New Beer Sunday (Week 760)

Best to you and to your health
Cheers

 

Keep up the good work Cave Dave. I went through a similar experience a year and a half ago. As a younger man I was a hard core skier, hiker, raced motocross and was/am an avid outdoorsman. I even played professional paintball in the CXBL. My blood pressure was out of control, I was knocking at 300 pounds, my fasting glucose hit 120 and I was a 44 waist. At 61 years old I figured that if I want to enjoy the next chapter in my life I had better do something. I quit drinking for many months, started mild exercise and really cut down on what I was eating. A year and a half latter my waist is down to a 36, I just weighed in at 218 (with 30 pounds to go) and I feel great. To top it off I no longer take medications for my blood pressure or sugar. I feel like a million bucks and I do get to enjoy a light beer in moderation every now and then. I look back and think about the amount and types of beer I was consuming and no wonder I got myself into trouble. I wish you nothing but good things on your journey to wellness. Once you start losing weight, eating better and feeling better you will find that that it is totally addicting. At least it is for me. Cheers!

 

A lot to digest this morning...from romantic movies to embracing one’s mortality...Cheers and best wishes going forward to @cavedave and to @AyatollahGold, please stay involved here even if sans beer. Cheers to @utopiajane whose absence has been missed by many; please pop into the bar, your seat is always open...

Unrequited love, even if unrecognized let alone far from modern romanticism, lends itself to the undercurrent of what I believe on so many cinematic levels is a great movie - “My Fair Lady”.

Introspective indifference leads to affection, then apparent loss, then reunification...Love? I believe so. Romance? Thankfully a sequel has never spoiled this mystery all these many years...

Today’s new beer is a collab between Gravity Brew Lab (Miami, FL) and Evil Twin - “ Two Tickets”, a Belgian Grand Cru with cold brewed Kenyan coffee and Lucuma purée added:





For starters, Lucuma is a fruit from Peru that looks like a cross between a mango and an avocado, but tastes like a sweet potato laced with caramel and maple sweetness, or so I have read this morning...

Poured at 57 degrees, a coppery deep amber with ok clarity; thick beige head; ok cap retention followed by thin ring; soap suds lacing; thin legs on swirl. Nose is sweet potato/brown sugar pie; fruity esters. Tart fruit up front; caramel, maple middle; sugary sweet finish; absolutely no coffee. Medium lite body, moderate minus carbonation; no warmth from 11%; thin watery feel, with a grainy tongue coating. Overall, there is an odd sweet fruity linger, which I assume is the Lucuma which I’ve not tasted before; drinks like a kid’s fruit box drink instead of a Grand Cru; the ale is ok, but I’d score this as another swing and a miss from Evil Twin.

4.0 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 3.25 | 3.5

At $5.39 16oz can I’d consider this an overpriced one and done. Cheers y’all!

 

Thanks all for the kind words & support. I’ll definitely continue to read through NBS.

For one of the last, I chose a beer that I’ve wanted to try for a long time.
Sent to me by the generous @JBowenGeorgia we have

Beer: Snorkel
Brewery: Jester King
ABV: 4.3%

From a 750 ml. bottle into a PAA Dino glass, this beer pours out like a very light, foggy lemonade. Really beautiful color (picture doesn’t do it justice) One finger worth of bone white crown rests on top.

The nose carries a light sea salt evident throughout while a funky barnyard presence is evident as well. Crisp wheat and straw. While I love that funkiness, my wife apparently hates it as she walks through the kitchen and says “ugh that smells like a skunk, go drink it outside” haha.

The taste is balanced beyond beauty. Crisp, light crackery wheat mixing with dry straw notes. The funkiness from the nose doesn’t show up much and I’m surprised I don’t detect much “oyster mushrooms” throughout as I was a little nervous about that addition.

The mouthfeel is light, with a very still carbonation until it hits the throat and livens up with airiness. Touch of salinity followed by a greatly accenting touch of light acidity.

Overall, this is just a great drinking beer. Period.

Thanks for this one, John!
Cheers NBS, I can’t wait to see what you bring to the share!

 

First off: Dave: glad to hear it was something that was caught to the point you can share that story with us. Better than the alternative, for sure. I was at work when I read those numbers and let out an audible response, prompting a query from one of the other nurses. When I asked her what she thought about that BP, her response was pretty similar. Unfortunately, it sounds like you are not alone in the forced reassessment of lifestyles, and to all the rest who have faced or are facing that reality... much love and support and glad to hear the success stories/hope that we can add to them!
Maria: good to see you around these parts again, even if it is just for a 'social' visit! Hope the various creative endeavours are going well and providing fulfillment.

As far as the prompt... I've never really been much of a romantic movie type of guy. Oddly enough, the first thing I thought of when I saw the prompt was Empire Strikes Back ("I know"). Mildly closer to a traditional reading though would be It's A Wonderful Life.

My new beer today was apparently the 22nd beer I added to my wants list, waaay back on September 21, 2011 (almost exactly eight years ago!).
We have recently started getting distro of Cigar City around these parts, and so I grabbed a couple cans of Maduro from the store last time I was there.


(apologies for the poor picture/contrast. I didn't feel like getting up to turn off the grow light for the lithops/pitcher plant. I'm tired and just need to go to bed!)

The initial pour here was a little thinner than I was expecting, though I'm not sure why I was expecting different. Brown's are not porters/stouts. Dark chestnut throughout the clear body, with a fuzzy light head that pops and fades to little more than spare clusters.

Nose is at once rich and exciting. Some coffee (espresso rich) in there, with milky chocolate and caramel and something on a higher/lighter note that's almost got some vine-like character but that would ultimately be disingenuous.

Blunt caramel... like the direction, but with the destination and the sweetness stripped out. Some cocoa, and a creamy coffee that transitions over to bitter coffee finish. Mildly nutty.

Heavy heavy carbonation that serves to distract from the thin body, but also kind of distracts from the creamy smoothness imparted by the flaked oats (I'm a huge fan of oat-inspired creaminess in dark beers).

This is a really enjoyable brown. Browns kind of fall into the same purgatory of a lot of lagers in that they're not big and in your face and so dont' garner the attention of their bigger siblings in the porter/stout range, but a well done one can still be really good, and that's just what's going on here.
I don't feel the need to keep it as a 'want' or anything, and I won't be pushing other options down the list to make sure to grab more cans, but I can see myself picking them up periodically, and will happily drink one if offered. Glad to finally get to try this one. Seeing CC in distro up here is going to really challenge my whole 'locals only (well, mostly anyway)' policy!



Cheers! Hope you've got something tasty to sip on as well!!

 

NBS beer #1



Unit F

Green Empire Brewing
American Imperial IPA | 8.4% ABV

3.93/5 rDev +1% | Average: 3.89
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

canned 08/27/19

L- The beer pours a hazy yellow with a modest one and a half finger white head. The head recedes to a thin ring with a thin central island. No lacing is present.
S- The nose is pineapple and sweet citrus of low moderate intensity.
T-The taste is that same sweet citrus from the nose. It's not as sweet as the nose is, but their is certain amount of sweetness that lingers. In the back end of sip the beer balances out with some light bitterness. Pleasant if not complicated.
F-Mouthfeel overall is moderate. Carbonation is light but slightly prickly. The beer finishes pretty dry overall.
O- A pretty good DIPA, but still a couple steps below the elites. Worth a pickup for tickers, but if you are in Vermont their are better options.

 

All the best to you, Dave, on your journey back to good health.

I had a similar wake-up call several years back where I decided to go in for a physical (first in at least a decade) for no urgent reason. I knew something was up when after listening with the stethoscope, the doc had the electrocardiogram equipment wheeled in. Turns out I had a serious heart rhythm disorder that was completely unrecognized by me. As with you, I could have died from a stroke within days or weeks. Fortunately, my problem was corrected by an ablation procedure.

Men's reluctance to have routine medical care can certainly be costly.

I do hope you continue to contribute here, perhaps on the issues only peripherally related to beer than come up regularly. I always enjoy reading your take on them.

Eventually, I hope things are brought under control so that you can still enjoy an occasional Great American Beer and tell us about it.

 

A-Pours a dark color with a nice light tan head and lacing
A-Aroma has cappuccino and lactose hints
T-The taste follows the nose with nice cappuccino and lactose flavors
M-A medium bodied decently carbonated beer
O-A good Imperial Porter

 

Perhaps those bees recognize your nature while in the woods and were working to keep you around. I wish you a better run of health. Perhaps we'll meet-up for a morel or a maibock and a music conversation when I make a Hudson Valley run.

 

DUBCO'S OFK, a DDH multi-oat IPA.

3.58/5 rDev -3%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

Pours a hazy amber with a massive, fluffy white head that left less lacing than one would expect from froth that extends above the glass. Smell is pretty much just citrus fruits with a hint of mustiness. Tastes of grapefruit, tangerine, grapefruit pith, earthy notes and some underripe pineapple. Medium bodied and carbonated, mild bitterness, lingering dry finish. Overall meh.

 

Hey what's going on?!

Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend. Pretty good for our hero! It's bottling day for me, so it's been a lot of washing.

Lots of homebrew people kind of hate bottling. I at first didn't like it the first time I did it either. However, after trying some different approaches and equipment... you have to love a bench capper, or better yet bottles with grommits and self closing, I got a system that works good.

Crank up the stereo, diggin and go for it. Lovely I say.

And of course, you can't go do work on brew day without a beer in your hands! So I got my new beer today and I am set.

What's new for our hero today?



Poured from the bottle into a Bruery tulip glass.

Deep mahogany red body color, a very dark brown. A classic English body barleywine appearance. Head is a very light khaki almost white/yellowish tinged and very fine. Manages an easy two fingers with a bit of bubbly snapping out of the bottle. A good pencil thin collar is always presented with a little bit of a nice top as well.

The aroma is not disappointing in the descriptive part. Realy impressive maple syrup and sugar tones, it's practically crispy smelling like they are straight up crystals. Nice bit of warmth almost a fruity plum like quality coming off this in the nose. Some light vanilla, but the maple dominates primarily and is extremely impressive.

Palate is impressive and surprising. Light bodied but hints just a hair of oaky tones with light mixing malt and fruity quality. There is the round mouthfeel of barrel aging here, but it's a bit softer and lighter when contributing to the flavors. Warm bodied, with that crispy sugar flavor, but with a soft maple that's more hinting on warmth than it is on sugar. Good controlled boozy heat on this, noticeable but tolerable. Light waffery and crispy toffee notes of caramel mixing in with soft sugars of vanilla, and even some dark fruit prune to plum character. The maple seems to have more of a woody than sugary quality which is a real nice flavor.

Very nice light bodied aged brew, I was anticipating much more aggressive flavors but there is a lot of subtley here and nuances. It's not like a sledgehammer, or overly sweet which I really appreciate.

look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25 | BA Generated Score: 4.31

Cheers!

 

Route 47 Red a 7% ABV Double-Dry Hopped Red IPA, from Second Line Brewing in New Orleans LA. There is a lot of info on the can but not a canning date. The Malts used are Pale Ale Malt Special B and Carared Crystal 40, the hops are Cascade, Citra and Chinnook. The water is "reverse osmosis burtoniized to internal specifications " What ever that means. The beer pours dark red with a creamy off white, The aroma is floral balanced by malt. The taste is also balanced about 50/50 hops and malt. The mouthfeel is full and the finish is dry. Overall a very enjoyable brew. Worth buying if you spot it.
My favorite romantic move is the same one as @drtth Casablanca.

 

My wife has a steady stream of “ chick Flix” on the tv. Love actually is one that I enjoy.

Was on the road this week, had to pick up a sales manager at LaGuardia. Need to kill some time somewhere ...SingleCut Brewery isn’t too far away. The beer is fresh and good. My new beer is...

Where’s that confounded bridge by singlecut


4.49/5 rDev +4.7%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

On tap at singlecut brewery

Hazy New England ipa , orange juice with a one finger white foam cap that quickly recedes

Aroma is citrus , pineapple

Taste is citrus with a dank free finish

Medium sudsing, gentle hop nibble , hops linger

Good beer

 

Time for beer while I sit and watch the 1 o clock slate of NFL. This beer was gifted to me by a co-worker. Funny story about this beer. My wife and I didn’t make it to Nashville for its release like we had originally discussed due to other plans, however it did inspire her to make the richest dessert I’ve ever had. We split Oreos in half, put a Reese’s in the middle, the covered the resulting concoction in melted chocolate. Anyway, I promised y’all a beer review so here it goes.

This is Compliments and Kind Words from Southern Grist. A milk stout brewed with peanut butter and cream filled chocolate sandwich cookies. I know, right.



Appearance and pour both black with two fingers of dense mocha colored head. Aroma is STRONG. Crunchy peanut butter, definitely crunchy, and sweetness. Taste begins of course with the crunchy peanut butter aspect. It slowly gives way to a lighter, creamier peanut butter flavor, and then I get a hint of the Oreo Creme filling. Finish is slightly bitter chocolate. The chocolate/peanut butter mix really comes through on the long finish. Nicely done! Mouthfeel is a solid medium, creamy, and slick. Slightly drying finish. Overall, I am an SG fanboy, and I don’t think I’ve ever had one of their beers I rated below 3.75. They hit the mark exactly with this peanut butter lovers dream.