New Beer Sunday (Week 642)

Sounds like another beer to look out for!

 

This is a tasty beer, glad it's sold in six-packs and it's available year round, cheers!

A: 4.25
A: 4.25
T: 4.5
M: 4.5
O: 4.5

A: Pours a brown, ruby reddish color with a toffee colored full, creamy head, its cloudy with nice ruby edges when held up to the light, lots of lacing, head dissipated into a soapy film after about five minutes, lots of tiny bubbles streaming up the glass's side.
A: Lots of malt, caramel, toffee, licorice, slight notes of burnt brown sugar, a little bit of citrus peel, plums and raisins, slight heat from the alcohol but well hidden, smells very promising.
T: First sip is impressive. Like the nose there's lot of malt, toasted rye, caramel, toffee, burnt brown sugar, slight licorice, also picking up some dark fruits like raisins and plums, the fruity sweetness hits in the middle and lingers in the aftertaste with more malt emerging, there's also a slight note of citrus peel in the finish, very smooth and way to easy to drink for such a high ABV.
M: Full bodied with a creamy, smooth, velvety mouthfeel and a dry citrus peel finish.

O: This is really good, tons of flavor, complexity and depth, big full bodied mouthfeel with incredible drinkability, it's not as hoppy as I was expecting but overall really enjoyed this and it will become a regular in my cellar.

 

New Brewery Sunday



Chestnut Hill Brewing Orange Ace

Happy Sunday, BAs. Hot enough for ya? It's a toasty 90-something here in southeastern PA.

Let me start by saying how sorry I was to hear about your dog, @lordofthewiens. And your mom. You had me going for a second there.

I found myself near Chestnut Hill today and decided to pop into this relatively new nanobrewery tucked into an indoor farmers market. They have delicious wood-fired pizzas, and I was pleasantly surprised by the high quality of the two beers I tried.

Orange Ace is a 7.5% ABV IPA dry hopped with Sorachi Ace.

It pours a dark-red amber color with a finger of tan head. Leaves decent lacing, too.

It has a sweet aroma of hibiscus, cherry and orange -- much more sweet than citrusy. A little hint of muted peppery spice behind, as well.

It's smooth tasting. Very malt heavy, but without the same sweetness as the nose. A little orange character within the malt again. Then some mild hop bitterness and a slight peppery note on the backend. A little nuttiness shows as the pint goes on, but nothing too over the top.

It's medium to heavy bodied with a creamy feel with light carbonation cutting through.

This is a nice change of pace from traditional West Coast or East Coast IPAs.



Chestnut Hill Brewing Motra

This is billed as a 6.9% ABV "West Coast-Style IPA with mosaic and citra hops."

It pours a cloudy, brown-hued orange color with a thin white head that's quick to dissipate, leaving modest soapy lacing.

Mango and overripe peach show in the nose. This carries to the taste, with a slight pepperiness and nice pine hop bitterness added on the backend.

It comes pretty close to the pillowy East Coast mouthfeel, but not all the way there. Medium bodied with a little kiss of carbonation.

This isn't world class, but it's very solid. I'd consider this more of an East meets West IPA than the West Coast-style advertised. There's a certain 12-pack sampler with such a beer making the rounds these days. I think this one fits the bill much better.

All in all, I was very happy with both these brews and look forward to hitting this brewery again. If you find yourself in the neighborhood, definitely check them out.

 

I hope some of you guys made the OH and The Answer Brewpub collab raining threes. So juicy. Nice hop bitter finish from being a triple. Amazing beer. Nice mellow nose but amazing fruit and it's thick as heck. If you don't know about the Answer Brewpub, you need to hurry up and find out, Cheers

 

Ok, we had to get out of the town we got out of town to go visit . Actually we just wanted to check out this brewery south of Philly, so we hit up 2SP.



Had a few that I reviewed, the first being Solar Baby, which was a bitter-leaning APA that had me thinking session IPA (though given the body, I probably can't defend that statement objectively).

Sipped a few beers with the GF, and most had this sweetness to them that started weighing on me. The Bourbon Saint Seditious had this aspect, maybe the one glaring detractor on an otherwise decent beer.

The dry-hopped Astondido Kölsch reset my palate before this final offering:


The Russian, suggested by @larryi86 should we make it here (sadly only on tap, good sir, it seems).

I typed up all that, and the glass looks almost the same, though it's lace instead of actual head. That aspect does spread full across the dark brown surface, though.

The nose and taste both have a smoked meat char to them. I'm still getting a little sweetness here, but not as much as some of the offerings before. Bacon-covered chocolate, with a light tobacco smoke back end.

Definitely dug this one, though I might like a little more [coffee] bitterness to the roast. I wouldn't have been surprised if you told me there was a little smoked malt in this.

 

Happy NBS everyone! We're off to a great start today with a great intro from @lordofthewiens. We braved the Sunday summer traffic on the Garden State Parkway. It's not for the faint-hearted. It's over 90 degrees in North Jersey but not too hot for this great barrel-aged doppelbock from Troegs. They've improved on the base Troegenator. The bourbon is delicate and there's some nice oak and raisin notes. It's surprisingly tangy for such a warm day. Here's my review:

4.24/5 rDev +2.7%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

2017 Vintage. Poured from 12.7 oz. cork and cage bottle into pilsener glass. It pours a hazy bronze color with cola hues when held to the sunlight and one finger of bubbly, beige head and light lacing. The nose consists primarily of sweet malt, raisin, vanilla, and oak with a mild whiff of bourbon. However, the bourbon is noticeable in the first sip along with a strong presence of oak and vanilla. There are also notes of caramel and raisin. As the glass warms the bourbon blends very nicely with the other tastes and it's quite tangy. It's medium in body and is lively carbonated. The bottle says the ABV is 10.8% but after the first sip it doesn't seem overtly boozy. It's a hot early summer day and this is drinking surprisingly light. I'm impressed. The base Troegenator is a fine Doppelbock and the barrel-aging hasn't overwhelmed it. Rather, it's complex but nicely satisfying.

I hope you're all enjoying your new beers today. Cheers, friends!

 

Thanks for your review, Jack! I've also been a big fan of Bengali since my son introduced it to me several years ago. I'm proud of him in a way only a BA can fully-understand. The equivalent of hitting a home run in Little League.

 

Greetings, fellow NBSers and thanks to @lordofthewiens for getting us going today.

Today marks the end of an era. The last beer from @MacMalt's box from NBS BIF # 5 has now been consumed.



https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/26817/260926/?ba=woemad#review
I'm thinking this could only work as a dessert beer, but it would be a nice one after, say, an Italian themed dinner. If I had another, I'd drink it after eating some lasagna.

There's possibly another new beer in my fridge that will come to grief later today.

 

Hey NBS, glad to be joining today. After a long nine days with family at my house, we needed a break. My brother, sister-in-law, and niece all left about 8:45 this morning. After church we headed to Rebel Kettle Brewing for brunch. I had an awesome burger with pork rinds that were still cracking when they got the table.

While there I had eight ounce pours of four beers. I had to add all four to the database.



The first was C-Street Series IPA Block #4. They are calling the fourth installment of their series a "micro" IPA at 3.3% abv.



Enjoying an 8oz pour at the brewery. The beer pours a hazy yellowish/amber color with a small head and decent lacing.

The smell is huge citrus for the low abv. There is a ton of hoppy orange and grapefruit.

The taste is thinner than the smell, as expected with the low abv. There is a nice hoppy bitterness and some muted citrus.

The mouthfeel is medium with lingering bitterness on the finish.

Overall this is a really nice "micro" IPA that I wish they canned for the pool.

The second beer was Chug Life malt clocking in at 6.4%. I felt truly southern enjoying malt liquor and pork rinds.



The beer pours a deep tan with a small head and minimal lacing.

The smell is corn and more corn.

The taste of very sweet and heavy with a strong corn flavor, especially on the end.

The mouthfeel is heavy and smooth.

Overall this is a nice drinking, but sweet and heavy beer.

The third beer was the best beer I've had from them. It's called Urban Farmer and is a collaboration brewed with chocolate mint, cilantro, cucumber, and basil. They do a lot of saisons, and this was really good.



An 8 oz pour at the brewery. The beer arrived with no head, which left minimal lacing on the bright yellow, hazy color.

The smell is tart, funky, and earthy.

This beer explodes with flavor. The herbs and vegetables comes through in an amazing, balanced blend with the tanginess of the saison. I can pick out basil, cilantro, and the chocolate mint really shows itself. Amazing.

The mouthfeel is medium carbonation, slight effervescent, and dry.

Overall this beer is amazing. The flavors explode with freshness and everything works well together.

The final beer was Spring Cleanin' DIPA. This could pass for a NE IPA and had a huge mouthfeel. Really good beer.



An 8oz pour from the brewery. The beer arrives looking very bright and hazy with a small head and great retention.

The smell hit me from two feet away. It's loaded with orange juice, lime, and grapefruit. It almost smells a very little like that Tang breakfast drink I had as a kid. The smell is unreal.

The taste is deep citrus, oily hops dominated by orange and orange peel. There is a very bitter, lingering finish.

The mouthfeel on this beer is huge. It's really thick, very oily, and low carbonation.

Overall this is a great beer. It could probably be called a NE IPA, although I don't know how it was brewed.

If anyone is coming to LR, make sure to check out Rebel Kettle!

 

That's one noble-looking cat! Love its attitude.

 

Hey NBS folks hope everyone is having a great Sunday. Thanks to @lordofthewiens for the different take on starting us off. Loved it. I fell for it initially so I'll be sharing that one. Lots of stuff to do around here since the weather finally broke. Today was season opening vacuum the pool which always sucks. But it sucks worse when its 90 and humid. Im going to drop a quickie and I may be back with another later...
New brewery I haven't tried and couldn't resist the DDH of Galaxy.
Common Roots - Time APA
Pours a nice hazy golden yellow. You can see through this so not in any way turbid. Head is 1/3" foamy white that hangs for a few and then leaves some nice spotty lacing.
Aroma is the citrus notes of tangerine, candied red grapefruit, lemon and ripe passionfruit/guava. Aroma is solid for the hop but the intensity is lacking.
Taste is passion fruit and citrus. Very pale malts and a nice pleasing bitterness.
Body is light/medium with small bubble carb and a refreshing drying finish.
Overall a decent beer. It doesn't approach the wonderful expression of this hop brewed by Proclamation- but what does? I think the nice part of this brew is it's very clean tasting and drinkable. It lets you experience the hop profile while not filling you up like the turbid brews. Like the Sierra Nevada of Galaxy beers. I kind of like that: quality beer you could drink all day @5.5% with a different character.
May be back later. Have a great week.
And thanks for taking the time. One of these tree frogs was chilling by the pool today. Amazing how something this small can make such a loud peeping noise. One of the sounds of summer.....

 

Hey, Fred. Glad the box lasted this long. Corretto is probably my least favorite of Carton's coffee variants. I prefer Cafe y Churro and Irish Coffee (which they didn't release this year). That said, I still like good old Regular Coffee the best.

 

Glab you enjoy it! I actually still have opened my Saint Seditious, but the vanilla version was really good, definitely sweet.

 

Transient Artisan Ales, Something Strange Rye IPA, 6.5% ABV, this is my first Transient brew, and I really dig a Rye so I was very excited to dig into this! This beer came to me as a haul from a colleague who went on a beercation. Love the concept, I score beers for you and it comes back around.

This beer pours a hazy, orange with huge pillowy, frothy head of many fingers, guess I was a little aggressive, aroma is nice, not huge but piney, tropical with a taste that follows, very tropical mostly grapefruit, the rye comes on as it warms and keeps it from being overly bitter. Very smooth mouthfeel and a solid beer for sure. ENJOYED

 

I think we think alike on these beers (though Irish Coffee sounds awesome- might have to do a trade for that if Carton does that again). Thanks again for an awesome box!

 

I'll let you know if they release it at the end of 2017. If they do, then there will be some coming your way!

 

When I heard about this release I was expecting a beer more like a barleywine. One that has lost its hop character and is malty with a big bourbon presence. No, this is a hoppy IIPA with a subtle barrel presence. It tastes like it was barrel aged and then hopped before bottling as it has a big hoppy presence and it overwhelms the barrel.


12 ounce bottle poured into a snifter
A: Pours a golden, amber orange color with a white full creamy head, lots of lacing, beer is clear, good amount of tiny bubbles streaming up the side.
A: Bourbon, oak, vanilla, picking up some citrus aromas like oranges, malt, caramel, not as aromatic as I was expecting, the bourbon is a little muted but I definitely pick up the citrus hop notes and malt.
T: Like the nose there are slight notes of bourbon, vanilla and oak up front, hit of grapefruit/orange like bitterness in the middle, finish has lingering notes of vanilla and citrus, the dominant note in the finish is bitter citrus peel with a touch of sweet, oaky vanilla, the bourbon barrel is subtle.
M: Medium/full bodied with a very dry citrus like finish, good amount of carbonation. As the beer warms the mouthfeel becomes sticky.

O: Not sure what to make of Doom, it tastes great but the bourbon barrel notes are a bit subdued. The result I’m getting is that this tastes and smells like a IIPA with a good citrus peel like aroma but with an added subtle, almost absent, note of bourbon barrel. I’m used to bourbon barrel aged beers having a big barrel presence and this doesn’t. I’d love this without it being barrel aged and I’d love this if the barrel had a stronger presence. I think this maybe the most confusing beer I’ve ever tasted yet I it's very tasty.

 

No brewing these days. Maybe in a year when both kiddos are a bit bigger.

As to his personal nectarines... I'll never let those touch the home brews!

 

I've been avoiding this one. I normally don't care for fruit beers or desert beers. I must have been in just the right mood to appreciate this.

So this is a Bruery collaboration that is supposed to imitate an ice cream sundae.

Pours dark gold medium head. But the look is not this beer's amazing quality.....
Smells like a box of chocolate truffles with raspberry filling.
Taste follows aroma, but the mouth feel has to be factored with the taste. It's almost like a milkshake.
At one point in drinking this beer I swear I had raspberry seeds stuck in my teeth.
I would not buy this outright if it was available, but that's just due to preferences.
However, I am really impressed with how they accomplished exactly what they set out to do.

 

Founders Doom, 12.4% ABV. Pours medium viscosity and pale orange, with a four finger white foamy head which left decent lacing. Nose is piney hops, very slight bourbon, and a piney bitter hop close. Excellent mouthfeel, overall excellent. Even though I am not an IPA fan, I am a fan of Founders and BA beers, so had to try it. For an IPA, I believe this is excellent, even though it would not be a daily drinker for me - particularly considering availability, cost, and ABV. I'd rank this ahead of Frootwood, but not as good as KBS or BWB. We'll see how it stands against DKML, but surely won't stand a chance against CBS. I would give Doom and A+ for the label art. We're having a hot, humid, and gloomy cloudy day here but still excellent grilling weather.