New Beer Sunday (week 629)

Notes of chocolate and coffee but mostly spoiled fruit I'd probably pass next time.

 

Good afternoon NBS, a toast to our newest home brewer, nice looking beer Maria Congratulations. I bottled an all grain APA today, made also with Cascade and a kiss of Citra. I will let you know in a few weeks how it came out.
Today's offering is from Greensboro Vt. What a display of craft here,
Society and Solitude #6 is a primarily hopped with mosaic, that is only part of the story though the water,and palate are the real show stopper for me.
We have our last planning meeting for Western Mass Beer Week tonight, getting excited and its still months away.
Cheers all
Society & Solitude #6

Hill Farmstead Brewery
American Double / Imperial IPA / 8.10% ABV

4.19/5 rDev -6.5% | Avg: 4.48
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4

Poured from a 2 day old growler into a stemmed goblet.
A - Golden wheat colored platform hides carbonation in plain site. A loose knit froth caps the pour, cumulus pillowy evidence clings to the glass.
S - Straight from the tropics, Mosaic hop on full parade, guava, papaya, pineapple, tangerine. a bit of mint and green tea as well.
T - Wonderful malt base, fresh baguette, covered in apricot preserves. very little bitterness. With a quick rise in temperature an earthiness develops, again a bit of mint, fresh cut grass hides in there.
M - Near perfect feel, no edges on this, body is medium in heft, dances across the palate in long luxurious graceful strides. The finish has just the right touch of tropics and hint of rine act as the bitterness.
O - A wonderfully executed offering, the fullness of the body, and incredibly delicate palate are remarkable. Carbonation adds just the right amount of energy to nudge things forward. The total package with his offering. This may well be one of my favorite IPA from Hill Farmstead

 

Congrats!!! I'm just getting ready to do some robotics with my students. They are so motivated to learn. It's awesome!!!

 

Jack, If you have the opportunity Zero Gravity has packaged a dry hopped Keller. Worth seeking out. It has been a hit in this house for the last few weeks.
Cheers

 

Up next is a beer I wouldn't normally pick up, but a generous BA member (@Ri0 ) sent it my way along with a box of hoppy goodness and one coffee stout. I do mean to try more pilsners, so this should be a good dip into the style for experience. Up next:



Great Dane's German Pilsner.

Pours a pale yellow with a nearly crystal clear look. Head foams up to two fingers in height and white in color with good bubbly retention. A little lacing left behind. Aroma is actually a little heavy with hearty notes of German malts, and a light addition of herbal hops. Flavor profile is similar with German malts that create the majority of the flavor profile. There is a little herbal, spicy hop stick to it as well. Mouth feel is medium in thickness with a good graininess. With that said, it's not the crispest of pilsners, but instead packs more of a presence than most of the style. Overall, it's a flavorful German pilsner that really offers up more of an experience than an easy-sipping, crisp brew.

Score: 4.5 | 4 | 3.75 | 4 | 4 | BA Score: 3.93 | rDev: +6.2%

 

Go Team!!!

 

Nice, dude! What sorts of Robotics are you going to be working on? Vex? Lego?

While I never got into robotics in high school (I was more into other tech classes and drafting), seeing how much students put into robotics is inspiring. I'm supposed to be there to help them, but sometimes I think it's the other way around. They also learn so much between learning to brainstorm properly, to the importance of CADD and prototyping, to manufacturing and construction, to proper strategy development.

 

Any thoughts on this you care to share?

 

Finback's IPA, that is actually the name. -clear golden-yellow can pour with a 2 cm foam cap. The aroma is bitter first with some malt and a bit of hop resin. The flavor is hop bitterness up front, with some pine and a touch of grapefruit. The finish is also bitter. The malt base is complimentary. This is okay, but not in my top five from a good "local" brewery. -For the price (~4.75/) I am glad I only picked up one.

 

Time for another from the @jhavs box of awesomeness and one that I've always wanted to try. I'm going to disregard the 'drink from the can' for scientific purposes and pour this undated but certainly fresh 7.0% Focal Banger from The Alchemist in a 13oz. tulip glass. Let's check it out!

Pours a transparent brilliant gold leaving a couple fingers of frothy white lingering foam. Heavy lacing is left in it's wake and many floaties can be seen. The smell is passion fruit, grapefruit, fresh rubber and some floral. Taste is passion fruit, mango, grapefruit, fresh rubber and floral esters along with a kiss of malt. The feel is resiny slick and creamy with a crisp slightly bitter dry finish.



It may not look as pretty as Heady when poured in a glass, but it certainly delivers on every other level. A wonderful array of citrus and floral with a magnificent drinkability. This is the real deal and something I could drink daily. My score is 4.59 / rDev+0.4%. Thanks again Jon for another gem!

Off to share a couple brews with my bro after a few hours of quality couch time here. Enjoy the rest of your day, I plan on doing just that! Here's the official word on that world class treat......

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/27039/111616/?ba=Prager62#review

 

NBS lunch, courtesy of @Buck89 - Bell's Black Note, bottled 11/03/16:

Pours black with ruby on the edges; quick dark beige head disapates leaving a thin ring with small slick; little lace with a bit of spotting; decent "legs" upon swirling. 4.25



Bourbon, oak and vanilla notes; sweet caramel malt and coffee as liquid warms from 51 to 58 degrees. 4.75



Flavours of bourbon caramel and toffee to start; Dark fruits, prune and lightly boozy; leather, coffee and cocoa are more pronounced in the finish. 4.75

Medium full, slightly warming mouthfeel; moderate minus carbonation; dry wooden/cracker tongue coating. 4.5



Overall very well balanced; A BBA stout that relies more on the barrel for flavor, as opposed to spices or other flavorings; body looks thin, but mouth feels right, even if not "full". A delicious sipper. 4.75

 

Hi everybody and happy NBS!
It's damn cold here with lots of wind and it is a lazy Sunday of cooking and drinking delicious beer. I recently got a new (to me) bass. It's been a while since I had an instrument and I hadn't realized how much I missed it. So I'll probably do some of that this evening. Luckily both playing music and bitter cold pair great with a BA Stout such as this one.

This is a Tokaji barrel-aged Imperial Stout from the guys at Dunham. Tokaji (pronounced "Tokay") is a Romanian white wine made with grapes affected by noble rot. It is apparently much adored in Romania and is even mentioned in the country's national anthem (wiki link).

I have had their regular IRS in Tokaji barrels and it was very good. I like the Petite Mort base beer better, though, so I'm excited to see how this one is.

This is all right but nothing amazing. I'm disappointed but at least it's not a drain pour.
It looks as good as could be and is kind of downhill from there. The aroma is pretty fruity and sweet with some harsh roast. Fairly enticing. When you take a drink there is a sharp roast flavor at first with a drying, tingling alcohol wave that sticks with you for a while and warms going down. It is not bad, but I would definitely like something a little smoother, thicker, and less boozy. It is amazing to me that it tastes as hot as it does from wine barrels, perhaps it's the batch of the stout. I likely wouldn't have this one again.

Here's my review.

Have a great week, everybody!

 

Are you referring to Green State Lager?

How widely distributed are Zero Gravity beers?

Cheers!

 

submitted for new beer sunday
St Louis fond tradition kriek lambic
12.7 oz. bottle



poured pomegranate red
rapidly dissipating red head
lasting bubble ring forms
4.125

berries, sour cherries, cherry pie
4.25

sour cherry is upfront carbonation on the tongue
puckering sourness on the roof of my mouth
taste is just like eating cherries from the store
4.25

thin crisp finish.
4.00

a nice kriek that I enjoyed the most at about 42 degrees

4.00

cheers, enjoy your sunday!

 

No,
Not Green State,
they canned an offering called Keller, a really well executed dry hopped Keller.
Hopefully they will make this year round.
Here's a photo.
Cheers

 

Good afternoon NBSers, and Happy New Brewery (to me) Sunday! Congrats @utopiajane for your first successful homebrew, and welcome to the obsession! Only words of advice I'll give you: 1) be brave and jump to all grain as soon as you KNOW that you LOVE brewing , and 2) if you don't plan on sharing bottles very often, or play host at home, start kegging! Way less of a headache than those damn bottles.

OK, well most of you know we recently had our second kid. This boy has been a handful and probably more work in his first two weeks of life than my daughter has been in 3 1/2 years! I'm happy to say that I am currently in the Biergarage watching Dragons with my Thing 1. Yup, it's break time for dad which means it's also time for a New Beer! This comes courtesy of @JayORear thanks to a quick little spur of the moment trade across counties. Glad to finally share with this great BA, and finally try something from:

Tired Hands-
Extra Knuckle Single Hop Mosaic IPA



A: The photo doesn't do this justice. It appears bright yellow orange, opaque, with a splotchy and frothy white head. Looks like fresh squeezed orange juice. A ring of foam persists around the glass, and laces like little islands all over.

A: The aroma alone makes me renounce my previous statement of my favorite hops, as this Mosaic smells amazing. So much friggin mango and papaya makes you feel you're breathing in a tropical islands fresh harvest.

T: The flavor follows. Mango and papaya to the core. A hint of perfuminess in the aftertaste. All I can think about is how well this would go with some luau pork tacos!

F: Smooth, mild carbonation, a bit prickly and frothy on the tongue and throat.

O: This may be my favorite NE juice bomb style IPA's I've had. I can't think of anything to complain about, or much to improve on. I think I understand why @CanConPhilly and @larryi86 spend all of their free time at Tired Hands . Cheers, and thanks J for sharing this amazing brew!

 

Time for another new beer.

6th Anniversary Hazelnut Chocolate Imperial Stout | Westbrook Brewing Co.


Westbrook Brewing Co. - 6th Anniversary Hazelnut Chocolate Imperial Stout by imbibehour, on Flickr

Poured from the bottle into a large snifter glass.

Real nice dark mocha brown head off the pour, as it slides out real nicely. Head creation though is pretty tiny, and settles to a lighter tan when done. Simple spider like top with a bit of a very minimal center dime sized puck. Always love those spider patterns. Barely a trickle of light gets through a very dark walnut brown reddish body.

Fairly closed and subtle nose, but a good one. Soft roast, and almost coffee cake like with hints of a creamy vanilla just so slightly. Does have a bit of nutty quality to it as well which adds to a good chocolate cake like quality. Pretty good.

Palate is a big mix of highs and lows, but not extreme ones. First sip comes with a good gooey liquefying malt roast and chocolate. Hints dark and slightly sweet with creamy tones, but then the mouthfeel imparts a touch of fizz and brings the body down considerably. Candy like slight aftertaste, but manages to not be too sweet at least.

Decent whipped up stout, with some good additions. But don’t go looking for greatness, just an enjoyable stout.

look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4 | BA Generated Score: 3.99

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It would be cool to know a little bit more of what that was like.