New Beer Sunday (Week 715)

A bit late to the party, but I woke up in upstate Pa this morning after a short stay in the Poconos. After a decent enough 8 1/2 hr drive time for a beer.

First Cape May beer ever, this one is City to Shore, a Dipa in 16oz cans. In my 3F Teku, it's certinly hazy , pours a nice medium gold I suppose, nice head retention. Nose is all sweet fruit, when you take the first sip it's all sweet fruit , then bam, the thing turns to bitter fruit at the finish. A very skillful use of hops on this beer, the finish is kinda chewy, it just keeps on getting bitter, a super long finish. So a Dipa that's starts great with sweet fruit, then converts to bitter on the finish, fabulous. I can't find any tech info on this, but it's terriffic. If I could get this I would and an always buy. $16/4pk.

 

Happy New American IPA Sunday!

Cloudy, around 43 at the trailhead. Having a pretty tasty brew and some chicken tacos. Watching some Deep Space Nine reruns. These 4K Ultra UHD Smartvs are pretty freakn' awesome!

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/147/348855/?ba=Wasatch#review

Cheers!

 

Double posting from the CBS thread. I technically started this on Saturday but finished it today. First time I’ve ever had CBS. Bought 1 to drink young and 1 to age ~6 months or so.

130pm: at opening poured 8-10oz into a tulip glass, champagne stoppered the bottle. Fridge temp and drank over 2 hours. Pitch black with a deep brown head. Full of dark, bitter chocolate, dark roast coffee, and maple. Lots of maple, not over-poweringly maple-forward, but it’s there, you know it, and it balances the bitter of the chocolate and coffee really well. Bitterness fades as it warms.

12am: poured 8-10oz into a tulip glass, champagne stoppered the bottle. Fridge temp and drank over 2 hours. Bitterness from the chocolate and coffee is still prominent. Maple is there, but less in-your-face.

6pm following day: poured 8oz into a tulip glass. Fridge temp, drank over 1 hour. Bitterness is all but absent, carbonation is much lower. With maple up front, the chocolate and coffee have become side players.

 

Ha! I loved that beer.

 

Last one, this is also from @TongoRad in NBS BIF #8. He sent me a boatload of beer (literally), and this was one of the beers that excited me most - for good reason. This wild ale aged in oak is traveshamockery good, IMHO.



4.46/5 rDev +6.7%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5

Hazy golden color with a sudsy white head that evaporates immediately as per the style, this wild ale is packing a heaping helping of funky Brett aromas on the nose, and these funky notes are accented by the oak notes.

The taste is all about the funky Brett up front, but the oak is an equal partner in this magnificent flavor combination. Just a perfect balance of spritzy and funky and oaky. I wish I had a keg of this.

 

Lakefront brewery proper porter
..cola brown color
.. medium body , light carbonation
..aroma is roasted malt, black coffee,and a bit of dried dark fruit and brown sugar in the background
..taste is very similar,everything in the aroma shows up. Does have a weird slaty,almost seltzer water taste.
..overall its decent but not ready to compete for world class

 

Another Evil Twin Collab. Excellent Black IPA. Very hazy appearance like an NE style(not noticeable in the pic). Great head retention/lacing on the glass. Aromas and flavors of big grapefruit, tangerine, lemon, peach, pineapple, apricot, passion fruit, papaya, mango, melon, berry, citrus peel/rind, wood, peppercorn, and pine hops; with moderate chocolate, cocoa, coffee, toasted dark bread, light smoke/char malts; and herbal, floral, grassy hop earthiness. Moderate pine, citrus peel/rind, herbal, floral, woody, grassy, peppery hop; and roast/char bitterness on the finish. Medium carbonation/body; balanced creamy/bready/grainy malt and sticky/resinous/rindy hops in the mouthfeel; light chjalky char/roast. Moderate increasing resin dryness. Some lightly increasing lingering hop/char astringency, but not overwhelming. Very smooth despite aggressiveness, minimal warming 7%. Feels like a whole ton of Simcoe/Citra. Extremely juicy, dank, and earthy balanced hop complexity; nice black/roast/bready malt backbone, with zero residual sweetness from aggressive resin dryness. Was very impressive for the style. 4


The last and most special treat from @TheDoctor. This was amazing! Lasting thick head retention/soapy lacing the whole glass. Flavors of huge milk/dark chocolate, cocoa, nutty dark roasted coffee, caramel, brown sugar, toffee, vanilla, cream, bourbon, toasted oak, and dark/brown bread; with lighter notes of coconut, marshmallow, molasses, licorice, raisin, plum, fig, date, smoke, charcoal, tobacco, herbal, and peppery hops. Slight booze in the aromas as it warms. Light herbal/roast/char bitterness, and bourbon/oak tannin spiciness on the finish. Medium carbonation and fairly full body; very creamy, silky, velvety, rich mouthfeel; light sticky hops, chalky/char roast, and bourbon/oak tannins. Lightly increasing lingering hop/char bitter, tannic dryness. No acrid/astringency. Dangerously smooth, minimal warming 9.5%, no barrel booze. Perfectly balanced rich malts, fruity/nutty coffee compelxity, and barrel integration. Similarly impressive to the base beer overall. Softer bitterness from the barrel aging. It loses a lot of the huge coffee punch in the nose, but makes up for it on the silky barrel finish. 4.38


Cheers

Most underrated/unknown tech death band ever.

 

Heady is my favorite, it's perhaps today's Pliny. It's just a great beer from start to finish, there's newer, juicer, more hazy, but if you cannot drink a HT and marvel at it greatness then I would feel a bit sorry for the jaded one.

 

[QUOTE="cjgiant, post: 6246697, member: 741623"

The nose didn't jump out at me as I poured the beer like Focal Banger did.
[/QUOTE]

I spent 2011-2015 in Burlington. I had so much Heady while I was there but didn’t get to try Focal Banger until after I’d moved away. I actually think I prefer it to Heady. Better nose for sure.

 

Sample from VT Craft Beer Guild salesman.
Hermit Thrush Alight #3



16oz. can.
Oak Aged Session Sour Ale.
Moderate to vigorous pour yields a 1/2 inch white head over a reddish amber body with no lacing. Head is gone in a couple minutes. Nice nose of oak and grapefruit. Taste of very tart berry or currant and oak. Good feel and overall, at 3.4% abv, a tart beer lover could drink this all day. Cheers!

3.92/5 rDev 0%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4

 

Good evening, NBS.

This is New Beer Sunday, but not New Brewery Sunday. Over the last couple years I’ve had three different APA or IPA from Peekskill and my ratings show all were at least very good, if not excellent. This is the first time I’ve done a full review of a Peekskill beer.

The brewery was established in 2008 and this beer was canned on 10/9/2018 as part of their 10 year anniversary celebration. The bottom of the can notes “Happy Birthday Lisa.”

Peekskill Brewery

The Good, The Bad, The Argyle - 6.5% American IPA that I just added to the database.

Appearance: This beer pours a hazy, golden amber color and has notes of yellow grapefruit juice in the thinner base of the glass. No visible carbonation. There is a bone white head of densely packed bubbles. Before drinking, it settles to a single, rocky crag, jutting from the surface, leaving significant lacing in its path. An attractive beer for what I assume is a NEIPA.





Smell: An inviting nose predominately of white grapefruit, juicy peach, and bread that all come together for a nice sweetness to the nose. There’s a slight minerality/multivitamin aroma. This beer is not bursting from the glass with hops, but it is a very nice nose.

Taste: I get a lot peach from this beer. Not peach ring candy, but fresh, juicy peach. Some lemon and grapefruit citrus. The finish is semi sweet / semi dry with a lighting quick flash of bitterness.

Mouthfeel: Prickly carbonation. Smooth feel and some creaminess.

Overall: This is a nice example of a NEIPA. Does it blow my mind? No. Does it need to? No. It is a well crafted beer. It’s a complete package for the style when there are so many out there that are not. It’s not trying to be a certain type of beer that misses the mark. So, the good? The beer. The bad? Nothing. The Argyle? This can, and most of my sweater vests.

3.85/5 rDev 0%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75

 

Brother Benjamin by Greenbush brewing, a 10.1% ABV IIPA brewed with honey.

This beer is a very dark amber color. Smells and tastes a bit like hopslam, imo. Maybe smoother, easier drinking. Dryish, piney and not too cloying/resinous. A nice dipa from days past, not juicy. Greenbush makes some great old school style, no frills, no nonsense beer.

 

Good evening, NBS. What a lovely autumn day here in the kingdom. The sun was a welcome visitor after some dreary days, and the low 50-ish temperature was perfectly crisp. Love this kind of day - they are a rare treasure.

My wife makes a mean meat loaf and tonight's variation on a theme was no exception. Roasted root vegetables in olive oil with our own rosemary and garlic as an accompaniment. Not a huge fan of rosemary, but it boosts the earthy quality of the veggies. Love the pungently sweet roasted garlic.

The beer has been in the house for a while. Since 2014 according to the bottle date, so low expectations going in to this:



Pours a cloudy cider color with a pure white, dense foam head that lasts a good while. It falls to a spritzy ring and detached chunky rafts. So far, so good. No floaties!

The smell is apple cider sweet/tart, a little green grassy and slightly metallic note that must be the remains of the cilantro. There is a fruity pepper smell and an earthy herbal quality. The apple...Fuji is a favorite of mine and that is what I am getting. Inviting in a cider kind of way?

The taste follows. There is a remnant of cilantro, but the apple flavor rules the roost here. There is a cayenne flavor that starts fruity but builds some heat as more sips slide down. The apple sweetness keeps the pepper nicely tamed. You know it is there, but it's a tingle only.

This is bright, almost sparkling. Light touch for a 9% beer. A mostly dry finish, the pepper and apple sweet linger for a bit.

Dogfish is understandably polarizing. Petsonally, I have yet to try a beer from them that I strongly dislike, even in the ancient ales series. Some of their brews are favorites. This one is enjoyable even with appreciable hair on it, but I would have to try it fresh to see where it really sits. As it is, I can give it just short of the 4.0 mark, probably coming in around 3.8 or so. Interesting, tastes good, easy drinker for a moderately hefty ABV.

 

8-Bit is just a good, standard APA. Not a modern, highly hopped "APA".

I'll miss it on our shelves. Glad you enjoyed.

 

Checking in on mobile with a draft review I did earlier. It's been a helluva a day, and NYC delivered some tasty beer to ease into the night.

Other Half's DDH Broccoli.

Pours an opaque yellow-orange with a finger of white foam. Head retention is okay. Aroma is orange, grapefruit and papaya with hints of biscuit and yeast. Flavor profile is orange, papaya, tangerine, and grapefruit and yeasty, biscuity malts. Mouth feel is medium-thick with a fuzzy, still texture. Overall, a big beer with lots of citrus. Very tasty.

Score: 4 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 4.25 | 4.5 | BA Score: 4.45 | rDev: 1.1%

Cheers.

 

I know, it's just crazy good, right? What a great addition to the neighborhood, and I'm only happy to share the love. You did an old fave of mine earlier, and this is a new one- glad to see you were enjoying them as much as I do- great writeups, too. Cheers!

 

Clown Shoes The Exorcism of Richard Ackerman, Imp Stout aged in Bourbon Barrels with Vanilla. Had lofty expectations for this on, didn't quite measure up, but no slouch either. 3.99 Overall

Pours an effervescent ebony with a thumb of mocha colorewd head. Dissapointing head retention & lacing

S: Vanilla, a little boooze, some roastyness, figs & barrel on fairly warm

T: Roasty, vanilla, some dryness & booze up front, Caramel, a liitle roastyness, Bourbon & figs as this warms, dryness as well, a little vanilla once warm. Finishes a little roasty, some vanilla, some Bourbon, a little jammyness with some barrell dryness & woody hops

MF: Medium body, slight carbonation, warming

A good not great Imp Stout, still well worth a go