New Beer Sunday (week 620)

That rings a bell now that you mention it (from gleaming info from this site). Actually I was thinking of the Keebler plant next to the brewery, also. Memory fading as it's been years .

 

Starting off early with an American Wild Ale produced in Denmark. This will be my third beer from the folks at To Øl, but my first sour from them. Let's start drinking.



To Øl's Sur Citra.

Pours a hazy orange with head formation bubbling up quick. Head is white, foamy, with plenty of eagerness to form, and stamina to stick around for a while. Head formation topped out at 3 fingers. Lacing forms as dots around the entirety of the glass. A whiff of this beer delivers hop notes in the form of fruits, citrus, with a little resiny sap stick in the back of it, all the while a little sour funk is playing in the background. Flavor profile opens quickly with hops - fruits and citrus - and then flows into the sour side of the profile. Lots of quality sour funk to it, with a slightly earthy, resiny hop taste at the very end. Mouth feel is bubbly, with a medium to medium-thick consistency. The thickness is bolstered by the bubbly feel. Overall, a funky pale ale with loads of tasty hop presence in the aroma and flavor profile, and a nice sour funk twist.

Score: 4.5 | 4.25 | 4.25 | 4 | 4 | BA Score: 4.19 | rDev: +1.5%

 

I like their dunkel a bit better than the pils I have to admit. =)

 

Great start, @JackHorzempa ! I knew a guy down in Louisville (kind of a 'good old boy, actually) in the 80s who swore by Stroh's- said it was the hops that set it apart.

For anyone else into those old-time brews, I've seen a rather new beer in and around NYC that calls itself a Bushwick Pilsner. Looks pretty promising.

 

Small snow flurries yesterday melted by the Sun today so . . .



Score 3.84
appearance: 3.5 | aroma: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75

Very light hazy golden color with white cap and good lacing.

Aroma is malt and hops. Softer, more floral and lightly spiced hops that what I often get from an IPA, or so that's how they appear to me.

Taste is hop forward on entry and continue as the principal flavor note all the way through to the finish and linger in the aftertaste. Not a heavy hop presence but certainly a noticeable one. Like an overcoat that covers but does not conceal the garments beneath, hops surround but do not overwhelm the malt.

Texture is medium.

So I was thinking ho hum, another white IPA, but this one's lighter, brighter, crisper and to me a more rewarding hop flavor than some of the piney IPAs I've had in the past. Complex, well integrated flavors cleverly balanced. This is one I can think about or simply sip and enjoy.

 

Thank you for the history lesson! I grew up drinking and loving Stroh's in the late 70s and early 80s in WVa. Most of my buddies did not like it, but drank it any way ( we were young and poor ). Following your excellent review I can't wait to try the "new" Stroh's - cheers!

 

My in-laws live in South Lyons. My father-in-law and I stopped into the brewery last summer, and we both enjoyed it.

 

Moving on to another sour. This time is hails from Crooked Stave's St. Bretta line, which uses a rotating citrus addition. This will be my first taste of any of the series.



Crooked Stave's St. Bretta with Clementine.

Pours yellow with a tinge of fog on the glass keeping this beer from being useful as a magnifier glass. Head formation is thin, and fizzy. What does form on the head is white, but disappears quickly. Faint notes of citrus, orange, and clementines can be sniffed through the punch of sour funk, but only just. Flavor profile is driven by sour funk, with a lactic sour bite at the end. Citrus notes weave in and out, but otherwise play second fiddle to the sour notes. Mouth feel is thin and bubbly, and almost a bit watery. Overall, a fine sour ale, but certainly not at the prime end of the spectrum.

Score: 3.5 | 4 | 3.75 | 3.75 | 3.75 | BA Score: 3.8 | rDev: -3.6%

 

Yeah. This is my first, and possibly one of my last, forays into their line. The bottle shop I frequent gave me a heck of an offer, so I decided to pony up and buy some. The Hop Savant ones were pretty great. If this St. Bretta is anything like the next 3 I have, I may never pick up another. It is quite a cost to try 375mL.

I have passed on getting any Crooked Stave until this deal though. When I first got into beer, every bottle shop I visited told me to try Crooked Stave. Now a year later, I finally listened.

 

Cheers you all! I am on my second beer of the day making this an official Two Beer Sunday! I paired both my beers today with the same dish so please check out sharing your pairing.

This is Thirsty Dog Bernese Barleywine

Pours a clear and sultry orange even though ti claims to be unfiltered. A creamy but thinner tan head of foam that fell lovely and clinging . Left spots and legs. Bubbles can be seen on the rise. More coppery in indirect light. Nose is hoppy. First you get a good whiff of spice and then lemon. lemon turns to orange as this warms and shows me orange zest. Floral permeates the nose and is the succulent part of these hops. Brown sugar. I like that at first I do not smell caramel , only brown sugar. That to me is crisp. Breaddy rich and sweet cake like malt. As the beer warms you will notice a scent called treacle. This is not something you can attribute to hops. I don't know what makes this scent but it seems to be just this sweet scent that has nothing to it other than sweetness.

Drinks wonderfully with peppery hops on a very graceful malt. Smooth and leaves just a little warmth as it finishes. The alcohol bitters the finish as much as the hops and I think that is well done. It does not finish syrupy or overly sweet but it is not exactly dry. It tastes a bit like candy with plenty of orange and orange peel. At the very end it seems to give a bit of pith from that orange. Then the hop bitter comes to really finish it malty. Piney and also reminds me of tree bark. As this comes up to temperature you taste a bit of dark malt flavor like cocoa or earth. I love this brewer!

Cheers and Happy TWO Beer Sunday!

 

Happy NBS. There is something very dissatisfying about suffering through a week of brutal cold only to have it end with rain.

Hopefully the Packers can finally find a way to beat the Giants in the playoffs.

My new beer is a local one. Duplexx from House of Brews in Madison WI. It pours a dark brown color with a slight reddish hue and a two finger beige head that slowly settles to a nice thin but creamy puffy layer while leaving light layers of lacing. A bouquet of toffee and caramel, followed by dark fruit, bourbon and vanilla. Flavor is full of caramel raisins, toffee, vanilla, brown sugar, prunes, faint dried cherries. Finish is boozy, with a real nice bourbon-esque character. There is a nice warming sensation and a slight bitterness on the finish. I'm not sure you will find a better local brewed Dubbel.

 

Good almost afternoon New BSers! Jack, thanks for the history and update on Stroh's. I dimly remember it as one of those beers from my college days that I didn't really like - no way as good as the Iron City or Schmidts (Gag, choke!) that were my daily bread. If I run across any now, I'll give it another try.

Today's New Breakfast Beer is:



$ 25.90 (Including tax)/750 mL bottle ($ 1.00/oz) at Oppermann’s Cork ‘N’ Ale, Saginaw, MI
While there is no actual date on the bottle, it does say “BQE Q1 2015, Blend #3, so it’s approaching two years old. Cage and cork bottle at 42 degrees served in a hand washed and dried JK snifter. The bottle opens with a resounding “Pop” and does not overflow.
Aroma – cherries and candi sugar. No hint of the bourbon barrels.
Head transitory. It fizzes away almost as fast as I pour, which, because of the fizzing, is more slowly and less aggressively than normal. What was there was tan, less than two centimeters thick, and left an irregular one to three millimeter ring which is maintained by the effervescence. There is no surface layer, just small bubble slicks formed by the effervescence which slide away to meld with the ring.
Lacing - none
Body – brown, murky, some effervescence
Flavor – slightly sweet and some cherry. Since this uses Brooklyn’s Local # 2 as a base, one would expect some of the Belgian dark strong ale characteristics to come through. And they do – hops are barely noted, the malt sweetness (and/or candi sugar) is evident (The Montmorency cherries used are considered tart or sour), alcohol is so well hidden that even a gastric burn is absent. There is no diacetyl. And definitely not even a hint of bourbon barrels.
Palate – medium, watery, fizzy
Overall, this is one that I’m glad I tried once (I think) but is also one that I won’t be seeking. It is also a good example of the problems of categorizing beers – Belgian dark strong ale vs. fruit/vegetable beer vs. wild ale. This has been discussed in other threads ad infinitum.

Appearance 3.5, Aroma 4, Flavor 4, Palate 3.5, Overall 3.75. Rating 3.87, rDev -3.3%

 

Sidecar an Orange Pale Ale from Sierra Nevada. If this was brewed by any other brewery i would have passed on it but since it is from Sierra Nevada i gave it a shot. Simply put Sidecar is SNPA with with added orange flavor and an off amber color. Much like @Roguer stated about Tropical Torpedo this beer has just about the same malt and hop presence as SNPA but with a small orange flavor added. It is by no means a fruit bomb. It's not bad but it's doubtful i'll try it again (unless it free).

 

Greetings NBS fans from the still cold southern shore! After a frigid week the forecast high today is for the upper teens. On the positive side we haven't seen significant snow in three weeks after three snow filled weekends to start December. Cheers to everyone that's digging out from this weekends storm! On to the beer now.....

A bomber of Crack The Skye from Three Floyd's in collaboration with Dark Matter Coffee that I purchased at the brewery a few weeks ago. There's no abv. listed on the label and the date is 12-09-16. Let's pour it in my Three Floyd's glass and get rolling!

Pours a thin looking dirty motor oil brown leaving a couple centimeters of rapidly settling mocha colored foam. No lacing is left in it's wake. Smell is fresh ground dark roast coffee, dark chocolate, vanilla and faint bourbon. The taste is dark roast coffee forward like a shot of cold espresso! Bitter dark chocolate follows along with vanilla, oak and subtle bourbon. The feel while rather thin produces a palate tingling sensation.



A very robust and flavorful coffee stout with subtle barrel characteristics. I know the beer wasn't barrel aged, but remember reading that the beans or coffee was. Either way it worked well in my opinion. The barrel characteristics are there without overpowering the solid coffee taste. My only minor negative is the somewhat thin and flat feel. My score is 4.29 / rDev -5.3%. I purchased two and regret not buying a couple more. Fingers crossed that it's brewed again!

Time to get a few things done around the house. I'm hoping with warmer weather forecast for later in the week I can get the outdoor Christmas decorations down. Have a great Sunday, I hope to join in again later. Here's the official scorecard.....

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/26/254680/?ba=Prager62#review

 

Good morning, BA! This Packers fan is looking forward to today's playoff game so I decided to make the same breakfast my late grandma always did near Shawano, Wisconsin, an hour west of Green Bay. Of course being made in the same county that meant none other than Nueske's bacon and local eggs over easy. This is just like I remembered growing up. GO PACK GO!!!

I've never been much of a cereal fan myself so I thought this was the perfect (new) beer to pair with such a protein-filled breakfast. Unfortunately the label made it sound more attractive than it ended up being. First bad sign was the head that disappeared in a flash. Then the nose smelled far more bitter than the fresh aromatics I usually associate with a nice cup of java, coffee beer or even milk stout. The flavors were pleasant, all strong coffee. But the mouthfeel was quite disappointing- I almost never rate a decent beer lower than a 3 in any regard and this one got a 2.5 on the mouthfeel. Very watery, fairly bitter, none of the body I would normally expect in a milk stout or even a fresh brewed cup of coffee. For the $10 I paid I could go to Starbucks, add a shot of vodka and still have $5 change... I look forward to vising Seattle and drinking local coffee since I've never been and am open to trying more from this brewery, but this one was a letdown. I'll grab another new beer for the game and hopefully have a more inspiring post later in this thread. Cheers!

 

Other Half is awesome. Try to get your hands on some of their hoppy beers too, if you can. Cheers!