New Beer Sunday (Week 668)

Looking forward to a sunny day, the snow front missed our little enclave, but it's 25 degrees out there so Old Man Winter has arrived. Anyway, I'm having something bright . . .



Score 3.9
look: 3.75 | aroma: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4

Beautiful deep rose gold color with lasting white cap and lacing.

Aromas of resiny, piney hops and rich malt.

Taste of bright, shining hops on entry. Not a harshly bitter hop flavor, rather a velvet hammer approach that brings flavor forward almost softly while at the same time disclosing an underlying strength. Malt is clean and richly flavored like a solid Vienna Lager and offsets the hops not in a balancing sense, rather in an Academy Award winning supporting role. This isn't really a complex beer but it has complex flavors.

Medium-full texture with balancing carbonation.

A pleasant surprise is this one. I was expecting bright hop flavor but the malt presence is a delightful bonus.

 

Morning Doc and I am officially jealous! No snow here and does not look to be any either . =( I have a selection to choose from today and I thought I would start off with a treat! Victory Black Forest Cake Stout.



Sultry oily black pour with a cocoa colored head of foam. You can smell the cherry even from the bottle. Sweet chocolate and a cherry on top! Hops are just a cool freshness to the nose. Without any hop scents this smells like a piece of cake. There is not even a fume from the alcohol just cake like breaddy richness from malt.

Soft body with pleasant cocoa. creamy and rich but not thick. You would call it viscuous. Just a gentle warmth to remind you it's a little strong. The cherry meets the roasty notes a bit shy in the finish. I thought it also added a little tartness. Finishes sweetly full and tastes like cherry cola at times.

 

Fresh as a daisy?

A few weeks ago in a NBS post I discussed my visit to the Mills River, NC Sierra Nevada brewery:

https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/new-beer-sunday-week-665.546225/#post-5736909

While there I purchased a number of single cans/bottles from the gift shop.

Today’s beer will be Sierra Nevada Fresh Hop IPA.

It seems like every year (during the hop harvest season) there is confusion/discussion of the term “Fresh Hop”. Many people (including me) associate the term of “Fresh Hop” as meaning Wet Hops that have been used very quickly (e.g., less than 24 hours from being picked). For instance every year I homebrew a Harvest Ale where I utilize hop cones that are picked while I am boiling the wort. Those hops have been off the plant only a few minutes before being thrown into the brew kettle. It doesn’t get fresher than that!

Sierra Nevada Brewing uses a different definition for “Fresh Hops”. They use this term to describe hops that have been harvested, dried and used in brewing very soon (e.g., weeks from the harvest date). In other words they are dried hops but from the recent hop harvest.

Below is a short write-up discussing this beer:

“Fresh Hop IPA

Fresh, bold and slightly hazy

Fresh-from-the-field Amarillo hops star in this lightly hazy IPA. This amber-orange beer features the big and bold grapefruit-like flavor that Amarillo hops are known for, plus a moderate haze and heavy dry hopping.”

There is also some verbiage on the can:

“Fresh hop flavor from field to can”

“Family owned, operated and argued over”.

Hmm, the Grossman family sounds a lot like my family.

Served in my Spiegelau IPA glass:

Appearance:

Golden yellow with a BIG fluffy white head.

Aroma:

My first impression is citrus but then comes a pine resin smell.

Taste:

The flavor pretty much follows the nose but the pine resin aspect is more notable in comparison to the aroma. There is a moderate bitterness.

Mouthfeel:

Medium bodied with a medium carbonation level. There is a dry-ish finish.

Overall:

This beer is very good. It has an enjoyable combination of citrus and pine resin flavors.



I have homebrewed quite a bit with Amarillo hops but I have not obtained a pine resin aroma/flavor from those hops; Amarillo was pretty much just citrus in my beers. It just goes to show how hops can vary based upon the hop crop (e.g., specific hop farm/location, harvest aspect – early harvest vs. late harvest, etc.).

Cheers!

@KOP_Beer_OUtlet @rotsaruch @RobH @sierranevadabill @SierraTerence

 

Three Floyds Necron 99

Happy New Wizards Sunday.

I'm a sucker for Three Floyds packaging. I love the sci-fi/fantasy references. This beer's branding is a reference to Ralph Bakshi's Wizards, a 70s animated movie. Bakshi worked with some amazing artists over the years. With Wizards, he worked with Mike Ploog and the incredible Ian Miller. He also shamelessly stole from artists as well... in this case Vaughn Bode. Necron 99 was a character in Wizards. Here's the poster art, which I think was drawn by William Stout (no relation to Guinness ). Compare it to the Three Floyds label.



What I love about the Three Floyds label, is that it looks like a drawing of Necron 99 as if it was done by French artist Philippe Druillet in the 70s, an absolute favorite of mine. Not many people remember Druillet, but someone at Three Floyds does.

Right, we're on a beer forum. The bottle says this is a "scortch-style ale" and this seems to cause some confusion with beer geeks who see that and automatically process it as "scotch style." This is an IPA (in the eyes of Three Floyds) and "scortch" is another reference to the movie Wizards.

Necron 99 is a cloudy amber IPA. The lacing is particularly nice. The flavor is tangerine with a little onion and a bitter finish. Personally, I'm not getting much malt character. What elevates this beer is a layer of spicy herbal flavor that sits on top of the fruity qualities. This isn't smooth tangerine, but rather, a rougher more layered approach. The result is delicious.

@Brutaltruth

 

Excellent kickoff sir! I too love winter but my "MA born" wife has other thoughts about it. But hey, marriage is all about compromises! I'll be back attempting to hone my reviewing skills in a bit. For now I'm headed to the recycling center where I'll get the usual "holy crap, that's a lot of beer bottles"! Everybody drive safe and have a great day!

 

Happy New CAN I Cut a Single in Minneapolis, MN Beer Sunday (Week 668)!

As usual, I have a planned theme for today. Here in PA, we get distro from seemingly everywhere & it is tough to keep up with all of the newest releases. It is even more spectacular that they are coming to us in CANs for the furtherance of The CANQuest (tm). Let the fun begin!

I began today with:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/30452/293226/?ba=woodychandler#review



A fantastic, CANtastic start to the day! I'll be back as I get deeper into this odyssey.

 

Yeah, I know what you mean! Nobody verbalizes anything when I hit the recycling center, but their eyes say it all.

 

Hate I missed it. We were there last weekend and...... They were closed that Saturday, an employee event I think it was. I was really looking forward to seeing it and having a few beers.

 

Great thread and I have some new beers in house, some hoppy beers from Veil in Richmond. But first it's decoration day, if I have a beer before that's done it won't get done. Be back before game time.

 

Good morning New BSers! Thanks, @lordofthewiens, for today's opener. The only thing I like about winter is the photo you posted. I used to go to work early (Read: before the snow plows were out) and I really enjoyed seeing the snow piled on the tree branches and plowing a fresh path where I thought the road was. Other than that, I absolutely hated the drivers that thought they had to drive 30 mph because it snowed or the ones that needed to drive in the middle of the road because, apparently when it snows, half the road ceases to exist. Then there are the drivers of semis that don't recognize the presence of ice and snow on interstates and think that 85 mph is still an appropriate speed. But I digress.

Today's New Breakfast Beer is:



Received from @Dragginballs76 in NBS BIF #6 - Thanks Michael!
Undated bomber (2016 vintage) stored at 42 degrees and served at 58 degrees in a hand washed and dried Jester King snifter. Second pour in a hand washed and dried Brewery Vivant snifter.
Aroma – Very strong roasted malt.
Head – Large (Maximum 4.7 cm, aggressive pour), tan, high density, good retention, slowly diminishing to an irregular five to eight mm ring fed by exuberant effervescence and a complete dense layer with small rocks.
Lacing – None.
Body – Dark brown/black, opaque, marked effervescence. No sediment in bottom.
Flavor – The roasted malt from the nose does not translate to roasted malt on the tongue. Instead, there is a weak, slightly sour, almost vomit-like, taste with hints of soap. None of the advertised notes of chocolate or vanilla are found, although I rarely taste vanilla in anything – probably a mutation in my sensory apparatus. Hops, alcohol (9% ABV), and diacetyl are unfortunately absent as well.
To eliminate one variable (clean glass), the second pour was into a Brewery Vivant snifter that had been sitting on the shelf for some time. Everything was less – aroma, head, repugnant flavor – probably because of further warming and allowing the bomber to breathe.
Palate – Medium, creamy, soft carbonation.
Impression: Wow. I really dislike being negative about a beer in a style I love, particularly when it comes from someone who has consistently sent excellent beers. While this has an excellent aroma and looks very appealing (absent the lacing), the flavor is incredibly off. Hopefully this was just a bad bottle.

Appearance 4, Aroma 4.5, Flavor 3, Palate 4, Overall 3.5. Rating 3.62, rDev -2.4%.

 

Winter, say you?

Scenes from Thursday's Great Brazos Valley Snow Storm () of 2017:




Huevos the Puppy Dog is pure bred Texan, so he's not keen on winter. I love the cold down here, but the golfer in me is torn over it.

I say "down here" because I know what *real* cold is, and THAT I do not love. My junior-senior year of high school we moved up to Idaho Falls, ID, and holy snow day Bat-Man ... just thinking the words "winter of 1988-89" still makes me shiver .

But, hey, let's see some beer. Here's one — a New Live Oak Sunday Beer:

Live Oak Primus Weizenbock

Opened this can after the late shift early Sunday morning and can review it in two words:

Dark yeast.

Seriously, that's what kept coming to mind, though surely there's no such thing. The first whiff is all banana-clove with a toasted wood note in the background; that wood note disappears and fruitier notes enter, some darkish things like figs, dates, molasses. The flavor is similar but actually a bit sweeter at first, which is a switch from the norm for me. Over time, however, the flavor seems a bit earthy/medicinal ... not much mostly in the aftertaste, and after thinking about it I think it's yeast. Mix in some of the toasted/"dark" notes and I call it "dark yeast."

The review:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/383/46105/?ba=Premo88#review
4.23 (-0.7% rDev)

Underscoring a Live Oak brew? I keep that up and they'll be shipping me north of the Red River where the winter cold comes from.

Hope everybody's Sundays go well and you get a good one in your glass!

Cheers!

 

Dale, hopefully you will have another opportunity to visit the Sierra Nevada Mills River brewery. It is a absolutely gorgeous facility. I would recommend a visit during the warmer times of the year so that you can drink some beers at the outdoor beer garden (and perhaps listen to some live music).

Cheers!

Jack

 

'Morning, NBS...

Got our first snow here on LI yesterday - starting yesterday mid-morning and continuing into the late night - but not much accumulated, save for on lawns, trees, and parked cars... Still, for me, it's a joy to behold...

Kicking off what oughta be a great day for football with this release from Duclaw...

Lost in the Static

Uses Citra, Mosaic, and Hallertau Blanc hops in an 8.6% abv DIPA... Medium-gold body is faintly hazed and only produced a finger of finely-bubbled head... Characteristics are piney and resinous, with appropriately shellacked fruits underneath, vaguely tropical with some dark citrus notes... Malts are fairly assertive, adding some body and a honeyed sweetness to the mix... Medium-weight feel, smooth, and round on the tongue... A little too on the sweet side for my tastes, and only mildly bitter, with subdued carbonation... On paper, it might seem impressive, but nothing about the beer really set it apart from the masses... 10/26/17 canning...

Prolly gonna have a couple more new beers today, so...

You know the line...

 

A-A very vivid dark color with a slight head and lacing.
A-It smells very nice with hints of berries and sour apple.
T-The taste follows the smell with generous hints of berries and a slim sour apple tartness.
M-Very complex character with a pleasant balance.
O-A well balanced and complex beer that has the right balance.

 

I'll be back thats for sure, but Buriel wasn't all that painful an option. It was far from beautiful but it was a very well run beer bar serving up what IMO might be the best collection of beers being brewed in the state.

 

Thank you so much for this! I've had a bottle in my fridge for a couple months and the label has been driving me nuts. I look at it every time I open my beer fridge and could never place where I remembered it from. This is definitely it. I've never seen the movie before, but passed by it many times. If it's in the same style as something like "Heavy Metal" I think I would enjoy it.

 

Happy Sunday, NBS crew! We got about 5 inches here in SEPA, which is rather impressive for December. I already ventured out (on foot) into the aftermath, and it was treacherous. The things we do for beer!

I did manage to find a few newbies that I'll be drinking here today. Starting with this one that has popped up a lot on WBAYDN over the past few weeks.

Victory - Mighty Things
IIPA - 8.3% abv
"Enjoy by 4/15/2018"
Score: 3.83 (-5.9% rDev)



L - 1-finger bright white head is dense and slow to retract. Body is a translucent dark yellow.

S - grapefruit, orange, with a hint of booze. Very inviting.

T - follows the nose. Highly bitter finish. Very little sweetness. Booze is well hidden.

F - medium body and carb.

O - A perfectly acceptable ipa in the west coast style. A bit one-dimensional, but an easy drinker given the high abv.

 

Wichita Brewing Company
Shaven Yak Brown Ale - 5% ABV

It’s a beautiful, sunny crisp day here in Kansas with temps in the high 30’s in the mornings and warming to the mid-50’s all week with no chance of snow ever. I recall growing up and spending countless winters watching the snow fall from our kitchen door that looked out into the back yard, I’d turn the porch light on and just stare for hours, not to mention all of the fun I had playing in it. However, snow rarely reaches these parts in the last 10-15 years. It’s really sad. Anyway after yesterday’s over-indulgence i took my time this morning with coffee, and even went out for a 3 mile run to shake off the cobwebs and renew my spirit — Okay enough, let’s talk about beer.

The Shaven Yak is a beautiful Tootsie Roll hue of brown with lighter ruby hues on the edges. The light khaki head recedes to an even, thick film that leaves sheets of foamy lacing. Aromas of toasted dark bread, chocolate, and roasted chocolate malts abound with a balancing bright hop note on the back end. The taste is exactly like the aroma with a toasty, chocolatey opening that smoothly blends into a clean, bright light citrus zest finish. The beer has a medium mouthfeel and is very bright and lively.

Overall, I do not like hoppy browns but this one is just about evenly balanced but the hops are really bright and immediately noticeable. There’s enough of a classic chocolate opening to satisfy me. I haven’t rated this with a score yet, which I will soon, but all signs point to a score of 4.00.

Cheers, and I’ll be hanging around here a lot today.