New Beer Sunday (week 611)

I consider drinkability to be a separate category, yet one that combines all the other 4. For example, if an IPA has a body that's too thick and/or sticky, it hurts drinkability by taking to long for my tongue to reset before the next sip. Same if a beer has too much of an alcohol burn, I gotta wait to hit it again, thus hurting both drinkability and overall enjoyment. I think if drinkability is bad, I don't enjoy the beer as much, no matter how pretty and tasty the may be.

 

My beers today are from Schlafly. In July they released a 12 pack of SMASH (single malt, single hop) beers called Hop Trial. The box had 4 different beers. Each one was made with 2 row malted barley, and was made to 45 IBUs and 6 SRM... but each one featured a specific hop from a different region of the world.

The beers / hops were:
- Hallertau Blanc
- Bramling Cross
- Enigma
- Eureka!

I had Hallertau Blanc and Enigma last night, and Eureka and Bramling Cross today.

I was very hesitant to buy this box since it was released in July. It was kept cold at the store. I wouldn't hesitate buying a single, but a box of 12 gave me significant pause. I don't regret the purchase at all.

The bottles call these beers "Golden Ales" but they are very reminiscent of Schlafly's AIPA (which is a good thing for me). Interestingly, these beers are listed here under inconsistent categories between the 4 of them - American IPA, English IPA, and American pale ale.

There's a pleasant malty, woody sweetness in all of the beers, but they showcase the hops perfectly. These beers do exactly what they were intended to - the hops are what distinguish them from one another and the differences are clear.

The German Hallertau Blanc hops were floral, lemony and passion fruity. The Yakima Eureka hops were piney. The United Kingdom Bramling Cross hops were herbal. The Australian Enigma hops were tropical fruity. No surprises here, but these beers were very nice and interesting too.

Schlafly gives their own tasting notes for these beers (which are visible in my pictures but I read them after I had the beers). They were essentially carbon copies of my impressions except for Bramling Cross which they described as berry and lemon. I could easily imagine myself agreeing by finding those flavors if I read the descriptions first... but I got herbal more than anything else.

On the first night, I liked the Hallertau Blanc much more than the Enigma strictly due to personal preference. For today's pair, I liked the Bramling Cross more than the Eureka. In both cases, I felt like I favored the more layered profile over the more straight forward one, but this could really just be more about my own biases.

I will enjoy finishing this box. I feel like @JackHorzempa would have enjoyed this set.

I hope to be back with more new beers today.

Cheers.

 

What size is it?

 

I think you do need some.

 

Back from a long afternoon of a nature walk with my dogs and visiting the park with my girls.

Found this tucked away in my cellar and figured it was a terrific beer for a warm late fall day. Nocturn Chysalis pours a delicate, clear, light purple with a fizzy 2 finger pink head. Head fades very quickly, into a thin collar and leaves a bit of lacing. Sour blackberries, cherries, and green plum. Some stonefruit and oak with hints of wine. Funk is mild. Plenty of berry notes - raspberry, blackberry - and some green plum. Good amount of sour, oak and lightly funky. Perfect for a sour style as far as I am concerned. Highly carbonated, crisp, clean, refreshing, nicely sour. It is quite good and reminds me of GI Juliet.

 

Howdy everybody, on this fine fall late afternoon! I started out this month (well, actually it was the 31st) trying to lose some weight and get in better shape. Mostly it will involve lots of calorie counting and a significant reduction in the amount of beer I'm drinking. But that doesn't mean zero . So far it's working out just fine, and I can see sticking with the plan for quite some time. But I'll still leave a slot in the schedule for NBS every week.

Today's brew seems to be a popular one, and I couldn't resist giving it a shot myself-

Lagunitas Born Yesterday

Visually, it definitely seems to be throwing quite a bit of a polyphenol and protein haze. There was some solid matter at the bottom of the bottle, so I decanted off of that, but it's also possible that some is still in suspension. By the looks of it, this sure does seem to be done in the New England style.

The aroma is vibrant and strong- lots of tropical fruit, very concentrated in nature, like a guava nactar drink. Nearly as strong is that weedy hop dankness, borderline green oniony, and there's a touch of mandarin orange rounding it out. The aroma is fantastic, and I wish I could smell it all day (definitely fewer calories that way, too ), but it's also too inviting to pass up a big gulp. And the first sip is...very disappointing. Pure citrus pith dominates, any fruitiness is muted, the mouthfeel is brittle and dry instead of lush, and whatever malt is there vanishes within a half second. Very wispy and chalky, with that lingering citrus peel, instead of the rich promise of the aroma.

All of these New England style beers hit me the same way, and come across as being very disjointed, so I am to assume that this is being done on purpose. Not my bag, these things, even though I had hoped that Lagunitas could pull it off. Glad that this was just a single. C+ (2.75)

 

Indeed. Thanks again the other night on LNBA. I appreciated that, but wanted to let you know personally it wasn't unnoticed. Cheers!

 

I've used Bramling Cross in a lot of homebrews and feel it is a very underappreciated hop. Thanks for that great review. Cheers!

 

Nice, although that description doesn't read like it has any relation to Spotted Cow. For whatever reason, I'm thinking that just a straight imperial cream ale would be incredible .

 

Took the wife to see Dr. Strange earlier, and headed back out to dinner in a little while. Taking the time in between to try out a new beer.

I've been working my way through several of the fresh hop beers the past few weeks, and I saw Great Divide's Fresh Hop Pale Ale in the store this weekend.

I started to grab a six pack no questions asked. On closer inspection, I saw they were labeled $20.99. At which point, I slowly put them done, and opted for a single.

It's a solid pale ale for sure, but this one is way too much pine and grass for my tastes. I think I would have enjoyed it more with some pronounced citrus.

Given the price, I probably won't revisit...



https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/158/26233/?ba=richj1970#review

 

Mantra is doing some solid work in my opinion. I've enjoyed all of the ones I've tried from them...

 

Good afternoon NBS, hope everyone is doing well! So a month ago I received an incredible box of beers from @richj1970 and I'm still working on finishing some the tasty beers in it. First up Yellowhammer Tobacco Road, a tasty and fairly unique imperial red ale.
4.16/5 rDev +1.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Thanks you richj1970 for this
12 oz poured into a tulip

A- A clear deep ruby red with a small off-white head.

S- Ctirus, pine, caramel malts, hints of dark fruits and smoke. Rather interesting nose, kind of like a barelywine with nice citrusy hops.

T- Citrus, roasted malts, touch of smoke, caramel malts, piney finish.

M- Smooth, medium to fully body.

O- A nice and fun balance between malts and hops, easy to drink.

Not sure what I will be drinking next but I know it will be another new beer, cheers!

 

Hi everyone. I intended to review a barrel-aged stout this afternoon but I noticed that there are no reviews of Magnify's Double Dry Hopped Vine Shine, which was released on Friday, so I figured I'd be the first. Vine Shine is Magnify's regular IPA and this variant is dry hopped with Simcoe and Mosaic hops. I'm a Mosaic fan and like the taste of this but the nose is rather subdued. Here's my review:

4.18/5 rDev n/a
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

Canned 3 days before consumption. Poured into Magnify tulip glass. It pours a hazy, golden-honey color with one finger of bright white head and lacing. The smell is rather subdued; there is a faint aroma of simcoe and mosaic hops and some sweet citrus but not nearly as aromatic as other Magnify offerings. The taste is a big improvement on the smell. The base Vine Shine is enhanced considerably by the dry hopping and the mosaic, in particular, is flavorful. I'm a big fan of mosaic hops and enjoyed their enhanced profile in this variant. The ale has a crisp, dry, slightly bitter taste. It is pleasantly carbonated and quite easy to drink with an ABV of 6.5%. Overall, the enhanced hops improves the taste of the base Vine Shine.

As always, I'm enjoying reading your reviews and getting new ideas from you. Cheers!

 

That kind of makes me want to open the 2016 Darklord I have! Great review!

 

Says 1 pint, 3.2oz so 19.2oz. Why in hell don't they just state it in ounces?

 

Here's my edition two for the day. This time I'm tackling something with plenty going on, so let's start sipping on beer.



Founder's 2016 Backwood's Bastard.

Backwood's Bastard pours a rich, deep hue of burgundy so dark very little light pokes through. Head formation bubbles up quickly and accumulates about a finger thick in a beige color. Unfortunately, head retention is moderate, with very little lacing afterwards. Aroma is a blast of flavors, with notes of oak, bourbon, boozy burn, roasted malts, caramel, toffee, and burnt sugar. It certainly smells sweet, and with its high level of complexity, it's fun to just sniff. Beer is meant to be drank though, so how does it taste. Complex and warming in a quick pairing of words. Flavor profile opens with oak, caramel, toffee, burnt sugar, before reshaping into bourbon, and a slightly, fleshy boozy burn. Despite all of this complexity, the beer finishes watery wiping the bold flavors off of the palette. It makes taking another sip easy, but makes it difficult to savor. The watery finish starts to break up as the beer warms, finishing slightly more boozy and oaky. Mouth feel has a medium consistency, while remaining filling. Its a strange pairing. Perhaps it needs more time to mellow out and smooth. Overall, it's a sublime beer with a high level of complexity and character. While there is plenty going on, and to consider and think about, it almost leaves a little something to be desired. Fortunately, (or unfortunately) it remains easy to drink at 11.2% ABV, especially compared with other limited Founder's offering. This fresh bottle of 2016 does have a bit more spice then the 2015 bottle I had earlier this year which was aged for about 3 months in a stone cellar prior to my consumption of it.

Score: 4 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 4 | 4.25 | BA Score: 4.37 | rDev: +2.0%

Accompanying music/interview:



Cheers.

EDIT: Forgot to compile my score.

 

#2, the last thing I expected to see at the grocery store in Aruba was a Peak Organic combo 6-pack featuring this and Evergreen.



When Mrs. O and I started visiting Aruba in 2013, the beer scene was, um, meager. A lot of Caribbean Pale Euro Lagers (Corona, etc), and some Belgian stuff if you were lucky (Duvel, etc).

Then, a couple of years ago, a couple of the restaurants started upping their game - I've had Westie XII twice and some other cool stuff, but the grocery store was pretty barren.

Not now. They had this mixer, a bunch of stuff from Boulder Beer, and a couple of other good beers from Peak - it was like a container fell off a ship and landed in Aruba. So I grabbed this and pulled a George Costanza and knocked over little kids and old ladies on my way to the checkout.

Just kidding.

As far as you all know.

Anywho, this is an IPA with blood orange peel added. It's a beautiful beer, a golden copper color with a couple of fingers of white head. The aroma has a lot of the orange peel, and it's not very enticing - a very astringent aroma.

Thankfully, the taste isn't nearly as astringent - the citrusy IPA flavors are complimented by the blood orange peel, making this a nice beer to sip on a gorgeous Aruban evening.

Rated 3.90.

 

Greetings fellow NBSers! A rainy night last night, typical in most ways for November here in the Fourth Corner except for the warmth, gave way to a sunny morning and now a partly sunny/cloudy afternoon. Worked a couple hours this morning, and then was using the wireless at work to check in on BA. Was just about to crack a beer for NBS, when I was asked if I wanted to work a couple hours on a project. Sure. Now we're back and ready to roll.

Been busy the last couple weeks, today was my 16th straight at the main gig, and I've also worked a couple stagehand gigs, walked some dogs, and spent some time going for walks with a long time she-friend, where things may turning into a different direction. And, there's been beer. Always with the beer.

I currently have many offerings available to me, thanks to the generous BAs who participated in NBS BIF #4, and was having trouble deciding what brew to pop. One of my favorite things on NBS is when more than one of us enters the same beer on the same NBS. So, when I saw @jhartley 's earlier entry, my decision was made. A big THANK YOU to @SammyJaxxxx for this tasty offering from Rushing Duck: https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/29800/253979/

 

Afternoon NFL games and time for another new beer:

Phantasmagoria - a double IPA from Prairie Artisan Ales


look: 3.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

Frankly, this was not an attractive beer. Moderately hazy on the pour with a golden-amber color. Not much head despite a fairly vigorous pour. The foam left quickly leaving a few tracks, but not much. The first whiff changed my attitude quickly - great aroma. Bright orange, grapefruit, and tangerine. Some faint bready malt. My palate was bracing for the typical West-Coast DIPA bitterness, and this one delivered with grapefruit and orange rind, some pine, and some dry bready malt. Not much resin or dankness. The malt presence was definitely there, providing a nice balance, and it was distinctive - biscuity, perhaps? A dry, lingering bitter finish, but with a nice medium-body and feel. Overall, a nice offering. My wife liked it, so we will be picking this up regularly I suspect. Cheers!

 

Fair enough, but have you tried the CA version?