New Beer Sunday (Week 689)

A great start to NBS, Craig.
I am in Nashville with my wife on a business trip for her. We will be done late morning and I hope to visit Bearded Iris this afternoon, where I will find a new beer.

 

A new Traditional Pilsner

Today’s NBS beer is a newly released beer of Half Acre Fader Pilsner.

Below is from the Half Acre website:

“Brewed in purist spirit, the beer rests on legs of German malted Pilsner and Vienna malt, with kettle additions of Tettnanger, Tradition, and Czech Saaz, fermented with a classic Bavarian lager yeast.

Released 4/6/18 at our breweries”

The list of ingredients above equate to “Traditional Pilsner” from my perspective.

There is not much in the way of information on the can:

“Brewed and Canned by Half Acre Beer Company, Chicago, IL

5% ABV/1 Pint”

I would wax poetic about the Half Acre Beer Company but truthfully I know very little about this brewery. I can say that I am a fan of their hoppy American Ales like Daisy Cutter Pale Ale, GoneAway IPA, Vallejo IPA,…

Let’s see what Half Acre does with a Pilsner.

Served in my Firestone Walker Pivo Pils glass:

Appearance:

Straw yellow colored with a BIG white head; good head retention which forms a Belgian Lace as the beer is consumed.

Aroma:

Sweet Pilsner Malt aroma accompanied with some herbal/spicy hop aroma in the background.

Taste:

Flavor follows the nose with flavors of sweet Pilsner Malt and some herbal/spicy flavors from the hops. There is a moderate bitterness.

Mouthfeel

Light/Medium bodied with a dry finish.

Overall

I enjoyed drinking this beer. The sweet Pilsner Malt takes center stage but there is some nice balance from the hop flavors of herbal/spicy.

Cheers!

@rotsaruch @RobH @KOP_Beer_OUtlet @Ranbot @tzieser

 

@lordofthewiens I'm headed to the airport for a work trip but enjoy! Lots of great beers on tap throughout the city, left over from CBC last week. PM me if I can answer any questions!

 

Good morning everyone. Thank you to @cjgiant for starting us this morning. Today I am tasting Saranac's Golden Summer Ale. This is out of their summer case which I seldom buy but I did this time to try the ADK pils and this beer which should be a counter part to the golden ale form the Irish Roots pack. I have to admit that I liked both IPAs in this case which I seldom say. Tropical storm is a solid offering. When I tasted the pils I actually came up with an idea for a summer tasting series that would be different form the one I have been doing which was original and called The Additional Summer. I was thinking remember Nixon and his famous quote I am not a crook? Well I thought I would call my new original summer tasting series I am not a kolsch and then compare beers to determine which meets their style and which do not. ADK pils should be my first and since I have noticed that all the kind brewers have beers with additions this summer i think perhaps I might do both during this the third new additional summer.

Happy New Summer Case Sunday!



This was a a beautiful lemon yellow pour clear body with just off white head that flourished well and fell clinging. Nose is sweet with fruit and hop herbal. Sweet herbs, light orange, light hop spice, lemon and a touch of cracker. Light crisp drink. Cascade hops are like a grassy sweet hay. Bubbly , drinks like lemonade. Malty finish with a balanced and very smooth bitterness. It's a quiet but firm bitter you don't really notice ti but it does it's job. A little pine cone from the centennial. Cheers you all and HAPPY NEW BEER SUNDAY!

Mary Jane by the Spin Doctors

 

New Beer Sunday: A new Helles Lager

Mornin’ NBSers with an alert for folks looking for drinkable beers that would be refreshing to drink during the heat of summer. Also special thanks to @cjgiant for today’s start up.

The weather here today is expected to be a bit rainy with occasional sprinkles and the temp is expected to be in the mid 60s. (A far cry from a day or so ago when we got to about 90. There's also not a bit of sun in sight yet. )

This morning’s new beer is the Starlight Lager from Fat Heads. (Once again I seem to have gotten a beer for the morning that has a name that seems more suited for later in the day. )

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

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/19544/53936/?ba=drtth#review


The aromas/flavors of this beer contain lots of crackery malt with a bit of floral character. Some noticable grassy bitterness is part of the flavors and provides a nice counterpoint to the malt (or vice versa ). There’s a clean crisp finish which helps to invite another sip. I’ll probably be buying more of this one but think I would like it a bit better if the malt were a bit more upfront and the hops just a bit more in the background.

Just to show that I really do know what time of day it is (), a bit of music on the player from the Peer Gynt Suite by Edvard Grieg.

Morning Mood

Cheers, all!

 

Once the liquor store opens in a few hours I am planning on grabbing a six pack of Tropicália from Creature Comforts. I had never even heard of it until yesterday and it is a beer that is relatively local to me. I'm excited to try this one because it seems to be quite well reviewed and I've yet to find any local brews I really love. I have never seen it on any shelves here and had to make a few phone calls before finding someone who had some in stock last night. I was already a bit drunk by then so I have to wait until today so go buy it... I will report back once I have procured and sampled. This will be my first ever NBS; sounds like fun!

 

Rather interesting twist this morning . . .



Attractive red brown color with pinkish white cap and lace.

Aroma of wood, heavy dark fruit and sour cherries.

Flavor is very tart and very sour, yet pleasingly rich and complex. What I get is mostly the dark fig, sour cherry thing intermingled with wood in a layered complexity which comes across as a rounded whole.

Medium texture with balancing carbonation.

If you like sour ale I believe you'll like this. I certainly like it but pretty much any Red Flanders goes down well with me.

 

Today, is saison day for me at NBS. @utopiajane

I actually had this one last night, but I was sure to drink this after midnight to technically get it in on a Sunday.

Thiriez and Get Radical - Train to Mars

Thiriez is a great French brewery. They are probably most famous for the fact that their yeast has become one of the most used “saison yeasts” in brewing. I have never heard of Get Radical. They are located in Paris. I get the impression that they are primarily beer collaborators - working with other breweries to produce a product. They claim to gain inspiration from music, and this beer was supposedly inspired by “Stars” by Hum. Anyone familiar with 90's rock might remember this song... "She thinks she missed the train to Mars, she's out back counting stars."

This is labeled as a “Saison de Mars” - which is a play on the “Biere de Mars” name. That’s a beer to be released in March/Mars (much like a German Marzen).

This is brewed with the Thiriez yeast mentioned above, Mosaic, Aramis, and Simcoe. They used hops that would create MARS as an acronym (they used both the A and R of Aramis to get there).

The beer is a hazy pale golden yellow. It’s armoa is very skunky. The beer is very dry. It’s earthy, dusty, and bitter in a powerful and bold way. It’s like kohlrabi with some dirt and grass on it and a very faint acidity. It feels bigger than its 5% ABV. The Shelton Brothers website actually has this listed as an IPA.

A great beer.

I’ll be back with more saisons.

 

It is fun! Welcome aboard!

 

Good morning New BSers! It's starting off as a beautiful morning here in NW PA. April has finally arrived and I celebrated with the first lawn-mowing of the season! Woohoo! The first load of grass clippings has arrived at the untilled garden! Last week at this time I was sitting in a lecture on head and neck pathology - drinking beer with yinz is more fun! Today's New Breakfast Beer is from @Beer-Economicus and NBS BIF 007:



Received from @Beer-Economicus in NBS BIF 007 – Thanks Darwin!
Bottom of can inked “FILLED 11-09-2017”, stored at 42 degrees and served at 55 degrees in a hand-washed and hand-dried Jester King snifter.
Appearance – 4.
Body – Dark brown/black, opaque. When held to the light, just a hint of brown shows at the meniscus.
Head – Large (Maximum five cm, aggressive center pour), medium brown, low density, initially fizzy, short retention diminishing to a three mm ring and a thin partial layer.
Lacing – Poor. Short thin segments composed of extremely tiny bubbles. Better than expected for a 14.8% ABV BBA stout.
First pour – Dark brown, hazy.
Aroma – 4.5 – Caramel, roasted malt, bourbon.
Flavor – 4.5 – Begins with bourbon and barrel, shifts to caramel in the middle, and ends with slightly bitter roasted malt. No alcohol (14.8% ABV!!!!), no hops flavor, no diacetyl, no dimethylsulfide.
Palate – 4 – Medium, creamy, lively carbonation.
Impression and summation – 4.5 - The palate seems a bit thin for the appearance – I was expecting something with the viscosity of tar - but it’s still chewable. The appearance is, perhaps, better than most Russian Imperial Stouts, black and ominous, almost daring me to drink it. Dare accepted! This is very easy to drink at 55 degrees; at 57+ degrees the alcohol begins to blast through. The aroma is highly volatile – exhaling across the surface brings the bourbon and caramel instantly to the forefront. The flavor is quite good, better than most RISs that have crossed my lips, with the caramel balancing the bourbon well, and the bit of malt bitterness at the end being the near-perfect ending. Having the top of the can painted black is a nice touch. Overall, I can see sitting at my computer with a sixer of this and coming to with YTREWQ impressed on my forehead.

Rating 4.42, rDev +2.3%.

 

Thanks!

Glad to see your report here as this is very similar to my impressions of the effects of age on this beer, but I never really got to try a side-by-side.

There's a place I used to go for lunch that got one case each of the Brewery's Eiskeller-aged Aventinus. They weren't a hot seller so over a couple of months I had the chance to try both the 3 year old and the 5 year old more than once (on days when I effectively had a free afternoon).

Aventinus is definitely an example for me of a beer that can improve with aging under proper conditions.

 

Cheers Chris! I have one in the fridge. This is going to be a lovely summer saison. get it? =)

 

Good morning all. Great start to this NBS, @cjgiant , with a pertinent reminder that we are important parts of the continuing drive for excellence in beer, exemplified here once a week on Sunday.

Just checking in since today is likely to be a strange day in a strange season that has me clueless what to expect. It was snowy and cold here two+ weeks ago, and now we are coming out of a heat wave to start May. Unprecedented. Walked miles y'day and found no mushrooms and am heading out to do the same today as soon as sun peeks from remains of clearing storm clouds. Hope to see you later with a refreshing new beer to share. Until then. Cheers!

 

Happy New 4 x 12 Stable Street Dock Hands Beer Sunday (Week 689)!

I'm back, at least for this week! I was at a friend's monthly gathering/bottle share last Saturday & it is a haul for me to attend, so I stay overnight & then limp home on Sunday. High winds caused a tree to fall on the tracks between Philadelphia & Lancaster & I did not return home until 2330! The date has now stabilized to the third Saturday of each month so you should count me out on the third Sunday of the month. I am unsure about next Sunday as I am planning to attend the Punk in Drublic Craft Beer & Music Festival in PHL that day.

In the meantime, I have an ambitious lineup set aside for today, beginning with:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/15834/292745/?ba=woodychandler#review

With that, just like the gates swinging open at yesterday's Cinco de Derby, we're off & running!

I'll be back as I run through the day, but any guesses as to what will be involved?

 

Good morning NBS
I'm drinking a beer from the Indiana top 100 list today. I had it years ago in the 22oz format, but will ask for forgiveness today...

The review:
16oz canned 4/6/18 (30 days ago) poured into a Spiegelau IPA glass at fridge temp 5.2% ABV 27 IBU. The can lists malts as Pale,Red Wheat and Vienna and hops as Mosaic. The beer pours just slightly hazy and orange amber in color. The head is nearly white and settles to a cap and leaves some lacing. The aroma is mild and presents vague tropical fruit. The taste is earthy hops and pine on top of a soft wheat malt background. The mouthfeel is medium bodied, adequately carbonated and somewhat dry in the finish. The red wheat and Vienna malts leave some residual sweetness but the steady bitterness keeps it completely balanced. Overall, excellent. This is a very nice beer, date labeled for freshness and in a more economical packaging that the previous bombers.

Enjoy the new beer in your glass today friends!

 

Off Color Little Friend

The brewer does not call this a saison, but rather, a Belgian table beer. I felt that the overlapping characteristics of those two categories gave me enough cause for inclusion today. It’s 3.8% ABV. The label is a Scarface reference.

The beer is a hazy amber verging on copper. The feel is slightly prickly and the body doesn’t give away the low ABV. The taste is a big surprise. It’s grainy, rustic and woody. Feels like woody hops in a slightly oxidized package. There are no fruity flavors in the mix at all. This beer punches higher than its ABV class. It’s the most satisfying Off Color beer I've had in a long time.

 

Gotta be things in CANs, no?

That's all I got ...

*picturing @cavedave on the hunt while returning to a sadly mushroom-less breakfast*