New Beer Sunday (Week 786)

Bonne Nuit from Holy Mountain is billed as being a bourbon barrel aged belgian.



I'm not sure why I was expecting it to be darker than it is. Nowhere is that suggested on the bottle that I can find, and in fact is listed here on the site as a Belgian Strong Pale. Anyway, it presents a true rich amber body that is not clear, but feels fairly crisp, if that makes sense. Rich like caramel or really more like honey with a nice soapy off white head.

Nose is more woody than barrel-y. Like raw fir. I feel like I get that impression from HM sometimes. This fades pretty early on in the sniffing and gives way to the vanilla from the bourbon, with caramel and biscuity/crackery malts. Fruity hops give it some citrus juice that leads to little tendril-paths of orange marmalade and tropical gummis (but like the fruit juice hippie ones, not the ones in the bright packaging that you get at the normal store).

Very first impression is big sweet vanilla and it's too far into the sweet realm for me. Thankfully this does not carry the whole of the experience, as it is quickly deemphasized and the Belgian characters and hops come in. Everything is layered and blended in a really impressive fashion, with complexity and depth, even if every component is not to my personal preference. As I said, the barrel presents first but quickly falls back to let the estery belgian yeasts step forward and join hands with the fruity hops in a swirl of flavour that presents as shifting and multifaceted before returning to the barrel, but this time for the warming bourbon spice and heat. It's a great example of a beer that doesn't pretend it's not high octane, but presents it an incredibly approachable, manageable manner. Like a really smoothe buttery bourbon.

Bonne Nuit is incredibly smoothe. Like velvety soft smoothe. It's got some carbonation, and the aforementioned alcohol... it's not one that you're going to mistake for being single digit ABV, but it's incredibly easy to just take another sip. And another. And you just want to keep going back to it.
I don't love the pale belgian profile. There's something in the yeastiness that just doesn't really appeal to me. Whether it's a belgian pale ale, or a tripel or what have you, the pale side of the Belgian palate has just never really appealed to me. For that reason, my impression is a little more limited here, but there's no denying that this is an incredibly well crafted brew, and if you're more inclined toward the pale Belgians than I, I could imagine this rating significantly higher than I have it (which is still a pretty high rating).



Cheers y'all, hope all is well in your world and that you and your loved ones are safe and taking appropriate precautions (seriously, please don't go out an buy up [or worse yet... steal from the hospital] a bunch of masks. THEY AREN'T GOING TO HELP YOU IN THIS SITUATION. They will not filter out the virus. They ARE good if you are sick to stop your exudate from landing on everything around you if you're already sick and sneezing or coughing, but they're not going to PROTECT you, and they ARE necessary for the people working in the hospitals with all the other pathogens out there, or with immunocompromised patients. I know this is a rant and probably not the place for it, and that my perspective is biased because of the population I work with, but please. Preparedness can be great. Panic is not. Take care, stay safe, but stay sane. PSA over), and that we can all find some semblance or pocket of normalcy and respite amidst the madness around us. Be well!!

 

Evil genius irish cream
...cola brown
..medium carbonation with a just below average body.
..aroma is caramel, baileys Irish cream, mild weak black coffee
...vanilla, drier than the aroma hinted at. Mild black coffee
...this really tasted like an adult cream soda but I mean that in a positive way. Wouldn't have more than one in an evening but still it was a good novelty beer

 

Toppling Goliath DDH Pseudo Sue

Happy Sunday, BAs. Let me start with a shout-out to @lordofthewiens, @cjgiant and all the pervious curators of this excellent thread.

Let me follow that by saying, I had thought yesterday’s WBAYDN thread would have had a lot more participation than it did with the self-imposed quarantines. Are y’all out of beer already? Or are you not taking this “social distancing” thing seriously?

I went to the doctors a few days back with chest pains. I wanted them to rule out a heart attack, which they did. The doctor guessed that I have pleurisy — an infection of the lungs. Only found out yesterday while tooling around online that that is a COVID-19 symptom. I’m in one of the bigger outbreak counties and they couldn’t even offer me a coronavirus test. America’s healthcare system could use some improving! I hope everyone will help it from becoming overly strained by avoiding outings wherever possible.

(FWIW, I seem to be improving and am not particularly worried about my own health. I just don’t want to harm anyone else.)

Anyhoo... Today’s new beer pours a hazy light orange with a brownish hue and hard-to-spot churning effervescence. It has two fingers of airy, off-white head that aren’t long for this world and that leave only spotty, soap-bubble lacing.

It has a nice aroma of overripe citrus — not exceedingly powerful — with clementine, tangerine, mango and white pepper. The peppery note is strong and spicy.

Citrusy, watered down fruit juice hits first in the taste. There’s a little green onion cattiness beneath, but citrus and mango stand out more to me. That’s followed by some dull, watery, herbal bitterness in the finish. A little of the pepper does show mid-palate and it lingers into the aftertaste.

It’s full bodied for the style with strong, tight carbonation.

I’m a Citra fan, but I preferred the regular Pseudo Sue’s balance of modern and contemporary hop flavors better than this. I sort of have a feeling this one drops off quickly. Three weeks old and it’s good, but seems a little lackluster.

Stay well, BAs, and take care of one another.

 

My new brew is: easy drinking on a Sunday! Not 2 sweet or tart, it’s rather nice and my first from this brewery

 

With St. Patrick's Day coming up on Tuesday, this is the last Sunday before, so today I'll be making my way through the Guinness 200th Anniversary pack.

Also, with all of the St. Patrick's Day events cancelled in the Metro and surrounds, I decided to do a little "quick and dirty" Photoshopping of my usually boring "beer-on-gray-background" NBS photos to make something a bit more festive for the occasion.

Anyhow, first up is starting at the bottom of the ABV scale from the box:

Guinness Original
ABV: 4.2%
IBU: 45



330ml bottle from the 200th anniversary pack.

Even without the nitro widget, it has an impressive tall, tan head. Thick and rocky as it slowly recedes, leaving chunky lacking. Deep dark color, of course.

Aroma is mild: fruit and roasted malts.

Mouth feel is thin, again as expected. It is a classic dry Irish stout of session-able strength, so no one should expect any different.

Classic Guinness taste: roasted malts are the star, along with dark fruits, hints of smoke. The middle and finish are slightly bitter. The aftertaste is roasted malts with a little bitterness. Dry.

A very good classic beer that, outside of the anniversary pack, is not normally imported to the USA. I'm looking forward to the other three beers in this pack. Nice start to St. Patrick's Day (weekend).

L: 4.0 | S: 3.75 | T: 3.75 | F: 3.5 | O: 3.75 | Rating: 3.74

 

Aw man, I gotta get a camera and tripod . . .



Southern Prohibition Typical Tuesday American Pilsner

Light golden color with white cap and lacing.

A clean aroma of sweet malt and floral, spicy hops.

Taste of lightly caramel malt balanced by sharp, floral hops. I cannot identify these hops except to say they are bold and bright in a floral way. Simple flavors that work and finish dry. Interesting take on the Pilsner style being fuller and punchier than the usual European examples yet not brash. It comes across as simple, clean, uncluttered and unsubtle yet very enjoyable.

Medium full texture with a bit more carbonation than needed.

This brew is more Pilsner than AAL pretenders and should make a good food match.

 

Flying dog irish coffee
..light carbonation with an above average body
Solid black appearance
..aroma is cream,roasted malt,black coffee, caramel
..taste is a bit dry,black coffee, cream and caramel
..this gave what it advertised, had an irish coffee flavor that came off real,not artificial.
Worked better at the end of a meal, not sure I would have more than one at a time

 

For today's NBS, I'm ticking off another Tree House brew.



4.56/5 rDev -3.4%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

On the heels of a King Jjjulius yesterday, I figured I'd try this one out today. Pours beautifully and smells even better. You can clearly smell the various fruits, which scream "drink me". Juicy taste (which it better be considering the name) Smooth to drink and goes down very easily. I'm not a big IPA drinker, but this is one I would gladly revisit given the chance.

 

This is a nice beer to pair with quesadillas.

Scents of tropical fruit hit the nose. Smells like a fruit salad
Sweet sugary fruit flavors. A medley of sweet and bitter notes
Minimal carbonation. Overall a very even keeled IPA.

waka flocka height

 

Let's give it another newbie try:
"Second Dinner" Double India Pale Ale by Maine Beer Company. A fragrant brew with honey, flowers, and Spring air aromas, a good taste of hop without the bite, and very drinkable. Goes well with ethic food!

 

It's been a while since my participation here. It feels only proper to come back and share some notes on a LIF box I won in the NBS BIF thread. This brew courtesy of @FBarber .



Phase Three w/ Mikerphone Brewing - Symphonic Flight

Pours a foggy lime-orange with two fingers of fluffy, white foam. Head retention is good. Aroma is grapefruit, papaya, lemon-lime, wheat, oak, and earthy malts. Balance leans more towards sweet in this staccato hit of flavor. Flavor profile is orange, grapefruit, lemon-lime, wheat, papaya, mango and earthy hops. Hop presence is huge, overshadowing any malts. What malts are present are biscuity, bready and earthy. Mouth feel is fluffy with a crisp softness. Thickness is middle-of-the-road. Overall, large tropical fruit bite up front with a little hop residue towards the back forming a fairly straight-forward NE IPA experience, although it's labeled as an APA.

Score: 4 | 3.75 | 4 | 4 | 4 | BA Score: 3.94 | +4.2% (only one other review)

Now it's back to Call of Duty. Perhaps I'll return later for another review. Enjoy! Cheers!

 

Good afternoon, east coast NBS. Didn't head out for any new beer this week, but had this left over from a somewhat recent trip to Ocelot. The GF grabbed a 4 pack of this new offering from them whilst I grabbed an old favorite (Thought Control). I did have a sip of her Face to Face at the brewery, and enjoyed that sip, but let's see how it works from a 2-week old can:


I realized after the fact the details are right where the light is reflecting on the can, but this Ocelot beer uses, in addition to its normal Pilsen malt some oat malt and flaked wheat. That perhaps help explain it's Hefe/Berliner weissbier look. The hops are Citra, Mosaic, and Amarillo, so a few classic hops. Let's see how they combine.

First off, there seems to be a storm / waterspout of haze in the middle of this. I tried to shake it up a tad, but it took some time to diffuse, and even then it never became uniformly hazy from glass wall to glass wall:


The head was fluffy white at first, and a few tufts of it remain on the glass as I drink. The snowy collar seems to want to reach up the glass to avoid the dull white golden, hazy abyss.A thin film stays pretty resilient.

Nose has the classic Citra and Mosaic overripe to rotting citrus. There's some sweeter aspects from and some orange and tropical notes. Deep inhales bring out the Pilsen malt and wheat notes, but also an impression there may be some hop burn to this one.

A bit of a dirty water taste opens up. I'm used to part of this in many (especially pre-haze) Ocelot beers - a clean opening. They became my favorite brewery in the area because of the use of lighter malts that let the hops drive the beer's characteristics. The dirty part I think is from either the oat or the pure bitterness of the hops sneaky into the front of the taste. It thankfully isn't as notable as the beer warms.

The tropical mango and tangerine/orange citrus sweep in the clean things up, moderating that rawness and transforming it to hop bitterness. The beer almost gets to a tangy tartness at its apex, but descends to notes of citrus rind and finally some dry pine needles (and a little return of the river water from the opening).

A pretty nice bitter beer with a hop profile I enjoyed. The comparison of Maine Beer Co that I occasionally use for Ocelot sort of works here... in makeup. However the cleanliness is a differentiator in this case, and that dirty aspect is different from the crisper, more minerally notes of the brewery up the coast. This beer is dry and does let the hops do most of the lifting, which is nice. If they make it again, I'd grab a pint from the brewery, at least.

 

Victory Brewing Heavy Drop Sour New England IPA

3.9/5 rDev -2.7%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4


First Victory beer I have actually enjoyed in a while. It's a shame that this appears to be a one-off. Hopefully that changes, it would be a wonderful summer beer.

 

Open gate Guinness over the moon milk stout
..solid black
...close to medium carbonation with an above average body with a nice creamy feel.
..aroma is fig, dark fruit,roasted malt,cream,black coffee and fruit cake,if fruit cake was a good thing
..taste is fig,dark fruit,cream, bitter espresso, tobacco.
..overall it was only the high carbonation that took anything away from this beer. Complex deep aroma and taste, really enjoyable beer

 

Drekker Flarndip BBA Imperial Stout 10% ABV. Pours black with a 1+ finger light brown head that left no lacing. Nose is marshmallow, chocolate, and vanilla. Taste follows, plus roast malt, very light bourbon, moderately sweet, slightly bitter. Essentially a BBA s'mores beer, though no graham. Nose is much better than the taste. Excellent mouthfeel, overall a world-class pastry stout. Sure wish they'd can this in larger quantities.

4.5/5 rDev +13.6%
look: 4.5 | smell: 5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5

I've got enough beer to get through the coronapocalypse, but wish I had more of this!

 

I've had this beer knocking around my fridge for a few weeks now and today seems highly appropriate to crack it open. An ESB from Tree House called Old Man. Appropriate because yesterday I turned 62 and today I went all out on some yard work. So much so that despite my pretty decent exercise routines, I will probably feel repercussions tomorrow. Old Man. 3.92/5 rDev +0.8%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4

Poured from a 16oz refrigerated can dated 2/17/20 to a Nonic. Copper colored body lights up nicely when held to the light. Medium to low white head fades to scattered and eventually scant lacing. Sweet and earthy in smell like caramel and fully composted mulch.
Taste is sweet in front, dry at the end. Some caramel, raisin, charcoal and dare I say a hint of umami.
Carbonation is light, as per style. No sense of alcohol or any off-tastes.
Nice representation of the style.

 

Man- I hope she doesn't think things are going to get so bad you have to eat the dog food! Did she buy beer?

 

Alright, NBSing this TRVE Brewing Scorn (a west coast pale ale). 5.5%
Pours out an unfiltered golden straw. Not the best pale ale and it's pretty fresh (1 month old)
(NBS score only, not formally logged into BA database yet)

Look (4) - golden, pale, straw, murk is unfiltered not dense juice, but it did have great lacing around the glass, my guess from the excellent carbonation.
Smell (3.75) - pretty weak hop oil scent, a little cut grass, and some very faded tropical fruit whiffs here and there but you have to struggle and my sense of smell is stronger than my palate, so
T (3.5) - complete foam vapor, like a very Light Lizard King (LizardLite?) - more foamy hops, a little light tropical fruits, not much character here. Hmmm... I'll let it warm up a bit on my 3rd can and see if that makes a difference.
M - (4) Good carbonation, good fizzy mouthfeel, kind of saves the beer for me because otherwise, not sure I"d buy this again.
O - (3.75) - a good, or rather decent, pale ale but it doesn't taste like much. Has a pale ale cotton candy effect to it (all air, fluff, no taste really). But I wasn't looking for heavy beers either. Cheers

 

Continuing my Last Sunday before St. Patrick's Day journey through the Guinness 200th Anniversary pack, with a bit of "festive" photoshopping, beer #2 is the name-sake for the pack:

Guinness 200th Anniversary Export Stout
ABV: 6.0%
IBU: 10

(As an aside, the IBU numbers I am posting are from secondary sources, since Guinness does not publish them that I can find. The number above seems a little low, based on the actual taste.)



Solid aroma of dark fruits, molasses, a bit of sweet caramel. The roastedness of the malts is subdued.

Gorgeous Guinness look: deep black body below a tall, thick and creamy head that lasts, leaving behind ample strings of lacing and a rocky, bubbly surface.

Good flavor, and as with the aroma, the dark fruits and sweet molasses is first in line, but the roasted malts are not too far behind. The initial taste is smooth, giving way to mild bitterness in the middle, finish, and aftertaste. Despite starting out a bit sweet, it has dried out a bit by the finish, but even so, the finish is on the sweet side. The fruit, molasses, and moderate sweetness is a good change from the traditional Guinness dryness.

Mouth feel is smooth with a moderate-to-thin body.

Overall, a very good variation on the classic Guinness stouts.

L: 4.25 | S: 4.0 | T: 3.75 | F: 3.75 | O:3.75 | Rating: 3.84