New Beer Sunday (Week 654)

Good morning Doc! Wonderful start to NBS as usual. Cheers and I am just about to post my new beer for today. Be back in about two minoots!

 

Took me awhile to get around to this one, primarily because it wasn't available here until recently . . .


Score 4.12
look: 4 | aroma: 3.75 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

Beautiful clear deep amber gold color with bountiful cap and good lacing.

Aroma of a floral garden located in the midst of a citrus grove. There's a touch of conifer in the background but that may be my imagination. There is a muted heavier presence which I presume is the malt.

Surprisingly malty on entry. I say surprising because I was really expecting a hop hit first but that didn't happen until the liquid nectar hit the back of my tongue where hops spring forth in a most pleasant way. Hop muscles are being flexed but it's more like runners than wrestlers, a light, smooth flowing of hop flavor that builds up to but does not cross over into bitterness. I could drink this all day but at 7.2% don't know how far I'd get.

Full bodied malt texture that is substantial without being heavy and enough carbonation to keep things balanced.

Perfect swing and a hole in one, this is an outstanding brew. Complex, well crafted, beautifully balanced, think I'll have another.

 

Cheers you all and Happy New Beer Sunday.

Once upon a time, I became enamored of grains of paradise because of Sam Adams and their coastal wheat beer. Their new case is a dunkelweizen, a bohemian pilsner and an oktoberfest. When I saw it I literally thought "that's my kind of case!"

I did try the oktoberfest and I was disappointed. They are using a blend of malt to create the right color for the beer but that is pretty obvious when you drink it. The caramel and crystal malts are not too awful sweet but they do not have the same breaddiness or depth and the middle of the beer seems thin this year but not too sweet like years prior. So I like it better. The beer is slightly toasty but it just does not have the flavor or mouthfeel of the true oktoberfest.

Happy New That's My Kind of Case Sunday! I am making leek stuffed mushrooms to go with this Bohemian Pilsner.





The Bohemian pilsner is the reason I bought the case. The beer pours very well with a golden amber body and a good fat head of white foam that lasts. Bright. They are using a blend of malts in this beer as well and you can tell by the color as well as the flavor. The color is very amber , and somewhat dark. In my video it's the first thing I say - "This is not too dark." The pilsner made with all pils malt is gold, like a gold bar. That color looks thicker than other beers made without the malts that give yellow color to beer. I think that would be the two row pale or whatever else is in their blend. The hops are hersbrucker, herkules, madarina bavaria and hallertau mittlefruh. The nose is wonderful! It's not outright crusty bread but it's a good breaddy malt scent. Like white bread with a mild or light crust. The hops are light and cool on the nose. Minty. The floral is a simple softness not too sharp. Hersbrucker are grassy. No off scents. Drinks well but finishes a bit sluggish. The flavor is fantastic. The hops do not dominate, the middle is malty not hoppy and the finish is the place where they twinkle a bit and show you the earthy spice form the hallertau. That soft almost woody flavor is why I love them. The beer is dry not sweet but as you swallow it's a little slow to go down. The bitterness is balanced and a touch stronger than a lighter lager. It lasts a little on the tip of your tongue but does not take over the middle or the finish. I wonder if their blend of malt contains a little caramel or crystal malt? Maybe that could be the reason for the slower finish. This was excellent and I hope that they continue to make this beer. Cheers you all and lets make this a Two Beer Sunday even if it's the same beer!

 

Morning. Three little birds. Three little morning birds!

 

Nicely done, both the mushrooms and the hiding of the can behind the glass. I saw the beer with the can hidden in the other thread first and it looked so cool, but here you showed us how you did the magic trick, nice!

 

Do you want to know a Secret!?!

Firstly: Happy Labor Day weekend everybody!!

Today’s new beer is exciting in many ways!! It is my first beer ever from Lone Pine Brewing Company of Portland, Maine. It is also the first time I have tasted a beer that featured Vic Secret hops.

A little bit about Lone Pine Brewing: They are located in Portland, Maine. That’s all that I can say about them. I went to their website and clicked on the About icon to find:

“We are an ever-evolving work in progress.”

It would seem that these Lone Pine folks think they should let their beers do the talking. I kinda like that approach.

So, let’s talk a little bit about Vic Secret hops. I am not very familiar with these hops. In my homebrewing I have never used them and to be more forthcoming I have never even thought about brewing with them.

Below is a write-up I found via a quick web search:

“Vic Secret™

Australian Flavour

CULTIVAR NUMBER

00-207-013

ABOUT VIC SECRET™

Vic Secret™ is our new budding star. While she’s been seen in seasonal and collaboration brews since 2011, she has now joined our headline hops with her first commercial production in 2013. Lighter and less dominant than Galaxy™, yet there is still more than enough character for Vic Secret™ to embellish the world of beer flavour.

BREW TIPS

The clean, distinct fruit and pine characters of Vic Secret™ are best accessed by dry hopping or whirlpool additions. Late kettle additions have been found to impart a pleasant earthy character, but little fruit. She has very high levels of alpha acid so brewers may find it easier to craft the right balance in their beer by dry hopping.

HOP STORY

Vic Secret’s™ story began when she was developed from a seedling created in Victoria in 2000. She actually shares the same mother and father as her sister Topaz. She breezed through the selection program with strong growth and yield, until 2010 when the first brewing trials were conducted.

Initial trial brewing was conducted with Vic Secret™ as a kettle addition late in the boil. Given the seductive aroma of the raw hops, the resulting pleasant earthy character was a little underwhelming. However, it was in the 2011 Bridge Road Harvest green hop beer that she revealed her true character with extraordinary clean passionfruit and pineapple flavours with a light background of herbs and piney resin. Put to the test in Australia and overseas, she has shown us that whirlpool and dry hop additions result in the best flavour pickup.

Seeing her potential, we then propagated several thousand plants from our original experimental plots, planted them out at Rostevor, and waited patiently while they have grown to maturity for their first commercial harvest in 2013.”

http://www.hops.com.au/products/vic-secret-

Well, I personally found that discussion interesting.

Let’s see how well the brewers of Maine capture the essence of this Down Under hop.

Served in my Gulden Draak tulip glass:

Appearance:

Pours a turbid orange color with a white head.

Aroma:

Wow! There is a complex set of hop aromas here. A significant amount of citrus (reminds me of a creamsicle), mango and other tropical fruit flavors. Just a tiny hint of pine.

Taste:

The flavors follows the nose: a tasty combination of citrus & tropical fruit with again just a bit of pine. There is a substantial bitterness to the beer!!

Mouthfeel:

A nice soft/creamy body with an off-dry finish.

Overall:

I find this beer to be very good. At first I was a bit put-off by the substantial bitterness of this beer but by the mid-point of drinking this pint of beer I started to really enjoy drinking it. I find this to be a complex, intriguing and enticing beer.

The creamsicle aspect is reminding me that summer is soon coming to an end and I do enjoy eating creamsicles. Hopefully there will be one last creamsicle of the summer for me either later today or tomorrow.

Cheers!

@KOP_Beer_OUtlet @rotsaruch @chipawayboy @Seacoastbrewer @RobH

 

Greetings today from Phoggy Philadelphia! The wife and I are roadtripping this week, seeing Independece Hall and the Liberty Bell this morning and having a real cheesesteak for lunch. New beers to come shortly after that, heading to Ardmore to try Tired Hands for the first time.

 

Howdy, NBSers!

That was the craziest week I've had in years. The best part: No family or friends living in the Texas Gulf Coast region were hurt in the Hurricane Harvey mess, and only a couple have had any house or property damage of note. Huevos the Puppy Dog also made it home safely to Houston, and his home sustained only a couple of electrical issues that already have been fixed.

Harvey didn't bother us much in Bryan-College Station. The 50-hour soak caused a problem or two around town, but by Friday you'd have hardly known it rained. A friend coaxed me out for golf that morning before work, and it was shocking how dry the course was. Where did all that water go? Too bad we couldn't take on some of Rockport's or Houston's or Beaumont's water ... or Wharton's close to my childhood hometown.

I made a Saturday dinner break run for half growler fills, and I started the party earlier Sunday while most of you good clean BAs were dreaming of fresh IPAs and aged stouts.

Got into this New American Brown Ale around 1 a.m.:



Blackwater Draw's Brewjeria Pecan Brown Ale

Loaded with wood notes (oak, pecan wood), Brewjeria pours beautifully, a bright red that's mostly clear and topped with a thick creamy head of beige foam. The first whiff of aroma is bourbon ... or a bourbon barrel-aged stout ... but that disappears and a thick woody note takes over. It's earthy and even like charred/burnt wood, but hints of sweeter notes peek in and help balance it. Vanilla, pecan pie, even cinnamon rolls. That's the nose. The flavor is more in line with the wood, fewer sweet notes, and at times it gets earthy enough to have a peat quality. Never wee heavy levels of peat, but it's earthy, and the aftertaste of earthy wood/charred wood lingers and lingers.

Oh ... the mouthfeel. Because the head lasts forever, you end up drinking the first few sips through that sucker, and it's the fluffiest, creamiest mouthfeel of all times. Really cool. The beer keeps only a small collar once the head dissipates, so that phenomenon doesn't last long, but it's cool while it does.

The review:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/33495/278513/?ba=Premo88#review
3.93 (0% rDev — just two ratings overall so far)

I like the beer quite a bit. It's pretty woody — some would say too woody — but it was tasty enough that the half growler went down easy. It reminds me of (512)'s pecan porter; it lacks that porter sweetness and the variety of notes (512)'s masterpiece possesses, but still the similarity is there.

Hope you girls and boys got/get something good in your glasses today!

Cheers!

 

Ha, good one.

 

My Sunday new beer is an Iowa release only (thank you @Number1Framer !), Toppling Goliath's "Morning Delight", a stout brewed with maple syrup and coffee:



Pours black with a ruby edge, but no clarity under cinnamon tan foam



which reduces to a dark mocha coloured tight knit cap



with heavy ring; good cap retention; moderately heavy lacing; some legs. 4.75

The aroma of maple syrup fills the room upon dislodging the cap; chocolate fudge and roasted coffee beans follow. 4.75



Maple syrup, caramel, semi sweet dark chocolate, coffee, chocolate fudge, roasted nuts, pecans, dark fruit tartness, cherries, plums, brown sugar and maple candy finish; no hint of the 12% abv. 5.0

Creamy, almost full body; velvety smooth, lite syrupy tongue coating; cocoa powdery dryness on finish; feels like fluffy pancakes smothered in maple syrup. 4.75

Overall, excellent balance of flavors - bitter roast coffee, brown sugar and maple syrup sweetness, bittersweet dark chocolate and tart cherries and prunes; cocoa nib, roast coffee linger; and maple syrup from beginning to end. 4.75

An amazing stout that didn't feel or taste adjuncty. Funny, my 21 year old woke up and came out of his room a few minutes ago, walked into the kitchen and asked me if I had made pancakes. I said, "No, why?". He replied that he smelled maple syrup...one hour after I opened the bottle and poured my glass in the next room!



Maple is not my favorite flavor; however, this stout is as advertised without being cloying or overpowering in any one flavor department. Plenty of coffee and chocolate notes, but finding tart fruit sealed the win for me. World class!

Have a great Sunday BAs!

 

Nicely described. Makes me thirsty for a beer already, even while drinking my coffee. That beer has been one of my favorites since the first time I tried it (more than a year or two ago ).

 

The weather should be better as the day goes on and tomorrow is expected to be close to ideal. BTW, if you like historic areas, don't miss Elfreth's Alley if you have a bit of walking time on your hands--a gem to see.

 

Good morning New BSers! First of all, thanks to @lordofthewiens for today's opening salvo and for showing me a new beer I've got to find, and to Maria for the new SA stuff and her most excellent FOOD ****, and to @JakeScully for a new Morte Subite (to me, at least), to @JackHorzempa for his always insightful analysis and review, and to @Beersnake1 for showing me a new bottle style for Yellow Rose. @Premo88, I'm glad everyone made it through Harvey relatively unscathed - my brother and his family in the New Braunfels area survived OK as well.

Well, it's been a while since I've posted on either NBS or WBAYDN. I've spent the majority of August on a ladder scraping paint and painting my son's house. Hanging on the top of a 30 foot ladder isn't conducive to prepping with a volume of alcohol so my morning routine of breakfast beer, bagel and lox, and chips and salsa, had to change. Now, I'm within a week of completion, working my way along the LEVEL back of the house and yesterday and today it's raining and cold so I NEED this winter warmer! I kind of have to finish up soon because Mrs. Lizard and I are trying to get to Scotland before the snow flies and before I have to ship for NBS BIF #6. Just in case, that's a b-r-o-a-d hint on what beers I may be shipping and does anyone other than me like haggis?

However, today's NBS entry is:

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$ 16.95/750 mL bottle including discount and tax ($ 0.630/oz) at Oppermann’s Cork ‘N’ Ale, Saginaw, MI.
2015 vintage bottle, 2463 of 3300, stored at 42 degrees and served at 60 degrees in a hand washed and dried Jester King snifter.
Aroma – caramel malt, a hint of oak. The caramel fades but lasts, the oak is ephemeral.
Head – average (Maximum 2.5 cm, aggressive pour), high density, off white to tan, good retention diminishing to a one to two mm ring and partial layer. Head retraction leaves some clots and scars of tiny-bubbled lacing.
Lacing – other than that from the initial head retraction, none.
Body – medium brown, initially opaque. Chill haze lessens and the opaqueness diminishes to translucence.
Flavor – initially, caramel and toffee, sweet, followed by an alcohol burn. Allowing it to warm in my mouth releases massive carbonation but otherwise doesn’t affect the flavor. The bourbon barrel is conspicuous by its absence. No hops, no diacetyl.
Palate – medium to full, creamy, soft carbonation.

Not the best barley wine I’ve had, but still very drinkable.

Appearance 3.25, Aroma 3.75, Flavor 3.75, Palate 3.75, Overall 3.75. Rating 3.72, -7%.

 

A-An amber cherry redness with a little head and no lacing.
S-A slight hint of sour cherry.
T-Very light with a hint of sour cherry, no depth and not much character to this beer.
M-Light and refreshing with a little tartness.
O-A decent light refreshing tarty summer type beer.

 

Tannen Zapfle Pils from Rothaus this morning. My son has just returned from 8 weeks in Germany and I have been seeking out vicarious tastings. This one is very good.

-clear pale gold bottle pour with 1 cm foam cap. Initial aroma is one whiff of hop, then sweet malt. The flavor is biscuit and slightly sweeter than many pilseners, with a pleasant touch of hop bitterness. The finish is crisp and dry. This is a wonderful pils.

 

Thanks to @lordofthewiens for the great start to NBS today. Will be back later on with a new brew.

Cheers!