New Beer Sunday (week 575)

Happy New Glorious Beer Sunday! Cross posting with WBAYDN and once again thanks to @SammyJaxxxx for Lawson's Sip of Sunshine. Enjoying this one out on the patio in front of the fire pit (no fire though) on this glorious sunny Sunday. Perfect beer for today. Here's my passable review:


4.27/5 rDev -6.6%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25

Beer pours very clear with some light carbonation. Fluffy head on top. Dare I say the color is that of...sunshine? Sorry. Anyway, picking up light citrus hops in the nose. Not overpowering. Taste is not what I expected, but excellent nonetheless. Citrus hops, a bit of lingering bitterness but with a solid malt backbone to balance it out. Not the hop bomb I expected but balanced DIPAs can be just as enjoyable. Drinks more like an IPA than a DIPA. In a good way!

★ 474 characters

 

My first official New Beer of this Sunday is Rise & Grind (one of several entirely different beers listed in the db called that, btw), from longest-lived local libationer, No-Li. According to the label, it's an "ale brewed with coffee." Whoever put it in the database classified it as a stout. I think it's more like a brown ale with coffee added.
http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/936/130387/?ba=woemad
Not bad, but nothing terribly essential. No-Li did put a nice wrinkle on a style normally not very interesting to me, and would be a nice beer to have in the fridge for folks not into stouts or hoppy beers (which are what generally are in my fridge).

 

Hey NBS crew! I'm hoping to drop by a couple times today. I have a nice handful of new-to-me brews to try. Among them is TG King Sue bottled right at a week ago, but I couldn't help myself and cracked into that one on Friday so alas, not new on Sunday. Still, I have a few fun options. Starting with Das Wunderkind! from Jester King. A friend of mine from Texas brought this one out to me and it's right up my alley. My first beer from that brewery and now I want to try more. Cheers!




4.34/5 rDev +6.6%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

Bottled July 2015, poured into a snifter.

Big foamy head fizzes up and recedes to a small white ring immediately. No lacing. Opaque gold in color.

Nose definitely has a big brett note, some light bright fruits present as well.

Flavor is really nice - lacking in typical banana and clove I always expect in a Saison but what is here is a great surprise. Bright, sour, and FUNKY. Big on lemon and fresh, pungent grass. Funk is pretty huge - barnyard and wet hay. Acidic and juicy. Tart but not overpoweringly so. Really, really nice saison - really like this a lot. FInish is long on the bright grassy note, still bitter. Hop nots not overly present but bring a trace bitter that isn't there on the nose as would be expected but seems to linger on the finish - earth and wood come out a bit there too.

Feel is nice - body is a bit on the light side but not lacking for it. Carbonation is pretty great. I like a saison that is so tightly and overly carbonated it can be agitated near endlessly and evolve into a nearly different beer from the release of the CO2 - this beer isn't like that. At the same time, the carbonation level is spot on for this flavor profile - more carb and it might be too bitter or out of balance to that side. There is no watery note here.

What I love about this is this beer knows what it is. A lot of saisons (Blvd Saison Brett comes to mind, which I love) almost want to be played with when consumed - varying the carb via agitating, letting it warm and warm to feel it change that way. Somewhere in there is its peak level for enjoyment. This one - the carb is what it is, not much different comes out as it warms. This is just a spot on, funky, sour and bright saison. Would definitely enjoy this one again.

 

I should have been a bit more clear. As much as I love The Beach Boys, I was comparing comparable gifts of voice between The Guess Who and The Beach Boys. These formative musical geniuses are overlooked and I cannot begin to understand why.

 

Hanging out in NYC this weekend, so I ventured over to Singlecut today.

Starting with Billy Full Stack, and wasn't disappointed. Nice mix of dank floral hops mixed with citrus. Way too easy drinking for 8.2%. Recommended for sure.







http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/30452/89202/?ba=richj1970

 

I saw The Grateful Dead at Cameron Indoor at Duke back in the 70s, and you look just like that guy tickling the guitar!

 

Lemme tell ya about a great new beer in my book... Sunday Morning Stout...

I'd love to tell ya I held off on having it for the first time until today - y'know, for the thread - but...

--> Thursday night and Friday night Sunday Morning Stouts happened...

I don't think this hit LI last year, and I don't recall ever hearing about it before then, so I'm thinking it's new to the area, even though I was familiar with the product through the forums here. Heard some really promising things from those that had had it, and I was really excited when my local store got it in. They were doing a 1 bottle limit, but it being my local store, they sold me 2 ...God knows I spend enough money there, y'know? lol

Meantimes, my other not-so-local-but-actual-favorite store also got theirs in, and were willing to part with a four-pack. For the record, they were also willing to part with an entire sixer of Hopslam, which is entirely unheard of in my experience. And not to stray from the new beer at hand, but that Hopslam this year? Having had it maybe past three years (?), this is the most I recall enjoying it. A little leaner in taste and feel; I didn't pick up as much honey, but I've heard others says the opposite ...Regardless, seems the consensus opinion is that its a damn fine batch this year, and I agree.

Oh, and wait, before I get back to SMS , lemme comment on Daisy Cutter (I keep wanting to say "daisy chain" )...

Apparently, Half Acre is distributing to our area now. Real excited for the Daisy Cutter, because I've seen it regarded so highly on here in the past. Their GoneAway IPA was very good, but that Daisy Cutter? Damn... It was great. Granted, I had a 2/17 canning on 2/26 (*freshness advantage*)... Tight, lean, citric, bitter - lots of citrusy flowers and grassy crispness; medium-light body, ample carbonation, fresh aftertaste... left me longing for more... A superior beer...

Back to the 'Bacher...

Anyway, finally having this thing on a Sunday morning - and damn but if I didn't go back for a second...

I'm inclined to say this is up there with any of my favorite bourbon barrel stouts, even lofty items like BCBS. The body is solid, not lightened by the barrel aging; coffee and chocolate flavors are cleanly appreciable, and the bourbon barrel infusion is perfectly treated - neither overly boozy nor too faint. A well-balanced imperial stout. Easily a beer I'd buy every year.

Not one to drink on an empty stomach, this was the brunch (kinda slept thru breakfast ) that braced for the brew...

Proscuitto, burrata cheese, and arugula on flatbread...

Alright, dudes and dudettes of NBS, I'm all about the rest of my SMS and Hopslam stash at this point.

See ya in WBAYDN...

Cheers!

 

What are the odds that 2 NBSers, one from Alabama, one from New Mexico would both be in the Big Crapple at the same time? Maybe you and @ONovoMexicano could meet for a beer!

 

I hope to see them live at some point, I hear they are pretty good

 

OK, when you two are done, try a new beer and post about it.

 

Hopefully some may be alive.

 

Agreed. It would be cool to see more American breweries give the style a shot. By me it seems like there's Troegenator and not much else. I used to get Thomas Hooker Liberator, but I don't see it around much anymore. Let me know what you think of the Two Roads, if you do get around to trying it.

 

Easily a top 5 pale in my mind. I personally prefer Galaxy Fort Point, but it's one of the best out there for sure.

 

Headed to Finback right now for their Apple Brandy BQE bottle release. @richj1970 you should head over! Even if you miss bottles, it's a cool brewery and they'll have the Apple Brandy and BA BQE on tap.

 

Worked a quick 8-1 and now I'm ready for my 2nd day off in all of February (stupid retail management schedule). Came home and now I'm thoroughly enjoying Trillium Artaic for the first time.

Poured from the bottle into a mason jar.

L: Pours a honey yellow with a small white head. This does not have the appearance of a juice bomb like most other Trillium beers that I've had in the past. Still, this looks quite appetizing.

S: Massive mosaic notes come through in an invasive way. There's not much else by way of the nose. There may be a bit of that floral honey on the back end of the nose.

T: Once again, the huge mosaic flavors overtake my palate. There's a good amount of floral character from the wildflower honey, and the honey lends a smoothness to this beer that quite frankly scares me. I can easily polish off this bomber because it's so easy to drink.

F: This is easily one of the easiest drinking DIPAs that I've ever had. No alcohol to speak of. Also, the honey makes this beer so damn smooth that I've already almost drank one glass of this and I've opened it maybe 10 minutes ago.

Overall: This beer lives up to the hype for me. I wish I would have been able to go on Friday when Trillium was letting people buy a whole case of this. I might have to sit on my other bottle for a week or 2 to see if this evolves into something better. I highly doubt it though. Great beer from a great brewery and I wouldn't expect anything less.

 

So, for NBS BIF #3, we are now at 27 participants. I would really like to hit 30, so if any of y'all are on the fence, now's the time to drop in!

 

Well good afternoon to all the NBS faithful and hello to all the Newbies. Thanks to Maria with a wonderful start as always.
The end of Feb. brings on a busy time for me here in NH. With the fast approaching of St. Patricks day it means a rather large gathering of friend here at our house on the top of Quimby Mt. Yesterday I picked up 30lbs of fresh locally raised and grass feed beef brisket.

So this is the first brisket at about 15lbsand then is gets slipped into the brine with it's twin.

I use a beer based brine with a nice smoked stout from White Birch Brewing. They will rest in the cooler for about 3 weeks before the final cooking.
Okay now on to the important things for today my beer for NBS and today I was lucky enough to be able to pick up some of Six Point Brewings 2016 Hi-Res. I have had previous years versions of this beer but since they change the recipe each year I think it warrants a new review.
This beer pours a beautiful golden orange color into my Teku glass. This beer has a nice hoppy nose but a smooth blend that makes picking out what hops are used really hard for my nose. Not a lot of pine in the nose more a muted blend of the tropical fruits you find in some of the newer hops. To me the taste is smooth with a little bit of an alcohol burn in the back. Nice blend of the hops and the high ABV. The mouthfeel is smooth and seems to lose the alcohol burn after a couple of sips. I'll have to say this for now is my favorite beer from Six Point but I'm looking forward to 5Beans when that comes out.
My only other regret today is that I don't find the time to be able to join in the 3rd round of the NBS BIF. But as I'm sure there will be some happy people for this reason as I did have a box picked out to ship my beer in this year.

May all your porches be spared the carnage.

 

Howdy NBSers,
Getting to you guys a little later than normal today. It's been snowing on and off all day here so I'm glad I don't have to go out.
So this week has been one of those get back into the swing of things weeks for me I got back from Cuba last Monday just before 1 am and we got a mini ice storm a day later i miss the beach.

Took this on a beach we found just behind downtown Veradero.
The trip was fun we partied hard and enjoyed the beach, we also took a private tour of havana which was beautiful in its rustic state, and cuban's are some of the most freindly caring people I have ever met.

We were all sad to leave when the trip ended but thats how life works some times.

As for my beer today, I had Le Castor's Dark Farmhouse, This beer is brewed with brett and a has a huge malt back bone with slight pine and earthy hops it the background but I'll let my review tell you about it as this post is long enough XD.

3.89/5 rDev -4.4%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4

Appearance - This beer pours a beautiful dark and cloudy ruby color with a massive 3 finger off white head, The head has receded to about a finger and its sitting there, Carbonation seems nice.

Aroma - Roasty malts, pine and some orange peel, must/bubblegum from the brett, a slight buscuity smell in the very back. Personally I like this mix.

Taste - The flavor packs a punch and comes on strong, I get the brett muslyness immediately along with a sweet bubblegum. This is followed by hops which feel a lot more piney and earthy than the aroma , Then the malts come on strong with almost a burnt grain taste and a bit of coffee that mix with a wheat zest and on the finish you get a light taste of burnt toast.

This is honestly my least favorite part of this beer so far, It isn't that its bad because its actually pretty good, it just feels like its trying a little to hard to be overly complicated.

Feel - lighter end of the medium-light spectrum, maybe just a little cream feel from the carbonation but its definitely not over doing it. a little bitter on the back end.

Overall - Honestly this is a really good beer for something with so much going on. It just goes to show you that you really do need to try everything because even beers that dont appear to you on the shelf can be winners. I would give this an 8/10 definitely would drink it again.

On a side note this is my review number 150 XD

Cheers, See y'all next week

 

Might try in a bit. Hanging at Singlecut now and headed back to Manhtattan shortly.

 

Had some beer and brats for lunch. Made a cheese sauce from the leftover beer in the pot (Sierra Nevada Oktoberfest). Threw em on the grill for a bit. Sat down and enjoyed a Dream Crusher DIPA from Deep Ellum Brewing!
Awesome lunch!

Beer brat instructions, maybe add jalapeno next time.