New Beer Sunday (Week 655)

Happy Sunday NBSers! Before I get to the beer I just want to share a funny text exchange I had with a buddy in Tampa.


Today's new beer is an interesting collaboration that started almost 2 years ago between our own Brandon Jones, the ETF guru at Yazoo, and Jackie O's. Here is the description:
"Collaboration between Yazoo and Jackie Os. A dark strong base ale brewed with Ohio harvested spicebush berries then fermented with a blend of each brewery's house mixed sour cultures. Aged in Chattanooga whiskey barrels and conditioned on black currants and blackberries. A beer born from friendship, admiration and collaboration." What are the odds of two new beers with spicebush berries (see @Dragginballs76 earlier today) in one NBS?


A really interesting and unique beer. it was a muddy reddish-brown on the pour with a short-lived frothy pink/tan head. Really murky in the glass. Bright and complex aromas: raisiny up front with subtle whiskey, oak, faint berries, cherries, and a hard to describe spicy quality (from the spicebush, I suppose). Slightly tart fruit (currants, blackberries) was front and center on the first sip, but enveloped with supporting notes from the barrel, the malt, and earthy, hard-to-describe spicy notes. Slightly warm on the finish and slightly dry, with the spiciness on the finish. Very enjoyable. I'm glad I picked up more than one of these. Cheers, and hang in there Floridians!

 

4.2/5 rDev -1.2%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25

A: Very dark murky orange body. Minimal head when poured. Small ring of head and a bit of lacing during the actual drinking.

S: Big batch of hops at first smell. Picking up some fruit flavors as well. Nice smell from the glass.

T: The taste mirrors the smells on this one. Mainly hops mixed with orange and grapefruit flavors.

M: Nice mouthfeel coming from this pour. A nice thick pour for a DIPA. Getting a slight burn from the aftertaste.

O: Good flavorful DIPA. Smells and taste were on point, but the appearance was a bit lacking

 

That has to be some kind of record, maybe the spicebush berries are a new fad!!

 

Glad to see your recommendation. I had the option of that, & two others from them. I went with the pils, among other things. (Thought about all-of-the-above, but tried to not get nuts with it.) Will be back with that later. Maybe I'll go back for Week 52 tomorrow? Anyway, it's on the list for next time.

 

Happy NBS! Hope y'all are having a good one. (or 5 : P )

Somehow have never had this one. Could drink this all day, if there weren't so many others to try. : ) It leans towards light & dry side of marzen. (I did pour some in a clear glass for better analysis.)


4.06/5 rDev +9.4%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4

Pours clear gold, with ample white head & lacing.

Aroma is bready malt, with a damp, slightly sweet, floral note.

Flavor follows nose, finishing with a light, pleasant bitterness.

Feel is smooth, and slightly creamy, with very fine carbonation. Still, comes across as moderately crisp, overall.

Overall, a nice, easy-drinking-all-day kind of beer. Seems like a slightly sweet pils, in its lightness, and crispness, rather than the usual(in my experience) Oktoberfest's emphasis on deep maltiness. I would like this anytime, not just late summer/fall. : )

 

Wow! Great pic!

 

Damn!!! I guess that's an example of, "Game On!"

 

Apparently nothing stops golf.

 

Happy NBS everyone!

Today's New beer is Brix City In Blind Sight

It's a double IPA brewed with Citra and Glaxey hops

Beer Specs
In Blind Sight" - 7.5% DDH DIPA w/ Galaxy + Citra. This beer was brewed with a combo of Malted and Flaked Oats and Dry Hopped at the highest rate we've ever done. Huge notes of Pineapple, Melon and Citrus are followed by a smooth and creamy finish.

My Thoughts
Haze for daze on this one. Beer looks like juice in the glass. Burnt orange in color with a solid 2-3 finger head that dissipates. Tons of ripe tropical fruits in the aroma but also a massive amount of dankness. Also getting that "Cat Pea" aroma that citra has been known for. Taste follows the nose but has a much more pronounced bitterness than I would have been lead to believe, which is awesome and very welcoming. Mouthfeel is certainly creamy and smooth, body is med to full. Artwork on the can is awesome. Overall this beer is great, and a great example of the New England style. Dont sleep on Brix City!

Cheers!

 

I need Mr Rodgers to do well. This is my first stab ever at Fantasy Football.

 

Brother in law and sister visited Night Shift a couple weeks ago and I asked them to bring me back some singles of some of the beers that I have not had. Skipped getting Morph, whirlpool, santilli. Instead I opted for he ones that I have not tried yet. I have had a few so far.
I thought Krush, Gutenbier, and Cul-de-sac were all good. However, this might be my favorite. I still have a hefe and saison downstairs to try as well from night shift. I have never had a roggenbier before, but am rating this mostly on enjoyment.

Review:
Looks reddish brown, with big white head. Smell bread, chocolate mostly. Taste is chocolately bread with sme dark fruit. Starts slightly sweet but ends dry. High carbonation. A nice sipper at only 4.7% ABV. This is.my first Roggenbier and really enjoyed it. I think its a great beer. 4.29 score. Do not get much rye character...

 

First of likely several contributions to this great thread. Many thanks to @cjgiant for getting things started. Loving the return of football. Pokes look good, Niners not so much, wanted more out of the Buckeyes last night against the Sooners.

Beers are from recent family-related trip to OR. CRAZY amounts of smoke coming/going. For those that have driven I5 between OR/CA, do you ever remember a time where you couldn't view Black Butte which sits adjacent to I5? This was a first for me. Hoping the seasons change quick with some precip to help with the fires.

Lastly, wishing the people dealing with hurricanes lots of strength and patience!

Beer 1 is my first beer from Matchless, courtesy of John's Marketplace (phenomenal bottle shop). Voss IPA is done in NE-style. Plenty of haze, with quite possibly the best head retention I've ever had from a NE-style beer. Plenty of citrus with some complimentary tropical and earthy notes. Good mouthfeel, mild bitterness and some astringency. I'd happily grab again. Complete rating link, overall BA score of 4.16.



Beer #2 is also courtesy of John's Marketplace, Reuben's Summer IPA. Date unknown, the beer is a bright and light IPA appropriate for it's name. While I did enjoy the brew, I think the 6.5% ABV would have me looking for something a bit lighter if targeting a lake/river/lawnmower beer. While the can indicated citrus prominence, I actually found it to be more floral forward for my palate and preferences. As intended the beer is very easy drinking. Complete review link, overall BA score = 3.82.

 

Happy New American Impy Stout Sunday!

Surprised on the temps today on the hike about 79, cloudy, some rain drops. NBS BIF #6 fully loaded now. Having a very tasty brew I picked up on-line back around Feb. Done very nicely! Watching alittle bit of NFL, MLB, CSI:Miami. Picked up some chicken tacos on the way home.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/16866/121692/?ba=Wasatch#review

Cheers!

 

Good evening NBS, hope everyone is enjoying the end of the weekend once again. Thanks to @cjgiant for getting us started off this morning. Had my usual errands of bottle returns and laundry done for the day. I scraped most of the ice out of the bottom of my keezer. Kegged the Irish red ale I brewed 2 weeks ago this afternoon, and also ran line cleaner through my draft lines for the first time since I built my keezer (3 years ago). They really didn't look dirty at all, but I figured I should still do it. Gravity sample tasted great, and it ended at 5.6% exactly as predicted in my Brewtoad recipe calculation.

Made another nice beer haul yesterday as I was running low on stuff to review again. Got a case of singles and a few bombers. I have been keeping a great review pace this year. Review 5800 will be in about 2 weeks, and I will definitely surpass 6000 by the new year(provided I can keep finding new beers)

Today's Reviews:

Really nice Gose. Fantastic head retention/lacing for the style. Aromas and flavors of big tart lemon, key lime, citrus peel, pear, apple, white grape, coriander, sea salt, and pepper; with balanced wheat, cracker, white bread malts; herbal/grassy spice and yeast earthiness. Light-moderate fruity/lactic tartness; light fruit tang, yeast spiciness, and herbal/grassy bitterness on the finish. Light-medium bodied and fairly crisp; balanced bready/grainy wheat and lactic acid in the mouthfeel; fairly saline with spice stickiness as well. Light-moderate increasing tart/bitter/spicy dryness. Never puckering/astringent. Very flavorful for 4.1%. Refreshingly drinkable with modest acidity. Not a ton of Lacto, but definitely adequate for the style. This had a really great vibrancy on the key lime additions, and they fit perfectly with the base style. Really spot on execution here. 3.93


Delicious American blonde! Great head retention and lacing down the glass. Flavors of big lemon, peach, pear, apple yeast; with honey, wheat, cracker, biscuit, white bread dough malt sweetness; mild herbal, grassy, peppery noble hops and yeast earthiness. Similar but muted aromas. Light herbal, grassy, spicy hop bitterness on the finish. Medium carbonation/body and fairly crisp; nice bready/grainy wheat creaminess and light sticky hops in the mouthfeel. Lightly increasing bitter dryness, no hop astringency. Very refreshing and flavorful, 5.4%. Seriously spot on stuff for the style. Nice rich malt flavors, balancing hops, and a characterful yeast profile that is well restrained. Big fan of this brewery so far. Got a couple others I grabbed this weekend. Very quality stuff. Will buy again in the future. 3.88


Very nice sour. Murky as hell looking, but good head retention. Ruby/purple/brown color. Aromas and flavors of big tart/sour cherries, fruit skin/pits, raspberry, plum, apricot, peach, pear, green apple, red grape, red wine, and almond; with balanced wheat, cracker, toasted bread malts; light hay, grass, musty/lacto funk, and pepper. Light-moderate fruity/lactic tartness; light yeast spiciness and fruit tang on the finish. Medium carbonation/body and fairly crisp; bready/grainy wheat, fairly acidic, and lightly tangy/tannic fruit in the mouthfeel. Lightly drying from fruit tang/acidity. Never puckering. Refreshingly drinkable. Was expecting more on the lines of Prairies funky series, but this is just a kettle sour with a shit ton of cherry flavor presence. No Brett to be seen here. Very authentic fruit taste. Very nice for what it is. Only improvement (to me) would be to increase the lactic acidity to higher levels; but it is well balanced between bready sweet malts and acidity as it stands. Great flavor balance all around. 3.87


New brewery to me, Tripel Root from Zeeland Michigan. I am the first review and rating. Super fresh 6/2017 bottling. Awesome Tripel! Great head retention/lacing for the style. Aromas and flavors of bit lemon, orange, peach, pear, apricot, red apple, peppercorn, clove, and light banana/bubblegum yeast; with moderate cracker, biscuit, light honeyed malts; some herbal/grassy noble hops and yeast earthiness. Moderate peppery yeast spiciness, and light herbal/grassy bitterness on the finish. Medium-high carbonation, medium bodied, and fairly crisp; balanced bready/grainy Pils malts and yeast/hop stickiness in the mouthfeel. Light-moderate increasing bitter/spicy and carbonated dryness. No astringent flavors. Insanely smooth sipping, minimal warming 10%. This is absolutely spot on for a Tripel. Not too sweet/heavy for the ABV. Perfectly balanced flavors. Awesome yeast complexity, just enough noble hops for bitter balance. I love this. Tripels will always be a top favorite style. 4.15


Cheers, have a good evening NBS!

 

Beer two as I watch my Packers struggle to score. Wouldn't have guessed they'd be relying on defense here.



Surly Rising North Pale Ale

3.38/5 rDev -12.2%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

Poured from a 16 ounce can dated 7/6/17.

Pours a thicker orange with a slight white head that lingers.

Not much of a smell at all. Notice a little pine but it's nothing too overwhelming.

Taste has a little citrus on the front end, but the malt on the back end was much more noticeable and lasting.

This was a little thicker than the pales ales I've had recently as it tastes a little heavier.

Overall a nice beer. Not at the top tier of Surly beers, but that's a pretty high bar. I like the cross-marketing with the soccer team as I could definitely see myself having a few of these at a match.

 

Highly recommend it, am on can number 3 and it just gets better and better. Wish I woulda bought another 4.

 

Heavy Seas Blackbeard's Breakfast a Bourbon Barrel Coffee Imp Porter. Didn't live up to my expectations; 3.56 overall

Pours an effervescent ebony with a pinky of caramel colored head with an awesome creamy look.

S: Coffee, not much else

T: Cofffee, a touch of Bourbon, caramel & dryness up front. Dryness, charred grain, & coffee as this warms & a little bit of figs & raisin. Finishes oaky dry with dark fruit & coffee, vague Bourbon notes

MF: Medium body, slight carbonation, thins a bit as it warms

Drinks alright, was hoping for way better with this one. The barrel aspect really didn't really shine

 

Discovered that I had another new beer in my fridge! Cheers NBSers..



This one is a blackberry/raspberry Berliner weissbier from Deciduous Brewing in Newmarket, NH. This is the first canned beer I've had from them. Pours with a large pinkish-white head that deteriorates to a quarter-finger in my glass. No lace is apparent, but I do love the opaque red/pink color.

The nose is heavily berry forward as expected, with strong blueberry elements backing up the raspberry and blackberry. Some lemony, yogurty overtones here too with a very prominent lacto base. 6.3% is damn high for this style, though I have overall felt that Deciduous has either been overestimating their ABVs or has had issues with Brett doing work on their beer. This one doesn't really have much wild yeast going on in the nose, so I guess we'll move on to the flavor profile.

On the tongue, this has very convincing fruit aspects with jammy and authentic raspberry and blackberry combining with a wheaty malt profile. I don't pick up any rustic or Brett-like flavors, so that's good. There's some nice lemony twang and solid chewy malt as expected from the style, following through with intense berry elements from the added fruit. Moderately-high sour tang in this one. This is delicious!

Feel is heavier bodied than most fruited sours I've had lately. It has a pulpy, realistic fruit quality to it that lends some heft to the body and mouthfeel. Its mid 6% ABV is somewhat felt. Not the most drinkable Berliner I've had of late, but a very nice one with complex fruit/berry aspects at its core.

 

Based on my life, my friends' lives, and the kind of work I do, my expectations for weddings are subterranean. I avoid them if possible. I have two old friends who have been unfailingly supportive and generous, and invited me to their wedding this weekend. I packed all my emotional baggage and showed up on time.
It was lovely. They avoided all the things in the wedding experience that I find draggy, or offensive, or self-deluded. I saw a dozen other old friends that I had lost contact with. No fights. There was an open bar, but I don't know what they were serving.

Oh right, New Beer Sunday. I haven't had this for awhile, so I am unilaterally declaring it a new beer.
Westbrook Mexican Cake
4.59/5 rDev +4.6% | Avg: 4.39
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
I think I got my bottles of cake in June and it was way too hot for a pepper stout. It took a Class Four hurricane, but it's finally cool enough to enjoy these. After three months this bottle still had plenty of habenero kick. It has a wonderful cocoa cinnamon aroma with a little alcohol tingle. I get vanilla and an assortment of other flavors as it slides across my tongue, and the pepper burn at the back of my throat. I'll also be enjoying a pot of chili to top off the weekend and fortify me for next week.
Cheers!

 

Beer #3, first for me from 3 Magnets. Little Juice IPA, which based on the BA image appears to be their flagship.

Visually a great beer, with tremendous medium density head with good retention. Some aggregated solids on the bottom of the glass appeared fairly quickly. Nose was not necessarily for my preferences. Very floral and earthy, kept feeling like there was a hidden/subtle Allspice aspect, which may have thrown off my whole assessment. My rating link, but I have to wonder if I got an off batch/can. Overall BA rating is 3.65.