New Beer Sunday (week 567)

Good Morning first Sunday of the year NBSers! I'm still visiting mom and siblings in WV. Crisp and cold this am; we will likely start heading back towards FL tomorrow...

Going sour: Aventinus Cuvée Barrique (TAP X) (2014)





Aged in French Oak Chardonnay barrels and a healthy 9.5%

Pours a reddish almost opaque brown with fizzy off white head that disappeared immediately; no cap or lace; some cloudy clarity with plenty of floaties.



Sour fruit nose with gentle earthy aromas of hay and wet blanket.

Tart cherries to start, with white wine right behind; black raspberries and oak; nutty malt balances the sour berries; lite tart finish.

Dry lite mouthfeel and little to no carbonation. A wine like dry tongue coating.

I thought this was an excellent ale, not puckering, but with a warming sour berry linger. My score looks like it will be in the low 4s. A great change up for anyone looking for something not an imperial stout or DIPA, but still with some alcohol. Have a great Sunday. Cheers!

 

Good morning New BSers! John, thanks for starting this thread, but where's the pic? Sorry, just nitpicking - I like the pix of the JK snorkel snifters!
It's a totally overcast non-precipitating morning here in NW PA so far. I heard sounds from down the hall so I assume Mrs. Lizard has awakened. Really not a lot going on so far - last load in the washer and the penultimate load in the dryer, the dishwasher is loaded and ready to go with last night's grilled filet and black bean and rice late dinner dishes but I won't run it until the last Lizard shower has been taken. Gotta say that it was kind of pleasant grilling outside last night - not too cold and no precipitation, just me and the charcoal.

Today's New Beer Sunday and Breakfast Beer intersect here:



Ah, the dryer calls! Overall, this was kind of a coffeeless coffee stout for me. It wasn't bad, just not very coffee-like in either aroma or flavor:

$ 11.99/25.4 oz + $ 4 shipping = $ 0.629/oz from the Craft Shack
Bottled 9/24/15, served at 42 degrees into snifter, allowed to warm to 50 degrees
Aroma weak, roasted malt
Head small (two cm, aggressive pour), light brown, frothy, diminishing to three mm ring and partial thin layer with a few rocks
Lacing excellent – complete rings of tiny bubbles
Body dark brown, opaque
Flavor weak, can’t taste the coffee, just roasted malt; no hops, no alcohol, no diacetyl
Palate full, creamy, soft carbonation

Appearance 4.25, Aroma 3.25, Flavor 3.5, Palate 4, Overall 3.75. Rating 3.59. Avg 4.37, rDev -17.8 %.

If it were billed as just an imperial stout, I'd have rated it higher. But the absence of detectable coffee in a coffee stout just isn't right. Hopefully there's enough caffeine to counterbalance the well-hidden alcohol.

 

This brew pours a solid black with good lacing and a small moca head; some of which sticks around as a collar until the end. Lots of carbonation.

The smell is mostly sweet malts, oatmeal like, with roasted malts, light chocolate, cocoa powder, licorice and burnt coffee. There is also a plum like smell.

The taste mostly follows the nose with the roasted malts and chocolate dominating. The chocolate, coffee and fruit taste kind of get lost but there is a dry hoppy finish that stands out. The feel is smooth and slightly creamy. The booze does not leak through but the 6.5% ABV sneaks up on you quickly. Overall a good, solid stout.

 

This brew pours a solid copper color with some deep amber highlights when held up to the light. There is a white, fluffy two finger head which sticks around for a long time along with great lacing.

The smell is fruity, earthy and musty all at once. There seems to be some lemon juice and orange in there along with sweet malts. Maybe some peach as well.

The taste full of sweet malts, fruit, some nuts and very light floral hops as well. Everything blends together nicely. The feel is smooth and creamy with a little bit of tang on the back end. Overall a quality ESB.

 

Today is the last day of vacation; it's back to work tomorrow. My wife and I are going to be lazy people today. Right now she's watching the Fear The Walking Dead marathon. At least until 1 pm when the Patriots are on. Speaking of football, I was moaning about the lopsided scores in most of the college bowl games. @mbeerdino21 said that sometimes the "Who Gives A Fuck" bowl gives a good game. I think the Alamo Bowl fits that description. Oregon has a 31-0 lead at halftime, and TCU looked like shit. The only problem was the Oregon QB was injured and sat out the second half. TCU ended up winning 47-41 in triple overtime.

But, I digress. Today is New Beer Sunday, and I am drinking NxS.
It is a golden color with a small white head. There is a tiny bit of lace.
Pine and citrus aroma. A little garlic.
Mostly pine taste. Some grapefruit, some gin. It tastes better than the aroma implied.
A little too much pine for me.

 

Good Morning NBS-ers from dreary and rainy Central FL. And thanks to @JMS1512 for getting it started today!

My entry this morning is from Evolution Craft Brewing: Rise Up Stout. Thanks to @ions for this one and of course a HUGE thanks to @Ozzylizard for the Snorkel glass! Missed it while I was visiting family and friends earlier this week.

12 oz. bottle with a November 2015 notching on the label.

Poured a dark brown to black with a thin amount of head the dissipated quickly to a thin ring around the edges. Some cola brown colors around the edges when held up to the light.

Very light aromas of coffee, like a strong brewed coffee that has been allowed to sit for a couple of hours and is now cold and slightly stale. Not picking up on much else other than a minimal amount of roast.

First sip has a mellowed coffee taste and roastiness with a nice hop bitterness. Not as much coffee flavor as I was expecting.

Medium mouth feel, lingering tongue coating bitterness.

Overall, this doesn't have as much coffee flavor or intensity as I would have liked, more of a regular stout, pretty average and easy to drink stout. It didn't impress me as a coffee stout; but it was an easy drinker.



Cheers!

 

My brother's been in town the last couple of days and I've been working a lot (even though I got a no-pay on friday, and did not get called in last night on my call shift. Yay.). So not much sleep, and a lot of board games. I don't like playing games with couples. Anyway, it's good to see him!

This winter as a part of their beer advent calender, local darlings Reuben's Brews released a Smoked Porter. Naturally I picked up a couple of bottles when I was over there the other week. I really wanted to love this beer. It's a great brewery. I love porters. I enjoy smoke and like exploring what it can add to a beer. I didn't love this beer. I liked it. A fair amount. But I didn't love it.

In the glass it's a middle dark brown. Some mahogany at the edges if tilted to the light. Wet bubbles that belie a decent amount of lacing as the beer is drained down my gullet.
Nose starts out as mild smoke with ashy/burnt malts and wet grains. Warms into a more nuanced blend of... really solid basic porter with a very-present-but-not-overwhelming smoke characteristic.
Flavour presents much more like the latter description above, straight from the get go. Ashy malts, burnt toast, bitter smoke that is certainly at the forefront, but does not overwhelm. There's a mildly sweet twist that meets somewhere in the middle, but ultimately if this beer were to acquire an art-world moniker, I would call it, "Porter Qualia With Smoke."
Ultimately it settles in as an immensely enjoyable if not evocative experience that I may be giving a harder time than it deserves just because my expectations were so high.

Cheers!
How long do you think it will take to get used to writing "x/x/16...?"

 

6.5% alcohol, and SO delicious!

4.02/5 rDev +1.5%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Hotbox has a thick, beige head, a dark-brown appearance, and fairly heavy lacing left on the glass. The aroma is of dark-roasted strong coffee, with a background malt. Taste is of dark, black coffee, some char, heavily roasted (not burnt) malt, some sweetness, a touch of cream, and a bit of bitterness. Mouthfeel is low-medium, and Hotbox Coffee Porter finishes on the dry side and is highly drinkable.

RJT



"Everything. Everything comes to life, again!"

 

Special Holiday drinking beer – Victory Wild Devil Ale bottled 6/11/14

In the summer of 2014 I bought three bottles of Victory Wild Devil to conduct an experiment to see how this beer evolves with time in the bottle. My first bottle was consumed in Feb. 2015 on a ski trip (I shared this bottle with my wife and friends). The second bottle was consumed about one year after bottling and I discussed it in a New Beer Sunday thread on July 26, 2015. You can read about that drinking experience here: http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/new-beer-sunday-week-544.317913/#post-3911169

So, since it has been about 1.5 years post bottling it is time for the third and final bottle to be consumed.

As a ‘reminder’ some information about this beer:

“Wild Devil

India Pale Ale

It’s arguable that our menacingly delicious HopDevil has always been wild. With bold German malts and whole flower American hops, this India Pale Ale is anything but prim. But add a touch of brettanomyces, the unruly beast responsible for the sharp tang and deep funk found in many Belgian ales, and our WildDevil emerges completely untamed. Pour yourself a glass today—if you dare.

Composition

Malt: Imported two-row malts

Hops: Whole flower American hops

ABV: 6.7%”

Drum roll please!!

Served in my Spiegelau Wheat glass:

Appearance:
An orangeish-amber color with a HUGE rocky head.

Aroma:

Brett funk with no hop aroma to speak of.

Taste:

For the first few sips barnyard flavors dominate; some horse blanket, wet hay and a bit of musty flavor. As the beer opens up there is more flavors of cherry. There is no hop flavor at all.

Mouthfeel:

Medium-thin body with a dry finish.

Overall:

Totally dominated by Brett produced flavors; I love it!!



Two general observations on the July tasting to today:

· The hop aroma/flavor has completely diminished in today’s tasting which is to be expected.

· The mouthfeel has thinned out a bit and the finish is drier which is to be expected

I hope that everybody had a Happy New Year’s celebration!

Cheers to Victory for producing a beer that evolves so enjoyably over time.

@rotsaruch @Starkbier

 

Good morning NBS and thanks to @JMS1512 for the kick off today.
Started with a slightly icy walk up Mt Sugarloaf early today. Grey and cool here in WMass.
This holiday weekend has been right size and right pace. Starting the new year NBS with a
wonderful offering from Casita Cerveceria. Lots of botanical elements, wonderfully crafted and a treat
to partake in.
Cheers all

Bèbeme

Casita Cerveceria
Saison / Farmhouse Ale / 5.50% ABV

3.82/5rDev n/a | Avg: 3.82
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75

Poured from a recently purchased bottle into the modified tulip glass.
A - Lemon pie in color, a wandering trail of carbonation meanders to the surface. A thing ring of proof can
be coaxed out with some agitation. The level of carbonation is very low. Only a slight slick coat clings to the glass, sliding into the offering in short time.
S - Citrus and floral meet up and lead the way, the orange zest is prominent, the lavender and chamomile are welcome with some warmth to the glass. A bountiful nose with some chalkiness and mineral elements. This has a Gose like component.
T - Just enough tartness, from the Orange zest, or a kiss of salt maybe, the botanicals add a wonderful dessert sweet touch. Grain bill is light infusing a bit of old baguette character. The flavors run in broad complimentary sweeps.
M- A bit oily, rather viscous in a Sauternes wine kind of way. The palette is fully coated, the tartness rolls up the tongue sides, leaving the sweet to run across the center effortlessly, A really pleasant element of the offering is the feel. In this area the low carbonation is a true benefit.
O - Casita Cerveceria has crafted a delightfully challenging offering here. Dessert like in some ways with just
enough sweet and tart to want some more. The body is rich , the aromatics are floral and fruity. A well crafted beer.
Cheers

 

My first NBS offering today is a bit of a personal whale. I found it completely by accident while searching for BCBS after Black Friday. Went into Hunger Mountain Coop and went to the beer section. BCBS was sold out, but there were a few bottles of this beer still available also at 1 per person. For me is was like hunting for bigfoot and stumbling into the loch ness monster.



Backacre only makes this one beer. It's made in tiny small batches that are blended and aged. My wife and I both enjoy sour beers so I've been looking for this since I started my craft beer journey.

Sour Golden Ale

Backacre Beermakers
American Wild Ale / 7.20% ABV

4.41/5 rDev +3.5% | Avg: 4.26
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

L-A moderate pour leads to a slighty hazy (probably due to my atrocious pouring skills) a one half inch white fluffy head which recedes to a thin ring. No lacing is present.
S- The smell is a clear tart presence more green apple than lemon, but with hints of both.
T- The sourness starts out as an initial bite from a green apple. Mid palate it transitions to a more lemony acidic tartness. Their is a moderate funk present also, but may be due to getting yeast from the dregs of the bottle. It gives the beer a sour saison like profile.
F- The carbonation is prickly, but fairly light and the beer has a suitably dry, thin mouthfeel.
O- Sour and Funky, this beer is a great example of the style and one that you should try to get your hands on if you see it.

The taste profile of the beer is very similar to Oro De Calabaza by Jolly Pumpkin.

 

Exactly my impression of this beer, a nice regular stout with coffee malt leanings, but not really a "coffee stout", per se. The RIS version of this is a bit more of what I think of in a coffee stout, but is also well balanced.

 

Greetings all,
I've been told it's 2016, but the last two weeks have been a blur that seems like a dream. We're trying to simplify Christmas every year, but the grand kids will delay a complete overhaul for a while.
27 degrees this morning and it felt good while stomping through the woods. We took a long walk, saw some friends, and let the hounds sniff their way zig zag eventually towards home. It was nice not to be sweating after a hike...I hope the warm weather is gone until April.
Today's beer is Ommegang Abbey Ale. The beer pours a ruddy orange, cloudy, with a huge and gorgeous frothy and permanent head. The aromatics are pure Belgian. The bead is alive and hard to spot in the murky brooding brew. The flavors are a mix of dark fruits, complex malts, and a pleasing yeasty sweetness that doesn't go too far. This is a great night cap, a celebration drink, one to show friends what Ommegang can achieve.

I saw these guys at The Atlanta Pop Festival in Byron, Georgia in 1970. They lit up a lit up crowd!. This is a great mix of styles well ahead of it's time. Cheers.

 

Garrison City Beerworks from Dover, New Hampshire has been putting out hop forward beer for a little more than a year. This is their Altercation Black IPA, which was released less than a month back in December 2015 so it is new. The ABV is 7.6%. These crowlers drive me nuts though. It is 32 ounces of beer that once you open the crowler you have to finish it because there's no way to cap it. At least with a growler you can put the cap on nice and tight to give it a couple extra days of life. But for now Garrison City only makes its beer available to local stores in crowlers. I need to visit the brewery sometime and get myself a reusable growler of one of their brews.

As for the beer; it most definitely pours a deep black color with a big dark tan head. The head almost has that widget bubbly carbonation sensation when I first pour it but there is no widget in this can. There is excellent head retention. I enjoy the array of aromas I am getting. Yes, dark, roasted or sooty malts along with an abundance of citrus and pine hop characters. The hops are more prevalent in the aroma b ut the malts step forward more in the flavor. Not there are no hops in the taste - there are plenty. But they seem to come up on the backside. It ends dry. This is a n excellent black IPA.

 

GOOOOD SUNDAY MORNING all you fellow NBSer's!!! 'Tis the week after Christmas, the first Sunday of the New Year, all the snow has melted in far West Texas here, the sun is shining, and the skies are clear!!! I hope for each and every one of you that you have a very happy and prosperous New Year!!!

Well, my first NBS brew for 2016 gets me more on track with the style of the season, after my brief diversion into IPAs which I've enjoyed immensly since mid-October 2015.

My NBS brew this week is from Adelbert's Brewery in Austin, Texas. Flyin' Monks Hand Crafted Belgian Style Quadrupel ($14.62 / 750ml Corked & Caged Bottle, purchased at Spec's Wine Spirits & Finer Foods in East El Paso, Texas). Bottled on November 6, 2014. 10.9%ABV.

WOW!!! This is one POTENT brew!!! See the review here: http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/27934/166751/?ba=NanookinTexas#navigation , which I posted a lil' earlier this fine Sunday AM.

This quad pours a very deep dark reddish brown colour. Looks super rich & decadent! Initially for me, it's a bit heavy on the sour dark cherry notes. As it warms, though, it opens up, allowing more complxity to come through. For me, it becomes easier to drink as it warms, yet it is more of a sipper. St. Bernardus ABT 12 is easier for me to drink than this. Even so, in my very limited knowledge of dubels, trippels, quads, stouts, etc, Adelbert's Flyin' Monks seems true to the style. This is a VERY boozy quadrupel! Even as a sipper, it's gonna hit ya'!!! I'd like to have another bottle of this and pair it with a REALLY nice filet mignon (moderately to heavily seasoned with black pepper, done medium-rare)!!!

I'd like to give Spec's a SPECIAL THANKS for the new location they opened here in EP, TX! This newest locations MEGA gold mine for craft brews, when compared to their two other locations! And, compared to any other liquor outlet here in EP, Spec's is WAY ahead in the craft brew selection.

CHEERS & HAPPY NEW YEAR to all you fellow NBSers out there!!!

 

Night had not fallen too long before I got a tingling sensation up my spine. Something was coming for us, but through the night I could not see. I strained my every sense, but nothing came to me, a total void for my senses for what seemed like eternity.

The a little sound of metal on metal and a rush of the wind. My mind raced as to what that could be, and then I felt a familiar feeling in the air, and a dark, roasted scent came to my nose. This, too, was familiar, and gave me a sense of foreboding.

It was naught a year since our ship had encountered one that left us overwhelmed at the time. We have another year of experience under our belts, maybe we can take them down this time. The crew was stirring and soon we would be ready for battle.

As the ships came together, the coffee notes from the other's cargo holds became stronger, and more pronounced than I recall. They must've plundered another type of boat recently, as well, as there were hints of mint. It seemed that maybe they had offloaded that cargo in port before heading back to the high seas.

Our ships crashed together and the splintering of wood could be heard as the sea rushed between the converging hulls. The froth of the sea endlessly churns tan against the black depths. Torches alight to show the battleground, and the taste of battle reaches my palate. Nutty also as much as roasted are the initial impressions. The torches add a light smokiness, and perhaps we did some damage to their ship, as the coffee in their holds seems a tad burnt.

Or maybe that's the lingering mint that once was their cargo. I dare say we must have opened a breach in their ship, as that mint is more prominent in my nose. Unfortunately as the battle rages, the crew of the two ships become entangled in a bitter fight where neither seems to be winning or losing. The battle rages as the fighting grows more heated...



...as dawn breaks, the battle is over. I have survived again, and so has my ship. Charred wood from the nights battle linger. A few of our sails lay in sheets against the glass sky. There is a bitterness that lingers from the opponent's invasion of our ship. There is also a soothing, refreshing tingle knowing we survived and held our own, in near-mint condition. This battle, though we survived, was received well by my crew, and we left feeling the opponent was not as bold and daring as before. Maybe it's our own experience, or maybe their crew of our foe were not up to snuff like the last mates we encountered.

Happy New Years and Beers, NBS!!!

 

Sorry that I forgot to thank jms1512 for getting us started today. Thanks and cheers.

 

Good morning NBSers getting ready to watch some football, my new beer today is Old Leghumper Porter by Thirsty Dog Brewing Company from Akron, Ohio. 5.8% ABV I have to say I was not expecting too much from this but I really enjoyed it more than I expected.

Pours dark mahogany good caramel colored head that lasts for a while some lacing around the glass once head reseeds about 1/4" head remains.

Smell sweet chocolate roasted malts some coffee smell does not stand out as much as I expected

Taste dark roasted taste some chocolate little smoked flavor good flavor profile on this beer

Feel very creamy and smooth I liked the way it kind coated my mouth.

Overall I really enjoyed this beer, I was not expecting it to be as good as it was.

 

One of my goals for 2016 is to go to Gatorland in Kissimmee, do the behind the scenes tour, wrestle one of my alligator brothers, and just have a damn good time. Maybe we can pop a brew or two.