New Beer Sunday (Week 723)

Good Morning all. Been up for a few hours now and I have no clue as to what compelled me to start my day with a 13% bourbon barrel aged quad, Jackie O's BBA Skipping Stone, other than it was staring me in the face right in front of the orange juice. Pours a medium brown with some mahogany highlights, a very thin ring of tan head that dissipated to nothing very quickly and left no lacing . Really there was nothing attractive about this beer, it had a dirty water kind of appearance. Smell is very bourbon forward, caramel, sweet malts and vanilla. Taste is dominated by bourbon followed by oak, vanilla, caramel, toffee, figs, raisins, slightly tart cherries and sweet malts. Medium bodied, minimal carbonation, smooth mouth feel, bourbon lingers on the finish. Overall BA rating of 4.03 with a rDev of -4%. Cheers!

 

Great start @cjgiant ! Morning all, up and at 'em and even though I won't be joining in I will def. be reading all the posts, getting some beer enjoyment vicariously. More than halfway through this dry out, can't wait for that cold one at the end of it.

Not a memorable year for me in many ways, though my three hobbies all did quite well. The beer hobby was a big win, as it was for all of us in America, since this is the golden age of beer for us fine beer lovers. Favorite "new for 2018" beer of the year for me was a Schwarzbier from Industrial Arts called Winter Landscape. The mushroom hobby was fantastic, weather was perfect from spring to late fall and the freezer is full of dried and perpared shrooms to last for years. Going into the woods to hunt them is the beauty of it, finding that many is just a bonus. And writing did well too. I finished some works long in need, which was a great joy to do finally, and managed to record decent versions of many of my poems. My life now is easy and drama free after a long life that contained much hardship, hard work, and way too much drama. I am thankful for all this, as boring a post as it makes.

Wishing you all a Happy New Year and Great American Beer in your glass. Cheers!

 

New Beer Sunday: American Imperial IPA

Mornin’ NBSers with special thanks to @cjgiant for a start leading to reflection on the old year and thus prepping us to face the new year.

The weather here today is still cloudy and is expected to be a lightly mixed bag of precipitation until the storm from yesterday that left us lots of rain finishes moving through. By the afternoon we should have temps in the mid 40s and a bit of sun.

For today’s NBS the sub-theme across beers I'm expecting to enjoy is that they are all new IIPAs. Given that today is a day off and tomorrow is as well, I've decided to deplete my stock of IIPAs.

This morning’s new beer is from is from a local brewery called Evil Genius. This brewery seems to name all their beers after a line from some movie. (e.g., Santa! I Know Him!, “I’ll Have What She’s Having!”, “This One Time At Band Camp,” etc.) This IIPA from them is called “Han Shot First.”

As usual my review, subject to revision until I’ve finished the beer, can be found here:

https://www.beeradvocate.com/user/beers/?ba=drtth


The aromas/flavors of this beer are light and mild with citrus, light resin and a touch of spiciness. The bready malt sweetness does not cloy and balances nicely with the light bitterness. In this beer the hops and malt are partners and neither dominates the other (much as in an English IPA). Based on this particular beer, while it’s not quite what I expected in an IIPA, it works well for me and suggests to me that Evil Genius brewers are getting their act together. Would I have this one again? Well, yes, I would, but I’ll not go out of my way looking for it very often.

Cheers, all

 

Excellent review, and I went to the Evil Genius page after reading it. Their beers have some of the most strangely wonderful names I have come across. I think my favorite is Kill It, Kill It With Fire, which is a Grisette, lol.

 

Poured into a 13 oz snifter canned on 10/24/18 and weighing in at 9.5%. Pours a very confusing dark orange with a 2 plus finger slightly off white head that leaves thin patches of lace behind, with pretty solid retention. I was expecting stout looking with White Russian flavors, oh well makes sense now. 4 Smell is cocoa, faint coffee, vanilla, and some toffee. 3.75

Taste follows cocoa, muddled coffee, toffee, vanilla, and caramel. 3.75

Mouthfeel is a big medium, plenty of life but slightly creamy, a tad dry, and at 9.5% ABV alcohol is well hidden. 4

Overall this is solid, different is often nice. With the cold brew coffee shined more and time someone brews a beer inspired by The Dude Jeffrey Lebowski I expect more, but not to shabby man! 3.75

 

Happy New This Year & Beer Are Flying Outta Here On Sunday, Dog (Week 723)!

Unlike the OP, I will not be looking back today, but rather forward. As in, I am looking forward to today's lineup! My plans have coalesced nicely in the past week so that I can really do justice to this affair.

I begin with:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/68/365745/?ba=woodychandler#review


And so it begins ...

 

Happy New Beer!

As beer consumers we are all living in wonderful times! There is a great selection of beers available for purchase and the list of beers just gets longer and longer and… And the New Year will bring even more!!

But how to decide which ‘new’ beers to purchase? Thankfully BeerAdvocate and our weekly thread of New Beer Sunday are aids here.

I am also part of an e-mail distribution list of a local beer retailer and a week or so ago on his list of beers that recently arrived to his store he had:

“16oz 4pk & Single Cans Stoneyard Ellsworth

N.E. IPA

"Canned on 11/28/18"

My #1 N.E. IPA”

Who the heck is Stoneyard Brewery and what is this brand of Ellsworth? Well, if this is Matt’s favorite ‘NEIPA’ beer I must do some researching (and purchasing).

From the Stoneyard website:

Well there is a beautiful photograph of the brewery/brewpub there but not much information.

https://stoneyardbrewingcompany.com/

From the below press release it appears that Stoneyard just recently expanded:

“Stoneyard is poised to become one of the largest craft breweries in the Rochester region. The system will allow Stoneyard to pump out 10,000 barrels of beer, putting it in the same neighborhood as Canandaigua's Young Lion and Rochester's Three Heads. (Though neither of those breweries has surpassed the 10,000-barrel threshold yet.)

“All of it, so much blood, sweat and tears,” assistant brewer James Riley III said of what went into making the dream a reality.

After a brief absence, Stoneyard will begin sending beer out into Rochester market in early October. There are also plans to can some offerings and host some releases at the new brewery.”

https://www.democratandchronicle.co...huge-production-brewery-brockport/1218420002/

Well, there you have it: Stoneyard is an expanding craft brewery in the Rochester, NY area.

But, what is Ellsworth? Well, BA to the rescue:

“Hazy yellow with aromas of tropical and citrus fruits, passion fruit, peach, and pine. Medium body (unlike the real man). Soft, lightly bitter finish.”

Enough of this online research. When it comes to beer the best research is ‘gullet’ research!!

Served in my Gulden Draak tulip glass:

Appearance:

A hazy golden color with a BIG white head.

Aroma:

Wow! A BIG whiff of tropical fruit but there is also some citrus as well. This beer smells “juicy”.

Taste:

The flavor follows the nose with the tropical fruit flavors being front & center but there is some citrus as well plus a hint of pine on the backend. A complex series of flavors here. This beer has moderate bitterness.

Mouthfeel:

This beer is soft/smooth with a medium body and an off-dry finish.

Overall:

In one word: EXCELLENT. There is plenty going on with this beer and it all plays very well together.

Happy New Year everybody!!!

@KOP_Beer_OUtlet @rotsaruch @RobH @chipawayboy

 

My contribution, Monument City Brewing Penchant Pils . . .




Light yellow gold color with brilliant white cap and lacing.

Aroma of yeasty, bready malt and floral, spicy hops.

Taste is evenly spread between malt and hops. The malt is bready and bordering on rich while the hops do retain some floral aspects and spicy elements. Toward the finish hops build to a firm end that lasts into the aftertaste.

Medium texture with balancing carbonation.

I believe this is a first rate example of a German-Czech style Pilsner.

 

A-Pours a dark color with a slight head and lacing
A-Aroma has slight Bourbon and coffee hints
T-The taste follows the nose with Bourbon and coffee flavors
M-A medium bodied decently carbonated beer
O-A nice Bourbon aged Porter

 

A-Pours a dark brown color with a slight head and lacing
A-Aroma has nice Bourbon hints
T-The taste follows the nose with a generous Bourbon flavor
M-A medium bodied decently carbonated beer
O-A nice Bourbon aged Eisbock

 

Great start to this weeks NBS @cjgiant. Will be back later on with a new brew or 2.

Cheers!

 

Good morning NBS and thanks @cjgiant for the start today, The past year was rich with activity,
birthdays of note, some nice travels, and plenty of great beers. Wishing you all health and cheer in the new year.
Today's offering is from Wunderkammer Bier, another gem from a talented brewer, Visually beautiful, complex and a great way to start the day.
Cheers all

Red Fort

Wunderkammer Bier
French Bière de Garde / 6.40% ABV

4.19/5 rDev +3.5% | Score: 4.05
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4

Poured from the 375 ml bottle. dated "brewed March 9 2018" into the test glass.
A - Red cedar colored, nice clarity allows for the very gentle carbonation to put on a show. A loosely knitted froth ring of off white resides through the experience.
S - Toasted oak, tannins, cherry skin, earthy grains, with a nice citrus thread running through.
T - Cold the flavors run the citrus side, lime, tart lemon drops, with a rise in temperature, the oak comes out, dark cherry adds nice depth.
M - Start is a bit tart, then a smoothing sweetness rolls over the palate, the carbonation keeps things dancing without being overbearing. Finishing on the slightly tart side. Excellent feel.
O - Another compelling offering from a talented brewer, the use of the lager yeast keeps the texture focused, flavors are pointed and rich, while the aromatics offer insight to the wood this rested in.
Worth seeking out

 

A-Pours a clear golden color with a slight head and lacing
A-Aroma has abundant mango hints
T-The taste follows the nose with a nice mango flavor
M-A light bodied very well carbonated beer
O-A nice easy drinking IIPA

 

No NBS last week, as I was at my brother's home in Olympia drinking PNW shelf beers from his fridge that were all familiar to me. I did bring a bottle of Black Butte XXX, but somehow never got around to it.

No NBS this week because I seem to have picked up a cold from my 3-yr old niece and am hacking up bits of my throat and dealing with a sinus headache, instead of getting ready to drink some awesome beers sent to me by @Victory_Sabre1973.

 

Happy New Beer Sunday! I'll be back later with beers but I just wanted to give thanks to a few awesome BAs on here this morning. In early December I had a neighbor that lost everything in a house fire, luckily there wasn't anyone home when it happened. A couple of us in the neighborhood decided to do a beer raffle as a fundraiser within the local beer community. I reached out to the NBS BIF crew to try to get some out of town goodies that not everyone here in Atlanta has access to. We had the raffle last night and ended up raising almost $1,200 for the family. Thanks go out to @TongoRad @FlintB @LloydDobler @FFFjunkie @Dragginballs76 @Bum4ever and @CanConPhilly for sending in some great beers that definitely enticed some donations. Thank you guys!

 

Good morning, all, and Happy Day 6 / New Holiday Red Ale Sunday! This is Rogue Santa's Private Reserve Ale. Let's start with this: I'm not sure which vintage I have here. The label matches the picture for the generic listing, but the bottle lists 12 ingredients whereas the BA database entry lists only ten. The ABV and IBU data are also different. I know the recipe changes year to year. The 2017 and 2018 versions of this are listed as Belgian Strong Dark Ales, which this clearly is not. Let us assume, then, that this is an American Amber / Red Ale, 5.1% ABV, 74 IBU, pre-2017 vintage. If you like bitter - and I do - this one's for you. Clear, dark amber colored pour, with a dense off-white head that lasts forever leaving tons of pretty lacing. Very well balanced with lots of complexity. Notes of dark bread, caramel, and dark fruit, with a little tart cherry and lots of resiny bitterness that lingers from start to finish. Malty, bitter, and delicious. What more could you ask for? (BTW: I counted the IBU's. All 74 are in there, and perhaps a wee bit more. )

4.51/5 (rDev +20.6% )
look: 5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5



Apropos of nothing, I was watching an infomercial earlier about something called The MiraclePan. They were demonstrating the indestructibility of the non-stick surface by taking a hand mixer and scrambling up a cheese-and-lug-nut omelette. Now, I might be tempted to garnish this with a piston ring, finish it with a spritz of WD-40, and pair it with Harviestoun Old Engine Oil, but that's just me. In any case, bon appétit!

 

Hello NBS people!

I hope everyone is taking advantage of the last NBS of 2018 and enjoying some new beers and hopefully also a little time off from work due to the holidays.

I wasn't around last week, as I was lucky enough to be able to go back home for Christmas and enjoy time with family and friends in the US. Getting back here has been nice, too, and has hammered home just how damn cold it is here thanks to the humidity (and it's actually a little balmy at the moment).

My 2018 was great on most fronts. Enjoyable work that doesn't keep me too busy, a wonderful, lovely wife (our anniversary is today) and lots of nice beers and travels. To jump on what @cavedave mentioned about a golden age, it is awesome how much great beer there is now in that trips to just about anywhere can include great beer without having to be a beer-cation as such. If variety is the spice of life, the beer life is a veritable spice rack these days. I'd be hard-pressed to do a best-of list or anything like that, but I've been impressed more than I've been disappointed and hope for more of the same in 2019.

My first (and likely only) new beer for today is a milk stout from Treehouse. It seems like a good choice as it was provided to me by a great friend I have made through a mutual love of beer and so I feel like it is indicative of all that is great about this community and a fitting final review for 2018 (we'll see about that).

Damn! This is a very nice beer with a lot going on.

It pours a thick, impenetrable black with a nice creamy brown head that settles in pretty well. The aroma and flavor are on the same page, with lots of sweet, chocolatey, nutty, caramelized flavors and aromas expertly blended and balanced. They are also (along with the mouthfeel) on the same page as far as richness is concerned. That is, nothing seems "hollow" or out of place. Rich and vivid flavors that complement one another. Really an excellent beer. My only negative comment would be that it is pretty sweet, but that is splitting hairs at the atomic level and being as it has chocolate coffee and lactose I suppose over-the-top richness is to be expected.

It tastes like it should and pairs nicely with the cold December weather. And a nice version of Terrapin Station from 1978 (as referenced on the date stamp). Excellent beer!

"...statements just seem vain at laaaassst."

I've only had a couple of dark beers from TH and they've been very nice. Obviously the hoppy stuff is their strong suit, but it's always encouraging when places demonstrate that they aren't a one-trick pony. This is one such example. They have really isolated the various essences of the malt and lactose et al. (like they are so good at doing with hops in their other beers) and then have turned it all up to a tasteful 11.

Here is my official score card.

Santé et bonne année à toutes et à tous!