New Beer Sunday (week 574)

After a long slow day at work, I offer up my first NBS beer of the day.




Citrennial

Foley Brothers Brewing
American IPA / 6.90% ABV

4.1/5 rDev -0.5% | Avg: 4.12
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

L-Slightly hazy and golden pour leads to a white 1 1/2 finger head. The head recedes to a thing film and the lacing is spotty.
S- The aroma is all citrus which you would expect from a IPA brewed with Citra and Centennial.
T- The citrusy flavor is of the sweeter variety. I wanna say peach, tangerine, and or/papaya. There is a solid level of bitterness. More than most straight Citra IPA's, I'd hazard that would be the centennial influence.
F-Carbonation is prickly and lightens up the mouthfeel to something slightly less than medium.
O- This is a very solid IPA. Not surprising since Foley Bros does some excellent IPA's. This isn't anywhere near as good as Prospect however. It seems to be more readily available and is a more than acceptable alternative if Prospect or Pieces of Eight are not available.

 

Lower De Boom Barleywine from 21st Amendment Brewing

I bought this honestly because the can stood out in the cooler.

Typical barleywine at 11.5% very boozy and warm. Kind of a perfect beer to sip on a cold February night, but the temps are a bit too warm for it. It is a very high IBU for a barleywine (90) but I can barely taste the hop bomb (the booze kind of mixes well with it)


overall I gave it a 3.75/5 stars on Untappd but it definitely is getting more character as it gets warmer.

 

Ninkasi Dawn of the Red



Nice beige head with some sticky lacing atop a moderately hazy light orange beer.

Nose is big sweet malty with just a hint of piney.

Taste is very same but the sweetness takes on sort of a bubble gum character that gives way to that pine thing.

Very enjoyable for sure.

 

Thoroughly enjoyed that!!

 

If you enjoy it now, you will be blown away 2 years in. This is truly one of the top handful of stouts to cellar.

 

New Belgian Strong Dark Ale Sunday

Hello everyone! Mid-thirties and overcast here in Milwaukee, Wisconsin today. Today's brew is from Uinta - from the Crooked Line Series - "Port O' Call" - a 750 ml cage-corked bottle I paid about 10 bucks for. A Belgian Strong Dark Ale aged in port barrels. The port put an interesting, unique spin on it without overpowering it. The 9.4% abv reasonable well covered. It's nice - slightly on the fizzy side, and not really "robust" across the board. I gave the appearance, smell and taste 4.0's and the mouthfeel and overall 3.75's, resulting in an overall of 3.93, which is above the current average of 3.78.

Here's the link:
http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/1416/196052/?ba=jwc215

Cheers!

 

What up Sunday Funday friends!!!!
Finally getting around to posting today, been another hectic day with yet another open house for what appears to be the house hat won't sell?? Now it's beer thirty!!! Got some chorizo in the smoker from the local meat man so I got a couple few hours to drink before dinner. Gonna start with this guy. It's been staring me down since I unpacked it Friday from @JonathannRobert

Look: a beautiful pitch black with creamy tan head
Smell: sorry but all I'm gettin is some lite bourbon
Taste: bottle says it's a bba caramel macchiato milk stout so I had REAL high hopes. Everything I love in one bottle!!! At first sip I get wood with some burnt caramel, a little booze on the back end, now on sip 4 and it tastes like it says, the smooth milk stout is coming thru and bourbon fading.
Overall: I had high hopes for this beer and I gotta says its up to par. I think I found a new brewery to chase. Was lookin at the adroit theory website and was a c hair away from becoming a member, problem, I don't live anywhere near VA. ?? Looks like I gotta hit the viper pit for some more of these.

Till next Sunday friends, enjoy you beer and your evenings

 

DARK GAMUT - since majority of NBS's are dark, here are 5 from me tasted the last fortnight...
Ranging from London to East Coast USA. Like you, I'm partial to black beers.

Black Betty - Beavertown (UK)
4.37/5 rDev +8.4%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
I asked the London barkeep at Cask in Belgrave which was his favorite canned beer and he said the best black IPA ever is my fave - And now it's mine too!
Can.
A . A deep black. Light tan head pours big, ragged, thick, loamy and foamy and fades slowly to persistent crema... Boatloads of sticky lacing all of the way down the glass...
S - Awesome and ample. Juicy fruits followed by sweet and roasted malt, with pepper candy, chocolate and coffee, brown sugar, pine resin and citrus hoppiness, raw honey, molasses, wet hay...
T - Devlish see saw of bright, piney, grassy hop bitterness mixed with lots of toasted chocolate and coffee malts.. tart fruit, caramel malts and floral honey, brown sugar, ending in very long herbal, licorice, light pepper candy dark brown finish.
F - Big, wet and peppery, smooth with oiliness and sharp finish.. full bodied... meditation beer.
O - Best black IPA and one of the best beers i've had in a while... recommended..Must try!

Old Engine Oil - Harviestoun (UK)
4.12/5 rDev +0.5%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Astounding. Must try.

A: Black motor oil color with ruby highlights sporting a frothy head that retains and leaves blobs of lace.

S: Deep, ample, roasty, with chocolate, prunes, brandy.

T: Foillows smell with it roasty, smoke and dark chocolate flavors mixing with earthy hop, then more smoke and black licorice in a long twisting finish.

F: Medium to full with moderate carbonation

O: a meditation beer. Go for 12.

Porter - Southern Tier
3.91/5 rDev +6.3%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
Tasted against their 2x Black IPA at 8%, and I think this gets the edge, but both are good. Try 6.
A - Pours with a finger of medium brown foam on top of an opaque, dark brown (not black) body with hint of amber. Ample head settles at a slow pace and leaves decent lace and ring.
S - Soft, malty notes of toasted dark bread and caramel with molasses. More licorice and chocolate than coffee, and some roast and char.
T - Follows smell. Features caramel and molasses up front on top of dark toast. Then a swelling note of rich, dark powdery chocolate. The beer finishes with more of the thick, almost licorice notes and bready malt as well as some pine hop bitterness that balances well.
M - Medium body, but a well-made mouth feel, moderate carbonation, and a sweet but tingly finish.
D - There's complexity here including a hint of licorice. Great brewer. Try 6.

2XIBA - Southern Tier
3.86/5 rDev +2.4%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75
Perhaps it was the olives, marinated veg, cheese and baggette, and the 64 F day in Feb, but this was an elegant finish to the light.
A. It's dark brown, not black, and sports a short tan head that fades fast, and leaves but dotty lace. Seen better.
S: The aroma offers licorice, chocolate, coffee, wrinkled dark fruit, roasted malts and grassy hops. But slight.
T: The taste follows smell, and starts sweet with licorice, chocolate, dark fruit, up front. Second, a roasty malt character arrives and takes you to the finish with slight hop bitter. Good food complement. The after-taste is licorice/jammy and slightly toasted, salty dark bread. (Good contrast -definitely a 4 with food.)
M: Crisp, smooth, medium body, carbonation, finish is dry, salty, and slightly sticky.
O: A saltier, roastier take on the style, with licorice as the predominant sweet note. Well done with good feel and gravitas.

Harpoon Chocolate Stout
3.73/5 rDev +3.3%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75
This beer has no business being consumed cold. Needs to be at cask temperature. Cold it would receive lower rating.
A – A deep brown, near black, with a tan, two finger, dense head. Only bit of lacing on a chalice glass named Stella. And on 2-20-16 - a tulip named Duvel. ;-)
S – The aroma is the best part. Prominent, dry, with mix of chocolate and a roasted malt smell. Also a caramel machiatto coffee with cinnamon, vanilla and cream. Almost egg nog.
T – Follows the sweet milk chocolate and caramel macchiato with a moderate roasted flavor. These sweet flavors are the base upon which float char, roast, dry stout flavors, so it's a neat balance once it warms up. Very original, and more chocolate, and Starbucks, than most, say Brooklyn, etc.
F – Reviewers found this beer thin, but I'd say it's medium and it's fine. Nothing to write home about.
O –I wanted to ding this as a light weight when I drank it cold, but letting it warm made it very enjoyable, and original, a neat mix of a lot of chocolate and caramel coffee with a dry roast stout base.

 

Hello NBS friends. Today, I am trying two new brews together: Evil Twin Brewing's Yin and Yang.


First, I tried, and reviewed, them separately.

Yin:

4.17/5 rDev +5.3%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25

Poured into stout glass. It pours a deep, dark opaque mahogany with a a one-finger khaki-colored head and lacing. It smells of roasted malt, dark chocolate, coffee, tobacco, and raisin. The taste is rather smoky with bitter chocolate, burnt coffee grounds, raisin, and a subtle caramel. As it warms in the glass, I taste more chocolate, as well as the raisin that I smelled. It finishes with some bitterness. This stout is medium-bodied but less viscous and oily than many other fine Imperial Stouts. Overall, it is very good-not at the level of KBS, FBS, BCBS, BOMB, Speedway, and some others but very good nonetheless.

Yang:

4.06/5 rDev +5.7%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Poured into IPA glass. It pours a clear orange-amber with a one-finger milk-white head and lacing. It has a nice dank smell with an aroma of tangerine, pine, and hops. You can really taste the tangerine/orange peel. It begins quite sweet and fruity but ends with a lot of hoppy bitterness. It's a really nice balance of sweet and bitter. It's a medium-bodied ale with moderate carbonation and it hides its 10% ABV quite well. Overall, it's a well-crafted and enjoyable IPA. Like Yin, it's not as good as some of its famous competitors but it is solid and worth trying.

Then, since I haven't been able to find Yin and Yang in bottles, I blended and rated my own (please don't hold this against me):



I think the whole was greater than the sum of the parts.

Yin and Yang:

4.21/5 rDev +3.4%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25

I admit, I cheated my mixing my own. The Yin supplies the color - a pretty, opaque mahogany with a khaki-colored head and lacing. It looks like Yin. The smell becomes more interesting because the coffee and chocolate is more subdued and there is an aroma of tangerine which seems weird in what looks like a stout. The taste is both unique and really good: The tangerine comes through more than I expected but there is still a nice malt base with chocolate and coffee. There is a distinct bitterness from both underlying beers. Not being purely a stout, the body doesn't seem as thin. The ABV of each constituent is 10% so the blend is no different. Overall, I think is is an example of the whole being greater than the sum of the parts.

 

New American Stout

It feels like a beautiful spring day in West MI. Blue skies and temps in the 40s. Too bad I've been cooped up for the weekend.

After getting the ole "snip snip" on Thursday, I've been icing my nuts and self medicating with imperial stouts and double IPAs. One positive is working my way through some of my cellared bottles as well as being the recipient of a number of sympathy brews.

Today's is an interesting ale from Short's. Good, not great. Hoping to come back with another.

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/9629/110395/?ba=GRPunk

Bim Bam Boom
$2.29 for a 12oz. Bottle (dated 01/07/16)at Copper Vine. Poured into a Stone IRS snifter.

A- A normal pour create 1-finger of light brown head that drops to a thin foam. The body is near black. Decent lacing is left on the glass.

S- Mostly chocolate at first. There's a little cayenne in the background, though I don't know that I'd notice if I wasn't looking for it. Definitely more aromatic with a little warmth.

T- Interesting. I get the chocolate up front. Through the middle comes the orange, in a somewhat bitter form. The finish is a light dose of the cayenne. The latter 2 flavors are definitely tamed by the chocolate that represents throughout. The longer I go, the more pronounced the cayenne finish.

M- Medium body with moderate carbonation. There is a slight burn and dryness from the peppery finish.

O- I've actually been craving a pepper stout lately. This one almost got me there. Upping the cayenne so it hits a bit more through the middle would be a plus in my book. I don't know that the orange addition does much either. I'm glad I gave it a shot, but I'm probably not going back for another.

4 3.75 4 3.75 3.75

 

Howdy folks, I'm back for another with Short's Batch 5000 Triple IPA. I've read the Michigan hype and I'm pouring this undated, no abv. listed recent release in my Weyerbacher tulip glass.

Pours a brilliant gold with a generous finger of frothy white foam. The aroma is tropical fruit with grapefruit, passionfruit, mango and pineapple. There is some candy sugar sweetness as well. Flavor is biting hop bitterness with grapefruit, passionfruit, guava, mango, and pineapple. There's a residual malt sweetness in the finish. The feel is oily, bitter, and on the flat side.



As triple IPA's go, this is around the middle of the road for me. A big beer with some pretty intense flavor, but I'll take the lower abv. and more balanced flavors of Hi Res and the much lower price point per ounce. Sorry Michigan homers and trade hypers for not agreeing on this one.

This might be it for me today. Have a great week and enjoy the review.

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/9629/212564/?ba=Prager62

 

@SawDog505, thanks for your great review. I'm a little surprised we don't see Left Hand more on WBAYDN and NBS. They brew some excellent product. I'm a big fan of Wake Up Dead (both regular and Nitro) and Smoke Jumper (which I don't think is brewed anymore). And Milk Stout Nitro, while a little thin, really hits the spot now and again.

 

Delirium Red. Can't say I love it. It's not bad, just a little bland. It's so slightly tart and also slightly sweet. It's like the beer couldn't decide which way to go. The 8% ABV is hidden well, though.

 

yang sounds well balanced to me from your review, I might try it now, thanks!

 

Look at all this BEER!

I got one ... a *new* one for me, in fact:

Real Ale's Four Squared
(now with "dry-hopped pale ale" on label ... more on that later ...)

this one's not exactly a newborn baby, is it?

Midnight the Cat says shuddup and drink it ... and give me some tuna ...


Originally Real Ale marketed this beer as a dry-hopped Fireman's Four, which is their blonde ale gateway brew. I never tried Four Squared when it still held that moniker, so I can't say for sure if they've changed the recipe AND the labeling or just the labeling.

But what is a pale ale if it's not a dry-hopped blonde? ?

The review:
http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/458/82807/?ba=Premo88
3.95 (-1%rDev)
5.6% ABV -- 42 IBUs -- 13.75 degress (plato)

Considering this beer might be five months old, it's fantastic. Tons of citrusy hop flavor, orange, grapefruit ... and the nose is amazing. It's full of hoppy greeness but also sweet, like a sugary cilantro. It pushed up that huge head off what I thought was a medium-ish pour (oops), but even after popping that big head and all my swirling to enjoy the aroma, it held on to enough carbonation to keep it drinkable for my born-and-bred-soda-pop-drinking-American palate.

I get why it rates in the high 3.9s. It should. In fact, I bet a fresh one of these tastes just like All-Day IPA ... and don't nobody throw nothin at me here, but I'd swear this old one is already coming off a lot like Yellow Rose's Lone Pint. Lots of hop flavor, not a ton of bitterness (just a wee bitty bite to remind ya it's not water).

Cheers, y'all!

 

@snaphook, I find that FIS ages really well. I'm still drinking the '15 and haven't bought any '16 yet. Enjoy. Cheers!

 

@laketang, I tend to like maltier beers and I'm a little self-conscious about rating IPA's but I enjoyed Yang. It's not a pure hop bomb but if you like IPA's with some sweet fruit, then you'd probably like this one.

 

yes i would, thanks!

 

@cavedave, I usually post late on NBS and tend not to thank you and Maria for getting this thread started each week. Well, thank you. Cheers!

 

@prager

@Prager62, thanks for your great review! Insanity is one of my favorites, and go-to, beers. It is usually the first beer I have when I get home from work on Friday night (both in terms of enjoyment and symbolism). I'm always glad to see others rate it highly. Cheers!