New Beer Sunday (week 579)

Gooooood morning NBSers, and Happy Easter! Not only is today Easter Sunday, but it's also G-Day. Yes, the dreaded G-Day that inevitably comes around every spring. That evil day when you have to cut your g...g..grass for the first time since last fall. Yes, it's here. So fire up those Briggs & Strattons, restring those Stihl's, sharpen up those Black & Deckers. It's time to wage war on our lawns! We will not falter! Viva la moderate weather!!

It's always nice to be buzzed before noon, haha. Okay, okay, on with the show. Today's beer is a very special treat that I was fortunate enough to find while in Florida recently. If I had known it was going to be what it is, I would've grabbed 6 instead of just one. Anyhow, let's drink this beer and go slice some green stuff. Cheers!

Da Beer
Knee Deep Brewing Co. Lupulin River
Imperial India Pale Ale, 8.0% ABV, IBUs: Ask Jeremy



Da Re...view
Bottle into a snifter. Beautifully clear, vibrant gold in the glass with what's possibly the best clarity I've ever seen in an IPA. You could read this review through a glass of this. Close to 2 fingers of sticky, white foam initially. It's been about 3 minutes since I poured, and there's still a pretty hefty lacing on there. Good retention.
The nose is a wonderful plethora of tropical fruit such as grapefruit, pineapple, mango, and kiwi countered by strong notes of dank pine and hops. There's a touch of an onion in the aroma. If I had to compare, I'd say this beer's aroma really reminds me of Enjoy By.
Upon tasting, I am met with an unexpectedly dank and bitter beer, whoof. Big notes of hoppy, piney resinous marijuanaesquenessocity. Yes, I made that word up to aid you, the reader, in comprehending the intensity of this beverage. But it's good. Really good. The aroma fooled me into thinking this was going to be a grapefruity, citrusy walk through the park. To be honest, and at the risk of sounding one-dimensional, I have to say it again: this beer reminds me of Enjoy By..
There's not much to note about the mouthfeel, other than it's typical of an IPA of this character and abv. Y'know, light-medium weight, perfectly carbonated, and a bit dry on the finish. Yeah.

Overall...this is probably the best IPA I've had (of this style) since trying Pure Hoppiness for the first time late last year. This one, as noted, is definitely pine & hop forward. If you like Enjoy By, or beers of a similar profile, this one is amazing.

Da Scores
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
4.43/5 rDev +2.8%

And not to say "I told ya so" but...

 

Rest of the family is off at church, where I begged out due to a nasty cough that would have only led to me being disruptive during mass.

Good news is that my tastebudsare unblemished, leading to my first NB for this S.

Devil's Backbone / Surly colab, Risen


Dark and completely translucent up until the bottom inch or two where stifled light carries through a slight ruby color. Head began at about an inch of beige foam that fell back to a largely lace-less fizz film.

Nose is big time coffee that tails off with hints of what is best described as the floral spice of noble hops, whether used or not. After a bit more consideration, I start to get a slightly tart bready thing.

Taste is wicked massive coffee straight away. Like, covering up everything else. Second run at the taste brings out a hint of dark chocolate and that noble hop presence. The taste quickly blurs into the mouthfeel as a strong alcohol presence brings on an incredible dryness that dominates the finish.

Very aggressive beer here. It's good but I can see this becoming tedious!

 

Stormy Easter Sunday morning here in north central FL. My new beer is Evil Twin Brewing's 'Even More Jesus' brewed at Westbrook, Mt. Pleasant, SC:





An imperial stout ringing the the bell at a healthy 12% ABV.

A) It pours a solid black (SRM 40) with a creamy cinnamon brown head; some clarity under cap, which quickly reduced to an oil slick; spotty lace at best. 3.75

S) Smokey roast malt nose. 3.5

T) Smokey roast malt; dark fruit; semi sweet caramel malt; toffee and old leather finish. 3.75

M) Medium full mouthfeel; moderate carbonation. Thin for such a bigger stout...3.75

O) Not thrilled. The smokey linger is cloying. Evil Twin is hit or miss; I can't think of anything that Westbrook has put out that I didn't like...so I put this "miss" on Evil Twin...

Have a Happy Easter! I'm off to our 3 storage units to go thru artwork today...cheers!

 

Yes, I did not quote the bottle date of that other batch but I do recall that it was very fresh.

Hops will vary due to where he hop is grown (the terrior effect I previously discussed) and from crop year to crop year. When I homebrew I do not expect that a given hop variety, let's say Centennial for example, will taste exactly the same but I do expect it to be similar. I have read that they hop growers selected the name of "Mosaic" as a means to recognize that this particular hop variety is very variable. This was just my first personal experience with Mosaic being so different.

Cheers!

 

Good morning NBS! A a happy Easter to all those celebrating with egg hunts and chocolate. I unintentionally started my weekend of sweetness last night with the opening and imbibing of Mango Magnifico by Founders. My final review was not flattering as I fell into the crowd who believes the beer is just too syrupy sweet (though it wasn't medicinal, as some reviews I saw).

With that much sweetness, I figured I'd ween myself of slowly this am with offerings I am not expecting to be very bitter. Actually one is for the GF, but it is one I have not reviewed, so I might give it a few sips and my impression. The other is from @RoninTK3 as a part of NBS BIF #3. I am feeling a little like @superspak with a cider side review (would that be a CideReview? ):


Lots of Virginia bars have at least one cider on tap, and we have about a dozen cideries in the Commonwealth (though I am not sure all of them go hard) - Bold Rock being the one that might be most recognizeable in the area. This cider is from Bantam out of Somerville, MA, and is billed as a "Modern American Cider; mildly sour with subtle cherries." Let's see:

Pours like a rose wine - clear and with a very thin rim of collected carbonation that can be seen rising in the glass.
Nose has a distinct apple scent, but isn't quite as sweet as I'd expect. I am actually getting a little tart cherry note, and I don't think it's purely the power of suggestion.
The cider starts out with its core ingredient (and is mildly sweet), but is balanced fairly quickly by a tartness. The sweet still wins the day, but this is a cider. I actually get a light earthy note that actually makes this a fairly enjoyable opening to the day.



The Lil' Brainless Raspberries pours a deeper and more cloudy pink, pinksh-yellow-golden maybe. Not a large amount of head, but it hung around fairly well. Nose is undeniably raspberry, and actually smells a little sweeter than the cider. The taste does not hold up to that sweet nose, and perhaps goes in the wrong direction. The flavor is actually a little bland and tastes a little bit like dirt (my guess is can date is late November based on can code). The lightest amount raspberry sneaks in the back. I wasn't really a fan of the regular raspberry Brainless, as my GF was. This "lighter" version really doesn't do it for me. I liked the cider better .

I've got a few more from the BIF box to do today, and UVa plays at 6pm, so I'll be back for sure!

 

You know, I was debating which fabulous Ohio beer to dip into today, and you just helped me make up my mind. Also via the generosity of @WesMantooth I will be launching into some Hop Juju. Review and ramblings to follow.
Thanks for helping make up my mind!

 

Happy birthday! Enjoy this next revolution!

 

Happy easter all!

 

Hey, BA! Haven't contributed for awhile... been stupidly busy. My beer's "nothing special", but it's... something pretty special anyway.



Bought one of these for $1.99. Poured it into a short shaker pint. Ugh.

Awesome in the glass: a slightly hazy golden orange color with a creamy off-white head that leaves a lot of lacing. Nectarine and pine are the biggest things I'm getting on the nose -- this has a pretty dank profile. The aroma is bittersweet as well. Nothing in the glass is jumping out at me/it's a bit mellowed out, but I really enjoy what's there. The taste is a decent bit like the aroma with a nectarine-y flavor layered with quite a lot of pine. There's also some mango and pineapple near the end of the sip, but the finish is a lot of sticky pine resin. There's a lingering piney hop flavor and bitterness, but it's not too intense. Overall, quite drinkable and balanced for the style.

Absolutely dig it. As with most beers, it's not ideal straight from the fridge. Give it a few minutes to open up, and you've got a very nice and mostly balanced DIPA. Ballast Point does it for me again -- this is a delicious, affordable DIPA that you'll be able to find pretty much anywhere.

4.27/5 (+3.6% rDev)

Ah yes, and happy Easter to all you fine BA folk. Cheers!

 

Happy Easter and NBS to all. Thanks to Maria for the great send off as usual. It's been a busy morning here in Central NH as we have a bunch of family and most of the grandkids arriving shortly. I started the morning off by get this 17# ham into the smoker for making my double smoked ham.

Then moved on to the next dinner item which is my 4 cheese Mac and Cheese and have these two plans just starting to bake in the oven.

Well dinner will be ready about 1:00 here I'll try to get some finished pictures.
Now on to my beer for this NBS and I stopped by Deciduous Brewing yesterday for a few growler fills and brought home one of there Cumulation what they call an Imperial Gose.


Cumulation
Deciduous Brewing Company
Gose / 4.50% ABV

3.96/5 rDev -0.3% | Avg: 3.97
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4

Stop by Deciduous Brewing yesterday after being in Portsmouth for lunch. Brought back a growler of Cumulation what is listed as an Imperial Gose.
This beer poured a light golden color into my Deciduous glass. The nose is light with a slight almost faint floral aroma. The taste is crisp and clean not as sharp as some Gose can be. But pleasant and crisp and very light. The mouth feel is smooth. A nice interpretation of this style of beer. I think the only thing I find lacking is the little bit of saltiness that is there in most Gose style beers.

 

Happy Easter NBS. I've already made the family breakfast (pancakes and bacon). My girls are now coloring eggs after playing with their Easter baskets. Time for dad to relax with a new beer.

I thought this would be a good Easter beer! Bottled 8/2013. It is a cloudy dark mahogany with a nice 2.5 finger sand colored head. Nice cap and lacing form on the glass. Sweeter aromas of bread, figs, dark plum and cherry mingle with toffee and caramel. Some banana esters, yeast and, clove are also are present. Flavor is sweet and yeasty in the front with some banana, gives way to the sweet toffee and caramel with hints of the dark fruit. Medium smooth feel with soft carbonation. A tasty brew even after it sat for 2.5 years.

 

So what's your take on Americano? I'm hoping to try it soon.

 

Prairie Pirate Bomb

Was lucky enough to find 2 of these last night.

Taste is basically regular Bomb! with a strong rum barrel presence. Coffee is somewhat subdued in this one and the chocolate steps forward to accentuate the rum. This can give the best of them a run (rum) for their money.

All in all, a VERY tasty brew. Perhaps the front runner of the BOMB! series.

If you ever get the chance to pick up 1 or even more, give yourself a treat and pick it up. Don't pass it by because it might cost a dollar or two more than something else.

I rated it a 4.5 and would probably go even higher if I reviewed it.

Edit: just submitted review and gave taste and overall 4.75 for a final score of 4.65.

 

Alright, this entry for me is brought about with a lot of praise for one @WesMantooth. Trust it is well deserved.
As I have with the two preceding it, I joined in with this ongoing 3rd round of NBS BIF-itude. To anyone curious, undecided, or even decided against: I highly recommend it. It's an amazingly fun time at every step of the way. Stalking your target. Figuring out what they like. Raiding the stuff available to you but not them that you think they'd like. Figuring out how to pack it all up. Crafting super obscure or creepily personal hints in the forum. Trying to decode the cryptic hints others have posted hoping to determine who your own sender is. Guessing at said senders. The hilarity of being wrong. REALLY wrong. The excitement as the boxes get closer. The overwhelming gratitude when you see all the effort and care some complete* stranger has put into trying to ensure you enjoy the liquids they've sent you. Laughing about it all. Crying at your bank account.
Anyway, the point is, it's a really enjoyable and rewarding experience, and it should not be intimidating or scary or anything either. And there's probably going to be a round 4 sometime this autumn. FIB EHT NIOJ!! April 10th we'll be taking over this here subforum with the contents, but expect to see references to the exchange between now and then anyway.

So, the praise part I mentioned. @WesMantooth was my sender this round, and he sent both of his boxes early (yes, he sent two boxes. No, it was not required nor even expected. Yes my fridge is bursting.) so I've been able to begin clearing out some of the more time sensitive members of the barrage. As I list above, my NB this S is Hop Juju from Fat Heads.
Hop Juju is deceptive. Do not trust Hop Juju, but DO enjoy it (as it is a damn tasty brew). Why do I say deceptive? Well read on brave, erm, reader? and you will find out.

-Hop Juju pours a crisp clear amber bordering on orange-ish. Tight white head settles in at a respectful measure into the halo-and-outposts routine we all know and love. Beautiful brew.

-Hop Juju smells incredible. Big sweet tropical fruits and juicy citrus. I get an almost bubblegum chewiness to it as well. I notice that in a decent number of big multi-IPAs. What causes that? I implore the gods (you all) for your knowledge! This is the first set up of its deception.

-Hop Juju. Oh.... Hop Juju. You lull me into a false sense of complacency with this big bouquet of sweet juices. You even begin with an overture to light kisses and tropical breezes bolstered by a giddy effervescence which uplifts the sweeter more innocent tendencies, but which recedes to show a windswept palate of biting bitterness. Primarily pine, perhaps pith performs alongside. These two titans of tongue-buckling swing with one another, building in intensity and magnitude before releasing into the lasting finish that reminds you to be on your toes and not to accept the blithe childhood facade initially presented.

So, I saw that @SawDog505 was also reviewing Hop Juju, and that his bottle also came from @WesMantooth. I did not read his review, though, as I did not want it to influence my own impression and experience. Now that my glass is returned to its sadly natural state of emptiness, I think we come to some of the same conclusions, but by different means. I didn't get as much weed out of it as he did, and he's much better at identifying specific flavours but I think the final conclusion is the same: This is a masterfully executed big bitter IPA that brings layers and displays a directors eye for set up and follow through. Thank you Corey for sending this along as part of that box.

RIP Phife Dawg. And for that matter LV-R. It was an honour kiddo.

 

Happy NBS Easter!

My new beer today is The Sixth Glass, a quad from Boulevard. I did a medium pour from a 12 oz bottle to a teku and got 100% foam!! Took much patience to let the head dissipate, gradually pouring a little more, till I got a drinkable ratio of clear reddish- brown liquid to off-white foam.

The nose is pretty subdued yeast and dark fruit. The taste is figs, raisins, a touch of hop bitterness, and a warm boozy finish. Not much maltiness in this one. The mouthfeel is surprisingly thin, with medium carbonation.

This is a nice quad, but I'd put it a few steps bellow the great Belgian standard bearers and about a half notch below Three Philosophers.

Cheers!

 

Since I was fortunate enough to have gotten one of the earlier BIF boxes, I wanted to share one (or two) of them today. My biggest challenge might be to still have something left on 4/10.

First up is Kelso's Imperial India Pale Ale and comes to me courtesy of @TongoRad

Until now, I had not even heard of this brewery dispite visiting New York a few times in the past couple of years. Obviously, I was excited to try a new beer from a new brewery...

There seems to be a bit of confusion in the BA database for this one. It looks like this beer was once called Industrial India Pale Ale, and they changed it to Imperial. The can looks identical except for the wording change, same ABV, etc. Someone created a new entry for called Kelso Imperial Pale Ale (without India), but it only has 2 entries. So, I made the executive decision to log the review under the Industrial version. Maybe I will submit a merge request...

So what about the beer itself, you ask?

Starts out with a typical East Coast cloudy/hazy appearance and vibrant orange tones. Smaller head than I would have expected, but I might have poured it a touch cold.

Aroma and flavor tends to be mostly sweet oranges with bitter piney hops.

Body is a little heavier than most DIPA, but manages not to come off syrupy despite the sweetness.

If this was 17-18% ABV instead of 10%, I believe it would be similar in nature to DFH 120.

Very enjoyable beer. I'm going to have to put these guys on my visit list next time I'm in the area.

Got a few things to take care of, but I might be back later with another. I've got my eye on a nice Singlecut in the fridge...



Review included here. When they made the last set of website changes, they took the "link" option out for some reason...

Poured from 12 oz can dated 1/21/2016 into snifter.

A: Somewhat cloudy golden orange with 1 finger white head that settled to a thin ring around the edge after a minute or two and leaving some moderate lacing.

S; Bready malts and candied oranges mixed with a punch of piney hops.

T: Sweet tangerines, mango, and biscuit malts balanced with piney bitterness. ABV is apparent but seems bring something to the table.

M: Medium to full body with fairly light carbonation. Finish features some hop bitterness and alcohol heat.

O: Very unique DIPA. My first brew from Kelso, and hopefully I will get the opportunity to try more from these guys!

 

Welcome back dude!

 

Yep, Hop Ju-Ju is damn good!

 

Good afternoon dear NBSers,
It is officially my THE favorite thread on BA (thanks to consistent efforts of awesome folks like @cavedave, @utopiajane, and many others who put their creative juices to work to encourage all to seek newer malted juices every Domingo and thus keep this thread interesting)
Marshall Wharf Sexy Chaos:
Russian Imperial Stout infused with oak and vanilla beans. 10.7% ABV.
Looks: Dark black with a small off white head that dissipates fast. It does leave a decent lacing. She's not much of a looker folks, seems average for her type.
Smell: bringing her up to my nose, I detect faint sweet smelling cola like smells. Once again, kinda ok.
Taste & Mouthfeel : wow! Whoa! What just happened here. That is a very well tasting brew with just the right amount of dark malts flavors and then BAM! Here comes the waves of vanilla and after taste has some oak. Very silky on the tongue when warmed to room temp. Definitely a tad thinner body. I have to say that it had one of more prominent and pleasing vanilla notes in a beer I have had.
Overall: A very interesting infused RIS. Wish she had a slightly stronger nose and slightly heavier body (I like 'em that way guys, what can I say) Definitely worth trying if you come across. I don't think I will buy her in the amounts that I get Founders RIS or some other stouts.

Cheers and happy Easter to all!
Seek new or resurrect the classic

 

Having another Devil's Backbone colab, this time it's Double Pacific Ale, with collaborative notice from Thunder Road.



Looks only slightly hazy through this golden beer, sporting a stark white frothy head. Lacing is moderate, as is the head after having settled in a bit.

Nose has a striking earthy, almost rotting vegetables smell right away with a latent rubbery, dankness upon exit.

Taste is a good ways better than the smell as I do get that rubbery thing but it opens up into something more mango-ish until massive medicinal heat comes pounding in. Much like Risen, the heat brings on the feel in a wicked dryness. Aftertaste does have some sweetness lurking about.

Overall, this is messy. The heat just rips apart any hint of balance.