New Beer Sunday (week 555)

Good evening NBS, hope everyone is enjoying the end of the weekend once again. Thanks to @utopiajane for getting us rolling again this week. Not much going on here, I have a heavy workload this week. I got assigned to another new vehicle program, and I need to make competitive bench-marking targets for making it lighter. Should be fun .

Here are today's new beers:

Very nice Belgian brown ale. This is a fall seasonal, brewed with fresh pressed Michigan apples and pie spices. Aromas and flavors of apple, plum, caramel, brown sugar, toasted bread, cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, pepper, and light banana/chocolate; with some herbal hop/spice and yeast earthiness. A fair amount of herbal bitterness and peppery yeast after the finish; with a great balance all around between malt, spices, and yeast flavors. Very robust and flavorful. Medium carbonation and body; with moderate creaminess and slight spice stickiness in the mouthfeel. This was delicious stuff. I bought a 6 pack on impulse and I really enjoyed it. Roak entered my trust circle after I had about 5 of their beers, and they already have a spot in my go-to lineup with the witbier. I will definitely buy it again next year. 3.9


An excellent rye DIPA. Aromas and flavors of big grapefruit, tangerine, pineapple, mango, lemon zest, orange peel, citrus rind, pepper, and pine; with some moderate malt of honey, light caramel, and spicy rye bread; and herbal/floral/grassy hop earthiness. Large amount of piney/spicy/citrus rind bitterness; with a smooth and sticky/resinous finish with light creaminess in the mouthfeel. Light-medium carbonation and medium-full bodied. Very smooth with minimal warming alcohol. Good amount of dryness after the finish from high bitterness, but there is zero astringency associated with it. This was delicious. This has Summit/Simcoe so if you hate Summit, I'd advise against it; but for me, extremely well done. 4.1


Awesome saison! Freshly bottled in August. Aromas and flavors of big lemon, orange, pear, apple, light banana, pepper, clove, wheat, toasted oats, and spicy rye; with herbal/grassy hop and yeast earthiness. Good amount of spicy yeast and rye on the finish; with an awesome balance between hops, malt, and yeast all around. Very smooth finish with moderate crispness and stickiness; with light bready oat creaminess in the mouthfeel. Moderate dryness after the finish. Minimal alcohol presence. Absolutely loved this one. The mix of wheat, oat, and rye malts added distinct character that worked perfectly with the saison yeast without too much added mouthfeel; and the earthy English/French hops added additional complimenting complexity. I love saisons. 4.2


Cheers! Have a good night NBS.

 

@JackHorzempa , i'll trade ya a couple of mine for a couple of your wet hopped apa.

Also, I finally got around to picking up a bottle of tripel karmeleit after walking past it like so much waste. Boy am I sorry I havent been drinking this beer prior to today. Grain bill is simple, malt background is present to support the yeast flavors. Touch of clove, hint of bubble gum, spicy finish that makes this beer so drinkable. Carbonation is high, which plays well with the dry finish. Gonna throw a couple in the cellar and see what happens.

 

New Non-Beer Sunday

Tried a Hollows & Fentimans "Alcoholic" Ginger Beer today. I'm a sucker for things with ginger - including ginger beer. The "beer" is listed on this website (and was purchased in the beer-section), but it isn't beer by most definitions subscribed to by beer-nuts. It is made with ginger root, water, sugar, pear juice, and yeast.

I wasn't going to post about this drink today, but then I noticed on the label that it is "brewed and bottled by Thomas Hardy Ltd." Conjuring up mental associations with Thomas Hardy's Ale, I decided to look into this brewery.

Turns out, they contract brew stout, ale, lager, and soft drinks in the UK. @marquis should be pleased to see them separating stout and ale! Their home page mentions that the contracts are confidential, but we see a picture right next to that statement with a keg of "Brooklyn" beer.

I think their logo is clearly (and shamelessly) referencing the Thomas Hardy's Ale label.


As for the ginger soda itself? It's nice. Very little carbonation. Murky and rustic. Slight taste of alcohol. Decent (and not overpowering) crystallized ginger flavor.


Moving onto some beer-beer.

Tonight, I wasn't visited by Spuds…


I was visited by Suds…


Marketed as a "session ale," not a "session IPA"... Speakeasy also produces a companion beer - a canned "session IPA" - Baby Daddy.

Check out the eyes on the top of the can.


Suds is a really ill-fitting name. The beer had really low carbonation. Was this by design? I'm not sure. Read on. I was expecting a more contemporary tasting beverage, and was pleasantly surprised by what I got. This thing reminded me of an old-school California pale with some leanings towards an English pale. There's a pleasant background bitterness, and some subtle citrus in the forefront. The malt component is quite nice. Very drinkable and easy while still being interesting and satisfying - a winning combo in my book. I will buy a sixer of these if I notice any. I almost never grab any Speakeasy beers. Will have to dip my toes in a bit more.

 

So just finished watching The Walking Dead Season 6 premiere and of course had to have this one!

So let's get at this...
Poured a dark orange to red body with 2 fingers of head due to an aggressive pour. Sure does look right.
Aromas of orange (duh!) piney hops, tons of malt, the candied orange peel is really prevalent. Much more malt presence than I expected.
Taste is initially disappointing; tons of maltiness up front, not what I expected or wanted, especially with all of the hop additions and dry hopping. However there is a nice resinousness to this that sort of makes up for the lack of follow through on the taste. Coats the tongue nicely with a nice amount of hops that you don't get from the taste. The candied orange peel that comes through is nice, but....where are the hops?
Feel, well I think I kind of covered that but there's a nice full feel to this with that resinous feel to it.
Overall, this is ok; it is kind of disappointing and doesn't really come through on it promise of a blood orange IPA and I kind of wonder if they just rushed through this and didn't take enough time to get it right. Don't get me wrong I like this beer, it's just...disappointing.

It was still a great match for tonight's Season 6 premiere, plus my wife bought me 2 bottles so I will have one next week too.

 

Surly: Todd the Axe Man


Big thanks to @5EKF for today's NBS beer.

4.25/5 rDev -6%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

Pours a murky yellow orange, with a small whit foamy head. Smells of citrus and a slight hint of dank earthiness. Taste is of massive pineapple and grapefruit with a light danky finish. Mouthfeel is sticky but slick and has a slight earthy aftertaste.

I really like this beer allot I like Surly allot but this may be one of the best things I have had from them yet.

 

Checking in late today NBS. I'm working my way through a new box of Nightshift beers that I got recently, and figured this is a good chance to share one.

Awake by Nightshift


Pours a pitch black with a light tan/off white head. The head dissipates fairly quickly, forming a nice ring around the glass.

Smell has a large vanilla presence on the nose right upfront. Roast comes through supporting the vanilla. Nice coffee undertones mingle with some bitter bakers chocolate. As the beer warms, the roast takes over for the vanilla. The smell is very similar to freshly roasted coffee grounds.

Taste is slightly bitter roasted coffee right off the bat. The roasty character of this is fresh cold press coffee, with nice subtle coffee flavors abounding. Slight caramel, chocolate, vanilla, and bitter coffee grounds.

Mouthfeel is similar to cold press coffee. Coats the tongue nicely despite a slightly thin body. The carbonation adds a slight bubble to it, and the beer finishes with a slight dryness.

Overall a great coffee porter. Rich, roasty character present throughout.

I'm working my way through reading everyones's posts today so I'll leave you with this NBS...

Cheers!

 

In a sense- this is written on the back label (from their website):

And the website does have all of the rest listed (scroll down):
http://www.trinitybrew.com/salessheet2.php

I do appreciate the intent here, if not the end results. Btw, by the end of the glass I was also getting unripe mango, mint and feet.

 

I got there (Alewerks) just after they kicked it. Too bad too, as I had designs on getting a growler for my weekend fun and grabbing a bottle to send off to a fellow that I think will enjoy it. Bought two bottles instead, and despite having enjoyed this, I will stick with my plan on sending the other off.