New Beer Sunday (Week 641)

Don't watch the show, but I am reminded of this:

 

Congratulations to the new uncle!

 

Today is a bottling day for me, so just starting with a quick review while everything sanitizes. In the carboy is a hoppy Saison in the glass Upper Hand Upper Peninsula Ale, thanks @Blackop555!
4/5 rDev +3.4%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Thank you Blackop555 for this
12 oz bottle poured into a snifter

A- A slightly cloudy golden amber with a two finger white head

S- Toasted malts, bready, floral hops, citrus with some fruity undertones

T- Citrus, fruity undertones, toasted bread, floral hops.

M- Smooth, light to medium body

O- A simple and balanced APA

 

Good afternoon NBSers!
Today seemed like a good cold gray day for me to open this bottle of robust porter from Hill Farmstead that I had bought in March.
I had tried their coffee stout Earl and loved it.
This beer is Everett, a robust American Porter.

Here's my thoughts:
As I pour the Porter into my glass I start getting hints of something rich and decadent coming my way soon.
A trip to a coffee house which also is baking dark chocolate whoopie pies/brownies for you to munch on. Now add this to the mix: bunch of cowboys (wearing lots of leather stuff) and smoking some cigars.
This summarizes my experience with the beer. It was one of the most well balanced porters I have ever had. Coffee, chocolate, leather, tobacco. Sweet and bitter. Yin and yang. Absolutely never tipping the balance in any one direction.
All this and add the softest mouthfeel I have had on a Porter that pours quite heavy. Balance again!
Mind blown.....
Cheers friends!

 

Happy Not You Again Sunday!


Cheers you all and I just had to make this day official in my kitchen. Today is lemon with limes day. Everything I cooked featured lime and then was paired with a beer that features lemon. I am very persnickety and I won't do that deliberately but most people combine the lemon with the lime all the time.

This is Southern Tier's Lemon Drop sun. I think it used to be called Hop Sun before they added the lemon, and it is very hoppy. I plan to make an assertion right now. Here is that assertion. This beer drinks like a wheat IPA because it shows me plenty of hop mouthfeel. It comes in at just under the starting abv for the IPA style at 5.1%.



Pours perfect gold and quite clear until you dump in the yeast at the end. Just off white head that is soapy on bottom and creamy on top. It lasts well. Nose is lemony! Breaddy golden wheat, spice and the lemon. Not just the peel but also the scent of the middle fruit. Hop herbal is just a bit prominent but you can't see it that way at first because of all the lemon. Cracker.


Taste is excellent but the middle of the beer sports an awful lot of those hops and they needed to be there becase of all the lemon. The hops in this beer keep the lemon in check and that means that they had to show me plenty of herbal even though to the palate it seems softer than it really is. There is a good forward bitterness in this that while not truly assertive it still is quite forward. The middle of the beer is a bit slick. That's from all the hops and that is the part that makes me think IPA. It finishes breaddy enough and with lots of lemon flavor. When paired with food the beer does not seem as oily slick as when taken by itself. The herbal is neck and neck with that lemon all the way to the finish but it is not as sassy as an IPA with a higher abv. It also drinks more easily even though it tantalizes just like an IPA. What it isn't is resiny , piney or sticky and I like that very much together with the lemon and wheat. This was the third beer that featured lemon that I paired with my menu today which featured lime. Cheers!

 

Good afternoon NBS Thanks @cjgiant for the focused intro to this virtual sharing we so enjoy every week that is NBS, Today we continue the nasty task of home improvement, I as a tradesmen hate working on my own house! Western Mass Beer Week starts next week so excited for this years line up of events. Over 80 events in our 4 counties, so please stop in BA's.
Today's offering is from those talented Quebecois brewers at Du Duciel a very well executed slightly funky IPA . I enjoyed the deftness in the use of Brett, light touch and near perfect match to the grain bill and the use of hops with that tropical flavors was inspired.
Cheers all

Dernière Volonté

Brasserie Dieu du Ciel!
Belgian IPA / 7.00% ABV

4.06/5 rDev +1.8% | Avg: 3.99
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Poured from a bottle dated 9/20/2016 into the test glass.
A - Loose knit frothy white cap sits atop a slightly hazed dark straw colored offering. The carbonation is champagne style.
minute spheres tirelessly work skyward.
S - Pineapple, tangerine, a bit of funk from the Brett, candied citrus marmalade, and some nice biscuit notes from a solid grain bill, finally some botanical threads run through the aromatics include lily and hyacinths.
T - Follows the nose closely, lots of pineapple and orange flavors, with a rise in temperature honeysuckle and orange blossom honey.
M - Medium in body, fully coated palate rolls the tongues edges up welcoming the slightly sour notes. Then that pesky Brett dries things out quickly, almost ashen finish, but wait, a touch of sweetness in the long linger.
O - A very nice Belgian influenced offering from Du Du Ciel, Strikes all the right notes, Brett use is well executed, the aromatics are the shining spot here, the body is quite good and the palate is delightful.

 

Yeah, easy drinker for sure. Maybe there is a difference from the bottle? All I know is that I saw some people stock up on this in the Beer Haul thread, so I thought it must be good. It is, but not one that I'll visit frequently.

 

To me, it's a classic milk stout, which is why it sells so well IMO. It may not be the best milk stout, but it's so easy to drink. If I wanted a dark beer for the heat of summer, Left Hand's Milk Stout would be at the top of my list. Not because it's anything super special, but because it's solid and available.

 

I can see that. But I still think I'll find myself reaching for Knee Deep Stoutella or Young's Double Chocolate first for the style (which to be perfectly honest, isn't a style I visit much in the first place). Dark beer in the summer for me would be Black Butte Porter. I think that's a perfect all year round beer. Cheers!

 

Pours pale straw with quickly dissapating head.
The aroma is cereal grains, corn, and a little bit of Apple.
The flavor is grain, sweet white bread, and apple juice with almost no bitterness.
It's refreshing and good for what it is, it's just not a super flavorful style.
3.59/5

 

Pours pale straw with quickly dissapating head.
The aroma is cereal grains, corn, and a little bit of Apple.
The flavor is grain, sweet white bread, and apple juice with almost no bitterness.
It's refreshing and good for what it is, it's just not a super flavorful style.
3.59/5

 

@cjgiant thank you for a passionate and excellent introduction.

Today's beer is a Coffee Milk Stout by Twin Elephant brewing.

Ahhhh yes, consume enough IPAs on a daily basis such as I do and when you finally decide to crack open a dark one, your mind is re-awaken to the wonderful and rich flavors of Barley Malt.

This beer is lovely and hits all the notes it should, coffee, milk sugar and roasted barley are all present but not overwhelming so. It's remarkably session-able without being watery or to light.

Extremely well crafted and a great beer to kick start the day. This brewery is officially on my radar.

Happy NBS everyone!

 

More Bright, this time with a little more hops.



Tree House's Extra Kettle & Dry Hopped Bright (Bbbrighttt).

Pours a light yellow with a little fog to it, and three fingers of white foam up top. Good head retention, and great lacing. There is no filament, or sledge at the bottom of the can, meaning this beer never really gets super hazy, although it does darken up to a peach-orange when the last bit of the can is poured into the glass. Aroma hits with citrus, and floral notes first. Orange, and clementine hops hit with biscuit malts in the background. Flavor profile delivers a heavy dose of hops - clementine, orange zest, resin, floral, and flower. Biscuit malts work in the background. It finishes with a zing of fresh orange peel. Mouth feel is medium in thickness, with a grainy, semi-filling texture. Overall, despite being dry-hopped on top of the regular version, it doesn't totally smash the tongue with hop notes. The orange and citrus notes are more robust compared with the base version, but not a total storm of vitamin c.

Score: 4.5 | 4.25 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 4.25 | BA Score: 4.39 | rDev: -0.2%

Personal Notes: I'd take this over the regular Bright, but not my favorite dry-hopped NE IPA. Great brew though. Maybe we'll see some dry-hopped versions of the other Bright variants.

 

Crankers brewing. Fifth voyage coconut Porter

3.42/5 rDev -1.7%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

Pours black. Thin, foamy, tan head fades immediately to a ring.

Smells coconut and light amount of the following roast malt, coffee, vanilla and chocolate. Metal hint that i get from all crankers must be the yeast or equipment.

Tastes sweet roasted coconut, light toasted malt and light chocolate. Followed by light coffee and vanilla hints. Finish is dry with a light earthy bitterness. Lighter medium body and creamy lower carbonation

 

Unfortunately, not many local milk stouts for me to reach for around here. There is one tasty one, but it's only bottled in 750mL bottles, and rarely.

Black Butte Porter is a tasty option. A local restaurant with a great happy hour always has that on tap, and it's my go-to. I can always count on it to be tasty.

Cheers.

 

Greetings NBS fans! It's a beautiful day along the southern shore that has me out and about so I'm going to be brief with this post. I haven't been to regional brewer Byway in a bit, so I decided to make a quick stop to see what's brewing? This 4.5% sour called Raspberry Beret caught my attention so here we go!

A dark ruby red with a few centimeters of light pink foam that fades fast leaving no lacing. Smell is all tart raspberry. The taste is the same with a bit of wet earth in the finish. It's feel is mildly tart/sour with a very easy drinkability.

While nothing complex or game changing, it has a pleasant raspberry tartness and is very easy and perfect for summer drinking. Worth a try if you're in the region. I got to add the beer and do the first review. My score is a 3.61.

Cheers gang enjoy your day. Here's the official scorecard......

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/44306/284962/?ba=Prager62#review

 

Yeah, milk stouts seemed to gain a little popularity a year or two ago, then seemed to disappear somewhat. Kind of harder to find for sure.

And Deschutes, above all others, is still the one brewery I wish (and don't understand why they haven't already) would start canning! All of their beers are perfect outdoor travels beers in my opinion.

Sorry. Off topic. See you all soon enough with another beer!

 

It's hot outside today, I'm going to drink on this



Another winner from 3 Floyds. I just automatically pick up any new beer I see from them in the stores.

 

Nope, not done yet. I had seen this one before, but hadn't pulled the trigger due to dating. This time however, the date was well inside Best Before Aug2117.



Pours that ubiquitous clear golden yellow. The head was a towering 3 fingers of white. The head lingers much longer than Rolling Rock did, and leaves legs of lacing on the glass. Nose is basically non existent. Just a slight cereal mustiness. No corn or DMS. The flavor is fairly neutral. No one thing is strong positive or negative. It's a bit of cereal grain, but with the sweetness balanced out. This is an easy drinker with a decent body for an AAL. I can see those that are sweet averse enjoying this more than most AAL's. Body is middle of the road being neither watery or chewy. Finishes slightly dry. Overall I'd probaby rate this just below High Life in the rankings of AAL's I've sampled this weekend. It's a viable option if your looking for an beer that isn't going to be challenging to drink, but still contains enough flavor to be interesting.