New Beer Sunday (Week 637)

We'll never tell...

 

Last New brew for today, Backlash Beer Salute DIPA.



Pours a light copper, mostly clear, two finger head with nice retention and good lacing.

Aromas of apricot, pine, orange, peach and grapefruit. Sweet malt. Somewhat floral and earthy.

Taste follows the nose, big peachy stonefruit and some sweet orange, nice resinous pine and grapefruit. Moderate bitterness.

Medium to full bodied, sticky, sharp carbonation, some alcohol, finish between sweet and dry.

Tastes and feels like a west coast IPA but the stonefruit flavors are more prominent. It's a tasty bitter DIPA, I like the stickiness too, alcohol is a little hot comparatively.

Cheers!

 

Well, it's no metal badged beauty like someone's I know, but the tankard I used is from Bayreuther Aktien, so at least it's from the same general area !

 

Ladies and Gentlemen...

It is time for another new beer!!

Rocky Mountain D.O.R.I.S. | Hoppin' Frog Brewery

Hoppin' Frog - Rocky Mountain D.O.R.I.S. by imbibehour, on Flickr

Poured from the bottle into a large snifter glass.

Slightly inky presence, but with a dark walnut nearly black body. Faint hints of head creation, and very impressively dark mocha in color, but doesn't really get there. Manages a solid good fine pencil collar, slightly taller too, and also very dark which is impressive. Empty top.

Aroma is big. Large amounts of thick molasses and roast. Hints nearly husky but with a thicker body. Sticky sensing with little sensing nuances though but a big powerful rush to the nose. Faint touches of chocolate but is more milky than dark. Very nice.

Palate is exquisite and varied. Rich chocolate darkness hits first, with almost tart raspberry hinting in the back (there is no infection not even close so stop panicking). Rich mikes of ganache and gooey tasting dark chocolate mixing with molasses. A surprising sharp almost hop bite hits on the tongue, and a surprising full rounded really front palate, as the finish is nearly airy, not coating, and sort of non-existent. All this delicious power is just right up in front of the palate. Silky faint tones, but an airy grain and dryness makes it feel the beer evaporates right off the swallow.

What a unique pleasure and contrast. This one is a fun one in the barrel aged stout realm.

look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5 | BA Generated : 4.36

Cheers!

 

Yeah, but not just funky, Jack:

 

Awesome. I love to see the comparison. I noticed the two entries, but Untappd had only one. I assumed the second entry was an error.

 

Welcome back! Honestly didn't think we would hear from you again. Great story and plan.

 

Looks & smells like hard cider, plus a slightly spicy/funky yeast aroma.
The flavor is semi-dry, lightly fruity, slightly spicy , with a touch of bitterness, fine carbonation, and sourness on the finish. Slightly oily feel, that feels thicker than other Berliners that I've had.

Overall quite good. Seems more like a saison that is slightly sour, rather than a Berliner Weissbier.
4.21/5 rDev 0%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

 

Uggh what a horrible slip of the "tongue". Yes, the beer is Hawkbill, thanks for catching that.

 

Let's move right into my second and probably final NBS review for this beautiful Spring day... I stopped in at Craft Beer Cellar in Belmont on my way to my buddy's yesterday and picked this one up. Most of the other stuff I got was consumed with friends yesterday throughout the day, but this guy made it home with me.

New Holland is a bit hit-or-miss for me, but I have liked both regular Incorrigible and the Incorrigible Reserve w/ blueberries and blackberries. When I saw this on the CBC shelves, I did a double-take and immediately placed it in my basket.



Oh yeah. Alcoholic sour pineapple juice is on the menu!

Pours a nearly-opaque orange-yellowish color with a thin head that pretty much instantly fades into nothingness. Carbonation steadily rises from the bottom of my glass. Not really a super attractive pour, that's for sure, but I do like the color.

Nose honestly smells like a sweetened oat/wheat breakfast cereal with mango slices. Pretty much full-stop, that's all there is here. I can pick up some sweetness and definite pineapple as well, but the mango is huge here and the malt base punches through.

Flavor is much more complex for some reason, with a huge mouth-puckering tartness leading the way through to a pineapple and apricot-infused mid-palate. More sourness toward the finish with lighter mango and tropical fruit kicking around. Kiwi and gooseberry-like flavors round this out. More oak and funk than I expected from the nose; a very good sign. Acidic but really drinkable, flavorful and fun. Wheat-like heft to the body... strong mouthfeel despite the thinness that the acid profile plays up. Very enjoyable. A must-buy for sour fruited wheat beer fans. Good job, NH!

 

Still digging into BIF boxes, now up 18th Street Vanilla Hunter, thanks @Harrison8, been wanting to try this for awhile!
4.39/5 rDev +5.3%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25

Thank you Harrison8 for this
16 oz can, dated 3/18/17, poured into a teku

A- Pitch black with a small dark mocha head.

S- Dark chocolate, some vanilla, roasted malts, some coffee, caramel malts, some lactose.

T- Milk chocolate, fudge, caramel, vanilla, hints of cherries, coffee, some lactose sugar.

M- Smooth, creamy, full body.

O- A really good Stout, vanilla is not overpowering. Very happy to have tried this, worth seeking out!

Cheers!

 

Very interesting to read some of the older threads that were posted in the OP. It's nice that some enterprising folks built a thread where long windedness is a feature and not a bug and that has lasted as long as it has

So, I'm happy to say that I can credit NBS for getting me interested in exploring Belgian beers and styles a bit more. I've never been a fan of at least the stereotypical "Belgian" flavor profile, which from reading up a little bit seems to be related to some specific esters and phenols that aren't up my alley. I did really love Ommegang's Rosetta though, which I bought on a whim because it was cheap and I love cherries, and this gave me the idea that maybe beers with darker malts either hide or play more nicely with those same flavors that turn me off in lighter beers.

Since you might as well start at the top, I tried the quads by St. Bernardus and Trappist Rocheford and sweet zombie jesus were those freaking good (especially the St. B). I feel like a chump for wasting 20 years of my life not drinking these! They are a little pricey though (at least for my cheap ass) so it would be nice if there were some local versions that were up to snuff. Enter The Sixth Glass from Boulevard Brewery, which seems to get brought up a lot when people talk about good domestic quads. It clocks in at 10.5% ABV and goes for a very reasonable $11 a four pack.





I used to live not too far from Boulevard so I've toured the brewery and used to drink a lot of their beers, but I'm not a fan of their very well thought of Tank 7 for exactly the reasons I mentioned above. Hopefully this will be more to my liking.

Right out of the gate this is a bit different from St. Berdardus and Rochefurt. It's more of a reddish, somewhat translucent brown and it kicks up a very frothy head of large bubbles which disappears almost right before my eyes as I fiddle with the camera. The smell has the familiar raisin/date and dark sugar notes but it also has a fair bit of those spicy, clove-y esters and phenols, as well as some alcohol. It's a bit thinner on the mouthfeel and there's booziness up front that gives way to more dark sugar and something like fruitcake or mincemeat pie. The taste also still carries with it some of that clovey spiciness, especially in the aftertaste. I need to do a side by side but I do not remember either St. B or Rochefurt having these notes nearly so strongly (which is part of why I liked them so much).

So i did enjoy this beer, but those pesky "Belgian" flavors that I associate with the region were ironically much more prominent here than they were for the Belgian Quads. The booziness isn't a problem since I sort of like that in a beer, but it's definitely not nearly as well hidden as it was in St. Bernardus, which you could guzzle if you weren't careful. I'm getting the sense that this is a tricky and variable style, especially since I looked at another famous Quad - La Trappe - recently and saw that it appeared largely clear in the bottle. If I don't drink it before then, next week I'm going to try the other American heavy hitter - Ommegang's Three Philosophers and we'll see where that takes us

Happy New Beer Sunday all! And if anyone is inclined towards offering up Quad advice or info I'd love to hear it.

 

Michael, that song is absolutely AWESOME!!

Cheers!

 

Yet another Stone EB.



Moderate pour yields a 1 and a 1/2 inch white head over a slightly hazy light golden body with some sticky lacing. Nose of pine, citrus, and tropical fruit. Taste follows aromas with medium to high bitterness with a nice dry finish. Nice feel and overall a more than decent Enjoy By.

Originally rated 4.75 on BA.
An earlier version, probably Enjoy By 02.14.13

4.27/5 rDev -3%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 |

 

Another NE IPA from Old Nation. Again, delivered by @drunkenmess .



Old Nation's M-43.

Pours a cloudy, opaque honey orange with a finger of white head. Head retention is fair, with good lacing left behind. Aroma is a lively conjunction of citrus notes - orange, clementine, grapefruit, and papaya. Flavor profile isn't so pronounced, but still features juicy notes of orange, and clementine with a grapefruit finish. Mouth feel is medium in thickness with a smooth feel. Overall, it's incredibly juicy, with pleasant notes all around.

Score: 4.25 | 4.75 | 4.5 | 4.25 | 4.5 | BA Score: 4.52 | rDev: +0.7%

 

Central Waters Brewers Reserve Barleywine. Nice, smooth Barleywine that does not allow the bitterness to leave during process like many do. Nice dark fruit presence. 4.65.

 

We both had the same newbie. Burials Surf Wax is in this week, that's a new one too. Love Buriels beers, everyone is first rate.

 

Apparently my NBS this week is dedicated to Firestone Walker.

This is one that I've been seeing all over WBAYDN the last few weeks with mostly positive feedback (thanks BAs). Like my first beer today from Barrelworks, I stumbled into this one in classic "Happy Accident" fashion!

Funny how things work out sometimes.

FW Fortem is my second and third libations of the day.

The nose is strong, which I appreciate because sometimes I feel like my sniffer is lacking when it comes to reviewing beer. Pine apple and grapefruit are the standouts and there is a lack of alcohol aroma.

I find the taste to be damn good! A bit juicy with moderate hop bitterness and some malty sweetness. Again, a lack of perceived alcohol.

Mouth feel is right there as well, medium body with some weight to it, creamy and smooth.

In my opinion this is well done. I couldn't honestly say that any one thing about this beer is awesome....more of a case of it being greater than the sum of its parts.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/2210/269906/?ba=BJB13#review

For me, this works!
The bad news is, I only have two left.
The good news is, I have two left!

Cheers BAs, and thanks for another great NBS!