New Beer Sunday (Week 754)

Zywiec - Session IPA aka Sesyjne IPA

Saw this Polish oddball and couldn’t resist it despite expecting the worst. Figured it was quite old too... but clearly no older than 2018 based on the label. The labeled “best before” date is L8339616B1303. Seriously. Well, that clears things up. In addition to the usual, this is made with wheat and hop extract. This is the sort of beer that @TongoRad might accuse me of "taking one for the team."

ABV is 5%. Color is light amber. Slightly hazy. Light body. Taste certainly isn’t bad. Mild herbal and orange citrus hop quality. Dry, crackerish malt. There's a tiny hint of diacetyl.

Frankly, it’s nicer than some American craft “session IPAs.” This goes down really easy. Cheers.

 

Nice review! And sorry to tell you that you haven't quite hit the "Craig'd" it up mark just yet. Nonsensical useless rambling is an acquired art

 

Saranac American Pale Ale

I’ve wanted to try this beer for a really long time. It’s a wonderfully clear amber. A very attractive beer. The taste is refreshingly gentle. There’s a touch of malt sweetness and toast. Tastes like Cascades done in such a way to provide character but in complementary role. This is a successful exercise in restraint (a quality that needs more appreciation here). Cheers.

 

A-Pours a dark amber color with a slight head and lacing
A-Aroma has coconut and raisin hints
T-Taste follows the nose with a coconut and raisin flavor
M-A medium bodied decently carbonated beer
O-A decent Belgian Quad

 

I'm not sure why you listened to two idiots like us, but it seems it worked out. Though I guess there was @TheGent acting as the voice of reason. Nice review.

Aww, shucks. Thanks!

 

I got this from my local friend John and very impressed. Poured into a 16 oz Foam Brewing Glass not sure when it was canned. Pours a very hazy and attractive yellow orange with a 2 finger sticky white head that leaves plenty of thick streaks of lace, with solid retention. 4.75


Smell pineapple, melon, tangerine, papaya, and maybe a hint of grapefruit rind. 4.25


Taste follows big tropical pineapple, melon, papaya, tangerine, and maybe some honey with a hint of grapefruit, crazy balanced. 4.5


Mouthfeel is big and sticky, soft gentle carbonation, sticky not dry, and at 8.2% ABV insanely drinkable. 4.75


Overall I know nothing about Alvarium Beer Company but this is tasty stuff..... 4.5

 

Hey what's going on ?!

New beer that's what!? I had to get a run in, I went on a bit of kill down the bar bit in my house. I ran out of beer and starting putting a dent in my whiskey and other spirits with some good cocktails. However, as I was on my umpteenth million Manhattan or Old Fashioned I was really saying... jesus I could use a beer.

Whiskey when it's hot just doesn't feel right for me. At least I am out of light rum.

With that said, fridge is restocked, not so much varied... it's once again another plethora of IPAs in the door, but that will keep me busy. And happy!

Hooray beer!

With that said what is new for our hero?! Saw this guy and thought, man this brings back memories! When was the last time I had a Great Lakes beer!?

Now is that time..




Poured from the bottle into a Spiegelau IPA glass. Enjoy by August 21 2019.

Bright and nearly crystal clear looking body color, with a polished light brass and lots of fast rising fine carbonation. Heas is classic bright white, and very fine bubbles, making a solid classic three plus fingers of height off the pour. Settles to a rich island clump and some clingy lace. Real nice looking IPA.

Good solid aroma hits more of a bit hop lemon peel and citrus action on the nose. Perhaps a faint hit of herbal hop as well, a touch of green grass seems to peak out as well. Straightforward neutral malt and yeast profile.

Palate brings not too many surprises. Nice malt simple malt backbone, hints a little chewy but not quite, bringing a nice lemon and citrus quality on first sip. A good residual bitterness remains as well, touches a little bit of pine/earth maybe even some resin but not sticky flavored at all. Slight bit of sweetness in the malt makes for a nice balance as well.

A pretty good straightforward IPA, with a great look as well.

look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4 | Personal BA Generated Score: 4.02

Cheers!

 

The Veil Never Never Aloha Aloha Gose

Happy Sunday, BAs. Picked up today’s new beer on a recent stop in Richmond on the way back from the Great Smoky Mountains.

It pours a murky, ruddy cider color with a half finger of slow-forming, short-lived, light-tan head that forms a wisp and a crown and leaves sloppy sheets of lacing.

The huge aroma is sour and tropical with tons of pineapple, guava and passionfruit.

The taste is a bit more restrained and tart, with cherry and citrus added to the mix, almost making it seem semi-dry. There’s also a clear pinch of salt in it. Floral tropical notes do linger in the aftertaste.

It’s medium bodied with just a little carbonation.

This is a nice tropical fruit sour that delivers as advertised.

 

Opa was dead: to begin with.



Speaking of LA, and family, and grandparents and the like.
This does all tie in, I promise.
So a couple of weeks back (last week?) the question was posed: how do you decide which beer to select for NBS (or some other formatting of essentially that question)?
I am one of those over-thinkers. In most aspects of my life. And definitely when it comes to beer, and ESPECIALLY DEFINITELY when it comes to NBS beer. I need a reason. I need a thematic tie in, or special synergy for the day or a theme or the beer or... something (I mean, I don't really NEED these things, but I put unnecessary focus onto them conceptually).



My Opa died a couple of years ago. He was cremated, and we had been waiting to scatter his ashes. Well, my uncle coming to visit (for the first time in probably a decade) provided the perfect opportunity to do just that. We sailed out from the island and spread him across the Salish Sea on a bed of rose petals and current. It was the same boat as my parents used for their honeymoon (the skipper is a good friend of my dad's, and the dad of an old HS friend of mine). It was a beautiful day for a sail and everything went surprisingly well. It was tuesday. My Opa wrote code for day traders, creating tools for those looking to navigate the stock market.



I digress, but the point is: burying a former stock market-related family member on a tuesday was enough excuse for me to pull out the bottle of Black Tuesday that @2beerdogs so generously gifted me when I was in his neck of the woods a few months back. I'd intended to crack into it on that day and split it with my dad (and offer it to my uncle, though he's more of a coors light fan so I'm not sure he would have gone for much more than a polite splash anyway), but by the time we got back and got dinner and started getting settled in it was far too late to be opening a bottle that threatens 20%.

So to NBS it goes instead.



Black Tuesday. The Bruery.

Immediately upon beginning to pour I'm reminded of how big this thing is. Or at least it made me think of that, as I tend to associate a certain amount of thin appearance/feel with high ABV. And High this is indeed. In fact 'tis the highest I've ever reviewed if charted ABVs are to be believed.
Anyway, the pour itself this thing appeared caramel/toffee brown when I was expecting motor oil black (regional differences perhaps?). In the glass it retains some of that deep character, though it comes through more as a thick cola (like when the 'tap' handle is broken and doesn't deliver the soda water to mix and it's just soda syrup) or chestnut dark brown masquerading as black. Minimal head reserved to a bundling of bubbles to the base of the bowl. No lacing.

Nose is an immediate detour from the expected notes of the ABV. At nearing 20%, I was expecting burn baby burn. And while there is unmistakeably some alcohol to be sure, it does a great job of smiling reassuringly, furrowing its brow and giving calm assurances of your safety and how your fears are grounded in a healthy respect, but are unwarranted in this case. Sweet vanilla and oak lead the charge, with some rich caramel underpinning. Overall the aroma is less strong than I'd thought it would be, instead settling in to a cozy sweet smoothe pleasantness.

Flavour presents much the same dichotomy. Practiced soothings that all will be well and you needn't worry, while behind the curtain 19.2% alcohol is pumped into your veins. Barrel presents as the leading cause here again... vanilla and oak with a burnt caramel. I could convince myself of some sweet chocolate/caramel hybrid and maybe some riesen-like toffee with a splash.

Smoothe and dangerously easy to work on for an alcohol level nearing drinking age itself. This is not a thick chewy stout, as it sits on the medium-rare side working towards thin, but this never distracts nor detracts from the overall sipping experience (and yes, you should absolutely sip this). Unobtrusive carbonation and body, and while I can feel the alcohol evaporating off my tongue, somehow it keeps distracting/tricking me into not thinking about it. This is a masterclass in taking a statistically aberrant character that should just wreck the whole thing and coaxing it into an experience of pleasant comfort masquerading as mellow experience half as dangerous as it is.
I am incredibly grateful to Derek for having created the opportunity to sample this pillar of boozy BA stouts. Thanks!!




Cheers!!

 

Saranac - Gen4 Session IPA aka Gen IV

This beer resembles the previous Saranac pale ale more than I expected... which shouldn't have surprised me in hindsight. The difference being that it has less malt character/presence and more of an amped up hop presence with a resinous bitter finish. Nice beer.

 

Amazing view, that is just beautiful!
Cheers

 

@Shanex,
Since Duvel is my all-time favorite beer, I would LOVE the opportunity to try this. Sadly, I'm pretty sure this is a limited run and don't think it will get distributed in The States

The burning question I ask is which (current) Tripel Hop variant do you prefer: Citra or Cashmere?

I also find it interesting that the label for Tripel Hop Cashmere label shows it as a "Belgian IPA." I wonder if they will also revise future Tripel Hop Citra labels to more effectively market to the IPA drinker.

Cheers!

 

I'll Bee Dat a 5% ABV Lemon Honey Kolsch. This brew is a collab between Twin Elephant Brewing and THE Melovino Meadery in Vauxhall NJ. This is not the sort of thing I usually enjoy but the brewer convinced me to give it a fair shot so I ordered a pint. This drink tastes great and in very refreshing. It's brewed with Pilsner Malt and Kolsch yeast and it's conditioned on California Orange blossom honey and lemon puree. It pours bright yellow with a thin white head that leaves little lacing. The aroma is powerful of honey and Lemon as is the taste which is somehow sweet and sour at the same time. The mouthfeel is light the finish is slightly sweet. As was stated already I'll Bee Dat is a very enjoyable drink I order a 2meadond pint. I don't consider this a beer or a Kolsch. I don't know enough about Mead to call it that either. I guess I'll just leave it at that.

 

It's amazing to be out in such beauty, I never take it for granted. Finding delicious treats is just a bonus. Cheers!

 

Life and limb
..semi clear brown color
..medium body with light carbonation
Aroma is birch ,earthy, wood/spice, rootbeer
..taste is very similar to aroma with the birch being center stage and the maple was a backup dancer in the background. It almost reminded me of adult rootbeer but with very little sweetness.
..overall it was very good but not sure I would seek it out again. Unusual flavors made it hard to pair with food and didn't come off like a dessert beer. Well done but I'm one can and done