New Beer Sunday (Week 777)

Poured into a 16 oz Nordic pint glass canned on 12/05/19. Pours a very hazy orange yellow with a finger sticky white head that leaves plenty of webs of lace with solid retention. 4.5

Smell tangerine, pineapple, papaya, hints of boysenberry, and some apricot. 4.25

Taste follows tangerine,pineapple, papaya upfront with boysenberry and apricot in the finish, excellent stuff. 4.5

Mouthfeel is a big medium, soft gentle carbonation, sticky not dry, and drinks bigger than the 6.7% it actually is, but really drinkable. 4.5

Overall this is a great NEIPA, I will be keep my out for more of this stuff. Really a great beer. 4.25

 

Good day New BSers! A couple of days ago while perusing WBAYDN, I stumbled across a website that enables me to post pictures on BA again! So today's New Breakfast Beer, complete with pix is:



Smokey and the Bois, 2014 edition!

Received from @2beerdogs in NBS BIF 10 – Thanks Derek! Reviewed 1/12/20.
“2014 Edition”. Etched on the shoulder above the label “#142 06/10/14” above “14:25 001489”. Stored at home at 42 degrees and served at 55 degrees (as stated on the label) in a hand washed and dried Jester King snifter. Final temperature 62 degrees F.
Appearance – 3.
First pour – Dark brown, clear.
Body – Dark brown/black, opaque. When held to direct light, the same.
Head – Average (Maximum 2.3 cm, aggressive center pour), gone in a few seconds after the pour is completed, leaving a featureless surface. While not fizzy, the head demonstrates no tendency to last. At 16.2% ABV, this is not surprising.
Lacing – None.
Aroma – 4 – Initially, cocoa predominates. This is followed by omnipresent bourbon and some light smokiness, much weaker than a good rauchbier.
Flavor – 4.75 – Initially, slightly sweet bourbon assaults the taste buds, followed by vanilla rolling up the flanks. Cocoa and smoke provide cover for the alcohol. No alcohol (16.2% ABV as marked on label) aroma or flavor. However, the first swallow is marked by both short-lived esophageal burning and a continual background gastric smoldering. No diacetyl, no dimethylsulfide, no hops.
Palate – 4 – Full, approaching syrupy, watery, lively carbonation.
Final impression and summation: 4.75. Damn, this is GOOD! I was going to save the second half of the bottle for later, but it now looks like I’m going to sleep through “Noir Alley”. Flavor, texture, and aroma all combine to force me to finish the 750 mL bottle – soon!
Rating 4.39, rDev +1.4%.

One thing that has puzzled me is the use of various woods to smoke grain. This brew is smoked with beechwood (as is Schlenkerla) and "cherrywood". Given the multiple types of cherries, is there a published difference between using wood from a variety of sweet and sour cherries? And what about chokecherries?

 

Sierra Nevada 40th Hoppy Anniversary Ale. Picked up a 6er yesterday and drank 2 bottles while losing bets on the NFL playoffs. I'm sure that BAs that write better reviews than me will write up this brew on this thread later today. Sierra Nevada is held to the highest of standards and almost all ways meets them. This beer meets those standards with ease. It's different from SNPA. I found it to be a bit more hoppy with slightly more body. It's just as balanced and drinkable. Another great beer from a great brewery. Good as it is it does not bring you luck.

 

Happy New Beer(s) from @jkblr Sunday (Week 777), MKIII, Part 1!

Waddya talkin' about? Lucky? All I see are 7s!

Today, I CANsider myself the luckiest beer drinker, reviewer & rater on this site. Sure, I had a bout of prostate CANcer, but that's inna rear view for now. I am lucky enough to have two stellar traders, one local & in-person, @tone77 the other an aht-ah-tahner for whom today's bout of imbibing is dedicated.

Personally, games of ChANce leave me cold, unless it is Craps. Then, I get excited! I'm not rolling the bones today, though. Nope, I got some proven winners on-deck & ready to go, beginning with:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/22072/161851/?ba=woodychandler#review


Now, it was time for some music. I have recently renewed my interest in Continuum's "33 1/3" series of album-oriented books (AOB) since my birthday approaches & the only book that I owned (until recently) was "Double Nickels On the Dime" by Michael T. Fournier.

I am currently reading "Kick Out the Jams" by Don McLeese & listening to the MC5's album is the perfect acCANpaniment to this beer. It is now my ambition to own the entire series, all 100+ books, each detailing a seminal album by an artist. Some are more CANpelling than others, but such is always the way.



I was VERY fortunate to take "The History of Rock & Roll" at Oxnard (CA) College in 1995 or 1996, which was one of only two colleges nationwide offering such a course at the time. I aced the course, but I was challenged from Day 1 by the professor NOT to think that I was going to coast. Heck, no! My term paper was on the Widow Cobain & her album, "Live Through This", which got incorporated into his curriculum, as did my guest lecture on West Coast Punk.

 

Good morning everyone! I love reading this thread every week! I think I will try to review some beers today with you. I'm going to wait until after noon to start drinking though. Cheers!

 

Poured into a 16 oz Nordic pint glass bottled on 12/17/19. Pours a very bright clear orange with a finger plus sticky white head that leaves tons of sticky lace behind. 4

Smell is pine, tangerine, apricot, and grapefruit rind. 3.75

Taste follows maybe a little earthy, pine, tangerine, and apricot and grapefruit in the clean slightly bitter finish. 3.75

Mouthfeel is about medium, slightly dry and a tad sticky, plenty of life, and at 6.8% goes down easy enough, but loaded with flavor. 4

Overall this is solid, but I remember the 30th beers and they all stood out Grand Cru, black Barleywine, imperial stout, and helles lager, those were special this is just missing a great effort and a wow factor. 3.75

 

Happy Sunday, NBS crew! I was attacked by Newbies on Friday (way less bad than it sounds), and the attack included this highly-regarded beer from @Satch44 . Time to see what the fuss is about!

Coffee + Vanilla Pressed - Phase Three
Imperial Porter - 12% abv
Score: 4.42 (-0.7% rDev)



Review:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/55985/446450/?ba=CanConPhilly#review

Synopsis:
This brew is in the conversation for most vanilla taste ever in a beer. It’s shockingly vanilla-forward. I can’t get over how present the luxurious vanilla bean smell and taste is. Reminds me a little of the VR that @Vidblain shared this past summer in Vermont, albeit without the barrel. Coffee and milk chocolate make an appearance too, but they are most definitely supporting players. Sometimes one-dimensional is good, and this beer is a prime example. I still can’t stop smelling it. Thanks again Ryan! #revengeisfun

 

Czech it Out!

One of my favorite Czech beer styles is Tmavý Ležák (Czech Dark Lager).

I homebrewed my first batch of a Tmavý Ležák in 2013 and I have made many batches since; I presently have a batch in the lagering stage.

During my recent visit to the Czech Republic (Sept. – Oct. 2019) I had the opportunity to drink many Czech brewed Czech Dark Lagers. Within a series of trip reports I generated I listed my favorites:

• Bernard Tmavý Ležák
• U Fleků Tmavý Ležák
• Cerna Svine 13° Tmavý Speciál
• Matuška Tmavé special

A very good friend gifted me with cans of a Czech Dark Lager which was brewed by a small, local brewery: Imprint Beer Company. This beer from Imprint is interesting in two ways. First, this is the first lager beer they ever brewed and secondly they chose to brew an underrepresented lager style of a Czech Dark Lager. Imprint branded this beer as Tmavé (another way the Czechs spell “dark” in their language). Below is how this beer is described on Untapped:

“German malts, Bohemian hops and yeast, lightly bready, subtly roasted, super smooth”.

The above is basically the same ingredients I use to brew my Tmavý Ležák (since 2013). I use a combination of Weyermann (German) malts (Pilsner, Vienna, Munich, Caramunich, and dehusked Carafa malts), Bohemian (Czech) hops (Saaz) and a Bohemian Lager yeast strain (the České Budějovice lager yeast strain).

I will be sharing this beer from Imprint with my wife and it will be interesting to hear her take on this beer. While we were drinking U Fleků Tmavý Ležák in the U Fleků beer garden we had this conversation:

After a number of sips the conversation went:

Me: So, is this beer as good as my homebrewed Tmavý Ležák?

Wife: Oh no, but the ambiance is much nicer.

Yeah, she is right about the ambiance – the beer garden was indeed idyllic with the plus of good Polka type music played by an accordion player.



Well enough jibber jabber – time to drink some beer.

Served in two small-ish tulip glasses:

Appearance:

A dark chestnut brown color with a khaki colored head.

Aroma:

A notable but subtle aroma of roasty (coffee-like) and a hint of cocoa.

Taste:

The flavor follows the nose with a combination of subtle chocolate and coffee-like. A low/moderate bitterness.

Mouthfeel:

Medium bodied with an off-dry finish.

Overall:

I think this beer is pretty good. This beer would have benefitted from a bit less body and a more dry finish (i.e., be a bit more lager-like), which would have provided a quality of süffig (drinkability).

A respectable effort for a first brew of lager by Imprint.

Cheers!

P.S. My wife enjoyed this beer and afterwards asked: “When is your Czech Dark Lager going to be ready to drink?” It will be quite a while since my beer has to complete lagering and then bottle condition – a couple of months.

@rotsaruch @RobH @KOP_Beer_OUtlet @Ranbot @FBarber @officerbill @Jacobier10

 

Thanks @cjgiant for the great start to this weeks NBS. Will be back later with a new beer.

Cheers!

 

A-Pours a nice brown color with very generous head and lacing
A-Aroma has brown sugar and pecan hints
T-The taste follows the nose with a nicely balanced brown sugar and pecan flavor
M-A light bodied decently carbonated very smooth beer
O-A well done Imperial Brown Ale

 

Happy New Beer(s) from @jkblr Sunday (Week 777), MKIII, Part 2!

Today is going to be slow going, kids. I was warned off of doing this at the end of last week & I have to CANcur that such would have been risky business, at best. Still, I got an early start with time for naps, snax & other means of survival. Even so, these will be one at a time, CANtinuing with:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/22072/99883/?ba=woodychandler#review

+ as long as the Revolution CANtinues, let's hear from MC5's progeny:

 

I thought it very clever!

 

My wife and I have just returned from a Caribbean cruise. We were invited along by my sister. My brother-in-law is paralyzed on his left side, wheelchair bound. She figured we could help with his needs, and at the same time have a nice outing (we enjoy each others' company). My wife and I have never been on a cruise, so we said we'd do it.
Overall, we had a fairly good time. We discovered two things about ourselves: first, I don't like being on a ship with 5000 other people, and second, my wife is prone to seasickness that doesn't resolve with scopolamine.
We are both happy to be home.
Before getting to my new beer, I want to thank @woodychandler for filling in for me in such a deft manner. He was enchanting.
OK, on to the beer. I'm drinking Vanilla Noir from Prairie. It is an "imperial stout aged in oak whiskey barrels with vanilla beans," bottled 11.15.2019.
The beer is black with a small tan head. Tiny bit of lace.
Vanilla aroma jumps out, followed by booze and roasted malt.
Whiskey takes precedence in the taste, followed by vanilla, espresso, and dark chocolate.
A nice sipping beer.

 

A-Pours a nice amber color with a slight head and lacing
A-Aroma has Bourbon hints
T-The taste follows the nose with a Bourbon flavor
M-A light bodied well carbonated beer
O-A good Belgian Strong Ale

ps-The classic flavor of Duvel is just not there, Ivan see why some people are up in Devil’s arms about it!

 

Dubbel Merlau from Ommegang, 8.7% abv Belgian dubbel-style ale...

Fermented with merlot grape juice and aged in red wine barrels...

Delightful treatment of a dubbel - ample fruits with sweet jam and brown bread notes, all with a merlot wine coating of lightly tangy currant and dark grape must... Medium-light and smooth, moderately sweet, subdued bitterness, mild carbonation... Very enjoyable, very drinkable - refined but unpretentious...

Here's to new beer in your glass, cheers...

 

Good afternoon NBS and thanks to @cjgiant for the great start, upon reading the opening sentences, I burst out laughing. That lead to grabbing that 3 minute section of Dirty Harry.
My wife had not seen it before, what a hoot.Thanks again. 64 degrees and green grass here in WMass, -3 last week, with 14" of snow. I just dont know any more.
Todays offering is from the Alchemist and its my first go of thier Skadoosh series. The hops display is really something, very different with this blend being largely from South Africa. Quite a treat.
Cheers all
Skadooshh XXXVI: Experimental XJA/2436, Tropic, Sublime

The Alchemist
American IPA | 7% ABV

4.16/5 rDev -2.6% | Average: 4.27
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Poured into the test glass from a 16 oz can purchased at the brewery 2 days prior.
A - Goldenrod colored backdrop, hazy and transluscent. Backlit this glows beautifully. Carbonation feeds a loose knit white froth. Lacing is stratacumulus.
S - Earthy, hint of chive or green onion, very slight, then the tropics roll in, papaya, dragon fruit, kiwi. Add a floral green tea and thats the start.
T - Sweet malts, cracker, green tea, again the tropics and earthy threads are all in there.
M - A bit slick, medium in body, dry finish, linger has a white pepper quality which I really like. The balance between sweet, fruity and bitter is remarkable.
O - My first of this series, glad to have this version, really complex and challenging hop profile. A pleasure on the palate, with a delightful body, and aromatics that are like a trip to a tropical plant greenhouse.