New Beer Sunday (week 585)

A brand new beer, from a brand new brewery. Juicy Busey Saison from the opend yesterday Twin Elphant Brewing Company in Chatham NJ. A very nice slightly cloudy golden color,thin white head, this is a nice looking brew. The aroma is lemon and spice. Taste is spicy, mouthfeel is full and the finish is dry. A very good siason. I had an IPA here yesterday. That beer made a good impression also. Twin Elphant seems to off to a good start.

 

New Amer. Wild Ale Sunday (week 585)
Greetings fellow NBSers, and Happy Mother's Day to @utopiajane and all the other mothers out there. Beauty day here in Mid Hud Val, NY, and despite morel season being a disappointment so far, I am hopeful as always for better luck on the ridge tomorrow.

Great luck with beer however. I know the sticker was left on. It was too hard to get off. The price shown is actually a couple dollars less than at the brewery, so there's that. Expensive, yes, for sure but this baby is worth it. Absolutely superb wild ale, lots of barrel and fruity and earthy/spicy funk, with a ton of other brett and bug notes to make it into a complex, easy drinking, BEAST of flavor. My review

Hope you also have a Great American Beer in your glass. Cheers!

 

I'm Drinking a legend for New Beer Sunday...

How does one approach a beer of this legendary magnitude for the first time? It...

...arrived on my doorstep late last year from the great BA @Prager62 and I have sensed it’s presence in my domicile...daily. Yea verily I say unto you all, I have thought about this beer at some point every damn day since.

Clearly I have a problem and there’s only way to fix it.

A rare detailed review is in order for NBS BCBS 2015.

Deep breath. Clear palette. Clear mind. I slowly pour and swirl Bourbon Country Brand Stout into my favorite chalice (no, it's not The Duvel, and yes, I will be beaten later for this transgression) and I notice the...

…appearance.
It is a perfect shade of blackness. BURZUM. It could be tar for all I know, except I can already smell it, wow. It sure as hell ain’t tar, but I do like the smell of tar. Anyway. Slowly I bring the holy receptacle to my quivering nose and I continue to…

...smell.
The aroma offers what any great aroma can offer. A firm and tantalizing promise that the best is yet to come… It smells complex, dangerous, and very willing. Waves of happiness and intensity pierce into my noggin. This 2015 BCBS is seducing me. I am shocked to notice my mouth has begun to water uncontrollably. The drooling and moaning starts to scare me so I decide to quickly move on and...

...taste.
While breathing through my nose I allow some BCBS to flow across my tongue, coat my teeth and partially trickle down my yearning and unworthy gullet. Taste buds begin to scramble in a panic and frantically collate and submit their reports to my already beleaguered brain. They are are saying. “Oh, it’s a good one Jim…IT’S A GOOD ONE!!! JIM IT’S ROCKING YOUR BEER WORLD!” I decipher the chaotic ramblings and come away with, strong rich coffee, vanilla, Utopias-like oak, boozy balanced chocolate, just like those German chocolates loaded with liquor...and it burns a tad. It burns us a little! YES PRECIOUS!!! IT BURNSES US!!!! It burns just enough to sear the flavors and clears the way for my mouth to fully embrace the BCBS...

…mouthfeel.
I love the mouthfeel. It’s like an old friend who’s come home for the first time, and I never want this friend to ever leave my mouth…no, no not in a gay way…that’s not me, but I don’t want to swallow BCBS yet because this beer is NOT DONE DELIVERING THE GOODS! OH! Gulp, it’s gone. A second sip, followed by a third and a fourth and a...

“Sit the BCBS down Jim...Jim... Jim? JIM!! Step away from the BCBS! NOW!”

“...okay...”

So I sit the BCBS down and step away from the table. I reflect on what has just happened and for purposes of this "proper review" I think in terms of the...

…overall.
My overall score is approaching a five (5) . No, it's not a full 5 because Jessica Alba and Elizabeth Hurley are NOT currently sharing this with me on a tropical private island, but IT’S PRETTY DAMN CLOSE TO A 5!!!

I could never have got my hands on one of these without the generosity of a great beer advocate.
Thanks again @Prager62 for giving me this opportunity. It was worth the wait.

And now back to the table and the rest of BCBS.
Cheers NBS’ers!

This post is dedicated to Mom (RIP) and all moms for making everything possible.

 

New Dortmunder Lager Sunday

Good afternoon NBS. It's finally drying out a bit at the Jersey Shore. There's even some sunshine today. I'm dragging along slowly here; site? Me? I'll move on to today's new brew...http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/2854/27945/?ba=NiceTaps#review

and the pic...


This beer hit the mark, maybe I'll seek out some more lagers. It reminded me of drinking some of Dad's beer as a kid, before the adjuncts took over.

Thanks for giving me a minute, all the best!

Happy Mother's Day!

 

Finished a light breakfast and coffee, called my Mom to wish her a happy M-Day, then decided to start off NBS-proper with a Regular Coffee, courtesy of @SammyJaxxx:

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/26817/108008/?ba=woemad#review


Holy crap! What an incredible beer! I didn’t pick up on how big this beer was at first. I saw “cream ale,” figured, okay this will be a lighter beer with some coffee flavor, noted how small the head was even after a rough pour, thought, “Hmm, how strong is this beer?” I saw Imperial Cream Ale at that point, figured, okay, it’s a little boozy, maybe. Only after the first sip was I thinking, “What the hell is this?” and then saw 12 Fucking Percent Alcohol! I actually poured it out of the pint glass you see below and into a wider, big wineglass, which showed off it’s complexity much better. This beer is insane! I’m still working on it, and the coffee has come out even more than in what I wrote in the review. Truly an astonishing beer. I wish I had more just to take to other people and tell them, “You gotta try this!”

Thanks, SammyJaxxx! For those of you unaware, this guy won best box for the NBS BIF # 3, and it was richly deserved!

 

Some high quality postings on this Mother's Day...including the kick off from Our Hostess.

Another in a string of dreary days here in the kingdom. The sun looks like it is trying mightily to break through, but it is pretty much chilly, raw, and drizzly. It could be unimaginably worse, obviously, given fires, floods, and whatnot that have been going on, so no whining from us here. Perspective matters.

No beer old or new today. Church then brief visit to the mother in laws. My folks are roaming around somewhere....74 year olds...swear you cant keep track of them.... I bought concert tickets to the Generation Axe tour and honestly did not realize they were on Mothers Day. Reflex purchase..oh that's cool, snagged four tickets, then realized it will be my son and I who enjoy this more than mom and sister...but we will have dinner together and make the best of it!

Cheers all!

 

Had this beer at Extreme Beerfest a few years back, and was in line for another pour when the place shut down (and fast). I had quite a bit that day, so I figured, maybe all the better. Now every time I see a review like this - and mainly since I know they actually make it regularly (pun unintended until I noticed it) - I am upset I didn't get that last pour. So, thanks for making me sad .

 

Happy Mother's Day to all you beautiful mamas out there. It's a beautiful day for drinking beer! Tried this one today:



Pours a nice hazy gold with a fluffy white head that fizzles out pretty quickly.

Smells sort of innocuous and musty, almost like a light-struck euro lager. Very faint whiff of acetic funk.

Tastes a little more watery than expected, and certainly less sour than the other AV Gose variants. Only a trace of watermelon flavor, but plenty of salinity on the finish. Bright, lemony and mildly tart up front, with earthy tea-like flavors mid palate.

This is a pretty mild beer on all accounts, but definitely crushable on a hot day. Given all of the options in this category these days, it's probably not one I would buy again.

 

It seems like every summer, Seattle and surrounding environs get pretty parched actually, judging by the brown lawns and near-hysterical water rationing at restaurants. Growing up in the Columbia Basin, with all that irrigation water at hand, this isn't nearly the thing despite the hotter temperatures (it was once 118 F each afternoon for about a week when I was 17).

 

Since I'm so far away from NJ, and never really thought about Carton being a possibility for me to try until I got a bunch of their beers in @SammyJaxxx's ninja box, I guess I didn't realize you couldn't get Carton where you live. So, do they distribute outside of NJ at all?

 

Good afternoon to all the NBS regulars and a warm welcome to all the newcomers to the great thread. Thanks to Maria for getting us off to a great start on this up and down weatherwise Sunday here in central NH. I had a couple of projects I was working on this weekend and well one of them is now mostly complete except for a few artistic touches that need to be added by someone more talented than myself. I'd like you all to meet the new addition to our garden for the spring.

I'll say what looked like a simple project was a lot more involved than I planned.
I was lucky enough to have time yesterday to make a Nightshift and Trillium run to pick up a few beers, okay a little more than a few beers as I have a couple of boxes going out this week. In the process I grabbed a couple of bottes of Nightshift's Second Breakfast. So my new beer for today is Nightshift Second Breakfast.


This beer pours a rich black color with a nice creamy tan head. The head disapates fairly quickly.
The nose is very complex for me rich dark malts, strong molasses and some dark chocolate.
The taste runs to the earthy overtones for me with chocolate and molasses and to me just a hint of smokiness.
The mouth feel is smooth and even at 10.8% ABV there is no alcohol burn to be found.
Okay I'll admit I'm a big fan of Baltic Porters but this one is really well done and as a straight Baltic porter with no barrel aging thrown in this is me is fairly close to top of the class.

 

Your review is as masterful as your art! I'm glad you enjoyed, I'll have to hook you up with a variant in the future.

 

I know the feeling. Although I did managed to reach mi Madre this morning, my folks, pushing the outer limits of their 60s, are tremendously busy, which seems to work well for them (my Dad has a long history of putting his foot in his mouth by volubly expressing shock someone he thought was much older then them was actually the same age or younger, so they're obviously benefitting from keeping active). In a few days, they're tearing off for Paris, then Norway for a month. I hope to be half as active when their age.

 

Marble Cuvee Rouge

Happy Mother's Day to all the mom BAs out there. It's a beautiful day here in southeastern Pennsylvania. Took my wife and daughter out for breakfast; built them a garden box, filled it with soil and bought them a bunch of starters; opened some gifts; and now it's time for a beer while they're out planting.

This is my second to last from NBS BIF #3 courtesy of @ONovoMexicano. The last is a barleywine that the reviews have convinced me could benefit from a little age. This one is tasting right about perfect right now though.

ONovo sent me gallons of excellent brews from New Mexico, including many amazing offerings from Marble, Bosque and La Cumbre. This was the only one from New Mexico with a painted cap. My wife got me one of those bottle cap maps for my birthday earlier this year. The west coast and northeast are pretty much filled in. The midwest is getting there. The southwest is still barren except for this one.



This one is definitely a worthy addition to the collection, though. As to the beer....

Cuvee Rouge pours a lovely reddish-orange color, with a slight haze and a finger of tan-tinted head that disappears quickly but leaves heavy lacing. There's a mix of strong oak and tartness in the aroma.

Both of these continue to dominate the taste, along with some tart berries, maybe some orange blossom and a little buttered-croissant flavor behind. There's a smooth, lightly syrupy mouthfeel with a good burst of carbonation when you swallow, making the tartness from the flavor really pop. Not too funky, but there's a little funk in there. Like David Bowie.

This is a highly-enjoyable brew. Thanks again to ONovo and the BIF organizers. I'm looking forward to the next one.

 

When do you not? Damn son, you be prolific!

 

Damn, that looks awesome! I think it's a solid candidate for my "Favorite Beer of NBS" award this week.

 

As I understand, a lot of Carton is hard to get in NJ, even. Sure a NJite can attest if I am right or not.

Ahhh.... another NBS review that leads to a want.

 

Yeah, the Wet Side loses its green pretty quickly starting this time of year. The last couple of winters, before this one, were low snow years, and there wasn't enough snow pack to get through the summer. Should be better this year, and hopefully a lower wildfire year too.

 

I had no idea that a bottle cap map was even a thing. As someone who collects bottle caps, that sounds pretty cool, but I shudder to think how quickly I'd run out of space on such a thing, especially for the PNW, a region I understandably drink a lot of beers from, or the east coast, where there's a fair amount of beer-producing states that aren't all that big. Or does this map of yours entirely dominate a room of your house?

 

I've only had a couple beers from Ecliptic, but so far they strike me as brewers of pleasant yet unremarkable beers. I do dig their label artwork, though, so I guess that's something.