New Beer Sunday (week 592)

Smaka I am so sorry

 

Greetings, NBS people. Enjoying a relaxing Sunday out in my patio with nothing to do. Life is good! Happy to be back after taking off Father's Day (not from drinking, just from posting ). Anyway, like Maria, I tried a new pils today. Banded Horn Pepperell Pilsener. Unlike Maria, my palate is not good enough nor do I have the patience for such a well thought out review, but here it is. Cheers!

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/34102/113191/?ba=DrStiffington#review

 

Greetings fellow NBSers! A sunny day here in the Fourth Corner as our Juneuary nears its end. I'll be heading over to a friends house this afternoon for a cookout, and some fetch playing time with Cousin Oscar. We had a Century bike ride end at my work yesterday, which meant an 11 hour work day for me, all on my feet and moving. I'm not as young as I used to be, and my knees and legs are feeling it today. Perfect recipe for sitting in a lawn chair, beer in one hand, Chuck-it in the other. We'll see if we can wear Big O out.

My first entry comes courtesy @smanson56 , and a box full of New Hampshire beers I won in a LIF he included as part NBS BIF #3 (yes, that thread is still active. Ninja boxes are in motion, and we have this LIF going on, so, come play): http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/41923/227787/ . I'll be sending out the next box to whoever wins my segment of the LIF.

Cheers, and I'll be back in a bit!

 

Good afternoon NBS'ers! I hope everyone is having an exceptionally great weekend. I've been uncomfortably lazy thus far, at least compared to the last couple months worth of weekends. Remodelling a kitchen can take it out of ya. Thankfully I'm just about done. The hard stuff is done. And so, I'm taking this weekend to catch my breath and enjoy it. Here in a bit, we're headed over to some friends' house to let the girls swim while we grill some burgers and dogs. While the wife is getting ready, I thought I'd review a new one. Here we gooooo....

Da Beer
Four String Brewing Company
Columbus, OH
Big Start White IPA
Belgian Style India Pale Ale, 7.0% ABV



Da Re...view
Can poured into a snifter. Light golden in color with a thin, bubbly white head of foam. Belgian yeasty aroma with notes of citrus, mango, orange peel, and lemon zest. This honestly smells like a sour. The taste follows along pretty closely, with the initial flavor being a slightly tart, slightly hoppy blend of lemon, yeast, and hops. As it warms on the palate, the hop presene increases, as does the bitterness. There's a consistent Belgian character in there, that never fades or waivers. The finish is crisp and dry, and leaves being a strong acidic fruit taste to linger. In terms of feel, this beer is suprisingly light in weight for the ABV. I would've guessed this was around 5.5%.

Overall, not too bad, but not all that great. This honestly, given the Belgian characteristics coupled with the tart fruit, reminded me of a hoppy Farmhouse Ale more than an IPA. It's a little bit tart, a little bit sour, a little bit malty, and decently hoppy. It's a nice twist on what could've been a really boring beer. Unfortunately, the taste is just a little off in my opinion. They could tweak a couple things and have a real winner here.

Da Scores
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
3.81/5 rDev +3.8%

 

Woah that brings back memories! I bought and wrote that quite sometime ago too! Was this in a classic Swing Top bottle as well? Glad to hear they are still making it, wheatwine is pretty obscure and while I haven't dug up the review to remember what I thought of it, I do remember really enjoying it. Wheatwines are so obscure, Boulevards Harvest Dance is another that comes to mind too.

Thanks for reviewing and checking this one out!

 

I've been patiently waiting for this next beer.

Alexander from Rodenbach. A beautiful deep translucent ruby color. Good amount of carbonation with about a 2 finger white head that dissipated into a small white ring around the glass. Aroma of tart cherries, sour apple, vanilla, malt and oak. Starts off semi sweet then hits with tart cherries and other sour notes. I can taste the vanilla and oak within the malty liquid. Finishes with a lingering tart sourness. Not sour, but a nice sweet and very tart combination. Carbonation gives the beer a fizzy, bubbly quality. Drinkable, and refreshing. A masterpiece of a beer and highly recommended given the $13-$16 price.

 

Crushed one of these yesterday just loved the thing...

 

My first ever post on NBS, so take it easy on me. 4 Hands Contact High Key Lime.


Sorry for the crappy pic. Used my phone.

16 oz can. Semi cloudy golden pour. Smell of lime, wheat and mild hops. Taste is lime, wheat and some mild hops. Very refreshing for a very hot day. I think I like the regular version of Contact High better but overall another solid offering from 4 Hands.

 

An attempt to possibly IMPROVE on Fat Tire? I am in!

Let's see how this goes...

Fat Tire And Friends Fat Hoppy Ale | New Belgium Brewing


New Belgium Brewing - Fat Hoppy Ale by imbibehour, on Flickr

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Poured from the bottle into a Spiegelau IPA glass.

Deep crystal clear and amber light towards orange possibly bronze color for the body. Head creation is a fluffy off white, perhaps a hint of tan brown in there, but quite cream and settles to a half finger puck. Lots of spider vein like lacing on the glass, and holding up real nicely, impressive looker.

Light toasted malts, a hint of biscuit, but a nice mellow hop angle. Slightly juiced fruit a faint hint of tropic, a bit earthy but not getting into dank character. Quite nice compliment to a base fat tire, the malts do however start to take over on the nose.

Palate seems a bit more basic. Hop angle has really made the beer a little bit better in body, with a punch that manages a bit of light honey and tropical flavors. Muted caramel and wet depth with still more biscuit sweetness that still manage to come through. Hop bitterness manages a bit of chalky aftertaste unfortunately as well.

Slightly improved take on Fat Tire, but only by so much.

look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.5 | BA Generated Score: 3.71

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Onward!

 

And another from smansons box of NH goodies, a nicely solid IPA: http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/30697/89178/

 

Good afternoon to all the NBS followers from here atop my hill here in central NH. It has been a hot day right around 86 now but the humidity has stayed down so it has been pretty bearable. Work on getting the camper ready to head out this morning as we'll be doing a lot of camping during July. We'll be spending the first week in Maine then swinging over to Northern Vermont and then one into NY and will finally come back through western MA. Should be gone for a little over 3 weeks so I'll probably be missing from here as I know that some of the places we will be are a little off the grid. But I will be able to spend a few days chasing some beer and have tickets for the VT Brew Fest in Burlington.
Well after Maria's post on the Pilsner I almost decided to not jump on the band wagon as it is not a style of beer I know much about. I know a lot more since reading her review. So my new beer for this Sunday is Pfaffenheck a German Pilsner from Night Shift Brewing in Everett, Ma.

This beer poured a light golden color into my STS Pils glass with a thin wispy white head. The head dissipated very quickly.
According to the can this beer is brewed with Floor-malted German grain. The nose to me doesn't have a bready overtone and goes more towards a biscuit aroma as I don't get any yeast aroma that I find in bread.
The taste is clean and smooth with some subtle hops in the back of the mouth. There is perhaps a little hint of sweetness that lingers in the mouth after the hops have faded away.
This beer drinks very smoothly on this warm day here in NH.
Like I said this is not one of my usual styles of beer but it has enlighten me as it been very enjoyable. I'll have no probably finishing the 4/pak I got at the brewery yesterday and the fact it was canned on 6/24 probably doesn't hurt it's flavor at all.

 

Ok, I'm going to try to get the photo to work. I'm in paradise at the moment - Northwest Angle, MN. The only bad thing is the weather sucks today. We were lucky to get the 3 walleyes we did. We also got of the lake at the right time because the wind is picking up like crazy. It's supposed to get up to 40mph winds from the west. Who cares, I'm at peace.

So on to the new beer. Founders KBS. Damn, this is amazing. It is so rich in flavor. The coffee notes are very strong, so are the chocolate notes. It is also a smooth drinking beer. Damn good.

Ok, pic is being a PITA. Sorry.

 

Poured from can dated 4/11/16.
Bright orange in sunlight, medium head, fades in few minutes.
Aroma is fairly subtle , even in my "aroma" glass. Hint of citrus.
Over carbonation deters what seems like a nice clean ale.
Great name, even with the banjo implied reference.

 

Alright, I'm cutting the line up short one today, but not before this one. Last one for my contributions to this week's New Beer Sunday is Sixpoint's Bengali.



Look: Bengali pours a wonderful fiery orange with a near two-centimeter thick white head. Head retention is good, with the final ring of head retaining well. Lacing is prevalent and fun as well.

Aroma: It borders more on the side of malt presence, rather than hops. Malt notes include bread and earth, which balance and interact well with notes of pine and herbal hops.

Taste: Opens with bold notes of bread and biscuit malts with pine hops and later sage ways into a splash of grassy and earthy hops. After a moderately lengthy flavor profile, it finishes slightly bitter and leaves the taste of pine and grass as a reminder of what was. Well balanced flavor profile leans more on the hop side, as opposed to the aroma.

Mouth feel: Smooth and velvety, it has a medium-thickness consistency. Nice and fun to drink, while still being a little filling.

Overall: A very fine IPA that is as fun to drink and savor as it is to crush on a sweltering day. Hop presence is prevalent, but not overpowering, or overwhelming. Great balance.

Score: 4.25 | 4 | 4.25 | 4 | 4 | BA Score: 4.12 | BA Avg Score: 4.02 | rDev: 2.5%

 

On to the next!

Fat Tire And Friends Fat Pale Ale -
New Belgium Brewing


New Belgium Brewing / Rhinegeist Brewery - Fat Pale Ale by imbibehour, on Flickr

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Poured from the bottle into a nonic pint glass. What? So sue me!

Deep copper amber, slightly bronze, and quite clear. Manages a nice fluffy and easy three finger off white head, that clumps on its own puck and weight.

So this is Belgian? Can't get that angle off the nose, more classic biscuit and sweetness, but there's quite a bit of nutty aroma mixing in with the bread dark crust character here. Smells like a decent toasty amber.

Palate gives more of a hint. Banana slight ester in the phenol is noticeable just barely in the mid palate then the continuing flavors follow. Biscuit and dry toasted brown crust with a slightly wet body. Bit of a nice controlled sweetness and mixing toast that works nicely with the base beer on the finish, even giving a sense of toasted banana bread. Some slight pine bitterness hits as well.

So it's Fat Tire with a different yeast profile? Which only seems to add not much of a difference to the base beer. Moving along...

look: 4.25 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.5 | BA Generated Score: 3.57

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Welcome to NBS! =)

 

Back home again and diving into the abundance of recently purchased new beer. I picked up this 750ml bottle of Hubbard's Cave V3 IIPA at Binny's in Lincoln Park when I was in Chicago yesterday. It was brewed at Une Annee Brewery in Chicago and the bottle date is 062016 with abv. listed at 9.0 percent. There's no time like the present when it comes to most hop forward beers, so let's get going on this one!

Pours a very dark cloudy gold with a generous finger of frothy white foam. It gently settles to rim the glass leaving behind some lacing. The smell is grapefruit, mango, floral notes and bready yeast. The flavor is very floral to begin followed by grapefruit, mild pineapple and some bready malt in the finish. Feel is oily but light with a slightly bitter dry finish.



I've heard some buzz around the shore about this beer, so it was a no brainer purchase when I came across a fresh batch yesterday. It has a palate pleasing mix of floral and juicy citrus complemented by the right amount of malt, making it one tasty and smooth drinking DIPA. A very nice beer at the friendly large format price of $9.99. I will be looking for it in my future beer travels as it's also sold in SW Michigan. My score was 4.22 / rDev -1.4%.

Walking to my bro's soon for our usual Sunday session. I'm hoping there's at least one more review later to get me through my stockpile of new goodies. A good problem to have! Cheers gang, here's the scorecard.......

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/42755/237004/?ba=Prager62#review

 

Next up is Goliath from Bridge Brew Works. This is another West Virginia beer, which speaking of, thoughts and prayers to everyone effected by these floods raging through West Virginia.

So this is a double IPA from Bridge Brew Works



Hazy pale yellow with a fairly foamy head. Some lacing, not too shabby.

Nose is earthy bitter, a little malty and kind of sweet. That's also the main key to the taste, except there's also a fun little pear element as well.

Body is actually pretty thick, almost syrupy.

Not too bad. Wish it was a little more refined, as it's a touch scattery, but all in all it is not bad at all.

 

Good afternoon, all! Happy New Braggot Sunday, and thanks to @cavedave for setting new standards of alliterative excellence week in and week out. Today's kickoff post brought to mind the lyrics of one of my all-time favorite songs, which I will share with you later. Right now, the beer: Rogue Farms Marionberry Braggot. When I was style-ticking a while back, I hunted high and low for one of this style. When I finally found one, I found two: Sprecher's Beyond Braggot and this, which I've seen several times since. (Isn't that the way it always goes?) There is a ton of information on the bottle, including ABV (11.42%), IBU (17), and a complete list of the 17 ingredients used (2 types of honey, 9 different malt varieties, marionberries and juice, flaked rye, Rogue Farms Rebel hops, free range coastal water, and Pacman yeast). This is quite an attractive pour, with the color of a dark caramel sauce with purplish highlights. An aggressive pour yielded one finger of tan head, which dissipated rather quickly leaving a thin ring and just a little lacing.


There is a big barleywine-ish quality to this. The first thing I notice on the aroma is caramel, followed by honey, a little fruit, and some mild floral notes. There is also lots of alcohol on the nose as soon as it warms from fridge temp. The taste is malty and sweet, with a touch of tart fruit and honey. Big alcohol burn and a little hop bitterness as it warms. The finish is sticky sweet, with just a bit of lingering tartness from the fruit.

This is very alcohol forward from start to finish. Although it is brewed with fruit and juice, these tend to remain in the background. I thought the rye might contribute a little spiciness, which I did not detect at all. I paired this with aged cheese and pita chips, and it was quite good. This would not be a stand-alone sipper for me, though.

3.57/5 rDev -4.3%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75

Now on to this. Enjoy!
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