New Beer Sunday (week 603)

Next NBS entry:



Dragon's Milk Bourbon Barrel-Aged Stout
New Holland Brewing Company
American Double / Imperial Stout / 11.00% ABV

3.71/5 rDev -11.2% | Avg: 4.18
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75

L-The beer pours a dark black with a mocha 2 finger head. Lacing is excellent and the head recedes to a thin film.
S- The bourbon is extremely strong on this one. There is some dark chocolate behind all the bourbon, but it is certainly playing second fiddle here.
T-The bourbon isn't quite as dominant here as it is in the nose. Because of this you get a little more chocolate than the nose. Still not overly complex. Almost no hop bitterness here. Really quite warm in terms of alchohol.
F- Despite the large head and prominent lacing the beer is thinner than I would have expected.
O- While not overtly bad, there are many other better bourbon barrel stouts out there. I probably would not buy this again given other choices.

 

New Beer Sunday: An American Wild Ale

Evenin' NBSers with special greetings to those BAs who like to drink on the wild side.

Well the weather forecast has proven right this time and both the temp and humidity have been going down.

This evening's New Beer number Two is the Apples & Pears from Draai Laag brewing over near Pittsburgh (almost local ).

My review, subject to change until the beer is finished can be found here:

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/27917/186046/?ba=drtth#review

This is an interesting wild ale from a brewery commited to brewing "wild by design." On the whole it's a subtle and nice ale, fairly unique with the apples and pears and full of interesting complexity. Definitely will have another before much longer. After buying this beer to put in the new beer queue, I was quite pleased to see that the brewer and his work are featured in this month's Beer Advocate Magazine. The article can be read here:

https://www.beeradvocate.com/mag/14332/dennis-r-hock-of-draai-laag-brewing-company/

Picking some appropriate music for this beer was fairly easy.

Apples & Pears

Cheers, all!

 

Isn't it just a beast of a beer? Glad you enjoyed it!

 

That time is also etched in my mind. There is a place near my office that had a clear view of the Trade Center and I saw it on 9/11/2001 as I drove by, about 15 minutes before the first plane hit. I remember the smoke for the next few days and the smell when the wind shifted to the west. It was a weird smell: a combination of masonry, plastic, and other weird things. For a couple of days, all we saw were air force planes in the sky. Everybody knew someone who died, including a friend who lost his sister and a friend of my son, whose Dad worked in Tower 1, and another friend's brother in law. It's hard to believe 15 years have passed.

 

How well they hit the flavors they are going for amazes me every time, I would love to learn how and when they add the fruit to their beers! Sometimes I'm a little skeptical about how they add the fruit, but then again I haven't had anything with artificial flavoring that tastes so good!

 

Cheers Corey. Sorry it didn't have maple syrup notes.

 

Spent the beautiful day at work but it wasn't so bad as the residents in the city I protect brought all sorts of goodies to munch on as ways of saying thanks. Makes me feel all warm, fuzzy and appreciated I guess.

my first and probably only NBS for the day is courtesy of @beertunes and his LIF box. Here we go...
Pours a golden orange, smallish head that leaves soapy laces down the glass. Smells of pineapple, clementine oranges, grapefruit pith. Taste of citrus, oranges, honey and melon. Finishes sweet and balanced.
Very drinkable for sure, goes down easy after a long day.
Cheers fellow NBSers!

 

Back with a second one - Rumble Seat IPA from Straight to Ale. This is one of three new beers from STA that they are doing specifically for Whole Foods.

Way too malty and overly bitter - not in a good way.

This is clearly a miss for me and my least favorite IPA from these guys. Maybe I need to find something else to refresh my palate.



https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/22655/248233/?ba=richj1970#review

 

Yep - it's a TW purchase. Good retail forensics!

 

Good evening NBS, hope everyone is enjoying the end of the weekend once again. Thanks to @utopiajane for getting us started off this morning. I got my new beer reserves stocked back up yesterday as my singles were getting a bit low. I should be good to go for a another month. Another week of work ahead, hopefully busy so it will make the days go by faster. No mountain biking this weekend with the rain yesterday, so I ended up doing tidying up the apartment yesterday. Did laundry today. Feels much better in here now.

New beers:

Very nice Wit! Aromas and flavors of lemon, orange peel, coriander, pear, apple, peppercorn, and clove; with moderate wheat/crackery malts; herbal/grassy spice and yeasty earthiness. Light-moderate peppery yeast and herbal bitterness on the finish. Light-medium bodied; nice grainy wheat creaminess and light spice stickiness in the mouthfeel. Fairly drying finish. Very flavorful and refreshing! Balanced yeast and spice against a solid malt backbone. I really enjoyed this one. Seems like they used a Saison yeast strain for this one, instead of the usual Hoegaarden one I am used to seeing; making this a bit unique and maybe dryer too. 3.9


Unique store find this weekend. This is 2014 Brandy Barrel pumpkin ale. Bottled on 10/31/14. Warehouse back stock maybe? They didn't have it last time I was there. Anyways, this was really nice! Aromas and flavors of caramel, brown sugar, honey, pumpkin, cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, gingerbread, and toasted oak; with some raisin/plum brandy fruitiness; and light coconut/vanilla barrel notes. Light balancing herbal bitterness/oak spiciness against sweetness on the finish. Medium bodied; fairly creamy; light barrel silkiness and spice stickiness in the mouthfeel. Lightly drying; mildly carbonated. Lightly warming barrel notes after the finish, but not boozy. I am impressed how well the spices held up in this. Very well balanced with the malt and brandy barrel influence. Very impressive. 3.9


JP collab with Monkish brewing. Apparently Cucurbitophobia is fear of pumpkins/gourds. Great fruited/wild saison as expected. Aromas and flavors of lightly tart lemon, blood orange, passion fruit, melon, pear, apple, coriander, and peppercorn; with moderate wheat/crackery malts; with oak, hay, straw, and a touch of funk/sea salt. Light-moderate tart/sourness, tangy wheat, and spicy yeast finish. Light-medium bodied; solid acidity and light grainy wheat/salinity in the mouthfeel. Increasingly drying and never astringent. Really impressive. Really great balance between a saison and wild ale style. Prominent fruit and spice presence. Very smooth with the balanced acidity. Zero complaints as expected. I don't think I've had a bad Jolly Pumpkin beer ever. 4


Cheers, have a good night NBS

 

Ha! We (meaning the GF, and I stole a few sips) got this at Max's Taphouse about a month ago. We both sorta assumed it was an import, not that it factored into her choice at all. I thoroughly enjoyed the beer in one of those "this is tasty and is pretty much what that claim it to be" ways. Agree a revisit is in the future for us as well .

 

#2 .....



I love the base beer, and this is exceptional, too. The pour is a jet black body propping up 1-1/2 fingers of tan head. The smell is chocolate and bourbon, and a little spice. I don't get any coffee.

The taste follows the smell, rich chocolate flavors, with the barrel smoothing things out. That is the difference between this and the base beer - the base beer has more spice flavors, this is more barrel.

And I love them both.

Rated 4.48.

 

Hello my NBS friends. It's been a beautiful day here in central Arkansas. We celebrated my son's fourth birthday today. (His birthday is tomorrow.) It was a great time. He's a beautiful, grateful, fun little boy, and I'm blessed to be his father.

Like many BAs here, 9/11 has had a profound impact on my life and it's direction. Isn't it amazing to think that no one in high school now and almost no one on college is old enough to remember that day.

Today's new beer is Greenbush Barrel-Aged VanderBush ale. It's described as an American triple brewed with Vander Mill Apple cider. My review is below, but first a word on Greenbush distribution. To the best of my knowledge there are only two ways to get their beer:
1) Go to Michigan and buy it.
2) Use their single-point national distribution center out of Valparaiso, Indiana, aka @Prager62 I think every time I see this beer on WBAYDN it's a result of his generosity. Thanks again, friend



Poured from a 12 ounce bottle dated 9/10/15 into a tulip. Pours a dark tan, almost the color of apple cider, appropriately. There was almost no head and no lacing, and yet the beer is fairly highly carbonated. The smell is malt, apples, barrel, alcohol, and something a little funky I can't quite place. The taste follows the smell almost perfectly. Certainly has that triple, malty taste along with tart apples and fairly strong oak barrel presence. The mouthfeel is not highly carbonated than I expected given the lack of head on the pour. Overall it's a good beer. I love the apples and the oak, but there's a certain funkiness I can't place that will take the score down a notch.

 

Hello NBSers! Here's to my first beer in a week, although I'm not at my best at the moment. I've had a weird head cold since Monday; weird because I haven't really been stuffed up, or sneezy, or runny or anything like that. It's been mostly a nasal drip/sore throat with a side of run down feeling. Needless to say, I've been taking it easy on the beers. Well, drinking them that is, not buying them .

Anyway, winding down from a great start to the football season got me in the mood for a little something nice-

...and that something had better go nicely with my mom's crumb cake .

I chose the Urban Family Harmony of Spheres mostly because I bought a second, which I'll try when I'm 100% able to judge (I'm still a little drippy, unfortunately, but I can breathe just fine). But for now, this beer is giving me exactly what I wanted from it. I'm getting a nice snappy tartness, good amount of funk, a nice balance of berry/cherry fruitiness,and lots of oak on the finish. I would hope for more definition among the cherry and blueberry, but that could just be me at the moment.

I'm enjoying this immensely, and can't wait to dig into it again. Cheers, all!

 

lol. Beast is an understatement. The damn thing is a CRUSHER!!! Lol.

 

If I were to change anything about this beer it would be to have it just a tad less tart and a bit more funky but otherwise, interesting combination of flavors so I'd say Draai Laag and their head brewer show a lot of potential. Going to see what else I can track down around here. Plus I'm going to put a bottle of this away for several months and see if the Brett character emerges a bit more. (No way I'm driving all the way to Da Burgh just for one brewery. )

 

Yeah, Jim should get a commission!!!

 

Definitely will second that feeling with homebrewing! I have learned a lot about the the ingredients involved and it has given me a decent amount of insight into what is going on with the "north east" IPA, mainly that they are heavily hopped with mosiac/citra hops and main towards the end of the boil and dry hopping. Also helped me learn a lot about the importance of different yeasts and how big of a decision it is in the brew process!

 

Urban Family is definitely in my top favorite new accessible breweries for the year that I have had. I have been a big fan of their Brett saisons and sours across the board. Just grabbed a Mosaic/Amarillo saison called Magnolia Redux this weekend too. Never been disappointed.

 

I really love those kinds of beers, and probably would have grabbed that one if I saw it. As it is, they're on my radar for sure- they are getting just the right amount of funk/tart according to my preferences!