New Beer Sunday (Week 664)

Delicious...all the flavors are holding up well. Just realized that I accidentally posted in the NBS thread instead of the WBAYDN thread...this is not a new beer for me!

 

Strong start this morning! Glad to rejoin this weekend and share a new beer.

NYC is becoming saturated with good beer, which is not something I'm complaining about, but it does leave me in a predicament of having to choose between trying all the new releases from a few, or cherry-picking from the myriad options. Both will leave me with tons of great beer, so over the past year or so, I've been letting other factors guide me towards those breweries I choose to patron more frequently. Today's offering comes from a brewery that really hits a trifecta of "Yes" in that regards: (1) consistently delicious beer, (2) a variety of offerings to satiate my and my girlfriend's wandering palates, and (3) good people. Grimm hits the first two points easily, between their IPAs, sours, and stouts, and Joe (@Grimm_Artisanal_Ales) is a regular on the boards, contributing to the monthly Grimm thread regarding the month's beers and adding his brewing knowledge to the collective wisdom. I've interacted with him directly, including once with him going above-and-beyond on customer service, and I look forward to meeting him someday soon.

On to the beer:

Kites Are Fun
Grimm Artisanal Ales



BA Score: 4.09
My Score: 4.33



L -- 4.25
Pours a bright orange with a lasting creamy white head, tons of lacing and small bubbles. There is hop particulate, but I do not mind that terribly.

A -- 4.25
Aroma of grapefruit, general citrus, a little peppery, pine. Not a nose-smashing aroma, rather delicate, but with plenty of nuance. Give this one time to warm and the aroma begins to truly shine.

T -- 4.5
Flavor follows the aroma. Pine, peppery, and citrus pith are the main notes. Warmth brings a nice tangerine quality as well, and something that teases me as lemongrass. Warmth brings grape skin, and a nice bitterness.

F -- 4
Mouthfeel is medium, nicely carbonated, a bit of a zip on the tongue. All the while, it manages to feel full, velvety.

O -- 4.25
A very refined DIPA. This doesn't fall into the NEIPA style dominating NYC in the best of ways, presenting a finely layered beer with a variety of aromas and flavors from the hops. The delicateness encourages one to savor the beer, to take time with it and discover its potential. I very much appreciate this -- it is a perfect beer to sit down and read a book with, or enjoy an afternoon in quiet contemplation.

 

In answering the cooking question: As long as I can smoke it, grill it or deep-fry it, I derive pleasure from cooking it. Other-wise, pass

Kona Lemongrass Luau. I rated a 3.45 overall. Easy enough to drink. Not something I would buy again


Pours an effervescent honey color with rapidly falling cream colored head. Zero head retenrion & lacing

S: Ginger, not much else

T: Lemongrass, a little bit of white tea & some ginger up front. Strong ginger flavor, not harsh, but not much else, a little lemongrass bitterness as this warms, a little dryness too. Finishes refreshing with some ginger & a touch of citrus

MF: Light body, slight carbonation

Easy drinker, not a bad thrist quencher for a hot day

 

Walked into my new favorite purveyor of craft beer's and literally tripped over a case of Melvin beer on the floor

" Since when have you had Melvin beer in Massachusetts????!!!"
" we literally just got it ...today"

Melvin2x4 DIPA

4.43/5 rDev +2.1%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

Canned on 10/24/7 with the following warning, " be careful, very careful !"

Poured into a teku glass, clear amber, some carbonation, big, frothy, off white one finger foam cap.

Aroma is floral, slightly pine, citrus and a whiff of tropical fruit

Taste is a bit dank, a little pine

Alcohol is well hidden

Hop taste, lingers but doesn't bite

Good beer

 

Back for another beer after watching the Titans win an ugly game. The highlight was Pineapple Dude.


Gone Away IPA, Half Acre Beer Co., Chicago, IL thanks @Wasatch


The can was a little battered from the trip, but it fit in nicely when watching football. A nice looking beer on the pour. Moderately hazy golden-amber color with a one-finger white head that slowly settled, leaving sheets of foam on the glass. Nice aroma but somewhat muted: mainly pine, with some citrus and bready notes mixed in. The taste followed for the most part - piney with subdued citrus and earthy notes. Old school clean bitterness. Medium feel and carbonation. Overall a very nice IPA. Not mind-blowing but definitely something I would keep in my fridge and drink frequently. Cheers!

 

Happy NBS.
Full disclosure, I have had Narwhal in the past though not a 3 year old (this one is a '14) and this is my 1st time reviewing. Cheers all.


https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/140/86149/?ba=cindyjeffsmith#review

 

Cold and rainy here in Ann Arbor, time for a warmup. I've been drinking down the cellar (a bit) and this one has been elusive for I believe a year however, I put four Black Note in its place. Cellar net +3. Picked up in Kansas were I paid $3.50. would only sell me one, at that price, would have bought a case. Pours a beautiful pitch black with chocolate milk two finger head sustained very well, gorgeous beer. Smell of chocolate, and a bit of bourbon, very smooth coating mouthfeel, taste is decadent with bourbon, marshmallow, and chocolate all working perfectly. Sipping and waiting for warming effect to change the dynamics of a fine brew. Enjoy yours BAs!

 

Sebago 2016 BBA Barleywine

Damn, this beer is good. Pours a very dark, rich, blood red-tinted near-black color. Two fingers of creamy tan head -- much larger than expected for the style. Solid lacing.

Big bourbon in the aroma, with chocolate, a little toffee, slight mustiness, stale hops, a hint of sherry, a hint of plum.

Vanilla, toffee and dark fruit up front in the taste. The musty yeast and stale hops contribute to a semi-dry finish with just a hint of sherry, wood, chocolate and warming alcohol.

Nice smooth, creamy feel with enough carbonation to add to the slight dryness. Not as heavy or sticky as some others.

Plenty of depth in this one. Maybe I'd prefer a bit more of an aftertaste, but still really great all around. 10/31/16 canned-on date.

Enjoy your evenings, BAs.

 

Happy Sunday NBS players. A chilly fall day here on the island but not nearly as brutal as it was yesterday. Spent the day inside watching the Jets stink it up in Tampa along with a bunch of other mindless football games. What else is new right? Anyway, I have a bunch of new beers on hand so we'll see how many I actually get to.

My first new beer today is Disco Ninja, nesipa, a collabo from Revision brewing and Shoe Tree Brewing, in Nevada. Never heard of either of the breweries and I don't think I've even had a craft beer from the state. It features citra, galaxy, mosaic, and amarillo hops. The brew checks in at 7% abv, 40 ibu, and a canning date of 9/22/17.

A hazy straw yellow color on the pour. A frothy white head and a good amount of sediment as well. The nose is rather floral with hops, citrus, and tropical fruits. Tangy and sweet upfront on the initial sips with lots of soft and plush hop tones. A smooth flow and finish with very minimal bittering. The mouth feel is light/moderate with a juicy and slightly creamy feel. Nice fruit notes of melon, peach, lemon, apple, and mango.

Overall, I'm really impressed as this is quite good. Really pleasant and easy drinking and the hops offer some real nice depth of fruit flavors. I bought a single can to try it out but I think I'll probably be buying more. Probably be around a 4.2/3 on this players.

 

KCBC Straphanger

This is an AAL brewed with rice. It's quite nice. This feels like one of the better "craft" attempts at this style. There is nothing off here... and that's what can deep-six beers like this (that and the price). It doesn't feel as light as a typical AAL and there's more of a bitter finish. Good beer... but the cheap 90's comic book looking can art is even better.

 

Happy NBS, fellow new beer imbibers and commentators. And thank you @lordofthewiens for your introduction. One of the things I'd like to find more time to do is cook. I'm fortunate to find time to drink beer! Speaking thereof, yesterday Kane Brewing released a collaboration with Troon Brewing called The Sea Stares Back, an 8.1% Imperial Wheat IPA hopped with Citra then double dry-hopped with a blend of Nelson Sauvin, Huell Melon, Halltertau Blanc, and Mandarina Bavaria. These are two of the very best brewers in New Jersey and as you might expect the result is extraordinary. The cans sold out in 1.5 hours. Thankfully, I was able to pick up a growler while driving up from the Shore this afternoon. This is one great DIPA. Here's my review:

4.54/5 rDev -0.9%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

Reviewed the day after release. Poured from growler into Troon pint glass. It pours a cloudy, nearly opaque golden-tangerine color with two fingers of fluffy, bright white head and extensive, elegant lacing that persisted through the pour. The nose features ripe melon, tangerine, lemon, wheat, grass, and delicate floral hops. The first thing I taste is a sweet melon, along with lemon, vanilla, grass, and a delightful blend of Citra and Nelson Sauvin hops. There is a slight hoppy bitterness at the finish. The flavors are all distinct but delicate - and they blend beautifully. This ale is creamy, silky smooth, with moderate carbonation. The 8.1% ABV is perfect; it gives the ale substance but doesn't detract from the taste. Overall, this DIPA is quite an achievement. It's beautifully crafted, delicious, and a pleasure to drink. This is what happens when two of the very best brewers in New Jersey join forces. I hope they do so again soon and often.

The only reason I'm below the mean is that the number of ratings is small and someone rated it a 5.0 which I've never done for any beer. I hope you're all enjoying your new beers today as much as I am. Cheers, everyone!

 

Came in from raking leaves for my son to jump in and decided on some juice.



The aroma had a ton of sweet peach flesh and skin playing with a nice tart level and then having a little bit of juicy grapefruit lining the backbone. Light grassiness even lighter in the background.
The flavor was a pure juicy peach fleshy sweetness with a delicate grapefruit rind bitterness with some creaminess flowing all into each other and then sliding together in the aftertaste.
The mouthfeel was about medium bodied with a fine sessionability about it. Carbonation was under, but I expected that as I expected this to be a "New England styled IPA." ABV didn't feel as projected to me. It actually felt way under. Am I arguing? I shouldn't as I have to admit perhaps this would be a stellar juice bomb to have in the Summer.
Overall, looks like this style continues to catch on as brewers in Indiana seem to be "getting it." Of course, I would have this again.

Thanks @Prager62

 

Good evening NBS, hope everyone is enjoying the end of the extended weekend. Thanks to @lordofthewiens for getting us started off this morning. Not much going on here, another normal Sunday. Just finished up the laundry for the week. Racked the mixed berry melomel off the yeast, and onto 6 more lbs of mixed berries. Turned all my equipment purple lol. Picked up groceries, returned bottles, and got a small beer haul as usual. Quite a few new beers as well. Review 6000 should be on Friday. Don't really want to give away the surprise, but the beer is probably going to be Rodenbach Alexander. Found it last weekend at my usual Sunday stop.

New Beers:

This was pretty nice. Fantastic lasting head retention and thick lacing on the glass. Aromas and flavors of lightly tart lemon, lime, mango, melon, peach, pear, red apple, and white grape yeast; with moderate wheat, cracker, white bready malts. Lighter notes of hay, straw, grass, pepper, and lacto funk. Light fruity/lactic tartness, fruit tang, and yeast spiciness on the finish. Medium carbonation and light-medium body; nice bready/grainy wheat creaminess, and fairly acidic/sticky/tangy/tannic in the mouthfeel. Lightly increasing lactic/tangy and spicy yeast dryness. No puckering. Very easy drinking, quite refreshing. Very flavorful for 3.7%. This wasn't as lactic as I was hoping for; but it had well rounded lacto/yeast complexity, with balanced mangos and pale/wheat malts. Definitely the least impressive of the series yet, but far from being bad. 3.71


Hazelnut flavored. The 12 days of stout packs came in last week. 7 new ones, with some duplicates from last year. This was really nice. Aromas and flavors of big roasted hazelnuts, milk/dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee, caramel, brown sugar, vanilla, cream, and toasted dark bread; with light notes of smoke, char, and herbal hops. Light herbal hop and roast/char bitterness on the finish. Medium carbonation/body. Creamy/bready mouthfeel; with a fair amount of sticky/chalky notes from the hazelnuts. Lightly increasing bitter/roasted dryness; no acrid/astringent flavors. Great balance of roasted hazelnuts with the base stout. This had a similar mouthfeel and bitter/drying character to the cinnamon swirl one last year. Felt the same about it as a whole. 3.85


This is amazing! Insane thick head retention and lasting lacing on the glass. Thick dense oil pour. Aromas and flavors of huge milk/dark chocolate, cocoa, nutty coffee, caramel, toffee, brown sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, chile pepper, molasses, and toasted dark bread; with light notes of smoke, charcoal, raisin, cherry, licorice, anise, tobacco, and herbal spice earthiness. Light roast/char bitterness and pepper spiciness on the finish. Light-medium carbonation and fairly full body; very creamy/silky/bready mouthfeel; fair amount of spice stickiness and chalky roast. Lightly increasing roast/char and spicy pepper dryness; no acrid/astringent flavors. Minimal pepper heat builds through the glass. Dangerously smooth sipper, mimimal warming 13%. Really outstanding balance of all flavors, nothing overdone. Rich and well rounded imperial stout complexity. The BBA version is in my top 20; this one is a little more charred/drying and not quite as thick as I hoped. I sure as hell am buying it again though. 4.35


Cheers, be back a bit later NBS with more reviews.

 

What a stellar review, Maria. Thank you!

 

Good afternoon to all the NBS followers. Thanks for the great start from @lordofthewiens and also thanks for planting the seed that I needed to get back in the kitchen and do some cooking. In general we don't eat out a lot as most of the time when the meal arrives I look at the food and think well I could do a better job at home. So with the change in the weather I decided it was time for some comfort food and nothing better than a large pan of my 4 cheese Mac & Cheese.

Now on to my new beer for this nice late fall Sunday. It is Dawn Patrol from Aslan Brewing sent to me by @beertunes in a small trade.

This beer poured a hazy golden orangey color into my tulip glass. Can is dated 10/3/2017
The nose is mild (nicer than saying weak) not much coming through perhaps a little tropical fruit and a hint of malt.
The taste is weak to me not much of anything coming through. Hints of some fruit perhaps?
The mouthfeel is smooth.
The beer to me lacks some of the flavors I look for in this style of beer. Not a bad beer actually just not having the flavors I was expecting.
3.19/5 rDev -14.5%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.25
I need to figure out what I'm serving with the Mac & Cheese so I hope you all enjoy the rest of your Sunday.

 

Love the glass. That's one of my favorite Baltic Porters! I should be able to get some soon.

 

Alexander is a great beer. Whether it's 6000, or some other number, I look forward to your review.

 

Greetings all. Thanks to LotW for starting things off with one of my very favorite things. My wife and I are both pretty decent improv cooks, at least within the realm of Italian, Mexican, and comfort food. We do like to dig through recipes to expand our horizons a bit too and recently we've been making our way through the Jerusalem cookbook trying to get acquainted with Middle Eastern style cooking and seasoning. I absolutely love that sweet/savory spice thing they have going on. I think once you get a handle on the spice palate of a cuisine you can start to make it your own at least a bit. We're getting there but for now are pretty recipe bound.

I wanted to try St. Bernadus's Christmas ale this week but they didn't have it at the store I went to, so instead I picked up another St. B that I've never had: Prior 8. It clocks in at 8% ABV and thanks to the opaque naming conventions of this brewery, I know nothing else about it other than that it looks fairly dark in the bottle. The latter part is important because I don't generally care for lighter Belgian beers where the yeast tends to dominate. My allergies are killing me today for some reason so my thoughts here should be taken with even fewer grains of salt than usual.





It pours an attractive mahogany color that lets just a hint of light through and offers a strong, frothy head of thick large bubbles much like a stout. It doesn't last long but it has lacing for days even without the head. The smell is exactly what I was hoping for - brown bread, dried dark fruit, molasses, maybe a little tobacco. None of the clove-y esters that I just can't seem to train myself to enjoy very much. Taste follows with a ton of flavor that then finishes fairly cleanly. This is mostly in the tongue and cheeks without much in the throat if that makes any sense. I get a lot of raisin and brownbread but it's more complex than that - I just can't put my finger on it. A little pleasant alcohol and dark sweetness on the finish. Mouthfeel is somewhat thinner and crisper than expected given how it looks, and it has a noticeable but mild tingle of carbonation.

I love St. Bernard's 12 (which I discovered right here on my first or second New Beer Sunday) and this seems a bit like it's little cousin. It's been a few months since I had one but to my memory the flavors seem similar but not quite as rich and with a crisper mouthfeel and obviously less alcohol. Absolutely delicious and if anything it gets better as it warms a bit.

I've tried a handful of darker Belgian style ales from american breweries but they always seem to still have that Belgian yeast flavor dialed way up (Boulevard is a particular offender here to my palate). I'd love to find one that was more along the lines of this or 12 or Rochefort 10. Hoping to grab the Christmas Ale for next week. Happy NBS all!

ETA: I just went and read some reviews of the beer after posting and someone mentioned that this beer has a strange sort of metallic smell on the nose. I absolutely got the same thing but assumed it had to be a by product of my allergies so I didn't bring it up. I'd describe it almost as a bit of a burnt electrical smell as much as a metallic smell. It didn't overwhelm the other aromas for me, but it was definitely there.

Also, I was surprised to find that this is a dubbel. I thought dubbels tended to be fairly clear and are one of the beers I generally think of as offenders in the "too yeasty/clovey" category. I'm definitely still getting a handle on how to navigate styles in the Belgian world.

 

F-town Moon Boots Peanut Butter Porter, 5.1% ABV, 24 IBU. Pours black with no head. Nose is peanuts, taste follows, slight chocolate, with no notable bitterness. Lightly carbonated and smooth, decent mouthfeel. Overall very good.