New Beer Sunday (Week 653)

A quick drop in with another I shared with my bro earlier. I reviewed it, but didn't want to be overly rude by posting in the moment as we were enjoying the beer and haven't had a Sunday tasting in a couple of weeks. Here's the Cliffs Notes version.....

It poured a murky light brown yielding a centimeter of off white foam. A lot of floaties can be seen. The smell was bourbon forward with rye, vanilla and caramel. Taste was bourbon heavy with some sweet caramel, vanilla and oak. A hint of rye in the finish. The feel was thin and slick with a very dry finish.

A really bourbon forward beer that tastes like a cross between a English barleywine and Scottish ale. The barrel takes center stage and dominates this beer. There's nothing overly complex, but it is a fairly smooth drinking 14 %abv. beast. My score was 4.18 / rDev -2.8%.

I'm tired and finished for today, so I leave the floor to you late nighters. Let's do it again next week! Until then, here's the official verbiage ......

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/423/213487/?ba=Prager62#review

 

A description so good I could almost taste it myself, but the photo with the fire sealed the deal.

 

lol forgot the pic,

 

Pours a very dark near black with a beautiful 3 finger sticky light brown head that leaves thin layers of lace all over the sides of the glass, poured near room temperature.4.5

Smell is cocoa nibs, toffee, roasty coffee beans, oak, vanilla, and some Red Zinfandel. 4.5

Taste follows dark chocolate, espresso, toffee, oaked vanilla, pipe tobacco, and a nice shot of a lush red wine in the really tasty finish. 4.5

Mouthfeel is a solid medium, maybe a whisker thinner than I wanted, moderate carbonation, definitely a tad dry, and at 9.7% ABV very approachable. 4

Overall this is a very nice stout, that is far from one dimensional and I would recommend to anyone that likes a nice imperial stout, well done and great name. 4.25

 

I lucked out, Battery Steele doesn't leave Maine by distro (that I know of), and I got offered a can and figured why not, sure I'll give it a shot.

Love sitting by my firepit not thinking about anything else - it's a great escape for me to stare off into oblivion.

 

Preach on.

That's why I enjoy this thread. It helps weed out the false hype. There are a lot of people I can trust reviewing beers so I can make good choices. Have a good week NBS folks.

 

That's an escape as old as mankind itself. Cheap and effective therapy in my world! Cheers.....

 

Wording correction.

"...you don't want to assume a beer ranked 6 is "better" than a beer ranked 14...."

 

Greetings from the Great Northwest where the last weekend in August is closing. Dog Days of Summer leave us!

Today we have Easy Jack IPA from Firestone Brewing.
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/2210/108525/

A nice easy drinking session IPA.

So, on to the last week of summer and the joy of Labor Day Weekend, although it has not been the same for me since Jerry Lewis left his telethon. RIP Jerry.

Until Labor Day weekend.

Happy Trails!

 

I wil agree and disagree with you at the same time. The scores should translate from style to style because the system is set up to rate accordingly. That being said, I think you are right to an extent because not many people do that. If you go to AAL or Blonde Ale you will probably see the same. Just as you would have to go through a couple pages under "top rated" Russian Imperial Stout to find a beer under 4. The styles that people tend to prefer more are ranked accordingly. That is the perplexing part to me even if it's not to style. Most users on this site spent most of their lives drinking rice based, watered down versions of pre prohibition lagers, so you would think that the authentic German brewed versions would resonate with more people.

 

Weird, my brother in-law lives literally 3 minutes from Witches Hat. Made it there for the first time on the way home a few weeks ago. Cool place, and I really dug the psychedelic mug club collection too.

 

Yes, I think they should translate but they don't because the rating system is not set up with the proper controls in place to deal with differences introduced because of different styles.

Unfortunately this is not the place to go into an extended discussion of statistics, and statistical controls for things like style bias and it's effect on ratings.

But as a thought exercise, just take a look at the top 250 list and ask yourself why is it so heavily populated with RIS and then compare the number of RIS to the number of Oktoberfests, Pilseners or Helles Lagers you find on the top 250 list.

A score of 4 for a RIS indicates a pretty poor example and the reviews show it. A score of 4 for an Oktoberfest indicates that it is at the top or near the top of the heap. Do you really want to say that most RIS are better than something like a fine Pilsener or Oktoberfest?

 

This is an excellent post. If I see a RIS rated 4.0, I think "shelf turd."

If I see an Oktoberfest rated 4.0, I am doing this to secure that beer.

 

Interesting take on it. Not saying you are wrong (or right) but I view the scale (1-5) as equal across all styles. Somewhere when I joined the site I recall reading the scoring explanation and read/interpreted it as using the same system to rate each style accordingly. Hence, a 4 is not a "poor" example of a RIS, or any style of beer (especially for me) but it would indeed put it much lower on the list. That being due to the amount of ratings/reviews for said style. I just think most users rate on a 1-5 scale in general across the board. In other words, least to most favorite beer. I generally read/re-read the description of said style before scoring, but use the "overall" a little more leniently as to my overall enjoyment. I know it is a very subjective subject that makes for good conversation. @cjgiant and I touched on this a bit before on here and in person, but he may not recall the later.

 

Good Sunday to ya NBS crew. Today I'm trying out a new brew from Mother Earth brewing...

Say When IPA clocking in at 7.5%

Canned 2 months ago poured into a snifter.

Pours a typical golden color. Not much carbonation or head. Very little lacing to speak of.

The nose is really subtle, some nice dank citrus aroma is all I can pick up. A hint of vanilla is there too.

The taste thankfully has more going on than the aroma. Dank lemon, crisp tangerine, a nice balance of malt and hop bitterness, and a good amount of earthy pine is in there also. Well done. It reminds me of a lesser version of Enjoy By.

Feel is of a lighter easy drinking beer.

Overall this is a very well done IPA. It drinks nice and easy and has plenty of flavor going on also.

4.14/5 rDev +5.9%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4

Cheers!

 

Sam Adams Oktoberfest is a better representation of the style than Surly's version, IMHO.

I am not kidding when I type that - and I believe I sent you the Surly iteration last fall.

 

Good evening, NBS! I usually try to post earlier in the day but am here today with a nightcap.

I picked this up in Wisconsin earlier this year. Almost a year old and could age a while yet. Only $3 and change, only 40% barrel aged per the label but could easily hold its own against many fully barrel aged and far more expensive BA beers out there. Pitch black, my only gripe yet insignificant is the lack of any meaningful head, just a thin tan cover. Both the nose and palate show all of the yumminess one would want in a BA porter - tons of chocolate, some rye (as it's aged in rye barrels and brewed with rye), vanilla/bourbon and some dark malts. The abv is refreshingly moderate given the style (7.9%) and the mouthfeel is full-bodied & creamy, no booze around. Stealing the wine term, this is one of the best QPR (quality-price ratio) beers I've had in a long while. Definitely recommended.
Cheers!