New Beer Sunday (week 622)

I drank well into the night yesterday, watching televised hockey, so I feel justified in saying that my last of the night was my first of this, New Beer Sunday (Week 622).

My backlog of both bottles & CANs has led to some interesting horizontals, including two Ginger Beers:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/13602/199790/?ba=woodychandler#review
followed by
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/3818/261584/?ba=woodychandler#review

and I will be getting in a few more before the beginning of today's Pixburgh/BOS, NE doubleheader. Bruins @ Pens, then Stillers @ Patriots.

 

Thank you! I'm willing to share as these brews get better, just gotta figure out the logistics of the thing!

 

On to a barrel aged beer. I had never heard of this brewery until I saw this single bottle sitting in a bottle shop. Figured it was worth a try. Let's find out.



Innis & Gunn's Hopped Bourbon Cask Ale.

Pours a clear, rich burgundy, but is dark enough it becomes difficult to see through. Head forms a little over a finger in height and khaki in color. Lacing forms in small dots, but that's it. Aroma has dark fruits, plum, bourbon, with a zinging mash of biscuit and bready malts. Lots going on in the sugary, sweet aroma. Flavor profile has caramel, toffee, plum, bread and biscuit malts, and searing pine and fruit hops. Bourbon is present, but at a very, very low volume. It bounces back and forth between overwhelmingly sweet and sucker-punching bitter. Mouth feel has some carbonation fizz to it, with an otherwise smooth, medium thickness consistency. Overall, a promising beer, but with its lacking balance between sweet and bitter, it could be far and wide better. The flavor profile could be considered a wild card, with how bipolar and back and forth it is on the palate.

Score: 3.75 | 3.75 | 3.5 | 3.75 | 3.5 | BA Score: 3.6 | rDev: -1.6%

 

Happy NBS! I'm patiently waiting to see if the Packers can keep the magic alive in the playoffs. I expect that the Falcons to be too much at home.

I'm enjoying Lakefront's My Turn Mike, which is an Imperial Brown coffee and hazelnut ale. The color is brown/amber with ruby highlights. A foamy 1.5 finger head fades quickly and only leaves some spotty lacing on my glass. Aroma is a blast of hazelnut, so much that it covers the coffee and brown ale. Flavor has some of the malt, but I was hoping for more coffee and cream. It is very nutty and a bit distracting. Feel is lighter and not as creamy for an imperial brown. This had the potential, but went over board with the hazelnut flavor.

 

Thanks @JackHorzempa for getting the barrel rolling today. As luck would have it, I chose a recently released barrel aged beer to review before I opened the thread today. A cloudy and much cooler day than yesterday's 60 degrees calls for something with the word bourbon in it! Let's move on to the beer.....

A 12oz. bottle of Founders Frootwood that I scored on another one of my Michigan junkets. The bottle date is 01/10/17 with an abv. of 8%. Let's get pouring in my trusty KBS Spiegelau to unveil what's in bottle number one today!

Pours a transparent pale red revealing a finger of soapy white lingering foam. Tiny carbonation bubbles drift upward and moderate lacing is apparent. The smell is sweet cherry, bourbon, vanilla, oak and maple. It smells very wine-like. Taste is semi sweet cherries, oak, vanilla, mild bourbon with a kiss of maple syrup. A tart cherry taste appears in the finish. The feel starts slick, light and effervescent, yielding to a tart, dry finish.



I've heard and read some of the chatter about this beer and I'll agree it's not for everyone. It drinks more along the line of sparkling wine or cider. The ingredients are all there making it a rather complex palate bending experience. I personally like it, especially the sweet to slightly tart aspect of it. The barrel component is there yielding more oak and vanilla than bourbon or maple syrup but it's all juxtaposed in a way that nothing is too overpowering. The 12oz. format is perfect for this beer. My score is 4.19 / rDev +0.5%.

Have a great Sunday gang! I'm looking forward to more beer and hopefully some exciting football games later. Here's the official scorecard.....

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/1199/253963/?ba=Prager62#review

 

Hoping you are having a nice Sunday morning! Still unseasonably warm around here. Yesterday, I swear it felt like spring into early summer.

Picked up a new one from Orpheus earlier this week, and have been dying to try it. This is Truth.Body.Soul another one of their more experimental IPAs.

This one showcasing galaxy and huell melon hops.

I've been hoping for some regional breweries to pick up on the North East style IPA, and this one certainly fits the bill. Hazy, juicy, with a soft mouthfeel.

Very enjoyable to drink, and highly recommended. I need to pick up another six before it disappears.



Poured from 12 oz can dated 1/9/2017.

A: Very hazy light golden yellow with two finger soapy white head. Moderate retention and lacing.

S: Wonderful aroma with grapefruit, honeydew, and passion fruit.

T: Tropical fruits and melons with honeydew and passion fruit standing out. Just a hint of strawberries.

M: Medium body with average to light carbonation. Soft mouthfeel with a slightly bitter finish.

O: Another outstanding DIPA from Orpheus.

 

Hello to another New Beer Sunday. Another warm one, for this time of the year in central Minnesota. Because I had to work all day yesterday, I wasn't able to go to the St. Cloud craft beer festival, so no hangover, so, I'm here with you all for an online craft beer festival.

Now to the show.


New Holland Brewing Company
Michigan, United States
newhollandbrew.com

Style: Berliner Weissbier

Alcohol by volume (ABV): 4.50%

Very fruity, tart, refreshing, not watery, and delicious. Good choice for my first NBS beer.

4.29/5 rDev +6.5%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

This pours fairly red. The head was white, and the beer has a lot of carbonation in it, the head was 1 finger and dissipated quickly. The nose is very fruity - blueberry, and a bit of tartness to it. The taste is, wow! Nice blueberry, but pleasing tartness. Easy drinking. Not watery, which is good for the low ABV.

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All these awesome pictures of coffee stouts and bourbon barrel stouts are making my mouth water!

 

I would wager that it's an American only packaging. It's made for Aldi and I believe it's an exclusive product. It was pure and decent industrial German beer.

 

Good NBS to everyone!

It's been a really great start so far. I'm learning a lot (as usual) about coopering and pitch and oak. Thanks @JackHorzempa !

It is as gray and shitty as it has been being here again today and I am taking advantage of it to relax and watch some (hopefully) excellent football. Go Pack go!!!!! I got some sausage and saurkraut yesterday and some mustard from this amazing German baker near my house this morning. I'll be making that and having some German beers later on with the footballin', but for the moment I'm going to try this stout.



I got this one in a mini-trade from an awesome BA up here and am psyched to try it. Right off the bat (speaking as a life-long lightweight), I like that it comes in 12oz bottles. I may still be functional in a few hours!



The beers pours thick and black as pitch (thematic since my beer hasn't touched a barrel as far as I know!!) with a little tan head that is fairly non-existent. The aroma is super roasty malt with layers of chocolate, molasses, dark fruit and leather. A lot going on. Until you take a drink! The flavor is a huge, built-up wave of roasted and caramelized malts, sweetness, burntness, verging on but never crossing in to bitterness. Really thick, sweet and substantial.
It feels suitably big and rich considering the flavor with sticky sweetness, a full body and pretty light carbonation. The alcohol is very well-hidden, but is obviously there.



I like DFH's beers for the most part. I haven't had a ton of them, but I've never encountered a stinker either. I avoid their “weirder” stuff, because it isn't really my cup of tea usually, but their straightforward beers are consistently solid bets. This one is no exception. I was curious about the ABV since it isn't listed on the bottle and is is 18% according to the site. Holy mother of booze! I now stand in awe of how together, drinkable and 'not-boozy' it is. Well-done. Like some sort of “Malt Wine”

Cheers NBSers and enjoy the rest of your weekend!


My review is here.

 

Greetings fellow NBSers from on the ridge in Mid Hud Val, NY. What a strange and wonderful weekend of warm weather. This morning a thick fog hung over the hills and woods that surround the recycle center, and with the strange warmth it felt very eerie, almost like a horror flick monster would emerge.

Big thanks to @JackHorzempa for another great job filling in for me and for allowing us to drink from the font of knowledge he brings. Barrels have been so much in the collective BA eye over the last couple years it is great to learn about them. I wonder if all of our readers today know of one of the greatest tragedies in the history of storing beer in barrels, when a huge wooden container broke, and at least 8 people drowned in beer.

http://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofBritain/The-London-Beer-Flood-of-1814/

While you all enjoy your new beers multifariously I will be enjoying them as well, but vicariously. Keep em coming. Cheers!

 

Just as an FYI, oak aged may be different than barrel aged. The beer can be aged on oak chips in a steel tank and never see the inside of a barrel. (Sort of like Bud being "Beechwood aged. :-))

 

My new beer comes courtesy of @Number1Framer - Toppling Goliath's "Double Dry Hop PsuedoSue Pale Ale":



Pours a turbid pale gold (4) hazy peach colour,



with thick fluffy white foam,



and very little clarity under long lasting cap; heavy lacing with a head that sits like a mound of sea foam on a turbid gold sea:



Strong fresh squeezed grapefruit juice/green hops pop upon uncapping. Grassy grapefruit aromas persist unabated from beginning of pour to bottom of glass.

Flavors follow suit with grapefruit juice and lemongrass most prevalent; pineapple, lemon zest bitterness and dry cracker notes take turn tantalizing the palate.

Crisp and clean, no stickiness; medium lite texture; moderate plus carbonation contributes to light tongue coating/feel.

Overall a world class pale ale; dryer and fruitier than regular Sue; so refreshing - there is very little hop bitterness linger, making this beer that much more crushable; and the citrus hop nose lasts forever - well done!

4.5/4.75/4.75/4.75/4.75

I would score appearance higher as this beer is super good looking, with a cap that won't die and a veil of clingy lace



but until the guidelines recognize turbid, hazy, etc., as a positive, a slight downgrade I believe is warranted. I've got another pour of this lovely beer coming up - cheers and have a great Sunday!

 

Wow that looks/sounds amazing! Does it say on the bottle if money goes to the Field Museum or if they had to put it on there cause of them having 'Sue' or anything? I am ashamed to admit that I never thought to connect the beer to the skeleton since it wasn't discovered in Iowa.

 

The coolest type of oak aging other than straight oak barrels that I've seen is the use of steel encased staves of oak on the inner lining a stainless steel tank. No chips, just fresh French oak. I'm fairly certain that this technique was developed by Mirassou Winery (long before they were gobbled up by Gallo).

 

I'm not sure what the this release has in connection (other than Sue) with the Field Museum (which I visited last summer), but I bet our Chicago BAs know...@mschrei?