New Beer Sunday (week 598)

Good Morning (for me) NBS Aficionados.
I'll be checking in later after a visit to a "new to me" brewery, Brouwerij West, in San Pedro.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/23628/

I will do my best to remain lucid, and report back to you appropriately.

 

This brew pours a dark brown with red highlights when held up to the light. There is a two finger off white foamy head, some of which sticks around until the end. Mild lacing.

The smell is full of yeast and fruits, plums, apples, pears and berries; sugar and molasses too. Wait a little for it to warm up and the smells become more pronounced.

The taste follows the nose with lots of yeast and sugar to start then the molasses comes in. The fruit bouquet comes in at the finish. The finish is clean and creamy. Slightly carbonated with no real hop presence to speak of. The feel is filling, creamy and a little chewy all at once.

Overall, this is a good beer; try it.

 

NEVER be abashed or ashamed of wordplay! The CANQuest (tm) was founded on just such a notion.

 

My first beer of the day comes from Denmark by way of Norway (kind of like the Norwegian Royal Family). I've had the one made with the weasel poop coffee, but never before had the base version.

Took a long time to pour <edit: really getting sick and fucking tired of photobucket>




https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/13307/28877/?ba=woemad#review

Pretty underwhelmed.

Recently started listening to this band, and picked up this album about a week ago. I'm regretting not having seen them play locally when they were still together:



Apologies if I did that wrong. I'm still a youtube noob (youtubenube?) when it comes to posting links.

 

Happy NBS. Another picture perfect weekend in WI. I've been busy in the garden and enjoy the fresh vegetables. Have also had to do some yard work. I'll probably grill dinner this evening. Hard to believe it is nearing mid August. On to the beer!

I'm not worried about the Oktoberfest's hitting shelves in August, since I enjoy them ever so much. WI breweries have a knack for making some pretty good offerings due to all the German heritage around here.

Ale Asylum in Madison, WI brewed their very first one and I'm excited to try it. Very nice looking golden wheat color with a 2.5 finger sandy white head. Leaves a collar and swaths of lacing around the glass. Aroma of grains, malts, and sweet bread. Light earthy hops. Lighter amount of malts, grain, sweet bread and hints of caramel. Light herbal and earthy hops give it a bit more, hints of spice. Nice Marzen style. On the lighter side with good carbonation with a dry finish. Smooth, clean and easy drinking even on a warm day. Ale Asylum brewed their first Okto and it is more to the lighter, drier German style compared to the sweeter and heavier American style; delicious!

 

The Derby and the Moustache an American ESB brewed by Twin Elephant Brewing. I haven't seen to many craft beers that call themselves ESB's and was not sure what to expect. It pour a nice copper color and is a bit cloudy. There is a thick off white head that leaves nice lacing. The aroma is malt. The taste if mostly malt with a small but noticeable hop bitterness. The finish is dry and the mouth feel is full. A very enjoyable brew I might just have another.

 

Not sure if you're trying to take a dig at me. Whatever.

Either way, I just had one of the Mahr's-SN Oktoberfests. I love it. Tastes like many of my favorite Franconian beers, with a character the locals describe as wuerzig, which translates roughly to spicy [in a rustic kinda way].

Sometimes all you need to do to know if a beer falls within a ''tradition'' is to actually travel and drink there....

 

Nice job! As a beer geek I thought you did a good job throwing in facts, while being fairly conversational. I recall one of the criteria you mentioned was "like talking over beer at a bar."

If I had to give constructive criticism, it seems there is a distinct section in each piece you get outside of the "beer geek speak," versus it being sprinkled throughout.

That said, it's so minor a thing and might actually work just fine to have a pattern people can look forward to. I think you can have a pattern as such without getting repetitive, which I recalled was a concern of yours.

So, to repeat, I thought they were enjoyable reads. Keep up the good work!!!

 

What's next?

Rye On Rye X: Sazerac Cocktail | Boulevard Brewing Co.


Boulevard Brewing Co. - Rye On Rye X: Sazerac Cocktail by imbibehour, on Flickr

Poured from the bottle into a snifter glass. Best before June 17th 2018.

Lathering thick punched out head off a controlled slow pour. A booming off white with tan colored edges top, easily four fingers with a fluffy appearance. Settles eventually to a nice thin puck and creamed tall collar. A murky brown and red body color and solidified looking appearance, with a touch of clarity towards the top.

A sazerac cocktail is a classic. This does not really smell like one. However, flavor additions do come through of barrel aging. Slight vanilla, but more classic rye whiskey fruit spice tones that are accented with a bit of lemon and zest. Big sweet cedar like notes from the barrel which almost come off like a sandalwood like character, no doubt from the cardamom. Mmm too much sugar not enough cardamom? Nope not at all. Unfortunately there's a slight tomato vegetative quality in here also. Luckily the other flavors are the dominant aromas.

A milky body is very pronounced, but has luckily picked up and transported the flavors from the barrel to the palate. Wood shavings and spiced earth tones and a good hints of toasted brown like spices, nutmeg, clove, even some hot licorice. Definitely in the pit of your stomach warmth going on. Not much sensing additional fruit character, but heavy on spices which are being more pronounced by the rye character. Milky depth hints a little bit wet, but makes it more to whiskey mouthfeel than beer, even with great barrel note flavors (particularly of the wood).

Definitely has the cocktail and rye angle booze nailed down, but the flavors go elsewhere, this is a beer after all. Still ends up as a solid barrel aged brew with a twist (maybe even a lemon peel twist).

look: 3.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75 | BA Generated Score: 3.76

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

 

It might be more entertaining for us if you report back inappropriately.

 

Well, thanks for the perfect lead in to my announcement that I had intended to do yesterday on the appropriate thread but will sneak peak here. And you NBS regulars might recall my thought on this from last week:


Getting the wonderful image that was 100% not me (think we all know who helped here, and I give Jim huge kudos for entertaining my appeal for his services and his willingness to work this up). Getting the image posted from my phone at Flying Dog is another story...

So...
I decided to do a WBAYDN theme day for a time or two to get a feel for the response. I will have a more official spiel when I post this in said thread and don't want to derail this thread again, but @woemad's quoted post couldn't be a better advertisement to what I was thinking of trying to promote.

Hope you guys join in a couple weeks from now! Now back to our regularly scheduled program.

 

Xolotl is the Aztec god of lightning, fire, death, deformity and misfortune. He is the canine, ("evil") twin to the feathered serpent, Quetzalcoatl...

This is a bourbon barrel-aged imperial stout with cacao nibs, a couple of types of vanilla beans, a few types of chiles, and cinnamon....

I got all the advertised flavors, but with these caveats: not as thick a body as I'd like in a beer with its abv (13.7); the chiles (and cinnamon) were weaker than I'd hoped - more of a tingle than a sting? And, for 12 oz., a $13.99 bottle round here...

Had a thin-looking pour with a slight brown translucence ended up appropriately pitch black in the snifter. Brief, thin dark brown head; shiny gloss left inside the glass. Aromas of sweet, wet, chocolate char, softened with vanillas and wood. Flavors of chocolate, molasses, and vanilla were most obvious, with the chili and cinnamon spices less aggressive. Some tingle on the tongue, but despite the big chili bill, it was not at all a burner. For the price point, and particularly as compared to my previous experience in their barrel aged series, Callipygian, this was not as impressive as I'd hoped.

That said, it's still a bourbon barrel imperial stout...

Here's to new beer in your glass - cheers...

 

Good afternoon BA! Lovely start to the day, slept in a little and then brought the kids out to lunch with my aunt. It's another hot one up here in Maine. Thus my first beer of the day is easy on the alcohol. Lagunitas The Down Low Ale, clocking in at a whopping 3.9% ABV. No real description of the beer on the bomber, but at $3.50 why not try it anyways?



Wasn't sure what to expect going into this, and was quite surprised at hop aroma that burst from the bottle when I popped the cap. Really had to coax the head of this brew, even with a rather aggressive pour I only ended up with a finger of off-white head. The beer is a lovely coppery amber color and sports plenty of lacing since that little bit of head sticks around and slowly dwindles into a halo and a fine layer of bubbles.
That first burst of hops when I cracked it open was quite catty, which worried me some since I'm not a big fan of cattiness. The catty flavor and aroma arise from a sulfur based yeast metabolite and most frequently occurs with Citra and Simcoe hops, especially when there are higher levels of oxygen in the beer. But luckily the catty aroma faded quickly and I was able to enjoy the aroma. I believe this is hopped with both Citra and Simcoe, and I've always had a terrible time describing Simcoe other than to say it smells like Simcoe. It's kind of dank and mossy with orange rind and pine. There is a little toastiness coming through in the nose from the crystal malts.
The taste has a huge up front orange rind flavor combined with a light sweetness from the crystal malts. Then the Simcoe flavors start to shine (or should I say shadow?) through with a dank almost mushroom flavor. The taste ends on a rugged resinous pine note with a solid and lingering bitterness. There is also a tiny bit of that catty flavor hiding in there, but it's overshadowed by the presence of the other flavors.
The mouthfeel is just okay for me, undercarbonated for my liking, and a little sticky, drying but just short of astringent.

Overall, I like it. At $3.50 a bottle and few heavy hitting Simcoe options around I'll probably snag a couple more of these and work on nailing down those Simcoe aromas. Personally I'd like to see a little more carbonation, but I think the flavor and aroma and intense hops outweigh the flaws in the feel. I've always been a bigger fan of the DIPA's with malts there to work with and accentuate the hops, but this is one of the hoppy low ABV beers I've really enjoyed where the dank hop character displays enough complexity to make up for the lack of malts.

Cheers!

Marc

 

G' afternoon NBS-ers! As promised, or threatened , I'm baaaccck!
Gonna sit back and watch the Olympics and sip on some beers today.
My entry is....
Petrus Aged Red
A Flanders Oud Bruin, 11.2 oz bottle, 8.5% abv; 15% Foeder beer + 85% Double Brown Beer with cherries.


Poured into my favorite piece of glassware; Snorkel tulip thanks again @Ozzylizard !.
A lovely deep dark red to brown body with a creamy khaki head with a slight reddishness . Constant stream of bubbles running up on the edges of the glass, keeping that head around.

The first aroma I am getting is tart fresh cherries followed by a stronger sourness and some slight malty roastiness and a pretty decent amount of woodiness on the end. I'm getting a nice mix of aromas on this one

Taste....Cherries, oak, small vinegar-like bite, not very sour. As it sits on the tongue the brown ale starts to come through. The cherries come out a lot up front and are much sweeter than I thought they would be, was expecting more tartness. Not much from the oak coming out, just a hint.

The mouth feel is around medium at first and then finishes light with a slight lingering sweetness.

Overall, this was a decent beer, however I was expecting/hoping for a little bit more of that sour-acidic bite. Just not enough there in my opinion. I think the cherries dominate a little too much for me adding a sweetness that is not off-set with enough sourness.

Cheers!

 

Such a cool picture!

 

New Stout Sunday



Weyerbacher 21st Anniversary BA Imperial Stout with Cocoa and Vanilla

Happy Sunday, BAs. Gathered the first of the tomatillos and peppers from my garden today and made a test-batch of salsa. Tasted great until I decided it could use a squeeze of lime and overdid it a bit. Glad to have worked that kink out before the big harvest.

So, I've been drinking a lot of schwartzbier this week, and enjoying it as always. Would have loved to have had a flavorful lager for NBS today -- still haven't had any Oktoberfest yet this year -- but haven't found the time for a beer run. Thankfully, I had at least one new beer in the fridge.

21st Anniversary pours a deep purple-tinted black color with a half finger of mocha head.

Cocoa and sweet bourbon stand out in the nose, with some nutty cherry notes. Whatever vanilla is in there melds with the beer's other characteristics to give an almond-and-anise-like impression.

The same flavor profile carries over to the taste, with a slight alcohol burn on the back end, and a lingering bitter chocolate, bitter hops aftertaste. As it warms, the chocolate profile becomes rich, dark and fudge-like.

It's fairly thick bodied, mildly creamy, with strong carbonation cutting through in the mouthfeel.

My favorite part is the aftertaste. The rest is solid enough, and I'd gladly drink this whenever offered, but with all the world class BA stouts these days, it's nothing mind-blowing. That said, if you love dark chocolate, this one's for you.

 

Happy Sunday NBS players. Sunny, hot and humid here on the island with a slight steady breeze. Didn't really do anything today, just watching the mets game (conforto just went yard- in your face tigers), and deciding if I want to drive my lazy ass down to the beach. Pretty amped up for the pre-start of football tonight too.

My new beer today is Twenty Five, an imperial Vanilla Porter, from Breckenridge brewing. The brew comes in at 9.8%, no apparent bottle date, and is nicely corked and caged. Cost me only 7.99 too.

A light black pour with an off-white head and a decent amount of carbonation. The nose is pretty subtle with malts, sugars, rum, and oak. The drinking starts out pretty light with malts upfront. A sugary and slightly boozy flow with a smooth, clean, and dry finish. The rum and barrel notes are pretty strong with additional flavors of vanilla, cocoa, lactose, and sugars. The mouth feel is light but the strong rum flavor seems to make up for it.

Overall, it's an ok beer. I'm not in love with it by any stretch but I do like the strong rum flavors. If this beer just had a bit more body I think it would be really good. I'm right around a 3.5 on it.

 

@LeperJim will be happy .

 

You've inspired me to throw my bottle of that in the fridge for a little later... cheers!

Anyway, on to my first of two new beers for this NBS.

14th Star Brewing is a brewery I've actually never had anything from, though I see their Valor ale in stores fairly frequently. Well, I stumbled upon this double IPA in a store yesterday and decided to go for it, considering it seems to have great reviews from my fellow BAs. The brewery was founded by a US Army vet, which is cool to me as well... I may have posted about this before, but I work as a contracted supervising pharmacy technician at a VA mail order pharmacy that ships over 40,000 prescriptions to vets nationwide every weekday, so it's always good to see armed forces retirees doing cool things, especially in the world of beer; I'm pretty sure they work with some kind of charity that helps vets reacquire lost or stolen medals of honor. Good stuff!



14th Star Tribute DIPA

Nice pour. Nearly 100% opaque, milky golden color. Looks a bit like mango juice topped with a huge, dense head of semi-retentive foam that laces quite nicely as it sinks slowly. Eventually ends up being about a finger and a half. Very "Trillium"-looking, though maybe a bit darker/less-intensely yellow-gold. I know the whole "hazy IPA" thing is somewhat divisive, but I think this looks pretty nice. Others may see it as a bit dirty looking.

Nose is absolutely great! Wasn't quite expecting the complex aroma this has going on. Papaya, citrus, pineapple and mango lassi notes with a muted pale malt backbone. Very little pine, mostly just sweeter tropical fruits and slight orange. Seems quite well built and right in line with the whole "juicy New England double IPA" trend going on right now.

Palate is also a bit surprising, as I wasn't really anticipating the hefty bitterness this packs considering the mostly tropical nose. As anticipated, malt is a bit fragile here, and totally breaks down under the weight of lupulin... that green powder really drives the whole flavor, with elements ranging from papaya to mango to pineapple and sticky, pithy citrus fruits. Ethanol is moderately noticeable, but helps round out the heavily hoppy flavor. I think this is great, and it's pretty perfectly sitting on the lower end of "imperial" at just 8.1% ABV. Sometimes bigger IPAs these days try to go a bit too far and become too heavy and strong for their own good, so I applaud 14th Star for being more modest about this one's strength.

Feel is surprisingly smooth; there's probably some wheat and/or oats in here rounding things out. Doesn't just taste like 2-row, in other words, and there's not a lot of caramel or deeper malt flavors, so I'm thinking some other grains are involved here. The can mentions a "complex yet smooth malt base" as well, lending a bit more credence to my hypothesis here A bit chewy and with a somewhat sharp ethanol note on the finish. A bit estery with some floral notes as the beer warms.

I'll be back with the aforementioned Callipygian Imperial Stout from Avery in a while! Cheers guys!



Ｂｅ ｒｅａｌ, ｉｔ ｄｏｅｓｎ'ｔ ｍａｔｔｅｒ ａｎｙｗａｙ...

 

Wow! It is the first Sunday in August. I hate to say it but here in New Hampshire I have already seen a little color on scattered trees. But the summer has been so dry and that must be a factor. Although today is sunny and 85 degrees. So I shouldn't be drinking a Stout in these conditions but...well...yes I am.

From the Burlington Beer Company of Burlington, Vermont comes their 2016 limited edition Coniferous Imperial Stout aged in Bourbon Barrels. It is 12% ABV and was released for the first time in Spring 2016. So it is a new beer. Although it may not be around next year. But you know what else is happening with this beer? Spruce Tips! Yeah, this is brewed with fresh Vermont spruce tips and aged in Spanish Cedar Staves. There are 3 standard hops and 4 malts used in the brewing process.

As you can see by the picture below this pours nearly jet black with a soft and delicate foamy tan head that fades some but laces as it goes. The aroma is alive with dark roasted malts, sweet malts, dark fruit, spruce tips (of course), and coffee. For 12% the booze is buried. The taste is basically the same but I pick up more of the dark fruit character. Alcohol is well integrated into the beer. Medium to bold body. Warming finish. I could cuddle up with one of these in the depths of Winter next to the wood stove - but I will have to settle for a summer barbecue.