New Beer Sunday (Week 765)

Grimm Festooning

Grimm is one of the good locals in my area, and this is their 2019 Oktoberfestbier. The brewers there have been making some lagers lately (which isn’t their typical territory), and they’ve been really excited about releasing them, but (it seems to me) a little frustrated with how much easier it is for them to generate more consumer interest in their IPAs. I’ve really enjoyed their lagers, but they are expensive and very difficult to find in stores. This one was no different.

It’s a beautiful copper beer. Nice head. On first sip, it immediately hits you as a certain type of Festbier produced by American brewers - one that takes the melanoidin qualities and dials them up to eleven. This beer wants to hit you like a brick with melanoidins. It’s like drinking a pretzel. It’s also quite dry and there’s a herbal hop quality and a touch of caramel. All things considered, it still manages to be highly drinkable… and I’d say they pulled it off.

 

My beer journey of the Mid-Hudson Valley (NY) - sorta

This past summer two good friends (Marilyn and Harry) took a one week vacation to Mid-Hudson Valley and staying a few nights in New Paltz, NY. They asked me for some beer suggestions that they could incorporate into their vacationing. While I have driven through the Mid-Hudson Valley many times during my numerous trips to Lake Placid, NY (ski trips, summer trips) I really had no personal knowledge here but the BA community came to the rescue!

I read a number of BA posts including those by Dave (@cavedave) so I constructed an e-mail with some suggestions:

“Below is a list of breweries in the Hudson Valley that gets a lot of ‘buzz’ on BeerAdvocate for being very good – excellent breweries. I am uncertain how far you are willing to travel for good beer.

Plan Bee: 115 Underhill Rd Poughkeepsie, NY 12603

Yard Owl: 19 OSPREY LANE GARDINER NY

Suarez: 2278 U.S. 9, Hudson, NY 12534

Hudson Valley: 7 Main St, Beacon, NY 12508

Industrial Arts: 55 W Railroad Ave #25, Garnerville, NY 10923

Rushing Duck: 1 Battiato Lane, Chester, NY 10918

Sloop: 1065 Co Rte 19, Elizaville, NY 12523

I strongly recommend that you Google or call to check when they are open. Smaller, rural breweries sometimes have limited days of operation.

P.S. I have only had beer from Industrial Arts, Rushing Duck and Sloop and I have enjoyed those beers.”

They were able to drink beers from a number of the breweries on the above list and they did go visit the Yard Owl brewery. As a thank you they brought me a can of beer from Yard Owl which I will be discussing today: Yard Owl Imperial Farmhouse. This beer has a hefty ABV (it has a handwritten 9% on the label) so I figured a little bit of aging might benefit this beer. I likely should have aged it a bit longer but what the heck – Let’s Drink!!

Served in my Gulden Draak tulip glass:

Appearance:

A dark brown, approaching black color with a tan head.

Aroma:

The aroma is dominated with dark dried fruit – raisons, dried plums, …

Taste:

The flavor follows the nose with flavors of dark dried fruit being front & center. There is some maltiness on the mid-palate.

Mouthfeel:

Medium bodied with an off-dry finish.

Overall:

This beer is very, very good!

I must confess that I was a bit shocked to see the color of this beer as I poured it. With this beer being labeled as being a “Farmhouse” beer I had the preconceived notion it would be a Saison (i.e., a pale color). Needless to say but this beer is not a Saison, it tasted like a Quad to me.

Cheers!

@KOP_Beer_OUtlet @rotsaruch @RobH

 

So, how are you feeling about Bryce Harper leaving? Are you over it now?

Cheers!

 

That is similar to the situation here in the Philly area. For example, Tired Hands produces high quality lagers but they sell them by the 16 x 4-pack at a hefty price. More often then not I just buy the old standby's like Stoudts, Sly Fox, Victory,... which sell their lagers by the 6-pack (12 ounce) at more reasonable prices.

Cheers!

 

We are heading to do family pictures this morning, what a gorgeous sky at 6:55 this morning. Cheers, this is the first of 5 New Beers I plan on rolling out today.

Poured into a 16 oz Deciduous glass canned on 9/23/19. Pours a very attractive hazy dark orange with a finger off white head that leaves thin webs of lace behind. 4.5

Smell is ripe melon. guava, mango, marijuana, and some grapefruit rind. 4.25

Taste follows honey dew, guava, mango, marijuana, and some bitter grapefruit in the finish, but rather balanced and juicy. 4.5

Mouthfeel is a big medium, soft gentle carbonation, a tad sticky but not dry, and at 8% easy drinking but loaded with flavor. 4.75

Overall once again these guys deliver the good and brew an amazing NEDIPA that hits all the right notes and leaves you thirsty for more. 4.5

 

Last week I featured the following Bell's beer:

After having a few more of these over the week, I liked it more. I'll take back the Schwarzbier vs porter notion, and it's bolder than I initially gave it credit for. I was hoping for something hoppier, but it does have a nice (if a little understated for the "India" label) hop quality.

 

I like that he is now part of the Phillies. I like that he is a gritty ballplayer. Whether he fully earned his money this year?

Cheers!

 

Bells's Sideyard courtesy of @FlintB. Consumed at 12:30AM thereby qualifying for NBS.

4.27/5 rDev -1.4%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

Pours a milky yellow color with orange hues, an inch and a half fluffy white head that left excellent lacing. Smells of citrus and tropical fruits along with some herbal notes and a hint of malt. Tastes of orange, grapefruit, pineapple, peaches, grapefruit peel, herbal notes and bready malts. Medium bodied and carbonated, smooth mouth feel, slightly dry finish.

 

Good morning NBS
I thought I'd try something really new this morning...

The review:
2019 750mL corked bottle poured into an AB shaker pint at fridge temp 8.5% ABV. The beer pours ever so slightly hazy in a rusty amber with orange highlights and khaki head. The head recedes to thin persistent film and leaves minimal lacing. The moderately strong aroma is "Jagery" at first with a hint of citrus and pine buried underneath. The taste is more of the same with big spice up front (anise, cinnamon, evergreen) tapering off to a moderately bitter, black licorice finish. The malt body is definitely in the background, but there's a little caramel and some substance to it. The mouthfeel is medium bodied, adequately carbonated and dry in the finish. Overall, very good. I had some concerns, but they pulled this together pretty well. I still drink Jager straight so your mileage may vary.

Thanks for the opening remarks @cjgiant. I wish that the National's success did not have to come at the expense of my Cardinals. I will still be cheering them on this week as I have no love for the American League.

Cheers all and enjoy the new beer in your glass today!

 

I looked this one up. Here's the description from Bell's website:

That's interesting.

 

Thanks for selecting this beer. Please consider linking this post or copying and pasting it to the thread about this beer in the Beer News section. It will provide some balance to the negativity there.

 

Done! Cheers

On a side note, this beer really flew off the shelves locally. I am not in a craft beer hot bed either. Most stores received a six pack of the 750s. I bought mine with 3 other bombers at my LBS for 10% off, so I "only" paid $18.

 

Hello congregants of the New Beer Sunday church! In terms of baseball and beer, I have one story and one story only: watching the Cubs win the World Series three years ago while drinking a 2008 Bourbon County. From what I remember, the evening ended up with me standing in my backyard with my arms raised to the sky screaming “They did it! They fucking did it!”

Anywho, this morning’s NBS entry from myself is from one of the first breweries I ever visited, a local gem that will always hold a special place in my heart-Hailstorm’s Vlad the Conquistador Barrel Aged Coffee (or something to that effect). It’s about 3 days away from two years of bottling. After a gusher on opening, it poured a violent dark tan head that dissipated quickly with no remaining lacing. Definite scents of coffee and barrel with lingering cinnamon and chocolate. Taste is at first sharp and spicy with minimal coffee, chocolate, and cinnamon behind with a swimming undercurrent of pepper heat. There’s a lot of different flavors that are prevalent and play well together. Slightly medium body, gently mouth watering, a very well disguised alcohol presence. I’ve drank this quite rapidly and now the 14.1 abv is sneaking up on me. If I had this fresher, probably would have been hotter. After evaluating it, still not sure if it’s infected, but still a good beer from one of the first breweries I ever visited.

I may be back later, depending on what I drink. If not, have a great NBS, NBSers!

Obligatory new music with new beer.

 

Definitely try it if you can get your hands on it. I have not seen it in our neck of the woods.

 

Added baseball note: As a Cubs fan, I loved the tweet another Cubs fan made where they said that because the Nationals eliminated the Brewers, the Dodgers, and the Cardinals in the same postseason, they were truly doing God’s work.

 

Good morning NBS and thanks @cjgiant for todays start. Not a huge fan of the fall classic, but we are routing for the Nats. Todays offering is from the basement. Mystic Brewing had its last day of operation yesterday, A gap in the New England beer scene that will be very hard to fill. Best to them all
I thought it fitting to dust off a Batch #1 version of their fall saison. Time has treated this well.
Cheers to all

Will O' The Wisp

Mystic Brewery
Belgian Saison | 7% ABV

4.1/5 rDev +7% | Average: 3.83
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Poured from a batch 1 750ml bottle into the test glass
A - Red cedar color, active carbonation feeds an off white frothy cap. During the experience loose lacing hangs on the glass interior.
S - Spicy rye, cherry skin, black pepper, brown sugar cookies. earthy autumn grass.
T - Red wheat, rye and toast malt, earthy hops, brown bread toast, caramel, raisin, a kiss of molasses, some dark cherry skin, and cracked pepper.
M - Medium in body, sweet start then waves of spicy grains, weave in and out. Carbonation is a bit prickly and welcome. The finish is drying with some sweetness hanging on.
O - A very good autumn ale, spicy, effervescent, with enough depth to keep your interest.

 

Good day New BSers! Thanks, @cjgiant, for starting today's thread. MLB you say? Know little, care less. BEER is the name of my game. Today's New Breakfast Beer:



$ 8.37 (Including discount and tax)/750 mL cork and cage bottle ($ 0.703/oz) from State Line Liquors, Elkton, MD. Reviewed 10/20/19.
Marked on both the bottom of the bottle and on the back of the label “07/28/2017”. On shelf in store. Stored at 42 degrees and served at 42 degrees in a hand washed and dried Rodenbach tulip.
Appearance – 4.
First pour – Pinkish-amber, clear.
Body – Amber, opaque. When held to the light, reddish-amber and clear with effervescence noted.
Head – Large - (Maximum five cm, aggressive center pour), tan, dense, short retention, rapidly diminishing leaving neither crown nor cap.
Lacing – None.
Aroma – 4.25 – Slightly sour cherries and some mixed fruit.
Flavor – 4.25 – Begins moderately sour with cherries and oak. Ends with oak tannins and a bit of mixed fruit and berries. Throughout there is a hint of sherry. No alcohol (7% ABV) flavor or aroma. No dimethylsulfide, no diacetyl.
Palate – 3 – Medium, watery, lively carbonation.
Final impression and summation: 4.25. What can I say? I absolutely love Rodenbach brews and drink them whenever I can find them. While the appearance, aroma, and flavor are all above average for a Flanders Red Ale, their mouth feel is exactly as it should be, i.e. average.
Rating 4.11, rDev -3.5%.

What I really like about Rodenbach brews are 1) the hints of cherry and 2) the balance of flavor, sourness, and carbonation. I have a couple more bottles in my beer reefer which I just may drain today, since Mrs. Lizard is at some quilting coven and won't be back until 1700.

 

Thanks for the detailed write up. You inspired me to learn more about melanoidins, and now I think I know how to improve upon my last attempt at brewing a fest bier my wife will actually enjoy.