New Beer Sunday (Week 772)

Yeah theres always bad shit going on but I try to suck up the good like a sponge. So physically and mentally draining.

 

Hello, gang...remember me?

Unintended and lengthy hiatus due to the wonderful world of microbes, but improved to the point where I can enjoy a beer.

Our grandson turned 3 on Friday. Complication happened in the way of our musical theater subscription and bringing a guest to Come From Away. So we could not swap out tickets. We all went to dinner together; wife, friend and I went on to the show younglings and parents went home to have cake and open presents. Come From Away - totally inspirational. It was one of the best shows we have seen both from a performance and technical perspective and the story telling was incredible. The fourteen people on stage all played multiple parts, it was non-stop with no intermission and a fairly brisk pace, yet easy to follow. I can't recommend Come From Away more highly. Excellent.

Christmas tree yesterday, family birthday party this afternoon...My Badgers play half a football game, and as staunch a New England sports fan as I am, certainly not looking forward to another week of Brady apologists...whew...

To the topic of the day, our relationships with the in laws are...ummm... Complicated. We can leave it at that. We are kinda outlaws on both sides and we are good with that. More pleasant topic for me, here are the new members of the tribe:



On the left is Obi. He looks like an Ewok, but try pronouncing an Ewok name... Middle is Tippy who lost an inch off his tail to a door. The furball on the right is Jack named by a three year old in Halloween overdrive mode...thank you, Tim Burton.

The beer:



This one has been hanging around, obviously, waiting for invading multicellular creatures to decide I am a nasty host. I poured fairly aggressively then had the oh shit moment remembering Allagash and Belgians and foam, but thec16 ounces of Haunted House made it into ye olde cursed tulip. Dark coffee brown that you can't see through, but it is clear. Huge head that was rocky on top, but like meringue underneath. It lasted ten minutes, fell to a quarter inch ring and rafts, covering the glass with lacy residue.

Aromas of coffee, a touch of smoke, dark chocolate, a light kiss of hop earthiness and a bit of citrus. Mainly this features the roasted malts top dressed with a bit of hop character. Extremely clean.

The taste more or less follows. The malts are driving this bus. Pleasant level of coffee-like flavor and a nice bit of chocolate. Roasted and toasted. The malts are kinda grounded, in a way, by the hop earthtones and that tiny bit of citrus brightness. There is a definite phenolic sting and a nice level of resin bitter on the finish. It goes down smooth and super-clean. Maybe imagining it, but there seems to be a very, very mild black licorice in the aftertaste as the flavors meld. This tastes good, goes down too easy.

The feel seems thin at first, and that impression holds but it has a creamy, rich feel without being heavy. Well-defined, almost too much. Overall it feels soft somehow. Dry finish. It a different feel and hard to describe, but absolutely enjoyable.

Diggin' it. I think it is more than the sum of its parts. I guess it loosely fits within the vast array of Belgian Dark Ale characteristic, but it has qualities akin to a black IPA as well. The drinkable nature of the beer will weigh into my review, and I am thinking when I spin the wheel of scoring, it will be around the 4.2 mark. Another good effort from the OG Portland.

Cheers!

 

Good evening NBS, had a very busy week and weekend with wrestling, time to finally relax. Picked up a bottle of 2SP Wawa Reserve Reserve Barrel Aged Imperial Coffee Stout. Last year I enjoyed the regular version of this and have to say the barrel aging was a nice touch.

4.22/5 rDev 0%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

750 ml bottle poured into a tulip

A- Black with a two finger light mocha head.

S- Chocolate, coffee, vanilla, some bourbon, oak, slightly nutty.

T- Chocolate, oak, coffee, vanilla, some bourbon, touch of dark fruits, a little nutty.

M- Smooth, medium body.

O- A nicely balanced stout and easy to drink. Flavors aren’t as big as other barrel aged stouts, but it all comes together nicely.

Cheers!

 

With a little leeway, hoping to not bore before the beer, but - I noticed last night that it was 29 years since UVa football defeated Clemson for the first time in 30 years, overcoming a 29-0 record. I was hoping against hope that UVa would break Clemson's 29-game winning streak to win the ACC, despite their 29-point underdog status.

Well, Clemson won by almost twice 29. But at least UVa's NCAA basketball champions bounce back from a gift to Purdue by beating ACC rival UNC tonight.

As for in-laws, my parental "in-laws" are nice people who have ever more evident different beliefs from their offspring, including the one I choose to spend my life with. My sibling "in-laws" are pretty great, and give me an excuse to visit them and the beer of Portland, OR every so often. Plus I occasionally get to annoy a certain non-secret-keeping BA on those visits as well.

So, the beer:


Been a while since I've had a new Flying Dog Beer, and this one seemed interesting enough to see what I've been missing. The label indicates "Oatmeal, Waffle, Buttered toast. Cafe Latte with cocoa-vanilla whipped cream."

A typical near-black body to this stout is still supporting a nice light tan head - a little lighter as seen in the photo. A bunch of sea foam now versus what you can see in the image.

A hugely rich coffee aroma greets my nose as I draw the beer close and inhale.

Not unsurprisingly there's a soft, freshly from the oven brownie aromas as well, thanks to a background push from the vanilla.

Taste is a more bitter version of the nose - like a charred malt blanket was used to dampen the less beer aspects of this offering.

Just burnt toast on a plate with a side of medium-to-bold coffee sitting beside it. Backing flavors are actually the one aspect more distinct than the nose, but come late int he taste.

Well, I always like when the brewer gives a fairly good description of my own impressions. I read the label after I started my review before adding it above, but the oatmeal flavor is something I missed before reading it - but the aftertaste does have a slight oatmeal aspect to it.

I'd guess maybe this is an oatmeal stout though the label didn't specify such (nor does the BA record). I like the integration in this one - coffee, vanilla, maybe oatmeal - but still stands as firstly as a stout.

 

When we had the recent BA Weizenbock tasting, I revisited Schneider (w/ Brooklyn) Hopfenweisse. This beer is a Saphir dry-hopped Weizendoppelbock. I was shocked to note that it reminded me of a NEIPA. I knew I had to try it blind alongside a modern IPA. Today I had it blind with a new-to-me IPA for NBS - The Great Experiment Vol 4 by Barrier along with Grimm, Equilibrium, and 3 Sons. Despite the water glasses above to show appearance, I had these two beers in opaque glasses to hide color and clarity. I did two blind tests with these beers to see if I would have consistent reactions. There are blind tests that essentially confirm what you already knew, and blind tests that throw you for a loop. Both are valuable, but this one was the latter. Keep in mind that I can probably count the number of times I had Hopfenweisse on one hand, and the IPA was totally foreign to me (and I didn't know how much the beer would embody a NEIPA). The point of the exercise was to see how easy it was to identify the style of each beer blind.

I could successfully distinguish the two beers from each other and across the two tests, but I could not distinguish which beer was which. I could not identify which one was the IPA.

Notes on Beer A: heavier, rich, velvety, tropical, sweet, full, mango, very slight banana
Notes on Beer B: slightly tart, very minor amount of bitterness, not as full, fruity, kiwi

As you can see, there were certain words that pointed to particular elements of styles, but things weren't split in a clear way. Beer A was Hopfenweisse and Beer B was the IPA. Appearance-wise, each beer was extremely hazy. This was a lot of fun and I was surprised by how difficult it was to draw a line between the two despite my initial thought that Hopfenweisse was very NEIPAish. Folks can snicker (that's never bothered me), but this was illuminating. By the way, Hopfenweisse was conceived back in 2007. If I used an IPA that was a fuller bodied and sweeter IPA, this test would have been even crazier. Maybe I'll have a follow up at some point in the future.

@FBarber @steveh

 

Welcome back and hope the microbes stay away !

Nice lookin pups !

 

Happy Sunday NBS players. A pretty cold winter day here on the island. Spent most of the day working, in my new career, but once we get through the holidays/xmas, I won't have to work the weekends or at least Sundays all that much. Been catching up/watching mindless football for the rest of the day/evening.

My new beer today is Pils, a german-style pilsner, from Von Ebert brewing. Big thanks to @Lingenbrau Jets win but I still think Gase should be fired. The brew checks in at.4.9% abv and has a 9/13/19 canning date.

A rather yellow color on the pour with really good clarity and a good head of white foam. The nose is rather floral with malt and grains. The drinking hits with lots of crisp/clean malts upfront. Crazy smooth on the flow with a slightly bitter finish. Good notes of sour dough bread, crackers, and wheat grains. A light/moderate mouth feel that drinks crisp, and clean and even a bit bigger than the abv.

Overall, pretty damn nice. I have no real complaints and would largely agree with your score Phil. This is spot on good,

 

Next up, (one of?) the latest from Billy Powell of Sand City. (He has two gigs**.)
Crucifixtion - Third Servile War* , a " double India Pale Ale with Sacramental Bread, Calypso,Vic Secret and Simcoe"
10.6%abv
Short version : overall, well-done, & I liked it. That said, I don't think it gained anything by upping everything to TIPA territory .


A :Hazy tangerine-orange, with creamy , quickly-dissipating off-white head.

S : Smell is relatively muted, considering the strength of this .Grapefruit,tangerine,dried pineapple, apricot, and brief hints of pine/solvent/dank. Slight bit of biscuity malt when swirled.

T: Slightly unripe peach , grapefruit pith, apricot, the tang(mostly) and flavor(slight) of a sour orange, finishing with brief brushstroke of rounded piney bitterness.No noticeable alcohol, at least not that I can be sure. Might be hops on that pine/solvent note, might be alcohol, might be both.

F : Medium, lightly oily/creamy, with very fine carbonation tingle, that becomes tongue-lashing by finish (beyond, with a slight burn. (In a good way. ) No noticeable alcohol burn while drinking, though I do feel something, at the back of the throat & tip of the tongue, for a couple of minutes after. It feels relatively light , given the abv.

4.21/5 rDev 0%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/54783/452415/

*The uprising led by Sparticus and Crixus . The can art depicts the aftermath of Sparticus' death and final defeat. The 6000 survivors of his army were crucified along the Appian Way, as a reminder to any other slaves that might consider rebelling.

** Interview/story with Billy Powell, about Nightmare .
https://www.ediblelongisland.com/2018/12/12/long-islands-newest-gypsy-brewer-dreams-up-a-nightmare/

 

Happy CANtinuing New Oliver Beer Sunday (Week 772), Part III (& finale for the week)!
Oh, jeez-O, man, it is CANming on like a runaway locomotive at this point! I gotta give up or risk not getting up tomorrow.

My next, since our last meeting, was:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/46063/359074/?ba=woodychandler#review

followed by: https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/46063/264812/?ba=woodychandler#review

See yinz next week with/for more … stuff!

 

Oliver's has really gone for quite a diverse portfollio these days I would say.

 

Quite a different take from mine earlier. I liked it a lot.

 

Cheers to Floyd for this beauty!!!!

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/42276/448235/



16 oz. can.
No date on can.
Moderate pour yields a pure white, one inch head with some lacing. Nose of citrus (orange), tropical fruit (mango), and the slightest pine. Taste mirrors nose fairly close with flavors of candied citrus coming through as well. Fairly dry, bitter finish with flavors of tropical fruit and citrus. Nice feel and overall a fine TIPA from VBVA! Cheers!!!