scene by winning a Gold Medal at the 2014 U.S. Open Beer Championship which is a blind tasting competition.

“At the recent U.S. Open Beer Championship, a competition that encompassed 3,000 beers in 81 style categories, Yuengling Summer Wheat took the gold medal in the German Wheat category. Weihenstephan Vitus from Weihenstephan Brewery in Freising, Germany was the runner-up.”

All this writing is making me thirsty!!

Poured into my 17 ounce Pilsner glass:

Appearance:

Hazy golden color with a nice fluffy white head.

Aroma:

A BIG aroma of banana and clove! There are also some subtle hints of citrus peel.

Taste:

The flavor is a combination of fresh baked bread, the combination of banana & clove (as with the nose) and also what seems like a vanilla flavor at mid-palate. An interesting and pleasant combination of flavors.

Mouthfeel

Medium body and well carbonated. There is a creamy/luscious finish!


Overall

A very tasty Hefeweizen! It has an awesome balance of banana and clove with some subtle flavors of citrus peel and vanilla in the background which adds even more complexity. The velvety mouthfeel/finish really rounds out this beer.

I am really looking forward to drinking more of these beers during the remainder of spring and during the actual summer.

Also, I purchased this beer for only $6.99 a 6-pack!! For those of you who do not reside in PA you have no idea of what a GREAT value this is for a craft beer!!!!

Cheers!

 

One of my favourite discoveries moving officially to this city I love is how prevalent the cherry trees are. It looks like we hit spring a couple of weeks earlier than you, but I was just commenting to my sister how pretty the blossoms had been, and how nice they are even now as a blanket for the cold concrete: adding some colour and soul to the hard grey edge. Cheers!

 

It's a beautiful spring day. The snow pack continues to recede, and I'm hoping to start the outdoor cleanup in a few days.
I picked up When the Light Gose Out a few days ago. I was intrigued by the idea of a black gose, and I thought the label was cool.
The beer was a very dark brown, near black, color with a small tan head. here was a healthy amount of carbonation.
An aroma of roasted malt. Salty and a bit metallic.
I thought there was a salty taste upfront, with some other minerals. There was a hint of grapefruit.
Medium-bodied, a little sour.
Definitely not your typical gose, but very nice.


Maria, I hope you feel better soon!

 

I just called there and they will be open so I might just head over.

 

Good morning, Sunday imbibers and inebriants!

I'm just gonna run ya through the pics I took while I ramble...

Interspersed with the tunes that ran through my headphones while I drank and reviewed...



My first new beer review in my new digs...

Got some nice photo op spots both am and pm, to help accentuate the beauty of beer

Today I'm hitting on my third brew from SingleCut, a brewer out here on LI in Queens



...though I know plenty of people from Queens that fail to recognize that they're on Long Island lol

Beautiful sunlight streams through the blinds in the kitchen on what promises to be a very mild and enjoyable spring day...

Have to go to a baby's first birthday today (ugh )



Hopefully that chore will last no more than 4 hours...



You're looking at Billy Full-Stack IIPA...

Potent aroma of fresh-cut grains (single cut? ) and flowery citrus...



Super-fresh and clean-tasting...

The grains are a solid match for the hops...

Got lots of floral and bright citrus elements, underscored by a crisp pine dankness (is that contradictory?)

Medium-weight and plush on the palate...

Indisputably drinkable at a modest 8.2 abv, with a bitter aftertaste that calls for another bottle...



Hope y'all have a great New Beer Sunday - see ya later in WBAYDN...

Cheers

 

I'm generally a fan of Southern Tier, but I also try to avoid beers like that one . My brother did bring a bottle for us to share on my birthday last year, though, so I at least got to try it. I'm pretty much with you on how I feel about it; they definitely captured the essence of the dessert, and it was tasty for a short while, but I'm also glad it was the two of us sharing it and I didn't have to do the whole thing myself.

 

1.57/5 rDev n/a
look: 2.75 | smell: 1.25 | taste: 1.5 | feel: 1.5 | overall: 1.75

Tin Roof Yonder Hefe has a thin, quickly-dissipating head, a murky, bubbly, orange appearance, and no lacing left behind. The aroma is of rank or rotten grain, and the flavor is of sour, lemony grain, with low bitterness, and some odd tartness. Mouthfeel is medium, and Tin Roof Yonder Hefe finishes sloppy and wet. I would avoid it. RJT

 

Sorry to hear you are under the weather. Like I said when @cavedave had to forgo drinking, it must be frustrating to have to MC this thread with everybody posting all sorts of delicious brews.

 

Man, those cherry blossoms ... I made it to D.C. a handful of years ago for the cherry blossoms, a friend urging me to time my trip for the bloom, and it surpassed my expectations beyond measure. Thanks for the picture! It's a definite gotta see it to believe it phenomena.

Down here in Texas, the bluebonnets and Indian paintbrushes have unfolded their blankets, and our spring game of dodge-the-thunderstorm has begun. Alas, no pics of the pretty flowers (maybe next week?), but here's the Belgian warmup exercise I did for today's new beer:


All you cool kids with the Weyerbacher stouts got me feeling like I brought a knife to a gun fight

My new beer:


Founders Blushing Monk, a brew some of you brought to NBS a few weeks ago and to all of you who did, thank ye kindly! I likely would've passed it by if not for your good work, so I owe you.

The review:
http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/1199/25852/?ba=Premo88

4.37 rating (+3.3% rDev)

Sweet, tart, crisp, light ... this beer is fantastic. The sweet raspberry flavor here is possibly too good to be true (surely there's at least *some* syrup involved, right?), but Founders did well to ferment it with a Belgian yeast strain for some balancing tartness that is making it do that thing the good Flemish red does -- make my mouth pucker, then water, which in turn makes me reach for the beer to quench that, which in turn makes my mouth pucker, then water, which in turn ...

...
...



It's like the cycle of life.

Hardcore sour and wild ale fans must hate this beer I'm guessing, but I'm still far from that end of the spectrum, so I freely admit to loving it. Nor sure I'll marry it, but perhaps we'll go on another date ... or three?

Get well soon, @utopiajane !

This one's for the young Texan atop the leaderboard in Georgia ...


Cheers!

 

What's next for our hero!?

Anchor Saison Spring Ale - Anchor Brewing Company


Anchor Steam Brewing - Anchor Saison Spring Ale by imbibehour, on Flickr

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Poured from the bottle into a tulip glass.

What a looker this brew is. Deep crystal clear, a fiery pinhole rising column of fire, and all through a gigantic beaming crystal orange bronze. Total mirror like finish, capping with a simple two finger head, basic and creamy, settling to a one finger puck fairly quickly with no lacing. Near perfection and very unique appearance wise, I could stare at this all day.

Bready malts on the aroma pop up nicely at first with a bit of candy sticky sweetness. Mild sensing hop notes but also hard to pinpoint or get flavors off of on the nose. Pretty basic, but a very impressive malt angle seems to save an ordinary score for the bouquet.

Basic palate stays away from anything jarring, or exceptional. Almost crisp body but a matching mix of honey like malt sweetness, and mild white pepper muted finish. Tangy fruit quality seems to want to poke out but it's to hard to discern, or far too indistinct maybe even small to determine the flavor profile. Mild herbality finish creeps in very unexpectedly, thyme like and full of sage soft density. Tangy and almost juiced mouthfeel give this some extra oomph too.

A real simple fun drinking saison, still want to put this on a pedestal to look at, just seems to overshadow everything else about the other beers quality.

look: 4.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 3.5 | BA score: 3.71

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Keep smelling them flowers folks!!


Cherry Blossoms DC 2015 by imbibehour, on Flickr

 

Oh man- just last week we had snow! Things are starting to warm up a touch, but we're way behind you guys. At least I'm finally starting my seedlings and such. Enjoy the afternoon, it looks beautiful- cheers!

 

Couldnt agree more. I was shocked last year by how good it was. Not one of my favorite styles, but for any of you hefeweizen fans out there, I dont think you will ever find a better price to flavor representstion anywhere close.

 

It was an incredible amount of lining up all the cards perfectly in DC yesterday. I live and work in the area, and have been since 2001 so I make sure to go every year particularly when the conditions are right. Peak is sometimes not during the weekend, or it's crummy weather (rain and wind), but all the cards lined up this weekend, perfect sunny weather, peak bloom on a non working Saturday... so it was perfect to go down for ultimate viewing.

Of course everyone knows this so the crowds were huge, but nothing you don't know about as a local or how to deal with. You'd be a fool not to go down on see it when the conditions hit with such perfection.

Personally though I love post bloom when the green leaves poke out and the leaves start to fall off...

I also have my own personal weeping cherry tree in my back yard... but it wont peak for maybe a few more days.. as I am in Maryland, 8 miles North of the DC Tidal Basin

 

I agree too, very impressive I was trying to score some bottles this week... but haven't found any yet...

It's great stuff!

 

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/13029/49186/?ba=Bitterbill

C&Ps done, now for some yacking. Good morning BA NBS peeps!

Gorgeous weather all bloody week with no sign of any winterish stuff in the forecast. (see my review for what actually transpired)

I bought my new beer at Liquor Shed in town. A bit pricey at +$11 for the Pint +.9 ounce bottle(I like 500ml more) but what the hey. It's an English Strong Ale, from Thornbridge, for pete's sake. Almost guaranteed beery goodness.

Okay, 1 more C&P, dedicated to smakawhat, for putting this here thing in my head every time he posts on the NBS thread:



Cheers!

 

And...as far as Dave and Maria go. Sick, can't drink, whatever. I know them. They are as thrilled to read aboot the new beers shared in this, the best BA thread evah!, as they are to share their own drinking experiences. Trust me.

 

Good afternoon from a sunny central New Hampshire. The temperature has finally hit 60 degrees and the sun is shinning today. I still have about a 70% snow covered yard but is disappearing quickly. I may even have to start some yard work next week.

My new beer for this week is another Small Batch Ale from White Birch Brewing. This is a BA Quad. It is Bottle #2 of 120, bottle in Oct 2014.
This beer pours a dark brown color but not completely opaque. A thin tan head forms on the top when poured into my snifter.
The BA comes through to the nose with a very smooth Bourbon aroma from the barrel aging. There are also hints of oak and vanilla that come through past the bourbon.
The taste is oh so smooth. The flavors just seem to melt in your mouth and as it warms in the glass the bourbons overtones flow to the front.
The mouth feel is yes again very smooth not overly carbonated.
All in all this is a truly outstanding beer from White Birch. I have had this in the cellar for a few months and am glad to say it has improved since I placed it there. I'm also gad to same that I have some it's brothers and sisters left in the cellar waiting to be enjoyed at a later date.

I hope you all enjoy the rest of your NBS as I am going to enjoy mine. I've had a Brisket in the smoker since about 6:00 am this morning and come about 6:00 pm it should make a wonderful dinner. I think in the mean time I will go enjoy a walk in the spring sunshine.