New Beer Sunday (week 585)

Now up Rodenbach Alexander. Completely missed that it was being released, but lucky the liquor store I shop at knows what I like and held a bottle for me. Smells good, tastes good, just a little sweet and young, would love to see how it ages!
4.32/5 rDev +0.2%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5

750 ml bottle poured into a flute

A- A clear ruby red with a two finger pink head.

S- Sour cherries, berries, cherry skins, some vinegar, some oak, hints of leather.

T- Surprisingly sweet, sweet and sour cherries, hints of caramel malts, mild oak, touch of vinegar, good balance but feel it will get a better balance with age.

M- Smooth, light to medium body.

O- A nice Flanders Red, just sweeter than I expected. Taste lingers just enough to leave me wanting more. Tastes a little young, would love to see how this ages.

Cheers!

 

Happy mother's day my BA peeps! It's been a long while since I posted on new beer Sunday, & what better day to do it again then today? Anyway, a special beer for a special day...Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Urbock!
A little background first, Rauchbiers are EXTREMELY rare in my area & until just recently I never had the privilege to consume one, but a little beer store in my home town a couple months back got some Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Märzen! It was one of the most unique & flavorful brews I have ever had! So, now today I happened to be in my hometown for the day & decided to stop in the same store to see what they might have, & what did I find....The Urbock!
So enough rambling, here goes...
A: Deep reddish brown with a creamy white 1 1/2" head, noticeably darker then the Märzen.
S: Intense wood fire smoke with a hint of malty sweetness, like a midsummer camp fire in the woods...incredible!
T: Follows the nose with intense smoke , smoke, SMOKE! So deliciously smokey it has what I can only describe as a "liquid bacon" flavor to it, then the malt sweetness comes in & balances things a bit. Finishes leaving a woodsmoke taste in the mouth...oh yeah, did I mention it's smokey?
M: Rich & Smokey, a NOTICEABLE step up from the märzen, as it should be...Alcohol is well hide beneath the other flavors.
O: This beer is INTENSE!!! I LOVE it! I am a big fan of smoked anything so this smokebomb is right up my alley. IMO even better then the märzen, but may be a bit too much for those who are not fans of smoked foods/beverages.

 

Found it here in SE PA in a bottle shop, in the new arrivals cold case. I also got the House Lager, which is a Munich Helles that seemed just a touch too sweet for my tastes. This one is definitely in my ball park.

 

I think is my last beer from @thebeers NBS BIF #3 box. It was shared with the lovely mother of my children on this Mother's Day. We spent the morning at a huge plant and flower sale and spent the rest of the day watching the kids run around in the backyard. It was a great day.

On to the beer!
Beautiful dark straw colored, almost has hints of rose. Small bubbly head that recedes leaving small amounts of lacing and soapy bubbles down the glass. Rustic wheatiness, some barnyard, pear and lemon on the nose. A simple yet tasty beer. Grainy, lightly fruity from the yeast, spices make it very drinkable.
Crisp and fizzy mouthfeel.

EDIT!! I can't for the life of me figure out why my pictures are sideways. I apologize for the newbness. I have done nothing different when posting the pics. And I'm sober!! You NBSers will have to put up with this B.S. for another week I suppose.

 

It's always interisting going home again. There's Half Acre, Pa brews which I love like Sly Fox, Yards, Neshaminy Creek, and always an Eclipse of some variety.

 

After spending a great mother's day with my mother and wife, I decided to venture down to my local bottle shop to get a growler fill of Magnify's Contractual Obligation, a beer I've been looking to try for a few months. While filling, I turned to the craft cases and saw a bounty of Carton cans, one being a personal favorite (077XX) and the other being something I've been hoping to get my hands on (SS C.R.E.A.M). After grabbing two 4-packs of each and placing them on the counter, the store clerk alerted me that the Contractual Obligation had kicked, and that I'd be getting my half growler of beer for free!

Since my wife wasn't in a beer mood after drinking plenty of wine at my parent's house, I decided to dive into my Carton cans, since it had been a while since I had purchased any (last cans I had were the IDIPA, which I loved!). This being New Beer Sunday, I decided to roll with...

Carton/Barrier SS C.R.E.A.M
4.63/5 rDev +10%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.75



The first words out of my mouth about this beer were "WOW! That's really good!", as I was was surprised by how much this beer reminded me of an IPA with the hoppy aroma I got on the nose and palate. For 8.5%, it drinks incredibly smooth, and has a wonderful flavor profile, which grew to become even sweeter as it warmed. I had a delightful aftertaste of honey that lingered after each sip of hoppy/citrus goodness, making this an extremely drinkable beer for me.

I feel fortunate to have stumbled upon these cans this evening and have had the opportunity to close my weekend with one!

Cheers!

 

Happy Mother's Day... especially to my mother, but she's certainly not reading this.

On Friday night I did a fun blind tasting of some Belgian pales. Group included Delirium Tremens, Leffe, De Ranke XX Bitter, La Chouffe, and Seef. It was a diverse group... but that diversity just illustrates the diversity of the Belgian pale. XX is classified as a Belgian IPA here. Even though I can see why, I'd only call it that if the brewer does too - otherwise, it feels like a culturally insensitive tag. XX was easily identifiable due to its signature bitterness. It's such a wonderful beer.

On Saturday I had my last Pretty Things Baby Tree. It was two or three years old. It showed its age, but it was still fantastic. This led me to the only logical choice for NBS - De Ranke's Noir De Dottignies.



As a Belgian strong dark, this was as different from Baby Tree as XX was from the other pales. Unfortunately, where XX soared, Noir sunk for me.

This beer was two years old. It was an opaque, murky dark brown with amber highlights, possessing the qualities folks love in certain IPAs today. Minimal carbonation for country of origin. Belgian yeast esters were very downplayed here. There's no bright fruitiness, just a raisiny and slightly ashy quality. It's heavy, harsh, and grainy... but it still manages to go down relatively easy all things considered (maybe the thin qualities played a part). If some Belgians can pass for barley wines, this one would be a contender. A bitter rather than fruity barley wine. I'm ultimately judging the beer against itself rather than others in a category... and this one just wasn't enjoyable... but the hands on that wrapper look great.

 

http://www.crateandbarrel.com/direction-17-oz.-pilsner-beer-glass/s569143

Cheers!

 

Thanks, I was expecting a $30 glass, I marked it. Pils glass is my favorite, back in the day the pils glass was the glass at most bars.

 

Good evening, all, and Happy New BBACVBaCIS Sunday! This new one from Central Waters' Brewer's Reserve series, Cassian Sunset, is a Bourbon Barrel Aged Coffee, Vanilla Bean, and Cinnamon Imperial Stout. Poured at fridge temp into my trusty round-bottomed sorta-snifter.


The first thing I notice on the aroma is bourbon barrel. Even cold, lots of bourbon, lots of barrel. Taste-wise, there's not much going on until it reaches cellar temperature. Then it really comes alive with notes of roast coffee bean and vanilla. Even so, the bourbon and barrel remain front and center in this. The alcohol (10% ABV) is quite prominent from beginning to end and lingers on the finish, bringing to mind a strong liqueur.

This is similar in a lot of ways to CW Headless Heron, in that the flavors and aromas you're expecting are understated. If you're a bourbon fan, you'll find this quite good. I'm glad I found this in 12-ounce bottles, though. A bomber of this would be a bit much for me. And I still have a couple left.

Cheers!

 

Hello NBS. Sorry I'm so late today. I had to work a 13 hour day today, and it stunk, big time. People have got to stop taking it as a challenge when I ask them (internally, of course) "how stupid can you be?"

So, because of that, a big beer is in order. I think this one fits the bill.

Surly Nein

And this is a damn good beer. Nice smoke flavor. Some banana that you get from a standard hefe. Very good way to start winding down.

 

Good evening NBS, hope everyone is enjoying the end of the weekend once again. Thanks to @utopiajane for getting us started off again this week. Not much going on here, more work tomorrow as usual. I should be finally getting my car hitch tomorrow for my bike rack. The uhaul place didn't get it in on Friday even though I ordered it a week prior to that day. Hopefully I can finally go trail riding this week, I need it badly.

Here are today's new beers:

Very good IPA. Aromas and flavors of grapefruit, tangerine, pineapple, apricot, mango, lemon zest, orange peel, and pine hops; with moderate bread/light honeyed malts; and floral/grassy earthiness. Moderate pine/rind bitterness; with a smooth/crisp finish; moderate sticky/resins and light grainy creaminess in the mouthfeel. Moderate dryness with zero lingering hop astringency. Aromas were fairly muted but otherwise nice. Taste followed up with some nice fresh/grassy/lightly dank hops with good complexity. Solid and not overdone on the malt backbone. Good balance. Pretty standard stuff, but well made and very enjoyable. Hops were not as vibrant as I had hoped. 3.78


To Øl Gose to Hollywood. This is great stuff! Aromas and flavors of tart lemon, lime, grapefruit, tangerine, pineapple, peach, mango, orange peel, and sea salt; with some light wheat/crackery malts; light funk and peppery yeast. Moderate acidic tartness, citrus peel bitterness, and spicy yeast on the finish. Crisp and dry finish; with balanced acidity/salinity in the mouthfeel; with light grainy malt notes and some stickiness from hops. Light bodied. Very refreshing and complex. Definitely a uniquely different Gose than I have had before, but it is delicious. This has Citra hops along with oranges(and I am guessing peels as well). A pricey pint, but I am glad I got it. Look forward to more from them. 4


Excellent smoked Baltic Porter. Aromas and flavors of big chocolate, cocoa, coffee, wood smoke, dark bread, toasted oak, nuttiness, caramel, toffee, and light char/vanilla; moderate grapefruit/orange citrus, pine, herbal hops; and additional fruitiness of raisin, cherry, berry, and plum. Moderate roast/char and pine hop bitterness; medium-full body; balanced creaminess and sticky/chalky hop/roast notes in the mouthfeel. Light-moderate increasing bitter dryness. This is highly complex and very smooth drinking. This is definitely on the hoppy side for the style fresh, but I am loving it. 4.1


Cheers, have a good night NBS.

 

I bought this set years ago:
http://www.crateandbarrel.com/set-of-4-iittala-krouvi-beer-mugs/s579044

The glasses are beautiful but I don't really like to drink from them.

 

Back for a quick review after a busy day. I picked up a six pack of West Sixth Brewing IPA when passing through Lexington last week. It was canned on 04/19/16 and I'll pour this in my 13oz. tulip for the occasion.

Pours a transparent reddish orange color leaving a finger of white foam. The smell is faint pine, grapefruit and some malt/yeast esters. Flavor is a mix of grapefruit zest along with some pine, spice and floral notes in the finish. There's some caramel malt that emerges as well. The feel is malty slick with a slightly bitter and spicy hop bite.



While it's a rather drinkable beer, it's nothing memorable and lacking any complexity. A bit too malt forward for me and missing the juicy hop flavors that I love. I'll pass one this the next time I'm in Kentucky. My score is 3.79 / rDev -3.6%.

Have a great week gang! Here's the official scorecard......

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/28764/80021/?ba=Prager62#review

 

New Holland just started distribution out here in California so first time with a Dragon's Milk Bourbon barrel aged. Nice drinker with just some warmth from the 11%

 

This was a beer that reminded me of Delirium Tremens in the can. A beer doesn't necessarily have to be super complex to be good. I enjoyed this one...

 

Double Duckpin
BA Rating 94
BEER STATS
Reviews: 78
Ratings:482
Avg: 4.29
pDev: 19.58%

Happy Mother’s Day, little late to the game today for the NBS… lots of family time with good beer but not any new beers to share in the NBS till everyone had left the party. Today my NBS is Double Duckpin from Union Craft Brewing Company from Baltimore, MD thanks to @larryi86

Chilled and poured into a hand washed Tired Hands snifter, head was a mild 1 finger build up that had little to no lacing. Color was copper and the nose was bitter, yet citrus sweet. The hops really seemed to get you at first with a decent finish of citrus… orange / pineapple like. As the beer warmed the citrus flavor deepened and it became somewhat sweeter.

Overall, Double Duckpin is a good beer and one that I would drink again. The balance between hops and sweetness seemed too well-balanced in that I would have liked to experience either more hop, or more sweetness to really make the beer standout.

Look – 4.00 Copper, hazy orange.
Smell – 3.8 Bitter to citrus sweet.
Taste – 3.8 Well balanced but would have liked more hops
Feel – 4.0 medium 8.5% abv
Overall- 4.0 Good beer.

 

Hopefully you grabbed their Pay it Forward Porter. I thought it was a very tasty beer.

 

Great reviews as usual. I haven't pulled the trigger on Gose to Hollywood due to the 7$ single can price. Is it worth the one time try?

 

Yea it was similar price for me. Definitely worth it for me(but I could say that about any beer honestly). It was very unique for the style, somewhat bitter due to orange peel/fruit instead of straight up acidity and salt. Very complex and hoppy. I really enjoyed it, and it would be something I'd buy again if it was Anderson Valley 6 pack priced.