New Beer Sunday (Week 752)

Good point regarding getting sick of favorite songs. I actually have a few favorites that I don't listen to for months on end, but...I still come back to them and think, "Damn, one of the best dongs ever."

 

Sounds strange, but with your detailed telling...intriguing.

 

I love American Anthem! Summer time!

 

Good Sunday afternoon, New Beer Samplers and commentators. I've given up even taking outdoor beer photos let alone drinking outside. It's another hot, humid day. We could use a soaking rain storm to break the heat cycle.

Our daughter and her boyfriend are at our shore house this week. He drove up on Thursday and brought me some North Carolina and Virginia beers. I had planned to review Wilmington Brewing's Tropical Lightning for NBS, until I realized it isn't a New Beer after all. I had it on draught at a restaurant in Wilmington 2 years ago. Thankfully, I haven't tried Free Verse, an American IPA from Virginia Beer Co. in Williamsburg. Based upon previous reviews I was prepared to be underwhelmed but this is really quite good. It features tart, bitter lemon and grapefruit but there also unexpected but welcome berry notes. The Chinook hops provide a biting bitterness. As I say in my review below, this ale would be great with steamers or other seafood. I'm glad to have a couple of cans left.

3.99/5 rDev +4.2%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

6/17/2019 canning date. Poured into a Spiegelau IPA glass. It pours a cloudy, orange-tangerine color with a snow-white cap and a half finger of thin, creamy lacing. A floral, fruity nose featuring lemon, tangerine, melon, and very faint berry, along with lite floral hops. The smell improves as it warms in the glass. The taste opens with tart lemon and grapefruit. What makes it intriguing, though, is a discernible taste of berry at mid-sip. I can't quite place it but it adds a nice touch. I don't know whether it's from the Azacca hops or not. It's followed by a dose of resinous pine needles and bitter Chinook hops that finish with a strong bite. The mouth feel is lite and crisp with a pleasant level of carbonation. The 6.8% ABV is a perfect level for this ale. It gives it substance but a second can (particularly in the 12 oz. format) is not a problem and is very much appreciated on a hot summer's day. Overall, I was prepared to be underwhelmed but was pleasantly surprised. The fruit and hop bitterness are nicely-balanced. This ale would pair really well with a bucket of steamers.

It's Mrs. Mac's birthday today and we'll be having dinner at The Brick Farm Tavern (known to NJ BAs) so I'll have a couple of new Troon beers later but probably won't be able to review them online. Have a great Sunday and enjoy your new beer(s), NBS!

 

Now up DFH Raison Brett’ra, a wild dark ale aged on green raisins.

3.89/5 rDev +9%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75

375 ml bottle poured into a snifter

A- Dark brown with a small tan head.

S- Dark fruits, some raisins, touch of bourbon, slightly tart, some brett funk.

T- Sour, dark fruits, some raisins, lemons, touch of funk and bourbon.

M-Smooth, light, dry.

O- An interesting and unique sour.

Cheers!

 

A top 10 song list would be really hard for me. It really depends on my mood. I tend to play album sides. Today, as I type this I'm listening to American Beauty from the Grateful Dead. Exile on Main Street is next. Yesterday, it was Physical Graffiti and the Blind Faith album. I often watch old Rolling Stones videos from the Brian Jones era on Youtube. Other favorites include Drive By Truckers, The Buffalo Springfield, Jefferson Airplane, Talking Heads, and CSN&Y. All great beer drinking music.

 

Great song list! 2 that I haven't listened to for quite awhile are Starship Trooper and Moonlight Mile. Thankfully, Youtube is just a click away. Btw, the beer looks pretty damn good too! Cheers.

 

Cool song list! I bet no one else on BA will list a Phil Ochs song. I was just listening to Box of Rain on American Beauty. Maybe my favorite studio Dead tune.

 

Thanks for starting us off @lordofthewiens. I can't possibly pick just 10 songs. My likes span like 8 decades and 10+ genres. We have a running joke at our house. I have this Spotify list I play at parties with like 150+ songs and after I have drank a few and get in party mode I usually burst out and say "Oh I love this song". That is soon followed with "Oh right, its my playlist".

Today I have a new to me Kent Falls Pale Ale (their categorization), but it really is pretty much a NEIPA.

3.91/5 rDev -5.8%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4

Poured from a 16oz can dated 5/28/19 to a Nonic.
Great, thick 3/4" head that looks like it would support me. Off white, laces nicely atop an apricot colored hazy body.
Aroma is mildly fruity, apricot, pineapple, mango. Maybe would have a better nose if this can was younger.
Taste is more citrusy, mostly rind flavor. Again, maybe due to age. Malt presence is felt at the end.
I'm a little confused on the alcohol taste. There is definitely a presence, yet its listed as only 6%, yet the brewer calls it an "Imperial Pale Ale". Drinks more like an 8 or 9 in taste,but after 16oz I don't really feel it.
No complaints on the mouthfeel.
Not horrible, but I would like to try a fresher version.

 

Greetings from some level or other of hell! I don't know how some folks live for months on end in weather like this. Give me Antarctica any day if this was the other choice.

Thanks to our host for the cool musical theme. My brain is too boiled to come up with a top ten song list, but I'll throw out an easier alternative if I may. Sometimes there'll be a song that absolutely knocks you out, even if you're not otherwise a particularly huge fan of the band/artist in question. For me, probably the best example of that is the song "Sprawl II (Mountains beyond Mountains) by Arcade Fire. The band wouldn't make my top 250 but that song would be on my desert island list. We'll leave aside the royalties they probably owe to Blondie for the moment .



I've got a new beer (to me) from Weihenstephaner today: 1516 Kellerbier at 5.6% ABV. Thankfully a google search led me to a BA post from 2016 that explained what the hell the date code of 6139 meant (I believe it's April 6th, 2019). Hopefully that's a bottled on date and not a best buy. I mostly only drink Wehenstephaner's Oktoberfest as I'm not a hefe guy.



Look: pours a gorgeous, hazy, amber honey with a thick, small bubbled head that sticks around a while and leaves generous lacing.

Smell: There's a strong nuttiness on the nose mixed with some honey and generic bread.

Taste: More of that nuttiness and a semi-sweet honeyish, doughy, maltiness. This is followed by.... kind of not much more. It sort of just dies on the swallow with little aftertaste and just a bare hint of lingering bitterness. Tinge of a metallic flavor too.

Feel: Nicely crisp and carbonated on the tongue. On the light end of medium bodied. Dry finish.

Overall: not bad, but I wonder if this hasn't enjoyed the most caring life and has since lost it's "pop". Seems like it could use a bit more sharpness from some hops that may not have survived the long journey from brewery to my table.

Cheers all and stay cool!

 

San Franpsycho IPA is brewed with apricots and peaches.
The hazy gold can pour has a sweet and tart aroma and a 1 cm foam cap. The flavor is unique, medium hop bitterness with fruit flavors from the apricots and peaches that is a bit funky and just short of sour. This is not a favorite, but on this very, very hot day it is refreshing.

 

Aw shucks! Same goes for Mingus.

 

Ooh! The theme today reminds me of how little I’ve listened to music for myself in the last couple years. Most of the music in my house is made by the Wiggles or Fresh Beats of late!!

I’d probably have an easier time with albums than songs, and I guess that makes me old. That said, I can think of a few tunes I call up on the phone to listen to when I have a few minutes.

13th Floor Elevators Scarlet and Gold
Budgie Breadfan
Fe Fi Fo Fums My baby got the Boom Boom
The Kinks Forest Green Preservation Society
Seals and Croft’s Sea of Consciousness


I wish I had more time to listen.

I’ll be back In A bit with the beer....

 

Greetings, fellow NBSers, and thanks to @lordofthewiens for getting us going again.

Top ten songs? Not even gonna try. I own over 2,000 albums, spanning numerous genres, so I'd probably go mad reducing it down to ten songs/pieces of music.

Haven't done too much drinking of new beers this last week. I had a Scottish Ale from local brewery Waddell's on Wednesday that was decent without being anything I'd hunt down, and had a nice hazy IPA from Iron Goat that was at the light end of the spectrum and was brewed specifically for an ALS charity later that same evening.

Today, on what might be the warmest day of summer so far (it's 82°, with a high of 89° predicted: it's been an unusually damp and cool summer thus far), I decided to kick off NBS drinking with a Czech Pilsener brewed in western Washington:

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/40250/
Much too malty for the style. No crispness to the mouthfeel, and a super-restrained hop character. Not my deal for a pilsener.