New Beer Sunday (week 622)

Now up Tired Hands The Light That Spills Out Of The Hole In Your Head. Seems like a recipe that was a little harder to scale up, the clementines just aren't as front and center as I hoped they would be.

4.25/5 rDev -1.8%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

Thank you CanConPhilly for grabbing this for me
16 oz can, dated 1/5/17, poured into a teku

A- A hazy golden orange with a three finger white head.

S- Some sweet clementines with rind, citrus and citrus zest, slightly dank, mild slightly sweet malts.

T- Clementines are there but rather mild, good amount of citrus zest along with some rind bitterness, some soft pale malts, finish is piney.

M- Smooth, light to medium body.

O- Clementines are very mild for a Tired Hands beer. It is still a solid beer, just thought it would be a little more of a juicy bomb.

Thanks @CanConPhilly, cheers!

 

Good evening NBS, Thanks Jack for the kick off today. I love the barrel talk. We returned from a few days in Boston, I was conferencing and my wife was out with 175,000 new friends!
I am happy to be sharing this from the comforts of WMass.
The offering was a holiday gift and I am enjoying this Swedish creation.

Cheers all

Brekeriet Sour White

Brekeriet
American Wild Ale / 5.00% ABV

3.73/5 rDev -1.1% | Avg: 3.77
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75

Poured from a 750 ml bottle dated August 2016 into the modified tulip glass.
A - Nice sunflower yellow color, gentle carbonation assembles and quickly adjourns from a thin cap.
No lacing to be had.
S - Wheat, winter grains, a bit of spice from the Brett, with an increase in temperature, a funky thread emerges.
There is an underlying dry fruit component pineapple, and green grape.
T - An interesting salinity and chalkiness starts things off, the Brett is in balance not in control. A bit of a sweet start and then quick shift to the the sour. The sour also not bold in this offering. Think Alsace white wine, very tight band of flavors.
F - A lite body, gently carbonated, the feel is slick and thin, oily. Again I am reminded of a light french white wine. The finish is a bit sweet, eventually drying out on the back of the tongue.
O - An interesting offering, nearly flat, the body of a lite lager, the flavors of a white wine, and the construct seems to work quite well. I am intrigued to see if a few more months of bottle conditioning will help it develop more fully.
I will certain to return to this offering in the early summer as it seems perfect for warm afternoons.

 

Good afternoon, all, and Happy Championship / New English English Porter Sunday! No, that's not a typo. Ashamed to say, this is the first English English porter I've rated. The other two I've rated are Pay the Ferryman (Mexico) and Death by Coconut. I've passed over this Samuel Smith Taddy Porter countless times, so this was a real eye-opener. Big burst of dark fruit upon opening the bottle. Beautiful pour, interesting aroma profile. In addition to the raisins, prunes, caramel, and toffee, there is a prominent mineral character to the aroma that fades as the beer warms. Palate follows the nose, with just a touch of bitterness, a medium mouthfeel, a dry finish, and a slight lingering dark-fruit aftertaste. A world-class beer, widely available and reasonably priced. What more could you want?


4.77/5 rDev +14.9%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.75
Full review here.

 

I agree. This is a truly excellent pale lager beer from an excellent brewery imo. If you come across their Herrenpils I highly recommend it.

 

Quick pop in from my Brother's house in Olympia. Drinking my 1st Melvin, specifically Hubert.

No way I can formally review. I'll just say it's awesome.

 

And next up, a beer that might please @LeperJim and/or @Greywulfken, among others...

Edit: this was at least initially a collaboration with Reaver Beach brewing

Death of Cthulu - Adroit Theory
I did some searching for the brewer's notes, but could not find anything quickly, but I am pretty certain this beer uses sea salt, and might (a lot less sure) even use seaweed, in its production.

This beer pours with a lovely head - though in my two pours I seem to get slightly differing color (one more brown, one a little more dark tan). The head is lasting, with a thick sticky rim that provides ghostly lacing on the glasses (rinsed well from the last beer).

Nose is a coffee-leaning roasted malt with a little something extra I am having trouble placing. It seems like an earthy spice, but I would bet it is in fact the salt mixing with the roasted malt - it's maybe somewhat like a smoked salt.


Taste opens up strangely but intriguingly enticing. There's some dark malt notes - coffee and a little smoke; but there's also a sweetness added and it adds cream and sugar to the coffee. I am definitely getting some salinity, though given the bolder flavors that dark malts can bring I'd guess there's a decent enough salt in there. I could see a charred marshmallow impression as well if I took a different approach to this (coffee + cream/sugar could be cocoa and charred mashmallow).

I sort of agree with the feel from the brewer's note. It is a soft beer (maybe again the salt) with a medium to full body and depth.

I had wanted to grab this from the brewery many times, but the only time it was on their list they were actually out. It seemed intriguing, and the tie in to Cthulu added another little fun part of it. This lived up to expectations even though I had to find it at TW (not that enjoyment matters, just where I am giving my money), as it is a very enjoyable offering that I will buy more of in the future.

 

damn fantastic looking soups there sir! cheers

 

Falcon's are getting away with some shenanigans and Green Bay is throwing to both sides. Bummer. Turned on The Office on Netflix. Way better entertainment value. Figure I'd line up a new beer.



Urban Chestnut's Cuvee de Peche Barrel-Aged.

Pours a frosted straw color with barely half a finger of white fizzy head forming on top. Be careful not to blink, as the head disappears nearly instantly, with no lacing left behind. Aroma is a muddled mess of peaches, barrel, and sour funk. Nothing really stands out. Flavor profile is a smidge better, with notes of peaches, barrel, banana, clove, and spicy Belgian yeast esters. Mouth feel is thin, and fizzy. It's neigh on smooth or experience-oriented. Overall, not really worth trying. It's okay. The barrel aging really flattened it, which is strange considering how fizzy it feels. Lackluster aroma and flavor profile though.

Score: 3.25 | 3.25 | 3.5 | 3 | 3.25 | BA Score: 3.33 | rDev: +0.6%

Personal asides: I'd drain pour this, but my catch just jumped in my chair with me. It's a rare day when he wants to cuddle, so I'll be finishing this brew.

 

Hey all, back with my second and final beer of this week's NBS! I stopped by Jack's Abby last night and enjoyed a flight and a pour of 3x Hoponious while I shared a nicely laid-out charcuterie plate with my friends. Good times. Saw that they had some interesting stuff for sale in bottles and cans, so I picked up a bottle of this (which it looks like @lic217 also reviewed, looking forward to see how my experience compares!) as well as the newest batch of Brewery Maker and a four-pack of Good n' You?, the new Springdale single IPA which is quite good and very "modern NE IPA-ish"... but anyway, on to this one.



Back of the bottle says this is a 9 month foeder-aged lager. It was aged on the plums and then finished with Brettanomyces yeast. Interesting that it's a lager, as I thought JA created Springdale to do ales. Whatever the reason for the branding on this one, I'm very excited to drink it.

Pours a ruddy, dark brown-ish color with no clarity whatsoever. Head formation was moderate, but retention and lace seem very nice. The head is a lightish khaki color and features a film of bubbles that slowly pop over time, though the surface of the beer is very consistent. Overall, sits in the glass very nicely, but the color is pretty uninspiring. Kind of comes with the territory, though, I suppose.

Nose is funky and fruity, with notes of Brett yeast, apricot, plum and prune. Seems lightly woody, not really tannic at all though. Almost has a sour/tart note, but I'm not sure it's actually soured. Somewhat malty and dusty, but darker pit fruit is certainly the dominant aspect here.

Flavor is Brett heavy with an earthy and musty funk brought to life by solid effervescence, decent malty notes of light caramel and brown bread and a lightly tart, snappy fruit element in the finish. Not overly flavored at all; kind of restrained profile here actually. There really isn't any noticeable acidity, either, so I guess this foeder is probably pretty clean/new. The back of the label also mentions that "our oak barrels contain ales and lagers undergoing fermentation by a horde of yeast and bacteria" so it's possible we'll get a soured foederbeer from JA/Springdale in the future. I had some pretty great sours there last night, including Cuvée D'or Rouge and the hilariously-named dry-hopped kettle-sour Cuvée D'Bandwagon, so I have high hopes for their future sours.

Not sure why this doesn't really have any barrel flavors at all, to be honest. I don't get any oaky warmth or tannic notes, so I don't know if aging this for 9 months was really worth it in the end. Still, it's a good drink and the price was alright for what you get, so I'm not disappointed at all. Cheers guys!

 

Good afternoon, NBS. Spent about four hours in the plant today, wrote up some notes, found myself a pizza and called it a day. Logged into the process controls by remote desktop so I can keep any eye on todays tweaks. Looks like the injuries finally caught up with the Packers, but man, is Atlanta on fire.

Hope none of our BA community has been affected by the various incidents of nasty weather across the country. It is another grey day here in WI, but at least it has warmed enough that the ice has mostly gone away. Heavy fog driving in this morning, but at least that has lifted making it less gloomy.

So what is in the proper plastic hotel cup?



New Glarus Road Slush Stout. Oatmeal, so it says. While not the ideal thing to judge the pour from, pretty typical of a stout. Dark brown, almost black, with a nice dense beige cap. The aroma is, of course, mostly of roasty malty goodness. Some sweetness, a little bready or maybe oatmealy, and a touch of chocolate. The taste is typical of a stout, too, but there is none of the charred/burnt acrid taste that can happen. There is rather more of a milk chocolate taste than I expected, but still in a supporting role to the malts. I find a bit of acidity as well, but not enough to call it sour. Nice level of bitterness makes this a smooth drinker. The mouthfeel reads porter more than stout, but I do like the creaminess and smoothness that the oatmeal contributes.

So...hmmm...overall, an easy drinkng, accessible stout/porter from a brewery that doesnt typically feature stouts. Tasty...check. Drinkable...check. Worth chasing after...not so much. I would call it more of a reliable every-day drinker that you dont need to fuss over. Feeling it coming down around 3.5 - 3.7 or so on the scales.

 

Wow what a great Pilsener!


Picked up this bomber because A. I like almost all Victory offerings and B. My wife has given up her Miller lite in the last year and is really into craft lagers.
But what a great beer I may have ignored!
Cloves, citrus, just the right amount of alcohol feel. Great carbonation as you can see by the bad pour on the left. Malty, not yeasty. Excellent lacing as you drink.
Blown away by this beer. I will rate it on my second purchase to be sure of my opinion. Wife did not like it (baby steps I guess), but my son did.

 

oh boy... Shandy time...

Leinenkugel's Cranberry Ginger Shandy | Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Company


Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Company - Cranberry Ginger Shandy by imbibehour, on Flickr

Poured from the can into a nonic pint glass.

Out of the can a nice rich off white head is produced, frothy and three fingers easily tall with lots of creamy retention. Ring like lacing manages to snake its way down to a simple amber orange body color. This looks like an almost English pub beer with it's big lacing, really nice looking shandy.

Woah that aroma, it's big when you crack the can. As far as ginger or cranberry, nope. The aroma is big on a sweet green candy apple quality and it's enormous like a giant ballon that is enveloping the glass. A dive in brings in sugar notes of cotton candy and taffy like sugars, and a touch of sour faint acidic apple (acetaldehyde possibly?) . I feel like my nostrils right now are getting cavaties it's so sweet. Ginger or cranberry? Not really getting that at all, just a sweet huge nose that doesn't resemble any decent fruit flavor at all.

Palate leaves little to be desired. Surprisingly there's a decent beer like backbone in mouthfeel with this but it's barely anything than a supporting cast to a really bad actor. Aspartame and Splenda like sweetness abound all over. Hints of fruit is non existent and is somewhere between gobstopper candy and hubba bubba. A drying palate of baseball card chalk bubblegum is all over this, with no sense of ginger spice or what not. Fruit angle is virtually non existent, and tastes like the bottom of a gumball machine.

Cranberry or ginger? Where exactly? Tastes like straight up sugar water with a bigger body. You can drink it but that's about the only thing good going I can say about it. Even as a shandy/radler type brew this is just really not that good compared to what's out there.

look: 4.5 | smell: 1.5 | taste: 2 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 2 | BA Generated: 2.21

 

Melvin is a world class brewery in Alpine Wyoming, population about 1200, the town proper is about a square mile. So proud to call them one of my locals!!! Brew as good a beer as you will ever drink, every single one is just amazing!!

 

Hello NBS. I was going to sit this one out and just watch football but there's not much to watch at this point. Thanks @JackHorzempa for the "Roll Out". Very interesting history on the barrels. It also fascinating how a cooper fabricates a bunch of staves and ties it all together without leaks- all done with hand tools back in the day and probably still practiced currently. Another interesting "off the beer" fact is many of those water holding tanks you see in NYC on rooftops are constructed the same way. Piece by piece they are hauled up and constructed. They hold thousands of gallons and don't leak. Not sure if this is modern day practice anymore but you still see some.
Todays brew-
BUNKER BREWING COMPANY SALAD DAZE HOPPY PALE LAGER
Pours a hazy pale yellow with a white 2 finger head with large bubbles that settles to a cap with spotty lacing.
Aroma is of clean grassy hops with some lemon and maybe some darker citrus such as tangerine. Nice bready malt presence. A powerful nose for such a light looking brew.
Taste is bold fresh cut grassy hops, lemon and zest, a little grain/corn and a white pepper finish. Water is soft, extremely clean and focused on lagering. Long lingering taste with a lasting pleasant bitterness.
Feel is very dry with a good dose of prickly carbonation. A very tasty refreshing thirst quencher.
My first with Bunker brewing and if this beer is any indication that Czech style Pils in my fridge from them should also be a winner. I will definitely be seeking out more from Bunker. Obviously they know lager and this ones a well crafted one.
For NewOldVinylSunday- Pete Townshend- Slit Skirts- the only good tune off this record. Have a great week and as always thanks for taking the time.

 

I love that beer. It and their Oatmeal Stout are near-perfect beers IMO. Another great English English Porter that is pretty easy to find is Fuller's.

 

Barrel wood - not just "oak" - white oak species . (Here in N. America, generally White Oak /Quercus alba ) Red Oaks ( many species, not just Q. rubra) have (more) transverse vessels, not just the vertical vessels, so fluid will travel across the grain, not just up & down, with the grain. Therefore, any container made of a red oak species, if not sealed, won't hold liquid very well.

 

Happy Almost New Biere de Garde Sunday!

Did a nice little hike today, around 36, some sun, still some nice snow around, at least the trails are not too muddy. Been 9 years since I've had this brew. Always a joy to drink brews from Lost Abbey. Packers getting their ass kicked big time, today.

Look 4.25 Smell 4.25 Taste 4.5 Feel 4.25 Overall 4.5 Rating: 4.4 rDev +15.2% (view)

Revisit: 22 Jan 17
750ml
Caged/Corked
2016 Vintage

Been 9 years since the last time I had this brew!

Poured into a chalice a very nice clean/clear reddish/amberish color, very nice carbonation, with a very nice thick/cream one-finger off-white head, which leaves some very nice small islands and some thick sticky lacing behind. The nose is malty, yeasty, with some cherries, citrus, slight spice note. The taste is very nice, malty, yeasty, cherries, slight citrus, slight tangyness, slight spice. Full Body, ABV hidden very well, a pretty complex brew. Overall, a very tasty brew. I see, the style got changed since when I had it.

750ml
Caged/Corked

Thanks to Bitterbill for this brew.

Poured into a chalice a dark golden orange/reddish color, very nice carbonation, nice one-finger creamy off-white head, which leaves a nice thick blob in the middle of the glass and some sticky lacing around the edges. The nose is malty, some nice yeast strain, spicy, lemon/citrus, and slight caramel. The taste is malty/yeasty, very nice tangyness, nice touch of citrus, and some caramel. The finish is bitter/tangy/dry. Medium body. Very drinkable, this is a very tasty BSPA, highly recommended. Another awesome brew from The Lost Abbey. Thanks Bill.

Cheers!

 

Hope your saving some of these ~"decade since" brews for Throwback Thursday in two weeks (2/2)

 

Did not know about that.

Cheers!

 

No pressure, just hoping for a contribution, whether it's 10 years or just a couple.

Cheers!