New Beer Sunday (Week 716)

Here's the blind review, will be back with the reveal:


Thanks to nc41 for this one from his box from NBS BIF #8. It’s my Mystery Beer, and my only clue is that it seems to be that it has a Wise Man brewery cap. 16oz bottle poured into 14oz teku. Poured a very lightly hazy golden yellow color, with over 2 inches of off-white head that long-lasting retention and light lacing. 3.75


On the nose there was some yeasty spice, a touch of fruit (Apples? Pear?), and a light grain base. 3.5


Pretty similar on the tongue, with a nice tartness on the back end. 3.5


The body was light, lightly sweet, and yet had a dry finish. 3.5


Drinkability was good, once that lively head settled down, the beer was interesting and tangy throughout the glass. Overall, an interesting beer, somewhere in the Saison family I think. Whatever it is, it’ll be worth your time when you see it. 3.75

 

And, Born to Funk Brett IPA by Wise Man was my Mystery Brew. I didn't get a lot of Brett, but maybe should have guessed by the active head. A very nice brew, thanks @nc41 !

 

NBS Beer #3



Yuengling Dark Brewed Porter

Yuengling Brewery
American Porter / 4.70% ABV

3.64/5 rDev +7.7% | Score: 3.38
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.75

L-The beer pours a glossy dark brown, almost black. The head is a modest one finger of tan foam which recedes to a thin film. Lacing is sporadic.
S-Nose is chocolate and a hint of coffee. Minimal in the roast aspect.
T-Flavor is light coffee heavily flavored with cream. Slightly sweet after taste which finishes with a chocolatey linger.
F-Mouthfeel is on the lighter side for the style. Carbonation is on the lighter side of medium.
O-The beer does what you would expect for a mass produced product. It is inoffensive and will appeal to large group of drinkers with its slight sweetness. I'd have no problem drinking it again if the mood strikes me.

 

Here goes my second week of this...

What a week! My wife, myself and one of our 23 month old twins have been sharing a cold with one another since Wednesday. It is my son’s first experience with a nasty head cold and he does not like it one bit! By some miracle his twin sister hasn’t caught it. I think I remember what sleep was like... I think!

I loved the funny pages as a kid. Where I grew up the local paper actually printed them as a stand-alone comic book insert on Saturdays. I collected them for years. In my teens I really got into Bloom County and had all the collected editions. I still have the Billy and the Boingers fexidisc from one of them in my record collection. Ill have to dig it out and play it sometime soon.

Today’s beer is being shared with my wife as both toddlers seem to actually be sleeping through their nap today. So, half a 500ml bottle direct from the brewery, purchased last Sunday.

Bellwood’s Runes DDH IPA with Mosaic and Summit.



The Runes series with rotating hop combinations is my least favourite of Bellwood’s IPA series. This one was decent, if forgettable. For Bellwood’s, that means it is still a very good beer.

Look: hazy gold with a moderate head that dissipated rather quickly. Little to no lacing. Served a little colder than normal for me as I may only have a very short window in which to get this down before the twin terrors beckon!

Aroma: General tropical fruit aromas. I think I can pick out a bit of over ripe mango, pineapple. Slightly herbal.

Taste: similar to nose but with added grapefruit notes and grapefruit pith. Slightly sweet. Generally tropical though.

Feel: a little thin compared to what I am used to in the series.

Overall: nothing wrong here. I think the Hop combination just isn’t one that excites me. That said, even a mediocre Bellwood’s IPA is a very good beer. 3.74.

 

Dirt Nap from The Veil

4.28/5 rDev -2.1%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

Looks for the NEIPA has really become a category with little variations. Yes, murky and somewhere in the yellow/orange side of the world, so ya, it looks "correct" to style. Smells very bright with tangerine, garlic and scallion. Taste pops dank with that same garlic but tails off slightly sweet with a little chalky earthiness and bits of OJ upon exit. Pretty clean aftertaste, little gritty and a little heat but overall a nice finish.

 

Good afternoon NBS'ers! Once a year the public works department comes around and hoovers up all the leaves from our city streets such that all we otherwise long-suffering taxpayers have to do is rake our leaves out to the edge of the road. So, I've spent most of today doing yard work and now I'm stiff and tired and ready to drink some beer.

Today's new beer is Candy Bar Hornswoggler from The Veil. It is a Halloween-themed milk stout brewed with Snickers, Reeses and Butterfingers...



I honestly don't know whether, on strictly technical merits, this is an excellent milk stout or a terrible milk stout. I DO know that 16 ounces is way too much for any one human to drink by himself but my wife took one sip refusing further refreshment, sloped off to an organ concert. Leaving me alone to, heroically, I step up and, courting diabetic shock, do what needed to be done. My review is as follows:

From a 16oz can, dated 10/30/18. Took out of the fridge, let sit on the counter for about twenty minutes and served in a tulip.

Pours like motor oil, a thick-appearing, totally lifeless glass of molasses-like liquid. No head at all, just a sort of oily sheen. (3.25)

Mostly smells like a Snickers bar. Predominantly sweet milk chocolate with peanuts, marshmallow, graham cracker and brown sugar. (4.50)

Tastes pretty much like all of your Halloween candy opened as fast as you can and stuffed in your mouth one after another. Finishes with graham cracker and molasses. (4.50)

Feel is thick, slick, smooth and creamy. Hefty bodied with barely any carbonation. (3.75)

Sweet merciful Dionysus, that was one sweet, thick, sybaritic experience! Simultaneously horrifying and wonderful, I was appalled by what must be happening with my blood sugar levels while becoming so aroused that I had to go change my underwear. (3.75)

 

Boulevard's recent Great Eight release isn't new, but this year they throw some novelty into it, with 4 new beers total. Two of which were included in a nationwide release and two of which were only available via one distributor in Kansas City. I'm dipping into the local brews now. As for new beer, this includes two totally new beers in terms of ratings/reviews.



Boulevard's Cognac Cask-Aged Dark Saison Ale.

Pours a translucent copper-brown with a finger of khaki head. Head retention is okay. Aroma is spices, yeast, clove, and toasty, earthy, caramel malts with - again - a heavy apple cider note, that is to say, heavy spices, apples, and sweetness. It has a nice, round sweetness. It's flavor profile is lively, lovely yeast with spices, clove, nutmeg, and toasty, earthy, nutty, pale malts giving it life. Sweetness comes a strong factor in the later half of the glass, as it warms. It tastes big, although the heat just seeps through the edges. Mouth feel is effervescent which breaks up the velvety texture. It has a medium middle of the road consistency. Overall, a pretty good high octane beer, and while sweetness is high, it's no pastry stout.

Score: 4 | 4.25 | 4.25 | 4 | 4.25 | BA Score : 4.21 | rDev: N/A (first review/rating)

Boulevard's Tequila Cask-Aged Imperial Stout.

Pours black with a finger of caramel-colored foam. Head retention is good. Aroma is roasty, toasty, nutty malts with hearty tequila, booze, and caramel. Burnt sugar and caramel add to the sweetness a touch. Despite the smooth malts centered on dark qualities, it tilts the theme to even more hearty and dark thanks to the tequila. Flavor profile is roasty, toasty, earthy, nutty malts with a tequila burn that comes on hard after the malts heat up and fade. Chocolate and cocoa add a little flavor that contradicts with the barrel usage at the finale. It comes off as fairly sweet until the final tequila slow-burn sets into play. Mouth feel is medium-thick with a fuzzy, middle-of-the-road texture. Sort of a heavy linen vs. a nappy, picnic blanket texture. Overall, hearty and filling, but some of the notes seem to pull against each other creating more than a little difference of opinion.

Score: 4.25 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 4 | 4.25 | BA Score : 4.39 | rDev: N/A (first review/rating)

Sporting KC is up 2-0 at this point. Great teamwork, but it's early. Chiefs have clinched their game, but not covered their franchise record of a 16.5 Las Vegas spread (previous is 16 points). It's been a long while since I've been amped about both these teams.

 

I’d just like to add that regarding the “rules” for NBS: For me, the most important one by far is civility.

 

The NBS guidelines have softened a bit over the years. You are correct that we used to be much stricter about not posting beers that are new, on Sunday. @malty and @mattcrill are still our guiding spirits, but things have evolved. I'm going to Like your post, even though I disagree with you, just to help out the imbalance of Likes in the world.

 

Back from Maine with quite a haul of new beers. Up first, Engine No.2 from Boothbay Craft Brewery.
Poured from a 16oz can dated 7/18/18 to a Pilsner glass.
Some foam burst from the settled can when I opened it. Lots of foam in the careful pour. After things settled down I was able to get a full glass. Foam changes to great looking pillows and pillow lacing. Light yellow body that is pretty hazy.
Aroma is grass, hay, black pepper.
Taste is pretty good, kind of hoppy for a traditional German Pils, but I'm not complaining.
Mouthfeel is a little oily for pils also, but still not compliaining.
I like this beer. If it was in distro for me I would buy it again. Even with the haze.


4.11/5 rDev 0%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4

 

Sour Sunday continues for me with my NBS x2. Call @joe1510 what you will, hell I do, but his generosity and... um... I don't know where I was going with this.

New Glarus
Thumbprint- 2018 Wild Sour Ale





A copper, no rusty colored burnt orange beverage here. Brown and red highlights show when sunstruck. Opaque, and overall reminds me of Munich malt syrup straight from the bottle. A two fingered off white foam lazily descends leaving good spotted lacing behind, and a smooth creamy ring around the perimeter of the glass.

Though it makes no mention of it, I am immediately accepting this as a Flanders Red. The acidity is piercing, and the dark cherry and plum fruity elements undeniable. Each sniff triggering the glands in the back of my mouth to salivate uncontrollably.

Exquisite. The plum comes in first followed by dark cherries. A puckering sourness comes quickly behind, but a faint chocolate then clean wood barrel flavor offsets it. A lingering tart candied apples makes pauses between sips remarkably enjoyable.

The feel is just perfect for this. Luxuriously soft with a tingle of tartness and carbonation act as the perfect vessel to deliver such poise and balance to the its sweet roots.

New Glarus Thumbprint beers continue to blow me away. This one is rediculously good yet again. No need to age. Drink this now!

After my official review, I gave 2018 Wild Sour Ale a rating of 4.5 with an rDev of +3.2%. Cheers!

 

Bell’s Aribabacadabrawaba

My theme today is spiced stouts. Yeah, I consider coffee beers as spiced beers. This one is a nice example of such. It smells and tastes strongly of chocolate covered espresso beans. There is nothing here that makes one think of a cup of coffee specifically (as opposed to those beans I mentioned). Body is light. Goes down easy.

 

New beer #5. Thanks @JBowenGeorgia ! Might be my new favorite CC.

King Peach - Creature Comforts
APA - 5.5% abv
Score: 4.23 (+2.4% rDev)



Review:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/34456/377592/?ba=CanConPhilly#review

Synopsis:
Perhaps the best body I’ve ever encountered on an APA, presumably due to the peach puree. Smells like an end-of-season peach farm, and the taste follows suit, with more overripe tartness and very little sweetness. Looks wonderful too. I would take this over Hop Hands any day of the week. Thanks again John!

 

Second new beer for today this provided by @Victory_Sabre1973 ninja box BIF #8.
Beaver Island Tip Up Winter Ale.
This ale uses smoked beechwood malts and local hops and spruce tips.
Pours a cola like color with a reddish tinge. The beer is nicely clear. The head is biege and is creamy leaving decent streaks of lacing after settling.
Aroma is smokey, roasted coffee bean pine and grapefruit with a nice underlying malt character.
Taste is chocolate malts, smoked malts, coffee, char and cherry smoke. The wonderful spruce tips finishes it with a nice piney bitterness and there is quite a nice hop presence. Well balanced for a beer with quite a bit going on. This beer is a pleasure to drink.
Feel is medium which almost tricks you because it looks and smells as it would be heavier. The carbonation is perfect and the hops coat the tongue keeping the smoked malts from taking over. Chocolate malt starts, nuanced smoked kicks in the middle, spruce tips then chime in and hops finish the experience.
This is one fantastic Winter Ale. Very unique but they managed to combine these ingredients and make this sing. The smoke element is perfect as to not overpower the additional aspects of this beer. A very well crafted brew that takes a risk and meets the challenge. One of the most enjoyable Winter beers Ive had. Thank You James!!!

 

Any xtra poisonous shrooms I’d gladly trade for. My mom in law is a fucking hag of the first degree.

 

Lawson’s Sugarhouse IPA

Today’s next new beer comes courtesy of @jhavs. I couldn’t wait for a Sunday to try the Sunshine trifecta he sent me, and already drank the Chinooker’d, too.

Sugarhouse pours a hazed copper color with three fingers of lasting, rocky off-white head that leave beautiful, thick rings of lacing.

Pine, weed, candied orange, honey and white pepper stand out in the aroma.

There’s less punch to the taste than the nose suggested. There’s some dull, earthy, tea-Iike flavors, with orange-and-honey sweetness and piney bitterness behind.

It has a medium-bodied and lightly-tacky feel with moderate carbonation.

This is a very drinkable, well-balanced IPA, but the nose had me hoping for a West Coast-influenced bitter bomb. Instead, it’s English IPA roots are showing. Would love to session two or three of these in Vermont on a brisk fall evening.

Thanks, Jon.

 

Next up, is a brew I got from a ninja box during the recent Rookies 32 BIF, from @Mikexw (I think. I forgot to mark the bottle.), Troegs Impending Descent, a very nice Imp Stout: https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/694/146366/

 

Carakale - Black Camel Spider

Round two for the spiced stouts. This beer stood out to me in the store due to it being from Jordan. I don’t try to drink beers from as many different countries as possible, but maybe I should change that. This beer is brewed with Jordanian dates and Bedouin coffee roasted with cardamon. This bottle is a year old.

Oh boy, I’m not digging this in the slightest. There is a strong berry tartness to it that’s combined with an even stronger bitterness. I can enjoy such a combo, but in this case each element is simply unpleasant and forceful. Add some spice on top of that and I just can’t find anything to like.