New Beer Sunday (week 553)

Good morning Sunday folks! It's just past midnight and I've been sitting on this beer all week to try out with you guys - "Basilica" a vanilla chocolate porter from Deep Creek Brewing Co., Silverdale, Auckland, NZ. Bought this bottle at their brewpub in Browns Bay, another quaint town on the water (the bay is approximately 300 feet out the back door of the pub) a short bus ride north of Auckland:





I had a great time at their pub last week and the manager highly recommended this 2013 bottle, which rings in at 6.1%. I enjoyed everything on tap, so I jumped at the chance to give this one a go...

Deep brown, almost black with ruby see through; khaki head; good clarity while held up to the light; moderate cap retention and good lace. 4.5

Solid and consistent chocolate and roasted malt nose; the chocolate is not in your face, more like if you took the top off of a Hershey's cocoa powder tin and gave a whiff; slight berry esters follow. 4.25

Chocolate and roasted malt up front; grainy and dry cocoa; a little creamy vanilla pudding as the liquid continues to warm; flavors of cocoa powder and raspberry on the finish. 4.5

Lite carbonation; smooth medium mouthfeel; soft creamy tongue coating. 4.25

Overall super lite, dry, and easy drinking; subdued bittersweet cocoa linger - so smooth, and so good; 750 ml bottle and I'm finishing the last mouthful as I one finger peck out this review (almost 1am now) on my cell phone...as should be clear from the forgoing, I really enjoyed this porter. No harsh anything with subtle dark roasted malt underpinning the well balanced and nuanced flavors so well embodying the style. 4.25

Have a great Sunday.
Cheers from down under!

 

Good morning @cavedave ! Thanks for getting us started. I had only a taste of this beer last weekend so not enough to write a real review. I did jot down the words impudent and upstart. Now I have enough . This is The Gourd Standard from Flying Dog. A Pumpkin IPA. This brewer literally jumps double dutch between these two styles.

Happy New Pumpkin What Are You Tryin' To Do To Me IPA Sunday



Pours soft hazy orange and if you pour the whole bottle it has pretty big stuff in it. Fat creamy head that clings dense and sticky. The stuff floating in it goes from top to bottom.



Spicy peppery nose. Brown sugar. Light citric hop. Nutmeg ,cinnamon, allspice. A touch of butter scotch. This beer uses 4 malts. Crisp breaddy rye, mild rustic oats, cara brown which gives toasted flavor, and biscuit. Two varieties of hops- Hallertau and Hersbrucker. Hops are woody and cool. I would say a citric tang on a moderately strong bitter hop.

Drinks hearty and bitter. Spices add cheek to a surprising maltiness. Finishes moderately dry with a good measure of brown sugar and quite bitter. Very woody,very earthy. Crisp carbonation.

The combinations that work in this beer are strong hop bitterness on breaddy malts. Pepper from hops goes well with pepper from rye. There's a floral from the hops that compliments the fragrant rye. Butterscotch and biscuit are delicious. There's just a touch of diacety and it smooths the breaddiness but the beer doesn't finish clean.

Some style points of the IPA are medium dryness & malt supporting a strong hop backbone. This beer is impudent because as strong as those those hops are the balance is toward the malt in the finish. Who ever heard of a toasty ipa anyway? (That's cheek too!)

Under IPA it says "generally clean." The diacetyl in this is pleasant, is a feature of the beer and can belong in both styles. Upstart!

This beer is a mouthfull. It even sticks to the roof of your mouth. Instead of sweet with pumpkin and sugar this beer is hearty with dry bread and brown sugar. It carries the full hop signature of an IPA on hops that are noble, not tropical. The floral hop is a sweetness sitting lightly atop a big earth. I enjoyed this beer tremendously .

Now before I go let me just tell you all that I have asked our very own @smakawhat to give us our introduction next week as I will be out of town during the morning. Where will I be you ask? I will be at the The Old Forge Big Beer and Odd Ales Competition and I hope to bring you an NBS exclusive look behind the scenes at a beer competition later that day.

Cheers everyone and Happy New Beer Sunday


Tell Me Something Good.

 

Good morning New BSers! It's another lovely hazy dew-covered morning here in the jellowjacket capital of NW PA. Only picked up 55 apples this morning and was only buzzed once by a yellowjacket. Mrs. Lizard made a delicious apple pie yesterday from a bunch of macs rescued from the wasps - only took 30 years to actually get a crop from the forty foot high dwarf trees. Anyway. Today's new beer is from the recently defunct Indigo Imp brewery in Cleveland. I tried to do a review on BA but it wouldn't accept it since the brewery is history. Too bad - it'd only be the second review and sure shouldn't skew the Avg much.

Bottle labeled Barrel 2 Batch 224 at 42 degrees into hand washed and dried chalice
Aroma of fruit, weak, which immediately attracted a fruit fly
Head – basically none. Using a slow controlled pour the fizziness eliminated any head before it could really get started
Lacing – none
Body dark reddish-amber, hazy; sediment in bottom of bottle
Flavor sour (slight pucker) and oaky, fruity but not distinctly any specific fruit, some spiciness; no hops, no alcohol
Palate light, watery, lively carbonation

Appearance 4.25, aroma 3.75, Flavor 4.5, Palate 4.5, Overall 4.25. Avg - 3.75



Note the fruit fly heading in!

So in summary, goodbye to another small local brewery. I'm sorry you weren't better distributed here in NW PA, I really like your Gatekeeper porter. Only being open Friday afternoons did make it rather difficult to visit the brewery, but on those occasions when I did get there, whoever was working the brewery and tending bar was always pleasant, friendly, and informative! I will miss you! Prost!

 

I don't think there is a more succinct, accurate statement about how I felt about this beer myself. I went to look up my review, and - I didn't write one or even rate the beer!!! I had a six pack and I guess I figured I would get to the review on the next one, and then at some point figured I already had. Shame on me! I am pretty sure there are some still around, so I might have to pick up some more.

 

Good morning NBS’ers.

Happy football Sunday.

New beer for me this Sunday is Pinkus Ur Pils. This beer may have been sitting on the shelf since the Reagan administration but I figured I’d give it a shot as I am a sucker for German Pils. No dust on the bottle, so I am hoping it’s not “aged”.

Appearance is more cloudy and hazy than I am used to in pils. May have poured too hard? Head was huge and but it dissipated rather quickly. Left some nice lacing.

Smell was sweet. Caught some floral hops and citrus. More “Kolsh-like” in aroma.

Taste wasn’t what I expected. Sweet malt and cereals. Some chalkiness. Some grassy notes really lingered long after on my tongue—almost disappeared and then came back stronger after a few seconds after the sip. Aftertaste wasn’t altogether pleasing.

Overall impressions: Kind of unremarkable but not bad. The sweetness made it a more robust Pils. No bite at all to speak of. Not as clean (tasting or looking) but that may be what they were going for.

Went with a 3.5 on this. I love German Pils but either the bottle was not fresh of the unfiltered style was just not my cup of tea. The fact that it is organic is a nice selling point but played no part really. Had no qualms about finishing the bottle but it left me wanting and I am going to head off to more reliable German Pils after this.

Cheers all

 

You either like pumpkin beers, or you don't like them it seems. I do like them, although there have been seasons in the past where I have avoided them -- in general I am a fan. Today I pay tribute to my very own pumpkin -- that 17 pound white gourd in the photo -- I grew that. My wife and I have been trying to grow pumpkins for the past 3 years but they never get pollinated. This year the bees were at work, and they gave us only one pumpkin -- but it is absolutely spectacular. The Great Pumpkin has arrived.

Howe Sound Brewing from Squamish, British Columbia brew Pumpkineater, an imperial pumpkin ale weighing in at 8% ABV. I'd like to point out the beer label. Howe Sound add a lot of typical details about the beer, but I particularly liked the color chart. It's not mind-blowing information but I just thought it was neat for them to make the effort to give as much info as possible on the beer.

It looks like a pumpkin beer with an opaque rust colored body. Actually, it's the exact color of cinnamon sticks. The head is cream colored and nearly matches my own pumpkin. Head recession leaves a patch of wispy foam on top with a little bit of lacing that eventually disappears.

When I stick my nose in the Duvel glass, I get the usual suspects -- cinnamon, clove, allspice, nutmeg. But in the very tail end, just when I've given up hope, a very earthy, musty, pumpkin-gourd aroma attacks. It really does smell like real pumpkin flesh.

The taste is spot-on with the aroma. It is a spicy affair, as if the brewer cleaned out the typical Autumn spice rack and threw it all in the brew kettle. Cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg -- and again that earthy flesh from a real gourd. The finish has a pronounced cinnamon note. The 8% ABV is mostly undetectable in this making it very easy to drink.

Overall: A very typical pumpkin ale with all the predictable plot twists. We've all seen this film before, but it's one that we don't mind watching again. The price tag is $12.99 for a liter bottle. A bit steep, but surely worth it once a year. Especially when you can use a home-grown pumpkin in the background for NBS. Cheers!

 

Good morning everyone, long time since my last (first?) post. Sundays--indeed all days--of late have been a day of family, of contemplation, of being nose-deep-in-books and I haven't really given much focus to contributing to the forums here. A shame as I've been enjoying some very tasty beer.

Here's a closeup of my entrant for today:


I was very excited I managed to get a 4-pack at the local Total Wine before they sold out and I'm pretty sure I confused the man behind the counter with my insistence on walking around with it in my hands . Anyway, on to the review:

4.7/5 rDev +5.1%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 5 | overall: 4.75

L -- Pours jet black with a creamy tan head that eventually falls down into a ring around the edge. Little lacing to speak of. I wish I had poured it a little faster to get a longer-retaining head.

S -- Coffee, roasted malts, chocolate. Straightforward, but very powerful.

T -- Coffee and chocolate are the major players, as to be expected. They push and pull at each other, alternating who leads, sometimes dancing together in mocha unison. The chocolate is sometimes quite bitter, other times smooth and embraces the tongue.

F -- Luscious and decadent. Full bodied, light carbonation. The alcohol provides a warmth that is welcomed and pleasant. Chewy, velvety, I mean damn, just pick a word. The feel is absurd and exactly what I'd want from a stout.

O -- I understand why this one is rated so highly. It's a very well developed stout that hits many of the spots I want from one. Also very impressive that Founders puts out a beer this good for national distribution. In a world where everyone is trying to one-up each other (in general, not just in beer), it's always easy to appreciate when someone does something "simple", but does it incredibly well.


It wouldn't be breakfast without a little something to eat, so I'm pairing it with a thick slice of my first pumpkin bread of the season:


Cheers everyone and Happy New Stout Sunday!

 

New ESB with tea Sunday

Greeting NBSer's,
And happy Sunday to you all.
'Enjoying the extended good weather this part of the country has had from the spring though summer and now into fall. Typically by the end of Sept. we have some pretty strong color showing, but not yet. Not too many cool nights yet. I'm sure it's coming but for now I'll take the fabulous weather.
I think MN is kicking into the experimental season in terms of beer products and today I get an early goer with an ESB with Earl Grey tea brewed by Summit. This blends quite nicely as the tea works well with English hops. The foundation is nice and the bittering is prominent without being overpowering. Good beer.
http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/467/184209/?ba=garymuchow

Best to all today and all week.

 

Well, second day this weekend I went for a walk on a nice fall morning (well, it was a little wet today, but no rain during the walk). I had an email from the Apple Fitness app team wondering if someone stole my phone, not sure if the two are related . After reading last night's LNBA, started with the Ramones Greatest Hits Live, which seemed like one long song punctuated with "1,2,3,4" to signal a change in actual songs. Second half of the walk I went to another band I gave a listen to thanks to BA and that was Morphine. The second half of the walk was a bit slower than the first.

Got home and finally am popping this want sent to me by @WesMantooth. The last new thing to try from the package, and am happy to be trying it now:


Pours almost black, with a quickly receding tan head. I little agitation brings a little rush of froth that does not last, either.
Initial nose is like a flavored coffee, like a shot of sweet flavoring was added - maybe caramel. There also seems like a fruit bitter-to-tart note in there I can't pick out. Eventually these notes fade and chocolate-laced coffee remains.
Feel is a little oily, body about medium.

On a cold beer: First sip does hit with a little sweetness, but it is quickly replaced with coffee and dark chocolate roasted malt notes. Then that fruit-like taste hits. Berry-like in nature almost, and I get a sensation of a berry-filled dark chocolate candy bar (but not as sweet).
As it warms: much like the nose, the tart/bitter notes fade, and it turns into a coffee-with-cream, very lightly sweetened with perhaps a slight nod to the chocolate notes from initial sips.

The last picture? Well, it turns out I got enough likes yesterday to reach a milestone that kicked me into poobah status. The girlfriend knew this was coming and mind you, she loves to play those silly online games and is fairly competitive at them. Here's how that went:
Me: Hey, that actaully gave me enough points to make me a "Poobah"
GF: <rolls eyes> Are you going to put that on your resume?
Me: Laugh all you want, but you constantly claim to be "Waze Royalty"
GF: <pause> But that's different, it's Royalty
Me: So that's an outdated, quite likely incestuous thing, wheras "poobah" is...
Me: <grabs phone and looks up poobah in dictinoary.com>
Me: a person holding many public or private offices (wait, that's not right)
.... oh here: a person in high position or of great influence
GF: That's not right, either, though
Me: Yeah, must be a mistake.

So anyhow, after we got home, she grabbed the Viking hat that she got for getting the "Poobah Ticket" for Beer, Bourbon, and BBQ festival a few years back and gave it to me in what I can only assume is a sign of respect for my status. The male cat, seeing something new, of course had to investigate.

Cheers, NBS!

 

Delicious, with breakfast!

 

Something from the Cellar - Shawneecraft Cuvee Saison 2014

During the holiday season I give some of my local beer retailers Christmas presents. One of my local retailers is a big fan of Porters so I gave him some of my Hill Farmstead Everett clone beers. In return he gave me some beers from the bottle shop including a bottle of Shawneecraft Cuvee Saison 2014. I have been cellaring this beer for 9+ months and today is the day to pop the cap.

Served in my Heavy Seas Tulip glass:

Appearance:

Gold colored with a BIG fluffy white head.

Aroma:

I am picking up some fruity aromas (esters) and some spicy aromas (phenols). Also a bit of a sweet smell as well.

Taste:

The flavor is very much following the nose: a pleasant combination of fruit and spice flavors.

Mouthfeel

Thin-medium bodies with an off-dry finish.

Overall

I enjoyed drinking this beer.

Cheers to Matt for the nice Christmas present!

 

4.1/5 rDev -4.4%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

White Rajah has a medium, white head, a semi-opaque, orange-gold appearance, some bubbles, and not so heavy lacing left behind. The aroma is of very citrus-type hop oil and white bread, and the flavor is of the same, with citrus rind and pith. It is not too bitter or sugary. Mouthfeel is medium, and White Rajah finishes mostly dry and mild.

RJT

 

I was going to go with a Prairie BOMB! before work at 2, but I thought that'd make me feel a little... rushed and drunk. So, I'm having a Spectra Trifecta.


Bottled 8/31 and poured 9/27. $2.29 for a single.

Appearance: Even with an aggressive pour, not much of a head to speak of at all -- what there was fizzled away within a few seconds. The color is golden yellow with some haze. No lacing, and only a really small ring of head around the glass. Nice color, but that's about it. (3.5/5)

Smell: Brewed with chamomile, ginger, and lemongrass, you say? Well, that's what it smells like. All three of those with a very slight biscuity malt aroma. The chamomile, ginger, and lemongrass together makes for a lavender-like aroma. Very nice, sweet, perfumey nose. (4.25/5)

Taste/feel: It hits all at once, but at the same time, each taste can be differentiated. I wanted to say the chamomile is the most prominent flavor, but then the other ingredients come in. Like the smell, a bit of lavender comes through in the taste out of nowhere. All of the flavors are quite strong, but at the same time, don't destroy the base beer in any way -- I think this is mostly because Founders seemingly gingerly used ginger in this beer: it's a strong flavor, and I don't think they brewed Spectra Trifecta with too much of it. The malt and yeast comes in on the finish and aftertaste, and is bready and cracker-like, like I would expect from the style. The mouthfeel is excellent for the style, with a moderately prickly carbonation, and a fairly light body. (4/5, 4/5)

This is a very, very refreshing beer, and would make for a perfect Spring or early Summer seasonal release from Founders. I hope to see it back sometime then.

(4/5)

(4.03/5 +4.1% rDev)

Cheers, BA!

 

hello new beer sunday. I came across this little morsel at a local store singles for 3.50

poured out thick black goodness with mocha head, that is now reduced to thin line

first vapors were sweet, then chocolate and some caramel as well

sweetness coats the tongue right away and the taste of semi sweet chocolate soon after with slight bitterness to finish.

another great beer from Bells, and I am having my wife pick me up a few more today as this WILL NOT LAST

 

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/63/175162/?ba=Bitterbill

C&Ps out of the way....G'day NBS faithful!

Cheers, or should I say Prost(drinking a lot of German style brews from Grimm Brothers lately) to Dave and Maria for always keeping NBS fresh, aged, informative, and most importantly...fun!

The Casper beer scene continues to grow in leaps and bounds; I've had to actually cut back a bit lest evil befall my bank account.

This XXVII is amazing:

Just came into town the other day so already, a little bit of aging going on. ;^)

It almost looks pitch black but not quite. Beautiful pour...served at room temp..a thick swirly billowy tannish head of foam that shrinks to darn quickly but that's the way of these higher abv brews, eh? That doesn't stop the brew from leaving some lovely lacing behind. Based on the looks alone, I WILL? like this newest rendition of the Anniversary Black Butte.

Smell wise, the first thing that hits my nose buds is the Bourbon. Nice. Followed by a cascade of cocoa, a rather plentiful aroma of pitted fruits. bits of black cherry tartness, and more of the boozy Bourbon. I can't wait to dive in.

I get more of the cocoa and pitted fruits, yes..including apricots, than the Bourbon taste wise. Fine by me. It doesn't need to be center stage to add to the general quality of the beer. And there's that black cherry mild tartness that I mentioned in the smell. Or is it pomegranate? Never ate that fruit in my 63 years on planet Earth.

Everything seems so in sync with XXVII; looks, smell, taste. Best after July 20, 2016? This is awesome "straight" out of the gate. And I've been a loyal follower since XX.(Damn you XXII for never being bottled!)

Creamy smooth body goes very well with the light carbonation.

Well, there you have it. XXVII may be my favourite BB since whenever. Near perfect blending with a drinkability that defies reasoning. I must and will get more!

Anywho, we have another bottle share in Casper at 2PM so I better make this my last beer before then.

Prost!

 

Following utopiajane's lead. It's New Wierd IPA Sunday.



Green Street SIPA

Hermit Thrush Brewery
American IPA / 6.80% ABV

3.18/5 rDev -15.9% | Avg: 3.78
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 2.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3

L- Hazy Cider brown with a thick half centimeter head which dies down to a solid ring.
S-The smell gives some sour initially followed by some hop. Neither is particularly strong.
T- I get some sour up front which is replaced by some hop bitterness at the backend. I'm not sure these are two concepts that work together. Neither is a particularly strong example of it's individual parts though the sour is the stronger of the two. The IPA finish is just off-putting.
F-Lightly carbonated after the initial pour gives it a medium mouthfeel. I think it might be improved with a slightly better carbonation.
O- I applaud the attempt at originality, but this just doesn't work. I don't find the two flavors compatible. It's like a peanut butter and mustard sandwich. The total here is less than the some of its parts.

Hopefully I'll have something a little tastier on deck for later. Cheers! Go Raiders!

 

Good morning,

Giving a try to one I'm surprised that I've never actually had

Samuel Smith's Taddy Porter



Looks very nice after a fairly aggressive pour with it's big root beer float head and opaque body.

Nose isn't massive as grainy with a touch sweet is all I'm getting.

Taste immediately makes me happy. Sweet caramel, dates and earthy bitterness prevail. Finishes less cloying and cumbersome than I would have thought in this medium bodied beer.

Very much enjoy!

 

Bottled 9/8 and poured into a Sam Adams Perfect Pint on 9/27. $2.29 single.



Appearance: Hazy pale orange color with two fingers of head that stay for quite awhile. There's also a ton of thick lacing through most of the glass. This is a beautiful looking IPA. (4.25/5)

Smell: The very definition of "dank." Seriously... just resinous as all hell and basically just smells like pot infused with mangoes and some pineapple. The hops are very in-your-face, juicy and pure. There may be a malt aroma in there somewhere, but it's buried under layers and layers of hops. (4/5)

Taste/feel: First off, great body -- medium/full with a mid-level carbonation that works perfectly. The flavor of this beer, well, it reminds me of a Short's beer. This beer is smothered, layered, piled, and stuffed with hops. This labeled as a Pale Ale on this site, but the label says IPA -- and it definitely is the latter. This beer is borderline over-the-top with the hops. Actually, I shouldn't say that this beer has too many hops (HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE!?) as much as this beer doesn't have enough malt. ERMAGERDNESS has an intense blend of both resinous, piney hops (primarily those, I'd say), along with a mango, papaya, and slight pineapple taste. I'd constitute this as a light-ish IPA given its ABV, and it sort of tastes like most of those do: very hoppy with very little malt flavor. The reason why I don't mind it too much in this beer though is that ERMAGERDNESS has an awesome mouthfeel. (4/5, 4.25/5)

Good, not great -- once again, Short's, I think, misses out on balance. I absolutely love the hop flavors on this beer, but there's no malt characteristics to give it any sort of real balance, and that's ultimately why this beer falls short of being phenomenal to me, and also why I'm sticking it with a 3.75 overall rating.

(3.75/5)

4.01/5 (-1.5% rDev)

 

Well, this review made me want to drink mine. May crack that later.