New beer Sunday (week 617)

Rolling on forward:

Really nice dark sour. Very unique. Aromas and flavors of big tart cherry, berries, raisin, plum, lemon, green apple, fruit skins, hay, straw, pepper, oak, funk, and toasted brown bread; with lighter notes of chocolate, cocoa, coffee, nuttiness, vanilla, and leather. Moderate fruity tartness and light yeast/tannic oak spice on the finish. Medium bodied; balanced acidity and grainy malt creaminess in the mouthfeel; some sticky tannins, slight touch of chalky roast. Lightly increasing dryness from acid/tannins. Super drinkable, not too sour or tannic. Great all around balance and complexity. Not too sweet, nice foeder presence. Vivant's sour program has been kicking ass this year. Really well done. 3.9


Cigar City collab imperial coffee stout. This was really nice. 6-ish months old now. Aromas and flavors of huge raisin, prune, dates, dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee, caramel, toasted oats, dark bread, nuttiness, licorice, anise, molasses, fudge, brown sugar, and light smoke/charred grain. Bittersweet balanced roasted finish. Medium-full bodied; lots of bready oat creaminess in the mouthfeel; light hop stickiness and roast malt chalkiness as well. Touch of increasing dryness from bitter/roasted flavors. This was way more fruity than I expected; but after reading the label, it made more sense. Brewed with Italian black brewers licorice, and there is a lot of it. Not totally overwhelming though, the coffee and deep malt complexity come through nicely. Aromas were a bit weak and too fruity; flavors were great all around. Really enjoyable. 3.88


Cheers, have a good night NBS.

 

New Imperial Stouts Sunday

Happy NBS everyone! I'm not going to complain about the cold since it's only around 25 degrees here. The sleet/freezing rain the past 2 mornings sucked, but no big deal since I really didn't have to go out much anyways. First brew of the day was a pretty good local imperial stout from Sideswipe Brewing: https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/33703/215965/?ba=bluejacket74#review




And then I had another good in-state imperial stout that I really can't call local since Mansfield is kinda between here (Columbus) and Cleveland. With that being said, it's still a good Ohio brew that no other BA has reviewed on here yet. The Phoenix Brewing Company will hopefully be one I make a trip to in the near future!

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/34414/256960/?ba=bluejacket74#review




I'll try to check out everyone else's new brews later today or tomorrow sometime. Cheers everyone!

 

Man, did I say it got cold here? Down in the 20s last night with wind-chill bottoming out at 14 but those are just numbers ... when Midnight the Cat stops at an open portal to the outside world and says "no, thanks," it is officially cold.

But we got a bottle to help keep us warm:


A local legend in the Houston area, Pumpkinator both delivers and fails to deliver.

Delivers:
- pumpkin ... lots of pumpkin in this brew beginning with the first whiff off the beautiful head; if you like pumpkin, Pumpkinator's got it in spades
- spices ... plenty of those, too, including some allspice and nutmeg and an overall Christmasy/wintertime "feel" to it
- imperial ... the 11% ABV is for real, and while the alcohol flavor is well hidden, I can feel it

Fails to deliver:
- stout ... call this splitting hairs, but if the label says "A" then I expect some "A" in my glass, and there ain't no stout in my glass; the malt in this brew is doing almost no work ... it's relegated to food coloring so far

The review:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/337/74106/?ba=Premo88#review
3.88 (-8.7% rDev)

Decent enough beer, but it does remind me of Buffalo Bayou's Gingerbread Stout, another Houston craft legend that brings more hat than cattle to the auction barn. Still, I'm not sad or looking for a drain down which to pour, so all is good.

Hope you're warm, safe and sipping on something tasty ...
Cheers!

 

I was supposed to go off the wagon tomorrow (my birthday) but after the day I had today at the store, fuck it... The skiers and boarders are here, this is the week before Christmas, and we have more snow already than we had all last winter in Stowe.

This has been staring at me since the release on Tuesday. Named after their cat who died on Christmas Day many years ago...



4.34/5 rDev +0.9%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25

Pours a big light tan head that sticks to the glass to the bitter end. Nose of roasty pine and flowers. Tastes of roasted malts and hops with a little soothing sweetness on the end. Feel is a tad thin but still very nice. Overall, I think they should rotate this one with Crusher (or replace it ) all winter long!

Cheers to El Jefe!!!

 

Good evening, my NBS friends, and welcome to the Arctic, Minnesota style. With an overnight low in the -20's (and windchills in the -40s), I decided there was only one thing to do as a transplanted Minnesotan: grill ribeyes and pretend it's not cold (here are said ribeyes, pregaming) .....



BTW, if it's -20 degrees and someone tells you, "It's not that cold" - they're lying. Minnesotans have this thing about never admitting the weather sucks, but -20 sucks my left onion (my apologies to our lady BA's for my coarseness). I've loved the 17 years we've lived in Minnesota (after living our entire lives in Indiana), but pretending -20 isn't cold has never made sense to me.

Anywho, this is beer #1 for me, an excellent DIPA from Kern River.



I've had a couple of things from these guys and really enjoyed them, and this is no exception - plus the name is very appropriate.

This features rye malt, so I'm already loving this before the first sip because I LOVE rye. Keen nailed this, IMHO. The rye gives a nice spiced bite to the very hop forward hop aromas and flavors (did someone say Citra?). This is a great sipper on a "not so bad" Minnesota evening (at -8 degrees - I'm a true Minnesotan).

Rated 4.35.

 

New Beer Sunday: Gingerbread Milk Stout

Evenin' NBSers, with special greetings to all those seakers of spicy, silky smooth stouts.

The weather has been weird. Yesterday saw temperatures steadly rising from subfreezing temperatures and an accumulation of sloppy, mushy ice left by sleet and freezing rain. Overnight the temps continued to climb up to almost 60 by mid-morning. Just after mid-day the temperature starting a slide back down again and we'll probably see the mid 20s as the overnight low.

This evening's new beer is the Hardywood Gingerbread Stout.

As usual my review, in progress until the beer is finished, can be found here:

https://www.beeradvocate.com/user/beers/?ba=drtth

Basically this is a very well brewed and enjoyable beer, if you like gingerbread. If you want to know what to expect from this beer, just think of gingerbread with a bit of dark milk chocolate thrown in. It smells like gingerbread. It tastes like gingerbread. It would be a great choice for a holiday treat and I expect I'll be having this one again.

On the record player tonight is some classic 50s music on vinyl which is on loan from a friend.

The 50s.

Cheers, all!

 

Greetings All:

Frigid here in the great northwest, like much of the nation. I have not been outdoors more than about 2 hours the entire weekend. That is not much for me.

Today we have Anubis Imperial Coffee Porter from Laughing Dog. A mighty strong brew for a mighty cold weekend.
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/12985/74028/

Not the most drinkable brew, but it warms your insides.

By the calendar I see the next NBS will be on Christmas Day. I wonder how often that has happened in my 10n year tenure? Maybe I'll research that?

Until next time,

Happy Trails!

 

I've had Event Horizon and I agree that it is fantastic. I think it's close to KBS and BCBS.

 

#2, this will be brief because I need to get the ribeyes off the grill without turning into an ovaltine popsicle.



This is George Hunter Stout from Castle Danger Brewery in Two Harbors, MN. They're an under the radar brewer that does some good stuff. This is another example of their prowess as brewers.

Huge toffee and dark chocolate flavors highlight this American Stout that weighs in at 8% ABV - and then there's some ginormous molasses flavors that kick this up another 4 notches. Just an excellent beer to enjoy on a frigid night. This is phenomenal, IMHO.

Rated 4.42.

 

Greetings , fellow NBSers, and thanks to @utopiajane for getting the train out of the station.

The word of the last week was cold. As in, "Jesus Christ, what the fuck? Why the fuck is it so fucking cold, for the sake of fuck? (Okay, maybe the word of the last week was something other than cold...). 4 degrees, with a windchill of -8 on Wednesday, which necessitated a new battery. Working graveyard on Saturday morning, it was -3 when I showed up and dropped as far as -7, with a windchill of -15. There's about 3 or 4 inches of snow as well, but that's an afterthought by comparison.

Today my sole contribution to NBS consists of a pale ale from Lagunitas:

My experience opening it could have gone better.



https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/220/232372/?ba=woemad#review
Probably no NBS for me next weekend as my life will be entirely subsumed by life at my brother's house, where beer will probably consist of Dead Guy and Redhook ESB, so Merry Christmas and have a great week!

 

This is so smooth and delicious, and very creamy.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/73/8350/

 

At least one more can before the night is over, Tired Hands Oblivex Double IPA, thank you @CanConPhilly for grabbing me some cans!

4.5/5 rDev +0.9%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

Thank you CanConPhilly for this
16 oz can, dated 12/7/16, poured into a teku

A- A hazy golden straw color with a two finger whit head.

S- Pretty citra heavy, citrus, tropical fruits, melons, slightly dank.

T- Melons, citrus, some tropical fruits, hints of pineapple, piney/dank finish.

M- Smooth, slightly creamy, medium body.

O- Imperial HopHands that is citra heavy. If this becomes part of Tired Hands regular can rotation I will be buying it when I can.

 

One more time, this pours a very attractive orange with a solid 2 finger head that leaves webs of lace as it slowly settles into a thin layer of white bubbles. 4.5

Smell is pungent apricot, cannabis, tangerine, pine, and grapefruit rind. 4.25

Taste follows nicely tropical upfront apricot, papaya, tangerine leads to a huge piney, dank marijuana, and a healthy shot of grapefruit in the lingering finish. 4.25

Mouthfeel is very large for the style, almost sticky, a good amount of carbonation, maybe a little dry, and for 11.3% ABV it is far too drinkable. 4.5

Overall this huge beer doesn't dissapoint, that being said you better brace yourself for a monster hoppy DIPA, that beats up your palate and oozes hoppy goodness. 4.25

 

Blownout Brown from Bitteroot Brewing. Decent. Not a style I am super firmiliar with. Can only drink one darker beer at a time, can't drink um like pales, ipas,lagers, kolsch.....etc....

 

Good evening, NBS friends. I did the fast scroll and cant wait to go back through and read up on what you have been up to today. Another incredible lead off from @utopiajane ...beautiful!

So Christmas cantata sung twice today, error fix rehearsal in between. Did some woodshedding on our Christmas Eve quartet pieces and need a little more. Our son wont be with the group this year, so it is taking a bit more work to put together, but doing some good stuff and small groups are fun.

The construction update was posted prebiously, so let us dive right into the tulip and see what is teasing the palate tonight, shall we?

From the seemingly endless box of treasures from our estimable @cavedave comes ths gem from Newburgh, Sur Lie. Pours beautifully, leaving the dregs. Liquid gold, and the quarter inch foamy head dissipated while I was looking for a spot to take the picture.



On the nose, I initially thought I smelled banana, so that was a what the heck moment. But it is mosly a nice, laid back citrusy sour with a wine-like characteristic presumably from the Sevval Blanc lees it was oak-aged upon. I do detect a bit of oaky tannin. It is more lemon/lime woven together with the grape notes. Very nice, balanced, just a hint o' da funk.

The taste is amazingly smooth. It is not an intense sour, maybe a little towards the cider vinegar with a touch of sweetness. It strikes me as wine-like with the grape presence being an easily identifiable characteristic. There is just enough funky, earthy sensation to balance the sour. The oak is fleeting if it is present at all. Seems more like a vague whisper of tannin phenolics than a clear statement. It is drying on the finsh, but nicely carbonated, and a thick mouthfeel.

There are no rough edges here. This is a very well-rounded beer that delivers a highly pleasing marriage of mild sour, earthy funk, citrusy fruits, and a bit of tannin to dry it out and leave a clean palate. I get a tiny bit of sweetness which seems to be the wine grape remnants, and just a touch of spicy phenolics as it warms through.

Excellent, well-crafted brew. I would highly recommend it, and it is going to land around 4.3 on the old BA-o-rometer.

Cheers, friends. Just think... We will be doing CNBS next weekend and NYDNBS the next. This thread might be my moment of refuge amidst the chaos!

 

Short's Huma Lupa Licious India Pale Ale | Short's Brewing Company. Some Michigan atmospheric BM to chill out to before "Hell week" for us retail workers.

 

That is quite the bottle top.

 

Greetings NBS fans! A late entry after a busy day of digging out of some lake effect snow and a trip to Half Acre in Chicago for a keg. While I was there I purchased a new beer that was released on Friday called Cliffs of Tephra IPA. A pint can from a four pack dated 12/13/16 poured in a new Half Acre glass that this junkie had to have. Let's pour this 8% abv. mystery into the glass and see what awaits us?

Pours a transparent sparkling gold with a finger of soapy white foam that quickly dissipates leaving a small amount of lacing. The smell is a spicy/floral hop mix with some grapefruit and malt. Taste is once again a mix of spicy and floral hops along with something minty. A bit of cereal/malt in the finish. The feel is quite syrupy and resiny for the style with a bitter dry finish.



In all a good beer that reminds me of their Navaja DIPA with it's spicy floral hop profile. I like it, but I'm more a fan of their juicier citrus offerings and content with purchasing a four pack. My score is 3.94 / rDev -2.5%.

Here's the official scorecard, see you for the Christmas edition next week.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/18006/260068/?ba=Prager62#review

 

It's been a while since I've posted here, and I'm long overdue. I'm violating @Prager62's rule and cross-posting to keep up with my Beer Advent Calendar postings. It's been a very busy weekend with my daughter turning six, my work Christmas party, and tons of projects around the house.

My beer tonight is Buxton/Omnipollo Yellow Belly Sundae. It says it's a barrel aged imperial stout with peanuts and biscuits. It's actually really good although one of the most unique flavors I think I've tasted in a stout. Grab one of you see one. The full review is below.





Poured from an 11.2 ounce bottle into a 12 ounce tulip. It pours thick and black with no head. The smell is immediately peanuts and caramel. The peanut smell is very strong and very unique. The taste is also very unique. The peanuts are very strong and when combined with the biscuit makes for a wonderful, sweet, burned caramel taste. My only complaint is a clear lack of barrel presence. The mouthfeel is like silk - just incredibly smooth and thick. Overall this is an outstanding beer. It's very unique and well done. I've never tasted anything like it.

 

Now drinking a Defender IPA from Brooklyn. A very decent IPA, but not my favorite profile. It has a heavy resinous pine hop hit = good but not great.


https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/45/192747/?ba=Chickenhawk9932#review