New Beer Sunday (Week 687)

Oliver Brewing, Baltimore, MD - Forearm Smash 8%avb


A-Pours a nice light amber color with a nice head and lacing
A-Aroma has decent fruity and floral hop hints
T-The taste follows the nose with frurty and hoppy flavors
M-A light bodied decently carbonated beer
O-A nice enjoyable well made beer

 

Thanks to @cjgiant for another great start to NBS. As far as taxes go, I just glad that I was able to file his year with no drama. Two years ago, some bastard filed early using my SSN in order to collect my refund. It took 18 months and endless pointless and futile phone calls to resolve it and it backed up my 2016 return.

Anyway, here's to a drama-free 2017 filing and another great new beer!

This one is courtesy of @beertunes from the latest NBS BIF and it's a perfect lunch beer before I go run a few errands:
Plum Millie, Wander Brewing, Bellingham, WA


Beautiful look to this one. Crystal-clear, pinkish-orange in the glass. A nice head developed but quickly settled, leaving only a trace of foam. The aroma was interesting - plums and stone fruit up front, followed by some Bretty phenolics and a lemony presence. The taste was about what I expected from the nose. Moderately tart and easy to drink. Bright stone fruit. The other funky notes were less prominent, showcasing the fruit. The finish was nice - a clean, lemony flavor punctuated with a return of the plum. Medium-to-high carbonation and light bodied. Very enjoyable. Cheers!

 

Collective Brewing Project American Sour Red

Happy Sunday, BAs! The sun is shining, but After the morning chores, I'm stuck inside with a sick kiddo. Time to sneak in a new beer -- this one courtesy of the generous @r0rschach in the 007 NBS BIF.

American Sour Red pours a relatively clear dark orange with a half finger of off-white head that quickly fizzes away into nothingness. Zero crown and zero lacing.

Nice creamy Flanders red aroma with lots of vinegar and oak, even a hint of smoke, all kept in check by the creaminess.

Tart and dry tasting. A bit of sour cherry, lemon, vinegar, wood and cream mix up front. Again, a hint of ham hock smokiness lurks in the background. Has a pretty dry, tart finish with just a little squeeze of cherry juice in there.

Light to medium bodied with fizzy carbonation.

I prefer the Belgian classics, but this still holds its own fairly well. The wood and juicy cherry note on the backend are just about perfect. A pleasure to try.

 

A-Pours a nice light copper color with a nice head and lacing
A-Aroma has slight fruity and hop hints
T-The taste follows the nose with some fruity and hoppy flavors
M-A light bodied decently carbonated beer
O-A well made beer

 

Hellllloooooo NBS! Last weekend was all snow with another round of snow on Tuesday that left us with 10" on the ground. Today it is sunny and mid 50's with all the snow almost melted and gone!

Last night was another amazing Brewer walk off win. I'm hoping they make the playoffs this year, it is a long season.

I'm enjoying Founder's Dankwood. It pours a dark muddy orange with a nice sand colored 2 finger head with fair retention. Fades slowly and leaves a nice collar and webbed lacing on glass. This smells like an IPA with hints of bourbon. Some oak, bitter citrus, pine along with sweet baked bread malt. The aroma is pleasant. First and foremost I get a quick, sweet taste of baked bread and vanilla, with some oak notes. This is quickly cast aside to let the bitter hops, with grapefruit and some pine most dominant. The barrel is faint but noticeable. Medium body with a slick, oily feel. There is definitely a bitter quality from the hops and oak that leaves a dry feeling on the finish. Aging this in bourbon barrels gave it a nice complexity to enjoy.

 

Neapolitan milk stout
..solid black color
..body is creamy and thick, low carbonation but I always prefer that in a stout
..aroma is molted chocolate, vanilla, a little strawberry. Sort of smells like a dessert cordial
..taste is roasted malt forward followed by the mix of other flavors. Tastes occasionally like a dessert cordial but it still works
..overall it delivers on the flavors it promises and isn't a bad stoutpic upload

 

A local porter with matching glassware too.



Crane's Omar.

Pours black with a finger and a half of caramel-colored foam bubbling up on top. Head forms with huge bubbles that, unfortunately, pop and dissipate the head quickly. Aroma is toasted, roasted, and earthy malts with a hint of light caramel. Flavor profile is much deeper notes of toasted, roasted, earthy, and bready malts. There is a twinge of caramel, and toffee, but overall it's very malty. Mouth feel is medium in thickness with a semi-harsh carbonation on the tongue. Overall, a dark and resilient porter that bodes well for lovers of malt. It has a dark complex of malts without being as dark, roasty, or heavy as an imperial stout.

Score: 4 | 4 | 4.25 | 4 | 4.25 | BA Score: 4.15 | rDev: +6.1%

 

Good to see some KC beer in Germany! Likewise, I'm hoping to haul some German beer back home to Missouri this summer.

Glad you enjoyed! Cheers!

 

A-Pours a very dark amber color with a very slight head and lacing
A-Aroma has malt and toffee hints
T-The taste follows the nose with malty tones and a certain sweetness
M-A medium bodied decently carbonated beer
O-A nicely made beer

 

New beer #5.

Dragons & YumYums - Dogfish head
IPA - 6.5% abv
Bottled 04/03/18 ( 20 days ago)
Purchased for $2.99 at Beer Heaven
Score: 3.79 (+1.3% rDev)



L - 1/2 finger white head atop a translucent red body.

S - passion fruit, melon, brown sugar. Smells like a cocktail.

T - passion fruit bittered mixed drink. Rather one-dimensional, but an easy drinker. Low bitterness, low sweetness, low booziness.

F - medium-light body with high carb.

O - a decent summer sipper, but more a fruit beer than an ipa.

 

Moving on here NBS players. Never really had any problems with taxes- aside from paying them. Pretty diligent about stuff like that I guess.

My second new beer today is But I Digress, ipa, from Springdale/Jack Abby. The brew checks in at 6% abv.

Pours an interesting ruby/orange color. Very turbid with a frothy white head that dissipates rather quickly. The nose is full of citrus fruit. Big citrus and tangy hops upfront, smooth flow, and finish with virtually no bitter. Very fruit forward with mango, berry, melon, lime, and apricot. Like a god damn fruit punch. The mouth feel is moderate with an abundant juicy feel to it.

Overall, pretty good. It’s super fruit forward for the style and It might be a bit too much. would really need to revisit it and start with it. Right now, I like it but don’t love it. Im right around a 4 again here players,

 

Firestone Lager

Just the thing after a heavy Sunday of chores.

4.32/5 rDev +5.6%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5

Poured to a pilzener glass from a 12oz can dated 2/23/18.
Four finger ultra white head. Medium gold transparent body. Steady bubbles from the bottom of the glass. Faded head remains covering body, full glass lacing also remains.
Aroma is hay, green grass, sweet.
Taste is sweet in front balanced by nice bitterness in the end. Dry finish.
Excellent carbonation makes it really refreshing.
Nice beer. Will buy again.

 

A-Pours a very dark amber color with a very slight head and lacing
A-Aroma has malt and toffee hints
T-The taste follows the nose with malty tones and a certain sweetness
M-A medium bodied decently carbonated beer
O-A nicely made beer

 

On tap during a pilgrimage to the Heist brewery in Charlotte, NC

Azacca Flocka Haze on tap

Deep honey yellow amber hazy liquid , a pencil thin white foam cap quickly settles . Some lacings

Pineapple , tropical fruit fragrant aroma

Pineapple juice bomb! Delicious tropical notes

Medium sudsing quickly settles , very appealing mouthfeel

They do such great stuff at Heist...must return, suggest that you visit them

Good beer

 

Watching the Brewers right now while enjoying an incredible beer with some peanuts.

Braupakt pours a very hazy straw colored with a 3 finger foamy white head that coats my glass with lacing. A nice fermented wheat aroma with a fruity bouquet, banana, and a pinch of light citrus and clove. Taste is similar with a nice fruity and banana profile, hints of citrus on the wheat base. Easy to drink lighter style that is very tasty, the foamy head is like whipped cream. This is gotdamned delicious! I almost gave it a perfect 5!

 

Avery coconut porter
..solid black color
..above average body, slight thick feel with sbove average carbonation
..aroma is chocolate coconut candy, mslt and alcohol
..taste is malted chocolate, coconut, slcohol, malt. Bit of alcohol heat with coconut flavor coming through after.
Overall it's a very good dessert beer and a sipper due to abv. Carbonation is a little strong and alcohol isnt too well hidden but still very good

 

Hey NBS! I echo a bunch of people here when I say that taxes don't typically bother me. I do put them off for a while sometimes even though my tax situation is very simple... guess I'm just a regular ol' procrastinator.

Weather is nice so I just grilled up some chicken (breast and thighs) as well as a bacon/cheddar/jalapeño burger.



(sorry, I was really hungry so I ate half the burger before I got a chance to take a pic )

My solitary new beer for today is a really interesting one. I attended the release for this yesterday at Trillium in Canton and was surprised to be in and out of the retail line in about 25 minutes. When I first saw the line, I was kind of intimidated, but the good people there kept the line going really smoothly. I walked out with a four pack of this, a four pack of Nelson Fort Point and a bottle of Blackberry Fated Farmer (their blackberry barrel-fermented wild ale).



This is the new peanut butter variation of their cold-brewed coffee imperial stout, PM Dawn, which clocks in at 10.1% ABV.

The pour is a jet-black color which builds up a fairly nice, somewhat-retentive deeper khaki head that leaves behind some nice tiered and webbed lace as it fades down to about a half-finger in my glass. If held up to light and swirled a bit, I can detect that this is a little bit more on the cola-colored side of things, with some slight brown-ish notes around the edges.

The nose is... well, peanut butter. Specifically, it really reminds me of a Reese's peanut butter cup with a mochaccino sitting off to the side. The coffee here is really intense; much more than I thought it'd be. It provides an interesting roasty counterbalance to the sweet peanut butter and bold chocolate elements coming across. This is insanely aromatic... I'm very impressed so far. If you like peanut butter stouts/porters, this will probably be among your favorite examples of the sub-style just based on what I'm picking up from the smell alone.

Unsurprisingly, this is very, very flavorful and insanely-densely packed with rich Belgian chocolate and sweet/savory peanut butter straight through the entirety of each sip. Again, I'm very impressed by how the coffee works with this, though. I've never had a coffee-peanut butter stout, and it really gels way better than I thought it would. The coffee has this nice roastiness and bright lightly-fruity flavor that just makes each sip a total treat while keeping it from being overbearing or too-sweet. And this is definitely a total sipper of a beer... drinking it any faster really feels counterintuitive to the dessert-like aspect going on. It's decadent and well-made... I don't want the can to end! Luckily, I have more...

The feel is definitely on the thicker side here, but it also doesn't taste nearly as strong as it is. The flavorings are very much the star of the show, but the base beer does come through quite a bit in terms of how it sits on the tongue. Carbonation is rather low, kept to a minimum so it doesn't distract from the wonderful treatment of the adjunct flavors here. Most people I know would probably think this goes a bit too far, but I really like it. Only way for you to find out which camp you're in is by giving it a shot yourself! Hope some more BAs got to pick this one up; I'd be interested to see what people think of it!

 

Now up some Maui/Crooked Stave Two Tickets To Paradise thanks to @y2kawakami

4.1/5 rDev +7%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Thank you y2kawakami this
12 oz can, dated 2/12/18, poured into a teku

A- Bright red with a two ring we pink head.

S- Hibiscus/floral, some hint of limes, mild tartness, some berries mostly cranberries, very mild earthiness.

T- Hibiscus, limes, floral, some wheat, very mild earthy funk, tart berries.

M- Smooth, crisp, light body.

O- Was hoping of a little more saison character, but still very enjoyable. Would make a great day drinking summer beer.

Cheers!