New Beer Sunday (Week 734)

I really liked this one when I had it. It surprised me. The rum really complimented the stout and didn’t thin it out, like I feel it does with some.
Cheers!

These are my favorite type of stouts, and I love Decadent! Would love to see how this got handled myself.
Cheers!

 

Corned beef and cabbage is done, and to go with the meal, I'm having

Smithwicks Red Ale
ABV: 4.5%
IBU: 20




Aroma of lightly roasted malts, bread, and slightly sweet smelling.

Ruby-amber with a tall billowy head with excellent retention and lots of lacing down the glass as it does recede. The head is thick and creamy looking. Plenty of small of bubbles rising.

Sweet fruity taste, bread, little to no bittering (well, slightly in the middle). Hops taste is subtle, perhaps earthy, a little spice and fruit.

Light body and a smooth finish. Malty-sweet aftertaste with just a touch of bittering.

Easy drinking. While not an top tier beer, it is enjoyable and at 4.5% ABV just about right for a St. Patrick's Day session.

L: 4
S: 3.25
T: 3.5
F: 3.25
O: 3.5

Works out to a BA rating of 3.45

 

I thought this would at least be a neutral zone?!

 

HOMES Milkshake sour. Says "Go Shawty, It's Sherbert Day" on the bottom, which was amusing. This was amazing. Hazy pink color, nice head retention/spotty lacing. Aromas and flavors of huge juicy/tart/tangy pink guava, fruit skin, lemon, lime, orange, grapefruit, peach, pear, apricot, melon, passion fruit, berries, citrus peel/zest, hay, straw, and grass; with moderate vanilla, cream, wheat, cracker, white bread dough malts; light peppercorn, lacto funk, and yeast earthiness. Light-moderate fruity/lactic tartness, fruit tang, and light spiciness on the finish. Medium-plus carbonation, light-medium body, and fairly crisp finishing. Balanced creamy/silky/grainy wheat/lactose, lactic acid, and fruit tang/tannins in the mouthfeel. Light-moderate increasing acidic/tangy fruit dryness, zero puckering. Super refreshing, not overly lactic, 6.3%. Amazing balance of big juicy/jammy guava, Lacto complexity, lactose, and pale/wheat malts against acidity. Light residual sweetness with crisp dryness. I need to attend a release sometime for sure. 4.35


Cheers

 

Greetings fellow NBSers! A sunny and warming late winter day here in the Fourth Corner, as I do my best to avoid the silliness and repetitive music of this amateur hour holiday. I am making a slight nod to the day however, with a beer I received from @JodiB in the recently completed Rookies BIF (Psst Jodi, if you post in this thread sometimes, you become eligible for the next NBS BIF. Just saying.), a nice Red Lager from Michigan: https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/24808/178577/

I'll probably be back in a bit with another.

 

I agree. It actually matches the rest of the House now for the most part.

 

Amen. '82.

 

Perennial Sump Imperial Stout with Coffee. Maybe the best straight up coffee stout I've ever had

It's been 65/70 and sunny here in Arkansas all day and I'm eating up every second of it.

Full review coming later because I'm working on guitars and jamming Gary Clark Jr live shows out here and loving it. Corned beef boiling up, cheers everybody!!!

 

Icarus - Vlad To Be Here. A 14.5% Russian Imperial Stout brewed with honey, brown sugar, cinnamon, coffee, and vanilla.



Canned 2.5 months ago. Pours near-black with a thin ring of tan head (4.5)

The nose is root beer, chocolate, vanilla, and roast (4.25)

The taste is nice chocolate and vanilla up front, with lingering bitter coffee on the backend (4)

The mouthfeel starts medium+ and drops out a bit as the bitterness comes in (4)

Overall, this opens delicious, with chocolate and complex malt on the front-end, but the finish isn't quite as luxurious as the big boys (4.25) - 4.14 rDev -0.2%

 

As it was my Anniversary weekend, I shall go with an anniversary beer!!!

Beer: Anniversary XXII (2018 Vintage)
Brewery: Firestone Walker (Paso Robles, CA)
ABV: 12.7%

First off, I have to say I love the time and care that FSW puts into these Anniversary beers. You can just tell they care about it.


Anyway, pouring from a 12 oz. bottle into a snulip glass, this beer pours out like a medium roast coffee. It’s brown, but I wouldn’t say dark brown. It forms in the glass darker with some ruby highlights throughout. A thin, oatmeal colored crown was formed before dissipating into the abyss, leaving only a small island of bubbles. 3.75

It carries dark fruit to the nose; sweet raisins, plums and dates while tangling with a clean aspect of leather and wood barrel the whole way through. Bourbon is detectable, but the barrel aspect itself is more forward. It also brings some lighter notes of tropical, coconut like presence bouncing off of, for lack of better words, a botanical presence to me. A gorgeous, complex nose that has me excited moving forward. 4.5

On the first initial sip, it brings a silky, milk chocolate presence. It then melds into the light fruit, coconut, tropical, botanical side of things. Figs and dates are still in there, while raisins fade to more of a very slight memory. It has some sweetness to it with the layers of chocolate along with slight caramel and vanilla, but it’s not overdone whatsoever. The barrel presence is still coming through as extremely clean. 4.5

The dry, leather-y barrel presence is a major player in the mouthfeel as well. The sweetness leads it to feeling more full than I was expecting, ending up on the heavy side of medium bodied. It doesn’t seem like there is much carbonation, but that’s a good thing here. The mouthfeel is usually where the barrel aged offerings from FSW lose me, but this didn’t. 4.25

Overall, this doesn’t disappoint. A complex, and beautifully clean blend of brews. 4.25

I’ll still be catching up on your reviews, but I’m done for myself for the night.

Cheers NBS!

 

Aren’t we all?

 

Awesome session Coffee Stout. Fantastic rocky head retention/soapy lacing. Aromas and flavors of big milk/dark chocolate, cocoa, dark roast coffee, caramel, brown sugar, toffee, toasted biscuit, roasted nuts, and dark/brown bread/crust; with lighter notes of vanilla, molasses, licorice, dark fruit, smoke, charcoal, herbal, grass, pepper, and yeast earthiness. Light-moderate herbal, floral, grassy peppery hops; and roast, charred, coffee bitterness on the finish. Medium carbonation/body. Creamy, silky, bready, grainy malts; some sticky hops, and chalky char/roast on the mouthfeel. Light-moderate increasing hop/char bitter dryness, no cloying, acrid, astringency. Very smooth, not overly bitter/charred, very flavorful for 5.3%. Awesome balance of rich dark/black/roast/bready malts, fruity/nutty coffee complexity, and earthy hops against sweetness. Wonderful. 4.13


Cheers

 

I’m having to exercise some major self control after reading your review. I’ve got a bottle of that in my fridge giving me the evil eye right now. But alas, I’m saving it for my poor target in the NBS BIF. That’s a bonus hint for y’all following along.

 

Good afternoon and happy New Belgian Sunday, BA's. Yeah, I know. A Belgian beer to start off St. Pat's. Whatever…

Anyway, lot of big stuff going on at work during this gorgeous week in the great Northwest, but not a hell of a lot at home. Which is fine as I'm good with relaxing and enjoying a new bier from the very generous @Beersnake1 . A just about 1 year old bottle of:

De Dolle
Oerbier- Belgian Dark Strong Ale





Quintessential dark unfiltered cherry juice color bordering dried blood. The memory foam pillow on top even resembles the same khaki coloring. It looks so plush and soft I actually thought about laying my head on it. I didn't. The sheet after sheet of lacing is very impressive.

Ahhhh, that aroma. Such a wonderful change of pace. Dark fruits galore with fig and prune, even a little splash of Welch's Grape. Classic clove and spices are dialed back from your more familiar Belgian Darks. A touch of caramel and a helping of Earth.

Some of those aromas come through in the flavor, but surprisingly muted, or transformed to say the least. Stone fruit hard candies, red grape, and toffee like sugary goodness pave the path for an herbal, dusty, and boozy finish.

That soft pillow transcends into the feel, with tiny foamy bursts everywhere. Not as sweet as the aroma would imply as a bitter bite quickly takes over. The alcohol is very warming, and it finishes parching dry.

A delicious Belgian Dark ale, and just the right size. Unless you were to share of course, but I'd rather not with this here beer.

After my official review, I gave Oerbier a rating of 4.24 with an rDev of +1.2% .

Cheers, and thanks again Tim!

 

Hello New Beer Sunday!!!

I'll start off by addressing what @lordofthewiens started us off with. I live in St. Cloud, MN (well, actually a suburb of St. Cloud). We have the 2nd largest university in the state here, and I graduated from it back in 1996 with a degree in Political Science, and a minor in Public Administration. A degree which I really don't use. My school is huge in the college hockey scene, and are usually ranked high in D1 college hockey. Right now they're #1 in the nation, and will, likely, be #1 in the NCAA tournament in a few weeks.

Now, let's hope they, finally, win it all.

Next, on to the beer.

I wasn't sure I was going to have anything tonight. I really messed up my back last week, and am in a bit of pain. At least I'm going to the chiropractor on Tuesday to get it fixed.

So, for the beer:

Rustech Brewing Sweet Inferno Wheat.

I picked this up when I finally made the trek to Monticello, MN to visit Rustech, and Nordic there. This sounded interesting to me, because I am a HUGE chili head, and I love spice and heat.

So how is it?

Well, I'd say it's a mess.

It starts out great. Looks good, and smells good. At that point it drops off the cliff. There's not much flavor, and minimal heat. These things can work together well, or horribly wrong. In this case it didn't work well.

I'd really hope they take another look at this beer, and work on it a bit, because it isn't ready for prime time. I don't know if I'll even finish it, to be honest.

Review:
3.13/5 rDev 0%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 2.75 | feel: 2.75 | overall: 2.75

Pours a turbid, murky reddish color. 2 finger frothy white head. The retention is good. The head dissiaptes into a cool looking foam, that clings to the side of the glass.
The nose is almost fruit smelling. Nice sweet aroma. Very pleasing. I also get a faint hint of heat. Just mild, but also pleasing.
Taste - Bland. None of the fruit sweetness I got on the nose. There's a slight bit of heat on the backside, but mild.
The body is light, and watery. The heat, like I said in the flavor, is minimal, but it does linger in my throat.
Not impressed at all with this beer. It had such promise, but just turned into a mess.


Even if I drain pour it, this will be it for tonight. I'll see you all next week.

Cheers!

 

I've been waiting three months to open this...

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/46317/404430/



375 ml. bottle.
Moderate pour yields a fleeting 1/4 inch white head over a bright golden body with no lacing. Nose of hay, slight funk, and peaches, peaches, and more peaches. Wonderful flavors of sweet and sour; sweet peach and sour peach skin. Wow! Mouthfeel is champagne-like with a definite wine-like (sauvignon blanc?) finish. As it warms, there is also a hint of oak on the nose. Overall, I feel honored to have had the opportunity to try this gem. Cheers to John K. for his vision, and his crew!

 

You are safe nowhere.....