New Beer Sunday (Week 723)

Ok so my 2nd beer for NBS is a Destihl wild sour series cranberry criek.

It pours with a beautiful ruby color and clarity.

The smell is a lovely combination of sour and cherry.

I really enjoyed the taste of this beer. Starts with a wonderful tartness that rolls across the tongue. I can definitely taste the cranberry and it has a slight sweet finish.

Really enjoyed this one.

 

Happy NBS! Tonight I'm celebrating the Ravens victory and subsequent advancement to the playoffs. Its been a wild ride from a rough start to the season, many of us did not see this coming. Though I've been dying to open up this mystery bottle from @ovaltine, tonight is a great occasion after the game!



Pours black and oily, some floaties on top. Thin head settles quickly to a mocha colored ring. Nose is whiskey, some notes of dark fruit and char follow, along with a faint hint of cocoa. Bearing in mind my nose might be wrecked due to spending time by the fire tonight.
Taste is vanilla, cocoa, raspberry. Sticky sweet but not unpleasantly so. I'm getting a nutty note as well, not 'in your face' like peanut butter, but more of a subdued taste like in a brown ale. Also a hint of graham cracker The closest I can come to describing it is almond.
Mouthfeel is super thick and oily, but very pleasant.
Overall, I am adoring this beer. Its very much a pastry stout, though feels comparable to things I've had from Cycle and Angry Chair.

My final verdict is a barrel aged stout with raspberry and cocoa

Here's the reveal. I'm not a patient man, though I think I did a good job sitting with this beer for a while before unwrapping.



Junie by Transient- an imperial stout with cacao nibs, salted caramel, and coconut.
Well, I was right on some things. No regrets though, I'm loving this beer. Thank you for your generosity Mike! A sweet (but ugly) victory calls for a sweet beer tonight.

 

Bottle Logic & Great Notion - Paisley Cave Complex. A bourbon barrel aged imperial Blueberry stout. Clocks in at 13% abv, and is brewed with marshmallow, cacao nibs & blueberries.

I will admit, I tried a 5oz taster of this earlier in the year. I remember it being very good, but that's about it. I figured sitting down with a bottle to myself is the best way to try this beer. A very pleasant surprise from the wife. Let's give it a go.

L: Pours dark brown in color, but settles motor oil black. A chestnut-colored head amounting to about a fingers width formed from a non-aggressive pour. Not getting much lacing left on the glass, but a ring is retained around the perimeter comprised of tightly compacted tiny bubbles.

S: Damn. The first thing I notice when I open the bottle is blueberries, and I mean a lot of it. As I let it warm and shove my nose in, I pick up confectioners chocolate and a pronounced sweetness. Since I know the beer is brewed with marshmallow, I know (I think?) that it is the source of the sweet and sugar aromas. I get bar-none bourbon on the nose unless I go for the glory sniff, then it tinges my nostrils. It is sweet, chocolatey and jam-packed with blueberries. Never smelled a stout like it.

T: Blueberry is the true star of the show. Blueberry is the initial flavor and is also the dominant lingering flavor in the after taste. Incredible. The second flavor that I pick out is the marshmallow. It's a combination of sugar and vanilla that brings another layer of sweet complexity to the table. Mild molasses presence. Then there is the chocolate, which becomes more pronounced as it warms. It's more sweet than bitter, and somewhat reminds me of brownie batter. Bourbon is slightly warm on the finish. For a short version of the flavor, it is like blueberries coated with a thin layer of chocolate with layers of melted marshmallow coating it.

F: Medium in body but heavier in weight. Carbonation is moderate for the style, and for what it's worth, perfectly done in my opinion. Great feeling beer, just wish it was slightly thicker.

O: I am nearly done with this beer, and besides catching a buzz, I can confidently say I've thoroughly enjoyed it. Guess I wouldn't expect less when Bottle Logic and Great Notion team up. The blueberry adds a layer of complexity that I am not quite familiar with in stouts, setting this apart from other offerings I have tried.
In short, this beer kicks ass.

Ratings:

4.75/5 rDev +5.1%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 5

 

So, yeah.
Yet another example of drunks with phones...



https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/220/297906/
Notes / Commercial Description:
"Our friends over at Kentucky’s own Willett Distillery have one kind of barrel: wood. And they put two things in them: Bourbon and Rye. We were fortunate enough to get some of their Bourbon barrels, and we put our Imperial Stout in them. It’s a chocolatey, coffee-y, smoky, Bourbon-y beast of a barrel-aged thing. Word."

Pic and description do not match.

Rye is not bourbon and bourbon is not rye. It really pisses me off when this shit happens. It's not the brewery's fault, but raters/reviewer's mistakes. I'm old and when I see something that is wrong, I call it out.

This is what it is:

https://tenemu.com/news/lagunitas-schedules-2018-willettized-coffee-stout-for-december/08/2018

"One of Lagunitas Brewing Co.’s most popular seasonal stouts is returning just in time for the Christmas holiday.

That beer is 2018 Willettized Coffee Stout, a 12 percent ABV imperial stout brewed with coffee and aged in barrels that previously held Willett Distillery rye whiskey. This will be the third time that a version of this stout has been released after it debuted in 2016 and was rereleased last year, although both of those versions were packaged in six-packs of 12-ounce bottles.

According to the Lagunitas’ 2018 release calendar and a label filed with the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), 2018 Willettized Coffee Stout will be packaged in 22-ounce bottles and is scheduled to ship to retailers across the brewery’s distribution network in limited quantities in December."

22 oz. bottle.
Moderate pour yields a 3/4 inch tan head over a 99.9% black body with some lacing. Nose of dark malts, coffee grounds, chocolate, a bit of espresso, caramel, vanilla, and spice. Taste mirrors nose somewhat closely with a rather thin feel. Overall, I would definitely have this again. Cheers!

I just added the beer...

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/220/390530/

Cheers to Everyone and Happy New Year!!!

 

Good evening NBSers. I was lucky enough to draw @Bum4ever as my sender in this year's 12 DoX BIF, and he has been crushing me with some unbelievable brews. Today is Day 10, and my magic 12 sided die of fate selects bottle 8 for me.

750, corked and caged. I get the cage off and cork pulled without seeing any identifying marks, but feeling the shape of the cork in my hand gives me an idea of what brewery this might be.



It pours a dark golden color with a thin head consisting of tiny white bubbles that gather around the edge and leave a thin coating over about half the middle of the glass. The smell is unmistakably lambic, which matches my suspicion from the shape of the cork (3 Fonteinen). I'm getting light funk with an even lighter sweetness, offset by some spicy Belgian yeast. On the palate, this is wonderfully juicy and slightly tart with low acidity and an oakyo white wine character that brings a dryness to the finish.

This is a truly wonderful lambic, and if Josh and I hadn't had a conversation about a particular bottle recently I wouldn't have a guess, except that it isn't fruited. But since we did have that conversation, I'm guessing that this is 3 Fonteinen Golden Blend.



Blend 51, season 16/17 to be exact. Thank you Josh, this is fantastic. Happy New Year all!

 

Sounds delish!

 

Alvarado Street - Back In Action. A West Coast IPA. Featuring Mosaic, Citra, & Azacca hops.

It's labeled as a WCIPA but I can't help but chuckle. Regardless, let's get with it.
Canned 12/18/18.
L: Pours murky straw yellow. Not sure what Alvarado is thinking, but this is NOT a WCIPA. Completely hazy and not the transparent WCIPA we are used to seeing. A finger of head and moderate amounts of residual lacing. Lookwise it is nice, but not for the WC style.

S: Very melony with some grapefruit and lemon. Slight yeasty presence but no malt prevalence that is usually accompanied in the WC styled beers.

T: Mild dankness. Loads of citrus with yeasty complexity. No malt flavor and minimal hop presence. Finish is dry with lingering lemon flavor.

F: Medium in body and weight. Carbonation is moderate for the style. Slight fizz property on the tongue. This feel is not what I am used to with WC beers.

O: I am slightly confused. If a beer were to be bisexual, this would be it. It is labeled as WC styled but drinks like an NEIPA. I am having a hard time rating it. As an Alvarado NEIPA, it could be plausible and is somewhat enjoyable. But as a WC beer, all I can do is laugh. Although it is anything but a WCIPA, I am still glad to have tried. Cheers NBS!

Ratings:

3.58/5 rDev -6%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75

 

It really was. I would most definitely drink it again!

 

Finally getting around to posting a couple today.
I wish this one had been a summer release.

Tritonia with pineapple and lemon
Pours a cloudy yellow with two fingers of white head.
Smells of pineapple and lemon, a touch of salt.
Taste follows, light pineapple and lemon. Not as salty as I typically associate with a gose.
Light bodied, crisp, refreshing.
Overall a good gose, really wish this was a summer beer.

Got this one in a ninja box from @akatz821

Pours a hazy golden yellow with a finger of white head.
Smell is a bit funky, Brett, citrusy, lemon, mango.
The taste almost has me in a sensory overload(in a good way). The layers of tart, funk, lemon, mango, pineapple are amazing. Well balanced.
Full bodied with good carb level. I feel the body on this really allows the flavors time to process.
Overall an amazing beer. I wish I could convey my thoughts into words on this one, I don't feel my review does it justice. Thank you Azi!

 

Another late NBS for me. I’ve had a good ‘beer year’. The highlight was getting a few pours of Cantillon Carignan at the Witchstock festival this past fall. What an amazing beer! I’ve also developed a couple new good trading relationships that I have found usually end up turning into friendships.

Once again this year, I have had more beer from the same brewery as the past several. I am lucky to live ten minutes from what is arguably the best brewery in the country. One of the things I really like about them is that they seem adept at both traditional styles and at some of the more outrageous takes on beer popular these days.

Today’s new beer is from the latter category. It is called Bellwoods Black Liquids Vol. 2, an imperial stout brewed with chocolate and peanuts. I had a bottle pour at the brewery and enjoyed it so much I bought several bottles to have at home and send to friends. Black Liquids is a new series of imperial stouts that feature different flavouring additions with each ‘volume.’ Volume 1 was good. It had cocoa, vanilla and tangerine. I liked it more than I thought I would given that orange is not a flavour I tend to enjoy that much in stouts. Volume 2 is more up my alley, and is utterly fantastic.



The pour was dark and thick with a moderate head as well as moderate lacing as the beer was consumed.

The smell is pure peanuts. No chocolate to speak of. It is appealing.

The taste is of homemade peanut butter cookies. Creamy peanut, slightly salty, a little chocolate hiding in the background.

Thick mouthfeel.

This is very well done if you are a fan of the dessert stout. I find no flaws and look forward to drinking more.

Cheers and Happy New Year!

 

Good evening fellow NBSrs!

I’m checking in a little late but better late than never.

Here is what’s in my glass....



As for my brief synopsis.

It’s typical bcbs body and bourbon barrel intensity.

What’s not typical is the orange chocolate flavor.

I haven’t had any orange stouts that I thought were exceptional and this is no different. This beer does taste like the chocolate covered oranges I used to get at Christmas time as a kid. However I liked it better as a candy than a beverage. They hit the mark they were going for I am sure. It’s just not my favorite bcbs variant.

Cheers all!

 

Hello Late Night NBS

What a great start. Thanks @cjgiant .
Speaking of NCAA basketball. I know your UVA team went down in the history books as the first #1 to drop. I had my alma mater face off against my favorite BIG 10 team, Purdue, and they broke the elbow of the big man, Isaac Haas, possible limiting how deep they went in the greatest sporting event on Earth (well in my little world anyway.)
As for me, tonight we're doing a New Year's Eve Eve. And thanks too @Vidblain I finally exorcised the CBS demons that have haunted me for years. Thanks Chris. Shared it with my sister-in-law (an adventurous beer lover, my dad (always a goer), my wife (she usually loves the big guns), and even my stepmother who found some redeeming qualities to this maple-bourbon-coffee mistress. Technically not a new one to me, but, it's few and far between, and always seems new.
A tad boozy in the bourbon notes on the start, as it warms the coffee roast comes through, and is tempered a bit by the maple. A solid offering that I will ALWAYS seek out.

Cheers All.
And countless blessings of health, happiness, love, peace, and of course for y'all...great beers.

 

Question- I really enjoyed their vanilla- because it was so smooth. The bourbon was not forward and I found that I preferred that. How was the bourbon with the orange?

 

Good evening New BS’ers! Bunch of snow falling and blowing here tonight. I’m gonna be busy tomorrow morning digging us out. Didn’t have any until Christmas Day, what a weird year. It was good for us and spent the first full year in the house, acquired a second dog, I keep drinking too many beers while the wife continues to put up with me.

The boy is doing well and had a great Christmas. Probably one of the last years I could afford everything he wants. He’s nine now and I’m loving these golden years. Both my parents have passed but they always made Christmas very special for me so I continue the tradition and keep trying to blow his mind every morning on Dec. 25th. This year Santa brought him the new Spider-Man LEGO sets that weren’t coming out until next year, and not in any stores that he had seen, while we got him the IPad 4 mini to play Fortnite so he’s no longer the only 4th grader that doesn’t have it. I do a few things right in life.

On to the beer now, one of the last from my Denver Christmas box. Here is victim numero uno this evening...



Not the murky mud bomb you would expect but looking bright and delicious. Nose is electric citrus fruit with an creamy peach backbone. Taste is more of the same with wonderful notes of tropical zest and very reminiscent of lemon pez and gummy peach rings. Mouthfeel is moderate to full. Overall a wonderful example of the style with moderate bitterness and no lingering off flavors. 4.5

These two are keeping the wife company in the other room watching The Office while I’m here with you all watching Dr. No on Hulu. Made it through the Indiana Jones trilogy (the fourth movie is a piece of shit and doesn’t count) and this was the next logical choice. Cheers BA fam!

 

The last can of Pseudo Sue that I grabbed was nothing like I remembered and enjoyed when I've grabbed it in the Midwest. Won't be grabbing another anytime soon, sad given how much I liked the beer.

Buddy has one for an upcoming cabin trip...this has me with more anticipation of trying it out.

Sorry man, that sucks. Glad everyone is OK. Maybe the 'silver lining' is that by taking your truck they avoided a far worse outcome?

 

@cjgiant Many Thanks for the great start! 2018 was definitely a challenging year. I'll do my best to be brief.

1. Bought out first house (both emotionally great but also a time sink with upgrade projects and unpacking)
2. Left a job that was quite dissatisfying and a generally making me an unhappy person, and returned to a job I'd held previously which affords me greater work-life balance and professional satisfaction.
3. Limited time in the mountains climbing and snowboarding (see item #1).

Beer highlights of 2018. This could be easily summed up with one entry...attended my first Firestone Walker IBF. What an amazing event! I can only hope to get more opportunities to attend in the future.

But I'd be doing a disservice if I didn't note my five beer highlights of the year (especially since one of my most sought-after gems sits at number 5 on this list):

1. FW Anniv. XX
2. Maui Imperial Coconut Porter
3. FW Coconut Rye Parabola
4. Alvarado Street Nelson Baby!
5. Fremont BBA Dark Star

While I truly hope my beer 2019 holds a candle to 2018, I'm willing to have far less consumption and greatness if it means I can get back to more time in the mountains. So here's hoping I actually have less time for BA in 2019 (apologies as that likely runs counter to the intent of BA).

New beer today for me is Alvarado Street's Back in Action. This beer is labelled as a West Coast IPA...

Can dated 12/18/18 into a tulip glass.



L: Pours hazy white golden with almost 2 fingers of variable density head with minimal retention and left limited streaked and spotted lacing.

S: Nose is nice, very tropical, berries, mango and guava. Subtle pine and earthy undertones once it warms.

T: Follows the nose well, perhaps with just the slightest addition of citrus, pine more prominent than on the nose. Finishes with some bitterness and slight bit of acidity, a bit of lingering dank attributes.

F: Medium bodied with higher carbonation, tongue tingles a bit from the carbonation/acidity, full on the swallow.

O: Definitely a modern take on the West Coast IPA (or at the very least a NE-WC hybrid). Note quite enough bitterness, and needs either more pine or citrus, but one for my palate and preferences that I still enjoyed. Definitely feels like there's Mosaic in the hop bill, and I'm liking its prominence.

BA Score = 4.13, rdev = +7.6%


One last NBS question. I've missed a few weeks, but wondered if there was still an effort to do a group NBS tasting of Resilience? Grabbed some cans at the Torpedo Room tonight, but will hold off if that's still in the works.

Wishing you all a very Happy and Healthy 2019!

 

Yeah I was puzzled as to their stylistic self-identification. I really enjoyed the beer, but it's nothing like the WC IPAs I enjoy and seek!

 

Thank you to @Vidblain for my NBS beer, CW Maple Barrel Stout. Wishing all of you a happy new year!

4.5/5 rDev +6.1%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

Generous gift from @Vidblain

A - Pours a nice, dark brown with mocha colored head that dissipates pretty quickly

A - It smells like a sweet delicious maple explosion. Definitely picking up the syrup barrels on the nose.

T - The first taste is pretty sweet. It almost has almost something of a barleywine sweetness to it. Not really getting too much of the bourbon barrel at all. The sweetness does stick around at the end, but not in an overly cloying kind of way.

M - Slightly thin, but not to a point where I feel it takes away from the beer.

O - I'm really glad I got to try this beer. Definitely not a beer to solo; share it with a friend or two. It is tasty, but the sweetness will get to you after a while.

 

Totally agree. It’s not a bad beer by any means, but I’m not sure what they were puffin’ when they put WCIPA on the label. Cheers!