New Beer Sunday (week 596)

Good morning @cavedave and NBS faithful! Thanks so much for getting us started and I wish you a fast and easy day today. Honestly I think that if the heat continues people will have to make certain quaint adjustments. Like the afternoon siesta, the especially long lunch, and the idea that you would not ask anyone to do something when it is that hot. Whatever it is, unless it's food or medicine, it can wait. Go slowly and if you feel sick or dizzy don't be brave.

Let's get down to business. Happy New American Coffee Lager Sunday!

I heart the lager and although this is technically the summer of the pilsner I decided to throw this one in for good measure. Saranac's Cold Brew Coffee Lager. Coffee and the lager seem to have married and they are gonna stay that way. Saranac has done things just a bit differently. Instead of adding whole coffee beans they have added already brewed coffee. According to them it was pretty mild stuff. Well not only did it make a sensation on the nose it also did not give any extra acidity because it was brewed using a method called cold brew. From Science and Food - "On the surface, the distinctions between the two methods seem self-explanatory. Hot brew quickly produces fragrant java with bite and acidity, whereas cold brew rewards patience with condensed coffee that is smooth and sweet. To begin to understand the flavor profile differences, it helps to first get acquainted with the coffee grounds." It could not taste burnt because it's already brewed and would be leess likely to give such a strong flavor that it would change a style if the beer was true to it's base style. What is the base style in this one you ask? Well, I say it's a vienna lager. Now last year saranac made a lovely couple of vienna lagers. The ingredients in this one are pilsner, vienna and munich malts. Magnum and Hallertau Mittlefruh hops. Their website does not tell me the yeast but on your first sniff you will notice it smells like beer and that is the yeast. Is it proprietary? It has a scent or has added to something and while it is not neutral it also is not fruity.







The pour is coppery orange with a slight hue from the coffee they used, a chestnut brown . It seems suspended in the beer though. At the top mostly and although it has a hue it still meets the color for the style . 16 or 17 on the SRM chart even though with the chill on the glass, and the brown hue which hits the eye first, it can appear about 10 points higher up to 26 . Tan creamy head that lasts well and clings to the glass.

Nose is malty with a little richness to it and a slight touch of toast. The beer looks like a medium roasted coffee bean. Just red, so much vibrant color. Hops give a light peppery spice. Coffee is mellow but prominent. It does not push itself too far forward in the nose and does not hide under the malt either. There's a crisp smelling sweetness which is a defining character for the vienna lager. Earthy coffee and herbal starts to show a softness in the background.

Firm breaddy richness glides across the palate with a touch of soft light sweetness. Mellow coffee fills up the middle with a soft spoken hop that is pretty strong for the light flavors it gives. The carbonation is perfection. A light tingle. Just the smallest bite to showcase secondary flavors without letting them come to the forefront. The coffee is a secondary flavor. You might thinks this is drinking just a bit thinner than your usual lager but it's the dryness. The coffee has imparted dryness, the malts are dry and although they kiss you a bit in the finish with a little sweetness they also finish with hops to bitter your tongue. The flavor has become silken. Smooth round malt. The malty richness combines with the coffee so gently and so well.


The vienna lager presents a characteristic moment of sweetness in the finish that is the counterpoint to all that malty richness. The hops are are bold for thier use but not bold tasting. Their earth is sumptuous against the thinner less roasted coffee flavor. As you drink it gets richer not sweeter and the coffee does not exceed the modest hop. It does not give any roasted flavors. No caramel. No diacetyl, no dms. Impeccable brewing with all points in all categories for the veinna lager at the forefront using the addition of coffee.

I have already bought it twice.

This is an outstanding lager that has added coffee! Cheers NBS! Sexy Coffee Pot

 

This summer has been my quest to brew the ultimate session brew. I have brewed three beers all under 3.2% ABV. I think all three have been solid, but none can be considered the ultimate session brew. My favorite to drink in the sour Nelson dry hopped beer, but the one I am reviewing today may be the best one. Not sure yet. Need to drink more.



Today's beer is a "blonde ale" although it does not meet the gravity requirements to be a blonde. I did a 5 gallon batch


4.75 lbGerman - Pilsner, 1 lbAmerican - Munich - Light 10L, 0.5 lbAmerican - Wheat, 0.5 lbFlaked Oats, 0.25 lbGerman - Acidulated Malt

The hops were almost exclusively Hull Melon. .5 oz at 15, 10, 5, and 0 minutes. 1 oz dry hop. The one exception was for the bittering hop I used a bit of Apollo. I mashed high and fermented with S05 in the mid 60s for two weeks, crash cooled and kegged.

Look: Yellow with a touch or orange, long lasting head with lacing. It's a little cloudy, I think/hope that is due to it being the first glass. 4 (will be higher if it clears)
Smell: Bready, spice, light fruitless (maybe strawberry) 4
Taste: Starts sweet with a little strawberry and bread, finishes with a little spice and a little bitter (slightly more then most Blonds). 4
Feel: Thin, but thick considering the ABV. Very drinkable, the bitterness keeps me wanting to drink more 4.5
Overall: A good session beer that I prefer to most light session beers, but unfortunately there are not many comparisons to compare this one too, which is one of the reasons why I am trying to brew beers with such a low ABV. There are almost no 3% ABV beers. 4

The quest continues...
Have a great day everybody.

 

Summer of Pilsners – A Pilsner from Europe

Well, I am about one month into my exploration of new Pilsners for the summer of 2016 and so far I have been discussing US brewed Pilsners. I figured I would shake things up a bit and discuss a Pilsner brewed in Europe (Germany) – Wolters Pilsner.

Why Wolters Pilsner you might ask? Frankly I picked this beer for two reasons. The first reason is a bit obvious: it is a new beer for me. The second reason was economics: I bought a 4-pack of big cans (16.9 ounces) for $7.39 which is cheap in my book.

Below is some information as provided by the Importer (Iron Horse Beverage):

“The Brewery

Hofbrauhaus Wolters is a 380 year old brewery based out of Brunswick Germany, in Lowery Saxony. Following the German Purity Laws of 1516, Wolters produces six different brews including their Schwarzer Herzog and Prinzen Sud. Their beers are all natural and made with only the finest hops, barley malt, and yeast.

Wolters Pilsener

Wolters' distinctive Pilsener, with well balanced bitterness, is brewed with only four ingredients: water, barley malt, yeast, and select hops. Gold in color, fresh and very digestible.

Additional materials are below.

The Facts

ABV: 4.9%

Style: German Pilsener

Well, who doesn’t like a “digestible” beer?

I am ready to digest now!!

Served in my Polish Pilsner glass:

Appearance:

Golden colored with a big white head which dissipates quickly.

Aroma:

A mild aroma: there is a bit of bready malt here (with maybe just a hint of herbal hops?).

Taste:

The taste is nice. I am picking up the sweet-ish Pilsner Malt flavor a bit more and the herbal hop flavor is more noticeable as compared to the nose.

The taste is good with a mild sweet pilsner malt flavor and slight herbal hop taste. There is a gentle mineral yeast taste in the flavor and bitterness is balanced with the malt for the most part - it has slight grassiness in the finish.

Mouthfeel:

Moderate carbonation with a thin-moderate body accompanied with a dry finish. There is a slight bitterness to this beer.

The feel is what you would expect from a pils, light bodied with moderately full carbonation and slight bitterness with a light sweetness

Overall:

There is nothing offensive in this beer. Considering the low price of this beer it is a worthy purchase. If I ever see this beer priced at less than 8 bucks for a 4-pack of big cans I might consider buying it again. And yes, this beer is indeed “digestible”.

Cheers!

@zid @rotsaruch @Lurchus @KOP_Beer_OUtlet @Ranbot

 

Bell's Poolside Ale from my makeshift beer photo studio (i.e. my shed - the lighting is good). ABV 5%. My only regret is that I'm not actually poolside, but then again it's only 7:30 in the morning and not hot or sunny out .... yet. We have a cold front moving in tomorrow -- gonna be in the mid to low 90's all week.

I generally have a love/hate affair with Belgian-style beers, but if it's a wheat style beer infused with fruit, I tend like it.

Look: The strangest color to describe. If I simplify it, I'd say a lighter shade of burnt orange. Very opaque. White head, nice film on top. Light lines and spots of lacing.

Aroma: Clove, white pepper, and delicious tart red cherries.

Taste: Exactly like the aroma except I'm tasting a bit of coriander up front, cloves and subtle peppery spiciness. Excellent cherry body with sweetness and well-balanced tart.

Mouthfeel: Medium bodied and smooth.

Overall: 4.25 rating for a walloping +17.4 rDev. I really enjoy this beer. I know a lot of BAs are hit or miss on fruit-inspired beers. I can be too, but if it's done right I tend to really like them, and the wheat style or Belgian wheat style is one of the perfect hosts for fruit.

 

Good day to all my NBS friends. It's another steamy start to the day along the southern shore after a night of storms that dropped over an inch of much needed rain. We're slowly putting a dent in the summer drought and hopefully in enough time to help the crops.

A humid morning with a dew point in the low 70's calls for something light to start. I've been spying this can of Day Hike session ale that @beertunes recently sent during this heatwave. The time has come to crack this undated 12oz. can with an abv. of 4.1% and 41 IBU's in the 13oz. tulip for our Sunday hike in the woods. The birds are happily chirping, the bullfrogs are coming alive, and the air has that steamy earthy smell.

Pours a cloudy and very lively pale straw color leaving a generous two fingers of creamy white foam. The smell is cloves, pepper, some banana and yeast funk. Taste is bready malt, lemon zest, cloves, a hint of floral hops and some pepper spice. Feel is light and lively on the tongue with a very dry and slightly bitter finish.



A light and flavorful beer that satisfies without the high alcohol content. It definitely lives up to it's name as I could throw a six in my backpack and enjoy these by the stream or on a mountaintop. My score was 3.79 / rDev +2.2%. Thanks Terry for another fine beer!

Going to give my tired and wet pup a needed bath after she had her fun out in the woods. Off to a local brewery later today for a new release and hopefully more reviews.



Have a great Sunday, here's the official scorecard.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/17005/128927/?ba=Prager62#review

 

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Very nice! Cheers! =)

 

So today I have a imperial barrel aged stout brewer with cocoa and vanilla and weighing in at 11.9% ABV and was bottled on 6/23/16. Poured aggressive at near room temperature and got a 2 finger light brown head that settled at near record pace into what almost looks like flat rootbeer, with no lace to speak of. 3
Smell is cocoa nibs, vanilla bean, oak, leather, tobacco, hints of coffee, and very mild bourbon and a hint of booze. 3.75

Taste follows cocoa, vanilla, and coffee upfront with some leather, smoke, and bourbon in the fairly tame finish. 3.75

Mouthfeel is what is really disappointing. Less than medium almost thin, very little carbonation, definitely on the dry side, and I can't complain about its drinkability, but I wanted a big chewy stout and not here. 3.25

Overall I obviously expected more from the same brewery as Sunday Morning and many other excellent brews. Thanks @jzeilinger for sharing this even though you weren't impressed yourself. The nose and flavor was fine, but the look was surprisingly bland and this thing needs to hit the gym, and I almost wouldn't think it was barrel aged. I keep swirling it trying to get a rise out of it and no matter how hard nothing. 3.5

 

This beer is delicious!

 

6% alcohol. Brewed in Ohio.

4.56/5 rDev +7%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald Porter has a thick, beige head, a dark, ruby-brown (as the light hits it) appearance, with some lacing left behind (but, not heavy lacing). The smell is of rich, sweet coffee, cream, chocolate, brown bread crust, and strong malt. Taste is of all that, with balancing bitterness. Mouthfeel is high medium, and Edmund Fitzgerald Porter finishes on the powdery side.

RJT

 

New Coach Class Sunday

Just about to head back to Ohio. For those of you who haven't been bombarded by my vacation pics in WBAYDN, here are a few of my favorite non beer ones from the gulf coast this past week.







On to the beer. Sadly, the pub exclusive was gone. I did find another new to me beer however.


3.87/5 rDev +0.3%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4

On tap at the pub in Tampa Airport.

A light golden straw color. Big sticky white foam head that leaves tons of lacing.

Aroma is prett muted. Some pale, cracker like grains, a little musty/earthy, and very light citrus.

The flavors are a different story. It has a nice spicy bite right of the bat along with some grapefruit rind, lemon, and distinct cedar wood. A nice consistent bitterness. I saw Bravo hops on the menu to thank for that. That woody (haha) flavor really lingers along side the grainy pale malts. Excellent.

Overall this is a very tasty. I really, really like the cedar aspect. Invasion may still be a better pale ale overall though.

The carbonation seems a bit on the too high side, but otherwise it is soft and light bodied.

I should note here that I went back and bumped the smell a tad because the cedar starts to come through a lot more as it warms.

 

Good morning New BSers! Thank you @cavedave for today's opening salvo and @utopiajane for the excellent analysis of another New York product. I've had several Saranac products over the years and found most to be above average. I would like to see some variety packs containing four each of six beers distributed in my area.

Well, the sun is slooowly burning off the fog here in NW PA and it looks like it might be another beautiful day. You have to understand I LOVE the high temperatures and the humidity doesn't matter to me - high humidity or low, as long as the temperature is over 90 I'm happy. Unfortunately Mrs. Lizard doesn't care for temps over about 70. That keeps us up north most of the time, although she will suck it up for a few weeks a year and stay inside with the air conditioning when we go to Texas (SOON!!!). I hang outside with my brother's dogs, watching the buzzards orbiting while I do whatever work he's assigned me to do while he's working OT at his "retirement" job.

Well, today's NBS breakfast beer is:



$ 14.34/bomber (including tax)($ 0.652/oz) at State Line Liquors, Elkton, MD
Undated bottle (2014 vintage) at 42 degrees into a hand washed and dried JK snifter, allowed to warm to 50 degrees
Aroma – faint aroma of sherry
Head average (Maximum 3.8 cm, aggressive pour), light brown, fizzy/frothy, diminishing to an irregular three to four mm ring and a heaped partial layer
Lacing excellent – continuous ring of tiny bubbles with a laced edge
Body – dark brown/black, opaque
Flavor – slightly sweet, sherry and chocolate truffles; no coffee, no hops, no malt, no alcohol (although the stomach starts smoldering almost immediately
Palate – medium, creamy, soft carbonation

A decent RIS, found sitting on the shelf at room temperature. I would like to try this a little fresher to see if the expresso and roasted malt come through. Despite not really tasting like a RIS, and rising above whatever abuse this has had to endure at the store, this is still quite good.

Aroma 4, Appearance 4.25, Flavor 3.75, Palate 4, Overall 4.5. Rating 4.06. Avg 3.87, rDev +4.9%.

OK, we don't see much Moylan's here in the possum and ****-covered wilds of NW PA. In my travels I have managed to find three other brews by them and 2/3 were good to excellent with the remaining 1/3 being meh. So yes, I'll try any any dark brew from Moylan's (fortunately these hold up across the space-time continuum) and seem to survive retailer abuse as well. The expresso didn't make it - I lived on expresso for a few days (probably hours in your reality) when traveling the Autostrata the length of Italy a couple of years ago and there was no flavor, twitching, or diarrhea following consumption. There was, however, this pellicle or biofilm in the second pour:



It's about 2.5 cm x 1.5 cm. Finding this in the glass would have had my last semester micro students gagging. Carry on.

 

One of my go-to brews. Your rating of 4.56 is entirely justified, IMHO.

 

Haven't anything to add this morning, just wanted to say this has become my favorite thread.

 

You can get a case of big cans at a distributor for under $25 after tax.

 

Great pictures!
Our daughter lives in Tampa, so we're there frequently.

 

Morning NBSers! Just wanted to pop in real quick and give a big Thank You to all of you who sent along your best thoughts last week, whether here on the thread, or in one of the many private messages I received. Thank You. There likely will be new brew in my future, as I'm setting up the booth for my work at a local beerfest today. Some others are pouring, so once I'm setup, I can start hitting the beers. If I get back here to post any reviews, however, is as of yet, an unanswered question.

Cheers, and happy NBS everyone!

 

Yup. I personally would never buy a case of this beer but it is indeed priced economically.

Cheers!

 

Hey what's going on!

HEAT apparently... dam it's hot down here in the DC area...

Crazy. I was out at an outdoor BBQ meet up with my book club and water was more popular than beer. How screwed up was that.. might I add this was at 8 pm at night where it was still 95F...

This makes yard work hard. Little here and there, but I can't go out for more than 5 minutes without being totally drenched in sweat.

Still waiting for the tomatoes to pop, but nothing more to do and sit and wait and drink beer. Lots of goodies from Wicked Weed I've been partaking in this week, and I am almost out.. that sucks.. but until then.. there's more beer.

Speaking of more beers.. there are something like 3 entries for this beer in the database so I just put my review somewhere. Kind of a mess hopefully that will figure itself out...

In the meantime what is our hero having?

----------------------------------

The Parking Lot Grissette | Wicked Weed Brewing / Jester King

Wicked Weed / Jester King - The Parking Lot Grissette by imbibehour, on Flickr

OOOOoooo did you get an official sexy glass?! Why yes I got a sexy glass!

onward...

Poured from the bottle into a Wicked Weed globe glass. Bottled Jan 15th 2016.

Dark amber brown to orange, almost looking into dark biere de garde territory but certainly reminds me of one appearance wise. Opaque. Soapy two finger head with good retention and very soapy cupped collar while settling.

Garden herbs, and funky yeast give a solid aroma with some real nice floral touches. Sweet tropical notes and citrus orange qualities also come out as well with a nice balance between the two contrasting flavors. A little bit malt sweet smelling, even sort of reminds me of cherry a bit. Very nice bouquet going on here.

Palate goes for more simplicity. Light grissette feel but still manages to give a decent malt depth and flavor for the palate. Chewy grapefruit sour rindy zest a bit in the mid palate, mixing in with garden herbs slightly. Finishes with a bit of mild hop bitterness and hinting juicy hop flavors of citrus orange and tropical fruit.

A pretty easy drinking flavorful Grissette, with a nice real solid complimenting hop flavor.

look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4 BA Generated Score: 4.06

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Well I am probably not getting more beer drinking until later this evening cause I am off to the pool for starters..

priorities in this heat!

See you later!

 

(enter snark mode)

How are those paint the house colors looking?? I am more for lighter and brighter for inside tones.