New Beer Sunday (Week 740)

Happy New American IPA Sunday!

A pretty nice day here on the Western Slope, at the trailhead, some sun, mostly cloudy, very windy, around low 70s. Not a new beer, but it's all I have left. Watching some NHL playoffs. Probably some more Star Trek Discovery later on.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/18006/292702/?ba=Wasatch#review

Cheers!

 

Thanks to @lordofthewiens for the great opening this morning. As someone in healthcare, I also have strong opinions about vaccines and I could not agree more with what has already been said. I often wonder if schmucks like Dr. Oz fuel some of the distrust in mainstream medicine.

Today's first new beer was a perfect addition to a sunny afternoon outside:


Fairly hazy and golden in color. A vigorous pour produced a fluffy white head that settled quickly. The aroma was exactly what I was expecting, with bright lemon, restrained cucumber, wheat, and a slightly minty aspect. Same with the taste: the lemon and cucumber really blended nicely, creating for me a totally unique flavor. Slightly tart with enough salt to notice. Medium bodied and packed full of flavor for a 4% beer. This was absolutely delicious. Boy, I wish I had access to this one in the summer!

 

That one had a real cult following when I got into craft beer. It used to only be distributed to the western half of a state that is 559 miles across. The wine shop here that is also the only real bottle shop ended up selling some. It seemed they were driving to the nearest city 100 miles away to pick it up and charging a small markup. They ended up getting into a bit of trouble at the time over the ordeal. Really was a good marketing move back then to get the hype ramped up. I’m not surprised at the rating and bet more local drinkers would give it 5’s if they found it on BA.

 

Good Afternoon, oops Evening all.
Unfortunately I had to head in to the restaurant for a bit so Im late today.
Still have many new beers to try from @WesMantooth generous BIF box.
Split this lighter offering to start with Kim.
Madtree Brewing -Shade -Tart Blackberry Ale with Sea Salt
Pours a beautiful light purple hue with a pinkish foamy head that stands for minutes settling to a ring with nice spotty lacing.
Aroma is yup lots of fresh blackberry with some yeast notes and grassiness.
Taste is delicious blackberry with tart apple and fine sea salt.
Feel is light bodied, crisp, tangy, with nice tiny bubble carb throughout.
A real thirst quencher with an over abundance of fruit and a saltiness in the gose style. An excellent post workout brew and another tasty brew from Corey. Thank You kindly. Gonna eat some food and then on to aome stronger stuff.
Cheers!

 

Foam/Dunham Grounds for Divorce

 

Poured into a 13 oz Funk Brewing Teku glass canned on 03/25/19. Pours a slightly hazy orange with a finger plus sticky white head that leaves a thin wall of lace behind as it slowly settles. 4.25

Smell is papaya, mandarin, peach, mango, and grapefruit rind. 4

Taste follows tropical all the way with some hints of bitterness really well balanced and tasty. 4

Mouthfeel is a big medium, plenty of life slightly soft, a little sticky from all the fresh hops, and at 7.8% extremely drinkable. 4

Overall this is a cross, not a true NEIPA but it has a huge NE influence, tasty stuff. Thanks @jzeilinger for this can. 4

 

Beer I received via the NBS BIF from @Jimmy_Kneecaps via a LIF win that was forwarded to me from @brutalfarce
Thanks guys!

Process Control DIPA from Southern Grist Brewing Company

Pours a bright yellow, hazy, bubbly foam head has a slightly straw colored tint. Sticky bubble lacing hangs on the side of the glass.

Aroma is juicy citrus. Sweet orange and zesty lemon and grapefruit. A bit of tropical fruit.

Flavor is full of juicy citrus. Some papaya tropical fruity hop flavor followed by layers of lemon, sweet orange and some yellow grapefruit. A bit of earthy greenness hangs around too.

Moderate carbonation and medium body. Soft and bright.

Overall a nice brew. Flavor is bright and clean. Nothing battles the other flavors. All blend together nicely.

 

More brand new Speciation. First review as usual. Awesome as expected. Solid fluffy head retention, minimal lacing. Aromas and flavors of big juicy/tart/tangy limes, lemon, citrus peel/zest, hibiscus, cranberry, strawberry, gooseberry, peach, pear, apricot, passion fruit, papaya, mango, watermelon, red/green apple, white grape/wine, peppercorn, hay, straw, herbal, floral, and grass; with moderate wheat, cracker, white bready malts; light leathery/musty/lacto funk, and yeast earthiness. Light-moderate fruity/lactic tartness; peppery Brett spiciness; hibiscus tang; and light herbal, floral, grassy bitterness on the finish. Medium-plus carbonation, light-medium body, and fairly crisp finishing. Balanced bready/grainy wheat, lactic acid, hibiscus tang, and light sticky hops in the mouthfeel. Light-moderate increasing acidic, tangy, spicy, carbonated dryness; no pucker/astringency. Very flavorful/refreshing, not watery for 3.6%. Very well rounded Brett/bacteria complexity; with balanced Citra hops, limes, and hibiscus flavors; with a solid pale/wheat malt backbone against acidity. Minimal residual sweetness with crisp dryness. Another spot on wild ale. 4.1


Cheers

 

This is my absolute favorite German-style pilsner! I strongly recommend anyone in the PNW (or visiting the PNW) give this beer a try,

 

There was controversy when some of the MN hospitals required their medical staff to get the annual flu shot. Amazing.

 

OK, on to my second amber ale...

Bell's Amber Ale
Another beer of long-standing I am just getting around to trying. Fortunately, this one is much better than the other I reviewed earlier today.



Deep amber color, slightly hazy, moderate to light carbonation. Tall creamy off-white head receding very slowly, leaving thick lacing. Aroma is sweet bready malts, with a touch of citrus and toffee. Very attractive and inviting aroma. A bit of floral comes through after a few minutes. Sweet and mild taste, bready malts, honey, toffee balanced with a very slight bitterness in the late middle to finish. Body is moderate, with a little carbonation on the tongue . Quite enjoyable and easy drinking.

L: 4 | S: 4 | T: 3.75 | F: 3.5 | O: 3.75 | BA: 3.8

ABV: 5.8%
IBU: 32

 

This is my first Berliner experience w/ Stoneface. These guys have been well known for their really good IPAs over the past few years, so it's interesting (and maybe inevitable) they're now doing fruited quick-sours. The cool thing with this is it's so low-alcohol that you could probably have a bunch of them and never really feel it. Like a real Berliner!

Pours a hazy golden color with a smallish white head that has some decent legs to it. Though it quickly-dissipates to almost nothing, it still has a wispy ring of suds around 3/4 of the rim of the glass after five or so minutes. Small pours of the remaining liquid in the can build this head up slightly once again, only for it to collapse almost immediately. Decent looking, but not inspiring or anything special.

The nose is mango and pineapple, as expected, but it's not overwhelming by any means. Somewhat plastic-y and with some other anonymous tropical fruits, but not much happens here. It's not very aromatic outside of the initial blast of the fruits they used, and even that isn't jumping out of the glass. Kind of just has a sour candy-like smell.

Flavor is much more impressive. VERY sour but also quite characterful and has a lot of real fruit essence. I really enjoy sipping on this one, especially when I take into account that it's a lower ABV Berliner than a lot of them these days. Juicy and fruity with a lot of mango and pineapple flavor. Also has some tart lemony acidity, which kinda comes with the territory. Overall, though, the profile is super tropical and has a certain "sweatiness" and heft to it that I usually associate with tropical fruit beers, for sure. Feels quenching but also very filling somehow. Fun stuff. I would drink it again!

 

My son graduated today from Eastern Michigan U and we enjoyed the commencements, he starts his full time position tomorrow, zero student debt and mid 50s to start. So I offer to split a cellar beer with him in celebration and he picks this whale, that came via @JBowenGeorgia NBS 9. Smart kid!
This beer is a very complex huge vanilla, cocoa, a bit spicey, sticky thick and rich mouth feel. A big thanks for sharing this bottle John!

 

Hello, NBS friends and confidants. Thanks to our friend @lordofthewiens for posting a heartfelt opening post that touches on a sensitive subject, but is something we should all take seriously.

Vaccinations to me are like seat belts - if your option, when you get into a motor vehicle, is to wear a seat belt or not wear a seat belt, I don’t understand the logic of those that choose to eschew a seat belt. What advantage does that give you in the motor vehicle? The same applies to vaccinations, IMHO.

On to the beers I’m offering for your perusal tonight. The first is a beer sent my way in NBS BIF Nein from my beer nerd friend @beerloserLI (and the glassware is courtesy of him in NBS BIF #4 - is he magnificent or what?).

PS: Ranger says “Hello!” He is watching a critter in the neighbor’s yard, trying to figure out how to eat it.







4.46/5 rDev +3.2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5

The pineapple-juice-in-a-glass look so ubiquitous for the NE-style IPA, all underneath a foamy eggshell-white head, this beer is rife with dank citrus aromas, especially pineapple and oranges, and there’s a spicy aroma I associate with Nelson Sauvin hops.

The taste reflects the dank citrus flavors noted on the nose, and the bitterness referenced on the label (118 IBU’s) is present, which is decidedly not to the NE-style IPA. The mouthfeel is a bit soft, but overall this is exceptionally well-executed by a world-class brewery.

 

That was a fun read. I think your sense of nuance is spot on. You really pulled a lot outta this one. The first time I had it, I knew what it was. But it really did start off a little heavier in the beginning for me, (for a wheatwine). The bourbon barrel and vanilla playing off of the raspberry took this one all over the place for me, (in a good way). I intentionally did not review or tick this one, hoping my next NBS BIF victim liked berries. I'm glad it challenged you.

 

Bell's Expedition Stout
10.5% ABV Russian Imperial Stout
Bottled September 2018



Served around 50 degrees and sipped slowly. Pours near-black with a thin tan head. The nose is dark chocolate, roast, and pine with a savory edge and a faint metallic note. The taste is dark chocolate, coffee, and cherry with a light hit of booze and bitter pine on the finish. The mouthfeel is medium+. Overall, tasty with herbal bitterness. 4.15 rDev -2.6%

 

We rolled up the road to Tucked Away Brewing Co, and I wasn’t going to post anything, but this brewery had a couple decent offerings that indicate a better overall quality product to me than our last brewery. Their IPAs are mostly weak on bitterness (and they’re not NE style), but fine as old school APAs.

Anyhow, I had a nice porter, Pop Smoke Cherrywood (proclaimed English, its bitterness seemed fairly malt-driven). Then I had this:


A barrel-aged amber ale, a base style I am not a huge fan of. I figured this would be too much wood (like @zid and his Hell on Wood), too boozy, or too ambery. It is none of those, to me.

5 Round KO looks like a red-headed amber ale from my memories. Her hair is a bit thin, but barrel age will do that to you. Her perfume doesn’t hide the alcohol component of it, but it plays into the expected scents, light caramel malt with a cherry slant. A medium-light kiss upon the lips is slightly sweet, but the intertwining of... flavors brings on some dry wood, light whiskey, and in the end, a slightly jammy preserve on light toast for breakfast. No attachments here, we break off clean. But I, at least, want to replay the encounter and the beer just sits there anticipating this and agrees to another go.

I do have a brief “review” of this beer, but I am intrigued how well the brewer took a base I didn’t think could withstand barrel aging and made it very enjoyable. I will note KO Distilling is nearby and I have not had anything by them. The pairing on this offering is spot on, and I am now as curious about the spirit barrel provider.

Lastly, even more than the aforementioned Eavesdrop, I’m looking forward to seeing more from Tucked Away.