New Beer Sunday (Week 748)

Sam Adam's light
Amber color
..just below medium body with about middle of the road carbonation
...aroma is all malt,not much of a roasted aroma,just straight up malt. Light amount of grain and a little earthy
...taste is malt,malt,and mostly malt.
..overall I think it being-light-actually helped as it was malty but not overly sweet or cloying. It came off as a fairly decent flavored light beer. Compared to many light beers I've tried I must say it was pretty good

 

Wiseacre 2019 Unicornucopia, a Sour Belgian Single Style Ale with Oranges, Pomegranate aged on Tequila Barrels; 9.0% ABV (not really any style I could nail down ). 3.75 overall, pretty drinkable on a rainy, sticky day

Pours an effervescent copper with minimal white head. Zero head retention & lacing

S: Citrus, some grainy notes, lime and TQ notes once up to room temperature

T: Orange, lime, certainly hints of Tequila with the requisite dryness up front. Orange sweet tart, a little lime & tequila dryness as this warms

MF: Medium body, restrained carbonation that builds back up as it warms

Pretty drinkable, but was hoping for more, below their usual bells curve of goodness

 

Good evening NBS
I have a beer that I had to add to the database. Purchased by a coworker on vacation and few weeks ago...

The review:
500mL undated bottle poured into a tulip pint glass at fridge temp 5.9% ABV 33 IBU per label. The beer pours slightly hazy rusty amber in color with off white head. Minimal lacing. The head recedes to a few bubbles and a pencil thin ring. The aroma is faint Belgian yeast, spice and tartness. The taste is very oaky with lots of phenol (almost plasticy) and a medium bitter finish. The mouthfeel is medium to thin bodied with just less than medium carbonation and a dry finish. Overall, good. It all comes together well enough, just not my favorite profile.

They really waxed the heck out of this one. Maybe it would develop more over time, but I doubt it. Yeast profile is identical to a home brewed saison I made a couple years ago that got too warm during fermentation. I still wouldn't hesitate to try something else from them. Cheers all!

 

New Beer Sunday: American Strong Ale

Evenin’ NBSers with a report on a blended Anniversary Ale.

This evening’s new beer is a sipping beer from Firestone Walker and is Firestone 21, their 21st Anniversary beer.

The review, with revisions possible, can be found here:

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/2210/298320/?ba=drtth#review


The aromas/flavors of this beer are mostly about the malts. They have blended 5 different F-W beers, in different amounts, to create a very complex aroma/flavor profile. There’s chocolate, caramel, hints of dark fruits and a bit of dark roast. In addition there’s also some rum, vanilla and spice. In addition the finish makes the whole even more complex as the various flavors fade at different times changing the profile, sometimes in subtle ways. I’m finding this one enjoyable and challengingly complex. Definitely a beer for slow, measured sipping over a long time. Recommended.

On the player this evening is one of the Gilbert and Sullivan comic operettas, H.M.S. Pinafore.


Cheers, all!

 

Hefeweizen from Blue Stallion Brewing in Lexington, KY. I guess I’ve had only a handful of this style including Weihenstephaner and Rhineheist, plus more recently Goggle Fogger from Fat Head’s Brewery in Ohio. So I’m no expert in this style, but I like it a lot. This one is quaffable. Nice carbonation. Banana-ester flavors up front. The finish just kind of disappears, taste-wise, for better or worse. Overall thumbs up. Not yet available in cans or bottles. If you’re ever on Lexington I recommend a visit to Blue Stallion. They specialize primarily in German styles and they have a nice taproom.

 

Good evening, all, and Happy New Rhubarb Sour Sunday! Thanks to @lordofthewiens for the thoughtful opening. I've always said that instead of pissing around looking for Osama bin Laden for as long as they did, they should've just enrolled him in the Ohio State University Alumni Association. They can track you to the ends of the earth to make sure you get their fundraising appeals. Anyway, the beer. This is Evil Twin Rhubarb Compote Sour, served up in my $85 Zwanze 2018 goblet. If someone handed you a glass of this, you'd think it was a well-balanced and very drinkable sour with a slight gose-like character, not overbearing on the sourness, with just a hint of sweet vanilla on the palate and a pleasantly dry finish. And you'd be right. I'm at straight 4's on this one. Cheers!

 

Got this from a friend who highly recommended it. It’s Medusa from Copperhead brewing. A Belgian style quadrupel



It’s a cola colored muddy brown liquid with seemingly too much carbonation which doesn’t translate to the head which effervesces to less than a finger of brownish purplish foam that dissipates quickly to nothing. The aroma is dark fruits; plums, muscadines, blackberries, and a vinous red wine characteristic that I don’t know how else to describe. The taste is muscadine wine, man oh man that shit is good. The vinous characteristic shows up again along with the other fruits but the muscadine definitely dominates. Mouthfeel is on the thinner side of medium and a little too carbed up but smooth and slightly drying. Overall the muscadines struck a nostalgic note for me and the taste is freaking amazing, but the other factors are kind of disappointing.

 

Abandon All Hope Coconut/pepper porter. Apparently the contract brewery 3rd Sign is not in business anymore, but was brewed at Octopi in WI. Whatever. 2016 bottling. This was outstanding. Great rocky head retention/foamy lacing. Aromas and flavors of big coconut, milk chocolate, cocoa, caramel, brown sugar, toffee, vanilla, cream, biscuit, and brown bread; with light notes of chili pepper, coffee, nuts, dark fruit, herbal, grass, and yeast earthiness. Very mild herbal, grassy, roast bitterness; and pepper spiciness on the finish. Medium carbonation and medium-plus body; very creamy, silky, velvety, grainy malts; slight sticky hops/spice, and chalky roast. Slightly increasing lingering bitter/spicy dryness; no cloying. Super smooth/soft, zero warming 7%, minimal lingering Pasilla pepper heat through the glass. Wow, not sure what the age did to this, but it tastes like a milk porter now. Great balance of rich malts and coconut flavoring; mellow peppers and mild earthy hop notes. Not overly sweet with lingering dryness. Was a big fan. 4.15


Cheers, have a good night NBS.

 

A glorious day here in SEMass today. The evening is cooling down nicely. Spent the last hour mowing the field behind the house. It isn't huge, probably a quarter acre out of the six we own, but still deserving a beer.

Reunions...my cousin used to run the high school reunions. Class of 1976, so I guess there have been a few. Have attended zero and that record will remain intact. Northeastern U...would there even be a class reunion? Was there a true class? UMass...MSc No. 1 in food science and they do keep calling for funding, I keep hanging up. Very competitive group of students. Honestly, the school I do feel any affinity for is U Wisconsin - MSc Engineering, 2012...yep do the math. Cohort based, and some very good friends made by working together to keep each other from sinking. It was as much prove it to myself as it was for work. Work has given me exactly squat except more work, which I guess is actually a good thing, but I proved I could more than hold my own with trained engineers.

Enough jibber jabber, lets have a beer...



This is Allagash Moselle, a farmhouse style lager. It is a blend of separately fermented German lager and Belgian saison. This was recommended by the sales person on our last visit. She was "you gotta try..." and we picked up four beers as a result.

Excuse the dirtier than expected glassware. The beer is deep golden, very slightly cloudy, and a tight foamy head that lasts a bit but eventually goes away. The smell is mostly Belgian. Slightly spicy, floral, fruity. Then there is a slight bread or biscuit smell supporting those high notes. Very nice, kinda different.

The taste - well - yeah. Diggin' the hell out of this beer. It has all the brightness a great saison tempered by the lager. There is quite a spicy kick that just stays on top of the malty lager that seems just a bit sweet. Floral notes, fruity esters dance over the tongue, but never get away entirely from the lager. It is like a Belgian saison tried to run away, but was chained to the porch. The feel is significantly thicker than a traditional farmhouse product, but it doesn't clutter the pallet, either. I'd say medium on the body, not quite heavy. Feels thick, but goes away quickly.

If you can't tell, "liking" is going to play heavily here regardless of the style. It is an intentional hybrid and in my opinion it works incredibly well, capturing the best of both worlds. It has all you could want from a farmhouse saison bolstered by the more robust lager that also lends body. This will be well north of 4 for me...pretty high on the flavor and the feel, overall enjoyment. This beer is pleasing to me. Worth a try if you come across it.

I haven't read much of the thread yet, but enough to wish @woodychandler the best recovery possible.

 

First non hops from Old Nation courtesy of @jvgoor3786

This thing is like a nice earthy, bitter chocolate iced coffee. Great rich malt.. Many thanks for the huge haul of awesome Old Nation stuff!

 

Pours a very bright red, with a half finger sticky white head that leaves massive thick webs of lace, solid retention. 4.75

Smell is pink grapefruit, raspberry, tart black cherry, vanilla, and rhubarb. 4

Taste follows rhubarb, raspberry, black cherry, pink grapefruit, and a little vanilla. 4

Mouthfeel is about medium, a tad sticky and dry, plenty of life, and at 5.5% ABV loaded with flavor! 4.25

Overall not my thing usually but this one is gorgeous and really well made, I would not want to drink several, but once in awhile a tasty and slightly sour treat. 4

 

Hello New Beer Sunday!!!

A bit late tonight. I almost didn't join in the fun today - I just wasn't feeling it, but I've gotten in the mood now.

To start off with the question our wonderful starter @lordofthewiens asked:
I've never had a college reunion. Considering that I graduated from the 2nd largest one in the state of insanity... I mean Minnesota, not surprising. High School is another matter. I went to both of mine so far (10th/20th). My 30th will be in 2021. I do keep in touch with some of my former classmates, but out of a class of 525, it's not easy. Actually, my sister is married to one of my classmates. Another, I dated for a bit a few years ago, but.... she's the one who got away. Even her now husband thinks I would also have been right for her. I just couldn't give her the time she needed and deserved with my work schedule.

Oh, well, such is life.

Now, about life, well, about my new beer.


Banana Bread Bakery from The Bruery. 10.2% ABV.

I'll be honest - I like bananas a lot. I eat them almost every day for breakfast. I love them combined with unsweetened baking cocoa. So, in a way, this beer is totally hitting every spot with me.
Deep, dark, rich. Thick pouring. Nice banana flavor and a nice walnut backup. These flavors are right, and I like it a lot.

Review:

4.46/5 rDev +11.2%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

Pours pitch black, and thick like motor oil. 3 finger tan head. Quite frothy, and very long lasting. Some lacing on the glass as the head slowly dissipates.
The nose is is a malty bomb. Very boozy smelling, and just the faintest hint of banana.
Taste - It actually starts out quite boozy, then mellows in the middle. I get some banana throughout the mix. I get a hint of walnuts.
Very thick. Very boozy feeling. Somewhat of a alcohol burn.
Very high octane stout. I'm surprised that it doesn't get more love than it does, because it's quite good.


One and done. Besides, this is my last new beer that isn't insanely strong. Those I'm saving to share. I'll likely have one next Sunday when I'm at Minnesota's Northwest Angle. I'll also be, hopefully, making a stop at Minnesota's northernmost brewery - Lake of the Woods Brewing in Warroad.

See you all then.

 

Another Michigan beer. I thought this was really good and rated it considerably higher than the average. Although my score was close to @superspak's, so I take that as validation.



Pours an opaque yellowish/orange with a white head and decent lacing.

The smell is like putting your nose into a bag of dried apricots. It's pretty incredible.

The taste is slightly sour and bitter with tons of apricot flavor.

The mouthfeel is creamy and lower carbonation.

Overall a really nice beer with tons of flavor.

 

I’m getting my new NBS beer in under the wire tonight after a crazy and busy day. I had some work in the morning followed by an unexpected funeral for an old friend, followed by hosting a large work-related party. Lots of mixed emotions, and I’m glad to finally relax with a new beer and just celebrate life and health.
This one piqued my interest and I picked up a single earlier this week:

As most of you probably know, this is described as an imperial lime Gose style ale, brewed with agave and aged in tequila barrels. The look is pretty standard, with a hazy amber color and a modest light tan had that settled fairly quickly. The aroma got my attention: sharp lime notes, with distinct agave and tequila elements. It honestly smelled like a margarita with a salty presence as well. The taste was true to the aroma, with bright lime, a mix of sweet and sour flavors from the malt and ABV, rich agave, and well-balanced tequila notes. My only criticism is that the salt was a little too prominent and distracted from the rest of the beer. This tasted like a margarita cocktail, and for that I give them credit. Having said that, I am glad that I only purchased one. Cheers.

 

Enjoyed this one courtesy of @AyatollahGold a bit ago.

Poured a dark brown/nearly black with two fingers of mocha head.
Smells of coffee, chocolate, dark roasty malts.
Taste follows with the roasty flavors, dark malts, coffee, slightly sweet notes of caramel and vanilla.
Fuller body with good carb levels. Smooth and well balanced.
Overall a nice one.