New Beer Sunday (Week 691)

Dropping another big beer on y'all today...

Pipeworks' One Glove, One Oven Mitt imperial (9.5% abv) stout...

Brewed with Sorachi Ace hops and vanilla beans, and fermented on oak spirals...

Rich, roasty, and malty, but with a cutting edge of hops and the drying tannins of oak... The dark malts produce ample suggestions of bittersweet roastiness and char, all enmeshed in a thick body that expresses the cold, black espresso, molasses, and cocoa you'd expect... But the hops cleave through that with impressions of lemon, lime, cedar, dill, and a generally herbal/earthy aspect... The oak brings things to a close with a nice drying - and at no point is this beer too sweet - leans more toward the bitter, dry, roasted malt end of the imperial stout spectrum... The vanilla is fairly subtle, and most notable toward the finish, almost like just before the beer starts to dry out on your palate, you get a sweet kiss of vanilla bean sweetness... I enjoyed the roasty, herbal, hoppy char - and the mild sweetness - plus I'm a fan of a big body in an imperial stout, and I thought this felt pretty spot-on for my tastes; but I can see where this could be a hit or miss beer for some folks...

Alright, that's all I got, new beer-wise, today...

From here on out it's more No Half Steppin IPA (Citra edition) and tequila (maybe a margarita?)... Hope yer new beers are good to ya, cheers, NBS...

 

Hoegaarden's Wit-Blanche.

Pours a hazy yellow-orange with a finger of stark white foam on top. Head retention is good. Aroma is lively clove, yeast spice, wheat, and light banana. Splendid, but light aroma heightens the urge for a sip. Flavor profile is clove, yeast spice, wheat and banana towards the finish. Biscuit and bread malts shine through and through, giving it a splendid light and refreshing quality. Mouth feel is medium in thickness with a fuzzy, velvety texture that just soothes the tongue. It has a medium consistency. Overall, a wonderful beer around the 5% ABV mark. It has a good amount of flavor while still feeling comfortable for consumption in the heat of the summer.

Score: 4 | 3.75 | 4 | 4.25 | 4 | BA Score: 3.97 | rDev: +5%

 

Woops. You interpreted correctly. I just botched that. I do have Liberty Ale in my fridge now as well!

Thanks for clearing that up.

 

Happy NBS NBSers!

New to me macro Sunday:

Modelo Especial at Dos Salsas in Cedar Park, TX

Being a big AAL lover, I knew I’d like this beer and I do. It has a pinch of sweetness up front followed by a big chunk of grain flavor, corn at first. From there a little hop nibble helps balance the sweetness some, the flavor being earthy or even spicy (black pepper), and that note never grows into medicinal levels unless you take a big swallow.

No official review right now but it’s a 3.75s across the board with a 4.0 for mouthfeel— I do enjoy some forced carbonation.

I don’t do NBS on the road often, but I must say that when I do I find myself reading you girls’ and boys’ prose a bit closer. So much great stuff! It inspires me to continue allowing my palate to experience more.

OK, I got an AHL Western Conference final Game 2 to prepare for, so I’ll leave y’all to it for now.

Cheers!

 

Eviltwin. Even more pecan pie Jesus
..pours solid black
..below average carbonation, thick,heavy , above average body
..Aroma is maple syrup,molasses,pecans,and our crust
...taste is similar,slight sweetness, but the alcohol isn't well hidden and it is very bitter which doesn't seem to match the rest of the flavors well.
... this was a miss for me

 

Back again NBS, and with a local force. The name of the game is Zeus, by Sonoma Springs Brewing Company. Admittedly, I have never had anything from them (at least that I can think of), but I am stoked to try this one.
Sonoma Springs- Zeus NEIPA


No canning date, but I assume its fresh.
Look: 4.25
Dark straw yellow in color, with moderate haze (looks more unfiltered). From a simple pour, about 3 fingers worth of a frothy white head formed. Minimal glass lacing.
Smell: 4.25
Nice dominant hop smell with some juice. The hops are presented with a florally/earthy smell, and the fruit smell is citrus forward-consisting of the usual orange, grapefruit and lemon aromas. Some pineapple, mango and papaya on the nose as well.
Taste: 4.25
Nice fruit flavor upfront, with a slightly bitter hoppy finish. Orange, lemon, mango and grapefruit are the dominant fruit flavors. The hops have a lemongrass/earthy flavor to them. There is a fair amount of bitterness to the beer, despite representing the NEIPA style (which isn't a bad thing).
Feel: 4.00
Medium in body and weight, with moderate carbonation. The beer is smooth, yet has a hop bite that creates a fizz sensation on the tongue.
Overall: 4.25
I am really enjoying this. For a relatively unknown brewery (at least to my knowledge) this is something I would regularly buy. It isn't as juicy as some other NEIPAs, but I appreciate that. It hits a sweet spot between the balance of hops and juice. At 6.8 abv, I can see myself drinking this during the week.
Final BA Score: 4.23
Cheers fellow NBS'ers!

 

No doubt it was the 'Ace contributing them earthy, herbal, almost "charred vegetal/lemon" notes - and the oak spirals only accentuated it, no doubt - I dug it, but I'm sure to some, it'd be a weird hop choice for a stout...

Cheers...

 

I actually put this post in the wrong thread, please excuse my short review of this beer. This is what I felt about it.

pours golden yellow with a fluffy white head
the aroma was piney and a hint of lemon.
taste was very bitter and the mouth feel went from prickly to extremely dry.
it had a weird finish almost as if you caught a whiff of aerosol in your mouth.
I didn't think it was smooth or balanced in any way, I almost drain poured it. I might revisit it again just to compare but It really wasn't something I enjoyed.

 

Five 4+ New Spring Beers this week 20May 18

Eden | Carton | Saison 6.2%
4.34/5 rDev +8.8%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
No where does freshness equal greatness than in a saison. It may be a winter-made brew for spring's arrival, but (April is the cruelest month), what we breed out of the bad land and long winter is a harbinger of what's ahead.
Pleased to be 7th reviewer of this find, best of breed, saison, which I rate higher.
a) The home team freshness ( I bought the growler at Carton the brewer in my home town) works here with a cloudy, golden body that sports a finger of dense head that laces massively.
s) ample, fresh, sun-baked spice, herbs, coupled with bazaar flowers, yeast rising, subtle hop.
t) Mineral, sun-baked spice and herb, yeast, orchard rows, wet grass, spring triumphant.
f) Mineral and yeast, pizza crust, flinty, nice dry landing, great food beer.
o) Never have I appreciated freshness and the base water as much as in this Saison.

Colorado Wild Sage Brett Saison | Crooked Stave
4.26/5 rDev +5.2%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
a) Very hazy yellow, with small, soon lost white head and pins of lace only.
A) Herbal, sage, lavender, sun-baked dusty trail via sage brush. Lemon, white cracker malt.
T) Commends the sage, lavender, lemon grass first and through out, over top of a creamy crackers malt, with lemon, flower shop, and more dry herb closet.
F) ABV completely hidden, could be 4-8%, creamy, oily, sun-baked feel. Finishes extremely clean
O) This is a beer for the trail and for oysters and seafood. Better in sum of the parts. Dry clean finish.

Riprap Baltic Porter | Barrier
4.18/5 rDev +5.6%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25\
If you wanted to push the needle over on Baltic Porter, you might throw in some dark mussels, seaweed and manure.
This fecund brew suggests all the above, with a massive fertile profile not for the faint hearted. Aye Aye, pack this on your next round the horn.
a) Looks match the power of this dark brew that will stretch your senses. Lace cap and firm lid over black body.
s) Ferry and tug smoke, the moss and mussel covered riprap, and chocolate. Smoke predominates smell and ...
t) Smokey taste; On the order of wood fire, char, beach bon fire, boardwalk, with chocolate, powdered cocoa and cotton candy accents.
f) Full, smooth, chalky, and in the finale, creamy. Lactose sweetness tempered by earthy bitterness as it lands.
o) Barrier remains original and true to their salty, sea-side origins with NY water.


O-Ren Rishi | Barrier
4.18/5 rDev +5%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
Proud to be 5th reviewer of O-REN Rishi which is out of retirement and full force May 2018.
A) Hazed golden body w white head that lags and laces too little for a 4.
S) Aromas of white tea sweetened by tangerine, lemon, pine, flowers, and honey. Nectar like but too faint.
T) Taste is the winner here. With all the above plus rare floral, peach, blossoms, spring, that is tempered with subtle bright crisp bitterness.
F) Finishes with light bitterness, and dry. Medium bodied with medium carbonation.
O) My bodega wanted to charge me $10 but settled for $6. Barrier is currently the most creative brewer I regularly sample along with Carton. Barrier & Carton are a great pair of NY Metro brewers.

Smashomack IPA | Shelter Island Craft
4.1/5 rDev 0%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Pleased to be first reviewer of this class Single Hop and Malt IPA
Smash - seems to take NE brewers by storm.
This brew like their King G excels in single malt/hop[ style.
a) Dense, clouded, with dense 1 finger head that lasts and laces - on tap on Shelter Island.
s) Nuances of the SH and SM prevail. Floral, soft, caramel.
t) Follows smell with ample upward flavor profile provisioning joy.
f) Mid weight, chewy, sticky.
o) Subtle, perfect for cool damp spring mothers day.

 

Good afternoon and happy New Bitterbier Sunday. No hiking for us Brau's today, as we joined the festivities for the Kenton Street Fair. As newer residents to Portland, these Street Fairs have been highly anticipated by us. We've been to a few in years past during visits, and they were always a wonderful time, but now we have our very own to participate in, and the Kenton neighborhood knows how to throw a party.





I'm exhausted...Time for a brew! Any beer that is smoked already has my attention. Throw in a few respectable breweries, some cool can art, and a fun name and I'm sold.

Against the Grain/ Freigeist
Gegen den Strom- Zerbster Bitterbier (A Smoked German style IPA essentially)





Zerbster Bitterbier looks how one might even think it should. A slightly muddled copper orange, smooth and even rich looking, with a frothy egg shell white pillow on top. Splotches form and make themselves comfortable on their temporary glass home, from top to bottom.

The smoke is most noticeable, however not intense as you might expect. More like the remaining campfire ash the next morning. A good Munich malt like caramel sweetness adds some depth to the bready notes, and it finishes with a sprinkle of spicy hop life. Being described as a "Smoked IPA", I figured there to be a much healthier dosing of our floral friends.

The flavors are even more subtle, but really work very well together. Mostly malt driven, caramel drizzled biscuits are flash grilled over some open wood fire pit, then sprinkled with black pepper. As the flavors fade, the after taste sheds a lingering earthy soak.

The silky smooth texture is quite nice. It is much easier to drink than its looks would imply thanks to a soft carbonation and a really great balance. The slow process from sweet to smokey to bitter happens like watching the barbecue needle rise to temperature. The only indication of his being an IPA is that long lasting hop induced bite.

My cup o' tea right here. It actually tastes, smells, and feels "German" made. A hard task to pull off in my opinion. This was a real pleasure to drink. I will definitely attempt to pick up a few more cans.

After my official review, I gave Zerbster Bitterbier a rating of 4.15, with no rDev as this was the first review.

Prost everyone, and I will see you all soon.

 

It's raining hard, and there's no reason to leave the house, so what better time to drink a BBA Ten Fidy?


I don't have that many days when I can tackle a beer like Ten Fidy, bigger and boozier at 13 %ABV.
The bourbon aroma is the first distinguishing feature. The taste is Ten Fidy soaked in bourbon. If this has dropped off since last October, it must have been a monster. I don't think the mouth feel is any thicker than regular Ten Fidy, just more alcohol, not that there's anything wrong with that. Barrel-Aged Ten Fidy is a nice compliment to regular.
Great beer.

 

NBS Beer #2...WTH is a Belgian Barleywine edition



I honestly don't remember when it was that I purchased this. I believe that it may have been late 2015 or early 2016. I had to enter it into the database and of course there's no Belgian barleywine category. I entered it in as a Belgian strong dark ale as that seemed the most appropriate given the ABV and flavor profile. That isn't necessarily accurate either as it uses a mix of American and Belgian yeasts. Belgian character is subdued a bit because of this. My impression is that the maple syrup takes the place of or heavily supplements the candi sugar. This beer is a bit of a unicorn, or maybe a platypus.

Belgian Barleywine

14th Star Brewing Co.
Belgian Strong Dark Ale / 8.60% ABV

3.85/5 rDev 0% | Score: 3.85
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75

L- The beer pours a clear amber with a scant half finger head which quickly reduces to a thin ring. No lacing is present.
S- The nose is a mix of dark fruits mixed with maple sweetness.
T- Taste follows the nose with the dark fruits playing a bit more of a part than they do in the nose. Maple is present blending with the dark fruits and lasting a bit beyond. The beer was aged 2 years prior to my purchase and spent another 2 yrs or so in my fridge. I'm amazed at the level of maple still present.
F- Overall the mouthfeel is on the lighter side of medium. Probably a little light for the style, but given the overall sweetness of the beer it works pretty well.
O- It's a dessert type sipper that doesn't really fit perfectly into one category. Good, but nothing that makes me want to beg the brewer to make another batch.

 

New beer #5.

Bloomerang - Industrial Arts
NE IPA with Hibiscus - 6.4% abv
Purchased for $5 at Threes’ Bottle Shop
Canned 4/26/18 (24 days ago)



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

S -citrus, flowers, pine.

T - citrus followed by flowers. Low bitterness, moderate sweetness, low sweetness.

F - medium-light body with high carb.

O - not a fan of the hibiscus. But would be ok out in the sun on a 90 degree day.

 

Wasn’t going to get into this one today but since I see @CanConPhilly really enjoying it I figure why the fuck not right?

My second new beer today is Everyone Stands Beneath their own Dome of Heaven, dipa, from Roots+ Branch. The brew checks in with an 8% abv, 5/2/18 canning date, and is brewed/canned by GSB here on the island.

The pour yields yet another hazy/murky brew with that sort of amber/cream color. The nose is fruit and hops. Tangy/fruit hops hit upfront on the initial sips. A clean and smooth flow with minimal bitter on the finish. Good notes of tropical fruit with grapefruit, lime, and melon. A moderate mouth feel with a creamy feel but still crisp and yes juicy.

Overall, pretty nice stuff. I’m really in the low to mid 4’s again here players. Will need to revisit as a stand alone to get me to the current ba scores.

 

Howdy do, everybody, great to be here for another New Beer Sunday!

I've been extra busy between work and freelance jobs lately, and everything else has been getting swept under the rug for months. Well, today was the day I just had to deal with a lot of crap in the yard and garage, and I'm happy to report that it's finally looking 'less neglected'. It's a start at least. Now I just gotta deal with my chipmunk problem- they've overrun the yard in the past two years, and the lawn is at the point where you can feel the network of tunnels underfoot. Eventual plans are to till the whole thing and start over, but I'm hoping that until then the rube goldbergian death traps that I set today manage to bag a few. Fingers crossed...

I also have a wonderful bunch of new brews sent to me from @Premo88 that I've been working my way through, a lot of which seem to be tailor made for this sort of weekend. Since Kolsch seems to be a topic today, I may as well share some that I had last night:

This one is from Alstadt out of Texas, and it's a real winner! Crisp and light, yet full flavored, bready with that tell tale white grape ester rounding things out. If you're in their distro area it'll be well worth your time to seek it out.

And today I'm breaking out this bit of craziness:


Blue Owl Czech Czech. A sour-mashed Pilsner?!! That's just crazy enough to work, I'd say.

So, what do we got here?
Aroma is pretty solid- bready malt and grassy hops dominate, but I'm also getting a lactic twang deep down in there. The first taste is a touch jarring, however. The bready quality of the malt get cut short as an assertive tartness steals the spotlight; not that delicate lactic tartness that I was hoping for, either. This is much more lemony/citric, and doesn't seem to play as nice with the Pils flavors, almost like somebody put a shot of bottled lemon juice in your beer when you weren't looking.

I've taken a couple more big swigs, and it's coming together a bit more for me now, but still not reaching the level of cohesiveness I'd expect at this point. There are two halves to the experience, and a pretty distinct line between them. The first part tastes like a quenchingly tart light brew; and suddenly on the finish it shifts gears and takes on a more traditional lager character. In the end it was an interesting experiment that just didn't reach its potential for me- barely a B- (3.0).

Thanks again for thinking of me, Robert, and I'm really happy to have tried this one no matter how it turned out. Cheers!

 

Hahahaha! Dude, I HAD to send you that one. I mean, who else could make sense of it for me? Maybe I can get you a sixer of Live Oak Pilz as a reward for your bravery forging into the “sour pils” unknown. Good luck with those chipmunks!

 

Haha, my wife says the same thing. In one breath I'll try to save any baby rabbits that I come across, and in the next I'm cursing their adult kin who are wreaking havoc with my plantings . I'm just a sucker for those baby doe eyes I guess.

But at a certain point the full grown critters just have to be dealt with, it seems. And I'm at that point with Alvin and the gang .

 

Back again, this time with Almanac's Side Hustle Hazy IPA


Canned 4/30/18. Hops implemented are citra, simcoe, and mosaic.
Look: 4.25
Pours dark straw golden yellow in color, with evident unfiltered appearance. About 1 fingers worth of head, with loads of lacing.
Smell: 4.25
Huge citrus aroma up front, consisting of mainly orange, tangerine and grapefruit. Slight hop dank presence, but mostly citrus.
Taste: 3.75
Citrus fruits are present on the flavor, with a nice grassy hop flavor. There is a good amount of dankness to the beer, along with a pronounced malty backbone. The finish is dank yet bready/sweet, hard to describe.
Feel: 4.00
Medium in weight, light to medium in terms of body. Somewhat watery, with high carbonation. It is rather smooth and easy to drink, and has a nice tongue sizzling sensation.
Overall: 3.75
Smooth, easy to drink, with nice dank complexity. I am enjoying this can. That said, I can't say it is worth seeking out. It's enjoyable for a try, but can't say I would want to have it again. If people are looking for a juicy NEIPA, this is not the beer for them. Cheers!