New Beer Sunday (Week 767)

On my last visit to my neighborhood wine shop I noticed that Blackberry Farm Brewery Classic was available in cans, so I decided to give it a try.

I suppose this is their flagship. Their base is in Marysville, near Knoxville, so fairly local. From a look at the website it appears that they are branching out from Belgians to a variety of lagers and ales. Classic is a non-Brett saison with noble hops and two-row malt.



It pours a clear gold with nice white head. There is a strong pear and clove aroma that carries over into the flavors. The carbonation lasts and there is a refreshing dry finish. I plan to continue buying this as well as trying their other Belgian style ales.

4.17/5 rDev +2.2%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25

 

Back for round 2. My friend had to leave to pick up his better half's daughter from her work orientation. No, she couldn't walk the 3 blocks from the mall to Old Chicago to meet us here. No, she couldn't walk the mall like teenagers used to do. She had to get picked up RIGHT NOW!

Oh well. Second new beer, and a local for me that I've wanted to try.


Peanutbutter Sweet Miss from Beaver Island Brewing.

Total peanutbutter bomb. The chocolate of the base backs it up, but the peanutbutter is the star, and it is good.

Review link


https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/38769/442966/

Maybe I will have another when I get home.

 

A collaboration between Destination Unknown and Nightmare- The Science of Selling Nightmares. 3.96/5 rDev -0.5%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Pours a dark yellow with orange highlights, a fairly well retained two inch white head that left nice lacing. Smell is mildly sour, lemon and yeast. Tastes of moderately tart lemon, lemon pith, lime, yeast, the very slightest bit of funk and lactic acid. Light bodied, well carbonated, moderately puckering mouth feel with a dry finish.

 

Thats awesome. I had @Number1Framer bring one of those up to Canada for me on a trade. I must say it was one of my favorites from the box of goodies he brought up this way.

 

Not a new beer for me but years go by between trades for the Dark Lord.
I remembered it for its earthiness, and drinking this one today it is extremely apparent that aspect is grain. It's powerful and fresh - like I just put my head in a new bag of barley and wheat.

Overall it is sweeter than I remembered and I think my taste is migrating in the opposite direction. Happy Fall Back Sunday everyone!

 

Poured into a 16 oz Deciduous Snulip glass not sure when it was canned. Pours a very hazy yellow orange with a finger plus sticky white head that leaves thick rings around the sides of the glass, with solid retention. 5

Smell is apricot, stone fruit, papaya, mandarin, coconut, and some grapefruit rind. 4.25

Taste follows tropical upfront papaya, mandarin, tangerine upfront with apricot, stone fruit, and grapefruit in the bold and lasting finish. 4.5

Mouthfeel is big, soft carbonation, sticky not dry, and at 8.5% extremely approachable. 4.5

Overall this stuff is awesome and different. Really well done. 4.5

 

Epic opening @dukeandduke! Thanks for kicking off today.

I’m at the Texas Renaissance Festival where I have found a new beer:


Brigadoon Brewery’s Scottish ale, 4.5% ABV, 39 IBUs

They didn’t skimp on the malt — a heavily roasted malt that’s bordering on American brown ale burnt/charred wood in the flavor. That flavor note dominates with only a hint of roasted peach sneaking in to help break up the earthiness with a little something sweet.

The aroma is delightfully sweet toasted peach kolache. Mouthfeel soft but still with enough carbonation to give it a bit of a cask feel.

Good beer. No official review for now but I’d score it something like 3.5 look, 4.5 aroma, 3.5 flavor, 4 mouthfeel, 3.75 overall.

Brigadoon’s stall:

Hope your Sundays are going well!

Cheers!

 

Boulevard/Modern Times Restless Nights, 7.5% ABV. Pours midnight black with a nice 3-finger light brown head that left no lacing. Nose is coffee, bourbon, and a hint of toffee. Taste is coffee, toffee, slight bourbon, almost no bitterness. Excellent mouthfeel, overall outstanding. I'm really liking this relatively low ABV BA Porter. Will probably pick up more of this.

4.3/5 rDev +4.6%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25

Nice cool and rainy fall day to do indoor chores, drink beer, and watch the Vikings and Bears lose before watching the Packers win. If the rain lets up I have some quick paint touch-up to do outside.

 

A-Pours a light amber golden color with a slight head and lacing
A-Aroma has very pleasant peach hints
T-The taste follows the nose with a very pleasant peach and sour flavor
M-A light bodied well carbonated beer
O-A very good American Wild Ale

 

This lovely little brew from Founder's was most excellent. Really like it.



Mosaic Promise

Founders Brewing Company
American Pale Ale (APA) | 5.5% ABV

4.29/5 rDev +5.4% | Average: 4.07
look: 3.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25

Canned on 08/05/19 so 3 months of age and poured into a nonic glass. Nice thick lasting head. A light amber color with lots of carbonation. Great hop aroma. Taste follows the nose and it is excellent. I like the lighter style of the Pale Ale and it's lighter malt backbone. Very pleasant. The right amount of hop bitterness dances on the tongue. Just right. Overall a most likeable beer I will be searching for. Easy to drink one and want another. 3 months of age doesn't appear to hurt this beer at all.

 

Time for another new beer.



Poured from the bottle into a nonic pint glass.

Quite solid looking brew. Deep copper body color, with a nice reddish brown tone. Khaki very fine head meeting a solid three fingers with soft retention and a light fluffy appearance.

Interesting nose for a Scottish ale. Light touches of caramel and toffee, but a noticeable almost raspberry like candy note hanging out as well. Hints that sort of Baltic porter like aroma as well in the mix which seems odd and misplaced.

Palate is particularly sweet. Berry flavored and a palate that washed prominently in a fruit punch like flavor. Touches raspberry strawberry fruit, with a hint of a little bit of clove spice working in as well. Really tastes like fruit punch and cloves, mixing a bit of sharp tang of fruit in the aftertaste as well.

This is an interesting tasting brew, but it reminds me nothing of a Scottish Ale whatsoever. Drinkable at least.

look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3 | feel: 4 | overall: 3 | BA Generated Score: 3.34

Cheers!

 

I want that Mingus set (with the correct discs of coarse)

 

Good afternoon and happy New Beer Sunday, BAs. Nice to see that @cjgiant gets to enjoy an early retirement. Well, been a bit of a roller coaster week. Had to say goodbye to my boy Yoda on Tuesday night, after a great 13.5 years with the old man. I'll miss him greatly.



Been keeping busy since, taking the kids around town to different parks and such. Went to Forest Park again today, hard not to as we've been experiencing some incredible weather, and knocked out as much of the Wild Cherry Trail as they could handle before hitting up Rogue once again for an early lunch. Damn they make some good fish n' chips.





But now it's time for a new beer. I already had my favorite beer from these guys to honor my old pal Yoda this week, and felt like doing it again with a new-to-me approach.

Hair of the Dog-
Bourbon Fred from the Stone (2019)





As with the original old mutt, this Fred pours a murky malt-extract looking amber. Slightly darker perhaps, but just a hair. The smooth mass has a very thin white foam lying around the ring of the surface, but as these beers are rarely expected to have carbonation, it suits the bill just fine.


Much less bourbon than expected on the sniffer, barely any at all in fact. Sweet golden raisins and fig mostly tease the nostrils with minimal amounts of earthiness and herbal nuances in the end.

Oh shit. There's the bourbon. Again, raisins and fig, or even dates carry the load, but a boozy influenced vanilla comes in strong. An unexpected nuttiness hangs in throughout each sip, and a herbal finishes doesn't disappoint.

Sweet, rich, and chewy. The booze is warming and intense at first, but once this has some time to breathe, it mellows quite a bit. It's lip smacking sticky and ends wonderfully bitter, and demands to be taken in slowly, one wonder sip at a time.

The Concrete Egg versions of the HotD classics have never really blown me away. Given the choice, I'd always take a "From The Wood" over a "From The Stone" anyday. This one falls right in line with that, but is still one damn fine experience.

After my official review, I gave Bourbon Fred From the Stone a rating of 4.28, with an rDev of +0.7%. Cheers!

 

Well done.

 

Back home, and time for my next new beer.


FleXin' on 5 & 20 from Other Half Brewing. Clocks in at 10%.

Holy cow. This beer was sent to me by the gracious @CanConPhilly .

This beer I'm getting tons of mango from it. Quite good, and it's hitting the spot.

Review:

4.32/5 rDev +10.2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25

Pours a murky orange/golden color. 3 finger white, frothy head. The retention is quite good. Some lacing on the glass.
The nose is quite full of hops, as expected. Lots of pine in the aroma. Some citrus.
Taste - it has an interesting flavor, and, boy, I'm having a tough time to describe it. I'm getting none of the pine I smelled on the nose. I do get a lot of mango. There's more I'm getting, but, boy, I just can't put it into words.
The body is good. The hops are really clinging to my throat.
This beer is really doing it for me. I can't fully describe it, but I do like it.


I'll see if there's another in me after this.

 

Next up for me is Fifty Fifty Donner Party Porter. The can says 7.2% ABV which is a bit high for what I think of the style, but really how many examples can we say are a true Porter or Stout? So that doesn't bother me.



Pours a dark black color with ruby/brown highlights around the edges. A dense tan head rises with excellent retention. Some spotty lace is left behind. Big roasted malts, coffee, and bakers chocolate in the nose. I get an odd metallic note in the aroma for some reason. Other then that, a great strong porter/stout aroma.

No metallic character, flavor wise at all. Again, big roast, coffee, chocolate, and a bit of smoke. As this warms, a great baked bread flavor comes out that I love.

A full body without being overly viscous or heavy. Perfectly weighty for the style and ABV and good carbonation. Really easy to drink and another from this brewery I will have to get more often.

Overall score 4.12
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/14936/35575/?ba=champ103#review

Oh, and got to go with The Band on this glorious afternoon...

 

Good afternoon, NBS and I have a beer that is a first from this brewery to me. I've seen their beers posted here and there on this site, but this is the first I'd seen of them around here. I think one of the local breweries' anniversaries might have been the impetus for it. Either way, interest overcame price, and



The Rare Barrel, Apropos of Nothing
The beer is listed as a golden sour aged in oak with elderberries and lavendar.

I didn't recall the above particulars when I poured it (as I usually dig into them after the pour and before the post), and the quick glance at "golden ale" I had didn't prepare me for the ruby to burgundy pour that came from the bottle. The smell of berry was quick to hit my nose, though. I didn't get any lavender at this point.

So a nice light pink head becomes a large ring and eventually a few spots of lace. A physically closer inspection of the aroma shows the lavender is far from a hidden component. I can't say this beer smells of elderberry, not knowing that specific berry's aroma, but I get a mix or blackberry, blueberry, and cranberry. The fact this is a sour might mean some of those notes are not directly from the berry.

There's a little sharp acidity up from, then the berry medley flavors come through. The carbonation is a little stronger than expected, joining the tartness to increase the bite a little. When this passes, the tartness dulls and a little lavender-accented earthiness escorts my taste buds across the oak floor to the end taste.

Nice mix of flavors, a little more tart than the bottle led me to believe, which is fine. The feel was the only off thing for me - a little bit heavy on the carbonation. I'd definitely be interested in at least checking out some other offerings by this brewery in the future.