New Beer Sunday (Week 703)

That is a tremendous crop of mushrooms there, Dave - looks delicious! You sauce them, you said? How do you go about doing that, and what do you use the sauce for?

I'm a very big fan of mushrooms sauteed in garlic and butter, preferably with a nice New York strip.

 

New beer #4.

Mai Tai Tastee - The Veil
Smoothie-style Sour Ale - 5.5% abv
Canned 7/24/18 (19 days ago)
Purchased for $21/4 at The Veil
Score: 4.07 (-1.5% rDev)



Review:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/41018/359464/?ba=CanConPhilly#review

Synopsis:
This beer took over 2 weeks to sell through, which is unheard of for The Veil. I can see why though now. It’s polarizing, and I believe misleadingly named. I get the fruit of a Mai Tai, but the spicing is way different. Your appreciation of this beer will depend on your affinity for curry/Indian spices. Personally I love curry, so I dig the taste of this. Very unusual though.

 

Yeah man, very fruity, musky, and full flavored mushroom, low umami, high on the "essence of the woods" note wild mushrooms get, with a strong and unique flavor unlike any other shroom. It is killer in sauce on pasta, or gently saute'd to put on steak the way you describe. Killer in omelets or on pizza, which I had earlier. I do my own sauce which is a take off on alfredo sauce, thinner, with half chicken stock/ half milk, and lots of saute'd chopped trumpets with a little bit of onion. Two quarts so far.

Best thing is trumpets dry about the best of any mushroom, even better than porcini (which also are abundant this year) and last for many years.

 

Hope everyone is having a quiet Sunday. So I cheated a bit I had a new beer yesterday. Mars Brau Helles, new to our area, it was bottled in October 17 so I was leery of the age, 500ml bottle $3.25 so not much of a risk.

It pours and looks like the thoroughbred that it is and what we would expect from a beer with its history. Light straw, super dense creamy head that lasted to the end. Beautiful balance of hops to malt, maybe a tad spicy but the malts are so well done, I’d say medium body, very clean, approachable, not quite as crisp as a Pils. Entirely crushable, it left me wanting more than the one I bought. Unfortunately I see this one dying on the shelf here in anonymity, it’s buried on a shelf in the back of the store facing a wall. One of those beers that if you don’t like it you don’t really like beer. You won’t do cartwheels, it won’t crush your palate, it’s just a nice simple beer that’s flat out easy to drink.

 

A-Pours a beautiful ruby red with a slight head and lacing
A-Aroma has raspberry, blackberry, boysenberry and elderberry hints
T-The taste follows the nose with balanced raspberry, blackberry, boysenberry and elderberry flavors
M-A medium bodied well carbonated beer
O-A very nice well balanced beer with a strong kick

 

I might be able to help out with that, in a bit.

 

I rated this a smidge higher than you did.

Shocking, I know.

I did enjoy it immensely, though, and it appears you (and your GF) enjoyed it, too. MBC is the shiznit, IMHO.

 

Good afternoon. I’ve got my first beer up for the day, brought a “canned in front of my own eyes crowler style” 16 oz. (seriously, more folks should do 16 oz. takeaway cans) from North Channel Brewery in Manistee, Michigan.

Manistees IPA



3.98/5 rDev +1%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4

Nice crystal clear caramel color with a good off white foamy head. Smells a little mango-y before a little malt sweetness kicks in. Pleasantly bitter with a sweet tangerine taste followed by a touch of pine, with a bit more earthiness on exit. Body seems a little thin but otherwise its a pretty decent beer.

 

Sounds delicious, Dave - I think my grocery tab today may owe some credit to you! It's a beautiful day to grill up some steak and sautee some mushrooms.

And drink some beer, obviously.

 

New beer #5. Thanks @larryi86 ! Second review after Larry’s.

Mad Libs - Dewey Beer
Galaxy/Azacca/Vic Secret IPA - 7.5% abv
Canned 7/27/18 (16 days ago)
Score: 4.24 (+1.7% rDev)



Review:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/41410/361651/?ba=CanConPhilly#review

Synopsis:
Dewey is becoming a bigger and bigger player in the Mid-Atlantic scene. The hop profile on this one is great, and the hop burn (presumably due to overuse of dry hops) makes me enjoy this even more. This is yet another great ipa in their portfolio, but they’re also making top-tier sours. Feels like they’re about to explode in popularity.

 

@cjgiant great start to a great thread. I don't consider myself a regular, but I try to post when I could. This week's new beer, is a variant on a classic IPA. Grapefruit is added to Uinta's flagship Hop Nosh. While it's been a couple of years since I had the original I had the one with Tangerine just last week.

Iight brown with thin white head
Straight grapefruit juice
Caramel, and then grapefruit juice, with grapefruit pith on the finish
Medium-bodied, average carbonation, easy drinking
Overall this is solid but not great, as the added grapefruit is too dominant for my liking

Cheers!

 

I'm having the Deconstructed Chili Peppers and saving the cocoa nibs for last.


Black color, small tan head.
Pleasant pepper aroma. Some chocolate and a bit of alcohol.
Subtle chili taste. Sweet chocolate. Bourbon.
This was nice, but I was expecting more of a chili pepper presence.

 

Howdy, NBSers!

Found a pilsener from Brazos Valley Brewing Co. this week and waited to try it today:

Very standard-issue pilsener, which means I love it. Apricot and pear from the bread-malt notes, very light grass/cilantro/lemon-lime peel from the hops. The nose is super sweet and a fantastic show of malt. The flavor is much drier by comparison but still malt heavy with the hops serving mainly to balance.

The review:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/33820/338491/?ba=Premo88#review
4.23 (+16.2% rDev)

This beer sends Brazos Valley Brewing well up the chart of my favorite in-state breweries. It also fits in nicely with Live Oak's Pilz and Gold, Real Ale's Han's Pils, Alstadt's Lager and a few other pilseners brewed in Texas.

Hope your Sundays are going well!
Cheers!

 

NBS Beer #3



Phaze

Four Quarters Brewing Co.
American Pale Ale (APA) / 6.50% ABV

4.24/5 rDev +1.2% | Score: 4.19
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

L- The beer pours a burnt orange? Well more like tan. It looks like apple cider in the glass. It's rather dark for a "pale" ale. The head is a dense 2 fingers of off white foam that recedes to a thin film with curtain like lacing.
S- The nose is sweet citrus up front. At the back end it becomes more pithy and there is a faint alcohol presence. In and around these hoppy aspects I'm getting some wheat mustiness.
T-Sweet citrus is again the first aspect detected. The citrus fades away towards the back of the palate and you are left with a mild lingering pithy bitterness. The alcohol in the nose doesn't translate to the palate.
F- Mouthfeel overall is on the higher side of medium. Carbonation is on the lighter side of medium. There is coating slickness which keeps the flavors lingering on your tongue long after the sip. Still saying that the beer doesn't feel overly filling like a big DIPA.
O- The beer is labeled as an APA, but really straddles the line with a single IPA in terms of hop flavor. This is a great example of a beer where the whole is greater than the sum of it's parts. One of the most enjoyable beers I've had in some time. It's a little ugly to look at, but the flavor and mouthfeel are outstanding. Highly recommended.

 

This is a souvenir from last weekend's day trip.

Pours clear amber (except for condensation in this tropical crap we have). Nice foamy head with lacing and it lasts for quite a while, impressive.
Hops and malt are fighting it out in my nose. I've got ringside seats.
This is a good-ole West Coast IPA and its very welcome in my mouth. Once you taste it you wonder where that malt aroma went because this is pretty much hops. But that's fine.
Pretty good break from milkshakes and NEIPAS quite frankly.

Didn't know who Harvey Ball was, but I blind guessed correctly. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvey_Ball And I learned something from my beer today.

 

Today’s new beer comes from Charlestowne Fermentory, located 2 blocks away from my mother-in-law’s house in Charleston SC...I visit both locations several times a year “Maser” IPA, clocking in at 6.7% ABV:

Pours a hazy gold (6+) w/thick white head, good retention, heavy ring and lacing.



Grapefruit, melon, and slightly dank nose. Bitter grapefruit pith upon entry; melon, papaya, and soft tropical fruit punch flavors. Medium lite body;moderate carbonation; clean almost crisp yet has a juicy vibe. Overall an excellent tasting IPA with a citrusy lite bitter linger. I’d gladly drink another. My score would probably end up a smidge above a 4. Cheers Sunday gang!

 

Good afternoon, NBS! Hope everyone has had a fantastic week!

This has been an interesting week - my birthday was on Tuesday, but I didn't do a whole lot of celebrating. Work has been exhausting, so I've spent a bit more time at home, drinking down my cellar and taking my dog out for fresh air and to clear my head. It's a little warmer than I'd like for outdoors activity here, but what's a little sweat and sunburn? It's certainly better than being inside and working.

And on the topic of work, I'm getting to work now on a little care package courtesy of our friend and BIF member @y2kawakami - thank you again for this box, Sean!



Being a big fan of Modern Times (the Monster's Park beers are tremendously good, and strangely off the radar here in the Midwest) I was really thankful for the chance to try out one of their IPAs. Critical Band has been on my radar for a while, but I was still surprised to see one show up on my doorstep, unsolicited. I love those unexpected boxes!



Critical Band pours a lovely yellow gold with a surprising amount of haze - I'm just not used to seeing beers like this from the west coast, so it's really kind of a pleasant novelty for me every time that it happens. It has a ripe, fruity nose to it - I wouldn't call it tropical, but there's certainly some pineapple presence complementing the malt and hop bill of the beer. It has a very admirable balance of hop bitterness and sweet, fruity, malt presence. It's still light and finishes clean. I would love it if these beers landed on my doorstep every single day.

Thank you for this beer, Sean - this wasn't actually on my wants list, but it sure was a beer that I wanted to try!

I'm sure I'll be back for more fun later (I have a few more NBS BIF beers queued up and waiting!). Hope everyone has a fantastic Sunday!