New Beer Sunday (Week 748)

Hope the recovery goes smoothly for you !

 

That is truly great news. You can celebrate next week with an IC Lite!!!

 

I really enjoy my high school reunions ( New Trier East outside of Chicago) for the same reason you mention. I grew up with those folks and they formed the basis for the person I am today. It was a large class, nearly 1000, but the reunions are spread out over a weekend and I usually talk myself hoarse. I am not as close to my college friends. My university ( Miami University, the one in Ohio) dropped the men's soccer program after I graduated. Stay in contact with some of those players and coaches. Stay in touch with my fraternity brothers and do an annual retreat to las vegas with those guys. I did marry my college sweetheart so I maintain a daily connection with her...

My new beer is Frame Lines from Vitamin Sea


4.34/5 rDev +1.9%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25

grabbed a 4 pack today at the brewery ,my first time there. I have read about them on beer advocate and all indications were to give them a try

can poured into a teku

hazy yellow with a one finger off white foam cap, quickly recedes to a foamy layer

fragrant pour, mango, pineapple, orange citrus

taste is orange citrus, mango, pineapple

mouthfeel is hop taste with no bite , juicy

good beer, repeatable

If you look at the BA ratings for Massachusetts and the top 100 are divided between Treehouse and Trillium. Both breweries consistently create and make great beers across a nice variety of styles. I have only had two IPA’s from Vitamin Sea and they are in the same league as TH and T. It's great to have another high quality option and to add another fine Massachusetts brewer. I will certainly try more from Vitamin Sea. Picture above is firing up my Blackstone griddle for some chicken speedies and enjoying a VSB Frame Lines

 

New Russian Imperial Stout Sunday...

MadTree's Axis Mundi, bourbon barrel aged imperial stout brewed with coffee and vanilla... 2/1/19 bottling... Aromas of fresh espresso and char and cocoa open the nose... Vanilla softly inserts itself on the sip, while wood barrel notes dry the tongue... The sweetness is all up front, with a splash of molasses and vanilla caramel underscoring a bittersweet cocoa and bourbon body... Medium-weight, finishing bitterness is drying and outlasts the initial wave of sweetness... Distinct coffee, cocoa , bourbon, wood, and vanilla character; refined, relatively lean, and easy-drinking, particularly for a 10.5% abv... Nice drinking experience...

Here's to new beer in your glass...


Cheers...

 

I am contemplating a visit to my 40th high school reunion this summer. I have not been to one previously. I attend ( and play in) a college soccer alumni match every 5 years but it does not match my class reunion so I miss those too. I am clearly not so motivated to visit such events.
Today’s new beer (am edition) is Madonna, a DIPA from Zero Gravity.
The hazy yellow-orange can pour holds a fluffy cap and a light tangerine aroma. The flavor is full with mild citrus. The hop bitterness is low. The flavor profile is singular, a tasty juice. The flavor persists in the finish. In all, this is quite pleasant.

 

I have no good ideas on how to thwart those pesky squirrels in your garden but for those folks who have bird feeders there is an excellent squirrel solution of Yankee Flipper:

 

Dry Season is in it’s own category as a Saison. It rang like a Belgian overall, had a darker honey coloring with a thick one-finger head. Mouthfeel was a tad heavier too than you'd expect for the ABV. The smell was mostly tart, and taste had faint unrippened mango with green apple (almost cidery) and a touch of something vegetal - I kept trying to pinpoint and best I came up with is green tomato. Not a disaster but not something I’d choose to return to. Still a fun try!

 

Poured into a 16 oz Hop Slam Snulip glass canned on 5/17/19. Pours a very hazy yellow with a solid finger sticky white head that leaves loads of thin streaks of lace with nice retention. 4.5

Smell is papaya, pineapple, apricot, and a nice hit of coconut I assume from the Cashmere hops. 4.25

Taste follows coconut stands out and it works very well, papaya, pineapple, and a little apricot tropical and juicy. 4.5

Mouthfeel is rather large and a tad sticky but not dry, soft on the palate, and at 8.1% ABV extremely drinkable. 4.5

Overall I am a huge fan of these guys, excellent first year and a stellar Anniversary NEDIPA. 4.25

 

Thanks for the cool history lesson! I have to say though that the commemorative plaque there doesn't really help lessen my confusion about why anyone would build a concrete ship:

"Proved impractical over several trans-atlantic trips due to weight"

Nobody could have possibly seen that coming

 

First new beer on this lovely Sunday is Blackrocks Mykiss IPA, thank you @Blackop555 for this.

4.17/5 rDev -1.4%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25

Thank you Blackop555 for this
12 oz can poured into a teku

A- A fairly clear golden copper with a three finger white head.

S- Citrus, grapefruit rinds, piney, slightly floral, touch of caramel malts.

T- Citrus, some grapefruit, touch of sweet malts, a little floral and a nice bitter piney finish.

M- Smooth, medium body.

O- A great and well balanced traditional IPA, easy to drink.

Cheers NBS!

 

Interesting start to thread, thanks Doc. I attended one full year of HS, did not graduate and have only a mild curiosity piqued when hearing about reunions. I haven’t been to any of my college alma maters’ reunions...doubt I would go unless convenient to our schedule...

I picked this beer up at the brewery a couple of weeks ago - “Los Lenadores” (2019), a Firestone Walker/Cigar City Brewing collab...the description provides that we have here a brown “Ale aged in High Rye Bourbon barrels and infused with wood spirals from Brazil and Africa.”

Pours ruby brown with excellent clarity at 56 degrees; fizzy fast mocha tan head; no cap retention, ring or lace; on swirl, a few micro dots and no legs. 4.0

Spicy cherry pie with cinnamon and nutmeg; a little bourbon on the exhale. 4.25

Entry is sweet caramel malt base, some earthy hop bitterness (35 IBUs), and spicy stone fruits - cherries and plums; very little bourbon; some oak and vanilla in the finish. 4.25

Medium minus body, moderate minus carbonation; lite dry wooden/rye/barrel tongue coating;no warmth from 11.6% ABV; dry spicy linger. 4.0

Overall, the flavors were surprising as I kept thinking cherry pie with cinnamon vanilla ice cream, which I’m guessing come from the wood spirals; the barrel notes were present as was the overall dry feel; the taste was good, spicy vs. sweet - kinda like a spicy cherry pie Bravo; interesting and I’d drink again. 4.25

Cheers and have a great Sunday y’all!

 

Early success with smaller ships combined with shortages of steel during wartime.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concrete_ship

 

Lawnmowing done ….now it's time for NBS beer #1



Scrag Mountain Pils

Lawson's Finest Liquids
Bohemian Pilsener / 4.80% ABV

4.29/5 rDev +5.1% | Score: 4.08
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

canned 04-11-19

L-The beer pours a clear golden straw color with a 3 finger bright white head. The head recedes to a thin film leaving patches of white lace in it's wake. Head retention is very good.
S-The nose is exactly what you'd expect from a pilsener. Classic pilsener malt with that beautiful grassy/herbal hop character.
T-The nose translates exactly here with the malt leading with a just slightly sweet intro fading to a lingering grassy hop finish. Bitterness is on the lighter side of medium.
F-Mouthfeel overall is on the lighter side of medium. Carbonation is likewise on the lighter side of medium after the initial pour. The finish is slightly dry inviting the next sip.
O- This is a really well done domestic Czech pilsener. This will be a summer staple in my fridge for the dog days of summer. Highly recommended.

 

What’s up NBSers. My wife had her 10 year high school reunion last year and I was a big hit there since I brought a bunch of good beer. Mine is coming up this fall I believe so I’ll have to update y’all after that. First up is a beer my wife bought me on a recent trip to visit her folks in Indiana. It’s my second from Fat Heads and it is called Head Hunter.



I’m drinking this Ohio brewed beer out of Michigan glass, possibly blasphemous. The look of this beer is amazing. Perfectly crystal clear golden amber color with a finger and a half of stark white head resting gently on top. The scent is loaded with Resinous Pine, pineapple, orange, and a little bit of lemon. Taste is where this beer really shines, the flavors are huge and abrasive. The nose gives a hint of what is to follow in the taste, and while the scent is pretty powerful it holds no candle to the taste. Head hunter packs a wallop on the taste buds and I am really digging it. Flavors of deep resinous (bordering on dank but not quite there) pine go along with grapefruit, pineapple, orange, and melon perfectly. On the higher side of moderately bitter and welcomely so, following the style guidelines. Mouthfeel is smooth, soft, sticky, on the hefty side of medium, and finishes dry. Overall this is an outstanding west coast ipa that is worthy of the praise it receives!

 

Barrier w/ Greenport Harbor - Fly Back

This is a collaboration between my favorite Long Island brewery (Barrier) and the brewer of my favorite NEIPAs from Long Island (Greenport). Kind tough to resist that even though I’m not necessarily in the mood for another expensive local IPA. This one is OK.

The head on the beer is easily the best part. Awesome foam without feeling overdone. The beer is a murky yellow. It’s bitter and chalky. Damn new IPA chalk. I’m so sick of it. Tastes of grapefruit and apricot.

 

Happy NBMS (new beer mustard Sunday).

This is Sierra Nevada’s mustard made with stout. I can detect absolutely zero beer influence in this. Seems like more of a gimmick than anything but what do I know? It’s pretty much a nice standard “spicy” mustard but it’s very vinegar forward and I like that a lot. Cheers.

 

Light yellow color with white cap and lacing.

Mild aroma of barley malt and airy floral hops.

Flavor also evokes the word mild. Malt presence is about halfway between little and full which is to say they're in the chorus but not singing very strongly. Tune is really carried by hops which present a firm bitterness while retaining the floral aspects found in the scent. Short finish that is bone dry and very refreshing.

Light to medium texture with a bit more than average carbonation.

I cannot really tell if the carbonation is more than usual or if the grain flavor is just not that hearty but the bubbles are more apparent than usual. To me this is a defined product which is to say low carbs and to achieve that means less malt which means less flavor. The flavor it has is good and the beer is otherwise about as good as any in that class so the goal is achieved. Just depends on what class you want to be in and I prefer advanced.

 

A-A nice dark color with a slight tan head and nice lacing.
S-A scent of dank hops, roasted malts and coffee.
T-The taste follows the smell, with nice reminders of mocha.
M-A medium bodied black IPA that is very smooth and easy on the palate.
O-A very nice balanced beer, with good character.