New Beer Sunday (Week 755)

Well it's time to put some new ends on my extension cord. I got used to mowing right over the long cord I ran to my work shed, but now that the grass has gone dormant, I didn't give much thought to setting the deck lower!

This job (and my stupidity of course) calls for a beer!



4.05/5 rDev -0.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4
L: A light peach coloration. Murky opaque with an impossible to pour two-fist tall head requiring ounce by ounce additions. No lacing to speak of - more like large soap bubbles.

S: Serious lemon / lime and carbonation.

T: Follows nose - not bad, but one-note sour and bitter citrus.

F: Light-medium - great weight and mouthfeel for a session barring the excessive carbonation.

O: Pretty good for a session but hazy in appearance only.

 

Thanks @cjgiant for the great start to this weeks NBS.

Cheers!

 

Gubernija Kbac

For NBS, I think I'm going to split things up into a few themes. The first is kvass.

For starters, I loved the one “homemade” Kvass I once had… and hated every commercial example. I just can’t drink the typical stuff. For today’s NBS, I’m not going to let disgust get in the way of potentially expanding my horizons. This particular Kvass is from Lithuania. It’s a hazy gorgeous brown. It has a wonderful sweet and bready aroma. The taste? This isn’t a beverage I will be able to really enjoy. Having said that, it’s probably the nicest packaged Kvass I’ve had. It’s very sweet but it also has a sour component. Tastes like a raisin stuffed bread soaked in coke and then aged… with added water and acidity. Carbonation is very light.

 

Kwas Chlebowy Starolitewski

Alright, here’s Lithuanian Kvass number 2. This dark ruby kvass is even prettier than the first. Carbonation is almost not there. Aroma isn’t nearly as strong with this one. Taste-wise, this Kvass is a safer drink than the first. Its personality is calmer. It’s not bad at all. It’s crisper and has a mild, fruity taste. The first Kvass had a much bolder breadiness and was much rougher around the edges. It was an interesting experience having these two in an overlapping way.

 

Good morning BAs! I believe it safe to say the wife and I travel a fair bit, and part of the fun (well, only for me) is visiting local breweries and/or bars and drinking new to me beers. Two weeks ago while driving through Wyoming we stopped in Laramie. Mrs. Z wanted to nose around town (and shop) and we stumbled into a microbrewery and a coffee house/roaster with same owners...I drank a beer and chatted with the bartender, and the boss had an iced coffee in the building next door. Kismet!

Today’s new beer is “Coal Train Belgian Style Coffee Stout”, by Coal Creek Tap, Laramie WY:



Bottled 7/1/19; Purchased at the brewery/brew pub 7/29/19. At 55 degrees the liquid pours dark ruby brown; tan head consists of mixed bubbles that quickly fade leaving some thin retention and a solid ring; lots is spotty lacing; very thin legs.

Roast coffee and light sweet fruit nose.

Bitter dark roast coffee and bitter sweet dark chocolate.

Medium lite body; moderate minus carbonation; no warmth from the 8.3 % ABV.

Overall, a pleasing coffee stout with strong coffee nose and long bitter coffee roast linger; the Belgian yeast is present but more so on the nose than the taste. A tad thin, but quite tasty and very drinkable.





4.25 4.0. 4.25 3.75. 4.0

Cheers!

 

My wife and I are wandering around Albuquerque this weekend with our son, who is visiting from Boston. Hope to have a new beer by the time we're back home in Las Cruces. Speaking of Las Cruces, it is the 10th place I've lived in my life (@Roguer is way ahead of me). Compared to my last home in southern Maine, Las Cruces is a beer desert. But in the year I've lived there, two new breweries and a good beer bar have opened, so things are looking up.
Have a great New Beer Sunday!

 

NBS beer #1



All The Strawberries & Rhubarbs

Stoneface Brewing Co.
Berliner Weisse | 3.7% ABV

4.09/5 rDev 0% | Average: 4.09
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

canned 07/30/19

L-The beer pours a hazy peach color with a 2 finger white head. The head recedes to a central island and thin ring. No lacing is present.
S- The nose is dominated by the strawberries. Behind the strawberries there is a tartness which may be a combination of the yeast and rhubarb.
T- Up front the beer is moderately tart in the manner of most Berliners. The rhubarb blends and accentuates this. Behind the tartness the strawberries surface briefly along with just a touch of sweetness.
F- Mouthfeel overall is light. Carbonation is medium and prickly. The level of tartness dries out the finish inviting further sips.
O- A very nicely done sour. The fruit accentuates here rather than dominating. Definitely more Berliner than fruit beer. The beer does have lactose but it doesn't intrude. Recommended.

 

Leikeim Pils

Today I’m gonna cheat and feature two beers I had yesterday. Was saving these for Sunday but opened them early. These beers were two imported pale lagers... and both were interesting in terms of the breweries and their ties to history, so I figured some people will forgive the cheating.

First up is the Leikeim Pils. I was delighted to find this and their Steinbier within their best by dates in a store. I’ve had the Steinbier before, and the recent bottle pleased me as usual. Steinbier is brewed with hot stones. The Leikeim Steinbier is probably the posterchild import for this type of brewing. Anyway, let’s move on to their pilsner.

This golden beer has lovely, characteristic German clarity and stunning head retention. Gorgeous. Smells of pilsner malt. Tastes wonderful. Like many German pils, this a great beer. What distinguishes it, is that it’s rather grainy, it’s dry, and it has a touch of acidity. This is an earthy pilsner. It’s delicious, characterful, and really well made. I think this blows most 16oz US pils out of the water. I wish this wasn’t the last bottle at the store. Cheers.

 

One of the beer's I'm reviewing today is a local beer! It's like we have ESPN or something.

 

Ah nice, thanks, Jack! Looks and sounds delicious and I will be on the lookout for this.

 

Hey what's going on!?

It's another wonderful NBS, and finally the weather this weekend is just GOORGEOUS if a touch bit of warmth. Finally some cool breezes!

I am checking my hop vine (oh yeah when was the last time I checked that out?!) cough cough.. How is it doing? Oh I think brew day is gonna be on the radar!



Still the cones are a bit too fresh and we need some time.

I had a great bike but man it was tiring bike ride yesterday. It was the perfect excuse to go out, but more so DC Brau had released a new beer and that made the perfect excuse to go hit the trail.



So with that... we have our beer run stash in hand to jump into today!

What's new for our hero today?



Poured from the can into a novelty Brau can glass. Prost! Canned August 6th 2019.

Surprisingly clear bodied for a keller brew, manages a slightly light yellow but shiny brass gleam, with a touch of mild haze in the body. Head creation is a nice eggshell white making good solid fingers with lots of retention. Sticky bubbly lacing and some good clumping to match.

Very bready nose, with a touch of gooey yeast like aroma. Sense of stickiness a little, with a very large dense malt bread dough quality. Minimal sensing hop herbality as well.

Palate makes some good roads. First sip is surprisingly light bodied and lager crisp. Good touches of light herbal hop and pleasant bakery malt presence. The finish has more of a classic Keller quality, with a little more herbal punch of hop. Sticky bread dough on the aftertaste with a yeasty thickness of flavor rolling on the swallow. Clean tasting and finish all-throughout.

In the end this comes out as a bit of Munich light helles Keller hybrid to me, which might be the perfect match for some. I'd like it to lean more on the Keller angle as it's one of my favorite styles, but this is easily a good one in a pinch.

look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4 | BA Generated Score: 3.99

Cheers!

 

First up we got Summer from Tree House. I had spring earlier this week and it was freaking awesome.



Look is typical for a murkbomb, however more head on this one than normal. Head is white with an orange tinge to it. Aroma is tropical, ripe fruits. Pineapple, mango, nectarine, orange, and a slight musty cheese scent. Taste follows, orange, mango, grapefruit, a little pine, and that musty cheese is flashed too. Finish has a great hop bite. Mouthfeel is fuller than medium, soft, almost creamy but not OH creamy. Overall this is excellent but not quite as good as spring.

 

A. Le Coq - Premium

This is my second lager from yesterday. It’s from Estonia. A. Le Coq, the brewer and exporter, was a key player in the story of Russian Imperial Stout. This is an unexceptional but enjoyable golden lager. There is nothing bad about it... it’s solid, but it doesn’t stand out in any way. It’s a bit sweet, it’s slightly grainy, and there’s a touch of lemon. Not a repeat buy.

 

NBS beer #2



Brut IPA - Woodshed Pilot Series

Old Nation Brewing Co.
American Brut IPA | 7% ABV

4.03/5 rDev -1.2% | Average: 4.08
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

canned 07/03/2019

L-The beer pours a just slightly hazy straw color. The head is a prodigious 4 fingers of white foam which grudgingly recedes to a central mound with thin ring. Lacing splotches the glass all around.
S-The nose is musty and dry. Herbal hop notes are present and of low intensity.
T- On the palate the beer is lightly pithy, herbal and dry. Not something that's going overwhelm you with flavor, but it's subtle and pleasant.
F-The mouthfeel overall is on the lighter side of medium bordering on light. The carbonation is medium and helps to lighten the mouthfeel. The dry finish and lighter mouthfeel make this beer highly repeatable.
O- This is what I feel like the style is supposed to be. Light, dry, and drinkable. If you want to get a feel for this style this is an excellent example. Recommended.

 

New Pepper Stout (and brewery) Sunday #2

Again, courtesy of @brutalfarce

Thanks, Bill!

Notable Pepper/Spice Ingredients: Chipotle Pepper and Ginger






Look: The beer pours translucent, dark brown from the can. Sits opaque and black in the glass, with streams of tiny bubbles floating up along the edge. A dark brown head struggles to stay alive and immediately disappears upon pouring. Zero head or lacing. Appears watery and looks simply like a glass of Coke. Not the most attractive looking stout.

Smell: A sweet nose of dark bread and toffee. There is a fruity and spicy note that I assume is ginger. Candied ginger. Fruit bread. A little meaty, earthy, smokey and vegetal.

Taste: Some dark toasted bread and dark chocolate. A lingering nutty flavor. Mid palate the flavor opens up into a meaty RIS with some smokey chipotle flavor. At first, the meat smacked me in the face. I really enjoyed that. It works nicely with a smokey and earthy chipotle. No heat associated with this beer. There’s an overall “fruitiness” that I would attribute to the ginger. It goes a bit dark, dried fruit too with some date and raisin, bringing brightness to the beer. A semi-sweet finish.

Mouthfeel: This beer is pretty thin with low carbonation. The lack of body coupled with the ginger flavor takes me a bit toward a dark, ginger soda. I do prefer more feel.

Overall: The can says “distinct roasted malt profile and notable sweetness.” There is a distinct meaty flavor and there is certainly sweetness that never goes overboard. I think they’ve done a pretty good job with this beer, but the mushroom cloud on the label is a bit misleading. There’s nothing explosive or hot about this beer. It is smokey from the pepper, so I suppose there’s that. I don’t think I’d buy this beer or go out of my way to drink it again, but I get it. So, if chipotle ginger sounds like your thing this would be a good place to start.

3.63/5 rDev -4.5%
look: 3 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.75

@AyatollahGold

 

Once it became clear that your only revered composer was Beethoven from among the many deserving folks in the top category I felt nothing but a quiet sympathy for you, so I guess that makes us even.

Not surprised in your total number and while I can't pretend to match that number, I expect to do. Using a criterion of a month or more in one "living locaton" and not counting repeats I'd say my total is at least 10. If I add in repeats it will be 12-14, not counting temporaries of less than a month. Temporaries of a week-to month would shoot my total much higher.

Does #20 offer the prospects of "last?"

 

Bolero Snort cowfee break
...solid black appearance
...medium light carbonation with an above average body. Theres a slight slick, oily feel as well which adds to an overall nice feel
...aroma is black coffee, roasted malt, cream and lactose
..taste is black coffee, mildly sweet, cream and sugar
...overall they made a beer that really imitates a cup of black coffee with cream. One of the better ones from BS and would try it again