New Beer Sunday (Week 689)

Good afternoon NBS
This will be my 1000th post and 418th beer here on BA. I couldn't think of a better place than NBS.

The review:
12oz bottled 4/11/18 (27 days ago) poured into a Spiegelau IPA glass at fridge temp 12.2% ABV. The beer pours a mostly bright rusty brown color with a very light brown head. The aroma is caramel first with a touch of oak and bourbon trailing behind. The taste is oaky bourbon first, but restrained, leading into a bittersweet caramel (think burnt sugar) finish. The piney, citrusy IPA notes actually come through more as the beer warms. Mouthfeel is medium bodied, adequately carbonated and somewhat dry in the finish. The beer never really goes sweet, but rolls through many malty, hoppy layers and finishes clean without a trace of booze in the nose or taste. Overall, very good.

Not really a traditional DIPA, but a really good beer. I feel that the barrel treatment added to the base with some nice notes. One of the best "malty" (not a bad word) DIPAs I've run across. Cheers all & enjoy the new beer in your glass!

 

Goose Island Brasserie Noir, 11.3% ABV. Pours black with a slight brown head. Nose is chocolate and wine. Taste follows, strong chocolate, almost like chocolate covered fruit, with a slight sweetness, and slight bitterness. Very smooth, outstanding mouthfeel, overall outstanding.

 

Happy NBS, everybody. I'm slowly recovering from my brother's Kentucky Derby party yesterday. It's an annual event, and some of the guests are old family friends who I only get to see the one time a year. Needless to say, but things usually tend to go deep into the night.

Thankfully I happen to have just what I need to perk me up a bit, thanks to @jdell15 -

Elk Valley Brewing Blanc, out of Oklahoma.

It's far from yer avridge witbier, however. It's innoculated with brett and aged in wine barrels. It's beautiful stuff- briskly tart and heavily funky with horseblanket. Little did I know that my beer selection would be paying homage to yesterday's wet and muddy Derby run .

The nose is also giving me candied orange peel, white wine, oak and peppery spice. The oak again comes out on the long toasty dry finish. Mouthfeel is nicely milky. Mid glass some straw and gingerbread show themselves in the taste, but it's still all about that funk and tartness. It's a really nice beer, overall- although if I wanted to nitpick I'd say that the base beer's essence seems to have been dominated by the barrel treatment. I love that stuff, though, so no major complaints from me about it . A happy A- (4.25), and I would gladly drink this again if I could get it regularly. Cheers, @jdell15 !

 

Good afternoon. Just one today, but it’s hefty. Firestone Walker Parabola, courtesy of @warrendietrich2001



4.54/5 rDev -1.5%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

Big thick, foamy beige head that draws back to an even curtain of lacing. Nose big on molasses, maybe just a bit boozy but the bourbon isn’t overwhelming. Taste is simply terrific, with equal sized waves of rich coffee, vanilla and bourbon with a molasses finish dressed in a thick, silky body. Aftertaste is a sweet, maybe a finish similar to how it feels after drinking bourbon.

 

Another one from Nashville, Southern Grist Contact Hive

In my younger days I used to enjoy the Devil's Lettuce but as a responsible adult (with a job that randomly tests) I am unable to do so anymore.
Pours a hazy yellow with white head.
This is my first beer with terpenes and it literally smells like bong water. Not old nasty bong water just a bit dank. Some citrus notes too.
Taste is the weediest beer I've ever had. Getting some citrus notes too.
Medium bodied good carb level.
Overall a unique beer that accomplished what it was meant to be.

 

A good friend brought this home with him after visiting the north east. Excited to dive into a new Trillium brew!



Trillium's DDH Fort Point.

Pours a completely opaque soft-orange color with a finger of white foam that retains well. Aroma is orange rind, lemon zest, mango, papaya, and biscuity, bread malts. Citrus is load, but doesn't overload the doughy malts underneath. Flavor profile is orange, mango, papaya, pineapple, and lemon zest all centered over a comparable base of biscuit and bread malts. Hop notes are considerable, but don't demand attention by bashing flavor notes at high volumes. Mouth feel is fuzzy and filling with a velvety texture. Overall, pale ale is perhaps a bit of a misnomer with all the hops, but the hops are balanced out well with malts establishing a good balance.

Score: 4.25 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 4.5 | BA Score: 4.49 | rDev: -2.2%

Personal notes: Woops. Second review of this one. I did drop my rating a bit though. Look fell from a 4.5 to a 4.25 and aroma dropped from a 4.75 to 4.5, but otherwise it remains unchanged from my first visit of this beer. Overall score dipped from 4.56 or so to just shy of 4.49. It's a good beer, but I think I had given it too much favor on the first and only visit I was allowed.

 

Poured into a 16 Alchemist 16 oz IPA glass packaged 4/17/18. Pours a slightly dark hazy orange with a 2 finger sticky white head that leaves big lace behind. 4.5

Smell is guava, papaya, mandarin orange, ripe honey dew mellon, pineapple, and grapefruit. 4.5

Taste tropical front too back, really explodes on your palate, guava, papaya why waste my time, exactly what the nose would have you expect really awesome flavor. 4.5

Mouthfeel is bigger than average, softish feel, the right carbonation I love from this style, and at 8.5% ABV goes down very easy. 4.75

Overall this is a very impressive Hazy DIPA that tastes like a East Coast IPA, yes I said it. I have had so many great North East IPAs from all over, this one is in the same league. Huge thanks @2beerdogs for this world class beer and that amazing box. 4.5

 

Sweetwater Tropical Lover Berliner Weisse. Hit the spot on this warm sunny day. 3.86 overall

Pours a very effervescent gold with a pinky of eggshell colored head. Zero head retention & lacing

S: Mangos & papaya

T: Follows the nose along with tartness/dryness. Lemony tartness & a little mango as this warms. Finishes dry, tart with orange tartness & little more mNGO

MF: Light body & carbonation

Very drinkable, repsectable take on the style

 

Good evening NBS, hope everyone is enjoying the end of the weekend once again. Thanks to @cjgiant for getting us started off this morning. Another normal weekend once again. I was down to my last 12 singles of new beer on Friday, so I made a nice beer haul yesterday to keep myself busy again. Still working my way through all of the macro lagers, with surprisingly impressive results for the most part. I would personally only give 1 or 2's to stuff that is awful tasting or flavorless, haven't run across any of that at all. That's just the way I do things. Just finished up the laundry for the week as usual. Things haven't been too busy at work recently.

New Beer:

Delicious Kolsch. Awesome head retention/lacing on the glass. Aromas and flavors of wheat, cracker, white bread dough, and lightly toasted biscuit malts; with light notes of herbal/grassy/peppery hops, lemon/pear fruit, and yeast earthiness. A bit muted aromas. Very mild herbal, grassy, spicy bitterness on the finish. Medium carbonation/body, and fairly crisp/clean finishing. Bready/grainy malt mouthfeel, with light sticky hops. Lightly increasing lingering bitter dryness. Very flavorful/refreshing, 4%. Really nicely rich clean Pils/wheat malt showcase; mild earthy hop balance and restrained yeast fruitiness. Very impressive for an American made example. A bit more malty than expected, but extremely enjoyable. 3.96


Atwater jumping on the haze train. This was delicious! Fantastic head retention and thick soapy lacing on the glass. Flavors of big tangerine, grapefruit, lemon, peach, pear, pineapple, apricot, passion fruit, papaya, mango, melon, berry, citrus peel/zest, light pepper, and pine hops; with moderate honey, wheat, biscuit dough malts; and herbal, floral, grassy hop earthiness. Similar/muted aromas. Light pine, citrus peel/rind, herbal, grassy, peppery bitterness on the finish. Medium carbonation and medium-plus body; very creamy/bready/grainy malts, with some sticky hops in the mouthfeel. Slight resins/rinds, light-moderate increasing bitter dryness, no hop astringency. Extremely drinkable, never aggressive, 6.5%. They did a really impressive job at the style. Very juicy/dank balanced hop complexity; nice bready malt backbone, not overly sweet/heavy. Feels like Citra, Mosaic, and Amarillo hops for the most part. 3.91


Cheers, be back later NBS

 

Some more thoughts... this may be the most perfectly balanced IPA I have ever drank. Not the best IPA (although it is very good, I'd call it outstanding but not world class) but the balance is excellent if not ideal. One thing I have noticed though is you get a malty biscuity almost caramel like taste when you drink it out of the can rather than the glass and for some reason this flavor isn't as present in the glass. I have been taking notes about this beer while sipping on it all day I will compile together before posting my official review. Another thing I would add is that the tropical fruit tastes noted earlier stick out as overripe (particularly the mango and pineapple). While I normally drink higher ABV beers this one is dangerously drinkable it is so smooth it goes down like water. Definitely my favorite beer from Georgia and my favorite IPA from the entire south east; I am going to be getting another six pack tomorrow. I set aside a couple of these and am seriously considering forwarding a couple cans along to random members so I can get some experience shipping beer before I start officially trying to trade. If you are interested in a can of this beer feel free to PM me a number between 1 and 500, I already have 2 numbers picked out and the users who come closest can get a can sent to them with shipping covered by me (and possibly some other goodies). Sorry if this is the wrong thread for that or if I am breaking any rules; I have never traded before which is why I want to get the shipping experience and a bit of reputation under my belt before I start officially trading with anyone. This is a beer that is good enough I want to share and it is affordable enough that I'm not taking a huge loss. It it wasn't for BA I would never even have heard of this beer which is now my likely go to single IPA.

Much love everyone! I hope you all had a weekend as fun as mine.

 

Howdy NBS! I wasn't gonna participate this week, but I made a trip to my local Craft Beer Cellar location after I got out of the gym and finished grocery shopping and found an interesting sounding brew. My decision to pick this one up was influenced by how damn good another of this new (to me) brewery's beers was last night when I was at my buddy's. Though that one (West Meets East) was a sour and this is a stout, I'm hoping that the thread of quality happens to run throughout this brewery's ouevre!



This one is a "s'mores stout" brewed with graham crackers and molasses, but it also has natural flavor added. I'm not sure exactly which flavors, but I'd assume there's chocolate and some kind of marshmallow addition going on here. I wish they'd tell me what exactly was used, but I'm alright with this personally as long as there are no artificial flavors. I straight-up won't buy "craft beer" with artificial colors or flavors added. To me, that's just not what good beer is about. Anyway!

Pours a insanely deep, dark, tar-black color with a slightly darker-than-khaki head that seems to stick around rather lazily at about a half-finger even with multiple small pours into my glass. Probably something about the additive flavors keeps this from having a head that sticks around as long as I'd personally like, but it's not a bad looking beer honestly. No lace to speak of and a slightly obscure surface with some oily qualities to it.

Now, I've had several s'mores stouts at this point, and they kinda follow a normal path of flavor and development along the way. The ubiquitous Dinosmores and the barrel-aged Dragon's Milk S'mores variant are both big, thick stouts with prominent and complex flavors, but in the end, they sort of close out a bit too sweet and tend to stick around on the tongue in a rather cloying way. Base Camp's S'mores Stout is a big outlier here, mostly because it's just a matter of false advertising... it's not a stout with any flavors added; they just appended the word "s'mores" to the name cuz of their camping motif... that one was disappointing. This one here in my glass is a smaller beer than the two I mentioned above, though, and I'm looking forward to how that fact plays into drinkability and the meshing of the flavors with the stout base. As an aside, it's also won a few gold medals at GABF if you care about that kind of thing... alright, let's get to the important part...

The nose here is just wonderful if you're a s'mores fan, or, honestly a fan of boldly-flavored stouts whatsoever. It's amazingly detailed with a really forward vanilla/marshmallow aspect that brings up memories of campfires and summer nights. The creamy note they pull off here is spectacular, and I get the semi-sweet chocolate and light honeyed overtones of graham crackers in here as well. Behind all this, though, is a stout that hasn't forgotten that it's, well, a stout. I can pick up a nice chocolate biscuit and slight roastiness that gives me hope this won't just be some big overly-flavored mess.

Upon taking my first few sips, I feel really vindicated... this is just delicious. Solid roasty malt backbone with notes of dusty cocoa, vanilla cream, marshmallow and a very slight smoky note. Perhaps I'm convincing myself of that, but I could swear it's there, just between the initial hit of maltiness and the transition to adjunct flavors in the mid-palate. Very satisfying profile here with some toffee, balancing fruity esters and more graham cracker toward the finish.

I was expecting to really dislike the bomber format for this beer, but putting back this whole bottle has been surprisingly easy, due in no small part to the more modest ABV. I wish this were in four-pack format (16 oz cans preferred, obviously), but I could see myself revisiting this one every now and then even though it's fairly pricy at ~43-45 cents an ounce. The carbonation is pretty light and mostly textural, and the finish is dry enough that the beer never becomes overly-sweet and difficult to tackle. Very glad I picked this one up! Perfect beer to lift my spirits toward the end of a rather dreary day. Prost!

 

Greetings and salutations, NBSers. Today I have a triumvirate of beers from @Ozzylizard and NBS BIF #007, a theme (based on the volume of beverages he sent me) you may be seeing until the 2020 election. First up, this sessionable IPA.





As you can see, I let this sit a bit (because I’m an idiot), and it features Vic Secret and Ella hops. The pour is a bright golden sunshine color that has significant hop haze and a soapy white head. This looks EXACTLY like Lizard King from Pipeworks, a beer I love, so I’m stoked.

The nose is filled with spicy, exotic hops, passion fruit primarily, also some grapefruit, and a bit of pineapple. The taste is filled with those flavors, but this is also fairly bitter - approaching puckerville. But the finish is fairly dry, and there’s the slightest bit of malt to reign this back in.

A lot of flavor for a 5.1% ABV beer, this would make a nice lawnmower beer. Rated 3.92.

 

One last one, this time while I pack up for work travels the start of next week.



American Solera.

Pours a foggy pale-yellow with half a finger of fizzy white bubbles that disappear rather rapidly. Aroma is lightly sour brett, with peach, lemongrass, herbal hops, and oak. Flavor profile is peach, lemongrass, pear, green apple, herbal hops, biscuit malts and light sour brett. It has a nice twinge of sour and tang from the fruit. Mouth feel is thin with a medium-thin consistency. Overall, light fruits within a lightly sour package. Well constructed.

Score: 4 | 4 | 4.25 | 4 | 4.25 | BA Score: 4.15 | rDev: N/A (first review/rating)

 

Very cool they list the hops. I have never heard of those Hops type and when I first read your post I thought Ella was a Victoria's Secret model and wondered why they would print that on a can

Time to stop drinking for the night.

 

Forgot to post a pic this morning. I’ll change my mind on the bitter, low bitter, very soft mouthfeel. I’d like to ratchet up the bitter by a few tads.

Heist Uber Quench’l NEIPA.

 

Happy New American IPA Sunday!

Pretty nice day on the Western Slope, partly cloudy, around 80 at the trailhead. Having a pretty tasty brew today, always nice to drink something from this brewery. Picked up some chicken tacos on the way home.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/147/333694/?ba=Wasatch#review

Cheers!

 

I've been meaning to try this for way too long and since it was still hanging around on our shelves, I waited even longer.

I'm an idiot.




Moderate pour yields a one and a half inch tan head over a very dark brown body with some very nice, sticky lacing and a couple islands of thick head. With a swirl or two the head comes back very nicely. Nose of cold brew coffee, chocolate, malted milk, and roasted malt. Taste mirrors nose almost exactly with a nice feel and a wonderful smooth finish of cold brew. What a fine job from my favorite Maine brewer. Cheers!

4.24/5 rDev +0.5%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25

 

#2, this big, brawny imperial stout from a brewery new to me.



Pours a dark chocolate color, not black but as close as you can get, with a big ol’ tan head. The nose is full of chocolate aromas, as well as a significant char component.

The taste ..... where to begin? Heaping loads of chocolate, then this surprising piney hop flavor - did NOT see that coming, at all. Then at the very end of the taste, this really roasted char flavor that sets the hook.

If I had regular access to this, it would always be in my beer fridge. Borderline world-class, IMHO. Rated 4.35.

 

Greetings fellow NBSers! A warm sunny day here in the Fourth Corner. I've been dog-sitting for a sweet 8 year old yellow lab, Bailey, for the past week, and I'm fixing to head home in a bit, but figured I'd pop my head in here for a quick one. A beer brewed on the edge of a bombing range in Eastern Oregon is in my glass: https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/40408/282217/

 

Happy Sunday everyone! Haven't been on this thread in a while. Not a lot of time to write reviews these days. Here are a few "New Beers" I have enjoyed today (I say "New Beers" because one isn't really "New" to me...more on that later)

First up, I have "Chocolate Bunny" by Arizona Wilderness Brewing Co. It's a Imperial Milk Stout from AZ, thanks to @AZBeerDude72 . It's a collaboration with Stillwater Artisanal. Thanks!


Chocolate Bunny by AZ Wilderness x Stillwater Artisanal

Canned 3/30/18. Received in a trade, thanks to AZBeerDude72. This is an Arizona Wilderness collaboration beer with Stillwater Artisianal. I like Stillwater, though I admittedly havne't had many of their beers. I liked Yacht though! I'm excited to try this though; two great brewers teaming up on a nice sweet Imperial Milk Stout with cacao nibs and vanilla beans & lactose (imperial milk stout....DUH).

Poured from a 16oz can into a tulip glass. Pitch black in color, opaque with a light tan head that slowly settles into a thin lacing. Sweet malt aroma, light roast with notes of vanilla. Flavor is very sweet with lots of chocolate, vanilla bean is quite present evoking some chocolate cupcake-like character. Very light roasted malt bitterness, little to no hop bitterness. This is definitely a desert beer through and through. Overall, I'd highly recommend this if you're looking for a strong yet sweet stout like the Evil Twin pastry stouts that are all the rage these days. 4.20/5
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Next up is a world-renowned smoked helles from Bamburg by way of Connectiut. Behond, Schlenkerla Helles in cans!!! Thanks to @JackHorzempa for making me aware of it's existence. He found his cans at "local Beer Distributor". When I googled "local Beer Distributor" I couldn't find what store he was talking about!! After driving around for several hours looking for "local Beer Distributor", I gave up and went to my local beer spot Roger Wilco in Pennsauken, NJ. Low & Behold! Fresh cans of Schlenkerla Helles, canned April 16th 2018. Maybe someday I can find "local Beer Distributor", Jack; until that day comes I'll just have to stick to Roger WIlco

Just for a bit of self-embarrassment & juxtaposition , I'm going to put my original review for Schlenkerla Helles here with a few updates in [brackets].



Helles Schlenkerla Lagerbier

Review from January 26th, 2010 [UPDATED May 6th 2018]

poured from a 500ml bottle into a weihenstephan glass. [What a noob! Who pours rauchbier into a weizen glass?! Also, this one was canned April 16th 2018]

a: crystal clear, bright golden color with a thick white head that dissipates into a small lacing. decent retention. nice. [This one was actually pretty cloudy; I was warned of this by the "unfiltered" mark on the label. Head is much fluffier, and perhaps as a direct result of lack-of-filtration, also stuck around for much longer. 4.5/5]

s: nice smokey malt aroma, with undertones of hops. smells like a good helles, but with a subtly smokey background. [not gonna lie, i'm not a good writer and i've always been bad at aroma descriptors; i haven't improved much in 8 years. I will add that the canned version had a much stronger hop aroma, adding a bit of grassy notes and the smoke is a bit more subdued 4.5/5]

t: nice smoked malt flavor up front, with a touch of noble hops in the back to give it that inspired flavor. finishes a tad dry, as it should. really good stuff. i love how the smoked malts give this beer a whole other dimension of flavor. basically tastes like a good authentic helles (like weihenstephan), generously smoked over hardwood. excellent stuff.
[not too much to add here, except "wtf is 'inspired flavor'?...and that the canned version is substantially hoppier than it was out of the bottle. it jives very well with the smokey flavor. it still blows my mind that no smoked malts were used. just an excellent hellesbier and a rauchbier as well 4.5/5]

m&d: nice mouthfeel. drinkability is great. probably the most drinkable/sessionable smoked beer i've ever had. [i'm pleased to report that this hasn't changed. crisp mouthfeel, dry finish; still the easiest drinking smoked helles that i've ever had 4.5/5]

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Last one is a triple IPA from local-ish outfit (they're like 60 miles away) Kane Brewing Company.


[Third Reef by Kane Brewing Company]

Purchased from the brewery. Canned 5/4/18. Poured from 16oz can into a teku glass. I'm usually not a huge fan of Triple IPAs because the booze overpowers the other flavors but we'll see how this goes.

Third Reef pours deep orange in color, completely turbid with a fluffy white head that sticks to the glass. This was hopped with Galaxy, Mosaic, Armarillo & Simcoe, some of my favorite hops on the planet and the beer certainly smells like it received the full treatment. Big nose of peach, mango & grapefruit with just a bit of pine and alcohol. The flavors reflect the nose; just a symphony of new-age hop flavors like peach, guava and mango. Pine bitterness is there near the end with just a subtle hint of alcohol but it's not unpleasant and actually balances out the sweet, honey-like malt backbone. Mouthfeel is pillowy soft with just a slight dryness. Overall this is probably one of, if not THE best Triple IPA I've ever had. Great work, Kane! 4.5/5