New Beer Sunday (week 602)

Greetings NBS! There's a first time for everything, and so this is my first formal mobile post in one of these threads! Hanging with some friends at Armsby Abbey and going through stuff I haven't had on the taplist. Oxbow's Crossfade (blended Brett fermented, dry hopped saison) called out to me.

Poured a nice super-pale yellow with a tall bone-white head that sinks to a finger with some light, spotty lace. Hazy and a bit unassuming.

Nose is very funky, very herbal and rustic with a lot of grassy notes, some lemon rind and even slight tannic notes. The funk elements almost approach a rind-like, cheesy aspect which is a bit weird. Slight chalky aspirin.

Taste is heady pine and herbal-botanicals with a dose of Brett funk and crackery malt. Powdery aspirin notes come through from the nose along with a slight herbal hop and dryness in the finish.

Feel is pretty light-bodied with passive carbonation which is surprising considering the Brett forward disposition. Still, I do enjoy how drinkable this is. Originally it came off as a bit too funky for me but it's calming down a bit over time. Not bad but probably won't revisit it any time soon. Cheers!

 

Good afternoon NBS! Last weekend when I was out of town, Bellefonte (right around the corner from me) had an oak aged weekend and the brewer was kind enough to set aside a growler of the rye whiskey barrel aged rye tripel for me!

Bellefonte Oaked Trippel
4.28
3.5/4.25/4.5/4/4.25

32 oz growler poured into a tulip

A- A murky reddish brown with minimal head.

S- Banana bread, hints of cloves, some earthy spice, oak, nice touch of whiskey.

T- Sweet, bananas, bread, some rye, hints of citrus, slightly earthy, oak, and finish has a nice whiskey kick without being overwhelming.

M- Smooth, medium to full body.

O- A very tasty barrel aged tripel, very enjoyable and easy to drink.

 

Sierra Nevada Oktoberfest brewed in collaboration with Mahrs Brau in Bamberg Germany.@Squire123 has already written this brew up to and my feeling about it are pretty much the same. This beer did not wow the way last years Oktoberfest did. That's only because i expected this beer to be great and it is.
Sierra Nevada is an amazing brewery. Drinkers hold them to the highest standards and they always meet them.

 

Greetings, people!

Sunny and warm (mid-to-upper 70's) with a slight breeze here on LI - quite a nice day for a white IPA, like Narragansett's Lovecraft-themed White Ship... Opened my first a little earlier in WBAYDN... When able, I'm partial to a "one for you and one for review" approach to new beers, and I'm glad I had two cans of this to drink today...

You're going to have to be ready to tread the line between evaluating this as a witbier and as an IPA, as the "white IPA" strives to bring the two together. So I'm evaluating this in terms of how effectively this beer marries the two.

Fluffy white head sits atop a lightly hazed golden body. Arms of lace trail down the glass and some foam persists all the way to the end. Aromas and flavors go hand-in-hand, delivering a combination of crackery biscuits and grapefruit pith. Relatively dry and modestly bitter, it brings hints of earthy spice and maybe a bit of something sharp akin to coriander into the mix. The feel is medium-light, the carbonation moderate. Aftertaste is clean and refreshing, giving the beer a nice drinkability.

"Belgian IPA" is an apt categorization for the beer and I enjoyed drinking a couple on this warm late summer day...

Cheers, NBS - here's to a new beer in your glass...

 

Isn't that part of your normal Sunday routine?

 

Just the blades. I like to go au natural.

 

Happy labor day weekend nbs players. A pretty nice, warm, and sunny day here on the island. Lots of hoopla over this fucking tropical storm/hurricane. Who the hell gets to name these things anyway? I can barley pronounce it. I think it's much to do about nothing but I guess since the disaster of Sandy the media/gov't has to go ape shit over any possible storm now. So far it's a little windy, and probably not a good idea to go for a dip in the ocean.

Anyway, great to have a Sunday that isn't really a "Sunday." Not doing too much today but I plan to knock back plenty of brews. Might have to go out to dinner with the fiance too but that's just more beer and good food.

My new beer today is another offering out of the Sam Adams fall party pack. It is Bonfire Blonde, that comes in at 5.5% abv and has a Jan notch.

A nice golden/straw yellow color on the pour with fast carbonation and full clarity. The nose is pretty decently floral with smoke, yeast, and pale malts. Lots of pale malt carry over on the first sip. Deep smoke flavor comes on strong right upfront. The finish is soft, fruity, and clean. Big flavor notes of smoke, char, bread, lemon, and yeasty mash. The mouth feel is moderate/light but the flavors really stick to the palate and linger nicely.

Overall, this isn't bad at all. The flavors are rather complex and they really work. If you don't like smoke, or even blonde ales, you'll hate it. I think the SA fall pack has been rather disappointing. It looks really good but many of the options just don't deliver. I've got one more brew to get finish the 12 pak off. I'm in the 3.5 range here,

 

Great pics!!!

 

Well, my exciting development will have to wait a bit, as a friend just texted me, asking if I wanted to go hit the North Fork. Any chance I get to visit our area Brewery, Pizzeria, Beer Shrine and Wedding Chapel is one I grab: http://www.northforkbrewery.com/ .

I'll be back later, to share a gift from the dry side of my state.

 

Anywhere that makes beers like Electric Berryland and also does pizza is a destination not to be ignored.

 

Back for my second post! Drinking a strange "experimental double IPA" by a very talented young brewery out of Orange, MA. I present Honest Weight's Another Green World (not to be confused with the Brian Eno album of the same name )! A Brett fermented IPA made with an interesting malt bill (Munich, rye and oats are all included) and several new world hops (Topaz, Ella, Motueka, Hüll Melon)... Let's see how it stacks up, shall we?

The pour is a surprisingly dark burnished copper color with a tight khaki head and spotty, chunky lacing. Mildly hazy appearance but overall a nicely presented beer. Not sure it really fits the "P" part of the IPA denotation but I'll roll with it.

Nose is sufficiently bizarre with a huge lime presence (Motueka's pretty well known for this from what I remember) and a lot of tropical fruit and spicy rye. Moderate ethanol. Pretty weird for sure. Some conflicting notes (tropical + rye is an unusual combo to me) but overall pretty solid.

Flavor is very interesting with chewy malt notes, some caramel and passion fruit with earthy rye. Tons of lime zest and bright citrus. Intense pine too. Kind of going all over the place. Very fruity but caramel-malt biased in the middle of the palate. Sort of like a "new school" take on the American Strong Ale (aka Arrogant Bastard esque mutt ale with equal parts malty strength and hoppy forté).

Feel is chewy with low-medium carbonation. Interesting beer. Another I probably won't revisit but I'm glad I got it. Sounds like the brewery took a ton of unique, different ideas and combined them all. Works better than expected, and I'm glad it's not just a generic DIPA, but there could be more focus here IMO.

Cheers!

 

I've only recently become aware of Motueka myself. It's the star of the show in my favorite local brewery's "standard" IPA, Headbutt, a beer that I've kinda glossed over in the past in favor of their DIPA, but have sorta "rediscovered" lately. It's balanced by some more traditional PNW hops, but it gets things off to a delicious, "juicy" start.

 

Wow, Kemo. Bringing the eolquence hard yo!!!

 

Ok, after brunch, time for another new beer for me. I had seen this one recently on that other thread, but since my palate has been lukewarm to the mixing of tea with beer, I have passed it up in the stores. We decided to take the plunge when the GF and I saw it together and both considered buying it. This is Jungle Boogie by Marz Community Brewing (of Chicago). This beer is apparently contract brewed at Against the Grain out of Louisville, KY.


This beer pours looking like a nice cold, mildly cloudy iced tea. I do not know how intentional that is, but it's an interesting touch. The can showed off a light tan to brown head as much as the beer itself. My beer held its head longer, and had a lot of lacing, while the GF's beer's lacing was a bit more spotty. The head remains as a beige cap atop both, min a little thicker than hers (on glass was cleaned and rinsed, the other was clean from the cupboard).


I figured I'd do a little research, and:

This doesn't mention using it in beer. There also wasn't much on the profile of said tea in that article, but I found this in an NPR article:

Wow, that's a lot of reading!

Me, I definitely get the tea in the nose. If I didn't know there were tea in this, I might think it seemed a bit like an oxidized highly piney hoppy beer. The situation reminds me a little of when people suggest lightly sour (Oud Bruin) beers to wine drinkers, where the notes that make those beers "good" might be considered off in the target drinker's beverage of choice.

A medium dense, well watered forest ground is what I get the impression of. Herbal, woody, and a tad musty. The scent is decently pungent, and I am not sure which notes come from the tea and which from the Mosaic hops, but I'm also not sure it matters. I get a light lemon scent at the edge as well.

The beer itself is not as powerful as the nose on the opening. In fact, the opening is a light, soft, almost neutral flavor - with maybe just a hint of that lemon and the foreshadowing of the tea to come. It really takes until mid taste for the flavor of the additions (and bitterness of the hops) to grab traction. And boy, does it. A little bit of mud is thrown from under the tires of the tea and hop truck, but the truck leaves tracks across my tongue. More woody than herbal - but a combination of both that does eventually join to be, well... tea-like. Green, grassy herbs and pine wood bitterness jump into the mix next. A drying feel with a light/thin resin film seems to coat my palate after each sip.

An interesting beer, to be sure. My initial sips were somewhat disappointing - as mentioned, it gave me the impression of an out-of-date hoppy beer. Given some time to analyze it a little, I began to appreciate it more, and even started to like it. I think if you like bitter teas, this may work quite well for you. In fact, I think it opens as a light beer, but comes across to me more as a "malted tea" in the end (a much better one than those Twisted Tea concoctions ).

 

Albeit new to me, this certified classic Belgian ale is in fact the real deal.

Aromas and Flavors consisting of Brandied Fruitcake, Cherry Cordial, Port Wine along with some Caramel/Toffee makes this a decadent brew.

Even more impressive is the Medium body for a beer clocking in at 10.5% ABV. Coupled with the balance achieved between the sweet malt backbone and hop bitterness, Gulden Draak makes for one highly drinkable offering. Not only will I be revisiting this one in the near future, I am excited to try Van Steenberge's Gulden Draak 9000 Quad.

 

Good morning BA's been awhile since I have posted in NBS, Sunday's have for some reason been very busy but today is a day for relaxing and drinking beer and hanging out by the pool. This morning I am getting started with a Sam Adams Maple Ale. I bought this yesterday in a make your on sixer. This was a good beer, just nothing amazing I was disappointed I did not get more maple but it was still worth a try.





Appearance - Deep clear amber color almost like honey, decent tan head lasted several minutes, The head dissipated to nothing but with a quick swirl came back well, the lacing was spotty.

Smell - I was disappointed there was very little maple in the smell, getting some caramel a little bit on vanilla as well. There also seems to be a toasted nut aroma and a little toffee.

Taste - The first thing I got before it warmed was banana or clove maybe, that seemed to disappear as it warmed. I am still not getting as much maple maybe more of a molasses flavor. There is also some caramel and toffee coming out.

Feel - Medium body, well carbonated slightly creamy.

Overall - The flavors changed a good bit for me as it warmed but the maple just never showed up as much as I expected. I like the flavor and feel but the smell was just a bit weak. Overall this is a good beer and the flavors do not overpower each other they work well together.

 

Hi all..

Up at the beach ,and I haven't participated lately in NBS. Last weekend I got away to Toronto and before that I was somewhere else I can't remember..

So.. No stiens I am afraid, my collection is all at home.. Also I am chilling out at the beach, so with much of the new beers and technology writing gizmos not here.

You ever play badminton in 40mph winds? It's kind of fun actually.

But while I am here I have managed a few new brews.. Let's see what is new for our hero


Real Ale Revival - Groove City Hefeweizen

Poured from the can into a tumbler.

Pale orange, with a nice unfiltered like body. Real nice creamy classic bright white head, a bit small in stature. Settles to a small but solid thin Puck.

Nice banana smelling nose and classic. Slightly lemon but also a bit grainy on the nose. Solid aroma though.

Palate seems to be a bit classic but with some odd character. Peppery mid palate but also nice soft chewy wheat like malt texture and sweetness. Finishes a bit bubbly which also gets into a more pepper and gas for an odd flavor combination.

A decent beer but a little bit of an odd flavor for a hefe.

look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75

Cheers All!

 

Awesome read, Thanks!

 

Good choice! Gulden Draak's one of my favorites. I've never had the 9000 either, but I imagine it's divine.

 

Hi All! I'm back. My new beer for this Sunday is an American Wheat Ale from Rockingham Brewing Company called Curly's Gold. Besides being a great county to grow up in, it's a great county for beer as well. I purchased this beer from Barb's Beer Emporium in Concord, NH, and have been eyeing it all week. I like the artwork and the material of the can. It poured into my glasses a hazy blonde, with a light foamy head. It had a funky aroma when I cracked the top, but the taste was of subtle hops that stayed about the peripheral of the tongue after swallowed. There was a tinge of something else I could taste, but I couldn't quite identify it. Definitely bright, refreshing, with a bit of carbonation. A candidate for a six pack.