New Beer Sunday (Week 635)

Happy New Beer Sunday!!!! Saint Archer IPL. I believe this is the first India Style Pale Lager I have ever had. And I dig it! Really does have characteristics of all three styles. Nice hop, the bite of a pale and a lager taste in the background. A great summer golf course beer for sure.

 

Happy to see you with a beer close by ... and cool deal you got to try what looks like a one-off from the Cuvee des Jacobins brewers!

Speaking of cool deals, check out what showed up on my doorstep this week:


Rushing Duck's Chained to the Dead imperial milk stout

@cavedave says a couple weeks ago, hey, I got some cellared Founder's Imperial Stout, want some? I says hells yeah, he says he's sending it my way, and he does ... and *this* little beauty stows away in the same box to my good fortune.

Labelled here on BA.com as a Russian imperial stout, Chained to the Dead for me is definitely more milk stout than RIS, but it's also not cloyingly sweet nor lumpy in the mouthfeel, which I swear I find in milk stouts. "Lumpy", of course, is a bit of hyperbole, but whatever ... Chained to the Dead doesn't have it. It's got a great ale slick feel up front that's backed by a good crispness from the carbonation, which also serves to fill out the relatively lightweight mouthfeel. The aroma is sweet chocolate off the top then a back-and-forth play of mocha latte/milk chocolate with slightly darker molasses/burnt brown sugar. The flavor opens almost like a barrel-aged stout, light bourbon flavor, then smooths over time into a steady espresso/chocolate interplay.

10.1% ABV equals an immediate warmth in the throat. It has too much sugar (and six months of age) to allow for the taste of alcohol, but there is no question alcohol lives strong in this one.

The review:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/29800/187507/?ba=Premo88#review
4.27 (+5.7 rDev)

Easily could rate it higher, but Midnight says chill out ... show some restraint:

cats and their cool indifference

Such a fantastic beer. I'm easing into the glass carefully and plan to maintain this slow pace as it warms and opens up a bit more ... thanks a bunch, Dave! You and Rushing Duck rock!

Cheers!

 

#2 came to me courtesy of that renowned beer nerd @beertunes in the hootenanny known as NBS BIF #5, WGNaBP.



4.19/5 rDev 0%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

This is my second sour from Wander. The first was great, and so is this. The bottle says it's a Belgian-inspired sour ale aged in Oak Foeders on cherries. Check, check, and check!

The pour yields a dark copper beer, edging toward mahogany colored, with a brownish head. The aromas are funky cherries - and some oak lurking in the background.

The taste is on point with the funk and the cherries both vying for the spotlight, and the oak sitting in the background playing traffic cop, reminding both drivers to play nice and stay in their respective lanes.

This is just a joy to drink. Plenty sour and tart, but smoothed out by the oak to make it something you could enjoy into a second bottle.

 

Back again for another beer right before I throw the steaks on.

I was not going to add this since I can't do pictures right now, but

Holy Cow this beer is great.

Trapper Pie from Tired Hands. I really am a sucker for beers that taste exactly as they describe. This one really does taste like an apple pie with hops. My first sip I said, "whoa what is this".
The wife looked up and said, "do you hate it" and my response was, "I fu***** love it".

L: crazy amount of haze here, with a good size white head and tons of lacing.
S: Apples overpower at first, then hops and a bit of cinnamon and chiles.
T: Wow this is great. Apples, hops, a bit of spice from the chiles and the tiniest hint of cinnamon.
F: Smooth, thick and sort of creamy. Works super well for the flavors here.
O: this is the first non Waldo's IPA in a while that made me say wow on the first sip. This is great and now I need to get more.

 

Good evening NBS, hope everyone is enjoying the end of the weekend once again. Thanks to @cjgiant for getting us rolling this week. Congrats on the new beer milestone! I am having one tonight as well. Normal Sunday for me of some bottle returns, double laundry, and some work for tomorrow. Got a lot of new beer today once again, my store guys are awesome. We did a mini trade today and I got some limited Carton stuff. I gave him some Ohio goodies from last weekend.

New Beer:

This was amazing! Insane head retention and thick lasting lacing on the glass. Aromas and flavors of huge grapefruit, tangerine, pineapple, peach, passion fruit, mango, melon, papaya, lemon zest, orange peel, light pepper, and pine hops; with honey, light caramel, toasted bread malt balance; and herbal, floral, grassy hop earthiness. Moderate pine/citrus peel/grassy/spicy bitterness on the finish. Medium bodied; balanced bready/grainy creaminess and hop stickiness in the mouthfeel. Light resins/rinds and increasing dryness. Zero hop astringency. Crisp bitter finish, highly drinkable, even refreshing. Bright, juicy, and dank hops; nice malt backbone with minimal residual sweetness. I think I found a new Ohio IPA favorite to add to the list! They best-before date the neck label. Wonderful, dare I say, beautiful IPA. 4.38


To Øl Brett saison with raspberries. Awesome! Teeny bit of a gusher. Aromas and flavors of huge juicy/lightly tart raspberries, cherry, peach, pineapple, lemon, orange, melon, pear, red grape, and apple; with some light caramel/toasted bread malts; and underlying notes of hay, straw, musty funk, and earthy/peppery Brett. Light peppery brett spice, fruit tartness, and herbal bitterness on the finish. Medium body and medium-high carbonation. Balanced bready/grainy malts, sticky yeast/hops, and fruit acidity in the mouthfeel. Lightly increasing tart/spicy dryness. Fairly crisp, very drinkable. Refreshingly tart. Great complexity and balance of Brett, fruit, hops, and malts. Not as funky as I expected, but the Brett character is well rounded in the fruity qualities. To Øl always is pretty damn impressive to me. 4.1


Review 5300. I loved the base beer a LOT(Feb 2015 reviewed). This was insane! Aromas and flavors of huge milk chocolate, cocoa, caramel, toffee, brown sugar, fudge, marshmallows, coffee, nuttiness, vanilla, cream, bourbon, toasted oak, and brown bread; touches of smoke, coconut, dark fruit, and molasses. Increasing booze in the aromas as it warms, but not overpowering. Light roast bitterness and bourbon/oak spice on the finish. Light-medium carbonation and full bodied. Very creamy, rich, silky, and velvety mouthfeel. Minimal chalky roast, oak tannins, or dryness. Absolutely phenomenal barrel balance here, pretty much perfect. No booze, mildly warming 10%. I should really revisit the base beer again. It was very much RIS-style in qualities when I had it; very bitter, but spot on to style. This is a completely different experience, but I love both almost the same amount; for different reasons. Absolutely incredible beer. 4.35


Cheers, have a good night NBS

 

Don't think I've had any of the Bday Suit beers yet but I figure today is a good day to pop that "cherry"

Pours a slightly blush-looking light orange color. Kind of peach-like in color with a thin ring of white foam topping it off. Very hazy. Nice looking beer here.

Nose is tart cherry with lemon meringue pie, biscuit malt and tangerine peel. Sorta citrusy but has a slight lacto-like tart note. A little sulfury.

Semi-tart cherry and bright lemony citrusy flavors. Bready and slightly crackery malt. Heavy-ish body for a beer just over 6%. Low leaning carbonation. Strong cherry and pit fruit flavors as this warms. Almost has some dark fruit that feels kind of incongruous with the light malt bill. Not bad but not great. Pretty decently priced bomber, though (about $8).

 

American Solera ENG-YAK, a Congac Barrel Aged Barley Wine. Pretty good, one that will age well. Wouldn't buy it again...

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/46299/278274/?ba=russpowell#review

 

New Beer Sunday: A New, yet old, Bourbon Barrel aged Imperial Stout

Evenin’ NBSers with special salutations to all you serious stout seekers and special salutations to our host for the day, @cjgiant.

The weather here today was quite sunny and in the low 60s so we had a bit of sunshine proving that all those clouds recently was indeed temporary as we were promised by the weather folks. But... those clouds are moving back in again and tempratures will be lower and we'll see a couple of days of rainy weather. So I took advantage of the day to run errands and tick of several things from the "honey-do" list. So on the whole today has been a bit hectic.

This evening’s new beer is the 2017 KBS from Founders, a Bourbon barrel aged stout. (This beer was first entered into the BA database back in '04 so Founders has been making it for a long time.)

As usual my review, mostly finished, can be found here:

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/1199/19960/?ba=drtth#review

Whew! This is a complex and complicated beer. It’s Bourbon like but with things going on that would not show up in either a Bourbon or vice versa would not show up in an Imperial Stout alone and without the barrel aging. The head behaves much as I would expect from any high ABV stout—there some head but it recedes soon. The nicely integrated package to be found in the aromas and flavors includes both Bourbon and stout, so nobody's in command and they work as a team. There’s Bourbon and coffee, chocolate, some sweetness along with some vanilla and a touch of oak all “intertwingled.” The bitterness that emerges following the initial burst of flavors seems more coffee like than not but as that fades away there is still some noticeable Bourbon character going on and on in the very back of the palate. From my perspective, I’d say this beer deserves its reputation. So I’m glad I finally found one to try without any hassel or extended hunt, etc.. That all said I don’t expect I'll be seeking out many more of these, simply because it’s not that much better than other less expensive and more easily available Stouts. So, to me, it is not worth the extra time, money and hassle involved in chasing after it. If I find a few I'll cellar them, but if not, I'll not worry much.

BTW. I’ve written my review based on 8-10 ounces out of the 12 and am now turning to a beer and cheese pairing. On my serving plate is a chunk of White Stilton with Ginger and Mango. I’ve had this cheese with a few other non Bourbon Barrel aged stouts so it’s time to see if it plays nicely with a Bourbon barrel aged stout.

Cheers, all!

 

Checking out one of the last brews I muled home from my trip to Chicago. I had my choice between this or the regular version, and for whatever reason sprung for this edition. Perhaps that's just due to the can artwork, which I do think is rather neat.



18th Street Brewery's Vanilla Hunter.

Pours a resolute black with a finger of dark caramel colored head. Head is slow to fizz up, but retains well. Aroma is huge notes of roasted malts, with toasted and nutted malts playing a lesser role behind. Vanilla and caramel notes peak through the dark aroma as well. Flavor profile is smooth, bitter-free notes of roasted, toasted, and nutty malts, with the emphasis on the roasted. Caramel, and vanilla bean play wonderfully well to sweeten up the dark qualities of this stout. Mouth feel is smooth, creamy, and velvety, with a thick feel. Overall, this beer packs a presence. Robust malt notes accompanied by additional notes of caramel and vanilla bean, and a thick feel make it a stellar stout.

Score: 4 | 4.25 | 4.25 | 4.5 | 4.5 | BA Score: 4.31 | rDev: +3.9%

 

Last one, this magnificent RIS from Destihl. Yes , I just typed that.



4.44/5 rDev +7.5%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

I know Destihl by their sours, so I approached this with some trepidation, but my beer store buddy in Minnesota (man, do I miss him) told me this was the shiznit, so I bought a bottle. I wish I'd purchased a case.

It pours jet black with a finger or so of tan head. Check. The first clue you're in for something beyond your typical BA RIS is the nose - loads of cocoa, char, dark chocolate. Where's the booze in this 12.5% ABV monster???

It's not readily apparent on the taste, either - HUGE cocoa and dark chocolate, and the slightest bit of oak. And then, after you take a sip and set your glass down, the alcohol presents itself for a bit, like the jokester conducting a snipe hunt.

This is simply a magnificent representation of the style, IMHO.

 

Tallgrass King Buffalo, 10.5% ABV. Pours thick and black, with a two finger tan head. Nose is coffee, roast, and a bit of chocolate. Taste is bitter coffee, burnt malt, and not much else. Excellent mouthfeel, smooth, good carbonation, overall OK.

 

Hey, you found my review! Cheers man! Yeah, I wasn't big on SOS. A weak entry for BLVD

 

I just finished a trade for this with those moonraker cans I waited in line for all morning. You are making me really excited to try this.

 

My 500th unique beer (according to Untappd)!



Incredible stuff. Like most other big Prairie stouts, a black pour with a minimal tan head which fades to a ring. There is a pretty strong aroma- the Ancho chiles jump out at me, but chocolate and whiskey are there in the background. The taste is complex: there is a hint of coffee present, but whiskey and chocolate are most prominent, with caramel malt, vanilla, oak notes, and a touch of cinnamon following. The whiskey is extremely well-melded with the rest of the beer, and is present mid-palate through the finish. The chiles are somewhat muted, compared to the standard Bomb!, but provide a nice warming heat at the finish. The beer is full bodied, incredibly smooth the entire way through, and a touch boozy on the finish. Pretty incredible. Huge fan of Prairie's stouts, but this one surpassed my expectations and blew me away.

 

Thanks to @cjgiant for getting things off and running! This will be my first NBS Sunday post, usually strive to be in the mountains and away from electronics on the weekends. That noted, in the spirit of trying and describing beers that either have limited information or are fairly new to the scene I'm going to focus on some new Moonraker brews.

In the festivities that were Moonraker's 1-year anniversary yesterday, saw the release of three new beers in packaged format. The first I'll describe is (what I assume is Anniversary Beer #1) a collaborative NE-style IPA with Alvarado Street Brewing. Both are doing outstanding things separately, so let's see what their collaboration has to offer. Complete review link.



Visually not overly appealing from a color and head standpoint., couple with that a glass that had particulate agglomerates adhered to the bottom at the end. 3

Nose is very nice and dynamic, plenty of mango and peach. 4.5

Taste mirrors the nose with added earthy undertones, very juice-like with minimal bitterness and some lingering astringency. 4.25

Medium body, medium carbonation, and general silky feel, very enjoyable. 4.5

Overall, a great collaborative beer from two of Northern California's new-comers, and quickly becoming quite notable in the CA beer scene. 4.5

Rating = 4.31 rDev = +0.2%

Two more brews from Moonraker to come as the day evolves. Cheers

 

If those were year round they would be my daily drinkers.