New Beer Sunday (week 597)

Yeah, and that's a great place! I rarely get it on tap because the sixers are hard to beat and are available where I shop.

They are brought in via Raven Brands... which is connected with Brouwerij Lane and Greenpoint Beer & Ale. I've found that you can't always trust the quality of the German brands on tap at Greenpoint B&A. I think this stuff just doesn't move as much as the American craft or house beers at these places.

 

Hmmm - I think I agree with most of what you said, and in fact had this to say about the beer a couple weeks back:

I seem to recall not thinking the coffee was as overpowering as I expected, but did sort of control the flavors of the brown ale itself more than I'd like. I didn't think they were completely lost - though they did seem more in the bold brown (fashionable dark nuts and dark toast, perhaps) than say a classic English brown that I get a little more light nuttiness and caramel.

I see I didn't write an official review, but since I have more in the fridge, maybe now would be a good time to correct that situation and see if I still think the same.

 

A New Beer STYLE Sunday for me ... my first braggot:



Lone Pine's Po-Cha-Na-Quar-Hip III




Braggot = good, indeed

Lone Pint's braggot pushes up a cloud of sweet wine as your pour -- meady, to say the least. But then the hops kick in citrusy and floral notes, orange and ... well ... "floral", like eating the aroma of an air freshener -- not bitter but sweetish. Bread malt in the aroma turns sweet into apricot.

And it's very light, not gose-level light but no more than 4-5 SRM by my eye. It's also clear and full of activity. I'm halfway through the first pint and it's still keeping an almost full skin and super thick collar.

The taste is like honey-covered hops ... orange and that air-freshener floral flavor are there, also plenty of apricot. The bread malt is there, too, but it's immediately taken over by honey. This tastes just on the good side of that American DIPA caramel/mango flavor, meaning the hops are still bright enough to give it a good floral kick while the sweetness is more bread malt (and honey) than caramel.

I'm not making sense.

The review:
http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/30380/101604/?ba=Premo88#review
3.91 (-3% rDev)

Cool brew. Reminds me a lot of Revolver's Blood & Honey, an American pale wheat with oranges and honey. Only it has a good Lone Pint-dose of hops and in classic Lone Pint form: all flavor, no bitterness.

Why does Jordan Spieth suck so much? Argggghhh!!! This might require more beer ...

Cheers!

 

Oh without a doubt. German beer is an anathema to so many craft beer drinkers today, which I just find hilarious. I've often tried to make the analogy to pizza and suggested that today's drinkers need the Meat Lover's Deluxe or Hawaiian pizza and turn their noses up at the classic slice/pie. It's a cliche but still apt to say that the mantra nowadays is "More is Better." A classic lager doesn't fit into that mantra.

A curiosity related to this and to @JackHorzempa 's Tired Hands review today is that I drank in the last week and a half two Tired Hands beers: their imperial stout, Only Void, and their pilsner (forget the name). It's interesting to see how much my opinion of those beers diverged from the popular opinion. With the pils, their were glowing reviews and I found the beer absolutely terrible, while with the IS, I loved it but other reviewers found it undesirable. It occurred to me that a messy, discombobulated pils is right up the lane of today's IPA lovers that turn their noses up at a good pils and a conventional, rich, non-adjunct imperial stout is just too plain for those same drinkers but great to me.

Quite a world we live in. Haha.

 

I am guessing the $26 was for a 4-pack. Is $9-$11 a single or a 4-pack in your area? I may need to move if it's a four-pack.

 

I've only seen it in NYC and everywhere I've seen it they only sell it in singles. Thus the disparity. So here I am getting ripped off and thinking it was him. Haha.

 

Right - and if I'm wrong, I 've learned where not to move, instead .

 

Love the pizza analogy! I just might rip that one off one of these days.

 

I think a bomber of Sump was around $30 here, but honestly don't remember exactly. Just remember thinking "no effin way." I paid $9.50 for a 10-ounce pour today though, which was still rich for my blood, but I wanted the tick.

People always jump on me when I say PA prices tend to be 40-50% higher than many other states, but that's been my experience.

 

Another new beer and in a shocker, it's courtesy of @garymuchow . It's Surly's Pentagram.



Full of Satanic weirdness on the bottle:






But it's a good beer:

4.26/5 rDev +2.7%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25

750 mL bottle poured into an oversized tulip. 2014 bottle.

Not sure what style I'm dealing with here, but the bottle mentions a "100% Brett dark beer fermented in stainless and aged in used red wine barrels." It also mentions dark Munich malt.

From the pour and the aroma, I'm on the fence on whether this is an oud bruin or Flanders Red. As I'm no expert, I find the two styles similar. Based on the burgundy color here that resembles a dark red wine, I'm guessing this is a Flanders Red.

Nose is vinous, tart, oaken, with a brown sugary sweetness that I generally find in Oud Bruins but I think is common in the Flanders Red too. Had a Rodenbach Grand Cru recently and recall it being similar to this. There's a vague similarity to vinegar I get in both the aforementioned styles and thankfully, as in the best of both, it's meek in its presence.

Sometimes I'm incapable of describing flavor and feel separately and this is one of those cases. As I was thinking about the taste, my first thoughts were that it was tart and vinous. These attributes seem to encompass both and are accurate so I'm gonna run with them. I get that brown sugar flavor, some vanilla, a pulpy berry or cherry flavor, and a dry, oak finish.

This is good. Plenty to absorb and enjoy.

And here's a gem of a song just because:

 

Happy Sunday nbs players. I'm hitting the city for the day and drinking beers all day with a good friend. Cloudy and rain most of the day. On vacation all week so it's pretty nice not having to get up in the morning.

My new beer today is ss- cream, a hoopy imperial cream ale, a collab between carton and barrier brewing. 8.4%, 70 ibu, and 8.4% abv.

Beauty of a pour with light golden amber with subtle carbonation and a big frothy head. Nose is sorta smooth hoppy. Not terribly floral. The drinking is smooth on the start with nice hop tones upfront. Citrus fruit with lemon, orange and grapefruit. The mouth feel is really interesting and unique. It's hoppy but really creamy with a pretty moderate body.
Overall, a great beer and probably one of the better cream ales I've had. I'm in the solid low to mid 4's all around.

 

I just enjoyed a Fayson Maple Imperial Stout by Lawson's finest. No picture because it was consumed with family. Review below.

Look: dark black, lasting tan head
Smell: chocolate, maple, coffee
Taste: same as smell, finishes balanced, an intense flavor without being overpowering
Feel: a touch thin, low carb
Overall: great stout, rated it a 4.5

 

Greetings, fellow NBSer’s, and thanks to @utopiajane for getting us underway and for her fantastic opening post,

51 degrees, wet and blustery in the city where hardy souls turned out for the Lilac Festival’s annual parade despite it being miserable weather for such a thing (I wasn’t one of them; I’m not a parade guy regardless of the weather). It’s been a rather nasty weekend, weather-wise. This week I’ve set aside War and Peace to blast through a book I had reserved from the library, The Boys In The Boat, about the University of Washington crew team that won gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. It’s a great read, and is giving me a new appreciation of the sport of rowing, plus what people had to do to stay alive during the depression. Next time I’m in Seattle, I might have to make a pilgrimage to view the Husky Clipper. Also, last night I finally began watching the TV show Fargo.

I’m often guilty of leading off my NBS contributions with a new beer consumed during the week, and today is no exception. On Thursday, I had myself Iron Goat’s main contribution to Spokane Craft Beer Week, a “Blood Orange Tart IPA” brewed as a collaboration with Bale Breaker, appropriately named Goat Breaker:

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/29334/231474/?ba=woemad#review


Really interesting beer that hits on the territory of multiple styles. Contrary to my expectations (Iron Goat’s owners confess to be hop-heads, and Bale Breaker is generally viewed similarly), it’s not a hop monster, clocking in at 70 IBUs. The blood oranges give it a taste not unlike I’d imagine an orange-fortified Berlinerweisse. Things are tart up to the point of being almost a sour. The hops mostly come in at the finish, lending a dry, spiciness, but not stealing the show from the oranges. I actually wouldn’t have minded if the hops were a little higher in the mix, but the results are nevertheless delicious.

Much as I liked @utopiajane’s ruminations on the pilsener, I’ll be going the opposite direction today. I’ll be hitting at least one barrel aged beer from Tyrarnena (I’m probably not spelling that correctly) that came to me as part of the now mostly depleted boxed tour of the Midwest I received from @Ri0. No doubt it will match the weather. I might be wandering over to the other side of I-90 for another visit to Iron Goat as well.

 

Not a bad beer, but I do not like session IPA. Would much prefer a different style for a low abv. However I tried to judge it based on style.

Look: slightly hazy, light yellow, nice white head, lots of lacing
Smell: light cracker malt, but mostly citrus and tropical hops
Taste: a little sweet at start end a little bitter, a little citrus and tropical fruit,
Feel: thin
Overall: a solid session IPA, just not enough malt to be exciting...4

I love trying new beers. Buetiful Sunday. Hope you all have a great day.

 

It's getting closer each time, but it is a wonderful simple style, that requires perfection...

 

Apparently Jalapeno Porter gives me third eye abilities to see into the future, haha.
I'd recommend: W6, CB, and AtG, in that order if I were to choose. I've never been to Louisville, though, so I'm only speaking of AtG based on their beers. As far as the Lexington scene goes, CB has better beer, if only by a margin, but the overall vibe at W6 is really nice. People are friendly, and the free brewery tour is a great experience. Lots of free beer, too.
Stop by The Beer Trappe, too. It's only a couple miles from W6 and CB. Tons of great beers to choose from, including lots of local goodies.
As far as the bourbon trail goes, I couldn't say. Never been to any of the distilleries, though if i had to pick from preference, I'd go to either Woodford Reserve or Heaven Hill, though I can't imagine any of them being anything less than an awesome experience. Hit me up if you're anywhere close to Ashland, and we'll have a beer!

 

New Unexpected Coffee Break Sunday
I didn't think I was going to drink any new beer today because everything I have is high ABV, and I wasn't feeling it. Then my brother popped onto the deck with a cream ale. Wolf's Ridge is one of the more talked about/fast rising newer breweries in Ohio. He went to the latest bottle release last weekend on my advice, and really liked it. It is now on the top of my list of stops next trip into Columbus. I have had some of their varients of their base beers and have been very impressed. This one is probably my favorite. Somebody will likely be seeing some Wolf's Ridge in their box next BIF.

Disregard the foggyness. The glass was just sweating. It is see through.


4.56/5 rDev +3.2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5

Crystal clear gold color with a bright white foam on top.

Smells like coffee and cream with some cereal grains.

A wonderful balance of fresh roasted black coffee, sweet vanilla, and light crisp malt grains. A touch of bitterness in the finish.

So light and easy to drink. Flew through a bomber like it was water. Unlike Calm Before the Storm which I find has a rough/harsh and overpowering coffee flavor, this one should not be intimidating to many people. Best light bodied style coffee ale I have had hands down. World class

 

Bought a hundred year old house 10 years ago. Nothing like improving it with your own hands. Makes everything taste better. Kitchens are a lot of work. Good luck.

Edit: took me three months to finish mine. Hope yours goes quicker.

 

Appreciate the response. I'll check the route and see where you are and shoot you a message if I can swing it.

 

Thanks man! I've been pretty lucky so far, aside from our basement flooding last summer. Replaced some drywall, some plumbing, and paint & lots of cleaning. I'm learning as I go. Thank goodness for YouTube.