New Beer Sunday (week 796)

Poured into a 13 oz Teku glass canned on 5/12/2020. Pours a hazy orange with a solid finger sticky white head that leaves thin spotty lace as it slowly settles. 4.5

Smell is coconut, pineapple, papaya, mandarin, hints of garlic, and apricot. 4.5

Taste follows coconut, pineapple, mandarin, papaya, a little garlic, and apricot. 4.5

Mouthfeel is medium, soft gentle carbonation, a tad sticky not dry, and at 6.7% ABV drinks easy but drinks closer to 7.5%. 4.5

Overall Sabro is one of those new odd hops that sometimes gives a beer a huge wave of coconut, but for me sometimes I get coconut and garlic depending on the other hops involved. I have no complaints with a wiff if either of those in my beer, especially with the other flavors. I am really digging this and what Saco River is putting out. Excellent stuff again from them. Cheers all. 4.5

 

Good day New BSers! Off to a sunny and mild start here in NW PA - looks like good lawn mowing weather. Since I got my garden planted (finally!) last week, all the clippings will go to mulch the plants. Still have to get some flowers to attract what's left of the bee population. Today's New Breakfast Beer is from Pipeworks which just (about a month ago) started filtering through the oak trees and hitting my local distributor's shelfs - better late than never!



$ 4.00 (Including tax)/16 oz can ($ 0.250/oz). Purchased 5/15/20 from Franklin Beer, Franklin, PA. In reefer at store. Reviewed 5/24/20.
Stamped on bottom rim of can “02/12/20”. Stored at home upside down at 42 degrees and served at 45 degrees in a hand washed and dried Jester King snifter.
Appearance – 3.
First pour – Pale straw (SRM 2), hazy.
Body – Straw (SRM 3), murky and opaque. When held to direct light, same.
Head – Large (Maximum 6.5 cm, aggressive center pour), white, high density with a few rocks, average retention, diminishing to an eight to twenty-two mm ragged crown and a complete cap of varying thickness with many rocks.
Lacing – Fair. Irregular bands of three-dimensional torn curtain lacing covering about one third of the glass.
Aroma – 3.25 – Weak citrus, no malt, no yeastiness.
Flavor – 3.25 – Very weak citrus, slightly bitter, no malt, no yeast. No alcohol (7.3% ABV, as marked on the label) taste or aroma. A weak gastric warming does occur but that seems to originate more from hops than alcohol. No diacetyl or dimethylsulfide.
Palate – 3 – Medium, watery, soft carbonation.
Final impression and summation: 3.25. Pleasant enough American IPA, a bit overpriced IMHO. Late belches produce more citrus flavor than the initial swallows. The label design is a cartoonish paisley-like design with cat faces, yarn balls, paws, bells, and necklaces - symmetric, colorful, and fairly detailed. There is little information on the label. One and done.
Rating 3.21, rDev -20.1%.

In general, I found it unremarkable - I was really looking forward to a burst of citrus flavor and aroma.

 

Good morning BAs! Today’s new beer came as a result of a recent trade with my Charleston SC beer drinking/trading pals. I gathered TBBW bottles for them back in March, and we were going to do a bottle share/IP trade during my scheduled trip in April, which like all of our collective trips this spring/summer, canceled...oh well, there will be more get togethers in the future...

Westbrook’s Mexican Cake - Rum (10/26/18), aged in 400L Plantation rum barrels:





Poured at 55 degrees, the fast, fizzy, reddish brown head disappears quickly, leaving no cap and the thinnest of thin rings; no lacing; medium plus legs on swirl. Strong! rum nose; hot phenolic rum and peppers exhale. Spicy chocolate, fudge brownies batter, rum entry; cinnamon as it warms; oak and vanilla in background; finish is spicy peppers, chocolate and rum. Silky smooth, hot peppers sauce tongue coating; full body, but not adjuncty; light carbonation; plenty of heat in the mouth from 10.5% abv and habanero peppers. Overall it tastes spicy for Cake, and the rum adds to the heat; my whole tongue is on a slow burn - and I like!; the base is fudgey and hot pepper spicy, and if you like rum, the barrel treatment kicks the whole up a notch from “just” regular Cake. Well done.

4.5 | 4.5 | 4.75 | 4.5 | 4.5
Score: 4.6 rDev: +2.6%

 

So, what exactly does “Mexican Lager” mean?

My guess if I asked a typical beer drinker today that question the most popular response would be Corona.

Well, I started drinking Mexican beers well before Corona became a ‘thing’ (back in the 1990’s by my reckoning) and Mexican for me ‘back in the day’ was Dos Equis (the amber version). It wasn’t until much later when I went on vacation to Cancun with my college buddy Rick that I saw that Dos Equis made a pale colored beer (Dos Equis Especial).

For the longest time I was under the impression that Mexican beer meant an amber colored beer and since I was not a beer aficionado back then I never even thought about: why are Mexican beers amber in color?

Well, needless to say I have ‘evolved’ since those days so I know there is a history of Amber beers and Mexico which started with brewers from Austria coming to Mexican and producing the beer style of Vienna Lager. Below is some information from Dave Carpenter’s book about Lager Beer:

“But it was an Austrian brewer named Santiago Graf who arguably had the greatest influence on Mexican beer. In 1875…Graf imported European malt and hops,…his highly regarded Vienna lager soon took the country by storm.”

So, I now know why amber colored beers were/are produced in Mexico. Needless to say a lot of time has passed since the later 1800’s and the amber colored beers from Mexico have changed a bit. The contemporary Mexican lagers are now brewed with adjuncts like corn or rice and have a notably different flavor profile (a ‘lighten-ing’ of the maltiness flavor of the beers). This ‘lighten-ing’ of the flavor profile would improve the drinkability of the resulting beers which has its place in a hot weather country like Mexico.

In past BA threads I have introduced my definition for a beer style of AAAL (Amber American Adjunct Lager) and I would suggest that beers like contemporary Dos Equis Ambar and Modelo Negra fit within this category.

Well enough of this jabbering, let’s get to today’s beer of Tombstone El Sonorense Mexican Lager.

On the back of the can it states:

“This full-favored amber lager strikes the perfect balance between complexity & drinkability. Rich & malty but also refreshing & smooth with a clean, dry finish, this beer combines the best of all of out favorite south-of-the-border beers!”

Well the words of “perfect balance” has me all revved up! Let’s fiesta!!



Served in my Spiegelau Lager glass:

Appearance:

Whoa! This beer poured much darker than I was anticipating (given my jibber-jabber above). This beer has an appearance I would associate with a Munich Dunkel or perhaps a Schwarzbier. There is a two finger khaki colored head.

Aroma:

The initial impression I get is a caramel-like malt aroma but with time there is also some toastiness as well.

Taste:

The flavor follows the nose with the caramel flavor at first buy on mid-palate I am picking up toasty as well which almost reminds me of pumpernickel toast. There is a low/medium bitterness.


Mouthfeel:

Medium bodied with a dry finish.

Overall:

This beer is very good! I enjoyed that there was complexity in the malt profile and the dry finish was ‘saying’ have another sip.

The old expression of “Don’t judge a book by its cover” comes to mind here. I was surprised upon pouring this beer and seeing its dark color but the aroma/flavor of this beer is a ‘winner’. It is no Dos Equis Ambar but that is A-OK with me. Tasty beer is tasty beer. Arriba!

Cheers!

P.S. I hope y’all have good beer at home for the long Memorial Day weekend.

@rotsaruch @KOP_Beer_OUtlet @RobH @honkey

 

Hope everyone has a good NBS. Thanks to @WunderLlama for today's start. Same situations as last week. I have been buying more games off Steam, and playing 10-20 hours per week. I haven't reviewed a new beer since last weekend, still can't really make a real new beer haul yet.

Collective Arts BBA Imperial Porter 2019. Fantastic stuff. Lasting rocky head retention/thick soapy lacing. Aromas and flavors of big milk/dark chocolate, cocoa, caramel, brown sugar, molasses, toffee, vanilla, bourbon, toasted oak, roasted nuts, and dark/brown bread/crust; with lighter notes of licorice, raisin, prune, fig, date, smoke, char, wood, herbal, grass, pepper, and yeast/roasted earthiness. Mild pine, herbal, grass, pepper, roast, charred bitterness; and bourbon/oak spiciness on the finish. Medium carbonation and medium-full body; very creamy/silky/bready malts, light slickness, sticky hops, chalky roast, tannic oak notes in the mouthfeel. Lightly increasing lingering hop/char/tannic dryness; no cloying/acrid/astringency. Very smooth/soft, mild increasing warmth of 11.5%, minimal lingering barrel booze. Fantastic balance of super rich malts, fruity English yeast, and Bourbon barrel presence/integration; with solid earthy hops. Light residual sweetness with lingering hop/char dryness. Fits properly into a Baltic or English styled Porter. 4.23


Cheers

 

First Reviews of new releases from Carton during Covid. Shipping everywhere. Support intense, local, fresh craft. Happy, but solemn Memorial day!

Planning Jersey (2019) | Barn Beer (world class)
4.55/5 rDev 0%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
1st Review. Barn Beer. 2nd edition (2018 was amazing). All local Monmouth County key ingredients.
Yeast, honey, hops, malt,
a) Standard cloud body lifts a spritely head, not much lace in my snifter.
s) I get honey, yeast, grass, pepper, hay, leather, salt air. Just want to keep inhaling.
t) Complex and wine like, better than wine. There's a communion host wafer along side the perfumery of the honey, hay, cork, and floral notes. Wood shop, pepper, wine tannins, brine. Complex.
f) The kind of puckering super-dry finish of a great Belgian like Duvel, but, oh so much better, when fresh and local.
o) Memorable, saving it to the side to taste alongside my next Saison - because I want to finish on the Jersey ab-origin(al).

Five People, Ten Burning Logs, and One Guitar
4.2/5 rDev 0%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25
1st Review. 5 People (keeping 6' apart), 10 burning logs, (gotta be on a beach or a riverside farmyard), and 1 Guitar (now I wish I had Augie's copy). But.... foul and fecund, these 5 must watch out for poison ivy when relieving.
a) Classic farm pale gold body, this one quite flat.
s) Scat, apple, cider, honey, more scat, smoke, wood char, fresh sawn wood, wet wood.
t) Follows the smell, still the scat, cider and honey, but more champagne like, like a white light belgian, but better because so fresh due to being local.
f) Spritely, champagne like, prickly. Intense and complex enough to be another meditation.

Tharsis | Saison
4.2/5 rDev +4.2%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
All the best beers for me are see-saw flavor profiles that tease apart and together sweet, fruit, breads, grains with bitter, pepper, yeast, wood, char. Carton is a master at this game and Tharsis (wish for more of it) is a master example.
Just picked up a case at the brewer during Covid and reminded myself I had not written a review of Tharsis.
A) Pours hazy orange body under a half inch head, and plenty of lacing.
S) Spice cabinet but subtle, herbal, yeast, pepper.
T) Follows smell and does that see-saw thing: starts with spice and herbs, becomes orchard, overripe hanging/falling fruit, yeast, and finishes peppery . Just a whiff of saffron and of heat.
F) mid- and rich mouthfeel, with bright, higher level of carbonation.
O) Drink Tharsis because we like contrasts and transitions and a flavor story arc.
Tharsis contains the solar-system's largest volcanoes on Mars Plateau: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tharsis

Wedge Issue (Galaxy/Nelson) | DIPA
4.18/5 rDev 0%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
1st Review. Carton is open for take out and delivery during Covid Shelter. Just bought a case from Zoe. No crowds. Support your local brewers! This is a new Wedge, that finds its edge.
Oaty, juicy, smooth Galaxy/Nelson IPA is the latest from Carton.
a) Hazed cloud of apricot nectar sports sparse head w ample lace shards.
s) Peach, mango, berries, grass, grape, pears, pepper, whole wet fruit.
t) Follows aroma, offers a juicy fruit cocktail of nectar like whole, juicy fruit flavors alongside the oat base with a bit of hemp and pepper.
f) Juicy like you remember the canned pears and fruit cocktail of childhood. Powerful.
o) For those who like round, juicy, fleshy IPAs - this is it.

 

Huppendorfer Weizenbier


Pours a clouded golden color with a noisy, bigger head.


Smells of ripe banana, lime zest and orange peel among kardamom and smoked white pepper.


This is as refreshing as it gets in a beer, with a fantastic balance to it and a lively, effervescent carbonation which goes all the way.


Tastes of dried grass, hay and white bread dough among sweet and ripe banana, rose petals and lighter strawberry bubblegum, gently balanced by soft and slightly spicy yeast. Allows sweet caramel and dry white pepper to cut through, calmed by an uprising effervescence, lending a lighter mineralic quality to the flavors. Finishes dry with a noteable hop appearance, adding perfectly to caramel and banana, creating a crisp and intense aftertaste.


Wow this is great. While this is, as expected, quite refreshing and rejuvenating the beer exhibits a fantastic hoppiness which blends into the other flavors marvelously well. This is still unmistakably a Weizen, but without its usual sweetness and overly pronounced spices.

 

Playtime is a new IPA from Finback.
This pale yellow can pour hosts a 2 cm foam cap and holds a densely cloudy body.
The aroma is prickly with pineapple and grapefruit notes.
The flavor matches the nose. There is juice and a dry, chalky aspect.
This is a light-bodied brew with plenty of flavor.
The four -pack includes two cans with crossword clues and the others have the puzzle grid! Fun, but a size 5 font is though for old guys.

 

Poured into a Nordic pint glass canned on 5/20/2020. Pours a slightly cloudy orange with a half finger sticky white head that leaves loads of thin streaks of lace, with solid retention. 4.25.

Smell is pine, grassy, herbal, earthy, soapy, and a hint of grapefruit. Solid for a session IPA. 3.75

Taste follows pine, fresh cut grass,herbal, slightly soapy, and some hints of grapefruit. 3.75

Mouthfeel is almost medium, plenty of life, a tad dry, and at 4.8% goes down very easy. 3.75

Overall this is solid for a session, but of all from this series this is my least favorite. Still solid. 3.75

 

Thank you @WunderLlama for getting this party started.
We're just back from a two mile walk with the dogs. My wife didn't think that was long enough for her, so she's on the treadmill. I thought two miles was plenty, so I'm drinking a beer.
Today's new beer continues my love affair with Prairie. I am drinking Weekend, an "imperial stout with coconut, cacao nibs, and marshmallow." It was bottled 2/14/20 and the ABV is 13.3%.
Jet black, small tan head that persists nicely.
Sweet chocolate aroma, vanilla, coconut, a little marshmallow.
The marshmallow has a much bigger role in the taste. Sweet chocolate, vanilla, and coconut.
Syrupy sweet.
A fine sipping beer.

 

Good afternoon and thanks @WunderLlama for the start today and the inspirational sunrise photo! Todays offering is from Wunderkammer Bier this is the second release from Gathered.
I really appreciate the use of so many interesting ingredients, forming such a beautiful offering. The mixed culture and oak aging soften where needed, without taking away from the bright character.
Stay well all and,
remember those in our history who gave it all so we could have what we have
Cheers
Gathered # 2

Wunderkammer Bier
American Wild Ale

4.09/5 rDev -6.2% | Average: 4.36
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4

Poured from a 375 ml bottle, with Gathered on 8.8.19 on the label.
A - Beautiful goldenrod color, nice clarity. Solid carbonationfroms a tightknit white froth. Lacing is like a archipelago map on the glass wall
S - Apple skin, stone fruit, I do get the sumac , some cider vinegar, oak toach as well. There is an earthy elelment that is present but I cant pin down. Contributed by the goldenrod maybe?
T - Lemongrass, again with the gentlest touch of cider vinegar, stonefruit, some pear/apple. Lovely and bright.
M - Soft start on the palate, with enough acidity to have some of the tongues edges react. The carbonation is so refined that it adds a creamy quality. Finish is ashen dry, Linger is sweet tart. and quite good
O - A very good offering that is certainly a gathered delight. I really appreciate the texture of this. Flavors are something to explore

 

Cuvée Des Trolls
Dubuisson Belgian Pale Ale
I am trying to sample as many Belgian Pale ales/ trippels/ strong golden ales as possible to get an idea of the style delineations. Cuvée Des Trolls showed up in my neighborhood wine shop, so I picked some up. Not disappointed
3.96/5 rDev +10.3%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4
Looks amazing, hazy golden with full white head. Aroma is lemon meringue pie, apricot, limestone. Hoppy bite and citrus up front with fruit and malt flavors unfolding along the way.
Glad to make the trolls' acquaintance and looking forward to trying Scaldis and other Dubuisson products.

 

Lee Kriek from de Garde - sour cherries come across beautifully on the swallow, would have liked a bit more from the nose (both fruit and general wild ale funk). Review below, 4.25 overall - cheers!



Poured from a bottle (Aug2019) into a Belgian glass

L: deep ruby red, nice thick reddish brown head at first. Very effervescent, smallish head sticks around after a couple minutes

S: slight tart, more tart than funk. Rather light/delicate nose, some cherry but not fruit-forward

T: opens with a nice acidic tart note, then moves into this sour cherry flavor that’s assertive without being overwhelming. Really get the flavor of the montmorency and morello cherries, flesh as well as this earthier pit note. Medium finish, with this lingering sour sensation

F: light body, medium/high carbonation, acidic/drying

O: a nice wild ale that really captures the flavor of the fruit involved. Would have liked a bit more funk to it, but the cherries come across beautifully

 

Poured into a 16 oz Nordic pint glass canned 4/14/2020. Pours hazy orange yellow with a 2 finger sticky white head that leaves a ton of lace as it slowly settles. 4.5

Smell melon, pineapple, passionfruit, blueberry, and apricot. 4.25

Taste follows really well balanced nothing dominates honeydew, passionfruit, pineapple, a little orange, blueberry, and apricot. 4.25

Overall is bigger than medium, gentle carbonation, sticky not dry, and at 8% it goes down exactly like that, but really drinkable. 4.5

Overall another really nice NEDIPA from these guys. Really a brewery to watch for. 4.25

 

Trident, an 8%DIPA from a local brewery restaurant named Trap Rock. Trap Rock has been open for over 20 years and has had the same brewer for the last 18. They mostly brew traditional styles to style and do it very well. The place is a white table cloth restaurant and on the expensive side.
Trident is brewed with malts, wheat and oats the only hops used are a proprietary blend from Hopstiener called Trident. This beer was poured from a 32 OZ crowler. It's golden brown with a light tan head that lasts and laces. The aroma is strong of pine, citrus and other fruits. The taste is about the same except the malt and wheat are there also making this a nicely balanced brew. The oats come out if the mouthfeel which is full and soft. There is a long lasting dry finish. Overall a fine and enjoyable beer.

 

@zid and @cavedave A few weeks ago I posted in NBS about Holler's Houston Smoke Show, which is a smoked Helles lager. We then got into a discussion about Helles Schlienkerla Lagerbier. I finally tracked down a few bottles.

4.3% ABV, German Helles Lager (with with magical smoke essence)


Pours a perfectly clear golden yellow color. A dense two finger white head forms with excellent retention. Rings of lace left down the glass.

Nose is grains, crackers, and baked bread. There is a grassy hop character, rustic hay and just a hint of smoke in the background.

Wonderful baked bread, that is slightly sweet sourdough. Grassy hops, that becomes a little herbal. There is just enough bitterness here. Mixed with a smokiness lingering, which is very subtle. As this warms the smoke comes out a bit more, but never gets up to the levels of their other offerings.

A light body that has very fine carbonation. With that perfect carbonated bite. Almost delicate and ultra smooth. This is like silk, and goes down just as easily. Incredibly easy to drink and come back to.

I'm actually pretty surprised at how subtle the smoke is here, while I know its because they are not actually using smoked malt, just the branding alone is enough to play mind tricks. It just adds that extra depth to a wonderfully made lager. I very much enjoy this.

Overall score is 4.32, full review below:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/263/29145/?ba=champ103#review

 

Good afternoon, NBS. Been a mostly cloudy, windy week although the temps (and humidity) have crept up the past two days. Got in a walk before my first beer today, and given the weather, I wanted to go for something refreshing.

Barrier Brewing has been making its way to my local bottle shop more during this pandemic than I recall before it. I have seen @VABA with quite a few of their beers in the past, so it is possible I just missed them (or he was shopping different stores). Either way, I noticed this interesting offering on my last trip and decided to try it.

Apparently this is from a series called straightforward enough Our Sours by the brewer, and this is the third in the series. This iteration's name is called Oside - and is a sour with "botanicals, lime, cucumber, and mint."


I do really like lime, and I have in general been a fan of beers with cucumber in them, for some reason, so I have decent expectations for this.

The pour has a light golden stream that swirls with escaping gas to form a cloudy straw turbulence that grows as the glass fills. The white and hazy goldenrod body start to separate and I get a near 50/50 body and head distribution. The head falls at a normal pace, or a bit slower than expected for many sours. Lacing is in streams, and the cap is a fuzzy stole around the neck of a cirrus cloud island on the surface.

Even better is the nose - as the cucumber comes through pretty strong. Since cucumber isn't a strong sent to begin with, I am mildly impressed. Lime is next, pairing with a mildly cheesy funk to promote the sour side of things. The mint surrounds things, and as I sniff more, I think it helps boost the cucumber (skin) aromas. There are other floral to herbal notes - including maybe a hint of dill - that aren't too strong, though I would be interested in what the beer was like without them.

First sip has a cereal grain malt opening that has a bit of the cucumber flesh riding right alongside it. A very light carbonation gives a smooth feel with little dull pricks helping to roll things over the tongue. A bit thicker than expected, but still on the light side. Sourness dances on the edge of my palate - though it seems a bit less from the citrus addition than the typical beer souring agent. It's also a tad light, and it seems that the cucumber washes it aside with ease. The back towards lingering notes include a dose of the assumed "botanicals" - somewhat floral and ever so lightly bitter, along with a watered-down version of the sourness barely hanging on. I can also sense the mint in with the floral aspects if I search for it.

I liked sniffing the beer a little more than drinking it, but it was still fairly refreshing - one of the goals in its selection today. I wonder if I'd have liked it better sans botanicals and a bit more sour power (not a ton). I liked the level of cucumber, but the mint and lime get a tad lost to me, and I think I'd like a little more of them.

 

I have never had a Barrier beer before, so now I am so intrigued! I’ll have to stop by your favorite bottle shop soon! Cheers!

ps-funny, now that I think about I haven’t seen them post that beer on Social Media, although, I’d been busy today (drinking of course!), so I haven’t checked.

pps-Sadly, I don’t have a new beer, and that could have help me! Cheers!