New Beer Sunday (Week 651)

Remember seeing this on WBAYDN every once in a while and the dust up about is name. DuClaw doesn't make it out here but was able to pick it up in Mount Vernon, OH last Friday at the Marathon gas station that delivered as the unassuming craft beer destination as promised https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/35003/.

L - (3.5) Dark brown with a thick tan head
S - (3.25) Chocolate
T - (3) Chocolate with a baker's chocolate bitter after taste
F - (2.75) Viscous and clinging. Surprised not to find cocoa bean grounds.
O - (3) Very one dimensional. Smell and taste did not change as it warmed. Waited for the peanut butter to appear. Maybe it is part of the second coming? Would have been a very good chocolate porter.

A disappointing 3.07 composite.

 

Happy NBS to everyone, hope you have fair weather at your location! Breakfast of champions, Endurolytes and a carb loaded beer. Rode the bike 25 miles this morning, tired of running in the sticky FL heat. First ever Highland Mocha Stout, second ever review of a beer (thanks to your urging).

Look: Black in color, hardly any light comes thru.

Smell:Whoa, chocolate, malty burnt.

Taste: Chocolate with a burnt taste to it, getting more robust as it warms a little.

Feel: Kind of plain, not smoooth or silky to me, more "just a liquid".

Overall: This one was a share, I'd buy it if I couldn't find one of the other more fulfilling breakfast beers.

 

It must be Sunday if I'm drinking yet another new beer from Odyssey. Don't worry, I still have 3 more Sundays of new Odyssey beer.

Their pale ale is a real looker. It's lightly rusted with a cream colored head that leaves a nice soapy film after receding and the lacing is superb with wandering vertical and horizontal foam paths.

The aroma is immediately fruity -- apricot really shines. A delightful white peppery hop aroma follows.

It tastes just like it smells although after the fruity malt notes a true conifer/pine taste takes over -- less spice and more wood. The finish is a reminder of black tea leaf tanginess.

Mouthfeel is medium bodied, slightly dry.

A pretty solid pale ale, as with every other beer I've tried from them.

That's it for today. I must apologize for my drive-by postings each weekend. The truth is I'm simply just not on Beer Advocate much anymore. After I stopped drinking for 5 months and then returned, I've taken on a different mindset. I'm no longer chasing a number of reviews or anything like that. I haven't been taking weekends off from drinking lately either but I am holding off until Saturday evenings at the very least so I have that going for me. Enough rambling about my inner demons I'll try to participate in next week's shenanigans -- I don't read like I want to but I have some good books in mind. Cheers.

PS: Another great opening by @cjgiant -- i love being able to read a small paragraph yet get my head filled with imagery and things to comment on -- (getting older, I found my first grey hair in my face a few days ago btw) ...

Oh and one more thing. Image hosting. I have started using www.imgbb.com and I like it. It stores your photos and you can easily create separate folders if you like. You do have to sign up for it and they do not have an app that I'm aware of, but it's working for now. Just thought I'd share if you're looking for an alternative photo hosting site.

 

Warm and sunny here on this overcrowded and overpriced island off the coast of New York... Supposed to head up to 85 today, with much of the same forecast for the next couple of days...

Popped the cap on a new release from SingleCut, which I almost passed over because I thought it was just a new label... But no, NBS, SingleCut has released a double dry hopped edition of their Bon Bon TNT DIPA...

In appearance, clouded deep gold, with but a thick finger's worth of off-white foam on top. The head slimmed but never vanished completely, and didn't trail much lace behind...

On the nose, aromas were citrusy and fruity, making me think of grapefruit and lemon... Grassy and floral tones wafted by in the background, with just a hint of green pine...

On the palate, sharply citric and bittering - strong elements of pith and peel, gripping the tongue and tingling the roof of my mouth... Feel is soft and smooth, but lively and zesty... Medium-weight, far more dry than sweet, with a pronounced bitterness that sets it apart from a lot of the New England-style fruit smoothies-like beers I enjoy... Tart and tangy, with a lingering finish...

Got a new stout for tonight's Game of Thrones episode...

Clown Shoes' Crasher in the Rye 2017, so I'll see you for that later - until then I'll be over in WBAYDN - here's to new beer in your glass - cheers...

 

Rule bender! Hahahahahaha!!!

Something tells me the NBS family will be able to handle this. (I will because the only new beer I've got on hand at the moment is ... well ... *mostly* new )

Helped my main man Huevos the Dog get a little car-ride and park time before the blast furnace gets going here this fine Sunday in Houston:


... hope you kids have/get something good in your glasses today!

 

What kind of bike are you riding? Ive got a couple!

 

Good morning NBS, Thanks @cjgiant for the wonderful start today. This is the forum I look forward to each week for oh nearly 10 years now. Today's offering is from Jackie O's, a mixed culture stainless fermented saison, I really enjoy the clean feel of the offering. No barrel imparted, delicate and multidimensional.
Off to do some work at the cemetery, enjoy your NBS all
Cheers

Pockets Of Sunlight

Jackie O's Pub & Brewery
Saison / Farmhouse Ale / 6.50% ABV

4.03/5 rDev -4% | Avg: 4.2
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4

Poured from a 2017 bottle into the HFB test glass.
A - Bright sunny yellow color. Clarity is wonderful, allowing the vibrant carbonation to be on full display. A tight knit cap of
white is quick to exit, leaving an orbital ring clinging to the glass.
S - Very delicate and clean, threads of lemon grass, pilsner malt, wheat and a touch of coriander all meld seamlessly.
T - Fruit skin, apple, a bit of lemon verbena comes through, with a rise in temperature the honey moves forward. The mixed culture has a very nice ashen, mineral aspect.
M - Here the offering shines, exceptionally lite on the palate, a neutral start , then the ever slightest bit of tartness. The mid experience is a bit sweet, and the finish, delightfully dry. This reminded me a great deal of Austrian white wine.
Exceptionally clean feel.
O - The offering is so clean, flavorful and yet elegantly simple. These are the times where a brewer shines. A very difficult canvas to hide flaws on. The mixed fermentation is on full display, by using stainless and then short multiple stages without the use of barrel aging creates a very clean expression.
Excellent work by Brad and the talented brewers at Jackie O's.

 

NBS... it's about damn time edition. I finally located this one that I've been trying to get for weeks now. Vermont apparently isn't high on the distribution priority list for Sierra Nevada.



Sierra Nevada Oktoberfest - Brauhaus Miltenberger Collaboration

Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.
Märzen / Oktoberfest / 6.10% ABV

4.05/5 rDev +0.2% | Avg: 4.04
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4

L- Clear and golden with a 1 finger off white head. The head recedes fairly quickly leaving little lace.
S- Nose is subdued. A light sweetness is present as it warms. Hops are well balanced with the malt and linger behind the malt.
T- The light toasty malt presence hits first. Hops are what you would expect, spicy and balanced incredibly well with the malt.
F- Mouthfeel is light with ample prickly carbonation. The balance of malt and hop on the palate translates very well in terms of the drinkability desired in this style.
O- Another fantastic festbier from Sierra Nevada and friends. I've done most of this review from memory and the dregs left in my glass because the bier disappeared long before the review was finished. This is absolutely on point for style and find myself trying to recall if I had another bottle chilling in the fridge. Well done.

 

Had that recently as well. I remember the peanut butter flavor being very faint towards the finish, but I certainly agree, it would have been better if they skipped the peanut butter idea and just stuck to the idea of a chocolate porter.

 

This August has been much more like September in Southern WI and I am loving it. Not hot and humid, but warm and comfortable. We went on a family canoe trip yesterday at Mirror Lake state park in Wisconsin. Two and a half hours of paddling on a very tranquil and winding lake.

Today, my first new beer is from a new collaboration of 3 Floyds and Mikkeller, Warpigs.

The beer is called Lazurite and it pours a clear golden orange color with 2.5 finger white head. Fantastic retention and lacing. The aroma is dank and very hoppy with tropical fruit, grapefruit, orange and some bready malt sweetness. Flavors of tropical fruits, grapefruit, pineapple and hints of mango with a bit of dry pine and malt sweetness on the finish. Medium body that is stick, but finishes nice and dry. This is contract brewed by Wisconsin Brewing company in Verona, WI and they really nailed it.

 

(New) Fruit Beers best in the summer and fall

As good as these are, I never want them back to back, and have to be in the “mood”. So these are my new beers of the week.

Seasonal fruit beers are best in the late summer and fall - harvest season. They often disappoint as the fruit cuts the beer’s stick, but here are 4 that I rate higher than most BAs which I suggest you try if you can find em.
Some of my favorite brewers do fruit additives well, including my home town brewer Carton.

Gilded Lily | Carton
4.4/5 rDev +14%
look: 4 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25

Enjoyed this first release at the TEDxNavesink holiday party. Returned to a can from cellar on 7-1-16. AND again on 12-22-16. Gets better with age.

If the goal is to riff on the Tripel, with an original, surprising, yet appropriate set of new motifs, then this jazz is classic. This is gourmet food. Needs a James Beard debut.

A: Creamy head, lasting lace, pale Tripel body.
S: Truffle aroma is prominent and at the right level. Melded with the classic Beligian esters, citrus, yeast and grass of a Tripel. ABV is well hidden.
T: As a reviewer wrote "Gourmet Beer", I agree. This beer should accompany James Beard event or win an award. The fecund, fertile, perfume of white truffles is a perfect accompaniment of beer. It proves beer's versatility to be a canvas on which to play.
F: Creamy, right-noted. Long finish. Invites more, but definitely a meditation beer and sipper.
Cant wait to try it again. Let it warm.

So what's the difference between flavored beer and infused beer? It's like irish whiskey coffee or coffee and cognac or tea and grand marnier vs vanilla-hazel-nut-keirug. The former is enhancement, the latter distraction.

Bought a 4 pack $26 at Carton - definitely a sipper. Strange and deep indeed. Aged very nicely for > 1 year in cellar.

Fugli | Oskar Blues
4.06/5 rDev +6.8%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4

I find that Oskar & Carton get fruit / veg beer right, where the fruit neither flattens or curbs the beer, and does not feel artificial or overdone. Few others do it. but when you like brewers this well, you tend to fall in line with their work.
a) Ruddy golden in color, hazed, capped with a white 1 finger head, the beer's well made swirl and lace doesnt disappoint.
s) Original aroma that's approachable, fresh, juicy and natural. Free-pressed citrus, tropical, berry with honey graham crackers.
t) Big flavor follows the smell. Abundant and juicy like a juice press. Yuzu and ugli fruit join a citrus and tropical fruit punch which is checked by hoppy, floral bitterness.
f) Medium light and drying bitter clean and fresh finish. Mineral along with the fresh fruit feel.
o) Among the top fruit IPAs.

Crimson Pistil | Tröegs
3.85/5 rDev +4.9%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75

Interesting and original. Falls in fruit IPA category (not the best).

A - Pours a murky, sunset amber body with a creamy head and white lacing, and low, soft carbonation.
S - Aroma is too faint. Let it warm, then it's juicy with berries and floral hops. Flower shop with sugar cookies.
T - Follows aroma but more ample, hence the 4: berry, tropical fruit, flowers on not much malt. With nice lingering bitterness tingle.
M - Medium body with prickly carbonation, good feel.
O - Works for me. A great beer experience to share and taste off.

Saison Aux Baies Ameres | Left Hand
3.84/5 rDev +5.2%

look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75


Love the brewer, Love the concept of seasonal with seasonal additions, like natural tangy chokeberries. Well done.


A) Pours a pinkish, golden amber body with ruby highlights. Like most saisons a bright, sparky head, but as with most fruit beers, fades fast and laces little, still great effort on the color.

S) Classic but fruity aroma of a saison...Farmhouse belgian style aromas of sweet and sour yeast with noticable wine-like notes from the chokeberries. Great first beer of the evening or apertif. I'd serve in tiny glasses with either a first course, a salad, oysters, or with a change course like a sorbet.

T) Follows smell, but a bit too sweet and fruity. Wine-like. Liked the aroma 1 notch better. As noted more in direction of German Hefeweizen with banana and herbs, than true Belgique saison.

F) Crisp, zippy, brightly carbonated, finishes clean. This grew on me.


O) Sweet malt and sour ChokeCherries make for an earthy, balanced, wine-like, and slightly tart and bitter beer.. earthy, sour kick in the aftertaste is winning.


Blackberry Daze IPA | Anchor
3.81/5 rDev +4.7%

look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75


I'm generally liking Anchor beers, even now that they're playing catch up in style. Better than Boston, but behind Sierra Nevada, they are a mass producer that can play, as is evidenced by this (summer) blackberry ale. Perfect late summer ale.


Poured from the bottle into a Mill St Pint glass.


a) CLOUDED, copper amber body with fine carbonation. Head lasts and laces well for a fruit beer.


s) Original and fresh feeling aroma. Woody hop and clean, fresh blackberry fruit. Grassy, herbal, piney, and "smoothy".


t) Mine was amply flavored, with blackberry fruit and malt, balanced with a drying, piney, grassy, bittering, and sunny hop dryness and earth. Good herbal finish. Never was too sweet or fruity for me and I'm rarely a fan of fruit beer. "


f) Fresh, powdery, grainy, mineral, balanced by creamy malt core. Sweeter than IPAs, more of a fruit ale.


Derailed Cherry Cream Ale | Erie

3.14/5 rDev -4.6%

look: 3.5 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.25


Not a fan of fruit beers except in the hands of folks like Carton, Oskar, Ballast...

3.14 score makes this a 'cherry pi'.


A: Pours a slight hazed, mostly clear dark honey. As with fruity beer head neither lasts nor laces.

S: Natural black cherries over cereal grain malts. A bit of Dr Pepper.

T: I get cherry first, over sweet malts, and it's all too sweet.

F: Creamy like cream soda. Too sweet.

O: Might blend well with a roasty stout like No Hero. (AHHH! That saved it)

 

Happy New Odds & Sods Beer Sunday (Week 651)!

Happily, I have plenty of new beers on hand, but sadly, I have only a limited amount of time before I must depart for my seCANd shift job & I have no theme this week.

With there being no time like the present, I started with a pint/pounder CAN from Columbus, IN, a place that I have never been. I looked it up & it is about 50 miles S of IND, IN along I-65, FWIW.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/35021/123461/?ba=woodychandler#review

and since I was intrigued by them, I broke out my other CAN:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/35021/146502/?ba=woodychandler#review



Ah, fer f**ksake! Where does the time go?!? I needed to quit monkeying about & start to wrap things up.
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/22655/196127/?ba=woodychandler#review



See yinz next week!

 

I'm cool with that!

 

I had the same thoughts as you, although I was a little more generous (3.47)

 

Happy Sunday everyone!

Taking an easy day here today, we live nearby Charlottesville and a good friend of ours, as well as several neighbors, are police officers in the city and surrounding county so need to destress after everything. Starting with this one first, have a solid stout for later.

New release from Blue Mountain, available in their fall sampler pack which just came out this week. Red Fox, a Belgian-style amber ale. Features orange peel, coriander, and grains of paradise as part of the brew.

Look is a slightly hazy copper red with a minimal head that disappeared rapidly and left no lacing.

Smell is predominantly coriander, with a few hints of malt and orange.

Taste follows, the coriander is the dominant flavor, some malt backbone, a little hint of orange, and a touch of hop bitterness towards the end.

Finish is clean. Body is medium-light.

Overall, the coriander is too heavy and dominates the other flavors.

 

My daughter lived in Clear Lake when she worked at NASA. I gotta tell ya, Houston is not one of ma\y favorite cities.