New Beer Sunday (week 602)

Good morning Dave and thanks for getting us started today. When are you going to really retire? I can't picture you standing still anyway. The temperatures are finally a bit cooler here and that means night time is finally comfortable again. I took down my air conditioner a while ago because it takes up my kitchen window and I hate not being able to look out. We have only one more heatwave coming ( so far anyway) and that will be a piece of cake because it does cool down at night. I swore I would not talk about it but I am a girl so . . . Ithaca has had what I like to call "no weather" for the past few years. No rain. The month of september could be completely dry and that is a game changer as far as anyone's opinion concerning global warming.

The lager is an extreme beer. I'll be back!

 

New Beer Suday: A Flanders Oud Bruin from NY (or not?).

Mornin' NBSers, with special greetings to those who like classic (but sometimes hard to find ) Belgian Styles. Thanks @cavedave for the early start.

Well the weather there today is sort of on hold as we wait to find out what Hermine is going to do to the NJ coast and further inland in SE PA. We may get lots of rain, we may not, it depends. We may get lots of wind, we may not, it depends. It may be sunny, but then it might be cloudy, it depends. (And so on. )

This morning's new beer is Rosetta, a Flanders Oud Bruin from Ommegang. Since this beer is a bit of acollaboration between the brewmaster at Ommegang and the folks at Leifman's in Belgium, where it is brewed, it basically is the Ommegang version of a Flanders Oud Bruin, one of the beer styles that made Leifman's worth the money and effort it took Duvel Moortgat to bring them (and Goudenband) back from death's door.

As usual, my review, mostly finished is here:

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/42/188719/?ba=drtth#review

On the whole I like this beer and it is making a nice morning treat before finishing off the preparation of breakfast for several people. Lots of cherry and some definite malt sweetness kept mostly under control by a touch of tartness. Seems a nice flavorful beer to have more than once but not more than one at a time. I'll definitely be buying more to see what happens with a bit of age.

Our week long family guests leave today to go back home as school starts on Tuesday after the holiday. (Which also means there's a good chance I'll be back this evening with a second new beer for today. )

For a variety of reasons I won't detail I've been "challenged" ( ) to do breakfast today. So with a bit of role reversal from last Sunday I'll be looking to at least match the popularity of what I was helping with/watching last NBS. So.... in final stages of prepartion is breakfast for all. If someone takes on the the full range of food (self serve) there will be a short stack of pancakes made using homemade sourdough starter and to be topped with some fresh butter and maple syrup to taste. To go with that there are some Trader Joe’s Jalapeño Chicken Sausages and a scoop of scrambled eggs prepared with a bit of diced onion and chopped green sweet peppers added near the end of the scramble to preserve a touch of crispness.

In keeping with the definite cherry flavors of the Rosetta, here's a bit of relaxing cherry blossom music to calm the mind.

Cherry Blossom Music

Cheers, all!

 

breakfast sounds wonderful! =)

 

Have a huge beer tasting with several buddies scheduled for this afternoon

Lots of new to me beers from side project, perennial, the veil, Jackie o, wicked weed, and a bunch of others

I'll try to recap here

Happy nbs! The best Sundays are those followed by a holiday.

 

Thanks!

We're about to find out what the eaters here think.

 

I enjoyed Rosetta but have yet to make a repeat purchase. Went to look at my review and... none!

I will have to correct both in the future.

I did see your review, of course, and it seemed familiar. I recall thinking it was a beer my mom might actually not hate, which would mean the sweet notes were a little more prevalent than the tart - I'm thinking. Memory and this info would lead me to think the tart was more like the kiss of a squeeze of lemon in a tea (strength more than flavor) versus say an Arnold Palmer or straight up lemonade.

Would that horrible attempt at an analogy regarding the tart notes hold true with you?

 

So yesterday morning my family and I had a bit of a scare with the 5.6 magnitude earthquake that hit Oklahoma. This trend is starting to get a bit scary and I will have to purchase earthquake insurance very soon. Oh well. I have no fewer than 6 new beers left over from my purchases Friday, so I thought I'd start with one of my favorite styles this morning from Fort Collins Brewing. Their Oktoberfest weighs in at 6% ABV.

It pours a light caramel color with a nice cream colored head. However after settling to a bubbly film, it eventually disappears completely with no trace of lacing. It smells like soggy sweetened cereal, lightly toasted bread, and an afterthought of toffee. It tastes exactly the same. Wet toasted bread, sweet malts, and barely any hints of caramel or toffee. The spicy hops slowly emerge, offering at least a little more taste. The mouthfeel is thin and watery.

Overall, I generously rates this 3.06. I'm not a fan. Maybe I have high expectations for the style, maybe I'm finally learning how to be a beer snob -- but I did not care for this. I'll drink the other 5 cans because it's still beer, but I look forward to diving into some of my favorite marzens next week. I will try to be back later, because I hate reviewing meh beer on NBS. I have a new pilsener from Germany I'd like to share. Cheers!

 

Thank you Dave for getting NBS #602 off to a rousing start.
The hot spell has broken and we've been able to sleep without the air conditioner running. It actually feels cool outside this morning. Still no rain, and it looks like we only have a small chance of any precipitation from Hermine.
Mrs Wiens and I are going to visit my mother today. I've been a negligent son and haven't been by to see her for three weeks. We are still trying to convince her to move in with us. She alternates between being receptive to the idea and saying the only way she'll leave her condo is feet first. She is almost 92 and, while mentally sharp, she is getting more and more frail. We will continue our discussion with her.
Today's new beer is Stone Citracado. This is their 20th anniversary beer. The bottle I have was bottled on 8/6/2016.
In a snifter it is a dark amber color with a small tan head.
Aroma is citrus and tropical fruit, and honey. There is a bit of pine also.
The taste is pineapple and honey, with a late hit of grapefruit. Nice malt background.
A smooth, medium-bodied beer, easy to drink. It is on the sweet side.

 

Well since I've never had an Arnold Palmer....

But your description is much what I was also trying to say. The tart keeps the sweetness in check and makes it tolerable, but there's not quite enough tart for my taste so one beer is plenty given the sweetness.

 

Here we go! Green Flash Sea to Sea Lager. The can is dated best by 12/18/2016. I bought it a while ago and it's been ogled. It's past what many lager fans believe is the end of it's shelf life and I bought it because it was in a can and because I actually believe in the freshness date on it as far as the lager in cans is concerned and in general because of the style of hopping. Low to moderate hops. This is a zwickel lager made with German pilsner malt, Hallertau Mittlefurh and Czech Saaz hops. They say a notable yeast so maybe that means a house strain not necessarily theirs?

Ok so off topic a bit, in my beer world the grocery has just changed everything about the beer section. There is a new distributor I hear. There are more selections that resemble the selections you find in the bottle shop. The mainstays are still there but the way it's organized is different. Now it is alphabetical instead of geographical region. It seems like there is more beer, but is there really? They have two huge palates taking up space where there used to have shelves full of beer. That's not actually more beer but there do seem to be all kinds of new choices. The imports section is the same. Didn't change at all and I want some of that Spaten oktoberfest. Let me tell you how that influences my buying habits as I think of it later, in other non related threads.

OK . . .



Soft nose. Breaddy with a nice toasty brown bread crust.l Sweet herb from hop. Cool. Earth and mild sulfur and spice. A bit of malt richness. A little sweetness.

Taste follows the nose. Breaddy. Soft hop with a low presence from hop on the palate but it is striking. Saaz ares sweet leafy herb, the hallertau are spicy earthy and floral. Crisp bubble , clean , no diacetyl, faint dms. Delicate flavors but a hearty mouthfeel.

Lightly hazy, pale golden yellow undertone. Bubbly soapy head , creamy on top. Excellent presentation. Lace is clinging.



I drank it pretty fast and I could go for another. As far as hops fading, these are not that faded from their low to moderate presence and the features that make the noble hop distinct are alive and well. Good clean bitterness lasts and takes the flavors away to leave the bread or the malt. This was an exemplary beer. No fruity esters, that hint of sulfur makes it appealing and authentic to me and opens the palate at the end so it goes well with food. No fruity hop flavors except for the characteristic light lemon. It should only be in the finish and not all over the palate. Brewers used to say the lager takes too much time, too much space and is not a good investment on the shelf either. I think it is. I think lasts longer than you think as compared to an IPA that has to be drunk today or else AND you can drink a lot of it , a surprising whole lot of it!

Booker T and the Mg's

The lager is an extreme beer. Happy New Beer Sunday !

 

And, we're back... (after maintenance)

Two for two today on beers others are having that I've had!

First off, the presentation of you beer is much better than my notes of the same beer (on tap). From those notes, one line stands out: seems like a "lager version of a session IPA," which I recall writing and meaning I wished I got more malt flavor from the beer.You mentioned a bready quality, but not much else on that front before getting to the hop profile. Seems like maybe there's a little confirmation in my thoughts of the malt profile being lacking, perhaps??

Edit: I swear it was two for two based on what I was seeing, though there are obviously posts in between I missed. I'll blame the maintenance schedule, yeah! That's it!!

 

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Good lookin' aht! as my once upon a time students might say. As the founder of The CANQuest (tm), I have not seen this one as yet, although we get FCB distro here in LNCPA. Your opinion is spot-on. FCB is a total hit-or-miss brewery, IMHO, just like Atwater. I am curious to try this one, but not anxious. Thanks for the heads-up!

 

Good Morning Everyone,
Been reading the posts and living vicariously through y'all this morning. Gotta have my pot of joe first, then will imbibe a brew happily along side all of you. Be back later!

 

Summer of Pilsners – Another Pilsner this week

The beer this week has a rather long name: Bell's Quinannan Falls Special Lager Beer.

There is a rather poetic and strange story from Bell’s Brewery about this beer:

“Literally born in a dream: Larry Bell, president and founder of Bell’s Brewery, dreamt that he was at the mystically hidden retreat of Quinannan Falls, somewhere in the boreal north.

Neither Quinannan Falls nor the beer actually existed outside his imagination, but he remembered enough about it to sketch a recipe and label, which was put into full form by Michigan artist Kathleen Kalinowski, the following morning.

The end result is a dry-hopped lager that possesses a crisp, dry bitterness you would expect from a German pilsner, but the use of highly aromatic Simcoe hops from the Pacific Northwest, evoke the fragrant pine forests that inspired this beer.”

Based upon the above verbiage I am going to guess that Larry Bell is a fan of the movie director David Lynch.

I underlined a portion of the above story to emphasize my personal opinion that this beer drinks like a Pilsner. On BA this beer is categorized as am American Pale Lager but needless to say I disagree here.

No matter how you label a beer they real test is what is inside the bottle, or can in this particular case. Let’s drink!!

Served in my Polish Pilsner glass:

Appearance:

Straw colored with a big long lasting white head.

Aroma:

The first impression is the aroma of Pilsner malt then light to moderate aromas of floral and grassy hops are present in the nose.

Taste:

The taste is a combination of cracker/bready malt flavor accompanied by floral/grassy hop flavors. There is a light to moderate amount of bitterness present.

Mouthfeel:

Moderate carbonation, light- moderate body with a very pleasant dry finish.

Overall:

This is a very nicely balanced beer between the cracker/bready malt backbone and floral/grassy hops flavor. I really, really like this beer!!

Cheers to Bell’s Brewery for packaging this beer (in cans no less)!

@zid @rotsaruch @KOP_Beer_OUtlet @nc41 @RobH

 

Good morning New BSers! I see my previous post is gone, so let's try to replicate it before I lose functionality again.

$ 11.90 (including tax)/bomber ($ 0.541/oz) at Spec’s in Shertz,TX
Undated bottle at 42 degrees into a hand washed and dried JK snifter, allowed to warm to 50 degrees
Aroma – odd for a RIS – incredibly faint roasted malt and some perfume. Fortunately, the perfume stench disappears after a short time exposed to the air
Head large (Maximum 5.5 cm, aggressive pour), light brown, creamy with rocks, diminishing to a four mm ring and a heaped partial creamy layer with rocks
Lacing – poor. A few small islands of tiny bubbles are scattered around the glass
Body dark brown/black, opaque
Flavor – very light roasted malt, slightly sweet initially but approaching sourness on the tail end. No hops, no alcohol, no diacetyl (although a little might have helped)
Palate medium to full, creamy approaching syrupy, soft carbonation

An odd take on the style - perhaps if it were named “Trotsky’s Revenge” it would be more fitting. The sourness is too weak to be a style statement like New Braunfels makes with every one of theirs and just seems to be a flaw. Ignoring the initial perfume and the sourness, this would be an average RIS.

As it is –

Appearance 4, Aroma 2.75, Flavor 2.75, Palate 4, Overall 2.75, Rating 2.94.
Avg 3.27, rDev - 10.1%.

 

@JuicesFlowing: And one to you, also, sir. The CANQuest (tm) welcomes one & all without question.

 

Good Morning, rest of NBS! After reliving a couple of past beers this AM, I am on to a new one for myself. I had to cut yesterday's frivolities short as my stomach suddenly started feeling a bit sour. Of course (and surprisingly) the worst of it passed just about the time we got home . Either way, I wasn't willing to test the waters any more yesterday. However, today, I figured I fight sour with sour:


My initial pours of Lindeman's Oude Kriek Lambic Ale were interesting. The first I went more cautious and the beer grew a head that you see in the left picture. I took a quick shot, and it faded to the levels you see in the right picture. The second glass I poured more aggressively, and the head stuck around long enough for me to grab a GIF (an amazing sight, too - since I never doctor my photos):




Ok, fun aside: the beer did look quite nice, although a little deeper in color than I expected. It came across as the color of a lighter red wine. You can see that the deeper pink head fades to a pink-hued white (before reforming ). The etched Allagash glass provides some level of head throughout the pour. The beer's color prevents light for the most part, but I feel this isn't the clearest beer (though it is hard to tell).

Nose starts off more tart to tangy to cheesy than I expected. Getting into it, though, yields the cherry note that I expected to be more obvious. Once I notice it, thought, it is hard to miss any more. I also continue to get the notes of the wild beer itself.

The taste follows the nose in its initial hiding of the cherry from my sense. In this case, however, the cherry side of the sour cherries does a decent job of continuing to be elusive. The sour (leaning just that side of the tart/sour line) notes come along with their heckling of the taste buds until they shy away (though they do not run).

The flavor seems to almost want to head towards a vinegar note when something comes in to redirect it. I think this is the sour cherry, which turns the beer (in a very relative sense) towards a slightly sweeter path. Lemon sourness, sour cherry accent, tanin-like grape (or I guess probably cherry) skins, light hint of a white vinegar, and a light cheesy note at the very end.



A quite enjoyable beer that was actually a little more sour than I expected. I think I want to do a side-by-side of this with the Oude Geueze of theirs I reviewed a couple weeks back. Not that I think or know that this beer is related to the other, but I hope to note some similarities and think it might help me note the cherries even more.