New Beer Sunday (Week 770)

Tired Hands - Ourison

Look @Roguer - the tulip! This one is a very hazy and dull yellow. Carbonation is a little prickly but still soft. The best part of the beer is the complex funkiness. There's a lot going on in that regard, but nothing there is aggressive. I don't get any unpleasant skunk as a result of the green glass, but I feel like it's still causing an impact. The vinegar-like acidity is too present for my tastes. I'd prefer that to be more of a supporting character than front and center. Tastes of lemon, grass (or should I say lemongrass ) and some pineapple (the latter had me wondering if there was brett in the beer... I assume not, but have no idea). It feels hoppy even though I don't know if that's what I'm actually tasting. This beer strikes me as a good looking child with an American and European parent.

 

Poured into a 20 oz Nordic Glass. Pours a very hazy yellow with a half finger white head that leaves little bubbles of lace as it settles. 4.25

Smell is tangerine, pineapple, apricot, mango, and a little grapefruit rind. 4

Taste follows pineapple, tangerine, mango, apricot, and just a little hint of grapefruit rind. 4

Mouthfeel is a watery medium, gentle life, a tad sticky but not dry, and at 6.2% easy going down. 4

Overall this very good and at a rather modest ABV really tasty. 4

 

Damn, and amen. I’ve driven so drunk it was ridiculous, I couldn’t drive fast enough to kill anyone I guess, but driving buzzed might be worse. In my youth, I’d never ever do that today.

 

Hoping the Eagles offense can figure out how to put a drive together, currently enjoying some 2SP Imperial Shade.

4.26/5 rDev +4.9%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25

16 oz can poured into pint glass

A- A dark brown, almost black, with a three finger mocha head.

S- Roasted malts, citrus, piney, touch of chocolate, some grapefruit.

T- Roasted malts, citrus, some tropical fruits, dank, some chocolate, some char, piney.

M- Smooth, light to medium body.

O- The mosaic hops shine on this and work really with the dark malts, super easy to drink.

Cheers!

 

I hear you. I'm from Massachusetts, which has some of the softest DUI laws in the country. I drank all the time without thinking twice about it. Sometimes I'd even have an open beer. Never had any incidents, close calls etc. My friends did the same so I really thought nothing of it.

In MA you can still drive after your first DUI, no license suspension, no mandatory jail time, no interlock. I shit you not, had I got my DUI in Massachusetts I probably wouldn't have changed a damn thing. If I hadn't learned my lesson the fist time, someone easily could've been hurt the second.


And honestly, the reason I got pulled over for my DUI was really borderline. It was late, I was the only car on the road, I was going 56 in a 50 and wasn't weaving they were just on a DUI patrol that night and anything over 5 will get you. Despite that, I thank the police for changing my life that evening, who knows what the future could've held had I kept going down that path.

 

In HS I put a quarter keg of beer in the backseat of my dads car and we had a traveling party. No shit. I’m old enough that MADD didn’t exist, if you were drinking the cops would just send you home. Times have changed and two beers is the limit, it’s one reason why I don’t visit more breweries.

 

Round 3, courtesy of @joe1510 . Unfortunately, Joe won't be seeing this review until after Christmas, being banned and all. Thanks anyway, Joe!

Afterthought
Saison Meer: Buckwheat (Vermouth Barrel Fermented)



Well, it's definitely not a pretty beer. Deep yellow, opaque, zero head, and lots of floaties. Never judge a book by its cover.

The aroma is one of a kind, that's for sure. Straight pickle juice and dill. Sour, vinegary pickle juice with an unmistakable herb. Good thing I love pickles and dill.

Taste resonates the very same pickles and dill with an insane amount of cereal graininess on the finish. It's quite the perfect compliment actually. Like spiced pickles on bread. A touch of clean wood to finish things off.

Feels very watery potentially due to the complete lack of carbonation. Lightly sweet, savory, dry, and tart makes for a quick drink.

Not gonna lie, if it weren't for my experience with Hair of the Dog, the complete lack of carbonation from the second the cap was popped, this would have scared me. Luckily, I'm willing to try anything, and glad I did. This is an unusually ugly and probably unlikeable beer to most. But in my opinion, this is a shining star of uniqueness. Ugly, but delicious.

After my official review, I gave Saison Meer a rating of 3.93 with a rating of -1.5%. Cheers!

 

Are your NFL pronouncements in the NBS thread becoming the KOD?

 

Maybe, wait - Giants score, 4 minutes left...

 

After that monster first beer, I was glad to find the place offers half pours. My next beer has been described as that American of desserts, and maybe should be paired with my last drink. This is Suddenly Comfy, a cider-cream ale mixed beverage by DFH à la their other mixed beers (namely with wine, like Sixty-One and Positive Contact).



Initially it sort of looks like one of those hazy IPAs that isn’t trying to be a new-wave beer. The orangish amber color can be seen through and I can easily tell it’s my finger on the other side of the glass (yes, I sometimes worry it isn’t), more clearly as the glass empties. The various streams of carbonation sustain an off-white foam that covers 3/4 of the surface before I dig in.

Also before my lips touch the beer, I give it a sniff. It can be hard to know how to rate these beers as one who tries to judge to style. This is likely listed as a cream ale but has no intention of being traditional. It could be a fruited ale with cider inclusion, or a spiced ale with the obvious fall pie spices involved. So, pointing aside, once I decide, this beer smelled like straight up apple strudel to me. The tart-ish apple was up front initially, but has given way to the spices as I yap about the looks and rating philosophies. Now it smells a little more like apple pie with a granola crisp topping.

I usually expect DFH beers to show its beer chops in the taste, despite the ingredients. There are exceptions, and this borders on one of them. The mulled apple cider flavors are front and center, harkening all the way back to my initial whiffs. The spices stay to the side, and the very light tartness of the apple mostly defines the drink.

As the beer warms, the cream ale starts to sneak in a little in the back of the taste, as it meets the apple and lingering spice there. For an 8% beer, this has a light feel and clean palate. It is actually fairly dry, with just a little pseudo-sweetness from the background vanilla note.

So, there is little to claim this as a cream ale, even less than Founder’s Sumatra Brown is a typical brown ale. The ABV and fruit and spice additions help define this beer more than whatever corn or rice might’ve been involved. I’m sure it’s exactly what the brewer was trying for, and is another interesting/fun cuisine cum beverage from the folks at DFH, IMO.

(I’m fearful of the ads I’m going to get after I looked up the preposition from my last sentence to be sure I was using it as intended)

 

A-Pours a hazy brown color with a slight head and lacing
A-Aroma has Bourbon, oak and vanilla hints
T-The taste follows the nose with a Bourbon, oak and vanilla flavor
M-A medium bodied well carbonated beer
O-A good Belgian Strong Dark Ale

 

#2 beer for today is another stout from Iowa. Millstream Brewing has been around for 34 years, according to the label. I tried their Oktoberfest back in October, and found it to be enjoyable and well-done (if you like the maltier Okto beers). So, I thought I'd try another beer from them.

Millstream Brewing Company Back Road Stout
ABV: 6.7%
IBU: 22



Aroma of sweet caramel, hints of coffee. Fine carbonation bubbles rising.

Deep black color with a tall, thick rocky mottled tan head, with good retention, leaving stringy lacing and a pitted surface as it does recede.

Taste is roasted coffee and malts, sweetish. Minimally bitter in the middle and finish. Beginning taste is, as I said, slightly sweet, with this carrying through the middle, but the finish is moving toward (but not quite reaching) dry. Nice tasting, pleasant, and easy drinking.

Mouth feel is smooth with moderate body.

Overall, a nice, well-done oatmeal stout. If you like your stouts more to the somewhat sweet side, this one is for you.

L: 4.0 | S: 3.75 | T: 3.75 | F: 3.5 | O: 3.75 | BA rating: 3.74

 

So Happens It's Tuesday from The Bruery.
4.46/5 rDev +5.2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5

Pours a very dark brown with a one inch beige head that settles slowly to a thick ring and leaves little spotty lacing. Smells of bourbon, roasted malts, dark chocolate, oak and vanilla tastes of bourbon, roasted malts, dark chocolate, coffee, molasses, toffee, dark fruits, oak, vanilla and a bit of char. Full bodied, light but perfect carbonation, creamy mouth feel and a mildly dry and bitter finish.

 

Good afternoon everyone. Trying this Three Notch'd Black Rye IIPA



4.04/5 rDev +2.3%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

My only knock on the appearance is that it leans a little lighter, like cola-ish in color instead of strikingly black. Otherwise, massive mocha colored head and generous sticky lacing. Nose isn't too crazy, just a solid hop spiced sweet caramel. Taste begins with a bold earthy bitterness followed by just a little sweetness before a chalky bitterness is left on the tongue. Body is disappointingly thin and watery but not so much as to make me dislike the beer overall. I'd certainly buy it again and especially now when we're facing a dark time when shopping for Cascadians.

 

This Seahawks game (like most Seahawks games) is taking serious years off my life.

I'd like to add my voice to the chorus of support for @superspak here: It can be tough when it takes external factors to force a realignment of ones perspective and priorities, but I applaud the manner in which you seem to be approaching this and hope that, like @cavedave, you still find value in joining in our conversations and community. I hope that we can be a positive component of this transition, but if not just know that we're always here for you.

I was casting about trying to figure out what I wanted to dip into for NBS. Well, thank you @zid for showing me the way. I saw you pop into a smoked helles and your amazement at the seemingly sudden preponderance of the style (relative to expectations, of course), and figured I should grab something I've had sitting in the fridge for a little while now.



Right Kind of Smoke - Matchless

Right off the bat this is a beautiful glass of beer. Crisp clean clear golden body with a pillowing finger and a half or more of white foam. Sticky lacing from that initial head, but not much after that.

Nose immediately reinforces the suggestions of the can. Sweet wood smoke (I keep envisioning a pole carved from a light pale wood with one end burnt, but without the acridity, without the heaviness of the particulation. Just the smoke and the wood.) gives way to some light malts and honey sweetness. Grassy bright hops to finish.

Umami is the first big burst I get. It's like a great brisket. Moist and smoky and sweet and all of a sudden I'm hungry. The pecan wood bridges to the honey sweet malts, with some light cracker before a big dry bitter finish. Another reviewer mentioned quinine, and with that suggestion I can totally see it.
Taken as a smoke beer, this is enjoyable and executes its mission well. Labeling it as a smoked helles lager, however seems a misnomer. There is some of the light sweetness to the malts, but everything is amped up too much (read: the hops specifically. The smoke is very prevalent as well, but that's the intended addition, so I don't really count that against the base style, even if it's likely the reason why the hops were amped up... to add something to dance along the other side of the smoke) for my understanding of the style.
All in all though, I'm glad to have tried it and hope you too have something tasty in your glass!



Cheers!

 

Back with another beer, and, again from @CanConPhilly .


Stargaze from Grimm Brewing.

This is one hell of a Berliner. Nice and fruity. I can just imagine pounding these on a hot summer day.

4.02/5 rDev -3.4%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Pours beat red. 2 finger red head, with good head retention. No lacing on the glass.
Light, but quite fruity nose. Plenty of raspberries in the aroma.
Taste - Like the nose - light, but full of raspberries in the flavor.
Light bodied, but just right for the style.
Tasty, and easy drinking.


I'll see if I can do one more, but this might be it for today.

 

Seems like it could be a brewery trait. It’s one that has happened to me with some locals that I hope they grow out of as a consistent description for their beers.

I just had my last Tollan Rye (rotating rye IPA w/different hops) from them and have thoroughly enjoyed the rye aspect in that beer. I will be on the lookout for this, as the things that you claimed to rate down for I do not think I would not find as detracting as you do - and you liked it pretty well.

 

Good Sunday afternoon, New Beer Sippers and commentators. It's a cold, rainy, dreary afternoon in North Jersey - a good day to review a BBA Coffee Stout. Two Ton Brewing opened its facility in Kenilworth, NJ (about 10 minutes from where I work) in October 2018. It released Grind My Boots to celebrate its anniversary. It was a limited release - one bottle per customer - and I wanted to let it sit for a month or so. It's not quite what I expected: the bourbon is strong in the nose but fairly subdued in the taste. And it opens with considerable caramel/toffee. It's a nice offering but it's not nearly at the level of KBS, Willettized or some of the others available this time of year. Two Ton is brewing some good beer and they have the making of one in Grind My Boots. It's not quite there yet. Here's my full review:

3.79/5 rDev 0%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75

Purchased at Two Ton's celebration of the first anniversary of opening its facility in Kenilworth. Poured from 22 oz. bottle into a snifter. It pours an inky, jet black with a thin, ecru-colored head and minimal lacing. The nose is very bourbon-forward along with freshly-brewed coffee, cocoa, caramel, leather, and whiffs of tobacco smoke and char. It's nicely aromatic. The taste is not what I anticipated. It has a lot of toffee/caramel up front, along with the advertised coffee. The bourbon is well-hidden in the background. There is also bitter char and tobacco notes. I'm also noting considerable acidity from the coffee. The feel is a bit thin for a BA Coffee Stout - it drinks more like a Porter with lite to moderate carbonation and the 10.2% ABV is warming and noticeable. Overall, I commend Two Ton for brewing this Stout. It suffers by comparison to some of the bigger names that are available such as KBS and Lagunitus Willettized but I'd encourage them to brew this one again.

I hope you're all enjoying your new beer(s) today and looking forward to Thanksgiving. Cheers, NBS!