New Beer Sunday (Week 672)

Good morning Doc. Thanks for getting NBS off to it's usual good start today. I wish I was a snowbird. Every time the really cold cold sets in I am reminded of a movie with Jack Lemon who says something like "My mother goes to Florida to bake her chest during the winter." I'll just call myself an early bird. See you in a little bit.

 

Happy New Beer Sunday everyone! I personally grew up in a warm area so I never truly experienced an extremely cold winter. I always enjoyed going snowboarding in the winter but I would imagine it can be a bit different to have to live with the snow and freezing temperatures for months instead of just a week or two for a ski vacation. Today I am drinking the "Grünhopfen-Sticke Jrön", which is a specially hopped version of the Uerige Sticke brewed in collaboration with Kehrwieder Kreativbrauerei:



The appearance is a slightly hazy, amber brown color with a cola colored head.

The aroma was noticeable as soon as I opened the bottle and there are lots of floral/herbal hop notes, some caramel / sweet malts and a bit of alcohol.

The taste is bitter, herbal and has slight notes of citrus fruits up-front with a malty, sweet, slightly alcoholic finish. There is also a lingering taste of some hop green matter that provides a bitter, dry finish to the beer.

The mouth feel is somewhere between medium to thin and similar to the regular Altbier from Uerige.

Overall it's a tasty beer. I was already a fan of the Sticke beer from Uerige and this is an even more intense version of that. All the hop flavors seem to be even more amped up and it's an extremely tasty, drinkable and some what complex beer. On a side note, if anyone ever has the option to go to the annual release event for the Sticke beer at Uerige, I would highly recommend it. The beer, food and atmosphere are all excellent and this beer today reminded me a bit of that. Hopefully everyone else is enjoying a new beer on this fine Sunday and has had a great start into the New Year!

 

A-Poured into a snifter, the beer poured a hazy amber color with a slight head and no lacing.
A-Aroma had hints of cherry.
T-A tarty sourness with fruity hints.
M-A light bodied sour beer with decent carbonation.
O-A well balanced sour beer with a complex character.

 

Cheers you all and Happy Simcoe Sunday and Brouha Breakfast!

Simcoe are my favorite hops. They always have been. They are the original IPA hop and present flavors of lemon . They are bold and even catty. They are also juicy. I love the idea that Genesee has given me everything I love about the IPA in a more gentle rendition. They are calling it a pale ale. I think this may be a subtle version of the NEIPA.

Pours with a slight haze but nothing you could call turbid or cloudy. Fat creamy white head. The haze is barely perceptible. Look twice. The color is perfect golden yellow. It just hits that mark so it does not exude the deep lemon yellow color of pale malt and yet I am sure they have used pale malt. Head falls slowly clinging in rings. Nose is floral and perfumed with lemony citrus. Sharp but not prominent flower petal meets lemon peel. A few catty weeds or what I am going to call dank weeds. They actually smell like pepper. Taste is graceful and full of the bounty of those hops. They are succulent and juicy. They are also a touch bitter. It's like biting into the bitter stem of your favorite herb. Or like crunching into the head of a dandelion in ecstasy. Their pepper is as well defined as their citrus. What is not too prominent is dankness or anything you might call cat pee. I do not know if sugar was added to this beer but there is a touch of sweetness. It does not finish 100% dry . Not to worry, that expert malty finish keeps the beer in balance as the hops are shown to you in all their facets. The malt is crackery and fine, even a little elegant. The hop pepper and not the bitterness is the last thing you taste as your mouth waters form all that juicy lemon. Only a hint of sweetness resides in the aftertaste as the palate is cleared. This beer will pair wonderfully with all kinds of food as it has only the lemon for flavor. Those hops are completely under control. No grapefruit musk and nothing that tastes amonia like or like cat pee. Subtle finish that reminds me of the NEIPA for it's light sweetness.



This is a food friendly beer as it presents only lemon citrus. I paired it yesterday with my buffalo wings with potato salad and thyme. Today I am going to pair it with broccoli with garlic sauce as well as with my breakfast. Home made yogurt and home made granola. The reason that this beer pairs with Greek yogurt is because straining off the whey or the bitterness that you can find in regular yogurt makes it smoother and creamier. The beer without any harsh bitterness of it's own loves my granola that has lots of dried fruit and flavor in it from cinnamon and coconut to golden raisins. In fact, up against the sweet honey in the granola, I can taste a little more bitterness than I first did without the food. The simcoe hop also gives a light tropical note and maybe that is the sweetness I was perceiving. What I do not taste is pine and frankly I am glad. Pine and granola would not go well together. Nor would it go with broccoli and garlic sauce.


I was asking @JackHorzempa the other day if the overuse of hops or if the brewing process itself could create the prominent flavor of grapefruit in beer. I see that flavor in more than just this or that hop variety. I went on to opine that I ask because I find that the dry hopping craze was in response to grapefruit dominant flavors in IPAs that caused them to taste all the same. It's like that flavor begins to creep forward and dominate but then brewers started dry hopping to produce beer that had a more individual nature, or rather that seems to present more delicate flavors. These simcoe hops are not only bright and vivacious but also delicately complex. I can think of plenty of dishes that I would not pair with a grapefruit tasting beer. Including my dishes today and yesterday. I did drink more than one and instead of being overwhelmed by the creeping flavor of grapefruit, instead I discovered a delicate tropical note.

Genesee Brew House has again produced an exemplary beer. Cheers! Now just so they don't like me too much, I will tell you that I did not try their chocolate scotch ale or the other pale ale the grungeist pale ale. In fact the last beers I had from them were the altbier and the coffee stout.

 

Was looking foreard to this one . . .



Score 4.03
look: 3.75 | aroma: 3.75 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Beautiful 14K gold color with white cap and lasting lacing.

Aroma of piney hops with a healthy dose of citrus and solid malt backing it it all up.

Flavor arrives malt first which is surprising because I was expecting a hop hit but that wasn't far behind. Probably arrived at the same time because the different flavors are so well combined. This brew retains it's complexity without a misstep all the way to the finish. A firm hop bitterness emerges in the aftertaste and is a refreshing invitation to another taste.

Medium-full texture with balancing carbonation.

Now, this was a good idea. I don't mean the fresh hop approach, rather a beautifully balanced beer that brings together all the elements of something worth driving out of your way to get.

 

Hello BAs and happy NBS!
I have to say that I'm very excited about the two beers below.

Aldaris Porteris

This is my first ever beer from Latvia, a country I'm currently obsessed with, mainly due to its music scene as I'm a big fan of local bands like Bermudu Divsturis, Musiqq and Prata Vetra. Quite appropriately, my first beer from this small Baltic nation is a Baltic Porter made by one of the country's biggest brewers, Aldaris, which is based in Riga. The beer pours jet black with a lovely tan head that sticks around for some time. The aroma is a nice combination of roasted malts, dark chocolate, sweet syrup and some very light coffee. The taste is bitter upfront thanks to the roasted malts but it finishes with a dark chocolatesque bittersweetness. The mouthfeel is very chewy, creamy and oily and the carbonation barely noticeable. Priekā!









Girardin Gueuze 1882 Black Label

I have been hunting for Girardin beers from quite some time and I have to say that I've been more obsessed with finding one than I was with Cantillon (my next obsession is as of now De Cam). Very pleased to find this bottle and couldn't wait to try it. This is such a mysterious brewery. It intentionally has no website, it's very secretive about its operations and was sometimes even somewhat hostile to any inquiries about its brewing methods (as I'm reading in various books about Belgian beer).

It pours dark amber with two fingers worth of head that lasts all but a few seconds. The aroma is very citrusy, nutty, and with a very light funk. The taste is insanely complex. Lemon, unripe apples, pears, sunflower seeds, some floral notes, and it finishes very bitter. No residual sweetness at all. This is a very dry and awesomely aromatic gueuze.

 

A new beer from Sierra Nevada!

In recent past NBS threads I have discussed some new beers that I tasted at the Sierra Nevada Mills River, NC taproom and singles I purchased from the gift shop.

Today I will be discussing one of the beers I purchased at the Gift Shop: Sierra Nevada Southern Gothic Unfiltered Pils. This beer is being distributed in limited markets in cans. There is an ongoing thread discussing this beer (plus the SN Hazy IPA):

https://www.beeradvocate.com/commun...little-thing-ipa-southern-gothic-cans.533832/

I am really excited to try this beer since the Kellerbier style is one of my favorites.

There is some information about this beer on the Sierra Nevada website:

“Southern Gothic™

Unfiltered and raw

Steeped in tradition, yet ready for anything—that pretty much sums up our Southern Gothic Unfiltered Pils. This hop-forward but light-bodied pilsner is crisp and drinkable, perfect for an afternoon on the porch or a night down at the pub. We left it unfiltered and raw to bring out its complexity and add a depth of flavor.

Overview

Alcohol Content 5.2% by volume

Beginning gravity 11.9° plato

Ending Gravity 2.5° plato

Bitterness Units 38

Ingredients

Yeast Lager yeast

Bittering Hops Magnum, Saphir

Finishing Hops Saphir, Sterling

Malts Pilsner, Vienna, Acidulated”

All of this stuff sounds tasty to me!

But wait! There’s more!!

What is better than a new Kellerbier? Two Kellerbiers!!

I will be conducting a side-by-side tasting of Sierra Nevada Southern Gothic with Sly Fox Tettnang Keller Pils. Sly Fox produces their Tettnang Keller Pils on a rotating basis and it is available on draft at their Brewpub (Phoenixville, PA) and Tasting Room (Pottstown, PA). I discussed a draft version in a NBS post last year:

https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/new-beer-sunday-week-623.486380/#post-5252245

Sly Fox over the past year has packaged specialty beers in what they call their Hop Project series. They are mostly hoppy pale ales (APA, IPA, DIPA) but for the fourth iteration they decided to package the Tettnang Keller Pils. I personally was very happy with that decision!!

Enough jibber jabber – let’s drink!

Served in Firestone Walker Pivo Pils glasses:

Appearance:

Sierra Nevada: Pours straw colored with a slight touch of haze and a HUGE rocky white head.

Sly Fox: Pours straw colored with a sight touch of haze and a three finger white head.

Aroma:

Sierra Nevada: A combination of mostly bready malt but there is a noticeable hop aroma of spicy/herbal and a bit of lemon as well.

Sly Fox: Lots going on here!! A complex combination of bready malt, a bit of a yeasty component, and spicy hop aroma accompanied with a tinge of lemon.

Taste:

Sierra Nevada: The flavor is predominantly bready malt but there is some spicy/herbal hop flavor as well. There is a firm bitterness.

Sly Fox: The flavor has a BIG bready malt flavor along with spicy/herbal hop flavors. There is a firm bitterness.

Mouthfeel:

Sierra Nevada: Thin/medium body, moderate carbonation and a dry finish.

Sly Fox: Medium bodied, smooth mouthfeel, moderate carbonation and a dry finish.

Overall:

Sierra Nevada: I think this beer is very good!

Sly Fox: The combination of bready malt, spicy/herbal hop flavor and smooth mouthfeel = Excellent!!


From an appearance and aroma perspective these two beers are very similar. When it comes to the taste/mouthfeel there is a notable difference: the Sly Fox beer has a more balanced flavor profile between the malt & hop flavors and the mouthfeel was more complex (and enjoyable for my palate).

I do not know whether the cans of Sierra Nevada Southern Gothic will ever make it to my area since it will be a limited distribution beer but if I ever see it in one of my local beer stores I will buy a 6-pack.

Cheers to Sierra Nevada for producing a tasty Kellerbier!

@Sixpoint @rotsaruch @KOP_Beer_OUtlet @BillManley @SierraTerrence

 

A-The beer pours a nice ruby red color with a nice head and lacing.
A-Aroma has hints of pine, citrus and malts.
T-The taste follows the nose with subtle reminders of pine, citrus and malts.
M-A nice medium bodied smooth beer with decent carbonation.
O-A well made nicely balanced beer.

 

Sorry Terence (@SierraTerence) I misspelled you name in my above tag.

Cheers!

 

Good morning New BSers! Well, it's a sunny morning here on the arctic tundra of NW PA - I don't know what the temperature is, but down here in the Allegheny River valley it's always warmer in the winter than the official temperature at the airport and it will be until the river freezes over. Was it George Carlin who asked why do they always give the temperature at the airport, no one lives there? Probably because they have calibrated thermometers and can be expected to be accurate. When was the last time your car thermometer was calibrated, if ever? How about that big, highly visible outdoor thermometer from Walmart? OK, pseudo rant over. Cold is relative, temperature is not.

@lordofthewiens, as far as snowbird status goes, I have no desire to live in the south over winter. I love hot, dry climates where, when I step outside, my bones stop aching. But my calvanistic sadomasochistic upbringing makes me feel guilty at taking only the best from each climatic zone - gotta have the pain of winter along with the pleasure of summer. Besides, when you hit the beaches of San Pedro Island in February, most of the mammals there have more than a touch of winter albinism.

Any way, today's New Breakfast Beer is:




Received from @Dragginballs76 in a post-NBS BIF #5 ninja box – Thanks Michael!
16 oz can marked on the bottom 2/12/17. Stored in a 42 degree reefer and served at 57 degrees in a hand washed and dried Jester King snifter.

Appearance – 3.75.
Body – Dark brown, opaque. Light shining through at the edge shows it to be a hazy brown. Effervescent.
Head – Large (Maximum 8.5 cm, aggressive pour), tan, low density, somewhat fizzy, average retention time, diminishing to a three mm ring and a thin layer with rocks. Very heavy upwelling of bubbles in the center of the glass from the second pour.
Lacing – None from either the first or second pour.
Pour – Brown, clear.

Aroma – 4 - Initially a large burst of roasted malt and chocolate bouquet. This fades away leaving a faint coffee perfume.

Flavor – 3.5 - Chocolate and alcohol, both up front and in the aftertaste. The chocolate could be from either the malt or the cocoa nibs. No hops, no diacetyl.

Palate – 3 - Almost medium, less than creamy, fizzy. Leaves my lips sticky.

Impression and summation: - 3 - As usual with Burial, excellent can art. Unfortunately, you are not consuming the can (Although, from some of the reviews noting a metallic taste, perhaps some people are). This is over-carbonated and too thin for an Imperial stout. The alcohol is too prominent for being only 10% ABV- acceptable in the aftertaste but not up front. A less-than-stellar effort from an otherwise stellar brewer.

Rating 3.59, rDev -5.5%.

 

Wow! That was a heck of a great side by side review/post!!

 

Thanks @lordofthewiens for the great start to NBS this week. Will be back later with a new brew. Snow has fallen on the Western Slope, but I'm thinking by the time I go for a hike in a few hours most will be gone here in the valley, at the trailhead might be another story.

Cheers!

 

Happy New Shipyard Beer Sunday (Week 672)!

It is good to be back! I was having problems with my oil furnace last weekend & rather than pay for a emergency service call, I shut off the water at the main valve & decamped for several days to a friend's house. Things are back on-line, Chez Woody is toasty & I have beer ready to go!

As to that last, for @Shanex, just lay in more beer than you CAN possibly drink during the week so that you will have a stash come Sunday. I have such a backlog that it is not a problem, but following in the footsteps of a Chicagoland friend, I am resolving to spend more time at or near home, winnowing down my backlog while doing so.

I would not want to be a snowbird. I grew up in the northeast, spent a lot of time in warmer climes, but returned to my hometown. If anywhere, it is the northern Midwest, especially Madison, WI & CHI-town that beckon to me currently. BTW, a snowbird is also a device used on slanted shingle roofs to hold snow in place so that it does not simply slide away an onto unsuspecting pedestrian below. I wouldn't want to be one of those, either.

What I do wanna be is drinking beer! Today will be a Shipyard horizontal, beginning with a bottle vs. CAN faceoff:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/139/226411/?ba=woodychandler#review
vs.


You'll have to read the review(s) for the outcome, or just scroll to the end for the answer. In the interim, I will be delving into the mysteries of the Shipyard! I'll be back at some point to let you know of my successes.

 

A-The beer was poured into a tulip yielding a hazy golden color with a generous head and lacing.
A-Aroma had nice fruity hints.
T-The taste was somewhat dry but very smooth with hints of fruit.
M-Very nice and smooth with a decent amount of carbonation.
O-A well made beer nicely done.

 

Did someone say "snow?" This stuff won't go away (though I don't think we've had any new snowfall since early last week). Seems a perfect day to stay in (except to take beer photos, of course), though I think we'll at least need to venture out for food.

But if we ignore that last part and assume staying in, why not do a battle Bourbon-Barrel-Aged Coffee Porter?? The competitors, two beers I've been hoping to see at my store and both caught my eye this week, Ballast Point's High West BA Victory at Sea, and BBA 3Beans from Sixpoint.



First off, let me say I don't actually expect these to fairly similarly claimed style beers to taste all that similar. I've had both base beers and they come across as taking different tacks to the coffee porter style (VaS also has vanilla - so 4Beans might be a better comparison, but I didn't have that). BP obviously chose High West bourbon and rye barrels, and Sixpoint used Widow Jane bourbon barrels.

while...

I expect the 3Beans will be more subtle and smoother, and Victory at Sea wil lbe more brash and in your face - and probably more bitter. Full disclosure, I had one can of 3Beans on Friday that turned into Saturday with a nice 6 hour break to let it... warm (and flatten). So obviously, I didn't analyze it too much

First things first, looks (I'm so shallow):
The 3Beans took two pours, as the head rushed up the glass before all the contents were emptied from the can. I was probably a little more careful with VaS, but tried not to be, and it easily fit the large glass. Not sure with the shadows it comes through, but the Sixpoint offering had a little foamier creamy head that was a little lighter than Ballast Point's offering. Bothe heads stared at me as I typed up this opening of my post.



Well, they say smell is linked to memory, will one be "more memorable?"
3Beans actually has a "smooth" smell, if that;s possible. Not overly powerful, but hitting on well blended notes of coffee, vanilla, cocoa, with lighter notes of roasted malt and bourbon. Victory at Sea is bolder in the nose, with a more chocolate cake/brownie overall aspect, with vanilla being fairly assertive, and the spirit barrel presence being more similar to that of 3Beans.

How am I feeling now?
3Beans has a clean profile and medium body - which seems in line with how I view most of their offerings. There's just a little nip to the tongue that seems from carbonation, but could be influenced slightly by the barrel's previous resident. VaS is more full with somehow both a little more softness or silkiness (at first) and roughness, with a more bitter ending than tugs at my tongue.

Ending this tasteful throwdown...
3Beans has what I'd call a "higher note" aspect to it. the flavors are light and maybe more "tangy" and coffee-like. The Victory at Sea has deeper notes, more earthy and chocolatey.

I get a medium roast coffee from 3Beans, with a more fruity aspect to the coffee flavors themselves. The vanilla is light, and yields a lightly creamed coffee impression. Bourbon barrel is an accent at best.

The Victory at Sea comes with chocolate, with a thin but relatively (to 3Beans and the end taste) sweet, like a thin vanilla glaze icing were in between the sheets of chocolate cake. Bitterness - seemingly from roasted malt initially starts to build and I am reminded of the base beer at this point. Bitterness grows and this starts to seem more like an American stout, with a reedy, husky, wooden bitterness that balances that opening sweetness.

Okay, I'm tired of reading, what's the verdict??
If I had to sum up things, I'd view these two beers how I very simplistically look at most English vs American styles of beer. The English generically tend to be smoother, maltier, and more well-put-together, while the American tend to be more bold, complex but not nuanced, and in your face. I think 3Beans fits the former, Victory at Sea the latter.

I think I like the Ballast Point a little better. If there were just an ever little more boldness to the 3Beans, I think it'd sway me as I like the gentle ride of the beer a little more than the fairly choppy seas of its competitor.

 

Happy Sunday, NBS crew! Starting today with a new beer hauled back from my SF trip. “Yeast driven pale ale”, eh? Well that’s a new one.

Yeast of Burden - Alvarado Street
Yeast-driven Pale Ale - 5.2% abv
Canned 12/12/17 (26 days ago)
Purchased for $5.49 in Oakland, CA
Score: 3.46 (-12.8% rDev)



L - eggshell white 2-finger head above a vibrant, sparkling yellow body.

S - cheese, a little citrus, bread.

T - strange. Cheesy front backed by some classic orange/grapefruit. Bready middle. Quite sweet. Only mildly bitter.

F - medium-light body with higher than normal carb.

O - I can’t say that I like this, but I don’t hate it either. Glad I did not lug home a full 4 pack. It’s worth trying for how weird it is. Very much a cheese bomb.