New Beer Sunday (week 577)

That's what I'm talking about!!! Love taking the music outdoors. Almost brought out the acoustic today but just a bit too cool for the wood yet!

 

I'll stick with the RIS theme already going on here. Found this in a local bottle shop and figured it was worth the pick up.

Black Albert from de Struise


Pours jet black and appears viscous like used motor oil. Ver slight mocha colored head. It does not linger.

Smell is sweet belgian candi sugar and yeast spice. Chocolate appears in the backgrounds. Slight alcohol noticeable.

Taste is rich chocolate, roast and maybe a slight dark candied fruit lingering in the background. As the beer warms, the 13% abv begins to come out. A slight alcohol burn on the back end.

Mouthfeel is rich and viscous. Low carbonation works well in this beer. Silky texture that coats the tongue.

Overall I am very impressed with this beer. I will probably go back and grab a few bottles for the cellar.

 

A final quick review at a bottle share with my brother. We're sipping on the 2016 Release of Stone Old Guardian dry hopped with Pekko hops. Let's have a taste!

Pours a crystal clear deep amber color leaving a finger of off white foam. The aroma is caramel malt with a little pine and citrus. Flavor is caramel malt forward with citrus in the back. The feel is oily hop resin with a bitter semi dry finish.



Once again I'm satisfied with the annual dry hopped edition of a classic. A nice balance of citrus/pine hop flavor and slick malt. A tasty big beer that is dangerously drinkable at 11 percent. I see another in my future! My score was 4.06 / rDev - 2.4%.

Here's the skinny.....

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/147/210042/?ba=Prager62

 

One Feb. batch was recalled. I was hanging with my friend who manages my local when he found out from his distributor. Not sure which, but prob. not too hard to check with your local distro.

 

Hey bud! I knew somebody was missing from the BIF this round! Hopefully you can make the next one!

 

W

Wow good info. I had no idea. I was at the store when the product was delivered about a week ago so that might not be the case. However it leads to suspicion on why this tastes different now.... Thanks

 

That sounds familiar- I think it did come up in regards to a discussion about diacetyl with Sip of Sunshine and Two Roads, but that may have been a side issue at the time.

 

Good afternoon NBS, hope everyone is don't well! First new beer Grimm Double Negative.
4.39/5 rDev +2.8%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25

22 oz bottle poured into teku

A- Black with a three finger light tan head.

S- Roasted malts, dark fruits, milk chocolate, some coffee, caramel malts, hints of vanila. Big and complex.

T- Chocolate, roasted malts, hints of coffee, dark fruits, hints of blueberries and plums, caramel sweetness, balanced.

M- Smooth, medium body

O- A well done Imperial Stout. Alcohol is well hidden, a really enjoyable beer.

★413 characters

Dropping a hint about my tagert in the BIF. We have the same job.

 

Well since moving from California back to Hawaii it doesn't look like it'll be in the cards! Very glad I was able to take part in the first NBS BIF though. Props for organizing the first one and I think it was you that came up with the idea in the first place if I remember correctly. Cheers to another great BIF!

 

One inch head after a fairly vigorous pour. Smells of grapefruit and orange, tangerine even. Very nice on the palate, following the nose almost to a T(angerine.) Delicious! Very nice mouthfeel. Finally got to try this and it was worth the wait! Big, big thanks to one of my customers who gifted this to me on Friday along with Trillium's "Secret Stairs" which will be for dessert later.

 

I tried that Watermelon Dorado last night....complete drainpour. Horrible. Even bad as just an IPA....I found it more of a barleywine with cloying, artificial watermelon flavor.

It's been a while but they've been in New Mexico stores. Think with our country's IPA craze, distributors aren't even bothering with these German beers much anymore.

We most definitely get them stateside. About a year ago I revisited the Uerige Doppelsticker and found it quite a curious beer. Sort of like a German barleywine.

Damn you, Dave, always drinking beers I want. This is definitely one on my radar. Been wanting to try for a while.

Great reviews. I really need to try this 4-pack. Right up my alley as one that obsesses over coffee almost as much as beer (okay, not quite nearly as much, but still plenty).

Doppelsticke. Yes, the bottles are pretty interesting. Flip tops and shaped unlike any other beer bottle.

 

Late start again but I'm starting out with what's turning into one fine beverage. I'm watching Fargo, so the review will reflect this.

Olde Mecklenburg Brewery Fat Boy Baltic Porter



So this one here looks plenty dark with a big, fluffy beige head sure enough. Then you see that there's not much lacing left, ya know?

And I'll be darned if I don't get a full snoot of mealy, maltiness every time I take a drink.

So geez, I've got a good enough taste hete, ya know? I've got plenty of dark fruit and some toffee, ya know? It's really, really super.

It's a darn shame that I'm almost done with it, ya know? All I'm going to have left is this dry and slightly cloyingly sweet finish.

So here's the thing, Ya know - I think this one is pretty darn good.

 

Since I'm a lightweight, I decided to spread a 3-year woot Stout vertical from Stone over three weekends. Here I am in week 2 with this badbody:



Here was last week's start:



And here are my thoughts on 2.0:

4.47/5 rDev +6.2%
look: 5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

Bomber poured into a goblet.

Pours a viscous deep brown color. In the glass it still looks more brown than black but it's dark. Not much head to speak of, but the goblet surely has to do with that. Lace rings the glass and pools of film sit atop the body. Looks great on all fronts. 5

Even from a distance I get the oaken spice of bourbon, which is distinct from the 3rd rendition I had of this beer last week. If that one was barrel-aged, I sure as hell didn't notice, while with this beer, bourbon aromas leap at me. Closer examination with the nose offers oatmeal cookie, vanilla, sweet nuttiness, and a little bit of that yeastiness I got on the 3.0 version that reminds me of some brown ales or Belgians. 4.25

From the first sips I already feel this beer is miles apart from the 3.0 from last week. Less yeastiness, less cloying, indescribable sweetness and obviously more barrel. It's practically cliché to like barrel-aged beers better---and the truth is they aren't always an improvement or enhancement to a beer---but here the bourbon notes are absolutely welcome. They're wonderful actually. There's a sweet nutty flavor that the bourbon intercepts before it can become annoying and which is offset by some spiciness and then complemented by vanilla and chocolate. The finish is brownie-like. As this warms, it just gets more and more dessert-like and delicious. 4.5

As with the flavor, warmth does wonders for this (which is not to say it was even remotely bad when cooler); it becomes richer, chewier, with a marshmallow-like feel with each sip. It's bourbon-barrel-aged but not the least bit hot. As I mentioned with the flavor, sweetness shows but is restrained by the spiciness from the bourbon. This is drinking really great. 4.5

Well, I was highly disappointed by 3.0, but this 2.0 more than makes up for it. This is awesome. What the hell happened between 2 and 3 I have no clue, but if they ever make this beer again, they should follow whatever they did with this version. It's awesome.

 

Rolling to the next...

Luponic Distortion: Revolution No. 001 - Firestone Walker Brewing Co.


Firestone Walker - Luponic Distortion Revolution No. 001 by imbibehour, on Flickr

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Poured from the can into a Spiegelau IPA glass. Canned Feb 16th 2016.

Big 14 carat gold body color, crystal clear and beaming with a huge polished shine. Nearly looks lemon in color but deep enough to bring out some darker shades. Fine rising carbonation to a bleach white very shampoo soapy head, but thick in three fingers with bubble bath clingy lace. Supper pale, and supper aggressive, great looker.

Classic hop forward nose. Light sensing airy malt but a bigger note of tropics and juicy qualities. Hints at a session IPA, but with lighter malt depth and bigger notes of hop angles. Some green herbality gets in the mix as well. Very fun and light with also some honey accents which are unexpected.

Aroma hints at session IPA, and actually strangely tastes like one. Washing wet mouthfeel, and impressive with how higher the abv actually is. Mild sensing earth in the mid palate and a bit of dirt. Very little malt backbone and depth going on here, with a mild almost honey sweetness but really fleeting flavor and really short aftertaste. Papery finish and fleeting hop character, and a bit of a pasty like yeast aftertaste.

Poundable flavor, but almost feels like I've been cheated on a big full rich IPA. Very impressively brewed, but not what I look for in this style.

look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75 | BA Generated Score: 3.89

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Greetings from the Great Northwest where our weather today is typical of Ireland. Some rain, wind, a little sun and some really green grass for this time of year.

St Patrick's Day being on Thursday to day is our celebration, with this Irish Style Lager from Rogue.
http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/132/6314/

I'm much on lagers, but this one is very full flavored and smooth.

Among the other traditions of the day we have the corned beef and cabbage cooking, although the beef is done in a dutch oven and the cabbage is roasted with a mustard sauce. Kind of a western spin on the traditional fare.

And we have the brew kettle going this afternoon. I've never done what I would consider a good IPA. Never poured a batch out, and made a mistake on one that made for nice winter warmer, but as IPA goes, not so much. So today I'm trying again, light on the caramel malt and all in on 3 varieties of hops. We'll know around Memorial Day how this came out.

Until next time,

Happy Trails and may the luck of the Irish be with you!

 

That's a great beer. If Sixpoint were to be distributed here, it might be a regular got-to for me, my tendancy to try to drink local be damned.

 

Well, technically, Hawaii is still in America. Perhaps you could make friends with somebody on a freighter!

 

Today I have been sipping on a new beer for me which is a style that is not one of my favorites. Today's beer is a collab from Wicked Weed and Jester King and is called The Parking Lot. They call it a grisette but BA calls it an American Wild Ale. I was sipping it while making some eggplant parm. So here is the day and the beer.

Here is the last layer of eggplant before the sauce and cheese.


Through the magic of the internet here is the finished product.


Here is the beer.


and here is my review.

3.92/5 rDev -1%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 3.75

I admittedly have very little experience with this style and am no expert but I have had enough to know that I'm not super crazy about this one. I think it is a good beer but maybe a little too funky for me. The beer pours a very deep, almost orange, gold with a nice white head. It took me more than an hour to drink this beer and bubbles continued from the nucleation site of my glass the whole time.

The aroma is funky with a musky fruit smell. I also smell wet oak and a faint sweetness. The taste is sour with oak with floral and melon notes. There is oak and a nice sweetness at the end that balances it all out. It is close to medium bodied with moderate carbonation. Finishes very dry and clean.

Again, not really my favorite but, it is a very nicely done beer that I am glad I tried.

Cheers all. I'm going to eat now.

 

Interesting. This was my experience with Mosaic IPA. Seems their bread and butter are those awesome goses.

Damn! Beat me to it.

Excellent beer. Seems you aren't my shipper unless you've been doing some spywork outside of BA. I'm marking you off the list.

 

Technically? When did Hawaii become a technicality?