New Beer Sunday (Week 649)

Well Good Morning NBS!!!
I will say, in light of Mr. Giant's radiant start...

(Damn, I miss Brent's vocals and keys.)


And shine it did.
Lawson's Maple Triple
This was popped at midnight, so I say it counts. God, I love it when my brother comes for a visit. And being close to my birthday, there was ample reason to dig into the cellar.
We popped a few beauties, including a Bourbon County Rare that I'd been sitting on for about 5 years. That was amazing too, but lets get to Mr. Lawson's luminous liquids.

Wow, this is such a unique "beer."
I mean, come on! No water?!?
Mr Lawson has given me some great drinking experiences, but this one is incredible.
It pours a brilliant new penny copper with a bit of orange fire blazing through. Tiny head immediately disappears. A sexy, graceful liquid that moves in the glass. No lacing. Almost like a sherry in the glass.
Aromas move between maple, bourbon, and some lite caramel and toffee peek in. Not overly sweet in any of these flavors but more of a warm, smooth sweetness.
Taste is awwww. I am watching friends try this with me. Eyebrows are arching. Glasses are slowly being lifted away from lips and lifted to the light again for a second glance. There is a mixture of smiles, head nods, one sick jawed friend just mutters "Wow, that is awesome."
The maple sashays forward, gives a warm embrace and then lets a creamy caramel flavor move in. Some bourbon, a very subtle spice note, and some warmth round this out. But this sweet drink never crosses the line into one-dimensional sweetness. never cloyingly sweet, rather a journey through the range of sweetness that high quality maple syrup can carry.
No carbonation. Smooth drinker. Think fireplace, smoking jacket, overstuffed chair. Alcohol warmth is pleasing and not at all hot.

All in all, the best maple experience I've had in this wonderful world of beer. (paging Corey @WesMantooth )

I'll be back for another later.

Cheers All.

 

Good morning BA's! Thank you for the kick start cjgiant! Well, it's already raining here in central Florida, looks like it's settled in for a while. While mopping the tile and cleaning the bamboo floor (wife works until 11:00) I decided to give this gifted beer a try. While no where near a "pour out" the porters/stouts are not growing on me as quickly as I imagined. I think my brain has been "IPA washed"....Here is my slightly plagiarized description, Pours dark brown with tan head. Has a roasted malt, coffee, and grain aroma. A taste of roasted malts, grains, coffee, and some chocolate. Have a great, safe, relaxing Sunday.

 

Well, since for me their beers often scratch an itch (sometimes one I didn't know I had) and some of their innovations that are accused of being "gimmicks" often do, for me, create some intrinsic value added, you can put me in the non-gimicky camp when it comes to Dogfish Head.

 

You just reminded me that Ashburn Wine Shop has a growler station also. Maybe they've gotten better in the last year since I left. Go for the BBQ, check out the beer.

 

Happy New Beer Sunday everyone! On this fine Sunday Afternoon I am drinking a double pale ale called "anders!" from Orca Brau, which is located in Nürnberg.



The appearance is a beautiful, opaque dark ruby/ golden orange color.

The aroma is tropical fruits, herbal hops, a bit of yeast and some alcohol.

The taste is bitter and hoppy upfront with a quick balance of tropical fruits. The fruit flavor is quite sweet and following that comes some yeast flavor that gives way to a dry bitterness at the end.

The mouth feel is quite heavy and there is a lot of yeast sediment in the glass/bottle.

Overall it's an awesome beer. This is my first beer from Orca brewing and I will definitely be on the look out for any more of their stuff. It's a tasty take on a double IPA that has a great balance between frutiness and hop bitterness.

Hopefully everyone else is enjoying their Sunday and can enjoy a new beer today!

 

Good morning, NBS! Great start @cjgiant, it's a beautiful sunny day in Cleveland. You owe it to yourself to try a real moscow mule as it's quite a tasty, easy to make cocktail. I love it with Royal Jamaican ginger beer and personally find it much tastier than the 78 "okay" score it currently has here.



Voodoo is still relatively new to the Cleveland market and I've heard good things so I finally picked up their sampler pack. I apparently need to find more Kellerbier as this is only the second beer in that style I've had, both from this side of the pond. The aromas are fairly sweet, reminiscent of Belgian yeast with a strong banana note and none of the hops that come through strongly on the palate. The flavors are herbal, hoppy but with sweet malt in the background the whole time. 7.5% and unfiltered, the sweet vs hoppy continues on the mouthfeel and creates an interesting contrast. I wish more breweries would make hoppy lagers as they are quite refreshing and overall this beer is better than the sum of its parts.

I've got more of the sampler chilling in the fridge so will report back with another Voodoo beer in a bit.

 

Odyssey Heliocentric Hefeweizen
ABV 5.5%

Sometime around 2013 I went to a very cool little brewery in Arvada, Colorado called Odyssey. It was in a newly developed office park and they had a garage-style door in the front. They had games for kids to play, a guy playing acoustic guitar in the corner, and a very clean, nice vibe. I bought a pint glass to take home. I finally made it back to Colorado this past week and immediately jumped on a 12 pack mixer from Odyssey. It features SIX different beers including a pumpkin marshmallow porter that I am dying to try when it cools down here, in say October LOL

Let's get to the beer:

Look: Unfiltered straw yellow with a white head that slowly fades into a film. Light dots of watery lacing stay on the glass.

Aroma: Bready malt grains with subtle banana esters and a lot of clove notes.

Taste: Starts out bready and doughy up front, very malty with perfect sweetness. A little bit of banana and cloves, a touch of that pink bubblegum flavor before ending with a tangy hop finish.

Mouthfeel: Medium to light.

Overall: Pretty solid, I think they have the style represented well.

Let me be perfectly clear here. Hefes are one of my less favored styles but I know how to be objective when reviewing any beer. Like pilsners, hefes are a style I can tolerate in small amounts.

I am really, really excited about this 12 pack! There's a Caribbean style lager, a pale ale, a wee heavy, and a vanilla porter as well as the mentioned marshmallow pumpkin porter. I'll probably save the entire 12 pack to review on NBS

Colorado was amazing. I only took my son so we bonded and had a blast. I'll take my wife and daughters next summer so the whole gang can enjoy the mountains. That's all I have for today. I'm going to go officially review this beer now and I'm aiming for an overall score of 4.00. I'm so glad I can finally use my Odyssey glass and claim "proper glassware" ... Prost!


PS: Now that PhotoBucket officially sucks, I have been using imgbb -- it's not always easy but I think I have it figured out enough.

 

Greetings, fellow NBSers, and thanks to @cjgiant for getting things rolling this sunny morning.

Mid-60s right now, with a high of 93 predicted. Sounds like I'll be nostalgic for such a day by the end of the week, with triple digits expected. Ugh.

Last weekend I was visiting the parental units, so no new beers were consumed until this week. This was one I picked up on Monday before I drove back to Spokane.
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/24517/293956/?ba=woemad#review

The grunt says Budge Bros. (a sadly defunct local brewery) but the beer is an Imperial Stout from White Bluffs Brewing. Not a great beer, but still pretty good, and the only one of the style that I know of that's brewed in the Tri-Cities.

Today's New Beer is a coffee stout from Modern Times, which is finally being distributed in these parts.
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/31987/95930/?ba=woemad#review

Sweeter than I expected, but quite drinkable. A pretty good beer for someone who got off work less than two hours ago.

Probably back later on today with something else. In the meantime, a few hour's sleep is next on my To-Do list.

 

New beer.



A: Clear yellow body, lacking head, which I guess is typical for a farmhouse Saison.
S: Some subtle fruity scents.
T: The taste was very different from other Saisons I have tried, mainly because it was not as carbonated, but more of a dry taste, I must admit I enjoyed this difference from the norm. Fruity notes with an underlying sweetness.
F: Somewhat thin and not as complex, but again a nice difference from the norm.
O: Gave it a higher rating than others, but I did not think it was as good as other Saisons I have had lately recently. I think the dryness was great, if they could add slightly a little more smell and flavor it would do wonders for the beer.

 

I would agree with you that a beer can be both gimicky and good.

For the instance of SeaQuench I would suggest that the 'good' aspect of this beer is the subtle and balanced flavor profile of this beer. It is not just a beer with 'stuff' that smacks you in the face with 'stuff'.

Cheers!

 

I really like that Iron Abbey glassware.

 

Happy NBS. I've had a nice 4 days off to get some work done around the house. Also managed to find the problem with my mower, blocked corroborator, and get it running again.

Today I am enjoying Champagne Tortoise from Karben4, which is an English Mild. It pours a brownish amber in color with a 1.5 finger dirty white head and minimal lacing. Aroma is mostly toasted grains, toffee, and caramel malt. Taste reminds me of home made bread full of grains along with toffee, caramel malts, with slight roast finish and a touch of hops on the finish. Mouthfeel is lighter with softer carbonation. Overall an enjoyable beer.

 

Happy NBS everyone! Been a crazy week...Pops made it home safe and sound yesterday and now we have my daughter's best friend staying with us for the next week.
Thursday one of my co-workers had an argument with the owner at work and quit right before 5 p.m.! Well this resulted in me being the senior person in purchasing and now they want me to take on more responsibility and gave me a $2 an hour increase! I've only been there a year and they've given me $6 in raises since starting!!!! Hell yeah I think I'm gonna stay there a while!

So anyway let's get at today's entry....

18th Street Brewery Hunter Double Milk Stout



Poured from a 16 oz. can into a Snorkel glass.
Canned on 5/24/17.

Appearance: Dark brown to black body with a beige ring of bubbles around the edges.

Aroma: Cocoa, vanilla, roasted malts.

Taste/Mouthfeel: Sweet chocolate and vanilla with a slight bitterness that rounds out the sweetness. Nice smooth feel to this one, creamy and slick, yet a thickness to it that leaves all those flavors on the tongue, coating it with chocolate and almost coffee like flavors.

Overall: I hugely enjoyable beer that is reminiscent of 3F Moloko. This one has that great thickness to it with out being too heavy, a sweetness up front with a nice hop bitterness at the end to round it out. Really enjoyable.

Thanks to @mschrei for this one!

Cheers!

 

First up today Lone Pine Tessellation Mosaic Double IPA, thanks @jhavs for this!
4.29/5 rDev +2.9%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25

Thank you jhavs for this
16 oz can, dated 6/22/17, poured into a teku

A- A clear golden color with a three finger white head.

S- Grapefruit, guava, tropical fruits, peach skins, hints of pale malts and pine.

T- Citrus, some grapefruit, tropical fruits, pineapple and guava, some peach sinks, sweet pale malts, slightly piney finish.

M- Smooth, medium body.

O- A nice DIPA, easy drinking.

Cheers!

 

You convinced me! Glad to join all these wonderful people!

 

Happy New Elf Christmas Beer in July Sunday (Week 649).

Clearly, cjgiant is unaware that this is a union shop & as such, I will make with the wordplay as the resident punster! Not you or anyone else, mister!

Last Tuesday, the FGBS (Friendly Greek Bottle Shop) & its resident Drinking Team held Christmas in July, inspiring me to finally break out a series of Ridgeway Brewing ales that I had meant to drink on/around Christmas & glossed over. I felt Bad about it all, so that is where I began today:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/7944/14422/?ba=woodychandler#review


but it was not at all "Bad", so I moved on to:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/7944/20789/?ba=woodychandler#review

but as the hour draws nearer to my work shift, I say "Bah, Humbug" & have to leave you to get ready to depart for work:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/160/14943/?ba=woodychandler#review

If the thread remains open, I may return after work. If not, see yinz next week!

 

Good afternoon all. Breaking out one from @warrendietrich2001 - Belching Beaver Peanut Butter Milk Stout



Had to slow the pour down a bit, as this lively opaque beer quickly drew up this nice frothy brown head. Not much lacing, as it settles almost as quick as it raced up the glass. Smells exactly like the name, as peanut butter rules the right away impression, but as that smell pulls away, there is certainly an aroma I can only imagine is a result of a lactose addition. Slightly sweet, and a touch earthy. Finally, there's that hint of coffee barley contribution. Initial sensation on the tongue is slightly tart, before any taste is detected. Almost in an instant later three tastes role in at once. Peanut butter, something smokey and a finishing taste of a light roast coffee.

Very tasty beer, light but not thin, tons of taste but not overly demanding. This would make a great wind down drinker most days out of a week.

 

My brother picked this up for me recently in CT, Breckenridge Brewery's 471 Series Small-Batch Barrel-aged series Simcoe DIPA
-deep orange-amber bottle pour (22 oz) with a very sticky tan foam head. The aroma is sweet and whiskey dominated. This tastes more like a barley wine than a DIPA (might be the age). The flavor is oak-bourbon above all. It is very boozy (10.5% on the bottle). I have enjoyed this over a couple of hours, but was expecting something a bit different.