New Beer Sunday (Week 680)

Cheers you all and Happy New Beer Sunday! Thanks Doc for getting us up and drinking today. I am one of those women who likes the idea that you can't tell if I am active in that way or not. It's powerful and if you have ever flirted the old fashioned way with subtle hints and double entendres you know what I mean. In fact if you will ask the people closest to me I am sure that they would be split down the middle some saying vixen the others saying prude. Anyway when my son was a teenager we were at a party and having a bawdy conversation in which I tantamount admitted to having "done it." Just then the children who were supposed to be sleeping revealed themselves and my son steps out first to groan and exclaim; "MoTHER! How could you?" I remember falling back more silently for the rest of the evening after quipping innocently; "Well I obviously had it at least the one time." The very idea of it makes us all kindred spirits.

Happy What Did She Say Sunday!



Today I have Innis and Gunn's Kindred Spirits This is a stout aged on whiskey barrel staves. Pours dark and foreboding . Almost completely black except for a slight glint from ruby that emanates from deep within the beer. Fat creamy head of chocolate colored foam that falls slowly. Nose is bakers chocolate with a mild hint of whiskey sweetness. No real hop scents just earth that mingles with some very mild coffee. Roasty richness from malt and cocoa. Light wood and just a breath from the hops. Taste is roasty boldness made smooth by the wood staves . You can't taste too much of the whiskey , just enough to make it seem sweet. The wood is only slightly prominent on the palate and there is the subtlest hint of creamy vanilla. Goes to the finish smooth and with the light taste of cocoa and rich bread. Also has the delightful taste of cola. A mere presence of grapey fresh fruit as it warms. Finishes as bitter from roast as form the hops and surprisingly drier. Lovely and very enjoyable. Cheers you all! .

 

This is what happens when you fall asleep but leave the TV on one of the 24/7 cable news channels.

 

Good Morning NBS
I have cut down on drinking through the week, which has led to a plethora of choices for NBS. This is the first of today's brews. Both have two things in common: coffee additions & sell-out status.

The review:
22oz bottled 2/1/18 in California poured into a snifter at fridge temp 9.3% ABV 29.50 IBU. The beer pours nearly black with medium brown highlights if held to light. The head is light brown and starts around a finger deep before receding to a film coat and thin ring around the glass. The aroma is full of cold brew coffee, but that's it. The taste is lighter on the coffee with strong roasted malt presence. There's a hint of sweetness that never competes with the roasty bitterness, but helps balance it. Mouthfeel is medium bodied, adequately carbonated and dry in the finish. There is a prickly feel that would normally indicate high carbonation, but I believe it comes from the roasted malt. Bitterness feels bigger that the advertised 29.5 IBU. Overall, good. A bit short on taste and feel to be top shelf.

This is the first time I remember buying a Petaluma bottled beer here. Explains why it was late showing up on shelves. I buy Lagunitas bombers for reuse in home brewing due to the low price point, but would likely pass on this one again. Enjoy the new beer in your glass this morning!

 

2.76/5 rDev -28.3%
look: 3.5 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3

Dogfish Head American Beauty 2016 750ml bottle shared with two friends just before closing this am.
Looked like a glass of rose' wine with a minimal head that receded into wispy ring, no visible lacing. Aroma was floral, almost "perfumey", just a hint of hops. Flavor was almost medicinal. On the upside, I thought the texture was nice. My two cohorts both thought it was a very good beer, I had a hard time chokin this one down. DFH makes some outstanding DIPA's, this isn't one of them.

 

Figured I would use this glass for the first time this morning. Found it in an old 12btl shipper and must have been a part of a trade from way back. I believe it could possibly be from @Patrick_Redbeard . I love hidden treasure!

Received this bottle from @beertunes in the roadrunner vs. coyote BIF. Dated 082817 - Atwood ales Berry Curl BlackBerry farmhouse ale.

This thing “POP”s open with barely a touch from my bottle opener. Huge foam on the pour. The color is a beautiful, rosy auburn that has the clarity of dirty dishwater. The dirty dishwater reminds me of a funny convo from the other day. Anyhoo... Nose is hay, sourdough, lemon pith, and mild berry. Taste is slightly funky, but more mild than I was expecting. The blackberry is very feint. Much of an afterthought here. Finish is very clean. Overall a pretty nice brew.

 

Doc give us her address and we will make the whole problem go away. So poured a little above room temperature and got nice 2 plus finger brown head that leaves some thin wisps of lace as it somewhat slowly settles into a thin layer of mocha bubbles. 4.5

Smell is roasty dry coffee, deep dark chocolate, vanilla bean, Oak, and charred bourbon. 4

Taste follows coffee and dark chocolate upfront, with some bourbon and oaky vanilla along with leather, tobacco, and slight alcohol burn lingers on the tongue. 4.25

Mouthfeel is on the hefty side for sure, moderate life almost creamy on the palate, obviously a touch dry as you would expect from a beer at 13% ABV brewed with coffee and aged in bourbon barrels, and drinks pretty easy considering it’s heft. 4.25

Overall this is a really nice beer, @jzeilinger thanks for this one and oddly I am a bigger fan of it than he was. I found this to be complex, roasty, and delicious. 4.25

 

New Beer Sunday: A New Dry Irish Stout.

Mornin’ NBSers with an alert for folks who want a drinkable low ABV dry stout. Also thank to @lordofthewiens for today’s interesting start. Most of my dreams are much more mundane and typically involve finding myself in a place I don’t recognize with no idea how I got there or where to go next. (A lot like real life in some ways. )

The weather here today is expected to be cloudy with temps eventually reaching the upper thirties. This is a welcome relief from the serious winds, precipitation and cold for the last couple of days. Given how many branches came down in the storm and their effects in the yard I’m facing some major clean up chores today. But I am relieved it was only branches as there are number of trees down in our neighborhood.

Before starting yard clean up, this morning’s new beer is the Guinness Original Stout (UK version). This beer is from the Guinness 200th Anniversary Variety Pack released late last year. (I just sort of inherited one of those 12 pack recently and since this is the one with the shortest shelf life, so.…)

As usual my review, subject to revision until the beer is finished, can be found here:

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/209/211541/?ba=drtth#review


The aromas and flavors of this dry stout are the dark roasted malt, a light char, with some chocolate and cocoa in the background. As the toffee sweetness and chocolate/cocoa fade the ending is dry with just a hint of earthy bitterness and char in the back of the palate. Enjoying this one more than I expected both because it came to me from the Guinness 200th Anniversary Variety Pack and so was bottled several months ago. The flavors, while not intense, work so well together that I’d be quite willing to have another.

I expect I’ll be back this evening with another Stout to discuss. (Probably one that is stronger!)

Cheers, all!

 

Happy New Beer Sunday everyone! Last week was a cold one and we even had snow here in Cologne on Friday night into Saturday morning. Today is much warmer and it feels like Spring might be arriving. Due to the warmer weather today, I thought it would be nice to drink a beer from my favorite style, the Weizenbock. Today I am drinking "Nelson Sauvin" from the Schneider Weisse Tap X series, which is a Weizenbock brewed with Nelson Sauvin hops:



The appearance is a hazy, deep orange / slightly brown color with a foamy white head.

The aroma is dominated by fruity, aromatic hops and accompanied by some wheat, sweet malts, yeast, and a slight alcohol sweetness.

The taste is citrusy and fruity (like white grapes) upfront followed by sweet malts and a bit of slightly bitter hops at the end. There is a slight taste of alcohol on the finish.

The mouth feel is on par with other Weizenbocks; a bit thicker and heavier than filtered beers.

Overall it is a beautiful beer. For some reason it reminds of me the Weizenbock from Weihenstephaner. When comparing it to the normal Weizenbock that Schneider Weisse makes, it is a bit lighter and more citrusy / fruity. The beer is extremely drinkable and an absolute pleasure to drink. If only it was a "normal" offering from them and wasn't something that they produce in limited numbers, although I guess that could be what makes it a bit more special. Anyways, I hope everyeone else is enjoying a great new beer on this fine Sunday!

 

Cheers again! Happy Two Beer Sunday! I decided to try another beer today to participate ina variety of threads across the board at one time. First let me please thank our very own @TongoRad for sending me a surprise box of beer. It has been tremendous. Each beer in it a treat. And let me please thank our very own @cavedave for starting a great thread about a new style and for thinking of me and arranging the surprise box.

This is Green Pint Down on the Street.



This is a stronger NE style IPA. The alcohol in it can also affect the mouthfeel. This beer pours hazy and turbid but not murky. Nothing floating in it and it is not opaque. Just enough light will pass through to make it look like a sweet piece of candy. The head was thin, bone white and fell fast. Nose is pineapple with a little bit of fresh orange juice. A lovely sweet herbal and it's pepper. Also some white pepper which imo is the hop spice. The herbs in this remind me of pineapple leaves. A bit sharp and mildly dank. There is some lemon on the nose as well . It smells like fruit punch or fruit juice. The almost sweet succulent leaf herbal fills up the nose as much as the fruit and I like that very much. A bit of the green bell pepper. There is only a mild ester from alcohol on the nose and it is a sweet wafting you would hardly notice. The malt smells neutral and not really too crackery. There is just enough sweetness on the nose to make it tempting. Drinks softly and with plenty of softness in the body. It is juicy because the fruity flavors meet up with a touch of malty sweetness and make a juicy impression. The bell pepper adds earth to the nose and to the palate. It is ta great feature of the beer imo. Fruity beer is a dime a dozen but the bell pepper is tantalizing and even though it is common it becomes exotic because there it is next to pineapple, lemon and orange. Finishes just sweet and with a soft open bubble. If you can feel or remark as to the definition of a bubble then it was there. This one does not bite at all just lays out the malt for you. No alcohol on the palate but perhaps the alcohol has lightened the body enough so that this beer is not full. It is creamy and soft but medium. The bitterness and the herbal pepper as well as the flavor of bell pepper give the illusion how fruit juice drinks a bit tartly.

Alright you all let's hunker down and drink TWO beers today! Cheers!

 

Ah, yes, dreams. I have wonderful dreams, vivid, colorful, often of some destination place and usually involving fly fishing, beautiful women and beer in some combination. Just the other night I dreamt of sitting in a lodge in the Colorado Rockies in front of a roaring fire planning a trip to an unfrozen stream while my friends were all out skiing. Then a gorgeous Swedish woman came in and set next to me on the couch. The fire was warm, the beer was cold, we were alone and after awhile the conversation started to become intimate. She leaned in close, her long blonde hair caressing my face, when suddenly I awoke to find the caress was my cat's fluffy tail. She was up, her food bowl was empty and purring alone wasn't getting the job done. She knows not to wake me with a growl because I get cranky when awakened by a growl (just ask any of my ex-wifes) so I got up while gently chiding her that if I'm smiling in my sleep she should give me a few more minutes.

My new to me beer for today is . . .





Nice golden orange color with white cap.

Aroma of piney citrus (I get grapefruit) with a touch of herbal spiciness.

Taste on entry is sharply citrus with an emerging hop richness that shows a bit of bitterness in the aftertaste. Malt is in there with a rounded presence that offsets the hops nicely. The citrus element is full and sharp but does not dominate, rather leads the pack. Mid palate an herbal element emerges that adds to the complexity.

Medium texture with balancing carbonation.

Outstanding brew in it's way, designed to a commercial style certainly but not showing the combined mish mash of a committee think market designed brew. This one has originality and something close to personality. Overall a smarter than average bear of a beer.

 

It's curious.What may be a beautiful dream for one man of 70 could be a real nightmare for another septuagenarian.

 

This thread is probably a GIF-free zone, but I couldn't resist.

 

Thanks for the lurid opening Doc - you’ve obviously been watching too much CNN, etc. this week

I drank several new beers on Thursday, refrained from drinking Friday, and attended an awesome bottle share yesterday. I’ve met several people from out of town who are here for Tampa Bay Beer Week. Lots of limited bottles releases from many local brewers next week, and the excitement (at least where I hang out) for new beer is palpable. Next week will be a shit show with your’s truly (while I’m still young enough to do it) standing/sitting in lines to snag a few bottles here and there.

Today’s New Beer is the recent Evil Twin Brewing/Westbrook collab - “Maple Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Mexican Biscotti Cake Break”:



Fast fizzy cinnamon/brown head atop a dark brown/prunish black pour; thin ring; small pockets of fractured lace retained on surface of liquid and sides of snifter; micro dot/spot lacing on glass during consumption; initial pour at 56 degrees. 4.5



Boozy Bourbon nose with molasses and maple; notes of almond and vanilla as liquid continues to warm. 4.5



Upfront flavors of bourbon, oak, brown sugar, maple, molasses, dried dark fruit - plums/prunes; cookie dough, vanilla and almond middle; chocolate and chilies sauce foundation; no alcohol in taste. 5.0

Full velvety feel; lite carbonation; warming but not astringent; chillies (alcohol?) tingle on tip of tongue. 4.75

Overall a multi layered (is “complex” over used?), very well balanced; No adjuncts so super clean and easy to drink (for a 10.5% dessert beer); the bourbon smells boozy, and bourbon flavor is likewise present, I didn’t really pick up any “alcohol “ flavors; the bourbon/barrel notes blend nicely with the maple syrup (mild), Biscotti and dried fruit flavors; the chillies/habanero sauce shows up in the finish and is likewise mild (notwithstanding peppery tongue); finally, the chocolate/Biscotti base is ever present providing the perfect platform for the addition of the maple/brown sugar/molasses flavors; A “pastry “ stout? - you bet! - and maybe the best one yet I’ve had from ET/Westbrook; flavor wise, it’s exactly what my palate wants...sad I only got the one bottle ($35). 4.75

Have a great Sunday, and Cheers!

 

Helles yeah!!

So what do you think of a German brewed Helles in 16 ounce cans (4-pack)? Is this the ‘new’ NEIPA!?!

For today’s beer I will be drinking a Schlenkerla Helles Lagrebier – Unfiltered.

This beer has an interesting story in that it is imported from Germany (Bamberg) in a BIG container tank and then canned somewhere in Connecticut by the importer (B. United International. Maybe it is canned in Oxford, CT which is the corporate location of B. United International?

There is a nice write-up on the back of the can:

“Schlenkerla – the historic smoked beer brewery

Helles Schlenkerla Lagerbier is brewed with fine Bavarian aroma hops and lagered in the 14th century beer cellars underneath the Schlenkerla brewery and maltings. It is boiled in the same copper kettles and bottom fermented by the same yeast as the classic Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier. Its subtle smokiness hence makes this Schlenkerla style a unique representative of the traditional German lager beer type “Helles”.

Let’s discuss a couple of topics:

Where there’s smoke there is fire?

From the B. United International website:

“Brewed in the same old copper kettles as the classic smoke beer and fermented by the same Aecht Schlenkerla yeast; however, no smoke malt is used. Yet a slight smoky character persists.”

It is quite interesting that no smoked malt is part of the grain bill to brew the Helles but yet it still has a subtle smoke character to it. I have read a few theories on why this is. One theory is that it obtains this smoke character from the filter used at the brewery. Since this canned product is labeled as being “unfiltered” then we should expect this particular beer to be non-smoky? Another theory I have read is that the lager yeast used to ferment the Helles retains some smoky qualities from previously fermenting the Rauchbier at the brewery.

How old is this beer?

I have stopped purchasing bottled beer from Schlenkerla since the bottles we receive in the US have no bottling dates. The ‘good news’ is that there is a sticker on top of the 4-pack carrier for this beer with a canned on date: “Canned on 12.21.2017” So, at least I know the date when this beer was packed in the can. But when was the beer packaged in the BIG container tank? I have no idea. I am hopeful that this container tank was delivered in a timely manner from Germany to the canning place in Connecticut. And that once it was arrived it was promptly canned. What is that old saying? Oh yeah: Hope springs eternal.

Well I have been jabbering quite enough. Let’s drink!!

Served in my Spiegelau Lager glass:

Appearance:

Straw yellow with a slight haze. It has a BIG white head which dissipates fairly quickly.

Aroma:

Smoky (like a campfire) but there is some bready maltiness in the background. There is a little hint of yeastiness.

Taste:

The flavor follows the nose with a smokey flavor front & center. There is a little bit of bready malt. A low/moderate bitterness.

Mouthfeel:

Medium body with a dry-ish finish.

Overall:

I think this beer is very good; I enjoyed drinking it. While the smoky aroma/flavor is dominant in this beer there is more to it than just the smoke.


FWIW, my guess is that this beer obtains its smoky character from the yeast used to ferment it.

Cheers!

@KOP_Beer_OUtlet @rotsaruch @Ranbot @ShanePB @scottakelly

 

Olive Brewing Co. (Baltimore) - Roots of the Mountain - Sahti style

A-A pleasant hazy light golden color with a slight head and lacing
A-Aroma has floral and fruity hints
T-Taste follows the nose with floral and fruity flavors and slight pleasant sourness and tartness
M-A light bodied well carbonated beer
O-A very well balanced, well made beer


Olive Brewing Co. (Baltimore) - Roots of the Mountain - Sahti style

A-A pleasant hazy light golden color with a slight head and lacing
A-Aroma has floral and fruity hints
T-Taste follows the nose with floral and fruity flavors and slight pleasant tartness
M-A light bodied well carbonated beer
O-A very well balanced, well made beer

 

Cheers to your great cat! =)