New Beer Sunday (Week 770)

Pretty much exactly how I felt: in spite of all good reason, I found it enjoyable.

 

Decided to have a second beer while noodling on my guitar and casually watching football.

Prairie Artisan Ales - Vanilla Noir



Had this from a 12oz bottle with no date but I think it is from 2018. My overall rating = 4.34

A - Opaque black with a brief 1-finger head that disappears immediately leaving no lace

S - White chocolate (sweet, condensed milk, vanilla). Espresso latte. Cake batter. Vanilla extract.

T - Rich. Sweet. Cake. Vanilla. Milk chocolate. Mild roasted grain. Restrained whiskey flavor and sweetness, some heat and herbal/medicinal spice.

M - Thick body and light carbonation. Pleasantly sticky but not syrupy.

O - White cake with chocolate icing while sipping on a white chocolate liquor like this.




A decadent and very enjoyable brew from Prairie Ales.

 

It's a rainy, chilly dreary Sunday in North NJ today. It's a good new beer Sunday for me. 2 new beers both from Twin Elephant Brewing, neither of which is an IPA! The 1st is named Bakers at Dawn an English Style Brown Porter. This brew pours a deep dark brown with a thick tan head. Strong and beautiful aroma of malt, caramel and fresh baked bread. The taste follows the aroma and is a little sweet. The mouthfeel is full and the finish is off dry.. A very nice and enjoyable beer.
The second beer is of all things a American Adjunct Lager that the brewery calls Chuckacadbre. To put it is simple terms this is a better Budweiser. The grain bill is Pilsner and Vienna malts with flaked corn. They don't state the %. That is not unusual of an AAL the hops used are. 4 hops are added Magnum , Rakau, Simcoe, & Sabro. It pours gold and is a bit cloudy. Nice aroma of malt and hops much stronger than a BMC beer. More malt in the in the taste also. Body is full finish is off dry. As was said a better Budweiser, a very enjoyable beer. Well done Twin Elephant.

 

Twin Elephant growler 2 of 2, NBS!

This one is Bakers at Dawn. A 5.7% English Style Brown Ale.



Look: The beer pours an opaque, dark brown color. Light brown head that struggles to form and maintain. Could be due to the growler. No visible carbonation. Overall, the dark brown color is attractive when held to the light, as the translucent edges give way to burnt sienna.

Smell: The aroma up front is defined by creamy and sweetened coffee. Followed by nuts, of the wal and hazel sorts. Some sweet tobacco leaf. Dry, woody and crackery note.

Taste: Excellent flavor. Up front some sweeter caramel and toffee notes. But the beer dries out with some dark cracker, nutty and woody notes, along with hints of char and smoke that lends a hint of bitterness. Some nutty, cold brewed, unsweetened coffee.

Feel: Medium level of carbonation. Smooth and dry.

Overall: I really enjoy this beer. A relatively low ABV beer at 5.7% with just a ton of flavor. Easily drinkable to pair with food, while stern enough to stand on its own. Sweet, dry, some bitterness. A satisfying drinking beer.

4.21/5 rDev +2.2%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25

 

A-Pours a brown color with a generous head and lacing
A-Aroma has malt and hazelnut hints
T-The taste follows the nose with a malt and hazelnut flavor
M-A medium bodied well carbonated beer
O-A good Brown Ale

 

Count me in as an on-and-off lifetime golfer without a hole in one save for mini-putt. In fact, I’ve only ever had two hole outs from 100+

Today I was persuaded to get a beer for this thread by my good friend @pretzyl04. I texted him last night that I was having the BBA Tröegenator he gifted me and he mentioned he had had a Bourbon Barrel Aged World Wide Stout at the Dogfish Head Alehouse near him. Luckily he lives relatively close so here it is, today:


He had mentioned the barrel wasn’t too strong but the he still enjoyed it. Spoiler: I’d agree with him on the barrel aspect, but not as a detracting statement.

As you can see, despite the robust ABV on this beer, they didn’t short me in the smaller snifter glass. I watched the beige head fizzle away and wondered if it would stop. Giving it a second to warm and type up my intro, a follow-up look has the drink with a medium thin ring holding steady out the outskirts of some jetsam of carbonation released from the black depths.

Nose has a little tang that I could have confused for lactose presence if I were unaware of the barrel aging. A little difficult to get into this hero pour much on the nose, so I’ll shift to other aspects.

A not very viscous liquid hits my tongue with some spicy and roasty characteristics. The beer has the alcohol presence that was anticipated from its own ABV as much as the barrel-aging process. Of course it’d be interestingly dangerous to do a side by side with the regular, but I believe the barrel has cut the depth of coffee and charred malt of the original beer. There’s a little more of a dark brown sugar that has been slightly burnt. There’s some sweet prune that could again be the barrel tang influence.

Back to the smell... definitely a molasses and very lightly charred wood note beyond the lightening lactose tang. Alcohol bite hangs around on top of everything.

I wouldn’t have expected anything less than a digestif from this beer, and that’s what I got. It’s not as sweet as many a pastry stout, though the descriptors I used have sweet connotations. There’s less sweetness than a big quad/English barleywine and a bit more char (i.e. less hop) bitterness than an American BW. The feel is bold and not thick at all, and I think that it could replace an after dinner spiked coffee as a drink with more balance.

 

Sorry Larry, but I fell pretty behind this week with my work schedule. The second box is packed and I just need to ship it. A third box to follow. Glad to see you enjoyed the Sand City stuff.

 

Lagunitas Willetized. This is delicious and when you factor in the price that I paid ($12.99/four pack) it's really a fantastic deal. Dangerously drinkable for 12.4% and I may need to get another four pack if I see it again, as I can already tell that this will be going quickly and I would like to try to age a bottle or two.

Lagunitas has really been knocking it out of the park for me this year with not only their new beers (Lil Sumpin' Hazy) but ones I have been revisiting like Brown Shugga.

 

Jack's Abby's Cranberry Berliner.
Getting ready for the game.



3.93/5 rDev +3.1%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

A strong pour is needed to gain a finger of fizzy off-white foam with short retention and sliding spots of lace. Light orange body with a hint of pink, mostly clear.

Canned cranberry greats the nose with sour milk and under-ripe orange juice.

Cranberry is disguised in the taste amongst tart and sour apple, orange and grapefruit juice.
Neutral on sweetness with almost no bitterness, sour and tart tastes are mild. Some sour candy slows down the finish, the aftertaste is quick and mild. Imagine a sour Madras.

Light body, the low carbonation is even and available throughout. Warms well, tart/sours tastes soften a bit, does not go flat. Highly sessionable, low ABV per style.

Canned on 10/23/19.

 

Woah...

 

Total Wine might carry the Jacobite- that's where I picked it up the last time I had it.

 

Looks like we backed each other up with the same beer! Did you try the Chuckcadre?

 

Hi everybody!
Hope you all are having some nice new beers this Sunday. I am home today doing the usual Sunday things including trying new beers. I was scared at the prospect of only having big format high ABV beers from my cellar to try again this week so I tried to get a couple lighter new beers at the grocery store this morning. The place I go has an all right selection, but terrible handling practices, so a lot is stale, oxidized, out of date, etc. The most infuriating part is that you can tell that Molson and Labatt don't let any craft in the coolers. So it is an island of old craft surrounded by nice coolers full of macro lagers. Fortunately, I am willing to look around a little and find some nice, new things that should be drinking nice regardless. First up, I have a "lager" from Microbrasserie Charlevoix, a brewery that I like a lot but that mainly specializes in Belgian styles. Seems to be brewed as a premium Euro lager, and the branding would seem to back that up.

It pours very clear pale straw with an initially quite big, airy, white head. The aroma is grainy and a little grassy. Sweet graininess, not un-corn-like, green Euro hops, mineraly, with a faint whiff of sulphur. The flavor is along the same lines. Grainy, pilsy flavor and herbal, grassy hop bitterness that is actually pretty assertive with a very light touch of DMS (I think). It is very dry with active carbonation and a pretty crisp finish with a hoppy bite. This is a nice beer for the style. There are some things that I maybe wouldn't seek out in a beer, but it is definitely to style and more full-flavored and nice-drinking than some I've had. Richer, bigger, "more" than a standard pils, but still easy to drink.

I hope to be back later on with a tea-beer. We'll see how that goes...

Also, thanks for stopping by @cavedave, I miss seeing your posts but am very happy to hear things are going well for you and that you at least get coffee, as that would be the hardest enjoyable thing for me to give up too. It's just so damn tasty and satisfying.

@superspak, I am also glad to hear about your decisions. I was a little worried after your posts last week and am really happy to see that you are spinning something so negative into something so positive for you and your life. Hang in there and I wish you great success!

Santé!

 

My brother I need not read anymore of this thread because you just made my day with this news. I congratulate you and wish you the utmost success in your new lifestyle! I know it wont be easy but stay strong and positive and know we are all behind you here at BA Family!

 

Great Idea with the Kombucha. Drink it at least several times a week.

 

NewFruitPack: 3 New fruity 1st Reviews at > 4.0
Biere Du Pays - Side Project
4.16/5 rDev -3.9%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25
first try, amazingly different, peachy saison. Feel like I'm in France.
a) Hazy, peach body, with massively lacing white fluffy head that lasts.
s) faint sour, yeasty, peachy, orchard.
t) Adds many more flavors of fall orchard, wet grass, white wine, dry, fresh sawn wood.
f) Aspirin, yeasty, chalky, bright, fresh, clean.
o) Amazing how brewers can bring french countryside into mid-american brew. Bravo
Scorpion Bowl IPA Stone
4.16/5 rDev +7.2%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
Scorpion Bowl would fare well in a blind test, it's so fruity, without additives. Bravo.
a) Lace on a creamy white cap over barely hazed golden body.
s) Herbal, mainly based in ripe papaya, peach and orange.
t) Explodes in fruit bowl, all ripe, than tempers into a syrup and herbal garden: verbena, grass , hemp and white pepper.
f) Nice light alcohol spice, gin-like, cleans up nicely. Aromatic.
SHOP Series Pale Ale - Comet & Simcoe Two Roads APA (newly posted)
4.04/5 rDev 0%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
SHOP Series (Specialty Hop) Pale Ale - Comet & Simcoe is a dreamy APA (favorite style). Got in mixed at WFM.
a) Hazed apricot gold body sports a juice-like dotty lacing head.
s) Lots of juice (pear, apricot, apple) with background of tempering grassy, fall hops.
t) A perfect fall APA. That orchard feel and heft of cider with almost pulpy perception of the whole fruit apple, apricot, pear.
f) Juice-like but clean refreshing and inviting more kissy sips. Fresh.
o) Best of the Shop series? Make it a permanent brew?

 

Fremont Bourbon Barrel Aged Coffee Dark Star 2016


Pours coal black with a bigger, beige head, soon receeding to a thicker lacing atop the glass.


Smells of dried raisins, glazed caramel and layers of milk chocolate among spicy, old oak. Got an additional coffee punch to it, bringing toasted hazelnuts and dried blueberries to the nose.


Has a supersoft, smooth mouthfeel among a heavy, complex body, exhibiting a long lasting booze dryness.


Tastes of charred malts, which brings chocolate covered coffee beans to the palate, offering a wooden note, which then brings the spicy barrel up. Has a whipped cream quality, soothing the warming, not yet biting oak barrel, creating a pleasant, spicy peak among coffee and coals. Finishes heavier on the coffee and whipped cream interplay with additional licorice and sweet caramel, amped up by a long going alcohol glow.


Very well balanced, smooth and decadent stout, featuring a great, subtle coffee presence.

 

Indeed!

I did not. Tasters of the Shimmy Ye and Chingas were all I had.

 

Thanks! I’ll check there.

 

So first a new beer with an old school glass and an old fashioned recipe to cure a hangover. So Wild Turkey 101 paired with M-43 from New Orthodox Brewing from @ovaltine.

Hazy NEIPA at 6.8 Abv. It’s got mega floaties too, the bottom of the glass looks like oatmeal flakes. I love my floaties. There’s lots of NEIPAS, some good, not many that are bad, but this one is sincerely at the top end of the style imo. It’s enough on the bitter they’re calling it 65 IBUs and it seems about right. The haze is just haze, but I really dig this beer, smells like bitter fruit, pineapples etc, and they use Calypso/Amarillo/ Citra/ and dry Hop with Citra/ Amarillo/ Simcoe. They use wheat and oat flakes to soften up the mouthfeel. I think the little bit of Mosaic funk is there on the backside of this one definitely makes it interesting. If it was available here it would be an everyday beer in my fridge. Ive never looked up the ratings on this one, but I’d say 4.4 - 4.5 imo, I’d say it’s stellar.