New Beer Sunday (week 561)

I picked up a bottle of that to take to the belated Thanksgiving dinner I'm going to at my folks' on Saturday. My old man loves carrot cake, so this should make his head explode.

 

So you're no longer gonna run anchor with me closing out NBS in the later hours?

 

Drinking Iron Fist's Ken Schmidt Chocolate Mint Stout:





And here are my thoughts:

4.11/5 rDev -1.4%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

375mL bottle poured into an oversized tulip.

Nice viscosity on the pour and a frothy dark oatmeal head results, about a finger thick. Pitch-black body is par for the course but as is usually the case for me, the contrast of head to body is a pleasant sight to behold. 4.75

There sure is some mint in there. It smells of dark chocolate and mint together, which immediately reminds me of an Andes. Creamy lactose/caramel and vanilla contribute and give this beer some well-rounded aroma. 4.25

Surprisingly more roasted malt taste than the aroma ever suggested greets the palate. This transitions to a dark chocolate and mint soiree, vanilla, and an earthy, grassy finish. I would say this drinks less dessert-like than I, or many, would expect, but it works pretty well. 4

It's got a potent roasted, bitter feel upfront before smoothing out and taking on a lighter sweet quality. The finish is dry and earthy and lingers well. 4

Plenty to enjoy here and it captures the balance of flavors and doesn't let the sweet elements lay the law, although I'm certainly curious what this beer would taste like as unfettered dessert beer.

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Happy New Beer Sunday to all.

 

Onto the next beer!

Jungle IPA is a cloudy rusty orange with a 1.5 white head. Fades into a ring and leaved behind a smattering of lacing on the glass. The aroma is malty and tropical with some breadiness. Flavor is more bitter than juicy with citrus and pine. I was expecting more tropical notes and it finishes with bitter grapefruit pith. Medium feel with appropriate carbonation. A normal IPA that won't really stand out against all the others.

 

Shane,

Does barnyard = “dank” to you?

From the brewery’s website:

“Mosaic Eruption

6% ABV | 60 IBUs | $5

Showcasing Mosaic hops that give a bold grapefruit twist, this IPA is triple hopped with a blend featuring Mosaic, Amarillo, Citra, & Centennial hops.

Hop Eruption

6.8% ABV | 75 IBU”

I have homebrewed with Mosaic a few times and each time that hop has expressed aromas/flavors of berry fruits. I have seen others who have stated that Mosaic can have flavors of “dank” and some even use the descriptor of oniony.

How do Mosaic hops taste to your palate?

Cheers!

Jack

 

What a creative, and beautiful label. I'm not a huge fan of Mosaic forward IPA's, but I love mosaics!!! I wonder how many people notice the "mosaic" styling.

 

I was thinking the same thing. Not sure if Mazama even distributes to WA but if I see it I'm buying one just for that.

 

Its a great effect but its the brewery branding style and not just for that particular beer label.

 

Jack,

I get mostly fruity/berry aromas with Mosaic, but the flavor is sometimes "skunky" or "dank" to me.

 

I agree with this. It's not a bad beer, just not really emphasizing the Pecan aspect of the brew. It left me wanting more out of it. Oh, yesterday was my "Recovery" day so I didn't participate in the Turkey Beer Roasting. I am more sore that I missed the MST3K viewing...that show is one of my Favorites.

 

For my palate the flavor follows the nose: I smell berry aromas and I taste berry flavors.

How our unique palates 'process' different hop aromas/flavors is always fascinating to me!

Cheers!

 

Good afternoon NBS, thanks to @utopiajane for the start and the focus today.
This week looks to be nutty for sure, cemetery work and yard work is complete and that helps.
Today we have the Grimm Artisanal Rainbow Dome. A super tart, super dry wonderful dryhopped Ale.
I shared a bit with my partner who thinks its to tart! To each their own.
As we won't meet for another week, enjoy your Thanksgiving NBS friends.
Cheers all
Rainbow Dome

Grimm Artisanal Ales
American Wild Ale / 5.00% ABV

4.15/5 rDev -0.2% | Avg: 4.16
look: 3.75 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Poured from a bottle dated August 2015 into the trusty modified tulip glass.
A - Cloudy, lemon yellow colored, a loose knit cap of froth tops this beauty. A steady, relentless
stream of the tiny bubbles rise in support of the cap. A spotty lacing clings to the glass wall.
S - Apricots, and that Lactobacillus tart snap, jump out of the glass, with a bit of time the aromatics
swing toward the hops. The mix of hops compliments well with the apricot . A very nice experience.
T - Very Tart, fruit forward, interestingly the grain bill has a very light footprint. Reminiscent of a Berliner in many ways. The initial onslaught of tart does eventually allow the Cascade and Columbus to work their way in. Adding hints of deciduous, mango, pineapple, and lemongrass.In the end very citrusy,
M - Light in body, tart to start with the tongues edges on high alert. The carbonation is quick to clean up and leaves a wonderfully dry finish. The exit almost has my mouth watering, in a good way.
O - A beautifully executed offering from Grimm, the matching of the apricot with this dryhoping line up
is inspired, there is not any dominant element, to the offering, At first a snap to the senses, it settles in to a most enjoyable experience.
Cheers

 

Time to do the un-popular, why, well, this is done well and yes, I know:

and in light of the week we're in and me going "dark" beer before "light" beer, yes, yes, yes -



Oh sigh, I'll get it right, eventually -



http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/35179/142065/

 

Well I'm a little later to NBS than usual for me but it's been a busy morning her in central NH. Had to attend the grandsons hockey game today and it was a good game ended in a tie but he scored the goal that tied the game. It's pretty cool and overcast here am hoping for better weather on Tuesday when we make our usual pilgrimage to FL for turkey day. The only thing that really sucks about this is we usually fly home on Friday and I miss all the BCBS releases. Oh well it's a good beer but there are better IMO. Made a trek to VT yesterday to attended the annual Cabot Sock Sale and getting that done I was also able to pick up a few beers along the way. So that brings me to my new beer for today it is Longtrails Triple Bag.

This beer pours a darker brownish orange color when poured slowly into my glass. A thin white head on top.
The nose is rich and robust of the blend of malts but this is a hidden bitterness in the nose also.
The first taste seemed a little bitter but perhaps it was my palate not being clean at that time. The second taste was much smoother and had a wonderful malty flavor smooth and mouth filling. This beer IMO hides the 11% abv very well as it drinks pretty darn smooth.
Yup the mouth feel is smooth and pleasing.
In all a nice job on this higher ABV from Longtrail and since it only comes out this time of year is probably why I hadn't tried it before now. This bottle was dated 10/21/15 so only a month old.

 

My second and last new beer today.

Avery Liliko'i Kepolo
Belgian-style witbier brewed with spices and passion fruit.
5.4% ABV

Okay, speaking of Belgian-style beers ... Here's one I immediately love. In the St. Bernardus glass, it's a color I always struggle to describe -- Rusty cantaloupe? Crayola Crayons may do better at describing it. Burnt orange mixed with mustard yellow. The head is white and foamy, and retains well. Also lovely horizontal splotches of lacing.

The aroma is pure fruity magic. There's only faint Belgian yeast and mustiness before it gets crushed with tropical sweet passion fruit. Smells a lot like mango.

Before I even describe the taste, the mouthfeel is really good. It has a creaminess about it that really adds something to this beer.

The taste is even better than the smell. A malty sweet beginning with mango and passion fruit dominating leads into a balanced tart finish of white grapes and maybe dark cherries. White pepper spiciness is subtle in the finish as well.

Overall, really delicious and perfect for Summer. I regret not finding it before now, but it simply wasn't available in my area until recently. Well done by Avery on this. I could drink this all day. Top marks.

Cheers all. Hopefully next weekend I will have some new Christmas beers, but it's looking unlikely.

 

I get mostly tropical pineapple specifically but they also have an earthy dank quality also to me.. all depends on the beer and how they are used

 

Looking forward to busting into mine, always a great American Strong Ale! And congrats to your grandson for scoring that goal!

As the wx moves from west to east, as long as some of these clouds I'm staring at don't pick up too much steam, as they roll over the mountains to you, safe travels to you to FL for turkey day.

Cheers, Adam

 

Ethan,

Last spring I brewed an IPA where I used equal proportions of Mosaic, Centennial and Simcoe for three additions: two kettle additions and dry hopping. I was a bit shocked on how the berry fruit flavors dominated that beer. I picked up some citrus from the Centennial but the contributions from Simcoe (which is pine for my palate) was very much in the background. I would never have guessed a priori that Mosaic would be the dominating hop here. Oh, and I picked up zero “dank” in this beer.

I have a Simcoe/Amarillo IPA fermenting right now; my version of Duet. And I will generously dry hop this beer so I will have lots of hop aroma in this beer!

Cheers!

 

Happy sunday BA's Today is a first for me which many of you may have had in the past. Unfortunatly laws here make it very hard to get small batch beers from anywhere other than Canada and to get some of the big American crafts we must take an hour and a half trip which may take longer if the borders busy to get down to winooski. I was fortunate enough to be in Ottawa this weekend for a family members birthday and seen that Smuttynose had started selling some finestkind IPA in Ontarios beer store. needless to say I jumped at the opportunity to get a sixpack, after import and taxes it was 15$ a sixer but oh well so are most of our craft breweries, were definitely not the cheapest place for beers, but I guess it just makes you appreciate them more. Cheers!


3.99/5 rDev -2.4%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4

Appearance - Poured from 12 oz bottle into a tulip, pours a hazy light orange with 2 fingers white head recedes leaving a nice lacing. might I also add that I love the label lol.

Aroma - this feels pretty standard american IPA, it just doesnt stand out. you get some Cut grass up front followed by a strong pine some caramel and some orange and lemon. I dont get any grapefruit from this one. note: as it warms up the caramel in the nose comes out to play This caused me to change my rating mid review from a 3.75 to a 4.

Taste - Pine and fresh cut grass followed by lemon and orange peel and finished off with some caramel malts. some of the bitterness from the pine sits in the back of your mouth long after you finish the sip.

Feel - This beer has a light body, very smooth and easy drinking.very light tingling on the tongue from carbonation.

Overall - I find this to be a very good IPA, is it the best I've had? no, but it is definitely worth a glass.