New Beer Sunday (Week 765)

I know it's his dad. I'm old. Was a big Farmer John fan back in the day. Him and Ned Overend used to have great races. Juli Furtado was dominating the womens side, but my favorite was Susan DeMattei.

 

I also really enjoyed this offering, and the tension between the styles was a conundrum for me.
Cheers

 

Baseball, baseball, baseball ... far too much to say about it, so I'll marshal thoughts and save it for last.

Batting leadoff here in sunny Bryan, TX (91 degrees/98 heat index ) is a representative of the AL-pennant winner's town a piece down the road from me:

Saint Arnold Oktoberfest, 6.6% ABV, 14 IBUs
"three types of Munich-style malt" from website along with Czech Saaz and Hallertauer hops

It's a fair-to-middlin' offering with a home run aroma. Roasted peaches/apricots, molasses, loads of bread-malt sweetness and somehow as it warms the hops start kicking in to balance. The flavor comes off as about 35+ IBUs ... or worse, simply like alcohol medicinality. It's like a bag of copper pennies instead of just that single copper penny flavor you often find in this style.

I'm giving it the full @TongoRad treatment, a 24 oz. pour in one glass to give it all the time it needs to warm and breathe. Through the first 6-8 oz., it's remaining very closed. Maybe that will change, but I'm not overly optimistic.

The review:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/337/1072/?ba=Premo88#review

3.72 rating (+1.6% rDev)

Not a bad beer, just not half as good as the many offerings available in the style these days.

***BASEBALL GLORY DAYS REMINISCENCING WARNING***
Craig's opening stirred me like few NBS openings have for many reasons. Baseball even now at 47 years old with a bum knee and an arm woefully out of shape is still the sport I'm probably best at.

I started with Pee Wee League (machine pitch) in the second grade in El Campo, TX, and stuck with it through JV high school baseball in EC and a summer American Legion season in Idaho Falls, ID, in 1989. Chose golf over baseball from there after my junior year of high school, but I got super lucky 12 years later and had the chance to resume my baseball career in 25-and-older and 18-and-older leagues in Bryan-College Station starting around 2002.

Me on the mound for the B-CS Cubs on my 36th birthday in 2008.

Below are the 2004 B-CS Pirates in the younger league (Les, the old guy to my right, was still a stud at the plate that season at 60 years old; couldn't throw, field or run a lick, but, man, that guy could hit a baseball):

OK, that's enough of the glory days routine. Sorry for the indulgence, and thank you for your patience if you hung around to this point.

Growing up just 70 miles south of Houston, I am a lifelong Astros fan. Many of you are not, of course, but I wish us all a fun, entertaining World Series over the next couple weeks. Those Nationals seem like that F-ing team this year, and if I had to bet the Series, I'd take them over the Astros 10 out of 10 times. Should be fun no matter what happens, and hey ... ending your season in the Series beats the hell out of the other possible endings save one, right?

Cheers!

 

Half Acre Double Daisy Cutter. It's not twice as good as regular Daisy Cutter, but it is deliciously potent. It’s 3 months old so I assume some hop fading has occurred, but they still have an ample edge over the malt.
Burnished gold/pale amber brew topped by a 1-finger head. Aroma is...barely there, scant piney notes. Flavor is thankfully much more evident: dank, mostly piney hops riding atop an ample yet reserved wave of malt sweetness. Medium mouthfeel that could have used just a bit more carbonation. Overall, a really solid ‘older school’ IPA that would likely be even better when had younger.

 

Happy New American Impy IPA Sunday!

Pretty nice day here on the Western Slope, sunny/cloudy, windy, around 50 at the trailhead. Having a pretty tasty brew from these guy's, nice to see it around here. Should be back with another brew.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/17980/49300/?ba=Wasatch#review

Cheers!

 

Man, the Astros should still be in the NL, and the Seattle pilots, er Milwaukee Brewers (that asshole Bud Selig stole that team back when) should still be in the AL.

J.R. Richard was a badass!

 

Very happy to find Toppling Goliath brews more frequently in Southeast PA. Pompeii is not a bad follow-up to my recent sampling of Pseudo Sue



Dark yellow in color with a murky, unfiltered appearance. Poured with a moderate, soapy white foam with medium retention. Mellow, sweet fruity and sharp citrus aromas with medium malt notes . Medium bodied with medium light carbonation. Creamy smooth feel followed by light warmth. Mellow fruity flavors followed by expanding citrus and pineapple hop flavors. Medium light malty flavors beneath. Medium hop bitterness throught the middle that quickly transitioned to fruity hop flavor and light boozy warmth. Finished dryly with light citrus and fruity flavors and a hint of bitterness. Robust hop character that is nicely balanced by subtle maltiness, fruitiness and a pleasant, easy, dry finish.

Cheers!

 

Up next, is a great German Kolsch I grabbed for ticking purposes. I'll be buying more: https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/288/2040/

 

Honestly found this beer very sub-par as well and, with the way some of Sixpoint's recent stuff has been going, will likely be avoiding their IPAs until they figure out how to brew them correctly. Just not really good or worth all the hype they throw at them (which is, by itself, extremely pretentious).

Alright, my last NBS entry is a change from the pale ales I've been peddling so far.



What a freakin' collaboration. Modern Times brings their coffee-roasting expertise to the table in thie BBA coffee porter featuring BBA coffee beans! AND it's only 7.5% instead of being some monstrous, undrinkable leviathan of a beer. I'm in!

The pour is a nice brown porter-looking color with some slight inky blackness to it here and there. The lighter colored head is a tip-off, however, that this really isn't too dark a beer at the end of the day. Said head is a decent foamy cap with not much in the way of legs or lace. An unassuming appearance, but not a bad one by any means.

My first experience with the nose is spectacular... super roasty and deep with immense bourbon character for such a (comparatively) low ABV brew. It has some decent tannic depth and a touch of herbal/dark fruit qualities working in tandem to bring out some complexity. Of course, there is also the requisite chocolate and caramel, though this seems focused on dark chocolate rather than any kind of apparent sweetness. The coffee aromatics here are just superb. It smells like your favorite coffee shop just got finished roasting a new batch. Man, I want a candle of this!

On the tongue, this definitely exercises some restraint... I can tell the recipe was intended to focus on the coffee bean aspect, but it's definitely thinner in body than expected. I know a couple of the current reviews here touch on this, but I must agree... this definitely has a lighter feel to it with a leafy hop character and only a basic barrel component on the palate. There's some anonymous dark fruit and vague spice with some light fennel character. Some tobacco and ashen elements as well. Good stuff.

 

Dale, I am in complete agreement with you here. I often discuss sports with my barber. He was fairly enthusiastic about the moves the Phillies made during the off-season (e.g., Harper, Realmuto). And while I too liked these moves I felt it was incomplete. I thought the Phillies needed at least one more starting pitcher (preferably two) but for some reason the front office felt comfortable going into 2019 with the existing staff. In this instance I was right and the front office was wrong. It will be interesting to see how bold they will be in this regards during this year's off season.

It is also a damn shame their farm system is sub-par right now.

Cheers!

 

Really nice framing on the pic.

 

Prairie Screenshot Imperial Stout, 11.1% ABV. 4.13 overall

Pours an effervescent ebony with rapidly falling caramel colored head. Zero head retention & lacing

S: Chocolate, mocha

T: Follows the nose, some stronger coffee notes & dryness as well up front. Roastyness, other dry notes, vanilla, caramel & chocolate as this warms. Finishes dry, warming with roastyness & caramel

MF: Fairly chewy, low carbonation, smooth

Easy to drink, ABV is well hidden. Tasty brew!

 

And they had a pitching coach who’s never been a pitching coach before. A young guy like Gabe needed veteran leadership within the coaching staff. Middleton is a complete idiot when it comes to baseball, he knows cigars, but he has the money to buy a toy.

 

It seems like you found your way through it wonderfully though. It would have been great if I tried it back when you did.

 

A-Pours a nice light amber golden color with a nice head and lacing
A-Aroma has generous resin and piney hints
T-The taste follows the nose with a generous and well balanced resin and piney flavor
M-A medium bodied well carbonated beer
O-A very good American IPA

 

KRAMER!!!

 

Hello, NBS friends. I already responded to a baseball post (DH-related), I'll just offer that both of the beers I’m offering tonight are from St Louis, and the only World Series game I’ve attended was in 2006 in St Louis (Cards vs Tigers).

That was a big bucket list tick for me, and to enjoy it in a great baseball town like St Louis made it that much better.

On to tonight’s beers, my first from this brewery. I picked these up last week whilst in St Louis for work.





4.03/5 rDev +2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4

Pours a hazy golden orange color with a foamy, dense white head that clings to the glass on its journey to the bottom.

The nose is led by citrus aromas, as to be expected from a Citra-hopped beer, but they’re a bit muted. That’s a bit surprising.

They’re not muted on the taste, though, with juicy oranges prominent, and a sweet, bready malt flavor added as a pleasant surprise.

The mouthfeel is a bit softer than I’d prefer, but overall this is a solid sipper of an IPA that you can enjoy a couple of with the 6% ABV.

 

It's a beautiful fall day here in Tennessee with blue skies and perfect temps for sitting on the porch and enjoying a new beer. Thanks to @cjgiant for another great start to this weeks NBS; I'm a casual baseball fan these days, but I do root for the Dodgers, fondly remembering their incredible outfield from my youth (Garvey, Lopes, Russell, and Cey).

Damn that was great. I'm torn because I like the Nats but I also like any team the eliminates the Yanks. Anyway...

The ever-generous @Orca_Whale recently sent me some amazing Iowa beers and I was too impatient to sit on this one. Boy was this a perfect way to wind down the weekend:

Badgers Nadgers, Alluvial Brewing, Ames, Iowa

This is an English barleywine that was aged in Buffalo Trace barrels. My bottle was from batch #2, released on 8/14/2019. A slightly hazy amber color in the glass. A standard pour produced a small tan head that quickly retreated, leaving no trace. Lots of caramel on the nose, balanced with some floral hops and smooth barrel notes. Nice vanilla and oak. The taste did not disappoint: the barrel was there up front - not too hot, but you could tell that this a young BA barleywine. Sweet caramel and toffee joined in and stood up nicely to the barrel. A floral bitterness melded well with the bourbon on the finish. Warm and slightly boozy on the finish as expected. This had the heft of a big barleywine but was very easy to drink. Highly recommended and it should only improve with time. If you're lucky enough to have one of these, it will be great now and even better in the coming years! Thanks again, Bill!