New Beer Sunday (week 540)

I'm still a couple hours away from looking at my first new brew of the day, but I wanted to say Thank You to everyone who participated in NBS BIF #2. We had a lot of fun setting up our targets with hints that may or may not have helped, and we've had more fun shopping for beer, and even more opening our hauls. Here, take a look at the process: http://www.beeradvocate.com/communi...-hauls-and-haikus.295633/page-31#post-3814138

I want to give a big personal Thank You to @ONovoMexicano for a great big box of New Mexico goodness. And I want to encourage some of you long time NBS regulars to join the next one in a couple months. @Bitterbill , @Ri0 , @JuicesFlowing , I'm thinking of you! I'd like to see folks from more different states get in on the fun too. Since the NBS BIF aims to share our great local/regional beers, and help get them out to more people, it'd be fun to to see folks from the states that don't get as much action represented.

 

Aw shucks! Thanks so much @utopiajane ! I just tried to do my best & it was really great to see everybody having fun with it :-) We would love to have you on board for the next one!

I'd honestly say that @TongoRad deserves the lion's share of the credit here, I am merely a co-host.

 

Yes, he was, @utopiajane, and everyone had a great time. I think there was a little (alcohol-induced ?) confusion with everyone as to where to start the YouTube video (like many MST3K shows, the movie doesn't necessarily start at the beginning, and that episode was no exception, starting with an old 1950s short about salesmen before M:THOF started). But hilarity and madness were the unifying thread, and everyone kind of adapted after a few minutes. Definitely a great time, and we all would love to have you next time !

 

I feel your pain and the torment of your dilemma

 

Sitting here on a lazy, rainy Sunday. Just spoke with my daughter in Los Angeles. She and my grandsons moved there on Friday, and she's apparently still on EDT. I'm very happy and proud that she got a job with Virgin Galactic. She's a reliability analyst, which means she's going to make sure the rockets carrying people into space don't blow up. At the same time, I already miss her and the kids, and I won't be seeing them as often as I did when they were living in Framingham.

On to the beer. Thank you, Maria, for starting us off. I picked this bottle of Smuttwater 1.0 up at the 7-11 in the Kittery traffic circle. The store is an unsung gem.

In a snifter, the beer was a hazy golden color. There was a large white head, even with a timid pour. The head dissipated quickly and left a little bit of lace.

A very funky, barnyard aroma. Some sweet fruit and a little bit of spice.

The taste followed form. Very funky and grassy. Some pineapple and melon. I lost the spice that I thought was in the aroma.

Medium-bodied, on the crisp side.

Nice beer.

Happy NBS. Give your kids a hug!

 

Greetings Friends,
We've just been through an amazing two weeks, and despite the pain of many we are all better. This is no political rant, but an observation from a long-standing believer in bringing people together. I'm just an old southern dude that wears his feelings on his sleeve and loves people because I can...It's a terrible penance to pay, but all of this makes me glad. I could write very boring memoirs of race relations that I have been instrumental in, but basketball did it. I played against Bob McAdoo and Pete Maravich, and learned humility and arrogance from these two boys. Robert McAdoo was a lovely person and Pete Maravich was an entitled jerk (in fairness, he became more tame through time), but these guys showed me how the world works. Robert McAdoo was a great competitor and I love the many memories of our encounters.
Today's beer is Fullsteam Brewing's Summer Basil Farmhouse Ale. This beer is hazy like a nice wit, with deep malty bread-like underpinning. Very refreshing with a substantial herbal backbone, and as I take this last sip, I easily imagine being on the French/Belgian border.
These tunes take me back to high school and basketball and formative truths.

 

New Bourbon Barrel Porter Sunday
Deviating course from the BIF for a minute as I have had this one starring at me for a few weeks.



http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/898/153273/

look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

Pours black from the bomber with a slight redish hue in the sunlight. Frothy dark tan head is moderate, but leaves a solid ring around the Duvel. No lacing to speak of.

Aroma is sweet with chocolate and vanilla. Slightly woody with a hint of bourbon. No coffee notes for me.

Taste pretty much follows. Initially sweet and a subtle spice (not sure where that came from), with milk chocolate and roasted malts and oats. A little more bourbon than I smelled, but nowhere near strong. Some molasses, vanilla, oak, and then faint coffee grounds in the aftertaste. 10%? Dangerous...

Great body for a porter. Borders on being a stout, but just a little on the thinner side.

This could stand a hair more coffee flavor (seeing as how it says it on the label), but otherwise it is very nicely balanced. The bourbon is a nice compliment Don't hesitate at all to grab this one, or any of the Heavy Seas barrel aged beers. I have been very impressed with all of them.

 

And @LehighAce06 ! He did most of the behind the scenes heavy lifting, especially after I screwed a few things up early on. I'll do better next time.

 

I'll most likely have a late entry to NBS today. Stayed up way late with the first performance of the Fare The Well series of concerts last night in which I indulged quite nicely in some very fine beers, including a Surly Darkness.
Running a little slow to start this morning. I will partake in NBS by reading the fine posts.

 

Keep it clean!

 

That sounds utterly horrific. Hopefully you weren't in a darkened movie theater at the time and had to claw your way up the aisle howling with dental agony. Ugh!

 

Good morning all.

So the event that I feared would derail this epic NBS doesn't actually start until like 4:00 PM EST, so I get to rip through some of these gorgeous beers courtesy of @kemoarps , the BIF'r that tried to disrupt the entire eastern seaboard by adding a tremendous amount of weight to central VA!

My first adventure will be the Fremont Session Pale Ale



I don't think that the picture gives justice to the struggle between hazy and vibrant, but in person it is an intriguing orange / yellow to say the least beneath what settles down as a slight fizzy white surface.

Nose is of pine, earthiness and subtle, faint eucalyptus.

What strikes first on the tongue is the pine, followed by hints of green tea. Towards the finish we find a wave of bitterness that makes it's exit leaving behind green olive in it's wake.

Mouthfeel is a little thin, but it is a session pale, so I can understand.

Very nice beer that certainly does invite one to throw back several!

 

I think it's important to stress that they finally have a completely separate facility to contain their bugs, which will HOPEFULLY prevent future infection issues in their non-sour offerings, something that has plagued them over the years. I'm not sure why they've had such issues with cross-contamination in the first place (other breweries seem to do ok with it) but by separating the two lines, I'm optimistic that they'll get their shit together a bit better.

 

Seriously. Pistol was truly one-of-a-kind, never been a player like him before or since.

 

Ah... the worst! I chipped my tooth on coleslaw once. Not my proudest moment.