New Beer Sunday (week 588)

Hey NBS, what's going on?

Spent the last few days helping my father-in-law to fix up some aspects of our house in Corona Del Mar, so I made a quick trip up to Placentia to visit Bottle Logic and grab a growler. Finally popped it open today, and it's just what my sore body needed to relax.



Hazeshift Vermont-style IPA, 7.6% ABV.

Poured hazy golden color with a nice white head. The aroma hit me immediately upon opening the growler: pineapple juice, mango, and oranges. The taste followed suit, dominated by a pineapple presence that was just exceptional. Medium body with a medium amount of carbonation. Slightly bitter. Just spectacular, in my opinion.

I'll be sharing the rest of the growler this afternoon with my wife and two other friends for a little bottle share. Reluctantly! Such a good beer, I don't wanna share!

Cheers!

 

Next up is this White Rabbit Brewing Tea Party Vanilla Bourbon Porter



Had a huge problem controlling this exploding, foamy tan head. After it receded a bit I can see that it's left behind rather spotty foamy lacing as well. As for the beer itself, nearly pitch black with minimal light making the edges slightly brown.

Immense bourbon upon putting nose to it. Forcing more aroma with a slight agitation only leads to more bourbon.

A bit of tartness right away that leads to that bourbon-ness. Give it a few more moments and a weird plastic taste trumpets in a coffee finish.

Finish has some coffee bitterness and only a bit of aftertaste. Otherwise, it's a touch on the thin side.

Just ok I guess.

 

I finally have my garden planted, so I feel accomplished. My last beer from @jhavs is a fantastic one!

Clear, deep golden orange with a 2 finger white head. Nice retention that leaves a thin cap and webs of lacing. The aroma of hops blast you with a punch of floral and pine, grapefruit, other citrus like tangerine, and a few tropical notes. Some aromas of light sweet malt. A nice flavor of grapefruit, citrus and pine followed by tropical notes of mango and passion fruit. The sweeter malts bring up the middle. Finishes with a nice citrus and bitterness. Seems to be just right and the carbonation really fills it out. Finishes with resin and sticky dryness. Delicious IIPA that reminds me of New Glarus Scream.

 

Happy NBS everyone!
Haven't been very active here in New Beer Sunday since me and the fiancé have had Sunday's off together lately which is really nice. Hope to get back to at least saving some off my awesome new beers for Sunday. Plus we were supposed to get some tropical storm nonsense all weekend but after a bit of rain last night it's just cloudy and humid today. Kind of annoying really wanted to go to the beach!
Anyway been getting into trading a bunch which has opened up doors to try some amazing beers! This for me if one of them.
Other Half All Green Everything - Triple IPA 10.5% was canned on I think 5/6 from what I can read of the date stamped on the bottom edge of the can.
Figured I'd open it now since it's the oldest of the IPAs I got.



______________

L: Pretty hazy golden copper just a think ring of foam lacing was better than expected for a 10.5 %

A: I get a bit of a vegetal note upfront oniony-garlicy type.. Tons of mango pineapple slight grapefruit a bunch of pungent "dank" pine notes at the end. Also malty sweet booze.

T: Similar to smell a bunch of mango and pineapple. Then resinous pine with a deep malt all the way through.

F: Nice and thick coats your whole mouth in bitter pine..tho a bit more dry than juicy IMO..Very drinkable for the abv. Maybe too drinkable!(shakes can to get every last drop...)

O: Really amazing beer from other half ticks every box for a big DIPA like this. Would drink regularly if I could.
______________

See ya later with another!

 

Greetings NBS afficianados! Thank you to @cavedave for his very respectful kick off to the thread this morning. It's often times easy to forget the meaning behind this holiday weekend with all the summer hoopla coinciding with it. Take a minute to remember all that can no longer enjoy what we take for granted, especially those who serve/served. A quick trip to the cemetery this morning seeing all those flags was a solemn reminder.

On to today's beer provided by our host @cavedave in the last round of NBS/BIF. I've been saving this low alcohol 5.5% beer for a sunny and very warm day. The time has come to pop the crown on this 500ml from Newburgh Brewing Co. labeled Sur Lie sour ale aged on oak. Let's see what awaits us?

Pours a cloudy dark gold leaving a finger of soapy white foam that settles in quick order. Smell is citrus tartness, acidic funk and a hint of oak. The flavor is lemon-lime citrus tart followed by a sour and slightly acidic vinegar profile. Letting it warm to around 55-60 degrees reveals some oak and a touch of spice. Perhaps rye-like? The feel is a pleasant meld of tart and sour with a very dry finish.



I've been saving this baby for the perfect day to enjoy the style, and in my opinion it delivered. A beautiful looking tart/sour easy drinking porch beer. Nice citrus notes, followed by some acidity and a hint of oak/spice. My score was 4.38 / rDev +2.1%. Thanks Dave for giving me the opportunity to try this beauty of a beer!

My brother is coming over in a bit for some beer and grilling. I'm hoping to be back later with another if we don't have too much fun. Enjoy the rest of this holiday weekend and don't forget to thank our vets.



It's not official without the scorecard!

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/29419/209664/?ba=Prager62#review

 

Beer camp session. I forgot I bought the beer camp box, first one I've tried. It's OK. A little odd actually. Wouldn't tell anybody to rush out and get them.

 

Those pictures tho^^^^^^^

 

On to my next entry. Not only is it an entry into NBS, but I also had to enter it into he site.

LTD Brewing Patio Crusher.

To be honest, I don't like it much. Yeah, I'll drink it, but it just doesn't do it for me.

Now off to get the grill ready for my epic grilling session, and, I'm sure, another entry into NBS.

 

Thanks! A beautiful day can bring joy to the most solemn places and moments. I've always found a respectful beauty in cemeteries. There are so many stories that make the imagination run wild.

 

At a glance it looks like your growler is sprouting some pretty magenta flowers. A truly floral IPA ...

My fridge seems to have collected a ton of gose and a ton of coffee stouts. What kind of combo is that?

Stone Americano Stout

The rating: http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/147/199849/?ba=Premo88#review
4.08 (-1% rDev)

Many of you have had it, and I'm late to the party as usual. Late to the party might not be a bad deal with this brew, however, for it is BITTER ... classic Stone/West Coast-style imperial stout with an massive hop load to match the malt bill. The smell is softer and sweeter, lots of chocolate, mocha latte and maybe a pinch of vanilla. The flavor is bitter dark malt at first, espresso, coffee beans. Then as it warms I start detecting lots of piney hops with a little citrus thrown in, mainly grapefruit.

I'm going to age at least some of this 6-pack. The alcohol flavor is well hidden, but at 8.7% ABV and all that dark malt, it should be fine until winter.

Cheers!

 

Happy New Witbier Sunday!

Did a nice little hike in the CNM today, cloudy, 60s, pretty nice day. For the most part, I like the brews from this brewery, this is their best offering for me so far, worth seeking out.

Cheers!

 

Beer camp #2. Love rye beers. This session has a ton of flavor. Rye, hops, floral. This one is much better than the last.

 

Hey what's going on?

Looking like a great weekend for our hero. Unfortunately with the plethora of new beer these days, my sinuses are slow to recover from a bad allergy attack.

So no new reviews unfortunately, .. still isn't going to stop me... God I need beer...

I have a dead rat behind my skull and I am trying to kick it out.. he's a stubborn sob..

So everyone enjoy your NBS.. I will be back next week ( knock on wood )


Dewey Beer Co. - Summer Saison.

This is very solid, but a proper objective review I can't give.

 

Very true. I visited my parent's graves in the rain. My Dad is a decorated veteran. It's an old Quaker cemetery (New Garden Friends Meeting) very near my home. Early Quakers born in the 1600s are buried there, along with American and British from the Battle of Guilford Courthouse (3/15/1781). It is a beautiful, eerie, and calm island in urban America. I've loved the place since I was a child.

 

Hey guys! For the second day of a long weekend, we decided to head out to a brewery. This one is a farm brewery. I actually added the place about two years ago, when the guy was basically selling out of his garage (officially was a farm, totally legit, but still was an interesting setup).

Well, two years later they have a better setup on a bigger farm, and the family seem to be seeing their dreams come to fruition. Figured we'd be glad to give the our patronage now that they are up and running.


Of course, to help us decide on "big boy/girl" beers, we grabbed samplers of their 9 offerings. In general, their lighter, more traditional styles were solid. The higher up the ABV scale we went, the less impressed I was with the beers. Nothing was horrible, but there were a few I wouldn't have again.


We'll build to the good stuff, the questionable:
Full Moon Tripel - little bit of a malty mess, to me. Too sugary, reminding me of some worts I've had. Little alcohol heat would be nice if the beer had a little more balance
The Matriarch - imperial IPA that was more of an imperial pale ale. Just sort of bland, maybe a tad sweet - which would be okay if some hops would bite back at some point
Kilts Up - a Scottish Ale (80 Schillling) at 5% seems a little low (not a shilling expert). A little watery, and ignoring the possible mis-classification, does show the flavor qualities of other Scottish ales I've had. Needs some body, though. It really seems more like a session-Scotch ale

The decent:
Quarter Horse Porter - Had this before. A nice 5% porter but would be better with just a tad more body as well. Not as weak as the Scottish ale, by any means. Chocolatey and nutty, a slightly oily bitterness that lingers lightly bit nicely on the tongue
Harvest Hefe - a nice beer that had a muted but classic profile. Seemed a bit clear and (theme here) a bit thin, which made it highly drinkable
Shenandoah Stout - At 7%, this drank like a lower ABV beer, and is actually closer to a lot of higher ABV porters out there. Little more chocolatey and darker than the QHP above, these beers are fairly similar. The porter does have more bitterness, the stout more body.

The definite have agains:
Spinks Ferry Saison - "Cuke" version. No doubt on cucumber as an ingredient. Ever grown them? Picked them? The smell reminds me of being in the garden, the smell of the vines themselves. The beer has the skin taste in it, and it is interesting. Definitely not gonna be for all, but I also get a crisp beer that seems like it might be a decent saison. Gonna have to try the non-additive version one day.
Hop Dog Pale Ale - previously reviewed, but this is a nice APA. Not too malty, though maybe a tad grainy. Nice classic hop backing, though. The bitterness grows, sneakily, until it has taken over the palate. But it's far from heavy handed, which would push it to an IPA, which its not.

The cup goes to...
Kittoctin Kölsch - really enjoyed this beer. Crisp, quite clean. Little biscuity malt sweetness, but a nice balancing clean bitterness. Little bite from bubbles and bitterness. Would be a wonderful summer beer and one I think many curious "big beer" drinkers could "stick a toe in" with and maybe consider diving deeper.

 

I'd say a very familiar combo ...

...were it not for the GFs IPAs .

 

Fuck, I've done that twice, leaving the link out, recently. They can definitely surprise ya. Thanks cavedave.

Cheers!

 

You two are becoming quite the team .

Side note on my previous post:
The design of the tasting room was not properly thought out for acoustics. It can get very loud for such a modest space .

 

PUFF

4.52/5 rDev +6.6%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5

Poured from 4-pack of cans dated "Best by" Aug 20th 2016, so I am assuming this has been in the can 9 days.
Opaque golden orange, kind of glows. Minimal 1/8" head that dissipates in 60 seconds to a ring hugging the glass wall.
Smell is sweet and fruity with an alcohol tease. Slight bread note at the end.
Taste is mild citrus but complex, alcohol makes itself known.
If this beer was a slightly lower ABV without the strong alcohol finish it would be phenomenal.