New Beer Sunday (Week 692)

Good morning NBS, hope everyone is enjoying the middle of the holiday weekend. Thanks to @lordofthewiens for getting us started off this morning. Another typical weekend for me, not much going on. Made a big new beer haul yesterday and got a bunch of things I was seeking out, including a personal 6 year whale want from a friend. Probably going to sit on the Dark Lord for a bit before I review it though. We'll see. I still have plenty of other stuff to try from that haul, so not worried about it. I have a lot of other massive stouts in the cellar from the Bruery as well. Review 6800 was on Friday.

Today's new morning beer:

This was amazing! Solid had retention and minimal lacing on the glass. Flavors of huge milk/dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee, caramel, brown sugar, maple syrup, molasses, vanilla, toffee, bourbon, marshmallow, fudge, brownie batter, toasted oak, nuttiness, and dark bread; with light notes of coconut, raisin, plum, fig, smoke, leather, and tobacco. Similar aromas, but lacking intensity. Very mild roast bitterness and bourbon/oak spiciness on the finish. Light-medium carbonation and very full body; with a very creamy, silky, velvelty, and rich mouthfeel that is amazing. Slight chalky roast, oak tannins, and increasing dryness. No cloying sweetness. Mildly warming 10.7%, no barrel booze. Dangerously smooth sipper. Evil Twin continues to just nail everything they put in a barrel. Both of the BBA Biscottis are in my top 20. This has super rich malt complexities, with perfect barrel integration. Not overly roasty/charred on malts; with minimal tannic/boozy barrel notes. Price did not deter me at all, I'd do it again. I knew it would be worth it. 4.35


Cheers, be back much later one with plenty more stuff NBS.

 

Raising a toast to my Father , retired USAF colonel, and all of veterans and service personnel

Transient artisanal’s The juice is loose

4.49/5 rDev +2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

Can poured into pint glass

One finger off white foam cap quickly settles to a ring , no lacings

Aroma of candies fruit, citrus, orange, grapefruit

Taste is juicy , tangy orange over a malt base

Smooth no bitterness, medium sudsing

Good beer

 

Cheers @lordofthewiens and thank you for getting us going this morning. Cheers you all and Happy New Additional Summer Sunday! The Additional Summer is the name I have given to my summer series of beer tastings that focus on beers with additions like fruit. This is my third year doing it and I hope to make it a tradition like our very own @woodychandler and his CANquest. The Saison makes in to the additional summer every year not only because it has become a seasonal style but also because it is a beer that within it's style adds table sugar. The beer I have today has also added brett, sage and lemongrass.

Colorado Wild Sage Saison by Crooked Stave





Poured into my short Genesee tasting glass. Pours hazy lemon yellow with a fast falling head of fizzy foam that did not make a tall stand and fell quickly as it popped to reveal temporary sheet of lace then spots. A few loose bubbles to remain. In the right glass the tulip, it made a little bit better showing but the head fell just as fast.

The nose is the lush green scent of sage. A little bit of sweetness. Sharp floral that has been smoothed out by the sage. Crackery malt and the dry scent of lemon grass. The brett adds just a few hints of tart funk to the nose. Drinks firmly but not crisply as all the bubbles had popped in the swallow and without too much sage flavor. Sage can be bitter but in this beer the sugar has given it just a light sweetness. It seems to permeate the beer while the lemongrass stands out. The brett funk and the sage are so evenly matched. The brett helps to give this beer it's characteristic saison tartness not the ideas that the lemongrass presents to the palate. I think that is clever. The beer is dry. A light hop bitter stays on the tongue to cleanse the palate to show you a malty finish that teases you with the flavor of sage. Grasses from the hops billow in the finish and leave you with a sly wink and the sage's earthy green vibrance. The addition of lemon grass helps this beer to achieve dryness in the finish even though the bubbles left it a little flat. No esters form alcohol and no hot mouthfeel from the 7.2 percent abv. You will notice though that the alcohol in this beer seems to lighten the body just enough so that you can see that.

I really liked this beer. I thought the flavors extremely well crafted. I think the brewer had his eye on the judicious use of hops and I can tell because of how they reserved all their grasses until the finish. Also no mouthfeel at all from hops. The flavors were abundant yet not overdone. The perfect balance the brewer achieved was evident in the fact that even with the carbonation leaving the beer just after the pour, it still drank gently and very well even with a strong abv.

Take that to the bank.

 

New Beer Sunday: American Pale Wheat Ale

Mornin’ NBSers with a pointer for those who’d like to try a refreshing lemon flavored summer beer that is not a Shandy, while also being able to support a brewery that is making a charitable contribution on the sale of the beer. Also, special thanks to @lordofthewiens for today’s start.

The weather today is expected to be mostly cloudy and to bring us a few showers and a possible thunderstorm. There is also supposed to be lots of humidity and high temperature in the low 70s.

This morning’s new beer is Alex’s Lemon Wheat from Sly Fox. As some of you may know, Sly Fox is a local brewery and they have partnered with the Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation to help raise money to find a cure for childhood cancer. Here’s the backstory on how this beer came to be.

https://www.alexslemonade.org/newsr...w-beer-sponsorship-takes-stand-against-cancer

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

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/1853/321253/?ba=drtth#review


Not surprisingly this beer is mostly all about the lemon, but... The aromas and flavors focus on both lemon juice and lemon zest, giving a definite tartness to the flavor profile. The lemon flavors are well supported by some doughy or beady flavor from the wheat and a malt sweetness that is noticeable but does not dominate or cloy. The very light bitterness seems more from the bit of the lemon zest than from the hops and so fits quite well into the flavor profile. I’m enjoying this beer and will certainly be finishing off the six pack. Will also probably get more to have on hand for a summer barbecue. It should go fairly well with the grilled meats and might well be something that would work for those who prefer vegetarian black bean burgers over grilled meats.

Finally, in anticipation of tomorrow,

(Stands) (Raises glass) "To absent friends." (Sips)

Cheers, all!

 

Thanks @lordofthewiens for this bottle and a very nice opening. Pours a fairly light clear brown with a 2 plus finger white head that disappears quickly leaving some remenience of webby lace and very near room temperature. 4

Smell is dry coffee grounds, banana bread, clove, hazelnut, oaked vanilla, and just a hint alcohol. 4.25

Taste follows coffee leads, hazelnut, vanilla, banana, clove, and just a tiny amount of alcohol in the very balanced finish. 4.25

Mouthfeel is about medium, plenty of carbonation, definetly a tad dry, and at 10.1% ABV plenty approachable. 4

Overall this is not a style I normally seek out, but I have to say this is a very nice Belgian Strong Ale that I would drink again. 4

 

Do you like watermelon?

I love watermelon. When I was a kid it was a special treat to eat watermelon on a warm summer evening. Me and my siblings would eat the watermelon in the backyard and see who could spit the seeds the farthest. I was the youngest of four and I typically was not the ‘winner’.

Since Memorial Day is the unofficial start of summer I thought it would be appropriate today to discuss a beer brewed using watermelon: Founders Green Zebra.

Below is what Founders has the say about this beer on their website:

“Green Zebra - Gose Style Ale

ABV: 4.6%

IBUs: 10

Availability: May

Subtly sour and a little sweet, this ale is a refreshing take on a nearly extinct German style, gose. Watermelon is the highlight of this lightly-hopped treat and gives it a hint of satisfying juiciness. The soft mouthfeel and dry finish comes courtesy of the addition of sea salt, a traditional gose ingredient.

Green Zebra was initially released as our Artist Series beer in 2017.”

Well, that description has my mouth watering!!

Served in my Sixpoint Jammer can-shaped glass:

Appearance:

Golden yellow color with a three finger white head which dissipates quickly.

Aroma:

I am picking up subtle aromas of green apples and watermelon.

Taste:

The flavor follows the nose but the watermelon flavor is a bit more prominent with subdued flavors of green apples and limes and just a hint of salty. There is a bit of tartness; I think this beer would benefit from a bit more sourness.

Mouthfeel:

Light bodied with a ‘spritzy’ finish.

Overall:

I think this beer is very good! I enjoyed drinking it. Let the summer begin!!

Cheers to the folks of Founders for capturing the ‘essence’ of watermelon!!

@KOP_Beer_OUtlet @rotsaruch @RobH @Sixpoint

 

Good morning NBS
I'm trying a new beer from a new brewery this morning. @ovaltine speaks highly of these guys and when I found a single can a couple weeks old, I knew it was destined for NBS...

The review:
16oz canned 5/7/18 (20 days ago) poured into a Spiegelau IPA glass at fridge temp 7% ABV. The beer pours bright golden amber with sticky off white head. The head recedes to a thin cap and leaves a little lacing. The aroma is tangerine heavy with traces of other citrus and pine. The taste is light crystal malt layered with bitter citrus, pine and tropical fruit. The mouthfeel is a touch less than medium bodied, but not thin. Carbonation is good and the finish is dry. The malt, hops and feel on this beer work together well.
Overall, very good. Very enjoyable and well made IPA, but a bit expensive (in my world $4.50/single can).

That's about it. I'll certainly pick up additional Bare Hands singles when I'm in northern Indiana. Cheers all and enjoy the new beer in your glass today!

 

I've been mentally turning over whether I should join in this morning because a serious sinus infection has laid waste my taste buds and I want to make sure I can do the beer credit. Perhaps something simple later on today.

 

Dang, I'm going to have start re-reading Elmore Leonard after that!

 

The DDH marketing allowed brewers to charge a few bucks more per can. Now we'll see the rise of DWW (double wet waxed), and brewers will charge even more than what they do for their "single" waxed product. "It's twice as much work for our bottling day volunteers!" Looking at that pic, I'm reminded of peeling an onion, or opening a matryoshka nesting doll... but ultimately, I'm gonna have to go with the punishment of Sisyphus.

 

Happy Sunday, NBS crew! @larryi86 was kind enough to give me one of his cans of this one when we met up (with @thebeers ) at Tired Hands a few days ago. This’ll be the first rating and review for this new Dewey Beach ipa. I’ve found their previous offerings to be mostly solid but often too sweet (especially all of their lactose ipas), but this one avoids the sweetness.

Send Lawyers, Guns, and Money - Dewey Beach
IPA - 7.5% abv
Canned 5/10/18 (17 days ago)
Score: 4.31 (0% rDev)



L - 1.5 finger medium-density offwhite head craters in slowly from the center. Body is a translucent orange, bordering on opaque but allowing a fraction of direct light to seep through.

S - tropical! Papaya, mango, grapefruit, candied oranges. A little caramel. A little herb.

T - the tropical fruits come through in the taste, but they are quickly pushed aside by some more earthy and floral hops. I assume these are the dry-hops making their presence known. Mild herbalness...the middle has an almost tea-like quality to it. Finishes moderately bitter. Mild sweetness. Mild booziness.

F - medium body with slightly above average carb for the style.

O - everything without lactose from these guys I’ve loved. This is no exception.

 

The idea of the "Mexican" stout (Baltic porter, in this case), featuring various combinations of chocolate, chili peppers, cinnamon, coffee, and vanilla, has played itself out for me somewhat, and I have been uninspired by the majority of those I have had in the past couple of years - and it's even turned me away from familiar brews like Mexican Cake and Xocoveza.

But its been a while now, and I've had good luck with Jack's Abby Framinghammer Baltic porters, so here I am with their Mole, featuring chili peppers, chocolate, cinnamon, and vanilla beans - aged in bourbon barrels, naturally...

Immediately impressed by the flavors and character of this beer. The cinnamon and vanilla are well-represented, merging elegantly with the bourbon and wood notes... The chocolate adds a nice depth to the malt base, but the feel remains soft and rather light - sometimes a point of detraction for me, but this beer was graceful enough to validate a thinner body than I'd normally prefer. The chili peppers are most distant in the mix, providing a hint of heat, but no real sting - just a tickle on the tongue toward the finish...

Maybe I've had enough of a break from the Mexican stout scene to appreciate them again, but I suspect this was just a well-crafted beer...

Here's to new beer in your glass, cheers...

 

Barrier & Burial - Bury the Stash

My theme this week is Barrier Brewing Co. - a brewery that’s very close to me physically, and also my favorite “local” brewery. I don’t automatically think local=better, far from it, but Barrier delivers the goods for me. In recent years, they’ve adapted to the current climate by de-emphasizing their previous commitment to brewing a ton of different styles, and have focused on IPAs, collaborations, and sticker 16oz cans. Sound familiar? Yeah, it’s practically a plague. Thankfully, they haven’t actually turned their backs on what defined them in the past though.

Nonetheless, my first beer fits that new mold perfectly. It’s a collaboration with Burial. I’m assuming that the name “Bury the Stash” is a play on Burial and Money. Money is probably Barrier’s most famous beer. It’s an IPA, and variations on it are definitely the common target for these type of collaborations. This beer is 8% ABV, and it’s brewed with vanilla, orange peel, vic secret, hallertau blanc, galena, and amarillo. It was also conditioned on oak spirals.

I really like vanilla egg creams, but I typically dislike vanilla in beer… a lot. I didn’t have high hopes here, but luckily the vanilla in this beer does not wave an ostentatious flag. I expected this beer to be opaque, but it’s just a little cloudy. Feel is soft. This one drinks really easy for the ABV. I’m getting character from the oak. There’s a subtle but present bitter finish that becomes less and less subtle the deeper you get into the glass. Flavors of melon and citrus back everything up. Surprisingly nice.

 

Piton Lager Beer brewed by Windward + Leeward Brewing on the island St. Lucia in the Caribbean. The brewery is owned by Heineken. It does not come in a green bottle but in a clear one. I was given 2 by a friend who visited St. Lucia. In Heineken tradition one bottle was skunked. The other onw was fine, Piton is what I expect a Caribbean Lager light refreshing and very easy to drink, It no doubt is a much better beer on the beach in St. Lucia then in a backyard in NJ,

 

Other Half DDH Broccoli Imperial IPA

Happy Sunday, BAs. I love me a three day weekend. Thought I'd share a little history lesson for anyone interested. Jump down a bit if you're not.

So, obviously, communities the world over have held regular ceremonies to honor fallen soldiers probably forever. The origins of the modern "Memorial Day" in the United States are tied to the immediate aftermath of the Civil War.

In 1868, Major General John Logan issued orders declaring that on May 30th of that year flowers were to be strewn on soldiers' graves, and that it was hoped that such remembrance would continue annually.

The general spoke at a remembrance celebration in Waterloo, New York the day he issued that order (May 5th), and Congress eventually recognized Waterloo as the official birthplace of Memorial Day.

What's less known is that General Logan issued his order at the urging of his wife, who, like many across the country, had been moved by press accounts of women in Mississippi decorating the graves of both Confederate and Union soldiers the previous month. The women said they put flowers on Yankee soldiers' graves in the South because they knew their mothers would never be able to do so.

At just a year after the war's conclusion, it must have been a powerful gesture of peace and reconciliation.

Anyhow... Today's new beer comes courtesy of @CanConPhilly. He and @larryi86 are great, extremely generous Beer Advocates, and it was fun to be the third wheel in their regular Tired Hands get together this past week.

DDH Broccoli pours a vibrant, hazy, light orange with a finger-and-a-half of off-white head that's fairly quick to settle, leaving soapy rings of lacing.

Sticky orange and mango stand out in the aroma, backed by a pretty strong herbal element.

It has lighter flavors and feel than I expected. There's still of the fruit from the nose (orange juice, peach, even some pink bubblegum), but a dull grassy bitterness and a strong peppery, herbal quality stand out more.

It's medium bodied with a somewhat creamy feel. On the first pour, the carbonation level seems low. On the second, it seemed a little high. Go figure?

People who like the New England style in theory, but prefer more bitterness in their IPAs than the overly-sweet juice bombs, should really enjoy this one. The bitterness is more grassy and herbal than pithy, and outshines the juiciness that's present. Really fun to try. Thanks, Matt.

 

A House Saison 3.8% ABV. Pours a very cloudy vibrant yellow with very little head and leaves only a tiny bit of lace. 3.75

Smell is lemon, clove, basil, coriander, biscuit, and banana peel. 4.25

Taste follows lemon and basil upfront, with maybe a little mint, clove, biscuit, banana, and coriander really nice actually. 4.25

Mouthfeel is light and crisp with just the right amount of life, not dry at all, and very drinkable at its only 3.8% ABV, but a lot more flavor than a beer with this much Alcohol. 4.5

Overall Sam and Nate the brewers have out done themselves, this is a style I really despise, but this one is excellent. @kettlehead1 impressive. 4.25

 

Good afternoon NBS!!! Since they are calling for rain later today I decided to enjoy some outside drinking while I can. Starting with a rather great collaboration between Other Half and Mikkeller, All Royal Everything, thank you @CanConPhilly for swing a can my way!

4.47/5 rDev +1.4%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.5

Thank you CanConPhilly for this
16 oz can, dated 5/1/18, poured into a teku

A- A hazy golden orange with a two finger white head

S- Tropical, some sweet orange peel, piney/resin, citrus, touch of lime.

T- Citrus, tropical fruits, papaya, some peaches, some cantaloupe, mild oat sweetness, orange peels/citrus rind, nice piney slightly bitter finish.

M- Smooth, full body, creamy.

O- A great IIPA, nice balance of the hops and a nice sweetness that pulls the beer together.

Cheers!