New Beer Sunday (week 611)

And, I'm still channeling my inner Jersian by putting back this can, also courtesy of @SammyJaxxxx https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/26817/74065/

 

I can always send a care package if you need one!

 

Good evening NBS, hope everyone is enjoying the end of the weekend once again. Thanks to @utopiajane for getting us started off this morning. Not much going on here, another weekend gone by. This work week will be all jumbled up with Election day and Veterans day being off. My 4800 beer review will be on Wednesday as scheduled. I will probably sneak a 4th review in on Tuesday night. Since I always do 3 a night, that's 33 days plus 1 more to make a hundred; and I always prefer the last review of the day to be the milestone I got a decent lot of new beers last week to hold me over for a few minutes, so I should be good for another couple weeks if I can't find anything new. I still have a bajillon sours to drink. Got some new DESTIHL canned sours as well. Seems like that's all that I am buying lately for new releases. Wilds, Sours, and Saisons.

New Beers:

Damn this is outstanding! Aromas and flavors of big lightly tart cranberry, lemon, orange, grapefruit, and citrus zest; with moderate wheat, cracker, light honey malt; with some light peppery/herbal hop and fruity/earthy yeast notes. Light herbal/spicy bitterness and fruit tartness on the finish. Light-medium bodied; with nice grainy wheat creaminess; light fruit acidity and stickiness in the mouthfeel. Super bright, crisp, and refreshing. Not really all that dry. The mouthfeel is amazing. This is way more flavorful with a fuller body than the Ginger-lemon. I love this one a ton! Going to buy more soon! 4.25


Luckily my Sunday beer guy broke open a Snow Pack in the singles fridge, so I get to try the new ones from that pack(other being Maple Scotch ale). Definitely need to get some of the coffee stout next week(went for some NH Harvest instead). Missed the new Summer session IPA, and Fall hoppy wheat unfortunately.

Really nice IPA, a lot more herbal and dank than I expected; maybe fresh whole flower hops? Aromas and flavors of grapefruit, lemon zest, orange peel, pepper, and pine hops; with cracker, lightly toasted biscuit malts; and herbal, floral, grassy hop earthiness. Moderate pine/herbal/spicy and light rind bitterness on the finish. Medium bodied; smooth and crisp finishing; moderately sticky/resinous with some grainy/bready notes in the mouthfeel. Increasing dryness, and never astringent on hop resins. This is delicious! A lot danker than I expected, but it's a well made IPA; like most of their others. I'd say if you prefer dank/piney over juicy, check this out. Nice change of pace. Would grab another. 3.88


Brand new Dessert beer from Old Nation. This was amazing! Aromas and flavors of big milk chocolate, cocoa, caramel, vanilla, toffee, brown sugar, frosting, fudge, toasted dark bread, and light molasses/coffee malts; with a bit of herbal/spicy hops. Light-moderate herbal/spicy hop and roasted cocoa bitterness on the finish. Medium-full bodied; nicely creamy/silky in the mouthfeel; with some sticky/chalky roast/hop notes. Some increasing roasted dryness. Loved the flavors overall, but they came off just a bit too bitter and roasty, vs the expectation of the nose. Nose = Sticking your face in a damn cake. Was hoping for similar sweetness to Creme Brulee, but I am sure it will smooth out with some cellaring. Would definitely grab another for 9 bucks, good price. 4.22


Cheers, have a good night NBS!

 

A late post here, relaxing with this to ease the pain of the Packers losing... again... and dropping a place in the NFC North. Oh well, it's just a game.

The first struggle was getting the damn cork off. No amount of attempts to twist or rock it worked so I resorted to a cork screw which did the trick.
This definitely made my evening better as it is a very tasty brew. I have no idea how big Stone's barrel aging program is to get such wide distribution but I'm not complaining. This pours a very dark color and everything in it is reminiscent of both chocolate and bourbon. The only thing I didn't get although I'm sure it was in the mash is the oatmeal. Add to the delicious flavors a very smooth texture and it's a well-made pleasure to drink. As one other reviewer remarked I haven't seen much hype about it - perhaps underappreciated overall. A touch pricey for 500 vs 750mL but that makes the portion size more reasonable as I tend to kill a whole bottle once opened. Either way, find a bottle and enjoy! Would likely be a good candidate to lay down for a little white as well although perfectly tasty now.
Cheers!
Edit- sorry for the somewhat dark bottle in the picture! It was much clearer on my tablet or I would have retaken it.

 

Still waiting for BA Fidy in Colorado? That's not right - you should see it first!

 

New Beer Sunday: A Japanese Rice Lager.

Evenin' NBSers with special greetings to all you willing wanderers through the wonders and the wastelands of beers the world has to offer.

The weather here today couldn't have been much better except for the wee touch of chill in the air as we slide slowly towards the winter season. Got a few errands and chores done this morning and then had a chance to watch a bit of depressing football.

As I mentioned this morning, my new beer this Sunday is the Asahi Super Dry. My experience with this beer has convinced me, if I ever doubted it, that some beers should not be reviewed until the 3rd or 4th beer from a six pack (or the 3rd beer from a 4 pack).

As usual, my review, nearly completed, can be found here:

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/716/2779/?ba=drtth#review

The review is subject to change on the basis of the 4th, 5th or even the 6th beer from the 6 pack. That is because there is more than first meets the taste buds to this beer than I was able to pick up or describe even after the first couple of bottles.

I’ve wanted to try this beer for a while out of curiosity since I’ve don’t remember that I ever had a Lager with rice that wasn’t brewed by the folks at Budweiser. I'm pretty sure lots of folks, especially those used to the taste bud paralizing effects of highly hopped beers, have probably given this beer some low scores, etc. But I personally found that on the whole that this is actually a fairly well made beer that should be quite refreshing during hot weather. It's clean and crisp.

Even though it is relatively flavorless compared to the Imperial Stout I talked about last week I don't find it to be a bad beer, just one that is not particularly full flavored. There’s a bit of grainy character to the aromas and flavors, as well as a light touch of sweetness that quickly fades and allows some very light, barely noticeable hop flavor and just a hint of bitterness to show before the short dry ending. It reminds me a bit of a good sake, and leaves me thinking, "Where's my Sushi when I want it?"

As for music to accompany the beer this evening, since this is a Japanese beer that seems to be brewed in Canada for export to the US, the music on the CD player is the soundtrack of a rather famous US made film that is loosely based on a Japanese original. (I’m willing to bet dollars to donuts that this North American brewing of a Japanese beer is closer to the beer as found in Japan, than US made movie is to the original Japanese movie.)

Theme from The Magnificent Seven

Kanpai, all!

 

New India Red Ale

Awesome day in West MI!!! Blue skies, temps in upper 60s, may have even topped 70.

Had a nice family morning, took a run, mowed and picked up the leaves. After all that , it was time to chill with this tasty new brew.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/287/48134/

 

Back home from fishing, it was cold and rained off and on. Trout everywhere but they were awful picky, only had two hits and lost one on a snag. But we had a good time and now it's time for a another new brew, Trillium DDH A Street.



Pour is a very hazy golden yellow with a one finger foamy head. Head dissipates quickly to halo and leaves nice lacing. Fairly standard appearance for Trillium DDH brew, though less heady than some others.

The aroma is a heavy handed blow of citrus zest, big orange, grapefruit and lemon, and a light floral character.

Taste has a lot more of the floral characteristics, rose and lavender like. The big lemony citrus punch comes midpallete and ends in a unique herbal grapefruit bitterness. Comparatively bitter to some other Trillium Street IPA's. A Street features Amarillo hops, which are not my favorite flavor profile, though this tastes fairly good.

The mouthfeel is thin but smooth and the carbonation is medium to low but very tingly. Slightly drying.

Overall it's a good brew, I like it better than many beers prominently featuring Amarillo, but it still hasn't won me over. The intensity of the herbal and floral characteristics doesn't jive well with me in single (ish) hopped IPA's and comes off kind of salad like, it's good, but it needs some toppings.

Cheers!
Marc

 

Dinner has been had, and settling in now with a sipper from @smanson56's awesome MWK BIF box.

This is From The Barrel's Tequila Barrel Aged Rocky - a tequila barrel aged barleywine.

Very solid barleywine but the tequila is a little over the top in both flavor and aroma. This might become more subdued with age.

Enjoying this one quite a bit, and it confirms my theory that there needs to be more BA barleywines in the world!



https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/35388/249261/?ba=richj1970#review

 

Alright NBS, on to my next brew for tonight. Might be my last because it's pretty hefty and I should probably go to bed some time in the next few hours... we shall see!

New Holland's Coconut Rum Barrel Dragon's Milk



Pours a very dark, motor oil-black with a thin ring of off-khaki foam that retains pretty consistently and has a nice, creamy frothiness to it. Lace is pretty solid as well, coming down in thin sheets as I sip at this intensely-flavorful stout. This beer clocks in at 11%, which is 1% higher in ABV than regular Dragon's Milk. Perhaps it picks up a little bit of an ethanol boost from the rum barrels, or maybe some of the sugars in the coconut ferment out a bit. Whatever it is, this is definitely going to be a big, sweet beer.

Nose is — wait for it! — hugely coconut-forward, with a deep and luscious malty profile underneath that. Boozy and rich in toffee and even bearing some subtle dark fruit notes, CRBDM really comes across strong here, in every sense of the word. Slight roast profile among the sweet notes as well. Almost has a vanilla-marshmallow note, kind of reminding me of something like Off Color's classic Dinosmores.

Chewy and round on the palate with a rather oily and slick texture. Lots of amazing, intense and complex flavors. Very sweet but the finish is somewhat drier and helped a lot by the barrel-aging. I get toffee, caramel, vanilla, slight tannins from the barrels and, of course, an absolutely huge element of coconut flesh. Fairly noticeable booziness, but it's not as present as it could be, all things considered. A little bit of plum and apple towards the finish as well, right before the barrel seems to come to fruition, delivering a hit of rum-soaked wood. Medium-heavy bodied and honestly really fun to drink. Very much enjoying this one! Wish I picked up more, but it was pretty expensive (only got a single, but the four-pack was around $20).

Right now I'm playing through some of the opening quests and missions in a very cool game called Darkest Dungeon for the PS4. This was apparently ported over from PC fairly recently and I somehow never heard about the move despite having several friends who love it. It seems very tough and stressful, but also really intriguing, rewarding and full of customization options. Stylistically, it's a side-scrolling roguelike dungeon crawler with turn-based combat featuring a loadout based party system.

Really enjoying a lot of the gameplay elements, even the ones that seem to be killing my guys — namely the Stress system that causes a bar to build up as you're exploring or as you get hit by enemy attacks, which causes debuffs and loss of sanity. Makes for some really tense battles. Love it!

In addition, I'm reveling in the occult atmospheres of evil and ritualism laced throughout this new album by the Polish black metal band Cultes des Ghoules. The album, titled Coven, or Evil Ways Instead of Love is presented as a kind of musical "play" in 5 acts dealing with witchcraft. Seems excellent so far. Very long and expansive stuff. Kind of an epic undertaking... 5 tracks in 97 minutes!

 

Local Option Die Konigin - Eichenfass Gereiftes Stark Lager

The above is basically saying that it's an oak barrel aged strong lager called "The Queen." I have no idea how the label art fits into this... possibly an in-joke, or maybe I'm ignorant.

This beer is a huge swing and a miss for me. I'm not in line with the other reviews here at all. It's possible that this is an old bottle, but my displeasure from it doesn't seem to come from that possibility. It's supposed to be a hazy Kellerbier, and mine is very clear. The oak barrel influence is huge and completely overpowering the beer. It's floral... almost lavender-ish and woody. It actually reminds me of Retsina. I could imagine that these flavors might work well with a strong stout, but in this case, the lager has vanished.

 

You'd figure. Maybe other parts of CO, but not in GJ.

Cheers!

 

I wish I understood a word of that.

 

Much appreciated! Maybe someday.

Cheers!

 

Finally! A liquor store local to me, not in another state, or over 1.5 hours away.. that sells Founders. YIPPEE-KI-YAY MoFo's!

A few beers have been consumed, that I have never had the pleasure of sitting down with before.. Welcome to the party pals!

 

Greeting NBS family.

@utopiajane ...



Another weird fall day here. Sunny and sprinking rain when we left for church this morning, clouded up and rained hard for five minutes after we got home...just enough to soak down the Lab and leave us with wet dog air freshener. My son, his girlfriend, and 8/9 of our grandson dropped in, followed by my parents, and a contractor looking into the renovation of our last remaining room. Yay...all at the same time...did I mention wet Labrador retriever air freshener?

So...back to the well. From the @cavedave box of magic comes Rushing Duck Zingerbier, a take on a Berliner Weissebier, and it is a damned fine take. It smells oddly sweet to me - kinda ginger candy with a little bit of sourness. It pours with a little fizzy bubbly that goes away leaving a flat appearing beer that is light straw colored and suitably hazy for the style. Still not a ton on the nose. Taste buds...wowza, there is the ginger, earthiness, mildly sour, and a little sweetness all playing harmoniously. The ginger carries that earthiness that almost tastes like dirt I find with fresh ginger root... Lemony tartness, yet it carries a sweetness on the finish. It is quite tingly despite the lack of visible carbonation, and I would not call it overly dry, but it is a nice refresher. Pleasantly sour, not a tooth-cleaner, nicely bombarded with real ginger, lemony fresh, and still mulling over the slight sweetness on the end. Enjoyable brew that is going to ring in around the 4.0 mark on the BA-o-rometer.

My daughter conducts the childrens choir at church and they did an arrangement of this song today. She has everything from Smurfs to teens, but they put the song together in about four weeks, single part, and she should be extra proud of her Smurfs...a little weak on the verses, but man did they belt out the chorus.

 

Hello New Beer Sunday.

Another Sunday when I planned on being here earlier. My plans on this 70 degree November day here in central Minnesota were to be outside, grilling, and enjoying NBS. The plans changed, and I went to the MSP airport where there were about 20k other people there for an amazing event.

After the airport I stopped by Wild Mind Artisan Ales in Minneapolis for the first time. Enjoyed those beers that I had there, but didn't review them, because I was with friends. I did get a growler, and I plan on reviewing it next Sunday.

So, to the main event.

Horseman's Harvest from Montgomery Brewing in Montgomery, MN.

This beer is a very interesting pumpkin beer. The spices seem different. I also get orange in it. Delicious, but different.
3.49/5 rDev n/a
look: 4.25 | smell: 2.75 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 3.75

This beer pours a murky orange color. The head is fairly thick, 2-3 finger, but did dissipate fairly quickly. The nose is not there at all. The taste of this beer is interesting. I do get some spices, but they seem slightly different from the standard pumpkin spices used. I also seem to get some orange flavor in this beer. It feels not watery at all. A very interesting pumpkin beer.

★ 385 characters

Will I have another beer? Maybe. See you all later, or next Sunday.

 

So have you tried them yet? If so what did you think of each of them, like it, not like it? Get any interesting flavors, etc.?

Folks in the NBS have inquiring minds and want to know your thoughts about the beers.

 

Hello, Friends. It was a near perfect weekend weather-wise here in central Arkansas. However, I spent six hours working yesterday and another couple today. Stupid election. Plus I put up my wife's pull up bar in the garage. At least it's a short week coming up.

Tonight's NBS beer is once again from @WesMantooth and MWK. He told me to wait a little on this one, although I'm not sure he meant this long. Oh well, as they say the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry. So let's crack open my first Hoof Hearted beer with I'll Have What She's Having.



This pours a murky yellowish brown with a long lasting, soapy white head. The smell is deep citrus and dank hops. Pretty nice nose. Now I'm just waiting for the head to disappear a little. Ok, the taste is a little unusual. There's a lot of pineapple, but it's like dank, slightly overripe flavor. I'm getting some overripe peach also. Tons of dank piney hops. It's actually a very strange flavor that doesn't seem to blend perfectly. It's not horrible, but it's not great.

 

Poured slowly a little cooler than room temperature into my favorite glass, bottled in December 2015 and 10.8% ABV. Pours a very attractive almost completely black with a 2 plus finger dark tan head, that leaves behind plenty of wispy lace. 4.5

Smell is wonderful vanilla bean, coffee grounds, cocoa, some oakyness, and just a hint of bourbon and I like that. 4.5

Taste follows vanilla beans dominate, with roasty coffee, cocoa, oak, and a very nice hit of bourbon in subtle finish.4.5

Mouthfeel is a little bigger than medium, plenty of life for the style, maybe a touch dry and that is expected, and the drinkability is excellent for what it is. 4.5

Overall this is a winner, I have been hoping to try this and it didn't dissapoint at all. A very nice, not over the top barrel aged stout. 4.5