New Beer Sunday (week 565)

@utopiajane - what a wonderful opening to a timeless thread. I've a bit more holiday spirit than usual. My daughter is home from college @ ECU. She's grown so much in the last year and I couldn't be prouder. My fourteen year old son is just shy of 6' 3" and he's an amazing kid. Brilliant. As is this beer.



I'm not a fan of black IPAs. Odd, because I'm a brewer and pride myself on being open minded. Still - not a fan of the style. Well, this one is barrel aged.... you had me at barrel aged. Everything about this beer works. Before my brief review - leave now and snag a bottle

Pours (from a bottle) jet black with a thin bubbly head that lingers nicely. The hops are more present in the nose than in the taste, but there in both cases and extremely well balanced. There's loads of chocolate present, as well as coffee and maple - the hops are there, but not in your face at all - as I said, well balanced. It has a rather dry finish. I'm really interested in what this will taste like once the hops have died down, so I'm putting several bottles back for a while. If you get the chance to try this - trust me - just do it. I understand this isn't a Backstage Series brew - but it's well worthy of being one. It would actually be the best one they've put out in some time. Cheers!

 

Good morning New BSers and good morning Maria - Thanks for starting off the thread! I've got a bomber of N'Ice that I've been saving for Xmas morning drinking - looking forward to the orange peel. Otherwise, it's a sunny morning currently with the sun bouncing off the snow, blue skies, wisps of clouds, the susurration of the dishwasher in the background... and on to today's new beer:





25.4 oz bottle at 42 degrees into snifter, allowed to warm to 55 degrees
Aroma of roasted malt, chocolate, and coffee; bourbon comes through as the temperature reaches 53 degrees
Head average (Three cm, aggressive pour), light brown, creamy, slooowly diminishing to a four mm ring and thin layer
Lacing - none
Body dark brown/black, opaque
Flavor primarily alcohol with aftertastes of coffee; no vanillin, no hops, no chocolate, no diacetyl
Palate medium, creamy, lively carbonation

Appearance 4.25, Aroma 4.5, Flavor 3.75, Palate 4, Overall 4. Rating 4.04, Avg 4.1, rDev -1.5%

Not a bad brew but the alcohol definitely comes through, basically muscling the other flavors out of the way and kicking sand in their faces. The head is just lovely, well formed, creamy, lasting, inviting me to stick my tongue in, caressing my lips, trying to get me drunk while it has its way with me... Yes, I do need to get a life.

 

Good choice on the beer. That is one of my favorite Christmas beers hands down. I wish you could get it in Quebec. Oh well.

 

Thank you, Maria, for getting this thread off to a great start.
I'm done with call until 12/28, and only have two days of work this week. Looking forward to a few days off with family.
Putting the finishing touches on present-buying and gift-wrapping.
I buy my wife the Anne Taintor calendar each year. We both enjoy her cynical wit: "I don't dwell on my mistakes, I've got family for that." and "If I agreed with you, we'd both be wrong." are two of our favorites.
So, with Anne in the background, I opened up James and Julie, a sour brown ale from Allagash.
The beer is a dark amber color with no head.
Aroma of vinegar, dark fruit, and sugar.
Tart, cherries and raisins, brown sugar.
Nice sour feel, crisp.
Another winner from Allagash!
Happy Sunday!

 

4/5 rDev +11.7%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Goose Winter Ale has a thick, foamy, cream-colored head, an initially clear, chestnut-brown appearance, that clouds up, when the bit of caked sediment is swished and poured in. Also, there is a good amount of lacing left behind. The aroma is of nuts, sourness, bread crust, and a touch of lemon, and the flavor is of nuts, brown bread crust, a bit of lemon, subdued bitterness, and tannin. Mouthfeel is medium, and Goose Winter Ale finishes fairly crisp and quite drinkable.

RJT

 

Good Morning BAs. The Holidays are always my favorite time of the year because of family gatherings which usually includes the obligatory "Have you tried this (beer) yet? - At least in my family anyway. This Christmas also marks several firsts for me: 1) I have a 11 month old son, who will NOT be partaking in the beer tasting, but it will be his first Christmas/holiday season so it should be fun. 2) Sadly, this will be the first (ever for me) that will not include my craft beer-convert Dad, who unfortunately passed away last month. It was always fun giving him a glass of something he never had (like an bourbon-barrel aged smoked beer aged on Granny Smith apples) just to see his reaction. He never said "I hate this" or "this is terrible". Always a funny look on his face and "Well this is interesting". I'll miss the guy and ask that you raise a glass to my dad, Buddy, this holidays. He would definitely do the same for anyone.

Anyway, onto the new beer for me...Weyerbacher's Tiny, a Belgian Imperial Stout. it clocks in at 11.8% so it packs a little wallop, especially on a Sunday morning. I found a nice mix of dark fruits and licorice as well as the typical Belgian attribute of clove in this one with more chocolate coming out as it warmed. I just reviewed it and came out with a 3.94/5 against a weighted avg score of 3.91/5. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays BAs. Cheers and drink up!

 

I've been in the dark so long... I am told it's Sunday morning. I am calling it Day One after the Darkness. I don't think the Darkness has released its grasp on me.


As I was pouring this, the Darkness clone (see my first post WBAYDN for reference, if you care) started coughing. She actually has asthma, so figured not much of it until a different "achckkk" came from the living room. Darkness takes over your day in many forms.


But anyhow, I did finally get to pour Evolution's Rise Up RIS - with Sumatran beans atop a brew featuring Marris Otter malts (along with "copious" dark malts). The beer pours awesomely, as you can see. That head thins out but does NOT leave. A swirl leaves a blizzard of tiny mocha bubbles raining down the sides.

Nose is a muted, but nicely so, rich coffee scent. There's almost a little milk stout tang in there as well, though it is not a milk stout. Ever so light amount of smokiness with a deep sniff.


Feel is actually pretty smooth - especially after some warmth. A little tartness appears on a cold beer. However now, the chocolate malt opening slowly yields to the coffee. The coffee is deep roast, but like the nose, doesn't overpower the beer. The coffee definitely feels a part of the beer, not like an afterthought adjunct at all. The beer does hint at its alcohol content, and there is a very light astringency that somehow works out fine.

Very nice beer. I haven't rated the regular Rise Up, but recall being "okayed" by the beer. Might have to give it a revisit (and write a review) after trying its bigger brother.

 

Condolences on your loss. You have other riches in your life, but some losses will always be felt. With time and the growth of a son the pain does subside.

 

This beer is on schedule for today (though it was on schedule last week, also ).

Looks right up my GF's alley. She's definitely seen the sayings on social media and often shared them.

My second pour of Rise Up has been raised. Sounds a bit like my dad on his willingness to try new things and not complain about any of them.

 

Good Morning Friends,
Thank you Maria for a nice start! N,Ice Chouffe has been a favorite of mine for years.
It's a crispy morning, starting out in the mid 20s. We should see 50 by afternoon. Martha is out with the hounds, for a long walk to wear the beasts out. My knees are a bit "crunchy" today and she wanted a longer walk. It's another beautiful day, with Christmas Day approaching 70.
We went out last night across county to visit old friends and family. It was busy out and law enforcement was everywhere. Please do not make the decision to drive if you've had more than a few.
Merry Christmas everyone. This place is fun and I love it!
Today's beer is Olde Hickory Death By Hops. Strong citric, tropical nose at the outset, bone dry, very crisp with a lingering dusty hop edge, slightly peppery. It is a hazy dark gold with a beautiful and lasting white cap. Very active bead, keeping that cap alive. Weighing in at 7% and 108 IBUs, this is one hoppy puppy! This beer is a beauty and I highly recommend it to anyone that likes "serious" IPAs. Give this one a shot. Great job again Olde Hickory.

The Yardbirds music is as fresh as ever. What an incubator for the burgeoning Rock and Roll future. These guys were way beyond ahead of their time.

 

great color on that beer for the style , looks delish.

 

Well friends another Sunday upon us an more new beers in our glasses!! A wise ba once said recently that you can't drink all day if you don't start in the morning so I'm here a little earlier than usual. A blustery cold weekend here in CT as latley we've had some nice warm weather and next week looks promising to be back in the 60's. So today brings ANoThEr showing on my house , gees I hope if someone is looking at a house 4 days before xmas they at least make an offer!! O'well enough about me onto the beer

This comes from a recent lif I won!! Good morning beer cause it has coffee
S: tons of cinnamon/ nutmeg on the nose
L: a nice dark black , vary faint head
T: cinnamonyy followed up by some pepper heat, not huge heat but spicy. I prefer to eat my spice but this will do
O: I wouldn't wait in line or drive all over to get this, but glad I got to try it. Doubtful if I'd drink it again cause spicy beers aren't my thing.
Merry xmas to you all hopefully I make it back this afternoon

 

Hey crew, what up?

In my (weak... oh so weak... like Steve Rogers before the super serum) attempt to thematically link my morning's tippling to... well anything really, I am risking some SPOILERS AHEAD. I went and saw Star Wars last night. The original trilogy was a massive part of my childhood, and so I've been awaiting the kickoff to these sequels with great excitement and great trepidation. We all know how the worst case scenario could end up. The trailers for Force Awakens looked pretty darn cool, so I have been battling myself to keep my expectations as neutral as possible. Anyway, that's much preamble for not much payoff: I enjoyed my experience at the theater last night, but haven't made up my mind how I feel about the movie as a whole yet. My current thoughts are: in a vacuum (like space! Get it??!?), I enjoyed it. Within the context of what SW has been built up to be, however (both personally/internally as well as culturally externally), I haven't had the time to really reflect and let it soak in enough to properly assess and place the film. Or maybe (probably [definitely]) I'm overthinking things and should just let it be. I will definitely say one of my favourite things about it though was that in a banner year for strong kickass female action hidden-leads (Furiosa was the star of Fury Road. Max was the lens through which her story was told.), Rey acquitted herself to the role marvelously; both the character and the actress (I do find it serendipitous that within this metatheme, the main contender to the Star Wars character herself had a mechanical hand. I told you, I read into things so much I should be a sham-psychic...).


Ummm... beer things! I actually started the evening at local favourite Reuben's on the day of their annual BB Imperial Stout release. They had sold out long before I got there, but I got to sample glasses from the three years of BBIS that they've produced (unsurprisingly the '13 was probably the smoothest, though I think the '14 was my favourite), even if I had to endure caroling (OK, fine, I joined in. I can't help it. If I recognize a couple of words to a song I start singing along: be it radio, concert, group, what have you [also the couple of members of the group who initially started talking to me were cute. So sue me!]) I enjoyed the beer and also the conversation of an expat canuck who regaled me with his experiences playing minor-league hockey and curling and talking about the new Prime Minister. Also, the Cowboys lost, so that's pretty good!
_________________________________
THE ACTUAL BEER

But I promised loosely tied-in offerings for this morning's fine experience. My bottle of Grandfather Raven -- from one of the other big locals -- is actually from last year, but this is the first time I've actually drank it. I bought two last year, one to drink, the other to age, but ended up sending my second (first?) bottle off in a BIF some time ago. So this morning's experience was my first with Grandfather Raven, of any vintage.

-This poured as one of the most beautiful big stouts I can remember. Rich obsidian on the glass topped with a towering dark brown head, adorned with silken toppings, the few large soapy bubbles relegated to the corner.
-Nose offered a subtle yet rich melange of fudge and creamy coffee. Dusting of cocoa. I even caught a couple of holiday spices in there that I was not expecting, though they proved somewhat elusive otherwise.
-The appearance blew me away. The aroma roped me in. The flavour was good. Possibly even very good. But not as transcendental an experience as my other senses were awarded. While the fudge aspect definitely came forward again, intertwined with coffee and cocoa and molasses, these notes entwine and settle in (as I didn't try it fresh, I don't know how much impact letting it sit for a year had) to a mature, smoothe drink that is a pleasure to imbibe, though it's not nearly as chocolatey as that description doubtless makes it sound. It's not sweet, it's not even as chewy as I would have thought, but it works, and it is comfortably very very good. I will be sure to be on the lookout for this year's edition, hoping I have not missed it already.
(in case the loosely thematic tie-in was too vague even for you patient folk, the idea had something to do with the Grandfather who is referenced in the movie I watched, and some other obscure things. Go with it.)



Cheers, and I hope you have something tasty to enjoy as well!

 

Coconut seems to be one of those things you either love or hate. I enjoy it a lot but seem to rarely have it. The idea of it in a porter sounds delightful, so this choice for NBS was a no-brainer for me.

The beer pours out the color of dark chocolate and settles completely black with a khaki colored foamy head. Pretty decent head retention as the beer is half-way gone there is still a nice thick film of foam on top. Nice patches of lacing remain.

The aroma immediately introduces the unmistakable tropical aroma of coconut. But what I am more impressed with is the roasted, toasted nuttiness that soon follows. On the back side some cocoa and milk chocolate comes in, making this smell absolutely delicious.

The taste is much like the aroma, but this isn't as sweet as I expected. There's the initial taste of coconut before delving into that nutty, toasted, almost woody flavor. The milk chocolate turns a little more bitter in the finish, leaving an almost citric, orange peel bitterness in the aftertaste.

Mouthfeel is medium bodied and at 6.5% this goes down really easily.

Overall, I rated it 4.3 and I'm liking this beer more and more as I work my way into my second can. Really the perfect amount of coconut, toasted qualities, and is not cloying or too sweet by any means. I highly recommend this beer if you like coconut or are wanting a good dessert beer that isn't overly sweet.

 

I had this recently from a trade and quite enjoyed it (4.25). It did push the spicy note boundary, but I thought it all worked quite well. The other "actual spices" definitely played a decent role as well.

 

Here's my new barley wine for today (a great beer). I will try to have another one before the day is through. Link below.




A Barley Wine for Every Day

 

Beer #827 for me is I Want My HTV by Odd Side Brewing. It's a 9% Imperial IPA.



Bottled 11/12 and poured 12/20. A single bottle was between $3-$4, I don't remember. Poured into an over-sized Sam Adams Perfect Pint.

Appearance: A very hazy orange with a slim, creamy white head on top. Bits of lacing. Great looking beer. (4.25/5)

Smell: Juicy/fruity/tropical describes this beer well, thanks to the citra -- especially tropical. The malt adds even more sweetness to the aroma, which I'd hope for, considering it's a DIPA. Smells like fruit juice with a little resin from the hops. Very nice. (4.25/5)

Taste/feel: Big mouthfeel on this one somehow masks some of the flavor. It's strange. As it warms up a bit, as with most beers, more flavor comes through. A "juicy pine" flavor is what I notice primarily on the front, with tropical flavors (pineapple, mango) being in the middle. On the end it's pine and overripe tropical fruit with actually quite a bit of unexpected bitterness. The carbonation is unexpectedly high, and the feel is pretty full, which is an atypical combination, generally. Finish is really dry and resinous. There's malt and a little alcohol that lingers. The bitterness seems to intensify the longer I wait between sips, which is great, and only makes me want to take another sip. (4/5, 4/5)

Nice beer with quite a bit going on. I've read a few reviews that say they're bummed that the Citra doesn't "shine" as much as it could, but I get plenty of it -- this is a big DIPA, and one that definitely is on the more bitter side of the style. This beer's a little rough around the edges (mostly in terms of mouthfeel), but I actually enjoy that. Worth a try and some buys after if you see it on the shelf.

(4/5)

 

Good morning to all the NBS faithful and any newbies that care to join us here. Time tends to get away as the holidays approach so we are changing up our family routine a little and have moved the building of the grandkids gingerbread houses to today instead of doing it Christmas day. We were busy building the houses yesterday and have the 5 houses ready for the grandkids to decorate this afternoon. Finished photos will be posted.

I'm also preparing my 3 cheese macaroni and cheese and doing a double smoked ham in the smoker for dinner.
Yes pictures of this too will follow.
Now on to the real reason were for the great new beers that we all find or have sent to us from others. This beer today came to me during one of the 2 BIF's that I'm currently involved in. This one came to me from @hardysf and is Bell's Eccentric Ale 2014 with a bottled on date 11/19/15. I would also like to tank Steve for the proper glassware to pour this into.

This beer poured a dark brown color into my Bell's snifter glass with a thin light tan head. The label says this ale is brewed with Juniper berries, Ginger, Caraway Seeds, Coriander, Maple Syrup, Molasses, Horseradish Root, and Chestnut Chips.
So to say the least the nose of this beer is complex. I find the Coriander, Molasses and Horseradish to be the most pronounced.
The taste does follow the nose but no real strong flavors that overpower you or the beer itself. I think I do feel a little bit of heat in the end from the horseradish. The flavors all are very nicely balanced. The mouth feel is smooth and has nice carbonation. In the end I'm glad I had he chance to try this beer. It really reminds me of some old ales or that style of beer. There is no ABV listed on the bottle but it does seem to have a slight alcohol burn. No actual numbers yet as I'm drinking the beer right now as I'm typing this. A very interesting beer will probably end up in the upper 3's for me.
The sun is shinning brightly here in Central NH right now at just 32* but no snow on the ground yet and well it looks like it's going to be a brown Christmas here. If time allows I have a bunch of other new beers to share and will try to get some shots for all the other foodies out there of the meal.
Cheers to all!

 

My first of the Founders single hopped ales – Mosaic Promise

Last week I was very excited to finally see this beer at a local beer retailer. It was like I bought myself a Christmas present.

On the back label it states:

“Mosaic Promise showcases two unique ingredients: Mosaic Hops and Golden Promise Malt. The versatility of the hops pleasing aroma and flavor characteristics and the traditional barley’s depth of flavor comprise this clean, rich, golden beer. We can complex with the best of them, but we recognize that there is also beauty in simplicity.”

Reads like a poem to me.

In homebrewing we refer to a beer brewed with a single hop variety and a single malt as being a SMASH (Single Malt And Single Hop) beer. I have found often in my homebrewing that sometime when it comes to beer ingredient selection process that less can be more.

Will this beer be as tasty as the beer label’s poem sounds? Let’s find out.

Served in my Spiegelau IPA glass:

Appearance:

Golden colored with a BIG, fluffy white head.

Aroma:

The dominant smells are hop aromas of berry fruits with a hint of resin.

Taste:

The flavor follows the nose with the hop berry flavors dominating. There are malt flavors that provide an enjoyable balance to the hop flavors.

Mouthfeel

Medium bodied with a dry finish.

Overall

This is an excellent beer!


There is another Founders single hopped beer available now; Azacca IPA. I sure hope that I am able to buy this beer too.

Cheers to Founders Brewing for an excellent SMASH beer!!