New Beer Sunday (Week 674)

Sitting here waiting for the Sun to come up on what promises to be a Sunny day with temp in the low 50s. Still a bit nippy when I took the furry ones out earlier. So I'm thinking, what fit's into this picture . . .





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

Dark brownish black color with red-gold highlights at the edges and good tan cap.

Aroma is not as piney forward as I thought it would be, somewhat muted, like a conifer forest with a sharp, clean, light pine resin scent in the air. The supporting malt base is darkly toffeeish with hints of cocoa.

Taste on entry is malt forward with a roasted malt assertiveness that finds the border between richness and bitterness. Not as sweet as the scent implies, rather dry actually, with hops appearing like a hard lacquer finish on fine wood. I was surprised again by the hops which at 73 IBU I thought would be more dominate but they're not and that works out for the better because it's hard to get a balance between strongly roasted malt and strongly flavored hops. This beer does and does it well.

Full, creamy texture with balancing carbonation.

I much, much prefer this one warmed up to room temp where it opens up showing a complexity that is hidden when colder. When chilled the flavors are distinct but warmer they coalesce together and sing in harmony. I don't see this having food matching potential, it is strongly flavored enough to dominate, but as a stand alone drink it works right well.

 

Cheers you all! Thank you Doc for the thoughtful start to today's festivities. Thank you all for being there. Today is New Beer Sunday. I was thinking about how the world seems to be particularly disillusioned these days. I am looking at 51 degrees in the near forecast and the way the place looks is startling. Ithaca used to be a town that favored the winter. It seems that the image of winter is becoming a memory. It reminds me of strange poetry in a way. As something recedes or dies it has to lose it's images and become naked. I guess it's like being born. I am trying to go with the planet rather than against it and have taken up all kinds of scratch cooking and sustainable hobbies. Over the years I have literally eschewed, again the pun, every kind of processed food in favor of raw foods. I have learned to make everything from bread to tortillas, cheese and yogurt, cakes, cookies, beer and bubble bath. I even learned how to make my own flour from spent grain and I can see myself at the moment of a new dawn with my tomato plants and my fridge full of jars of oils and preserved fruit saying; "Rejoice." I have been having such fun growing herbs in my hydroponic gardens that I decided to branch out into dirt. Get it? Branch out. OK. I have had a great week cooking and beer pairing. I made pho and today I am going to close out my week of Chinese cooking with some mini spring rolls & nori chips. Monday I am planning to bake bread.

Happy Sweet and Sour Sunday

Almanac Balckberry Sour

The Blackberry is known as the devil's fruit. The beer pours a deep crimson color with a pink blush. Scant head that falls fast but remains attractive to the eye and refreshes lightly as you tip the glass. Nose is succulent with fruit and a bit of cracker malt. The lightly sour scent is no reason to be dissuaded as it finds your nose sweetly in defiance. A slight herbal with pepper from hop and lemon peel. Light oak. Drinks tartly and just sour enough to cause you to smack your lips from all the plump blackberry. This beer is their sour blonde ale infused with blackberries. It cleverly reminds me of the story about how Lucifer was thrown over into a thorny blackberry bush. The hops and their pepper is not on the palate but rather all the deeply seeded fruit. The touch of funky sour is perfectly balanced against the cracker and the malt finishes the beer.

I was on a roll with puns over the past week and I was making pho. I noticed that lots of folks were pairing their pho with the goze. I chose the blackberry sour because I felt it would pair nicely with the beef and the star anise. It sure did. Pho is just sweet, but rich. The beer was a wonderful compliment. Please enjoy my photos on the beer and the story.



Slip N' Slide

 

A -Pours a very dark opaque color ver little head and slight lacing.
S -Aroma has hints of malt and chocolate.
T -The taste follows the nose with malt, chocolate and coffee.
M -A medium bodied unique tasting beer.
O - A well done well balanced beer.

 

Mornin' NBSers.

After reading the intro by @lordofthewiens I'm reminded of all the chores I'll be doing today. They are mostly all connected with home maintenace in some way.

Now I'm sipping that first cup of coffee more slowly as I think what to have for breakfast and how long I can stall before starting on today's chores. (The weather is too good this morning to use that as an excuse. )

At least I have a new beer on hand for tonight that will probably get reviewed during the Eagles-Vikings game.

See, y'all later.

 

Good Morning NBS
@lordofthewiens I was reminded of the joys of home ownership this week when I installed a new water heater in my basement (unplanned) and a new light fixture in the guest bath (planned). My wife likes to change things up around here and, apparently, I like to make those changes happen.
A new beer makes everything better

The review:
12oz can bb November 2020 poured into a tulip pint glass at slightly warmer than fridge temp 10.1% ABV. The beer pours bright very dark brown with chocolate tan colored head. The head recedes to a paper thin island with some lacing left behind. The aroma is a mixture of cocoa, coffee and mild bourbon barrel. The taste is smooth porter (roast malt) and light cocoa up front transitioning to a hint of bourbon and oak in the finish. Mouthfeel is medium bodied, adequately carbonated and mostly dry. There is a touch of burn from the alcohol or the barrel, but it is pleasant. Bitterness is of the roast driven variety and fairly low just keeping the beer from teetering to sweet. Overall, excellent. It's a porter given a little something extra from a spirit barrel, not a boilermaker! Recommended.

I was just bragging on a certain Wisconsin brewery for their barrel aged offerings last week. I will add @Sixpoint and his crew to that list. Nice balance. If I desired a whiskey drink this morning, I would have poured one. This beer is excellent and I will return to the point of purchase to grab more. Cheers!

 

A: The beer pours a nice dark amber color with a slight head and lacing.
S: Aroma has earthy hints.
T: The taste follows the nose with a nice smooth balance.
M:A light bodied well carbonated beer.
O:Well done well balanced beer.

 

Poured near room temperature, canned on 12/18/17. Very attractive near black with a nice dark tan head that leaves thick lines of lace as it slowly settles into a thin layer of bubbles. 4.25

Smell is toffee, cocoa nibs, biscuit, and faint coffee. 4

Taste follows biscuit, nut, toffee, cocoa, caramel, and some dry coffee. 4

Mouthfeel is about medium, pretty creamy, gentle carbonation, and easy drinking though drinks bigger than its 5.8% ABV. 4.25

Overall a very nice Stout, really impressive how it drinks for its rather low ABV. 4

 

Who doesn’t like a Soiree!?!

Today’s beer is a beer I was gifted a year ago and that I decided to cellar since it is a sour beer: Ithaca Raspberry Soiree.

I was heretofore unfamiliar with this beer so I did a bit of web researching:

“This fresh sour showcases the naturally flavor-packed raspberry with a unique and refreshing beer that strikes a perfect balance between tart and sweet. Enjoy the beautiful pink hue, and balanced profile of our new Berliner Style Weisse Ale

Availability Seasonal

ABV 4.2%

Malt: Pale, Pilsner, Wheat, Honey

Hops: Glacier

Other: Raspberry puree and juice

Availability: Case, 6 Packs, 1/2 Kegs, 1/6 Kegs”

Time to soiree!!

Served in my Heavy Seas tulip glass:

Appearance:

Pours an amber color with a pink-ish hue (that’s for you George!). A one-finger head which dissipates fairly rapidly.

Aroma:

A faint aroma of raspberry, hmm, that’s about all that I am getting here.

Taste:

A more noticeable raspberry flavor-wise. There is a mild tartness accompanied by a low/medium bitterness.

Mouthfeel:

Low/medium bodied with light carbonation level.

Overall:

This is beer is very good! I found it to be very refreshing. I suspect this beer would be a very pleasant summer sipping beer.

Cheers!

@KOP_Beer_OUtlet @RobH @rotsaruch @Ranbot @FBarber




P.S. I will be further soiree-ing this evening by watching playoff football while drinking Sly Fox Tettnang Keller Pils (from a growler that I filled yesterday). E-A-G-L-E-S – Eagles!!

 

Thanks to @lordofthewiens for the great start to this weeks NBS. We got some snow last night, curious to see what the trailhead is like later on. Will be back with a brew, later on, as well.

Cheers!

 

Good morning New BSers! Thanks to @lordofthewiens for another thought-provoking and conversation-starting opening. It's another day here in NW PA. I can tell it's day because I can see the forest and the trees now that I couldn't see when I hit the rack yesterday at 2230. At least the gray overcast skies are easier on the eyes. The ice has moved down the Allegheny River past PGH several days ago and the threats of flooding have mostly been eliminated. Flood insurance is another of those homeowner responsibilities that don't get adequate thought.

Mrs. Lizard and I own rental property in the next "city" - a place where they have big (perceived) problems with rental properties. Some of the renters don't pay for their utilities so the city council has decided that the property owners are now responsible for those bills. Not a problem for Mrs. Lizard and I because we have always built the utility costs (except internet) into the rental agreements and we pay them. But just think of all those landlords that have to re-negotiate lease agreements! Needless to say, there's been a lot of bitching and moaning. In a parallel situation, the neighbor of our property was able to get his taxes lowered because of the number of rental properties in the area that weren't maintained by landlords - last summer I painted our rental property, had the electric upgraded, had the house reroofed, and put in an outdoor hot tub. This year it's time for some new windows and some tree elimination. I can hardly wait for warmer weather so I can hang from tree limbs with a chain saw and a beer! Good times!

Anyway, today's New Breakfast Beer and New Beer Sunday entry is the last of the too generous truckload from @Dragginballs76 and NBS BIF #6:




Received from @Dragginballs76 in NBS BIF #6 – Thanks Michael!
22 oz capped bomber with no dating found, stored at 42 degrees and served at 57 degrees in a hand washed and dried Jester King snifter.
Appearance – 3.
Body – Dark brown, opaque, aggressive effervescence. Light passing through the meniscus shows it to be brown.
Head – None. It was a glowing brown and fizzy but it disappeared as fast as it appeared. There is a constant attempt to form a ring by effervescence, but to no avail.
Lacing – None.
Pour – Dark brown, clear.
Aroma – 4 - Performing both open and closed mouth sniffing initially brings forth only a hint of cinnamon. As it warms above 57 degrees, some of the almond appears as well.
Flavor – 4.5 - The flavors are much more varied than the nose – initially cinnamon and cocoa followed by a burst of almond at the end. The habanero shows up in heat and a bit of pepper flavor in the background. I’m not picking up any coffee, a flavor I usually can readily detect. Also, no vanilla, not surprising since I rarely can detect it except at high levels. No hops, malt, alcohol, or diacetyl.
Palate – 3 - Medium, almost creamy, soft carbonation.
Impression and summation – 4.5 - Palate and appearance are basically what I expect from an Impy stout. The aroma is above average, probably because of the cinnamon, one of my favorite spices. The flavors are both intriguing and very complementary – this is one of the rare times that I was able to distinguish the almond in a beer.
Rating 4.14, rDev -2.8%.

Overall, a very good brew, although I have my doubts about the "Biscotti" in the name. Before we go to Texas a couple of times a year, we pick up about a ton of biscotti from Enrico's Biscotti onThe Strip in PGH. I don't see any connection between the "Biscotti" in the beer name and the biscotti we both eat and smuggle to Texas.

 

Speaking of upkeep, how would you like to maintain this beast. There are 8 different shapes of shingles, 2 stained glass windows. Years ago I tore up the old carpet in the dining room. To do that I had to remove the baseboards. On the back of one was a stamp-Manitowoc Carpenters & Joiners Union 1899 !

 

My favorites , preferably tart blackberries and pho, preferably hot. I'm not much of a sour person but I would dig the blackberry sour about now it might get me out of the beer rut I'm in.

 

Thanks ! Hope to be back later w a beer-courtesy of GreenBayBA