New Beer Sunday (week 531)

Gracias. I gave my Miller Lite-loving bride a sip - the look on her face would indicate she doesn't appreciate the Doppel Kolsch style.

 

Good evening NBS! Hope everyone is enjoying the end of the weekend once again. Got out on fri/sat for just over 40 miles of pure single track biking. This week looks dry so I will be doing some weekday riding as well. I got a flat tire on the way to the trail on saturday so I need to get that sorted out tomorrow.

I brewed a Brown porter this afternoon. Got a double crush for the first time and it worked out great. I got 9% better than normal (LHBS mill) efficiency, but the running were coming out quite slow, but not ever stuck(interesting). Nearly perfect brewday otherwise, spot on mash/sparge temps. The only mishap I did was I forgot the water salts in the mash water, but I added my lactic acid directly to the mash after doughing in(I realized afterward). But anyways, that would have no negative affect on my mash; as the lack of salts would only raise my pH by around .02 lol, so basically perfect brew day. I added the full amount I needed for my targeted mineral profile into the sparge water. Sample tasted exactly as I hoped for when I designed the recipe so we are looking awesome.
http://www.brewtoad.com/recipes/brown-porter-102

Here are todays new beers:

Really nice witbier. Aromas and flavors of tart lemon, lime, passion fruit, pear, green apple, coriander, wheat, cracker, herbal, grass, light pepper, and yeast earthiness. Light-moderate fruit tartness and yeast spice on the finish. Nicely robust flavors for the session abv, not watery at all. Really well balanced fruit/yeast flavors. Smooth and crisp finish with a slight touch of wheat creaminess in there. Really enjoyed this one. The label states it as a "sour witbier" but this is just your standard witbier yeast, with the tartness coming from the fruit additions. Well done. 3.9


Really nice. Aromas and flavors of raspberry, chocolate, cocoa, caramel, toast, brown bread, light coffee, and light toffee. Light-moderate herbal hop and roast bitterness on the finish. Really well balanced fruit, chocolate, and malt flavors. Good bitter/sweet balance of roasted character. Very smooth and moderately creamy mouthfeel; not as heavy on body as I expected, but not a bad thing either. The aromas were a bit more heavy feeling on the raspberries at first but as it warmed, they came more into balance with the rest of it. The flavors were just downright super balanced, it never felt like the fruits were taking over the beer at all. Felt like a genuinely spot on imperial porter with the fruit/chocolate flavors acting more as an accenting feature to the main beer; while I was initially expecting this to have the additional fruit flavors be the spotlight. Really well done. Really glad I got a full 4 pack, this is really drinkable. 3.9


WOW this is outstanding. Aromas and flavors of big grapefruit, tangerine, mango, melon, pineapple, peach, lemon/orange zest, citrus rind, and pine; with some light honey/bready malt balance and herbal/grassy hop earthiness. Nice sized pine/citrus rind bitter finish. Very juicy and bright hops flavors with supporting malt balance that doesn't interfere with any hop flavors whatsoever. Smooth, crisp, and sticky finish. They did a nice job with the revamp here. You can still see the original Centennial heavy beer at the base of this beer's flavors, with plenty of additional tropical hop complexities going on. I will say that while this is still really nice and bitter, it does not feel quite as fiercely bitter as the original. Not a bad thing at all though, I actually prefer it. 4.32


Cheers! Have a good night NBS

 

It's been abnormally cool out recently and apparently my "what kind of beer I'm in the mood for" thing has shifted (maybe as a result of the weather?), because I had originally planned on opening up the first bottle of the last new beer from that Devil's Backbone collaboration variety pack (an imperial IPA if I'm remembering right) but found myself thinking "wait, I'm not really feeling like a hoppy beer tonight" while on the way to the fridge.

I felt more like having a roasty, chocolatey sort of beer. So instead of an IPA of any variety, I'll be having a stout... which means I'm finally be getting around to the last of the untried new beers from the box I got in the mail a while back (thanks again to @tommyguz!)


And that beer is Obsidian Stout from Deschutes Brewery in Oregon! Which is actually the first regular American-style stout I've had -- I've had a few porters, some Irish stouts, and Shiner's Birthday Beer (which was good, but definitely more focusing on the "tastes like chocolate cake" thing) but never just a regular stout.

First impressions: first of all, this smells really, really good. The nice roasty smell like good-smelling coffee, and a chocolatey smell, and it just blends together so well and has absolutely no unpleasant or seemingly "off" bits about it whatsoever. It's like all the great smells I've gotten from other dark roasty beers, but without any of the less-great elements that sometimes came with them. I literally sat here smelling this glass of beer while wrangling with Photobucket trying to get the picture uploaded, just occasionally taking another sniff without even taking a drink or anything. Just smells that good. Even now I'm taking a couple sniffs for each drink. XD

And secondly: the name "Obsidian" is very appropriate, because this has got to be the blackest beer I've seen yet. The shade of brown on the foam is nice, too. But yeah -- it's very black. Light does not penetrate it. At all. Holding it up to the light -- still black. My phone's screen is not even a little bit visible through this beer, even at the narrowest point of the glass. Heck, the little LED flashlight I have can't even make it through (which was not the case with any other black-colored beer I've had before) -- I don't even see little red dots of light on the other side. Wow.

Oh, and the most important part -- does it taste good? Yes. Yes it does. It's got that roastiness from the smell, except now it's bordering on blackened/charred at times, there's the coffee-like roastiness but also a bit of a bitterness and a slight woody sort of thing going on. Nothing is really standing out as being a hop flavor, so I suppose the bitterness is their only contribution here (and even some of that may just be from how heavily roasted the malt is.) Of course, according to the bottle the "best by" date was back in October, so it's possible hops would be more noticeable in a "younger" bottle, but if I hadn't checked the date I would've never guessed this was technically an "old" or "expired" beer. There's the chocolateyness in there, too, which tends to hang around for a while and sometimes pops up again unexpectedly. The near-charred, almost woody roastiness sometimes hangs around along with it, but sometimes not. This is definitely one of those beers that you start to smell/taste whenever you exhale after half a glass or so. Maybe sooner, but I'm really noticing that effect at the half-a-glass point.

Again: wow. This is really, really good. If I keep having beers that impress me this much, it's going to get a whole lot harder to figure out my "favorite beers so far" list... may have to expand it out to a "top 10" instead of just 3 or 5. Or maybe just forget about keeping track of "top ## beers" and stick with something along the lines of "this, this, this, and this are really good." XD

 

Sixpoint: Beast Mode


3.96/5 rDev +9.7%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Pours a dark translucent brown with a big three finger white head. Leaves a thick lacing in the glass just absolutely lovely.
Smell is of chocolate malt and hops. Taste follows as the same but light hint of coffee is also evident. Mouthfeel is slightly thin but not surprising for a 6.4 abv the hops leave a light after taste for a good bit, but I don't mind that.
I got this beer out of a haul brought back from Dallas for me by my friend Ben. (He is not a BA member, HEATHEN....lol) I would be drinking allot more of this if it was available here we get a few Sixpoint beers here but this is not one of them. It is kind of random what we get when it comes to Sixpoint.

 

Getting to my new beer a little late but it was worth the wait

Westbrook 4th Anniversary
WOW. this was a holy s$@t beer.
Here's my review
http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/24134/148994/?ba=SammyJaxxxx

Cheers to all of you NBSers

 

Even though I am as guilty as anyone, I agree with this. Between all the pics, and videos, even my brand new komputater has issues loading this thread. I think we get soooo enthusiastic, we kinda lose sight of the bigger picture. This thread has lasted 10+ years, mostly due to having a specific set of rules.

I did manage to score a few new brews today, an ISA from Boneyard, Bone Light, that was a big, bold, hop blast. Also, Pushing All The Little Daisies by Laurelwood, a solid and enjoyable IPA. Both enjoyed at one of the best beer bars in Seattle, Collins Pub. Too bad it filled with scarf wearing kickball fans.OOF!

I swung buy The Local once back in Bellingham, and enjoyed a Dry Fly whiskey barrel Porter from Anacortes Brewing. It was nicely balanced at first, but by the last 1/3 of the glass, the booze was a bit overwhelming. Cheers fellow NBSers!

 

I'm with @rgordon. While I'm still working on some of the technical aspect of these interwebs (yes, I tried and failed posting pics) I really enjoy the music videos as another component of the communal feel of this corner of BA. Countless times, I listen to somebody's thoughtful (and often obscure) musical addition to our conversation. I don't think it has been excessive or irrelevant in the least. I hope this will be reconsidered. And how is it "more appropriate" to WBAYDN?

 

In my defense, I didn't realize Brickyard was available over in the wilds of Spotuckistan, or I wouldn't have included it in the box I sent in anticipation of a box of Iron Goat joy sent my way. I threw that in as an extra, without ever having tried it myself. Whew! Glad that one worked out.

 

Here is mine http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/24300/72592/

 

Full disclosure, it's late, I've had beers, and haven't read the whole thread tonight. IMHO, WBAYDN is just more of a "I'll show you mine, if you show me yours" kinda deal. I find it a bit shallow. I like the fact that NBS requires a bit more effort. I'll read the thread tomorrow, and if my thoughts change, I'll mention it next week.

 

It was a great addition, and it's almost not available here. You did good.

Unlike the Mariners at the end. I fear for any luckless hobos with Coors Light that were near the stadium...

 

I bailed in the top of the 11th. I was on my feet all day yesterday, volunteering my fat ass off, and then making my ass even fatter by drinking, then standing a the game all day, that I had to go. I did, however, mange to score an additional new brew after leaving Collins. I thought I had time before the bus, so I swung into a quickee-mart, for a street beer while waiting. Well, the bus was there, so, yes, I enjoyed a 25oz can of Busch Copper Lager, complete with paper bag, on the ride home. Actually, it was pretty enjoyable for what it was.

 

Drinking a Busch beer out of a bag on a bus? Sounds like the part in a road movie where things have gone horribly wrong

I honestly didn't know there was such a thing as Busch Copper Lager.

 

Damn, that sounds like an awesome weekend. And you put Backseat on my radar. Thanks!!!

 

$2-ish for a 25oz can. Pretty tasty, for what it is: http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/29/111575/

 

Thank you everyone for an interesting day. I love this place and I truly hope that peace will continue to prevail. Too much good happens here to let it go unrecognized. This is a great platform and I have no illusions about how meaningful Beer Advocate is for the state of this modern beer revolution. Cheers all and goodnight!

 

glad you enjoyed it.

 

Yeah this is a bitter mofo!