New Beer Sunday (Week 730)

Onto NBS # 2 here players.

This is iStout Affogato, imperial stout w/lactose, coffee, and vanilla, from 8 Wired Brewing in god damn New Zealand. The brew checks in at 10% abv and I cannot make out the can date but I'm going to assume a month or two are worse given it just hit. I could be wrong but that's what I would hope.

A straight black color on the pour with a frothy brown head. On the nose I get chocolate malt and charred smoke. Upfront on the drinking I get lots on nice chocolate malt mixed with a rather prominent lactose flavor. Very robust with a silky, creamy and smooth flow. The coffee note really builds in intensity the more I consume and as the brew warms. A decently bitter finish that has just enough stick to allow the flavors to linger well after each sip. Additional notes of caramel, brown sugar, vanilla, smoke, and charred oak. Full bodied with a sort of robust/creamy mix going on.

Overall, wow this is pretty good. I bought this as a single can, without looking at the ratings, and really not expecting to much other than its a style that I enjoy. Now, I'm not so sure it's worthy of its current ba rating 4.52 but its very good. I loved the coffee flavor and how it seems to change with each sip. I'm in the low 4's here but I will be getting at least another can to revisit.

 

New Beer Sunday: American IPA

Afternoon NBSers, with an alert for folks who like an “astronomical amount” of hops in an IPA.

Errands finished and this afternoon’s new beer is the Space Pope from Cigar City.

As usual, my review, which is subject to revision until the beer is finished, can be found here:

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/17981/261780/?ba=drtth#review


The aromas/flavors of this beer include lots of fruits such as mango and melon as well as a bit of orange zest and some pine resin. The malt backbone provides just enough sweetness to keep the bitterness in balance until the malt and fruits begin to fade as they leave behind a dry resinous ending. I enjoyed this beer and would be happy to have it again. While I haven’t has the CC Jai Lai in a while, I think in a side by side I’d enjoy this IPA more than I did that one.

Cheers, all!

 

New Belgium Brut IPA . This is the 4th beer of this style that I have had. Decided to do this as side by side with Sierra Nevada Brut IPA which I enjoyed but not as much as I enjoyed the other two. The SN is 6.2% ABV. The NB is 6.7 ABV. Both were pour into stemless red wine glasses. Both are very pale gold color but the NB is a bit darker. Both have a white head. Both have a soft and mild aroma of citrus. These beers are bone dry. The NB has hints of bready malt in the taste but is mostly various fruit from the 5 hops used Huell Melon, Nelson Sauvin, Azzaca, Citra, Amarillo. I didn't pick up any malt in the SN just citrus. Both brew have a light mouthfeel that is not unlike Burt Champagne. As you can guess the finish is dry. Both are enjoyable and would be fine Summer beers. A small edge to New Belgium.
These are the 1st 2 Burt IPAs that aren't all that much different from one another. The other 2 I've had from Ommegang and Twin Elephant (a local) are very different from these 2 (and each other)

 

Appreciate the commentary.

Yea, this was really good. Hoping to see more of their beers throughout the year.

I also forgot to mention the really cool packaging



Hope you are surviving the dry Feb.

I’ve got nothing else to tag you in, so no more peer pressure from me!

 

uBlock Origin is your friend! Or Adblock. Game changers.

 

TY, it’s never ever been a problem till this morning.

 

Revolution Brewing Freedom of Press

Happy Sunday, BAs. Hope everyone reading this is enjoying their weekend and has off tomorrow.

Today’s new beer is my second-to-last from @LloydDobler in NBS BIF 8.5. I sorta, kinda have off tomorrow, so I may get to the last beer from him at some point this evening if I’m in the mood.

Freedom of Press bills itself as a session sour ale with currants. It pours a hazed pink-orange color with mild effervescence and two-and-a-half fingers of foamy, purple-tinted head that leave decent lacing.

There’s a lightly sour aroma with a definite fruitiness to it — I’d probably guess purple jelly grapes over currants if tasting it blind. There’s a hint of gose-like ocean saltiness, too, and a little unpleasant rot if you smell it too deeply.

It has a lightly sour, tart, salty taste with, again with a little berry-like fruitiness to it that definitely could be currants. Thankfully, the unpleasant rotting impression from the nose doesn’t really carry over. It definitely comes across as a gose to me, although it’s listed here as a Berliner.

It has a light-bodied feel that comes across fairly still at first, but offers a little bite of carbonation when swallowing.

This is a pleasant, sessionable sour that could make for a decent lawnmower beer — although maybe a tad too salty to be really thirst quenching. I appreciate the opportunity to try it.

 

Just want to thank y'all for making my fill in last week so enjoyable. I must admit there was bit of trepidation when it came to pressing the "post thread" button, and thanks again for the welcoming attitude, it's greatly appreciated.

Enjoying reading all the new beer posts today. Sadly won't be joining you with a new beer of my own. Really rough week at work is all I can say. I know it is this old body, with a mind running it that somehow believes itself still to be young, that is the problem, rather than any crazy upswing in the difficulty of the job. Am praying they find a replacement quickly so I can get back to retirement, and to enjoying my Sundays with you guys. Cheers!

 

New beer #7. Thanks @FlintB !

American Imperial Stout - Kuhnhenn
BA Stout - 13% abv
Vintage 2018
Score: 4.38 (+1.9% rDev)



Review:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/2097/20921/?ba=CanConPhilly#review

Synopsis:
This beer tastes like a coffee-coated, bourbon-soaked chocolate treat. Decadent, and fit for a king. There are no stouts local to me that taste as good as this. Thanks again Brian!

 

As Barney Fife says, "you're just plain mean". That is a crazy looking vessel!

 

Moving on...


Bomber bottle, no date seen.
Took out of the fridge to warm up a bit and then I popped the cap. Took my eyes away for a second , looked back to see just off white head spilling out of the bottle. After it calmed down I poured into a tulip. Appears a softer, dull orange. Has a finger’s worth of quickly receding head leaving some spotty fingers of lace and a medium ring around the glass.
Aromas of oranges, tropical fruit, citrus peel, oak, honey.
A little dirty fruitiness, citrus, mandarin orange, mango, guava, graininess. Oak faintly at the finish.
Higher carbonation than preferred, somewhat prickly body.
I was intrigued by the label, I usually really like the oak aged IPAs. This one, while not horrible, was not a good example. Could be age related, wouldn’t know based on no bottled date.
3.83 rDev -4.3%

 

Spin Class from BlackStack.



Sweet and juicy, but with a good deal more bitterness than is often usually found in these new-fangled juicy concoctions!

 

NBS beer #1



Guayabera Citra Pale Ale

Cigar City Brewing
American Pale Ale (APA) / 5.50% ABV

3.86/5 rDev -5.2% | Score: 4.07
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

canned 01/22/2019

L-The beer pours slightly hazy and golden. The head is 3 fingers high, consisting of large off white bubbles. The head recedes to a large central island leaving legs of lace on the glass.
S- The nose is low moderate in intensity and consists of that weedy, almost catty dankness I associate with Citra.
T- On the palate I get less dankness than the nose. Mixed with the dankness comes in some citrus early in the sip. Mid sip you start transitioning to a mild pithy bitterness which lingers.
F-Mouthfeel overall is on the lighter side of medium. The lightness in mouthfeel combined with the light alcohol content make this beer quite sessionable. Carbonation is light which also adds to the drinkability.
O- A good if unspectacular pale ale. Highly drinkable with enough flavor to satisfy on a hot day. Recommended if that's what you are looking for.

 

Greetings all! Thanks to our host for starting us off with a good joke that I hadn't heard of before.

Today I've got a new beer from one of the OG Massachusetts craft breweries, Harpoon. They opened in 1986, were ahead of the curve in making an IPA their flagship beer in 1993, and are still going strong today. They've got a pretty diverse lineup these days that seems (hopefully) well suited to helping them navigate the tricky position regional breweries find themselves in. They make a broadly popular line of fruited, unfiltered wheat beers (the UFO series), they absorbed the beer geek friendly Clown Shoes brewery, they still sell a bunch of their flagship, and they continue to offer limited release and "on trend' beers that have some cachet with at least a certain segment of the beer geek market.

This week I have the winner of their yearly employee brewing contest which is an Irish Cream Stout aged in Jameson barrels. For those who wish they could get some barrel character without the heavy booze, this one clocks in at a moderate 8% ABV.




Look: It pours a very deep mahogany brown with a sizable tan head that recedes to a ring after a short while but continues to serve up some thick lacing.

Aroma: It smells of chocolate, coffee, and vanilla and has what i can only call a crisp aroma that comes with a cooling, almost mint like, alcohol vapor character. I'm mostly a bourbon guy so my Irish whiskey knowledge is limited, but I think of it as generally being a bit sharper and less sweet that bourbon, and that's reflected in the aroma here. There's another prominent smell I can't quite put my finger on until I happen to glance at the can and suddenly see the words "Irish" and "Cream" in a different light - duh, it's Bailey's! The can makes no mention of Irish Cream liqueur or flavors though I do now notice that it says "stout with natural flavor", so they must have added some flavorings to try and mimic that character. Now that I'm thinking of it further, I think they might well have called this an "Irish Car Bomb Stout' if that wasn't such a problematic name. Regardless, if you liked those back in your college days you'll probably be pleased with the nose here

Taste: follows the nose and the Bailey's character is thankfully pretty restrained to my palate. My description of the nose might bring to mind a big, thick, ultra sweet sort of stout but things are reasonably understated here. The Jameson character is impressively present given the ABV. There's some nice coffee and just a touch of bitterness on the back end to finish off the swallow. The mouthfeel is not super thick, but for 8% ABV it does have some heft.

Overall: Honestly, if I'd been less oblivious and had realized this beer contained flavorings to make it taste like Bailey's I might have skipped it since I generally don't like my whiskey barrel aged beers to contain other flavors. But in retrospect this is really kind of a no-brainer combination that I'm surprised hasn't already been exploited given all the crazy pastry stout flavors that are out there. Maybe it has and I've just never noticed. Either way, I really enjoyed this and at $12 for a 4 pack of 16 oz. cans it's a steal.

 

Good Sunday afternoon, New Beer Samplers and commentators. And thank you, @lordofthewiens for hosting today. I was at a family reunion in a rural area of Downeast North Carolina last Fall shortly after Florance and heard some hair raising stories about snakes being found in surprising places. I didn't experience any but there were fire ants where there shouldn't have been. Onto beer. Today's review #1 is Crunchy Space Tacos, a DIPA brewed by Brix City Brewing in Little Ferry, NJ. This one uses taco shell and maize in the mash and an exotic hop bill of Motueka, Wakatu, and Vic Secret. It's like a tropical punch - in a good way. Brix City can be inconsistent but this is very good! Here's my review:

4.35/5 rDev 0%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

Poured from an undated-but recently released-can into a Spiegelau IPA glass. It pours a cloudy, honey-tangerine color with over a finger of fluffy, bright white head and a creamy film of lacing. On the nose there is light citrus: lemon, lime, grapefruit, and a fragrant bouquet of hops. It's very flavorful, bursting with lemon, lime, tangerine, and papaya. It also has sweetness from the taco shells and flaked maize used in the mash. And the South Pacific bill of Wakatu, Vic Secret, and Motueka hops provides additional fruity, refreshing taste. It has a tropical punch quality. It's medium-bodied with a pleasant level of carbonation, and a nice pop from the 8% ABV. Overall, Crunchy Space Tacos seems gimmicky on paper but it really works. It's highly flavorful and a lot of fun to drink. I found that I drained the glass before I knew it.

I hope you have tomorrow off for the holiday and are enjoying a new beer or two today. As always, the reviews are informative and fun to read. Cheers, everyone!

 

Take care, Dave!

 

I'm bopping in this afternoon a wee bit loopy after not sleeping well before the last couple of shifts so I'm coming up on 20 some odd hours awake with minimal preparatory sleep. It's gonna be great y'all.

Today I'm dipping back into the seemingly bottomless generosity generated during the bi/semi-annual NBS BIFs. This is from NBS BIF #8 courtesy of @Dragginballs76 and is Bombadile from Wicked Weed.



I must admit, for all the strawberry talk I was expecting something a bit rosy if not full on ruddy. But nope, it was a beautiful crisp clean clear golden colour with a pip of white head that settles nicely into the classic ring and archipelago format.

Nose is initially tart funk from the brett and soft malts that make me think wheat but I am probably way off base. As I let it sit and warm a touch the strawberries finally make an appearance.

The brett is certainly the driving force to this one, but I find the malt support (or lack thereof?) somewhat distracting. They seem to occupy an almost negative space... as the tart brett builds, instead of handing off to a climax it just kind of... carries over empty space before picking back up for the tart finish. Like if a song was supposed to have a solo (or at least a point at which it was obvious ______ instrument was supposed to be featured), but that track has just been mixed out, but the rest continues on and picks up on their cues to come back in as if that piece was there. Settling lets the berries emerge more and again I find my expectations challenged (a support for the classic wisdom that the best expectations are no expectations!). Where I was expecting more of the juicy sweet side of the berries, I get more of the plant side. The tart-er side of the berry it evokes images of the end of the berry where the stem and leaves are, and of the seeds. There is a sweet kiss to tie this component all together, but it's pretty subdued.

I enjoyed this well enough, but I liked the other saisons he sent more.
That being said, I am grateful for having the chance to try it and form that opinion on my own. Thanks Mike!



Cheers!

 

Maybe yours was blistering fresh? I feel like the veggie usually develops over a minute two. The floral though, like fresh tulips just sits in the nostrils at the end of taking it in. Then again everyone's receptors are a bit different. For instance, I get ripe veggie in damn near every NEIPA I have.

 

@FFFjunkie This goes out to you



Three Floyds Behemoth aged in Danish Cherry Wine Barrels

This beer drinking experience is a continuation of sorts from yesterday when I had the Bourbon Barrel Aged Behemoth (also courtesy of Dan!) ; a text book style example and a beer beyond reproach. I did not fully review it, but my brief notes were:

“I find the name ironic. While it is a “big” beer at 12.5% it is not beastly. In fact, it’s rather gentle. And that, my friends, is dangerous. Piney, lemony and earthy hops play off a caramel and toffee malt profile all tied together with the kiss of a bourbon barrel.”

That beer was cherry. It hypnotized me.



Here is a version aged not in Bourbon barrels, but rather barrels of Danish Cherry Wine, a spirit I have never had.



Appearance: This beer looks the same as the other one. It’s pretty. Opaque, murky,
light to dark brown/burnt sienna/ruby with a beige head that leaves a lot of sticky lacing. No visible carbonation.

Smell: Earthy and piney hop aromas combined with the sweet malt profile. Some caramel and toffee. This version smells more woody, with a more prominent fruity sweetness. More dark dried fruit like raisins and figs. Light notes of chocolate cherry cordial candy. No alcohol whatsoever.

I was not sure what to expect from the Danish Cherry Wine as opposed to the Bourbon, but the differences are rather subtle.

Flavor: The earthy, piney, lemony bitter hop flavor is here as well, but it is muted. Remove the sweet and sugary bourbon barrel notes (namely vanilla) and add in some more dark dried fruit notes, as well as semi sweet cherry notes and more wood. The beer finishes slightly bitter, which is nice, and expected from an American Barleywine.

Mouthfeel: Smooth and creamy. Sweet.

Overall: This beer is equally as drinkable for such a big beer. No alcohol distractions. Well done on that front. With that said, I like the Bourbon Barrel Aged version better. I think my initial impression of this beer was biased because I loved so much the version I had yesterday. I actually like this one more than I did upon first sniff and sip though. There’s nothing wrong with this beer, but I think the enhanced fruit and wood notes detract from the bright, lemony, hop profile I enjoyed in the bourbon version.

Somebody’s gotta die, and in this case it’s the Cherry Wine version



@joe1510

 

Trying this very nice Kuri Kuro. 4.25 for me. Cheers all.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/13096/172047/?ba=StraightNoChaser#review