New Beer Sunday (Week 675)

Got this can from a new friend last night a little brewery in NH called Deciduous canned 01/16/18. Pours a very cloudy yellow slightly orange a tiny half in head that leaves thin wisps of lace behind. 4

Smell is loaded with tropical fruit papaya, passion fruit, pineapple, tangerine, mellon, and grapefruit. 4.25

Taste follows tropical front to back, papaya, passion fruit make your mouth start to water, pineapple, tangerine, and pink grapefruit in the finish. One dimensional in the best way possible! 4.5

Mouthfeel is about medium, could use a little extra carbonation, not dry but sticky from the abundance of fresh hops, and at 6.3% ABV it goes down easy, but drinks a little bigger in my opinion. 3.75

Overall this is a juicy and crazy crushable IPA that I would gladly drink again if given the chance. 4.25

 

Happy NBS, everybody!
For today's good-god-is-it-seriously-this-spring-like-and-rainy-in-January edition of the thread I'm gonna have a couple new beers (hopefully). I've been crazy busy lately and have had to work both days this weekend as well, but hopefully a chance to relax and review some new suds will help recharge me for Monday.

To start off, I'm going to try a new canned hazy IPA from a semi-new brewer up here. I love the damn things, but I truly feel that we've reached peak-NEIPA here in Quebec. At least I hope so.... Anyway, here she goes.

And here I was trying to give this one the benefit of the doubt and not just assume it would disappoint....
It is: okay looking, decent-but-a-little-weird smelling, bad tasting, meh feeling, and generally not very good. Noob IPA, indeed. Sadly, I imagine they're minting money since it is in a tall bright can and since the label features an N in close proximity to the three magic letters. To go back to my point at the beginning, I hope that they have peaked in Quebec, but I'm worried if people like me are paying for beer like this at the peak. Anyway, a good excuse for a palate cleanser later on.

Here is my full review.

Cheers!

 

The Total Wines and ABCs are just getting it this past week, and reasonably priced. Head’s up, Pirate Bomb and Pirate Noir start arriving next week. Cheers and enjoy your time in Florida!

 

Good afternoon BAs and happy New Block Sunday. I always look forward to indulging in another offering from Block 15, a brewery that is quickly becoming one of my favorites up here. I have no anniversaries of any sort coming up, until the first full rotation around the sun for my son at the end of February, but I guess I'll just celebrate that today is the anniversary of last January 28th. Good enough reason for me to have a new beer! But first...pics from the hike of course! Courtesy of Lower Macleay in Forest Park:





Aaaand some mushrooms. On a log. For @cavedave :



Alright. Onto the beer!

Block 15
The Prophecies- Belgian Quadrupel Styled Ale







The Prophecies fills the chalice a deep walnut brown, but when held to light, it shows off a beautiful dark cherry skin tone. A khaki colored and creamy head rests above, one finger thick, and surprisingly stays afloat for a while before descending into a light surface coverage of large bubbles and smooth foam.

Fig and cherry cola are the first impressions. Sweet brown sugar and a toasted nuttiness I can't quite put my finger on follow along. As this warms, mild traces of cinnamon and clove are hesitant to reveal themselves.

Wow. This didn't make me believe it was going to taste like a quad from it's aroma, but it does not disappoint in the taste. Fig and cherry both dominate once again with a dry cider like flavor closely on their footsteps. A chocolate, caramel, and sugary blend of flavors come in strongly afterwards, which makes me imagine a Rolo covered in crushed rock candy. No surprise and true to style, a light alcohol flavor finishes this off.

The feel, as I mentioned a dry cider impression previously, is just that. Surprisingly thin, very dry finish with a tingly carbonation, and an alcohol warming sensation.

I'd say this is a good Quadrupel. Perhaps no Westvleteren XII or St. Bernardus Abt. 12, but a hell of a good shot. And at $4.99 for a 500ml, you bet your ass I'll be picking up a few more. Would love to see how this one ages.

After my official review, I gave Block 15 The Prophecies a rating of 4.02 with an rDev of +1.0%.

Cheers everyone, and I will see you all soon.

 

I'd pay to see those hands thumping ... happy practicing and playing!

Dang ... if you're giving it a 4.5, me and my "garage" will be on the lookout!

I'm late to the party but ahead of schedule for Monday's lunch date with mom and grandma down Gulf Coast way. I've just enough time to share my one new beer for this Sunday:

Shiner Ruby Redbird, a 4.01% ABV fruit/vegetable beer

Short version: watered-down grapefruit juice

I didn't expect much and that's what I got. The label says it's brewed with "Texas ruby red grapefruit juice and with natural flavors and ginger flavors added," so you know right away it's a grapefruit soda. It does have a hint of the ginger, more in the nose than flavor.

The review:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/143/67274/?ba=Premo88#review
3.31 (+4.1%)

If the ABV were in the low 3s, I might buy a sixer of this stuff to help cool down when the blast furnace gets going down here in July-August. At 4%, there's better options ... like this:

Cut up about 5 lbs. of grapefruits into quarters late Friday night and squeezed until I couldn't take it. The bottom inch or so is about half pulp. The grapefruits came from a friend's tree down in Brownsville, and they were in danger of going to waste, so I cut out the middle man. (the 16.9 oz. bottle is just for perspective)

Hope everybody's Sundays are swimming along nicely!

Cheers!

 

I was going to say the exact same thing. Don't know why, but I trust your opinions on such beers Mr. Rad. I mean Sir Tongo.

 

New-to-me beer that I've seen a bunch but never picked up until today.

Jai Alai White Oak

3.83/5 rDev -9%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75

Canned 1 month ago.

Pours translucent copper with 2+ fingers of off-white head.

The nose is orange blossom, orange candy, tea leaf, and tobacco. Hints of potpourri and peach. Wood and caramel in the background.

Big resinous notes on the palate. Potpourri and orange rind. Medium bitterness, amplified by the oak. An herbal note that the commercial description aptly calls dill. Predominantly old school hop profile, offset by a fairly present barrel character. Drying and vaguely tannic. Light to medium booziness on the backend.

Overall, solid but maybe not one I'd return to. Not sure I'm a fan of what the barrel character does here, offering wood and booze that steer the hop profile toward floral/herbal territory, sacrificing most of the fruitiness of regular Jai Alai. I get what they're going for here, but it's good-not-great to my palate. 7.5/10

 

Aw, gee thanks guys. I was just left with the impression that I couldn't ask much more of a Czech Pilsner, plus it left me wanting for more. I couldn't tell you if this is some upstart brewery or if they've been around the block, but they did totally nail that beer . Here's hoping it's available in your necks of the woods . Cheers !

 

New photo idea I've been scheming up for a while. It's a lot tougher than queuing up just a shot of the beer+bottle. This was taken by myself via the Canon app, although I'm thinking it'd be a lot easier if someone else just held down the trigger on continuous. I've got a few ideas on how to smooth it out short of picking up a couple of professional lights. Hopefully they work. Regardless, I'm going to dive into this new-to-me beer. Cheers.



Nebraska's Sexy Betty.

Pours black with two fingers of khaki foam after softly pouring straight into the glass. Head retention is superb with fair lacing. Aroma is huge notes of roasted and toasted malts right up front. They carry a little bitterness. Brandy, cherries, and barrel show up next. Brandy compromises about 90% of the aroma. It's a touch boozy, but not overly so. Flavor profile is smooth notes of toasted, roasted, and nutted malts with an earthy finish. Brandy is apparent throughout the flavor profile, but leaves a lingering, semi-boozy taste on the tongue. Heavy malts carry a bitter power. Charred barrel shows up as well towards the end. Mouth feel is thick, with a filling, hearty texture. It's not velvety, nor creamy, just thick. Overall, a mighty powerful stout. It's aroma and flavor profile would suggest a higher ABV.

Score: 4.5 | 4 | 4 | 3.75 | 4 | BA Score: 4.01 | rDev: +1.3%

 

Happy NBS, new beer samplers and commentators. It's a bit of a late afternoon start for me as we continue get the house ready for sale. It seems a never-ending task. Today, I'm reviewing Master of the Seas, Czig Meister's new Imperial IPA. It's a very well-balanced ale with a malty base and a tasty blend of Citra, Mosaic & Galaxy. For a 10.3% "TIPA," it's surprisingly light. Like a few other New Jersey breweries, Czig Meister has really improved its beers over the past 18 months or so and it's easy to purchase cans locally. Here's my review:

4.12/5 rDev 0%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

Canned 1/19/2018 so 9 days old when reviewed. Poured into Czig Meister pint glass. It pours a hazy honey-orange color with almost a finger of soapy, milk-white head that dissipated slowly leaving a thin coating of lacing. Its nose features lemon, onion, grapefruit, pine needles, and a fairly sweet malt. The taste opens with a sweet malt followed almost immediately by a blast of resinous Citra, Mosaic & Galaxy hops. They are bitter but delicate and do not bite hard. There are also light notes of grape and grapefruit throughout. It's a very well-balanced ale. The mouth feel is quite creamy with pleasantly moderate carbonation and it seems to drink well below 10.3% ABV. From the description I anticipated a heavier, more dank ale more akin to Superego or Magnify's Flavor Waiver. This is as light and crisp a TIPA as you're likely to find and it's very nicely brewed. I've been enjoying Czig Meister's offerings lately. The brewery's really hitting its stride.

I hope you're all enjoying your new beers today. The reviews are fun and informative!

 

Sup NBS? I've got two new beers for this evening. Both are IPAs, with the first one being more traditional and the next one being a sour IPA from a brewery out of VT who's been brewing such beers fairly regularly of late.

My first entry is a new (canned 1/11/18, so about two-and-a-half weeks ago) Mosaic-focused IPA by the insanely-underrated Tap Brewing Co. in Haverhill, MA. I haven't ever really been let-down by The Tap, in all honesty. They mostly nail the styles they attempt, and they're one of those breweries that can achieve great results in everything from dark lagers to NEIPAs to barrel-aged stouts. However, I am notoriously hard on Mosaic IPAs, as most of the examples I've had of IPAs focusing on this hop have been waaaay too unfocused and weird, with flavors that don't really end up giving me a cohesive profile. As such, many of them feel unmemorable. Let's see how The Tap does with this hop though, shall we?



As usual, a pretty classy pour and a cool can from The Tap. Not shown here, but there's a hop mosaic motif used on the other section of the can, and I dig the vibrancy and warm colors used. Reminds me that this shitty winter can't possibly last forever.

Nice color here, kind of a medium-amber with a lot of haze and a thin head of eggshell-white foam. The surface and the lace look somewhat similar; lattice-like with drippy patterns and decent consistency overall. I kinda wish this were filtered, though, as the haze doesn't seem fully committed to, but whatever. Not bad looking in my glass.

The nose is pretty interesting, as Mosaic IPAs are wont to be, but I usually approach them with a skepticism so my hopes don't get unnecessarily elevated for what ends up being a middling palate flavor. Anyway, it's kind of got a funky spice combined with dank notes, berries, earthiness and light notes of papaya and mango. Just weird, but not altogether unpleasant at all. There are some harsher acidic undertones here that I just don't see the point of... just seems like another case of "Mosaic gone wild." I couldn't help but notice that this is a 6.3% beer, but the IBU rating is listed as 72, so perhaps they were going for a more unbalanced thing here anyway. Not my favorite nose, but it's not bad. So far, though, this is going to really have to come through in a major way on the tongue to get me fully on its side.

On the tongue, this is densely-packed with dank hops and a surprisingly-deep malt palate which I don't feel works for the beer. It drinks much stronger and heavier than a 6.3% IPA should in this day and age. That said, the flavors are definitely punchy, ranging from bright berry and dank earthiness to piney resin and mango-like tropical fruit. The feel is, luckily, much drier than expected from the initial hefty caramel-esque malt backbone I was tasting. This finishes fairly succinctly and cleanly, making this one of those weird beers where the mouthfeel and overall palate save the proceedings to some extent. That said, I ain't gonna be picking up any more of this. Not a total miss, and I'm sure it has its market, but I just find it to be too all-over-the-place with a malt bill just a bit darker and heavier than it should be.

Gonna make some dinner soon, and then I'll be back with my next new beer!

In the meantime, get some chiptune-metal in your life!

 

Happy NBS. 1st time with this Wicked Weed BA Dark Age. Very nice. Cheers!

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/30581/90133/?ba=cindyjeffsmith#review

 

Onto new beer number 2 here NBS players. This is Birds Eye View, a stout brewed w/ coffee, coconut, and cacao nibs, from barrier brewing. The brew checks in at 7.9% abv and has a 12/18/17 canning date.

A black pour with moderate carbonation and a big off-white head. The nose is on the subtle side with chocolate malt and chocolate. The drinking carries over from the nose with the nice chocolate malt upfront. A soft and chalky flow with a smooth and sweet finish. The coffee and chocolate notes really dominate. I’m finding the coconut to be rather lacking. Dry and subtle nutty feel but not exactly coconut. The mouth feel is light-moderate. It’s got a dry almost powdery feel to it.

Overall, it’s ok but nothing great and rather average at best. I’m in the 3.5/3.8 range here,

 

SIR TONGO!!!

Hahahahahaha ... yes! +2 for @Lingenbrau

That fits in so many ways. If I make it to London this spring, I'll be sure to look him up in the registry thing what's-it.

 

Hoppin' Frog/Cigar City Daredevils Got Game, 10.4% ABV, 60 IBU. Pours black, with a slight tan head. Aroma is strong coffee, and chocolate. Taste is sweet, coffee, chocolate, and very slight bitterness. Light carbonation, and seemed watered down for a stout. Overall excellent.

 

Alementary Independent Variable

A Keller Pislsner that has been dry hopped with Sahpir and El Dorado Hops

Wow, pleasantly surprise with this beer. It’s excellent. Fruity dry crispy and refreshing.

Theses two hops pair wonderfully together creating a more than normal fruity aroma on this Piz thats still wrapped up in biscuity bready malts and a touch a white cracker. Bitterness is also a little higher than normal but makes the beer so crisp and drinkable. Body is light-med and carbonation is perfect.

Its a a very fruit forward Pilz that almost begins to cross into American Pale Ale territory and it's that little gray area where this beer sits that makes it unique and delicious.

Happy NBS!

 

Congrats to the Wahoos! I support any team that beats Duke, especially when they win at Cameron and quiet the obnoxious fans there. And it made Carolina's loss to State easier to bear.

 

Happy Birthday, Fred. Cheers!!

 

Allagasg white, pours a hazy yellow color. Aroma-is citrus,wheat and spice. Taste- similar to aroma,dry,not sweet at all with a bitterness that lingers. The coriander is pronounced and adds to the lingering aftertaste. Overall a very good beer but for some reason didn't come completely togethor for me

 

I had two new brews today, both from evil twin. One was Aun Mas Cafe Jesus and the other was Bible Belt, a collab with prairie. On the topic on anniversaries, next weekend I will have been engaged for one year. The wedding is set to take place March 10. On to the reviews.

Aun mas cafe Jesus no date on bottle


A- Pours a thick dark pitch black which allows no light to come through. A half finger dark brown head rests on top but not for long.


S- I was expecting a huge overpowering aroma of coffee but was me with much of the same as the base stout. As there is no date on the bottle this could be very old or even older. Very disappointed at this point because I love coffee flavors and scents and was hoping this was a fresh bottle


T- mostly chocolate, faint hint of roasted malts solidifies my opinion this bottle is very old. Cold there is a warming alcohol finish. As it warms that turns into a smoky, chocolatey, dry finish.


M- silky thick full mouthfeel


O- very disappointing as I was hoping for coffee, coffee, coffee, and more coffee




Bible Belt canned on 10/09/17


A- pours an espresso color and looks very slick with a one and a half finger medium brown head


S- caramel, chocolate, vanilla, faint hint of coffee


T- chocolate, vanilla, ending with the coffee and very slight chili bite. Not even a whisper of the 13%. Holy Helen it really opens up when it warms. Great blend of the flavors as everything intensifies once it warms and coffee comes through strong about mid palate and the chili gives it a nice kick to end it out with a bit of dry nuttiness


M- thick, creamy, and slick, coating all surfaces of my mouth


O- doesn’t quite live up to the hype. Very glad I bought it but I had built it up bigger in my head.