New Beer Sunday (week 552)

Good Morning NBS crew.

Todays’ new beer is Smuttynose Pumpkin Ale. Not a huge pumpkin beer fan but I try to have 1 or 2 per fall that I have never had (and I am always a sucker for Schlafly’s Pumpkin and Elysian’s Pumpkin beers). Bought a single from Halftime Beverage in Poughkeepsie.

L: Cloudy orange. Head dissipates pretty quickly leaving a nice white ring.

A: Muted a bit but I like it—not overpowering---clove, nutmeg etc—when it comes to pumpkin spice I don’t know what’s what but it smells “pumpkiny”. Smells like I would expect.

T: Pumpkin pie taste comes at the end and at first sip you wouldn’t know it’s a pumpkin beer—takes just that fraction of a second for the pumpkin taste to hit. Lots of cinnamon. The aftertaste is very mild but lingers a bit. Can taste the hops at the tale end. Nothing artificial about this taste.

M: Medium bodied. Good carbonation throughout. Might be the closet thing to perfect mouthfeel for a pumpkin beer I have tried.

If I were to recommend a pumpkin beer to someone who doesn’t like pumpkin beers this would be it—very drinkable which says a lot to someone like me who is usually one and done with pumpkin beers—I mean I wouldn’t have a 6 pack but could see drinking 2-3 of these. The hops added another dimension and it got better as I let it sit a bit.

This was good—rating to style I gave it a 4.14. Schlafly still sets the bar, but this is one I would drink again with no qualms. Smuttynose may not be world-beaters but this coupled with Shoals, Robust Porter and Finest Kind makes for some solid offerings. Not many breweries have a lineup this solid (if not spectacular).

Enjoy your football Sunday all!

 

Good morning New BSers and thank you Maria for starting us off today. Nice pix and analysis of Spaten Octoberfest! I'm not a fan of that style of beer so today's entry is:



Gotta give this one points for the label - both the Sanskrit style of the beer's name and the subtitle (Weizenbock of the Destroyer) appeal to my (markedly warped) sense of humor.

Undated 750 mL bottle at 42 degrees into shaker
Aroma of roasted malt and chocolate
Head enormous (10.5 cm, aggressive pour), light brown, creamy, slowly diminishing to four to five mm ring and layer
Lacing – none
Body dark brown/black, opaque
Flavor begins slightly sour, with hints of chocolate and malt coming through the sourness; no hops, no alcohol, no diacetyl
Palate medium, creamy, lively carbonation

Appearance 4, Aroma 4.25, Flavor 3, Palate 4, Overall 4. Rating 3.66, rDev 0 % - not enough reviews

I'm having my doubts about New Braunfels Brewing. I've noticed a marked similarity in all their beers I've tried (7) - an underlying, sometimes overt, sourness. And, with the exception of their Berlinerweisse (Wasser Weisse), all seem to be based on weisenbocks or dunkelweizens. To my taste, these styles are not well suited to souring. It makes me think that they have a contamination issue in the brewery and are just trying to make lemonade to cut their losses - just my opinion but I'll still buy their beer when I'm in New Braunfels to support the local brewing industry.

 

This is a really good one. I like how the bottle says, "Malt Liquor", ha-ha.

 

You'll never see this one in a store. A lady who works at the firm forwarded it to me. Located in New Orleans, by the way. Okay, it has a thick, bone-colored head, a mostly clear, amber appearance, a fairly good amount of chunky sediment, and pretty heavy lacing left on the glass. The aroma is of roasted malt, semi-sweet brown bread, and nut. Taste is of nuts, brown bread crust, wood, tannin, fairly noticeable hop bitterness, tea, and dried grass, and herbs. Mouthfeel is medium, and Abita Client Select finishes semi-dry and fairly rich. Odd that one of the best beers I've ever tried from Abita Brewing Co. is not available for purchase. I don't know what the specs or style is for this one.

 

Surly Brewing Todd the Axe Man IPA

A buddy of mine brought some of this down from Chicago. Everything I've had from Surly has been very tasty I was excited to get to try this IPA. This can is fresh, less than a month from canning so the hops are still bright and resinous. The taste like the aroma is surprisingly balanced with a lot of sweet malt to help balance out the bitterness from the hops. I tend to prefer my IPAs this way with a little bit of sweetness on the backend. Overall, Todd the Axe Man was a fantastic brew that I really enjoyed. Cheers!

 

When I saw Daura Marzen on the shelf, I was skeptical but I just had to try it. When I saw that it was a 7.2% beer, I was even more skeptical. I like my marzens in the 6% range or lower. Let's see.

It pours a medium to light copper color that's quite clear with constant, slowly rising bubbles in the Great Divide cervoise glass. A light cream head leaves a thin patch on top with a collar of bubbles and light dots and vertical lines of lacing. The aroma has almost a banana peel note in it before being hammered by spicy hops. The hop spice is very aromatic and has hints of cinnamon. As I drink this, I search for familiar caramel sweetness and find none. There's a faintly bready beginning though, before more of that hop spiciness takes over. The finish is equally spicy. The mouthfeel is slightly thin, dry, and has a boozy quality about it. Overall, this one was not impressive. Unfortunately I have 5 more to work through. I like spicy marzens but only if they have more balance and sweetness. This one does not. I did notice that as it warmed, it got better. In fact I'm going to have to go back and edit my review. I doubt the score changes though: 3.36

I may be back later with a new beer to me from Evil Twin.

 

Sounds Ballantine Burton Aleish

 

Are you ready to Rumble Oktoberfest Style Part Two!?!

Oktoberfest started yesterday (Sept. 19th); woo-hoo!!

Totally unrelated to Oktoberfest, I will be going to see the Eagles-Cowboys game later today. I will start tailgating a little early today.

Two weeks ago I had some fun doing a side-by-side tasting of Sly Fox Oktoberfest vs. Sierra Nevada/Riegele. I figured lets have some more fun!!

In one corner will be the ‘upstart’ of the Sierra Nevada/ Brauhaus Riegele collaboratively brewed Oktoberfest beer. Below are some stats for this challenger:

Overview

• Alcohol Content 6.0% by volume
• Beginning gravity 14.6° plato
• Ending Gravity 3.5° plato
• Bitterness Units 30

Ingredients

• Yeast Lager yeast
• Bittering Hops German Magnum
• Finishing Hops German Select, Tettnanger, Spalter
• Malts Two-row Pale, Steffi, Pilsner, Munich

In the other corner is one of my favorite German brewed Oktoberfest beers: Ayinger Oktoberfest. Below is from the importer’s website:

“Taste

Rich, golden color. Slightly sweet, malty nose. Medium to big body and alcohol. Soft dryness from long maturation.”

So who will it be? The upstart (Sierra Nevada) or the classic beer (Ayinger)? Let the contest begin!

Served in my Spiegelau Lager glasses:

Appearance:

Ayinger: An orangish amber with a foamy long lasting off-white head.

Sierra Nevada: A light golden amber color with a fluffy off-white colored head.


Aroma:

Ayinger: Light sweet maltiness.

Sierra Nevada: Clean mild malt aroma with some light toffee; a bit sweet smelling.


Taste:

Ayinger: Carmelized, bready maltiness with just a slight hint of fruitiness. Restrained bitterness that is just enough to keep the beer from being sweet.

Sierra Nevada: The flavor follow the nose with light toffee and a richness to the malt flavors. The hop flavor is subdued; this beer is all about the rich malt backbone. Moderately bitter.


Mouthfeel

Ayinger: Medium bodied with a creamy carbonation level; a semi-dry finish

Sierra Nevada: Medium bodied; lacking a dry finish.

Overall

Ayinger: A nicely balanced beer with pleasant malty flavors.

Sierra Nevada: A tasty and enjoyable beer which features a rich malt backbone.


Both of these beers are enjoyable to drink!

I enjoyed drinking the Sierra Nevada/ Brauhaus Riegele Oktoberfest beer.

The Ayinger Oktoberfest was more balanced so I preferred that beer a bit more.

Cheers to Ayinger and Sierra Nevada for producing tasty Oktoberfest beers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

P.S. My favorite Oktoberfest is Sly Fox Oktoberfest since it has a perfect balance of malt and hop flavors with a very pleasing dry finish (for my palate).

 

World class brew, imho. Cheers!

 

Greetings friends everywhere,
I apologize for the huge photo, but I was having "technical" difficulties and I was not able to crop and edit.
It's another beautiful day here in the upper Piedmont, turning into Autumn, with the sourwoods, dogwoods, maples, and more turning their reds and yellows. This year the color will be excellent throughout these big hardwood forests.
Today's beers are Spaten Oktoberfest and Sierra Nevada Oktoberfest, a collaboration with Brauhaus Riegele of Augsburg, Germany. Maria did a perfect job leading us off with Spaten's classic Oktoberfest...it's that time of year!
I thought it would be interesting to counter-point these two brews from two great breweries. I've loved the Spaten version for years, and trust that it will always have the rich firm malt, the spicy little tingle that avoids overt sweetness, as it dries out across one's palate. This is a wonderful beer that is somehow sweet and dry, satisfying and as damned good as they get. (I also love Hacker-Pschorr's version). The Spaten is rich, yet light on it's feet. The deep color portends a richly malty thing, but this beer is so perfectly rendered that all is in a magical balance.
The Sierra Nevada Oktoberfest collaboration is a really very good beer. It is significantly lighter in color than the Spaten. The Sierra Nevada seems to be a touch hoppier than the Spaten, but there is a very nice little dry as a bone honey note, and a crispness that is imminently drinkable. This beer is rich, not sweet and a great vacation from tongue-lashing hoppiness. I will spend hours with both of these beauties as long as I can find them available.
I've loved Jethro Tull since I saw them first at The Mosque (1969) in Richmond. We were on the front row of the balcony, waiting for the show to begin. Everyone was very amped up and ready for the show. Frisbees were flying, strange herbal aromas floated about with impunity, and a Frisbee landed in my hand. I looked at my pals and heaved the disc toward the stage...it actually landed on top of a drum with the mike on, going bong, bong, bong! Ian Anderson walks out as if on cue and says, "Aye that's a hard act to follow!" We have laughed about that for years. This band has always been under-appreciated. Great live performers!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgUw6t3b6oE

 

new beer sunday first sampling

an American wild ale from a local chicago brewer

I get the wheat first off, nice malty aroma

pours straw with nice white head that sticks around for awile

definitely get the sour from the wine barrel water, tho not as sour as I was expecting.

some subtle sweetness on the tongue for a short time, then disappears to a funky aftertaste

I haven't had too many of these types of beers to compare to, but the mouthfeel is wet with no strong aftertaste

i'm sure there are better wilds out there to try, but I like this and would have an average rating of

3.75 good enough to recommend.

 

Cloudy, cool, and breezy today - just awesome weather for my tastes...

Had a can of Heavy Lifting after breakfast

And it blew me away... the perfect breakfast juice this Sunday morning...

Number two for review...

I enjoyed these more than the Jai Alai I had yesterday - and these aren't that fresh - they've got a best by date of October 18th, but I don't know what kind of window Boulevard gives this beer. I'd figure 6 months to be likely, making for an April canning date, but the store manager was thinking it was 4 months, which would be a June canning date. Perhaps owing to being canned, in addition to the quality of the beer, this drink was top-notch.

Lots of bitter hop action, mostly citric and floral. Orange pith and grapefruit flesh suggested. The malts beneath softened the feel with hearty wet grains and pale orchard fruits. The bitterness is big and assertive, immediately and past the finish. Amply carbonated and with a rounded feel on the tongue, this was a great beer to start my day. Shoulda got a sixer...

 

Almanac "Farm to Barrel" Farmer's Reserve Pluot



My wife picked this up for me on a trip through San Francisco a couple months ago. Been holding it for a NBS and today seemed like the day. If, like me, you'd never heard of a pluot before, they're a cross between apricots and plums. Here's what the label says...



It has a pretty, deep apricot, yellow-orange color with a finger of white head. Better still is the huge aroma of sour apple, peach skins and plum, and just a hint of barnyard funk.

It's got a tart and sour flavor, quite fruity, with similar notes as the nose and a touch of oak in the background. It's medium bodied with a good amount of "scraping bubbles" in the mouthfeel -- the carbonation and mouth-puckering tartness combining well.

My review came to 4.26 overall. The best pluot beer I've ever had. ; )

 

Good morning NBS BAs. My submission today is an American style IPA from Behemoth Brewing Company, Warkworth, NZ:







A medium amber ((less than skillful) pour with two fingers of thick off white head. Lots of lace and full cap with excellent clarity. Grapefruit, kiwi and mangos are quite prominent. There are also wet, dank and earthy pine scents many of the IPAs here impart. Tropical fruit juice blend of kiwi and mango immediately comes to mind with the first sip, followed by grapefruit and wet earthy pine. Dry bitter finish. Medium light mouthfeel, medium carbonation. Slick, resinous tongue coating. This is so poundable! Clean and light with multiple kiwi hop fruit juice flavors, and I like the dry over all feeling in my mouth. And it has those earthy dank and pine flavors without being overpowering as I've tasted in other similar NZ IPAs. This beer will probably rate out just under a 4.25 for me.

A beautiful park we visited on Sunday in the northern, east coast area, about an hour drive from Aukland - Wenderholm Regional Park:



And on the other side of the hill, Waiwera Place Reserve:



Cheers!

 

looks awesome, i'll have another style of almanac later, hope you take a peek