New Beer Sunday (Week 693)

A-Pours a very nice light amber color with a nice head and lacing
A-Aroma has abundant hoppy hints
T-The taste follows the nose with a very nice hoppy flavor
M-A medium bodied well carbonated beer
O-A very nice well balanced beer

 

Back again with my next new beer this one I got in a trade with @Jason1221. This is from Triptych Brewing Because Stout #3 Thanks A Latte. It is a stout brewed with Lactose, Coffee, Vanilla Beans and Saigon Cinnamon and clocks in at 9.2%. I have to say the balance of the flavors is amazing, it seems that Saigon Cinnamon is a more flavorful cinnamon and it comes through well in the taste. No off flavors very smooth and easy drinking.

Appearance 4 - Pours black like motor oil with a decent tan head that disappeared very quickly to a very thin ring no lacing at all.

Aroma 4 - The black coffee hits first, the vanilla comes out nicely I am not really getting any cinnamon in the nose just a little spicy aroma very faint.

Taste 4.5 - The taste is a totally different story, right off the the bat I get a spiciness I assume is from the Saigon cinnamon that quickly changes to a smooth sweetness. The coffee is there but plays second fiddle to the vanilla and the chocolate. Very balanced flavors that work very well together.

Feel 4.5 - Pretty smooth creamy feel with a bit of a bite from the cinnamon, there is no sign at all of the alcohol in the taste or feel.

Overall 4.31 - The aroma was pretty much black coffee with creamer but the taste is very impressive. lots of depth and very well balanced.

 

This one was gifted to me from an IPA-centric friend who picked it up at an IPA tasting party. It was not the offering he has told me about but it's new - beer, brewery and can style so it is appreciated none the less. Had a drink by 9/14/18 stamp so in the brewer's mind plenty fresh.

Now I have been around long enough to have seen and opened just about every style of can (beer and otherwise including the Coor's tabless double button) so I am not not sure how I cut a knuckle while opening it but not letting the fact influence my review.

Cloudy, straw-colored topped with only a finger and a half of tight white foam despite an aggressive pour from the wide mouth can. 3.75
The wide mouth can begged to be drank from but to not release the blast of pineapple (no need to sniff n' search) would have been criminal. This opening note was backed up by citrus rind and grass. 4.25
T - Pithy bitterness with a slight citrus in the finish but pretty one dimensional. 3.5
F - Smooth and light bodied 4
O - Easy drinking, good IPA and always good to support the local guys. 3.75 Certainly good enough to put on the places to visit.
Composite 3.8

 

New beer #2. My first beer from Heist in Charlotte, NC.

Not From Concentrate - Heist
IPA - 6.8% abv
Canned 5/4/18 (30 days ago)
Score: 4.16 (+1.2% rDev)



L - 1.5 finger dense bright white head atop a golden orange body.

S - oranges, melon, pine.

T - lots of orange here, backed by pine. Herbal middle with a touch of dankness. Low bitterness. No sweetness. Low booziness.

F - medium-full body with minimal carb.

O - a very well balanced, lower abv NE IPA.

 

Tired Hands St. SixSixSixer Birth Day Fruited IPA

Happy Sunday, BAs. I haven't read through the thread yet, but am looking forward to catching up.

Just got back from six-and-a-half hours in line with @CanConPhilly and @larryi86 at the Tired Hands sixth anniversary can release. I'm beat! Whoever says mules don't work hard for their money clearly hasn't spent six-and-a-half hours waiting in line for beer.

According to Instagram, this is an IPA with oats conditioned on passionfruit, pineapple, lime, grapefruit, guava and tangerine and then dry hopped with Galaxy, Mosaic, Citra, Idaho 7, Somcoe and Chinook. Fancy, right?

It pours a cloudy, orange-tinted yellow with a half-finger of white head that's quick to settle, but leaves decent lacing. It's pretty, but the head is smaller than I like, even with a vigorous pour.

Unsurprisingly, it has a big, pungent aroma of fruit juice, as well as cut grass and weed. It's hard for me to pick out the individual fruits here, but before I read the description, I was getting whiffs of orange juice, guava, mango, lime and maybe even a touch of raspberry.

The taste is more restrained. It's similar to the nose up front, in terms of having a nice tropical juice medley, but the fruit drops off very quickly, replaced by a pretty strong herbal element that has a certain nuttiness to it. Moderate bitterness lingers in the aftertaste, again with a hint of berry jam.

It's full bodied with a strong burst of fizzy carbonation upon swallowing.

There's a lot of interesting fruit in this one, but the nutty quality to the herbal element just isn't my jam. There's probably a specific hop responsible for this that one day I'll identify and learn. Too many here for me to know for sure. I am interested to taste how this changes over the coming weeks. Cheers!

 

A-Pours a nice amber color with a nice head and lacing
A-Aroma has slight hoppy hints
T-The taste follows the nose with a subtle hoppy flavor
M-A medium bodied well carbonated beer
O-A decent DIPA with a strong kick

 

Delicious gose. Good head retention/lacing for the style. Aromas and flavors of tart/sour lemon, lime, grapefruit, citrus zest, peach, pear, melon, green apple, white grape, berry, coriander, sea salt, hay, straw, and grass; with moderate wheat, cracker, white bread dough malt balance; light lacto funk and yeast earthiness. A bit muted on the nose. Light-moderate fruity/lactic tartness; light spiciness, and fruit/wheat tang on the finish. Medium-plus carbonation, medium body, and moderately crisp finishing. Balanced creamy/grainy wheat, lactic acid, and light salinity in the mouthfeel. Light-moderate increasing acidic dryness, no puckering. Very flavorful/refreshing, 3.6%. Spot on stuff. Great balanced complexity between Lacto, lemon, spice, and salt; nice pale/wheat malt backbone against acidity. Not overly lactic or salty. Perfect summer brew for sure. 3.88


New Perrin/CC collab. Excellent stuff! Lasting head retention and thick soapy lacing on the glass. Crystal clarity. Aromas and flavors of big tangerine, grapefruit, pineapple, peach, passion fruit, papaya, mango, melon, berry, citrus peel/zest, mint, pepper, and piney hops; with moderate lightly toasted bread, light honeyed malts; and herbal, floral, grassy hop earthiness. Light-moderate pine, citrus peel, herbal, grassy, peppery bitterness on the finish. Medium carbonation/body; balanced creamy/bready malts and sticky hops in the mouthfeel. Light resin/rinds, increasing dryness, no hop astringency. Very drinkable, never aggressive, 7.1%. Denali, Enigma, Citra, and Galaxy. It has all the good stuff I expected. Very vibrant, dank, and earthy hop complexity; nice bready malt backbone, and mild lingering sweetness. No complaints at all. 4.03


Cheers, be back in a bit NBS

 

Poured into a stemless Teku glass canned with in the last few weeks. Pours very hazy, with a finger plus head that leaves some solid lace, as it slowly settles. 4.5

Smell is very green, pine, apricot, earthy over tones, and some ripe grapefruit rind. 3.75

Taste follows very aggressive green wood maybe, pine, apricot, sour apple, and over ripen grapefruit. 3.5

Mouthfeel is spot on bigger than average, plenty of life, not dry, and besides that green pungent unusual flavor very drinkable at 8% ABV. 4.25

Overall this one is a very unusual DIPA, almost a Belgian DIPA thing going and I have gotten used to it, but it definitely dominates all the flavors. 3.75

 

A Local Offering is up first; Bike Rack Brewing's Grapefruit Farmhouse Ale, really hit the spot, 4.1 overal

Pours a hazed amber with 2 fingers of ivory colored head. Lovely lacing & slightly better than average head retention

S: Grapefruit & yeastyness

T: Follows the nose, some light breadyness & pear, plus a little dryness. Dryness builds as this warms along with grapefruit tartness. plus just a little white grape & grassyness. Finishes dry, grapefruitty with a little yeasty twang

MF: Medium body, fairly firm carbonation

Very drinkable/approachable on par with the hoppy farmhouse stuff Prairie puts out

 

A-Pours a nice amber color with a nice head and lacing
A-Aroma has slight hoppy hints
T-The taste follows the nose with a subtle hoppy flavor
M-A medium bodied well carbonated beer
O-A decent IPA

 

New beer #3. One of the brews I picked up from Tired Hands today. This is the best Only Void they’ve ever brewed. Yum!

Only Void Retrospective - Tired Hands
Imperial Stout - 11% abv
Canned 5/29/18 (5 days ago)
Purchased for $24/4 at Tired Hands



L - 3-finger hazelnut head with tons of bubbles fizzles down to nothing in about a minute, leaving sparse lacing. Black body.

S - mixed berries, vanilla, lemongrass, cilantro?, chocolate.

T - smoky chocolate-covered raspberries. The smoke isn’t dominating but it definitely stays throughout each sip. The berries are only slightly tart, and don’t add much sweetness. The tea starts to come through in the middle. Mildly bitter. Mildly sweet. No booziness at all.

F - medium body and carb. This is the only area where this beer comes up short. Slightly watery.

O - really good. Smells and tastes like nothing else. The smoke will make or break this for some people. I just wish the body was heftier to make this truly world class.

 

No new beer today just various craft brews left over from my Memorial Day BBQ last Monday.

 

It's been an outstanding weekend here in middle TN with lots of sun and temps in the 80s. Both kids (plus our "adopted" daughter) are now home for the summer, so now we have it's a full house with a sharp increase in laughs and dirty dishes. Last night, we had a blast hanging out with @cjgiant and his better half, drinking beer, watching hockey, and drinking beer. My wife and son are Caps fans, so everyone got along swimmingly, as long as we didn't bring up CJ's awful taste in NFL teams
Always generous, CJ brought us a fantastic bunch of DC/VA beers and I'm excited to enjoy this one today:
Two Lost Souls IPA, Ocelot Brewing Co, Dulles, VA


Wow, this is a strikingly beautiful beer, with an old-school medium haziness and a bright, translucent yellow-straw color. A thick white head formed on the pour and the foam hung around for several minutes.

The aroma was huge! it was evident as I cracked the can and poured it: lemony floral hops, slight grassiness, berries, and an earthy resin that was almost diesel fuel-like. The taste followed fairly closely. Lots of fruity notes, with lemon, berries, grass, and a nice dank undercurrent. The malt was there, but dry, bready, and restrained. Given it's old-school looks, I was expecting lots of bitterness, but this one was only moderately bitter with a softness reminiscent of an NEIPA. Overall an outstanding beer that spoke to me. Cheers!

 

Good evening NBS, Home from a weekend in Burlington, went to see Ben Harper and Charlie Musslewhite. Outstanding,while there picked up today’s offering. A bottle conditioned Belgian style ale.
Cheers all
Cote De Champlain

Zero Gravity Craft Brewery / American Flatbread
Belgian Pale Ale / 6.10% ABV

3.79/5 rDev +0.8% | Score: 3.76
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75

Poured from a recently purchased bottle into the task glass ,
A - Beautiful straw colored backdrop lots of carbonation feeds pillow white head .
S- Dusty grains some winter wheat a lot of yeast character with hints of lemongrass , The most gentle thread of tart funk also in mix
T - Warm sourdough, green melon, a touch of pine apple, rather muted
M - Excellent feel the carbonation adds a nice cleaning quality linger is again with the dusty grains
O - an interesting offering from the talented Brewer I have another bottle of that I’m gonna let rest and see if some tartness doesn’t develop

 

Happy NBS. Really diggin this '14 Dissident. Review attached below. Cheers!

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/63/44409/?ba=cindyjeffsmith#review

 

Delicious Session IPA. Amazing lasting head retention and thick soapy lacing on the glass. Flavors of big grapefruit, tangerine, lemon, peach, pineapple, passion fruit, mango, melon, citrus peel/rind, pepper, and pine hops; with moderate lightly toasted bread, light honeyed malts; and herbal, floral, grassy hop earthiness. Similar/muted aromas. Light-moderate pine, citrus peel, herbal, grassy, peppery bitterness on the finish. Medium carbonation, light-medium body, and moderately crisp finishing. Balanced bready/grainy malts and sticky hops in the mouthfeel. Slight resins/rinds, increasing dryness, no hop astringency. Very flavorful/refreshing, 4.4%. Never watery feeling. Citra and Chinook hops; the profile is spot on. Juicy, dank, and earthy hop complexity; with a nice bready malt backbone for the ABV. This is really impressive, one of the better SIPAs I've had. Will buy again. 3.91


Another first review. Fantastic! Great head retention/lacing for the style. Aromas and flavors of big tart/tangy red grapes, skin, cherry, raspberry, blackberry, strawberry, blueberry, plum, currant, lemon, red/green apple, melon, red/white wine, oak, hay, straw, grass, floral, and rose; with moderate wheat, lightly toasted bread malts; light pepper, oaken vanilla, leathery/musty funk, and red wine vinegar. Light-moderate fruity/lactic tartness; light fruit tang and wine/oak tannin spiciness on the finish. Medium-high carbonation, light-medium body; and moderately crisp finishing. Balanced grainy malts and lactic acidic in the mouthfeel; light fruit tang and wine tannins. Light-moderate increasing lactic/tangy/tannic dryness. Zero puckering sourness. Very drinkable, not overly lactic, 6%. Another easy winner. The chambourcin grapes add insane amounts of berry complexity, just wonderful. Amazingly well rounded Brett/Lacto complexity, balanced grapes; nice oak presence and malt backbone against acidity. 4.2


Cheers, be back again soon NBS

 

Good evening, NBSers. It’s a beautiful evening here in Northern Indiana, the grill’s fires up for big ol’ pork chops, time for a new beer from my local brewery featuring the El Dorado hop. This is A Ton Load from Bare Hands.



4.44/5 rDev 0%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

The color of pineapple in my glass, with significant haze, but not milkshake haze - I can see the bottom of my glass. The fluffy bone white head caps this gorgeous beer.

The tropical fruits are notable immediately on the nose, with pineapple preeminent, and there’s also a candy sweetness along with some melon notes.

The pineapple flavor hits immediately on the taste, and there’s also the candy sweetness, but it works with the pineapple, and the melon flavor smooths things out. There’s a slightly oily feel to the finish, which also works.

I will be heading back to the brewery this week for more, because this is outstanding, IMHO.

 

Today’s NBS beer comes courtesy of @SawDog505 - Clown Shoes’ Breakfast Exorcism, an Imperial Coffee Stout, BBA with Espresso and clocking in at 11%...sounds like my cup a joe!



Fast fizzy lite tan head sits atop black pour at 53 degrees; hint of ruby on the edges; partial island of mini bubbles/slick remains partially encircled by an incomplete ring; tiny spots of lace and thin legs upon swirl. 4.25



Whisper of bourbon, a bit of coffee, sweet caramel and smoky notes. 4.0



Semi sweet almost fruity tongue; very lite roast coffee, smoke, char; I keep thinking toasted sweet bread; a bit of bourbon and barrel dryness in the finish. 4.25

Lite carbonation; smooth medium body; no warmth; very lite bitterness from the roast; dry oaky tongue coating. 4.0

Second pour pic:



Very deceptive high ABV beer! The main flavors are subtle and well balanced; the alcohol isn’t noticeable except for a little bourbon in the finish; there is an overall smokiness in the nose and on the tongue (perhaps part of the Exorcism?). 4.0

Thanks Tim for the tasty beer, and Cheers all!

 

After spending most of my day in line with @CanConPhilly and @thebeers, the longest line I’ve been in at Tired Hands. Time to relax with some Only Void Retrospective.

4.54/5 rDev 0%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

16 oz can, dated 5/29/18, poured into a teku

A- Black with a two finger mocha head.

S- Smokey, charred wood, jammy raspberries, dark chocolate, some vanilla.

T- Blackberries and raspberries, slightly tart, more jammy fruits, smokey, touch of vanilla, some chocolate, hints of a herbal earthiness.

M- Smooth, medium body.

O- A very good and unique stout, love how the smoke plays with the fruits.

Cheers!

 

Not bad but not outstanding IPA. Not very "juicy." More of a mild IPA along the lines DFH 60 Minute IPA or something like that. Refreshing.