New Beer Sunday (week 610)

Hello NBS compadres. It's been a beautiful, unseasonably mild Fall day here in North Jersey, that is until about 5 minutes ago when a storm front came through like a freight train! It suddenly feels more like stout season, which is good because my NBS review is a BA Imperial Stout, Midnight Sun Brewing Co.'s Bar Fly. It's my first Midnight Sun offering and it's simply great; it has all the taste elements I enjoy, including some nice dark fruit, and despite the 11.6% ABV it's incredibly light and easy to drink.
Here's my review:

4.44/5 rDev +1.8%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

Poured from 22 oz. bottle into stout glass. It pours a dark mahogany-walnut color with an enormous, fluffy mocha-colored head and lacing with great retention. It's as pretty a stout pour as you'll ever see. It smells of roasted malt, char, burnt coffee, chocolate, and caramel. It's a delicious stout with a taste that follows the nose but which also features some burnt sugar, oak, and delightful dark fruit, principally cherry. What I'm not tasting is the bourbon. This stout is medium-bodied, creamy, with light carbonation, and smooth as silk. It amazes me that the 11.6% ABV because it's not boozy at all. Overall, Bar Fly is quite an achievement; it has all the features I love in a BA Stout but it's incredibly drinkable. It's up there with many of the leaders of the style.

As always, I'm enjoying your reviews. Have a great day, all!

 

What a great head! It resembles gelato. Yum!

 

Wish we had some Founders here in CO.

Cheers!

 

Midnight Sun makes some pretty tasty brews!

Cheers!

 

I know I rarely chime in on NBS, but I have to agree with @Roguer here. I've been making a point of drinking IPAs from the same batch over time lately, and, for my palate, 2-4 weeks is turning out to be the sweet spot. I've had Tree House beers taste amazing after 8 weeks--and other cans, for that matter. In many cases, two months+ doesn't do most beers any favors. At any rate, I don't think there's a world in which a one-week new beer can rightfully be called "old."

 

Their beers are not easy to find on the East Coast. When I saw it I snapped it up without reading any reviews. Now, I'll keep an eye out!

 

I'm tackling the second of the Tree Houses twins, but first, I'll hit on the opening question: the criteria for the overall rating. First, it's worth mentioning that I try and review within a style. Reason being, I absolutely loath some notes. A particular example is, I hate the way porters feel like watered down stouts that a bar may serve you to make more money. For all of those personal reasons and preferences, I try and write my review within a style. After all, it gives me something objective to compare the beer I'm drinking with, rather then my personal opinion. It's the same reason I would use a rubric to grade a project or paper instead of just giving it a score. When I'm drinking a porter, I may still give it a 4.0 in feel, although I personally can't stand it. Why? Because it's a porter. If I rated solely based on my personal preference the only porter I've had that would have over a 3 in feel would be Victory at Sea. Seriously. The only one. Now the overall category is my personal spot to consider all of my other ratings. I usually take a look at how I reviewed and rated a beer in the first four categories, and then assign an overall rating with a slight personal tinge. It's the only place in a review where I don't try and filter my personal opinion completely out.

Okay, let's dive into another beer that is new for me. I reviewed its twin earlier, and I'm excited to get into this beer.



Tree Houses's Alter Ego.

Alter Ego pours almost identical to its twin - Julius. It's an opaque orange, with a finger of white head. Head retention is modest, but not very strong. Lacing is tight, but thin. Perhaps my eyes are digging for any differences between this and Julius, but Alter Ego appears to be a shade more of a burnt orange. The aroma is much more subtle than Julius, which is to say it is almost subdued. Its riddled with notes of orange, and citrus with biscuit malts all muddled together. While nice, it doesn't scream hops, or juicy. A sip provides a very minimally dynamic flavor profile. It's citrus and orange hops and biscuit malts, with a twist of resin hop stick at the back of the throat right at the end. Alter Ego is a much more modest relative to Julius. The resin sticks in the back of the palette for a while, lingering long between sips. A hiccup gives a blast of orange and resin hops. Mouth feel certainly has some level of particulate abrasion to it. Otherwise, mouth feel is a bit strange. It's somewhere between medium and medium-thick, almost like it can't make up its mind between being a filling, one-and-done IPA, and an easy-sipping IPA made for drinking all day on the lake. Either way, it is easy to drink. It just isn't something to sip on out in the sun and heat. Overall, it's a great beer, although perhaps a bit overshadowed by its "twin" Julius. Its a great IPA with much more subtle qualities then its twin, which may be more approachable for some.

Score: 4.25 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 4.25 | 4.25 | BA Score: 4.41 | rDev: -3.5%

Well, I am not going to review my review to in depth this time around. I will say this: Alter Ego is good. Do I think it's great? Yes. Do I think it's worth idolizing? No. Thanks for playing along with my reviews of the Tree House twins this weekend. I'm glad I finally got sip on them! I hope I helped contribute a little bit to the BA community.



Cheers.

 

How's it going, everybody? Unseasonably warm here in NJ. Temps in the low 80s with some rain on its way soon. Turkey chili is in the crock pot and I'm giving homemade cornbread a shot for the first time ever. Loaded with sharp cheddar and scallions and lightly spiced with chili powder, cardamom, and ginger. Hope it tastes as good as it smells.

To answer @cavedave's question, my overall score is a measure of the entire drinking experience of the beer, instead of breaking it down into parts. It basically answers two questions, "How likely am I to buy/order this beer again?" and "How much room for improvement is there in this beer?"

One interesting thing to note is that when I first started reviewing beers on BA, the "overall" attribute used to actually be "drinkability." So now as I go back and re-review those beers, I have to tweak my score because it no longer has to do with how easy the beer is to drink. For what it's worth, I like the current system the way it is now.

Today's new beer is something I had for the first time on Friday actually but I'm having one right now and I've been slowly tweaking my review as I go along.

Anchor Dry-Hopped Steam Beer



Love the look of this beer. Medium amber and translucent with a large white frothy head. There is a slight haze but you can still see your fingers on the other side of the glass. Persistent head that refuses to go away and leaves a fair amount of lacing on the glass. Fantastic.

The aroma is excellent. Biscuit, caramel, cereal, and toasted malt. Citrus fruit comes through from the hops for a bit before giving way to honey, apple, and pear. Very unique. The closest comparison I can think of is Fuller's ESB.

Hops shine more in the flavor and add some pine into the mix. Long lasting, bitter finish.

Medium-full bodied. Soft carbonation. Thick, creamy texture.

Overall, a great variation of this classic brew and a joy to drink. I'm a big fan of Anchor Porter, but I haven't had their Steam Beer in years. Its a smart marketing move to update it with this dry-hopped version and peak people's interest once again. This beer feels like a mix of the new and the old, and I am totally on board with it.

look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4.25
Score: 4.28/5

Cheers, BAs!

 

Another New Beer Sunday

A couple of notes. This beer is much lighter/paler than the picture and it is a very delicate beer, like Mo. I agree with @SomethingClever when it comes to drinking it on a fresh palate.

4.37/5 rDev +2.3%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

Poured from a 16.9 oz bottle dated 9/20/16 into a tulip glass.

Once the condensation leaves, it is a mostly clear, pale/dull yellow-gold. It has a fairly thick bright white soapy head. Pretty good retention with some lacing.

Smells like cat piss, grapefruit, green lemongrass, orange, and mango with some very light grains.

There are some spicy hops up front that transition into mandarin orange/tangerine, pineapple, pithy grapefruit, earthy/musty mango, papaya, and apricot, very green leafy and piney hops, and a bit of pink bubble gum flavor. The malts are very light, like oyster crackers or croutons. Everything is very crisp and clean and really doesn't leave much of a lingering taste outside of some pineapple and grapefruit.

Outside of being a bit drying/cotton mouth feeling, the body is outstanding. Light and fluffy, dance on your tongue kind of feel

An outstanding IPA. Probably one of my top 3 Maine brews.

 

Imperial Blonde Ale? Those guys are nuts-in a good way!

 

Mankato Pumpkin Grinder, 5.7% ABV, 30 IBU. Pours thin and cloudy orange, two finger off-white head. Nose is malt and spice. Taste is malt, pumpkin/squash, pumpkin spice, and clove. Mouthfeel is OK. Overall, one of the least inoffensive pumpkin beers I've had - given that so many I find barely drinkable. I could drink a bunch of these. Not a strong pumpkin pie tasting beer - not sweet, but pumpkin is there and the base lager is decent.

 

No, you really didn't come of holier-than-thou! You provided honest feedback that was written in a helpful manner, and refrained from being negative or condescending. That's what it's all about. I almost deleted that line about being a week old, but kept it since I wanted to deliver as much information as possible.

Those DIPAs will do great! Especially this time of year. We have some pretty ideal temperatures for shipping beer right now. As if that couldn't be any better, the individual who sent me the Tree House beers included two cold packs to help keep the beers cold in transit even if only for a few hours.

I'm glad to join NBS as well! I used to hang around here quite a bit and then took some time off from beer and reviewing, after all, I wasn't making smart choices. I just signed up for a half marathon in April, so my time here may be hit and miss, but if I've got good hops and/or malts to review, I'll try and participate in NBS! I still have another can of a Tree House beer, but I'll probably just review it tomorrow night. I don't want to over do it today. Being able to chat about beer and share interpretations about review styles is invaluable in my opinion. We all have different ways of rating beers, so being able to understand that, and compare and contrast really helps to better the community. Obviously, I think everyone should review within a particular beer style, but I know that isn't everyone's thing. Others do better just to rate and review each category in regards to its notes. Me, I need a rubric to grade against, which is why I try and compare within styles. It also keeps me from rating every amber and brown ale as a "1" based on personal preference.

 

Good afternoon, NBS family. It is one of those odd autumn days here, sprinkled a bit, sunny for a dash, white clouds, now dark clouds sort of baclit with the sun going down. And quite warm, now that we have our heat reconnected and functional...

So there was this little beer exchange event that all started innocently enough with our esteemed @cavedave . I resisted giving out the location of the rebel stronghold, but in the end I am glad that I relented. Fun was had, beers exchanged. Not sure if I was more jacked about sending or receiving - it was like watching the kids with Christmas stocking, then getting one myself. It was cool...sharing the goodness. (Ed. note: Christmas stockings in this house are a big deal, even with my kids being 29 and 27...we thought when the youngest turned 20, the stockings would stop and there was a very real rebellion when the idea was broached.)

So, without further jabbering...from the @cavedave box of generosity... Rushing Duck Brewing Company divided by zero, canned 10/17/16 and stating Citra and Vic Secret hops right plain as day on the can bottom. I opened it frankly because of the label and humor, but am glad I did because this is a super-fresh beer for me! Not clearing the cellar with this...umm...duckling. It is an imperial-session, pale-black India Pale Ale...yup...the can tells me so...



The blue screen of computer death style label warns me of all that could happen to me, but we must carry on, in the name of science. Right on the can pop, a delicious aroma of pineapple and citrus. Didnt even have to pour to get an early indication. Poured like you see it, except it looks "thick". The head dropped after a few minutes, but I am halfway down that glass and there is a nice little lake of bubbles and spider web lacing all the way down worthy of my cellar. The smell is wonderful...pineapple, grapefruit, passion fruit, very light malt on the nose. A hint of sweetness that I think is from the fruit notes. The taste...wow, what a blend. There is the obvious fruit...pineapple being dominant to me, but grapefruit and passionfruit along for the ride, a nice bitter bite carrying through the taste, and an earthy undertone that comes and goes, very mild on the malt. A slight juicy-like sweetness. There just enough of a resinous note that balances and provides a little bit of a zing. The feel is slick, almost but not quite thick, definitely lip-smacking, a little tingle on the tongue. Not overly dry, but very clean on the finish that makes ya want some more. Overall, this is an extremely flavorful brew that, well, delivers a sledgehammer's worth of flavor with a deft, skillful blow. Balanced, refreshing, bracing...a well-crafted beer with attention to detail, in my opinion.

Feeling this rolling in between 4 and 4.5.

Cheers, folk...

 

On the neck of the bottle, in black lettering, should say "borned" with a date underneath. Cheers!

 

I got one of these fro @jhavs too. Damn, sounds stellar. Maybe I should put Seed on deck today!!!

 

I'll trade ounce for ounce for that Golden Stout you have.

It is my new whale, and I will have it, yes I will.

 

Happy New Pumpkin Ale Sunday!

Pretty nice day here on the Western Slope. Did a nice little hike today, around 72, cloudy, some wind. Another pretty tasty brew from Uinta. Broncos are down by 4 right now.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/1416/252140/?ba=Wasatch#review

Cheers!

 

Fuck, their beers are pretty hard to find anywhere.

Cheers!

 

I can! You can! We all can!
Musings on what positivity CAN do for you.