New Beer Sunday (Week 754)

Wow how cool to see NBS this early! Sounds like a great time with the kids, Doc! Always bugged me too that my kids acted better for their grandparents than for the ex and me.

I'm just getting a cup of coffee and making ready to hit the woods below The Trapps (this is a view from above where I pick)

Left over rib eye with saute'd chanterelles in a chardonnay reduction, and a bottle of Guinness Extra also is on the b'fast menu. Life she is good.

Hope to find a bunch more chants, found a bag of 'em yesterday in a different area. Tough season here, quite dry, but no complaints. I do well no matter the weather, and I totally credit it to always giving away many pounds of what I find. Hope they let me in the beer store, I even can't stand my now very ripe woods clothes. Luckily ticks hate them too!

See ya inna bit with a big thirst for sure, and hopefully a new beer to cure it.

 

A-Pours a nice hazy dark amber color with a nice head and lacing
A-Aroma has pleasant wheat and malt hints
T-Taste follows the nose with a very pleasant wheat and malt flavor
M-A medium bodied decently carbonated beer
O-A good German Weizenbock

 

Good morning NBS
I'm off work for a few days as of 6am here. I saved a new to me tripel to review this morning.

The review:
11.2oz bottle with 09-01-2020 printed on the bottom of the label poured into a tulip glass at fridge temp 9% ABV. The beer pours mostly bright honey colored amber with quick building off white head. The head recedes slowly to a nice cap. Spotty lacing. The aroma is mild and yeasty, but more barnyard than phenolic. The taste is semisweet ripe fruit and banana with the pale malt coming through mid palate before a drying mildly bitter finish. The mouthfeel is medium bodied with above average carbonation and a dry finish. Overall, very good. Nothing earth shattering, but nothing wrong either.

I hope to be back after a nap if family activities provide time. Enjoy the new beer in your glass today BA!

 

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Family is great. Have my eldest son and crew coming home for a visit in a few weeks . No internet , just face to face family. Looking forward to that .

My new beer is a whale I have been hunting for quite some time, King Sue by Toppling Goliath

4.55/5 rDev -1.7%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

Can poured into a teku

One finger creamy white foam cap, quickly recedes , no lacings, hazy orange liquid

Pineapple Juice bomb aroma , very fragrant on the pour , juicy fruit topicals

Taste is pineapple , orange citrus , hint of dank on the finish

Low sudsing , hint of alcohol, full on hop taste, this dinosaur doesn’t bite

Good beer, repeatable

 

Good morning New BSers! Well, it's a dry day here in NW PA, thus far. Mrs. Lizard and I just returned from a two-week driving tour of the areas of New England we had not previously visited - VT, NH, ME. That cuts me down to three states I haven't yet visited - HI, ID, NV, although the cost/benefit ratio means I'll probably not make HI before the termination of my beer-cation years.
Doc - congrats on successfully entertaining the grandkids! I personally think grandparent/grandkid relationships work better than parent/kid relationships because grandparents don't try to fix their (perceived) failures through the kids.
Well, today is the first Sunday back and I'm celebrating with today's NBS entry:



Received from @jdell15 in NBS BIF #9. Reviewed 8/4/19. Thanks Jacob!
“2017” printed on shoulder in nearly microscopic yellow numbers. Stored at 42 degrees and served at 54 degrees in a hand washed and dried Jester King snifter.
Appearance – 3.75.
First pour – Dark brown, slight haze.
Body – Dark brown/black, opaque. When held to the light, still opaque.
Head – Small (Maximum 1.5 cm, aggressive center pour), brown, fizzy, medium density, gone in a few seconds leaving neither cap nor crown.
Lacing – None. Not unexpected in a 15% ABV brew!
Aroma – 4 – Vanilla, rum. Moderately strong and lasts.
Flavor – 4.25 - Rum, vanilla extract, chilis, wood (but more like poplar than oak, i.e. less tannins and vanillin), very weak coffee, no coconut, no hops, no dimethylsulfide, no diacetyl.
Palate – 4 – Full, creamy, soft carbonation.
Impression and interpretation – 4 – No head, no lacing, burns (alcohol + chilis) all the way down but ignites a curiously mild gastric warming. Flavor is overpowered by the heat. Otherwise, pretty good.
Rating 4.09, rDev -9.9%.

I continue to think Prairie Artisan is an over-rated brewery, at least in terms of the BOMB! stuff - it seems to me that the goal is somewhat of an endurance test - how much chili can you stuff into a beer and still have people drink it. I dropped out a long time ago.

 

A-Pours a hazy dark amber color with a nice head and lacing
A-Aroma has pleasant toffee and dark malt hints
T-Taste follows the nose with a nice toffee and dark malt flavor
M-A medium bodied decently carbonated beer
O-A good German Dopplebock

 

A-Pours a nice amber color with a slight head and lacing
A-Aroma has abundant smoke and malt hints
T-Taste follows the nose with a generous smoke and malt flavor
M-A medium bodied decently carbonated beer
O-A good German Rauchbier

 

A brew from @superspak poured into a 16 oz Foam Brewing tulip glass. Pours a very attractive slightly hazy orange with a massive 3 finger sticky white head that leaves a wall of thin lace, with solid retention taking its sweet time to settle into a thin layer of bubbles. 4.25

Smell tangerine, apricot, mango, and grapefruit rind. 3.75

Taste follows grapefruit starts and finishes with orange, mango, and apricot all in a supporting roll. 3.75

Mouthfeel is a big medium, plenty of prickly carbonation, a tad dry, and at 7.4% extremely drinkable. 4

Overall I still appreciate an old West Coast IPA and that is what you get with this one, but a little East Coast influence also. 3.75

 

A Helles of a good time!

What is better than a Helles on a hot summer day? Two Helles beers on a hot summer day.

I have had a number of beers from Von Trapp Brewing (Dunkel, Vienna Lager, Pilsner) but for the first time today I will be drinking their Helles beer. I will be conducting a side-by-side taste test along with a longtime favorite of Sly Fox Helles Golden Lager.

Sly Fox Helles Golden Lager

Let’s first discuss to old standby of Sly Fox Helles Golden Lager. Sly Fox Brewing opened up in 1995 and in my opinion they really came into their own when they hired Brian O’Reilly as their head brewer in 2002 (not that the beers were ‘bad’ prior to then). Brian just seemed to have a great touch in brewing lagers such as Helles, Pilsners, etc. Even though Brian has left Sly Fox to be a co-owner of Mainstay Brewing his many years at Sly Fox has left a great heritage of brewing knowledge and talent at Sly Fox Brewing. Below is how this beer is discussed on the Sly Fox website:

“Helles Golden Lager

German-style Lager

11.4 OG18 IBUs4.9% ABV

Sly Fox Helles Golden Lager German-style Lager

A German-style golden lager brewed with imported German Pils malt and Saaz and Hallertau hops. This light-bodied beer offers a gentle, dry finish. A perennial favorite in the Sly Fox pubs and our brewer's go-to session beer.”

I recently spoke to the manager of the Sly Fox Brewpub (Phoenixville, PA) and he informed me the Helles is the number 1 selling beer for Sly Fox. This is quite a noteworthy feat considering that the majority of craft beer drinkers seem to go gaga over super hoppy beers, barrel aged beers, pastry stouts,… these days.

Von Trapp Helles

As I already made mention above I have had a few Von Trapp lagers already which for my palate varied from excellent to good; basically in this order – Dunkel, Vienna, Pilsner. I have high hopes they can brew a quality Helles as well.

Below is how Von Trapp discusses their Helles on their website:

“Golden Helles

4.9% ABV 20 IBU | 6-Pack Bottles | 12 oz.6-Pack Cans

From the German word for “Bright”, our golden lager displays a floral hop aroma with a bready malt balance. Traditional in style, Helles is brewed with pilsner malt to produce a dry, snappy finish while Perle and Tettnanger hops create a spicy, herbal hop aroma. The result is an incredibly clean, yet complex, lager.”

Well, all of this typing has worked up a powerful thirst; LET’S DRINK!!!!!

Served in my Spiegelau Lager Glasses:

Appearance:

Sly Fox Helles Golden Lager: Straw colored with a white head.

Von Trapp Helles: same

Aroma:

Sly Fox Helles Golden Lager: There is a Pilsner malt aroma of sweet-ish but some breadiness as well.

Von Trapp Helles: Mostly an herbal-like smell but there is a bit of bready malt in the background.


Taste:

Sly Fox Helles Golden Lager: The flavor follows the nose with sweet-ish Pilsner malt flavor. There is a low-moderate bitterness.

Von Trapp Helles: The malt flavor is more prominent here (compared to the nose). The herbal aspect is more in the background. There is a low-moderate bitterness.


Mouthfeel

Sly Fox Helles Golden Lager: Light-medium bodied with a dry finish.

Von Trapp Helles: same.

Overall

Sly Fox Helles Golden Lager: Very Good.

Von Trapp Helles: Good to Very Good.

I enjoyed drinking both of these beers but Sly Fox more closely represents what I think a Helles should be with the malt aspect being front and center.

Cheers!

@rotsaruch @RobH @KOP_Beer_OUtlet @Ranbot @meefmoff

 

Good on ya for helping your daughter out. My mother-in-law has become a fixture in our home as my wife navigates through the hiring process and new hire training. Cheers to all the Grandparents out there today.

 

Thanks @lordofthewiens to this weeks great start to NBS. Should be back later on with a new brew.

Cheers!

 

I knew I liked you.

To me, Bomb! changed when Chase wasn’t an influence on it anymore. (Because for a little bit after he sold PAA, he was still around. But then he left altogether after starting American Solera)

And it’s not been the same since. The peppers are muted compared to what they used to be and don’t offer that green vegetal note anymore. (Which I think separated it from a lot of other pepper stouts)

Cheers my Bomb! friend.

 

Extremely well said. When I first got into craft beer and explored different styles there lots of holyfuckingshit I didn't know beer could be this! moments. Bamburana was the first in a loooong time. I bought close to a case and I am having so much fun handing them out just to hear the reactions of friends, family, and co-workers. Almost as much fun as drinking them!

 

Hello NBS! After last week, when @cjgiant & @Lingenbrau were hyping up this beer, I’m going to try it this week. (Just kidding guys, it’s been on my wishlist for years)

Sent from the generous gent. @TheGent

Beer: Rusty Nail (2018)
Brewery: Fremont (Seattle, WA)
ABV: 14.5%

Pouring from a bomber bottle into a whiskey/tumbler glass, this beer pours out like a stream of coffee. It forms in the glass black with a bright brown highlighted rim. It wanted to form a crown of caramel bubbles on the pour, but never could muster it.

The nose carries in a bourbon barrel that wants its presence known. It shows dark fruit; raisins, dates and plums alongside a dry oak, light leather and vanilla tannins. The cinnamon is at the party, but deciding if it wants to dance yet.

And with one sip, the cinnamon jumps off the wall to dance, providing an ever so slight spicy tingle. It doesn’t take long for the barrel to come back in with its dark fruit. Loads of chocolate paints the background and stays throughout. I think the licorice adds to the overall taste, but it’s not something that would be picked out if not noted. The only time I’m able to tell it’s there is maybe on the finish with a little lingering candy sweetness.

The 14.5% ABV seems like an 8 or 9%, it’s very soft and subtle, which is very impressive for how evident and prominent the barrel is throughout. It’s very well integrated in there with no booze showing through. Cinnamon bark provides a nice, slight tingle throughout. I would put this at medium bodied, and if it was a little thicker my rating on the feel would be perfect.

Overall, this isn’t a beer that is going to obliterate your mouth with flavor. It sits back, and slowly shows you beautiful aspects throughout its entirety. Very well made, balanced & integrated. It honestly reminds me of something Bells would make. In the sense that, it might leave you wanting a little more of a certain aspect at given points, but it definitely won’t leave you saying it wasn’t perfectly balanced.

Have I “Craig’d” this post yet?

Huge thanks Anthony for the chance to try this!

Cheers NBS, I can’t wait to see what you bring to the share!