New Beer Sunday (Week 656)

Islamorada Sandbar Sunday, supporting the locals and hopefully helping get folks back on their feet.
Look: Hazed amber, quite a richer look than taste.
Smell:Wheat with a yeast undertone.
Taste: Really lightbodied. I didn't use a lime wedge as the can suggests, clearly a wheat beer.
Feel: Kind of plain, not smoooth or silky to me, more "just a liquid".
Overall: Easy drinking 6-pak, hot days, yardwork, walking around outside beer. Remember my northern buddies, it's still a 95 degree heat index here
almost everyday. Cheers

 

Good evening NBS, hope everyone is enjoying the end of the weekend once again. Thanks to @lordofthewiens for getting us started off this morning. Had an extra busy week working on 2 vehicle programs, but all of the work is finished up now; so hopefully things are calmer this week. Sure felt like it went by fast though. Not much else going on. Another normal Sunday for me. Just finished up the laundry for the week. A lot of new beers showed up last week, so I will keep reviewing. Review 5800 will be next Sunday. Not sure what it will be just yet, but I got a ton of Barrel aged beers to choose from thanks to last weeks pickups.

New Beers:

This was really great stuff! Great head retention and lacing down the glass as usual. Aromas and flavors of big cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, cardamom, peppercorn, pear, apple, banana, and bubblegum yeast; with moderate wheat, cracker, biscuit malts; herbal/grassy spice and yeast earthiness. Light herbal/grassy bitterness and yeast spiciness on the finish. Medium carbonation/body; great bready/grainy wheat creaminess, and light spice stickiness in the mouthfeel. Slightly increasing bitter/spicy dryness. Extremely flavorful and refreshing. The spices bomb your nose at first, but once it warmed a bit; the balance was awesome between yeast/spices/malts. I am definitely buying this again, perfect for fall. They did a fantastic job at getting some nice classic hefe yeast character going on in here as well. 4


Very good fruit kettle sour. Aromas and flavors of lightly tart/tangy watermelon, cucumber, lemon, lime, pear, green apple, white grape, hay, grass, and light pepper/lacto funk; with balanced wheat, cracker, biscuity pale malts. Light-moderately fruity/lactic tartness; light yeast spiciness and fruit tang on the finish. Medium carbonation/body; bready/grainy wheat creaminess and a fair amount of lactic acid/tangy fruit in the mouthfeel. Light-moderate increasing acidic/tangy fruit dryness; no pucker. No warming ABV. Was expecting some actual Brett character for a beer called FUNK, but whatever that's fine. More acidity would have been cool too; but this was insanely refreshing on drink-ability with the mellow Lacto levels. Not overwhelming on the cucumber notes from the melons. Really enjoyable. 3.78


Fantastic Weizenbock! Great head retention and lacing for the ABV. Aromas and flavors of huge raisin, plum, peach, pear, apricot, red apple, banana, bubblegum, and clove yeast; with balanced caramel, brown sugar, toffee, brown bread, toasted biscuit, and light nutty/roast malt sweetness; with some mild herbal/grassy hops and yeast earthiness. Light herbal bitterness and yeast spiciness on the finish. Fairly full body and medium-high carbonation. Very creamy, bready, silky, and rich mouthfeel. Minimal dryness, no cloying sweetness. Minimal warming 10.5%. Atwater absolutely nailed this shit out of the park on style. Just as great as most highly regarded German ones(though much more alcoholic). Perfectly balanced yeast and malt complexity. Insanely drinkable, dangerous smoothness. Buying a 4 pack this winter. This is 10 months old dated. Really glad they got the new head brewer last year. The quality has just been getting better all the time to me. 4.25


This is like the 7th time I have reviewed a new Jolly Pumpkin on NBS. All Michigan grown ingredients(and yeast from the Dexter air ). This was a fantastic saison! Insane head retention and lasting lacing on the glass. Aromas and flavors of big lightly tart lemon, lime, orange, grapefruit, peach, pear, pineapple, apricot, red apple, melon, white wine, peppercorn, pine, oak, hay, straw, herbal, floral, and grass; with moderate wheat, cracker, white bread dough malts; with light leathery/musty funk and yeast earthiness. Moderate peppery yeast spiciness, light-moderate pine/grassy bitterness, and light lactic tartness on the finish. Medium-high carbonation, medium bodied, and moderately crisp. Balanced bready/grainy malt, yeast/hop stickiness; light oak tannins/acidity in the mouthfeel. Moderately increasing bitter/spicy yeast dryness; no hop/tannic oak astringency. Zero warming ABV, 7.1%. This is refreshing as hell! Classic JP funk and saision yeast character; with nice Cascade/Chinook hop and oak barrel presence. Balancing Pils/Spelt/Munich malts, no residual sweetness. JP has been on fire with amazing new releases this year. Just absolutely killing it on saisons. 4.28


Cheers, have a good evening NBS!

 

Meant for WBAYDN. Sorry. Got catried away there.

 

New Beer Sunday: A new Belgian-style Strong Dark Ale

Evenin’ NBSers, with compliments to custodians of cellared beers. Also special thanks to @lordofthewiens for today’s nostalgia-filled start up.

Well the weather here today was partly sunny but with temps in the 80s and a good bit of humidity. This put a bit of a limit on outdoor chores, but lots of things got done anyway.

This evening’s new Beer is a 2+ year old bottle of the Weyerbacher 20th Anniversary beer. As some folks already know, Weyerbacher, up in Easton PA, built their business mostly on high ABV beers that strike a positive note with many of their customers. I only ever found one bottle of this particular beer, and based on my other experiences with other Weyerbacher beers I felt it was safe to just let it rest for couple of years in the bottle since so many of their big beers age very well.

As usual, my review, in progress until the beer is finished, can be found here:

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/392/173174/?ba=drtth#review

This is a nice BSDA style beer, with lots of the right bases touched. The aromas and flavors are rich in dark fruit, mostly plums, figs and raisins. There is lots of caramel sweetness and some light spice and licorice showing. The mouthfeel seems spot on, and the aromas/flavors show lots of both complexity and subtlety. I’d say it has held up to the aging and shows well compared to some of the Belgian brewed BSDAs that I’ve enjoyed.

So tonight’s original cast recording is My Fair Lady and included in the cast of that show are Rex Harrison, Julie Andrews and Robert Coote.

The Rain in Spain

Cheers, all!

 

It was a pretty busy Sunday. Seems like summer is back in Michigan. Don't like it, give me 60's again!
The kids and I rode our bikes to the park while the wife was at a baby shower, made some good progress on a dog pen fence, grilled and even managed to watch an almost no-hitter ( 8 and 2/3 innings!) for the Tigers. I'd call this a successful day.
What do I open on a hot and humid day? A bourbon barrel aged imperial stout of course!



I'm a Burial fanboy. Been one since the beginning. This was given to me by my Asheville friend who happens to be the guy who did the outside bar mural. On to the review!
2017 750ml bottle, poured into tulip. Split with Mrs Strohme2. Poured a deep, dark brown, you could say it's black.
Off white fluffy and large bubbled head, lasting and lacing. The nose is malted milk ball, coffee with milk and sugar, char and oak.
Milk chocolate, sweetened cold press coffee, oak, bourbon, coconut and oats fill my mouth. Licorice and anise make a small appearance too. The base beer is full of coffee, here, not as much. I'd like a bigger bourbon and wood presence too.
The body is silky smooth with a drying finish. My only complaint is it's a tad thin. Too bad for this stout.
Overall this beer is wonderful. Glad to have tried.

 

Started a little later this Sunday with my Packers playing tonight. Figured I'll need to drink some with 3/4th the offensive line out, on the road, opening a new stadium...

Grand Teton American Sour 2015 from @MFMB



4.18/5 rDev -0.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

Poured from an 11.2 ounce bottle.

Pours a bright gold with a small white head that dissipated very quickly.

Definitely can smell the wine on the nose. Also notice some wild fermentation with a bit of oak.

There is a sweetness in the beginning that ends up fading into a white wine and grape flavor.

At first I notice some slight carbination, but in the end, the dryness stands out. The tartness helps you enjoy this one slowly.

A very nice sour. The wine really adds to the flavor. For me this is a sipper, but I mean that in the best way.

 

Wow brought a 4pak of this beer back with me from LI today. Excited to try it even though you report little impact from the seaweed. I am a seaweed lover so was hoping for more than just a bit of salt in the finish. It's in fridge, will be back inna bit.

 

Thank you, @lordofthewiens, for that rousing start to this magnificent thread. Today I have a couple of beers to offer, an IPA and a ginormous stout (shocker, I know). First though, another tale of a college drinking game .....

I went to IU-Bloomington in the early '80s, and participated in all the drinking shenanigans that college students are wont to try, including the game of quarters, which is really simple. Bounce a quarter in a cup, and make someone take a drink of beer. Good ol' college fun, we had a group of guys and girls that played fairly regularly, and we all got varying degrees of good - and drank a lot of cheap beer.

Junior year, a guy I shared a house with off-campus (6 guys total in the house) came back from summer break with a new drinking game: Quarter Horse. Also a relatively simple game, it's actually a team game where competing teams (typically 4 players per team) have a relay race, trying to drop quarters into a series of glasses ..... by clenching the quarter between their, um, derriere cheeks, waddling across the floor, then simultaneously squatting and unclenching the derriere cheeks.

If they made the shot, they chugged their glass of beer and returned with the quarter to the next team member. If they missed, they had to return to the start line, re-clench, re-waddle, and re-drop until they made the shot. The first team to have all their team members make their shots and chug their beers won. The other team ..... well, they chugged, too, so were there really any losers? I say no.

The game looked like this .....



We were a bit better than the person in the video, and we didn't call it "Butt Quarters," but it was the same game. We even elevated it, adding in an obstacle course version (try walking up a flight of stairs with a quarter clenched between your ..... derriere cheeks) and a marathon version (100 yards down a street - did this version on a city street in Chicago, I've never sweated more in my life). I was a true Quarter Horse Triathlete, something I am celebrated for in our group of college friends to this day. I am very proud, and I'm sure my Mom would be proud, too.

Or maybe not.

And, if any of you ever meet me and Mrs. O ..... she played, too. Once.

She was not very good. Do NOT tell her you know.

On to the beer!!!



4.1/5 rDev +7.9%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

I've loved Oskar Blues since I tried Dale's Pale Ale a number of years back on a trip to Texas, and this beer is another I'm really enjoying. The pour is a rich burnt orange, nearly clear, with a very light tan head. The nose is all fruit - exotic (Yuzu), tropical (Ugli), and some dank notes.

The taste is a fruit cornucopia - berries, oranges, pineapple, grapefruit, and a touch of malt. Spectabulous.

I wish I'd purchased this fresher (it's 3 months old), but it's still a crushable summer IPA. Oskar Blues is world-class, IMHO.

 

The first batch of this was released in Canada,
the second batch saw some kegs come over the border,
and the 3rd batch finally showed up in 16 oz. cans.
Canned on the 5th of September, 2017.



Moderate pour yields a 1/2 inch white head over very hazy deep golden body with some nice lacing. Head is almost gone in a few minutes with a persistent ring with the head coming back after a swirl or two. Very nice nose of tropical fruit. Wonderful taste of said fruit with very forgiving bitterness and finishing semi-dry with a slight citrus pith. Delicious! Nice feel for a haze bomb such as this and overall, a very nice offering from our friends up north, eh?

4.31/5 rDev +3.1%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25

 

Stone Corral's Oktoberfest:



The aroma had a swift sweet nutty glazed bready to biscuit tone to it. Light honey, white bread, a little bit of wheat bread, clean caramel/toffee malts, acceptable amount of diacetyl and ended with a touch of earthiness.
The flavor moderately leaned into the sweetness of the malts - combining the honey to the bread to the wheatiness and caramel/toffee malts. Sly nuttiness. Aftertaste was a crisp nutty smooth caramel/toffee maltiness.
The mouthfeel was about medium bodied, perhaps just a touch under with a fair sessionability about it. Carbonation felt fine. ABV felt spot on. Finish had a touch of stickiness, but wasn't cloying.
Overall, it's a very well brewed Oktoberfest to me. Definitely one that I would love to have again. However, I'm trying to figure out if that "wheatiness" was me or intentional by the brewer since I'm not used to getting that flavor in this style.

 

A delicious review! And when asked "What is your favorite movie?", I respond, "My Fair Lady." Excellent on so many levels...I envy your listening choice tonight!

 

Clown Shoes Undead Party Crasher, 10% ABV, 80 IBU. Pours thick and black with a middle finger of tan head which left decent lacing. Nose is roast malt, coffee, and chocolate. Taste follows, with perhaps a drop of licorice/anise, and a moderate bitter close. As it warms, the chocolate/cocoa really comes out. Excellent mouthfeel, overall outstanding.

 

Been a busy weekend now I am ready to sit and review some beers. This pours a hazy orange with a solid finger gplus sticky white head that leaves plenty of thin wisps of lace behind and bottled on 8/12/17. 4.25

Smell is guava, apricot, Mellon, pine, and grapefruit rind, with a tiny hint of habenero. 4

Taste follows guava,apricot, honey dew, peppers, pine, and grapefruit very well balanced all around. 4

Mouthfeel is a big medium, moderate life, not really dry as it looks and drinks New England style with a touch of heat, and easy drinking at 8% ABV. 4.25

Overall this is a slightly different, easy drinking, and totally balanced DIPA, that only has a whisker of heat and leaves wanting to take another sip. 4

 

"My Fair Lady" is one I revisit fairly often as well.

Until I committed to listening to every original cast recording I could find in my own or borrow from the library of friends, I hadn't paid much attention to just how many musicals there have been that have something to offer.

 

#2, the aforementioned ginormous stout .....



4.33/5 rDev +1.6%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25

Nearly jet black pour, tan head, zero light coming through the edges. The nose is full of huge char and dark chocolate notes, a smidge of vanilla - and a tart note, like cherries. I did NOT expect that in this beer.

The taste is exquisite, with the vanilla coming forward more to complement the char and dark chocolate notes, and the tart flavor is present, too, but there's literally no detectable alcohol until you let this sit in the very back of your palate for a minute, and even then, it is minimal. How is that possible in a 16.5% ABV beer?

DFH skates ALL around the extreme edges of the beer nerd world, and this beer is another example of that. I'm glad I have a couple of bottles to age, because I think this will evolve in a magnificent way.

 

Was Julie's singing overdubbed in the film? What you posted was devine!

 

It was dubbed but not by Julie Andrews. If memory serves it was a soprano named Marni Nixon, but I'd have to look it up to be sure.

 

Julie had a beautiful voice, but I understood the studio dubbed someone else in...something to look up while dinner simmers. Thanks!

 

The drinking game we payed during my college/post college years was taken from a Sam and Max comic: Fizzball!

The main rule was that it had to be played with cheap evil-smelling beer, which was plentiful in those days .

Here's what it looked like in action, thanks to some nice YouTubers-


Tonight's beer is far from cheap and evil-smelling, and it comes to me by way of @Premo88

Real Ale Hans' Pils

It smells divine, actually. Lots of sweet biscuity Pilsner malt interwoven beautifully with abundant grassy/spicy (lime peel, even) noble hops. The mouthfeel is smooth and milky, while the flavors carry over from the aroma. It's initially sweet and malty, yet finishes nice and dry with a substantial and lingering smack of clean bitterness. Beautifully made beer that gets better the more you have. Loving it! Solid A (4.4) Thanks again, Robert, and I may be needing some more of this .