New Beer Sunday (week 558)

After a hard day of work (today was the day to empty out the garage, put the stuff in the back, like the snow blower, towards the front, and then neatly rearrange everything, hopefully leaving room for cars) I'm ending the week with something fantastic-

Allagash Golden Brett
The beer guy definitely steered me right on this one ("that's the last bottle, so you better grab it now")! It's a hoppy ale, aged in oak barrels with brettanomyces (the name would be just too much of a tease otherwise ). Holy floral fruit bomb, Batman! But at the same time the aroma still manages to be as delicate as it is potent. I'm getting apricots, tangerine, pineapple, strawberries along with the bright, sunshiney flowers, while being underpinned by some nice earthy funk. And that's just for starters. The oak vanillins are there as well, but you have to really search at this point. The palate is less fruity than the nose, and here's where the oak really comes into play, taking on a stately white wine character. The finish is crisp and dry, with the perfect snap of bitterness, and a lengthy finish of toasted wood. An absolute pleasure (A, 4.4)- well done Allagash!

Let's hope the rest of my evening is as pleasant and satisfying. Cheers, BA!

 

We interrupt your regularly scheduled program to just say this may not be totally new beer to me, but it is in cans. Ladies and gentleman if you can grab a 4 pack of this beer for 20 bucks by all means don't hesitate. What a fantastic brew that's better in cans....and now back to our regularly scheduled program....

 

I absolutely loved that beer also. Love the review!

 

My third and final NBS beer of the night is Milk Stout Nitro by Left Hand Brewing Co.



Milk Stout Nitro

Left Hand Brewing Company
Milk / Sweet Stout / 6.00% ABV

3.1/5 rDev -23.8% | Avg: 4.07
look: 4 | smell: 2.75 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.25

L- an aggressive pour leads to a half centimeter of fine bubbles and a lasting mocha colored film. The color is a thick black.
S-Where is the smell? I can barely pick up any roast or chocolate or anything really. I'm pretty sure I could snort this and not pick out what I feel like I should be picking out.
T- Unfortunately the taste seems to follow the smell, as in bland.
F- Smooth medium mouthfeel. Not bad, but not nearly good enough. Should this be thick and creamy?
O- Incredibly dissapointing. I had to double check to make sure I had a good date, but best buy is 03/07/2016. There are way better stout's out there. I won't bother purchasing again.

 

managed to snag this in a trade this past week..was worth the wait and more


Poured a deep,dark brown with a fluffy tan head..Initial nose is of coconut,chocolate,vanilla,coffee,dark fruits..tastes of coconut,chocolate,vanilla,coffee,roasted nuts...smells like a macaroon..tastes like a Mounds bar..but not as sweet..lingers on the palate nicely...one of best porters i've ever had..will definitely be trading for more.

 

Hmmm, given my fondness for Allagash and most all of their beers I've tried it wouldn't have taken any urging from the beer guy for me to have that one in my shopping cart. Glad to hear about it!

 

Crooked Can High Stepper IPA
American IPA - 7%



look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4
Overall: 3.91/5

12oz can poured into a pint glass. Pours a slightly hazy golden yellow color with orangish hues. The aroma is mostly citrusy hops, smells very fresh. The taste like the aroma is some malt up front with some sweetness coming through and a nice bitter finish from the hops. Overall, this is a solid IPA that is another local fresh option when looking for an IPA.

 

Good evening NBS, hope everyone is enjoying the end of the weekend once again. Thanks to @cavedave for getting us started off today. Not much else going on here, I am still thinking about brewing a Russian Imperial Stout, but haven't made a recipe yet. Still need to see if the Barleywine is carbonated yet, it has been 3-4 months since I bottled it.

Here are today's new beers:

Damn good oatmeal stout! Aromas and flavors of chocolate, cocoa, coffee, toasted oats, dark bread, and light smoke/dark fruit; with some light-moderate herbal/floral hop earthiness. Light herbal/roast bitterness on the finish; with a great bittersweet balanced finish; with a nice creamy/silkiness and slight roast malt chalkiness in the mouthfeel. Light-moderate roasted dryness after the finish. Zero complaints at all, very traditional tasting to the English style. Yeast influence is noticeable but very restrained, letting all the malt and light earthy hop character be the main focus. I will likely pick up a full 6'er of this before the end of the season. 4


Awesome Brett wild ale! A moderate gusher, but not unmanageable. Aromas and flavors of big lemon, pineapple, peach, pear, apple, white grape, hay, straw, grass, and white pepper; with some light cracker/bready malts and musty funkiness. Large amount of earthy/peppery yeast spiciness on the finish; with a very crisp, dry, and prickly finish with some light hop stickiness in the mouthfeel. Very highly carbonated, but still very flavorful for the 4.6%; with all of the classic well balanced Brett complexity I expected. It seems like most of the reviewers opted to age this one for 1-2 years+, this is only 3-4 months old and I love it. 4.2


Great pumpkin IPA! Aromas and flavors of big pumpkin, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and clove spice; with moderate lemon, grapefruit, orange peel, and piney hops; with some balancing toasted biscuit, honey, and light caramel malt sweetness. Moderate amount of herbal spice and piney hop bitterness on the finish; with a great balance between bitterness, spice, and bready malt sweetness. There is a very noticeable amount of authentic pumpkin fruit in the aromas and flavors as well. Nice medium carb/body; with balanced bready creaminess and hop stickiness in the mouthfeel and finish. They did a really damn fine job on this beer. Pretty much a perfect balance between the pumpkin ale and IPA characteristics. 4.1


Cheers, have a good night NBS!

 

I totally agree with your A+ rating. Perfect description! I sipped on it for almost 2.5 hours today and I think some of that "pipe tobacco" flavor you're talking about is still stuck to my teeth.

 

So this was the Succubus we've all been entertained by?

 

Yeah, that was just one of those days where I was seriously "over budget" already, and then I was being urged to add a quite pricey bottle on top of it. That's what credit cards are for, I guess, although it does seem like 'one of those days' happens a lot lately . No regrets at all, though- you just gotta make the splurges count.

 

Budget? Budget? What's that? ( )

 

Thanks a lot! I'm going to have to see about getting some more in other shops if it's still around. Definitely in my wheelhouse, and very well made.

 

I had most of a huge, long, detailed post typed up... and then my computer crashed. And of course, the one time I would really like the forum to keep a draft of my post ready for me to fill in the missing bits and post it... no draft was saved, it seems. Blargh. So... this post may not be quite as long as my original one was.

Anyway... on to the beer, which is one that's a lot of "firsts" for me. First of the style I've tried, first 4-pack I've ever bought, first beer I've bought with the intention of trying to age at least one bottle long-term, and first beer I've drank out of the new glass I grabbed from the dollar store earlier tonight... I think it's what people call a "tulip" around here, if I'm remembering right.



Yep -- my first glass of Sierra Nevada's Bigfoot barleywine. 2015 edition, though this one was bottled on December 4th of 2014... so it's about a month away from its first birthday, as it turns out. I haven't had super-fresh Bigfoot to compare, but I suppose when the 2016 version comes out I can try it then.

I was slightly worried that these bottles might be skunked-up, as I know the store I bought them from had a few packs of Bigfoot sitting right in front of a window for a while... but it seems my fears were unfounded. The smell is all dark sweet maltiness -- reminds me of raisins and dates -- and not even a whiff of skunk. Flavors are the same dark sweet malts right away... and then a tidal wave of pure hop bitterness, among the strongest I've ever tasted. Even at a year of age this is a pretty bitter beer -- no wonder people talk about Bigfoot being very hoppy for a barleywine. By the second sip it seems my taste buds have adjusted, as I'm not really getting that super-strength blast of bitterness so much anymore -- more of a strong tea-leaf sort of flavor mixing in with the malts, followed by a still-pretty-strong leafy bitterness on the end. This really is coming across very tea-like, interestingly enough. It's a different set of flavors than what I've really ever encountered in a beer before, the dark sweet dried-fruit type malts and then strong tea-like bitterness in combination like that. Surprisingly not getting any hint of alcohol, despite this being near 10% ABV. I suppose the bitterness is there as a "slow down, this is like having TWO beers!" reminder, with other barleywines using the higher alcohol content for the same purpose. Or just being very dangerous beers that require you to try to slow down, I suppose. XD

Definitely improves with some warming -- that first sip (the "huge wave of bitterness" one) was fridge-temperature, and it's getting more sweet-malty and tea-like as I'm getting toward the bottom of the glass and the temperature of it feels more "cool" than "cold."

I did pick up a very slight skunky-like thing in the aftertaste on the first sip, and occasionally afterward... but due to its complete absence from the smell, I'm starting to think that this was not actual skunkiness so much as my taste buds just having difficulty processing the sheer amount of hops they put in this beer (or something about the combination of flavors?) and defaulting to "skunky" when it couldn't figure out what to taste. The bitterness on the end does seem a little medicinal now, which is a comment I've seen a few people make about barleywines (and Bigfoot specifically) before. Interestingly, when my taste buds pick up the "medicinal" note they don't really get that "pseudo-skunky" thing, and vice versa. Yeah, I think my tongue just doesn't know how to process the bitterness here. XD

Overall, while I don't think this is something that I'd want to drink all the time, it's definitely been a different experience from other beers I've had in the past, even the other high-ABV ones. I'm thinking it's the highest-ABV beer I've had yet, too; I know I've had a couple in the 8-9% range but never any that were in the upper-9's, pushing 10. It's going to be interesting to see how this one changes with age (besides the obvious "less hoppy" of course), and I'll probably be picking up a 2016 pack when they show up at the store this winter so I can have a few more to age (and one to try fresh and see just how ridiculously hoppy it is without aging at all.)

 

Fresh Hop Pale Ale - Great Divide Brewing Company



3.48/5 rDev -14.9%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.5

This wet-hopped pale ale pours to a brief, thin off-white head atop a crystal-clear, effervescent pale amber body. The aroma is moderate in intensity for the style, and is very straightforward: pine and grassy notes with hints of bready malt and alcohol. The flavor intensity is style-moderate as well: bitter pineapple up front, with a bitter resinous pine character building in mid-palate and peeks of light bready malt showing around the edges; again, more straightforward than would be desired. The finish is fairly clean, with just a pine hoppiness showing, joined shortly by a style-appropriate clinging hoppy bitterness that lingers for a few minutes. Mouthfeel is commensurate with the light body, and the texture is slightly creamy and peppery from the fizzy carbonation. Lacking in both complexity and intensity. (12 oz bottle, 32 days after pkg)

★ 856 characters

OldManMetal, A moment ago Edit Delete

My mileage varied heh.

Now Playing - Negative Self - self-titled



How Will I Laugh-era ST worship in the best possible way; done perfectly. Could damn well be Rocky George on the guitar.

 

Had a lot to drink today; it must be the change in time. This will be my last beer of the day/evening. It's Stone's Double Bastard in the Rye:









4.01/5 rDev -8.4%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4

750mL poured into an oversized tulip. 2015 version that arrived to New Mexico within the last ten days.

Pours brown and amber but settles in the glass a murky brown with a frothy, foamy, oatmeal head. I leave the pour for about ten minutes to warm and the head remains as an inch of edible suds and sticky, walled lace. 4.5

Well, Bastard and Double Bastard have distinctive aromas for me and I recognize them on the smell here. It's a sticky caramel with a piney, grassy hop aroma. Oak and vanilla and some spicy rye round things out, as well as a fruit cake, candied, dated sort of citrus. Sticky fruit cake could apply here. I sound redundant I guess saying that, since the barleywine from earlier also gave off fruit cake. 4

Thick with caramel flavor spiked with some booze. Raisin and grape follow. Grassy and spicy hops close things out. Develops more of a toffee flavor as I get deeper in. Nice flavors, but I feel they are limited and not as varied as desirable. 4

Creamy and sweet before the booze interjects and cuts into the mellow drink. Spicy, abrasive hops also cut into the smoothness but just as quickly things return to a wet, creamy and sweet exit. A little too much booze lingers with each sip and it suggests I should age my second bottle for a good period. 3.75

This shows some great potential, but it's hot and rough around the edges.

 

Glad you enjoyed it. As I (think I) mentioned in the description note: it's not likely to turn heads or demand ISO threads, but for a solid every day shelf turd stout, it's one of my favourites and I'm glad to have it in my back yard, and even more glad to be able to share it and that it worked for you as well!

 

Happy New Beer Sunday, everyone! Tonight's beer is Sixpoint's Sensi 2015, their highly praised wet hop harvest IPA.


The beer comes in a slightly hazy amber with a thin but creamy egg shell white head that dies fast but lingers as a thin sticky film that leaves streaks of lacing down the glass. Strangely, I'm not getting much of an aroma out of the glass. A thin vinegary smell. Weird. From the can, it smelled very nice. Loads of grapefruity hops and flowers. Hopefully the can isn't infected, or my glass dirty somehow. Anyway, I'll continue.
The taste is a bit better. Grapefruit juice and tangerines up front, toasty biscuit in the middle, and then more citrus on the finish, along with an unpleasant slightly sour vinegar note. Some lingering grapefruit and piney hoppiness lingers on the finish, though it ends fairly clean.

This seems like a pretty good beer, but that muted vinegar aroma and slight vinegar flavor is unsettling. With that in mind, I'll with hold judgment for the time being. My glass is probably not clean, but I wish I knew where it was coming from.

 

I miss working nights.
They've got me orienting to bone marrow transplant at work and it's... uh, well it's busy to say the least. I think my biggest saving grace this weekend was that it was halloween so many of the kids (aka their parents) had set 'trick-or-treat' containers outside of their rooms with candy for fellow patients and staff. I ate more chocolate this weekend than I think I have in years, and it kept me awake and powering through long days. Did I mention I prefer working nights?
I suppose one saving grace of being on days for a little while is that I can catch bits and pieces of the sportsballing that happens on this particular partition of the week. Walking down the hallway, a majority of the rooms' TVs were tuned to the game, and ESPECIALLY with Mr. Wilson et al coming to visit the kiddos each week, they get excited watching. There's that anyway.

I noticed a funny trend this week, and I'm MOSTLY sure that it's all in my head. My neighbour enjoys beer as well, though he's not as proactively... whatever descriptor you choose to use to describe our behaviour towards and relationship with the fine malted beverage. I convinced him to grab a six pack of Bastard Kat (an IPA from Bellingham, north of here) (this was instead of a pack of Mickey's grenades...), and while he enjoyed it, he commented that it tasted kind of salty. Like salt water salty. Kind of how Gose can be a bit salty. Huh. I had one, and could swear that I got a bit of that as well, which I had not previously noted. So now it's in my head. I pick up a sixer of Batch 15 from Aslan (another Bellinham brewery), and again notice what I can only describe as a slight saline twinge to it (which I hadn't picked out in previous cans). Am I going batty? Did he plant a seed that has infected me and ruined my ability to objectively taste the fine beverages from one of the top brewing small-cities? I feel I must continue to investigate. How micro-locale-specific can we get with style-descriptors. Are salty IPAs 'Bellingham style?' INTERESTING IF TRUE (likely not. Interesting, NOR true.) (@beertunes can I get an impartial* but experienced judge to weigh in?). Anyway. You guys are about the only people who might find that even mildly compelling, and I think I'm rambling even here.


HALLOWEEN!!!!!!

So, I figure, this seems appropriate


...Sorry I got distracted. So two hours later I'm back to finish this quickly.
Surly. Darkness. Y'all know. Or at least you should. I'm here to tell you. @Domvan get's all the love for sending this along as part of his predraft box. From 2013, since Jawsh did the art

This brew pours a beautiful pure black. I keep harkening to visions of the obilisk from 2001. Not sure why. Anyway, half finger of brown foam that settles in to an archipelago of soapy bubbles pretty quick. Surprisingly little lacing, though I suppose there's a fair amount of alcohol in there. Something something wine legs right?

Nose is ephemeral, and I have different primary impressions at different points. Early on, when the glass was sitting cold on the table I picked up rising rye bread dough. Yeast and dark grains. Venturing closer, the dark fruits come forth: hints of fig and plum and a sharply sweet dark cherry. There are waves of molasses and dark chocolate initially, but actually, the more I investigate, the more we settle into the dark fruits and maybe some dusting of cocoa alibi.

Starting to sip it offers up more of the imperial stand-bys we've come to expect. Notes of chocolate and cold-press coffee serve to slow the tumble of sweet candy sugar. This is nothing you've not heard. Initially startlingly sweet, it gives way to the coffee and cocoa with candied sugars before settling into a finish that is equal parts those sweet peaks and a bitter aspect that claims a coffee heritage but belies hints of pine and hops long since departed. It is nearly two years old after all

Anyway, Darkness is something you should drink if you ever get the chance. I'll be honest: it doesn't blow me away to the point that my nights are endless dreams of its allures and all other contenders are simply pretenders, but damn if I don't enjoy the hell out of the bottle I've been fortunate enough to enjoy. Thank you Dominique!


Enough rambling on my part. Not thematic (Shock! Horror! That's the REAL trick/treat for the season...), but this is what's been stuck in my head, with a special bonus of the song that preceded it for stuck-in-head-status



Courtesy of an education session I had on Thursday



Oh, shit, I haven't eaten since like 1300...

 

I told you it would be a battle royal! =) Cheers Jay .