New Beer Sunday (week 803)

I wouldn't be apposed to starting the thread on Saturday and letting it run till the end of Sunday, just my opinion though.

 

Da Bricks Da Bricks a 6.7 ABV AIPA from Twin Elephant Brewing. This is what the brewery has to say about this beer.
"We’ve been saving this joint for a special occasion. Come clash with the titans. To the east, driver to the east. Smell the dough we cookin’...Irish ale malt for old country context, North Cackalacky triticale, and some Anglo-Scottish crystal oats shape the base. This is homegrown for all the hoppy mammals, DDH of Citra, Mosaic and Vic Secret lift together and bump that juicy noise. Bright and sweet with notes of peach, nectarine, clementine, and mandarin orange juice"

That just about covers it expect the color it's hazy gold with a thick white head. The taste is about the same as the aroma, just a bit fruiter. The mouthfeel is full and soft "Da Oats Da Oats". The finish is off dry and lingering calling one back for another mouthful. A very refreshing and enjoyable brew on a hot but dry and brutally sunny afternoon in NJ.

 

Hello NBS people! Its humid here, but the breeze is making the shade quite comfortable.
Today I have a Schwarzbier, a style I am not super familiar with because, well its not that readily available to me. This one comes from Duvig Brewing in an undated can. Liquid Schwartz seems to be a reference to Dark Helmet from Space Balls, as evidenced by the back of the can. This beer is not in the BA database.

Pours very black, however it is brown at the edges when held to the sun. Dirty brown, medium head that does not last.
Aroma is smokey caramel, kind of on the sweet side of smell.
The taste however is quite dry that borders on licking a charcoal briquette. I don't mean that in a negative way, just a way of describing some of the sensations.
Pretty light drinking at an undetectable 5% ABV and thin mouthfeel with decent carbonation.
Overall I am at about 3.8, trying to grade to style, but as I said, not that familiar with it. This would be great in the winter and honestly, its not to bad on a humid July day either.

 

Taking a break from lawn mowing and garage cleaning. Thanks for the start, @WunderLlama.

We are getting a nice break from the 90+ 70+ degrees / dew points today, so it is actually pleasant to be outside.

This week's new beer is a summer beer from Summit. IDK if they will make it year-round, but for now it is only available in their Block Party box.

Summit Brewing Triumphant Session IPA
ABV: 4.0%
IBU: 40



Summit is nothing if not courageous (or perhaps impertinent) to brew a 4.0% ABV beer and call it an IPA (even with the "session" modifier). In ABV, this beer is well below the other "session" IPAs/APAs produced by most other brewers. But, in the age of hard seltzers, this is a recognized market direction.

Before I start, I'm actually a bit on the fence on how to approach this beer. From the marketing blurb, it seems to me Summit is aiming this beer at those would-be beer drinkers who are choosing hard seltzer instead due to lower carbs, calories, etc. Summit puts this information prominently on the front of the can: 95 calories, 3.5g of carbs and 4% ABV.

Compare that with the flavored hard seltzers, and it seems obvious what their target is:

Truly: 100 calories, 1 g sugar, 2 g carbs, and 5% ABV
White Claw: 100 calories, 2 g sugar, 2 g carbs, 5% ABV

(White Claw has introduced an even lower ABV/calories line - White Claw 70 - at 3.7% ABV, 70 calories, and 0 carbs.)

So, should I be looking at this beer as competing in the low ABV/carbs/calories (i.e. seltzer) market? Or, how it compares with a proper IPA? I'm leaning toward the former, partly because without even starting, I pretty much know the answer to the latter. 3.5g of carbs, and you KNOW it will be light bodied. But mostly because I perceive that is where Summit is aiming this beer.

OK, the beer itself.

The beer is a crystal clear golden-amber color with moderate quantity of bubbles rising to a 1 inch airy-bubbled white head. The head retention is OK, momentarily leaving lacing that slides down into the remaining head quickly. Quite a nice looking beer.

Aroma of citrus (hints of orange) and bread.

Flavor is good and hoppy, citrus, fruity, nicely bitter initially, but the bitterness fades to a relatively mild middle and finish. The bready malt I picked up in the aroma is also in the taste; light, though. The aftertaste is semi-dry. There is a growing light bitterness in the aftertaste as you make your way through the beer, which encourages the anticipation for the next drink, but even so, it is not very bitter (the bitterness does continue to grow on the tongue as you consume the beer). The flavor is fruity with just enough bitterness to let you know it is there.

The mouth feel is light-bodied, thin and crisp.

(I know I used the word "light" a lot in this review, but it fits.)

Attempting to brew a 4.0% ABV IPA was quite ambitious, and the biggest fault in this beer, frankly, is calling it an IPA (even if qualified by using the "session" word). The brewer, as I said above, also states this beer is low in carbs, so you know going in the malts will be light.

Apart from the name, though, this is a good summer beverage and should compete with seltzers on their faux health front. However, it still is a beer, so IDK how successful it will be in that market. It is light in ABV, light in body, but decent in flavor (but missing much of the malt components of the flavor - which may or may not be an issue in its apparent target market).

The L-S-T-F ratings are keeping the "Session IPA" name in mind, while the O rating is just taking the beer for what it actually is: a low ABV, light-bodied, yet reasonably flavorful, summer beverage taking aim at the hard seltzer market. Perhaps I'm being too generous, or perhaps my ratings for these kinds of beers has been reset by the hard seltzer craze. Bottom line: I'd rather have this than a hard seltzer, but I'd rather have a "proper" APA or IPA, TBH.

L: 4.0 | S: 3.75 | T: 3.5 | F: 3.25 | O: 3.75 | Rating: 3.62

 

Friedel-Bräu Vollbier


Pours a pale golden color with a big, froth stable head.


Smell is of wet grass, sun dried hay and lighter caramel among toasty grain husks, with a note of matured garden herbs.


Had a vivid, slightly effervescent mouthfeel, with a well balanced light body.


Tastes of soft bread dough and prominent, dry hops from the very beginning, blending into rustic, slightly sweet malts. Turns even dryer then, with receeding malts being replaced by a slightly stony tasting, lively carbonation. Finishes surprisingly soft and crisp, with only a light, noble hop dryness remaining on the palate, gently coated by the calm, rustic malts.


Really good Helles with a powerful hop presence to it. The beer itself is certainly built to deal with this dryness though, making this easy drinking, balanced and intriguing at the same time.

 

I'm OK with making it a 2-day thing. Doing that did seem to encourage more participation in the on-line tastings.

 

Beer #2 is courtesy of @FlintB who sent me a monster box as part of the Rookies BIF in the first quarter. If any of you get paired up with him in a BIF, consider yourself lucky, as I'm still working my way through everything he sent me. This one is Fruit Draft, a collaboration between Speciation Artisan Ales and HOMES. The funky shaped bottle describes the beer as "rum barrel aged sour ale with blackberry, ginger, guava lime & pear". I've been really impressed by all of the Speciation beers, and this one is no exception. Perfect for a hot summer day, and tastes a lot like a mixed drink to me. My only regret is that I don't have more of these.

4.3/5 rDev 0%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5

Pours a beautiful, glowing grapefruit color with a thin layer of head that leaves behind minimal lacing as it fades. Smell is a mixture of lime and ginger, and if you gave it to me blind, I might mistake for a mixed drink. On the tongue, I'm picking up the lime again, and a mixture of flavors I'm not refined enough to isolate. I can say this is quite tasty, and again, reminds me of a mixed drink. Has a nice lingering fizziness that reminds me of Orangina. Not sure why I pick out Orangina, but that's what the feel reminds me of. This is a very different, but very good beer. Super refreshing. Clean, lightly tart & refreshing.

 

I'd be interested to taste this side-by with their Vienna. Any caramel notes in it? Nice glass, BTW -- come with the beer?

The best Ami-brewed Alt I've ever tasted was Metropolitan's -- they didn't just brew another Brown Ale and call it an Alt; characteristics were spot on.

 

Great Notion Jammy Pants. Very berry’y. Perfect for a hot day by the pool!

 

Next up OEC Brewing (Ordinem Ecentrici Coctores). Hmm, what a name.

Coolship Lager Americana, 5.2% ABV



Pours distinctly murky/foggy/cloudy. A golden/orange color with a dense white head. The foam rises to two fingers with good retention and plenty of lace.
Biscuit and cracker like malts up front in the nose, that quickly give way to the hop aromas which continues to intensify. Spicy, grassy, herbal hops. Fairly simple, but really enjoyable.
Malt flavors go from biscuit, doughy and cracker like. Just a touch of sweetness in the middle, but that drys out considerably. Then the hops come into play. Spicy, grassy, herbal again. Though there is more of an American fruitiness from the hops that comes out as well, that is all without taking away from the classic Nobel hop character . This also becomes a bit soapy. Aggressive bitterness lingers on.
M/O: A medium body with effervescent carbonation. Really crisp, super clean and finishes dry. I would say the aggressive bitterness takes just a bit away from the drinkability, but overall something I can come back to again.

A nice lager, which uses all American hops. It has that classic Pils hop character mixed with just enough fruity hop varieties. I'll be interested to check the regular Coolship Lager when I get a chance.

Side note: Why is the style listed as Lager-European Pale? I get the styles have changed a bit here, but clearly they are going for an American lager, maybe an update is needed, or they are just keeping it similar to the other lager styles from the brewery? Eh, very minor, but stuff I think about

Overall Score 3.84
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/34667/448925/?ba=champ103#review

 

Happy NBS! Another hot day in NJ. Been having some wacky weather here lately. Got hit by a tropical storm on Friday afternoon that dumped just under 4 inches of rain on us. Supposed to take a few much needed days off this week and bought a variety 12-pack of Von Trapp to enjoy during it. Looking forward to diving into that.

My new beer was purchased from the brewery and brought over by a friend. It's a style that I don't have too much familiarity with.

The Cat's Pajamas
Hackensack Brewing Company
American Pre-Prohibition Style Lager
5.6% ABV



16 oz can with no date (c'mon man). You know I had to pour the "cat" beer into a "dog" glass! Brewed with premium barley, wheat and flaked corn.

Deep gold color with a fizzy, medium-sized white head. Excellent clarity but the head dies out almost immediately, leaving nothing behind. The beer appears almost still, except for soft bubbles occasionally rising to the top. Which is usually a very good indicator that I am not going to like the beer.

Huge whiffs of corn in the aroma. Very grainy malt flavor with the corn front and center as well. Not much bitterness from the hops. Medium-light bodied.

The adjuncts are strong in this one. Not a bad beer, but not something I would seek out. The carbonation/head issues need to be worked out. There flavor is there though, in line with other adjunct lagers.

3.26/5
look: 2 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

 

It's another scorcher today, but I managed to do some yard work, and think I earned some fancypants refreshment:

Hermit Thrush Brattleberry, a sour/wild with raspberries and apples.

It's absolutely heavenly. I'll have to qualify that by adding that you'd have to not be turned off by anything as bracingly tart as this beer is, but that just happens to be right up my alley.

Another thing that's up my alley is how the rest of this beer's construction is so subtle and well-knit. Kind of the yin to the full-speed-ahead sourness' yang.

The raspberries are just an accent here; as are the apples; as is the white wine woody vanillins; as is the barnyardy funk; as is the baguette crust malt; as is the grassy/spicy phenols...But it all adds up to something bigger and more wonderful than the sum of its parts. There are connections here that work in multiple directions: the tannic woodiness is reminiscent of apple skins and vice versa; that tartness goes hand in hand with the added fruits; apples coexist with spice; wood and funk; and on and on. I'm sure you can parse out where one element ends and another begins, but why would you want to? It's such a cohesive, singular experience.

Just shy of an A+ from me, because ideally that tartness could be turned down just a smidge, but still a great beer, A (4.65).

 

Love the Grandson picture, cheers

 

Maplewood Fizzle Drizzle Pink Lemonade Imperial Fruited Sour w/ lemon, strawberry, and raspberry.

Pours a very cloudy red, slightly orange color with a finger of slight off white head that dissipates quickly. 4

Aroma is bright, tart pink lemonade. Lemon juice, raspberry puree, strawberry candy. 4.25

Taste follows the aroma well. A more tart/sour version of pink lemonade. Lemon juice, lactobacillus, sweet raspberry purée, macerated strawberry, wheat. Quite sour, but there’s fruity sweetness to balance it. 4.5

High medium body. Soft, slick, sticky. The tart/sour coats the palate. 4

Although it’s quite tart/sour, I really enjoy this one. Definitely mimics pink lemonade in beer form. Lemon juice for days, but the sweet raspberry and strawberry keep it in check. Thought this would be a definite miss, but Maplewood proves once again they cannot do any wrong. 4.25

Overall: 4.31