New Beer Sunday (Week 695)

Good evening NBS, hope everyone had a good day so far. Did my usual bottle returns, laundry and grocery run for the week. Fridge is stocked up on new beers after yesterday's run.

Very nice milkshake IPA. Awesome head retention/lasting lacing on the glass. Flavors of big coconut, vanilla, grapefruit, tangerine, lemon, peach, pear, pineapple, passion fruit, mango, melon, citrus peel/rind, light pepper, and pine hops; with moderate cream, wheat, cracker, white bread, light biscuity malt/lactose; and herbal, floral, grassy hop earthiness. Similar/muted aromas. Light-moderate pine, citrus peel/rind, herbal, grassy, spicy bitterness on the finish. Medium carbonation/body; creamy/bready malt/lactose and some sticky hops in the mouthfeel. Light resins/rinds, light-moderate increasing bitter dryness, no hop/fruit peel astringency. Very drinkable, not aggressive, 6.3%. The coconut tea is pretty big on this, but it works well with the citrus fruit and tropical hops. Nicely soft-ish mouthfeel. Juicy, vibrant, and lightly dank hops/fruit; nice malt/lactose backbone, and mild residual sweetness. Unique, but very well done. 3.88


Stillwater. Excellent as usual! Great head retention/spotty lacing for a sour. Aromas and flavors of big tart/tangy white grape/wine, lemon, lime, peach, pear, pineapple, green apple, passion fruit, papaya, mango, melon, guava, berry, citrus zest, hay, straw, and grass; with moderate wheat, cracker, white bready malts; lighter notes of pepper, leathery/musty funk, and white wine vinegar. Light-moderate fruity/lactic tartness, fruit tang; light herbal/grassy bitterness, and yeast/tannic spiciness on the finish. Medium carbonation/body; balanced creamy/grainy wheat, lactic acid, fruit tang, hop stickiness, and tannins in the mouthfeel. Light-moderate increasing acidic/tangy fruit dryness. Slightly increasing pucker factor, but not overwhelming. Very drinkable, not overly lactic, 6%. Really well rounded Brett/Lacto complexity; balanced citrus/tropical hops, Riesling grapes, and a solid pale/wheat malt backbone against acidity. They always nail the sours, rarely disappointing. 4


Cheers, be back in a bit NBS.

 

Amen, brother, I can't wait either!

 

Clown Shoes Who's on First? A Summer Ale with Passion Fruit & Pineapple Puree ( where would be my question ) 3.28
overall

Pours an effervescent gold with 2 fingers of pearl colored head. Okay head retention & lacing

S: Pears, a little citrus

T: Pineapple, dryness, a little pear, plus a little passion fruit up front. Dryness, a little grainyness, hints of pineapple as this warms. Finishes a little grassy, dry with a little white grape

MF: Medium body, fairly firm carbonation

Easy to drink, but also easy to forget, a rare miss from these guys, wanted way more fruit than this delivers

 

Cheers to @TheHopsman for this one. Good to see ya again, dude!



Boiler's Brewing Company's DDH Holy Trinity Double That!

Pours an opaque and murky orange with a finger of white foam. Head retention is okay. Aroma is a puree of tropical fruits. Mango, papaya, and tangerine form the crux of the aroma. Lemon zest and musty notes fill in the rest of the space. Flavor profile is a dense forest of tropical fruits - mango, papaya, tangerine, and orange. Mouth feel is thick and velvety. Overall, a dense forest of tropical fruits is the only way to describe this. It's heavy in terms of feel, but still pleasantly chuggable, packing an experience into each glass.

Score: 4.25 | 4 | 4.75 | 4.75 | 4.5 | BA Score: 4.49 | rDev: 0% (other rating was 4.5)

 

NBS #2. It's never too hot for a stout especially if you've been drinking IPAs all weekend!

I've been craving a new stout and when I saw Even More JCS at a local shop I had to bite. This is great stuff! It's a dessert sipper for sure but manages to incorporate everything I like in a big stout. Here's my review:

4.43/5 rDev +1.8%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

Canned 3/22/2018 so two months old when reviewed. Poured from 16 oz. can into stout glass. It pours almost jet black with an immense cap of foamy, mocha-colored head that dissipated slowly leaving some thin lacing of like color. The nose features roasted malt, burnt coffee, dark chocolate, earthy char, and nuts. The taste is a lot sweeter than the smell would indicate. But it has everything you'd want in a big stout: chocolate, both freshly-brewed and burnt coffee, dark fruit, char, tobacco, vanilla, and nuts. Somehow, Evil Twin has managed to include every taste I like. It has a perfect stout feel: thick and chewy with great viscosity. The carbonation is moderate and it seems to drink below its 12% ABV. That's okay because Even More JCS is most definitely a dessert sipper. It's too rich and sweet for casual drinking and it would overwhelm most food pairings. Still, if you accept it for what it is, it's outstanding!

 

Happy NBS and Father's Day. Lovin on this fine Orpheus Dark River II. Cheers all.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/34960/351464/?ba=cindyjeffsmith#review

 

Bruh - where'd you get that glass!?

WU TANG WU TANG!!!!!

 

Happy Fathers Day to all you dads!

Found a new beer at Premium Draught in Houston, TX:


8th Wonder's Procrastin8or, a "session" IPA

Call these things what you will, I wanted a sub-5% American pale ale and knew I'd be flying by Premium Draught today, so Procrastin8or fit the bill. And it fills the bill ... wow-wee is it full of grapefruit notes, a little pineapple, even some green onion in the nose and lingering aftertaste. There's only enough malt to give it a good grain flavor in the background when it's cold, but this one is all about those little green buds, for it has almost no sweetness in the flavor. There is a load of sweetness in the aroma, however, and it's like jumping into a swimming pool of grapefruit juice and inhaling ... if that were possible.

The review:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/28784/345889/?ba=Premo88#review
4.29 (+7% rDev)

Feels awfully silly posting my dumb gumbo photos after @utopiajane dazzled once again with her amazing culinary skills, but I can't hang with Maria, only admire, so here's dumb early gumbo photos pre-seafood:

I wanted to go MUCH darker than this below, but I'm cooking for others, not just me, so I wimped out @TongoRad:


Cheers, NBSers!

 

Happy Father’s Day, NBS party patrol. Thanks to @cjgiant for the nice start and the reminder of both sides of the “being a father” coin. I’m blessed to have a son that I love, but just as importantly I like. We’ve had our trials and tribulations, as will happen in any meaningful relationship that endures 27+ years, but he’s a young man I have a lot of pride in and admiration for.

Having said that, I’m not afraid to still be his Dad and give him a figurative wallop, but he gets now where I’m coming from on those very rare occasions. He’ll be visiting me and Mrs O at the end of July for a week, and we’re already planning our different adventures, including a couple of brewery trips - the apple didn’t fall far from the tree AT ALL in that area, though he enjoys the big hop bombs less than I do. Can. Not. Wait. to see him.

On to today’s beer. This adheres to two of my beer credos:

1. #DrinkLocal

2: #EnjoyHefesWhileTheyAreAvailableOrYourBeerNerdSoulWillSuffer

I’m thinking of having #2 trademarked.



4.35/5 rDev -2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

This looks like summer coming from the can - the color is a twilight sunset on a steamy June evening in the Northern Hemisphere, with some haze and a soapy white head as a cap. Lovely.

The nose has the requisite banana, clove, and bready notes, but there’s a subtle lemon note as well. Lovelier.

The taste has the banana, clove, and bread notes, but it’s the tart lemon flavor that elevates this. The mouthfeel is crisp and spritzy, making this the perfect summer quencher. Man, is this good.

 

I had the same impression with that brew although I did have a 16 oz can. I think freshness plays a roll. Mine was dated and I think it was like 60 days minimum.

 

Happy Father's Day!
Happy New American IPA Sunday!

Pretty nice day for a hike on the Western Slope, around 77, cloudy. Not a bad brew, but would have liked to have tried it alot fresher. Picked up some chicken tacos. Watching some Voyager reruns. Might be back with another.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/418/236801/?ba=Wasatch#review

Cheers!

 

Still looks damn tasty, though! And that looks like a genuine family heirloom gumbo pot you got there, pretty sweet.

But next time it's on for real!

 

Dont sell yourself short. Not many can go through the patience and splatters of cooking a NO style roux. I was taught by someone who cooked in Commanders Palace (Emiril) and I can go dark. Impressive.

 

I've mentioned this to Robert before (which is kinda why we're having this friendly back and forth), but making a Cajun black roux is the only thing that still seriously intimidates me in the kitchen- and I don't think that'll ever change. But sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do .

 

Round Trip 862 IPA from Free Will and Platform


L. Slightly hazy light-orange, nice frothy head which hangs out a while and leaves a good lacing. 4.00
S. Bright honeycomb, apricot, pineapple. Slightly peppery sweet tropical aroma. 4.25
T. Bitter up front like lemon, orange peel, and some grapefruit juice. These flavors continue with decreasing bitterness through the finish, with a bit of bread and spice. Finishes with a peppery vegetable or under-ripe pineapple. 3.75
F. Smooth medium body, not drying, slight boozy zing in the finish. 3.75
O. Pretty good and refreshing. Not too sweet or bitter but flavorful, drinkable, and enjoyable. 3.75

3.89. Cheers!

 

First, thanks to you and @tasterschoice62 for the compliment. Pulling up well short of black is tasting like a good idea for this little get together.

Second, I'm going to be the jerk in the room and say I don't even know what a so-called "burnt" roux is. Seriously. I've made rouxs on the stove and in the microwave (blasphemy, I know, but "Cajun" is the mother of invention from my experience) and watched Paw-Paw, Grabber, mom and dad make rouxs for multiple decades and not once have I ever seen anything even approaching burnt. Obviously anything left on the stove long enough will burn to a black crisp, but for 40 years I've heard people in hushed tones speak of the horrors of burning the roux as if it's somehow easy to do, and I think it's a myth.

I'm finding out in August.

 

Father's day NBS beer #2 comes from Heist Brewery in Charlotte NC. Filled 06/09/2018.




Not from Concentrate

Heist Brewery
American IPA / 6.80% ABV

4.22/5 rDev 0% | Score: 4.22
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25

Filled 06/09/18. This version does not appear in the database yet. I'm led to believe this will be a lineup regular.
L- The beer pours the color of pineapple juice. It's hazy and the head rises a solid one finger of off white. The head recedes to a thin film leaving an excellent ring of lace on the glass.
S- The nose is a musty mix of sweet tropical fruits. Pineapple being the most prominent although that could be the power of suggestion.
T- The taste starts slightly sweet reminiscent of pineapple and orange, but a balancing bitterness takes over in the mid palate. The bitterness lingers slightly in the finish and dries out the beer nicely.
F- The mouthfeel is on the fuller side of medium and has a not quite creamy texture. Carbonation is light, but not so much that it feels flat. The dry finish invites further sips and increases the drinkability.
O- A high quality NEIPA from Charlotte NC. Well worth your time and money if you have a chance to pick some up. This was easily my favorite of the IPA's I had, even more so than the highly popular citraquench'l.

 

Delicious fruit wheat. Amazing head retention and lasting thick lacing on the glass. Flavors of big juicy strawberries, guava, lemon, peach, pear, melon, red apple, and berry; with moderate wheat, cracker, white bread, light honeyed malts; mild herbal/grassy hop and yeast earthiness. Similar/muted aromas. Very mild herbal/grassy bitterness and fruit tang/tartness on the finish. Medium-high carbonation, medium body, and moderately crisp finishing. Creamy/grainy wheat, light hop stickiness and fruit tang/acidity in the mouthfeel. Light-moderate increasing tart/tangy/bitter/carbonated dryness. Very flavorful/refreshing, 5%, Never watery. Really great balance of authentic jammy fruit, pale/wheat malts, and fruity American wheat yeast flavors! Would get again. 3.91


BBA edition. This was fantastic! Great head retention and spotty lacing for the ABV. Flavors of huge dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee, caramel, brown sugar, molasses, toffee, vanilla, bourbon, toasted oak, nuttiness, and dark bread; with lighter notes of licorice, smoke, char, raisin, prune, fig, date, leather, tobacco, and woody/herbal/peppery hops. Similar/less intense aromas. Mild roast/char and herbal/spicy hop bitterness on the finish. Medium carbonation and very full body; with a very creamy, silky, velvety, and rich mouthfeel that is fantastic. Light sticky hops, chalky roast, oak tannins, and increasing dryness. No cloying, acrid, astringency. Minimal warming 12%, no barrel booze. Dangerously smooth sipping. Really not as huge on the barrel as expected, but solid. Spot on rich base stout malt complexity. Base, Cafe, and Chili were all better. Never seen the Brandy one yet. 4.25


Cheers, be back again soon.

A million time signature changes.

 

Jefferson's Golden Ale from Yards



Bottled on 06/06/18. Enjoyed on 06/17/18.
L. Clear dark-orange with a big fluffy head which reduces slowly for a thick lacing. 4.00
S. Spicy rye and honey are the first aromas I get, dark caramel, dark bread crust, earthy grassy hops. Smells good. 3.75
T. Bready, spicy, a bit of malty sweetness like caramel and honey, spicier in the middle mixing with grassy bitterness toward the end. Real bitter aftertaste. Not super complex but different and quite good. 3.75
F. Full side of a medium body, smooth with low-ish carbonation, not much warming or drying. 4.25
O. This is a fresh bottle that I'm sampling, so it has a nice bitter/spicy hop presence to compliment the combination of grains in this one. For quality, flavor, value, Yards is an excellent choice. Cheers! 4.00

3.87. Cheers!

 

I stopped at Doc Ponds for a couple after closing the store and to start my weekend. First up, a real nice Pilsner called "Hanse" from Schilling out of New Hampshire:

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/32906/154528/

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

Draft pour at Doc Ponds, Stowe, VT.
3/4 inch white head with some lacing. Beautifully bright body. Nose of cracker, spice, and slight hops. Taste mirrors nose with a nice Pilsner feel and overall a great little Pils right here. Cheers!

Next up, a nice Oatmeal Stout called "No Hero" from Evil Twin:

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/24300/226383/

4.23/5 rDev +8.5%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25

Draft pour at Doc Ponds, Stowe, VT.
3/4 inch tan head over a dark brown body with some sticky lacing. Nose of chocolate, coffee, and roasted malt. Taste mirrors nose nicely with a bit of espresso as well. Nice feel and overall, a very good oatmeal stout from the evil one. Cheers!

Now I'm home for a bit of Smutty action. This bottle has been in one of my beer fridges for quite some time and cheers to Josh M. (late of Smutty, now with FW) for this!



https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/141/219147/

375 ml. corked and caged bottle.
Moderate pour yields a 1/4 inch white head that recedes to a thin ring in minutes with no lacing. Slightly hazy golden amber body. Nose of slight funk, citrus (grapefruit, mostly), and an herbal/floral quality as well. Exceptional flavors of citrus, herb, and cracker. Good feel and overall a nice little saison/wild ale. Cheers!
4.3/5 rDev +3.9%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25