New Beer Sunday (Week 708)

Sounds like my experience with Live Oak Pilz. If you can believe it, I thought Live Oak Pilz was good but far from great the first time I tried it. About two years later I bought a six-pack and it tasted like the best pils I ever had. I've no idea if it was me or the beer, but it's remained my favorite pils ever since. Weird, no?

Here's hoping Green State Lager is this good each and every time you buy some.

 

Fran about destroyed our neighborhood, looked like a nuke went off . It only lasted that night then it was gone, that was a serious wind event , but this one is all water inland for the most part. It’s still spitting tornados, it’s not done yet.

 

Hello NBS!
Well in the spirit of trying something new... Thanks to @Vidblain I have a shot at this glorious bottle from the fine folks at New Glarus!

I'm not a huge sour guy. Don't get me wrong. There are plenty of Lambics that I love. I just don't chase that many sours. But I have had some amazing ones, many by way of the generosity of some of you fine folks here on NBS. And many of those in the NBS BIF's.

2018 Wild Sour Ale
Poured into my elegant Yazoo Brewing tulip glass (generously sent from our own @Buck89 )
A dark amber hue pushes a sandy colored foamy cap just shy of 2 fingers in height. Clear, but dark enough to taunt the sunlight weakly piercing through. No lacing.
The smell is wow... There's a lot going on here. Sniff after sniff, combing my past culinary and zymurgical experiences, and challenging my vocabulary. Let's try some words. I wanna use the best words. The greatest words. Ugh, that sounds like a voice on the news. Ok, here we go.
Smells of plum, cherry, muddled raspberry, wet burnished leather, some wet oak barrel notes, all tied together with a soft sourness.
Taste has a sour plum, tart raspberry, oaky flanders tart to sour aspect to it. I'm getting a salted plum nuance that shadows these other more dominant flavors. Wow, it takes one for a ride all over.
Mouthfeel is medium, carbonation drops off to almost zero. Slightly slick.
Overall, I have no recommendations. I wouldn't be so presumptuous. It's an amazing sour that I assume is a sour brown.

Thanks, Chris!

 

Decadent Ales Tropical Smoothie IPA, 7.3% ABV. Solid, 4.01 overall

Pours a hazed gold with 3 fingers of of fluffy pearl colored head. Hazes more as the can is drained, great lacing & head retention

S: Tropical fruits, a little breadyness

T: Mango & orange, a touch of grapefruit as well, dryness up front. Grapefruit & sweet orange as this warms, just a touch of peach too, pineapple as well. Finishes dry with grapefruit, tangerine & mango & just a just a little dryness

MF: Medium body, creamy carbonation, lovely balance

Pretty drinkable, but not next level for this style; flavors don't marry together as well I had hoped Still worth a go

 

Sorry to hear that. One thing I love is big old trees. They're solemn, stoic, and strong. I find peace around grand old trees. Where I live they are the exception and not the rule. I hope that is the worst of your casualties. Wishing you safe passage through the storm.

 

More like GJ.

Cheers!

 

Good evening NBS, hope everyone had a good weekend so far. Thanks @lordofthewiens for the intro this week. Been a really busy day for me. Made a long round trip down to Livonia for an urgent(!) new beer haul, so now the fridge is loaded back up; was looking a bit bare on the new beer side of the fridge. About 2-3 cases of new stuff. Also shaved my head again as it was getting hot up there. Feeling better now.

New beer:

7300 beers, and never had Grolsch before. Well within freshness. This is solid. Nice head retention/spotty lacing on the glass. Aromas and flavors of cracker, white bread dough, lightly toasted biscuit, and herbal/floral/grassy/peppery hops earthiness. A bit too fruity/skunky/yeasty aromas, skunk dissipated through the glass as expected. Light-moderate herbal, floral, grassy, spicy bitterness on the finish. Medium-plus carbonation, medium body, and moderately crisp finishing. Balanced bready/grainy malt and sticky hops in the mouthfeel. Some lingering resins, light-moderate increasing dryness. Some lingering hop astringency, but not overwhelming. Nicely clean lagering, not too fruity/yeasty. Pretty refreshing, 5%. This felt too bitter and aggressively drying for the style(for some reason), but it was fine. Balanced clean pils malts and noble hops. Enjoyable. 3.41


Another new one from the MI All-Lager brewery. This was very good. Nice head retention/spotty lacing on the glass. Aromas and flavors of caramel, brown sugar, brown bread, crust, dough, toasted biscuit, and light nutty malts; with mild herbal/grassy hop earthiness. A bit of fruity/yeasty aromas, but not overwhelming. Mild herbal/grassy bitterness on the finish. Medium carbonation and medium-plus body. Very creamy/bready Munich malts and slight sticky hops in the mouthfeel. Slightly increasing lingering bitter dryness, no cloying. Nicely clean lager flavors, minimal fruity/yeasty notes. Very drinkable, 6%. A bit darker on the malts than expected, but delicious. Very clean and rich dark/munich malt complexity, with mild noble hop balance against sweetness. Well made stuff as expected. 3.78


Cheers

 

Hello NBSers, and thank you to @lordofthewiens for the completely inappropriate (and HILARIOUS!) opener, and I also have a warning: this post will have multiple references to Halle Berry's pet Octopus, otherwise known as NBS BIF #8.

I believe this is my 4th NBS BIF. They're a hootenanny unlike any other I've participated in - the "Hints & Hauls" thread alone is worth the price of admission, especially if you're a fan of GIF's, Meme's, and general frivolity (guilty as charged, your honor).

The BIF's I've participated in are a blast because of all the great beer you receive (I'm STILL working through the boxes sent my way in BIF #007 by my beer nerd friend @Ozzylizard), but just as much because of the beer you get to forward. The generosity in the first 3 BIF's I participated in was staggering, and this BIF is off to a rousing start, with boxes already crushing porches from sea to shining sea (with good vibes sent to our NBS friends in North Carolina and South Carolina).

I've got a lot of my target's boxes already complete with local offerings from Northern Indiana and Southwestern Michigan, but I wanted to add a couple of special offerings. Enter Transient Artisan Ales in Bridgman, MI and Junie Day.

Junie is a new imperial stout brewed with cacao nibs and salted caramel. There's also a variant with coconut. Check and CHECK!!!!! So I convinced Mrs O to accompany me ("We'll be there 5 minutes, then we can go shopping and have lunch!!!!!"), and off we went.

We arrived around 11:15 am this morning for the Noon opening. Shocker: there was a line .....



That's Mrs O in the foreground (Code Name: "The Mule" - I beg you not to share that with her if we ever meet). It was a beautiful day, but it was approximately 116 degrees. After a little over an hour in line we secured allotments of 3 each of the base beer and the variant, and I also purchased some cans to include in my targets boxes .....



Haul in hand, we staggered (no exaggeration) across the street to have lunch.

Hostess: "Indoor or outdoor seating."

Me: <faint>

Mrs O: "Um, indoors, please."

They even let us bring in our haul, so we ate in blessed coolness, then Mrs O went shopping back across the street and bought a Polish coffee mug (you can't make this stuff up) whilst I enjoyed a root beer float.

But first, I had a new beer - what, you think I'd pass up the chance for a new beer???!!!??? Friends, I renounced my amateur status years ago. Interestingly, the restaurant, which is literally 50 feet across the street from Transient, has none of their stuff available. So I found this juicy little local nugget out of Grand Haven MI, and I enjoyed the bat shiznit out of it. I doubt that it's a quencher, but it sure as heck was earlier this afternoon ......





4.19/5 rDev +5.5%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

There’s a bit of haze in this golden yellow beer, but it’s minimal, and it all fits under a soapy white head. Gorgeous. The nose is all dank, juicy hops, with ripe grapefruit most prominent, but there’s also spicy guava notes.

The grapefruit lends a bit of bitterness to the taste, which actually works well - it flows into the relatively crisp finish, and mixes magnificently with the more tropical flavors. This is a really refreshing and well-executed juicy IPA, IMHO.

 

New Beer #2 was actually earlier today when I stopped at Kane Brewing to pick up some beer for the NBS BIF #8. I had a pour of Galaxy Punch, a typically fantastic Kane fruity IPA with tart citrus and sweet guava and oats in equal measure. Here's my full review:

4.29/5 rDev +3.1%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

On draught at the brewery. Served in a tulip glass. It pours a totally opaque tangerine color with brownish hues, and a finger of foamy, milk-white head and creamy lacing, both of which lasted through the pour. The fragrant smell included tangerine, lemon, lime, sweet guava, vanilla, lite pine, and floral hops. When sipped there is an initial blast of tart, bitter tangerine but soon the sweetness of the guava, oats, and vanilla appear. This ale is single hopped with Galaxy and the hops add bitterness but are soft and don't bite hard. There is a great balance of tart, bitter citrus and sweet tropical fruit. It's a little like drinking a tart creamsicle. The feel is soft and creamy with pleasant carbonation, and with a moderate 7% ABV it goes down very easily. Overall, this is a typical superb fruity IPA from Kane with lots of flavor. It's a pleasure to drink.

Have a great week, everyone!

 

As Oly's Mom and Dad will be home soon this might be my last NBS entry for the day. Oceanna from Propolis in Port Townsend WA:

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/31825/265022/

 

Hey what's going on!?

Hope everyone is well. I've been out of the country for the last 2 weeks, you may have noticed from a few random postings, but it was also a bit awkward to do some reviewing amongst all the travelling I was doing. I was in Italy for 2 weeks... had an absolute blast, was very impressed by the country. Very different, real interesting.

I did manage to find some beers as I always make an effort on my travels. It always neat to see how beer is offered in a country other than your own. I also did my homework in finding things, but I also found MANY surprises too.

Well currently I am back, doing well, fighting to stay awake for the next 4 hours, but I think I'll manage. I think some beers will help what do you say?!?! ... uh... sure!

I am right now trying to figure out how to make home made pasta... or at least I am gonna...

Well on that note lets start off easy, what's new for our hero today?!?



Poured from the can into a pokal style glass.

Bright brass beaming color, and a big shiny super crystal clear and mirror like finish for the body. A few nice streams of fine carbonation. Head creation though is a bleach white three fingers, with a bit of snapping noise, and no retention. The head dissolves instanstly, and there isn't even any semblance of a collar. It starts off looking great, and then when finished and settled is not the most appetizing if you catch my drift in the looks department.

Aroma for the style is not that bad, but it is certainly not that great either. Faint traces of malt, maybe a touch of powder like grain quality and fairly clean smelling. Airy. Light definitely.

Palate is just not exactly promising. First sip I am litteraly getting.. Virtually nothing. Faint touches of a bit of sweetness and hints more towards a soda body with a faint touch of gaseous carbonation but not quite. Lingering adjunct tasting sweetness is the only thing I get. Almost flirts with honey but not quite.

Comes too close to tasting like near beer, or some alcohol free lousy one. I've had far more enjoyable beers in this abv range, but this isn't one of them. It does however strangely make a drinkable experience for what it is, putting me in a very neutral frame of mind. In a way, the big can feels like it's cheating me strangely.

Final Rating: 2.62/5
look: 2.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2.5

Cheers!

 

The good news is that we have huge trees everywhere around here. What is bad is that we lost a 200 year old 95 foot high white oak in my neighbor's yard just this week. It had been hit by lightning and was dying quickly. We knew the storm was coming and had it brought down. We are sad about the loss of our trees, but they come back with fervor.

 

I'm pretty much right there with you on this one. They make solid IPAs, but it's not where they excel- but the canning runs are still new and exciting, and you gotta take what they're selling that day . But, man o man, if they ever do that black lager I may just have to head up with a U-Haul .

 

NBS beer #2



L- The beer pours a pale yellow and slightly cloudy. The head is a good 2 fingers of off white foam. The head recedes to a thin film leaving patchy lacing around the glass.
S-The nose is strong with citrus and some dankness that borders on catty.
T- On the palate this one leads with citrus which fades meekly into a lightly bitter aftertaste. Drinkable but much diminished due to age.
F-Mouthfeel is medium to medium high overall. Pretty big for a single ipa.
O- Hard to judge. I clearly didn't look at the date on the can. BB 07/20/18. I've had the can in my possession for a little over a week. I would like to try it fresh as it should be in my wheelhouse.

 

I've camped at a handful of places such as Sam's Throne and Kyle's Landing with lots of focus on the Buffalo River National River area, but my favorite so far is Horseshoe Canyon. I don't even rock climb, but I really enjoyed it there. I'd like to go back, and I likely will.

 

Happy New American Strong Ale Sunday!

Pretty nice day on the Western Slope, did a nice little hike today, temps around 90, sunny, some clouds. Picked up some chicken tacos on the way home. Having a pretty tasty brew, reminds me of Arrogant Bastard, some what. Watching some The Practice reruns.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/25436/123725/?ba=Wasatch#review

Cheers!

 

The NBS thread is a welcome sight after a fairly busy day doing way too much work. Time to wind down with a nice local offering as I catch up on the posts.

Today's new beer is a collab between two Tennessee breweries that specialize in farmhouse and wild ales: Yazoo and Blackberry Farm. The breweries are separated by The Cumberland Plateau (the southern part of the Appalachian Plateau), so the name of the beer fits nicely:

Across the Plateau, Yazoo Brewing Co. and Blackberry Farm Brewery, Nashville, TN


Yazoo describes this as a "complex beer brewed with European malts and hops, and fermented with a classic abbey yeast. It is layered with locally roasted coffee from Three Bears Coffee in Knoxville, which was smoked at Benton’s Country Hams of Madisonville, TN which yields a drinkable, dark, strong ale."
I broke out the proper glassware for this one.


A clear copper-amber color with a thick and long lasting tan head appropriate for the style. The thrust of the aroma was Belgian with floral esters, banana, some stone fruit, and toffee. However, faint smoke and coffee was definitely there, seemingly darting between the traditional notes. Benton's smoke is distinctive around these parts (get their ham or bacon whenever possible), and the initial taste was all Benton's, fading fast into the more traditional Belgian flavors. On the finish, the coffee blended well with the dark stone fruit and toffee. Plenty of interesting fruity and floral elements in the mid-palate. A dry finish and lively carbonation. Overall an interesting and very enjoyable beer, like a three act play. Cheers!

 

Final post for today, at least of those containing a new beer.



Prairie's Consider Yourself Hugged.

Pours black with a finger and a half of caramel-colored foam that is reluctant to form, and then suddenly builds up rapidly. Aroma is peanut butter, toffee, peanut brittle, and roasted, toasted, and caramel malts. Lovely depth to the aroma, creating a dark, expressive aromatic quality. Flavor profile is chocolate, toffee, peanut butter, peanut brittle, and roasted and toasted malts. It opens up with a blend of dark and milk chocolate, and then flows into peanut butter, with the finale being expressive dark malts, peanut butter, and milk chocolate. Very dynamic, while sticking to a dark range. Mouth feel is thick, with a velvety texture, adding to the dark and depth of this beer. Overall, peanut butter notes are huge, which is a part of what the label claims. Peanut butter layers on top of dark, complex malts, and do so beautifully. Very well crafted.

Score: 4.25 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 4 | 4.25 | BA Score: 4.39 | rDev: +0.2%

 

Yeah...that would be a problem. Obviously supposed to read OPENED...what I typed that autocorrect translated I have no idea.