New Beer Sunday (Week 720)

What do you think of Yards Poor Richard's Tavern Spruce Ale?

Cheers!

 

Kianos Cut from Confluence Brewing Company, Des Moines, Ia.
I'm a big fan of Rye IPA's, make it a double and age it in a rye whiskey barrel, count me as all in. Some citrus on the nose and just a hint of booze. Taste has some spice to go along with the citrus, again just a hint of whiskey.
Poured a hazy yellow, a bit of white foam on top. This went down quite easily despite its 9.2%. I didn't see this brew in the database, so feel free to add it..

 

Not sure if it's really a new beer or just relabeled.

 

Although we do see Yards around here and I recognize the beer's label, I do not recall having it and have not rated/reviewed it. I will make a note to be on the lookout for it in order to eventually be able to answer your question.

 

I had that yesterday! The grapefruit was ..... VERY forward. I think if BD had backed off the grapefruit just a smidge, the beer would've been significantly better. I had trouble discerning where the grapefruit ended and the hops began.

 

Collective Arts Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Stout...

Clear dark brown center pour into a stout tulip produced a black-bodied beer with a few fingers of creamy-looking dark tan foam... Produces a great bourbon barrel nose - lots of sweet vanilla bourbon and oak over deeper layers of dark chocolaty notes...

Flavors follow suit, with sweet molasses chocolate and coffee absolutely drenched with bourbon barrel magic - boozy wood, sweet bourbon, and vanilla all penetrate the body deeply... Medium-weight but full-bodied, it wraps itself around the palate, from the vaporous airs of booze to the stick of molasses to the tongue...

The very best bourbon barrel imperial porter I've had...


Cardboard gift tube comes with a print of the label art suitable for framing...

Very classy presentation only adds to the impression this beer made on me...

10/24/18 bottling...

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

 

Sixpoint's Barrel-aged 4-Beans ebony can pour shows minimal, visible effervescence. The porter provides aromas of whiskey and cocoa. The flavor is rich with toffee, toasted malt, a touch of char (without bitterness), and espresso. The finish is whiskey dominated but without alcohol heat. This is richly flavored with a relatively light, slick body. It is much better as it warms.
Cheers to all!

 

New beer at brewery, released yesterday on tap and in cans.
Scrag Mountain Pils at Lawson’s Finest Liquids.
“Inspired by the traditional Czech Pilsner style. A tribute to our Scrag Mountain water source”.

On tap, 16oz pour in fluted snifter at the brewery.

Crystal clear and golden, thick and frothy head slowly bubbles itself out and forms a tiny collar of foam, mini bubble islands and thin line of lacing bubbles.


Light aroma overall, bit of biscuity malt, light grain.

Taste is crisp, clean and flavorful. Some spicy notes, light biscuit and grain, hint of sweetness and a touch of bitterness in the finish.

Moderate carbonation and a light body.

Overall a tasty and impressive brew. I’m not an expert, but seems to meet all the style characteristics. A welcome brew to the VT beer scene. I’d be more than happy to have a pour of this after a long day of skiing or during a hot summer day of yard work.

 

Spent a little time developing some more of my photography projects, and have done my grocery store walk. I've got a few beers I'm rather eager to visit today including another new-to-me style tick, but for review #1500, I wanted to focus on something Missouri made and coffee. If you follow my posts at all, you'll know I've got a weak spot for coffee beers, and I finally got this. So, let's get into it.



Perennial's Coffee Abraxas '18.

Pours black and after a very moderate intensity pour, nets near zero head. What head is there comes via a ring of khaki foam that lingers a long while. Aroma is huge, hitting all the notes of the base beer - cinnamon, cardamon, nutmeg, chilies and other spices. Dark chocolate and cocoa powder add a little dry sweetness. Medium-bodied, dark coffee is interwoven throughout the structure of the nose, never taking the limelight, instead subtly reminding the palate it's there. Roasty, toasty malts add firm and dark support, but are an afterthought to the additive flavors. Flavor profile is deep notes of mingling cardamon, nutmeg, ancho (mild) chilies and cinnamon with medium-bodied, dark coffee, and roasty malts up front. Medium-bodied coffee hits center stage for a brief glimpse between spices and malts, and then returns to lingering and observing from aside the curtain. While spices eagerly welcome each sip like a used car salesman do for a visitor to the lot, they quickly fade to show the frame work of this beer - roasty, toasty, nutty malts - in other words, robust and dark. Between the dynamics of spices, coffee, and malts, there are flashes of chocolate, cocoa powder, and molasses. Very dynamic despite a slightly heavy hand on the spices. Perhaps more so than any other beer I've had, serving temperature is critical here. Too cold and the spices come off heavy, but as the beer warms a touch, the spices meld into the dark malt backdrop, forming a sublime experience. As this beer nears the 50F mark, it develops a sublime balance. Mouth feel is medium-thick, with a smooth, creamy texture that develops a fairly still texture when served directly out of the fridge. As the beer warms, it develops a more grainy, velvety texture, enhancing the experience. Overall, the headline here is "ABRAXAS", with the subtitle being "enters a non-mutually exclusive relationship with coffee". Coffee is present, particularly as the beer warms, but never steps into the limelight for more than a brief second or two. Due to the namesake of this beer "Coffee Abraxas", this is a slight disappointment, although it is still a dynamic, complex stout worthy of cozying up to on the coldest of nights.

Score: 4.25 | 4.5 | 4.25 | 4.5 | 4.25 | BA Score: 4.34 | rDev: -2.9%

Personal notes: I've been editing and reviewing this throughout my first of two pours from this bottle. I'll let my thoughts lay for now. I'll amend in my beer profile review should it change, although at this point, I think it's fairly stagnant. Very glad to have visited this one, and thanks for following along.

Cheers!

 

A-Pours a very dark color with a slight tan head and lacing
A-Aroma has abundant bourbon and vanilla hints
T-The taste follows the nose with a resounding silky bourbon flavor and generous notes of vanilla flavor
M-A medium bodied well carbonated beer
O-A very nice bourbon stout with a nice strong kick

 

Yeah, it is a Quad. I picked it up at Costco, they see to have a lot of Xmas beers, pretty good value (under $10)

 

New beer #3.

Flannel Weather - New Trail
NE IPA - 8% abv
Canned 11/9/18 (30 days ago)
Purchased for $5.69 at Monde Market
Score: 3.88 (-7.8% rDev)



Review:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/52454/385184/?ba=CanConPhilly#review

Synopsis:
Sweet and buttery. Not a bad NE IPA, but not one I would recommend, especially given the price. It looks great, but it’s all downhill from there.

 

Yes, from the can .....



Yes, they have a NEIPA .....

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/16315/288089/

I liked it a lot, but I like this better .....



A nitro Mexican hot chocolate imperial stout? Sign me up!!!

 

NBS beer #1

I had an opportunity to follow my alma mater's men's basketball team on a road trip to the DC area. So naturally I stopped in to some local establishments. On my way to a game in Fairfax VA I made a small detour to this well thought of brewery in Herndon.



Orange Starfish

Aslin Beer Company
New England IPA / 5.70% ABV

4.17/5 rDev -6.3% | Score: 4.45
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

L- The beer pours and opaque well....orange. The head is 2 fingers of slightly off white foam. As the head recedes the lace clings to the sides in great quantity.
S- The nose is a mix of orange and tangerine which becomes evident the moment the can is popped.
T- On the palate the beer is less sweet than the nose implies. Overall I'd say the beer leans just slightly to the bitter pithy side. Orange and tangerine flavors here are outshone by the pith, but makes the beer quite drinkable.
F- Mouthfeel overall is a solid medium. Carbonation after the initial pour is light.
O- A nicely drinkable single IPA at a somewhat sessionable 5.7%. Packs more than enough flavor to satisfy. Recommended.

 

Good afternoon, NBS. I am a sucker for a barrel-aged Scotch ale/Wee Heavy (my appreciation of Backwoods Bastard is fairly well documented around here). Today I have a well-respected brewer that has produced a barrel-aged Scotch ale, though not in bourbon barrels. Allagash's Pictavia is a "Scotch ale aged in Scotch barrels." Within the spirit world, I have a growing appreciation for bourbon, but have not warmed as much to Scotch (with limited interactions). Let's see if maybe Allagash can spur me into a little more experimentation.

Of first note, and without much surprise, I read on the label that this is a "Belgian-style Scotch ale" - so I am not sure what to expect exactly, though I'd guess the yeast influence might lighten the more earthy malt profile I generally get from Scotch ales.



The pour and subsequent body have a rusty, somewhat murky look to them. The dingy white head forms modestly, and sneaks slowly to a medium thin ring. There is a bit of stickiness to this ring, but the lace seems to evaporate slowly rather than returning to the collar.

The nose initally has a loose semblance to a typical Scotch Ale, with an earthy and sweet root base, but that is shrouded by a veil of flowers and the honey their nectar would produce. The base prevents the nose from being too perfumey, which I have as the impression of where the nose wants to go were it not so restrained. There's a little berry to red wine grape-like tang and a very light spice bite as well. All of this is obvious with brief inhalations, but the barrel influence seems to show its full extent mainly with a nice deep, slow sniff of the beer. Overall an interestingly complex nose, but one that seems to be lacking an earthy depth for which I was looking.

The feel of the beer works for me - it leans a tad bold, but has a medium heft to it overall. There's a bit more carbonation than I expected, helping to lighten the beer a tad. I am fine with a little more thickness in a wee heavy, but the lighter aspect of this is quite fine and does act to put it more in the lighter Scotch ale style (despite the ABV).

In my initial sips, the flavor seems to lose some of the tethering earthy base that I appreciated in the nose. The barrel wood sort of tries to take its place, with limited success until the beer warmed considerably, in my opinion. There is a decent amber malt flavor with a slight return of the earthy notes by mid-glass. This in turn gets lightened by a berry-like grape flavor. The Scotch liquor throws a bit of heat into the mix, and a very light smokiness that can be (but isn't necessarily) a major component of Scotch (in my limited experience). The honey from the nose is missing, and the floral aspects are highly muted.

Overall, this beer falls well short of the barrel-aged Scotch ales/Wee Heavies I have had in the past. Separately and with little confidence, I think I might've had one Scotch barrel-aged beer before (I want to say a Boulevard ale of some kind) and vaguely recall thinking something similar as I did to this beer - the Scotch was not overpowering other notes, but somehow seemed to neutralize other flavors. That may a distinction without a difference to some, but I'll stand by it.

The GF said, "It's ok, but I don't really love it."
It seems obvious I will get to have the other two from the four pack, much like I tend to leave an extra IPA for her (especially an average NE style). I'll have to check some other NBS participant reviews now, as I recall a few in recent weeks. Cheers, all!

 

Greetings all,
Well, we've gotten about 9 inches so far, the wind is howling, and I'm glad this is weather rather than climate. It's rough out there today, but I did venture out for a trudge down by the lake. The buffleheads looked happy, and I only saw three people braving the stinging north wind and angular snow. I wanted some photos.
Today's beer is Tumwater Porter from Fish Brewing Co. in Olympia, Washington. This is another of those Aldi choices that are inexpensive. At 5% and at $7,99 a sixer, what could I lose? I wanted a darkish beer for a snow day(s).
This baby pours a deep mahogany with a tight tan cap that recedes fairly quickly to filmy tan/brown bubbles.
There is a faint roasty/anise nose that is fleeting. It basically smells a pleasant brown.
Tumwate is very smooth and very easy to dink, simple, with the attendant roast and licorice from the first whiff. Dare I say session porter?
As it warms, more flavor emerges, showing its roasty side, with a nice Englis style rich lightness.Tumwater Porter is not rough and not quite silky. It's a damned cheap but nice drinking porter. Just what I wanted. For $7.99 a sixer Tumwater Porter is better than OK.

Roald Amundsen Appeared at my house today!

 

I could make a few guesses with a little research, but are you saying you went to a game versus George Mason? If so, I am a bit pissed you didn't think to hit up a fellow NBSer about grabbing a drink... but I digress

Of the Orange Starfish series (one fish, two fish...), I think the Double Orange Starfish is Aslin's best beer. The law of averages have inched it into that status on Virginia's best beer list. On your beer, I had a sip of the GF's glass recently and agree with you on the taste, though I found a little pop of orange in the middle.

Did you grab any others from Aslin or anywhere else around here?