New Beer Sunday (Week 734)

New Milk Stout Sunday (Week 734)
Greeting fellow NBSers from on the ridge in Mid Hud Val, NY. Happy St. Pats to those of the persuasion, and to the green for a day crowd too. I am a green guy to the core every day, but not in the Irish way lol.

Funny to speak of colleges and universities big and small, and their athletic programs. I went to school at SUNY New Paltz. We were small time in athletics, but in my first year at the school Time magazine named us the no. 1 party school in the country. We beat out Berkeley, no less. I got thrown out of school after two years due to being one of the leaders of the campus anti war movement, but in my second year the school's soccer team did very well and advanced far into the lower level NCAA's.

It was due completely to foreign students, one of whom was a barely five foot tall striker with a cannon for a leg, from Asia, named Bob Hippie (can't make this shit up) and another talented foreign student from Africa who was a fantastic passer, named Eliot Pobi Assari. Strange how time makes possible the weirdest coincidences, and it was many years later, when I got work finally at a Hotel in the Gunks that let me move out of the woods, that I found Eliot working there as a busboy. He was now a hopeless drunk who polished off a half gallon of vodka by the end of every night. He lived in the dorm I lived in, just down the hall. Sadly, his health deteriorated for the six years I knew him at the Hotel, and it wasn't a surprise to read of his death some years later. The surprise was seeing his death make the paper as local interest, but I guess not so much considering the part he played in SUNY New Paltz' brief and only claim to sports success.

For today's beer I have a stout, but not in the dry stout tradition to be sure. Beekman 1802 Goat Milk Stout, from Ommegang


Roast coffee and a cream note too mix with cocoa and roasty bitter to make a wonderful aroma. A touch of earthy herbal comes in as it warms, makes it even better.

Mmmm, just like the aroma, including the creamy note. Just the right amount of sweet and bitter in this to make it delicious.

The flavors wouldn't work this well if this was thicker bodied, or had more carbonation. Plenty of body, though, to make it work, but it drinks easy, very soft on palate, with a finish that is a clean linger of beauty.

A real treat and not at all in the Belgian yeast flavor tradition these guys favor. Clean and tasty this is, and I recommend it to all.

Hope you also have a Great American Beer in your glass. Cheers!

 

A-Pours a hazy amber color with a slight head and lacing
A-Aroma has malt hints
T-The taste follows the nose with a maltt flavor
M-A medium bodied well carbonated beer
O-A nice IPA

 

Ok, my first official review from my newfound local brewery, Settle Down Easy:


The half pour (love breweries that offer these) gave me a slightly different perspective on this beer than the flight review I have above. The pepper still dominated the nose, but I ended up missing the bite that I like it a jalapeño beer - specifically a light sting that builds as you sip.
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/54969/390992/?ba=cjgiant#review

The brewery’s story is a fairly typical one (though navigation to it within the website is lacking). They spend a few paragraphs on their logo and the fact their name is taking from a Grateful Dead song, and a kind offering from another craft brewery:

Cheers, all!

 

New beer #5.

Guava Pineapple Double Milkshake IPA - Tired Hands
DIPA - 9% abv
Canned 3/7/18 (10 days ago)
Purchased for $24/4 at Tired Hands
Score: 4.03 (-4% rDev)



Review:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/28383/403570/?ba=CanConPhilly#review

Synopsis:
Quite sweet, as usual for the double milkshakes. Pleasing guava and pineapple fruit flavor, but very little hop presence or bitterness. As such this is way out of balance. But as TH milkshakes go, this is in line with the style, so most will like it.

 

I had had one other Brut IPA, Sierra Nevada, but based on a @superspak description, I went out and picked up a New Belgium Brut IPA



A-Pours a clear golden color with a nice head head and lacing
A-Aroma has tropical fruit hints
T-The taste follows the nose with a crisp tropical fruit flavor
M-A light bodied very well carbonated beer
O-A decent Brut IPA

A decent change of pace beer.

 

I may not have helped my school's athletic program, but I def. did my part in making us the #1 party school in the country.

Sadly the past tense verb you use is accurate. Still staunchly anti war, but not so active anymore. Nowadays I see Americans' toxic and unsustainable lifestyles, not American war and aggression, as far bigger threats to our planet's habitability.

 

It might be my imagination, but I feel like stouts that have an ABV in the teens are becoming more common these days.

 

Having had both, I couldn’t agree more! Hops, imo, should contribute to the well made, enjoyable Barleywine...and are often missing in action. Cheers my friend!

 

Paging Dr @zid...

The head brewer at Settle Down Easy used to work at Heavy Seas, who do tend towards more approachable styles and interpretations, in my opinion. This fits with Settle Down Easy’s website proclamation.

However, while I think Heavy Seas can brew a not-so-recognizable style of beer, I wonder if the brewer/brewery owners took a marketing approach to naming versus a stylistic approach with this one. Named [The] British Pale Ale, it’s not very pale, and doesn’t seem to have the requisite amount of bitterness, either.


As I noted in my review, I think this beer has quite a few things in common with a British Dark Mild, specifically:

This is a very enjoyable toasty malty beer with just enough bitterness to keep the malt from being overwhelming. Maybe I’m out in left field here, but I think it’s a decent Dark Mild that I’d love to try on cask.

 

G' afternoon NBS-ers!


2017 vintage.
Pours a dark black, dark brown on the edges when held up to the lighr.
Aromas of charred oak and dark chocolate and booziness.
Taste follows suit with the charred oak up front with dark bitter chocolate notes and vanilla on the end.
Mouthfeel is full and coats the tongue with a thick luscious body.
Overall a great beer that just gets better and more flavorful as it warms. Definitely a beer to take your time and enjoy. No need to rush it.

Cheers!

 

I agree completely, that balanced bitter bite is what makes a great BW shine.

 

Onto NBS # 2 here players.

This is Scaphism, imperial stout w/ milk sugar, honey, vanilla, and cacao, from Nightmare brewing. This again, is contract/gypsies brewed/canned at Great South Bay, and done by a current brewer at Sand City as a side project. The title and label art work again refer to the ancient torture/death practice. If you read into the method you will find the brewing ingredients to be rather ironic as well. The brew checks in at a whopping 17% abv and no canning date. Needless to say, this will be my final beer of the day.

A jet black color on the pour with a big frothy brown head. A bit more carbonation than I had expected. The nose is heavy with malt and maybe a touch of lactose. The initial sips are big with rich chocolate malt and booze ass all hell. A nice lush and smooth flow that finishes with plenty of bitter and alcohol burn. The more it warms and I become accustom to the base the more the nice hidden flavors come out. Nice notes of cocoa, coffee, espresso, smoke, burnt toast, tannin, lactose, vanilla, cinnamon, and anise. Full bodied with good stick and lingering flavors. It has a crazy nice mix between the robust and the sweet decadent notes. The abv is big and in your face the whole time and I'm really feeling it.

Overall, I fucking love it. Easily a 4.5 to even a possible 5 on certain aspects.

 

Poured into a 13 oz Kettlehead Snulip glass not sure when it was canned but I trust my source. Pours an attractive hazy orange yellow with a 2 finger sticky white head that leaves massive rings of lace behind. 4.25

Smell is papaya, tangerine, pineapple, apricot, and a little grapefruit rind. 4.25

Taste follows tropical all the way papaya, tangerine, pineapple, apricot, and a tiny hit of grapefruit bitterness in the finish. 4.25

Mouthfeel is bigger than medium, gentle soft carbonation, not dry but sticky, and at 7.7% more flavor than most, but easy drinking. 4.25

Overall these guys don’t disappoint, a really excellent NEDIPA! 4.25

 

Well, today has been busy. After 8hrs of bartending a St Patrick’s day event last night that ended at 11, I was back up by 7 to get some stuff done around the house. The first 2-1/2hrs were spent picking up a whole winters worth of dog shit. Changed out the cream colored switches and outlets in the nursery to bright white ones, per the wife’s demand *cough* request. Replaced a ceiling fan in the guest room. Took the old satellite dish off of the roof, filled all the holes, and replaced 2 sheets of shingles. I think it’s time to enjoy some televised sports and a brew. Flipping back and forth between the Michigan/Michigan State game and the NASCAR Auto Club 400.

This is from Urban Artifact out of Cincinnati, OH. The last couple beers I had from them were fruit beers and they were both delightful, so I have high hopes for this one.

Pinwheel


This one is an orange gose clocking in at a perfect ABV of 4.5%. The color is a bright gold with just a tough of haziness. There is an abundance of bright, white head that quickly dissipates into a tiny ring around the glass. The nose gives just the faintest whiff of an underlining sour. Not much else popping out to me. First sip has a quick and gentle sour bite but then it gives way to a bit of orange creamsicle like flavor. Not overly fruited, which is ok with me for a gose. The taste says creamy, but the feel is very thin. Overall this is is up there with some of the best examples of the style I’ve had.