New Beer Sunday (Week 637)

Cool start for NBS this week @cjgiant Nice to see those old threads. Will be back later on today with another new brew from NBS BIF#5.

Cheers!

 

Yes, but it's from memory (I was busy, and didn't write down or type detailed notes):

Look: Brilliant clarity and bright golden color. Would pass for a Maibock on sight.

Nose: Fruit esters (banana, green / golden apple) were slightly more dominant than spice (clove/pepper.) There's a LOT of hop action goin' on, too (Opal, Perle, Smaragd, Saphir), so that's definitely in the nose but I was having a hard time differentiating it.

Taste: Malty-sweet but piquant and nuanced. There's enough of a variance in the malt bill that it's very compelling and interesting, yet the hop use (sharp, a lighter floral aromatics, a very distinct lingering bitterness) really does stand out as well.

Feel: Excellent mouthfeel. While I marked it as "average", my reasoning is that I've only ever enjoyed very good examples of the style in the past, and this one was on-par! But in fact, it has excellent drinkability.

Overall: An exceptional bier all around, and an equally excellent example of the style, whether kristall or traditional / hazy (one summer I went through case after case of Bavarian imports., so it's a style I truly love.) I enjoyed several other styles and brands of beer yesterday (including a disappointing American brewed hefeweizen) and this was easily the most memorable.

Note: I had two bottles of this one on hand. I enjoyed one, and excitedly squirreled the other away to share with a friend at a local brewery. I'll likely head to Total Wine (the only place I know which stocks this as yet) for a six-pack tomorrow, and will enter a proper review.

 

Hello all and happy new beer Sunday! It's been awhile since I've posted here but it's good to be enjoying a new beer this fine Sunday.

Today I am drinking Amazing Haze by Stigbergets.



Apperance: As the name points out, this beer pours a hazy, golden orange color with a sizeable white head.

Smell: The smell is dominated by tropical fruits, hops, bananas, and a bit of funk.

Taste: The taste is much less fruity than the smell. There is a somewhat off-putting mix between hop bitterness, funk and bananas that occurs a few seconds after initially drinking the beer. The finish is quite bitter and drying and makes you want to take another sip. The mouthfeel is quite creamy.

Overall it's an interesting beer that I expected a bit more from. The off-putting taste seems to randomly occur as after some sips it's there and after others not. If it weren't for the occasional weird taste it would be an outstanding beer. In any case it's definitely drinkable and and is more enjoyable than unenjoyable.

Hopefully everyone else enjoys their New Beer Sunday and cheers to everyone!

 

Maria, needless to say but this is your decision.
It seems to me that you learned quite a bit from your first attempt.

Making bread is a good thing too!!

Cheers!

 

Man, that logo/insignia on that cool glass looks like something painted on a Panzer Tiger.

 

Good morning New BSers! Thanks @cjgiant for today's excellent start. I'm running a little late today - found too many empty bottles sitting by my computer this morning. In my defense, I was researching for my upcoming trip to Bamberg and obviously you can't research Bamberg without having a few beers involved.
The wet snow we were predicted to possibly receive last night didn't happen, at least not down here by the river. Today started out with beautiful blue skies but now has slipped back to dirty gray overcast threatening normalcy. So to fit into our daily darkness, here's a dark beer to match my mood:



A gift from @SomethingClever.
An undated 12.7 oz bottle stored at 42 degrees. Served at 50 degrees in a hand washed and dried Jester King snifter.
Aroma – maple and a little bourbon. Lasts.
Head small (Maximum < one cm, aggressive pour), tan, frothy/fizzy, gone almost as soon as I quit pouring. All that remains is an irregular one to two mm ring fed by some slight effervescence and four tiny islands.
Lacing – none.
Body – dark brown/black, opaque, effervescent.
Flavor – Starts slightly sweet with bourbon and maple predominating. Perhaps a bit of chocolate malt? No trace of hops. No diacetyl. No alcohol until it hits the stomach, then some transitory gastric heat occurs. However, allowing it to warm in my mouth definitely brings out the alcohol, surpassing the maple which is much greater than the bourbon.
Palate – medium, creamy approaching syrupy, lively carbonation.

A tad sweet for my tastes but otherwise an excellent brew. The paucity of head and lacing is what I’ve come to expect from BBA brews and doesn’t detract from my appreciation of them. As a porter, this is a bit dense, definitely in the range of stouts but not imperial stouts - a worthy addition to the beer belly on which I’m working. Thanks Dave!

Appearance 4, Aroma 4.25, Flavor 4.25, Palate 4.25, Overall 4.25.

 

While I agree that Jack is an excellent braumeister, I'm sure he probably made a less than perfect batch or two when he started and I'm probably correct when I guess your cooking skills didn't just happen over night. Don't give up Maria - apply your cooking skills to brewing - after all, brewing is just another example of applied chemistry as is cooking.

 

Urban Family - Of Both Worlds

A confusingly named beer... it's listed here twice, one has "best" in front of the name. The assumption is that the name is referring to saisons and IPAs since its subtitle is "farmhouse ale with Nelson Sauvin."

When a beer is exclaiming that it is an IPA-ish non-IPA, I take it as a warning sign. In the case of saisons, I might feel just the opposite depending on the brewer/beer. Some have the opinion that a hoppy saison is a "hoppy saison" rather than simply a "saison." I don't see it that way. For me, there's nothing about a hoppy saison that disqualifies it from being a regular ol' saison.

Some might call this an American saison because of the hops, even though Nelson Sauvin is a New Zealand hop. For me, that doesn't make it an American saison nor a New Zealand saison, just as a Belgian brewed saison with English hops isn't an English saison. I can see the logic in someone seeing things differently from me though.

This beer is beautiful to look at. Great carbonation, beautifully yellow, and strikingly clear. Buying a beer like this, the fear is that it will feel like an IPA when you drink it. Not in this case. It feels like a saison - and a good one. The bitterness is very strong and lingering. There's a fruitiness that's present but restrained (and always in the backseat compared to the bitterness). There's a touch of white wine but perhaps that's a case of mind over matter. The balance isn't quite there for me. I like some bitter beers, but this one doesn't quite pull it off spectacularly.

I think this is my first from Urban Family. I chose this to dip my toes in. To me, the quality is definitely evident, but I'm unlikely to continue exploring their beers unless one really draws me in. It's probably mainly about price.

Cheers.

 

I am officially jealous and I want to see photographs of all the beer! How wonderful! =)

 

Happy New Beer Sunday BAs

Been super busy this week puting the 2017 Malt Barley crop in the ground. Things are kicking into full gear finally. I am determined to get raid the beer fridge and work through some fairly fresh IPAs that I need to drink.

First up Moonraker Extremis Triple IPA. Now I'd be lying if I didn't disclose my infatuation with Moonraker Brewing. It was mostly based on one beer, YOJO! My top beer. A couple weeks ago I was able to swing a deal with a awesome BA who was attending the Moonraker Anniversary party on April 20th. So when all six canned offerings from the party showed up on my doorstep last week (including my beloved YOJO) I was giddy with excitement! To date I've only worked through 2 of the six. Holy Hermit and Electric Lettuce. Both were amazing! Further fueling my admiration for Moonraker.

All this brings me to this beer Extremis, a triple IPA that apparently took down Pliny the Younger at the 17th annual Bistro Double IPA festival. You can read about it here:

https://sacbee.relaymedia.com/amp/food-drink/appetizers/article132464854.html

Anyways I've never had PtY so I can't say, but for what it's worth the BA who traded with me said he'd had both and PtY is better. Knowing ratings and reviews are all subjective I decided to bump Extremis up to my Sunday morning beer for New Beer Sunday. I figure there is probably something special about this beer because where there is smoke there is fire. So I cracked it open this morning and gave her the once over.

To my surprise Extremis poured a bright and almost translucent amber/orange. I say that because every Moonraker to date haz been hazy and turbid. The nose is of citrus pith and a generous amount of pine. Taste of grapefruit rind, tangerine juice, pine gum and pine bark. There is a decent biscuit malt presence as well. Extremis is medium body with a nice sticky mouthfeel that I love in these huge IPAs. It finishes dry with a crisp clean pine and citrus pith bitterness. At 10.1% and 100 IBUs Extremis packs a nice little kick but remains a very approachable/drinkable DIPA/3IPA that even a hop novice could/would enjoy.

Cheers BAs

 

Bingo! This is the reason I still bake bread at home but take a pass on home brewing. Especially since even after building up more than a day or two as a home baker ( ) there is still so much to be learned and explored. (Also, honestly, I also will leave the home brewing to others simply because I don't have the time to do both well.)

 

A while back I had the "Flat Earth Theory" from the same brewery and had very similar reactions that beer, the brewery, and the pricing of their beers.

 

I wanted to say that I am usually not a fan of brown ales but then again I thought I knew everything at 26. Now that I am near 40 I still don't know shit. St. Bernardus Abt 12 Belgian Abbey Ale. It is the real deal y'all.
C h e e r s NBS

 

Can you tell us a bit more about the flavors, aromas and complexity of the beer? Some have not had it and might like to try it.

 

Happy NBS! Full sun all weekend in S. WI so I am working in the yard. Today I am going to set up my box gardens for planting next weekend.

This morning, while at the grocery store, I decided to buy Founders Sumatra Mountain. It pours a dark coffee brown with a 2 finger dense tan head that slowly fades into a thick cap and leaves fat swaths of lacing on my glass. Aroma is definitely coffee with a nuttiness and light chocolate. Flavor starts off with the nuttiness I typically find in brown ales, some caramel and chocolate are finished off with coffee and a distracting bitterness that I believe is from the hops used in this. I was hoping for a bit more coffee and cream finish. Feel is on par for a brown ale, smooth and bubbly. Overall a tasty and solid beer from Founders.

 

Absolutely!

Looks deep dark abysmal brown. Tastes like a brown ale but there is something different somehow I cannot put my finger on it. Nose of dark plumbs and slight alcohol. Mouth feel is mellow not overly carbonated and not too dry. Halfway through the bottle I was swooned and swept away. I would HIGHLY recommend this beer to anyone who would like to give brown ales a second chance!

 

Great!

IIRC you may find that those aromas and flavors you are picking up are related to the fact that the Brewers use a Belgian yeast that is encouraged by the brewer to produce them.

 

Happy New Odds & Sods Session Beer Sunday (Week 637)!

All of my colorful commentary, amusing musings and colorful banter are, have been & always will be embedded in my reviews. In fact, just as the question of a beer that you planned to drink during the course of the day vs. one that you had already consumed was once a subject of question & debate, so were my stoned/LSD acid trip & Cyberman/Doctor Who reviews until it was established that a review was taking place, no matter how convoluted in its style.

I am still on the 2nd shift gig, which means only a couple/few early on Sunday & maybe one more upon returning home, if NBS has not closed shop for the week. I am poised to delve deeply into Heavy Seas beginning tomorrow, but in the interim, I had some (relatively) low-ABV beers that I decided to have today.

First up was a Gose, which is wildly uncharacteristic for me. BTW, the place name is pronounced "Poo-ket", not what your dirty, filthy, adolescent minds may think:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/22150/236802/?ba=woodychandler#review


I then went to a session IPA:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/8/125935/?ba=woodychandler#review


but I felt unfulfilled, so I turned to my westie cuz for assistance:

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/199/267575/?ba=woodychandler#review


That is enough for now. I am going to hit the Rain Locker & get dressed for my upcoming shift. I may be back later, but if not, I will return next week.

 

Craig, I doubt that you have palate issues here. Certain fruits do not present their flavors prominently when used in brewing beer. I recently listened to a podcast with Mitch Steel (formerly head brewer at Stone) and he commented that certain fruits do not explicitly convey their flavors in beer. I specifically recall he mentioned that as regards strawberries. Maybe he stated the same as regards blackberries?

As to why others may report they perceive blackberry well the aspect is detailed on the label so it must be there, right?

I would be interested in hearing what those folks would say if they tasted it blind.

Permit me to tell you a story. Last Sunday I attended the Yards Real Festival and one of the beers I drank was a sample pour of Green Flash Alpine Duet (on cask) that was brewed using Blood Orange. There was another notable flavor in that beer beyond the Blood Orange. I remarked to a friend (Harry) that I thought they also used fresh ginger in this beer. He replied that his wife drank this same beer earlier (a half hour earlier) and told him that she thought the beer had a flavor of marjoram. Did Green Flash also add a spice(s) to this cask beyond the advertised Blood Orange? Who knows but from a beer appreciation perspective who really cares since the flavor is there (or not there depending on the palate). Simply report on what you taste and maybe a comment on whether it was pleasing to your palate.

I was not certain whether I was a fan of what I perceived as ginger in that Green Flash beer. I can relate two things: I finished that sample pour (i.e., I did not dump it) and I did not go back for a second pour.

Cheers!