New Beer Sunday (week 571)

Congrats on the new job!

 

Mornin', NBSers.

Been a long while for me here as I was on an almost monthlong detox (25 excruciating days!) from any and all alcohol.

There's been some good reading so far this morning and, inspired by @kemoarps side-by-side post, I decided to do something similar with Baladin's Terre barleywine, which is aged in red wine barrels. I learned of Baladin from BA's forums, as people mentioned Xyauyu was an otherworldly experience. The two Xyauyus I've had have very much fit that bill. I picked up Terre as a set with another barleywine called Lune and the set offered a 2010 and 2012 of each beer. The Terre gets the red wine barrel treatment and the Lune white wine barrels. All Baladin barleywines I've had to date have been still, which I feel lends itself well to barleywines. Plus, I love that I can recap them and drink a few ounces every so often.

Anyhow, let's get to the nitty gritty. Here's Baladin's Terre:














4.52/5 rDev -0.7%
look: 5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 5 | overall: 4.5

Reviewing a 2010 and 2012 side-by-side.

Both are poured into mini-snifters from the 500mL bottles. I start with about two to three ounces per glass.

The 2012:

Look- Pours viscous and caramel thick into the glass. No head or carbonation as expected as these beers are intentionally still. In the glass it looks almost like bourbon or some heavier spirit, or even maple syrup. Within the liquid, there are swirls of oiliness that add to its rich appearance.

The 2010:

Look- Practically identical to the 2012 but with a tad more clarity.

The 2012:

Aroma- Fruity and vinous first, I'm picking up notes like plum wine or raisin wine. Oak is present as is a spicy edge. Caramel shows but in a distant fashion. The wine really pops here but does slightly overshadow the barleywine characteristics.

The 2010:

Aroma- Much more barleywinesque. Toffee and caramel and butter all deliver first. More liqueur-like and the wine is less prominent. There's more of a grape sucker quality and more oak than wine, though the overall smell does suggest grapes.

The 2012:

Flavor- Still very similar to a plum wine with a tart, fruity start. There's some crisp pear and wine grape. Mid-palate offers some malty notes that translate to biscuit, hints of dark roast and finally, caramel and toffee. Like the other Baladin barleywines I've had, this beer is tremendously layered.

Palate- A touch tart, but not in a way that suggests infection. Certainly a result of the wine-barreling. The body is a tad thinner than medium, but still very viscous and capable of coating the mouth and lingering pleasantly. Mid-palate the tartness cedes to sweeter sensations.

The 2010:

Flavor- Fascinating how much more buttery toffee and caramel forward the 2010 is. I still get wine flavors injecting plum, pear and tart grape, but here they follow the sweeter, savory barleywine base. The finish is also more raisiny and introduces a touch of charred oak and brown sugar, a wonderful bonus.

Palate- This drinks thicker too. More creamy, viscous, rich caramel mouthfeel and less tartness and vinous quality. It's sweeter and more dessert-like, ultimately.

I'm about the biggest Baladin barleywine fanboy there is right now, I think. Every barleywine these guys make has caused me to marvel at its richness, multi-layered flavor and feel, delicious flavor and interplay or barrel and base beer. The Terre beers are no exception. These are something special.

 

Congrats and best of luck on the new job!

I love that hint of brett with porters and stouts- it's very much in character with what the original London versions would have been like. I find that temperature makes a huge difference, though- when they are too cold all I seem to get is the brett, and warming them up brings out more of the roastiness.

And definitely stay away from those canned sauces. You just reminded me that I have some peppers to take out of the freezer myself- it'll make a nice accompaniment to the chorizo and egg tacos I have planned for that eating event (with a side of football) going on next week. Anyway- enchilada pics would be nice if you can manage it . Cheers!

 

Single hop Moasic throws off my taste buds, I get the catty earthy hit as well.

 

Good afternoon, NBS!

My new beer today is Stone Xocoveza. This flavored stout, "for the holidays and the new year," pours a dark brown with an inch and a half of cola-colored head. The nose is a burst of vanilla and cinnamon. The taste is layered and complex: starts out with some semi-sweet baker's chocolate lightly on top; quickly followed by a complex underlayer of coffee, cinnamon, and nutmeg. There's pepper, too, but not so much tasted as felt prickling on the tongue and back of the throat. The mouthfeel is quite light for so much going on, but gets a little stickier as the beer warms. The peppers and 8.1 ABV also warm you up, true to this beer's roots in a warm cup of Mexican Cocoa.

I wasn't expecting to like this one, folks, since increasingly I like my beers without much in the way of additives and other bells and whistles. Add to that I don't like my beers sweet or with pepper. In the hands of a lesser brewer, this could've been a godawful mess of artificial flavors. But it wasn't. In fact, it's delicious. I think the key is holding the sweetness in check - chocolate doesn't always mean sweet. That and the peppers are there to add accent and texture - they don't steal the show. Masterfully done, Stone. Not something I want often, but would look forward to having a few every year during the holidays.

Cheers!

 

So our Groundhog day blizzard appears to be slipping away to the north. Oh well, just means less shoveling and no snow day.

CW held their anniversary party yesterday and released 18. I always drink the previous years release becuase I like it to mellow a bit. So here is 17!

The aroma is wonderful with bourbon, vanilla, dark chocolate, cocoa, marshmallow and thick caramel. The taste is nice and roasty with vanilla and bourbon filled dark chocolates with hints of, oak, caramel, and mild hops. The barrel blends in so nicely with the base stout to create a memorable drinking experience. Medium body with creamy, smooth feel. Carbonation is spot on. Excellent BB Stout!



Cheers!

 

Good morning/afternoon getting a little late start had a late night, on to the review.

This morning I had Alpine Nelson for the first time 7% ABV I could not find the bottled date but the best by date is June 18th 2016.


Pours - Cloudy citrus juice golden color with thick white head that stays until almost the glass is gone (which did not take long) great lacing.



Smell - The smell is not as pronounced as I expected but still amazing orange and grapefruit stand out as well as some pine notes.



Taste - The main things that stand out are orange, grapefruit and a good hop flavor.



Feel - Very smooth light to medium body very clean and crisp.



Overall - An amazing beer I was very glad the local shop got this in and I got to try it, may have to get another bottle. I gave it a 4.41 overall.

 

Greetings! My New Beer Sunday selection is a fairly new addition to the Stoneface Brewing Company's lineup. It is the Blip Small India Pale Ale and it's brewed in Newington, N.H. along with all the other Stoneface beers. This first rolled out in October 2015 but I have not had it until now. My bottle is dated 12-30-15 so I am drinking it 31 days later.

Cloudy, murky looking straw yellow pour with a big white, foamy head that settles some and leaves a bit of lacing. Stoneface is getting a good reputation for their IPAs even though they brew other styles such as Porters, stouts, etc. This one has lovely hopped up qualities of grapefruit, pineapple, and grass with the grainy malts below it all. The taste is kind of the opposite because the toasted grainy malt character steps out first and then the hop finale is more juicy, grassy, and earthy. Clean, crisp finish and easy drinking.

 

Delicious Founders Imerial Stout
L - 5 poured into a founder sniffer glass. Chocolate brown thick creamy head with a dark black thick body
S - 4.5 chocolate, coffee, toffee, maple, sweet, malty
T - 4.75 just like the smell. Chocolate, toffee up front with a malty sweet caramel maple after taste
F - 4.5 super smooth beer that goes down easy w low carbonation. This is a thick beer you can chew on that really coats the palate
O - 4.75 when it comes to imperial stouts, this is the best I've ever had. A sexy looking beer full of flavor and a thick body that you can chew on. Founders never disappoints and this is a great stout that meets everything that you want in an imperial stout

 

So did they add coffee to it? Or was it the roasted malt that gave it a coffee flavor?

 

Good afternoon NBSers! I hope everyone out there in Beerland is doing well on this surprisingly spring-like day. With a high of 64, you can believe I'll be outside as soon as I post this! But anyway, @Bonkinishwa and I were able to stop by The Beer Trappe in Lexington, KY yesterday on our way home from Newport (my wife and I took our daughter to the aquarium). Picked up several new beers to try, and here's the first of 'em!

Da Beer

Omnipollo Mazarin
American Pale Ale, 5.6% ABV, 48 IBU

I love this bottle. Looking forward to turning it into a drinking glass.


No idea what any of this says. I can kinda guess, but..


And to beat all, this beer is from the future! :O
Oh..wait, I'm being told that's the best by date..


Da Re...view

Bottle into a New Belgium snifter. Dated 07/01/17. Pours a light, pulpy yellow and settles a transluscent, cloudy orange in the glass. Honestly looks like a glass of Tropicana orange juice with a white, fluffy head of foam. Obviously unfiltered. Not surprisingly, oranges seem to lend a hand to the aroma as well. Sweet oranges, grapefruit, pineapple, grass, and wavering notes of caramel malt are all there. Overall, a very pleasant, tropical aroma. And damn, I hate to write such a one-dimensional review here, but this beer smells like it looks, and tastes like it smells. Super-sweet orange juice pulp comprises the majority of the flavor here, but balances nicely with a modest hop bitterness and caramel/bready malt backbone. Great mouthfeel to boot. This guy is a pleasure to drink; sometimes APAs fall victim to an underwhelming, flat/thin mouthfeel. Not this one, boy'o. Creamy and full all the way.

Overall, a great beer. I'm having a hard time understanding how this doesn't have a higher rating.

Da Scores

look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25
Weighted score: 4.22/5 (+6.8% rDev)

 

Happy NBS,

Nice day here in snowy NJ. Bagels have been consumed, workout finished, later heading out to celebrate the Old Man's birthday with family. For now, though, relaxing with a new beer. I think this is the last beer from my fall Maine trip. Picked this up as a single.



Pours black with a nice head on top. Smells delicious. Coffee with chocolate malt underneath. Taste is similar and delicious. Love the blend of coffee and chocolate. It's got a bit of bitterness that works here. Creamy mouthfeel, not thin at all. Why did I wait so long to try this?

Cheers!

 

Happy NBS gang! A beautiful spring like weekend along the southern shore although things have clouded up now with a light drizzle. I woke up to a beautiful sunrise before a morning run and followed that with a tasty breakfast quesadilla at one of my favorite haunts. Only one thing is left and that's a well deserved beer!

Popping the cork on a bottle of Stone Cocoveza Charred that I found in the cooler of one of my local stores a few weeks ago. A 10 percent abv. bourbon barrel version of my favorite winter seasonal poured in my 10oz. Stone snifter. Yes please!

I'm rather tired lifting the bottle to pour after wrestling with, breaking, and ultimately pulling out the old corkscrew for extraction of the remains. It pours a dark brown with a small but lively amount of tan foam that quickly settles to a thin ring. The aroma is cinnamon, bakers chocolate, coffee and nutmeg. There is some vanilla and bourbon that emerge as it warms. Flavor is cinnamon forward followed by coffee and cocoa. The bourbon hides in the back and comes out a little as it hits around 50-55 degrees. Some woodiness as well. Mouthfeel is on the tingly and effervescent side from the spices and carbonation.



A pretty flavorful beer overall with slightly more integrated flavors than the regular version which I thought was more amped up to my liking. The bourbon flavor is a bit lacking for such a big beer. I'm glad I had a chance to try, I liked it except for the lack of barrel and the rather steep price of $18. Oh, and the nearly impossible to remove cork! My score was 4.1 / rDev -3.3%.

Have a great Sunday, here's the link to review and a couple of day in the life shots for those interested.

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/147/182952/?ba=Prager62

 

here's my review of this beer, it took three to get it right.

pours clear straw, I get some sweetness on the nose. honey,i taste the agave! but, then, the grapefruit provides a bitter end. finishes crisp and clean. CHEERS!

 

Greetings, fellow NBSers, & thanks to @utopiajane for getting us going,

Getting a late start today. I’ve been battling insomnia for much of the past week, and finally sort of caught up my sleep last night. I guess the various beers I had at the anniversary parties for Black Label Brewing and River City Brewing helped a bit. Right now there’s a dusting of snow and it’s 32 degrees outside.

Last week I missed out on NBS as I was hanging with family in Olympia for what has become an annual tradition of celebrating my birthday and that of my oldest niece (who turned 6). It’s really mostly about the niece, but Sunday night was carved out for me, so we went to a restaurant in downtown Oly and I destroyed any pretentions of non-gluttony by ordering a dish daintily called the “Pork-fecta” and I had a local IPA whose name completely eludes me now.

Yesterday, while at Black Label I had a couple new beers to me that I had to add to the database while I was there. Apparently no other local BAs frequent the place. They don’t do “whalez bro” beers, but what they do is geared towards drinkability, and that was the case of both these IPAs, of which the latter pushes drinkability to a dangerous extreme, as there was no sign of the 9.6% abv:

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/39391/212609/?ba=woemad

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/39391/212602/?ba=woemad

I’ll be back in a little bit with my second encounter with the animal known as a Gose.

 

Thank you kindly. I'm grateful for every day on this beautiful planet and love to share the mundane details of my humble existence with all you fine people. Thanks for tolerating me!

 

i'm going to need to comfiscate that can opener sir!

 

I got it off of the Chive's online store for like $5