What Beer Are You Drinking Now# 1800?

I had a feeling you'd be leading us off.
How was the beer festival?

 

In the spirit of the season, I'm going to drink some Oktoberfests today.
First up:

 

Good morning BA, have a great Sunday! Looking to be a nice day for weather again today. Going to be another normal day for me. Bottle returns and laundry as usual. Probably a couple hours of work before tomorrow as well.

Beer this morning:

Delicious fruit IPA. Flavors of big bright tangerine, red grapefruit, pineapple, passion fruit, mango, melon, lemon zest, orange peel, citrus rind, light pepper, and piney hops; with moderate toasted bread, light caramel malts; and herbal, floral, grassy hop earthiness. Light-moderate pine, citrus rind, grassy, spicy bitterness on the finish. Medium bodied/carbonation; balanced bready/grainy malts, sticky/resinous hops, and citrus rind in the mouthfeel. Moderate increasing resin/rind dryness, no hop/fruit astringency. Very drinkable and not too aggressive. I can't say I prefer this much more over the base beer; but it is a lot more vibrant, tropical, and dank on hop/fruit flavors. Definitely a more modern hop bill. Base beer is heavy on peppery/resiny Columbus hop character instead. Will pick up again, as with the base beer.


Always amazing, this is my favorite shelf BBA stout of all time. Flavors of milk/dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee, vanilla, caramel, molasses, toffee, bourbon, toasted oak, coconut, and dark bread; with lighter notes of licorice, raisin, smoke, and char. Balanced bittersweet roast/char finish with some spicy bourbon/oak against sweetness. Light-medium carbonation and very full bodied creamy/silky rich mouthfeel. Very smooth sipping, lightly warming. This and Wulver are always in my cellar stock now, despite the price. Worth it for me though.


Incredible! Flavors of big raisin, plum, fig, date, cherry, grapefruit, apricot, apple, orange peel, pine, caramel, maple, brown sugar, toffee, vanilla, bourbon, toasted oak, coconut, brown bread, and biscuit; with light notes of chocolate, coffee, smoke, and charred wood. Mild increasing booze in the aromas as it warms. Light-moderate pine/citrus peel bitterness and bourbon/oak tannin spiciness on the finish. Medium carbonation and medium-full bodied; balanced bready creaminess, hop stickiness, and oak tannins in the mouthfeel. Slightly slick, silky, syrupy, and chalky. Light-moderate increasing bitter/tannic oak dryness. Never astringent. Pleasantly warming 14.3%, very mild barrel booze. For an American barleywine, this is perfectly executed. There is a fair share of bitter hops; but they are amazingly well balanced with the barrel tannins and creamy malts. This had a really impressive evolution in the glass as it warmed up. More hop flavors came through and balanced against the dark fruity character of the yeast. Never overly tannic or drying on the hops or barrels. Might grab another pack as they still sit around locally.


Incredible DIPA. Just as amazing as I remember from the first release. I preferred it more after I aged it for a year, from what I remember. Flavors of big grapefruit, tangerine, pineapple, peach, mango, lemon zest, orange peel, and pine hops; with moderate honey, vanilla, toffee, bourbon, and toasted oak sweetness; and floral, grassy hop earthiness. Light-moderate pine/citrus rind bitterness and bourbon/oak tannin spiciness on the finish. Medium-full bodied; balanced bready/grainy creaminess, sticky hops, and oak tannins in the mouthfeel. Slight resins and increasing bitter/tannin dryness. No astringency. Minimal warming 12.4%. Perfectly balanced between DIPA and barrels. Never overly sweet or heavy. They really nailed it with this one. Glad I bought 2-3 4 packs. This will be neat to see this continue to develop over time as an IPA. The vanilla/toffee barrel notes and honeyed malt sweetness is already starting to intensify after 4-5 months.


Cheers

 

American Dream from Mikkeller in a stein given to me by my in-laws, they really do get me. Cheers!

 

An interesting take . . .





Hazy orange brown color with cream color cap and lacing.

Aroma of bread yeast with a slightly sharp agricultural tint that actually complements rather well. There is something richly spicy about it that's present yet restrained.

Taste on entry is yeasty bready combined with a spiciness that doesn't really jump out like a lot of other Belgians. Mid palate has a tingly richness that I suppose is due to a hop/carbonation combination. This one is more low key than I usually find in 8% Belgian Pales, its as if the brewer is trying to showcase the hops instead of the spices. "Belgian yeast driven flavors combined with an American assertive hoppiness" are words on the label and yes, that pretty well covers it.

 

Toppling Goliath - PseudoSue

I could drink gallons and gallons of this beer.

 

Happy Stein Sunday BA's

Have a great one and stay well hydrated in this heat! Sure does not feel like fall here yet!



watch yer top-knot peeps!

 

This is an excellent breakfast beer.

 

Cucumber wheat -- unique and really tasty.

 

Cheers!

 

APA today: My favorite style.
6 APAs in descending order of greatness.

Dale's Pale Ale | Oskar Blues
4.4
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

My favorite every day beer. (Also my first BA review in 2012).

1st, I love the can movement.
a) It's better aeration, better light protection,
b) better for environment. (Cans being infinitely and 100% recyclable and lower energy to recycle than glass, and cheaper by far to transport and store.).
c) Better for outdoors whether kayaking or gardening or walking.
What's a beer without the outdoors?
2nd - This is a beer that makes no apologies for being an original APA. Close to an IPA, but more amber, citric, piney, and more beautifully copper colored and tasty like a new penny.

Appearance - One of the most beautiful colors and laced heads.
Smell - Everything I expect from the outdoors in a can.
taste - Original cross between IPA and pale ale, distinctly american and unapologetic, I feel like I respect the makers like I respect Steve Jobs.
Feel - rich, full, right for the afternoon and the outdoors. After cutting the lawn, after kayaking 2 hours.
Overall - a 5 for me because it's my go-to beer.
Whole foods NJ offers a 10% discount when you buy a mixed case.

Stone Pale Ale

4.3
look: 4.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5


Finally getting around to this. Stone trumps every brewer currently for my palate, and this basic bread-winner is amazing.


A: 5 for starters it's as perfect a look on a pale ale as you could imagine. If one in 1000 pale ales gets a 5, this is it. Mousse-like ivory head, a pillow that lasts and laces. Cherry copper body. Great weight.

S: I could just sniff this one. It's laid back compared to IPAs, but as it should be. Better as she warms.

T: Great tingling balance of malt and hops, creamy and satisfying. many tight facets of flavor: Citrus, bread, cracker, pepper, pine, Perfect finish

MF: Already said: Creamy, long, tingly, long finish. As good a finish on any beer in the Pale Ale Class.

A wonder. Must try. A favorite.


HopPun | Carton
4.2
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25

I've enjoyed this 3x at the Brewery. In dress beta in late July, on 8/1/14 cold draft *thank you Brian!, and on 8/2/14 on cask, thank you Kelsie! Wow!
Augie Carton said he would wait to experiment with his talented team before brewing Carton's own APA, and wait until their anniversary they did. The team has nailed a national best beer. You must try it.

As the brewer wrote: "We push around experimental hops 06300 and HBC342 with Super Galena and Mosaic, soften the edges with a traditional pale malt bill and then tie it all together with the fruity esters of British yeast." and recorded:

My go-to beers are hoppy APAs (e.g. Dales, Stone, Sierra Nevada).
A: Darker than expected, a brooding apricot, dense looking, with ample retention and lacing.
S: A big nose packed full of complex berry, grass, hay, summer, and piney hops. Nuanced and wine-like.
The blueberry is easy to pick out.
T: Amply hoppy but well balanced, and this regard it maybe beats an IPA. Wine like long finish. Plenty of malt and sweet yeast make this almost a Euro-influenced beer. Complex like a Belgian.
MF: light to med bodied, fresh, and a long finish in the good way carton knows how to do it.
Overall. An APA ready for national stage.

Muskoka Harvest Ale
4.1

look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25


Why so good? Borders on Stone Bastard, but easier, and more every day. Awesome brew. Could be my beer all winter.


A) Pours clear reddish amber with fine bubbles and tiny particles, nice one finger DENSE & CREAMY tan head retains well and laces manifold thick rings.


S) Abundance of herbal, leafy hops with melon, cedar, wood, grass.


T) Follows smell but AMPLE, and adds the nutty caramel and earthy notes that amplify the cedar and grassy long flavors.


F) Feels thick with good weight and matched carbonation, leaves a sticky but long finish that is pleasant kiss.


O) One of the best. Try 24.


Tumbleweed | Funk Brewing
4.1
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Compares well with beers from Carton (my hometown brewer) or Oskar Blues. Very special, fresh, big pine & citrus, and flowery.
a) Hazed opaque pale apricot color, bright white, dense, sticky lacing head.
s) Big bright tropical and citrus abounds in the nose. Grinds of rinds of grapefruit, oranges, and then some pine. Very fruity.
t) Begins big. Citrus rind, marmalade then sliding into peppery, spicy, lingering pine drying finish.
f) Medium body, low carbonation, and a pleasing dry finish.
o) Great local example.

Daisy Cutter Pale Ale | Half Acre
4.0

look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4


Good looking, great tasting Pale Ale. APA and Dales are my favorite every day style / beer so I'm liking this.

A) It's a hazy amber/copper body, with a dense, lasting and lacing white head. Not Dales, penny copper and sticky head, but nice looking.

S) Aromas are mostly of citrus: grapefruit and orange zest - with attendant grassy elements of herb and yerba buena.

T) Theres a toasty, buttery graham cracker crust base, which is lathered with intense hops of citrus, pine, grasses, herbs, onion grass. A bit of pungent catty hops and a drying finish. Flavor gets better and more see-saw as it warms.

F) The feel, Ifound a bit filling, sticky, and cloudy and wished for a cleaner finish.

Up there with great APAs.

 

Phone failure, so resorting to the label image. Bought a 4 pack of the HA Sticky Fat last night... it grew on me. Again this morning, it's tasting more like a Porter than a Cascadian Dark Ale, but the recipe varies from year to year. This one is roasty-toasty rather than dank, but there's still that forest floor piney thing going on. So I'm in. Cheers all!

 

Happy Sunday BA's! Wow 1800th WBAYDN, I had to be part of this one. Post 22 mile bike ride refreshment.

 

Good morning, all, and Happy Stein Club Sunday!


#proper

 

Lazy Magnolia - Southern Pecan

My first ever beer from Mississippi, thanks to the generosity of @crobinso . And of course it had to be this iconic southern treat. Sure, it's not the best brown in the world, but it drinks nicely and given that it was a personal whale, I'm so pleased with it!

 

BrewDog: Semi-Skimmed Occultist.



Surprised by this one. I find most BrewDog beers mediocre at best but this is very good.