New Beer Sunday (week 592)

Well, it's been a while since my last post here. Guess I haven't been in too much of a mood for written words lately. . Aaaaaaand here it goes:

Ommegang Art of darkness poured into a glass of its brewery's likeness. At first glance the pour reveals nothing but, well, darkness. The tan foam was a cap full of bubbles that looked like a dirty, white sponge. While holding my glass up to the light I noticed that the pit was a brown cola color, but only at its far edges. The cold temperature might have mellowed the smell so not much to report on there. The taste, however, was really complex. A rye bread spice a company's the Belgian yeast character with the addition of some feint dark fruit. Roasted malts dominate through and through with all the sweetness that comes along with it. A thin and light mouthfeel confuses me, as this brew seems dense because it is very filling. Enjoying my last pour while watching "Orange is the New Black".



Only one more week till next Sunday.
Cheers all!

 

I've been debating whether to splurge on this. I think you just sealed my fate. (insert "winged stack of bills" emoji)

 

Good afternoon BAs! We are hosting a party tonight so I've had a long to-do list, but I managed to sneak in a new beer review for NBS (gotta have your priorities straight). On Friday, there was a cool New Belgium 25th anniversary tasting at the LBS and it was nice to sample the new Collabeeration brews before pulling the trigger on the 12-pack. And there was free glassware!

The tasters were enough to convince me to snag a 12-pack, and I went with the Fat Hoppy Ale for starters. A nice collaboration with Firestone Walker, who hopped up the base Fat Tire beer with Citra, Mosaic, and Mandarania Bavaria:



Poured into a goblet. A beautiful clear copper/orange color with a frothy bright white head. The foam lasted quite a while as I admired the look, finally settling into a resilient cap. Aromas were a bit muted, starting with prominent orange, berries, grapefruit, and then the biscuity smell that I know from regular FT. This was an interesting beer for sure, with three phases on the palate: first a short blast of dry biscuit malt, then the hops, with bitter orange, grapefruit, blueberry, and some pine, finally followed by a return of the biscuit and bread. There was a ringing lingering candied hoppy bitterness on the finish, which was dry. I enjoyed this one. Not an IPA or an amber ale, but maybe the best of both worlds. I always enjoy @smakawhat reviews - we had similar impressions today (I think), but I enjoyed it more. Cheers!
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25

 

I guess I've been splurging too much lately- when I saw it was $11 I thought it was very doable. I just may even get some more .

Here's hoping you get as much pleasure from it- cheers!

 

Been going to the big beers today, as evidenced by this heater from Carton Brewing - 07747.



Looks plenty fine with it's sassy foamy head and clear pale orangey yellowness. Lacing comes across as disinterested despite participation.

Nose is juicy tangerine with a little zesty lemongrass hints around the edges.

Taste mimics the nose, but brings out a touch more grassiness, which allows the tongue piercing bitterness a few distractions.

Medium bodied and darn dry on finish, despite being well balanced with a hint of caramel malts, there's not a bit of aftertaste here - sweet or otherwise. This big beer isan adventure and quickly becomes a phantom.

 

As I sat down to prepare this post, I went onto my dropbox account to upload the picture I took and was rather surprised to see that my last beer upload was April 17. "No, not possible. There's no way it's been that long since I posted on BA" I said to myself. I quickly opened a new tab to confirm this fact and, sure enough, my last post was on April 17. I thought I had been exaggerating recently when I told people I hadn't had a Sunday afternoon to relax in over two months, but it seems I was not!

There has been plenty of new and interesting beer consumed recently -- Other Half, Grimm and Threes have been on a tear recently -- but little of it reviewed or consumed at home. Given the rather intense nature of can acquisition for the first two (though OH is getting better), I've been content to visit various bars in the city with friends and family and enjoy the offerings that way. Today, though.....today is different. I purposely avoided drinking it on tap as I had it sitting in the fridge since I got it, waiting for the Sunday where I would have a chance to share my first experience of KBS with this bibulous bunch of beer buffs:


4.84/5 rDev +6.1%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 5 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.75

L -- Jet black with a nice mocha colored head, which was not very large as I didn't pour too aggressively.

S -- Bourbon hits quickly and hard, but quickly falls in line with chocolate, milk coffee, and other sweet roasted malts. Later on I get certain notes of plum, very very ripe plum, but only with my mouth open.

T -- Follows the smell very closely, with the addition of a strong bitter chocolate flavor. I think I started drinking a little early as I took it outside in the afternoon sun and as it warmed the bourbon become more pronounced, in a good way, as it slipped into the sweetness and the two created a very nice balance. There's a definite note of hop bitterness to account for all the malts, but they sit nicely in the flavor profile. The more and more I drank this, the higher I rated it -- the balance becomes more pronounced with time.

F -- Not the thickest beer ever, and I think I was expecting a bit more based on the pour, but very nicely viscous. Same as in the taste, warmth brought on a better experience as the beer got to that viscosity that I expected when watching it pour.

O -- A great bourbon barrel aged stout. It is one of the best I've had, ranking just a bit below CBS and BCBS, as it seems to be missing just that bit of thickness and, in my mind, a little sweetness to counter the bourbon bite and the bitterness of the hops. That's very nitpicky as it's a great beer and one I would never turn down if offered.

Cheers everyone -- here's to hoping it's not another 2 months before I join the festivities again!

 

Haha I immediately thought of Bigfoot when I first looked at the picture.

 

Afternoon NBS friends. Wow the posts and pics are just so cool today. I'm reminded its going to be another (my 3rd) great summer with you all. We have been graced hear in the NE with just the finest weather possible as of late. Nice temps and no humidity- really rare for these parts so far. We are in desperate need of rain though so you cant have everything.
This beer caught my eye last week due to the fact that one: Clown Shoes - Hoppy Pale Lager! And two: The label is just hilarious. I know they do a lot of tongue in cheek labels but this one is fantastic. We can only dream this particular candidate runs......
Clown Shoes Third Party Candidate Hoppy Pale Lager

Pours a deep clear gold with a nice 3/4' white head that leaves some nice islands of lace on the glass sides.

Right off the bat I do get a bready malt aroma with some orange/citrus notes and grassy hops with a touch of pine. There is a corny note also- although I'm sure adjuncts are not added.

Taste is grassy/hay notes some very light malts and citrus/ citrus rind. Nice spicy/peppery notes. Simple and earthy but hops are very present. Still a hint of corn?

Finish is extremely dry and thirst quenching and nicely bitter from hops. Washed away by tiny bubble but medium carbonation. Body is light to medium.

Nice summer brew. Weird. maybe its me but this tastes like a cross between a hoppy beer and an AAL. And it works. Its tasty and easy drinking. Not sure how many I would buy for the higher price. The label is just awesome. Evidently the candidates (Filthy) icon is an angry badger draped over a pissed off elephant and a sick donkey. Works for me.
Experimenting with a perfect Shawarma recipe- this was last nights batch. Which without a spit is hard to duplicate. Came out decent though.
For NewOldVinylSunday I'm spinning.........sorry couldn't resist. Have a great week and thanks for listening.

 

Thank you. We'll be fine but we have to watch carefully our nearly 14 year old, blind and deaf Boston Terrier when she's let out to do her "business." It's interesting that I grew up not far from here in the '60's and '70's and we never had these issues back then. Between bears, coyotes, and some kind of large cat that lives in the woods behind our house, I fell like I'm living in "Wild Kingdom."

 

Ahhh! Got it - thanx!

 

A few of these showed up a while back at the bottle shop I frequent. Any idea how well they age? I picked up two and drank one of them right away. I still have the other one. The first one was excellent. Pretty good value as well, at $5.99 for a 750ml corked/caged bottle.

 

Howdy, NBS crew. So far today I have been enjoying all your great posts, the thread has been pretty riveting today; from @cavedave's consistently impressive alliteration on through all the educational posts as well as the virtual pilsner tasting that is going on here. I've been getting thirstier and thirstier.

Today is an unusually relaxed day here in MTL. This week falls between Québec's major summer holiday and Canada's, so everything is really quiet. I've been watching soccer, broiling in the heat, gardening, reading and drinking delicious beer. I can't complain. And now I get to try a new saison here.

This is a beer from Brasserie Dunham that was part of their most recent bottle release. I love most of their beers and I especially dig their saisons and hoppy stuff. This being a hoppy saison, I am pretty excited.



The sun made that picture come out all weird, but I'll just call it artistic lighting.


Some info from their website:

IBU: 55
Alc.: 5,8%
Houblons: Mandarina Bavaria, Amarillo, Sorachi Ace, Malling, Hallertau Blanc, Ella
Malts: Pils, avoine, blé, malt acidulé, aromatic malt.
Levure: Fruit Bomb Saison de chez Escarpment laboratory.


They usually have some pretty nice labels. This one seems appropriate with all the pet talk (so, so sorry to hear about your cat @smakawhat ).






It pours nice with a decent cap of white foam. Cloudy white-gold. You can immediately smell the thick mixture of fruity hops, fruity yeast, sweet malt and a light funkiness. The aroma is like a single entity. The flavor is a little more disparate (but still good) with similar presences of orange, green grapes, sugar cookies and musty-bitter funk. It drinks really well and is thoroughly enjoyable. It could be a bit crisper for my ideal version of a saison, but it was tasty and very drinkable.

Here is my review for the curious.

Keep on drinking, thinking, reading and writing everybody. Cheers!

 

Good evening NBS. Back home and drinking a beer I got on my trip to middle America. Got to try quite a few new brews, including two from Canada, a few Surly beers, and a bunch of local brews (mainly in samples). I enjoyed a few beers from Benson Brewery, rushed through Scriptown (and would like to try them out again), and finished last night at Brickway. We'll most likely visit them all again at some point.

But today's beer, which survived the plane trip back, is from Jolly Pumpkin - Oro de Calabaza:


I thought this was going to be my first from JP, but apparently I had another one in the past. To summarize the label: aged in oak barrels, Franco-Belgian tradition of special golden ales, spicy and peppery with an influence from wild yeast. Let's see:

A lovely pale yellow color, but opaque in color. Fluffy, cloud-like white head. Loads of lacing.
Nose is a bit of funky citrus - actually a little bit like rotting fruit and veges. Luckily that's not the whole of the nose, as there is nice "hop bouquet" as the bottle states - floral and citrus-like in general. The spicy also comes out with a bit of oak with a deep whiff.

Somewhat surprisingly, the oak cask influence is a large part of this beer. It's not that it's the most forefront of tastes, but it comes in at the beginning and is still there at the end. A lightly tart fruit is the first thing that grabs me after a brief clean, almost watery, opening (with a light woodenness). I want to say it is something like passionfruit, but I also get some strawberry.

Maybe now I am seeing this beer as being good on layering, as the wooden opening gets a layer of tart fruitiness, upon which a bite of spiciness is added. The fruit fades to the background as the spice grows, helped by a light but prickly carbonation. The spice does in fact turn peppery as the beer's taste starts to leave my palate. The oak cask notes come back into play more and more until the pepper bite fades, leaving me with a wet, wooden bitterness to linger.

I never got too much funk on the nose that came across as "rotting vegetation" in the nose, which is good. The wild yeast no doubt have an influence - I just can't describe it very well - maybe adding a "tangy-ness" to the party, but not sour or funky. Light on the tongue, this was a joy of a beer to consume. The flavor layering worked for me, and the different note that were played to my taste buds formed a harmonious chord. Kudos, Jolly Pumpkin.

 

Hoping this is my last for the dsy, as I've got cooking to catch up to.

Eugene Porter from Revolution Brewing



Expected this bug, foamy tan head and dark, translucent body. Lacing not really there.

Nose of dark fruit, vanilla and nuts with just a note of roasty malts.

Taste carries a bit of olive on top of that which the nose already spoke of (fruit, dark; smidgen vanilla, etc.) but there's some small hint of coffee as well.

Little on the thin side but otherwise pretty clean on finish.

 

The beer:
Session IPA
New England Brewing Company Fat-ten-er 31

Look: Light copper, just a touch hazy, white head with some lacing 4.75
Smel: Mostly tropical hops 4
Taste: A little bready, a lot of pine and a little citrus and tropical fruit, ends with a nice bitterness 4
Feel: resiny and thin (appropriate to style), clean and crisp 3.75
Overall: A nice drinkable hoppy bear, clean, and drinkable. NEBCO does a great job utilizing bitterness in their IPAs, which for some reason seems to be a lost art with some breweries. 4

The book is fantastic as well. One of the most useful brewing books I have ever read. I am excited to try utilizing some of the information in the book to construct a table beer (low ABV saison with mixed fermentation). One of my major goals in brewing right now is to create a recipe or two of beers with under 4% ABV that I really enjoy. I would like to keep a low ABV beer going at all times. This is easier said then done. There are not many beers under 4% that I enjoy.

Also on my trip to NEBCO, I was able to buy their saison which was aged with Brett. It tasted great so I saved the Dregs and I currently have a little Bret starter going for the table beer from their beer. The other beers from NEBCO that I purchased, which I have had before were Supernaught and Locust Reign. I enjoyed both, especially the Supernaught. That is an excellent IPA.

Happy NBS everyone.

 

The two I had, I drank quickly (within 45 days-ish), so no idea on the aging. Sorry about that. I did age a Saison Brett from Boulevard for 6 months and it was excellent, but I don't know if that translates to Harvest Dance.

 

Thanks to a customer who gifted a few beers to me today including this one!



look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4

Looks like a nice head that sticks in the glass, not on it, as there is no lacing.
Smells of citrus with a little pine , orange and ruby red grapefruit, very nice.
Taste is a bit subdued with a slightly bitter finish and a medium mouthfeel.
Overall, I would love to try this on tap.
Hopefully, someday soon, New Belgium will come to Vermont!

 

@ONovoMexicano , I got the Death to Cereal in NY. One of my local stores had it. First time I've seen it here.

Back with yet another new brew here NBS players. It is Chocolate Spelt Porter, from Kent Falls brewing in ct. It comes in at 5.6% and no bottle date.

The pour is black with a good amount of carbonation and a frothy tan head. The nose is malty and sweet. The drinking begins crisp and malty with sharp tones of chocolate malt and a slightly bitter, dry, and hoppy finish. Really nice flavors of chocolate, oats, mocha, nuts, caramel, and smoke. The mouth feel is light bodied but full flavor.

Overall, I continue to be really impressed by this brewery. The flavor tones at just 5.6% are remarkable. Do these guys make any heavy stuff? I'm in the low 4's

 

Good evening NBS, glad to be having the time to share this week! Have a lot of post today, home now but was able to hit up Tired Hands for dinner.
First news beer Tired Hands Negative Knuckle wheat IPA
4.1/5 rDev +1%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4

16 oz pint, on draft
A- Usual tired hands hazy yellow

S- Slightly grassy/floral, citrus, pine, hints of tropical fruits.

T- Piney/floral finish, nice citrus up front, faint tropical notes, some wheat.

M- Smooth medium body.

O- Another nice IPA from Tired Hands, just not a stand out in their line up

Second Tired Hands Eyes Closed and Open, a great tart saison aged in oak, hoping to right a full review later.

Third beer Tired Hands Throbbing Grisette, a solid tart saison character with a nice mineral flavor from their concrete egg, I'd give it a 4

Now enjoying a growler of Bellefonte Trippy Tripel

4.19/5 rDev n/a
look: 3.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

32 oz growler poured into a tulip

A- A clear reddish copper with a small off white head. They are calling it a red tripel, so I guess the call is good.

S- Sweet banana bread, cloves, some earthy spice, touch of candied sugar. Pretty much what you would want in a tripel

T- Follows the nose with a slight hints of alcohol, great banana/clove character from the yeast, sweet bread, nice earth spice, well balanced.

M- Fairly smooth, medium body.

O- A very nice tripel.

 

Update on my earlier presentation: I really don't check out reviews on the beer I'm currently showing on NBS. So after posting I did take a peek. Seems the name was used before on an amber that has since been retired(last election?).
However this new version has been posted by one individual as an imperial pilsner @ 11%. No. This an IPL (personally I think there is a difference) with a abv of 7%. Says so on the awesome label. Update complete. Good day.