New Beer Sunday (week 597)

Ok, once again, thanks to all for their input on my idea and allowing me a side-track to this thread. I am back on track with this beer:


Ok, I thought I was back on track. I had two bottles of this, and thought I hadn't rated the one I tried. Then I found out there are two entries (and in a rare case, I can see why). Oh well, here's my review (initial review was late June) - take this as a take on this beer with one month more age :

Beautiful pour that is almost black in the glass, 2+ fingers of tan head. The foam actually looks like foamed milk atop a cappuccino that has had one of those "artists" mix in the coffee. There is a sheet of tan head opposite my sipping point. Pretty beer

Smoke is not as prevalent as a month ago, as I read my initial thoughts. It's a big component of the smell, though. I do get a richness to this beer beyond the smoke, and if I can ignore the smoke, it just comes across as a hoppy porter.

Taste starts smoke heavy, in parallel with the piney nature of the hops. The fresher (non-burnt) pine notes grow stronger in the back and with warmth. Warmth smooths the transition a tad. This beer has a bit more smoothness than many less-full porters. It also has a certain roughness to it that I associate with oatmeal stouts, but I feel that's more likely aggressive hopping in this beer.

Definitely bolder in profile that their regular Smoked Porter (no retired, I believe). There is a heavier feel that may take this out of porter range, IMO. Not a surprise that this is a Stone beer. Based on my initial thoughts, I do think this beer smoothed a bit - as much as a Stone maybe can with one month. I figure the smoke may fade with more time, but I'd be interested if I had not made this mistake and aged this even longer.

(P.S. I now promise the next beer will be something I have never had )

 

Whelp, I did it. Knocked it out, and hit send. Now let's see if they find it acceptable. Time for a beer!

 

You're such a tease!!

(edit: inquiring minds and all...)

 

If the stress gets too much for you, feel free to send some of them Bellingham goodies my way, and I'll gladly ghost write some reviews/columns for you.

 

If it gets posted, I'll post it here.

 

Chores are mostly done for this Sunday so it's time to rehyrdrate and get the last one done...vacuuming the house!
So gonna check in with this beer I picked up that was in the discount cart at my local ABC Fine Wine & Spirits.

Sprecher Grapefruit Radler Wheat Ale


Picked this up since it was only $0.75 and I enjoy getting the Schofferhoffer Grapefruit Bier when I go to Epcot.
So let's get to it!!

Pours a cloudy muddled yellow-orange body with a half finger of head.
No doubt this one has grapefruit! Plenty of grapefruit on the nose along with some tart fruit aromas.
Taste is what I would expect: Tart grapefruit up front with a smooth light body finish. Picking up on some cloves on the finish.
Light mouth feel, of course! Super easy to drink and a good thirst quencher on a hot day.
Overall, this was a pretty good beer, not something I would seek out again, but for the price it wasn't bad at all.

Cheers!

 

NBS...

But first the aftermath of a High School reunion...
(Skip to photo for the review)

Last night I attended my wife's High School reunion. I can't say the number of years, but it was a big one. I had never been to a HS reunion...and for five years I will never go to another.

We arrived, and for science, I asked the pretty bartender for a beer of her choice, and as expected, I found myself holding a cold Bud Light. A few minutes later I saw some old fukker with a Bass Ale.

I returned to the bar and said to the cute (relative to the occupants of the room excluding my beautiful wife) bartender, "I just saw some Old Fukker drinking a Bass Ale. What-The-Fuk cute bartender!" (Maybe I didn't say that last part.)
She responded, "Oh yes, we have some down here in a cooler, but everybody's drinking Bud or wine, so I gave you a Bud."
"Well, THAT guy's not drinking Bud! (I point to the Old Fukker.) My God, do I look like a Bud guy?"
"I guess you don't. This isn't your reunion is it? You look too young."
(Ooo, she's good, she's very good.)
"No it's my wife's. (I better shut up.) Give me a Bass for heaven's sake... Wait, what other imports are hiding down there?"
"Uuh, I've got Stella, Heineken and Bass."
Of course. "Let's go with a Bass."

I hadn't had a Bass in years, and this one did not taste like the Pale Ales I'm used to these days, but still, it was like sweet nectar from a Succubus compared to the Bud.

Time passes and we start to leave after the inevitable group class picture, which included the Old Fukker who was now holding a SN Pale Ale!

I stopped by the bar on the way out.

"Hey, I just saw that Old Fukker and now he has a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, again, WTF and what else are you not telling me?"
"Well we have some others like that in the cooler, here I have list..."
"Damn that cooler, don't bother, we're leaving, but thanks for trying."

Anyway, what's all this got to do with my NBS beer? Not much really, other than to reinforce my appreciation for the great beers being brewed by small American business owners. Risk takers thinking outside the box. Creative on many levels. Some hits and some misses.

For example, this new one to me is a hit IMHO.



A nice little DIPA wanna be. Bottled 6/29/16. 100 IBUs. It's not cutesy, refined, or subtle. At the same time, Apocalypse Cow is not a challenge to enjoy. It's massive flavor and complexity destroys any lingering taste memories from the reunion last night. I don't care how's cute the bartender was! Apocalypse Cow brutally tears those memories asunder! Apocalypse Cow is the cure for beer that doesn't taste very good.

As with many BAs, I enjoy powerful, no holds barred, juggernaut old school DIPAs like Dreadnaught, Maharaja, Hoptimum, Unearthly, Hi-Res, Ruin-Ten, Enjoy By, etc... I'm not sure I would add Apocalypse Cow to that list.

Sentence structure be damned! However, there's a malty quality to this beer that complements the absolutely relentlessly intense crushing hop character that's laced in with a citrusy sweet floral taste and fruity aroma and all rounded out by a tiny 8.6% alcohol burn that I welcome with open arms and mouth. A beer with that name and label should at least top 10% ABV. (Research shows there were previous 11% ABV releases. Would love to see that happen again.)

I picked this beauty up last week. It's was one of only two left on the shelf. I should've bought both, but the BA in me said "dammit Jim, leave one, maybe some other Old Fukker might come along and be intrigued by the ridiculously cool label and choose to partake." And that is what I want to believe happened.

Cheers Gang!

Edit: the intense hop character I mentioned was all in my head. Still a very delicious beer but not crushing at all. Quite a sweet beer actually. A month old and no doubt much better fresh.

 

-a New Saison Sunday contribution
Blaugies-Hill Farmstead collaboration, la Vermontoise, on tap locally today.
This is a very dry, subtle and crisp quaff, not as sticky as the foam might suggest.
The malt and hop flavors are balanced, but this is neither sweet or flowery, just clean with saison yeast notes

 

Good Afternoon Fellow NBSers,
as this is the Summer of Pilsners going to go with Munich's version of the classic Pils
New Munich Helles Lager Sunday



3.42/5 rDev -15.1%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.5

16.9 oz bttl into "Perfect Pint" glass
Was bottled 1036 which is about 8 months old, so not exactly fresh
L- pours clear blonde, with fluffy white head, quickly dissipating
S- doughy yeast aroma, real clean not much else
T- similar to nose, real dough on the tongue, clean on the linger, with slight floral spicy finish
F- light bodied, but the doughiness does show up on the feel as well
O- as explained by the bros this is a pils with more malt, that shows up for me in this beer as some serious dough, drinks cleanly not 100% balanced decent Helles

Cheers!

 

I have a rule, BA. Live and let live. Unless you come on my property. Which is why the yellow jackets making a nest on the side of my home had to die today. Hate those things, especially when they're building right above where my kids run up and down the stairs to the back yard. Ugg. Anyway, they're dead now.

As for beer, I was going to review Pliny the Elder here today, but when I picked it up yesterday and it was already cold, I couldn't wait. I'll say I was very impressed. The beer was lighter than I anticipated and very easy to drink. Just a hint of that dry, piney finish, which is often overdone on other IIPAs. I'm assuming this is dry hopped and created the mild citrus I got on the nose, but didn't get as much in the taste. I was about a month off from having both Heady and Pliny at the same time. If that ever happens, I'll do a side-by-side. If anyone wants to send me both at the same time to get my opinion, I'm happy to provide my address.

The new beer for today is one recently brought to me from Florida - Funky Buddha Floridian Hefeweizen. I was told this was liquid banana bread, so let's find out.

This is a great hefeweizen. I'm getting orange more than the banana, but both come through. Very refreshing. It's my first beer from Funk Buddha and now I wish I could get more here. The full review is below.



Poured from a 12 ounce bottle into a wheat beer glass. It poured a two-finger, white head, which dissipated quickly and left no lacing. The color is a beautiful orangish/amber and cloudy. The smell is wheat, malt, orange, and a hint of banana. The taste follows with a typical, bright wheat beer flavor, but the orange really pops for me. The bananas and cloves come through on the backend. The after taste is exactly like banana bread. The mouthfeel is high carbonation and pillowy. Overall this is an excellent wheat beer. I'm a fan of the style, and this is definitely one of the top I've had.

 

Greetings fellow NBSers! A bright, warm, sunny day here in the Fourth Corner. A pretty slow week for this week, work-wise, but I did get some play time in. Last Sunday there was a beerfest across the street from my work, and after I set up our booth, I had the chance to try some brews before the fest opened. This is a smaller fest, a fund-raiser for the Rotary Club, and most of the beers were from the local Inbev house, who is the largest distributor around. There were a few self-distributing breweries, and a few from smaller distros, and nothing out of the ordinary was pouring. A fellow BA, @TheBungyo , had offered to help me with setup and breakdown, and after about an hour of the fest, we headed over to a couple local breweries, where we sat comfortably in the nice breeze, instead of on a hot parking lot. I did try some new brews, but no notes were taken, so I didn't make it back here to post.

On Wednesday, I went with my friends Sara and Chris to one of our favorite regional breweries, Skookum. We had gone down last week (they had the first one of theSunnyDelite beers I've truly liked, Star Ryeder on) and they told us that this week would see the release of a variant of their Murder of Crows Imperial Stout, Neapolitan Murder. Yup, just like the ice cream, this stout had Vanilla, Chocolate, and Strawberry. The flavors were a bit softer than I was hoping for, but it was still tasty enough that I had 3.

Up first here is a brew that I got from @smanson56 in his recent LIF box. Nicely tart and dry, I wouldn't mind having a couple more of this summer sipper: https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/30697/227062/

 

I think I have a new beer for you to SEA



a very nice light lager for summer
nice light straw with a brief white head
color reminds me of a kolsch
balanced hop bitterness and malt
crisp and clean 4%abv. and low (23) ibu
make an enjoyable lager for summer!
this I recommend to you and the cigar
shot is for cave dave's viewing pleasure!

cheers!

 

Hey NBS! Look like you all are have a great Sunday. I'm currently sipping a new beer from Clown Shoes and watching the PGA Championship...

The Peace That Money Can't Buy brewed by Clown Shoes clocking in at 11.5%

So first thing I noticed when I looked up this beer was that it is retired and the ratings were quite low. Never a good sign to start off! Turns out mine was bottled 12/11/14 and I'm very glad that it's now retired because this was a definite miss for me.

It pours a rich and thick amber and copper color with a head that vanishes within a couple seconds. I'm not picking up too much on the nose. A hint of plum and apple is the main aroma combined with a hard to describe sour smell along with wine qualities. The taste is...interesting? I dunno what I expected when I bought this but it certainly wasn't this. I'm picking up sour plum, apple, dark fruits, caramel sweetness, and a touch of bourbon on the finish. All these flavors can make a great beer but it seems like they really missed on this one. There's way too much going on flavor-wise and I have no idea why they chose to put it in a bourbon barrel. I will say it drinks quite easily for such a high alcohol beer and it isn't thick or chewy whatsoever. Overall this is an okay beer that was advertised to be something special. Do not buy unless you want to spend 15 bucks on an average quad ale.

3.74/5 rDev +1.9%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 3.75

No more new beers in the house so that'll be it for me today! Look forward to seeing what the rest of you will be experimenting with the rest of the day. Cheers!

 

It has been some time since I've had a Three New Beer Sunday. Not even entirely sure I have had one, but I think I have. Regardless, this is my last new beer until I raid the local beer stores tomorrow. I'll spend the rest of the day cleaning out the fridge and ice chest of "leftovers" ...

I own neither a Stange or Weizen glass, so the closest thing I had was my Tallgrass tumbler. In it now resides:

Unita Flamingose -- 4% ABV

I have to admit, this is the dirtiest, cloudiest beer I have ever had. It actually looks cloudier in real life than this photo shows. It's a color I hate describing because I don't work for Crayola but I'm calling it Tanned Canteloupe Rind. A white head sits on top and calms to a thick film. Patches and odd lines of lacing eventually disappear.

It smells of salt and pineapple juice with muted coriander behind the scenes. It really is kind of pungent if you're not used to this style of beer.

The taste is of malted wheat, salt, pineapple, and coriander. There is a lot of tartness, especially in the finish. It goes down easy but is very bright and has a carbonated, lively feel.

Overall, this is not my thing. Sounded like a good idea at the time. Not sure pineapple and salt are meant to be friends. But then again I think those people who sprinkle salt on their watermelon are weirdos. My mom does that.

I'm not an expert on this style, so disregard everything I have said. This was a weird beer. Final rating: 3.16 for -8.4 rDev.

Three new beers today and none of them even topped the 4.0 rating, and I generally over-rate everything. Enjoyed the experience though. I'll spend the afternoon sweating this stuff out while I mow and replace it with some cheap lawnmower beer to cleanse the palate for tomorrow. Later!

 

Love the idea and would try to participate as often as possible.

 

saw this last week for 9$ glass included, i didnt bite! should have!

 

Love reading your reviews, almost poetic.

 

Happy Sunday NBS players. A grey and humid day here on the island with the ever growing threat of more rain. Another lazy day here for myself. Watching the mets continue to struggle, and heading out to the north fork to visit my folks for the evening. Hopefully stopping at greenport harbor brewing depending on how crowded it is.

My new beer today is Raging Pollywog IPA, from Tweaking Frog brewing co here on the island. It's one of these low level upstart breweries that seem to be popping up everywhere. I don't even think they have a tasting room yet. Anyway, the beer comes in at 6.3% with not bottle date but it's probably about 3 weeks old.

A dirty amber/tea color on the pour with no clarity, high carbonation, and a white head. The nose is malty mash with sugars. Not overly floral. Big time balance right on the very first sip with a blend of malts and hops. Clean flow that finishes smooth and slightly bitter. This is very much on the English side of the style. Flavor notes of breads, spicy hops, herbal tea, candied citrus fruits, and oats. The mouth feel is pretty moderate but on a bit on the lighter side.

Overall, it's an ok beer. It seems that it was brewed well but it's just really not my style in terms of an ipa. It really drinks more like a hoppy amber. I would put it in the 3/3.5 range.

 

As it happens, I included something quite similar in the last NBS BIF, but it was never remarked upon. I was rather disappointed, as it was a local beer that deserves wider renown.