New Beer Sunday (Week 676)

Prost!

Those two exact beers are a great example of why I don't subscribe to the "there can be only one" approach to the 5.0 score. They're both perfect in their own way, and certainly of the tippy top elite in their class, so what's the point in putting them up against one another?

Anyway, really nice job on a really nice beer!

 

Good morning on this rainy dreary Super Bowl Sunday, and being from Philly.. Well ya know.

I do have new beers for today, but I have things to do before its ass in the seat time. Yesterday me and Mrs NC spent the day in Charlotte running down beers, she's a good sport like that. I found Resident Culture and Heist thanks to Surfaster, and I was completely and utterly astonished at how good these NEIPAS were.

As always food is center today. I'm making stuffed portobellos with hot sausage with a homemade sauce that mimics Outbacks blooming onion stuff. A cheese wiz with hot rotella and hot sausage dip. And last cheesesteaks. Not the store bought kind either, I went to the local meat shop and they thinly sliced me up 3 lbs of fresh Ribeye steak, with the usual wiz for me, sharp provolone for the Ms and plenty of fried onions and peppers.

Back later when it's beer time.

 

Happy New Beer Sunday everyone. I was never a big NFL fan and am currently not in the US so I won't be watching the Super Bowl. I will say that the Super Bowl parties are always good, even if you're not necessarily there to watch the football game . Today I am drinking a new beer that a friend brought back for me from his trip to Norway. It is a quadrupel called "Haand Kvartett" from the Haand Byrggeriet:



The appearance is a dark, cola colored brown / black with a small, slight off-white head.

The aroma is dark fruits, dark chocolate, sweet / roasted malts, a bit of alcohol and yeast.

The taste is sweet upfront with flavors of dark fruits, malt and chocolate. Afterwards comes a slightly tart taste and then some hops and a creamy, yeast finish.

The mouthfeel is quite thick and similar to other quadruples.

Overall it is an enjoyable and extremely drinkable beer. For a Quad the ABV is quite low (8,5%) and all the flavors are still there. It's a great beer for the chilly evening that we are having here and I'm very thankful my friend brought me back some beer from Norway. Hopefully everyone else is enjoying a new beer this Sunday and if you like football hopefully the Super Bowl is good today!

 

Well good morning, NBSers (at least it's morning here and maybe morning back home still after I finish this write-up). It is not often I'll say this and agree with my PA-born parents, but go Eagles!

Today I am having a beer from a brewery that threw a few long bombs towards the DC area last year, likely in an attempt to score a solid market for the future. As far as I can tell, the play is at best under review, as I have not seen many new offerings beyond the first drop.

The base offense of this beer scored with me as a growler fill last season. Our defense adjusted, but Modern Times has thrown in a few wrinkles to help disrupt my palate's game plan. The City of the Dead lineup has added cocoa nibs, almonds, and sea salt to confuse my taste bud secondary and go deep into my stomach with glories of scoring some laudits in this forum.

I did hear the pfft! of the opening kickoff, but an attempt to bring the nitro-ified crowd to a frenzy didn't go as expected. The beige light mocha crowd eventually stood to watch the proceedings, not sitting until near the end of the game. The taller ones did nearly block the entire view of those outside the stadium trying to sneak a peak. Those that did look in saw a darkness like the year the lights went out during that other big game.


It was hard to get a read on what this team has in store. We couldn't sniff out much in our Belichick-like attempts to see what was in store for us. I am thinking maybe they are hoping to roast our front line with medium roast coffee notes - and maybe a little chocolate to keep us honest. We heard almonds might be in the mix, but weren't feeling very salty about that, either.

Once the game started, their offense was running very smoothly. That nitro scheme really does lend to such execution. Their defense attempted to shoround us in dark roast coffee, but we found some light in their zone. The balanced defense threw blanket chocolate-coffee coverage, a feint of nuttiness - but the latter wasn't too successful against us.

On offense, they didn't pull out the trick plays we expected them to. They stuck to a solid run-pass ratio, nibbling as they drove over our palate with short passes and solid execution. They did have a couple sweet plays that did pour a little salt in the wounds from last game, but was softened by the fact we were still competitive in this one.

This beer did win us over in the end, but it wasn't the rout we expected and other may have hoped for. The opposition was kept contained, but we couldn't bust through to find any way of discouraging their play. In a not overly exciting, but well played game, this beer won in a moderately low scoring affair.

Cheers, and have fun watching the game, if you are so inclined!! I will get an official review up of this eventually (have 3 more cans).

 

Hope you feel better, our whole family had had a stomach bug that’s been going on for weeks. Hell even our dog was literally sick for two days. Best thing is sleep and zofran if you have it. Maybe a nip of bourbon

 

Here's wishing you a fast recovery! My group is down to two of us who aren't sick for the annual Superbowl get together. I actually spent yday morning avoiding folks who were sick at a bottle share.

 

Tripel Karmeliet, pours an orange gold color. Body is thick and heavy and produces a full mouthful from the ample carbonation. Aroma is yeast, fruit peel,spice, and some honey. Taste is identical but there is also some pear and apple that shows up. Overall an excellent example of the style, great with Sunday brunch

 

On a recent visit to Barrage, I saw four packs of Famous Last Words, a bourbon barrel aged RIS coming in at 10% ABV. I asked the workers what it would most closely compare to and they replied BCBS. They were wrong. Not that I really expected it to be comparable but my expectations were fairly high. Bottle #593 of 700. Pours black with a thin tan head that settles quickly to a ring and leaves little lacing. Aromas of coffee, dark chocolate and a hint of bourbon. Tastes of dark roast coffee, dark chocolate, molasses, roasted malt and a bit of bourbon. Light bodied for the style with a fairly thin mouth feel, minimal carbonation and a slightly bitter finish.
A good beer but at $24 for a 4 pack nothing I would ever buy again. Cheers!

 

Hope you get well soon! NBS is a sadder place without your beer (and food!) posts

 

[NewsFlash - Just in!]
Carton Chinook ODub 1st Review < this is what I'm drinking for Super Bowl]
4.3/5 rDev 0%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

Thrilled to be the 1st review of this best of ODub: Chinook. 10990 being the pretty country north of NJ near New Milford & Warwick NY. I raise a glass to Suzanne Palmer Smiga tonight.
Another god nectar. Fresh on tap at the tasting room in 07716 on 2-3-18.
a_ Mostly clear but for wisp of chill haze, o-dub gold, with fervent head that laces well. 4.2
S_ Ample aroma of that nor'west, pine, chill salt air of Chinook. Along with ample fruit and malt and spice.. 3.7
T_ The sweetest, most nectar like of o-dubs. More, bigger juicier pine and spice over dank juicy, hempy hops. 4.5
F_ good nectar like body with low carbonation. 4.2
O_ could be my favorite Odub.

5 New Stouts unlike any other, 2 spicy hot. 4 Feb 2018
May the best team win today!

Sunday Molé Stout | Weyerbacher
4.5/5 rDev +9.3%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
Certain innovative beers deserve more than the BA average, even if slightly flawed, this Sunday Molé is one. Love it. Try 24.
a) Pours an opaque, viscous black body with only a half finger of dark tan head that leaves film islands and dotty bulleted lace. (Fruit and additives kill the head retention in beer).
s) Strong aromas of molé: dark chocolate, black beans, coffee roasted beans, grilled chilé, cinnamon, and roasted malts. A great sniffer in a snifter, let it warm to cask for full effect.
t) Upfront ample roasted malts with battle between chocolate, caramel and molasses sweetness, and chile pepper and cinnamon and spice. Along the way there's sweet dark chocolate, cold brew coffee, dark fresh roasted coffee beans, molé, salsa, and heat. The alcohol is fine for this beer as it's tempered by the gravity of the rich battling flavors.
f) Syrupy, full bodied, with low carbonation and a silky, wine-like, liquore-like finish that warms like tequila.
o) Nothing average here. Great last beer of the evening. Worth it as a sipper. Happy Christmas eve eve 2018.

Mephistopheles' Stout | Avery
4.4/5 rDev +3.8%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25
Batch 12 - bottled 2016. Monster.
A: Pours a thick oily black body with a thick mocha head that rings and dots the glass with dark shards.
S: Rich, tarry aroma, with raisin, prune, and dark fruit, licorice, and everything dark you can name, chocolate, wine, port, charcoal.
T: Leather, espresso, tobacco, dark fruit, licorice, oil, cherries, and becomes bitter, hops, herbal, incense, and pepper in the finish.
F: Full bodied, syrup, good legs, with low carbonation, finishing in climax of warm bitter.
O: Give it time whether drinking old or young. Better probably if aged a bit. Complex.

Evil Twin / Jackie O's - You're In The Jungle Baby
4.3/5 rDev +7.3%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
When you enjoy a beer unlike any other, that's time to pay attention. This one's chile makes you pay attention.
a) Beautiful thick black black color, opaque, with tan head that resoives to ring and film but scant lace. (Veg & fruit generally weaken the head) From a bright can. "spent motor oil" is correct.
s) Chocolate, molé, black beans, chilli upfront with coffee, roast malt, citrus and char.
t) Big and original, as with the aroma but big, and red pepper, cayenne dominant, but I dont think too much. Good and lasting, but you must love them hot. Pasilla chili dominates the dark 80% chocolate.
f) Like a mole sauce: Full bodied with light carbonation and chewy, smooth mouth feel.
o) No more south of border beer exists - Numero uno. 12% - sip like wine.

Dark Secret With Raspberries | BrickStone
4.2/5 rDev +1.4%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
Liquor like, just the right raspberry addition. Thick and want another one before bed.

Rye Rebellion | Full Pint
4.2/5 rDev +5.8%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
Great for a night cap - last beer of evening - almost like a massive glass of wine. Well done on all fronts. Try 24.
Appearance: Pours a standard punch black with an inch of tan foam that resolves like an espresso cap, leaving lots of lacing to frame the glass.
Smell: I find it equal parts roast malt, chocolate, and rye whiskey.
Taste: Follows smell. Roasted malt and dark chocolate, up front, with rye whiskey becoming the core, framed by earthy, bitter hops that balance. The rye and whiskey continue past the swallow with oak wood and caraway that linger.
Mouthfeel: Totally full body with syrupy (good weight) feel and moderate carbonation.
Overall: Yay for originality found here in 4 kinds of rye and rye whiskey barrels. Brave. Try 24. But strictly 1 at a time. A sipping beer.

 

Good afternoon NBS and happy Super Bowl day! Grew up in south NJ rooting for Randall Cunningham so you can imagine who I'll be rooting for tonight.

Wife woke up in the middle of the night with the stomach bug that has been going around, so plans to get cheesesteaks at 3 Notch'd were cancelled. Ran out to pick her up meds and some stomach friendly foods, so I picked up rolls and the frozen cheese steak slices for the toddler and myself. Not the best option, but my dad used to make those every Super Bowl when I was a kid so brings back nice memories and certainly better than nothing.

Sneaking in a quick, session IPA while toddler and mommy take respective naps. Sierra Nevada's Experimental Hops Session IPA.



Pours a clear, yellow color with a fluffy white head. Smell is dank with a hint of lemon to it. Taste is grassy, a little lemon bitterness, some malt backbone. Bitter in the finish. Light body, crisp. Overall I can take it or leave it, would drink one if offered but certainly wouldn't go out of my way to find it.

 

Moving on to another tripel. Corsedonk Agnus tripel, pours a cloudy yellow. Above average carbonation as well as just above average body. Aroma is yeast,spice,some fruit peel, and malt. Taste is very simular yet there was a bit of some fig that showed up as well in the taste. This has a hop bitterness that was a little more pronounced than other triples but it worked really well. Overall an excellent triple

 

I live in New England. Can you guess which team I'm rooting for in tonight's Super Bowl? I'm about 80 minutes from Foxboro, Massachusetts, which has a Craft Beer Cellar a few miles from Patriots Place. The ironic thing about this Super Bowl is that as a child I had a Philadelphia Eagles poster on my bedroom wall. But that's 45 or more years ago.

And now for this beer. New from Shipyard of Portland, Maine comes Steady. 5.1% ABV. 30 IBU. It was released for the first time in November 2017 so it has only been available for four months so there's a new beer for Sunday. They promote it as a Hoppy Pale Ale but I think the hops are more muted than the malts. Bready. The hops I get are tropical and spicy. Cloudy light amber pour and smooth creamy body.

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Since I'm originally from Southeastern PA, I'm rooting the Eagles today. Pretty sure all of the New Englanders around me will boo me, but I will remain true to my roots.





https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/30356/148836/?ba=Lone_Freighter#review

The summary:
Aromas of lemon verbena, some sour Bretty features, light notes of lemongrass, light piney hops ride the funk at the end. Flavors take the prior aromas to the sour side initially and then develops a clean funky to earthy and herbal balance. Mouthfeel was between light and medium bodied. The sour factor was tame in it's harsh component and the carbonation felt on par. ABV felt as projected. Honestly, I'm not sure why I opened this today as I'd be more inclined to truly want this in the Summer with an honest to goodness refreshing quality surrounding it.

 

It's an awful stomach bug here, I suspect I get a lesser dose because of all my shots from my military days. My older daughter had the flu , on the way home I told her to stop by her ex husband who happens to be a dipshit and lick and drool on his doorknobs and slobber them up pretty good. It made her laugh at least.

 

Possibly some of the best advice I have ever heard.

 

Ahh, Super Bowl Sunday. Since my 'Boys aren't involved, I'm non-plussed about the game itself, other than to say my distaste for the Patriots is causing me to do something I never thought I'd be able to say/do/conjecturize -- I'm rooting for the Eagles to win. God save my soul. Hopefully the 15-pack of All Day IPA I'm taking to a friends house will assuage my guilt.

2 weeks in row! I would celebrate, but there's beer to review. My final entry from my Swedish haul from Christmas, and unfortunately, the least impressive of the bunch.

Landsort Lager by Nynäshamns Ångbryggeri
BA Score: 3.44
My score: 3.21



L -- 4
Pours a clear yellow with what started out as a weird-looking bubbly head, almost like Star San bubbles, that turned into a pure white head that sticks around for days. There’s a little haze, which detracts only a little from the appearance. Tons of lacing as well.

A – 3
A little malt sweetness, a little noble hops, but pretty bland otherwise.

T – 3.25
Very clean, a nice, light malty sweetness up front, followed by the slightest fruity ester on the back end of the sip. The malty sweetness is a bit nondescript, and the malt profile is a bit overwhelmed by that note. There’s a noble hop character, but it’s quite subdued. I’m missing the malt profile here – perhaps it’s just a ton of pale or pilsner, but there’s no bready notes.

M – 3
Light to medium, nice softness to it, with enough carbonation to provide a zip on the tongue and keep the mouthfeel interesting. The sweetness grows with temperature, which coats the teeth and not the tongue, which is slightly disappointing. It was nice when straight out of the fridge.

O – 3.25
This beer is perfectly fine. There were no flaws to it, but it wasn’t something I’d seek out. It would make for a fantastic lawnmower beer, or something you’d pop open when you get back from a long jaunt at the park or just finished a run during the warmer months.

 

I have homebrewed a lot with both Citra and Mosaic hops. I have consistently only perceived tropical fruit flavors in my beers that featured Citra hops. My experience with Mosaic hops is that they were mostly fruity (e.g., berry fruit flavors).

I have had Founders Mosaic Promise a few times and that beer has been variable. In one batch I mostly picked up fruity flavors but in another batch that beer was super dank.

I am generally not a fan of dank but if it is not too strong and there are other flavors involved I can enjoy the beer. I did enjoy drinking Alchemist Focal Banger but frankly I enjoyed my Focal Point IPA more for the reasons of:

• No dank flavor
• No floaties (I do not like 'boogers' in my beer)
• A more pleasing mouthfeel

Cheers!