New Beer Sunday (Week 685)

Good Morning all NBSers!

Today is the day of the NBS BIF reveal, as so many have alluded to. I feel a bit bad about this, as I am reviewing the box I received from @cavedave (pictures below), but my box to my target hit a snafu, and won't be delivered until Tuesday! Ugh.

Onto the beer. Here's the haul (Altogether)



And here are the first 2 NBS reviews. The first (Crowler) was blind. Knew the brewery (happenstance), but not what was contained inside! The glass is from Dave too!



Poured with a heavy head. Guessing by the color either a belgian or something with a lot of yeast. Look was pretty orange, as indicated in picture.

Smell was a bit of funk. Not too much, but noticeable. I always equate this smell to off-putting, almost like feet or odd-cheese.

Taste was pleasant. Not distinct (i've not worked hard yet to try to discern lots of flavors with lighter beers), but very farmhouse or saison-y.

Mouthfeel was extremely dry. Almost like red-wine Chianti dry, not champagne-dry, which I get from GI's Sofie. Too dry given my druthers.

It was heavy carbed in terms of pour, but not in terms of how quick it dissipated or the associated mouthfeel.

Definitely not a high ABV beer - but I wouldn't expect it given the color and taste.

And the reveal...



A saison! I knew it!

 

And the reveal! I was close but failed on the maple @RedhawkPoke

American Solera - Maple Dilemma

 

New Wine Barrel-Aged Old Ale Sunday:

Saint Arnold's Bishop's Barrel No. 19, an old ale ("Christmas ale" on brewery website) with cherries aged in chardonnay barrels

Had this been one of them cool "blind" BIF beers I keep seeing, I'd have guessed this beer was a Jester King/gose-like concoction, for it has plenty of tart lemon and some of the funkiest brett I've ever come across. Funky like some wet grain sacks funky and very similar to Jester King's yeast profile.

The cherries are pretty strong, though the highlight of this beer isn't any individual note but the way the cherries, brett and wine barrel have mixed into a single presentation that's most like cherry cheesecake, especially in the nose. Cherry cheesecake or a strawberry tart. The flavor isn't quite that sweet, being a bit more like a semi-dry white wine lightly flavored with strawberries or cherries.

The review:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/337/312418/?ba=Premo88#review
4.14 (+6.7% rDev)

I'm assuming the base beer is Saint Arnold's Christmas Ale. Once they add the brettanomyces, there's nothing left of that base in terms of picking out old ale-like notes (maybe a pinch of malt sweetness, but that's it).

Spring these days starts when I repot my three bougainvilleas:

I repotted the triplets about three weeks ago, and that's probably the signal for spring for me these days, though @Squire nailed it when he mentioned pollen as a sign of spring.

Growing up, the first baseball practice (Pee Wee, Little, Senior Leagues then American Legion) always meant spring had sprung in my mind. I wasn't sure what signaled it now as I thought about @cjgiant's open — maybe the first charity golf scramble of the year here in Bryan-College Station, the Twin City Mission event, or the repotting of my plants? Or maybe it's that first day I notice all of the oak tree pollen pods bunched along the sidewalk, the slight yellow dusting across my car's windshield and that extra sneeze at work later that day.

Hope your Sundays are going well!

Cheers!

 

Innis and Gunn kindred spirit
Jet black color
..creamy,full ,above average body
..Aroma is roasted malt, black coffee,licorice,and coffee candy
..Taste is identical,a little sweet but pleasing not over powering
..Overall it is an excellent beer,the whiskey shows up in the aroma and taste but very slight. That actually worked as the base beer was very good and didn't need to be overpowered by any other flavor

 

Has NBS ever had more posts than WBAYDN? It really should today.

 

NBS beer #2...target of opportunity edition



I went to a couple of breweries with my wife yesterday, and ended up eating lunch at Pro Pig. As with any time I stop in Waterbury, I have to take a trip across the street to Craft Beer Cellar. I was surprised to find 3 beers from Green Bench on hand. After seeing this one being enjoyed by @DoctorZombies on numerous occasions in WBAYDN I decided to bring a sixpack home. Now while the canned on date isn't great 01/26/18 it's no worse than I expect from a beer not distributed in this area normally.

Sunshine City IPA

Green Bench Brewing Co.
American IPA / 6.80% ABV

4.04/5 rDev -0.7% | Score: 4.07
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4

L-The beer pours clear and golden with a full 3 finger white head. The head recedes to thin ring with a thicker central island. Lacing is excellent.
N- The nose tropical in nature as you would expect from a beer called Sunshine City. I get sweet orange, papaya, and bit of peach. I suspect this would be fantastic in a fresh can. At this point it's only moderate in intensity.
T- The taste is much like the nose with greater intensity. Bitterness is light and the beer finishes just shy of sweet. Again I suspect the age of the can has this leaning more to the sweet side than it would fresh. The tropical flavors are really tasty regardless.
F- The mouthfeel on the beer is light and slick at the same time. The carbonation is very restrained. Something I could drink in multiples although the 6.8% abv might lead me to trouble in that event.
O- A very pleasant and drinkable IPA. I'd like to find a fresher can at some point, but it is still very drinkable just the same.

 

Next on the list - a Growler from @cavedave - Around the Bend by Suarez Family.



The picture kind of sucks, but I was trying to get the tag name in at the same time, and...well, the lighting sucks!

It's a porter - and it pours like one. Thin, almost like water, which from my experience is very characteristic. Heavy carb, which is nice. Almost gives the look of cola given the carb and consistency.

Smell was fairly typical of a porter - a light nuttiness, roast, and "dark" smells associated with coffee and chocolate, but not distinctly either.

Taste was straight up quintessential porter. Much like the nose, a light nuttiness, very roasty but not overpowering (thankfully), and notes of coffee and chocolate, but clearly neither were added. A little too bitter for me, but just about any straight stout/porter is.

Mouthfeel seems spot-on for a porter, but it left something to be desired given that I prefer stouts and enjoy a thicker mouthfeel/coating. I would not rate it lower as a result, just a statement.

This is probably one of the best examples of a porter I have ever had. Thanks @cavedave for the opportunity to try both! I'm unsure where to rate this one, but I'd say 4.25. The one prior, 4.0 as well.

 

Sounds awesome! I gotta get me some Creature Comforts brews!
Is that a Twilight book I see on that lower shelf...?

 

Being as they're alphabetized by author - I surely fuckin' hope not.

I'm still hungover. This is me this morning.

 

Thanks for starting us off this week, @cjgiant! Happy NBS to all of you... today I have two new beers to share with the virtual tavern-goers in this thread. They are both breakfast stouts and they are both by the same brewery: Lefty's Brewing Co. from Greenfield, Massachusetts.

Though the brewery's beers don't seem to garner great ratings on this site, I have had pretty good experiences with them thus far. In particular, I'm a huge fan of their Big Brekkie stout, which features coffee, maple syrup, oats, bacon and cocoa nibs. Both the beer I'm about to review and its bigger brother (which I'll be reviewing later) have ingredients in common with Big Brekkie, so I'm going to approach both as if they're kind of "deconstructed" versions of that beer.

This first one clocks in at 7.2% ABV and is their Chocolate Oatmeal Stout.



The pour here is that of an intensely dark and rich looking stout, capped off with a few fingers of decently long-lasting head that comes in at kind of an ecru color. It's not quite khaki nor mocha, but a bit more on the pale side of hues that beer head can be other than straight-up white. The surface is totally hazed over by this foam as well, and the head seems to leave behind a surprising little bit of head with some great legs as well. Liking this so far, but there's likely much more to be discovered.

The nose is really reminding me of dark chocolate covered granola bars... like, almost to a T. I get that dry and dusty scent of rolled oats in there with a heaping helping of baker's cocoa and cocoa powder rounding things out. Not much roast or coffee notes here at all (alright maybe a little bit of mocha), but I guess that's expected as they push coffee pretty hard in Big Brekkie and likely want to separate these beers in their repertoire.

The flavor profile is very heavy on the smooth chocolate note as well, but here it seems to come across a little bit more like, I dunno... Nesquik? You know, that powdered chocolate mix you use to make chocolate milk? Yeah, very similar to that. Less chewy than I want it to be, with a slightly watery backend that feels a bit unfulfilling to my palate. I wish this were a little bit more rich... it could really play up the decadent heftiness of oats much more intensely, and it would be a lot better if that were the case. Sadly, it's not, and even though the appearance and nose were quite good, this isn't really hitting the spot for me. Hope that the next one I'm going to crack does a bit more for me.

About to dive into the world of Far Cry 5 on PS4 today... time to liberate some rural Montanans from a crazy religious cult! Cheers!

 

Well, I'll drink another if I hafta.

 

Hello and good morning (at least to me in CA) BA, NBS. I hope this will be the start of a good week for everyone. What better way to kick off the week than by sharing some new beers? I had the privilege of having some very exceptional offering this past weekend, and I am very glad to share them with you. Cheers NBS!


My first beer I am sharing today is one that I have been wanting to try for quite some time. With that said, yes I was very excited to finally be trying Perennial's Abraxas, but in my opinion, it fulfilled all my hopes and desires. Here is what I thought of it:
Poured from 750mL bottle into 20oz Imperial Snifter. Bottles on 11/21/17.

Look: 4.5
Pours pitch black, and has appearance similar to that of pouring motor oil. As the beer sits in the glass collectively, it is still pitch black. From a fairly non-vigorous pour, I achieved about 3 fingers worth of a chestnut-dark tan head, which dissipated rapidly. There is a bubbly ring that remains around the edge of the glass, but not much residual lacing.

Smell: 4.75
Cinnamon upfront, with a little bit of a sugary backbone which reminds be of a churro. Apart from cinnamon, I can pick up on some roasted malts, chocolate, a little vanilla and some coffee-ish smell. Knowing that ancho chili peppers are in the beer, the more I get a nose on it, the more I am able to detect a peppery smell that distinguishes itself from the cinnamon. Damn, what a great smelling stout.

Taste: 4.75
Follows the nose, with a slight more emphasis on peppers than the nose leads on. Upfront, loads of cinnamon flavor is present. Chocolate from the cacao nibs is evident as well. The ancho chili taste is detected as I drink the beer, and as it goes down. There is a heat to the beer that is without a doubt from the peppers. The heat isn't overly done though, and I would not call it spicy. Everything is well blended, with no astringent tastes. I would say though that for someone who isn't a fan of cinnamon, this probably won't be the stout for you, since cinnamon takes center stage. I love cinnamon, so no wonder I am loving this beer. Booze is completely masked.

Feel: 4.5
Really nice and thick viscosity to this beer, which is typical what I have tried of Perennial's stouts. The beer has a heavy feeling on the tongue with a medium embodiment. Leaves a sticky residue coating on your tongue. Carbonation is very low. Very easy drinking.

Overall: 4.75
I loved this beer. The cinnamon though seemingly strong, worked very well with the ancho chilis, while the chocolate sweetness balanced both aspects out. As I got further towards finishing this beer, it was a little more sweeter, but still very enjoyable. I loved this beer, and I will forsure seek out again.

My Final BA Score: 4.71


Up next is another offering from one of my current favorite breweries, Revision located in Reno, Nevada. I was looking forward to trying this beer, and it did not let me down. Let's dive in.
Poured from 16oz can into 20oz Sauvin glass. Canned on 3/21/18

Look: 4.25
Bright yellow in color, with hazy appearance. Resembles that of pineapple juice once poured. As I poured, I achieved about two fingers worth of a frothy white head, which didn't stick around for long. Moderate amount of residual lacing left on glass.

Smell: 4.5
Full of fruit and character. I get an array of fruits. As I take a hefty whiff, I pick up on the following: lemongrass, lemon, orange, pineapple, papaya, grapefruit, peach, guava, passionfruit, apricot, mango, peach and pear. Hop profile is minimal. I pick up more of an earthy and floral smell rather than a typical hop-dominant smell. I think this is a really pleasant smelling beer.

Taste: 4.5
Follows the nose, and still remains full of character. Taste seems to be in order of the nose as well, with lemongrass, orange, pineapple, papaya, grapefruit, peach and guava notes coming to mind. The floral taste is evident in the residual taste left in my mouth. There are no astringent flavors in this beer. Its really a good tasting offering. Taste is full of a fruit and floral concoction, and finishes light and crisp.

Feel: 4.25
Medium in body and somewhat light on the tongue. Low levels of carbonation, giving the beer a really soft feel for a DIPA.

Overall: 4.5
Revision has been really knocking it out of the park with their hazy IPAs. This beer is no exception. For a double, it is smooth, easy drinking, and very desirable. Hats off to Revision. Plus, the can art is pretty darn cool.

My Final BA Score: 4.46


Up next is an offering I picked up while at the Mikkeller Bar in San Francisco. I was really looking forward to this beer, especially considering it is a 10ABV TIPA. Let's see how it panned out.
Poured from 16oz can into 20oz Sauvin glass. Canning date in Julian format, and I didn't bother to use an online converter since I knew it was fresh enough.

Look: 4.25
Dark yellow in color, and oh my, extremely murky and hazy in appearance. Judging by the look alone, it looks like a heavy beer. I got a nice 3/4" frothy head that formed. As I drink the beer, it leaves loads of residual lacing on the glass which is a plus.

Smell: 4.5
Smells pretty fantastic. Citrus fruits, like grapefruit and orange or present, along with some tropical fruit scents like papaya, mango, and guava. I get some lemongrass, pineapple, nectarine and apricot as well on the nose, maybe some peach. A floral scent is present in the beer, but in the background. Hop presence is noted, but not as strong as you would think from a TIPA. Really desirable smelling.

Taste: 4.5
Taste is also fantastic. I get that typical citrus fruit flavor, bursting with orange, grapefruit and lemon, but I get a nice complexity which comes from the hops in a more herbal/earthy form. The taste bounces back and fourth between hoppy, fruity, hoppy, then fruity, with a crips bitter finish. I like the earthy and floral notes in the taste as well. The beer has a nice bitter finish, and incredibly smooth again considering it's a TIPA. Can't detect the 10ABV at all. Dangerously good and easy drinking.

Feel: 4.5
Medium in body, and medium-heavy in weight. Beer has a nice viscosity to it. Carbonation is low to moderate, which seems to change slightly sip to sip. Very easy drinking TIPA.

Overall: 4.5
At first I gave it a 4.25 overall, but as I sit here writing this review, I become more and more impressed with it. The fruit flavor really bursts as I continue to drink this fine brew, and it complements the hop profile nicely. I am very impressed with the San Diego Mikkeller crew for making a delicious, and fine quality Triple IPA. Might be one of my favorite Triples yet. I am very glad I bought a 4 pack of these. It is very smooth and easy drinking for a TIPA, and stays true to the hazy style. Also nice having a 10ABV triple. Plus I think the name is awesome.

My Final BA Score: 4.49

Cheers NBS, I am sure there will be more to come as the day goes on!

 

Happy NBS. I'm ready to work on my yard, plant some grass and watch it turn green. Hard to do when the first week of April was more like February. Hopefully the snow tonight will be the last until next winter. I do see temps in the 50's and even 60's later this week in a sign that Spring may finally arrive in WI!

I picked up a 12pk of Alaskan Icy Bay IPA for $10. Can poured into snifter, clear dark gold with a 1.5 finger white head. On the nose I get piney and citrus hops with some sweet caramel malts. Not much else, kind of a subdued and classic IPA aroma. Flavor of sweet and caramel malts up front, flowed by piney, citrus hops, like grapefruit, more malts on the back end. Feel is medium with a dry finish. Seems like and classic, balanced IPA which can be refreshing change from the IPA trend.



Cheers to you!

 

Hey fellow NBS’rs ! Today is mystery share day so I’m onto this beauty from @thebeers ! I have no idea what exactly it is (Arthur will chime in sometime today). I’m going to give it a good guess though...



I’m going to say that this thing is some sort of saison.

Appearance is a cloudy lager yellow and poured with a finger of white head.

Aroma is wine, oak, lemon/lime and a little funk.

Taste is white wine, lemon or lime juice, maybe some oak and a bit of peppery funk.

Feel is crisp and dry. Carb is moderate.

Overall a really nice saison (I think). Flavors well integrated and finishes slightly dry and clean.

I’m going to guess that this is A Leaf of All Colors by Tired Hands. I’m probably way off but hopefully I didn’t embarrass myself.

Cheers Everyone!

 

Well I’m not going to x-post anymore today to give nbs a slight leg up. Would be nice to see NBS end up as the more popular thread.

 

Hello beer advocates! First time posting in this thread; unfortunately I don’t have a picture of the pour on this beer, but this was so divine that I felt compelled to share my experience:



I just returned from a great, mini-vacation in Santa Barbara, CA. I live here in the SF bay area and it has been rainy and cold this past week, which is why our timing was impeccable to visit Santa Barbara, where the weather was terrific - sunny, warm and the ocean water temp was great for swimming as well. I used to be a skimboarder when in high school in San Diego, and hadn’t done it in years, so I bought a cheap one at Big 5 and hit the skim 3 days in a row! It was awesome. The resort we stayed at was incredible as well, just a great time had by all.

Anyway on to the beer: I knew that Firestone Walker - Barrelworks was going to be on the way back home. We had some danish desserts in Solvang first, so it was perfect as Barrelworks is right there as you head back to the 101. I just wanted to stop and see what they had in the cooler. BOOM.

They literally were releasing this Parabola variant that I had not heard of: Coconut Rye Parabola. Parabola aged 12 months in Rye Whiskey barrels with Coconut.

I had a sample pour at the brewery and also drank one bottle early this morning. This thing is the real McCoy. The pour is charcoal-black, with a .75 inch mocha head. The aroma is dark, rich, smoked/roasted malts, a bit of brown sugar, a sting of whiskey, and a fresh Mounds coconut chocolate bar. Amazing. Taste pretty much follows. This beer is very nicely balanced - it is not at all overly sweet like other coconut beers. The incredibly rich roasted malt background gives way to a slight burn from the rye whiskey (very satisfying for any barrel aged beer lover), and a rich coating of toasted coconut and chocolate.

Not sure how i’ll rate it yet, but It is very difficult to find flaws here. I’ll say 99/100.

Cheers!

 

Happy Sunday NBS players. Nice and sunny here on the island but still rather cool. The late arrival of spring is a real drag.

Today is a day that I’ve been dreddin for a few weeks as I turn the big 40. Yup, I’m officially half dead. So I’m starting with a big beer that I have been saving for just such a day. Technically, this is the second time I have had this beer but it’s an aged vintage.

My first new beer today is a 2016 Darkness, Russian imperial stout, from Surly. Curtosey of the great ba known as @GreenBayBA . The brew checks in at 10.3% abv and has a 10/24/16 bottle date.

An oil slick black pour with a tan head. The nose is big and pungent with chocolate malts, booze, and dark candies fruits. I haven’t been able to stop sniffing it. Big time chocolate malt hits upfront on the first few sips. Lush, smooth and with just the right amount of stickiness on the flow that finishes slightly bitter. Tons of additional flavor tones with coffee, burnt toast, vanilla, and brown sugar. The fruit tone is very subtle and adds a sort of cherry kiss to the finish of each sip. I remember this aspect being more pronounced on the fresh bottle. The mouth feel is spot on and really drinks amazingly smooth for its abv.

Overall, just a fantastic stout and easily a top 3 in the style for me. The only thing I would compete it with would be Dark Lord, and maybe Bomb. I’m going to re-cork this and have a few more pours throughout the day.