New Beer Sunday (Week 793)

Does make you appreciate the better things normally in your glass, though. Make the ordinary "good" (by BA standards) , seem extraordinary .

 

I can never seem to end my night with a barrel aged stout even though they always seem to be the ideal beer before a slumber. I'm always craving something bright and vibrant after one though, so I thought I'd throw this out for another share. Truth be told, this is the second time that I've had this beer, but my first can came after a few others and I didn't pay enough attention to it to form any kind of nuanced impression. NBS keeps me thinking about and examining the beer in a way that can get lost in a night of weeknight quarantine imbibing.

Usually when I review a local hoppy beer it's because it's a newly brewed beer. This one was first brewed back in, I believe, the summer of 2018 as part of Dancing Gnome's monthly flower series. This was a once a month DIPA release that experimented with a new blend of hops that they hadn't attempted before. I didn't get to try Speedwell the first time around, but luckily they decided to brew it a second time and canned a fresh batch less than two weeks ago.

Speedwell is a DIPA brewed with a blend of Citra, Simcoe, Amarillo, and Nelson. Poured into a craftmaster glass, the result was a soft straw colored haze topped with a pillowy and creamy head that lingered. A close knit layer of suds made up a cascade of lacing. The aromas were a blend of orange, peach, and dank hops. The taste up front was bittersweet orange and stone fruit followed by dank hops and slight bitterness. Dancing Gnome's DIPA's are among my favorite I've had because it's a pure hop forward flavor that eschews abundant sweetness. It's also my favorite local favorite so I'm slightly biased, but they really bring the hops to life. The feel is incredibly soft and drinkable. Nothing about Speedwell suggest 8.5% abv. Overall, I'm delighted to get the chance to try a beer that was assumed to be a one-off and it lives up to what other locals have built it up to be. It's most everything I look for in a hazy DIPA. I hope more of the flowers make a return to the rotation.

4.43/5 rDev -0.9%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

 

Do you grow your own papalo? I don't think that I've ever seen it in a market before.

 

Evening LNBA - Another one just under the wire: ‘I’m Not Cryo-ing, You’re Cryo-ing’ from Westbrook Brewing:



A: This pours dark golden amber with a long-lasting frothy white head leaving behind sticky perma-lacing.
A: Piney grapefruit!
T: Flavors follow aroma - mostly grapefruit, candied lemon, pine resin, juniper berries, tight green citrus and piney hops, touch of caramel malt. Some orange and mango comes out as it warms and it gets slightly danker. And then more hops. Yikes, the IBUs are evident and plentiful.
M: Fine, soft carb. Medium body. Drying bittering finish, leaves some hoppy sear on the tongue
O: My recent diet has been heavy on soft juicy NEIPAs, so this one comes as a bit of a shock to the system - thinking they used the big scoop for the lupulin powder. Won’t be a daily driver but tasty for what it is, a good hops fix.

Cheers!

 

Cheers All! Happy new beer Sunday

Ralph - the Ale Apothecary


Bottled 10/25/2019

Slight hazy Amber with an off-white orange tinged one finger head into a brandy snifter. Nice foam lacing that runs out eventually

Upfront a serious pine, almost turpentine note, then some citrus yeast funk tones on the nose

Tastes great, wild and spicy, pine intermingles with sap, soil, fir.

Feels full and rounded, good carbonation with an astringent drying at the end, my teeth kinda stick to the inside of my lips with this one.

Overall a terrific and interesting sour ale, wouldn’t mind trying another after aging it a bit

 

Saucy Brew Works' IPA ASAP is a good American IPA. Fairly dank and juicy with the citrus and piney hops, and is my NBS beer for this week.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/50629/307543/?ba=neenerzig#review

Eric

 

Love having you back regularly. Your words and pics are always appreciated.

 

6!!! Awesome age. Happy birthday!!!

 

It's nice when something sits on the shelf for too long and yet still holds up.