New Beer Sunday (Week 711)

Bright morning, bright brew . . .



Light yellow color with small white cap and lacing.

Aroma of mild grain spiced with clove and flavored with banana/vanilla.

Taste exactly as it smells with a round evenness that speaks of a well brewed product. In order of prominence I get clove, banana and then vanilla. Not too strong, any of them, yet definitely center stage with grain and hops playing backup. There is this ever so slight citric tartness that's just enough to balance things out.

Medium texture with balancing carbonation.

I've had a lot of hefeweizens over the years, usually from Europe, and this home grown product shows right well in that company.

 

Cinnamon + Brown Sugar Imperial Stout...

Local to Locals release number 6, this one brewed by Greenport Harbor Brewing Company in Peconic, NY, way out on the north fork of Suffolk County, Long Island... 9/28/18 canning says, "Lend me some sugar," on the bottom of the can...

Thick, oil black pour into a nonic pint birthed a fat dark brown head a few fingers high... Aromas of dark roasted malts and cold black espresso on the nose are followed by a richly roasty mildly bittersweet semi-sweet chocolate stout... The sweetness is held in tight check, and oaky, dry cocoa char takes the fore... Suggestions of cinnamon are subdued - this is no "Mexican stout" - and the brown sugar sweetness is mild as well, making for what is, in my opinion, a superior stout profile... The body is full and smooth, but not too heavy, with a hint of stickiness and a nice, slightly sweet but drying roastiness across the tongue on the finish... An excellent stout, not too sweet, roasty, and dries out nicely on the close...

That's all I got today, NBS - here's to new beer in your glass, cheers...

 

Happy Sunday, NBS crew! @cjgiant I love the idea of a synchronized tasting. I was just thinking we could even do this for a regional release. Say if Tired Hands released something interesting, Larry, Arthur and I could send out 3 beers each, with a date attached to consume. That would mean 12 of us would have the beer to compare on the chosen date. I guess something actually distro’ed would be easier though. Maybe this year’s new BCBS variants? The next Founders barrel-aged beer? Lots of possibilities.

Anyway, I’ll be drinking through quite a few new beers today that were sent to me as a part of NBS BIF #8. @FlintB was my sender, and, uh, I got destroyed.



Will be drinking several of those beers Brian sent me today, but starting with a beer I was sent by @Bum4ever , who hit me with a simultaneous attack on the same day as Brian’s 100 lb payload. I’ve been looking at this label staring back at me in the fridge, so couldn’t wait any longer.

Scrog Grog - Revision
NE IPA - 6.5% abv
Canned 9/25/18 (12 days ago)
Score: 4.2 (+2.4% rDev)



Review:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/48813/362748/?ba=CanConPhilly#review

Synopsis:
The body is a bit thin, but this thing delivers in every other category. A little sweeter than most, but there’s enough bitterness here to balance that out. I’m also really digging the slightly musty finish. I’ve yet to have a Revision brew that is anything less than great, and this one continues the trend. Thank you Josh!

 

Boundary Bay Bootlegger Stout

Happy Sunday, BAs. I’m especially excited to participate in the thread today.

My first new beer comes courtesy of @beertunes, organizer extraordinaire of the NBS BIF.

Bootlegger Stout pours a rich, dark brown with a fat, soupy finger of mocha-colored head. When it dissipates, it leaves a nice wisp across the top, but minimal lacing.

Roasted malts, milk chocolate, red wine, light vanilla and berry notes all show in the nose.

Much stronger berry and cherry cola show in the taste. I had assumed this was bourbon barrel aged before cracking it, but am now guessing rum — it’s stronger and less oaky than most wine barrel beers.

The roasted malts and chocolate from the nose continue. There is some molasses cookie mid-palate, and also a hint of bourbon-like vanilla and caramel far behind, as well as a light kiss of alcohol. The finish is semi-dry, sort of like what I imagine an Irish stout that had been barrel-aged would taste like.

It’s not the thickest beer on earth, but still full bodied, and there’s definitely some oatmeal stout smoothness with light carbonation cutting through.

The roasted malts in this one are just shy of leaving a nutty impression, and for such a large, complex beer, it comes across quite dry to me. It’s a fun sipper that’s an absolute pleasure to try.

Thanks, Terry, and congrats to you and any colleagues who crafted this one.

I expect to be back with at least one more from Terry’s boxes later today. Will be enjoying everyone’s posts in the meantime.

 

NBS beer #1



Smoked Sea Salt Caramel Coconut Porter

Bent Hill Brewery
Smoke Porter / 8.40% ABV

4.1/5 rDev -0.7% | Score: 4.13
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

L-The beer pours a silky black with a one and a half finger tan head. The head recedes to a thick ring leaving minimal lacing behind.
S-The nose is mostly chocolate and caramel. I'm not able to pick out the coconut as others have. No smoke here either although I'm expecting that more in the taste.
T-Like the nose, up front is dark chocolate which is sweetened slightly by the caramel. At the back end of the palate is where I'm getting a touch of smoke from the sea salt, but it is subtle. I'm not getting much coconut here either.
F- Mouthfeel overall is medium. It's not the thickest porter I've had but it's within style guidelines. Carbonation is light.
O-A good dessert type porter. I'm not sure this really qualifies as a smoke porter as any smoke presence comes from the sea salt and not from smoked malts. I'm taking some points for the lack of noticeable coconut. Still if you overlook that lack of coconut presence, what you have is a pretty enjoyable after dinner beverage. Worth a shot if your looking for a beer to enjoy around the campfire on a chilly night.

 

Oktoberfest brewed at Czig Meister Brewing in Hackettstown NJ. Czig is a fairly new brewery a little more than 2 years old and have brewed some very good beers in that time. Their Oktoberfest pours a orange/amber color that is paler then most American Octoberfests. It hasa creamy white head that last a while and leaves a nice lace The aroma is bready. The taste is bready malts and some nuts. There is not a lot of hop. The finish is long lasting and a bit sweet. Mouthfeel is medium. Overall a pretty good brew. It's also easy drinking . Had to buy a 6 pack which is ok this is a good beer for watching baseball or football.

 

At Westover Bier Garten



Susquehanna Wam Bam Thank You Ma’am TIPA

A-Pours a very dark amber color with a slight head and lacing
A-Aroma has malt hints
T-The taste follows the nose with a malty flavor
M-A medium bodied moderately carbonated beer
O-A nice TIPA

 

Edmund’s Oast Brewing Company

Lord Proprietor’s Mild

English Style Mild Ale brewed with Charleston Black Tea



4.13/5 rDev +2.2%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4.25

Appearance: This beer pours dark brown with hints of ruby red when held in the light. It is translucent. A beige head that dissipates to a thin layer across the top of the glass. It is too dark to see any carbonation, but the level of head upon pouring has me a bit concerned about the carbonation.

Smell: Excellent dark malt forward nose with toffee, cold brewed coffee, faint milk chocolate. Notes of faint black tea and hazelnut. An inviting aroma that enhances as the beer warms up.

Taste: Very light in flavor, but a well constructed beer. Upfront some earthy black tea notes, with some sweeter caramel notes. Nice transition on the back end to a dry, hazelnut flavor that you would expect brown and English brown ale. I’ve had some cold brewed coffees that are nutty and lack bitterness. This reminds of those.

Mouthfeel: I though lt upon pouring, that this beer would be overcarbonated. I was wrong. Medium carbonation and smooth. A relatively thin beer.

Overall: I absolutely love this beer. The aroma is fantastic and flavor is delicate but defined for something so light. A great alternative to the prevalent hoppy session beers. I wish there were more around, but I have a feeling there won’t be. emphatically recommend you try this beer if the style fits your tastes and preferences.

As a side note about the brewery, I’ve had three beers from this brewery. In addition to this one, an IPA and a grisette. The IPA was good, but my least favorite. They do delicate, low ABV styles very well, and for that reason I’ll continue buying such beers as they pop up.

Ok, off to play hide and seek with the girl.

Cheers!

 

A-Pours a very dark opaque color with a slight head and lacing
A-Aroma has chocolate and licorice hints
T-The taste follows the nose with chocolate and licorice flavors
M-A medium bodied moderately carbonated beer
O-A nice Belgian Dark Ale

 

Good morning NBS!!!!! Very excited to try some new beers from the NBS BIF, starting with the first mystery beer from @JBowenGeorgia! Right away I noticed the coffee but really surprised by the incredibly light and clear color.

16 oz can poured into a tulip

A- A clear golden color with a three finger white head. 4.25

S- Roasted coffee, citrus, some pale malts, a little earthy. 4

T- Roasted coffee, some sweet malts, citrus, a little earthy. 4.25

M- Smooth, medium body. 4

O- The coffee is a really touch to the beer and works really, nicely balanced and easy to drink. 4.25

At first I was stumped about what this was, but I firgured it was from GA and mayde Comfort Creatures so I went to their website and found they have a coffee pilsner, Cellarman’s Pils, so that is my guess. (Time stamped scene shots to show what beer I called before the reveal)



Time to see what it actually is.



And I got it right, this a really fun take on a Pilsner. I feel like Creature Comforts took a big risk with this beer and it paid off, beers like this are why I love the craft beer industry. Thank you @JBowenGeorgia, cheers NBS!!!!

 

Oooooh, I like the idea of a “group” review of a wide-release beer. I have 3 candidates:

1. Sierra Nevada Celebration

2. Goose Island BCBS

3. Bell’s Hopslam

I’d guess everyone that participates in this thread regularly has tried and reviewed all 3 of these iconic beers, but there are subtle variations each year (at least, there are to me), and I think all of these are pretty easy to acquire, especially #1 and #3.

 

And a point for the Monty Python reference!

 

I like the group review idea provided it's a beer I can get singly or in a six pack because I don't want to buy a seasonal 12 pack just to get one for review and then be stuck with the other 9.

 

"Ay, there lies the rub." I appreciate what you are saying and the idea behind it, but then it would not be New Beer Sunday and we'd not have the chance to hear from others about new beers we might want to look for and try for ourselves.

 

Here are some beautiful Lion's Mane up about 9 feet on an old silver maple. My son is going to get some of these later.

 

I'm thinking it's easier for me to be awake at 10 pm Mountain Time, rather than 5:30 am. So, unless there are objections, the even-numbered New Beer Sunday threads will start at midnight Eastern Time. Be ready to roll, @woodychandler !
My new beer for today is Night Owl, a pumpkin ale from Elysian Brewing Company.
It pours a pretty amber color with a tan head that persisted.
A spicy aroma, very little, if any, pumpkin.
Cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove taste. Again, minimal pumpkin.
A medium-bodied beer.
To me it exemplifies the conundrum of pumpkin ales. The more pumpkin-forward, the more the taste suffers. The more spice, while more flavorful, the more it detracts from the pumpkin. I'm sill looking for that balance of pumpkin and spice.

 

Andrew , after reading this post I can honestly tell you that you are in for a treat with the mystery beer!.....

 

Mystery stoup growler courtesy of @kemoarps


Despite what appeared to be overkill in packaging, the growler had leaked around a third of its contents. Regardless, it poured well and I had more than enough to form a decent opinion.

Pours lightly hazy golden. Scant coating of fine head. Smells of biscuits and grass, sugary, slight metallic note. Taste is sweet, light floral notes, orangey, bread finish with slight hop bitterness. Body is fuller than expected in a satisfying way. Overall I enjoyed this beer, it was lighter, not something I would typically seek out, though I appreciate the experience of having my palate expanded. I'm having trouble making a good guess at this, though I would lean towards pilsner.

 

New beer #2. Thanks @Dragginballs76 ! I don’t like this one quite as much as that Citraquench’l, but it’s still very good. Citraquench’l was on a whole other level.

Phoenix Trail - Heist
Hazy IPA - 6.7% abv
Canned 9/13/18 (24 days ago)
Score: 4.02 (-3.8% rDev)



Review:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/29922/371207/?ba=CanConPhilly#review

Synopsis:
A pineapple bomb if there ever was one. A bit too sweet, but the body on this one is near perfect. I’d love to see a version 2 of this with lower sugar content, as it’s bordering on great. Thanks for the chance to try Mike!

 

Now if Sierra Nevada surprised us all with a Double Celebration this year, that would check all the boxes.