New Beer Sunday (week 620)

Greetings NBS gang! If you'll pardon the indulgence @zid and I would like to do a 'Take 2' of a beer that we each did independently of one another on NBS, and got wildly different impressions of. Could this have been batch variation, or just a case of different palates? The cans we will report on today were each bought at the same time at the same place. Here's my take:

LIC Beer Project Dutch Kills Kolsch

Right off the bat I can see that it is much hazier this time around. Not a good sign. The aroma of creamed corn hits me right away, and the finish tastes strongly of corn and cooked carrots, along with the spicy/grassy Hallertauer hops- an almost overbearing combo. It's pretty harsh overall, maybe even a bit slick, and not nearly as clean and pleasant as my previous encounter. Looks like some serious batch variation, and you're not crazy Chris! Unless this time you got the clean one .

 

Happy Sunday, BAs. This chain is an unbelievable resource - it helps make me a more informed consumer and for that I thank you all!

Splitting the difference between the urge to enjoy a dark beer on this cold day filled with shoveling and the running IPA theme - Shades of Gray (black IPA) from Against the Grain:


Appearance and nose gives that enjoyable contradiction between the look of a malty porter and the aroma of a hoppy IPA. Dark brown pour with a frothy head. Aroma of roasted malt and chocolate cut by pine and lemongrass. Taste starts with the bitterness and grassiness of an IPA before transitioning to a roasty, malty and slightly coffee-ish melange of flavors. Finishes with a creamy mouthfeel and a pleasant bitterness.

 

Hey what's going in?!

Well it appears to be the coldest day of the year so far. Bright and sunny, but no complaints. I had a serious bad case of lockjaw and I was taking it easy a bit there, but I am getting back and certainly missing my new brews!

Today it's time to dig in and get with the season.. the one that can't come soon enough and is always my favorite.

What's new for our hero today?

Entrepôt (Printemps) | Rising Tide Brewing Company


Rising Tide - Printemps Saison by imbibehour, on Flickr

--------------------------------------------------

Poured from the bottle into a tulip glass. Bottled March 2016, Batch 461.

Big supper gleaming clear body color, with a bright golden orange and green appearance and nearly crystal perception. Excellent roaring middle column of carbonation in the center of the glass, and even some fine fast streams on the side. Excellent Belgian rocking like white head. Three fingers foaming and bright and constantly getting repopulated. Nearly perfected and classic looking Belgian in the glass.

Bright hop aroma and funk even still at this stage of the game. Earthy and light floral tone with moderate sensing brett action. Hints of light pepper, faint honey, and excellent soft earthy hop flavor. Hints of green herbs abound, rosemary and sage like, definitely feeling like grass and Spring is coming. Very nicely done.

Palate is just a great playful singer. Belgian sweetness abounds but tolerable and nice put together. A creamy palate is also there but is plasted by lots of carbonation which exacerbates the brett sharpness. Honey and earth with soft herbal tea like warmth. Light hop bitterness on the finish giving some more mint like qualities. Carbonation is playful, but also leaves just a little too much gaseous and carbon dioxide like flavors.

Overall a great flavorful Saison, nicely done here.

look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25 | BA Generated Score: 4.24

------------------------------------------------

Cheers!

 

Good morning friends,
Thanks Jack for the informative start up. I worked for Kelly Brick Co. out of Philadelphia on that Schlitz Brewery project south of Winston-Salem. It was a Summer job, very hard work, paid well (I actually joined a union), and I learned things there that have served me well. The later Stroh's expansion on that site was a big deal, and we did drink our share of good ol' fire-brewed Strohs. I'd like to try that Pils for sure!
It snowed 10 inches Friday night and Saturday morning. This is different than most of the snow that we usually get here. It's dry and drifting. While walking the dogs my pants are covered up to near my knee and everything is frozen solid. It's more quiet and I like that. A surprising number of people are out at 12 degrees and it's truly beautiful. I love snow because we don't see it ALL of the time!
Today's beer is New Holland Dragon's Milk BBA Stout 11% bottled 12/9/16
Dragon's Milk pours a deep brownish/black pitching a quick khaki-colored head falling to bubbles and clingy lace. The nose is muted at first, but with with air opens to slight Bourbon, coffee, and burnt brown sugar notes. The entry is sweet vanilla, dark roasty malt, more brown sugar finishing sweet and woody with further Bourbon sweetness.
Dragon's Milk is an easy drinking BBA stout, but is 11% and needs to be savored and sipped. DM is a great cold weather beer, inexpensive, in this case nice and fresh, well made and I will buy it again. Cheers. Have fun out in the snow!

I wanted something a little tropical sounding, a bit dreamy, and a bit nostalgic. Here it is! Eric Burdon has quietly done his magic for a long time. he is seriously under-rated!

 

New for me

Castle Island Sweet Brown
Pours like a glass of cola
Slight potatoe smell
Kind of a dry crisp mouth feel
Medium carbonated feel as well
Taste was kind of meh. I like a lot of their beers but this one to me was thin tasting. I did get kind of a carmel/ sweet potato flavor. I'm pretty sure I won't have it again.

 

Figured I'd start the New Year off with my continued stalking of @Roguer's NBS posts. We found some Tropical Torpedo by Sierra Nevada with a package date of 12/20/2016as we tracked down some Immort Ale yesterday (the local TW had a big display of year-old bottles, not sure why).


First thing I note about this beer is that, in my mind it seems lighter colored than what I recall of regular Torpedo (though we saw above how good my memory is). This is a little towards the yellow side of golden in one respect, but there is an orange hue to it as well (light yellow-orange is maybe what I'm trying to say). The head couldn't be controlled, and I ended with muffin tops above the glass rim that fell leaving odd shapes, like ice chunks returning to the beer sea, leaving a new soapy/foamy landscape.


(not best look here, but I think you can get the impression)

The nose has a tropical nature to it, but does seem like a balanced IPA (and a familiar one), with a malty presence with a bitter kick. Fresh hop notes bring both bitterness and a floral note to the tropical mango and pineapple.

The beer starts with a decently malty opening, and a mild carmelized fructose sweetness. A mango to guava tropical note comes next and you might be thinking, "this thing is just getting sweeter, isn't it?" But no, the bitterness level is rising as well, so while the tropical notes are coming out the are being delivered on a bed of bitterness. This bitterness is a classic IPA mix of pine (mainly) and pith, and does eventually crest over the other flavors, washing them away and leaving nothing else save for a little tropical fruit skin and rind.

This beer at this stage does demand my palate's attention, and is probably medium in body and heft. Carbonation is at a moderate level and fits in perfectly with this beer.

I think I agree with @Roguer's review in many, many ways, specifically this assessment:

That basically sums up my overall thought. I enjoyed the beer, as did the GF, though she likes Grapefruit Sculpin better. I asked her because I felt this had a similarity to that beer in a few ways. She says the BP beer is more fruity to her. I should also note that Torpedo is one of her favorite fridge staples, as well.

Lastly, the "evidence" of my picture taking from today:




Edit: I started getting a little more tartness with the bitterness in the transition as the beer warmed. Also rated/reviewed it, and although we didn't give the exact same ratings, I ended up at the same BA-derived score as Roguer

 

Greetings, fellow NBSers, and thanks to @JackHorzempa for getting us going this cold and snowy morning.

We're having a 19° heatwave in the city that's in full-on Zag mode. Last night there was a decent dumping of snow on top of what we already had. My bitch is that it's now hidden the ice on the sidewalks downtown, which made my pub crawl after the Seahawks game, um, exciting. At least it wasn't the shitshow that is snowfall in Seattle or Portland:


As far as new beers go, here's one I had during the week from my favorite super-local brewery, Iron Goat:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/29334/262531/?ba=woemad#review

I'll be back with a new beer for this actual New Beer Sunday later on. Got a couple special things on deck today.

 

Good afternoon NBS, thanks to Jack for the great introduction and the Strohs story, really appreciate the history. I read Ambitious Brew , by Maureen Ogle some years ago, great work and many stories of those early brewing families. That is worth checking out. Today i have the pleasure to bring a Volume Two :Bufo from Wunderkammer Bier. The brewer used " Lichen, mushrooms, some sticks, and leaves, as well as other typical brewing materials" this offering was fermented in oak barrels. I got to say from the label my first response was DANGER, DANGER Will Robinson. Having experienced the offering I will seek out a few more bottles.
This captured that walk in the woods mood perfectly! Add in the citrus and oak and we have here a real delight.
Cheers all

Volume Two: Bufo

Wunderkammer Bier
American Wild Ale

4.06/5 rDev n/a | Avg: 4.09
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Poured from a recent purchase into the modified tulip glass
L - Sandalwood backdrop, is the setting for determined carbonation to meander skyward, a thin cap quickly dissipates.
A slick line clings to the glass as evidence.
S - Warm walk in the woods, earthy, spruce bark, light citrus, orange, and some dark honey, wet pine forest. Delightfully different.
T - What a treasure trove, citrus, blends with honey blends with Shiitake, blends with old wood, and back again for a delightful loop.
M - Medium in body, a bit slick on the palate, carbonated gently, a semi sweet, savory linger lasts days.
O - The flavor profile is challenging and rewarding, think citrus in the northern woods, Amazing in complexity. The first word from my co-conspirator ( wife) was "that's amazing" I agree, earthy, warm delightfully tart when needed.
Worth seeking out for a walk in the woods adventure.

 

I would like to say that I have a correction to make. Jack has told me that -

"Warsteiner has been brewing since 1753 but they did not brew Pilsner style beers until much later than that.

The very first Pilsner brewed was Pilsner Urquell in 1842 in Pilzn (Czech Republic).

From the Radeberger website:

http://www.radeberger.de/de/radeberger-start

Radeberger wurde 1872 mit dem Anspruch gebraut, das beste Pils seiner Zeit zu sein. Daran hat sich bis heute nichts geändert.

Radeberger was brewed in 1872 with the claim to be the best Pilsner of his time. Nothing has changed until today.

I have seen folks state that Radeberger was the first Pilsner beer brewed in Germany:

“The first German brewery to issue a Pilsener-style beer was the Aktienbrauerei Zum Bierkeller of Radeberg near the Saxon capitol of Dresden—now known as the Radeberger brewery. It brought its Pilsner to market in 1872.”

http://www.germanbeerinstitute.com/pils.html

If the above quoted paragraph is true then that would mean that Pilsners were brewed in the US (e.g., 1850 for the case of Stroh’s) before they were brewed in Germany. Authenticating history claims is not an easy task so take this statement with a grain of salt.

What I can state with 100% certitude is that the Warsteiner beer of 1753 was not a Pilsner."


Thank you Jack !

 

Good afternoon to all the NBS followers. There was about 3 inches of nuisance snow here in the yard this morning and the temperature about 5* so I hung out inside until the temperature reach about 10* then ventured out to clean out the drive way and enjoy the cold but bright sunshine. My dog Diesel loves the snow but 230lbs of wet mastiff is a lot to clean up after when you bring him back in the house. But he loves the snow so what the heck he enjoyed a couple hours out while I cleaned out the yard. I tried to get him to pose for a picture but he wasn't having any of that. So my garden sculpture from last spring sits peacefully awaiting the long off signs of spring.

No on to the reason were all here to share a new beer. And this one is local for me about 20 minutes from my house at Henniker Brewing. They released there new DIPA Damn Sure yesterday with the intention of brewing it and releasing it once a month. This release is in 16oz cans, to me the ideal format.

Poured from a can dated 1/7/17 pickup up at the brewery on 1/7/17. This beers pours a slightly hazy golden yellow color into my Teku glass. The more I sit and look at this beer there may be just a shade of orange in the color. There is a thin white head even with a fairly aggressive pour, which disappears quickly.
The nose of this beer was the first thing I noticed while pouring it into my glass. You don't have to get to close to notice the aroma. Lots of pineapple, grapefruit and perhaps my nose is finding a little melon.
The taste follows the nose pineapple and grapefruit and yes the melon is there and all wrapped around that great bitterness in the finish.
The mouthfeel is smooth with a light amount of carbonation.
This beer is listed at 8.5% ABV it doesn't drink anything like that. My hats of to Henniker Brewing for making a DIPA that I will enjoy drinking anytime. If they keep up there plan to brew this once a month so it stays fresh I see myself buying a lot of this beer and making far fewer trips to MA and VT.
4.33/5 rDev n/a
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
Well the sun is still out and the temperature is up to 19* at this time so maybe I'll venture out for a little more time in the snow with Diesel.

 

Eric Burdon is an AWESOME singer, he did not get the recognition as other's around that time (Jim Morrison, Lennon/McCarthy, Burton Cummings, Lovin Spoonful......)

Cheers!

 

Smells of orange blossoms (think....orchard during bloom).

Citrus is prevalent in the taste...well balanced with the classic piney character of SNPA

Has a pleasant astringency, not sweet or syrupy.

Very pleased that this is "natural" tasting....it's not an artificial, sweet, orange creamsicle. I was skeptical at first, but this is pretty enjoyable and refreshing.

 

Happy Sunday NBS players. Got a good foot of snow here on the east end of the island in case you hadn't heard. Spent the morning digging out and getting the cars cleaned up. It's just a bitter cold day here and on Thursday it's suppose to be in the 50's. Staying inside and watching football for the rest of the day.

My new beer today is Vermont Spruce Stout, a stout brewed with pumpkin and spruce tips, from Rock Art Brewing in VT. The beer comes in at 8.0% abv, 50 ibu, and a bottle date of 9/28. A nice xmas gift from my sister-in-law to be who grabbed a few obscure bottles on here trip to the state along with some heady.

A light black pour with a frothy tan head. The nose is a mix of malts and sugars. Big roasted malt hits on the very first sip. A sweet and sugary flow that leads to a bitter finish. A nice flavor mix builds more as the brew warms. Roasted malts with chocolate, coffee, caramel, and vanilla. The pumpkin is subtle buts comes over more on the spice tones of cinnamon and nutmeg. The spruce tips come on as bitter pine and really seem to add to the hoppy feel of the beer. The mouth feel is on the lighter side but not at all watery.

Overall, a decent drinking beer for sure. The flavors are interesting, and really seem to work nicely. I'm in the 3.5/3.8 range.

 

New Stout Sunday



Victory Java Cask

Happy Sunday, BAs. Seeing this one in WBAYDN last night reminded me it was time to crack this open.

Java Cask is black with a finger of dark tan head that leaves modest lacing.

There's a layered mix of big breakfast-roast coffee, chocolate, vanilla and sweet bourbon in the aroma.

Nice medium-roast coffee stands out up front in the taste. Chocolate and some additional roasted malts and slight nuttiness mid-palate. Big bourbon flavor, with caramel, vanilla and marshmallow on the backend, with a little alcohol burn. Moderate coffee bitterness competes with the caramel and chocolate in the lingering aftertaste. Really well-integrated, yet strong, barrel character in this one.

Relatively light bodied for the style, with just enough creaminess and carbonation to make it work.

I'm loving this. One of the more "balanced," not-too-dark BA coffee stouts out there, with each of the elements you'd normally expect working together in harmony.

My personal "history" note is that Hop Devil was the first beer that got me into big hops, and I'm sure that a ton of styles I first tried were from Victory. I don't drink them as often these days, but I love seeing one from them this strong.

 

Hey NBS crew! I haven't been around in a while but had some time today and a new-to-me beer so I figured I'd check in. After clearing the driveway of the foot of snow we got yesterday a little reward was in order. Picked this up on a whim. I had no idea it was coming out but this blend seemed almost too good to be true and the $15 price is definitely a factor. Cheers!




Overall: 4.68/5 rDev +16.4%
look: 4 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.75

Pours a bit thicker than expected, thin tan cap forms but recedes to a ring pretty quickly. A bit murky, dark brown with a red hue. Bit of patchy lacing and a bit sticky, but not much here.

Nose is the cherries first, then comes some banana and clove with the darker roasted notes of the stout rounding it out. Really nice.

The flavor waves, for me, follow the label order as did the nose. This definitely puts the sour cherries first, but the sweetness of the Quads in the blend takes over before the stout rounds it out. The cherries are more delicate than the nose would lead me to expect. I bet with some age they fall even further into the background. But it's not like getting hit over the head here - the tartness is mellow and gives way to the sweetness of the Quads quickly. The Quads are absolutely there in flavor and feel, but the stouts take over for the most part and, for me, that's a good thing. Both these guys do a great job with the Quads but their Stouts are some of the best and most consistent in the game imho. That dark roasted malt, sweet chocolate and hints of coffee all pull through here. Perhaps I've been having too many high gravity beers lately, but this is far from boozy - I would not guess it was a full 12.5% because this definitely comes through more sweet than hot. I could see some folks feeling it's too sweet, but for me it works. Really fantastic.

Feel is pretty solid - it's definitely highly carbed which is fine as a little agitation brings it to where I like it. Definitely light enough to lift this pretty highly viscous brew off the palate. Brings enough bitter to help offset its sweetness so it isn't cloying.

 

Hello NBSers! Lots of great sounding entries so far today; always awesome to see. We've got some snow on the ground here in Massachusetts and it seems like there's plenty elsewhere as well. I'm not leaving the house today other than to clean my car off, that's for sure, as it's insanely cold out and I'm much more into the idea of listening to music and hanging out at home than I am about being productive.

My first and only entry this week is for a new Baltic porter from Relic Brewing Company in CT. According to the (very very cheesy) can label, this was brewed at Thomas Hooker Brewing Co for Relic, so I guess it's contract-brewed. Guess we'll find out very soon whether or not this effort is worthy!



10%, eh? Damn. I only picked up a single of this one but if it's good, the price was very right, as this comes in four-packs for like 12 bucks or so.

Pour is a viscous and inky black color with a nice, retentive and moderately-lacy khaki colored head. The surface retains a little bit of haze even as the main foam dissipates. If held up to light, I can slightly make out some ruby/mahogany highlights at the bottom of my glass, but for the most part this is just very, very dark. Leaves some drippy lacing as I sip, as well. Nice looking stuff.

Nose is full of dark roast coffee beans, baker's chocolate and light notes of vanilla and roasted nuts. Very nice aroma that I only imagine will get better as this one warms up. Some light ethanol pokes its head out here and there but it certainly doesn't smell like as big a beer as it claims to be. Deceptive!

Flavor is huge and bold with roasty and charred malts mingking with an intense espresso and chocolate-hazelnut flavor. Bitter herbal/pine-like hop notes linger on from the mid-palate into the finish. Thick and rich beer, almost like a decadent dessert in a glass but without cloying sweetness of any kind. Very well-balanced. Alcohol is a bit more present on the tongue but this is still very drinkable and I look forward to picking up more now that I know it's trustworthy. Too bad that label art is so obnoxiously cheeseball, but you can't win 'em all!

Just finishing up listening to an absolute whirlwind of a death metal album, Vengeful's Karma MMXIII, a re-recording and re-tooling of their debut album from 2007. This Canadian band puts out some blistering, breakneck tech death and features members of Phobocosm and Cryptopsy. Check out that TWELVE MINUTE last song... what a tour-de-force of intensity! Brutal and unrelenting. Love it!

 

I'm back with another new beer, this time thanks to @zid -

Friedenfelser Steinwald Zoigl

This type of beer is in the Kellerbier or Zwickel family, and is essentially an unfiltered countryside lager. There may be condition issues going on in this one, unfortunately, because there are glimpses of a nice characterful yet drinkable beer going on, but they are very nearly undone by some off tune qualities. The malt is rich and rounded in nature, somewhere between a Pilsner and Vienna, but ultimately comes across as washed out and weak after a few sips. The hops are snappy and spicy, and should complement the malt perfectly, except that I am getting a harsh phenol at the end that goes beyond spicy and into medicinal. This coarse finish really does throw a monkey wrench into the whole effect, and has me wishing that I could try this one in much better condition. For now it's a C- (2.35), with a potential upside.

Big thanks, though, Chris- this kind of beer is right up my alley and I'm still really happy to have tried it.

 

Good Sunday afternoon to everyone!

My new beer today is Prairie Artisan Ales Barrel Aged Bomb! This is Bomb! aged in whiskey barrels. And it is the November bottling, so about 2 months fresh.

The beer pours a nice oily black color. An ever so slim amount of dark tan colored head, and just stays a razor thin amount with these big soapy bubbles. The beer coats and stains the glass with a brown film, and there is tons of streaky head lacing that drips down the sides of the glass.

The aroma is a whole lotta sweetness. Tons of fudgy chocolates, and waves upon waves of sweet caramel sauce and vanilla. Past the sweetness i get some of the dryer cocoa chocolate and a rich roasted espresso bean quality.

The taste gives the same sweet flavors up front. Dessert-like chocolate, caramel, tons of vanilla. Since i dont usually get a ton of vanilla from the base beer id say its mostly barrel derived. Roasted coffee beans, and on the finish you get some of the light barrel char, oak, and bourbon. As i drink on i do get some of the peppers on the finish, it just adds a spiciness though, no real heat.

The mouthfeel is as-you-would-expect creamy and fluffy, smooth dessert-like creaminess.

Overall this is just an incredible barrel-aged stout. Surprising since its from Prairie right? NOT. Their barrel-aged offerings are among the best. The sweetness tends to cover up a lot of the base beer flavors, but that's ok with me. It tastes like a different kind of beer, but who cares....because its great.

Cheers everyone and enjoy your day!

 

Oh my God! You were there too? You're right - I'll admit that I can be a bit of a bozo but I still stand by that review.

 

Good afternoon all. For my first NB of the day, I am rolling with the Kane Over Head.



I force poured a bit in order to create a bit of head, and what resulted was about a half inch of foamy white head over a nearly opaque dirty orange beer, with wet and slippery legs providing spotty at best lacing.

Nose has a pleasant lemon zest before the spicy citrusy hop profile makes its presence known. Before the smelling experience is over, a sweet melon finish comes out.

First swig brings about a massive blast of bitter grapefruit and olive leaning earthiness. A bit of maltiness shows up in the form of a barely discernible amount of caramel sweetness. Not a bit of heat, except for maybe a certain amount of dryness that usually is telltale of an elevated ABV.

As I mentioned, this is dry but mostly on the finish. Otherwise, it starts out very wet, thin to medium bodied and of decent carbonation.

Very tasty indeed!