New Beer Sunday (week 578)

Good morning @cavedave and BA and what a great start to this New Beer Sunday. I have been going at it for the cause this week drinking up my case of troges spring seasonals. They have perpetual IPA, hopback amber, cultivator, and their french style saison in the case. Lovely! I was just looking at WBAYDN from yesterday and there were lots of saisons. I have a saison today. Troeg's Saison went well with my prosciutto panino with fresh oregano leaves, it also went well as I was making stock from my duck I boned, and today I will have it with my confit of duck legs once that's done cooking.



Pours hazy and very pale yellow. In indirect light you will see a slight apricot blush. Head is fizzy and bone white. It falls fast to a thin ring and cap with a lovely film to cover the in between. A perfect stream of effervescence rises from the center.



The beer smells like a fresh field. Sweet grasses and floral. The light scent of tart lemon with a bit of sweet peel. Spice and herbal pepper. The herbal on this nose is stemmy and a bit sweet. There is a dry and airy funk on the nose that I think is lovely. Taste is excellent. This beer greets you with a soft exhalation of light powdery sweetness then a creamy malt rolls through to envelop the palate. Light lemon with a light tartness, earthy sweet peel, that little bit of sweaty funk. The herbal is sultry throughout the beer but never steps very far forward and the lightness is upheld in the crisp dry finish. Hops allow a touch of bitterness to flourish gently while the palate dries out. The distinct lemon flavor resonates.

This is lovely. Light well defined flavors.

Happy New Saison Sunday!



Loan Me a Dime

 

Thanks for doing the Scratch beer from that variety pack, I've been wondering about how it tasted, etc.

(But I wasn't going to buy that variety pack just to try one new beer while there's half of my annual case of Cultivator still waiting in the basement and Sunshine Pils showing up next month. )

 

Poured slowly down the center at close to room temperature and got a rather robust 2 plus finger head, that left some attractive lace behind. It took about 6 minutes to settle into a nice kaki layer of film, pouring a very dark mahogany. 4.5 Smell is very complex first thing that hits you is dark chocolate, vanilla, leather, roasty coffee, french toast, charcoal, toffee, and a tiny kiss of bourbon. 4.25

Taste follows perfectly I hate to repeat myself. Starts with a beautiful blend of vanilla and dark chocolate up front, then comes leather, charcoal, and finishes with coffee grounds, french toast, toffee, and a nice subtle hit of warming bourbon. 4.5

Mouthfeel is less than medium, but it works out fine, moderate to lite carbonation, not as dry as you would expect considering what it is, and the drinkability is way too easy for such a complex and layered beer.

Overall I am not used to drinking barrel aged beers with such a low amount of alcohol, but it definitely drinks bigger than its 6.5% ABV. This is a very nice barrel aged porter. 4.5

 

Hacker-Pschorr Munich Gold. 5.5% alcohol. 23 IBU. First exported to America in 1865.

4.21/5 rDev +13.2%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25

Hacker Pschorr Munich Gold has a thick, slightly off-white head, a clear, very bubbly, gold appearance, and fairly heavy lacing left behind. The aroma is of honey malt, sweet biscuit, and grassy hop oils. Taste is of sweet malt, biscuit, honey, grass, and low-level bitterness. Mouthfeel is low medium, and Hacker Pschorr Munich Gold finishes smooth and crisp.

RJT

 

Molto bello! And +1000 punti for the singular panino . Salute!

 

That duck looks amazing! I just tried my hand at cooking a duck breast last week and it was delicious. Enjoy your Sunday, Cheers!

 

It was a trading week in the Angerhaus house.


Hop Juju arrived via @OGFGabv The comparisons to Hopslam are warranted, but ultimately unnecessary. This citrusy treat, in my opinion, carries a more intentional balance of hop and malt than Hopslam. At the same time, if you want that stronger hop forward flavor then Hopslam might be the right choice for you. Plus, it's significantly easier to find than Juju. The mouthfeel lasts a lot longer than you might expect, and, overall, it's a dangerously drinkable beer that hides its ABV deceptively.



Ghost in the Machine (GitM) came all the way to Wisconsin via New Orleans from @nola1988 (a new trader that I know people will have similarly positive experiences with). I've been wanting to try GitM for quite some time, but I've continually been the second person to ask, or, worse, found someone that had dusty old bottles. This particular bottle was bottled just 2 weeks ago, and it has that freshness to it that you usually find in tap beers. Cloudy, juicy, hoppy... I would honestly make a closer comparison between GitM and Hopslam than I would with the Hop Juju above. It has that same bitterness with just the right amount of malt to make you run your tongue around your mouth in the hopes of finding a little bit more.

All in all, great surprises this week from a couple of people that I hope become regular trade partners!

 

Howdy, NBSers!

Spring was progressing nicely down here in Central Texas, but a cold front (you Yankees might call it a “cool” front, and you’re probably right) showed up Friday and has knocked our 80s into the 60s and our 60s into the 40s. I’m not crying over it. Texas’ motto should be a reverse Winterfellian “Summer is coming.” The blast furnace will turn on soon enough.

My beer was a fun surprise. I wasn’t looking for it, but there it be, a longneck 4-pack of new saison (blackberry saison with sage) from Real Ale released in their “Brewer’s Cut” series. My fridge, frankly, was already full, but I couldn’t resist.


While the blackberry part of this beer is underwhelming, the saison part is fantastic. It has a strong musty-barn base aroma and flavor that is very Jester King-esque. The aroma even has a bit of “sour”-like finger nail polish/remover ... that note disappears quickly, but it puts an authentic farmhouse stamp on this brew. And sure enough, as it warms a borderline bitter earthy flavor takes over -- it bleeds into peaty range, it’s so earthy.

The sage showed up one time in the flavor, and it was awesome. A little more would be nice. The blackberries might be adding a little sweetness, but only two or three times did I detect a flavor that could be called "fruity". The farmhouse base rules the notes the rest of the time.

The review:
http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/458/200489/?ba=Premo88
4.34 (+12.1% rDev)

My numbers are arguably inflated, but I truly believe Real Ale cranked out an authentic American-made saison here.

Hope you got a good one in your glass!

Cheers!

 

White Birch DIPA

Happy first day of spring everybody!! A few days ago they were forecasting snow for my area (SEPA) but instead it will just be a cold and gray day.

I was gifted a can of White Birch DIPA from a friend and he requested that I share my impressions of this beer with him. I figured this would be a good beer for New Beer Sunday.

I have a few quick caveats to get out of the way. Firstly I have never heard of White Birch Brewing before so this will be a new experience for me. Secondly I am typically not a fan of the DIPA beer style since more often than not these sorts of beers have a cloying sweetness to them which is not particularly appealing to me. When I am in a mood for hoppy beer I generally reach for an IPA and on some occasions an APA.

I will start off with a short description of White Birch brewing to educate myself (and you folks as well). It is a small brewery in Hookett, New Hampshire started in 2009 by what appears to be a husband & wife team. I tried to find the size of the brewhouse (how many barrels) but I was not successful.

A description of the DIPA from their website:

“Double IPA

style: Double India Pale Ale
abv: 9.2%
color: Golden
available: year round

Double IPA started out as a growler only release at the brewery. When word got out that we were brewing a balanced, hop forward big IPA requests for a keg or bottle came in from all corners

Pungent aromas of citrus and fruit with a smooth hop bitterness and finish balanced with a soft malt body. This deceptively smooth beer has a hop flavor that grows over the course of a glass. It’s almost too easy to enjoy. This is the beer that makes me a hop fan. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. Best when fresh, this dry hopped, unfiltered beauty is not a beer for extended aging. Cheers, Bill”

Well it sure does read nice but let’s see what is in in the can.

Served in my Spiegelau IPA glass:

Appearance:

Pours a hazy orange with a very thin white head which dissipates very quickly.

Aroma:

Combination of citrus & floral hop aroma with just a tiny bit of caramel malt aroma.

Taste:

The flavor follows the nose with citrus & floral hop flavor dominating but with some caramel malt flavor as well. On the backend there is just a tiny bit of pine/resin flavor.

Mouthfeel:

Thin-medium bodied with light carbonation. Finishes dry.

Overall:

A pleasant DIPA. Surprisingly at 9.2% ABV there is no alcohol flavor perceptible. There is a bit of sweetness but the beer was by no means cloying to my palate.

A disappointment for me is that there is no dates on this can (e.g., a canned on date). I personally would not purchase this beer without a date.

Cheers!

@KOP_Beer_OUtlet

 

Good morning New BSers! The sun is starting to fry its way through the clouds here in NW PA and another day continues to begin. Mrs Lizard and I returned from a beer run to Weyerbacher, Victory, Stoudt's, and Interstate Liquors last night, late but not as late as when we got back from the Texas beer run last Monday (0200 hours). I picked up a few brews for my target on NBS BIF #3 and a few for me, and Mrs Lizard added some more quilting material to her hoard. At least I got some rest and a lot of reading done in the car while she plundered the quilt stores! So, @2beerdogs, the boxES should ship Monday - the smaller via USPS and the heavier by UPS, if all goes according to plan. Figure about a week travel time for the larger and six days for the smaller - hope the IPAs hold up. Sorry, no Hop JuJu - it came and went the week I was in Texas!

Anyway, today's new brew, sans picture, is Aztec Brewing's Noche de los Muertos, an "ale brewed with whole cinnamon sticks". Okay, if they say so.

Bomber at 42 degrees F into a hand washed and dried JK snifter, allowed to warm to 50 F.
Aroma of roasted malt and a hint of cinnamon. Cinnamon doesn’t last entire glass.
Head small (One cm, aggressive pour), light brown, creamy, slowly diminishing to an irregular zero to three mm partial ring and no layer
Lacing fair – partial ring of very open curtain
Body dark brown/black, opaque
Flavor of roasted malt with no noticeable cinnamon. Alcohol burn present but no alcohol flavor or odor. No hops, no diacetyl.
Palate medium, creamy, soft carbonation
Appearance 3.75, Aroma 3.75, Flavor 4, Palate 4, Overall 3.75 Rating 3.86. Avg 3.91. rDev - 1.3%

Overall OK but not stellar.

Hopefully by next NBS I'll have my computer back and will be able to post pictures - everything's bigger in Texas, even the malware!

 

Hey what's going on!?

Sounds like another good NBS going on, I am unfortunately not going to be able to partake in any NEW beers for review today. Maybe might luck out later in the evening. It's first home game for my club today so I am off to the tailgate and beers to be had there (Bringing a Sunday Morning Stout and a bottle of The Abyss to crack).

So other than checking in a WBAYDN, I'll just be watching and drooling over beer pics with you today!

oh and on top of that I can't charge my phone (some stupid update made my cable invalid? what's up with that!)... so annoying...

anyway

Cheers! Happy first day of Spring (It's COLD!)

 

Morning fellow NBSers! I've got a couple new things, and hopefully I'll be able to check back in later with them. I just wanted to point out that NBS #3- Triple Threat, is well under way, with several participants already receiving amazing boxes of beer. I suspect you'll be seeing some of those pop up today here on NBS. And, the "official" reveal date isn't for another 3 weeks!!

I'd also like to take this opportunity to encourage some of the rest of you to participate in BIF #4 when it rolls around, likely late summer. It's a fun way to try new beers, and to share some of your local favorites with folks in other parts of the country. We tend to get clumps of folks in the Northeast, the midwest, and a few of us on the sunset side of the states. I'd like to see some of you folks from the more under-represented areas get in on the fun. Check out our Hints and Hauls thread for an idea of the shenanigans: http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/triple-threat-nbs-bif-3.388922/

Happy NBS everyone!

 

Looking GOOD!! Poultry is always my nemesis except maybe the ducks and geese... Love the healthy looking herbs you got there, I got a bunch growing this year. Crossing my fingers they turn out well.

 

Spring is here! And we might get up to 6" of snow tonight (the meteorologists keep waffling on the forecast).
I am not letting the threat of snow keep me from enjoying the first day of spring. I just got back from putting a kid on the bus to return to school, so my wife and I are empty nesters again.
My new beer is Arctic Soiree, an ale aged in oak tanks with brettanomyces, lime juice, and hibiscus. I had their Arctic Saison a couple weeks ago and enjoyed that.
I poured it into a teku. I rarely use these glasses because I keep them in another spot from my usual glasses. As the saying goes "out of sight, out of mind." My immediate thought on pouring was that the color reminded me of a pink flamingo. Such a pretty color.
Floral, funky, fruity aroma.
The lime is quite apparent in the taste, as well as some earthiness.
Light-bodied, on the crisp side.
A refreshing beer!

 

New NBS BIF #3 Sunday

My new collection of NC beers is courtesy of @lateralusbeer. Since I just had a Funky Buddha Last Snow yesterday, I figured this would be a good one to start with.

NoDa Brewing's Coco Loco



4.09/5 rDev +1%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

It is a mahogany color coming out of the can, but ends up looking mainly black. There is a nice tan foam on top, but it does not hang around too long.

So far this one is living up to it's namesake. Tons of cocoa. Like sticking your face in a bag of cocoa powder. There is some charred grains, and just a hint of coconut. It has a creamy, milk stout like sweetness to it also.

The coconut seemed to be masked by everything else in the aroma, but it shows itself in the taste.
It still takes a back seat though. Lots of chocolate and roasted malt flavor. Sort of smokey. The more it warms, the more I get a nutty taste from it too. Like roasted almonds and even a hint of peanut butter.

Body and carbonation typical for the style. A crisp, dry finish.

If you are looking for a more coconut forward beer, you will want to try Last Snow, Death by Coconut, or Kitka. This one is more of a compliment. A good one at that. Very nice balance of flavors.

 

New American DIPA Sunday!

Greetings from The Jersey Shore, where the first day of Spring is quite winter-like. NJ weather, give it a minute or a day, it'll change. What can you do? I've been working on a couple of in-house projects this weekend, back at it early this morning so the beer break started early, too: http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/26749/116703/?ba=NiceTaps



GOOD STUFF!


I was beer chasing, among other things, in DE and MD. I drank some other Burley Oak offerings that were very good also, but this what I'm drinking here and now!

I'll stay on the MD and Oak theme for the music of choice, then some lunch and back to work. I'll check back later to see what you're dinking.



All the best!

 

Looks nice! The level of coconut you mention seems about how I remember it. Reading my review, I got more of a dark nuttiness than cocoa - but that review is a year old. I will say this is the only beer we bought other than Hop Drop 'n' Roll for the trip home.

 

Good morning BAs. This morning I am starting off the day on the lighter (but not less flavorful) side of things with Crane Brewing's Apricot Weiss. This Berliner Weiss style brew was bottled on 12-18-15 and measures up at 4.5% abv.



L: 4.5; This beer was beautiful out of the bottle and into the glass. A hazy o.j. color with the softest, tightly-packed set of white bubbles that formed about a 2 finger sized head. They were gone just as fast as they came but still a great looking pour.



S: 4; Smell is lead by the apricot. More of a musty apricot, like a little past ripeness. Also picking up some barnyard notes as well has some other citrus.
T: 4.25; A good mix of funky tartness with some fruit juiciness. Pick up the wheated malt in their to balance out the body Don't be fooled though, this beer is tart!



M: 4; Feel is definitely on the light side. Your teeth definitely feel the pucker factor. Finishes with a tart bitterness and semi-dry.
O: 4.25; This was a nice beer to start the day with. Bright, fruity, tart, bitter but yet easy to wash down.
Avg weighted score is 4.18 which seems just about right.