New Beer Sunday (week 556)

Mornin Dave,

Good start today, thanks.

Expecting to be back this evening with a new beer. Meanwhile I have chores to do and promises to keep.

Also my problem is I haven't decided yet whether I want to go with a Straffe Hendrik Wild Tripel that is a few months into its potentially long life or with a Bourbon Barrel Aged Arrogant Bastard that should be in fine fettle. (That is do I choose infanticide or do I choose to dispose of a beer in the prime of its life.... )

So many choices...so little time (and capacity to absorb and metabolize alcohol).

Cheers, Amigo!

 

Good morning New BSers! Thank you @cavedave, you alliterative alemeister, for breaking out of your coating of ice to get us started!

Well, I looked outside and saw the first snow of the season - looks like about 1/2 inch - guess the first frost can't be too far behind. Some of the leaves around here have changed - sumac, sycamore, some varieties of maple - but my ginko is still green as are many tomatoes. The outside turtles moved back indoors yesterday amid protests that their habitat wasn't completely finished, but too bad. The hibiscus came back inside a few days ago and the squash'll be getting cooked down and frozen soon, very soon.

On a cheerier note, today's New Breakfast Beer is this guy, one I've passed over many times (What! Pay ten bucks for Sam Adams! I think not!). But I guess the time was finally right.



Undated bottle at 42 degrees into snifter, allowed to warm to 55 degrees.
$ 9.99/bottle at Consumer’s
Aroma – smells tart and fruity - the fruit flies are trying to steal it from me!
Head small (2.5 cm, aggressive pour), light brown, fizzy/frothy, rapidly diminishing to three mm ring and partial layer
Lacing poor – few tiny islands of tiny bubbles
Body – very dark mahogany, clear
Flavor – begins tart with a definite generic fruity taste. The fruit fades somewhat and plum and the tannic acid comes through, nicely oaky. No malt, no hops, no alcohol, no diacetyl.
Palate medium, watery, lively carbonation.

Appearance 4, Aroma 4.25, Flavor 4.5, Palate 4, Overall 4.25. Rating 4.31, rDev +11.98

This is not the Duchess but at least ranks as a princess, definitely a member of the royal hierarchy. To think how many times I've passed by her...

 

Cheers everyone and happy New Beer Sunday! Thanks @cavedave for getting us going today .


You know how I have been known to say frequently and often that the IPA does not really pair well with food because it's too bitter. Well I have also said that no beer will kindly go with spaghetti and tomato sauce. By some strange twist of fate I seem to have a beer that might just show 'em how to do both.

Pours lemon yellow with a tastefully slight haze. Creamy head of decadent off white foam that clings and falls slowly.

Nose is bright . Malt is a cracker with light honey and a firm hop herbal. Something very tropical. At first a softness, then more fruity and slight pepper from the hops. Citrusy.

Mouthfeel is brilliant and seems feather light. Well defined hop flavors. Citric , tropical and one of the most impressive hop herbals I have seen in an IPA. Bitterness is clean and powerful. Malt is fine and smooth. It lingers strong and because the mouthfeel is so light it finishes with the exactness of the hops. Pungency from dried herbs, the tickle from spice. A sparklingly clean finish and a precise dryness. The malt that seemed so elusive actually came perfectly round to end this beer as the bitterness faded.

This one has all the flavor of the most impeccable IPA and all the bitterness but somehow does not wreck my palate. The food pairings are endless with this beer. It's like a lemon slice in a glass of water. It's that versatile. I daresay I am going to buy it again and put it to the test with the spaghetti sauce. smile emoticon

As it warms it sweetness only a little and shows me more lemon, a bit of malt
but remains crisp and cool.

Cheers to Victory this is a spectacular beer.



Happy New American IPA Sunday

Take California

 

Mid-October – One mo’ Oktoberfest Beer

As others have already commented on: pretty chilly this morning as I went out and brought in the Sunday paper. I will be meeting friends in a few hours to do some hiking in Valley Forge Park (Mt. Misery and Mt. Joy trail).

Last Sunday I discussed my visit to Stoudts Brewing Company (Adamstown, PA) for an Oktoberfest Celebration: good music (Alex Meixner Band), good food and needless to say GOOD BEER!

One story I did not relate in last week’s NBS was an event I never saw before: The Marching of the Pig. Two guys carried a cooked pig that on a spit and behind them there was a conga line of folks; this line wound its way around the dance floor and the remainder of the biergarten with a terminus of the kitchen. It was quite the site. I mentioned to my wife: a German Conga Line!?!

So, I had several pints of Stoudts Oktoberfest beer which I enjoyed immensely. Today I will discuss the bottled version of this beer.

First, a description of this beer from the Stoudts website:

“Oktoberfest

4.5% ABV

24 IBUs

This medium-bodied amber colored beer elegantly combines a touch of malty sweetness with a subtle aromatic hop character. A traditional German-style Oktoberfest, this beer is brewed with the finest imported ingredients.”

The first thing that jumps out at me is the ABV value; 4.5% is very low for the Oktoberfest/Marzen beer style. This value of 4.5% is what I would expect for a Vienna Lager (more on this topic later).

Lass uns trinken! (that is German for Let’s Drink!)

Served in my Spiegelau Lager Glass:

Appearance:

Amber colored with a fluffy off-white head.

Aroma:

The first thing that hits my nose is pleasant bread malt aroma. I am not picking up much in terms of hop aroma.

Taste:

The taste pretty much follows the nose with flavors of bready malt; a rich melanoidin character. There is low-moderate bitterness to provide balance.

Mouthfeel

Medium bodied with a dry finish.

Overall

This is a very tasty beer with I find to be süffig (German for drinkability). Once I finish this beer I crave a second one. I find this beer to be somewhat less ‘full’ than other Oktoberfest beers which I ascribe to the fact it is a lower gravity (lower alcohol) beer. This is not a knock on this beer; just an observation.


So, back to the prior observation of lower gravity (lower alcohol) and the Vienna Lager style. If somebody gave me this beer blind and stated: would you like to drink this Devils Backbone Vienna Lager (or Sierra Nevada Vienna Lager) I would drink this beer and enjoyed it as a Vienna Lager; I would not have noticed anything ‘off’ in this regard.

Well, the brewers at Stoudts must have fully recognized this character aspect as well since they chose to submit this beer in the GABF in the Vienna Lager category. This was a wise choice IMO and the result was that Stoudts won a Silver Medal this year (which is well deserved IMO).

Cheers to Stoudts Brewing Company for their Silver Medal beer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Happy New Beer Sunday and thanks Cavedave!

Today’s new beer for me is Hoppy Birthday from Alpine. Though there has been some talk on the message boards about GF distributing I didn’t really ever expected to see Alpine in NY. I won’t be able to add any fuel to the fire on the Alpine vs Green Flash/Alpine as this is the first bottled Alpine for me.

L: Gold with slight haziness. Foamy white head dissipated quickly leaving a little lace

A: Fruity hops and pine with some grassy notes. Fruity hops is predominant.

T: Very balanced. Pine notes with some biscuit. Herbal tasting. Maybe catching some garlic notes? The peel-like bitterness outweighs the malt and it gets bone dry at the tail end leaving a dry feeling on the roof of my mouth that lingers until the next sip.

O: Session IPA at 5.2% /22oz bottle? It’s either the best Session IPA I’ve had by leaps and bounds or a very stellar PA. I prefer to call it a Pale Ale. Might be one of the more drinkable beers I’ve had recently and the balance is pretty amazing. Mouth feel was interesting with the long hit of dryness/bitterness at the end. Intensity of an IPA without the alcohol % to match, which is impressive. If this was available regularly I’d grab this more than occasionally.

Happy Sunday all

 

4.73/5 rDev +49.7%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.75

Guinness Nitro IPA has a medium, very cream, nitro-white head, a mostly clear, amber appearance, with clinging bubbles and heavy, creamy lacing left on the sides of the glass. The aroma is of fruit (not citrus), caramel, and white bread crust. Taste is of the same, with noticeable hop bitterness, which is not harsh and is not of the American style, but of the British style (cellar-ed and earthy). Mouthfeel is medium and creamy, and Guinness Nitro IPA finishes on the dry and drinkable side.

RJT

 

Thank you, @cavedave, for getting us started.
It looks like, and feels like, fall here in southern Maine. The leaves are falling faster than I can blow them away, and I awoke to temperatures in the 20s this morning. A beautiful time of year, and I'm trying not to think about what lies ahead.

I chose this beer because I like rauchbiers, and the idea of a bourbon barrel aged one intrigued me.
It was a hazy orange/amber color with a small tan head and minimal lace.
Smoky/peaty aroma, caramel malt. Could not appreciate any bourbon.
Nice taste of peat, caramel, salt, and a hint of bourbon.
Medium-bodied, smooth.
I'm rather noncommittal about this beer. It was nice, but not as great as I was expecting.

 

Which beer are you describing??

 

Thank you for this great review. I know from the past your taste in Victory beers runs with mine. So glad to hear they have another winner.

 

Whassup, NBS...

One of my regular stops had a case of Double Negative behind the counter - 1 bottle limit. Wouldn't have known it was there if it wasn't offered to me... Grimm's products seem to be generating a fair amount of interest lately. Can't tell if it's just a local thing or not. Part of their success seems to come from big flavors. I've had a few of their beers, and nothing really blew me away except their Afterimage DIPA.

This stout is probably my number two, though I did like their Bees With a Buzz tripel...


Great fall weather - actually cold last night; today had a brisk start, though the sun'll warm things shortly.



Crazy football gods this season!
Hoping to see a few go my way today, including what I hope will be a convincing Jets win...


Pitch black body with low carbonation and a mild, roasted dark malt aroma. Bittersweet with dark cocoa and black coffee, sweetened with a little bit of blackstrap molasses. I did get something of the currant and blueberry, but I don't think I woulda been able to identify it as such if I hadn't read it in the beer notes - presented a brighter line of sweetness running through the dark, roasty malts. Smooth body with a solid medium-full feel. Sweetness persistent, even through to the finish. Slight drying on the aftertaste with a bit of ashen char. Chocolaty notes become more prominent with warming.

Have a great NBS... Cheers...

 

Against the Grain Tall Tale -- 8.5% ABV

"A malt beverage brewed with coffee & cocao nibs, aged in wooden barrels & finished with Brettanomyces."

I read many reviews of this beer before my first pour, and nearly all of them say how carbonated the beer is. I popped the cap and the beer gushed out of the bottle. It's been well over 5 minutes now and I'm still waiting for the 4 inches of foam cap to subside so I can take a sip!

According to the Against the Grain official website, this beer is brewed as an amber ale. It looks like one, with a slightly orangish hue in the rust colored body. The enormous head is pure ocean sea suds but of a cream color. Large patches of random foam remain after the head dissipates.

Sticking my nose in the Duvel glass, I get a little bit of boozy wood barrel aroma merging with sharp vine and grape-like notes. It took a while, but as the beer warms there is a very, and I mean very soft cocao aroma. A musty yet spicy aroma finishes. I'm not finding even the faintest hint of coffee.

The beer tastes identical to the aroma, spot-on. I'm immediately washed with wine-like sharpness, grapes, tart fruitiness. The middle of the beer tastes more woody with subtle cedar-like spiciness. The finish has more of a burnt, roasted taste in it and I suppose if coffee is involved anywhere, it could be the finish. The 8.5% ABV is overwhelming to me.

Overall: Not a fan of this at all. Perhaps I chose the wrong style, or perhaps I was expecting more cocao and coffee. The wood barrel aging is well done, but there's so much tart and fruitiness in this that it crushes any idea of coffee/cocao.

 

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/180/141574/?ba=Bitterbill

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

We had some 20s and 30s in the recent mornings so you all who are getting some cold conditions, Casper is falling suit. This morning, however, it's currently a balmy 58. Cooler weather is forecast for the coming week.

I already had my first Deschutes Jubelale yesterday...yipee!! My fav seasonal of all time.

The beer I selected today, Delirium Argentum. Silver...25th Anniversary Tremens. Get it? Good!
I wish the beer satisfied me more than it did.

Keep them new beers a coming!

Prost!

 

But hey...at least it has a great label.

 

Stoudt's make some really good beers which, I think, tend to be overlooked or underestimated.

 

Pardon my intrusion:

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/26850/91910/?ba=lordofthewiens

 

This gives me hope I'll soon come across them in WA.

 

Not an intrusion at all, and thanks for that link. But how did you know that was the beer? (Unless you're psychic, in which case.... :-))

 

I clicked on his link and saw that smokey beer, reviewed today.

 

Happy NBS! I had to work yesterday, but since I am half way to New Glarus I mad the trip for their latest R&D release (more to come later today). It was a beautiful drive.

Here is a nice picture of the brewery in the Fall.


My first new beer is from Jakie O's. I poured BB Black Maple into snifter and it is a deep brown/black with a very thin tan head. Fades quickly with no ring and no lacing on the glass.

Big bourbon smell, with an nice helping of sweet maple, oak, vanilla and some chocolate. The smell is fantastic. The taste is big malts and bourbon, but with a subtle maple flavor. I get oak and some bitter chocolate with roasted malt with the vanilla and caramels. Booze is somewhat present but not overwhelming.

Mouthfeel is medium for a porter, but delicate and smooth. Carbonation is light and soft. A delicious and tasty oatmeal Porter with good amount of bourbon, maple, and vanilla. Surprised this is not more sought after.