New Beer Sunday (Week 637)

Greetings from Texas, NBSers. As I sit in the patio, enjoying a gorgeous Texas evening with Ranger .....



..... I'm struck by the notion that it was 2 months ago today that Joy and I closed on our house in Minnesota (after living there for 18 years) and entered the "we live in hotels for 3 weeks" phase of our life - and my beautiful bride didn't complain once as we stayed in 6 different hotels during that 3-week period (don't ask, it's a LOOOOONG story) - and I kept beer nerding the whole time, having 77 new beers (I checked my "Reviews/Ratings" page to confirm this), participating in a BIF, and pulling off a couple of trades to boot.

And she didn't complain once, even as I sequestered half of our hotel room to get the BIF package out on time, or I drug her 15 miles to the nearest Total Wine to secure some excellent beverages. THAT, my NBS friends, is the definition of a keeper.

So to mark this occasion, I need to honor that Texas tradition of "Everything is bigger and better in Texas," so I humbly will submit a couple of "big boy" beers for your perusal tonight. First up, this semi-whale .....



4.74/5 rDev +1.7%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.75

I worked a bit to secure this. Glad I put in the time and effort. It pours that beautiful golden straw color that I associate with world-class DIPA's, a bit murky, a finger plus of off-white head.

I don't know the hop bill on this (Maine guards that like the Crown Jewels are guarded), but it SCREAMS of a Mosaic/Citra combo, or maybe a South African varietal. Whatever it is, it is dank, it is juicy, it is tropical - and it has a feel that has more bite than the ubiquitous NE-style IPA that is redefining the laws of beer, at least on BA. A phenomenal beer, IMHO.

Of the now 78 new beers I've had since our closing in Mankato, this is my favorite.

 

Good evening NBSers!
Awesome historical start by @cjgiant !
I just drove home to Maine from New Jersey. Had to tend to my overgrown lawn first.
So now I reward myself with a new beer.
Alchemist Skadoosh IPA. This is the version 5 from mid April. Featured hops: Citra!!
They also use the lupulin powder for dry hopping.

I have really grown to love Citra a lot. It pours a beautiful light golden yellow color with couple finger breadth head.
It smells of very bright citrus and tropical fruits. It's certainly not overwhelmingly dank or piney by any means. In fact reminds me of inhaling on a very well made lemon custard pie. Just gentle whiffs of lime/lemon zest.
It truly belies the complexity of the underlying flavors.
Sip of this sunshine (no trademark violation intended) and I get transported into layers of initial lime and then some pineapple, peaches and it all washes out leaving faint lychee like notes.
The lupulin powder dry hopping must be causing the rounded touch of balanced bitterness in the end which is so pleasing.
I have had Hill Farmstead's Double Citra DIPA and I have to say this beer is slight but different, nonetheless an awesome representation of the Citra hop.

This beer has just the right mix of clarity for me and has to be one of my favorite Alchemist beers, along with Focal Banger.
Cheers, to a new beer in your glass, friends!
This is a clip of John Kimmich talking about this version:

 

Saw Surf Wax on shelf, but this one sounded more up my alley. This was my first beer from Burial, and I really enjoyed it. Time to go grab another one, I think

 

Wow! That looks way hazier then what I am used to. I haven't had last two or three releases of Dinner but definitely don't remember it looking like this!!
I am glad you enjoyed it!

 

Pipeworks Smore Money Smore Problems

Checking in once more today, BAs, with a tasty beer from the generous @FFFjunkie. Thanks, Dan.

Smore Problems pours a viscous, motor oil black with a finger of chocolate milk-colored head.

It has a faint aroma with light smoke, chocolate, marshmallow and graham cracker. That's a pretty darn smore-like nose there.

Lightly roasted dark malts, vanilla, marshmallow and a lingering dark chocolate bitterness are in the taste. There's a kiss of alcohol in there as well. Maybe a whisper of cherry as well.

It's lighter bodied than I expected from the appearance, but still somewhat creamy, with strong carbonation.

This is pretty nice. There's a light smokiness throughout and the marshmallow and vanilla aren't over the top. The graham cracker definitely shows in the aroma as well. The label may still be my favorite part, but the rest of it comes pretty close.

I've got another pour left in the bomber and may experiment with some improvised barrel aging after I get my kid to bed. Cheers!

 

I'm just getting back from Long Island, where my brother had his annual Kentucky Derby bash yesterday. No winners for me again, but I did come back with a beer that is making me forget all that nonsense anyway . This one is from a brewery that's actually local to my parents, who were nice enough to visit and pick up a few bottles for me:

Catskill Brewery Eye of Newt Flanders Red

Coincidentally, around the time of this beer's release Catskill was making an appearance at the TAP NY beer festival, and they posted this message on Instagram soon afterward:

Needless to say, I couldn't help but have high hopes prior to opening it. And those hopes were well exceeded- this is just a flat out exceptional beer.

The nose is at once fruity and vinous, showing cherries, plum, brown sugar, vanilla and oak. The palate is where it really shines, both bracingly tart and milky smooth, initially sweet and fruity before quickly giving way to a bone dry and eternal finish riding a wave of toasty oak and red grape skin. The flavors are all so well integrated and handled with finesse, and not a thing is overdone or out of place. This beer can easily stand with the classics of the style, simply outstanding! A+ (4.85)

 

Well I made it back with the last beer from my NBS BIF #5 box from @Bum4ever and that beer would be Class V Stout from Kern River Brewing.

This beer poured a dark black color into my snifter glass. A very thin tan head formed on top.
The nose is fairly muted with a little of the roasted malts coming through without much support from anything else IMO. The taste kind of follows the nose a little roasted malt with perhaps some hints of chocolate coming through. I don't find any coffee like it states on the bottle.
To me a passable stout maybe middle of the road but I would have to say for me one visit is enough. Perhaps a 3.5 in my book but glad I got to try this.

 

Didn't know Ny got Buriel beers, I'm looking for Scythe for beach week but this rotating canning is a pain in the ass. In on Surf Wax.

 

No, not a horrible slip. It determined the song on the jukebox for me and made my day a little brighter.

 

#2, a Schlafly beer that was literally driven to me from St Louis .....



This came to me from a customer that is also a beer nerd buddy. I've been calling on him in St Louis for 10 years or so, and we make a couple of visits to Schlafly every year to enjoy their excellent selection of beers.

4 weeks ago, he sends me a pic of this beer and asks me if I want any. Um, YES!!! To make a LONG story short, he secures a couple for me, goes to the post office (because I told him I ship all my packages via USPS), and tells them, "I need to ship some beer."

Ruh roh, Raggie.

After getting threatened with committing a felony, he calls me and tells me he's nervous. No kidding. But he's resourceful, and has a veritable fleet of drivers, so when he finds out one of them is heading to Texas for a wedding, we are back in business, baby.

Fast forward to yesterday. I'm up and running errands, and my cell rings. I don't know the number, but I answer it. "I have some beer from you, but your address doesn't come up in my GPS. I'm at the Kwik Trip."

Dude, I'm 2 minutes away. STAY PUT.

And here we are.

The beer is exquisite. Jet black, dark tan head, I don't get a lot of the port barrels, maybe on the seductively present booze flavors, but the cocoa nibs are really present, especially on the taste. I wish I had 10 more of these to share, because it's that good, IMHO. Rated 4.52.

 

Our distro just gets better and better. Our local scene just gets better and better. Life is good

 

Waistline - not so much.

 

Hey again everybody.
I decided to come back for a quick second beer tonight. Another IIPA from the northeast. This one is from Night Shift. I've only had a couple of beers from these guys but I have been pretty impressed. It's a "Presidential" IPA with Citra, Topaz and Wamea. I've never had/heard of Wamea and I'm not sure if I've ever had Topaz so I'm curious to see how this one pans out (since writing this I've looked them up and It explains a lot).



This is a sticky, hop-sap beer if there ever was. It looks, smells, tastes and feels great, which is all you could ask for.
Big, dank, bitter, sappy and marginally fruity with some animal cracker malt holding It together. It is fairly fruity smelling but the brunt of it is bitter 'green'-smelling hop cones. The flavor is entirely within this area. Lots of sticky weed, bruised pine needles and citrus rind oil rounding out a generally big, enjoyable beer. I really enjoyed this one and would gladly have it again.

My full review is here.

Cheers everybody!

 

I really enjoyed their last version of that brew. And the price is very good for the quality you get.

 

Good evenng, NBS peeps. Thanks to @cjgiant for the lead post. Sme great discussion in the thread today.

It was a new beer week for me this past Monday thru Wednesday with another stay in my home away from home, Wisconsin Rapids. New Glarus Scream DIPA and 3 Floyds Gumballhead were fabulous. Bell's Oberon Ale and Ale Asylum Hopalicious were very enjoyable. Potosi Brewing Pilsener was a very pleasant surprise - nothing earth shattering, just a very clean, solid pils. Edmund Fitzgerald - a very good porter, but honestly I was not super-impressed.

So we had the grandbaby yesterday and he was a constant laugh riot all day long. We found a great new breakfast place after we picked him up...cryptically named The Breakfast Place...very tasty, locally sourced vittles and an awesome staff. Took him home this afternoon, grocery shopped, caught the end of the Talledega race, and are now suffering thru the Celtics game.

Tonight we did burgers on the grill just as the weather is turning blustery and cold, but clear skies for the nonce. The missus is enjoying Sixpoint CREAM...and I must say it is dramatically different than the first can we tried that was definitely "not right" in that sour vinegar kinda way...

Now, I am having something that is supposed to be sour, Foolproof Forecast Chapter 1...


This is the first beer I have personally added to the database. It says it is Foolproof's "first rotation in the Forecast series" and "first venture into the world of kettle-soured beers, refreshing, tart, and drinkable, this dry-hopped beauty is everything you look for in a warm-weather beer." It s 4.5% ABV according to the can, claiming to be a "sour session ale".

The picture is tInted by the Sumatra behind it...the beer is an extremely pale straw color. The fizzy bubbly lasted a bit, falling to a ring and a raft. The nose is the faintest bit of funk, and as it warmed up there was an equally faint smell of orange. What it reminds me of on the taste is a Berliner weisse minus any resemblance of intensity. The sour level seems Ok, but it simply ends there. If the little bit of citrus orange is from the dry hopping...ummmm...use a little more? I cant call it bad, but there isnt much to enjoy with this one in the flavor department. It did come on a little stronger as the beer warmed, but I feel this one rollin' in around three and a quarter on the score. I was hoping I could say this was an outstanding local beer, but I can't. Hopefully somebody else reviews it so I can see how notes compare, but I am looking for a little more in my summer beers.

 

Trying something I picked up in Louisiana for the first time tonight. I would say it is solid, but not very much like any Klosch that I have had.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/3/251869/?ba=Chickenhawk9932#review

 

Wowowow! What a review! It makes me want to drive a thousand miles to get some. Honestly.

 

Good evening NBS, hope everyone is enjoying the end of the weekend once again. Thanks to @cjgiant for getting us started off this week. Your thread introduction got me inspired to go lurking in the old end of the forums(late night BA etc). Get some nostalgia going. Turns out I did not post in the threads nightly like I do now up until a few months after the server reboot. I did not do full-on reviews like I do now, but I did give some tasting notes and such (which gradually grew longer at some point, I'm not going to try and figure that out now). Still some of my old pics lurking around back there from when I had a point-n-shoot(got a DSLR for Christmas that same year). I have all of the pictures of every beer I have ever taken on Flickr. I deleted them if I made a fresh one later on, so there are not many still showing in those old threads.

And to continue on another note: I did not do NBS until July 2014(week 489, I went hunting for it). One of the members (no longer with us unfortunately, beerkangaroo) invited me to contribute since I was always reviewing in WBAYDN anyways, and it just so happened to be my 2400th review that day; so that's how I know when it was lol(Victory Dark Intrigue, I remember it clearly). I have been doing NBS almost every week since then(exceptions being holidays when I am in Ohio). Looking back on them, I used to post the percentage score (100/100) in the thread, but then I gradually went to the 5 point at some point lol. No idea why, but whatever. haha. It was fun to look back on. So beerkangaroo would be to thank posthumously, for essentially getting me started. On a previous week he did ask me to contribute and wish mattcrill a farewell from hosting(week 480), but the second time was the official start of the consistent contributions. He happens to be a mod on RB now actually. I kept in some sparse contact with him since closed his account.

Anyways, now that we have the history of my BA life recorded; now onto today's agenda. Normal laundry, bottle returns, and a bit of laptop work done for tomorrow. Less stressful at work last month or so, with the lower volume pilot builds on the JL Wrangler. But I'll always have something to do with overtime approval. Got a handful of new beers from my usual Sunday stop, but I don't have many bombers left in my cellar of new beers, so it might be time for a haul next weekend. What I do have are massive ass 15%+ bombers, and I usually reserve that sort of weight for a weekend.

Today's new beer:

Delicious pale ale! Fantastic head retention and thick lasting webby lacing on the glass. Great clarity. Aromas and flavors of tangerine, grapefruit, peach, pineapple, apricot, lemon zest, orange peel, and light pepper/pine hops; with balancing caramel, toasted bread malt sweetness; and herbal, floral, grassy hop earthiness. Light pine/grassy/spicy bitterness on the finish. Medium bodied; bready malt creaminess and fairly sticky from hops in the mouthfeel. Lightly increasing dryness from lingering hop oils, no astringency. Really refreshing and easy drinking from the mellow bitterness. Wonderfully juicy, fruity, and citrusy. Sizable malt backbone, but never overly sweet or heavy. Other than the muted aromas, this was a wonderful pale ale. It said they used 100% MI grown hops, so this has got to be Cascade and Crystal; because those seem to be the most popular local crops. Crystal has a lot of the stone fruit stuff going on in my experience as well. Will definitely grab another single of this next time! 3.91


Great Berliner! Pretty similar to the Gose I had last week, but a little more Bretty/funky. Aromas and flavors of big lightly tart lemon, lime, peach, pear, green apple, white grape, hay, straw, herbal, grass, wheat, and cracker; with lighter notes of leather, pepper, salt, musty funk, and white wine vinegar. Light-moderate lactic tartness and light yeast spiciness on the finish. Light-medium body; balanced grainy wheat and acidity in the mouthfeel. Touch of salinity. Moderately crisp, clean, and increasingly drying acidic finish; never puckering. Very refreshing and traditional as hell style example. Very impressed. Nice level of Brett complexity, without overdoing it. This was supposedly older than the Gose (2016 vs 2017 vintage), so that very well may be the reason for the differences on the Brett character. 4


Outsanding IRA! Fantastic head retention and lasting lacing on the glass. Aromas and flavors of big grapefruit, tangerine, peach, apricot, mango, melon, pear, apple, lemon zest, orange peel, and light pepper/pine hops; with balancing caramel, brown sugar, toasted bread, light nutty malts; and herbal, floral, grassy hop earthiness. Light-moderate pine/grassy/spicy/citrus peel bitterness on the finish. Medium-plus bodied; nice bready/grainy creaminess and fairly sticky from hops in the mouthfeel. Lightly increasing bitter dryness, zero astringency. Perfect bitterness balance, amazing mouthfeel. Lovely fruity/earthy mix of hops with a nice sized malt backbone. Never overly sweet/heavy with increasing dryness. Extremely juicy and vibrant. They used Aussie hops in this, I love the profile! Will be picking this up again. 4.18


This was awesome. Aromas and flavors of huge sweet/tart/tangy peaches and lemon/pear/apple yeast fruits; with moderate honey, cracker, bready malt balance; with some herbal, floral, grassy, light peppery hops; and yeasty earthiness. Light herbal/grassy/spicy bitterness and some fruit tartness on the finish. Light-medium bodied; balanced bready/grainy malt and fruit acidity in the mouthfeel; light hop stickiness. Moderately crisp, clean, and refreshing. Increasing tart/bitter dryness after the finish. Never astringent. Extremely flavorful. I remember being a big fan of the base beer way back when, but this amps up the flavor intensity a ton; while still remaining well balanced and still resembles a Kolsch extremely well. Very juicy flavors from the fruit. Definitely well worth another buy, still plenty on the shelf. 4.1


Cheers, have a good night NBS!

 

New Beer Sunday: An unusual Weizenbock.

Evenin’ NBSers with a hearty hello to hunters of hard to find beers.

The weather here today was on the chilly side and quite variable. Sometimes we had the sun peaking through, sometimes the skies were completely overcast. Sometimes we’d have light sprinkles of rain, sometimes not.

Well, inspired/motivated by today's start off by @cjgiant , I set out on this afternoon's shopping trip to also try and find a new beer with some history that I could also talk about. I really only accomplished part of that goal, the new beer (unless you allow for a history to be very short ). This evening's new beer also illustrates one of the sources of confusion that can arise with any categorization system when applied to the "blooming, buzzing confusion" of the real world.

The beer is the Aventinus Cuvee Barrique from the 2014 vintage. Despite the fact that there have been multiple vintages that actually have some different properties, there is only one listing for the beer here on BA and my mostly finished review can be found here:

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/72/106399/?ba=drtth#review

What are the differences from year to year you may ask? Why should multiple listing be considered? Well after mostly finishing the fundamentals of my review, and before clarifying the final wording and getting rid of most of my typos ( ) , I did a read of the tag hung around the neck of the bottle which says:

“Tap 6 Aventinus and Aventinus Eisbock mature for several months in French Oak Chardonnay barrels before they are united to an uncomparabe (sic) cuvee.” The label goes on to point out that different barrels (barriques) are used each year. It also indicates that with different batches (vintage years) using different wine barrels, each year’s batch is a unique offering. Given the noticeable effects of the wine barrels, I’d say do not assume a review of the 2014 gives many clues as to what other year’s versions may be like. This also helps explain why some of the other reviews I looked at after finishing mine are describing different flavors than I was getting—some are reviews of different vintages. Sometimes vintage matters.

To summarize my review of the 2014 vintage Cuvee, this beer is strongly influenced by the white wine barrels. In both the aromas and the flavors there are things going on that can only be brought to the table by the Chardonnay barrels during aging. However, they don’t dominate the flavor profile to the extent that all I’ve picked up is white wine and it’s tannin. There are definitely some dark fruits, but no real signs of the Weizenbock yeast or wheat stand out. Similarly I don’t get any contribution from the hops, which are probably hidden behind some cherry tartness that is quite noticeable throughout. I think I’ll probably go pick up another bottle to age for a year or so.

While doing the review I’ve also been listening to the work of one of my favorite Jazz Pianists ever on some borrowed vinyl. (It’s good to have friends with hobbies other than beer. ) The guy’s name was Art Tatum and sometimes if you listen to some of his music without knowing who the pianist is you’d swear there were either two folks on piano or that the musician has 4 hands.


Art Tatum's Deep Purple

Cheers, all!

 

Another Happy New American IPA Sunday!

Tasty, quite a different take on the style. Ducks can take it tonight, if they win.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/29003/253537/?ba=Wasatch#review

Cheers!