New Beer Sunday (Week 785)

Well said, Corey. I remember the “no videos” rule, but their appearance in the last year or so didn’t bother me - pretty easy to skip past to see the beers and reviews.

And I’ve not had the sense that this thread is dying, thought it is certainly evolving, as is the beer nerd world in general (seltzer anyone?).

 

And, there are those of us, going 10 or more years back, who can remember when 30-40 posts was a busy NBS.

Perspective.

 

Every time I see a White Claw commercial I picture Wolverine eviscerating them.

 

I'm sure happy that I was able to get some out to you, and really glad you enjoyed it! That base beer is fantastic, and I think it shows that they could make a killer Vienna if they wanted to. Still, that kiss of smoke does work so well with it, too. Such an elegant little beer, imo.

 

Perfect beer for a chilly evening. Industrial Arts is traveshamockery good.

 

Anthem American Pale Ale from Bravo Brewing Co.
This is the 1st BA review for this excellent beer.

4.02/5 rDev 0%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

A medium-strong pour from a 16-oz. can yielded a finger of off-white soapy foam with long retention and rings of lace.
Hop hazy (almost clear) yellow straw color with a hint of gold.

Hops (herbal with a hint of citrus) greet the nose with toasted pale malt and bread dough. Mellon rind, baked pear and green apple make the scene. Faint pepper/alcohol.

The taste is neutral with medium bitterness. Items from the smell are more pronounced as the bitterness rises and becomes spicy. The malt is bready, rich and almost sweet. Typical American Pale Ale profile, well apart from AIPAs.
The finish drops off quickly with only peppery spice lingering on for a while.

Medium-light body, well carbonated throughout the drink. Smooth, session-able and brewery fresh, the alcohol is hidden behind the spice. This is a keeper.

 

Perennial Raspberry Funky Wit (3/2018)
Poured at 45°F.

5% ABV

Rating: 4.34/5

Pours a cloudy translucent garnet red hue, topped with two fingers of pinkish-white foamy head with fair retention, leaving no lacing at it settles to a collar. Tons of visible effervescence.

Nose: A jammy explosion of ripe raspberry greets the nose first. There is a very pronounced acidity with a nice balance of both lacto and acetic pedio sharpness. There's a very forward oak presence, which really adds depth to the aroma, and when you get a bit closer, there is this very unique spicy aroma. Not oak spice, but rather like baking spices, with hints of cinnamon, clove, and nutmeg. It's subtle, but it's definitely a very interesting nuance, and adds some darker, more savoury notes to the big, bright, fruity aroma. A good bit of funk, with some light citrus, grassy, and farmy notes as well.

Palate: The aroma is an excellent indication of what lies ahead. First off, the sourness is in no way overbearing, and does not try to strip the enamel off of your teeth. This is partly due to the fact that the raspberry is so incredibly pronounced, and actually lend a bit of jammy preserve sweetness. Raspberry jam, seeds and all, a hint of balsamic vinegar, fresh lemon, lime, virgin white oak, hay, gently toasted grain, some clean, fresh herbs, dried orange peel, and that spice component from the nose definitely translate to the palate. I can't put my finger on it though - perhaps allspice. The way it pairs with the other flavours also creates this secondary note of dried oregano - that sort of spice cabinet thing. When this note peaks, it emphasises a slightly fusel note, but it isn't distracting. Despite the presence of seriously jammy raspberry, the ale is still quite well attenuated, and flies off the palate in a very clean manner. The finish sees a steep reduction of tartness, revealing this beautiful delicate grainy base. The jammy berries disappear, leaving a dry, seedy raspberry essence behind. It ultimately finishes bone dry, and that subtle grain base gently lingers, in the remarkably clean, delicate finish.

Mouthfeel/Body: Quite light in body, and nothing about it sticks, grabs, or claws at the palate. The effervescence is lively, but very fine, lending an almost champagne-like feel to it. There's not nearly enough sweetness to lend any sugar weight, nor is there enough malt to lend heft. It's very dry, and cleans the palate as it does down, begging you to take the next sip. A little bit of buttery oak texture in the finish.

Overall: This is a little gem of a wild ale. A real treat. Unique by nature, being a wild witbier, it just keeps delivering with every sip. I love raspberries, but I've had a lot of disappointing raspberry sours, but this just delivers everything you could possibly want from seeing "raspberry" on the label. Absolute jam, yet stays incredibly dry, and the acidity is, dare I say...Perfect. It's certainly sour, but never blindingly so, and it plays off the fruit perfectly. There's plenty of oak, the grain is allowed to peak through, and there's some interesting complexity and nuance, with funk, spice, and all of the wonderful farm and barrel notes Definitely not a one note sour. A delightful offering, and one any raspberry sour fan needs to try at some point.

 

Last one, also courtesy of @TongoRad and directly attributable to this thread. The spirit of NBS is the sense of community, and the desire to share our thoughts on the beers we’re enjoying. This crushable red lager is another example of a beer that is so well executed, it makes your beer nerd heart weep.





4.1/5 rDev +7%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Beautiful amber color with a little haze under a light tan head, there’s dark bread and caramel notes on the nose, and a bit of ripe fruit.

The caramel and ripe fruit are forward on the taste , with the dark bread flavors on the back end. The mouthfeel is crisp and clean. I could drink this until it came out of my ears.

 

It's a damp day after a week of rather warm, sunny, spring-like weather in the wilds of Spokanistan. Been popping in and out on today's NBS but now it's time for a new beer. This is Fera (autocorrect keeps thinking it's a cheese), a Brett Saison from a brewery called Little Beast, which is located in Beaverton, Oregon according to the label, but Portland, Oregon according to the internet.
It was a bit of a gusher:

After about 5 minutes (and about 1/3 of the beer inside the bottle-good thing it was a 750mL), things became drinkable:

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/47671/291642/?ba=woemad#review
Not as bretty as I was expecting. Dry yet fruity saison with just a bit of vinegary funkiness in the aftertaste. Probably my last new beer of the day, but stranger things have happened. I might pop by Hidden Mother to say hello to my friend Rita, who happens to be pouring beers there today.

 

Brauerei C. Wittmann Wittmann Urhell German Helles
ABV: 5.1%

Since this is likely my final NBS post this week, the artwork will end the thematic episode:



Another beer from the 2019 Kalea/Costco Advent pack (a refresher... I know it is well past Advent, but I "inherited" this from a friend a couple of weeks ago.)

Anyhow, the look is clear yellow-gold under a tall, thick head that recedes slowly with an irregular, peaks and valleys, rocky surface and leaving nice-looking lacing down the glass.

Aroma is grassy and bread, with a touch of sweetness.

Mouth feel has good body for the style, with nice carbonation effect in the mouth.

Taste is bready / crackery with floral notes and the aforementioned grassiness. Hardly any bittering noted. A touch of sulfur and spice in the finish and aftertaste, but not overbearingly so.

Overall, a pleasant easy-drinking lager. Not spectacular, but enjoyable nonetheless.

L: 3.75 | S: 3.5 | T: 3.75 | F: 3.75 | O: 3.5 | Rating: 3.64

 

Poured into a 16 oz Snulip glass canned on 2/10/20. Pours like a carbonated glass of orange pineapple juice with a 2 finger sticky white head that leaves plenty of thin wisps of lace as it slowly settles. 4.5

Smell is pineapple, cantaloupe, tangerine, papaya, and apricot really pleasant. 4.75

Taste follows melon, papaya, pineapple, tangerine, and apricot low on bitterness and plenty juicy. 4.75

Mouthfeel is spectacular bigger than medium, soft gentle carbonation, slightly sticky but not dry, and at 6.8% drinks bigger on flavor but drinks really easy. 5

Overall this one is pretty darn impressive, would drink this gem any chance I get, we have a serious wow factor for me. 4.75

 

Owned by the Kevorkian family? No kidding? Well, that's a little out of the ordinary.

 

My new beer this week is McGill Avenue from High Branch Brewing in Concord, NC.
High Branch is on the wrong side of Charlotte from me, so it took me several years to visit. I was in Charlotte, having witnessed the worst game in the history of the NBA, and had the afternoon free so...

I made the acquaintance of McGill Avenue.
My rating: 3.83/5 rDev -10.1%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75, which I already think is a few tenths too low now that I have gotten home and reconsidered after drinking a full pint.
The appearance is nothing special,
hazy gold, one finger white head, full curtains lacing, stubborn cap, no particulates.
It has a really nice set of lemon, grapefruit, mango, bready scents.
My half pour at the brewery had sour pineapple, mango, tangerine, lime, pale malt, and light pine flavors. Having tried a can at home, the tropical aromas and flavors are much stronger, and I would upgrade my flavor score to 4.25.
Nice bitterness up front, consistent carbonation, tropical fruit in the back, medium body. No alcohol heat. My can says 7.0 ABV. The pint glass I bought at the brewery probably shows off the beer to better effect than the smaller glass.
I'm very happy I made the effort to drive up to Concord and bought a four pack.

 

That seems a slightly wordy beer name. I'm guessing there are no plans for packaging it any time soon!

 

My post wasn´t edited and I can see all those grammatical errors and typos right now...but thanks anyway. I´ll try to join this thread again in the future, for sure.

Yet I should mention that when I said "ales from Hobgoblin" I was of course meaning "from Wychwood", Hobgoblin not only being a 'classic' ale but now seemingly a 'brand' on its own? I´ve had the regular bitter (now 'ruby ale', after rebranding) multiple times in the past, and while I think I´ve also had the IPA at some point, at least once, I can´t actually confirm that and don´t want to dive into my visual archives (it doesn´t show in my written reviews). So the Hobgoblin IPA from Wychwood is coming next, after finishing one right now.

*Postimage is temporarily disabled so you´ll have to be a bit creative;




This is half a liter from the bottle to be best consumed by 31 October 2020. If I wasn´t a fan of their 'art' before, the rebranding looks even worst actually...I was drawing more convincing goblins at the tender age of 13, to be honest.

The beer shows a homogeneous dark amber (which is actually hardly possible) with a slight haze which clears up a little bit as the beer settles. Nice retention from an English point of view (a thin ring keeps alive for the most part) and great lacing.

Aromas of citrusy hops (lemon, grapefruit, orange peel) and a hint of grassy dank, even pine, on top of the soft, slightly toasted, biscuity malts.

Tasty hops with loads of lemon and just a moderate bitterness open the way for some slightly sweet (and incredibly smooth) malt department which keeps developing its flavor as the beer warms. The finish is nicely floral with some lemon peel remaining in the aftertaste without being too bitter. Actually very good!

I was expecting a sharper bite after those aromas but this one feels lovingly creamy, almost fluffy. It reminds me of an incredible IPA from the cask I´ve had recently, and even some Franconian pilsners for that.

Quite loving this slightly different take on American-English hybrids lately, where the citrusy flavors balance the malts without being too bitter for a creamier brew (not in the NEIPA ways, even if it might sound a bit like that). This is on the other hand respectful of the 'brand', with regular Hobgoblin being also pretty damn creamy if strictly English in character. It might be considered a bit flat from an American POV (just wondering) but I think it was really very nice, and again better than expected. Could drink 'a couple' of pints in a row easily, and will possibly repeat. Still double the price of some of my favorite German lagers, with Brexit just about to kick in all its glory, sadly.

I have a nice Belgian one almost oven-ready from last night, but the pictures are key and finding another service makes it a bit too much right now, on top of redacting these 'demanding' posts on a foreign language.

Have a nice evening.

 

That glass you're showcasing is another legacy of this thread. I have one just like it from (presumably) the same BA you got one from. I can count on 3 fingers the number of beer trades I've had that WEREN'T due to this thread and still have one left to pick my nose (sorry, but that was the least objectionable one-finger activity I could think of).

 

Upon reading the updates and the tightening, this was my first concern as well. Sounds like it needn't be a huge concern as discussion of the beers, even if it's not the beer that the discussee is drinking, still falls within the purview.
My extended thought from that initial thought is as follows: does this meant that the focus is more on the tangential discussions? The congratulating a new joinee on piping in to our lovely Sunday tradition? The congratulation on the sharing of a birthday or marriage or move or other milestone? The condolences over loss or things going awry? My concern stems from the fact that, true, these are not really beer focused conversations necessarily, but one of the neat things about NBS has been that I feel like it is more personal and community oriented than something like a hulking WBAYDN where it's a quick pop in. One of the valuable components of this community has been exactly the community aspect of it... getting to know our virtual neighbours and come to view one another as such (neighbours) as opposed to just random screennames who may or may not have enjoyed something they drank.
Longwinded, I know. It's a weakness. And already being done with my first NBS entry for the day doesn't help (though I have yet to have posted it), so apologies, just the thoughts that ran through my mind as I returned to our little digital corner after having been pretty caught up in life stuff for the last few weeks and seent the new (eh) re-emphasis.

 

My quick two cents on the NBS update: If I wanted to see just a listing of reviews - well then I would just go to the beer reviews page! NBS was more always a little more then that. And if people posts start getting removed because of not following some set a rules well count me out.

New Beer today is a collaboration between District 96 and Obercreek.

Brewers Notes:
We Took Obercreek’s More Flow And Our Political Juice And Just Mashed Them Together And This Monster Was Born. .
Notes Of Pineapple, Mango, Papaya , And Cream. (no lactose added)

My Notes:
This is a D96 beer through and through. It's a great example of the current rage in the style. it captures that fruit forward sorbet like quality with a creamy full body that goes down smooth without out much warming from the ABV. Great New England style DIPA.

Cheers!

 

I have to say that if there was a thread on BA that fit the "if it ain't broke don't fix it" mold I would have thought it was this one. Still not sure what to make of things but hopefully everything goes back to normal quickly enough.

It was an absolutely gorgeous day here today and the additional sunlight until 7:00 made it feel like Spring had already officially arrived. That had me feeling like something light and refreshing so my eye was drawn to a Gose from Lamplighter (Cambridge, MA) in the singles bin: Metric Systems Gose clocking in at 4.3% ABV. As far as I can tell this has no additions and is just a straight gose.



Look: ever so slightly hazy straw color with a thin head that disappears quickly
Smell: lots of lime with some lemon zest and light wheatiness
Taste: more lime, lemony coriander with light tartness and mild salinity. Very light wheaty malt.
Feel: very prickly in the mouth with a crisp finish
Overall: This is really pretty great. Clean, refreshing and exactly what I hope for if I reach for a Gose. If you like them super tart you might be a bit disappointed on that front but it should still otherwise hit the mark.

 

Evening time indulgence. Copper Kettle Snowed IN. Fantastic stuff. Minimal spotty lacing. Aromas and flavors of huge milk/dark chocolate, cocoa, medium roasted coffee, caramel, brown sugar, toffee, vanilla, fudge, bourbon, coconut, toasted oak, roasted nuts, brownie batter, and dark bread/crust; with lighter notes of raisin, fig, date, molasses, smoke, char, leather, tobacco, and yeast earthiness. Light-moderate herbal, grassy, roast, charred bitterness, and bourbon/oak tannin spiciness on the finish. Medium carbonation and medium-full body; with a very smooth, creamy, silky, velvety, and lightly slick/sticky/chalky mouthfeel. Lightly increasing roasted/tannin dryness through the glass. Mild increasing warmth of 12.3% through the glass. Incredible barrel presence/integration, with tons of coconut and fruity/nutty coffee complexity. This is certainly one to savor for a while. 4.25


Apparently music is ILLEGAL, ILLEGAL. I've been listening to VOLA tho.