New Beer Sunday (week 581)

Sounds incredible. Some of my best stories involve Montreal. That place is something else.

 

Good Afternoon NBS folks.
Today it's Cricket Hill Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Porter. Part of their "Reserve Ale" series. 7.5% ABV
Poured dark brown/black into a large glass mug (came in bomber format) has thin tan head up that remains.
Not much aroma to speak of, some fruity and wine notes.
Taste is mainly bourbon with the roasted porter notes keeping the sweetness in check.
Has a nice mouthfeel, very stout-like. The aftertaste is very pleasant as the bourbon notes fade.
Overall it's a solid brew especially if you like bourbon and among my favorite porters in memory.
Definitely worth a try.

Enjoy Everyone!

 

Next up we have Rhinegeist Hustle Rye Pale Ale. Guessing this is an homage to Pete Rose, which leads me to believethat this beer should be relentless in performance.



So it looks quite appealing with its thick beige head, sticky lacing and crystal clear redness.

Very muted smell, save for a slight earthy bitterness.

Taste is immediately grassy. I mean like it makes me feel guilty for putting off lawn mowing for another week grassy. Push past the grassy and a more balanced earthy takes over. The bitterness takes form of olive, slightly and lingers quite long. Absolutely no maltiness to speak of. So overall balance (not just bitter profile) is nonexistent. None balance at all.

Very wet, thin mouthfeel with less aftertaste than the bitter would suggest.

 

Greetings NBSers, and thanks to @utoptiajane for getting us going today,

Yesterday, after working all night, I ran some errands, including hitting up the local library. Afterwards, just after ordering some snackage and a second beer at the Post Street Ale House, I saw on FB that the long awaited opening of Iron Goat Brewing’s new location had occurred. I gulped down that beer and headed on over.

Great place. Hundred year old single story, brownstone-ish place, It’s HUGE, and having most recently been used as some sort of car engine replacement business, there are multiple big garage doors that were open and letting in the lovely 70+ degree spring weather. There was a big crowd on hand, and while I had my usual Impaler, I really liked the Lemon Gose that they had brewed as a collaboration beer with Everybody’s Brewing – perfect spring beer. So much so I had three more…



Anyway, I’ll be throwing that up onto the db soon. Here’s a Dunkelweizenbock from Seattle I had at the Ale House before I knew I was going to Iron Goat:

Not bad, but rather muted. No way it will replace Aventinus or Vitus for me.

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/364/41699/?ba=woemad#review

Okay, here’s the main event: The box of Midwestern Awesomeness sent my way by a heroic BA named @Ri0




Founders KBS 2014 12oz

Founders Backwoods Bastard 2015 12oz

Karben4 Lady Luck Imperial Red Ale 12oz

Karben4 Fantasy Factory 12oz

Tyranena Wrath of Rocky 12oz

Tyranena Doubly Down ‘n Even Dirtier 12oz

Toppling Goliath Pseudo Sue 16oz

Toppling Goliath XHOPS (Gold) 22oz

Surly Todd The Axe Man 16oz

Central Waters BBA Barleywine – Brewer’s Reserve 2016 12oz

Central Waters BBA Stout 2015 12oz

Capital Dark Doppelbock 12oz

New Glarus Dancing Man Wheat 12oz

New Glarus Berliner Weisse 12oz

3 Floyds Zombie Dust 12oz

3 Sheeps Uber Joe 2016 22oz


Several of those soldiers have since fallen. Homage can be paid to them in my reviews. Today, in addition to the barleywine mentioned by @foundersasap and @ONovoMexicano, I’m thinking it’s time that Berlinerweisse met it’s brewer in the sky.

 

Hello New Beer Sunday. So many beautiful beers today, so far. I'm sure there will be many more. For my first offering for NBS, I've picked Schell's Noble Star Series Apricot Vista. It is a very delicious Berliner.

 

Please let us know when you're done drinking these damn light beers.

 

I love these brews from Schell's and have another Berliner Weisse from @garymuchow I will be drinking soon. Care to expand a little bit more on what made it delicious. For the rest of scientists, I mean.

 

Today's first new beer comes courtesy of @garymuchow :



I wasn't sure what style it was---as you will see in my review if you read that far, haha--- but Schell's describes it thus:

"This full-bodied, blond dopple bock has a rich, assertive maltiness with a slight, but unique sweetness balanced by a moderate hop bitterness and a citrusy hop aroma."

Here are my thoughts:

3.85/5 rDev +6.9%
look: 5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75

12 ounce bottle poured into a seidel.

A- Golden copper color. Excellent clarity. Sudsy white head. Persistent lacing and carbonation throughout. 5

S- Malty, apple, honey, bread, earthy and grassy hops. Somewhat light on the aroma but still nice. 3.75

T- Pretty consistent with the nose although there's much more of a spicy hop feel and flavor than the nose. Still bready and the apple has made an exit. Each sip finishes with a equivalent combination of bready sweet malt and earthy, grassy, spicy hop. A honey flavor makes an entrance on the lingering finish. My only qualms with this flavor are the delay in the malt making its arrival. The entrance is a little light on flavor before finally breaking with the sweet malt. Other than that, great. 3.75

M- Very satisfying and refreshing here. Light and drinkable but still full in the mouth, well-carbonated, and has some earthy, grassy and spicy qualities from the hops. The finish lingers long with dryness, hop bitterness and a tinge of honey sweetness. 4

I am a bit on the fence as to what style I think this is. The name of the beer makes me think maibock. Or with the fest, maybe it's a marzen. Maybe it's both. Drinking it, it seems lighter than a maibock but has enough hops flavor and feel to be such. I have to assume it's a hybrid but I'm no expert. Either way, good stuff.






Great beer and much appreciation to Gary. I'll have a number of other upper midwest goodies coming today and in subsequent weeks if I survived all this tasting for science.

 

Well, I did relly like the apricot flavor. It's like drinking juice, but it's a beer. It's a very easy drinking beer. I do reommend iif you like the series.

 

New NBS BIF #3 Beer #2 Sunday

3.4/5 rDev -7.6%
look: 3.25 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.25

A dirty/muddy amber red pour. Very little head produced with a hard pour. Just a few tan soapy bubbles.

Smells like an amber. Malty, with very light coffee notes. A bit of sour dark fruit.

I would say that the light coffee aromas are even lighter in taste. Honestly it tastes more like combining an American Stout or Porter with a Red Ale. A hint of chocolate, and some plum or red grape juice. Pretty malty overall with some bitterness. Not real distinct toasted grain flavor though.

Carbonation on the higher side. Body a solid medium. Pretty nice texture.

I think that keeping the coffee profile subdued for this style is a good idea, but there just isn't enough going on to make it stand out.

 

Holy shit man. No wonder you didn't get back to me - glad to hear everything's OK. Stay positive.

 

La Cumbre Ryeot on Rye - 5th Anniversary



New New Mexican Beer Sunday continues courtesy of @ONovoMexicano and the NBS BIF Triple Threat.

Let me start by commenting on how amazing the bottle and can art from La Cumbre is. Check out the two nefarious characters on this one:



Think I might identify a bit more with the ryetor than the ryeot queller, but they both seem ready to party. The tree sucking up that delicious barrel juice is pretty badass, too. Lots to ponder while sipping anyhow.

So... Ryeot on Rye pours a slightly hazed amber-red color with a half finger of off-white head. It has a deeply malty, red-ale aroma with creamy whiskey behind, just as advertised. But there's only a hint of the spiciness I normally expect from rye ales and rye whiskey.

The rye flavor definitely shines in the taste though, right up front. Again, there's big malt flavors here -- molasses, dark bread, that sort of thing -- and a lot more of the rye barrel, too. It's full-bodied, with a viscous, creamy mouthfeel that has just a small amount of prickliness and little carbonation.

I've never had the base beer in this one, but can't imagine it's anywhere near the malt bomb in this one. This has got to be reformulated for barrel aging, no?

Overall, this is pretty damn tasty. I like big, West Coast hop bombs every once in a while, and I see this as the malt equivalent. Sort of reminds me of the Santa Fe Black IPA ONovo bifed me in that regard. It's delicious, actually -- though I'm glad I'm drinking it while there's still a little chill in the air.

@ONovoMexicano's review of this made me think it would be better to pop fresh rather than aging. I tend to think that's the right call. There's probably a ton of depth the malt could bring to this after a couple years, but the rye whiskey flavor seems just about perfect right where it is.

May or may not be back tonight. Enjoy your Sundays.

 

Moving along to a different style, I have a Great Lakes Turntable Pils, which is self described as a Czech style, so hopefully it makes me happy.



Moderately big white head with decent lacing. The beer itself is as clear as water, pale yellow and overall, just invitingly vibrant.

Earthy nose with hints of cream corn and cracker.

Taste is terrific. Got that nice slightly bitter yet bold and rich, biscuity and corny finish.

Smooth at first with a tangy little edge to it. This one is very fun.

 

For those interested, curious, here's what I was talking about from yesterday's blind IPA tasting, dubbed the Lupulin Challenge.

My notes (good luck deciphering any of this):




The entries, some of which I'd had before, but I did not know beforehand what any of the entries were (meaning it was completely blind):



And my votes:

 

You need to get onboard the BIF train next time buddy!

 

Damn!!! Party On Wayne!!!

 

Agree. Great beer. That was my first from them too and it inspired me to add them to the list of places to visit when I was up there. I wasn't disappointed. I enjoy their stuff more than Short's and Odd Side so far.

 

Herbal Joe's Emporium of Beer? ISO. For the name alone.

 

Such a great name and I love the can, but the beer is pretty disappointing. Actually, other than Truth, Rhinegeist just doesn't do a lot for me. I like Mad Tree when it comes to Cincy breweries.

 

Hello! Today I'm trying my new beer #700: Bells Cherry Stout!

Pours a dark brown with only about a half finger of fizzy cola head that dissipates quickly. I can actually hear it fizzing and see littles particles flying off in the air as from a Coke. Hold the glass to the light and you see a reddish brown tint around the edges.

The nose is subdued, but I do get some roasted malt and sour cherry.

Not sure what to make of the taste, and my impressions changed as I worked my way through the glass. The first thing I noticed was a rather thin mouthfeel for a stout and the cherry flavor. This is no sweet cherry like in a cherry coke, but a borderline tangy/bitter cherry that is not completely pleasant. As the stout warmed I got more of the roasted malt flavor. But the cherry flavor is a bit tangy in mid-palate but resolves with a chalky/bitter aftertaste. I wanted the cherry to have more sweet notes, and I also wanted the base stout to be more substantial to support the cherry; strange that the stout would be on the thin side, coming from the folks who make Expedition.

Bottom line is, the jury's out on this one for me. I have another bottle and will revisit in a few months. I always buy two bottles of any new beer, 'cause I rarely trust my first take, especially with a beer like this one that steps outside the norm. I've changed my mind on beers before.
Cheers!