New Beer Sunday (Week 651)

Cuvee Gold from Hardywood Park, a 9% belgian style golden ale aged in white wine barrels.

L: Poured from a bottle into a teku glass. Clear golden yellowish color. Foamy white head that faded over time. 4/5
S: Stone fruit, smells similar to other belgians 3.75/5
T: Crisp, strong white wine and peach flavor. No bitterness 3.75/5
F: Light bodied and mediumb carbination. 3.75/5
O: A decent beer. Not my favorite style but nothing about it stands out for me. 3.77/5

 

Nothing like adding to the confusion, eh? lol

 

Thanks to my Tree House connection for this!

Moderate pour yields a one inch white head over a hazy golden body with some sticky lacing. Nose of tropical fruit with pineapple at the forefront. Tastes of the same with a dry finish. For me, the feel suffers due to the disappearance of carbonation. Overall, delicious but that feel though.

4.13/5 rDev -6.1%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

 

Greetings NBS. Sweaty early evening here in the kingdom. Not hot, but it sure is wet. Been a rather quiet weekend, so not much to talk about. So let us get to the beer. Might be the closest I get to a truly new beer. There were only a handful of ratings and even fewer reviews this morning.



Allagash Brett IPA. Walked by it in the store thinking it was L'il Brett, but it sure isnt. Cloudy pour, minimal head, but what there is lasts and lasts. The aroma is a tropical and citrus fruit salad. There is mango, orange, a touch of grapefruit, tangerine, a little pineapple sweetness, then some lighter hops greenery plus the funky Brett note that anchors it all.

The taste follows along. Juicy applies. More citrus comes out as the beer warms. I get a lot of orange, and pineapple shows up more. Mildly tart, mildly bitter. It is pretty dry, with an aftertaste that just recombines everything that is going on. It is a busy beer, but not too complex - fairly easy to pick out the flavors and see how they play off each other.

Diggin' this one, folks. Heading north of 4.0, but not by much. Going to drink one more before writing the review.

 

Everybody's is, functionally, a Hood River brewery, despite its WA addy. Doug E. Fresh (not his real name) is one of the friendliest, funniest, nicest guy I've met, in an industry full of such folks. EB is one of the plethora of "Hidden Gem" breweries in our region. Check their website for their view.

 

Hello New Beer Sunday!!!

What a crazy, busy week at work. So many projects had to get done, and I knocked them out of the park. As a reward, I get a day off tomorrow. Sadly, it is going to be the last for a damn long time. What will I do? Surprise my mom at her work tomorrow. Not like my brother in law will get mad if I visit her at work. Besides, I will also be a paying customer, and he'll be doing my oil change. After visiting my mom, I will head over to Wisconsin, and cross the new St. Croix bridge. It will be so nice to avoid Stillwater. Of course, there will be beer purchased in Wisconsin.

But enough fun, off to the new beer.


Or De Belgique from Blacklist Brewing.

I gave a can to my friend Friday. He enjoyed it out at his cabin last night, and said it was a very delicious beer, so delicious it was going on his great beer shelf. How could I not try it tonight? Well, it is damn good. Nice rich flavor. Full bodied. Just amazing good. So glad I picked this up, and so glad I'm drinking it.

Now will it be the last tonight? Probably, but you never know.

4.19/5 rDev +14.2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

This beer pours a creamy, lighter golden color. Fairly clear. Head was fairly thick and frothy. Nice carbonation bubbles rising in the glass.
The nose is interesting, in a pleasing way. This beer almost smells like a wild ale. Some malt notes.
The taste is quite rich. Lots of flavors. I get, almost a fruity hint. I get nice malts. I don't really get any hops.
Full mouthfeel. Nice body. Nice creamy feeling going down.
Delicious beer.

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Glad you enjoyed it!!

 

I'm back for another after a productive day that started with a morning run followed by posting a car for sale that sold two hours later. The downsizing continues as I entertain a possible move next year. Time for dessert after a few with my brother and a light dinner. Let's get to it!

A 12oz. bottle of New Holland Dragon's Milk Reserve S'Mores Bourbon Barrel Stout. The bottle date is 06/12/17, abv. is 11% and I'm pouring it in a 12oz. snifter for the unveiling. Let's go.....

It pours a thin dark cola brown producing a few centimeters of light tan foam that quickly settles to a thin ring. A trace of lacing is left behind. The smell is marshmallow, vanilla, roasted malt and a hint of char. Taste is marshmallows, vanilla, oak and a hint of bourbon. The feel is thin and slightly creamy making it easy drinking for a beer weighing in at 11%.

It's another middle of the road flavored stout in the Dragon's Milk portfolio in my opinion. Nothing complex in the barrel department and the adjuncts taste very artificial. It's easy drinkability is the best redeeming quality. The price on these is terrible around here as well as they're broken down into singles for $4.50 a pop. All said my score is 3.63 / rDev -13%. I'm always quite surprised by the relatively high score for these. Different strokes I guess?

I'm tagging out for today, have yourselves a great week. Here's the official scorecard.......

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/335/276368/?ba=Prager62#review

 

BeerAdvocate calls it an American Blonde Ale style. Wonder whether Köttbusser might eventually be recognized as a different style on BA? Not that we need any more. How does it differ from a blonde ale?

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/23076/60454/

 

Thanks @bobv for letting me know where to get this. Cheers to you, Sir!



Aromas of sweet pulpy wet sticky lemon rolling over some fresh sweet grassy notes with a tickle of crushed coriander and dipping into an ever so slight honey penetrating a light woodiness at the very end.
Flavors takes all of the prior mentioned aromas to meld sweetly at first and with a gradual warming a nice settled in spice from the coriander roughs out some of that sweetness. Aftertaste was presentable fulfilling a fantastic blend of all of those flavors.
Mouthfeel had some of the carbonation seeming to hit a bit more than expected but after a little bit of warming, some harshness from that coriander seemed to pull down that carbonation. Light acceptable stickiness, not cloying on my tongue. I'd say between light and medium bodied with a fair sessionability about it. ABV felt on par as projected by the brewer.
Overall, I always thought Jackie O's could do some fantastic big stouts, but I didn't know they could do fantastic saisons too.

 

Anchor Old Foghorn aged in Old Potrero barrels

This is a beer available at the Anchor brewery. Old Potrero is a single malt whiskey from Anchor Distilling.

This is what I would consider a treat beer for me. This is far from an everyday beer... but mainly due to availability and cost rather than style.

The barrel presence is not overly strong, but this still isn't Old Foghorn. This beer is a bit harsh though. It's all sharp edges rather than smooth. It feels like it's from a brewery that does not specialize in barrel aging.

The body is exceptionally light for the flavors here. Anchor's fruitiness is evident. This beer tastes of dates, figs, and blackberries. The barrel process also gives it vanilla and wood. This one still goes down easily all things considered.

 

Manayunk chocolate coconut crunch porter. This was a true novelity beer that was true to its own advertising. Tasted like an almond joy bar in a can except it wasn't sickly sweet. A great beer to try but i suspect most people would only have one at a time

 

Good evening. all, and Happy New Belgian Strong Pale Ale Sunday! Introducing Murderhorn, from Backpocket Brewing, Coralville, IA. A Belgian Strong Pale Ale with the accent on strong, this clocks in at a not-very-well-hidden 10.2% ABV. Big aromas and flavors that I've come to associate with a hefeweizen or a witbier: banana, clove, coriander, and a hint of lemon. There is a little peppery tartness on the finish. Unfortunately, the boozy character detracts from the overall experience - at least for me. I might throw a couple of these into storage for a while just to see whether a little age might mellow it a bit. With the alcoholic edge off, I could envision this as a truly great beer.


3.7/5 (rDev -1.6%)
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75

 

Found this one in a liquor store a few weeks ago.

2016 version

A- Dark black beer with almost no lacing or head. Beer had a few floaties that take away from the overall score.

S- Barrel smell up front. Coffee flavors seemed to have mellowed out over the last year. Some sweet chocolate smells as well but bourbon wins out on smell.

T- Fairly sweet stout. The whiskey flavor seems to have mellowed in the year plus. Chocolate sweet flavors. Almost no coffee.

F- Nice easy drinking stout. The burn has eased with the time in the bottle. Easy drinker.

O- Time seems to have eased some of the barrel burn but there is almost no coffee flavors left on this one.

4.09/5

 

Revoultion Citra Hero, 3.98 overall. Nice drinker, just didn't turn the corner towards greatness...

Pours an effervescent gold with a pinky of beige colored head. Average head retention & lacing

S: Lemon, tangerine

T: Follows the nose, aling with grapefruit & light breadyness, plus mango up front. More grapefruit & mango, dryness & tangerine as this warms. Finishes with tangerine & lemon, with a little mango & dryness, plus a touch of lime

MF: Medium body, firm carbonation, nice balance

Easy to drink, especially for the ABV, expected a bit more to be honest

 

Good Evening NBS Faithful

You must be faithful if you're still tuned in at 8:30 CST or recapping on Monday morning.

My new beer (style) for today is a Flanders Red. I am not a fan of sours so I enter cautiously. This single was a bargain at $1.99 in the cooler at one of my Oktoberfest hunting stops.



8.5oz can poured into a 250 mL tulip glass at fridge temp 4.2% ABV. No obvious date code but newly released. The beer pours a reddish brown with head that could be purple, pink or tan depending on your perspective. A 3 inch head calms down to a cap and leaves significant lacing. Smells like cherry juice. Taste is fruity and tart with possibly some smoothness and vanilla from the foeder aging. There is no appreciable bitterness. Mouthfeel is thin bodied, gently carbonated and dry. Overall, very good. I would recommend to anyone wanting to tick this style with an aversion to extreme sour. I am pleasantly surprised to be enjoying this beer.

Cheers until next week!

 

Twas an exceptionally nice saison. That's some really good stuff for showing up around here - since Vermont's one of those "saison/IPA" heavy states, I'd say that took some ballz from Jackie O's to do that, but hey I'll give 'em credit - that was a mighty fine saison that I would love to have again! Not saying I wanna move to Ohio yet, but hey, just saying much love to this beer!

 

(Slight) Note : Its made with chokecherries (Prunus virginiana) , as noted in your wrap-up , not chokeberries (Aronia arbutifolia, A. melanocarpa, A. prunifolia, & x Sorbaronia mitschurinii), as mentioned earlier.
I looked at the label on LHs site, out of curiosity. Similar flavor profiles for all of that, but chokeberries ripen in the fall, so wondered if that beer was from '16, or older. Would be a bit of reassurance (to try it at a later date) if it aged that well. Chokecherries, so likely quite fresh. Thanks for the reviews. Carry on........