New Beer Sunday (Week 725)

Yet another first review. This was awesome. Fantastic head retention/lacing. Aromas and flavors of big milk/dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee, caramel, molasses, toffee, fudge, roasted nuts, toasted biscuit, and dark bread; with lighter notes of licorice, raisin, cherry, prune, fig, date, smoke, charcoal, leather, tobacco, herbal, wood, pepper, pine, and yeast earthiness. Light-moderate pine, herbal, woody, grassy, peppery hops; and roast/charcoal bitterness on the finish. Medium carbonation and fairly full body; very creamy, silky, bready malts; some sticky hops and chalky roast in the mouthfeel. Lightly increasing lingering hop/char bitter dryness; no cloying, acrid, astringency. Dangerously smooth, minimal warming 11.5%. Very rich and well rounded English malt complexity; with balancing earthy hops against sweetness, and complementing fruity yeast complexity. Feels a lot like a Russian Imperial stout. 4.13


Cheers, have a good night NBS.

 

Gun Hill Universal Truths

My second Gun Hill of the evening. This one is a "Belgian" session IPA. You never really know what you are going to get with a "Belgian IPA." I know I wouldn't even get in the ballpark of that category if I had this one blind. It's a light amber. Damn, this is sweet. Annoyingly so. It has a woody character and I gotta wonder how much of that is the power of the mind since their last beer was so dominated by wood. Even with that suspicion, I can't really shake the feeling of cedar. This beer is 5.8% ABV and they call it a "session beer." What the heck?

 

I was just responding to the post by @Ozzylizard.

Cheers!

 

Thanks Jack! I was there a few times over the years but don't remember it being on the board. However, that would explain it.

 

Blind beer gift for NBS 8.5 courtesy of @JBowenGeorgia


4.25/5 rDev +4.9%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

Blind bottle for NBS 8.5 bottle from @jbowenga

A - Agressive pour yields about a half inch mocha colored head. It goes down to about a quarter inch fairly quickly but laces the glass quite well.

A - Smells like pure maple syrup with some sweetness from some barrel aging.

T - Definitely a barrel aged maple stout. Picking up a little bitterness, so first thought was maybe coffee?? Letting the beer warm up, the sweetness that I thought was all barrel also brought notes of vanilla.

F - Slightly higher carb for a BA stout than I would expect or look for. It's pretty smooth and not cloying.

O - This was a very tasty beer. I enjoyed it. Not too sweet like other maple stouts that I have had.

The reveal

 

Beaverton is only a 10 minute drive with good traffic. She'll be neighbors with my sister. Obviously there are many more (and better ) breweries here in Portland, but it's an easy hop, skip, and jump away. Looking forward to a meet up! Cheers

 

Real late start for me tonight but just got back from a kinda-date (ya know, when you're hanging out one-on-one with someone but not sure if it's going to go further than that?) at a brewery recommended to me by a co-worker (Backyard Brewing in Manchester, NH)... good food and solid beer, took home a four pack of their "cookie stout" they just released last month... Merit Badge is an imperial stout clocking in at 11.8% ABV which features coconut, cacao nibs, lactose and vanilla beans. Seems like they're going for a "Samoa cookie" like profile here. I've had a few beers attempting this kind of thing, so let's see how this little brewery stacks up...



Ah, the good ol' "fuck yourself stout" pour... this looks evil in my glass... bubbling and frothing with mocha-tan head atop a pitch-black, thick, motor-oil looking liquid. Pretty nice legs as the initial showing of head disappears, leaving behind some swaths of foamy lace. Overall very nice appearance and first impression!

The nose is definite coconut and vanilla with a hint of roast and ethanol. Eventually I pick out some malted milk ball-like aromas and a helping of semi-sweet chocolate with light roasted coffee notes and more vanillins thrown around. This honestly smells a little like it was barrel-aged, but could just be how hot it seems along with the vanilla elements giving off a "bourbon" fusel element. Very intense stuff. Maybe a little too intense, but it certainly gets that "sweet pastry stout" thing down pat I believe.

Woooo boy, this is a big'un. This absolutely tastes like it was aged in whiskey barrels for a few months at the very least... crazy trickery going on. Super stiff tannin-like notes combining with the tropical flavor of coconut and rich dark chocolate on the mid-palate. Husky grains somehow transition to a smoother feel in the finish... probably the lactose doing some decent work here, actually. Impressive feel for such a big beer, and honestly the flavor integration could have been a hell of a lot worse. That said, it's... super weird this tastes so tannic. Perhaps like I mentioned above the vanilla is really tricking me here, but... I dunno. It's a dead ringer for a whiskey barrel stout at some points throughout the can. *shrug* It was $16 for four pounder cans, I'm not going to overthink it, to be honest. That is a crazy good price. Bottoms up, BA! Late night NBS lives! I have tomorrow off, of course.

Oh, good edit to make... on the subject of Backyard Brewery, I got a sample of their version of Resilience IPA and enjoyed it. They had a couple hazy IPAs on tap that were also good and quite dissimilar from one another, but Resilience was insanely different, as expected... that's my first Resilience from any brewery... didn't even know these guys made one until I walked in and saw it on tap! Very impressive reach with the concept... craft beer rules!

 

1st NBS post. 1st Brew of the night. Great beer, lighter for an IPA & finished like a pale ale. Good start to the evening.

 

Yea that one went south about 6 months after bottling, which was unfortunate because it was AMAZING when I reviewed it in May. I still have a couple left, still enjoyable after the Brett infection took over though

 

Had some errands to do earlier but finally settling down for a couple new brews now that the boys are in bed. Starting with this one courtesy of @MacMalt

Pours a slightly hazy golden orange with a finger of white head.
Lots of lemony citrus and pine on the nose.
Taste follows suit, lemon zest, fresh pine, also getting some crackery malts.
Medium to full body with good carb levels. Dry finish.
Overall another tasty Kane beer that I would try again for sure.

 

Kashmir DIPA from Commonwealth Brewing Company in Norfolk VA

L: Pours a murky orange color with a finger and a half of head with some nice lacing left along the glass. 4.25/5
S: Citrus fruits; mango, pineapple, grapefruit with some grassy pine on the finish. 4.5/5
T: Similar to the nose, nice and juicy tropical fruits flavors with a nice lingering hop bitterness.4.25/5
F: Medium light carbonation with a soft, creamy mouthfeel. 4.25/5
O: Nice easy drinking 8.5% IPA. One of, it not my first, beer brewed with cashmere. This is a hop I'll be looking for in the future. 4.25/5 BA Generated 4.31/5

 

My new beer Sunday is from Sixpoint brewery- jammer.

So I'm still a beer newb and therefore sometimes I pick things because they remind me of something or maybe I feel like taking a random guess.

I am generally an ipa drinker and then I like a few other beers besides. I had purchased this beer because I have had ipas from sixpoint brewery which I liked. I also saw it said Gose on it and I thought Gose might be similar to Geuze.

I think I was wrong....

Smelling it I get salt- like sitting on the beach. That intrigues me and I'm looking forward to drinking it.

Taste- for me this tasted pilsner like with salt and a bit of sour.

So for me this was a let down. I am not a pilsner fan. I was hoping it would be a wonderfully salty and sour beer but those flavors were simply not strong enough for me.

I may have to see what I have in my fridge and try again..... Lol

 

Having a new local one before calling it a night. I've really enjoyed the recent releases from Atlanta Brewing Company. I believe they are GA's oldest brewery but operated under the name Red Brick for many years. Part of the 25th anniversary was a rebranding to the original name. I believe they must have upgraded the brews as well as I used to look over Red Brick but find myself trying the new stuff.
This is a new release, I had to add it to the database.

Pours a dark brown almost black with a finger of tan head. Smells of roasty malts, dark fruits, mild barrel notes. Taste follows with the roasty malt, plum, raisin, some dark chocolate. The barrel is there but like the nose it is mild, a bit of char, vanilla, low alcohol. Taste lingers. Just shy of full bodied but not what I would consider thin by any means. Overall a solid BA RIS. Really enjoying what Atlanta Brewing Company has been releasing lately.

 

Alright, second and last new beer for this NBS... perfect timing, too, as it's about to be Monday in a bit



Wow, imagine my surprise walking into a local beer store and seeing singles of this up for grabs... WTF? Jackie O's is very new to the Greater Boston/NE area, so to find something like this felt like a Holy Grail-level discovery. I had a few of JO's amazing barrel-aged offerings at Beer Meets Wood in 2017, but I'm pretty sure this wasn't part of the lineup. If it was, I don't remember it. Granted, that could be because I started that session off with Black Tuesday, but... shhh...

Anyway, this pours a dark brown hue that builds up to a deep black-ish color in my glass. I mean, sure, it's so unfiltered that it's essentially opaque, but given that this is technically a porter and not a stout, it really isn't as deeply colored and brutal looking as a stout version would probably be. Nice khaki-ish head that sticks around as a smallish 1/2 finger ring in my glass. Decent spotty lacing. Not the best looker, but it'll do.

The nose is strong tannins and bourbon with some intense blackstrap molasses and B grade maple syrup... very intense, in other words. I get some nutty notes of pecan and walnut as well, with some very light smokiness (which the bottle does allude to, mind you). It's mostly sweet, sweet, sweet though... just reaaaaally maple-y with so much residual sugar. I'm likely to get diabetes from this, and I'll be totally okay with it. Well, maybe... kinda?

The flavor profile is — you guessed it! — sweet as fuck! Jeez, this is a little ridiculous, guys. I have brewed with maple before and it typically seems to ferment out, but this is just laden with intense syrupy notes. Like I mentioned above, there's some molasses here too... a duller, more earthy sugar note that carries through to the finish and makes my teeth ache a bit. Damn. Light smoky tobacco and dark cherry flavor with a little bit of earthiness, too. This is quite the sipper. Not sure I was prepared for it. It's interesting that I get very little barrel character here, though... this beer sat in bourbon barrels for almost a year, and it just did very little to penetrate the base, honestly. You need to be in the mood for a sweet sucker-punch if you pop this one... I'm a little bit disappointed at how weirdly normal and non-complex it is compared to how the reviews paint it as being. One of those things where I don't even feel like I'm drinking the same beer as others at times. Ah well. Worth getting and sipping, for sure, but probably would not return to it unless it was easily available. This was pretty expensive, and I'm not sure it was worth it.



See ya next week, NBS...

 

I’m with you. Was disappointed with this one. Traded for a few of them. The first one I tried was very thin and super sweet. Was hoping the next 2 changed my mind but kinda doubting that now.

 

Threes Short Fuse

This is a "foudre-fermented smoked Helles." Foudres are usually associated with the production of sour beer, but this isn't the case here. This brewer is simply using a foudre as a vessel like any other. It's certainly not dishonest, but it seems a teensy bit misleading when Threes markets their foudre beers as such since they're bringing attention to it as a differentiator and their audience probably associates the term with sour beer production or simply doesn't know anything about it. It's really a case of "why bother mentioning it." Speaking of which, this is a nice beer but it's a case of "why should I bother buying it."

Price is the issue. The other day, a member here rhetorically asked me: "Why would I buy beer from the grocery store when I have fresher, more quality options at the breweries that populate my area?" For me, cost is one of those reasons. Some local beer doesn't cost much more than options from regional brewers, but a lot of it costs an arm and a leg around here. When locals are priced as high as (and higher than) imports, some people will buy local because they prefer the freshness... but more often than not, I'm of the mindset that the quality of the imports make them feel like a clearly better choice.

If an American brewer is making a smoked beer that costs as much as buying a Schlenkerla, it's just a losing battle. The American brews are also likely a case of here today, gone tomorrow.

There's surprisingly little smoke presence in this beer. It's a slightly hazy gold. Head and carbonation are nice and soft. There's a decent malt character. There's a touch of acidity that plays against the sweetness that's there. Drinkability is really great. Despite the fact that I'm a huge sucker for beers that go down fast, there's really nothing about this beer that I could recommend over an import. Nothing.

 

2nd & last NBS of the night. Mikerphone BA A Surprise Left. This one was great. Head dissipated quickly. Other than that, this was a phenomenal non-adjunct BA stout. Would gladly drink this one again. Sadly, only had one.

 

Boysen Back In Town, from Beer Tree Brew Co.
A sour NEIPA,7.1%, with boysenberries, and Moteuka and Michigan Copper hops.
Looks like beet juice + raspberry puree.
Smells of tropical fruit mix, + , as it warms, raspberry/blackberry/blueberry.
Flavor is like aroma, but more, and more complex. A bit of herbal element, presumably from the hops. It's a bit less sour than a gose or a Berliner. They describe it as having the perfect amount. I agree.
The smooth feel is the only thing that gives it away, that it's not a 4%-ish concoction.
Overall, it comes across as a dry-hopped, sour/wild ale or Berliner Weisse .
In any event, a wonderful brew, that is the best I've had this year.



4.56/5 rDev 0%
look: 5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.75
Full review : https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/51814/392825/?ba=mikeinportc#review

 

This definitely seems like a case of "crappy idea, why buy it?" but, that really falls upon the brewer... what did they hope to achieve with this? I would probably be amazed if I picked up something that said that (likely for reasons derived from pure novelty, to be entirely honest), but then if I thought about it for 10-15 seconds, I'd go "wait, why did they do that?" Foudre beer can be totally amazing, but if you're not going to differentiate it from stainless, the pricing better be fair. Just weird. Threes has an absolutely awesome Czech pilsner (Vliet), but it's wicked expensive and not justifiable to purchase, to be honest... I think they're a brewery that doesn't have a clear direction, perhaps.