New Beer Sunday (week 620)

Happy New Belgian Strong Dark Ale Sunday!

Not a new brew, but many years in between. Did a nice little hike today, still plenty of snow, about 21 degrees, cloudy here on the Western Slope. Been close to 10 years since I've had this brew. Always a joy to drink it.

Look 4.5 Smell 4.5 Taste 4.5 Feel 4.5 Overall 4.5

Revisit: 8 Jan 17
750ml
Caged/Corked
Best Before End: 07082016

Been Probably Close To 10 Years Since Last I've Had This Brew!

Poured into a chalice a pretty nice cloudy brownish color, pretty nice carbonation, with a pretty nice small light tan head, which leaves some oil slicks/islands, and some sticky lacing behind. The nose is malty, yeasty, with some figs, grapes, cherries, plums, raisins. The taste is very nice malty, yeasty, with a very nice touch of dark fruits. Medium body, ABV hidden very well, a nice little complex brew. Overall, this is a joy to drink, very tasty. Recommended!

Date best by Dec 06.

This was given to me as a subsitute for another bottle of something else. At first I thought I would not like it, but it's very very good. I've had other brown ale's (domestic) and did not care for them at all, but this is another story. Pours a dark brown in color with a huge head. After awhile the head disapated and left some nice lacing. Scents of caramel and malt. There's a nice sweet taste with a medium body. At 9.5% and sweet in flavor, watch out, it will catch up to you in a couple of bottles.

Cheers!

 

Thanks! Cheers!

 

Onto something dark and heavy - right down my alley. Despite this being my first review of this beer, I have had it once before. I will consider this a new beer since:

1.) I had it on tap and it was sour, leading me to believe the bar didn't clean their tap lines (seriously, I'm not going back there).

2.) It was on an ehhhh date. She was more focused on the other couple in the double date, so I stuck to drinking soured KBS, and a glass of this from the draft. I'd say it was one of my worst dates, but I got KBS.

I've seen a few bottles of the barrel aged version, but never picked it up since I've never seen any regular bottles on the shelves. Absolutely zero despite Sierra Nevada distro throughout my state and the state adjacent to me. If I ever find one of those 3 bottle BA bomber packs, I'll have to pop on it as I have seen all of them individually. I do like the idea of tasting the difference between barrels used in the aging process. I didn't find this bottle of Narwhal on the shelves, rather I ordered it online in my first online beer order. I had the opportunity to snag something I couldn't trade for, so I tacked on a bottle of this since I can't seem to find it in town. So with that bit of history and background shared, it's time to drink some 2016 Narwhal.



Sierra Nevada's Narwhal 2016.

Narwhal pours pitch black with a thin fizzy caramel-colored head rising and falling rapidly. The pour was aggressive, turning the glass straight up after pouring about 1/3 of the bottle, yet the head yield was extremely low. Lacing forms in a dot here and there, but nothing extravagant. Aroma is delightful. It's dark, with notes of roasted, biscuit, and bread malts, caramel, and toffee all adding to a sugary, but flavorful aroma. Flavor profile is dark and rich as well. Notes of roasted, toasted, and biscuit malts give the beer a resounding darkness, with caramel, and toffee giving the beer some sugary complexity. Mouth feel is smooth, with some creaminess. Thickness overall is medium, with some particulate and graininess bolstering the feel. Overall, a great example of a imperial stout. Well rounded, with the only category really lacking being the look. It was a poor start to an otherwise exemplary imperial stout.

Score: 3.5 | 4.25 | 4.25 | 4.25 | 4 | BA Score: 4.16 | rDev: +0.5%

Personal asides: I nearly docked a 1/4 of a point on the Overall for beer availability. Sierra Nevada distros in 50 states, and we get most of all of their beers, and yet I have never seen this on our shelves. I frequent nearly half a dozen bottle shops every few weeks as well. It's a bit disappoint just like Lagunitas' High Westified. Both have great brewery distribution, and yet regular beers seem to be tough to get. Bummer. Still a very nice beer. If I find a 4 pack, I'll have to get one for my cellar.

 

Good evening BA, finally getting to my NBS post after working on the addition all day. Today's new brew is Rising Tide Hesperus, a Barleywine blended with aged and new vintage barleywines.



The pour is an opaque brown/orange color with minimal head, but what head there is contributes fine lacing. Lots of alcohol legs.

Aroma here is caramel and toffee, almond, cherry, oak, Apple, and toast. It's kind of like a beer form of trail mix. A little bit of alcohol on the nose too.

Taste is red delicious apples, caramel, oak, cherry, and toast. Undertones of anise, bitters, and a herbal quality, I want to call it fresh mint like in some Belgians but that's not it. Sweet but with a dry finish and some alcohol bite.

Mouthfeel is medium bodied, a little viscous but not thick, very light carbonation which I really enjoy in big barley wines.

Overall this is a really tasty barley wine. Not so far off from J.W. Lee's Barley wine. The blending here is phenomenal to me, just the right amount of oak, noticeable but not taking over other flavors and the new vintage has a chance to mingle with stronger aged flavors. I'm definitely going to pick up a couple more of these and put some in the cellar.

Cheers!
Marc

 

Hoptoligst DIPA from Knee Deep Brewing. Has that dignity dank smell going on for sure. Decent hop bite but not over powering like some DIPA'S. Actually fairly smooth for a 9% DIPA. HERE WE GO STEELERS!!!!

 

Ok, off course I have to chime in
I used to drink their "dark Zoigl" Schwarzer Ritter quite frequently because on regular pub of mine carried it. It's a good beer and a good brewery.
However, it is called Zoigl, yes, but it is not a "real Zoigl". People from the Oberpfalz are often critical about commercial, non-Kommunbrauer beers being called Zoigl (though it's still kind of a common practice..)
The "real" thing doesn't exist in bottled form and comes from a Kommunbrauhaus...Totally different thing, not only from a taste perspective, but from the philosophy and spirit behind it.

 

Good evening NBS, hope everyone is doing well! Made it to Tired Hands for a bottle release and grabbed a snack and two pours at the Brew Café. First up was my first Kvass, Notes Of Whoa, this beer was brewed with the beard they make and paired very well with their beard.
3.96/5 rDev +0.5%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

8 oz pour on draft. Nice golden amber color. The nose has you ch of lemon/citrus, sweet bead and some honey. Taste has a nice lemon zing with some honey, nice bready quility. A tasty easy drinking beer.

Second beer was There Is No Planet B, black spelt saison.
4.12/5 rDev +1.2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

8 oz pour on draft. Dark brown with a small tan head. Nose is tart, some dark fruits, touch of chocolate, mild funk, some wheat. Tast is definitely, roasted malts, some chocolate, a mix of tart dark fruits and berries, some earthy funk and a touch of anise. An enjoyable dark saison.

Now up one of the bottles from earlier, The Emptiness Is In Bloom, an oak fermented Saison conditioned on honeysuckle and elderflowers. I'm a little bummed that it was limited to 1 bottle per person, but I'm very excited to see Tired Hands bring back the Emptiness series!
4.45/5 rDev n/a
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.5

500 ml bottle poured into an Ourison glass

A- A slightly hazy golden straw with a two finger white head.

S- Tart lemons, super floral, honeysuckle and elderflower, touch of wheat, slightly tea like, oak and nice barnyard funk.

T- Tons of flowers, honeysuckle and elderflowers are front and center, herbal tea, tart lemons, nice mild barnyard funk and a touch of oak.

M- Smooth, crisp, light, dry.

O- Love the Emptiness series and this is another great beer. Probably the most floral beer I have ever tried and it works really well with this beer.

 

Good evening NBS, hope everyone is enjoying the end of the weekend once again. Thanks to @JackHorzempa for guest hosting this weeks thread. I have been doing a lot of beer reviewing this month, with my 5000th coming up in less than 2 weeks now. Work has been insanely busy this month. Did some work at home today. I am going to be doing some more travelling this week, and having a really early morning for Wednesday. But that should be the last time I should need to do it. I went last Friday to the supplier in Toledo. I still have an overwhelming amount of new beers on hand that need reviewing soon. I am trying to get through the stuff that needs drank fresh first, but I am keeping a good rotation going as well.

New beers:

This was a great dry hopped sour! Aromas and flavors of big tart/sour lemon, lime, grapefruit, tangerine, pineapple, apricot, mango, papaya, guava, green apple, white wine, and light pepper/pine; with moderate cracker/bready malts; light lacto funk/vinegar; floral/grassy hop and yeast earthiness. Moderate fruity/lactic tart/sourness; with light yeast spice and pine bitterness on the finish. Medium bodied; moderate acidity with some grainy creaminess, and lightly tannic notes in the mouthfeel. Moderately crisp and increasingly drying from acidity; never puckering or astringent. Quite refreshing. I was expecting this to be super lactic-ally sour like most of their other stuff, but its actually fairly well balanced. Really nice complexity between the hops and lacto fruitiness; solid malt backbone. No complaints. I'd buy this again. 4


Awesome Amber Kellerbier! Awesome head retention and clinging lace down the glass. Aromas and flavors of cracker, biscuit, bread dough, and light honey/toasted malts; with balanced herbal, grassy, light peppery Noble hops. Touch of yeasty earthiness. Light-moderate herbal/spicy bitterness on the finish. Medium bodied; balanced bready/grainy Munich malt creaminess and hop stickiness in the mouthfeel. Fairly crisp and increasingly drying. Very refreshing, well balanced, and flavorful. Very clean lagering, no esters/off flavors. This is spot on all around, I loved it.Outstanding style example. Might grab another one. No dating to be found, but this feels fairly fresh to me. Store just got it in last week. 4.13


Omnipollo Mackaper. Really nice pale ale. Fantastic head retention and dense lacing on the glass. Aromas and flavors of lightly tart lemon, lime, pineapple, peach, mango, melon, papaya, passion fruit, guava, grapefruit, berry, citrus peel, pepper, and pine hops; with some light cracker/bready malts; and herbal, floral, grassy hop earthiness. Light-moderate pine/citrus peel/spicy bitterness on the finish. Light-medium bodied; moderately crisp and increasingly drying. Moderate hops stickiness and light grainy malt creaminess in the mouthfeel. Touch of resins, zero hop astringency. Extremely refreshing. Very bright/dank on hops. A bit muted on aromas. Really impressive all around. I have really enjoyed all of their very light malt bodied pale ales all around. 3.91


Cheers, be back in a bit NBS

 

Greetings All:

Today we have a super sweet coconut porter from Wingman Brewers.
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/24029/102161/

More of a novelty, and very sweet with the coconut flavor added. Not sure I would have this again.

A winter day here in the Columbia Basin. Snow, sleet and now freezing rain as the temperature has been rising from single digits to the low 30's over the last couple of days. Tomorrow should be interesting on the roads.

Until next time,

Happy Trails!

 

Regarding the unifying things that make a Zoigl a Zoigl to those people - are they just the environmental aspects of how it is brewed, sold and consumed, or are there physical aspects to the beers or flavors that also define a Zoigl to them? Since you mentioned taste and spirit I'm assuming it's the case. What would those things be (if you can put a finger on it)?

 

Good evening NBS, a first for a two post for me. The weekend cap is from the basement
Operation Cellar Clean Out continues with a 2013 bottle of Damon, Port barrel aged stout
from Hill Farmstead. A full on stout on its own, the port barrel adds a complexity that compliments and compounds this already superb offering.
Cheers


Damon (Port Barrel Aged)

Hill Farmstead Brewery
Russian Imperial Stout

4.09/5 rDev -4.2% | Avg: 4.27
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4

Poured from a 2013 bottle lovingly aged into a large snifter.
A - Dark as the times, loose knit mocha cap fed by relentless carbonation.
S - Cocoa, fig, merlot, touch of vanilla, and grape seed.
T - Strenuous stout, port barrel adds depth to a hefty base beer, lots of bold flavor with wonderful tangents, leather.
dark tobacco, vintage port sweet and tannin.
M - Glorious, no other word needed.
O - The time is the basement has taken nothing away from this gem, rich, full, luxurious all superlatives. Another
fabulous stout from Hill Farmstead

 

Wow, I haven't seen a bottled McNeill's in ages. Did you get that in Jersey? (Nice Little Walter plug)

 

Good evening, all, and Happy New DIPA Sunday! Thanks to @JackHorzempa for the history lesson on Stroh's. Growing up in Columbus, Stroh's 3.2 was my go-to beer when I became of legal drinking age (and maybe a little before that, IIRC - my memory ain't what it used to be ). The 3.2% version had red bottle caps, the 6% version yellow. Of course, we were always ISO the ones with the "yeller tops," which you had to be 21 to get. Allegedly. Enough of that, though, and on to the NBS beer that I can't believe I haven't reviewed before: Lagunitas Hop Stoopid, bottled mid-October 2016. This is one of the more attractive pours I've seen, the color of crystal clear apple juice with a fluffy white head and tons of lacing.


This wasn't the hop bomb I was expecting, and I certainly wasn't getting the 102 IBU's claimed. It turned out to be a nicely balanced, drinkable brew with a clean finish. I could have sipped this all day long. I didn't try it with food, since I finished it before supper. Would it have been different if fresher than three months? I don't know, but I'd love to try it. A lot of the bombers around here tend to sit on the store shelves for a while, so finding a fresh one might be a challenge.

4.05/5 rDev -3.1%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4
Full review here.

A vintage Stroh's commercial. What would we do without youtube?

 

Bruh......where'd you get that glass?..?

 

This is such an amazing post. Rather than just being a post about a beer with little relation to life, your's features multiple beers as things connected to various points in life. Cheers and good luck next month.

 

Yes .. it came from one of the "big stores hidden back in the warehouse" finds .
The beer manager comes up with some beauties for me now and then. He knows I'll buy them all at those prices if I like it . Any 10 abv Stout has to be good . I assumed it was probably 2 years old , but not sure .
I've never seen it on the shelves, so they must have been buried away for awhile
When he saw me holding all of the bottles, he said I got something else for you and came out with a BCBS bottle, which are hard to get down here .

 

New Beer Sunday: New flavored Milk/Sweet Stout

Evenin' NBSers, with special salutations to savorers of spicy sweet stouts.

Nice history lesson @JackHorzempa, Thanks!

Well the day here has been sunny, cold and breezy after the 4-5 inches of snow last night. That has meant at least a couple of trips out in the sub-freezing temperatures with shovel and ice melt to clean and reclean sidewalks and the path to the garage. Fortunately there've been a couple of good football games on during the afternoon and evening. Especially enjoyed the second game as Rodges and the Greenbay Packers (my wife's favorite team) pulled off a convincing win over the NY Giants.

This evening's new beer is the Xocoveza from Stone. Since this is a seasonal release I decided I definitely wanted to try it after reading what some folks have had to say about the beer in earlier NBS threads and before it disappeared off the shelves entirely.

My review of the first 2/3rds of the beer can be found here:

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/147/128500/?ba=drtth#review

Well, this is definitely a very good beer and one that is fairly complex, if only because there's a lot going on and nothing seems overdone. All the aromas and flavors of green chili pepper, dark roast malt, chocolate, nutmeg and vanilla show well in partnership with the others. Each seems recognizable and none overwhelm the others. If you like spiced stouts this is definitely a beer to have again and a keeper to be put on the buy-again list for when it is released next year.

During the final third of the beer this is also New Cheese Sunday (NCS). The cheese is a White Stilton with Mango and Ginger added into the mix. The cheese on it’s own is flavorful combination with the slightly milky white cheese complementing the fruity spiciness of the mango and ginger. The mango and ginger also play very well with each other. In pairing the cheese with the Xocoveza, the beer and the cheese also complement or go together with each other nicely in that the spices of the beer fit in with the cheese itself as well as with the sharpness of the ginger and the fruitiness of the mango.

Cheers, all!

 

With the recent thread asking about saisons vs farmhouse ales, I liked seeing this label with it saying "warehouse ale" saison.

 

Went through a Stroh's phase in late 79/80. Did find it a bit more refined beer than Bud or High Life. Been a a long time since I've had any.