New Beer Sunday (week 565)

Okay, I lied about how I’d be starting NBS. It’s not with a Deschutes beer, but a fellow Oregonian – Ninkasi’s Lux:

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/14400/119052/?ba=woemad

Not a flavor bomb, but it’s not supposed to be. This would be a great beer to hit a few bottles of in the summertime, and isn’t too bad on a late December afternoon.

 

Good afternoon NBS, thanks Maria for the kick off and the focus for this wonderful
thread. A big long hike behind us today, and the bulk of the holiday tasks completed.
We sit down to explore Letters from Zelda, by Brick and Feather Brewing.
A right and fine IPA, in this sea of offerings of similar title. The brewery is new the brewers are seasoned,
wishing them great success.
Cheers all
Letters From Zelda

Brick & Feather Brewery
American IPA / 6.00% ABV

3.81/5rDev n/a | Avg: 3.95
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75

Poured from a growler that was filled yesterday at the brewery into the modified tulip glass.
A - Hazy not turbid, golden yellow, a fine frothy cap, supported by a slow train of carbonation. Some lazy lacing clings like lost love.
S - Orange reduction, candied tropical fruit, papaya, pineapple and a wonderful tangerine freshly peeled element.
T - The aromatics feed the flavors, certainly tropical, with a slight bitterness that entices. The offering is solid with flavors keeping in a tight range.
M - Medium in body, a full palate coating, with just enough bitterness to offset that tropical sweet touch. The malt base holds up the aromatics and adds well to the body, this is a well executed beer.
O - Ipa's are a plenty these days, that said I am thrilled to have a local brewery start out with such a fine
offering. A bit hazy, a bit tropical, a kiss of the deciduous and well crafted. A wonderful introduction to Brick and Feather.

 

Friar's Brewhouse St. Nicholas Ale



Merry New Christmas Ale Sunday, everyone.

Bought it this summer, and decided today's the perfect day to crack open my bottle of St. Nicholas Ale from the Franciscan Brothers of St. Elizabeth of Hungary, whose monestary is in Bucksport, Maine.

They've been bakers for a long while, with their Friar's Bakehouse, and eventually decided to mix water, yeast and grain into other concoctions, opening the Friar's Brewhouse nanobrewery a couple years ago. They bill their wares as "Good, Honest, Homebrew."

My bottle is hand-labeled #46 of batch #50. It came beautifully wrapped in red lace, cork-and-caged with golden foil, with a Christmas tree note tag -- the perfect gift to myself.

A vigorous pour reveals a black brew with a couple fingers of mocha-tinted head that leaves behind thick lacing.

It has a woody and dry yeast smell, with baker's chocolate and some Christmas spices behind, including ginger and nutmeg.

The mouthfeel is fairly thin, and you can almost feel the spices on the tongue.

The taste follows the nose, with more cinnamon showing among the spices. There is nothing sweet in this beer whatsoever. No fruitcake, no plum, no caramel, no malt. The alcohol is well hidden as well. It's dry and yeasty with subtle Christmas spicing. Glad I tried it, but I'd prefer a bit more malt profile

 

Greetings NBSers. What a beautiful morning. It's about to get nasty though. This new beer is Old Stock from north coast. I am not a huge fan of this beer, but I will drink the whole thing. Hopefully I check back in with something better later.

 

What don't you like about it?

 

Sory for your loss. I lost my mom last December and it definitely dampered the holidays for me and my family. With regards to what you said about his "craft beer-convert" status, I remember many a time my mom enjoying trying new beers with me. One time, at a gathering of friends from many generations, I overheard her telling one of her girlfriend, "It's reall amazing what is happening in the beer world now. I mean, they are even aging beers in bourbon barrels, and I've had a few that are quite good." Miss you mom.

 

Wise, thoughtful words.

 

Back for another that I received in a trade. Going with Bourbon Barrel Aged Vanilla Bean Buffalo Sweat. The label says brewed with cinnamon. I'm stoked!

It pours a thin dark cola brown leaving a small amount of mocha foam. It looks rather inviting. The aroma is pretty straight forward cinnamon with nothing else following. Flavor is a rather artificial tasting cinnamon with the slightest hint of vanilla in the finish. I'm sipping this, letting it warm, and still waiting for the bourbon barrel to show up. Nothing.....just a medicinal flavor. Mouthfeel is thin and boring.



Overall this is my second major disappointment from this brewery and series. I don't have many gigantic negative r/Dev's, but this is another. I managed to give two thirds of this beer the benefit of a doubt before drain pouring. The appearance was the best part of my experience. Oh well, they can't all be world class. My score was 2.73 / rDev -26%.



Link to review below, I'm off to cleanse my palate!

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/16333/166155/?ba=Prager62

 

Greetings to all,

It's been a whirlwind weekend. We drove out Saturday morning to Mechanicsburg, PA to catch a wedding of a good friend of mine. We met in college. Great time had by all, and great beer had by me. However, my NBS review involves our "Plan B" of a brewery visit. Brief rewind- Troeg's is out in Hershey, minutes away from where we attended the wedding. My wife and I decided to stop by on the way home. Well, we didn't register for a tour. They were booked the entire day. We left.

So, on our way home, we Yelped for breweries. Allentown Brew Works came up, so we said, "why not?" I've had Insidious and Space Monkey, so I figured it was good enough to merit a visit. An hour later we sat down, received great service, tasty food, and most importantly, good beer. The highlight for me was the oatmeal stout (in our flight). However, for dessert, I went with their leviathan of a brew- Hop'solutely. Touted as a "triple IPA," this one boasts 100 IBU and 11.5% abv. I got a snifter of it on draft. THIS was the resulting experience.

Hey, did I mention I'm now back to being employed, at a liquor store of all things? Seems like all is right in the world again. Seeing that Christmas will occur prior to the next NBS, I wish all of you a safe and beerful Merry Christmas!

 

I always smile seeing something new from Rockmill on the shelves. The back label says "A celebration of rye". I know the distilled version is the hot thing at the moment; Rockmill certainly does a nice job with this one too. Like I'd expect a good Rye whiskey to be, this has a great balance of spicy flavors yet a smooth texture.

4.15/5 rDev +1.5%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

Poured from a 750ml bottle into a tulip
A: Dark brown with a lingering two-finger head
S: Spicy grain from the rye, a distinct smoothness, some roasted malt/nutty notes as well
T: Largely matches the nose. Mostly roasted grains and spicy rye notes. The label mentions five hops but I'm not getting much flavor from them
M: Medium-bodied, a bit spicy yet also incredibly smooth
O: Tough putting 'farmhouse' into words but I feel this embodies it - like they combined rye / other freshly harvested grains and fermented them. Another nice Rockmill beer

Cheers!

 

Thanks for putting this one on my radar @Ri0 . Sounds delish!

 

On to the next brew!

Chocolate Sombrero - Clown Shoes


Clown Shoes - Chocolate Sombrero Mexican Style Chocolate Stout by imbibehour, on Flickr

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Poured from a 12 oz. bottle into a large snifter.

Out of the bottle dark chestnut brown, then getting into dark mahogany brown and a bit oily out of the bottle. Just a hair of light getting through this dark body, but barely a flicker of head/puck of espresso brown created that dissolves and disappears quickly. Very fine collar, a bit of a non existent top as well, and looking a little shiny and slick.

Aroma seems to fill the desire and explanation of the bottle. Good green pepper aromas, even a hint of peanut butter and chocolate tones. Spicy Mexican like chocolate notes really dominate. Not so much sweet tones, or hints of cinnamon or vanilla, but the pepper and chocolate angle is not excessive and is very nicely balanced on the beer. Quite mouthwatering actually.

Palate sort of gets lost somewhere. Light bodied and a bit too much for an Imperial, kind of a very wet porter character instead, and some twinging slightly acrid grain. Pepper angle is pretty mild surprisingly giving off hardly any heat at all anywhere in the palate it seems. Roasted grain takes a bit of a char angle, but much of the flavors hinted on the nose really seem to have been completely buried. Mid palate sort of has a bit of pepper to it, and even with time the chocolate angle comes off a bit milky strangely.

It's not bad, but the beer feels completely dumbed down somehow, and really seems to be a bigger letdown after such an intriguing aroma at first.

look: 3.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5 | BA Generated Score: 3.68

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Cheers!

 

Man, that sucks. I hate it when a beer I'm looking forward to turns out to be a dud.

 

New American Wild Ale Sunday (week 565)

Greetings fellow NBSers from on the ridge in Mid Hud Val NY. Chilly morning that seemed colder than it should have because of how spoiled I have gotten from the extended Indian Summer we are enjoying. Customers swarmed the recycle facility at times, and I literally spent the last hour of the day running to take care of everyone. We got in so much cardboard it made me wonder how much more is likely to come in after Christmas? Better not to think about it haha.

Am enjoying a beer from my favorite New York brewery, Rushing Duck. It is a wild ale, barreled with apple juice, and it is quite tasty, but honestly I expected more and less. More real funk complexity. Less apple in the flavor profile. That said it is hitting the spot in a big refreshing way, and making the trauma of this morning at work drift safely into the distance of my buzz.

The beer is called Cuvee De Orange County, and here is my review

Hope you also have a Great American Beer in your glass. Cheers!



Any Rick and Morty fans? I sure dig the Tiny Rick song

 

The Bruery Rueuze. Gueuze is not my favorite style but I tried to keep an open mind. It is clearly well-crafted, as one would expect from The Bruery, but it's simply too sour for my taste. NBS is fun but always a bit of a crapshoot. On to something else!

4/5 rDev -1.2%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Poured from bomber into tulip glass. It pours a cloudy golden orange with a thin bright white head and minimal lacing. It is tart, almost sour, citrusy, and oaky in smell. It is extremely sour and acidic in taste with a noticeable oaky flavor and some faint citrus. It finishes with a slight apple sweetness. It is lightly-bodied, moderately carbonated, and has a very drinkable ABV of 5.6% To me, Guezue, as a style, is an acquired taste that I have yet to acquire so I probably don't fully appreciate its subtleties. Nonetheless, it is clearly well-crafted; it is just a little too sour for me to enjoy.

 

Cavedave, let me count the ways in which this one picture references you... there's too many, I've lost count.

I tried another new barley wine today. Here are the pics. Link below.




A Barley Wine for Every Day

 

Good afternoon/evening all. Decided to open this one today for the hell of it. Upright Special Herbs. From the brewery website: A unique brew incorporating wine and gin barrel aging to a farmhouse style gruit. The recipe uses lemongrass, sweet and bitter orange peels, hyssop, and Sichuan peppercorns. A bit of spelt in the grist helps maintain some body, although the Special Herbs leans in a bright and dry direction.



It's tart, vinous, a little floral. Biscuity pale malt, green apples, white grapes, oak. Nice dry finish. Another tasty brew from Upright. Cheers! Go Seahawks!

 

Happy Sunday NBS players. A cool and brisk day here on the island. Didn't really do much at all except watch football and get some shit done round the house. Looking forward to the next two holiday weeks and the two three day weekends.

My new beer today is Azacca IPA from Founders. Featuring the azacca hop this beer checks in at 7%, 70ibus, and a nice bottle date of 12/14/15.

An orange/amber pour with a rather floral and fruity nose. A light and fruity start on the drinking with a fairly intense bitter finish. The fruit upfront really seems to clash with the bitter hoppy taste on the finish in a good way. The fruit tones are on the citrus and sweet side. The flavors seem to really come together the more I consume. I'm starting to get a malt sweetness too as it warms.

Overall, a very interesting and drinkable ipa. Nothing mind blowing but a very solid offering. I'm giving it a 4.

 

I'm heading outdoors to do some grilling as the sun goes down. It sure is getting chilly, but thankfully I have a barleywine to keep me occupied . Just me and the rabbits out here now (although they don't seem to want to be photographed today, it seems...)


Lawson's/Otter Creek Double or Nothing

Before I even get going I'll have to admit that I don't even know why I felt the impulse to buy this one; probably too many images on WBAYDN seeped into my brain, and I didn't want to miss the chance once I did see it on the shelf . It's most likely 'not my thing', however, but you never know...

Okay, that being said, let me take a whiff-
Sweet brown sugar and caramel, raisins, a very slight floral/spicy hop quality, maybe some almond. Not too much in the maple department, but that's the way that ingredients like this (or honey) usually go once fermentation has had it's way. First sip brings on the brown sugar and nuts in a big way. Bitterness is present, but just enough to keep it honest. The finish settles on some surprising toastiness, and maybe, just maybe, I am starting to notice the maple flavor.

After a while that brown sugar quality begins to morph into a nice amber rum (the wood coming through, I suppose), and thankfully the bitterness starts to assert itself a bit. I'm enjoying it more as I get further into the glass and the beer gets warmer. Still, it is not as richly melanoidin-malty as I prefer, and it relies too heavily on caramel. And if you were expecting a beer reminiscent of maple nut butter you'd be coming to the wrong place. What it does seem to have going for it is a nice silkiness in texture, and good enough execution to avoid being a sugary mess. Initial impression seems to be in the B+ range (3.65)

Cheers, and Happy Holidays!

 

Here's to your dad.