New Beer Sunday (week 605)

Greetings, fellow NBSers, and thanks to @utopiajane for getting us going and for her altbier acclamation,

55 degrees and mostly cloudy in the city that is I-90's largest bathroom break between Seattle and Minneapolis. Supposed to hit 75 today. It was easily that warm yesterday when I was at the Inland Northwest Craft Beer Festival, held at the local minor-league baseball stadium.


On Friday night I was volunteering for Boundary Bay at the tent (awning, really) left of the Safelite sign. It was blustery and at one point raining, but not yesterday, when the weather was just about perfect for early autumn around here.

You can barely see a Ford Tri-Motor in the distance (never had my phone ready in time) that was taking up passengers for rides at nearby Felts Field all day. Kinda like going to a brewfest with an air show.

Today I'm planning to kick off with something from @gopens44, then hit a couple grunts I received from @beertunes via Janet of Boundary Bay (great lady, BTW, Terry ; hope she found a good place to watch the Dawgs from after). I've managed to create a backlog of hoppy beers in my fridge.

 

Nice start to today everyone! I'll be back after work with a nice stout. Cheers!

 

Maybe you could request your Dad to purchase some before then? I have serious doubts that these beers will still be on the shelves come November.

And yes Brauhaus Schmitz is a must visit. I have only drank beers there but I have heard good things about: "There were those rustic Nürnberger brats, coarsely ground and vibrant with aromatic spice,..."

http://articles.philly.com/2009-10-...7_1_german-culture-german-food-german-brewers

Cheers!

 

Great idea, I'll do that.

 

Good afternoon to all the NBS followers and thanks to @utopiajane for the as usual great and oh so had to follow send off.
I'm glad to see that some of the NBS BIF participants are starting to enjoy some of the great beer we all get to share. My first box will be headed out this week with a second box of fresh hops from a trip planned for later next week will go out on the 3rd of Oct.
Fall has finally come to NH as the temperature doesn't look like it will get out of the upper 50's today. I truly love this time of year an am for one glad to see some cooler temperatures. We'll make on more camping excursion to northern VT next weekend and then it will be time to put the camper away for the winter.
My beer for this Sunday came to me via a friend in the Locals this week and it is from O'so Brewing in Wisconsin. It is the Convenient Distraction. I hope to be able to be distracted by this beer again in the future.

4.21/5 rDev +3.2%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25

This beer pours a dark black color with a nice creamy tan head into my snifter glass. Beer was served at cellar temperature of about 58*.

The aroma to the nose is towards the vanilla bean and followed by the roasted coffee and the roasted malts used in this blend. I enjoy the forwardness of the vanilla bean.
The taste brings all the aromas in the nose together in a smooth blend. There is a little bitterness in the taste from the coffee I think but not strong enough to distract you from the really great flavor of this beer. The malts seem to bring forth a little chocolate which makes this an even greater beer. The taste is complex and yet wonderful to enjoy.
The mouth feel has perhaps a little to much carbonation for me but I always struggle to remember that this beer is a porter not a stout and should have a little more carbonation.
In all this was an enjoyable bottle of beer and I hope to be able to enjoy this again someday.
Well I have a couple of boxes to get wrapped and shipped out next week.
Beware of the Ninja's!

 

New Cream Ale Beer CAN Day

CANfound it! I am having difficulties in posting or messaging on the site on my PC, the tablet is unCANoperative, so now I am using my phone. 8={}

Please be forgiving if I am less verbose than usual.

Here are my reviews:

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/34779/155215/?ba=woodychandler#review

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/28255/156832/?ba=woodychandler#review

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/34779/155215/?ba=woodychandler#review

 

Heavy Melon

New Belgium Brewing
Fruit / Vegetable Beer / 5.00% ABV

3.38/5 rDev +1.8% | Avg: 3.32
look: 4 | smell: 2.75 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.5

L-The beer pours a clear gold with a fluffy 3 finger white head. The head recedes to a thin film leaving small islands of lace behind.
S-The nose has some weak watermelong and an almost buttery diacetyl presence.
T- The taste is made up some weak watermelon and a little lime tartness. Diacetyl in the nose is thankfully not present here.
F- Mouthfeel is light as is the carbonation. Would be refreshing on a hot day.
O- This is what it is. It's a hotweather lawmower beer for when you don't have anything better to drink.

 

Good afternoon NBS, hope all is well. Starting my lazy Sunday with Tired Hands Communication Is The Key Lime Pie!

4.34/5 rDev +1.2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

16 oz can poured into a teku

A- A hazy orange color with a two finger white head.

S- Lime juice and lime zest without being tart, some vanilla and graham crackers, getting citrusy and piney hops too.

T- Limes, lime zest, graham crackers, some vanilla, along with citrus hops up front and piney hops in the finish.

M- Smooth, medium body.

O- Classic IPAs flavors meet key lime pie, definitely a fun beer to try. Lives up to its description.

My girlfriend decided that a chinchilla needed to photobomb my first pic

Here's the full shot of just the beer, cheers!

 

Not sure why I continue to watch the Redskins with any optimism whatsoever, seeing as how they just can't football very well. Thankfully we have a decent World Cup of Hockey game happening right now as well.

So I picked up a few beers while in Maryland for my son's hockey games yesterday and today, including this 206 IPA from Oliver Brewing



Nice deep hazy orange beer with a decent foamy beige head. Foam is too slippery for any meaningful lacing.

Earthy, piney and some olive in the nose but not a ton else.

Taste follows along for the most part upfront with fairly strong green olive cutting through the pine but finishes with a some mango and grapefruit fun. Pungent, thick coating of bitter stays on the tongue for a good bit.

For whatever reason, this beer feels like the lovechild of Torpedo and Two Hearted. Pretty good.

 

Nice Car but would you like to share how the beer was with us. We really enjoy seeing how people taste beers differently.

 

Happy Sunday NBS players. A very cool but sunny day here on the island. Fall, has officially let it be known that she has arrived. I'm pretty much just watching mindless football all day long. Enjoying the early games right now, and starting to pre-game it up for the Jets game to come later.

My new beer today is Wolf Pup, a session ipa, from Golden Road brewing co in LA/CA. It has a package date of 8/5/16, and comes in at 4.5% abv.

An almost pure straw yellow color on the pour with a slight golden hew. No clarity and a light lingering white head. The nose, despite the cans claim, is pretty subtle. Hops, citrus, and slight malts.

A really light start on the drinking but I really get the characteristics of an ipa right away. Pretty smooth on the finish with a pretty defined malt build. Grains of paradise is my guess? It adds some sweetness to it as well. The hops are tangy, bitter, and full of citrus. Good fruit notes of orange, grapefruit, lemon, and pear. The hop bitterness really builds as the brew warms.
The mouth feel is light but not watery at all. Crisp, refreshing, and full of flavor.

Overall, a pretty good session ipa. It's nothing world changing but if a full flavored session ipa is your thing than you'll probably enjoy it. I'm right around a 4 on it,

 

What a beautiful Sunday, and a great start to NBS!

Yesterday I was the fortunate recipient of a fantastic BIF box from @jhartley , filled with new beers and breweries that I can't wait to try. First among them is this porter by Coppertail out of Tampa-

Coppertail Night Swim Porter

There seem to be too few beers like this on the shelves these days- porters that let the malts, hops and yeast do the talking. In general I find them much more interesting, as well as more suited to a session of drinking. More importantly, though, let's see how well Coppertail pulls it off...

Aroma is a nicely balanced blend of dark chocolate, raisins/dates, toffee and dried flowers, although slanted a bit too much to the dark fruits to my tastes. The palate follows through, while adding a velvety smooth texture, nice crack of bitterness and dry finish. Still, I'd like to see less of the dark fruits and fear that they might start to dominate over a couple of pints. But by the end of the glass, those fears are allayed as the dark chocolate and dry finish start to do their magic as the beer warms and my palate acclimates to the initially dominant flavors. I am left really enjoying the ride and would gladly pour another to continue. B+ (3.85)

Here's hoping your days are going as well as mine, and I'll be back in a bit!

 

New Oktoberfest Sunday



Lancaster Oktoberfest

Thanks to @utopiajane for the always expertly-done opening. Like someone else in this thread, my very first homebrew attempt was an altbier. I was impatient, bottled too early and it was overly malty. Saved a dozen or so bottles in the garage for almost two years, and they didn't approve any. Live and learn.

This fall, I've been lucky to tick quite a few new-to-me Oktoberfests, one of my favorite seasonals. While none have topped my favorite, Ayinger, I really enjoyed 49th State's Augtoberfest and found Sierra Nevada's collaboration this year an interesting change of pace.

This one from Lancaster Brewing is quite different from any I've had before.

It pours a clear, orange-tinted amber color with a finger-and-a-half of dense tan-tinted head. Pretty nice looking.

What surprised me is its roasty, burnt-caramel aroma, which has just a hint of sweetness behind. It reminds me of an early malt-forward stage in the homebrewing process -- sort of like my failed altbier attempt, although not nearly that extreme.

The same profile in the aroma continues to the taste, although less intensely so. It's got a moderately bitter aftertaste, and is pretty light bodied considering how malty both the smell and flavor are.

This one definitely caught me off guard. As said before, it's not like any Oktoberfest I've had before. Not to overstate it, but it's almost like a Scotch Ale up front with an amber Marzen behind. I'm still trying to get my head around it. It's definitely the most malt-forward festbier I've had without being too sweet. It's much less sweeter than Great Lakes, Hacker-Pschorr or even Ayinger, for instance. Outside on a cold fall day, it could be a real winner. I'm enjoying it enough watching football from my couch.

Enjoy your afternoons, BAs. Go Eagles.

 

Oregano oil, my friend. Heat up some water. Put a few drops in the water. Breathe in the vapors. Miracle worker.

 

Pours a straw yellow with a fluffy white 2 finger sticky head that leaves plenty of lace. Not sure when it was canned and 7% ABV. 4

Smell is lemon, pear, passion fruit, a little pine, biscuit, and grapefruit. 3.75

Taste follows tropical flavors upfront, some biscuit, a tiny amount of pine and grapefruit. 3.75

Mouthfeel is less than medium, moderate amount of life, not dry, and excellent drinkability. 3.5

Overall they havery no business calling this a West Coast IPA, very little bitterness. It is a solid beer, but definitely not really memorable. That being said I have no idea when it was canned, so maybe it is on the older side. 3.75

 

Looks and smells more orange than it tastes.
From what I gather, the orange isn't the "juice added" type but rather it's supposed to derive from the hops. This may explain for the faintness of the orange flavor. Granted, some reviews I read felt that the orange taste was very much in your face. From my perspective, I'm not getting it.
Over the top oranginess in the flavor? Not so much, but still a solid IPA. And fresh - date on the can is 12/15/16.

 

Next up is actually "nexts" up. Both are from the same brewery, and I have had one before. The other I am not sure if I had have, but I have no reviews to indicate it, so you guys must endure my post (or at least the need to scroll past it ).

The brewery is Off Color, and has been available in the DC area for a little while. I am going to compare their Gose to their Berlinerweiss. I have indicated in the past what I consider the differences to be - in general the Gose is a bit more tart, aided by the salinity, while the Berliner shows a little more of the wheat malt with varying degrees of tart/sourness.

So here it is, Toublesome (Gose) vs Fierce (Berliner) (actually makes for a mean battle tagline, no?):


Look:
For some odd reason, the Berliner billowed with head. The Gose had a small white head, but it actually lasted a while, which is something that doesn't happen in a few Gose I have had. Troublesome is a little whiter shade of pale golden, but is also just a tad clearer.

Nose:
Fierce has a little white bread sweet note combined with a tart note that has an interesting sweet-tart interplay that is enticing. The Gose, Troublesome, also has a lightly sweet note, but the tartness is not as strong, and is actually quite muted. There's also a light scent of the sea - but it's more like when you are still a half hour out from the beach condo and get that first impression you are getting close.


Feel:
Both of these beers are light, and Troublesome has a little more carbonation tickle. Fierce has more of a hard water feel to it.

Taste:
The Berlinerweiss, Fierce, is on the tart side of Berliners in my experience. But it still has that balance of the wheat malt in the profile to resemble my personal "guidelines." The Gose, Troublesome, is actually missing the tart to even sour note I expect from a Gose. It's got a little tang at most, one that feeds into the salt and coriander quite nicely, but is missing some oomph. Also, in many sips the coriander takes over a little more than I'd like.


Overall:
So Off Color also uses oats in their Troublesome Gose, which might not be traditional. This is one of the few cases where I think I actually perceive the smoothing effects of this addition. Fierce is a very drinkable, soft beer with a decent flavor profile, but for me seems to be missing a certain level of tartness.

The Fierce Berliner is a nice beer, providing a nice tartness level while still having the wheat beer backing to not be one-dimensional. The girlfriend mentioned she liked Fierce better, and I think I probably have to agree with her. Both are enjoyable beverages, however.

Back to football and hopefully a daily fantasy win (though my team is not starting the second half too well ).

 

Good Morning NBS.
Thanks Maria @utopiajane for the informative and eloquent start.
We have a house guest, an active little Pug named Gidget. She's a funny, loving, spunky little character. This is nice for us, because we'll probably remain dogless until summer. My girls are desperate to have dogs again (as am I), but I need to wait until summer to adopt. That's when I'll have time to train and acclimate any dog(s) to our family. Sadly, by the time that happens, more than a year will have passed since we lost our last beloved pooch. So this has been nice to have a bit of canine magic in our home.

In other news, gathering cans for my first salvo, and sorting bottles for the second. NBS BIF #4 is really getting fun.

I'll be back later with a beer...or 2.

 

Given the obnoxious abv (16%) of this one, it may be my last NB for this S. It's from a Lithuanian brewery that i quite honestly don't feel like spelling out, but the beer's name is Fuggin' Awesome (that's the name, not an adjective for the yet to be named name) so it's pretty easy to track down even without the brewery name.



I tried my best to generate some head and came away with just a bit more than a thin fleeting foaminess over this clear ruby red lager.

Nose reminds me of what that stuff in "Stretch Armstrong" smelled like. For those of you that never pulled one apart, I'll describe; caramel, very sweet fig, toffee and that fluffy white Christmas candy called divinity.

Immediate cherry taste that gets bullied out of the way by heat. Secondary taste is not too different from Robitussin. Specifically, the expectorant.

Body is thin yet mealy, and the aftertaste is like rubbing alcohol. I'd dump it but I kind of want to see what 16oz. (+\-) of 16% does to my enjoyment of dumb plays by the Redskins.