New Beer Sunday (Week 761)

Hope everyone had a good Sunday so far. Time for the evening set of reviews.

Offshoot Retreat. Fantastic NEIPA. Opaquely hazy. Lasting rocky head retention/thick foamy lacing. Aromas and flavors of huge mandarin orange juice, red grapefruit, lemon, lime, peach, pear, pineapple, apricot, passion fruit, papaya, mango, honeydew, watermelon, coconut, blueberry, citrus peel/rind, wood, peppercorn, and pine hops; with cracker, biscuit dough, light honey/toasted malts; and herbal, floral, grassy earthiness. Light-moderate pine, citrus peel/rind, herbal, floral, woody, grassy, peppery bitterness on the finish. Medium carbonation and medium-full body; very creamy/bready/grainy malts; some sticky/resinous/rindy hops in the mouthfeel. Lightly increasing lingering bitter dryness, no cloying/astringency. Very smooth/soft, not aggressive, minimal warming 8.6%. Amazing Mosaic, Cashmere, El Dorado profile. Extremely, juicy, vibrant, and fairly dank/earthy hops; with a nice sized oat/malt backbone. Light residual sweetness with lingering resin dryness. Would buy more. 4.23


Cheers

I am so addicted to Cult of Luna.

 

Lagunitas A Little Sumpin' Sumpin' Ale, 7.5% ABV. Pours pale yellow with a one finger white head. Nose is Malty and piney, taste is sweet, honey, slightly bitter. Smooth mouthfeel, overall outstanding.

4.25/5 rDev +0.7%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

 

Surly One Man Mosh Pit, 7.2% ABV. Pours pale orange with a trace of white head. Nose is malt and citrus, taste follows, sweet, pine, almost no bitterness. Smooth mouthfeel, overall excellent.

4.15/5 rDev +1%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

 

Back with my 1st O-fest of the fall.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/140/411545/?ba=woemad#review
Great looking beer, but that was the high point for me. Seemed overly flabby and fruity to me. Not a bad beer, just one that didn't come together for me.

My Seahawks need some luck right now, so I think I'll be going back to the PNW, beer-wise.

 

Thanks to @cjgiant for the great start today. It still feels like summer here in Tennessee with temps flirting with 90 for the next several days. While I'm looking forward to fall beers (and many Festbiers/Marzens) soon, this seemed like a logical choice for today's situation:


In the Pilsener glass, this was a hazy golden color with a one-finger white head. The foam slowly retreated and left a long-lasting cap throughout the drink. Cracking the can open for the pour brought a fleeting rush of smoked malt aroma, which was a nice surprise. Closer inspection in the glass was more Helles-like: a bit of subtle floral hop flavor and some bready malt. The smokiness was there but it was understated. The smoke was more prominent on the palate. It reminded me of smoked sausage, but again it was not as potent as in their Rauchbier, for example. Underneath was a nicely constructed Helles - clean malt, floral hop character, and flavorful for a 4.3% beer. The beer really shined IMO. Medium bodied and carbonated. Highly recommended. Prost!

 

Mankato Mad Butcher IPA, 6.5% ABV. Pours cloudy orange, with a faint ring of white bubbles. Nose is sweet and malty, taste is sweet honey and peach, almost no bitterness, with a piney aftertaste. Decent mouthfeel, overall excellent.

4.09/5 rDev +0.2%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

 

Lol. Pas pentoute.

 

German culture deeply influences the Carolinas. Germans settled here and we have big BMW, Bosch, Mercedes, and Continental Tire plants in South Carolina. Oktoberfests are sponsored by towns, bars, breweries, and Lutherans. We get plenty of import festbiers and local märzens.
Starting next week @herrburgess will put on a Bochbieranstich introducing a bock and a weissebier. His beer gardens will continue weekly into December.

My new beer this Sunday was on tap at a festival put on by my neighborhood Greek Orthodox Church.

It is a big fund raiser and cultural celebration that brings the whole community together. The local AB distributor has the beer concession, mostly selling Bud Light and Stella.
There is a craft beer stand with a few surprises from the far reaches of the AB InBev empire.

Goose Island Juliet
Clear Solo cups detracted from the appearance and aromas. Still, a bracing brett and fruit scent. Strong brett funk
along with berry and citrus flavors. Oak and red grape notes from the barreling. Little head but plenty of carbonation.
4.35/5 rDev +1.6%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

Temperatures were in the 90s, and the Greek Festival foods paired with the beer nicely. Once again, one of my favorite local events.

 

Happy New Oktoberfest Sunday!

Really nice day here on the Western Slope, at the trailhead, around 67, sunny. Having a really nice brew, this brewery does not disappoint, always a joy to drink. Will be back with another new brew later on.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/24659/138426/?ba=Wasatch#review

Cheers!

 

HOMES Layered. Amazing NEDIPA. Lasting rocky head retention/thick foamy lacing. Opaquely hazy green color. Aromas and flavors of huge tangerine, orange juice, red grapefruit, lemon, lime, peach, pear, pineapple, apricot, red apple, mango, honeydew melon, berries, citrus peel/rind, wood, onion, mint, peppercorn, pine hops; with moderate wheat, biscuit dough, light honey/toasted malts; and herbal, floral, grassy hop earthiness. Light pine, citrus peel/rind, herbal, floral, woody, grassy, peppery bitterness on the finish. Medium carbonation and medium-full body; very creamy/silky/bready/grainy malts, some sticky/resinous/rindy hops in the mouthfeel. Lightly increasing lingering resin dryness, no cloying/astringency. Dangerously smooth/soft, minimal warming 9.1%, zero lingering hop burn after the finish. Amazing Waimea/Columbus profile. Extremely juicy, vibrant, dank, and earthy hops; with a nice sized wheat/oat/malt backbone. Light residual sweetness with lingering resin dryness. Nailed it as usual. 4.33


Cheers

I've got a fever and the only prescription is more Cult Of Luna.

 

My first BA New Beer Week post, thanks for the great thread!

Enjoyed many of the excellent offerings posted in this thread, you have set a high bar!

Sad Obadiah Poundage wasn't on tap while I was at the Goose Island Block Party Friday (must have been poured Saturday), will need the same level of persistence to track a bottle down this fall.

While enjoying the first Cardinals close out a four game sweep at Wrigley Field since 1921, I enjoyed Hop Butcher's Old School Hawaii Vibes



Canned August 6, this pour was light orange, with a light white head quickly dissipating leaving no lacing. Very tangy sweet pineapple aroma, backed nicely by coconut and vanilla, very nice. Taste mirrors aroma, sharp excellent pineapple aroma, vanilla works in nicely, coconut hangs in the back a bit but makes it's presence known. Creamy mouthfeel, nominal carbonation, easy smooth drinking, sweet easy and pleasant pineapple aftertaste lingers. An overall excellent offering. Appearance 4.0 Aroma 4.5 Taste 4.5 Mouthfeel 4.25 Overall 4.5.

If you haven't had a chance at grabbing some of Hop Butcher's offerings, you should try the next time you hit Chicago.

 

Howdy and Happy NBS, all!
Another week in the books. Unfortunately Oktoberfest and it's respective style(s) are not really a thing up here due to the lack of German influence. I wish they were but what can you do? The beers I've had are usually not great either. Maybe someday I'll start my own. For now I'll just enjoy good versions when I make it down to the states at this time of year.
Today is the last Sunday before I leave on a trip to Scotland this week. I am hoping that I'll be able to still add to NBS from there. I'll definitely still be reviewing beers. I think I'll be able to hit up Orkney brewery next Sunday, but I'm not positive yet. I'll give it my best shot.
I am really looking forward to it. It's been a LONG time since I've taken a big trip just for pleasure and my wife and I never have in our time together. A word to the wise: if you plan on (or in my case end up without necessarily trying) living abroad, you pretty much forfeit vacations, as all your trips end up being geared towards going home and visiting family.
It should be nice, I am definitely planning on trying a scotch or two and am hoping to maybe visit a distillery, but the main thing I'm excited about (aside from hiking and scenery and seeing my great-grandparents' houses and history and castles and maybe haggis...) is getting to have some real ale for the first time! I've looked into the CAMRA guide and it seems like there are a decent amount of options almost everywhere we'll be so I've got my fingers crossed. I'll keep you all posted!
On to today's beer. Since I'm leaving town, I want to cull the old cellar a bit so I am going to start off (and maybe finish) with something dark and fairly big. On the topic of Scotland and my lovely wife, this is a new beer from Quebec that she graciously brought me from a trip she took with her mom to see whales north of Quebec City this summer. It is an imperial stout brewed with peated malt. I have had some powerful mediocre beers from this brewery, but their dark beers seem to be pretty good on the whole. On the other hand, I don't know that I've ever had a peated malt/scotch beer that wasn't overwhelming, so here's hoping.

The sweaty glass give a good feel for how warm and muggy it is here, not that I'm complaining.

It pours black as pitch with a short-lived, gassy tan head that leaves little in the way of a frothy cap, just a thin ring and some Ebola-looking lacing.
A nose of smoky cacao bitterness, caramelized wood. The flavor is day old cowboy coffee, molasses, some chocolate and a light smoke in the finish that slowly rises to become peatier and peatier till it kind of dries your mouth out. It is pretty full bodied despite a little thinness, thanks to a lingering scotchy sort of finish. Fairly active carbonation, pretty sweet.
This is a pretty good stout. Nothing spectacular. It looks like a nice stout, but suffers from a lack of head retention. The aroma and flavor are both fairly nice and they do an extremely good job of keeping the peat in check. It is a little sweet and thin-roasty as a stout goes. The smoke definitely adds some complexity, but I feel like the thin astringent twang you get from peat kind of exacerbates it's thinness and cuts the richness of the flavor. It has a lingering drying feel from it as well that kick it down a notch for me. All in all though it is not a bad beer and does what other beers from better breweries have not been able to do in my opinion. Maybe I'm just not a fan of scotch flavors in beer.
Anyway, it is nice enough for me right now. Hope you're all enjoying your beers.

Santé!

 

Another Harpoon Octoberfest, this time with a better picture and a side of food ****.
Bistecca Romani (formally steak Zingarella) w/ garlic mashed red skins and peas&carrots.

 

Nice! Bet the food matched the rest of the arrangements...

 

A recommendation for Edinburgh (one of my favorite cities to visit)....

https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/new-beer-sunday-week-654.535074/#post-5622086

 

Happy Sunday, NBSers. At @cjgiant request, I am wracking my brain to find an Oktoberfest brewed or celebrated here in South Bend, and I can’t think of a lager that’s brewed here amongst the 4 production breweries here, much less a Marzen.

I’d do some research to get my statement, but I’m lazy, so I’ll instead proceed to today’s beer. I had the 2nd in this series last night and lived it (a fruity goose). This is a flavor extravaganza from as good a brewery as there is anywhere on this big blue marble in the sky.





4.25/5 rDev +12.4%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

I’ve never had (or heard) of a Black India Pale Lager - how is black pale? Have we skipped across the universe in the space-time continuum and entered a bizarro world where black is white, wrong is right, and George Constanza has a luxurious head of hair?

No, but we have entered a world where a beer that is not actually black, but rather a mahogany brown color that flashes vivid red tints when held up to light, makes sense as “pale.” And when you cap that beer with a dense, sudsy tan head, you have a beautiful BIPL/Schwarzbier (or whatever style in which you choose to categorize this beer).

The first aroma notable on the nose is a smoky aroma, which is quickly followed by a cocoa note and, to my surprise fruity hops that present themselves as berries. This mysterious beer just keeps getting better and better.

The smoke is notable on the taste, but not until the very end - the cocoa and berry flavors (which now include some resiny pine flavors) coalesce to create a flavor profile that doesn’t fit a single category - this is really a schwarzbier combined with the hoppiness of an APA and the mouthfeel of a lager (it is truly crisp). What a flavor roller coaster.

This is a perfect fall beer. I purchased a 6er, will certainly pick up another or two. I really enjoy when Bell’s does these kind of themed series, and the first three beers in this series are worthy of that support, because they are continuing to perpetuate their reputation as a world-class brewery.

 

Now, the last of the four recent TRB releases in Vermont.
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/33018/141549/



2019 Vintage.
6.8% abv.
25.4 oz bottle.
Moderate to vigorous pour yields a 1/2 inch light pink head over a pinot noir colored body with some lacing. Nose of elderberries, grapefruit, and very slight lavender. As it warms, the lavender becomes more pronounced on the nose. Taste mirrors smell as the lavender comes forward with a really nice gentle sourness and acidity right through the finish of elderberry tannins. Nice feel and overall, a very pleasant experience and would definitely recommend and have again. Cheers!!

 

Collective Arts Ransack the Universe. Awesome IPA. Great fluffy head retention/foamy lacing. Aromas and flavors of big red grapefruit, tangerine, lemon, lime, peach, pear, pineapple, passion fruit, papaya, mango, honeydew melon, guava, blueberry, citrus peel/rind, wood, peppercorn, and pine hops; with moderate wheat, cracker, white bread dough, toasted biscuit, light honeyed malts; and herbal, floral, grassy hop earthiness. Light-moderate pine, citrus peel/rind, herbal, floral, woody, grassy, peppery bitterness on the finish. Medium carbonation/body; balanced creamy/bready/grainy malts, sticky hops, and some resins/rinds in the mouthfeel. Light-moderate increasing resin dryness; no hop astringency. Very smooth, nicely soft, not aggressive, minimal warming 6.8%. Awesome Galaxy, Mosaic, Citra, Centennial, Chinook, Simcoe profile. Very vibrant, juicy, dank, and earthy hops; with a great pale/wheat malt backbone. Light residual sweetness with lingering resin dryness. Very impressive, kind of a cross between west/east coast styles. 4.1


Cheers