New Beer Sunday (Week 787)

That is EXACTLY my strategy with a new brewery: no ratings = IPA/DIPA followed by a stout/porter.

 

Witch's Hat Nothing But Nibs Night Fury BBA Imperial Stout. Received this in my BIF bomb from @foundersasap, and, true to our BIF theme, this one definitely goes to 11. Pours a viscous, oily black with just a skim of foam that dissipates quickly. Smell is char, cocoa, and alcohol, a propos of it being 13.5%. Taste is rich, super-chocolatey, even decadent, with alcohol nearly overpowering; most of the flavors meld, but the boozy heat is just a little too much. Mouthfeel is outstanding, silky and thick. My assumption is that the heat would settle down with age, but I can't find a bottling date. At any rate, a great beer to start off the night; I have a feeling it's going to be a long one.

 

Hello NBS friends. What a couple of weeks it has been for ..... literally everyone on the planet. These are truly interesting times - the closest event like this in my extensive experience is 9/11, and COVID-19 dwarfs that because so much is unknown.

Locally, there’s not a lockdown per se, but the mayor requested on Thursday that all non-essential travel be eliminated, which has all the restaurants offering delivery/pickup only - and my local Bare Hands offering delivery of their beers to your doorstep if you’re local. Order in by 3 pm, delivery the same day.

I’m not sure this is a positive development for the ovaltine bank account.

But I digress - it’s good to see so much participation today. My only hope is that all of you and your families are safe and healthy.

On to tonight’s beers. First up, an iconic brewery that continues to amaze 40 years into their brewing journey.





4.25/5 rDev +7.3%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

A hazy orange color with a substantial light tan head that is sticky like Velcro, this is the kind of haze I appreciate. The nose is described on SN’s website ast mango, melon, and citrus, which is spot on, courtesy of the hop profile that includes Chinook, Azacca, Amarillo, Idaho 7, and Strata varietals.

The taste, surprisingly, has a boozy component that accompanies the mango and citrus flavors, and there’s also a crackery malt note. The mouthfeel is full, and not at all watery.

With a packaged date nearly 3 months ago, this beer is still drinking really fresh. It will be in my beer fridge going forward when I need a hop fix.

 

Paired this lucky liquid with baked ham steaks. Its a hoppy wheat stout, and while I do think it contrasted the salty flavors of the ham, I thought was in the "okay" category.

 

Happy Sunday NBS players. I see that this thread is now run/started by the moderators. Intro's leave something to be desired from past hosts. A rather cool/cold spring day here on the island. Lots of sunshine and blue skies. The NY governor is shutting everything down tonight, aside from non-essentials, tonight. My job is deemed essential so I will be out there as long as I remain healthy and virus free I suppose?

My new beer today is a local. It's Open Wide Experimental, dipa, from Spider Bite beer co. It is ddh with citra, galaxy, and south African experimental hop xja2/436- whatever the hell that means. The brew checks in at 9% abv an no canning date.

A rather off-yellow color on the pour. Slight tropical fruit on the nose but not overly floral. The drinking hits with a rather mellow hops up front. Rather smooth and clean on the flow and finish. Fruit notes are rather muted and I'\'m getting meager notes of melon, orange, and lime. Moderate mouth that drinks dry and slightly juicy.

Overall, I really enjoyed the initial offerings of Open Wide from this brewery but this is pretty average at best,

 

#2, nothing like a late March snow to make you pop the top on a winter warmer from an iconic brewery .....



..... this is truly hitting the spot. Bell’s is the shizzle in mah dizzle fo shizzle.





4.35/5 rDev +9.8%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

Pours a ruby-tinged mahogany color that is the slightest bit hazy. The nose is full of malty toffee notes, and there’s a significant stone fruit aroma as well, and some rye bread. Wow.

The rye bread flavor is up front, and leads to the toffee notes, with the stone fruit flavors at the back end of the taste. The taste is more than a little spicy, which fits for this brawny winter warmer.

Bell’s doesn’t hesitate to stretch boundaries, and this is another example of their prowess. Absolutely love this.

 

Great minds drink alike!

 

Mother's Imperial Grind Coffee Stout ( Ethiopian Archia )10.2% ABV 4.13 Overall

Pours an effervescent ebony with a thumb of caramel colored head. Great lacing & above average head retention

S: Plenty of coffee, fades a touch as this warms, a little vanilla & caramel push their way forward

T: Coffee, roasty & bitter, plus a little dryness & a hint of black pepper up front. Roasty coffee, a little sweetness on the edges, dryness & a little char as this warms. Finishes dry, roasty, slightly bitter

MF: Medium body, fairly firm carbonation

This is good, the ABV is well hidden, but I think wouldn't love this variety of coffee, so that's why I don't truly love this, but I like it plenty

 

This is one of many beers purchased for my New Jersey nephew's bachelor party weekend in Vermont, where I live, which has been canceled. The wedding at his Mom's llama farm will probably be altered as well. I've been on the wagon since the 2nd of January with a 9 day period of imbibing from the 26th of January through the 3rd of February. I had couple yearly traditional pours of fine Irish whiskey this St. Paddy's Day (Midleton and Jameson 18 year) and now will catch up on a few new-to-me beers between today and tomorrow.
Cheers!

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/46317/471260/



Released 3/2/20.
Purchased 3/3/20.
Reviewed 3/22/20.
Moderate pour yields a one inch pure white head over a hazy, light golden straw colored body with sticky lacing. Nose of fruit: tropical and citrus. Taste of the same with a very interesting transition to a semi-fruity dank bitterness with the slightest pine bitterness for a brief moment. Requisite Skadoosh feel (as always) with a moderately bitter finish. Overall, yet another fine IPA from the Skadoosh series. Cheers to John K. and the crew!!!!

 

Good evening NBS! A longtime lurker, this will my first feeble attempt at a coherent submission...

Suarez Family Brewery Hecto Pale Ale 4.5%, filled 2.12.20




This can was one of the many soldiers received in an over-the-top generous box from @Roy_Hobbs as part of the NBS BIF #11. Pretty stoked to try Suarez Family for the first time.

A: Nice looking beer - slightly hazy gold with a medium white head that leaves good lacing as it fades to a sea-foamy cap.

S: Orange citrus and mango aroma hits almost as soon as the pouring begins.

T: Citrus and tropical fruits – orange, mango, melon, lemon, some grapefruit. Solid floral and grassy hops lift.

M: Soft, mouthfilling carb and clean, light body. Tastes like there’s a wave of grapefruity citrus building toward the finish but then stops just short and doesn’t hit you with an IPA-like bitterness, instead slowly fading away crisp and clean.

O: Really diggin’ this. They packed a lot of character into it for 4.5 and it makes just a fantastic session option - well-balanced, light but flavorful. Could totally drink this all day. Really looking forward to trying more from Suarez (and thanks to @Roy_Hobbs I will be soon!).

Hope everybody’s quarantine / separation is going well, stay safe out there -

 

Good evening everybody- here's hoping that this Sunday finds you all and your loved ones as well as can be expected. I started working from home last Tuesday, and will be for the forseeable future. I know that many out there are not so fortunate, so let's all do what we can to insure this thing blows over sooner rather than later.

Today I did some spring cleaning around the house, or what more normal people might just call "cleaning". Still, it was nice to keep busy and get noticeable and necessary things accomplished. And now I feel like I can enjoy a few well-earned comforts...

First up is another one I got thanks to the generosity of @ovaltine :

Revolution Deth By Plums, plum-aged variant of their Deth's Tar Imperial Stout

The aroma seems to be a well balanced blend of barrel/dark chocolate/stone fruit. They all seem to be well-knit with one another, and give off the impression of smoothness, no rough edges to speak of. Some toffee also comes out with a bit of swirling. Really nice.

First sip and boy howdy, do those plums come out on the finish- a solid hit of sweet/tart fruitiness. A few more sips and it's all coming together beautifully; toffee plays a big role as well, and the dark chocolate balances out the flavor nicely as well as provides a necessary slap of bitterness. The bourbon and wood elements are very subtle, only coming in at the very end with those nice nice toasty vanillins and tannins. What I'm really nicely surprised with here is the plum quality; it's front and center, sure, but it's also unexpectedly fresh and gentle, like I just bit a luscious slab of plum flesh prior to sipping the beer.

But then that lingering woody/dark chocolate finish comes on and reminds you of what kind of beer you're drinking. So it's multi-faceted, yes, but these sides wind up playing so nicely with one another and never clash. This is an A (4.4) beer, and I'm so happy to have tried it. A reward indeed. Thanks again, Mike!

Be safe out there...

 

I agree that the intro with a personal story and theme for the day made reading this thread more enjoyable than just beer reviews.

 

Still picking through the Costco Advent box a friend gave me. It's my source of new-to-me beers this week. Perhaps someone will benefit from these notes next November. I have noticed that a lot of the beers seem to be brewed by a brewer, such as Privatbrauerei H. Egerer, but the beer brand itself seems to belong to another German brewer. Odd.

But not so for my next up.

Brauerei Ladenburger Ladenburger Weizenbock Hell
ABV: 8.0%

I noted back when we did our last online tasting that the weizenbock beers seem to vary a lot along the pale-dark spectrum.

Here is a picture I posted back then:



Well, today's is of the pale end of the spectrum, but not quite as pale as the Vitus, above.



Look is clear to slightly hazy burnt yellow / amber, with plenty of rising bubbles to a tall, white, thick head. The head has decent retention, but not much lacing. A good look in my weizen glass.

Medium-strong aroma of banana, spice/clove, bread, sweet pear.

Taste... Wow! Very impressive flavor! Initially there is the banana, clove, bread, and wheat, but it transitions quickly to an abundance of fruit / pear flavors; very nice, impressive indeed.

The finish and aftertaste has the lingering of all of the flavors remaining on the tongue. While this beer is listed at 8.0% ABV, the alcohol is not very obvious (except as it starts to take effect toward the end.)

Feel has a medium body with good presence of the carbonation.

Overall, this is a wonderful beer, and is surprising (to me) how good it is, clearly the class of the Costco Advent box for me so far. I'd buy this beer gladly if it was separately available here in the MN.

L: 3.75 | S: 4.0 | T: 4.5 | F: 3.75 | O: 4.25 | Rating: 4.21

 

I got this bottle a few months back from a local trade. This is from the 2018 bottling and has been resting in my cellar for a few months now. My first taste of anything from River North, and while tasty left me wanting more.

River North - Mr. Sandman - rum barrel aged



3.88/5 rDev -5.4%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4

Poured into a 10oz. snifter from the 2018 bottling.
Look - Dark stout with a thin tan head and very little lacing.
Smell - The aroma was very roasty with hints of smoke. The booze was strong, but almost more like a scotch because of the smokiness.
Taste - The roasty/smokey quality was the most prevalent with subtle chocolate. The rum was more apparent in taste. Lacking in complexity.
Feel - Nothing really special in the feel. It was relatively thin, but not unpleasant.
Overall - This was a fine stout, but missing some of the complexity of other barrel-aged offerings. I wanted a bit more depth of flavor. The smokey quality was the highlight for me.

 

Welcome! I think you undersold your attempt a bit, though

 

Welcome! Come back often.

Indeed.

 

Brewed and canned to benefit The Chill Foundation, founded in 1995 by Jake (RIP) and Donna Carpenter of Burton Snowboards.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/599/474370/



16 oz. can.
Canned 2020, Feb 28.

Moderate pour yields a fleeting one inch white head over a slightly hazy golden body with some lacing. Nose of flowers and herbs with slight bitter hops akin to hops found in a pilsner. Nice interesting flavors of flowers, herbs, and a bit woody spice (spicy wood?) with a mild, almost sweet, bitterness. Good feel and overall, a very interesting ale with definitely unique characteristics.
Cheers!