New Beer Sunday (Week 705)

Thanks @cjgiant for the great start to this weeks NBS. Hopefully I can find a new beer at the shop today.

Cheers!

 

I picked this up in Boulder last weekend. Wanted to get over to the brewery, but there were too many time constraints (we were in Boulder for a family wedding).
This is Avery's Anniversary Edition, Twenty Five, a "Belgian style oak aged dark ale with honey, dates, and raisins." The ABV is 14.5%, so it appears I will be sipping this for some time.
In my Duvel snifter the beer is black with a little red hue around the perimeter. There was no head.
Strong alcohol aroma. Vanilla and dark fruit.
More came through in the taste. Alcohol dominates, but there is a pleasant background of dates, raisins, molasses, and vanilla.
A little too hot, but still a great beer.

 

Nigh undrinkable and still a 3.71? Is this like grad school where a B is basically an F?

 

Fair point. I hesitate to give excessively low ratings to a beer that others seem to like. I did score the look and smell highly, which also bumped it up a bit.

 

Starting the day off with an American IPA from Sweden. One of our engineers came over to work out some kinks with a new machine and brought a few beers for me to try. Thankful to have some new beers to send back with him courtesy of @LloydDobler and @jhavs

Lead Singer Syndrome from Mikrofonbryggeriet
Pours a hazy yellow with quite a huge white head that didn't stick around very long.
Smells of zesty citrus with pine notes.
Taste follows, lemon, orange, grapefruit zest dominate with the pine in the background. Some herbal notes as well.
Light to medium bodied, slightly prickly carbonation.
Overall a decent beer. Not the hazy, juicy NE style we seem to enjoy, nor the old school IPA but somewhere in the middle.

 

New beer #2. Had to dump more than half of the Tired Hands. I hate drain pouring beer, but at this point I won’t drink something that doesn’t taste good.

All Nelson Everything - Other Half
IIPA - 8.5% abv
Purchased for $18/4 at Other Half
Canned 8/15/18 (11 days ago)
Score: 3.97 (-2.9% rDev)



Review:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/33510/364034/

Synopsis:
Very unusual taste, but not in a bad way. The Nelson used here presents itself as spicy at first, with a white wine taste taking over, which actually works. Small Nelson Everything is a tastier beer, though.

 

Hey what's going on!

Been a pretty good productive weekend, but the heat looks like it's coming back on us.

Till then I am cooling off with more beers! Also I am trying to get my garden patch protected as the rabbits and deer have certainly made a mess of them.

Life... could be worse..

So what's new our hero today?

Drink A Peach! | Blue Mountain Brewery



Poured from the bottle into a wheat ale glass.

Pale brass body color, with some slight haze, meeting to a fleeting off white snapping head. Settles with a small collar and nice amounts of fine carbonation.

Peach aroma on the front with some mixing touches of different malt qualities. Hits a little grainy almost biscuity and dry smelling, with a touch of chewy wheat faint quality. Peach quality seems a bit canned and sugary though, faint touch of acidity but sweetness is ruling out as the dominant aroma.

Interesting gose. Light and refreshing bodied with a bit of chew, but has more of that simple fruited peach flavor. Good amount of sourness and brine quality far more than expected on the palate than the nose indicates. Lots of crackery and flour like malt flavors, making for an almost saltine like taste and experience.

Very different flavored malt bill going on for a gose here, seems quite different, and a fairly standard peach fruit. Pretty interesting, but also ordinary in the same time. Not bad.

look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75 | BA Generated score: 3.84

Cheers!

 

Since I was in Ohio from last Sunday until Friday I drank a lot of new beers. A few were from well known breweries like Fat Heads but most were from places I did not know existed. Did not have a bad all week. One of the best was Stop Hop Kaboom the house IPA at Butcher and the Brewer a brew pub in Cleveland. There was nothing unusual about it. Just a standard IPA but very well made. A perfect balance of Hops and malt and a joy to drink.

 

Sticking with an IPA theme today . . .




Deep, clear orange gold color with good white cap and lacing.

Aroma of piney, citursy hops with a decided grapefruit zest bent.

Taste is hop forward with a solid malt base. Hops play the major role here with strength and vibrancy yet the malt makes it's presence known. Fairly complex flavors well blended together from start to its clean, refreshing finish.

Medium-full texture with balancing carbonation.

With this one I feel Chandeleur is still feeling it's way as a brewery but is clearly on the right path. It has enough of what it needs to rise above ordinary without going off trail in any direction. A linear IPA, so to speak. Worth picking up a six.

 

Happy Under Water New Beer Sunday (Week 705)!

I want to get in my second entry for today's thread before I head off to the movies. I am going to see "BlacKKKlansman" this afternoon & then I shall return, well before Midnight, but perhaps by the light of the full moon. Sorta like @CanConPhilly , I am likewise hoping to go back to work. I am a retired high school English teacher, but I do day-to-day (generally) substitute teaching & I am anxious to get up off of the couch, out from behind the keyboard & make myself useful.

Next up in the shooting gallery was:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/15280/255119/?ba=woodychandler#review
An exercise in criminal behavior if ever one existed!

But, having learned my lesson, it was all joking aside for:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/15280/328435/?ba=woodychandler#review

& I decided to Double down & get Decadent before my intermission with:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/15280/314292/?ba=woodychandler#review

I'll report back, even if it's after Midnight (Local)! ;=)

 

Blessed to enjoy a quiet Sunday to catch up on sleep, think about house projects for this fall (neverending for a 1930's bungalow), and enjoy a few beers.
I bought an assortment of low ABV beers last week for a party and am finishing off the leftovers today. Starting with Captain Lawrence Effortless Grapefruit IPA.
Review: https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/12959/217911/

This beer doesn't look like much in the glass. Should have just drunk it from the can. The grapefruit aroma is strong and inviting. I think the grapefruit flavoring works well. Not juicy, 45 IBU, a little malt peeking out from behind the hops. Full of flavor for a 4.5% ABV brew. I enjoyed it.

 

Howdy NBSites!
It is shaping up to be a rainy day here in Montreal. Not two months ago I celebrated no longer working Sundays. Since then, I have worked most Sundays. It's actually nice for the most part. I love the type of people that are out and about in Sundays. It really is the chillest day of the week.

On the topic of new beers outside of the big two (imperial stouts/IPAs), I have actually started making it a point to mainly buy beers that are not in those categories when traveling. I love stouts and IPAs but there are so many of them that it is easy for me to (without even realizing) buy mainly those beers. Luckily, Quebec has such a terrible selection of imports that it is always easy to find new foreign beers when traveling. So therefore, my brunch beer today is Monk's Café Flemish Sour Ale.

This one pours a fairly opaque mahogany with a billowing tan head. Absolutely gorgeous. Constant finger of living head and sheets of fine lacing.

There is a sharp oaky, acetic smell immediately upon pouring, sugary bread and spices with a fruity tartness and light funk on too. As for how it tastes: Wowee! This one made me gasp out loud immediately sit back with my eyes closed and take another drink. And another. An amazing set of different levels, layers and flavors and tartness; flower nectar and cherry sweetness that then decrescendos into earthiness and finally a medicinal hoppy smack at the end. It is refreshing and perfectly tart with a medium body and a slow-lingering bitter finish that perfectly stages each subsequent sip.

Like all beers of this caliber I'm struck by how it can so perfectly be complex and simple at once.

I'm super glad I picked this up. I'm not big into sours, and might have passed right over it if not for wanting to try something different than what I had gotten used to bringing back after trips.

I'll put my official review up later on today. It's definitely around 4.5 for me. The only thing that could maybe be interesting would be if it were a bit less sweet. However, at the same time think that is what made me like it more than Duchesse de Bourgogne.

Santé!

 

Brouwerij Kazematten, Extremis, St. Bernardus - Saison Tremist

If I get to my other big bottle later today, I might make today a microcosm 750 saison™ day. We'll see where we go. When I saw a 750 saison from Belgium on the store shelf that I didn't recognize, I had to give it a shot.

This one is a collaboration brew although it's hard to figure out who's doing what here. Who's the "author?"

I was excited to see St. Bernardus listed, although their products never actually clicked with me (I know, I know... major beer faux pas on my part... but I'm honest). This bottle was sitting alongside other St. Bernardus beers on the shelf, and the importer is the same.

Extremis seems to be a furniture company. Is Belgium taking a page from the US craft book here? This is a total guess, but I wouldn't be surprised if Extremis was responsible for the outstanding geometric bottle graphic that features a table and chairs. I'll admit that the graphic was also a selling point for me. It's so fitting for a Belgian beer, and it feels like it comes from a pre-craft era. I love it. Extremis seems to be taking the most credit for this beer. I'm not sure how much credit can go to a furniture company. I could be missing something big here.

The beer was actually brewed by Kazematten (a brewery I am not familiar with). They get the bottom billing on the label and I saw some copy on the web for a similar beer and the description made them sound like more of the contract brewer - the place others could go to to execute their ideas. I really don't know though. Just spitballing.

OK - on to the beer.

Best by date of 6/01/28. I'm guessing they're giving it a 10 year () duration and that this was bottled recently. Ingredients are: water, barley malt, wheat, oats, corn, hops, yeast. ABV is 6.4.

It's a pale amber color. Head is nice. Carbonation is wonderfully soft. The beer is pretty hazy. There's a great, integrated, soft, earthy, spicy quality. Not a bold one, but a present one. There's a logo on the bottle that Belgian hops were used. This beer is very dry. Doughy. There's a little lemon way in the back, but it's never at the front.

I've been really enjoying some Belgian saisons lately and this fits right in. In my opinion, US craft saisons (generally speaking) just don't come close. I can see how a lover of US craft saisons would give this beer an unenthusiastic reaction. There's plenty of personality, but it's of the dull and murky type rather than bright and shiny. Great drinkability and a great first impression. I'm welcoming it with open arms. A winner... and WAY more satisfying than the beers I had here last week.

Cheers.

@utopiajane @TongoRad

 

Are your students jealous of your bad beers?

Followed by a 3.97 drainpour?!?

 

Dammmmit Harpoon. First you fold on your claim to the "New England Style IPA" name... then you go with a 2 cent version of the Hop Showers can to seal the deal? Ugh. So it goes.

 

Well I teach 12 year olds, but sadly I know some of them are already drinking. 40s of malt liquor more than likely. I would try to correct their poor taste in booze, but you know...not my place.

 

'Afternoon, NBS...

Plenty of new beers to choose from today, starting with...

Garvies Point Sea Spray IPA (6.7% abv)...

Brewed with oats, wheat and pilsen malt; double dry hopped, featuring El Dorado, Mosaic, and Motueka hops; no canning date... Medium-pale golden-colored body with a moderate haze under a finger of white foam... Has a rather earthy (or should I say, "nautical?") character, with notes suggesting freshly-hewn grains and grapefruit pith... Floral and herbal elements at play impart a rustic, classic character, fresh and clean - not a sharp or brightly citrusy beer, but rather muted and muddled into a more woodsy and dry presentation... Moderate bitterness, ample carbonation and a medium-light feel lead to a drying, quenching finish to seal the deal...

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

 

NBS entry #1



Raspberry Stout

Hardywood Park Craft Brewery
American Double / Imperial Stout / 9.20% ABV

3.98/5 rDev -0.7% | Score: 4.01
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4

L-The beer pours a dark brown, almost black with a finger and a half of tan foam. The head recedes to a thin film with legs of slippery lacing which slide down the glass to rejoin the head.
S- The nose is tart raspberry up front which rides high on a chocolatey malt base. Not complex, but pleasing.
T- Like the nose the raspberry is first up. Unlike the nose the chocolate malt base plays a much bigger part of taste. The raspberry fades early in the mid palate giving way to dark chocolate finish.
F- The mouthfeel overall is solidly medium. Carbonation is light, but prickly.
O- One of the better done fruit additions to stout that I've had. Worth the money if you want to try a stout that's a bit outside the norm. Recommended.

 

New beer #3. Thanks @thisischuck01 !

Infinite Brains - KCBC feat. Sand City
DDH DIPA - 8.5% abv
Score: 3.81 (-6.6% rDev)



Review:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/46089/362735/?ba=CanConPhilly#review

Synopsis:
Comes off more as a hoppy lager than a ddh ipa. The hop profile is interesting, with some funk mixed in with the citrus hops. But the body is lacking, and the carbonation is aggressive...so not really sure what they were going for with this.