New Beer Sunday (Week 658)

Thanks for the heads up! I have no doubt that I would have grabbed one too .

 

While we're unfortunately not financially ready for retirement, it's not like we haven't thought about it. I think it would be great as it gets closer to possible to do a wind down, go to 30 hours, then 20 hours, or similar. Stay "useful," make some coin, but still get time off with long weekends.

Speaking of long weekends, we're on one now, a quick trip out of town to a nice in-state beer destination, Richmond, VA. We stopped by Alewerks in Williamsburg yesterday, and as documented in WBAYDN yesterday I was ecstatically surprised to see it was actually the release date of Bourbon Barrel Porter (BBP), a beer I once bought the supposed last case of two years ago (which I then split with a fellow patron who wanted some bottles). Maybe it was karma from that exchange that led me to this dumb luck day (as it appears I didn't lose "official" Beer Karma ).

Anyhow, the other nice thing that awaited us was a chance to meet up with a fellow BA, @vabeerguy. He didn't have much time, but carved out an hour to meet and exchange some beers. One of these beers will lead of NBS for me:


We Ded Mon is an 11% triple IPA from The Veil that I saw @CanConPhilly had yesterday. We got to stop by the brewery on Friday, and the immediate comparison had to be made to Aslin, my local cloudy IPA producer. I got general agreement from @VABA and @CanConPhilly that The Veil was making more bitter orange clouds than Aslin, which I feel have more fruit and malt presence.

This beer, however, seems closer to the Aslin profile, as described in this post. I agree with others that the 11% is hidden pretty well. I am guessing that the extra malt for the ABV also balanced out the bitterness.

A waft of pineapple juice grabbed me on the breaching of the can top. The smell isn't quite as strong or one-noted as that initial sensation. There is pineapple and orange rind, but a nice herbal to fresh spring grass behind that.

The beer isn't quite as orange as the pictures show, and the edges show more of a heavy haze than opaque cloudiness the main body shows.

Taste is more of a juice blend with a hint of citrus coming through. Pineapple holds on to mid-taste to when a balancing citrus rind to pine bitterness gains some attention. A very slight tingling might be the only hint of the alcohol. Not as full as one might expect from look and high ABV, it's still got some body. Not sure if any oat was used, but the feel seems to me it might have a little. Lingering bitter coating builds up in the aftertaste a tad.

This Citra-hopped IPA had a more tropical fruity and less bitter lean than I usually get from straight Citra-hopped beers. This was a nice, [dangerously] easy drinking 11% beer.

Cheers, all!

 

Oh, and @lordofthewiens, congratulations man, I tell people if I'd known how much fun retirement would be I'd have done it sooner. It was actually a few weeks after retiring that I realized I had achieved the life style of my dog. Which is to say when Alex gets up in the morning he doesn't care what day it is because doesn't have to go anywhere, do anything, meet anybody, return any phone calls, answer emails or in fact do any darn thing he doesn't want to do with the freedom to do whatever he want's at a moment's notice. My days are so full of pleasant activity I sometimes have to force myself to turn out the lights and got to sleep at night while mentally ticking off what I'll start doing or not doing the next morning with the full knowledge that I can take as much time as I like doing or not doing it.

 

Congratulations on the retirement and thank you for years of caring for the little ones.
Growing up in a rural area I had the same pediatrician from birth through my teen years. Fast forward 35 years to looking for a pediatrician for my first son and find he is still in practice, thought it was pretty neat to be able to take my kids to the same one that got me through being a kid. Granted my area isn't really rural anymore and he is part of a group with three offices across the county but we are usually able to see him for our appointments.

 

Howdy, NBSers!

All is well here in the Brazos Valley, where the football team is 2-0 in SEC play and the weather is quietly cooling as fall settles in. Work is in full football mode at the newspaper, which means hectic as all get out, but with this being my 12th football season since moving from writer to desk, all it really means is I have to actually work for a living for a couple three months.

Texas A&M hosted South Carolina at Kyle Field yesterday, and I normally stay away from that part of town on game day, but Blackwater Draw released its fresh hop IPA on Friday, so what the hell? How bad could the crowds be? Turns out not bad at all.

Blackwater Draw's Fresh Hop Citra IPA

Got the half growler filled Saturday afternoon; busted into it after the late shift early Sunday morning about 1:20 a.m. if you're scoring at home.

Right off the bat it's a good beer because Chris Weingart, one of BWD's owner/brewers, served me. He knows how to fill a growler properly and get it closed good and tight. Lots of carbonation help this IPA push up a solid head almost an inch tall that sticks a little under a clear golden brew. As the beer settles in the glass, a tight little column of bubbles flies up the column dead center.

The aroma seemed a bit muted at first with the brew still quite cold, so I tasted. Bitter. Earthy. Grapefruit peel and cilantro and spinach ... a bit vegetably but still tasty with the greener biting notes from the hops dominating. Some malt helps tame the bitterness a little, but the malt layer is thin. This beer is far from sweet.

And as it warms a little and you get halfway into the first glass, you smell onions. Then more onions. And more onions. Holy cow, it's an onion farm! Green onions and onions frying in a skillet and even a steak cooking in that same pan with the onions. Some call this note "dank", I think, but it's meaty onions to me, and I love it whatever you want to call it.

The review:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/33495/305230/?ba=Premo88#review
4.09 (no rDev — mine is the first review)

The menu at the brewpub listed this beer's ABV at 5.1% (seems right) and IBUs at 19 (no way). Oh ... and check out the bit of artwork off the second pour:

Enjoy your last run at the salt mine, @lordofthewiens! Here's betting you'll come up with a plan for handling your freedom before June 2018 hits. (and you're right about the golf — seven days a week of that stuff will have you retiring from it, too! )

Way to go early-riser crew, and hope the rest of you kids get some good stuff in your glasses today!

Cheers!

 

Thanks @lordofthewiens for the great intro, and I'll throw in my congrats for what sounds like a wonderful career. I saw my pediatrician from birth until I was age 25 (seriously) and he was in many ways the primary inspiration for my own career. I still think of him often. You remind me of him in many ways!

After a little early morning work, it's now a somewhat lazy Sunday morning here and I'm relaxing with some fruit juice, courtesy of @Wasatch:
Hawaiian Bartender, Odd 13 Brewing, Lafayette, CO

This is a kettle-soured beer fermented with Brett and with mango and pineapple added, then dry-hopped with Centennial. Sounds interesting!

The beer did not disappoint. Nice-looking brew with a bright golden color and a large and frothy white head that slowly settled. Plenty of fruity aromas featuring pineapple, mango, and lemon. Maybe some orange but not much. Importantly, no off flavors from the kettle sour. It was equally clean tasting. The brett cane through as it warmed with a subtle funk present. Moderately sour with grapefruit and pineapple leading the way. A hint of mango and crackery malt. Medium-bodied and a bit bigger feeling than most sours but with a dry finish. All in all, a refreshing and fun beer with nice fruit and complexity. Cheers!

 

Congrats on your upcoming retirement ! You will enjoy it-from one who knows.

 

I enjoyed trying it more than I enjoyed drinking it. I think you get my drift.

 

How much do you charge in royalties? Now that I've heard that line, I'm going to be needing it in the future.

 

A- A reddish amber hue with a little head and no lacing.

S- A mild brett and oak hint.

T- The taste follows the smell, with hints of brett and oak.

M- Medium bodied crispy and smooth with decent carbonation.

O- Dry with a good balance of carbonation, good beer.

 

Happy New Beer Sunday to everyone. Today I am drinking a Kölsch from Colonius. I got this beer at a discount super market here for 50 cents so I am excited to see how it actually tastes.



The appearance is a clear golden color. Unfortunately I don't have a glass with me so I can't properly measure the head or how it appears.

The aroma is like most other Kölsch beers. Some citrus, some sweet malt and a bit of hops.

The taste is mainly sweet malts with a bit of citrus flavor to balance the sweetness out. Not much hop flavor but the citrus is quite nice.

The mouthfeel is quite thin and similar to most other Kölsch.

Overall it is a standard Kölsch beer but definitely not bad for the price. The beer doesn't necessarily have much complexity but it's easy and enjoyable to drink. There are better Kölsch beers out there but for 50 cents it is definitely worth it.

Hopefully everyone else is enjoying a new beer on this fine Sunday!

 

Good morning all.

New to me is two roads rye 95. A 9.5% belgian tripel brewed with rye. Its got age, bottled last march but the high abv helped me go for it. I find when tripels age, you pick up a bigger sweetness and it makes it feel more round and a thicker honey like texture in a way.

This was boozy but not a mess. Smells and flavors of lemon, toast, honey, brown sugar. Subtle banana. Like a mealy brown banana. Medium feel. Bubbly enough to cut the abv from being astringent but it warms the face. The rye peeks through slightly adding to the tripels dryness and has great flavor alongside the lemon, homey, slight funk and banana esters. Overall very enjoyable. Now to keep in mind next spring id like to try it fresh and compare notes.

Cheers!

 

NT. S. Sunday



This beer, despite its appearance, comes not from the east coast, but my west coast friend @Lingenbrau

3.73/5 rDev -6.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 2.75 | overall: 3.75

From a 16oz can stamped 9/22/17 "Guava". Poured the second half of the can hard down the middle.

It is a turbid, completely opaque orange gold. It looks like a NE style. There is a substantial, frothy off white head. Retention is pretty average though, as it settles into the beer for the most part.

It smells grassy, and very juicy and citrusy. There is a pink grapefruit and/or pink melon, some peach/apricot, and a real grainy, almost pilsner malt, like backdrop.

It has a bunch of flavor, and it's good. Definitely juicy. Assuming guava juice. It has a link grapefruit bordering on berry, with a fresh squeezed melon and mandarin orange flavor. Pretty tangy with sour grapefruit, and musty apricot. There is a very grassy, green taste with some of that grainy malt on the back end. Just enough bitterness and resin to keep it from being a mimosa.

I think the body is pretty bad. It seems a little over carbed, and is very airy/light. Combined with the very tangy, biting fruits, it is almost seltzer like. I would describe it as drinking a session ipa with a bit of champagne yeast through a straw with a hole in it. For 6.6%, it comes across like 3.5-4.

Otherwise, it is a nice tasting beer.


"We shall not cease from exploration. And the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.

Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go."

 

A Schlitz goblet???

 

Funny thing about that beer is that the base beer "Eliot" is completely clean and clear. This one is made with fresh guava which I can only assume makes the appearance that much different.

Just call me Sherlock Lingenbrau from now on.

 

W4 a dry hopped gose from Transmitter Brewing in Long Island City, NY. New to me in multiple ways, new brewery and new style. Recommended by the shop owner I decided to give it a try and man and I happy I did. Pours a slightly opaque yellow/orange with a huge fluffy white head that is incredibly well retained and left a decent amount of lacing. Smells of lime, floral notes, coriander and like I'm at the beach getting fresh ocean spray. Taste is tart lime up front, salt, coriander, floral notes, more citrus on the finish. Light bodied, very lively carbonation, mild to moderately dry mouth feel. Very refreshing, tart and crisp.

 

Nice post. Awesome pictures!

 

Urban Chestnut Ku'damm

This is their Berliner Weisse. This isn't a style I normally gravitate towards, but this is a brewery that draws me in. As expected, it's sour, acidic, and lemony tart... but not at a level that dampens drinkability. Unfortunately, the body is lacking. It is a little too seltzerish in that regard. The best thing about this beer is the mucousy finish. I'm not kidding. Some might call it "earthy" if they were being more polite, but it's mucus to me. Their website lists the hops and malt, but I'm interested in what yeast they use.