New Beer Sunday (Week 703)

Hello there, NBS. Spent a long day in the heat and ready to relax. Today I'm having Boulevard's Love Child No. 8. Bottled 2/24/17, best by 2/24/19, enjoyed on 8/12/18. 9%abv, 9 IBUs.



Pours reddish copper with gold highlights. Single finger of white foam. Spotty lacing.

Smells sour, woody.

Tastes sour, woody, tart, wine-like. Very dry, not very funky or fruity.

Not much going on beyond the woody sourness, but it's still a smooth and enjoyable drink. Alcohol is well-hidden. Sourness is puckering. Overall not very complex, but I will be able to finish the bottle myself without problem.

Cheers, all!

 

I hate to quote myself, but I did get a response from the brewery. They did brew the Marzen in March and will be brewing a festbeer in September. I hope to have access to the festbeer as both canned lagers I tried showed real promise and could have been delightful fresh. Cheers.

 

Moving is no fun. I was able to cram all my hauling boxes and the like into the days leading up to the weekend, however, to accommodate some fun plans I'd made with friends before I realized how shitty the timing of my move truly was.
Anyway. New place is still a mess of half unpacked boxes and the like, and today seems like the right time to christen the place with my First Beer in the New Apartment!



I've never had a milkshake IPA. I find the very concept to be... let's just say there's a reason I've never had one before. But I should be open minded. While at Chuck's shopping for this occasion, I was trying to find a beer that would carry the theme of 'new location' or 'moving' or something along those lines. I was having a hard time, until I remembered that that very first night here in the new spot I stepped out on the patio and the air just smelled like blackberries. I loved it (I love blackberries). It was just the perfect combination of the heat wave we've been under lately (up until the one night that my friends and I were camping out for ren faire of course, when it decided to be the one afternoon/evening of rain/thunder storms) and the massive wild bramble of berries all along the back side of my new building, and so I grabbed the one blackberry-related beer I could find at the store. Here's to new things, new places, and keeping an open mind!



Big Tom's Milkshake of the Month is a (new?) series of milkshake IPAs from Three Magnets, a brewery a little ways south of Seattle that I think partnered with a new consulting company in the last year or two because their whole approach has shifted dramatically, they're doing significantly more one offs and cans, and production has seemingly ramped up. Or maybe I'm just more aware of them. Or an organic shift in approach. But it looks like the same playbook I've seen from other breweries who've brought in professional suggestors to help maximize certain potentials. Anyway, I selected Triple Berry Jubilee for the reasons listed above.



The pour yields a muddy purple/red hue, with some wet and toothless foam topping the liquid. Settles in to a steady and evenly dispersed cap fairly quickly, and stays at that state throughout.

Nose leads in with vanilla and sweet cream. Some generalized berry and a... not quite earthy, not quite malty... somewhere in there thick beer backbone. But the beer part feels second fiddle. Hops were definitely used, but they get lost in the wash of berry and vanilla.

Flavour comes in with vanilla right off the bat, again. Less sweet than I'd really expected though. Steps right into a bitter citrus zone that's almost on the lime end of the citrus spectrum and into an earthy bramble of berry meat. The meat moreso than the juice. The sequencing suggests that the hops are meant to bridge the gap between the creamy/chalky vanilla and the berries, but really it feels out of order. Or maybe just not the hop profile that most effectively bridges those other flavours.

Body is somewhat sticky and almost kind of chalky. Decent carbonation and a good dull pithy finish that reminds me that yes, I am drinking a beer.

This wasn't a 'bad' drinking experience. But it does still strike me as an unnecessary one. Like... milkshake IPAs are a huge fad currently. But... why? Not everything needs to be done in 'beer' form. I feel similarly as I do to those alcoholic le croix drinks that my friend was drinking the other night. Like... sure it 'works,' sort of, but... why? I guess the answer is 'because the people have gone bonkers for them,' and I may just be an old fuddy duddy shaking my fist at the clouds as kids trespass on my lawn, but it still somewhat escapes me.
I don't regret having tried it, and if someone gave me one, I'd probably still drink it, but I guess I just don't get it.


(in my opinion, the inclusion of the fresh picked berries significantly enhanced the experience)

Anyway, hope y'all have something tasty in your glass on this fine Sunday evening.
As for me, it's back to unpacking and settling in!!
Cheers!!

 

Third new Oktoberfest of the day...

The review:
12oz canned 8/1/18 (11 days ago) poured into a .5L krug at fridge temp 5.7% ABV. The beer pours bright orange amber in color with plenty of khaki head. The head recedes to a thin ring and leaves almost no lacing. The aroma is bready and yeasty with a fair amount of presence. The taste is nutty, bready malt with a floral hop presence that stays under the radar until the dry finish. Mouthfeel is thin bodied and adequately carbonated. The lagering is clean with zero off flavors or feel. Overall, very good. Very nice beer, but lacks a little malt taste and feel to be top shelf to my taste.

I'm all out of new beers for this Sunday. Cheers all!

 

I don't post here much, if at all, because I don't get the chance to fully review beers much, especially on weekends. With a 3.5 year old daughter and 9 month old son sitting down and writing a thoughtful review can be hard. I still enjoy drinking the beer, and very much enjoy reviewing them. Kids are down, it's TV time for my wife and I, so I have decided to contribute a thoughtful review. Better late than never. Cheers, BA!

Looks like I am the first to review this beer added by @beergoot last month.

For those of you who will get "Zoinks" instead of my picture, here is the beer:

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/28551/355418/

3.8/5 rDev 0%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75

A: Opaque black with a light brown head that disappeared to just a thin layer across the top of the beer. A slight amount of sticky lacing that over the course of drinking the beer also disappeared. No visible carbonation.



S: Without dissecting the beer, the ingredients come together similar to a pumpkin spice beer. I realize writing this at the front of my review may immediately turn you off, but please, stick with me here.

Taking a deeper dive, cardamom, clove, cinnamon, vanilla, ginger and black pepper. There is a hint of spice to the aroma, but it is hard to tell if this comes from ginger, black pepper or both. I want to say there is a hint of freshly cracked black pepper. Everything comes together in unison. You can smell each ingredient, but they are all well integrated. None of them stand out on their own and none of them are hidden. I’ve never had the base imperial stout, so I am not sure how it tastes, but outside of the notes above, I am not getting anything else that would indicate stout, such a chocolate, coffee, roast, etc. The spices dominate and create a sweet aroma. There is a sweet doughy/bready component. Think raw gingerbread or oatmeal raisin cookie dough. Zero indications of the 12.1% ABV.

T: This beer is not as sweet as the nose indicates. On the tip of the tongue the sweetness comes through as vanilla and bread baked with spices such as cardamom, clove, cinnamon and ginger. Toward the middle of the palate the flavor shifts to cola, along with the spices. I am not getting any heat on this beer from the pepper or the ginger. The finish is dry, moderately roasty and bitter. Imagine crushing some cinnamon, clove and cardamom with a mortar and pestle. It would actually be quite bitter. This is what I am getting. Not sweetened spices like a Starbucks chai spice latte. I do not taste any alcohol, but get a hint of pleasant warmth in the pipes.

M: Nice mouthfeel. Not the thickest stout I have had, but full bodied with some prickly carbonation. Finishes dry on the palate.

D: This is a nice beer. If you do not like the aforementioned spices, then you probably will not like this beer. However, this is just that: A Beer! It does not taste as sweet as it smells, and in fact, there are some nice stout qualities that I mentioned in the taste above. It is not a pastry stout, despite its description as a “chai spiced stout.” Given the dry, roasty and bitter finish, would probably work extremely well with a very sweet dessert such as a black forest cake. Very good beer that I would drink again if seeking this flavor profile.

2,627 characters

 

Bravo! To the review, the sentiment, the imagery, the dedication, creativity, desperation to improve the experience, and most importantly, the move. Congratulations, and hope you enjoy your new surroundings. Cheers!

 

It's been a while since I've posted in NBS.
Tonight I opened up a bottle of Funk Factory Geuzeria - Framrood


Here's the review I wrote :
4.38/5 rDev +1.6%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

The most recent release that came out a couple of weeks ago.

A: Pours a purplish pink with a slight pink head. The head quickly subsidies.
S: the nose is mostly Raspberry. Very little funk comes through
T: up front is Raspberry jam and some tartness. There is a combo of over ripe and under ripe berries. In the background is horse blanket. The funk creeps through the flavor. The oak gets stronger as one drinks further down the bottle.
MF: there is enough tartness to leave a bit of a pucker. The jamminess remains after the Tart.
O: A terrific fruited sour. Definitely fruity definitely Tart but neither is overwhelming. Thoroughly enjoying this beer.

 

I'm not one to do many NBS posts, but I picked up a sixer of Hacker-Pschorr octoberfest marzen today. Of course my nose decided to plug up right before I cracked it, but I got one good nostril so here goes....

Not a style I've had before, but I've had american ambers. The look is basically the same. Amber with a dissapearing white head. I get dark fruit and almost a barleywineish sweetness from the smell. Flavor is caramel malt with a touch of hops at the end of the tongue. Some sweetness, but not as much as the smell.Bready in the aftertaste. Mouthfeel is just right for this kind of beer. Other than being a filling beer, I can see why they drink this stuff by the half gallon at octoberfest, good stuff! (Yes I understand that measurement is most likely inaccurate, I'm a sucker for absurd imagery though)

 

Hey, folks - how's the evening treating everyone? I've spent the day on some tedious shit - cutting up some of my brush pile, taking the dog out for a long walk (this sounds great, right? no - no, it's not... he refuses to shit in the yard like a normal dog or human being... he needs a walk to poop... also, it's super hot and humid here at the moment), and doing laundry. At least he's a handsome fella, even if he's tremendously useless, right? This is what former girlfriends have said about me, no doubt. Minus the handsome part.



And then I came back to beer, because I never stray all that far, obviously.

Beer review #2 of the day - this comes courtesy of @JBowenGeorgia and I should have drank this one a bit ago! Not to say it has fallen off in any way - just that it deserved attention sooner.



Sinner's Son pours a rich, deep brown with a light hazel ring of head. The carb is remarkably subdued, which is very pleasantly in my wheel house - I do not like aggressively carbed stouts, particularly as applied to coffee stouts, more so when barrel-aged. The coffee is quite notable in the nose, even after pulling the cork - the coffee and chocolate permeated the room, to the degree that I didn't really even wait for this beer to warm up that much. I drank it slowly, to allow the flavor profile to completely open up, but I'm not sure that it even requires it: the chocolate is rich and warm, thought just slightly chalky. The coffee is wonderfully roasty and quite present in the nose and taste. The barrel aging isn't terribly obvious, but there is certainly a bit of dry barrel to the taste and feel.

I don't recall this being on my radar at all - cheers, @JBowenGeorgia - you really caught me off-guard with this beer. Delicious - thank you again! For those of you who weren't yet aware, John sends some amazingly generous boxes. I aspire to his BIF game!

That's it for my evening - I'll sign off with some music a la @superspak and wish everyone a great week to come. Cheers, NBS!



Pallbearer wasn't even on my radar until a friend invited me to a show in September - they remind me a lot of Warning, who I REALLY like. Needless to say - I'll be at that show!

 

Happy to contribute, and thank you for having me. I hope to make more of an effort.

Cheers!

 

I just got back from work - better late than never to join this fine group! A little coffee before bed sure sounded nice...



12oz can dated 3/18/18 poured into a can glass
A: Orange with a 1/2-finger head that quickly settles
S: Coffee, malts, a hint of vanilla
T: Matches the nose; I feel like the coffee being cold brew makes the flavor smoother than many coffee stouts (or maybe it's the fact that it's a blonde beer)
M: Medium-bodied, very smooth
O: Tasty, goes down way too easy & wish I had more than one

Cheers!

 

Thanks!
I'm cautiously optimistic. I've already got some local locales scouted out towards which I foresee diverting a decent amount of my funds, and it should offer me convenient access to various neighbouring neighbourhoods as well. The biggest thing I'm worried about is the commute to work, but I'll make it work somehow. Don't see as I've much of a choice at this point!

 

3.94/5 rDev +3.7%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4

16 oz can traded from BA user Beerchaeology poured into Sierra Nevada pint glass. Can dated 6/22/18.

Pours a hazy amber shade with light orange hints. The head is creamy and a fingernail's height.

I get aromas of orange peel and zest on the nose, with some caramel malt, grapefruit, and tangerine.

Flavor definitely leans more old school IPA but isn't bad by any stretch. Reminds me of a really strong Jai Alai. Firm bitterness hits with heavy waves of orange peel, grapefruit, onion, lemon, pine, pine sol, tea, herbaceousness, with very faint hints of hop spoilage infancy.

Feel is creamy and almost non-carbonated to start, and then the carbonation burn creeps in as well as a huge alcohol burn in the gut. That burn becomes more welcome as the glass is finished.

Overall, not really what I was expecting but it's a solid IIPA and you will enjoy it if you are a hophead in general. Like I said, it's very much like a Jai Alai or Lagunitas Sucks, it has those herbal/tea/citrus notes with a strong alcohol presence. Not hazy/new england/juicy of any sort.

 

If there's one Oktoberfest to pick up I'm choosing this one. I usually skip them from SN but a collaboration with Weihenstephaner is an instant win for me.

 

Glad you enjoyed that one, Sweetwater doesn't get much love around here but they must be doing something right to have been around as long as they have.
As far as aspiring to my BIF game I just try to send a box I'd be happy to receive. I learned everything I know about BIFing from several regulars in this thread, I aspire to be like them!

 

Missed new beers last week and today, working 7 day weeks on the evening shift has taken it's toll. Having a beer just not a new one. Hoping to get back into t.fhe flow of things next week.

 

You are more fortunate than I am concerning Sierra Nevada beers; it is not uncommon for the Sierra Nevada year-round beers to be 5+ months old at my local beer retailers.

I wonder if the situation for this particular Daredevil beer is because it is Rauchbier? It seems to me this beer style is polarizing and maybe it did not sell well for them?

Cheers!

 

I was more surprised by the March date on the Marzen. I contacted the brewery and found out that they released the Marzen in March and will release a festbeer in September, which I hope to try. I also think if they were local, they would not have still had these beers in the cooler. Cheers

 

FWIW I am one of those people who enjoy drinking Oktoberfest/Marzen beers during the 'season' (i.e., September - October). I personally would not have purchased that Daredevil Marzen beer. Maybe this is why there are 'leftovers'?

Cheers!

P.S. One of the Daredevil owners (Shane I think?) participates on BA. I was intending to tag him on my above post but at the moment I can't remember his BA name.

Light-bulb - @ShaneP