New Beer Sunday (Week 640)

Good morning New BSers! @lordoftheweins - very nice opening explaining the evolution of Memorial Day!
Well, for a change, it's sunny here in NW PA. Got the yard chopped down yesterday after getting my lawnmower back from my son. For his birthday we got him his own mower so now I have one less excuse for not mowing the yard. I have a adjoining neighbor that mows his yard two or three times each week, depending on the weather, so my yard always looks unkempt. But that's OK with me - I figure any plant that can survive in my yard deserves to propagate - I'm definitely a Darwinian in terms of lawn care. But enough rambling - today's New Breakfast Beer is:




$ 9.53 (Including discount and tax)/bomber ($ 0.433/oz) at Oppermann’s, Saginaw, MI.
Undated bomber stored at 42 degrees served at 50 degrees (Per bottle instructions 8-10 degrees C.) in a hand washed and dried Jester King snifter.
Aroma – toffee. Malt predominates as it warms.
Head – Small (Maximum two cm, aggressive pour), light brown, fizzy, rapidly diminishing to a one mm partial ring and a small island fed by effervescence
Lacing – none.
Body – dark brown, opaque, slight effervescence.
Flavor – begins sweet but not cloying. There is a definite toffee taste and a hint of vanillin from the barrel but not any bourbon taste. Allowing it to warm in my mouth brings out some malt flavor and a hint of malt bitterness but no bourbon nor alcohol. No hop bitterness or flavor is detected. No diacetyl.
Palate – full, creamy, soft carbonation.

A very tasty doppelbock, worth the price point. Next time I find this I’ll definitely pick up some more. Lack of head and lacing would normally detract from the score, but since it’s BBA…

Appearance 4, Aroma 4.25, Flavor 4.5, Palate 4.25, Overall 4.5. Rating 4.39, rDev +13.7%.

Tomorrow at this time I'll be on my way to Toronto to catch my flight to Munchen to Nurnberg to the train to Bamberg, after my New Breakfast Beer of course!

 

Happy New Beer Sunday BAs and happy Memorial Day. A excellent reminder this morning of what the weekend is all about from @lordofthewiens.

I recently aquired a 4 pack of Bells Black Note and needles to say I was ecstatic about it. I hadn't found the time to sneak one in tho with a fridge full of hops.

A couple months ago around the same time I landed my Black Note, the wife and I purchased a piano and put our son in piano lessons. He loves it. He has taken off and has done very well.

As a fan of beertography I always thought it would be a great photo op beer and piano so I made it happen (carefully ) this morning.

I give to you Bells Black Note and Baby Grand!
It pours a jet black with a light brown head that dissipates quickly. The nose on this one is a beautiful thing. Expresso, light vanilla and bourbon. Taste is spot on! This one is bourbon forward almost a bourbon bomb! But the bourbon yields way to a silky vanilla, oak and cold pressed coffee. Notes of toffee and creamy chocolate also present. Black Note has a silky body and a smooth creamy mouthfeel. This one is a excellent BBS!

Cheers NBS

 

Good morning, NBS! I'm up early enough to participate but keeping the abv & volume low as I have to go to work in a couple of hours.

As the name implies this is an easy to drink pale ale. I had to recalibrate my palate as I spent yesterday evening drinking with a DIPA loving crowd. Interestingly fairly hazy given it specifically says California style, not east coast. The aromas and flavors are primarily nondescript tropical fruit and citrus with a slight emphasis on mango and tangerine. Fairly light-bodied with a light bitterness, overall a light summer pale just not a ton of complexity.
Cheers!

 

They are. The old Oktoberfest one was a marvel.

@utopiajane

 

Good morning ladies and gentlemen. The beer I will be having today for New Beer Sunday is,

Duchesse De Bourgogne


I saw this brew being mentioned a couple of times recently on Ba, and due to its wide availability I was able to try it out. I am glad I did. It is quite a treat!

Duchess De Bourgogne is reddish brown with a thick tan head. Nose is of sweet belgian yeast. Figs,dark plum. Tastes of dark fruit.

Semi sweet. Makes me think of sangria crossed with a cider. A dessert beer due to its pleasant semi sweetness. Soft pillow mouth feel, semi dry finish.

Extremely drinkable. 6%ABV

Cheers everyone!

 

Happy birthday! At least you found the time to get one in.

 

Happy birthday!

 

Never seen this one. Quite nice!

 

I'm glad you got to try the Duchess. I always pick up some whenever I run across it - it's always a pleasure to drink it!

 

Ellisons Islay Scotch Barrel Aged...I picked this up at the brewery while in East Lansing. I've never tried anything like this before. Very smokey (liquid smoke almost) smell off the can. Smoke flavor isn't so harsh on the first gulp and a faint taste of the scotch barrel blends real nice and isn't overpowering...im not a huge scotch fan but I'm looking forward to trying another one!

 

I save caps too, that's a great one.

 

New as of a week ago (and there are a LOT of new beers in the area, so I'm not surprised that I'm the first to review it or enter it here) American Pale Lager from August Schell.

Judicious use of Citra and Hallertau Blanc highlight a clean, crisp, easy-drinking lager. Its also quite "juicy", and a bit on the robust side as well.

 

Happy New Beer Memorial Day Weekend Sunday (Week 640)!

A great opening this week, @lordoftheweins! Some nuggets to chew on as you drink your beer: 1) the U. S. only entered WWI as of 06 April 1917, so it is just better than 100 years ago; 2) both of my grandfathers served, with my paternal grandfather as one of the last mounted Army cavalrymen. Imagine the shot profile, from a trench, of a rider on horseback!; 3) What do Ernest Hemingway, John Dos Passos, e. e. cummings & my maternal grandfather have in common? All were ambulance drivers in WWI! I will be going out to visit the latter's gravesite, taking with me a buncha pennies for other vets' graves and I urge you, do NOT wish a vet a "Happy Memorial Day", but instead, say, "Have a solid Memorial Day!". J. S. "Woody" Chandler, SK1, USN (Ret.)

I am going to try and get in two (2) beers today for NBS, but I must depart for my 2nd shift taxi dispatching job in the mid-afternoon. Today will include two very different hours as our vaunted computer system is going down for maintenance. I will be assisted by a veteran dispatcher as we do radio dispatch! This is old skool at its finest, but a good lesson should the system ever go down unexpectedly.

My first is a Limited Release that cleverly came only in a mixed 12-pack (grrr) and I passed on it until one of my local bottle shops broke into them for their mix-a-six section. Happy happy joy joy, plus, they know me & my buying habits, so I was given pick of the litter while I was there. A mixed six of three each of Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout & SN Bigfoot later & I was my-T happy!

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/31442/253898/?ba=woodychandler#review


Well, that was interesting! And now for something else that is completely different:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/1924/282825/?ba=woodychandler#review


Next, a Q for the NBS readership: I built this as an APA, which it is at its base, but would it be better served as an "Herbed/Spiced Beer"? It might help in its ratings. Weigh in & I will submit the Update request as appropriate since I was the one who built the beer in the data base. My (humble) bad.

See yinz next week!

 

Good morning NBS!!!! I'm guessing this will my only post today since I'm driving home from Maine. Decided on stopping at Allagash for some bottles and they gave me a free flight!

House Beer, a nice simple table beer with light tartness, good pale malts and mild funk. I would give it right around a 4

Little Brett, nose is better than the taste, nose is just mosiac and brett tartness. Taste is funky and has some more malt. Cool idea, kind of feel like it would work better if it was a little bigger. 3.75

Golden Brett, nice tartness, good funk but feel hops used (northern brewer and simcoe) doing play well with the brett. 3.75

Interlude, classic brett funk and tartness meets red wine barrel making the Saison base almost seem a little like a Flanders Red, highly recommend. 4.25-4.5 range

 

Thanks for sharing the history behind Memorial Day. Cheers!

 

I am enjoying Shoegaze, a "distorted farmhouse ale" per the brewer, Stillwater Artisinal Ales.
The can pours pale yellow with a lot of haze and 1/2 cm foam cap.
The aroma is lightly citrus with a wisp of funk. The flavor is really full; lemon, grapefruit and mango are prominent. There is a Brett-like earthiness throughout. The hop bite is minimal but detectable. I do not know if the base yeast is a saison, but it may be so. The finish is dry-ish. The flavors linger. In all this is a very pleasing brew.

attached is a shameless post, from my son's "shoegaze" band. They are out on the road enjoying a tour (Boston tonight).

 

So, as expected, Barrel Oak Farm Taproom does exist and is open for business. The place is not in the BA database, though it is now officially in the queue. New, indeed (though the can labels they use as decor are not).



Also, as expected, the beers were not top notch, though only one offering from our full sampler did I feel really fell short of adequate.



The BOFT Pale Ale had a slight off note, and just came across as blasé. The IPA was a solid, slightly hoppy pale ale. The others save for the last were all leaning a little to the sweet side, but not to a distracting level.

The last beer, B.G.S.A, was a tad strange, brewed with lemongrass and "Sichuan" peppercorns.


This one came across to me a little more like a saison. Look might not fit, exactly, with a hazy dull orange, almost unfiltered/NE IPA looking. Head is lacking a bit, but a swirl reveals hidden carbonation.

Nose is black peppery atop a sweet pear/apple fruitiness. I detect the lemongrass, and a light Belgian yeasty esters and phenols.

A drier than expected beer hits my palate, with a burst of tiny carbonation bubbles aided by a prickly spice note. The floral and pear notes come next, but the latter is more of a mealy, less sweet version, shrouded in a grassy bitterness and the tail end of the peppery notes. A little banana peels in, as well, before the considerably drying end taste.

If this beer was a little cleaner, I'd think it was in the style of saison that works for me. I'd probably be about 3.75 or just below on it (once I get a chance to add beers).

The brewery hasn't been open that long, and I'm hoping the owners consider it a serious part of the model they have going. Having a few beers available at the winery is a nice thing, and don't have to be world beaters. But they can be solid offerings, and these offer some promise to this end, but need a little work.

Edit: love the slogan for the taproom: "Please Don't Steal our Shit"

 

Happy NBS, all! My new beer today is Stoudt's Blonde Double Maibock. Thanks to BA and the various Bock-related threads from earlier this year, I've started to develop quite an appreciation for bocks. So, I was excited to try this one ever since they announced its release about a month ago. I was beginning to think it was brewery only, but lo and behold, it showed up at my local wegmans on Friday as part of their spring variety 12 pack. I just finished my first one and it did not disappoint!



The beer was actually crystal clear but it looks cloudy from condensation on the glass.
Here's my review. Cheers and enjoy the long weekend if you have one.

4.25/5 rDev +12.4%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

Appearance is brilliant, crystal clear gold; lots of bubbles from carbonation; frothy white head that settles to 1/2 finger; lacing all around

Smell is pungent earthy and floral hops with fresh bread

Taste free likes the nose with fresh bread and floral hops to start, with a little spicy Hop bite. Finishes with mild bitterness

Feel is a bit prickly from from carbonation, but smooth and refreshing. On the lighter side of medium bodied

Overall this was outstanding. The malt and hops blended seamlessly, like eating a piece of fresh bread with a floral and earth Hop spread.

 

Those look great! I would love to try the one with peppercorns. I remember a beer by sierra nevada, a saison with pepercorns. =) cheers!