New Beer Sunday (week 581)

I've always wanted to try this. Long overdue. You have provided the impetus. I had my first Biere de Champagne from another brewery last year and didn't use the procedure you described. Curious to see how that affects the beer.

 

Beer III from Maine beer company. Semi bitter, thin mouthfeel, light chocolate after taste. Pretty delicious black IPA.

 

Deerprunes? Is that what they call the feces up there in the PNW?

 

One last new beer that I picked up at the Open Bottle in Tinley Park yesterday. I shared this 750ml of Mikerphone Brewing Disco Superfly batch #2 with my bro and watched the Cubs win. We both enjoyed this rather lighter version of a DIPA that drinks more like a 'session' version of the style with notes of lemongrass washed down with a hearty dose of malt.



I've heard some mixed reviews about this brewery and this probably isn't one of their best. My score was 3.99 / rDev -4.8%. Sorry for the brief post, we're just a couple of beer bro's having too much fun today. I'm finished for today, it's been great reading the reviews thus far. Here's a better recap on the beer, have a great week.

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/39889/175018/?ba=Prager62#review

 

I'm with you. Hate the pear nectar look in some of these beers. Or banana smoothies. Not sexy. But a lot of them taste good as all hell, so at day's end, whatever works.

I just had Weihenstephaner's 1516, also a kellerbier/Zwickelbier and I highly recommend it. Delicious.

 

Do it. It's the rare beer in that price range that is actually worth the price.

 

Short's Brewing Soft Parade
Fruit/Vegetable Beer - 7.5%



3.26/5 rDev -9.9%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 2.75 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3

12oz bottle poured into a tulip glass. The bottling date of 2/18/2016 printed on the neck of the bottle. The description of this beer on the label reads "a high gravity ale fermented with blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries.

Pours a beautiful bright red color with orange and golden hues when held up to the light. The head is fizzy and quickly dissipates. The nose is very fruity with the raspberries being most notable along with faint strawberries as well. The first thing I though of when I tasted this beer was that it was far less sweet and a lot drier than I expected. There is a little bit of tartness up front with a moderate amount of sweetness giving way to a lingering medicinal bitterness and warmth from the alcohol in the finish. The mouthfeel is light bodied with prickly carbonation hitting the tongue and the roof of the mouth. Overall, not bad but not something I'd seek out again.

 

Congrats on beer number 1000! Cheers!

 

I plan on hitting that after dinner tonight. I can't remember right now if it's the same vintage as yours was or older.

 

NBS beer #3 is my dessert beer for the day. It's an English Barleywine from Queen City Brewery.



Old Monty

Queen City Brewery
English Barleywine / 9.00% ABV

3.93/5 rDev n/a | Avg: 3.93
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

2016 batch #1
Aged in Oak Chardonnay barrels

L-The beer pours a deep cola color with a fluffy off white head of a couple fingers. Lacing is prominent and clinging.
S-Dark fruits permeate the nose with some faint earthy hops at the back end.
T- Taste is like the nose, but more with more intensity. The hops do only enough work to cut some of the sweetness and are quickly lost amongst the malt and dark fruit notes. Some will find the beer too sweet, but for my palate I like it quite a bit.
F-The mouthfeel is on the high side of medium. Carbonation is very light despite the size of the head on the initial pour.
O- A good if not quite excellent english barleywine. Worth giving a shot if you like the style. I do and will pick some up again when I see some.

 

New Beer Sunday: American Belgian-style Quadrupel

Evenin' NBSers with special greetings to those who are on a Quad Quest.

Well the weather here today has been a polar vortex reminder of what winter can be like. Yesterday we had light snow all afternoon and into the early evening with some areas hit by as much as 3 inches. Fortunately the roads and pavement were warm enough not much stuck and this morning it was kind of fun to watch the driveway and sidewalks cleaning themselves for a change. The day was sunny and cold so most of the chores involved either using the car or puttering around the house. This gave me a chance to pop in periodically and see some of the new beers people were reporting on and, as usual, there's a lot of things here to be put on the "to try" list, especially if we implement our plan to make it to the mid-west this summer.

Today's new beer is a rare treat since even a single 10.5% ABV beer in the evening can negatively impact the day tomorrow (unless one gets to sleep in ). The beer I'm enjoying is the Sixth Glass, a Belgian-style Quad from Boulevard. (BTW, if you check out the Hans Christian Anderson story in which Ole describes the contents of the various glasses from the first to the sixth, you'll find that the Sixth Glass is where Satan is to be found. .)

Got to say Boulevard's beers are, for me, one of the fringe benefits of Duvel Moortgat's acquisitions and expansion into the US market. It seemed that no sooner had they completed a deal with Boulevard than we started to see Boulevard's beers in this area. Some of their beers are, to my tastes, world class, and even the "run-of-the-mill" beers are pretty tasty.

As usualy my review (subject to revision until the beer is about half finished) appears here:

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/423/39621/?ba=drtth#review

Why only till half finished you may ask? That's because the second half of the beer is to be paired with some very nice Stilton from a local cheese shop. Will they go as well together as Stilton and Stout or Stilton and Barleywine? That's what I hope to find out this evening.

So far the verdict on this beer is that it has most all the right flavors in the right way. I think it could compete and show well in a blind tasting that included the more famous Belgian Quads. If I were to fault the beer it might be for the fact that the sweetness at times seems a bit more prominant than would be expected from the dark orchard fruits. The alcohol is well concealed in this beer and it has definitely earned a spot on my "have again as a once-in-a-while-special-treat" list.

On the music player tonight is a CD with some highlights from the opera Turandot by Puccini. One of the single most famous tenor arias ever written is called "Nessun Dorma" and is from this opera. This aria/opera is so well liked that it has played a role in more than one movie and so some of you who don't think they are fans of Opera may have still heard the aria before. Indeed it is showcased in the sound track of several movies including one of the Mission Impossible flicks.

The particular aria from tonight's music comes towards the end of the opera, and basically the hero has successfully beaten death by correctly answering three riddles posed to anyone who would seek to marry the beautiful princess, Turandot. Recognizing her reluctance once he has successfully done the riddles, our hero gives her one night to escape the vow to marry whoever can answer the three riddles and get out of the marriage bargain by guessing his real name (he has used an assumed name to this point). As he waits out the night for the night to end, he is confident that she will not guess his name, that he will win her and that she will come to love him after their first kiss.

Nessun Dorma

 

Next, this iconic beer from DFH.



I've had this for 8 months or so, and when I tripped across it in BFN2 (Beer Fridge Number 2), I thought, "You can't age a brown ale 8 months, can you?"

Well, you can if the "brown ale" is masquerading as an imperial stout. It pours jet black and lets zero light through. The head is 2+ fingers of tan head that looks like every other imperial stout I've poured. The nose is caramel, toffee, vanilla, milk chocolate - all screaming stout. The taste is those flavors. The feel is uber rich and creamy. Stout, stout, stout.

I rated this 4.33 because I think it's excellent. But it's not a brown ale, IMHO. And that's more than okay.

 

After a looong 18 hour day I definitely needed this beer. The weather feels right for this beer tonight.
@superspak and I belong to a common Facebook beer nerd group and the other day he cracked the same bottle he received in the BIF. His description was intriguing to say the least and all I could think about was opening this beer tonight. It was well worth the wait. Thanks to @thebeers for sending this awesome beer!

Bottled 12/8/2015. Received in NBS BIF #3. Poured into a tulip glass.

Poured a deep, dark brown, chestnut highlights. Initially, a huge fluffy light tan head. Leaves some decent lacing about the glass. Cocoa, toffee, toasty oat cereals and nuttiness on the nose. Taste is malty, caramel, toasted oats. Some lighter aspects of coffee, vanilla and dark fruits. Low hop bitterness. Huge points for me on the mouthfeel. Silky smooth, velvety and creamy. Dry finish with low aftertaste.
Haven't had too many English Porters but this one will be hard to top!

 

LOL! I was struggling to come up with something that sort of rhymed with beertunes and then that thought hit me. I've had a lot of beer over the last 30 hours.

 

The locals BIF was a real hoot, and @SammyJaxxxx absolutely bombarded my house with incredible stuff. Was tough to decide which to crack today, knowing I could only have one (coming back from an epic bachelor party). Decided on the Kane Morning Bell.



Silky, luscious chocolate with a cold pressed coffee finish. Decadent deliciousness. So impressed.

 

Wanted to jump on board with this very quick review of my first KBS courtesy of @foundersasap - although I've secured a 4 pk since than. And I'm glad I did.

Founders Brewing KBS

Pours a black as night liquid with a milk chocolate foamy head and lots of extreme lacing.

Aromas of deep chocolate and and light coffee with significant bourbon notes. Massive delicious aroma. Like a liquid tiramisu is what comes to mind.

Taste is huge chocolate and not quite as much coffee as I expected - which I like since I'm not a huge coffee lover. Nice bourbon/ Barrel flavors though and a lasting bourbon burn. Loving it.

Feel is sticky lip smacking, sugary sweetness but it dries rather quickly and leaves a lasting impression on the palette. Scary part is alcohol is hidden very well evn with the strong bourbon note presence

A rich, delicious brew that I'm very happy I finally got to try courtesy of @foundersasap. And also happy I found another 4 pk of. There will be some sent out and the rest drank. I know this is a whale and in line wait for some- and don't get me wrong it's superior brew- IMHO the same thoughts to me as BCBS. But then again I don't wait on lines for beers. I'm grateful for the opportunity. Truly a fantastic brew. My apologies for the quick n run. Sorry I'm beat.

 

Would it surprise you if I told you I'd also had a lot of beer over the past 30 hours? haha.

 

Palo Santo is my favorite DFH beers and quite possibly my favorite brown ale. Cheers!

 

Keeping this party going with Left Hand's Bittersweet Imperial Coffee Milk Stout from @ONovoMexicano. Was gonna open Bosque's Anniversary Baltic Porter, but decided it would keep better if I don't get to both tonight. I do have work in the morning.

The Bittersweet is plum-tinted red with a thick finger of lasting tan head that eventually leaves sheets of lacing.

Medium-roast coffee with some slight cherry notes, and then a heavy wallop of sweet cream, make up the aroma.

It has a surprisingly coffee-forward taste, even a week before the best by date. There's cherry again in the coffee and well as some earthy flavors. The cream is there, too, but it takes a backseat. There's also a short-lived bitterness to the aftertaste. Dare I say it? Bittersweet.

It's medium bodied with moderately-high carbonation. Not as good as this morning's Cafe con Leche, but still pretty decent. It's something I'll enjoy sipping for a while tonight. My favorite coffee stout from Oh No, though, was probably Santa Fe's Imperial Java Stout. That's pretty close to the best I've ever had.

Here's most of what @ONovoMexicano sent me as part of this NBS BIF round. Thank you. It was my first BIF, and I'm very glad I threw my hat in the ring. I've got some ground to make up in the next round, and can't wait.

 

Not to be obnoxious but if you read through this thread you will see that everyone comes to the table with either a formal review, a review of spontaneous nature and/or a story of how you came upon such beer - or an interesting story. Please if you want to partake provide everyone with a bit more info than just a name. So many take a considerable amount of time and thought to post here. Thank you