New Beer Sunday (week 621)

Heck, yes! Holler at me when you get a date set.

I live just a bit over 2 hours from JK and am always looking for a reason to go. If not there, anywhere may work. My perch in Bryan-College Station keeps me in relatively easy day-trip distance from San Antonio, DFW and Houston.

Ahhhh, Jester King. You got me wanting to switch up my next NBS brew. But I got a bear of a beer from (512) wanting to burst out of his cave ...

 

Nice and cold out - about 33 far as my cell phone knows - and the way it oughtta be, too, dammit - at 40-ish degrees north latitude in the middle of January. Had some bullshit nearly-60-degree weather this past week - fucking balmy... But today we got some fresh snow from last night covering lawns, cars, and roofs.
Hey, why isn't the plural of roofs rooves ? Anyway...

Fortified with breakfast of salmon on toast and orange juice...

--> Trader Joe's pastrami-style salmon on toasted Ezekiel bread...

Shortly after...

New brew in da house...

Finback IPA - started over in WBAYDN a little while ago...

Finback Brewery is in Queens, maybe 45 minutes from here. Canned 12/14/16, featuring Chinook and Columbus hops. After so many big plush tropical and fruit bombs, this was a nice change up. Medium gold with an opaque haze and two fingers of white foam. Piney and earthy aromas with just hints of something citric in the background. On the tongue, more pine but with a spicy, rustic aspect; the citrus elements were muted and rounded with a vague dankness - and just a suggestion of sweetness. Very bitter, taut and lean despite a medium-ish feel and ample carbonation. Drying muskiness lingers after the finish.
I really liked it.

One more new brew in the fridge - I'll be hitting that up next, so stay tuned...

 

On the back of my Wicked Weed t shirt it has King Henry referring to hops as saying:

"Hops are a Wicked and Pernicious Weed" - King Henry VIII, 1519

 

Happy NBS. I decided to make some ribs today and enjoy them during the Packer game. I fully expect the Cowboys to come away with the win, but we'll see what Aaron Rodgers can do to try and pull the upset.

I'm am starting off my day enjoying Hinterland's 21st Anv. beer. It's a blend aged in bourbon barrels, but there is not much of an explanation on the label. It pours a dirty caramel brown color with some amber tints. Minimal half finger head and no lacing. Thick malty scents of caramel, brown sugar, toffee, butter scotch, hints of vanilla and bourbon. Reminds me of a scotch ale. Flavor is sweet malts of caramel and brown sugar, more vanilla and bourbon up front. Some sweet breadiness and butter scotch along with the barrel notes give it some depth. The taste has a familiarity of scotch ale or old ale.Medium bodied with a thicker mouthfeel. Very rich and smooth with lower carbonation. This is a very nice ale and my guess is that it will sweeten up and let the caramel and toffee notes shine after some age.

 

Greetings friends,
Thanks again Maria! Your reviews are always great.
The snow tried to challenge 70 degrees for two days, but lost the battle. Now things are going from mushy back to dry, but slowly....parking lot piles are the only remnants of 10 beautiful inches of snow.
The woods are full of dogs and their people. We really do think we're in charge, but I doubt it. If reincarnation is the truth, I want to return as my wife's pet. I call her Ellie May and animals truly are drawn to her! No kidding. I get it. We walked a good four miles on our first hike today, saw lots of friends, so now, here I am!
Today's first beer is Haw River Farmhouse Ales Mille Fleur Rustic Saison. Saxapahaw N.C. 5.8% This brewery is located in the lower end of a huge re-purposed Jordan Mill sitting directly on the Haw River. The complex has condos, restaurants, a ballroom venue for music, and a brewery. It is one of the coolest places that I know of. The Saxapahaw General Store on the far end is a gas station high end restaurant hardware store grocery store beer and wine shop extraordinaire. This place is real. I've been going for years and I simply have a great feeling all over when there. This is all within an old Quaker area, out in the boonies, equidistant between Greensboro to the northwest and Chapel Hill to the slight south and east. Big rolling hills at the top of the ancient (pre-Appalachian) Uwharrie Mountains. You! must visit this area if ever you have the chance.
The beer pours a nicely hazy bright yellow with a lovely, tight, white cap. It recedes to a nice filmy thing replenishing with active bead, very beautiful Belgian lace right off the bat. Sweet fresh white bread nose, yeasty, floral....The taste is very much like the aromatics; very clean, bread doughy, soft, creamy, tingly, hard to beat. The herbal floral notes are perfect with the rich malt, both nose and taste. This is a very serious beer that reflects the true agricultural roots of the area. Like a wine, this beer has "terroir" that speaks of where it originates. Highly recommended. Ben and crew turn out these understated and beautiful beers every day and we are fortunate indeed. St. Benedict's Breakfast Dubbel comes next!

 

Barrier Brewing's O-Ren Rishi, an IPA brewed with peach blossom white tea
-cloudy orange bottle pour with thin white foam. Aroma is delicate and slightly citrus. Flavor is floral and peach, with a touch of mint. Hop profile is a pleasant compliment. Finish is a bit sweet with a slight hop bite. This tasted better as it warmed. (I was called away, so there was a time gap). I'll pick up another.

 

My first new beer review today follows an in person trade made just before Christmas with a pal who also retired in our field, and still lives in Jacksonville. His grown kids live in Ohio, and we get together a couple times a year to swap beer I've obtained on my travels for beer he gets from the Midwest...

Great Lakes' "Blackout Stout", 9%ABV, 40 IBUs:

Pours Black with little clarity under quick, fizzy tan coloured cola-like head; some clarity under cap that turned into a minuscule slick...light, spotty lacing...





Roast malt nose. Roast malt, brown bread, biscuity caramel sweetness from the malt. Grainy medium lite mouthfeel and moderate carbonation. A pleasant bitter roast linger...however, and it's just me, not the beer...But I need more...overall a fine stout (and I want to drink again)...but not enough flavor to excite me...

Cheers!

 

Good afternoon NBS, thanks to Maria for the kick off and the focus today. I will be on the look out for the Ithaca offering. Cool and dry here in WMass, its mid January and really there is very little snow here. I kind of miss it. We had a Skype talk with #1 son, and #2 is here for a friends wedding. Almost feels like old times, or we are just becoming Old Timers!
The offering today is from River Roost, I stopped in on my way home from VT work, a nice place with a small sample room, the Northern Dusky Pale Ale uses all New Zealand, Australian hops and includes rye in the grain bill. Nice flavors, aromatics. Being based in WMass I have seen the rise of the murky, muddled, cloudy, pale ale, IPA, and I am not a fan of that visual component in an offering. Thanks for listening and this offering was tasty, floral, with a nice feel.
Cheers all

Northern Dusky

River Roost Brewery
American IPA

3.93/5 rDev -8.8% | Avg: 4.31
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Poured from a recent growler into the modified tulip glass.
A - Orange creamsicle backdrop , as muddled as can be, with a solid carbonation feeding a really nice white froth.
pillows of lacing cling effortlessly to the glass during the experience.
S - Tropical with a bit of black pepper spice maybe from the use of rye, The tropical elements are very pineapple, mango based some orange and guava as well. The aromatics are really delightful and balanced.
T - Sweet and solidly represented malt base, then along comes the hops, again very tropical, not a hint of pine to be had,
buried in the tropics here is a bit of herbal taste, some mint and fresh cut grass. This is a nice little, tucked away surprise in the offering.
M - Medium in body, nicely carbonated, the feel is a bit creamy, and the finish is delightfully dry, and slightly sharp. The rye again may be the secret agent here.
O - I have to confess, visually the offering is a bit much for me, too murky. I recognize and appreciate these hazy days we are in. The aromatics are well displayed, the feel is full and the finish being dry all add up to a very nice Pale Ale.

 

I tried Sam smiths Oatmeal Stout for the first time yesterday. I'm pretty late to the game on this one as far as it being a "New Beer", but it was new to me finally.

As close to perfect presentation as Ive ever seen in a Stout. Poured from a 12 oz bottle into a pint glass. Rocky head filled up the glass, great retention and lacing. Bitter on the nose, roasted barley very present during the first sip. The mouthfeel was perfect imo, soft carbonation not too sweet or cloying and a crust dry finish. The only detractor to this beer was the taste or lack there of. Not that it was bad but I did pay about 23 dollars more for this case than I would have had to shell out for a Guinness Extra or even Foreign Extra. I expected something for the extra money that wasn't there. Glad I bought it though, Great beer, just a little over priced for a 5% dry stout imo.

 

From an old thread:

 

Most likely going to tour through some Evil Twin offerings today. The first one up has some coffee, which felt appropriate being my first beer this late morning/early afternoon.



Evil Twin's Wet Dream.

Pours a deep burgundy-brown with very little light peeking through. A khaki-colored head foams up to a finger in height, with okay retention. Lacing dots around the glass. Aroma has a hint of coffee, with notes of bread, and biscuit malts. Flavor profile is weak and dull, with notes of bread, and biscuit malts and a whiff of coffee. Some hop bitterness bites at the tail end of the flavor profile. Mouth feel is bubbly, with some carbonation harshness, all in a medium-thin thickness. Overall, for a brown ale with coffee added, there isn't much coffee here. It remains uninspired with no panache whatsoever. The only impression left comes from the bright 16oz can.

Score: 4 | 4 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 3.5 | BA Score: 3.65 | rDev: -5.7%

Personal asides: I am disappointed in this one. While I'm not a huge fan of brown ales typically, this beer does little to help that notion. I tried and tried to see this beer in a different light, but it just seems lacking.

 

Well, you're not to let something like the truth get in the way of a good story, are you?

 

I can't handle the truth.

 

Good morning, NBS. Awaiting NFL football and watching Mad Max Fury Road just because it's on. Brewed up my first batch of beer for the year on Friday - a variation on the IPA I have made about 5 times. The yeast are causing bubbles in the airlock - so that is good. As usual, just looking for a drinkable beer, with a stretch goal of having one I can share proudly with some friends.

Today's beer is not highly regarded on this site. The brothers gave it a "poor" rating 8 years ago or so, and the BA rating is a lofty "okay." This bottle is dated 284th day of 2016, so at or about 3 months old. I'm expecting a light feeling beer that has some roasted notes and maybe a hint of some caramel before reading any reviews. Let's see if Saranac's Caramel Porter can surprise me:


Sure, the photo is backlit, but even with the reflection, I think you can see some clarity here. It's definitely evident as I sit inside - sort of a ruby mahogany. The head is a thick rim and sustaining.

As I emptied the bittle, I could get a little waft of scents rising from my pours, but couldn't quite make them out distinctly - a little like a candy bar but not quite. Upon inspection I get a little tang to even tartness - like there's a little more pH than I expected. It's more like a [blue]berry protein bar than a candy bar.

The taste has this same berry and whey attribute to it. The beer is almost water-like, as well, even more than I expected. I am not getting any porter qualities of roast, nut, or even bitterness. I am definitely not getting any sweetness of caramel, and even after searching I can't even trick myself into finding some.



Yes, I must say I likely tend to agree with the Brothers on this one. But after taking a look at Jason's review, for totally different reasons. This is not a sweet beer at all, and it may in fact be a bad beer after reading other reviews. The GF even mentioned that this doesn't taste nearly [as good] as she remembered it, "No sweetness, and I'd expect that from a 'caramel' porter."

I agree, this is neither porter nor caramel to me. I will not do an official review because I am not sure this bottle is representative of the beer in general - I don't want to bring the fairly low score down further unfairly .

 

Greetings fellow NBSers from on the ridge in Mid Hud Val, NY. An extremely tired and inordinately thirsty man am I right now after a killer weekend of work that this old body more and more grudgingly accomplishes. Told the Town Supervisor I will be retiring soon but wouldn't pin it down any more than that. Hopefully he gets the search going for a replacement.

Gorgeous weather though, all the snow is melted, and the mud has frozen into strange designs. Haven't enjoyed a beer since early Dec. 31, when I had just one. So I thank all of you for providing such great descriptions it seems almost like I am sharing a glass with you.

Happy to report I have taken down the bulge also known as my waistline quite a bit, and I am feeling generally much better for this hiatus. It is always good to know that stopping steady consumption can be done this easily, as I know too many folks for whom that isn't true. Looking forward to sharing that first beer with all of you. Until then, Cheers!

 

That's the same thing that I told my parole officer.

(OK, I'll stop now )

 

You will love retirement!

Cheers!

 

Howdy to the wonderful NBS crew! Thanks @utopiajane for getting the festivities started today! I've been embarrassingly absent from NBS recently due to some decisions to try and cut back a bit, but I have some awesome beers from Hill Farmstead and Fantome to drink later today when I get home from work.

Lots of good choices so far today, I'll see ya'll in a bit!