New Beer Sunday (Week 660)

Ok, a little surprised I had to add this fall seasonal to the database. I had my first taste of pFriem beers on my last visit to Portland, and enjoyed them as well-made beers (3 reviewed so far, all with positive rDev, which is not my norm). I quite enjoyed their regular Pilsner (4.21, +6%), let’s see how their Hoppy Pils sits with me.

From their website (which includes the description from the bottle):

And I always love when the brewer puts its tasting notes as to what they get from the beer (which is also presumably at least close to what they are going for).

A bit of a chill haze as this was allowed to get pretty cold in the mini fridge. It doesn’t get to clear, but a white gold with the lightest of haze would be my description. The bright white cap is lasting, and the tiny bubbles that sustain it are mesmerizing as they laconically rise from the depths of the glass. (So I’d say a little lighter in color than they describe)


I get a very light focaccia bread note, one which might have a sparse couple herbs thrown into it. There is a light fruit note in there, and melon fits as well as anthing I can come up with. Grass and herbs gain with warmth. (No strawberries or lemongrass for me; herbs vs wildflowers could be tomato/tomahto)

Once warm enough, the lightly prickly carbonation can be felt beyond the numbing coldness. A grassy bitterness greets my tongue early, not allowing me to sense the malt on its own. I can sense it’s presence, though, as the bitter grass notes are not overpowering. Lightly herbal by mid-taste, there is an accent I can only try to explain. There is maybe a few strands of orange zest, a hint of strawberry, maybe a little lemongrass (or is that just on my mind, now?), all subtly combining so that I’m not too sure. Similar to the nose, herbal and grass notes gain a little strength as the beer’s temperature rises, but the Pilsner malt also comes through to the end of the taste a little better. (No bright berries or spearmint for me, but I can buy into the rest of the brewer’s description).

Another very enjoyable beer by pFriem. My memory seems to (and likely my score will) say I enjoyed the regular Pilsner more. I’m more certain that, at least for the immediate future, my rDev will be neither positive nor negative

 

Hey Jack,

When testing for IBU, we only use HPLC, so its pretty accurate.

 

In my wife's latest New Yorker, there's a comic that has a restaurant waiter taking a couple's order. The customer says: "Can the chef prepare it in some way no one has ever prepared anything before?"

It's not a terribly funny joke, but it's certainly relevant to "craft beer" today. Depending on one's perspective, this relevance is either craft beer's greatest asset or biggest curse.

I'm going to feature some local pricey 16oz canned lagers today in honor of @TongoRad and @guinness77 's recent pilsner thread.

I'm not off to a good start. Warning - I'm gonna rant a little.



Greenpoint Solarflare

This is advertised as a 'Galaxy hopped Kolsch style ale." Look, I knew what I was getting into here... that this wasn't really going to be a Kolsch, but I bought one anyway and my reaction will still take style-breaking expectations into account.

This is the furthest thing from a Koslch that I have ever had that was labeled Kolsch style. The appearance is pure NEIPA. Greenpoint is considered one of NYC's best kept secrets regarding canned NEIPA. Personally, I've had an inconsistent reaction to their beers. The best have been great and the worst have been just bad. Most of my reactions apply to their draught offerings in various styles from previous brewmasters. Today's brewery is a somewhat different beast with canned NEIPAs getting beer geek attention.

I hate to be a broken record, but I've always said that NEIPA elements would find their way into other styles. This is either a case in point, or it isn't if one simply considers this an IPA anyway. Regardless, you can be damn sure that it's listed as a Kolsch here.

Carbonation is soft. Flavor is papaya. Bitterness is relatively low except for the finish. It's a decent, subtle (by style standards) NEIPA. Regarding drinking experience (which I put a lot of stock in), this is a NEIPA.

Why is it labeled a Kolsch? Even with the "Galaxy hopped" disclaimer, why is this labeled a Koslch?

I have a hunch that brewers view "Kolsch" and "cream ale" as a yeast/temperature process. That if they use a certain yeast at a certain temperature, then it's a Kolsch or a cream ale. In my opinion, it's an incredibly narrow-minded perspective. If you tweek this one aspect of your IPA recipe, then it doesn't become a Kolsch. Kolsch is a beer type, it's not a brewing process regarding temperature. I'm definitely jumping to conclusions here regarding the brewer's intent and methods. Perhaps they see how the Kolsch model has allowed them to brew a unique beer that stands apart from their other NEIPAs. I can believe that. Just use a different damn name.

 

Yes, that’s where we stopped, I’m pretty sure. Apparently they have a couple locations but we did hit the big one downtown a couple blocks from Deschutes. I didn’t purchase any books this time, but the entire crew walked out with just short of a dozen separately bound pages.

 

You showed more restraint than I have.

 

Did the brewer just do a linear scale up of the hops amounts? In other words:

x ounces/5 gal batch x 31 gal/barrel x 10 barrels

If so then it should be expected that this larger (10 barrel) batch would have higher bitterness since hop utilization is improved for larger brew kettles. Stan Hieronymus discussed this in his Hops book (pg. 188):

“Larger kettles are more efficient, and the difference between a five-gallon homebrew system and even a 10-barrel (310 gallon) commercial brewery is startling.”

When you scale up you need proportionately less hops to achieve a target IBU value. I would suspect that in addition to just the size aspect (number of barrels) that the specific geometry (i.e., aspect ratio) of the brew kettle would be a consideration as well in this scaling effort.

Cheers!

 

Happy Sunday, NBS crew! Checking in from Boston. Heading home tomorrow, but going to spend today drinking down the stash I've managed to accumulate over the past few days. I don't even know where to start, but this was the first brew to catch my eye.

Trillium - Mosaic dry-hopped Fort Point
Pale Ale - 6.6% abv
Canned 10/4/17 (11 days ago)
Score: 4.27 (-5.5% rDev)

L - sparse 1-finger head recedes quickly, leaving little lacing. Dark orange body.

S - orange, grapefruit. Wonderful nose.

T - A citrus explosion. A lot of bitterness, which suits me fine.

F - minimal carb, medium body.

O - I prefer the ddh and original Fort Point to this mosaic-focused variant, but any Fort Point is a great beer.

 

Shane, did you obtain a value of 23 IBUs via testing (i.e., ASBC Beer-23E) for this batch of Kold Schauer?

Cheers!

Jack

 

25.6 the day before packaging

 

The grist bill was done in percentages, and I left the bitterness up to him since it was his system. I just gave him a target IBU to hit.

But the palate rules all . We made adjustments for the second batch and locked it in from there. The true IBUs were never measured.

 

Good morning NBSers! I'll be out and about with the family all day again, so looks like I'll have a LNNBS share with you later. But seeing as how my mother in law is in town, I couldn't pass up a joke about it. Here it goes:

I went to a magic show, and after one amazing trick someone from the crowd shouted out, "Wow, that's incredible! How'd you do that?" The magician replied, "I could tell you, but I'd have to kill you." I quickly stood up and shouted to the magician, "Could you tell my mother in law!?"

 

Yeah, Powell's is QUITE impressive - Mrs. Lizard and I walked in and I started twitching... We ended up shipping a couple of cases of books home.

 

Well, as you have already read, the perceived bitterness of this batch of beer is higher for my palate. Not only the amount of bitterness but also it had a lingering quality to it as well.

Needless to say but measured values should 'rule' here assuming they were obtained via the ASBC Beer-23E assay.

Cheers!

P.S. Just to be clear: I did enjoy drinking this beer! It just is more 'bold' in all aspects of hops as compared to a 'traditional' Kolsch beer. Mad Science!!

 

My guess is that for the first batch he just did a linear scale.

But take my guessing with a grain of salt since it would appear that my guess on the actual IBUs of Kold Schauer was 'off'.

Cheers!

 

Here's my second local 16oz "lager" - Interboro & Grimm - Castle Bushburg

Compared to my first beer today, this one is weirder, and somewhat more "to style," but I still feel a bit suckered in by it.

With the oval label and the Bushwick reference in the name (Bushwick, Brooklyn was a major brewing area in the past), I grabbed this one hoping for a chance to drink today's hot NYC brewers' take on an old fashioned beer. I gave a can to @TongoRad with that in mind. I was dumb.

I actually get more "pilsner" in this beer compared to the amount of 'kolsch" I got in the Greenpoint beer. There's a grassy quality here that works in that regard. Beyond that, it's cloudy and sharp... with a strange fruity tang.

Despite the claim that it's brewed with a German lager yeast and Noble hops, I'm getting enough tropical fruit character that the whole thing feels like a strange amalgamation. I'm getting a subtle sourness in the background. Lately, I've been getting this with a bunch of beers. I'm beginning to wonder if it's in my head or if I'm picking up on something due to an extreme sensitivity. I'll say that I've lately had plenty of other beers that do not give me this sensation though. This is one weird pilsner.

@TongoRad , does any of this jive with your reactions?

 

Powell's has been a near-lifelong favorite of mine. Any bookstore that requires picking up a map to successfully navigate back out of when finished browsing is my kind of place.

 

Good afternoon NBS and as the Doctor prescribes laughter is a needed factor for our sanity.
So thanks to @lordofthewiens for the start today. We are heading to the Northampton Brewery
in a bit for a celebration of their 30th anniversary, oldest brewpub in New England, The owners have embedded into the community and as always these events are fundraisers as well, today all proceeds are going to the Literacy Project.
Congratulations to Janet and her amazing staff for all they do. and thanks NBS for the indulgence, we have had our rehearsal dinner, then #1 son college graduation, then #2 son college graduation dinners, and countless family events over the last 30 years at this great place.
Today's offering is from Hill Farmstead, a phenomenal, smoked robust brown ale that has all the signature HFB elements, strikingly good feel, excellent flavors and a sheer delight to consume.
Cheers all
Holger Danske

Hill Farmstead Brewery
Smoked Beer / 7.50% ABV

4.16/5 rDev +1% | Score: 4.12
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Poured from a fresh growler into the test glass.
A - Black walnut colored, dark and a bit intriguing, with some back lighting, small spheres move top side. An off white cap manifests and leaves lacing in small doses.
S - Roasted malts lead the way with some cocoa, and burnt sugar, All wrapped by a gentle smokey ribbon, a bit of earthiness, like fall woods adds to the complexity.
T - Flavors follow the aromatics well, roasted dark malts add the sweet start, then a touch of bakers chocolate bitter, and a hint of piney hops.
M - Soft tactile feel, carbonation is near perfect, a slight bitter thread keeps both the sweet brown malts and the smoke elements in perfect harmony. The finish is dry and includes the best parts of the offering.
O - This is a wonderful fall offering, robust enough as a brown ale, intricate in each aspect, The aromatic and the palate dance to the same tune, the feel is delicate to start, hearty in body and beautifully dry in the finish.
This is a draft offering only but what a treat, its a bit more complex with a rise in temperature, this only adds to the joy.

 

2 blondes walk into a bar.

Well, you woulda thought one of them would have seen it.

 

What's the difference between a United States Saving Bond and a drummer?

One of them will eventually mature and earn money.