New Beer Sunday (Week 744)

Poured into a 16 oz Nordic pint glass canned on 4/24/19. Pours a slightly hazy yellow orange with a finger sticky white head that leaves some thick patches of lace, nice retention. 4.25

Smell is mandarin, apricot, melon, and a little grapefruit rind. 4

Taste follows apricot, mandarin orange, fresh melon, and just a little grapefruit bitterness. 4

Mouthfeel is big, a touch sticky but not dry, soft gentle carbonation, and at 8.2% extremely drinkable. 4.25

Overall this is another excellent beer from these guys. Always a tad expensive, but they put out a quality product. 4

 

New Beer #2
A re-release after a few years hiatus...

The review:
12oz bottle PKG 05/10/2019 (16 days ago) poured into a snifter at fridge temp 6% ABV. The beer pours hazy orange amber in color with a high volume of tiny snow globe floaties. The head is off white in color and recedes to fat ring leaving some lacing. The aroma is bright citrus, pine and spicy rye. The taste is earthy rye at first with moderate to high bitterness coming through in the middle revealing resinous flavors of citrus and pine. The mouthfeel is medium bodied, adequately carbonated and mostly dry in the finish. There is some hop oil stickiness. Overall, very good. Earthy and bitter in a good way.

I'm out. Six nightshifts start tonight. Which leads me to ponder @lordofthewiens opening. My mom's folks were in their late 30s when I was born. When I was young my grandpa worked graveyard shifts and milked 80 head of dairy cows. He's 84 now and raises five acres of garden, which he picks himself, to sell at the farmer's market. Not because he needs the money, but because he worries that people in his small town don't have access to fresh vegetables. It makes my long hours in a steel mill seem like a cake walk. Enough rambling, grandparents can make a real impact. Cheers all and enjoy the new beer in your glass!

 

Happy Sunday, NBS crew! @Franfab sent me a killer box this week, that included this long-time want. Along with the accompanying superstar glass and opener. I was going to save this, but I’ve been waiting years to try it so here we go!

Fundamental Observation - Bottle Logic
BA Imperial Vanilla Stout - 13.2% abv
Vintage 2018
Score: 4.45 (-5.1% rDev)



Review:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/33824/172669/?ba=CanConPhilly#review

Synopsis:
Now this is a big-boy stout. Booze is prominent, especially in the nose, but that barrel tastes wonderful. As it warms, the booze mellows out and settles into balance with the milk chocolate, vanilla, and surprisingly bitter roast. The body is so creamy, and a 5 in my book. Also this is my new-favorite glass. Thanks so much Frank!

 

A-Pours a hazy golden color with a nice head and lacing
A-Aroma has mango and citrus hop hints
T-The taste follows the nose with mango and citrus hop flavors
M-A medium bodied decently carbonated beer
O-A nice Imperial IPA

 

Happy New CANned Modern Twin Peak Evil Times Beer Sunday (Week 744)!

I am not doing much this weekend. Ever since Gulf War I, I have gained a greater appreciation for the idea and sentiment behind the holiday. Both grandfathers were in WWI, Pops was Korean War-era Navy & Uncle Rick, Pops' younger brother & the father of Colby Chandler of Ballast Point, was in Viet Nam as a Navy aviation navigator.

They've all passed & Pops' illness was part of the impetus for my taking early retirement (15.25 years vice 20) from the Navy over twenty (20) years ago. PapPap Chandler is buried way south in Lancaster County, making it a real challenge to get down to his gravesite while PapPap Kirsch is in nearby St. Anthony of Padua Cemetery, across from Burrowes ES, where I routinely substitute teach. I bring him condensed or evaporated milk for his coffee as well as Jumble puzzles that I have collected each time that I visit. It is good to have favorite things during one's lifetime so that one's legacy can be continued. Pops & Rick were both cremated & their ashes consigned according to their wishes.

There is a belief that you die three times: 1) When you cease to live & breathe; 2) When your remains are buried or scattered & 3) When the last person who remembers you dies. That last is why Memorial Day is so important.

I kicked today off on a Sour note:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/13884/378834/?ba=woodychandler#review

followed by:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/13884/352756/?ba=woodychandler#review

& now, things were off & running! I CAN only hope that @zid survives his MInhas encounter. 8=(

 

Good Afternoon NBS and thanks @lordofthewiens for the start today, Every year the Friday of Memorial Day weekend. the Town parade winds through the Riverside Cemetery, of which my wife and I are long time trustees, The cemetery dates from the towns incorporation in 1718, Each year at this event the names of ALL those lost in battle are read aloud, flowers placed, bell rung, and Taps played by the Frontier Regional High School Band, There are those names from The French and Indian, Revolutionary, Civil, Each WW, Korea, Vietnam, and thankfully none since.
Then the highest GPA senior from the high school one male one female reads the Gettysburg Address, and then In Flanders Field. This is a long tradition and one I hope continues in showing our respect.

Todays offering is from Big Elm Brewing in Sheffield Ma, billed as a Czech Pils, it is very good on the palate and has a solid but narrow, flavor band. The entire experience is quite enjoyable with no flaws and no surprises. And that can be a very good thing
Cheers all
Beer With No Name

Big Elm Brewing
German Pilsner

3.84/5 rDev 0% | Score: 3.84
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Poured from a can purchased at the brewery, into the test glass
A - A slight haze, light honey colored backdrop allows viewing of the gentle carbonation parade top side.
S - A bit narrow in this aspect, Some cracker, light white toast, a reminder of cut grass and some lemon reduction
T - Again a bit narrow in this aspect, follows the nose well, simple and nothing out of place.
M - On the medium side with gentle carbonation, their is again a narrow band this operates in, that said, the balance between the bittering hops and the malt base is very good. A well executed offering. Billed as a Czech Pilsner, on the packaging I can very much appreciate the goal and the outcome.

 

They make some terrible stuff

 

New beer #2. Thanks @thisischuck01 !

Triple Space Diamonds - Other Half
IIPA - 10.5% abv
Canned 5/7/19 (19 days ago)
Score: 4.14 (-6.8% rDev)



Review:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/33510/416291/?ba=CanConPhilly#review

Synopsis:
Not as tasty as the regular Space Diamonds. Galaxy is still at the forefront of the nose and taste, but the alcohol presence is abrasive, and stomps on a lot of that goodness. Looks and feels great though, just like the original. I applaud OH for trying new things though with their core beers. Just keep releasing the OG DDH Space Diamonds, please! That remains my favorite OH IPA.

 

Tree House Doubleganger DIPA

Happy Sunday, BAs. Hope you all have and are enjoying your extended weekends.

Today’s (first?) new beer came to me courtesy of a generous BA named @zekeman17, who I met for the the first time this week. Got another handshake tick this week with @bl00 and may try a new beer from him later.

Doubleganger pours a cloudy orange on the borderline of murky and vibrant. It has a thin finger of creamy-looking, tan-tinted head that leaves thick lacing.

There’s a big aroma of mango, pineapple, herbs, white pepper, yeast.

Nice fruit medley stands out up front in the taste: mango, pineapple, peach and fairly strong lime, along with some more herbs and a soft earthy, citrusy bitterness in the finish.

It has a full, pillowy feel with a great fizzy carb addition just cutting through.

From start to finish, an all-around excellent beer and perfect example of the sub-style. Thanks, Jeff. This is a real pleasure.

 

Brewdog radio zombie
Solid black appearance with no head
..just below average carbonation with a heavy body. Slightly thick creamy feel
...aroma is alcohol forward followed by roasted malt,and dark roasted coffee. Earthy,peat, dark bitter cocoa
...taste is roasted oily coffee beans and malt. Earthy,burnt wood, alcohol, a little astringent
...overall for such high abv which shows up in the aroma heavy the taste is actually more flavorful.

 

Hello, Memorial Day NBS participants and readers. I guess summer is almost unofficially here with pools opening this weekend. The season kicks off as usual with a day of remembrance of fallen Americans, those who gave their lives for their country.

Today, I have a beer from the capital of Texas, by a brewery from which I have enjoyed just about everything I've had. This bottle of Saison Amercaine is listed as Batch #3, January 2019. Jester King claims on the label that the ingredients are Texas Hill county well water, barley, wheat, hops (nothing earth shattering), and a mixed culture of brewer's yeast and native yeast and bacteria.

The label does mention being fermented in oak barrels though it doesn't explain the "native" part of the yeast culture in any detail. I'd be curious if there was some form of open fermentation. Also, this makeup is a little less detailed on the malt bill than the original listing on this site (which mentions Texas pale and Vienna malts).

Well, the look of this beer is too enticing to do further research at this time, so I will dive in.

The label also says the beer is not filtered, and the liquid in my glass does not contradict this claim. A watery pineapple/orange juice body has the look of a Hefeweizen or Belgian Wit. The head is a bright white cloud that crumbles away at a decelerating pace, leaving splotches on the glass.

The nose is rather tame. It gives a faded impression of a dry saison, with damp wood, slight mustiness, and a dry grain and hay presence. I was expecting a punch of the tartness to come, but it is woven into the slightly earthy farmhouse notes pretty well. I do get a white grapefruit/passion fruit sense out of it, regardless.

The taste flips the nose over and gives it a playful kick in the ass. Passionfruit and lime tartness hits first, with a grapefruit zest impression coming in as the malts catch up. The beer gets that earthy aspect by mid taste, and it starts drying out. A lively carbonation is initially as hidden as the malts by the sour aspects, but similarly works its way into my consciousness. The barrel wood makes a brief appearance with wisps of dry grass in the end taste.

This beer cleans up nicely on the palate, leaving just a light tingle from the tartness and carbonation. My palate constantly requests another sip as the glass bottom hits the table. What I can make of a "base saison" is one I think I would like without the added wild ale aspects. The sour components hit decently hard up front, but get woven into the saison quite well over all, in my opinion. Another winner from JK.

 

Schlafly - Lift-Off Lager

Oh yes. I abandoned ship. More importantly, I hope you are well this weekend.

Today I am digging into the Schlafly Lunar Lager mixed 12 pack. This was designed to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the moon landing that took place in July of 1969. I think they did an excellent job with the visual design of the box above. You can also cut out the side of the box and use it as a space helmet (which is just silly).

The first beer is Lift-Off lager. They are calling it an unfiltered lager. There's very little head. It's a cloudy apricot color. Light bodied and rough carbonation. There's a slight lemon sourness, a yeasty fruity quality, and a touch of bitterness that comes through in the finish.

It's OK, but the edges are all rough.

 

Always interesting how other people perceive things and then relate them to the categories this site uses. For my personal take on the categories, the "abrasive" alcohol presence would come through in a less than great feel impression and score. I am guessing that in your interpretations that bad quality affected the taste aspect (especially given the "stomping" of other flavors)?

 

Schlafly - The Eagle Has Landed

My second lager in the Schlafly pack is described as an "American lager." I'm not drinking these in the order on the box. It's gold and clearer than the pic suggests. Looks great. This one starts with a delicate touch of honey sweetness and transitions to a dry finish with some bitterness. It's an excellent trip. Tastes of biscuit, grain and a teensy touch of berry. This beer goes down in a flash. If there's corn in the recipe, it doesn't interfere with anything. Everything is in its proper place. Love this. When I finished my glass I was thinking this would be a great 6 pack beer.

 

Happy Sunday and Memorial day weekend NBS players. A beauty of a day here on the island. Hot and humid with temps in the 80's. Spending the day relaxing, enjoying the weather, and watching plenty of baseball.

My first new beer today is from @Roguer and his NBS BIF #Nine boxes. Sadly, I only have one brew left after this one from the haul. It is Tritonia, pineapple/lemon Gose, from Creature Comforts. Only my second ever beer from the brewery too. The brew checks in at 4.5% abv, and has a 1/4/19 canning date.

A pale yellow color with a fluffy white head. The nose is sharp with pineapple and quite pleasant. A big hit of sour upfront on the initial sips. That initial flavor stays around and is rather dominant here. That pleasant pineapple note falls right off from the nose and hits as a minor flavor on the finish. Tart and dry citrus notes on the flow that seems to be mostly lemon, a touch of spice, and some definite salt on the finish. The mouth feel is light, crisp and refreshing. A bit of a white wine feel going on as well. I do seem to be getting use to the sourness which was rather off-putting at first.

Overall, not horrible but still just a style that I can't get my head around. For me it tastes like sour lemon-aid. Thanks for the try Andrew but I think Gose will remain one of my least favorite beer styles.

 

Yes exactly. Possibly a mis-use of the word on my part, though. The body on this thing was not at all abrasive. It was the taste that was solely affected by the very noticeable alcohol. Perhaps “hot” is the word I should have used.

 

Shaker chocolate porter
...almost solid black
..medium light carbonation with a just above average body
..aroma is chocolate, espresso, fudge,roasted malt and chocolate liqueur.
...taste is a little dry,cocoa powder,fudge, bitter dark chocolate ,slightly sweet fudge. More dry than aroma hinted at
...overall this is everything chocolate with just enough coffee and roasted malts to keep it from being artificial or candy like

 

A-Pours a hazy light amber color with a nice head and lacing
A-Aroma has agave and Tequila hints
T-The taste follows the nose with a nicely balanced agave and Tequila flavor
M-A medium bodied decently carbonated beer
O-A nice Imperial Gose

 

Checking out a sixer of pilsners this weekend; currently...

I liked this but it wasn't as good as I expected it to be, being from Weihenstephaner - straightforward good pilsner though - ample clean grains with a bite of hops, some earthy and floral notes; overall light, lean and quaffable...


By way of comparison, I also checked out Bitburger and Dinckelacker, both of which were okay but uninspiring, and Ayinger's Bavarian Pils, which I really liked...

Prost...