New Beer Sunday (week 586)

Hey what's going on?!

Is that finally the sun again? Weird weather as the wind has REALLY picked up and it's COLD out... very odd..

What else is new for our hero.. well I am almost done drinking @JackHorzempa s brews, and thinking of a beer run later on today. Garden is growing, if not with some items being casualties unfortunately. Harvested a ton of cilantro and I just stink like crazy right now. Fish tacos will be the cure.

As of now it's time to crack a brew. what's new for our hero today?

Allagash Sixteen Counties


Allagash Brewing - Sixteen Counties by imbibehour, on Flickr

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Poured from the bottle into a tulip glass.

A slightly opaque body appearance, but with an excellent perfect looking apricot orange to yellow glow and bulb to it. Classic middle column of carbonation in the centre just clear enough to see, matching an reaching to a very creamy and classic rocking white head. Easy two fingers just a tad more in height, and a frothy top, not quite creamy, but fine bubbles and good staying power as it gets repopulated along the edges. Great solid looker.

Solid basic nose. Hints of lavender and floral like tones, and there's some nice dry grain going on with a bit of a toasty note. A creamy sucrose like action gives some Belgian character but with a different angle that's a bit unexpected. Decent and nice aroma.

Real nice pleasantries, and a very different reaction. First sip shows off American classics, hop earth and almost peppery saison, but not quite particularly in the finish. Mid palate has a nice creamy texture, goes almost into a vanilla sweetness and stays away from honey tones. Chewy slightly body as well, with a big tolerable hop blast that gives to pine and a floral sense. Once again hop really accents a black pepper heat, pulling out just some nice green herb like aromatics and a mouthwash sting too.

Bottle remarks some grapefruit and citrus angles, but I am not sensing it really, perhaps after some time they might peak. Either way this is a very well done take on a Belgian Pale Ale with nicely done American touches. Gets a little big though, and definitely goes for strong pale ale.

look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25 | BA Generated score: 4.19

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Glad you liked it, great review. I always try to pour stouts, Barleywine, quads, strong ales, and old ales just above room temperature. I see way to often pictures of these styles with way to cool of a temperature. Makes a huge difference in my opinion. Cheers brother.

 

Alright Corey. I'm sorry you'll neither see a finder's fee nor a commission, but based on your review I'm gonna get this one.

 

This brew pours a hazy orange color with a small white head and light lacing. Lots of carbonation.

The smell is lemony, buttery and full of floral notes. Slightly bready and cracker like as well.

The taste follows the nose with an initial hit of lemon zest and bready, slightly caramel malts. There is lots of sweetness followed by a buttery taste with light, piney hop oil left on the tongue after swallowing. Overall this is an extremely well balanced and nuanced lager. Weihenstephaner stated that it conforms to the old German Beer Purity Law; try it.

 

Hello NBS! My new (to me) beer today is Samuel Smith's Pure Brewed Organic Lager Beer. This is a Euro Pale lager at 5.0 ABV.

Poured from a 12 oz bottle into a plastic hotel cup, this beer's a nice mostly clear yellow/gold with two inches of white head. Nose is clean, a little malt and a snap of citrus.

Taste and mouthfeel are great. Clean refreshing lager, crackery malt, a bit of citrus, and a clean and slightly hop/bitter finish. Nice carbonation. Great hot weather beer.

For some reason I'd thought the word ORGANIC on the label meant to prepare me for disappointment (and this from someone who tries to buy organic when possible). Wrong. This is a tasty, refreshing brew.

Cheers!

 

Good morning BAs. While stopping by Parish Brewery yesterday to pick up my bottles of Opus Vert, I couldn't pass up the chance to grab a crowler of the Reve Coffee Stout; the second in a line of three special release brews. It is not yet listed on this site under Parish's line of beers.

Partnering with local Lafayette coffee roasters Reve, a Columbian blend was combined with a dose of Madagascar Vanilla beans to make this 6.6% abv coffee stout.



A- 4.0 Pours a pretty straightahead black color with a small-ish mocha head that dissipates rather quickly. Not a whole bunch of lace either.
S- 4.25 Right away, you get a blast of cold-brew coffee roastiness, freshly ground coffee beans and overall just fresh coffee smell. Don't pick up any of the vanilla though.
T- 4.25 The taste is almost like a fresh cup of joe. Roasty, slightly bitter, and now some of the vanilla bean comes into play. Also picking up notes of bitter chocolate, although faint.
M- 4.5 Parish has really dialed in their skill on super creamy mouthfeels. This brew is medium-bodied and finishes semi-bitter.
O- 4.25 This is a really nice coffee beer for those that enjoy this style. Unfortunately, this is taproom only and no plans of being bottled as of now.

 

New American Wheat IPA Sunday!

Ok, it's May 15th and there's been but 1 day of 70 degree weather so far this month, here at the Jersey Shore. Today's temp is about 60, the sun's in and out, and the breeze is blowing. It's not raining today but it's been dreary, too. So much so that I went all the way to Philly on Friday to drink some Pliny at Monks...and to take my wife to a show. Win -Win.

There's more good beer, freshly tapped and picked up this morning at a local growler station, Kane's Hop Lap Wheat IPA (BA classifies this beer as "retired" and "brewed once", I'm going with "brewed twice, at least"): http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/26676/147392/?ba=NiceTaps#review

Flavorful and good looking...


Here's an offbeat 90s tune that really is all about the bass.

All the best!

 

Thanks for the awesome intro to the day @cavedave !

Based on the dated tape on the bottom of this bottle, I've been sitting on this Coronado Brewing Co. Old Scallywag for just over two years. Since the painted label refers to it as "2013 Release #2 ~ Old Scallywag Barley Wine Ale aged in oak bourbon barrels."

Pours with a feisty collar of burnt sienna foam...especially grandiose for a bbl-aged barleywine. The foam dissipates rapidly...not unusual for an 11.6% ABV barrel aged product.

Aroma is of toffee and coffee, bourbon and oak.

Entry is softer than the initial carbonation promised with a huge molasses presence on the tip of the tongue. Midtaste is dominated by brown-sugar & bourbon with hints of vanilla and oak.

Finish is a wee bit hot...but not in an overwhelming way; just in a manner that I wish I could've had the willpower to sit on this for another year. I cannot fathom what this barleywine tasted like when first bottled.

All in all...fun, warming and the perfect bracer for dealing with the train ride down to La Jolla today.

Kampai!

 

Good afternoon NBSers! It's turning out to be a productive day here. Got up early and mowed the lawn, then made and hung a new address plate for the house. Now we're getting into some fun stuff: tearing up the CARPET in our KITCHEN. Yeah, I know. The kicker is, there's linoleum underneath. The linoleum is glued to the subfloor, the padding is glued to the linoleum, and the carpet is glued to the padding. A bit ridiculous, but that's an old house for ya. We're replacing it all with a nice floating tile, so hopefully the end result will be worth all the cussing and fussing. Anyhow, on with the beer. This one's from a brewery that I've been itching to try. Found this guy on my last trip to Lexington. Cheers, all, and enjoy your Sunday!

Da Beer
Stillwater Artisan Ales: Te Nasede
Wild Farmhouse India Pale Ale, 6.0% ABV


Da Re...view
Bottle into a snifter. Lemon-yellow in color and topped off with a 1 finger head of pillowy white foam, which quickly bubbled down to a spotty lacing. Great clarity. Light basement funk on the nose along with funky citrus, tangerine, light pine, and wheat. The taste is similar, with the most profound flavor being that basement-type'a barnyard funkiness. That in itself isn't entirely impressive, but it's not bad. There are also notes of lemon and orange peel, citrus, tangerine, and light hops. Definitely an IPA, but with an interesting twist. The mouthfeel is light and carbonated, and very refreshing. The finish is dry. Good for a hot day.

Overall, this is unlike any farmhouse/wild beer I've had, and kinda in a good way, kinda not. It's a good effort in terms of the approach, but the taste is a little off to me. Solid, but not as good as I was hoping.

Da Scores
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4
3.91/5 rDev -3.5%

 

Congrats @SABERG on your son's graduation!

If you don't mind fruity funky beers, I'd say kep an eye out for Elder Brett by them. I find that beer wonderfully refreshing.

As for me, I started off this Sunday not wanting to get up. However, the gym beckoned - or really more commanded - me to come, so I went. Had a better workout than expected, though 10 years ago I would've considered it an absolutely horrendous workout and probably thought I was hungover or even drunk (and I was neither, for the record ).

So, while waiting for the GF to get ready to grab some sustenance, I figured I'd crack open a new beer. This one comes from Richmond, VA, but I had bought it a week before our trip down there last week where we actually hit the tasting room. I got a few others from them for a later time, but this beer from Strangeways is a Berliner Weiss called Uberlin (umlait over the U that I am not going through the trouble of adding on from my laptop).


For appearances, I have to balance out the darker than expected color against the lovely cloud-like head that never leaves the top of the beer. There is a nice wheat beer haziness, but it isn't causing the darker color. This brewery tends to do some off-the-wall things, but nothing indicates what, if any, strangeness they employed in this beer to cause the unexpected color.

The nose more than makes up for my quandary over the looks. Tart peaches, dressed with a sour citrus splash. hint of crusty bread underneath the tart notes. A little bit of grass and some sour apple notes come with a swirl.

The combination of flavors actually reminds me more of a sour watermelon, but I can still get some of the notes the nose indicated. Sour peaches and bland crab apple like notes come through. The tartness atop all of it is citrusy - but more lime-like than lemon. No grassiness, but a clean bitterness underlies the more obvious notes along with a whole grain cracker like base - both quite subtle against the bolder flavors.

This is an enjoyabe beer. The carbonation is nice, but I almost missed it. That is not to say the beer is flat, but the carbonation is very understated, almost like the tiniest ball bearings helping the flavors roll over the palate - and I think helping to accentuate ever so slightly the sour ones.

Save for that color, I think this beer is fairly in line with the other aspects of the style. It might be a little bolder than others I've had (say Cayuga Cruiser by Ithaca) but definitely not into Tartare (Bear Republic) territory.

 

What a difference a day makes! Yesterday sunny and in the 70s. Today cloudy, very windy, and temps in the low 50s. I did some yard work yesterday in the nice weather and golfed today in the crappy weather.
I got the picnic table out yesterday and my NBS beer is pictured on the table. I decided to drink Great Divide's Barrel Aged Hibernation Ale, because I thought a winter beer would go well with the weather.
It is a pretty beer, a dark red/brown color. There is a small tan head and a bit of lace.
The aroma is very boozy, with some notes of fruit and chocolate.
Whiskey taste up front, mellowed out by vanilla. Some chocolate and some plums.
A very smooth-drinking beer.
Now if we could just get winter out of the way and move into spring, that would be great!

 

Congratulations on your son's graduation!
Now you'll be empty nesters?

 

Can I Kick IT? an American Red Ale from the week old Twin Elephant Brewing. This is just about what I look for in a Red Ale. A nice red color with a thin head that leaves a nice lacing. The aroma is malt with a hint of coffee. The taste is just about the same but a little sweet with a bit of hops. The mouth feel is creamy but not too thick. The finish is clean with a small aftertaste. This brew is 7.1 ABV and very drinkable. Another very enjoyable beer from a new brewery. Things are getting better in NJ.

 

Happy NBS. Today is looking so much nicer with a high in the 50's (not a typo) and sunny in WI. Yesterday, was cloudy, windy, and in the 40's and got down to 30 degrees at night... I hate it when Canadian cold fronts invade WI.

Today I am enjoying another one of @jhavs hoppy brews from VT (thank you!). Skeleton Crew pours a golden sunshine with some haze and a 1.5 finger white head. Good retention and lacing on my glass. Pleasant aroma of sweet tropical hops and some honeysuckle malts. Flavor is sweet pineapple, kiwi, and passion fruit with a lower bitterness and honey like malt. Feel is medium and sticky with some dryness. Overall a very tasty IIPA.

 

Only have a couple beers left to try today from the SN Beer Camp 2016 pack I bought last night. Had a really nice fire with my buddy and enjoyed plenty of great beers and good conversation.



Today I'm enjoying Moxee-Moron, an "imperial session IPA" weighing in at 7.5% ABV.



Pours kind of a typical SN golden-orange with decent head that retains spectacularly despite middling initial build-up. Nose is mandarin oranges, bright berry, guava and slight pine. Very interesting but doesn't quite jump out of the glass, as I had to really concentrate to get those notes. There's a slight sniff of ethanol as well, which makes sense as this is pretty much toeing the line of being an imperial IPA in actuality. Flavor is very bright and punchy with tropical fruit and citrus coming forward mostly, with slight notes of strawberry and even some blueberry in the mix. Bitterness is fairly hefty, though, as well, meaning this isn't a "juice bomb" by any means. Fragile malt body breaks apart even sooner than typical SN-involved IPAs I've had, making this pretty dry when all's said and done. I wouldn't say this is anything special (and, in all honesty, the whole pack has been a bit underwhelming to me in general, especially for the ~$30 price tag) but it comes together well enough and I'll enjoy my other one some time this coming week, I'm sure.

Listening to the new Inverloch album right now... crushing death/doom interspersed with deft moments of blistering speed, very much like the project they rose from the ashes of, diSEMBOWELMENT.

 

New Am. IPA Sunday
Greetings NBSer's,
As SCMN recovers from another cold streak (mild frost last night - might have lost our basil plant), the sun is out today and projected highs in the 60's. I'll take it. Finished brewing a batch of IPA this morning, and working towards the household/yard maintenance work that needs to be addressed.
I too am following the instructions of @cavedave and will part-take in some hops today. Brewed with a bunch and will have a couple of IPA's today. First on deck is courtesy of @cjgiant (thanks BTW) after his reminder yesterday on WBAYDN that I need to drain this one. Canned on 2/23/16.
http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/26753/103457/?ba=garymuchow#review
A nice drinkable IPA, this is, with interesting complexity, esp in the taste. Goes well with the return of sunshine and a little warmth in the air.

I'll be back.

 

Hey NBS crew! I have been trying to take it a bit easier lately but haven't had much luck in the whole weight-loss area. At least not what I'd hoped for


Regardless I've cut back a bit but am still enjoying beer, which is something that makes me happy so BMI be damned.

Checking in today with the new Tangerine Enjoy By. I try to get something a little more interesting when doing these but looking in the fridge I've had everything that's cold before save for a WW Serenity I'm giving until the 29th before cracking. So anyway, this it is. Cheers!

4.24/5 rDev +1.4%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

Mostly clear light orange in color - nice frothy white head forms but recedes pretty quickly. Some lacing but not overly sticky or lasting.

Nose is piney, dank, juicy with tropical and citrus notes.

Flavor is normal Stone Enjoy By with the extra citrus dose. Knowing it's tangerine I can pick that out but I would have said "citrus, orange" come through most otherwise. Big dank, bitter bomb otherwise. The extra sweetness from the tangerine helps. I like that it doesn't come through with anything close to an artificial note. It reminds me a lot of their Sorry Not Sorry which I think I liked better with the peach notes.

Feel is about right for a west coast DIPA. Full body, big drying bitter, tight carb and a bit brash. It's basically exactly what I was expecting on this one.

This is nice but glad I got a bomber and not a whole six pack.

 

Greetings from the Africa Lounge at SeaTac Airport, NBSers. After spending a week with Mrs. O on a fantastic cruise in Alaska with Mrs. O, we're headed home - and what better way to head home than with a new beer?!?



This is Mac & Jack's Ibis IPA. M&J is a Redmond, WA brewer that I've never tried, so this is a New Beer AND a New Brewer for me - double awesome!!! The beer is a "by the numbers " IPA - golden colors, mostly clear, citrus aromas and flavors, but after a week of "boat beers" (Bass was my "go to"), this is a welcome treat. Rated 3.77.