New Beer Sunday (Week 756)

Wild Onion Misfit IPA

It seems this brewery just arrived here. Limited distribution according to the website, including Illinois, Missouri and New Jersey.



Look: Translucent. But not bright. A bit of haze. Pale/medium amber. Khaki colored head that’s settled to a finger and leave streaks of lacing on my glass. No visible carbonation.

Smell: Fresh apricot, orange, caramel sweetness, earthy black tea, grassy and herbal with some weedy/dank/oregano notes. Really nice.

Taste: This IPA is really good. It strikes a nice balance between the bready/honey/caramel malt sweetness and hop bitterness / dank notes. And it never goes overboard for me. Really hits the sweet spot. Up front some sweeter stone fruit notes, lemon, lime and orange citrus mid palate with some grapefruit and grapefruit pith bitterness on the finish helps to keep the sweetness in check. Some herbal, grassy and dank notes too. A really nice bitterness to the beer. This IPA hits many notes that I like.

Feel: Moderate level of carbonation. Smooth and semi dry.

Overall: This IPA is really nice. Is it better than local options? No. It’s probably about as good though. Do I take price into consideration when rating? No. But it’s worth noting that at 2.99 a stovepipe buying this beer is a no brainer

4/5 rDev +4.4%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

 

Arclight Soursmith Passion Fruit. This was amazing. Solid head retention, minimal lacing as expected. Aromas and flavors of huge sour/tart/tangy passion fruit, fruit skin/seeds, lemon, lime, orange, grapefruit, peach, plum, pear, apricot, papaya, mango, honeydew melon, guava, berries, red/green apple, white grape/wine, oak, hay, straw, and grass; with moderate honey, wheat, white bread dough malts; lighter notes of peppercorn, leathery/musty/lacto funk, white wine vinegar, and yeast earthiness. Light-moderate fruity/lactic tart/sourness, fruit tang, and light yeast/oak tannin spiciness on the finish. Medium carbonation, medium-full body, and a bit crisp finishing. Balanced creamy/grainy malts, lactic acid, and fruit/oak tang/tannins in the mouthfeel. Light-moderate increasing acidic/tangy dryness; no pucker/astringency. Smooth/soft, not overly lactic, minimal warming 9%. Insanely jammy as hell fruit with balanced Brett/Bacteria complexity; great oak presence and nice sized malt backbone against acidity. Mild residual sweetness with crisp acidic/tangy dryness. Another home run sour as usual with this brewery. (I've rated every variant at least 4.3). 4.35


Cheers

 

New (to me): Juicy Haze IPA, from New Belgium’s Voodoo Rager series.



Pours a hazy golden-orange in color, looking much like a Witbier. Shock white head, and great lacing in the glass. Sediment... yeast or cryo hops? Looks the part at any rate.
Not as much as I was exotic the nose, but instead a muted, tropical fruit melange and muted hop character as well. Maybe it’s too cold?*. Unimpressive (for the style) nose overall. Sweet... and a bit lifeless on the first sip. A smooth and easy-drinker to be sure, but little perceived or apparent bitterness to balance the sweetness.

The mouthfeel makes up in many respects for other shortcomings, and it’s surely quite easily-drinkable at 7.5% ABV.

Overall, not impressed. And that right there’s the crux of it: NEIPA is not a style I truly care for, but I’ve had so much of it by now that I know where an attempt falls short of average, as this one does.

And when you can’t come close to average for the style, what’s the point? Let that hype train go at the station, NBB, and stick to what you’re good at.

*Best By Date: Sept 15, 2019. This bottle is just on its last legs.


Look: 3

Smell: 2.75

Taste: 2.75

Feel: 3.75

Overall: 2.75

 

Greetings all and thanks to our host for another imaginative and fun opening. I grew up in a small neighborhood that was separated from the rest of our very typical suburb by about a quarter mile of woods and swamp, so there weren't a ton of kids on hand to play sports other than some one on one basketball or around-the-world.

So what did we do for invented fun? Well, for a while, our preferred activity was to build turtle traps out of chicken wire and catch water turtles in a pond that bordered the swamp (and which also bordered a golf course - much to the non-delight of the golfers). We'd catch a dozen on a good day and keep the bigger ones in a little habitat in my backyard for a day or two until they inevitably escaped back into the swamp. Good times.

The import Oktoberfests have landed here in Boston so I'm working my way through them. It's tough work but someone has to do it. I've got Hofbrau's offering in my hand right now clocking in at 6.3% ABV. It's clearly in the pale Festbier tradition. It appears to have been bottled on the 156th day of 2019 making it pretty darn fresh for an import.



Look: Gorgeous, clear golden honey color with a big foamy white head that lasts but doesn't leave much lacing.

Smell: The recent bottling date shines with a big nose of bread, spiciness and some straw grass.

Taste: Follows the nose with the spicy character being stronger and the bread easing up a bit. This has a touch of booze on the back end to it as well (which I'm noticing because I recently had Weihenstephaner's version and found it to be about the lightest tasting 6% lager I can remember). Pleasant mild bitterness. As it warms the breadiness comes back to the forefront.

Feel: very sharp, crisp and clean. Finish is mostly dry with a slightly bitter bready aftertaste lingering just a little. Begs for another sip after the swallow.

Overall: Fantastic! For festbiers I'd put this on par with Weihenstephaner and ahead of Paulener this year.

Cheers!

 

A little later than usual today, so I have some catching up to do. My theme today is Americanized fruited Witbiers.

There are a lot of these, but I have chosen 3. First up is:

Great Lakes Holy Moses Raspberry White Ale
ABV 6.2%
IBU 20



Aroma is bready berries, some coriander. Second and third wiff pick up more raspberry specifically.

Tall white head, thick and creamy, from a controlled pour into a weizen glass. Color is golden amber with a slight reddish tint. Good lacing. Vigorous rising bubbles.

Raspberry is stronger in the taste than the aroma, slightly tart. Good wheat bread backing, some spice, and a tartness lingers along with the raspberry on the tongue in the aftertaste.

Mouth feel is lively with the carbonation, medium body.

Aftertaste is clean and refreshingly tart. I liked this one.

L: 4 | S: 3.75 | T: 4.25 | F: 4 | O: 4 | My calculated BA rating: 4.04

 

Good afternoon and happy New Boy-am-I-excited-it's Sunday, BAs. Not very often does a beer truly excited me, which is sad, but that's not the case today. First, to address the theme of the day, growing up in a shitty neighborhood was sketchy but definitely had it's perks. There were a ton of kids. Baseball, skateboards, dirt boarding, hide and seek.... We lived right by a bike path that ran along a wooded gully for the most part, so making forts and bike jumps down in the ditch was easy enough to accomplish. Catching crawdads at the "creek" was always an experience. Had to watch out for inhabitants though, which often led to some questionable situations. Cap guns could be heard firing off all day, but often by night they turned into the real thing. Everyone of us new our own mother's distinct cries for us to come home almost immediately once the lights came on at dusk. Needless to say, it was a relief for my siblings and I, but mostly my parents when we finally got the hell out of there on my 13th birthday. Then we moved to suburbia, I got bored, and that probably wasn't the best thing to accompany my angst and defiant attitude towards most things. Regardless, I'd say I turned out pretty well and am thankful for my experiences, good and bad, for making me who I am today. Cue the Craig Curtains…

And now for the exciting part. Beer. Saisons are already one of my favorite styles. Block 15 is one of my favorite breweries. So is deGarde, though the availability kind of makes frequencies less often. So when I saw these two teamed up for a favorite style of mine, I was ecstatic to see this bottle.

Block 15 and deGarde
Spring Amusement- Saison blended with oak aged spontaneous ale





As expected, beautiful. A golden body grows deeper orange towards its heart, and bubbles rush constantly to support a massive stark white pillow of soapy suds above. They pop one by one and the whole blanket descends collectively leaving a mountain range of snow around the glass.

Soapy suds continue to ring true in the aroma alone with an earthy and woody backbone. It's very floral overall, appropriately named as it smells like the initial damp but warming days of spring. Touches of lemon peel and wildflower honey are the perfect suggestive compliments.

First sip, and wow. I didn't know what I was tasting at first, but it was delicious. Tart young green grapes, red apple skins, and a bramble of mixed unripened berries with an oaky edge to it gives off a light white wine like tone. The usual suspects of grasses and hay, barnyard funk, and all that jazz are here, but so very well blended, mild, and cohesive it's difficult to dissect them from one another. Everything here is in perfect harmony.

The active bubbles give this a soft, light, and airy feel, yet the body is silky smooth. Add the light acidity and it is just ridiculously easy to drink. It's actually making me sad to see this one's level deplete with each sip. There is a slight alcohol warming after sips, despite the somewhat modest 6.5% advertisement.

I expected this to be good. It's not. It's great. It not only satisfied my thirst for a Saison, but also a well executed wild ale simultaneously. It's delicious, and I wish every one of you lovers if the style(s) could have a taste. Who knows, some of you just might…

After my official review, I gave Spring Amusement a rating of 4.68 with an rDev of +4.9%. Cheers!

 

Good Sunday afternoon, New Beer Swiggers and commentators. And thank you, @lordofthewiens for hosting today. Like most suburban kids growing up in the 60's, we made up lots of games. We used to play "kill the guy with the ball" (girls played too). I remember this game distinctly because once I broke my arm playing it. We also played soccer on bicycles. No helmets, of course. No one was seriously injured but there were lots of cuts, bruises, and abrasions. There was also a gully nearby and kids on either side would throw rocks at each other. Today, this seems so innocent.

On to beer. After a long hot drive up the Garden State Parkway from the Shore, I needed and IPA. Today's new one is Interboro's Primo Remix. It's unusual insofar as it has a decidedly floral smell and taste. The website says there is a "unique blend of yeasts" which is hard to describe. Interboro is a quality brewer but this just isn't my type of DIPA. Still, it's clearly well-made so it deserves a good review:

4.16/5 rDev -1.4%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Canned on 7/23/2019 and poured into a pub glass. It pours a hazy, bright honey-orange color with a foamy, bright white head and significant lacing. The smell is highly floral; like walking through a greenhouse of flowers. There are also notes of orange/tangerine, lemon, overripe melon, and onion. The taste opens with tangerine and tart lemon, along with bubblegum and sweet malts. I'm also noticing the advertised "unique blend of yeasts" that is difficult to describe. The taste has a flower petal quality. The Mosaic, Citra, and Galaxy hops provide lots of fruit but the Eldorado hops add a strong dose of bitterness at the finish. As it warms I'm noticing increased bitterness and acidity at the finish. This ale is full-bodied but with moderate carbonation, and it seems potent for its 8% ABV. Overall, this is a well-made ale as I would expect from Interboro. it appears a lot of thought went into the recipe. It's a good DIPA but the yeast and floral taste isn't quite my speed. Not a criticism - just an observation.

I hope you're all enjoying your new beer(s) today. Cheers, NBS!

 

Flight at Dogfish Head, a flight (left-to-right)

Covered In Nuggs, Britt Rose Grisette, Cucamonga and Peah-A-Boo!



Covered In Nuggs is a pleasant IPA with a pleasant citrus, Britt Rose Grissette is an easy drinking Grisette with a Pinot Noir flavor, Cucamonga is a nice Cream Ale with a nice cucumber flavor, and Peach-A-Boo is a nicely Cask Ale with peaches and hibiscus flavors.

 

Look at that Focker!

 

A local New Province island smoothie ipa, ABV unknown, I'm guessing 6.0%. 3.69 overall

Pours a slightly hazed gold with a sliver of beige colored head. Zero head retention & lacing

S: Guava, mangoes & sweet orange blossom

T: Oranges, papaya, dryness & touch of lime up front. Bready with papaya & sweet orange as this warms. Finishes dry with sweet orange, a little cherry-limeade & guava

MF: Medium body, restrained carbonation

Drinks easy, this had potential, better than most of their offerings, we have such a dirth of this style around here, this could work into the rotation

 

Howdy NBS!
This is the last beer of a very productive new beer Sunday for me. I am sticking with the Treehouse and going for another non-IPA (at least in theory). This should steel my nerves for making dinner and then peddling over to a screening of Pulp Fiction beside the canal near here later on.



It pours an evenly hazy orange Julius with creamer color with a big, jello-like white head, easily rouseable, streaky lacing. The aroma is packed with orange creamsicile, mango sorbet, a hint of mossiness. A creamy, almost pithy pseudo bitterness atop a bready malt body makes up the flavor. It is fluffy with a nice crisp bite from the carbonation. this is a very straightforward beer with a great feel and an explosive aroma. Just delicious par for the course for this brewery and a nice take on an APA and a little less of the quickness that dominates their stouter hoppy beers. Very good.

Santé!

 

Surprisingly never been added. Not even sure what the style is supposed to be? Untappd has it as a brown so ok then. This was very good. Lasting rocky head retention/thick foamy lacing. Flavors of big milk/dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee, caramel, brown sugar, roasted nuts, toasted biscuit, and brown bread/crust; with lighter notes of dark fruit, smoke, charcoal, wood, herbal, grass, pepper, and yeast earthiness. Similar/muted aromas. Light herbal, woody, grassy, peppery, roast, charred bitterness on the finish. Medium carbonation and light-medium body; balanced creamy/grainy malt, sticky hops, and chalky roast in the mouthfeel. Light-moderate increasing bitter dryness; no acrid/astringency. Very smooth, flavorful, not watery for 3.8%. Nicely rich dark/black malts, balancing earthy hops, and restrained fruity yeast. Mild residual sweetness with lingering dryness. I'd buy it again for a session beer! 3.81


Cheers

 

What else did you have at Carton?

 

Back for round two. I mentioned up thread that I grew up in a very swampy area, and another activity we loved to do was to buy a cheap blow up raft at Caldor (think of a crummy, early 80s version of Target) and see how far out into the swamp we could get in it. The answer was pretty damn far if you were willing to brave the dense reeds, bugs, and mud. There always came a point where we had to abandon the oars and just pull ourselves forward by grabbing the surrounding vegetation. Again, good times.

On to the beer. We get Revolution beers here in Boston, but I generally skip them because they're more or less redundant with our existing regional sized offerings. I go to Illinois every so often though and enjoy drinking them there, and I particularly liked their Citra Hero which I've been lucky enough to find super fresh a couple of times. There are a number of entries in their "Hero" series and today I happened to see a "Northeast Hero" version. I was curious enough to try their take on (presumably) a hazy, NE style beer that I picked it up. This is 7% ABV and was canned on 6/13.




Look: Lovely hazy, honey orange color. No murk here. Small frothy white head doesn't last long and neither does the ring it recedes to.

Smell: Pretty decent nose of orange peel, some dankness, mango/apricot and a little wheaty malt.

Taste: More mango than orange and the dankness from the nose doesn't really come through. A touch of over ripe fruit. Nice light/moderate bitterness that hits more upfront than on the back end. And more generally, it just kind of dies on that back end. It's pleasant up front but then just sort of dissipates into a very flat finish.

Feel: this is definitely flirting with the thicker, softer mouthfeel of the NE style but it's on the thinner and sharper end of that spectrum. Could use a touch more carbonation to my palate, and while the finish doesn't have much taste, what's there is rather rounded.

Overall: A decent beer, especially for the price ($10 a sixer) but not something I'll feel strongly about revisiting. I guess if I need a hero I'll be looking for a midwest styled Citra.

Cheers!

 

Good late afternoon, NBS crew. We are in lovely Hope, ME today after an arduous battle with the GPS yesterday. It is a good thing we had scouted the area during our previous trip, of we might still be driving and doubling back on ourselves. Arrived at eight last night. But here's a picture from the deck of the house overlooking Hobb's Pond. Where we have seen four eagles, at least three loon, countless turtles, and a seaplane land and take off...all in the last few hours.



We stopped at a new place for us on the way up. Throwback Brewery in Northampton, NH. We have driven by this farm at least twice a year since we've been coming to Maine. Last year, commented on all the solar panels on the barn, and this year noticed cars parked and outdoor tables, completely missing the small sign... Well, I tell you what...this brewery deserves some love. They serve small plates, apps, and bowls with as much as possible sources locally. And the food was excellent. The place was comfortably busy at around 2 p.m. The brewery is housed in the bigger part of the barn and is very nicely appointed. The indoor area is rustic, mixture of four and six top tables, some high plus the bar. Lots of outdoor seating. You grab a menu, make your list, give it to the order station, sit and wait for things to appear. We had a three onion dip, a local bacon BLT, and a local beef Korean beef bowl with crispy rice and house made kimchi. All outstanding, but a slight disappointment that the house chips were the frozen kind you dump in the fryer...

Beer flight was eight bucks...



Love Me Long Time Pilsener - pretty much what I want in the style. Crackery, nicely hopped, bright, crisp and clean. She Sells Sea Shells is a blonde ale, good tasting and done well, but not my thing. The Hog Happy Hefeweizen made the missus happy and it was very good, opening with a nice melon note before the inevitable banana and clove. Cashmere Track Suit...called a NEIPA. Smooth, pineapple fruit bomb with grapefruit and melon. Luscious, flavorful brew.

People wonder what the female brewers are up to? These two lady brewers are making good beer, good food, and providing a relaxed and enjoyable family setting for us to enjoy. Worthwhile stop on our Rt 1 adventures.

 

Between us, I think we hit everything except Boat, ironically. I would’ve loved to try 077XX on cask, but we didn’t time things well (enjoyed a sip of GF’s sample and bought some to go). I also liked Sakura and Wit Whale, and found B.D.G. to be fairly tasty.

 

Taxman Brewing's Moscatel Barrel Deduction ( BA dubbel ). 8.5% ABV, 3.79 Overall

Pours an effervescent chestnut with a thumb of tan head. Some lacing, head eventually fades away

S: Grapes, raisins, vanilla

T: Boozey figs with raisin, red grape, dryness, leafy & woody hops up front. Figs, Concord grapes, woody dryness & leafy hops with a little cinnamon as this warms. Finishes dry & figgy with a little cherry & vanilla & candi-sugar

MF: Medium body, fairly firm carbonation, warming

Good take on the style, this would certainly be a nice fire side sipper