New Beer Sunday (week 575)

Finishing at Singlecut with Heavy Boots of Lead. Tons of rich chocolate and vannila. Very nice stout indeed!



http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/30452/176075/?ba=richj1970

 

Singlecut is great. You should check out Astoria Beer and Cheese while in the vicinity. But then, once you do that, you might as well check out Big Alice, Rockaway, Transmitter and Alewife. If you give a mouse a cookie...

 

My second NBS offering today is a newly canned barleywine offering from Rock Art Brewing.



Ridge Runner

Rock Art Brewery
English Barleywine / 7.20% ABV

3.46/5 rDev +0.3% | Avg: 3.45
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

Canned 02/15/16

L-Pours a dark caramel with 3 finger cream colored head. The head recedes quickly down to a thin film. Lacing is moderate at first, but quickly disappears.
S- The nose is pretty muted on this which I find disappointing. There is some crackery maltiness up front, finishing with a bit of dark fruit like plum.
T- The taste is much like the nose in that you get mostly the malt before a small amount of dark fruitiness bobs to the surface. Unfortunately the mild hop bitterness in the finish quickly pushes the dark fruit back into the depths of the brew. I expect I may like this beer with a bit more age on it.
F-Carbonation is very light after the initial pour, and the mouthfeel is medium.
O- Overall I find this beer to be a bit disappointing. It may improve with some more age, but I've had better barleywines from a couple of different sources. Unless it improves dramatically over time, I wouldn't rebuy.

 

Howdy, everybody! I hope all of you are having a great Sunday so far. Here it is snowy and cool and I am enjoying a day inside after running some errands in the morning. I just got back from a nice vacation out west and what should happen to me my last day, but I walked into the liquor store I usually hit up when back home and see fresh Pliny in the first cooler, on the first shelf, in the first slot that I looked at!!!

Needless to say I was very excited. I know that it show up in CO from time to time, but I never thought I would find it there. Anyway, enough gushing. On to drinking this bad boy.



This is a delicious beer that is definitely worth the praise I have heard heaped on it over the years. To me, I feel like this beer could be summed up as being an excellent balance between hops and malt; as well as a nice balance between different flavor profiles in each. The aroma is a 70-30 mix between pine forests and oily citrus zest. It tastes rich and slightly bready with a wave of hops that begins citrusy and ends as a pine sap shellac.


According to Homer J. Simpson this one is like a woman: it smells good, it looks good, and I'd step over my own mother just to get one.


Cheers and have a great rest of your days!

Review: http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/863/7971/?ba=TheDoctor

 

HELL YEAH! (oh I didn't notice, did you have beer there?)

 

Good afternoon NBSers! What a beautiful day here in northeastern Kentucky. They're calling for a high of 68! Sixty-EIGHT! Needless to say, I've got all the windows open in our humble abode, and am in the process of doing a deep clean to our kitchen and bathroom, whew. I foresee some grilled chicken breast and ribs for dinner tonight. Hopefully everyone out there in Beerland is having a great one! Kanpai!

This week, I have a special one. Thanks to @trep for this (another) one. The guy gives me so much beer it's ridiculous. One day I'll level the playing field with him, haha. Anyway, this is one from Country Boy in Lexington, who are my favorite bunch of bearded beer brewers this side'o the Ohio. No label, but my sources tell me this is their base cider. @BEERchitect, maybe you can help me with the actual name!

Da Beer
Country Boy Cider



Da Re...view

Bottle into a New Belgium snifter. Pale yellow on the pour, and settles as a hazy, light gold in the glass. Transluscent in appearane with lots of carbonation bubbles. I had a dense, bubbly lacing initially, which quickly fizzed down to a skirting that hung onto the walls of the glass until the beer was gone.

On the nose, earthy notes of straw, lemongrass, orange peel, and flowers, along with hints of tart cherries and green apples. An interesting aroma, as it reminded me much more of a kölsch than a cider. Only, y'know..fruitier.

On the taste, we've got big notes of tart lemon, cherries, and sour apples. The organic side of this beer takes a back seat here, being primarilly fruit-forward. There is a great balance between these flavors, and those of straw, wheat, and freshly cut flowers. Light lingering tartness on the aftertaste.

In terms of feel, this one is nice. Just about as carbonated as I'd want it, it has a good weight, albeit a tad heavy for my taste. Very lively on the palate it is. The finish is quick and dry, much like a white wine.

I've not dabbled in ciders too much, but I did enjoy this wholeheartedly. My wife, who is a white wine fanatic, loved this beer.

Da Scores

look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Weighted Score: 4/5 (rDev n/a)

 

What's up NBS players? A pretty nice Sunday here on the island. Sunny and rather warm today with a real first feel of spring in the air. Spent the day in nyc yesterday and I was suppose to make it over to Other Half for the can/bottle releases but we ended up bar hoping and drinking some pretty good beers instead. I got into it rather heavy and I'm finally feeling good enough some more beers. It's funny how some weeks I feel like I have no new beers at all, and other weeks it feels like my fridge is just full of them. I might even have to have two posts today.

My first new beer today is Atypical, an oak aged ipa, from Barrier Brewing here in NY. The beer comes in at 7.2% and no bottle date but they did just hit this past week so very fresh.

The pour is a light, soft golden/straw yellow pour with subtle clarity and moderate carbonation. The nose is spicy, and hoppy with citrus fruits and rather nicely floral. The drinking starts dry with lingering bitter hops on the finish. The dry feeling really carries through the entire sip. The oak is subtle but it really adds a nice woody character. The spice notes come over from the nose along with major citrus fruit notes. I mostly get lemon, lime, and orange. The mouth feel is dry but also crisp, and refreshing. The flavor tones really linger across the palate nicely.

Overall, a very solid offering. I'm in the low 4's on all categories.

 

Good afternoon NBS. First up today Tired Hands paid tribute to Lemmy with a blended lemon saison called LemmyNade.
4.12/5 rDev +0.2%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

32 oz growler poured into a teku

A- A slightly hazy darker yellow straw color with a two finger white head.

S- Citrus, lemon peels, ginger, peppercorns, oak, earthy/grassy.

T- Really get the lemons in the taste, tart lemons, oak, lemon peels, mild earthy funk, peppercorns, some wheat.

M- Smooth, dry, light to medium body.

O- A solid saison, lemons make this tart but not super sour. A nice tribute to Lemmy.

★415 characters

 

Hi again NBS crew. Dropping in again with this Imperial Chocolate stout, coffee variant from Lickinghole Creek. This one's a bit of a head scratcher as the look and feel here are damn near perfect the flavor doesn't land for me.

Not sure where/how to note this, but whenever a stout has a head like this I always take some on my finger to taste. I was taught this by the first person who ever led me on a beer tasting and it was on Arrogant Bastard'd head I first tried this - I don't do this on every beer so not part of my standard tasting routine, but I do every time there's a creamy, thick head on basically anything but an IPA. Often the foam tastes thin and minerally - lots of iron etc. THIS however tastes fantastic - like melted semi sweet stout ice cream.




4.23/5 rDev +11.3%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.25

Poured from a 750ml into a stout glass. Gorgeous, near perfect appearance. Near black with trace of deepest red around the rim when held to light. Gorgeous, fluffy dark tan head forms and has great retention. Some solid lacing early on but this doesn't stick around - that is the lone mark against its appearance. This is a flat out gorgeous imperial stout.

Nose is a bit typical - lots of dark roasty malts. But that's oddly it. I can pick out chocolate knowing it's there but coffee is nowhere to be found for me.

Flavor here follows suit to the nose, but not to the foam which I guess isn't that odd (many fantastic beers have a head that tastes thin and off on its own so a great tasting fluffy foam might not imply a great tasting brew?). That is not to say this is bad. The chocolate is there but it is subtle. Coffee, for the life of me, is almost nowhere to be found. Knowing I'm looking for it I can convince myself it's there - but no more so than I could on any imperial stout with coffee notes from the malts without the use of an adjunct. This beer also has a hint of the mineral/vitamin quality I'm not a huge fan of. What is surprising is how incredibly well the abv is hidden here. Compared to something like BCBS which clocks in a mere 0.2% higher, this is smooth as velvet where that comes across hotter than hot. It's a nice imperial stout flavor, with the booze well hidden and some nice notes, but it seems muddled to me - this just perplexes me as a coffee chocolate stout.

Feel is absolutely on point - the two things LHCB seem to always nail on their stouts are the look and the feel. I bet this isn't far off from Virginia Black bear in the 10 grain malt bill because it has a very similar feel. The carbonation is absolutely perfect. It's tight and high, but with a bit of agitation it reforms the same gorgeous head, drops the carb level a bit and in doing so allows the sweeter notes to come out. The less carb there is here, the more chocolate there is. And that mouthfeel is only enhanced because as it gets a little lighter in the carbonation it gets more velvety in texture.

 

I usually don't plan it well enough to be having a new beer on Sunday but I am pleased that my recent trip to Ohio will keep me in good stead if I can subdue my overwhelming 'kid in a candy store' excitement seven days at a time to sample each.

Today is JackieO's hop ryot. My exuberance may be situational, windows open in February but not entirely.

Fantastic colors - bright, happy yellow contrasting with the white head that left a nice coating on the glass. 4.5
Grassy aroma 3.75
Hops abound in the beginning but fade quickly leaving you wanting to experience again. 4
Carbonation keeps the feel light and leaving you to ask yourself how sessionable is it. 4
Overall 4

 

Hey what's going on?!

What a gorgeous day today, much needed too. Went out in the yard and got much garden and planting work going. I got stuff growing indoors and I am crossing my fingers for a good growing season as well!

Had a great day yesterday enjoying Péché Mortel day down at Churchkey. What a blast! Excellent low key atmosphere and just world class brews.. so much of it as well to take in real nice and easy.

I am finally inside washing the dirt of and down to some new brews!

What's new for our hero today?!?

Hoppy Ki Yay - Lonerider Brewing Company


Lonerider Brewing Co. - Hoppy Ki Yay IPA by imbibehour, on Flickr

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Poured from the can into a Spiegelau IPA glass. Best before June 29th 2016.

Amber orange to red body color, with solid clarity. Very fine carbonation, really creeping slowly through the glass. Head creation manages just over two fingers with a light white head, and some retention. Good cascading sheets of lace along the side of the glass, adding up for a real nice visual appearance.

Hop aroma manages for a mix of caramel malt and the hop basics on the nose. Sticky weed and earth with a hint of dank make a nice addition to the malt sweetness. Not a real hop forward brew but a good mix of caramel, hint of sweet biscuit, and dank make for a pleasurable experience.

Palate settles for more basic bitterness and leaving typical dry hopping blasts behind. Sugary malt and almost tea like flavors in the mid palate, but lots of sweet caramel. Sticky dank earth tones compliment nicely, with a slightly syrup body. Some biscuity and cookie flavors come out on the finish with some herbal tannic tea hop like qualities as well.

Not bad, but definitely focused more on amber and a dank profile. Works well, but nothing crazy impressive either.

look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75 | BA Generated Score: 3.87

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Working on dinner, and realizing I am forgetting about the Academy Awards later today. USed to be a huge film nut seeing many films a years, but this year I have really hardly seen anything and I mean ANYTHING (heck I still haven't even seen the new Star Wars flick..).

But anyway the best actor goes to me.. cause I am awesome

Cheers to more beers!

 

I don't know what it is with them, they just never seem to carb any of their bottles/beers properly....

 

Never seen this one but DAMN....Mosaic and Brett...sounds amazin

 

Good afternoon NBS as always thanks to Maria for the kick off and the reminder to stay focused.
This past week was filled with busy, a high note was a fabulous set by Los Lobos mainly acoustic added
a wonderful vibe, yesterday was Peche' day and what a great event, with fabulous offerings from Deiu Du Ceil.
Today we have a beer from Casita Cerveceria, wonderfully complex, beautifully funky and a bit roasty.
Cheers all

Tè Amo

Casita Cerveceria
American Wild Ale

4.02/5rDev n/a | Avg: 4.16
look: 3.75 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4

Poured from a newly released bottle into a large goblet, Served at 50 deg.
A - Dark ruby in color, light struggles to pass through. A massive loose knit cap of tan froth. The carbonation
must be in there to support this cap but it is elusive.
S - Medium roasted malt, touch of chocolate, lavender, fresh mango Earl Grey ride the wave gently, The wave is
funky, Stilton cheese rine, wet straw , the forest after a fall shower. Remarkable.
T - Surprisingly the flavors run in a narrow band, a touch of lavender, light roast malts, a hint of coffee, subtle citrus, lime, orange, raspberry. As the offering warms the toffee and citrus dance beatiufully.
M - Solid body, full palate coating, with a slight acidity, the tongues edge is on notice. The middle of the experience, shows off the softness of the water. the closer and linger are a wisp of tartness that are driven past by nearly perfect carbonation.
O - This is a delightful offering, complex and enticing. A superb display of the brewers skills.
Worth seeking out

 

Howdy, y'all!

It's amazing out there, so to celebrate this 60 degree day, I decided to crack this puppy open:




When I first had a taste of Manor Hill Citra Splendor DIPA, I wasn't impressed with it - it seemed malty and lacking citrus characteristics. Despite that, after noting the improvement Manor Hill made with their first can releases (especially Grisette!), and the obvious fact some of my friends were wanting it like a fat kid wants a chocolate bar, I decided to bite the bullet and get a case (!) of it. Let's just say I'm not regretting it...

Reeeeee-vue time!

4.25/5 rDev +7.1%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 5 | overall: 4.25

Re-review.

Pours a hazy copper color. Nah, forget hazy - this is downright turbid. The head is a finger high and eggshell in shade. Retention is excellent and the texture is creamy. For an unfiltered brew, this is extremely attractive.

Seems like Manor Hill went less for a full-blown orange juice aroma and more for a monstrously dank one. I pick up nice amounts of grapefruit zest and orange peel, backed by a light amount of caramel malt sweetness. It's also quite piny, quite grassy, and even a bit weed-like. Judging from the level of dankness, I'd swear this had some Mosaic in it (though there's less onion than a typical Mosaic-hopped DIPA). While it's not the most in your face aroma ever, it smells like a great DIPA that nails all the right notes.

Taste follows the nose almost word-for-word. The tropical notes of Citra I like (melon and mango) are there - except they're subtle when compared to the massive, pithy grapefruit quality that opens it up. Some lemon also shows up. A touch of caramel malt finishes it off, and luckily it's hardly enough to overshadow the citrus. This is an amazingly bold-tasting DIPA that retains a level of structural balance, and I love it. Only ****le is that I could use a bit more complexity.

I always love the feel of an unfiltered DIPA, and this is no exception. This first hits the palate with a full, creamy feel; it leaves the palate with a crisp (not clean) dryness. It does linger on the tongue a little sweetly, but hey it's a DIPA. Drinkability is off the charts regardless, thanks to perfect levels of carbonation. In fact, this is EXACTLY how I want all DIPAs I drink to feel like.

Manor Hill's first batches were painfully underwhelming. Hell, the first time I had this, I found it painfully underwhelming. I'm so damn happy to report that the cans are FAR better. In fact, I'd even say this is now Maryland's best DIPA (either this or Evo's Lot 6), partly thanks to its dank, citrusy assault, and partly thanks to the exemplary mouthfeel. I bought a case of it, and I'm not sad about that fact. No, I'm thinking that I should take one more 4-hour round trip drive and pick up another case of it.

4.25/5: Splendorous indeed

 

I had trouble getting the coffee in this, as well. So you are not alone.

Yeah, I was starting to notice a pattern and some general similarites in their darker brews (this, Desolation, Madness, etc)

 

Happy New American Porter Sunday!

Pretty nice day here on the Western Slope, sunny, low 50s. Having a pretty tasty brew, glad I bought it.

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/2137/208358/?ba=Wasatch

Cheers!

 

Hello NBS drinkers.

Sunday's new to me is Hoppin' Frog D.O.R.I.S thr Destroyer Double Imperial Stout.

Looks like an imperial stout should - dark with a crude oil appearance.
Smell is of a fruity molasses with nice smokiness.
Taste is big on roasted flavors with dark fruit notes
Feel is smooth to start with a crisp finish
Overall it's a great offering and it hides it's 10.5% well without eliminating it.

My only "regret" is I didn't have it on Friday when it was 35 degrees instead of a 65 degree afternoon. Though "regret" is too strong a word for this fine brew. Cheers!

 

Having a few canned goodies for NBS this week. They run a sale on cans on Saturday so I grabbed a bunch of new to me beers.

My first is a pilsner from Goose Island. Thought I'd give it a go.



3.52/5 rDev -1.7%
look: 4 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

This is a crystal clear gold beer with a fluffy white head that leaves a ton of lacing. The smell is very hoppy with floral notes. There is minimal sweetness in the nose but it is there along with a bit of bready yeast. The flavor is malty, grassy, slightly yeasty and quite bitter. There is lots of carbonation and a light body. This one finishes clean and bitter. Not a bad pilsner but I've had better.

 

That would be their "Classic Hard Cider". Hope this helps, cheers!