New Beer Sunday (week 601)

My thought too. I've had Fat Tug, but I was in Victoria, BC. Never saw it south of the border.

 

Hello, my NBS bros and bro-ettes. Only one offering tonight because I need to provide Mrs Ovaltine with her weekly allotment of grilled ribeye steak.



This pours a rich golden straw color with a white head 1-1/2 fingers high, and is cloudy. The aroma is resiny pine with some heavy citrus notes. I know citrus isn't usually heavy, but that's what my nose told me. I may need a tuneup.

The taste is loads of resiny pine and some sweet citrus on top. I saw some reviews that referenced this as a West Coast IPA meets a Northeast IPA. I don't get that, but I do get an excellent DIPA.

 

Greetings from the castle here in the SE Mass kingdom. It was a great sunny day here, much lower humidity, but the direct sun was still pretty hot. It is pretty dry here. I dont recall a stretch like we have had with near misses on rain so many times.

We salvaged a bunch of tomatoes yesterday and were able to can nine pints of salsa. On our big new cuntertop, the job went much better. Can't wait for a brew day!

So today...our daughter shows up with her new dog. A rescue dog that was in a foster home. She was told it is a beagle...but it is at least mixed with if not mostly, a foxhound. She was told it is housebroken...sort of because the foster home had a doggie door and it could do what it needed to whenever. It is cute, affectionate, but I think she has her hands full because he looks really athletic, as he should. They have bonded...she left him with us for a while and he was fine, but really perked up when she came back.

Sonny boy and girlfriend came by, with her parents whom we have never met. Since we will be grandparents in November it was about time. Burgers and dogs on the grill, chourico/onions/peppers in the skillet. Salads, fresh tomatoes, cukes. Lots of leftovers we dont really need to deal with, but OK.

New beer for the day, you ask? Well, I dont ride the hype train very iften, but I am finally on the Pils Train. Sierra Nevada Nooner Pilsner was todays cookout beer, I have never had it, so it counts! It pours clear golden color with an inch or so of pure, white head. The head falls to a ring and chunky rafts in the pils glass. First time using it, too. The aroma is green and floral, grassy, a hint of earthiness. There is a little crackery to buiscuity malt on the nose. So far, so good. What does the tongue think? The floral nature if the hops shine. It is a little grassy, a very slight spice, and an earthy almost vegetal note. A little malt comes through that seems to offer maybe a bit of toast to the mix. I thought the mouthfeel was a tad bit heavy for a pilsner, but nicely carbonated, refreshing, great choice for the day. There was a bitterness on the back of the taste that was a distraction. It ticks the pilsner boxes, but I dont think it is a true classic pilsner. Good drinking, would have again.

As we sat around talking with sonny boy and GF, he got to talking about people living in fear, how fear leads to hate, and hate to violence. Don't ask me how, but we might have done something right along the way...

 

'Evening everyone! Despite having moved to Edinburgh this past week to find an entirely different beer scene, with very different styles and availability than I'm used to, I'm determined to stay active on this site, even if I find myself missing out on a lot of great beers stateside and most of my fellow BA's have never heard of the beers I actually have access to. Despite major differences in the beer scene over here, I've actually been really enjoying the beers I've been drinking over the past week, particularly the ubiquitous real/cask ales at the local pubs.

What we have here is Gladeye IPA from Drygate Brewing out of Glasgow. Believe it or not, at 5.5% this is actually strong for Scottish IPAs, which seem to be very popular locally but generally clock in at 4-5% and more closely resemble APAs. Indeed the terms "brute strength" and "giant IPA" can be found on this label.



Note to self: pick up some decent glassware

Look: 4 Pours a nice clear deep-gold color with a tight-knit white head and decent foam retention.

Aroma: 3.25 A bit of caramel, some stale vegetal notes, and muted citrus. Not particularly inspiring on the nose.

Taste: 3.75 Some nice grapefruity citrus flavors and a bit of pine, doughy malt and slight grassiness and vegetal quality towards the backend. Decent hop flavors upfront, giving way to some honey, diluted caramel and bready malt in the finish with little residual bitterness.

Feel: 4 Medium body with a slight chewiness, revealing relatively low attenuation in this beer, with medium-low yet crisp carbonation with small bubbles.

Overall: 3.75 Decidedly neither "brute strength" nor a "giant IPA" by my American standards, but a nice balanced APA-style beer nonetheless. The low attenuation adds a bit of body and sweetness that makes this a bit different from most of the Scottish IPAs I've had so far.

*In case anyone out there is interested, I've also found the 'best by' dates on local beers to be far more forgiving that back in the US despite the lower alcohol content. This guy for example is apparently best before January of 2018!

Cheers!

 

Good evening BA! It was a hot hot day, but surprisingly the evening air is cool and comforting. After an afternoon of heavy duty hedge trimming, I still need a cool and quenching beer, though.That's why I grabbed this one while I was out shopping-

Almanac Tangerine de Brettaville
That's a pretty lousy shot, but it's not such a clear beer anyway so you're not missing much .

The nose is a fairly seamless blend of light delicate citrus, oaky white wine, honeysuckle and stone fruit. There's just a touch of earthy funk at the edges as well, but it's not a major component. After a bit more swirling the fruits start to take on a more jammy character. But let's get on to the taste already, dammit-

Oh, it's pretty vibrant, at least at first, where it explodes with citrus, flowers and bracing tartness. But then it takes a sudden turn as the wood and earthy elements steer you towards an eternal finish. And there's the brett, big as life. After a few more sips some oily citrus peel has joined the finish bringing some much needed light.

The body is moderately full, and the bitterness is clean and direct.

As with many of the Almanac beers I've had, the sourness is prominent, but not overdone, while all of the flavors work in harmony without letting one element dominate too much. Those expecting a blast of tangerine may feel some disappointment here, but the overall construction makes up for it in my eyes.

This one comes across as pretty straightforward, quenching and delicious at first, but there's also some real complexity in how these flavors change and play with one another through the remainder of the glass. Especially the morphing fruit and brett qualities- sometimes it's like apricot, sometimes peach, different floral profiles take turns, etc.- their tonality may be mere shades apart, but it's multifaceted all the same. Through it all, the oak remains a steady constant, providing the needed frame for the whole picture, lest these watercolors run all over the place.

Very nice job! A- (4.25)

 

Greetings gang, it's great to finally be able to join the party after a really busy weekend which involved too much driving and very little imbibing. As summer fades there's always a sense of urgency to see people and do things that have eluded you. This was one of those weekends and I'm glad to be home relaxing with a beer!

Starting off with a pint can of Grimm Cloudbusting #3 DIPA recently sent to me by @guinness77 in a generous box of beer. Pouring this can with no visible date in a Weyerbacher tulip for the Sunday ritual. Here we go!

Pours a cloudy pale yellow/straw color with a generous two fingers of creamy white foam that settles revealing intricate lacing. The smell is malt forward followed by grapefruit and some orange zest. Taste is grapefruit, floral notes, some orange zest and a hearty dose of chewy malt that rounds it out. Feel is rather thick, slick and malty, but quite easy to drink for 8.0%.



A beautiful beer to the eye that is a bit too malty and lacking in juicy hops to take it to the next level in my opinion. With no visible date on the can, I'm wondering if there is a bit of age on it? That aside, it was still enjoyable and quite easy to drink considering the 8 percent abv. My score was 3.81 / rDev -9.5%. Thanks Chuck for another new beer to review!

Not sure where this comfy couch is going to take me? Hopefully to another review! Im stoked and looking forward to the next round of NBS/BIF as well. Enjoy the precious time that's left of the weekend. Here's the official scorecard......

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/32893/241866/?ba=Prager62#review

 

Hey fellow NBSers and other voyeurs.
Thanks to @utopiajane for a fabulous start and a great encore.
Like my fellow mainer (or Mainiac, as some folks call us) @Hoppy_Time did, I also hit a very nice guy @mmorris15 for a trade and got my very first set of Focal Banger and Crusher.
So here goes my first impressions. Now I have to say that I find Heady Topper to be an excellent brew but certainly not worth the hype. I did take the first few sips from the can but I have to pour.
Aroma is full on hop attack. Citra and Mosaic are featured. The amazing thing I find about Alchemist brews is how hop centric they are vis a vis Treehouse which still is hop centric but seems to bring out the fruitiness more.
Taste of Focal is banging (pardon my poor sense of humor) with a unique jam packed explosive layers of pine, citrus/ bright floral hops and balanced bitterness. Nice dry finish leaves one longing for more.
Overall a very good experience. Didn't feel the harshness on my stomach pit the way Heady does. Satured hop juice, concentrated like anything. One could just add a few spoonfuls to any other brew in which one desires more hop flavors to conjure up abracadabra.
Also as @JackHorzempa pointed out in another thread, this style is that perfect balance between hazy fruity milkshakey "NEIPAs" and clear piney resinous west coast IPAs.
If you don't want to be overwhelmed by fruits (as in TH, which brews my favorite NEIPAs )
then this is a good alternative.
Cheers
p.s.: love the can art. Guy is drinking a focal banger which has the same pic and so on and so forth....

 

It was a pleasure meeting you today!

 

Good evening NBS, hope everyone is enjoying the end of the weekend once again. Thanks to @utopiajane for getting us started off this morning. Seems to be a really slow day on the forums. Not much going on over here, just another busy work week ahead. I hit my 5000th Untappd check in on Friday, since I do mead and ciders on there; plus whenever I have brewery visits and other random beer drinking. I only write reviews when I am at home and can concentrate on a proper analysis. I have usually found that my opinion differs for quick tastings or out with friends, vs full beers. Anyways, onto the new beer for the day:

Great stuff! Aromas and flavors of big grapefruit, tangerine, pineapple, peach, passion fruit, mango, papaya, lemon/orange peel, and pine hops; with some toasted bread/light honey malt; and herbal/floral/grassy hop earthiness. Moderate pine/herbal/citrus peel bitterness on the finish. Medium bodied; balanced sticky/resins and grainy creaminess in the mouthfeel. Light-moderate increasing resin dryness; zero astringency. Just absolutely huge dank hop flavors, off the charts. Tons of hop complexity and nice malty backbone. Will grab a single again. Wish they dated these cans. Mikkeller does these at Sly Fox now. 4


Continuing my never ending Short's review quest. This is my 121st unique. This is really nice. Poor head retention/lacing. Aromas and flavors of big ginger and lime; with light-moderate wheat/crackery malts; with some herbal, grassy, and peppery earthiness. Lightly bitter/spicy finish; some light lime tartness. Light-medium bodied; light grainy malt and stickiness in the mouthfeel. Crisp and dry finish; touch of lingering fruit acidity. Light building ginger heat through the glass. Very refreshing and balanced between lime/ginger flavors. This was a really well done Blonde ale. Will definitely enjoy the other 2 from the mix pack. 3.87


This was outstanding! Aromas and flavors of big sour cherry, berries, green apple, lemon, red grape, plum, fig, date, caramel, brown sugar, toasted bread, light nuttiness, hay, straw, oak, pepper, vanilla, funk, and light red wine vinegar. Light-moderately tart/spicy finish. Medium bodied; perfectly balanced acidity and creaminess in the mouthfeel. Lightly tannic and drying. Insanely smooth drinking for the level of alcohol. Little/zero warming on the finish. This is probably one of the most balanced Oud Bruins I have had in recent memory. I love it, hope they make it again this year. 4.25


Cheers, have a good night NBS

 

Maybe my last IPA of the night, see how I feel when I finish it. Enjoying my first full can from Other Half! Have to say I feel really lucky to try this beer, did not make it to the Other Half release yesterday but people at the Finback release were happy to hook me up with Other Half's freshest cans.

Enjoying some Other Half All Citra Everything, cracking the can just smelled like opening some citra hops, didn't taste as pungent, but still a great beer!

4.43/5 rDev +3%
look: 4 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25

16 oz can, dated 8/25/16, poured into a teku

A- A hazy copper with a two finger white head.

S- Pure citra goodness, as a poured it smelled like a just opened a bag of citra hops! As the head settles I'm getting citrus and tropical fruits mixed with that citra dankness and some caramel malts.

T- Citrus, grapefruit rinds, some tropical fruits, finish is dank but not too bitter, solid caramel malt backbone.

M- Smooth, medium to full body.

O- A solid citra IIPA. Only really issue with this is I wish it was a little drier to just showcase the citra hops, but with that being said I feel that this was one of the most pungent examples of citra hops when the can was opened!

★ 680 characters

Saw my girlfriend's favorite band last night, now spinning my favorite band, cheers!

 

Yeah, I think it was from mid July. Maybe the 11th or 12th, some of the cans were dated, some weren't. It's not my favorite Grimm DIPA, but I wanted to make sure I got at least one Grimm DIPA in there and that was the most recent. The funny thing, when we PMing about the box, I was going to tell you to drink this one first, but I didn't. I don't know how much of a difference it would have made, but I should have.

 

part of a recent online order..bottled 8/9/16...Galaxy,Citra & Simcoe hopped..definitely West Coast style..dank,citrus,pine..good..but not worth chasing..

 

Got to try this for the first time Friday, and I thought it was the best IPA I've had to date. I think it was the full package that came together, b/c I have had similar beers in nose, taste, and feel - but none all combined in a single beer so well.

And I am to understand the can art imagery is call a Droste Effect (which I only know due to the Alewerks chocolate stout so called that they made this year ).

 

Focal Banger is easily my favorite Alchemist brew, hits a lot of right notes for me. Crusher is great, but in a totally different way.

 

I'm back for a second new beer for NBS...cooling off nicely here, watching the Red Sox ruining my summer (it is a local thing). Thanks to @utopiajane for yet another outstanding lead post!

So...what is in the glass? I swear I didn't copy @TongoRad ...



But I bet he don't have that opener! This beer has been in the house for a couple or maybe a few months, lurking. I dont think the picture accurately captures the rose pink color tint to this beer. This is a three beer blend with cranberries and apricot. It is quite clear, fast flow of bubbles that fall quickly as I guess one should expect. Steady stream of bubbles from the bottom, though. I am assuming this is a riff on the Berliner Weisse, but different... Barrel aged sour on cranberries with apricot... Well, if there is one thing I know it is cranberries, and I am probably one of the few employees who remembers making Cranicot... On the nose, this beer reveals....almost nothing. A vague fruit aroma, and cranberry aroma is often called generic red berry, so I can buy that but wonder where the apricot is. As it warms, this grows stronger but still vague, with an odd hint of sweetness. Ok, no clues. The taste is only slightly sour to me, pretty tame. I can detect the bite of the cranberries and it strikes me as fresh rather than frozen...they do taste differently. It is a bright flavor, but rather weak. The cranberry phenolics bring their typical astringency, which plays nicely with the fruity sourness, and provides a bit of a peppery sting, then a touch of sweetness. The apricot shows up eventually and it is actually pretty strong and it builds. Not much sweetness, but it is there. Feel is refreshing, drying, but the apricot lingers quite a bit. Overall, I am undecided so will hold the official review. I have six more of these to play with...I like it, not sure how to score it, honestly. Style isn't clear to me...and ya know the apricot is getting a little annoying in the aftertaste...

@cavedave I completely agree about Copper Legend. Quite underwhelming.

The previously mentioned hound.

 

Likewise my friend!! Hope you have a great rest of year ahead.

 

Can't wait to try it. Funny thing is we both got focal and crusher from @mmorris15 !!
And he got his Dinner and Treehouse cherry popped. What an awesome beer karma day all around for Maine!!

 

The way life should be sent a Trillium his way too for that crusher, was a big one my hit list since I haven't made it to Vermont since the New brewery opened.

 

Another reason why Maine is the best.

 

The Trillium was unbelievable so thanks for that! Have you tried Lightning Tree yet?