New Beer Sunday (week 558)

good beer and good cigar , ready for later

 

I know most of everyone has already had Founders Breakfast Stout, but as of yesterday I never had it and it blew my mind!

 

Morning @cavedave and thanks for getting us up and moving at this very early hour. I don't know about the rest of you but I am up since 2 am. Not a big sleeper anyway and with the daylight savings time I am ready and raring to go. In honor of our esteemed NBS'ers who do side by sides . . . and you know who you are @JackHorzempa and @TongoRad et al, I am going to make this a Two Beer Sunday with both in the same style.

In brewing people often compare the idea of innovation to the idea of cheating in the brewing process. You will hear folks ask how to tell the difference. Well, brewing is historically innovative and styles themselves arose from cheating or changing aspects of the brewing process to accommodate different ingredients. When a brewer steps up to try his hand at something new, how it is received by the average consumer will tell you whether it was a successful innovation or not. Today I have two oatmeal stouts to try. One is from Ommegang which uses lactose and midnight wheat malt. The wheat malt is a traditional addition to the beer while lactose specifically is not. They also used bravo hops which are not traditional, in addition to the noble hop styrian golding. The other is from Great Lakes which does not tell me what malts or hops they used.


Let's get it on!

Happy New American Oatmeal Stout Sunday

Everyone is talking about Ommegang and I will just come right out with it. They are changing up the styles that they brew to include American styles. The beer I have today is Lovely Dark and deep and it replaces their Adoration for a winter ale. I liked Adoration . I also happen to be a big fan of the oatmeal stout which is like the plane jane of stouts. A lower abv and not ususally put into barrels or has anything flashy added to it.

The color is a dark brown and if you will note the range in color on the srm chart for this style can go from 22 all the way to 40. I would say this one is a 36/37. Thick creamy khaki head that persisits and refreshes itself with each tip. Clarity is good.

Nose is roasted grains and rich little bit of coffee and cream. A faint light sweetness on the nose. They used lactose in this so that is cheating but it smells authentic. A little more than a low noble hop on the nose that I think is fresh but light enough as to be seductive in this beer and that too deviates from style just a tad. Oats show a bit of soft breadiness and at first there is no fruitiness from malts. Then I think it's thier house yeast giving a grapey fruitiness rather than the dried dark frutiness you usually find in a very low background note in this style or it's the bravo hops. I think it smells and tastes a bit strange. Sweet chocolate.

Pretty smooth flavor. Roasty and rich with nothing burnt. The hops in this beer are delightful and take their place in the beer without trouncing the other flavors. They are a bright little bit of freshness. A pleasant floral from the bravo and a lightly stemmy herbal from the styrian golding. Cocoa powder that is less sweet on the palate as it is on the nose adds a bit of complexity. Slickness on the tongue and in the finish from the oats and even though they used lactose I think the sweetness is in check. A subtle bitterness from the hops and a touch of dryness from the roast finish this one creamy, full bodied, balanced and it does not linger long in the aftertaste. They used midnight wheat in this beer and that adds a bitterless, dark color to beer with hints of raost depending on how much you use. It also is said to finish exceptionally clean and I think they used it to smooth any astringency from the oats that would gather in the finish. There was none. As it warms the dark fruit starts to emerge. it is not well defined so you cant say raisin or this or that and it remains in the background. Becomes more nutty from the oats as it warms .

Very good. 3.58/5 rDev -3.8%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75

If I had given it a 3.5 overall you would never guess how much I liked the noble hops in this beer. I disliked the lactose but that is subjective for me as I dislike lactose in any beer and do not favor the milkstout. If they were going for a hoppier beer, they succeeded. But that strange grape taste does not thrill me so 3.5 for taste. 3.5 for the mouthfeel because you will notice a bit of roughness in the finish.

 

Thank you, @cavedave, for getting us started on the first Sunday of standard time. It was nice taking the dogs out in daylight.
It's a cloudy day here, some rain overnight. But it's 50 degrees now, and we're supposed to have a sunny and mild week.
Heading up to visit my mother later this morning. She wants to go to Ebenezer's for lunch, proving there is a genetic basis for the love of beer.

I'm drinking Flag! stout, from Marsh Island Brewing in Orono.
It pours a near black color with a small tan head.
There is an aroma of roasted malt and vanilla.
It tastes like it smells. Coffee, a little chocolate, and a fairly strong vanilla presence.
Middle of the road. I've had better stouts and I have had worse stouts

 

Ebenezers ?, I'm in!

 

Happy New Beer Sunday!



Today’s new beer for me is Heavy Seas Greater Pumpkin. 2014 version. Don’t recall buying this but see it was $8.99. Not a bad deal for 22oz I suppose. Not sure how BA pumpkin ages so we will find out

L: Gorgeous look: A really great looking beer. Dark copper in color, with a small white head that faded fast.

A: Catching some pumpkin, vanilla, ginger and sweet malts.

T/M: Very malty and the caramel hits hard. Tasting nutmeg and clove and some raisins. Maybe figs as well. I do catch some bourbon notes but not a ton. Alcohol is very forward as is the carbonation. Aftertaste is sweet and earthy and a bit bitter. Tastes like a big beer.

O: I liked this beer at first and while my review is pretty positive, it oddly got worse as it warmed. I preferred it at the start but the taste got too cloying and the alcohol got hotter as it sat. 22oz of this is not happening unless I milk this over a few hours, which I’m not inclined to do. Nothing artificial tasting about it, which is nice. Flavors were balanced, but a bit muted for a BA beer. Not overly complex and/or alcohol just blew everything else away.

As much as I thought that $8.99 was a good deal this isn’t something I would ever buy again in a large format. Best enjoyed at a bar in a small pour. For me 22oz was too much and it wasn’t complex enough to enjoy in that quantity. Wouldn’t seek this out again but don’t have a lot of negative things to say about it. Just not a repeat buy.

Gave her a 3.7/5.0---wouldn’t steer anyone away from it.

Happy Sunday all!

 

@lordofthewiens @utopiajane @JackHorzempa

Thanks Dave, and Happy NBS and Happy Halloween. Found myself in Madison, WI this weekend - where it all started for me, working at the Wine & Hop Shop on Monroe Street. Glad to see the torch has been passed there and the store lives on. One of the first incubators of craft beer in the Midwest!

The scene in Madison has really taken off the past few years, and now the city is home to over a dozen breweries. Not bad for a city that has a little over 200,000 people. But nowhere close to Bend, OR I guess! :-)

One of the new darlings on the scene is Karben4. They make creative, hop-forward unfiltered ales as their main approach, and the city has embraced them. I love their branding, as it borders on absurd yet strangely appropriate (especially for a city as weird as Madison).

Their main tap around town is the Fantasy Factory. Its a tropical, hop-forward and unfiltered ale. It has a little bit of that homebrew (soup) flavor to it, which I'm interested in seeing how it will evolve over time. For now, its going down just fine and I'm happy to see this team contributing to the scene.

cheers





Madison is a weird city...but that's one of the reasons why I love it - it has an authentic personality and identity

 

This brew pours a mostly clear copper color with a fluffy white two finger head, some of which stays on top until the end. There is moderate lacing and good carbonation.

The smell is heavy on the grapefruit and pine but orange and lemon are also forward; the grapefruit dominates. There are is also a caramel malt backbone.

The taste follows the nose with a lot of grapefruit and pine, orange and lemon come in followed by a light caramel malt backbone which is mostly drowned out by the hops. The finish is dry with piney hop resin left on the tongue after swallowing. The alcohol leaks through just a little but you hardly notice it through all of the hops. At 7.5% alcohol the booze can sneak up on you.

Overall this is a good, hop forward IPA. It is not subtle, the hops hit you in the face.

 

Look at all those flamingoes! Cheers @Sixpoint =)

 

Haven't been to Madison very often but definitely agree that it has its own unique "culture" that makes it unique. :-)

 

I grew up there, and played many games of pool at the stone hearth in the early eighties, i'm sure the beer scene has changed quite a bit since.

 

Mornin @cavedave,

Thanks for the start to the day. Once again today here in SEPA is to be a day filled with chores and errands but I expect to be back later on with at least one new beer. By a strange twist of fate I just happen to have a whole bunch of fresh hop harvest ale cooling in the fridge. So given the posts I've seen so far this morning I suspect that my choice of a new one for today will start with the 2015 Sensi Harvest from Sixpoint who have a habit of putting out beers I enjoy.

Cheers!

 

Seemingly early start to the day, but considering an early bedtime and an extra hour on the clock, maybe not so much. Little upset to see it rainy, as I was hoping to be able do get outside a little later. Maybe it will clear up (haven't checked weather). Hit two breweries in past 2 days, and had some tasty new beers, including one made in part by a friend/ex-co-worker/beer lover/homebrewer. The beer can be seen on WBAYDN from yesterday and was a solid offering.

On to today... one of my current co-workers brought in a couple beers, and one seemed like a good NBSB(reakfast) beer. Let's see if I am right:


The beer pours cola brown, clarity pretty good, as you can see shadows of things behind the beer, obscured by color only. Head sticks around, after an unimpressive start.

The nose is the same, starts slow, but picks up strength. There is definitely chocolate cake donut smell to this beer. There are hints of coffee that at times seem more cola-ish, but these are bit players.


Now, the bad...
This beer has no chance of displacing ET Imperial Doughnut Break, not that I thought it would. The nice chocolate donut from the nose is missing from my sips of this beer, and it's not a beer that needs sipping. Light and watery mouthfeel just hurt the passable, yet weak and uninspiring taste. Cola and weak, light, "black" coffee is about all I am getting.

So, nice nose, very crushable, but not overly tasty. I might let it slip by with a passing grade if the beer weren't touted as "double chocolate". As it is, the nose saves it from a worse rating.

Hope to be back with a couple more later !

 

4.06/5 rDev +10.6%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Shipyard Smashed Pumpkin has a thick, frothy, orange-tinted cream-colored head, a hazy, bubbly, orange appearance, and even some decent lacing left on the glass. The aroma is of sharp, spicy, pumpkin pulp aroma, reminiscent of Pumpkin Head, with the spiced candle aspect. Taste is of those elements, with a bit of an odd pepper note (white pepper?). Mouthfeel is medium to heavy, and Smashed Pumpkin finishes between wet and dry. Not too boozy in the flavor, but one will feel it (my sample is a 12-oz. bottle).

RJT

 

Who likes Equinox Hops?

Last year Sierra Nevada brewed a series of single hopped IPAs and one of them was brewed with Equinox hops. I really enjoyed that beer. There were a lot of different flavor components in that beer including an aroma/flavor of cedar

While attending the National Homebrewers Conference last June in San Diego I obtained a couple of ounces of Equinox hops. I bought some more Equinox hops and decided that I would do my best to ‘recreate’ the Sierra Nevada Equinox IPA.

There are lots of differing descriptions of Equinox Hops. Below is how Northern Brewer discusses this hop:

“At first, Equinox is familiar—in a pleasant, desirable way. Tropical fruit, papaya and mango notes reminiscent of Mosaic and Citra offer versatility across fresh-flavored styles. Then, things get weird.

In the midst of the bright citrus and melon there is a ribbon of green pepper. Or something like green pepper. It’s not green pepper in the eat-it-with-hummus-use-it-on-a-fajita sense of green pepper. It’s sweet and fruity but seemingly not fruit.

The interpretations of Equinox have been so wildly different yet similarly perplexed that we’ve decided it’s just one of those hops you’ll have to experience for yourself.”

An intriguing description don’t you think?

So, I will be drinking my homebrewed Equinox IPA and share my thoughts.

Served in my Spiegelau IPA Glass:

Appearance:

A pretty golden color with an orangish hue and a fluffy white head.

Aroma:

The first thing that hits my nose is a wonderful hop aroma! There is a lot going on here:

· Some tropical fruit

· A bit of citrus

· Yup, there is some cedar there as well

· A pungent smell that I would not personally call green pepper but I could see somebody using this term

This is the most complex hop aroma I have ever experienced! If my verbal skills were better I would be able to list a half-dozen more descriptors for hop aroma.

Taste:

The flavor pretty much follows the nose. Lots of differing flavors going on here; multidimensional flavor profile with multiple flavors going on at once and a transition of flavors from the fore to mid-palate. I am tempted to say it’s like a party going on in your mouth.

Mouthfeel

Medium bodied with a dry finish.

Overall

If I had to choose one word to describe this beer it would be: Wow!


I am a bit surprised that there are not more commercial beers that are solely hopped with Equinox hops (or feature Equinox hops). Equinox hops are AWESOME!!

@Sixpoint @Ranbot @sierranevadabill @augiecarton @Peter_Wolfe

Cheers!

 

I like them Jack! I like equinox hops. Lagunitas Born Yesterday has them. The flavor in born yesterday was not bell pepper either but it is there. That sensability underneath it all. In that beer they added an almost earthy, dry, tropical quality that I find tantalizing. I can't explain the "dryness" I taste because it is not the beer it is those hops, but I love it in the flavor. Lagunitas left them in the background and they really enhanced that beer. Like adding an ascot or a hat to your ensemble. Your IPA sounds lovely. Cheers!

 

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/413/197712/?ba=Bitterbill

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

No snow in Casper so far this season?? We have some highs in the 40s due for next week..

My new beer is Grand Teton Black Cauldron aged in Jack Daniels whiskey barrels. I've always considered JD rock gut but it surely works fine with this Imperial Stout, one of my favourites. I had to add it to the database and the Growler cost me $24.99; worth the price!

Keep them new beer a coming and Prost!

 

You just got to love a brew when the Aroma puts you in a state of bliss...then the flavor comes and removes that "High" from you.

 

Congrats on breaking it's BA Cherry! Sounds insanely Good!