New Beer Sunday (Week 748)

Lagunitas Brett stout
..solid black,no head
..above average body with a slight oily,creamy thick feel. Medium light carbonation
..aroma is black coffee,roasted malt, espresso. This is all covered up by tart grape juice and wine
..taste is tart,dry,grape juice/wine. Leaves a bitter grapeseed flavor on the tongue that lingers. Coffee and roasted malt lies underneath
... similar to @zid with a SN farmhouse beer this was probably pretty decent -before-the wine barrel. Its ok,some might like it and I did find it fairly enjoyable but if I was honest I would never get it again. This actually made me leery of future wine barrel aged beershow much money does an archaeologist make a year

 

Thanks to @lordofthewiens for another thoughtful start to NBS. I just realized my 20th HS reunion would have been last summer, so apparently I’m not overly enthused about these kinds of things. I stay in touch with my circle of friends from HS, however none currently live here in my hometown. Given how many from my generation either left for Ontario or the oil patch out West, I’m honestly not even sure a reunion took place?

I never felt at home at the small, uppity university I attended, so I ignore alumni events. Good riddance, but glad to have the diploma. I did make one lifelong friend there who will be in town next month, so we will raise a few and enjoy reconnecting.



Onto today’s beer, one kindly sent to me by @fiery1 as part of CanBIF Spring 2019. “Tinted”, a milk stout brewed with chocolate and sea salt by Twin Sails out of British Columbia. Pours a deep brown, with no lacing despite being only 6.9%. Aroma is pure chocolate with no roast, taste is also pure chocolate with some salt in the finish. The salt really balances out the sweetness and prevents the beer from becoming cloying. That being said, I could have done with a half serving of this...it’s tasty, but 16oz might be a little much. Overall, another one I’m happy to have tried and one perhaps better enjoyed in cooler weather beside a roaring fire.

Cheers to a quiet and relaxing Sunday afternoon to you all!

 

New Beer Sunday: American IPA

Afternoon NBSers with an alert for fans of poetry in beer.

This afternoon’s new beer is the Bells Song of Myself which is the first of their planned series honoring Walt Whitman and his poem, Leaves of Grass.

My review, still in progress, can be found here:

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/287/417984/?ba=drtth#review


The aromas/flavors are fairly complex and somewhat temperature sensitive. Early on the honey-like bready malt sweetness is in the background with the citric, floral, grassy and lightly peppery/spicy bitterness up front. By the end of the beer the malt has moved more forward and the hops are softened and more controlled by the malt. On the whole an enjoyable, drinkable IPA that I recommend trying if you are a fan if IPAs. Using only German hops and malts to brew and American IPA creates a nice mixture of flavors and lots of interesting complexity.

Cheers, all!

 

Bomb from Prairie Artisan Ales. This is not only my 1st beer from this brewery it's also my 1st beer from Oklahoma. This beer was a gift from a friend who knows I enjoy Imperial Stout and much prefer then without added flavors. I guess she has a sense of humor. Bomb starts life as a 13% ABV than it takes a trip to added flavorville..Bomb is aged on coffee, ,cacao nibs, vanilla beans and ancho chili peppers, Not exactly what I look for in an Imperial Stout. I was pleasantly surprised by Bomb. It looks just like any other Imperial Stout jet black with a thick brown head. The aroma was not what I expected mostly roasted malts with only hints of the addem d flavors.
The taste is where the additions come out. The 4 flavors are all there and noticeable. None of them overpower the other 3 and all 4 of them don't over power the roasted malt. The mouthfeel is full and the finish is off dry with a hint of heat from the chilis. I enjoyed this beer much more that I expected to. Doubt I would but it for myself not at $8.99 a 12 OZ bottle.

 

New Wild Ale Sunday (Week 748)
Greetings from on the ridge in Mid Hud Val, NY to all my fellow NBSers, including those who hold clear beer dear, who cheer beer gear, fear near-beer, and all others who veer here to appear on Sunday.

A funny aside-- The Evidence Black album for which I wrote all the lyrics has not exactly sold a million copies here, haha. But the big news is it was bootlegged! And it is doing really well in Russia! I am thrilled about this, and Anthony, my good friend and Evidence Black's singer, is too, but the funny part is how pissed off Frank, who wrote all the music, is about it. Anyway-

Went to my local to get some Newcastle Brown Ale by Lagunitas which @zid made me want to try last week with his exc. description. Newcastle was one of a series of gateway beers for me back in the 70's that put me on the better beer track. Psyched for this latest iteration. Glad to say a six now is in the fridge.

I also spotted this beer, which was an instant buy. Glad to get any of the Catskill Brewery beers that make it east from Sullivan County. Freak Tractor, a wild ale.

Thin blanket of white foam disappears to leave a bare capped, apple cider looking beer in glass. Bubbles do rise.

Med. strength aroma of fruity sweet, sourdough, white pepper, earthy funk, bleu cheese hints, with over ripe apple fragrance dancing through it all.

Med. strength taste which is a clean, bright depiction of all the aroma flavors, but with sweet toned down greatly and white pepper and earthy funk toned up a touch, and just the right amount of yeasty tart underneath it. Balanced and delicious.

Light in mouth though thick and viscous for style, very low carb., and a nice finish.

Tasty wild ale that drinks like a Belgian Pale, in a good way. Recommended.

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

 

Hey great start @lordofthewiens! To say I'm younger than you is an understatement! I graduated high school in June of '09!
Anyways the new beer I'm drinking today is a classic, Allagash White.


12oz bottle into Nonic Pint
Bottled on 2/18/19
Pours a light blond with some yeast haze, thin white head
Aroma of bananas and cloves
Light malt, fresh citrus with the yeast notes on the finish
Light bodied and crisp
This beer is as good as billed, a super refreshing and tasty wit

Cheers All!

 

Good morning everyone and happy New Bachelor Sunday. That's right, I have managed to stay alive with no supervision for 5 days now. Barely. One productive thing I did was check off a life goal of hiking Hamilton Mountain in the Columbia River Gorge yesterday. That's right, back to hiking. A common destination for my family, but this specific trail is a bit much for the kiddos. Alone to do as I please, I tackled it and was able to purge out the stress from the week with some amazing views:









Of course I had to have a beer. Remember… purging:



And another (still purging). After all, no Gorge hike is complete without a rewarding stop at Thunder Island:



And now for a new to me beer that I'm actually quite surprised I've never tried. I've had plenty of this breweries amazing offerings, but never this one which might even be considered a flagship.

Brasserie Dieu du Ciel!
Péché Mortel- Imperial Coffee Stout





Péché Mortel cascades from the bottle with a minor glug to it. The rich dark brown liquid is tinted by a but of burgundy but rests in the glass as a solid black mass. Above rests an impressive foam. Creamy, rolling hills of dark tan coat the glass as it slowly descends.

No question the influence of our friend, the roasted coffee bean. Yet the espresso is balanced by a blend of sweet and bitter chocolates and cinnamon roll dough. Along with an iron metallic afterthought, this beer smells like it should. A stout, with coffee.

In some ways, the flavor excels. The chocolate notes take on a more baked brownie burned edge (the best part). It's sweet at first, but then that coffee comes in, full, roasty, bitter. Somewhere in the between, a nuttiness struggles for attention. Hazelnut might be the closest I can claim. In the finish, the aforementioned iron-metallic/ mineral quality lingers.

Sweetness has its moment of glory, but it is quickly overcome by roast, char, and bitter onslaughts. It's a bit thin, thinner than expected by the looks of the pour. The elevated abv creeps up on you as there is little warmth and no flavor of it.

Are there better coffee stouts out there? Sure, perhaps. But not many can claim as few as adjuncts while still delivering amount of complexities in both flavor and aroma. Being picky, I would like it to be fuller, richer, even a tad creamier, but that's only because I like my coffee that way.

After my official review, I gave Péché Mortel a rating of 4.46 with an rDev of -1.1%.

Cheers!

Ah what the hell... Here's one more:

 

A cross post with WBAYDN: It is a freaking gorgeous day in the Philly suburbs. It's 80 degrees, pure blue skies and no humidity whatsoever. I'm enjoying the living hell out of a Cigar City Maduro Brown Ale. This is so full of flavor that I can't believe it's only 5.5% ABV. There's tons of roasted coffee beans, burnt malts, & cocoa powder. More like a good porter than a brown ale. It's a lot thinner than the flavors & smells would suggest, but spot on for the light ABV. A really good one that I rated a 4.22, which is about .30 higher than the BA consensus.

 

Beautiful pics man, glad to see you are back out! I am out for my first foray into the mountains tomorrow. Have done lots of miles for morels already, but that is more like a survivalist obstacle course for morons. Psyched to get out for summer shrooms in beautiful mountain and wood, especially after seeing those gorgeous views!!!

 

Good afternoon, NBS! I have not been to a reunion yet, and only almost made it to a high school reunion once. One of the typical 5-year reunions for my college was this past year and I found no real desire to go to it for all the reasons others have mentioned - I keep in contact with the people I care to, and generally don't care about the others. A high school reunion still intrigues me, but from friends who have gone to previous ones I have learned the people I would be most interested in seeing how they are doing don't attend.

Enough of the old... onto the new! The GF got the weekly email from our bottle shop last week and nudged me as we were winding up a HH with her co-workers. The shop had gotten in some beers from Drekker!

Now, neither one of us knew of Drekker, but what she knows is that one of my two missing states is North Dakota, and the Drekker label indicates it hails from Fargo. The store had a few options in their advertising, but by the time we got to the store, only one option was left. The store manager indicated the others (presumably NE IPAs) sold pretty quickly. Who knew Northern Virginians were chomping at the bit for Drekker beer?

So, this beer is not of a style that I would normally get, but the force of the NoDak tick was enough to try Brain Squeeze - Blueberry/Apricot - a "smoothie sour" according to the label. I like beers that give the ingredients on the label. I also like that this brewery has a category for "Gimmicks"


So the beer pours like a berry smoothie in color with a vibrant magenta body and a softer pinkish rose head. The head fell at a moderately slow pace and showed some stickiness.

The nose is not hiding the apricot as much as the look is, unsurprisingly. There is a fairly generic berry note behind, but I didn't get blueberry specifically. The lactose and vanilla are noticeable but not dominating and do provide a sweetness that could lean the berry towards the blue, I guess.

The feel isn't exactly thick or overly smooth, but it is medium bodied, generally a little heavy compared to a normal sour. The tartness and slightly prickly carbonation lighten things a little, though they also take away any "smoothie" aspect.

The apricot is front and center in the taste, like the nose. Blueberry is a minor player, but sneaks in before the vanilla and sweetening notes come to play. The sour fruit aspects keep hold throughout, however. I think that this beer is a fair fruited sour, though I was expecting a little different take given the "smoothie" marketing either a little more thickness (something like The Answer's popsicles) or sweetness, like...

Aslin's Daddy Juice...


This is our third can of the 4-pack, so not new, but I figured we would compare the blueberry, mango, vanilla, and milk sugar offering with Drekkers (so -apricot, +mango).

The Aslin beer is sweet from the get go. The nose is quite a bit sweeter than the taste, but the lactose plays a bigger role than the fruits in this one. The sugar notes smoothed this one out, even though it seems just a tad lighter than the Brain Squeeze. The sour notes don't win the uphill battle against vanilla and milk sugar, but at least don't run away from the fight.

The GF liked the Aslin beer better. I find the sweetness too much in it, and prefer the Drekker. Neither are beers I feel a desire to buy again, though.

 

Since we are talking about reunions guess I can share the tidbit that I countenanced for a while the idea of kicking the shit out of a guy who used to torment me in high school. A life of hard work, hard living, year round exercise, and tough circimstance made me believe I was likely in far better shape twenty five years later than was he. The guy's name was Ken Gerry, and when I got to the reunion there was a white board with the names of the "regrets". It turned out Reverend Gerry would not be attending.

 

NBS beer #2



Landscape with Haystacks

Fiddlehead Brewing Company
American Wild Ale / 5.80% ABV

3.87/5 rDev +1.6% | Score: 3.81
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75

L-The initial pour was golden and clear. The head was a couple of inches of soft white bubbles. The head recedes to a thick film leaving beautiful legs of lace along the glass.
S- The nose leads with some malt sweetness which transitions to light barnyard funk. There is some green apple tartness that rises and falls amidst these two predominant elements.
T-The palate translates as a nice tart but not too tart farmhouse ale. Up front you get a bit of the green apple which is quickly overtaken by barnyard mustiness. Towards the end of the sip the tartness takes back over and is the main flavor component in the aftertaste. The sweetness in the nose never makes its way here.
F-The mouthfeel overall is medium. There is a light dry finish due to the tart finish. Carbonation is medium to medium high.
O-This is nice farmhouse sour ale. It's not going to take the enamel off your teeth, but you still know it's a sour. The barnyard funk aspect is low moderate and does not overpower. Recommended if you enjoy the style.

 

5 New June IPAs
Bodem | Half Acre Beer 4.24/5 rDev +2.9%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
a) I gotta admit, I like clear copper over hazed yellow murk. Supporting off white dotty lacing head.
s) Likewise I prefer the tension between sweet malt caramel and the bright, puckering hops, with fruit as a back drop _ as here. (well done) A bit of pine shellac.
t) As here follows the smell to complex see-saw battle and adds in dank tones, earthy, pungent.
f) Good weight, clean mouthfeel, cleansing aftertaste.
o) Nice grounded IPA, good to blind taste.


Eternity | Barrier Brewing 4.23/5 rDev -2.8%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5
Highly rated. Be a great beer to be named after if perpetual.
So many hops makes me sneeze!
a) Light yellow, pollen-colored, bilge murk, white, fine, sugary lasting and lacing head.
s) SO PUNGENT makes you sneeze, the pollen comes off in clouds, Grapefruit too dominant for me. Dank, grassy, stinky too.
t) Follows smell but better more grass, dank weed, citrus oil, ripe pineapple, tropical fruit.
f) Balanced, cleansing/scrubbing, bright.
o) The hopper stayed open on this.

Tools Of The Trade | Industrial Arts Brewing
4.17/5 rDev +6.1%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
My 1st review of brewer, their 39th of ToT APA. APA a favorite style where this hits the mark at 4.9% as well any beer in its class including Carton Boat.
Tall can, nice branding. Fresh at WFM. Local. Rockland County NY.
a) Pours light amber, slight haze, dense, persistent, lacerating eggshell head.
s) Resin and pine over the fruity hops aroma.
t) Ample flavor for a sessionable beer, with more pine resin, citrus, just enough fruit, chewy malt. Rounded.
f) Light as expected but ample energy in the scrubbing, peppery, resinous bitterness so that it finishes elegantly clean.
o) Winner. I'd make this a standard for a 4.9% ABV APA. Up there next to the 6% Dales.

Double Down Under | Zero Gravity Craft
4.05/5 rDev +2.8%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4
Enjoyed on tap in Park Slope in a curvaceous pint.
a) Pours clouded amber and orange with thin but dense head.
s) All tropical scent, honey, with hops resin dominant - Nice on malt base.
t) Large bold flavors that follow aroma, bitterness balances with sweet caramel malts. Tropical hop flavors take second set of layers: mango, pineapple, creamy guava.
f) Excellent feel and body with moderate carbonation.
o) Total craft quality. Good for any DIPA taste off.


Wrench | Industrial Arts Brewing
3.88/5 rDev -10.4%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
3rd from Brewer, this one too over the top for me.
a) Classic thick hazed, light yellow, with white head that slashes lace.
s) Grapefruit. Unripened peach, lemon, orange rind. Some over ripe citrus?
T) continues on the fruit aisle, fruit locker bender with some over-fermented citrus piling up with peaches that never ripen, lemon, and not a lot of other components. Too monotonous and fruity and with that slight over-ripe compost note.
f) Chalky, but again too much like grapefruit juice, unpleasant, overly parched, drying finish?

 

There’s a special place in my heart for Bomb!

 

Happy Sunday NBS players. A warm, sunny summer day, here on the island, with a pleasant steady breeze. A nice lazy Sunday on the docket with some Mets bbal on the tube now, and little dinner grilling lined up for later. Have my first busy work week in a while and I'm actually looking forward to it. I've got a couple of local singles for new beers today and I'm hoping to get to both.

My first new beer today is Bill's Hyper Local Forecast, a winter warmer, from North Fork brewing, (the long island one). This is a bit of a shout out to a local news weather man for News 12. The brew checks in at 5.9% abv and no canning date but clearly by the style it has probably at least 3-5 months on it.

A dark ruby red color on the pour with a frothy white head and semi clarity. The nose is decently fragrant with malts, and candied fruit notes. That tone carries over to the first few sips and hits with a mesh of malt and dried fruit. I'm getting flavors of berry, nutmeg, cinnamon, and caramel. The notes don't really pop out there and tend to drink a tad muted and dry. A light/moderate mouth feel that carries a rather light body especially for a beer intended for winter- even a bit watery at times. A definite chalky/dirty flavor that seems to hit on the finish and makes the drinking a bit off-putting.

Overall, I'm trying not to be too harsh but so far I've found most of this breweries beers to be rather poor to average at best and this offering does little to break that mold. I'm probably in the 3 ranger here,

 

A-Pours a hazy golden orange color with a generous head and lacing
A-Aroma has dank and hop hints
T-The taste follows the nose with a dank hop flavor
M-A medium bodied well carbonated beer
O-A good IPA

 

First up today is from Omnipollo, Agamemnon


4.02/5 rDev -3.6%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Great looking thick beige head hides for just a moment a rich, sweet coffee laden aroma. Rounding out the experience is just a hint of marshmallow. Velvety feel brings with it that same coffee but the sweetness takes on a bit more of a savory direction. Little bit of alcohol and almond in the tail end as it exits very dry and coffee bitter remain.

 

A-Pours a hazy murky golden brownish color with a slight head and lacing
A-Aroma has pomegranate, passion fruit, lime and orange peel hints
T-The taste follows the nose with a very nicely balanced and tarty flavor of pomegranate, passion fruit, lime and orange peel
M-A medium bodied well carbonated beer
O-A good DIPA