New Beer Sunday (Week 681)

Wow, 12.99 in NY, while here in PA it sells for 15.99 (at one of the cheapest places, no less). Gotta love PA alcohol taxes.

 

New beer #4. Was considering BIF’ing this but I don’t think it’s quite good enough.

R&D Batch 7 - Funk Brewing
IPA - 6.8% abv
Canned 1/30/18 (40 days ago)
Purchased for $5.49 at Whole Foods
Score: 3.92 (-2.5% rDev)



L - fluffy bright white 3 finger head atop an almost-opaque light orange body.

S - citrus, pine, booze. Smells like a traditional IPA.

T - Citrus at first, followed by a surprising punch of dankness. Not at all present in the nose, but wow, this is heavy dank! Piney middle, with a small amount of earthiness. Booze is very apparent, as is the sweetness. Very low bitterness.

F - medium body and carb.

O - This is an herb bomb. Not sure if that was their intent, but its unmistakable. A bit too sweet and boozy though to be a real contender.

 

Happy New Beer Sunday everyone! The weather has been quite warm here this weekend and Spring is definitely here. I'm doing what I can to hold on to a bit of winter and therefore I am drinking the "Winterbier" from Turmbräu. Turmbräu is sold as one of the cheapest beers you can buy in the discounter stores here, this 500mL can cost around 40 cents:



The apperance is nearly identical to a cola; mainly brown / copper with a small, brown head.

The aroma is sweet / slightly roasted malts, sugar and a bit watery.

The taste dominated by sweet malts with hints of nuttiness, spices, a bit of hops and a slightly sour finish.

The mouthfeel is quite thin with a nice amount of carbonation, making the beer extremely easy to drink.

Overall it's better than what I expected to get for the price. Basically it tastes like a watered down, less flavorful version of a classic Winterbock beer. The drinkability of the beer is extremely good and there are not any off or foul flavors. When other options are avaialble I would probably choose a different winter / bock bier but this gets the job done for a cheap price. Hopefully everyone else is enjoying a new beer on this fine, sunny Sunday!

 

I was excited to see that this Guezue from Bullfrog. It has an artistic label on the beer.
A hard pour produced dismal results. No head developed, but a thin white ring circles the beer. The beer is a pale yellow with golden hues. The clarity of the beer is clear with visible carbonation bubbles. The appearance of the beer is just abysmal. It leaves too much to the imagination.
Citrus and funky barnyard notes are the initial aromas. Additional aromas are honey, grass, oak, earthy, crackers, and apples.
The flavors in the beer are citrus, honey, wheat, hay, barnyard, apples, crackers, oak, grass, and grainy.
The mouthfeel of the beer is acidic, tart, and dry. The body of the beer is light, light effervescence, and a medium finish.
This beer failed a Gueuze. The head was non-existent. The had a minimal amount of effervescence. The flavors of the beer were there but lack the harmony one would taste in a Gueuze. I was wanted to love this beer, but I do not.

 

Trader Joe's / Josephs Brau - Alternate Dimension

Alternate Dimension is an altbier - get it? American brewers... must... pun! I'm assuming this is brewed by Gordon Biersch, but I don't know. These Trader Joe's German beer aren't likely to blow anybody away, but they're pretty much hidden gems all things considered. It looks like they spent way more money on graphic design and packaging than usual here.

I'm a Kolsch fiend, but I've never quite clicked with the sister style Altbier... or Sticke Alt for that matter. Alts vary wildly in my experience. One day, I'd love to try a fresh and hoppy one in Dusseldorf from a small brewer.

I think this beer is easily the best Altbier available to me in a six pack. Then again, the competition for that title is severely limited... but I mean it as a complement anyway.

The beer is very dark. Near black with light brown highlights. Head and lacing are great. Smell is roasted malt... surprisingly so. I've never had an Alt that tasted like roasted malt, but I have had others that tasted like coffee. Sure enough, it tastes of roasted malt too, but also pumpernickel bread. Thankfully, the beer is not like a typical craft "brown ale". It's cleaner and lighter than that, but the roast character does recall a thin porter.

This beer goes down so easy. I only bought one (I've cut back on consumption at the moment and this will be my only beer for NBS today), but I could have easily continued to drink more and more and more of this (a big complement).

Cheers.

 

Friday night I was at the Ithaca Beer Co. taproom and two other stores in the area and was unable to find Pulp Addiction, either.

 

Ay, caramba! That can actually says "New England Stout."

 

From your review, it sounds like the bottom-line issue with Solid Gold is that it doesn't taste all that great (Hamm's reads like it's more pleasant to your taste), not that it's priced higher than AALs. I presume that like the rest of us, you buy plenty of small craft beer (ales and lagers) that do taste really good and are priced high.

But the primary thing is that it's meh.

 

New beer #5. No mas.

Exalted - Stone
IPA - 7% abv
Canned 2/6/18 (33 days ago)
Purchased for $2.99 at Whole Foods
Score: 3.62 (-10.9% rDev)



L - 2-finger offwhite head atop a translucent orange body.

S - weed, a little citrus, a little pine.

T - another weed bomb. Very one-dimensional. I guess this is due to the Loral hops? The Citra is not coming through at all in the taste. Some floral notes, but very little citrus.

F - medium body with medium-high carb.

O - I just can’t get behind these liquid weed ipas. I guess some people like them. I just want to wretch after a few sips. Won’t be able to finish this.

 

NBS entry for today is this



UFO Pineapple

Harpoon Brewery & Beer Hall
Hefeweizen / 5.20% ABV

3.65/5 rDev -6.9% | Score: 3.92
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

Enjoy by 08/15/18

L-The beer pours slightly hazy and yellow. The head is 2 fingers of irregular white bubbles. This recedes to a thing ring and central island. Lacing is minimal and spotty.
S- The nose is a strong burst of pineapple juice as soon as the can is opened and persists. If you like pineapple you will enjoy the nose. Pleasant but one note.
T-The sweet juice aspect in the nose is much more muted here. There is a bit of juice but it isn't overly sweet to my palate. Unfortunately there is very minimal hefeweizen character to this beer and comes off more like a dull pale ale with pineapple hints.
F- The mouthfeel is light to medium. The carbonation is medium. It finishes wet.
O- The nose leads with promise, but the taste falls flat both as a fruit beer and as a hefeweizen. It's drinkable, but in no way do I need to seek it out again.

 

Salutations, NBSites!
After an afternoon outside in sopping spring snow yesterday and a morning of work for my French class and grocery-buying I'm in for an afternoon of French work and grocery preparation. Funny how that works...

I am trying a new beer today from Maine that I got from a buddy recently. An oatmeal stout was the first beer I ever really loved and had constant access to, so they hold a special place in my heart.

It pours like motor oil with a nice cap of tan head that sticks around pretty well the aroma and flavor wall hand-in-hand with roasty and sweet flavors layered on one another. It is very smooth and drinkable, rich without burning me out. Especially nice considering its ABV. This is a highly enjoyable beer that reminds me of all I love about the style.

If you are curious, here's my official review.

Cheers gang!

 

Good morning, well near afternoon BA! Right now, I have 2 worthy offerings that I tried for the first time that I feel are worth sharing here. Hope everyone is having a happy Sunday! I actually had these last night, but it was my first time for both of these beers, and I wanted to share here (just didn’t have the patience to wait and open Sunday).

First up on my list is Trillium’s Dialed-In DIPA, brewed with Pinot Gris juice. This actually is my first time trying anything from Trillium, and I was lucky to get it as part of a trade. It was canned on 11/30/17, so not fresh by anymeans.

Poured from a 16oz can into 20oz Sauvin Glass. As soon as I cracked open the can, the aroma of the beer came out.

Look: 4
Dark yellow in color, with burnt orange complexity. Kind of light a watered down orange juice look, bordering on pineapple juice. Beer is hazy and opaque. Not much of a head formation in the pour, about 1/4” of a bubbly white head. Moderate lacing evident on glass.

Smell: 3.75
Upfront was the grape juice presence. I mean, this smells like a white wine, where dry white wine meets hoppy complexity. Hops are also present on the nose, coupled with faint citrus fruits consisting of mostly orange and grapefruit. Not much citrus detected though- mostly grape juice.

Taste: hoppy in flavor, but completely overpowered (in my opinion) by the pino Gris juice. Slight floral taste is present as well, which I didn’t pick up on regarding smell. The hop profile was great in the taste, but the Pinot Gris juice isn’t doing it for me. Acidity is also seemingly high, no doubt due to the Pinot Gris juice.

Feel: 4.25
Great feel and body to the beer. Medium body, with low carbonation. Does have juicy feel and complexity.

Overall: 3.75
I was very excited and hyped to finally have the opportunity to try a Trillium beer. With that in mind, I wasn’t sure what to expect due to the addition of the Pinot Gris juice. To me, I appreciate the innovation Trillium is trying to incorporate into the beer, but it just isn’t for me. The grape juice honestly overpowered everything. I imagine if the Pinot Gris juice was taken away from the beer, it would be a fantastic DIPA, and much higher rating by my standards. Regardless, I am very glad I was able to try this.
My final BA score: 3.82/5


The second beer that I tried for the first time is Dino S’mores, which is a collaboration between Off Color Brewing Company and Amager.
Poured from standard 12 oz bottle into 20oz imperial snifter. Bottled on November 10,2017.

Look: 4
beer pours really dark brown, and as a whole is near black in color. There was no head formation both while the beer was poured or when swirled. No lacing on the glass, though a small white ring was retained.

Smell: 4.5
Awesome smell. Huge presence of chocolate and roasted malts. Graham cracker was also prominent, which really added to the smell. There is a sweetness to the smell, which is most likely due to the addition of molasses and marshmallow, though they weren’t distinctly identifiable. Hints of vanilla present in the background.

Taste: 4.5
Follows the nose. Upfront, chocolate, roasted malt, and graham cracker. Vanilla is present, but subtly on the finish. Ranking flavors in a particular order, chocolate is most dominant, followed by malts and then graham cracker. Flavor profile was very balanced. Alcohol hidden very well considering 10.5 AbV. Only slight booze presence as swallowed.

Feel: 3.5
The biggest flaw of the beer. With such bold smells and flavor, I would hope there would have been a fuller, thicker feel to the beer. It was really light in body, and thin on the tongue. Has a stick feeling that coats the tongue, similarly to the way syrup does (though it in no way encompasses the body syrup does). Carbonation is moderate.

Overall: 4.5
This is one tasty beer. Perhaps one of the few I have had where I can pick out the distinct flavors that make up what the beer is said to taste like. I love how I can taste the chocolate, graham cracker, and the vanilla, with a sweet marshmallow/molasses underlying flavor. The feel is the biggest let down, but everything else makes up for it.
My final BA score: 4.37/5
Cheers everyone!

 

Happy New CANned Beer Sunday (Week 681)!

Phew! What a couple/few weeks it has been. I was in Montgomery County, PA two weekends ago for a massive monthly bottle share CANbined with a joint FeBrewary beerthday party. I turned 53 on 25 Feb & to celebrate, I had a prostate exam on Wednesday that involved antibiotics, anesthesia & a needle. I will get the results on 28 March.

Nice work, sneaking in sports this week! It used to be that such talk would be DLTed, but in this era of ads & wanting "Supporters", things may be more lenient. I have never been much of a round ball & hoops fan, except marginally at the collegiate level. My alma mater, Pitt, just deep-sixed Coach Kevin Stallings after he hung an oh-fer season around the program's neck! 8={} I am fully immersed in hockey, still basking in the Olympic afterglow. My Pens are looking good; the Women's Frozen Four began yesterday & what genius had MN/WI facing off in the first game?!?; I will be in Allentown in two weeks for the Men's Frozen Four Midwest Regionals & I am tooting hockey's horn like I do for CANned beers.

Why such a generic title for today? I am awash in CANs! I signed up for Tavour a couple of months ago & I am finishing Box #1 as Box #2 is enroute. Sheesh. Hey, if anyone is thinking of signing up, lemme know as I have a code that benefits us both. Plus, I bought my stashed backlog at the FGBS AND stopped in at H-n-T so I have my work cut out for me. Phew!

First will be the last two . I begin with my last two from Tavour Box #1:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/24903/314967/?ba=woodychandler#review
&
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/32480/270589/?ba=woodychandler#review


That last one was phenomenal! I'll report back later today with more ... stuff.

 

NBS! I'm taking a much needed break from a much needed top to bottom clean of the kitchen.
I drink so much Bodhi and Creeper I almost forgot Columbus made anything else (looking at my reviews I still haven't even tried their IPA). But not seeing either of them on the shelves, I was at the beer store and spotted this stout and it's got some pretty good reviews? It's still winter, I'm in.

Wow, what have i been missing out on?! This is great stuff. Incredibly balanced with notes of cocoa, espresso, caramel and vanilla. The coffee isn't as prominent on the palate as the nose. Smooth and balanced, I'm almost surprised this didn't see any time in a barrel. Columbus, if you're listening... you need to do that!!! I'm going to toss one in the cellar for a year or two to see how age treats it. As we make our way towards spring, starting next winter this will be in the regular cold weather rotation. Overall my score 4.4/rDev +3%
Cheers!

 

Take it with a grain of salt, but I've had a couple beers that only had lemondrop (a saison and an APA) and they both tasted pretty darn lemony to me.

Yep... I've seen a couple of those recently here in Montreal, I chalked it up to marketing mixed with a dose of English as a second language, but maybe I was too hasty. It must be spreading.

 

First new beer of the day was a new to me brewery as well.

Pours a super hazy golden yellow with a finger of white head.
Smell is great, tropical fruits and citrus.
Taste follows, lots of pineapple and mango up front, peach coming through a bit then citrus, orange and tangerine.
Medium bodied with a great feel.
Overall a great beer I'd definitely recommend trying.
On a side note it appears my puppies will be spending the majority of the day outside...

 

Happy NBS! My sports viewing today is the cold wet final stage of the Paris Nice stage race. I've done my share of riding in a cold rain, and I don't miss it.
I watched the Oscar-winning documentary Icarus last night, and feel completely disgusted with the sports bureaucracies in general, so my enthusiasm for pro sports has suffered.
On a brighter note, I'm drinking a new beer, Green Man Trickster.

76 IBU, Simcoe, Mosaic, and El Dorado hops, a "tropical IPA disturbance" according to the can.
I've been drinking the Green Man ESB and porter for years, and hadn't thought much about them recently. There has been some buzz about Trickster, however.
4.41/5 rDev +8.6% | Score: 4.06
look: 5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
Very inviting appearance with a big white head and hazy golden copper hue. Strong citrus aroma,. but the taste is more piney, with the tropical fruits in the background. Deliciously bitter, but smooth and refreshing.
I hope to see more of this beer in the future.

 

Intergalactic Kegger a 6.3% ABV IPA from Twin Elephant Brewing. This beer is an excellent example of what this brewery does best Pale Ales and IPAs at 6-7 % ABV. It pours a bit cloudy with a nice white head. Both the aroma and taste are melon and pine. The mouth feel is full but soft from some oats in the grain bill, the finish is dry. Vic Secret and Denali hops are used. Overall a very nice IPA.

 

To Øl makes some great beers! I've only had a few, but they have all been good, they've all been interesting and none of them has quite been what I expected before opening the can.

I am a lover of documentaries and that one is definitely up there! It really makes you think and deserved an Oscar.