New Beer Sunday (Week 720)

Hello NBS. This Barebottle — Sleep Dust is my first new beer of the day, and I would like to contribute my review to this thread. It's not possible to see the date in the picture, but this was bottled on 11/16/2018 and refrigerated continuously since then.



Before getting into the actual review, I want to make a note of what I appreciate about the Barebottle labels. These guys put the whole brewing recipe on the back of the label for all of their beers. I don't homebrew, but I imagine that if I did, I'd find this a compelling factor.



The beer pours with a murky bright orange color, and my semi-aggressive pour has generated just over a finger of frothy white head. The head does stick around well and leaves ample lacing on the glass. A few floaties are settling to the bottom of the glass. The aroma is somewhat subdued for a NEIPA, but there are hints of mango, oranges, tangerines. Now, this tastes nothing like it smells. First of all, it's a mango bomb. Second, the taste is actually pretty full, better than expected. If you don't like mango-tasting NEIPAs, you wouldn't like it. The good thing is that I do! In terms of feel, this is solid: medium carbonation, smooth texture, no alcohol taste. Overall, I'm quite pleased with this beer. I was slightly worried while smelling it, but the taste is redeeming.

4.25 | 3.75 | 4.25 | 4.25 | 4.25
Final Rating: 4.13 (rDev +0.0%)

Cheers, NBS!

 

Awesome wild NEIPA as expected. Fantastic fluffy head retention/thick foamy lacing. Aromas and flavors of big tart lemon, lime, tangerine, grapefruit, peach, pear, pineapple, apricot, red/green apple, passion fruit, papaya, mango, melon, berries, citrus peel/rind, peppercorn, pine, hay, straw, herbal, floral, and grass; with moderate wheat, white bread dough malts; light leathery/musty funk, and yeast earthiness. Light-moderate pine, citrus peel/rind, herbal, floral, grassy bitterness; peppery yeast spiciness; and light Brett tang/tartness on the finish. High carbonation, medium body, and moderately crisp finishing. Balanced bready/grainy malt, and sticky hops in the mouthfeel. Light resins/rinds, light-moderate increasing bitter/spicy/carbonated dryness, no hop astringency. Very smooth, 6%. Belma, Chinook, Citra, and Denali. Awesome balance of juicy/dank/earthy hops and fruity/funky/spicy Brett complexity; nice wheat/oat/malt backbone, with minimal residual sweetness from crisp dryness. They are always impressive. This reminds of Jolly Pumpkin funk profile a lot from the Omega yeast. 4.13


Cheers

 

New Beer #2. So, when @cavedave and @TongoRad rave about a beer I know I have to try it. This is Industrial Arts' Winter Landscape. To cut to the chase, I think it's the best American-brewed Schwarzbier I've ever had. It features a tremendous depth of flavors, including chocolate, caramel, coffee, tobacco, leather, earthy char, and spicy hops. It just keeps getting better as the glass warms. This is one helluva beer! Now, I know I have to go back up to the brewery and get more since I doubt I'll see it in the local shops here, as I do with IA's staple beers. Thanks to Dave and Michael for the heads-up. Here's my full review:

4.49/5 rDev +0.2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

Canned on 11/21/2018. Poured into Industrial Arts pint glass. It pours an extremely dark cola color with a large, creamy ecru-colored cap and copious, thick lacing. Its nose features burnt malt, tobacco smoke, leather, burnt coffee, and whiffs of lemon peel, dark chocolate, caramel, and spicy hops. It's really fragrant. The taste is amazing! It opens with more sweetness than I anticipated. I'm tasting dark chocolate and fresh coffee. There follows earthy char, tobacco, and spicy hops. The various tastes blend superbly. Don't drink this too cold because the flavors really come alive as the glass warms. It has a rich, creamy mouth feel with pleasant carbonation, and at 5.6% it's made for drinking. In fact, Winter Landscape is a truly multi-purpose beer. Notwithstanding its low ABV it has enough depth of flavor to pair with a burger, cheese steak or other pub cuisine. And it works just as well for casual drinking. What a great Après Ski beer (if only I were a skier). Kidding aside, this may well be the best Schwarzbier I've ever had. It's a stunning beer for which Industrial Arts should be proud!

 

On to two Missouri NE IPAs to close out my NBS contributions. Here is the first of the two:



Shared's Double Dry Hopped Skiff.

Pours an opaque-tinted orange with a finger of white foam that dissipates quickly. Aroma is tangerine, papaya, orange, mango, and resiny with biscuity, bready malts behind. It comes off brash and quickly, and then immediately fades into obscurity. Flavor profile is a smooth induction of mango, tangerine, papaya and orange and lemon zest before a swift change of direction into resiny, piney biting hop notes. Biscuity, bready, pale malts form a foundation underneath. Mouth feel is smooth, with a sharpening crispness at the back end. It has a medium thickness. Overall, building steam towards the end, this one develops some key notes that help it perform. Still, it comes off as a brash, quick barrage of notes at the onset with biting hop qualities before fading into malty obscurity.

Score: 4 | 4.25 | 4 | 3.75 | 3.75 | BA Score: 3.89 | rDev: +1.8% (one other review)

 

When church was canceled this morning, due to very treacherous icy conditions here, I got excited for this new coffee stout and thought I would get to it much earlier than this. Errands and life for in the way but now I’m just as excited for this coffee stout which has been well reviewed here.



Peche Mortel from Brasserie Dieu du Ciel!

It pours black, very black, all black. Even around the edges when held up to the light. BLACK. Half a finger of tan head emerges from a middle pour and sticks around for about a minute then recedes to islands and a thin ring of lacing around the edges. The aroma is coffee grounds, roasty malts, and what I can best describe is an earthy must. The must isn’t offputting, merely different and slightly confusing. Taste is the same, coffee up front, bitterness lasts throughout, some chocolate to finish, and there’s that earthy must just hanging around and confusing ya boy. Mouthfeel is on the full side of medium, creamy, slick, and slightly chalky and drying on the finish. Overall this is outstanding. I love everything about this beer.

 

What is, “A quote no brewery wants associated with a beer they brewed, regardless of style,” Alex?

 

There's nothing more important than taking care of your health, Ian. I'll enjoy reading your single review posts knowing the reason why. Cheers, man!

 

Sorry for not being more regular on NBS lately, but life happens…. Hoping to get back in the groove.

We made a quick trip to Atlanta this weekend, and pick up a few new beers. This is Hooligan IPA from Scofflaw Brewing Company.



Poured from 12 oz can dated 11/28/2018

A: Clear sunshine yellow with 2 finger frothy white head. Decent retention and plentiful lacing.

S: Passionfruit, mango, pineapple, and candied oranges.

T: Nice blend of bitter dank hops and juicy citrus. Again with pineapple, passion fruit, and mango.

M: Medium bodied with average carbonation. Soft creamy texture with subtle bitter finish.

O: Well executed and easy drinking IPA. Crushable for 7% and showcases the galaxy and mosaic hops.

 

Sol in Gemini from Foreign Objects.

L: Pours a hazy yellow color with about 2 fingers of head and minimal lacing. Looks like a glass of juice. 4.25/5
S: Papaya is the first thing on the nose to hit me. Mango, passionfruit, and orange follow with some hints of pine. 4.5/5
T: Papaya and passionfruit again with some hints of orange and spicy biterness on the finish 4/5
F: Medium carbonation with a creamy, soft mouthfeel 4/5
O: A good New England style IPA using waimea and amarillo hops. I'd like to try a similar beer from them with some hop varieties that I enjoy more. 4.17/5

 

La Cumbre's Project Dank Autumn Edition courtesy @Wasatch 4.25 overall

Pours an effervescent a faintly hazed bronze with 2+ fingers of rocky ivory colored head. Above average head retention & lacing

S: Some pine, a little grapefruit, oranges late in the game

T: Follows the nose, a little orange & mango as well plus dryness upfront, along with dryness. Dryness, grapefruit & pine as this warms, a little orange as well. Finishes dry with pine, grapefruit, plenty of orange & just a little bready sweetness & some catty notes very late

MF: Medium body, restrained carbonation, nice balance

Lovely IPA, very drinkable

On the Hallmark Subject; I watch a few of those movies as year with the Mrs. Over time, I have learned that pointing out all the premises & plot turns in advance wins me zero points with her. To her credit, she knows football has priority on the TV in front my recliner 90% of the time. To their credit they keep a lot of actors of the streets, ain't seen a lot of those folks in decades...

 

I think it’s great right now. Mellowed out, and great flavors for a 1-year old bottle.

 

Glad you liked it!

 

Howdy, NBSers! The weather here in the Brazos Valley has been a yucky cold mess since Friday. I swear it's rained 40 inches in Bryan since September. Add temperatures in the 30-40s to all that wet and humidity and it kept me from smoking some pork ribs today ... I'm trying to work up the courage to try tomorrow.

Maybe a new beer will help bolster the spirits?

Ridgeway Brewing's Bad Elf, an English pale ale (ESB here on BA.com).

Sadly this one did not make the trip across the pond very well. Opening it you could tell it was almost flat by the whimper it made as I popped the top. And you can see the head there ... pretty lackluster. The aroma and flavor are full of yeast, very earthy and bordering on farmhouse funky, and ultimately that's how this beer comes off: like a farmhouse ale. It's a pretty tame version — it's neither sour nor tart — but it has that unmistakable aged-hop, earthy flavor signature in Jester King's beers. The beer description says they added a load of hops, so it seems like a brew with good intentions that either didn't take the bottle conditioning worth a dang or got infected with some wild yeast or bacteria. Either way, it's strike one against Ridgeway, which has been very good to this point.

The review:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/7944/107632/?ba=Premo88#review
2.84 (-10.4% rDev)

Of course, if this had been a farmhouse ale, it would score at least a 3.5 or better. It's not undrinkable. I'm just not sure what I'm drinking.

Hope your Sundays are going well!
Cheers!

 

Glad you liked it. La Cumbre makes some pretty tasty brews.

Cheers!

 

So, went to bed with notes that we might get 1-3"...last I saw we were around 7" with another couple of hours of snow expected. Whew. Good day to pull out a slow sipper for in between shoveling. Love the base beer for this, so had good hopes for the variant.



Blue Mountain's Dark Hollow Reserve Concealed Darkness Dark Manhattan. Concealed Darkness aged with tart cherries in a Woodford Reserve Rye barrel.

Pours a dark brown, almost black. Nice milk chocolate brown head that slowly fades away. Smell is cherry, roasted malts, chocolate, and whiskey. Taste is tart cherry up front, chocolate and whiskey, roasted malt, vanilla, hint of marshmallow. Finish is cherries and whiskey. Mediumish body. Definately need to let this one warm up a bit. At first the whiskey and cherry flavors are most prominent but as it warms it blends nicely together.

Honestly, it's a nice beer but I don't think the additives added anything to this one. Still made for a fine snow day beer.

 

Pretty much every Schramm's Mead is great. Pricey, but worth the $ for me anyway.

 

Back with another also from Scofflaw - Double Jeopardy…

These guys look to be doing some nice work. Hoping to get to try more from them in the future.



Poured from 12 oz can dated 11/28/2018

A: Lightly hazy golden amber with 1-2 finger off-white head. Decent retention and tons of lacing.

S: Orange zest, tangerine, grapefruit mixed with caramel biscuit malts.

T: Bright citrus with tangerine, grapefruit, and mango tempered by sweet caramel and dank resinous hops.

M: Medium to full bodied with average carbonation. Finish has a big hop bite with a touch of sweetness

O: Unique twist on a DIPA bringing a nice citrusy hop blend with a balanced malt bill. Very drinkable for 10.5% ABV.