New Beer Sunday (Week 674)

Pretty, so worth all the sweat I'd think

 

Good morning, NBS crew! My #1 rated beer of 2017 was Fire Emoji by The Veil. This here beer is the cousin to Fire Emoji, brewed in collaboration with The Answer a few weeks ago. I was lucky enough to trade for a crowler of it. Spoiler alert: this shit is fire too.

Thumbs Up Emoji - Veil/The Answer
DIPA - 8% abv
Rating: 4.59 (+6.7% rDev)



L - 2-finger offwhite head atop a murky orange body. Head recedes very quickly, leaving very little lacing.

S - super citrusy. Grapefruit, lemon/lime. A little pine. No booze in the nose.

T - tons of juicy citrus here as well, layered on top of a dankness that takes over in the middle. Bracingly bitter finish. Booze comes through more in the taste, but minimal sweetness.

F - medium-full body with minimal carb.

O - this is right in my wheelhouse. Not quite as good as Fire Emoji, but stylistically similar.

 

Mikkeller - Beer Geek Brunch brewed in San Diego

A- pitch black color with minimal light brown/tan head which dissipates quickly to a small ring around the edge of the glass. Lacing present

S- maple, charred wood, Carmel, coffee

T- Carmel, charred wood, booze, coffee aftertaste

M- creamy, slick, very full

O- delicious, I liked this beer but it didn’t hide its alcohol content well at 10.9%. I think I’ll sit on my other can for a while to mellow out the booziness. Probably wouldn’t buy again at the $16/4 pack price point but I’m glad I tried it.

 

Birthday beer for me.

Aggressive pour leaves a very little head that disappeared almost immediately. Dark murky brown appearance, reminds me of a strong cup of tea. Nose is bourbon, vanilla, and sweet and slightly acidic wine. Taste is nicely balanced between bourbon and wine notes with some slight funk. I get a little lightly roasted malt and no hops. Nice smooth mouth feel with carbonation pretty much gone. Overall a very enjoyable and interesting beer.

 

Ulster breakfast stout, pours completely black. Medium body,average carbonation, overall a nice feel to this beer. Aroma is coffee grinds, fresh black coffee and roasted malt. Taste is identical,no mystery with this beer, you get what you smell. A little bit of a dry finish,definitely not too sweet and the bitter coffee dominates the flavor. Overall a good,not great, but a breakfast stout that is definitely worth having again

 

5 New Favorite beers rated higher than average in styles: Stout, Pilsner, Fruit Beer, & EIPA
(everyone's drinking stouts and new styles, so here's my batch that I rated higher than average)

+7.8%
Bell's Special Double Cream Stout
4.3/5 rDev
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25

This supplants Left Hand Milk as a favorite creamy stout.
a) 1 finger head over black body, plenty of lace.
s) Ample, lovely variety of roast malt flavors, all smooth, with some wood, forest, hops.
t) as sweet and mild a roast while still complex and flavorful, as any with lots of dark chocolate, espresso, cocoa notes. Lotsa cream on top.
f) mid weight and carbonation with full but not filling body. Nice clean finish.
o) Packed with complexity at a reasonable weight and ABV. Definite great topper for black and tans. (Which I make with APA like Dales)
+17% Organic IPA | Smart Beer
4.2/5 rDev
look: 4.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25

Happy to be first to add and review Smart Beer's Organic IPA. Which is a beautiful looking and drinking IPA.

A) Perfect. Copper clear body (like a Dales), lasting 2 finger head that keeps a white coin thick lid, and sheets of lace. Perfect.
S) Not shy. Pine, grass, classic crisp bite, over a back drop of malt. (Again very like Dales Pale)
T) Ample, follows smell, pine, grass, walk in woods, earthen floor, against a creamy malt backdrop for a pleasant see-saw of flavors where the peppery bite of hops win out in the finale.
F) Again I'd compare with Dales - cleansing, prickly, clean, refreshing, good food beer.

Oh how I wish this came in cans. Makes me feel good because organic. Try 24. Great find, great beer.
+7.8% Von Pilsner | Crooked Stave
4.15/5 rDev
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25

Amazingly good primitive, natural beer. I'm going all out because it's the first of its kind i've really enjoyed.
a) Naturally cloudy bright yellow pilsner (which seems a contradiction) but this is alt cellar beer. Carbonation pin point and minimal powers a short but fluffy head that laces plenty.
s) Amazing natural up front hoppy lemon, inviting, juicy. Then cracker malt and yeast, and some wild esters too.
t) Taste enlarges but follows the aroma with lots of lemon, complex floral notes, and white pepper. Sweet and juicy to start, but tempered by peppery, clean bitterness into the finale. Nice see saw of flavors.
f) Soft, mid weight, light carbonation, but juicy, fresh, refreshing, clean finish.
o) Perhaps one of the best pilsners or summer beers ever made. Let it warm to cask.
+9.5% Bog Smash Pale Ale | Bronx Brewery
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
Gets an extra quarter for the cranberry hue. I dont mind being above BAer on this fall seasonal as I'd take it alongside any APA (Dales) or over most any fruit beer (pumpkin squash). I'm returning to this.
a) Clear amber mahogany body, that sprouts a tan head and leaves lots of spidery lacing on the glass.
s) Tart cranberry nose, completely natural, that evokes fall leaves, orchard, fall earth, with herbal hop and malt and whole graininess.
t) Bright and juicy hop bitterness blends with the slight tartness of the cranberry.
f) Smooth with a medium body. Well balanced, easy drinking for a slightly bigger brew. Lovely finish.
o) Beats almost all winter warmers, and all pumpkin beers. Savoring the cranberry after, almost wine-like that way. One of the great cold-season beers.

+10% Monumental IPA Port City
3.9/5 rDev
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75

Loved their Porter, and I like this EIPA more than most Ba'ers.
a) Pours a clouded dark apricot body with lots of suspended particulate and a little visible carbonation. its 1 finger head resolves into a lasting skim and ring, and leaves dotty lace.
s) Too faint. Offers the aromas of an English IPA, with sweet malt, and fruit flesh among the citrus and orange rind hops, blended with a pear nectar / caramel malt core. Finally, a touch of pine hop.
t) As it smells, but much bigger, complex, and juicy... more of that fruit nectar that's well balanced by the drying pine hops in the finale.
f) Juicy, nectar, in mid-weight and carbonation format, nicely drying in the finish, great first beer of evening before dinner.
o) This beer was more inviting and interesting than as reviewed. I'd an east coast sailor's IPA or EPIA, but better than most.

 

Well heck I suppose I've got to join in after whetting my appetite with all y'all's wonderful morning prose.

I'm finally cracking into this kraken that I've been eyeing in my fridge for some time (well, since my roommate brought it home from BC with her about two months ago...). Why (asked no one in particular)? One it just felt like time. Two, we were just talking last night and this morning at work about Tofino and and the Canadian coast in general (our two most Canadian [aka the one that still lives in Vancouver and commutes down to Seattle for work... let that sink in for a moment] coworkers worked last night and today, respectively). Three I've been thinking a lot about octopi and krakens lately. Seattle is on the bRink of an NHL team (it's nothing official yet, but man... it's going to happen!), and one of the more polarizing names being bandied about for the potential expansion franchise is the Kraken. I know very close to nothing about hockey, but man am I excited to learn. I'm already planning how to fit season tickets into my budget. On the plus side, I like Kraken's tie in to the marine theme that permeates our region, and especially the imagery of the giant octopus that lives under the Tacoma Narrows and terrorizes locals when the moon is full. Or new. Or something. On the other hand, I totally hear the counterargument that it just sounds so... cartoony in a bad 90s expansion team/movie-that-couldn't-license-the-real-names/minor league way. But also kind of cool. I can't make up my mind ultimately. Anyway. Kelp Stout it is.

My roommate picked up Tofino's Kelp Stout for me when she went up to Vancouver in November for her birthday. She told the lady at the liquor store she wanted to grab something for her roommate that he (me) wouldn't be able to find down in Seattle. This is what the lady suggested.
I must admit prejudice, in its most literal translation of pre-judgement, though in this case my guess of a thin bare bones stout predicated on its gimmick proved not to be borne out by the experience.



The beer pours a deep rich not-quite-black whose edges betray ruby roots and is topped by a light brown head that begins as a mass of fluffy lack of compromise. Said head settles soon to a comfortable finger that contents itself with the concessions already rendered. Minimal but not nonexistant lacing.

The nose presented a roasty malt base with sweet notes of chocolate/cocoa and maybe a counterbalancing bitter hint of coffee. All very smoothe and well blended, and not much seaside, at least initially. I convinced myself after a couple of sips of a faint hint of the beach, but I could forgive you for accusing me of wishful/willful sensation.

On first sip it brings much of the same, in that it is a solid stout with foundations built on roasty malts, sweet dustings of chocolate/cocoa and a bitter counterbalance as of espresso. Then on the finish I find my cheeks tingling in a familiar manner. I don't know how else to describe it. I'm not sure I would have made the connection were it not listed explicitly as the damn name of the beer, but with that knowledge, it is absolutely a lightly briny presence that is as much evocation as it is explicitly flavour on its own.

If you ever grew up around the ocean you know the tingly (I almost want to call it puckering, but that's not the right descriptor) feeling when you accidentally swallowed seawater, or licked your lips at the beach and the salty water/air had been building up or if you were lucky enough to grow up with kelp and play with it trying to make trumpets or other constructs/sculptures. It's more that sensation than it is the flavour, but it is unmistakable.

Ultimately, my take is this: this is a solid baseline stout: roasty/chocolate/espresso in a decent medium body but with a specific little twist meant to make it fairly unique on its own. It works for me. Might not be everyone's jam. I've learned that I'm super into nostalgia infused into my beers. Primarily in the past I've found this in the form of the integration of cedar (notably in offerings from Hitachino Nest and Jester King), but this is another example where the intangibles elevate this to be more than simply the sum of its components.

Wow, that was longwinded even for me.



Anyway, hope y'all are warm and dry and enjoying something in your glass on this beautiful sunday [insert appropriate time of day here].


Black Thought GOAT.



Cheers y'all!!
(and happy birthday @Txex06 !)

 

A-Pours a hazy amber color with a nice head and lacing.
A-Aroma has hints of citrus, pine and hops.
T-The taste follows the nose with notes of citrus, pine and hops.
M-A medium bodied well carbonated beer.
O-Well made and well balanced complex beer.

 

Just came across a six pack of Weihenstephaner Kristall Weizenbock. I don't know why, but this is the first one I have seen in my area? I wish I could get some more as this is great...review below.

A: Pours a brilliantly clear golden yellow color. A dense white head rises to over two fingers with a gentle pour. Excellent retention and gobs of lace left behind as the foam eventually fades.
S: Banana esters and yeast. Spicy clove and grassy herbal hops. Husky wheat and even some alcohol lingers on a bit.
T: Big banana esters, yeast, clove like spice up front. Then baked bread crust that is amazing, and makes it a bit like a spicy banana bread. White pepper, grassy and herbal hops. This is great.
M/O: A full body with excellent crisp carbonation. An ultra smooth finish at the same time, and seems like a bit cleaner version of Vitus. There is a touch of warming alcohol, but really enjoyable to drink. Downed in big gulps as the smoothness and warming feeling makes me want to keep coming back.

Excellent all around, and I would expect nothing else from this ancient brewery. I really like some of the new releases from Weihenstephan, as 1516 was another excellent release. Well done, to bad I haven't been able to find very many six packs., but I am going to seek them out now.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/252/273571/?ba=champ103#review

 

Yeah, it was indeed an enjoyable beer to drink.

I do not purchase sour beers very often; I like them when they are not super sour.

I am appreciative that a good friend thought to gift me with this beer.

Cheers!

 

Add a @ in front of @GreenBayBA and then he will get the credit he deserves. I should be getting a package from him soon, pretty stoked!

 

Mid-sixties and sunny here in South Carolina. I'm holding out for it to hit seventy before I go out to the garage and wrench on some bikes.



The usual wacko Burial can art, circular saw blades, skulls, panthers, skulls and a spider.

Can says it's brewed with barley and wheat, fermented with a funky house yeast. There's a little tang along with the tropical fruit blast, Amarillo and Simcoe hops. Easy drinking for 8.3 ABV. Light haze, light carbonation, glad this comes in 16 oz cans.
4.14/5 rDev -0.7% | Score: 4.17
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
Another quality Burial IPA.

 

so he gets credit

 

New Amer. IPA Sunday (Week 674)
Thanks for the great start, Doc. I love my house and property. Dad always said it's not spelled home owner, it's spelled home moaner, and this house was built in 1989 so plenty to moan about. I still remember walking from the road through thick woods and standing on top of flat and smooth rock that once had been scraped by glacier, the spot where the house now sits. I knew instantly this was the place, standing there that first time, after four years of searching I knew. The man who sold us our two acres tried to convince us we would have a mountain view to the west if we cut all the trees, but we kept them instead, and I am so glad.

Was at EQ yday and had the strange circumstance of buying two beers from them, and one was the weakest offering they have yet to put out, and the other was their absolute best. How often does that happen? You are welcome to check out the review I posted for Sexual Fluctuation IIPA, their best beer yet, but it isn't strictly a new beer because I drank some yday at the release. This one, Fractal Citra/Simcoe I am drinking now for first time. It's a true new beer as I also just added it to BA. Stock image-

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/47536/323208/?ba=cavedave#review

Hope you also have a Great American Beer in your glass. Cheers!

 

Happy New Beer Sunday. Unfortunately I have never owned a house and have only lived in apartments. One day I would like to have my own house and as previously stated by others in this thread, I would imagine all the up-keep is sometimes annoying but it must also be a great feeling to be able to have something that you can work on for years and that in a way becomes a part of your life, almost like another family member. Anyways, on to the new beer! Today I am drinking the "Sylvaner Grapeale" from Orca Brau. Orca Brau is a realitively new brewery from Nürnberg and I have had a few of their other beers and have been impressed by all of them. I'm already looking forward to this one:



The appearance is a dark / golden orange with a fluffy, white head.

The aroma is grape juice up front with some spices, slight tartness / sourness and a yeast smell that reminds me of the yeast from the Fantome Saison.

The taste is sweet and like grape juice upfront. Afterwards comes a bit of sourness that drys the mouth out a bit. Also there is some sweet malt taste with a bit of spice and a slightly herbal hop taste.

Overall it is an interesting beer. The main taste is grapes and it almost tastes like a mix between grape juice, a saison, and a slightly sour geuze. Definitely an interesting beer and extremely refreshing / drinkable. Something I find interesting is that they have to label the beer as an alcoholic malt drink with grapes because of the Reinheitsgebot. Orca Brau is definitely one of my favorite German breweries and it's great to see them expirement with so many different kinds of beers. Hopefully everyone else is having a great Sunday and is able to enjoy a new beer today!

 

Howdy NBSers! Yesterday’s travel, beers and dinner caught up with me and I slept in today...better late to the party than a no show!

I’ve had this bottle in my dedicated beer ‘fridge for long enough. I looked at it this morning as a possible NBS submission and saw that the best by date is 23 2 18:



A great reason to dive into this beer and take some serious notes; the first reason being I really like sours and I’ve waited long enough to drink this vintage ale - Rodenbach Caractère Rouge (2014) which I believe is the second batch bottled following the original 900 bottles in 2011:





Hazy ruby brown to deep burgundy pour at 57 degrees; very good clarity though under fizzy, quick off-white head as my somewhat aggressive pour settles; no retention; thin ring; spotty lace from ring all the way down glass to finish; surprised to see light legs on the swirl. 4.25





Generous notes of juicy cranberry and sour cherry in the nose; figs, dried fruit and spicy strawberry on the exhale; aromas more akin to fruit juice and/or a freshly opened dried fruit snack-pak bag, than Ale. 4.75

Very pleasing flavors of fresh fruit (berries) juice; no funk from yeast, but mildly tart raspberries, cranberries, and strawberries; there is more cherries in the nose than on the tongue; no vinegar notes; some acidity; lite oak, caramel malt and tannins in the middle; semi sweet finish. 4.75

Medium lite body, medium light carbonation; no warmth; very lite dryness, but not wooden. 4.25

Overall the clean acidity, tartness and sweet fruit esters are well balanced; no funky yeast (which I do like) in the smell or taste; this Flanders Red is fruity/berries flavors from beginning to end, the sour complimenting the sweet, leaving my mouth feeling happy; underlying dried fruit, wine like tannins and malt base create a complex, layered fruit ale that is World Class. 4.75

Enjoy your Sunday, and Go Jags!

 

So I don’t have a dog in the hunt for today’s championship games but that’s not unusual as a Skins fan......nonetheless, I think I will take in a bit of each matchup. Kind of think giving the Vikings a home Super Bowl would be cool.

So the beer, the new beer that is...

Westbrook Rinse/Repeat - Simcoe and Amarillo



4.06/5 rDev -0.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

I got a little aggressive on the pour, leading to a massive frothy head that left behind some sticky lacing over yhis solidly golden, ever so hazy but otherwise clear IPA. Nose is at first kind of tangerine, but as it warms up I get more earthy veggie than anything else. Taste leans more towards a sweet citrus but also has that veggie thing happening, which is how it closes. Finish is insanely dry while leaving only trace bitterness and little else behind.

 

Only Philly area beer for me today, go birds! Starting with Tired Hands Hail Santa, a very nice change up from their normal hazy/juicy stuff and just a solid Rye IPA that happens to be hazy, thanks @CanConPhilly!

4.26/5 rDev +3.4%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25

Thank you CanConPhilly for this
16 oz can, dated 12/13/17, poured into a teku

A- A hazy oranger with a two finger white head.

S- Citrus, citrus zest, piney, some resin, a nice touch of rye, hints of melons.

T- Bright citrus/citrus zest, some rind, piney, nice amount of rye spice.

M- Smooth, medium body.

O- Not your standard hazy juice bomb, this is bitter and has a great rye character.