New Beer Sunday (week 555)

I'm glad to see you got the gold wax. The silver wax bottles are nice and sour from infection.

 

Stoudts Brewery - Oktoberfest event

I just got back from a Stoudts Brewery (Adamstown, PA) Oktoberfest Celebration.

Before I get to the beer let me say that as much as I love Stoudts beer the music was the highlight of this event: The Alex Meixner Band. They play high energy music from Polka to Waltz to Rock & Roll. Extremely entertaining.

There was good food as well. I ate a Bratwurst & Sauerkraut sandwich with German Potato Salad and pickled beets as sides.

The beer was very good! I had the Oktoberfest, Pils and Kolsch beers. The Oktoberfest was the highlight for me; I really enjoyed this beer. For next week's NBS I will provide a more thorough review of a bottled Stoudts Oktoberfest.

I will end this post with a video of the Alex Mexiner band performing Sweet Child of Mine.

Cheers!

@TongoRad @drtth @AlcahueteJ @Ranbot

 

From the Sweet Water site:

"We scraped all the hash out of the Yakima hop pelletizers we could get our sticky fingers on to concoct the dankest double IPA out there. The pure hop lupulin, aka “hash” (the resiny stuff), meshes seamlessly with the 2-row, pilsner and wheat malts, allowing it to deliver a pungent punch to the palate.

Specs: Available year round in 6-packs of 12 oz bottles, 1/2 bbl kegs and 1/6 torpedo kegs.
Malt bill: 2-row, Pilsner, Wheat
Hops: Centennial and hash “blend”
Yeast: House
ABV: 7.8% IBUs:100"

Check out the page as well for an illustrated example.

http://sweetwaterbrew.com/brews/hop-hash-double-ipa/

 

One o'clock games over, and my office fantasy team performed a lot like I expected - and I will take my 3rd loss of the season (not sure I deserve either of my 2 victories). FanDuel I felt a little better about until Matty Ice melted - fantasy-wise. So, on to NBS #2, and a beer I mentioned earlier this week I would try to... well, try today:


Blackberry Farm Summer Saison - I have had two bottles of the Classic Saison (pictured next to it above), which I found and confirmed were very good. The classic lists being "medium bodied with bright notes of lemons and crisp, spicy hop aroma, finishing clean and dry". This one lists being more fruity (orange marmalade) with delicate spice notes.



First off, this beer definitely builds up some head, like the original. Trying to get a pour shot, the aggressiveness left almost all head. A more delicate pour yielded a more manageable beer. Fluffy/frothy head remains atop the beer, including some larger islands of white clouds rising above the other bubbles.



Nose is a little light, but refreshing - almost like a dryer sheet of citrus and floral notes. There's a little breadiness in there, as well and actually a touch of spice.

The taste is similar, but with a little more strength in the flavor than the scent. The light malts open the taste and seem a bit stronger than I recall form the Classic Saison. The orange citrus notes drift in next, as does a medium level of carbonation. A little lemon also comes in, but all the citrus notes are light that when combined with the malts, the feel seems more like a fleshy fruit than a citrus one. In other words the feel of this beer seems just a little bit heavier than I'd wish for. The end has a hint of spice as the beer tends towards a dry finish.

I definitely enjoyed the Classic Saison better than this one. I recall it being brighter and lighter, the earthiness and hay being more refreshing overall. This beer does come across more fruity, but the notes are subdued. Tough when comparing a beer to something I rated quite high, so I should ignore that. On its own, it is a nice Saison, but perhaps just a little unexciting in its profile.

 

That version of SCOM was awesome!

 

New Fruited Gose Sunday

Happy NBS everyone! Somehow the Bengals won today so I'm in a good mood right now. Celebrating their victory with some 18th Street Brewery/The Sour Note Blackberry Gose: http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/31042/170488/?ba=bluejacket74



I liked this one, there was a great balance between the tart, salty and sweet flavors. I should have another new beer review on here in a little bit.

 

More sour beer for me today. Now up Wicked Weed Genesis thanks to @brentk56
4.14/5 rDev +1.7%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4.25

Thank you brentk56 for this
500 ml bottle, 2014, poured into a flute

A- A clear gold with a small white head.

S- White wine, sour grapes, hints of tropical fruits, some oak, smells much more like a nice white wine than a sour.

T- Oak, white wine, mild funk, hints of tropical fruits, again more wine like than sour.

M- Smooth, light body, low carbonation, dry.

O- Nicely done, would have liked more carbonation and the tropical fruits to stand out more, but still worth trying. A good beer for wine fans.

★510 characters

 

That looks super tasty!

 

Back for some NBS and getting my dinner ready.. no I am not making pics of that it's pretty brainless...

Sensi Harvest 2015 - Sixpoint Brewery


Sixpoint Brewery - Sensi Harvest 2015 by imbibehour, on Flickr

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Poured from the can into a Spiegelau IPA glass. Harvest 2015.

Real nice looker in the glass, with a body color deep crystal and almost shimmering clear, but with darker copper orange colors. Real nice rising carbonation in the middle, meeting up to a big thick creamy off tan head. Three fingers easily and little soapy pills of lacing on the sides. Very nice looker.

Aroma seems to be heavy in caramel sweetness, with a bit of floral qualities. Bit of earthy pine but also a bit soapy with the malt sweetness comes off a bit jarring. Hints of booze as well on the nose just a touch.

Palate comes out much more tolerable and enjoyable. Juiced palate coming off like candied orange in the mid palate. Finishes with more juiced quality and a bit of sugar sweetness to it also. Moderate biscuit notes just a bit as well, which does come of like sweet bakery bread in a way, particularly noticeable in the aftertaste.

A bit unexpected between nose and taste, but comes off decent and enjoyable enough.

look: 4.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4 | BA Generated Score: 3.91

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Cheers!

 

Alewerks Secret Admirer

Looks fantastic, with a thick and sustaining off white color along with strong lacing.

Nose packs a grapefruit wallop that fades out to fresh cut grass.

Taste is very similar to the nose but add nice balance with a little bitter dulling malt presence that comes across not sweet but rather a little brothy.

Finish allows a bit of bitterness that hangs around for just a bit.

Very nice. Probably going to seek it out again.

 

Greetings, all. I stumbled upon an interesting concept from Trinity Brewing yesterday, so I figured that NBS would be the perfect place to take a chance on it. Apparently they did a series of 7 beers, each with the same base recipe and fermented with a different strain of Brettanomyces. It's called the Magical Brettanomyces Tour-

What I have here is #4- Afro Brett

I'm getting horseblanket right off the bat, but it's also equally floral and fruity. The fruity aspect is bright and juicy, peach pineapple and melon. As I start to really dig my nose in there I get the opposite of what I expected. I wanted to get a better handle on those fruits and flowers, but instead the horseblanket took a dark turn, almost fecal. Better smelled from a distance, it seems (but, hey, we've all been there ourselves from time to time, amirite?!!). The taste is also dominated by that 'darkness', kind of like peat moss or compost. Strangely enough, it's still in my glass, and not down the crapper like you'd expect. Something compelling is going on here. The flowers start to come on very late into the finish, and begin to get more prominent with each successive sip, along with a gentle spiciness. This is a beast of a beer, but tamed just enough to be a worthy spectacle. I'd only recommend this to those with the curiosity to see just what this strain of brett can do, and even then only when in a charitable mood (as I seem to be, because I plan on finishing this glass ).

 

Back for another that I picked up in Michigan on Friday. Going with a twelve ounce bottle of Oddsides I Want My HTV Imperial Citra Pale Ale. Here goes.....

Pours a deep amber color with a finger of white foam. The aroma is caramel malt forward with some pine and floral qualities. Flavor is malt-centric with some pine in the finish. Feel is oily with a slight bitter finish finish.



Overall I'm disappointed with this beer. I'm a fan of Oddsides Citra, so I guess I was looking for more with something labeled 'Imperial'. Too malt forward with little Citra presence for my liking. My score was 3.79 /rDev -8%.

Here's the review......

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/22564/191818/?ba=Prager62

 

Enjoying this Smaltz/Terrapin Reunion Ale '15 that benefits Multiple Myeloma research. Fine beer, great cause. Cheers.

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/262/188802/?ba=cindyjeffsmith

 

Good morning/good evening. We are in Adelaide, Australia this week, arriving from Melbourne yesterday. Wife was in hospital with gallstone last week, so no sight seeing or photos to share. She is 100% and we will sally forth!

This morning (9am Monday here) I'm starting with what I understand is more of a commercial beer here - "James Squire Hop Thief 7" by Malt Shovel Brewery (part of the Lion Nathan group), Camperdown, NSW, AU:


Clear Amber, verging on rusty color, with thick creamy white head; good cap retention and great lace.

Citrus and subte earthy hop nose.

Lemon grass hops with a mineral like tinge on tip of tongue; caramel malt supports citrus and tropical fruit flavors from Galaxy and Mosaic hops.

Moderate to high carbonation; lite mouthfeel otherwise.

Overall, I like the lemon zesty, lite bitter linger in this American style pale ale, ringing in at 5% with 40 IBUs. Score will probably be just short of a 3.8. Have a great Sunday, and cheers from down under!

 

Decided to do my bottle review to supplement my "on tap at brewery" review after seeing this post. I had a bottle after softball a couple weeks back, and - without analyzing it fully - thought it was a good facsimile of the original I had at Alewerks. The bottle I used today is from the same batch - 9/4/2015. My updated review is here: http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/14952/183192/?ba=cjgiant

But overall, I felt the beer had changed a bit, and in most cases neutral to my overall enjoyment. I happened to get more tropical notes in this taste than the grapefruit you are getting (and I got originally).

The feel in this beer, however, seems to have fallen. The "dankness" I noted at the brewery has mostly evaporated and ends up much like you describe: "a bit of bitterness that hangs around." It was a munch better ending fresh, IMHO, but who wouldn't expect a week old at brewery beer to be better than a month old bottle .

Cheers!!

 

Onto this Service Brewing Teufel Hunden which is German for Devil Dogs, their name for the fierce Marines that served in WWII. Cheers.

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/35985/138188/?ba=cindyjeffsmith

 

Citra Ninja Exchange, bottled a month ago, super grapefruit ipa, a homerun!

 

Back with my second new beer for today. A beautiful afternoon here in central NH finished a couple of yard chores and did my daily fall chore of blowing the leaves from the driveway. My second beer today came out of the cellar and is Firestone Walkers Stickee Monkee 2015

This beer pours a dark brownish black into my tulip glass.
The nose is from the barrel aging of this beer lots of strong alcohol in the nose and so powerful it hides almost anything else.
The taste is again of the wonderful barrel aging for this beer lots of bourbon with some nice roasted malt overtones. But the strength of the alcohol hides a lot of the other flavors.
To me this a beer of great worlds I love good beer and I also love great bourbon. I'm sure to some the alcohol is way over powering but to me it is a great blend of flavors.

 

It's been a while but I'm back.

Today I'm sharing with you a new beer from Deciduous out of NH. The beer is Lambent and it's berliner brewed with raspberries and passionfruit.

The pic:



The color in the pic doesn't really represent the actual beer, but the pic in the sun really looked nice so I'm using it.

Pours a beautiful dull, reddish purple, with a light white head that dissipates rather quickly. Doesn't leave a ton of lacing, but I feel this is normal for a berliner.

The smell is outstanding. Tons of raspberries with a bit of cranberry.

The taste is not as in your face fruit as the smell. I get a cranberry/raspberry profile along with a great traditional berliner base.

The feel is perfectly tart. Not so tart that you loose the beer, but enough where you get it on the back of your tongue and makes you want to go back for more. You get some mild carbonation. Fairly dry.

Overall this is a solid beer and I like the change of pace versus many of the popular berliners to tone down the fruit a bit and showcase both the fruit and the beer itself. If you are a fan of the style I suggest you give this a try.

Final rating is 4.38

 

I just wanted to say their BB Barleywine is my favorite thing I've had from them - agree with everything else you said too but man that one beer didn't get the love I thought it deserved. I liked it more than their Gingerbread.