New Beer Sunday (week 597)

It rained a lot today but we really need it in my area. Some towns around me (not mine) have imposed water use restrictions. So why not do a Barleywine on a rain day huh? This is Mystic Painted Smile Barleywine from Chelsea, Massachusetts. It is 8.5% ABV and comes in a corked, caged 750 ml bottle. Released for the first time a few weeks ago in 2016 so it is a new beer.

Sadly, this did not live up to what I expect in my uber-malty and biting Barleywines. This one seemed rather basic with a cracker-like maltiness and little to no booze. Some might think the booze being well integrated into the beer is a good thing. No alcohol burn! But when it comes to Barleywines I want to irritate my liver. OK, no, that is not the right thing to say, but you might get the picture. It seemed kind of weak all around and low on flavor Probably not worth the $10 I paid for it.

 

Pshaw, that's their best review yet, ya'll!

 

Ah yes, 3 Floyds Moo Juice. yum

 

New From My Latest Jester King Haul Beer Sunday!!!

A JK/Wicked Weed collaboration ... and my first chance to try something from the good folks at Wicked Weed:

(had to ... that bottle cap)





The Parking Lot Grissette pours like a Belgian, plenty of bottle-conditioned foam popping up quickly off a quickly softening pour as I adjust. The first whiff of aroma is super sweet and super funky, some sweet orange and lots of lemon peel, lime peel and wet hay/musty barn. The flavor has a perfect lemon-peel tartness that mixes with some oak, some barn dust and pinch of tart orange. As it warms, some malt flavor (biscuit) shows up to sweeten the earthier notes.

I love it. It's tart but not overly tart, sweet but not overly sweet, earthy but just that little bit to mix in some character. I didn't rate it all 5s, but maybe I should have ... it's living right in that farmhouse/wild ale sweet spot.

The review:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/30581/217836/?ba=Premo88#review
4.51 (+10% rDev)

Cheers!

 

Nice job, and it was great to see you taking it on its own terms at the end there. Have a few more bottles and you'll totally get in the groove, I'm sure.

 

Send me one next BIF - I'll happily remark on it!

 

Last of the chores are done...time for another beer for New India Pale Ale Sunday

DFH Flesh & Blood IPA


First new DFH beer I've had in a while.
Bottled on 06/23/2016. A little over 4 weeks old.
Poured a deep reddish-orange-brown (amber) clear body with a thin cap of head. Love the color!
Ton of lemon and orange and citrus aromas coming through up front with a spicy hoppiness as well.
Taste is as promised! Fruit forward indeed! Maybe it's just already in my head from the label, but I am getting a lot of lemon and orange and a hoppy bitterness on the end. Nice clean finish too.
Mouth feel is medium; nice amount of carbonation with this one.
Overall, this one is a winner! Super-crushable. Really tasty. A nice lingering bitterness and I really dig that lemon too! Definitely worth a try...several tries!

Cheers!

 

I try .

Actually, if I were try to differentiate in my own mind - this seemed like many a Baltic Porter or maybe even better, more of an Export Stout. My main bases for such impressions are feel/impression/profile more than brewing style, of course, and are corrupted by our side of ocean's versions an lay of claim to certain styles .

 

Awesome best bud surprised me with this Firestone 14 today. Love all the FW anniversaries i've had, but this one....damn amazing. Cheers all.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/2210/63116/?ba=cindyjeffsmith#review

 

Yeah- I tend to think of it as an 'Export' sometimes myself, being 'only' 7% abv. IIRC, Charles Finkel of Merchant du Vin asked Smith's to create the beer for the American market during the 1980s, so the strength may have been kept on the low side for that reason. Grant's Imperial Stout was even lower at the time- around 6%. Still, they manage to pack in a lot of flavor within that framework.

 

Here's another Sunday brew.
Weltenburger Kloster Barock Dunkel (4.7%) My son brought this beaut by this morning and it's fresh off the boat. Deep reddish brown with the afternoon sun burning through to show deep brown, light leather brown, and red sparkles all about the edges. Beautiful billowing head fueled relentlessly by an almost invisible Champagne-like bead. This is a wonderful beer to behold! Sweet malty nose, with earth and a refined roastiness-with a little clovishness/cinnamon sneaking around the top of the Rothaus "chimney". The first sip is dark sweet malt, figs, raisins, dried fruits everywhere, and a primal animal earthiness. The beer is smooth as silk, a touch "bigger" than many Dunkels. It goes down easily, turning from sweet malt to a deftly managed hop dryness to finish off the well rendered elixir. This is an excellent beer from a great brewery, that is a perfect match for hearty foods, or when unfreshly back from walking the dogs at 95 degrees.

I love Traffic. Everything Steve Winwood has touched has been stellar. This tune has a bit of a temperance message, but just ignore that part.

 

Wut? And be deprived of the fun that is the hints part of NBS BIF#4; Monkeys With Knives? I think not, I know who your sender isn't!

 

And, I'm back. I grabbed this a couple months ago, when they first showed up at the local farmers market. I grabbed one each of all 4 beers this new brewery had available at the time, and I've drank most of them, but hadn't gotten around to this Bier de Garde yet: https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/45649/237101/

 

Although I had a sample of it when I visited the brewery, I figured that the final day of the PGA Tournament would be a suitable event for cracking this Imperial Stout...review can be found here:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/40333/223731/

Cheers!

 

I'm afraid it's getting tricky to find it these days, and it's a little spendy for bulk purposes, but I'm going to try and sequester a few if I'm able. Not making any promises, as I'm not sure I'll be able to get any more, but if can get some I'll let you know.

 

Good evening friends and thanks to Maria for the wake up call and wonderful piece of writing as usual- its always a learning experience for me. Rainy day has turned to sunshine so I'm outside for this one for awhile at least. Work times are not too good lately and job could be in jeopardy so better enjoy new beers while I can. Todays an interesting one:
MOA Brewing Company Breakfast Beer- ale brewed with natural flavours- (on the side it says: "super premium Belgian style wheat beer, brewed with natural flavor")

Pours a hazy gold with an off white 2 finger head that settles to a thin ring with some spotty lacing.

Upon popping ye olde cork on this wonder I immediately get a fruit explosion- dare I say of the Hawaiian Punch variety. Shocking to me as honestly I was expecting more in the way of some type of coffee brew (breakfast beer?) The fruity smell is of cherries, lemons, apples, strawberries, gooseberries and sauvignon grapes. There is not a lot of hops and just a touch of wheat with a slight hint of fruity esters as it warms. Not getting a lot of "Belgian" here.

Taste is well certainly limited in its character- warming helps me find more of those fruity esters but this cough syrup like cherry is binding. I'm searching for some hops, floral, grass but I'm coming up with nothing here. This is freaking weird. Maybe old?

Body is medium to light with a crispness and quite dry but that cherry just coats the tongue.

This is a tough one. $2.99 per bottle that I bought at a reliable shop from their New Arrival shelf. Could I have been scammed? This beer is interesting in that in completely confused as to what they are doing here. I went to the website- they are no slouches. Have quite a portfolio actually. The description says;....." European style beer brewed with a blend of premium wheat malt and a variety of floral hops. A very refreshing lager with an abundance of cherry character and aroma" ?? Is it an ale? a Lager? This beer is confusing to the point where it might be worth trying just to try to solve this enigma. Anyhow maybe its oldbut I wont be trying it again.
For NewOldVinylSunday you all know I like my English nineties artists- one of the great songwriters, solo and with Rockpile. Nick Lowe- Born Fighter. Yep.
Enjoy your Sunday and as always thanks for taking the time. Oh I almost forgot. See the last pic. It takes a hell of a lot of guts to build your own plane and fly it- this guy keeps flying over my house. Finally got a photo.