New Beer Sunday (Week 791)

Good afternoon NBS and thanks @JackHorzempa for the start today. I hope everyone is well and enhoying the day. Its a nice early spring here in WMass, blues skies and light wind. After our snow day yesterday this is welcome.
Todays offering is from Estonia, a big lusciuos stout that fires on all cylinders. The choice of Cherries, Chocolate and Vanilla pods screams dessert, this however is balanced well with just enough roast and hint of bitterness to offset being too sweet.

Cherry Bänger

Põhjala Brewery
American Imperial Stout | 12.5% ABV

4.06/5 rDev -3.1% | Average: 4.19
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Poured from a 11.2 oz bottle, with best by date of 27/11/21, into the test glass.
A - Steady pour produced 3/4" mocha cap. the color is black. With time the cap devolves into a thin ring.
S - Burnt sugar, dark chocolate, dark cherry, all ride on a beam of roast malt. There is a bit of char, and a big vanilla presence.
T - Flavors are a wonderful mix of the adjuncts, very little tension between the chocolate, vanilla and the cherries. The roast in the base beer is the maestro here.
M - Slick an the palate, the sweet start only nods toward bitter, never really going there. Big overall texture and body. The 12.5% is displayed in the final phase of the experience, linger has that boozy exhale.
O - A very big and bold stout, with excellent structure. The flavors add up well, the balance is superb

 

Brauerei Neder Schwarze Anna


Pours dark brown with a small, bubbly beige head.


Smells of sweet wheat, toasted grains and a profound layer of toffee.


Drinks easy and refreshing with a lively, well nuanced carbonation becoming the most apparent in the finish.


Tastes of smoky toffee, bakers chocolate and caramel wheat cookie. Offers a note of rock sugar then among a stony carbonation and lighter grains. Finishes soft, aqueous with just a noteable malt sweetness maintaining.


This is quite one dimensional and predictable. That being said its malty foundation is well done, but missing depth and versatility.

 

Fonta Flora Appalachian Barrel Aged Society 2020 Stout Blend #1

Happy Sunday, BAs — and Happy Easter to all celebrating today. A shout out, too, to all the previous custodians of this thread.

My new beer today is a special treat, which came my way courtesy of @Mbgreg in NBS BIF 11. It’s a special Fonta Flora club beer that was aged in two separate bourbon barrels for a total of 16 months, and then aged again on Ceylon cinnamon sticks and Madagascar vanilla.

Stout Blend #1 pours a rich dark brown with three fingers of dark mocha head that’s somewhat fizzy, but does last for a minute or two. It leaves no lacing, but does maintain a nice crown.

Rich chocolate, sweet bourbon, vanilla and light cinnamon stand out in the nose.

Strong bourbon, strong cinnamon and luxurious chocolate compete in the taste. There’s definitely a vanilla undercurrent, and a little plum, cherry and dark cocoa as well. Strong alcohol burn.

It has a smooth, lightly creamy feel — on the light side of full bodied. Moderate carbonation.

The chocolate character in this is top notch, and the vanilla and cinnamon are very present without being too heavy handed. Very hot at this young age, but that’s how I like it. This is definitely a treat. Thanks, Mark.

 

Me too.

 

I 100% agree. There was a familiarity and comfort to the alternating pair of hosts format that seems to have dissipated somewhat. We all need the banter, humor, info, and the entertainment that the familiar helps provide. Cheers all.

 

Prairie Artisan Stuf't BBA Imperial Stout, 14% ABV. Pours black with a ring of brown bubbles that left no lacing. Nose is Oreo chocolate and vanilla, slight bourbon. Taste is Oreo, mostly chocolate, slight bourbon, moderately sweet, slightly bitter, some bourbon burn. Excellent mouthfeel though under-carbonated like many Prairie stouts, overall outstanding. This beer originally came out in the Prairie Dawgs club to rave reviews, but they reportedly dumbed it down for this general release, with complaints of fake vanilla (vanillin) taste - which should be expected given that it's made with Oreos which use vanillin. I bet the original Stuf't had vanillin, and something else changed, like less Oreos. I still like it, but would have liked to have tried the original.

4.27/5 rDev -3.6%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25

This had been somewhat of a whale to me ever since I heard it came out limited to Prairie Dawgs. Unless they added real vanilla to the original (plus the vanillin in the Oreos) and left it out of this, then I bet another change is at play here. Real nice spring day here, sunny and in the 50's.

 

De Ranke Noir De Dottignies


Pours a murky brown color with a bigger, stable and fluffy head.


Smells of raisins, dried hops and glazed caramel among toasty walnuts and lighter cinnamon.


Drinks incredibly silk, smooth with a well working effervescence, which seemingly is coming out of nowhere during the beer‘s finish.


This tastes of bakers chocolate, which immediately gets enhanced by a sweet note of caramel, a good amount of roasted malts and toasty nuts, as well as slightly bitter grassy hops. Offers a big layer of melted milk chocolate, entangled into slighly fruitier turning hops, which find their balance in the profound roastiness in this. Despite its rustic character the beer appears utmost creamy, exhibiting a huge amount of whipped cream, highlighting the complex chocolate as well as the hops in this, creating a long lasting, versatile aftertaste.


A real treat, which is incredibly intense on the tongue, balanced by a world class mouthfeel. Every flavor in this is on point and able to connect to each other, creating an astonishing depth.

 

Thanks for kicking things off @JackHorzempa !

First of two new beers today, both by Spiteful Brewing in Chicago. It is nice and warm (60s), a pleasant change from the snowfall and cold over the past two days.

Beer One: Alley Time Pale Ale! This beer has been brewed for years, though isn't always available. Not sure why it has escaped my provisions previously, but it will be on my radar and refrigerator in the future, based on my pleasurable experience earlier today.



$10 plus tax and tip six pack picked up Thursday, canned 4/8/20 12:49:30 poured into a pint glass.

Appearance: Clear light straw color pour, mild carbonation, light creamy white head leaves soapy lacing. 3.75

Aroma: Pleasant persistent grassy, citrus and pine aroma. 4.0

Taste: Mirrors aroma, pine leads, lemongrass, citrus and tangerine back. Perfect balance. Dry and mild bitterness throughout the pour. Excellent 4.5

Mouthfeel: Light body, persistent fizzy carbonation throughout the pour, dryness lingers post pour. 4.0

Overall: Excellent flavorful pale ale! 4.25

If you get a chance to visit Chicago, Spiteful Brewing and Half Acre are next door neighbors, and my favorite doubleheader brewery visit during normal times, Spiteful always first.

Several great reviews so far are giving me ideas for future purchases. Look forward to the rest of the day including my second scheduled new Spiteful Brewing pour. Stay tuned.

Cheers!!!

 

Good afternoon, NBS! Specifically to @VABA - glad to see your Ocelot delivery came through nicely. The only one I have had before was Helles Awaits (on tap from way back when you could get a pour at the brewery), and recalled not liking it a lot. In reviewing my notes, I think it was a light sulphur-like note that put me off a equally small amount, even though the style guide on this site say that isn't out of bounds. However, I also felt it was hopped more like an IPA than a typical Helles.

For my first new beer of this Sunday, like our host I will be going with a Pilsner, but unlike him, mine will be a Bohemian (Czech Style) Pilsner, with the creative name of Bohemian Pilsner, by Ardent Craft Ales.


The beer, poured somewhat aggressively, produced a couple fingers of head in the tall, thin glass. The head didn't last too long, and ended with only a few spots on said glass. The resulting coverage is "fuzzy" - with patches of white bubbles and a medium collar. The liquid portion has perhaps a light mist of haze to its medium-leaning-darker gold body.

The nose has a hard-crust bread nose with some spicy hop notes. There's another light note that took me a while to come up with the description of "somewhat metallic." The taste has the malt up front, as expected, but also a little fruity note. I am failing at determining the exact fruit, as the flavor is a slightly acidic sweetness - a generic fruitiness.

The hops may be getting in the way of that determination, as they move from the sides of my tongue at the opening to the whole of the tongue before mid-taste. The hops are a little earthy at this point, but move toward grassy and spicy by the time the beer flows to the back of my tongue.

I think it was two years ago I came across Ardent's Pilsner and enjoyed it and made it a regular in the fridge for the summer. Later that year it won a GABF medal (bronze in the German Pilsener category). This beer's opening reminds me of that beer, in which I noted a strawberry fruit note. I think this beer is a little more dry and the hops a little more bitter and spicy. Maybe I'll be lucky and get a chance at a side-by-side one day.

 

During the pandemic shutdown, I am making an effort to support some of the small breweries close to me. I'm focusing on small brewers that either don't distribute, or don't distribute widely. In other words, kind of a win-win, since it is helping out small local brewers but also me, since I probably would not have otherwise bought their beers.

I reviewed a couple from Wild Mind Artisan Ales during the online saison tasting. Today, I'm sampling one from Boathouse Brothers, a small brewpub in the town of Prior Lake, a bit to the northwest of me.

As an aside, Prior Lake is a lake town around the name-sake lake. It used to be 20+ miles or so from the city. It is now pretty well absorbed into the Twin Cities metro, but it retains its lake town heritage, which this brewery leverages in its name and marketing.

They've been open for a "couple" of years (not sure exactly), but long enough to be over the "home brewer goes professional" bumps in the road (assuming they are ever going to). So, in the interest of helping them out, I bought several of their beers in 750ml crowlers at curb-side pickup (a bit of a commercial for them for any south Twin Cities metro BAs ... they also deliver within 15 miles of the brewery).

OK, enough localism, boring most of you ... on to the beer.

Boathouse Brothers Brewing Golden Ale


It is a clear reddish golden amber with a nice upward shower of bubbles under a 1/2 inch+ off-white creamy-appearing head, which recedes fairly quickly leaving sparse, disconnected lacing; in a few minutes, it is a thin cap of soapy bubbles. Other than the fading head the beer itself looks really good. (Although, in fairly short order - another 10 minutes or so - it has no head, no ring, no cap, no lacing at all.)

Very weak aroma, bread, slight floral and very slight spice. Sweet malts. Caramel. The aroma is so weak, some of this might be psychosomatic.

Taste is like a hay barn - dried grass and earthy, perhaps even musty (growing up on a cattle farm, I know the aroma that smells like this tastes). What happened to the caramel, bread, and floral from the aroma? Perhaps it WAS psychosomatic!

It starts smooth and mild, with the hay and earthy flavors, and transitions to a moderately bitter finish and aftertaste. The bitterness and earthiness lingers into the aftertaste. The finish starts semi-sweet, but then ends pretty dry on the tongue as all but the bitter earthy flavors fade, with a middling astringency lingering in the back of the mouth.

The mouth feel has modest body with little contribution from the carbonation (despite the visible bubbles).

I don't pick up any obvious brewing flaws in this beer, so overall, this beer is not hard to drink. The brewer calls it a "Belgian Strong Ale" but, at 5.8% ABV, it is not strong. (I entered it into the database as a Belgian Pale Ale, based on the ABV.) Rating to personal preference, I can enjoy it for what it is. Rating it to style? The style description (and beers in the database) indicate this is a widely variable style, but even so, it seems a bit off the mark. Or, maybe it is just a mediocre Belgian ale. I could enjoy this with company at the pub. It has an earthy mustiness and balancing bitterness that makes it good for mindless social drinking.

L: 4.0 | S: 3.0 | T: 3.25 | F: 3.25 | O: 3.25 | Rating: 3.24

 

Is the giant bottle cap an opener, a coaster or an actual bottle cap?

 

Dovetail Brewing Dunkel, 4.9 abv in my HF glass.

Beautiful pour, brilliant copper, strong initial head that settled to a 1/4 in. I never get much nose on these styles, I started this a bit too cold as well, it probably muted that part. This is a style I dabble with at Red Oak and I find this one not quite as sweet as their offering. Red Oak is a tad darker as well. If taken blind I’d guess this to be an Alt beer, which happens to be a favorite, just a simple easy drinking lager, nice malt backbone without being over done. Much easier drinking than Red Oak whos beers in my opinion drive a bit too sweet, outside their Pils of course. Nothing complicated here you could easily drink multiples. Thumbs up. @FBarber

 

Good afternoon NBSers from sunny CT. This is that time of year when sunny and 60 feels amazing. In two months I'll feel like 60 is freezing, but right now, after my first outdoor bike ride of the year, I'm ready to try out a new beer courtesy of @Mbgreg. This one is Dungeons & Flagons from Savannah River Brewing Co. I can confirm this is my first "Fantasy Role-Playing Beer".


3.73/5 rDev -4.4%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75

Pours a clear amber with a finger of fluffy white head with good head retention and thick, lasting lacing. Smell is somewhat nondescript. Doesn't smell bad, nor does the smell invite me in. It just kind of is. Taste follows the nose in that it also is somewhat nondescript. Feel is more full than I would have expected. Overall, this is a good, but not great DIPA.

 

Good afternoon NBS! Even though I’m sampling several new beers today, I wasn’t going to post over here, as I don’t always feel like my straight-up reviews ‘fit’ the feel of this thread the best - most of you are wordsmiths and I enjoy reading about your days, jobs, families, pets, etc! So, thanks for that!

However I just poured a beer that surprised me, and I feel like I need to share here...so here we go!



This is Chasing Ghosts from Epic, stamped with a Best Before date of 5/12, which is certainly right around the corner, so I wasn’t expecting a ton. But I was surprised -

Poured into my nonic, it fills the glass as that soft sunset hazy orange-juice color that doesn’t quite get me wet anymore, though it is still pleasant. The head and lacing stick around as well.

The nose though...the nose cuts through all my doubt and punches me in the sinuses. I mean, it isn’t earth-shatteringly stunning but it is BRIGHT and fruity as heck - some of the clearest citrus (specifically blood orange and red grapefruit) notes I’ve smelled, yet they are unique...not sweet like a tangerine, more spicy and almost earthy in their essence. This profile competes with a melon-y ‘liqueur’ note that’s just as strong, and combines to make one of the most unique DDH IPA noses I’ve ever experienced. Underneath that the malt and a hint of alcohol play together and tie it all back up.

Really the palate explodes in the same way, combining the citrus fruits and melon with tropical notes, ghost-like impressions of booze (this damn thing is 10%!!!), pale malt, and green fruit/earth.

The mouthfeel coats your mouth but isn’t boozy or dry. Also impressive in its own right, which is different for a double IPA.

I would encourage everyone to search this beer out if it is brewed again - with a BB date of next month, I’m not sure it isn’t a one-off, and I’d never seen it before my last trip to the grocery store. But this is a unique DDH trip that I would encourage all NEIPA lovers to embark on!!!!

Cheers!!!

 

I recently had a large bunch of German beers dropped in my lap (so to speak), so I hauled up from the basement an old small (~2 cu.ft.) refrigerator for them, since I didn't have room for them in my beer 'fridge.

Why am I bringing this up? Well, I know from previous posts that you like your beer cold. As the German beers dwindled, I kept the two separate beer 'fridges operating, one set at upper 30s and the other (larger) one set at mid-40s deg. F. I also have some beers I prefer colder than others.

Perhaps the same idea would work for you? Larger one set cold, but a smaller, 8-10 deg warmer 'fridge for selected beers?

 

Howdy for the first time in weeks, NBSers!

I thought I'd post today again after initially being turned off by the abrupt and a little ham-fisted roll out of the change in format and "rules". That coupled with the ensuing bizzaro reality in which we all now live has made me MIA for longer than I have ever been since I first started posting in this thread, which to avoid beating a dead horse is literally one of the highlights of my week. I understand the changes more or less, but the recent weeks' threads haven't quite had the pizzazz they once did in my opinion. Something is missing and despite finding ways to distinguish the thread from others supposedly being the impetus, I feel like the recent threads have looked more--not less--like the WBAYDN thread. Lots more pictures with just a couple thoughts, more crossposts from WBAYDN, less jovial beer talk and fewer people obviously having a beer ON Sunday, fewer "hanging out" all afternoon and talking with their friends. In short, less community and less participation. It actually has bummed me out a little. I don't expect it to change back and I don't want to sound whiny. So I apologize if I do. I just had to put it out there today since I haven't yet done so. I have always thought this was such a welcoming group that I really can't understand the idea of being any more inclusive than it already is/was, but what do I know, I'm not a mod...

Anyway, onto my beer. The beer scene has changed here just like everywhere these days, and so I've alternated between ordering once from a local store, buying some classics from the corner store near my house to help them out and drinking down my cellar. Today will be a cellar day. I am going to have a Maple RIS from 2018. Although I am not much of an age-er, I do like the alcohol to be smoothed out on bigger beers. But then, invariably, I have to roll the dice on whether or not letting it sit was a good idea. Let's find out if it was. It was made at the end of 2018, so it's closer than a year old then two, but that might not mean squat at the end of the day.

It pours thick pitch black with a billowing, creamy rusty-brown head. Good retention, rings of lacing. A real looker. Aroma is leather, figs, umami (from oxidation methinks). The flavor follows along with coffee grounds, some woodsy notes, the same umami flavor and a herbal-medicinal hop bite at the finish.

It is a pretty smooth beer excepting the final bite. Moderate+ carbonation, a touch of sweetness but mainly roasty. The maple doesn't really come through unless it is as the woody mineral-ey kind of character I get in the flavor. I think that well could be it.

All told this is a decent beer. If I'm being honest, I have never been nuts about nor have I sought out big (10% and up), viscous, roasty, molassesey stouts so it could be that. However I've had some amazing ones that I loved. All of my drinking experience with this type of beer has told me that (at least for my tastes) age is not the universal good idea that some make it out to be for beers like this. But it isn't as simple as that. It never is... This is an example where I think the age has indeed mellowed it, which I wanted. However, there is some oxidation, which I didn't want. However, the oxidation has definitely made it a more complex beer, which I like. However, there is not much maple and it could be a little sweeter and less harsh. So at the end of the day I am left with a pretty tasty beer that I will finish and enjoy, but also with a lesson (THAT I ALREADY KNEW, DAGNABBIT) about striking a balance between patience and forgetfulness.

And that's that. I hope you are all well and safe and in good health and that I "see" you around again soon!

Santé!

 

Great post/review! The thing with being a "wordsmith" is that it sneaks up on you. Just in your brief intro I learned that you like seeing the thread and that your beer inspired you to join. So the jokes on you! Seriously though, come back anytime and you'll be making Craig Posts™ before you know it.

 

Dude, I come in here now to get my fix of beer enjoyment vicariously, since I still cannot drink any. I love this thread because I get the feeling that's as close to enjoying a beer myself, that is, if it's a good description. Your description gave me really vivid thoughts of enjoying that beer, I was right there with you, man. Don't sell yourself short. I can only speak for myself, but your contribution to NBS is very welcome. Cheers!

 

I do have a smaller fridge set at 50 it’s where I store my Framboise and Stouts. My main fridge is colder how much I don’t know, But I popped it into the freezer for 10 minutes as it came from the 50 degree fridge. Even as it warms the nose is muted, but the malt backbone is strengthening. Your right I generally like my beers very cold, except stouts, stouts imo are hideous too cold. I’d think I might like this Dunkel at say 40 degrees as a guess, other beers ipas, AALs etc at 35/36 as a ball park.