What beer are you drinking now? #1580

End of a long Thursday. I was out of the house this morning at 5:30.

Thank you to the great @aoampm For this wonderful beer that travelled from Hawaii to NJ. This beer is part of my winnings for a second place finish in fantasy football.

Maui Mosaic Mo Betta

Old 97's


LNBA4LYFE

 

The 750 of Grand Prestige should have been enough, sure. But it's my Friday, I'm working on my Vegas trip report I mentioned last night, and I'm listening to some tunes. So one more brew never hurt.



Switched over to hoppy after all of that spirit forward brown/quad. A great choice. This is going down perfectly.

Cheers BAs, always happy to spend time at the virtual bar with ya'll.

Another jam from Vegas, sorry to those who can't enjoy great terrible jams.

 

Real Ale: 2016 Black Quad




Lightly aged at almost a year.

 

First Hop JuJu of the season

This beer is just fantastic. Thank you @dannyfayy

Have to pair this beer with this music

Izzy Stradlin and the JuJu Hounds

 

Last one till next hop harvest. Still tastes amazing.

 

Nice pairing in my humble opinion G n R was never the same after Izzy left, and no reunion is complete without him.

 

Maple syrup chocolate oatmeal stout from Night Shift. Really nice. Cheers!


some more Tool

 

So agree.
Izzy was the backbone to that band. He's done some great stuff on his own. Saying that, I'm hoping GnR come back around because I would love to go.

Not bragging but I was at this show:

 

A beer named after the greatest radio show on the planet. Awesome. I must get some.
Is that beer impossible to get?

 

Thirsty tonight. Just got off work.

 

Nice, and you should brag. I have never seen Guns and Roses and probably never will, I was going to see them opening for Alice Cooper when GnR was touring on Appetite but the show cancelled. oh well, classic G n R and even more to my shagrin Motorhead will always be the big holes in my live shows resume.

 

Picked up a ton of new beer to try at the local beer store today after work. Only one of them seems like it'd be something not-particularly-ageable, so that's what I'm trying first.



Sixpoint's Hi-Res. This is actually my first beer from this brewery, seems like I rarely see them around here (though it seems like the store I got this at is getting more in now, there were several 4-packs on the shelf when I went in today.) And I have to mention before I even go into the rest of the description that this has got to be the most "fills the room with hop smells the moment you open the can" beer I've ever had. I could smell this beer very clearly from two or three feet away. I'm getting noticeable whiffs even now that it's in the glass, sitting on the table in front of me and about a foot to the right. It's a very nice blend of hoppy smells too -- there's some fruitiness, a lot of piney/herbal seeming smells, maybe a bit of something else in there too (maybe slightly floral-seeming? I dunno, there's something sweetish that doesn't quite come across as fruity in there.)

Anyway, on to the other features. Appearance-wise the beer is orange, mostly clear (there is a slight haziness that's noticeable with a light shining through, but without a light it seems almost perfectly clear), and with a good amount of rising bubbles. Even a pretty careful pour (cans and me have difficulties when it comes to pouring sometimes, though the skinnier can is definitely easier to get a grip on than a behemoth like the Foster's 25.4 ounce ones, or even the various tall 20-24 ounce cans) gets a decent little layer of foam, which has shrunk away a good bit now but has left an "island" in the middle and a thicker ring around the edge.

Taste is pretty much pure hops as far as I can tell. There's a noticeable bitterness but it's blended in so well with the flavors and the overall feel of the beer that it doesn't seem harsh or unwelcome, and it blends in directly to the lingering almost sticky feel on the lips and a noticeable bit of alcohol warmth as it goes down (...oh, this is over 10% ABV? okay, that explains that one. XD) Leaves a sort of tingly feeling on the tongue for a little bit afterward, not sure if hops or alcohol or the combination of the two. The flavors are basically like the smell but more bitter and stronger -- which is saying something considering how strong they were in the smell! Now that the initial burst of flavors has (mostly -- there's still a little of that back-end bitterness and a trace of almost piney flavor lingering) faded, I can also point out a little bit of a malt flavor in the aftertaste, maybe a sweetish almost-cracker-like thing. The hops are definitely providing all of the dominant flavors here, though.

Taking another sniff I'm picking up something that almost makes me think of onions, but not quite. It's there in the flavor too -- it's not the same "oniony" flavor I've gotten in some other hoppy beers, and it's blending in with the bitterness on the end and the alcohol warmth to give the feeling of those really spicy white onions that you stumble across every now and then when expecting a milder variety. I'm really liking the almost sticky-ish mouthfeel this has going on. Also liking how I seem to find new flavors or variations/combinations of flavors every time I take a sip. The bitterness is noticeable but definitely not overwhelming despite the 115 IBUs mentioned on the can; and this is coming from someone who doesn't drink a lot of IPAs -- it's present but blended in so well with the other parts of the beer that it becomes a feature rather than a "yikes, that's really bitter!" sort of thing on the end that makes you make weird faces and twitch (okay, I haven't really had that severe of a reaction to the "bite" of bitterness on the end of a beer since I had my first IPA... but still, you get what I mean.) Burps are bringing up a blend of the hoppy flavors rather than just one thing -- that's new, with most beers I'll burp and get one flavor more than the rest.

Overall -- this is a really, really good IPA (and a really good beer in general.) I don't usually buy IPAs or other hop-centric beers from the local place since most of their space isn't refrigerated, but I'm glad I picked up this four-pack!

 

It's available at the brewery now, and it is the second batch since December. It even got distributed to stores so definitely not impossible for people in Mass to get. I'm not sure how often they will make it. I heard that it is named after the city in Vermont where they get their maple syrup from.

 

Ok. I'll have one more.

Sip of Sunshine


Guns n f'n Roses

 

Thanks.

 

Thanks. I'm going to post a an iso. I wouldn't bother if it was something people camped out for.

 

Glad you enjoyed the Mosaic, I'll join in with a Maui Brew of my own.

I dig their old glasses more, if I had two of em I woulda sent one!

 

Have you seen Duff's doc. It's so easy and other lies. Its great

By the way, Nirvana didn't kill Hair Metal, Guns did.

 

Why not. I'm so glad this is available in my neck of the woods. Cheers LNBA!

 

I like the turtle on that glass. It was a great beer. Thank you.