New Beer Sunday (week 622)

Ohh, barrel aged NBS! I like. I have two BA beers in my bridge that I'll switch to next. I've used a portion of this morning to cook up some tasty snacks to hopefully keep me fueled up for my half marathon and triathlon training. I suppose I found my physical limit considering I'm working 40 hours, mentoring a robotics club 10 hours, running 40 miles, and swimming 7k every work week. Hopefully a little food prep will help keep me fueled up and moving forward. Here's what I've got lined up for this week:

Quinoa, tomato, spinach, and avocado (currently frozen) power salad:



Tuna, cheddar quesadillas:



With that said, lets get into a beer. I need some coffee, and I just so happened to find this at the store the other day. It looks promising!



Elysian's Split Shot.

Pours black with barely a finger of khaki foamy head rising to the top. Head retention is moderate, with a few hesitant strings of lacing. Aroma is peppered with notes of espresso, coffee, caramel, lactose, and roasted malts. Peppered meaning each note is present, and far from overly assertive. It doesn't smell dark or rich. Flavor profile is a little better, with notes of smooth espresso, caramel, lactose, and roasted and toasted malts. Espresso notes are nice and come through well developed just as a well-pulled shot of espresso should come off. Mouth feel strikes a medium between rich and creamy, and thin and grainy. Despite it's middle of the road feel, it feels great, giving a little extra oomph to what is usually an otherwise thin, unimpressive feeling style. Overall, a milk stout for those looking for a milk stout with a little more richness, or for those looking for espresso. Espresso notes often feel underdone, or more coffee-esque then espresso to my palate, but this beer delivers on the espresso side. A wonderful and tasty brew.

Score: 3.75 | 4 | 4.25 | 4 | 4.25 | BA Score: 4.14 | rDev: +6.4%

Personal asides: Apparently I added this beer to my "wants" list when I joined BA. I do recall going through the database and adding everything I could find with "coffee" or "espresso" in the first few pages. I'm pleased I could finally enjoy it. Perhaps not worth trading for, but still tasty.

 

Perhaps pertinent, perhaps not, but I was watching episodes of Beer Hunter on the interwebs last night, and Michael Jackson mentioned how the Lambic makers did the same thing with hops as you claim with barrels - aged them so they would supply bittering but not a lot of additional aroma or taste.

 

Good Day to You All,

A beautiful start from JackHorzempa. I saw the Lagunitas' Coffee Stout yesterday at my packaging store, but did not purchase it because my main objective for the visit was research. Plus, my husband sternly warned me against bringing home more beer, as most of our refrigerator's content is beer, with a few fresh veggies, cheeses, and fruits scattered about!

Yes, my objective to the packaging store was research. As I mentioned a few weeks back, I began brewing for the first time. My first brew was an Amber Ale. I took UtopiaJane’s advice and decided to see how it compared to a marketed Amber Ale (I’m paraphrasing here). So, off to the packaging store I went. Surprisingly, I was only able to find one Amber Ale: Ommegang’s Rare Vos Amber Ale.

Now, I can equally compare the appearance and feel between the two, but not so much the taste and aroma, as Ommegang uses spices such as orange peel and coriander, which is reflected in the taste and aroma (although, I’m sure I sense something like cloves as well). For the grains they use Grains of Paradise (maybe this is where I sense the clove taste and smell?). My brew is on the other end of the spectrum with a simple recipe of Maillard Malt Specialty Grain, no spices. The smell of my brew is initially a bit soapy, but warms to a bread. The grains are prominent in the taste and I can hardly sense anything else. Where Ommegang creates a highly complex experience for the palate, I simply create a no-nonsense drinkable ale with a monochromatic taste.

The appearance of both beers, as you will notice below (my brew is on the left, Ommegang’s is on the right) is quite different. Mine is a dark, murky brown with a half-a-finger off-white head and Ommegang’s is a light amber with a hand-sized, rich, foamy white head. The feel of both is quite the same: moderate carbonation with a slight chewiness.





Overall, both beers are enjoyable, but I discover Ommegang's as one to be sipped slowly to allow the spices to warm the core of your being; it’s almost as if the spices permeate your insides with warmth from your belly to the tips of your digits. This makes it an ideal winter beer. At a slightly lower ABV, mine goes down a bit quicker, but the categories of appearance, aroma, taste, and feel are not where I want them to be, which leaves room for improvement. The Ommegang Rare Vos Amber Ale is something to aspire to. I’m optimistic my next brewed beer will be better.

Cheers!

 

New Beer Sunday: A new sour American Wild ale.

Mornin' NBSers, with special greetings to searchers for sour sensations and a thank you to @JackHorzempa for the intro to barrels.

Weather here is unseasonably warm with overcast skies, lots of morning fog, a few sprinkles of rain here and there, and with an ominous forecast of heavy rains and winds to come over the next couple of days.

Spent the morning, after a trip to the gym, "battening down the hatches," and am now assembling the ingredients for some lunch. While doing that I decided on a new beer as a lead in to lunch. This morning's new beer is the Brooklyn Brewing Bel Air, a lacto soured American Wild.

My review, mostly finished, can be found here:

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/45/221765/?ba=drtth#review

On the whole I thought this was a reasonably nice and enjoyable beer with aromas and flavors that include fruitiness, some tartness balanced with a bit of sweetness and some nice spicy/earthy/grassy dryness in the finish. Part of what I liked about beer is that the "sour" doesn't overwhelm the other flavors. (Not sure why they did this beer this time of year, since it would be very nice as a summer refresher. )

Well, time to prep the food for eating...

Cheers, all!

 

:-)

The waters of history are often muddy. That's what keeps the historians in business.

 

It's not that lambic brewers prefer old barrels so much as that, like the Scots and their malt whisky, they reuse the barrels as often as feasible/possible.

 

Whew. After a long stretch off from work (illness followed by a scheduled break where three separate out of state trips fell through...) this weekend has actually been a really good transition back into it.
There are multiple thematic reasons I chose this beverage for today's entry. What is 'this beverage' you (didn't) ask?

Higher Ground
by Franklins!



I guess I'm not sure it's appropriate that I be surprised, and yet I find myself a little surprised at just how crisp and copper the body is here. It is an incredibly straight and clean amber/light copper, with a decent sized white head. Decent retention and good lacing.

Nose is quite inviting even if I had a hell of a time nailing down specific characteristics. Before reading the description on their website I was having a hard time nailing down individual descriptors. The generic 'funk' aspect was easy, but it was not the bright acidity of lemon or the vinous verdancy of grapes nor the scraping harshness of some of the less savoury descriptive words that get bandied about here. It is smoothe, and sleek. Like the body of a brand new cello, copper/mahogany curves and an unblemished slick surface with the promise of resonance, complexity, and deep notes. Oak sure, but not the young of first use, grapes maybe, but neither manifest of red nor white. More like the heart of a fine cognac but without the perfumy extremes of aroma nor the sweet body of flavour. I don't know. I'm tired and meandering now.

Flavour fails to live up to the promise of the nose, however. The careful balance and effortless elegance spins out of control, slowly at first, but growing more noticeable as the glass empties. The three primary forces I see at work are the sweetness of the underlying tripel, the funky yeasts, and the smoothing of the barrel. While the latter two dominated the nose and brought forth the balance I've raved about thus far, the first element asserts itself much more forcefully here -- to the detriment of the overall experience per my overwrought opinion. Once the spin starts to waver, the resultant imbalance amplifies other cracks in the foundation, and it results in a pile of components which almost work together but just fall short.

This is the dichotomy of this beer. I love love the nose. Upon sipping the assessment settles on an 'ok' verdict.

I certainly think it's worth trying yourself if you happen to be in Hyattsville (the food was solid as I remember, and the knick knack shop was... interesting?), but nothing to go seeking out.

Hope y'all are enjoying the contents of your glass and lives, and what other song did you think I was going to go with?

 

Glad to hear you are feeling better!

 

Seems like Oak Jai Lai is appropriate for this thread. Appearance is several degrees darker than plain Jai Lai with a nice head from a vigorous pour. This was canned 10/21/16 FWIW.
Oakish vanilla aroma is prominent and carries over to the taste. Perfectly complimentary to the citrus.
Very smooth mouthfeel,. Goes down so easy.
Enjoying this and the blue sky here in South Carolina this afternoon.

 

hopscape a perfect blend of citrus and hops

 

Amazing skills these guys have, old school all the way. Great Video.

 

Ok, the gym has been gone to. My home brew has been checked (still bubbling fairly quickly, usually fermentation is done by now in my home brews). Brunch is in the offing, but I have a little time for a first new beer today. I just recalled I have a BBA beer that is new that I can have later to join in the fun.

But for now, I'm having a "San Diego" Pale Ale from Stone, called Ripper. I was watching some Dogfish Head YouTube videos, and they led me to some videos of Greg Koch on Better Beer Authority. Not saying watching those led me to look for this beer, but they might have helped me decide to grab it. I needed some pale ales for the GF, so that weighed more I think. Regardless, it's in the glass now.


My first thought was, "hmmm... this is not that pale." Even coming out of the can it looked more like a double or more IPA. Deep orange to what some call amber. it is quite clear, and the head builds up nicely on a vigorous pour (nice having a 16oz glass for a 12oz can). The head fell slowly, and there is a lot of splotchy lacing.

Nose definitely gives me the impression of a balanced beer - as there is a balanced nature to it. A strong nose of grain, grass, citrus that join together to make a cohesive smell. It's a tad like brew day when the spent grain is draining in one room and you just opened some hops in another, and you are standing between rooms.

The beer actually leans more bitter than the nose leads on, which is not a surprise considering it's a Stone beer. Stone's website does list this as a Pale Ale (for a second I wnodered if "San Diego" might be a replacement for "India"). There's a light cirtus tea-like opening to the beer. A little bit of spice and carbonation combine to add a little flair. From there, it turns a little bitter - earthy, grassy, with a bit of "citrus green." I use that term not knowing what citrus tree leaves taste like, but what I might guess they would. It's really a common thing I get with Australian hops, and this has Australian hops in it, Galaxy specifically (with American Cascade).

This beer could be a little lighter for a Pale, in my mind. The flavors do fill my palate and leave a nice lingering bitterness and even a light tingle of spice (could be environmental).



Right in the middle on this beer. It's hoppy enough that I want a little more of that aspect. But I'm fairly sure that'd probably place it in the IPA category - which isn't inherently bad, but would seemingly not be the intent of the brewer. Maybe it's the use of Australian hops that doesn't quite work in an APA for me (no nationalism intended in that statement). In the end, can't find any glaring "flaws" and wouldn't turn it down, but I'd rather have a regular Stone IPA.

 

Thanks. Glad to BE feeling better. has escaped into the wild at the hospital and one of my best friend's at work spent all leading up to her shift half jokingly(?) hoping she would get it so she could go home and have a night off. Well sure enough she started throwing up and had to go home and all I got was texts all night about how she took it back and it wasn't worth it, ha. I tried to tell her!!

Thankfully whatever it was I faced is now a memory and I can get back into the swing of things and maybe pick up some extra shifts to make up for lost time!

 

Good stuff, Jack! Man, how did we ever exist, pre-Internet?!? It is really another example of "The Lattice of Consciousness" in that we were JUST talking of coopering yesterday!

Here in Lancaster County, PA, we have more combined breweries & brewpubs than any other county in our great & mighty Commonwealth, including the venerable Bube's Brewery in Mount Joy. It is a revived Victorian-era Lager brewery whose lagering catacombs and in situ artifacts make it a real beer tourist destination. Many of the old wooden lagering tanks are in disrepair with (especially) their hoops drooping. There has been recent talk of having them repaired & doing a sour open-fermentation beer in them. Centuries-old yeast might come into play.

I am now a retired high school English teacher (from my alma mater high school) & I was primarily tasked with a group of reluctant learners from the Vo-Tech community. I couldn't reach all of them, but I had my share of successes, including one young man who was hell-bent on being a carpenter. I managed to convince him to learn to returning trade of coopering & he is now HIGHLY successful! He really enjoys the manipulation of the wood as opposed to just hammering nails and the jigsaw puzzle-like nature of a barrel's assembly is marvelous.

Barrel on, Garth! Barrel on, Wayne!

 

Nice! Your first homebrew seemed to turn out better than mine, even with your slight "disappointment." I am guessing you will improve as you keep at it (although there will be some learning experience "fails" as well). Cheers and congrats to your first attempt!!

 

Nothing barrel aged for me today - but I didn't get my hands on this gem from the Alchemist...El Jefe, their black IPA. Poured like a well made porter with a frothy cap. Aroma of pine and spruce bursts out of the can; roasted malt takes a supporting role. Taste is pretty much right in line - pine, lemongrass, bright citrus followed by bitter chocolate. Looks like a porter but feels like an IPA. Great balance. Glad to see more of this style on the shelves although, like most hard to find beers, I'll likely never see El Jefe again. Sad.