New Beer Sunday (Week 804)

Thanks for opening NBS up, cjgiant!



I have good experience of Brewdog before, the Nanny State is understandably well spread. Now it's time for Punk Af NA IPA. Yellow-amber, a little haze, lacing. It poured with a one finger foam, but much gone when getting the foto. Smell is promising. Definitely citrus. Taste: no arguing there aren't hops lingering in the back. Mouthfeel is pleasant, a bit thickness, carbonation just in place. Overall a nice experience!

 

Poured into a 16 oz Deciduous Snulip glass canned on 7/14/2020. Pours a bright ruby red with a half finger off white head that leaves traces of bubbly lace as it settles rather quick. 4.5

Smell is raspberry, black cherry, must, and dragon fruit. 4

Taste follows raspberry, must, black cherry, and dragon fruit really bold for only 6%. 4

Mouthfeel is almost medium, soft gentle carbonation, rather dry and watery, and drinks bigger and goes down rather easy. 4.25

Overall this is a hybrid and I am getting way more sour and no IPA, but it is really tasty just the same. If you like the style you will love this and it sure is pretty. 4.25

 

2020 Surette by À tue-tête (surette means common sorrel), on tap.

Amber color, light head, clear and bright.

Smells of grape, farm, very slight leather (?).

Taste is crisp, mostly grape, aged cheese, hints of apple towards the end.

Clean feel, similar to a dry cider, pleasant light carbonation.

All in all enjoyable, 4.25/5, better than the previous vintage. Not grading each category for now as I'm not used to that and it probably won't translate too well. Thanks for the exercise, was fun

 

Thank you @cjgiant for the kickoff. Sorry about the insomnia, have you tried melatonin , perhaps? I know that a Belgian Quad on a hot sunny afternoon will put me to sleep.

My freak flag is in tatters, but you do raise a valid point on how my beer buying habits have changed. My plan for this year was to focus on the highest quality beers that I could find. The pandemic narrowed these choices. I used to travel for work and would plan reasonable detours to "Beer hunt." I came off the road on March 7th and my world has become zoom calls.

The lack of travel has limited me to local breweries, which, for me is not a bad option at all: Treehouse, Trillium, VitaminSea, Second Wind, Mayflower, Stellwagen, Cisco, etc. and to the shelf offerings of my local beer purveyor. In my case, that's the Craft Beer Cellar in Plymouth and they have introduced me to some good new beers. Most of these beers have been on trend with NEIPA's as the most prevalent. I watched my beer counts slowly rise and saw the 1500 milestone approaching. I wanted to do something special and considered online buying. Tavour doesn't ship to Masschusetts and I considered Craft Beer Kings. I read more reviews on BA and opted for Belgian Mart. It took about three weeks but my purchase finally arrived.

My new beer is a best in class Belgian Quad. I like the style and was definitely whale hunting when I made this purchase, "call me Ishmael...". My 1501st BA beer is ....



Westvleteren 12 (XII) by Brouwerij Westvleteren (Sint-Sixtusabdij van Westvleteren) Belgian Quadrupel



4.53/5 rDev -2.8%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.5

Yellow capped bottle with a full pour into a chalice

Chilled to 60 degrees as measured by my pandemic touchless thermometer

Pours a creamy taupe one finger foam cap , good retention of five minutes , settles to a thin creamy layer, lacings are full, thin creamy layer that coat the chalice walls

The liquid is deep brown , when held up to the light it is a ruby red liquid, dark cola appearance. Clear not hazy, no visible carbonation, a yeast blob in the liquid

First aroma is malty, cloves, cinnamon, raisin. Second aroma is fig, dark fruits. third aroma is more dark fruits. these become more apparent as the chalice warms, more notes of raisins and figs, caramel

Taste is malty, dark fruits, raisins, figs , taste , slight alcohol at the start. The dark fruit taste expands as the glass warms, molasses, sherry, definitely serve at room temp to expand the taste and aroma

Mouthfeel is creamy, medium small bubble sudsing, a little of alcohol heat. It coats the mouth, the taste lingers on my the front of my mouth , slight alcohol finish, more dark fruits on the taste as the glass warms and the alcohol taste diminishes

I spent a lot of money for one bottle of this beer. If I am ever in Belgium I would repeat. At the cost per bottle , I would rather pursue premium domestic brews. Looking at my tasting notes, I prefer the taste of Stick Monkee from Firestone Walker in this class.



Good beer

this weeks sunrise

 

Great review, and such a fine quad - Cheers!

 

Hope your insomnia gets better my friend. I have restless legs at night and it drives me crazy. Especially when I'm tired and really want to sleep.

I agree with your review. I remember standing out in the freezing cold, on release day for Resolute, and being disappointed by there offerings. Now that it's on the shelf, I tend to try it from time to time. I still have some in the cellar and wonder where the infamous coconut stands today (just remembered that beer).

DM is ok but nothing to write home about. If they could get the body a bit thicker on their beers, I feel like I'd enjoy them more. Have good Sunday!

 

Good morning everyone! Today’s new to me beer won the gold at the 2014 World Beer Cup in the Chocolate Stout catagory...I’m excited to pop this bottle - “Cyclo Imperial Chocolate Stout”, Pastuer Street Brewing Co., Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam:



An Imperial Chocolate Stout brewed in small batches with cacao nibs hand-picked in the Mekong Delta; additions of Saigon cinnamon and local Mui Ne vanilla. I have no idea on the age of this bottle... Let’s go!



Pours black with ruby edges at 58 degrees; loose tan bubbles quickly vanish; thin ring; pin-heads of lacing, and thick viscous legs sheet the glass upon swirl. Nose is almost all chocolate with some subtle soy sauce. Taste is semi sweet chocolate and cacao nibs; barest hint of cinnamon, more so as liquid warms; no vanilla; chocolate middle and finish. Dusty dry cocoa powder feel; medium light body; light carbonation; some warmth from 13% abv. Overall, first impression is tons of natural cacao flavor and thin feeling, especially for a higher alcohol stout, which makes this beer dangerously easy drinking (my guess is that thick and syrupy sweet is not going to be a welcome thing in the heat of Vietnam); light bittersweet Baker’s chocolate; lots of dry natural chocolate flavor; not bad for $4.99 a 750 ml bottle; I’ll buy/drink more!

4.25 | 3.75 | 4.25 | 4.0 | 4.25
Score: 4.11 rDev +5.9%

 

Thanks for the great kick off today @cjgiant , cues Missy Elliott rhetorically (You Tube no longer allowed on NBS). I sleep when I want at this point and my natural body clock calls for a good 5-6 hour stretch in the late night / early morning and a 1-2 hour nap after my meal. Hope this review doesn't put you to sleep.

Going to stay in Illinois today. First pour was canned 4/27/20 @ 14:21, rescued in the single serving rescue adoption rack at Binny's in early June and kept refrigerated until this pour. A very sweet beer is among my least preferred styles (Pumpkin the leader) but I try to rate to style.

Hop Butcher Skrap Metal

Tale of the tape:
Style: DIPA (listed on BA as NEIPA)
ABV: 7.5%
Hops: Ekuanot, Citra and El Dorado.
Can listed tasting notes: Bright Tropical, Zested Lime and Ripe Melon



And away we go....

Appearance: Murky orange pour, creamy generous white head lasts for a few minutes before leaving soapy lacing in its wake. Heavy carbonation. 4.0

Aroma: Bold sweet citrus mango aroma, lime secondary. 3.75

Taste: Very sweet taste, mango and citrus lead, lime and pineapple back well. 4.0

Mouthfeel: Full rich body, very creamy. Carbonation fades quickly, nominal throughout the pour. Light dryness, tingly sweetness lingers on the tongue beyond the pour. 4.25

Overall: This beer held up well over three months. It is a solid well crafted Double IPA, though too sweet for my palate. 4.0

I have had my second planned pour in the past, but never rated / cannot find my rating so I will give it full treatment here later today.

I had three "Not Ready for Prime Time (i.e. Sunday) New Beers" on Friday at Revolution Brewing.

Paddy Wagon (4.25; 3.75; 3.5; 4.25; 4.0) was my favorite, Willie Wee Heavy was good (3.75; 3.0; 3.75; 4.0; 3.75) and Point du Sable was OK (4.0; 3.75; 3.25; 3.5; 3.5).

My rating metrics are 3 = average; 3.5 = Good; 4 = Very Good; 4.5 = Excellent; 5.0 = World Class, so these are good to Very Good beers, and my DIPA was a very good pour for that style. I just prefer a more balanced beer.

Cheers!

 

I recommend Belgianmart but it ain't cheap. Cheaper than flying to Belgium which I would have preferred to and on the list of things to do after the pandemic

 

-drinking a new beer after a long cycling ride on Wed hat will be a very hot day. This is Loral Lager from Zero Gravity. It is a Golden style lager brewed with Pilsner malt and dry hopped with Loral solely.
This clear, golden can pour hosts a 2cm cap of white foam.
The aroma is faintly hay -like.
The flavor is of cracker like malt, a bit of pine and a hint of orange.
The finish is less dry than some other Pils Bitterness is low. This is quite pleasant.

 

$4.99 for a world beer cup champion? My frugal Scottish ancestors would smile, albeit briefly, at the value of that deal. Did you get this beer at retail?

 

Yes! Recommended by beer manager at local liquor store (I think he’s trying to move old inventory, but I’m not complaining). Cheers!

 

Who is a Crispy Boy?

Today’s beer is a crowler gifted to me by a very good friend: Root Down Crispy Boy.

I do not know much about this beer other than this snippet I found via web searching:

“CRISPY BOY

Dry Hopped American Pilsner 5.5%, new on draft and ready for take home!”

So, from above I know two things:

· This beer was dry hopped

· The brewery chooses the verbiage of “American Pilsner”

I am personally not a fan of the category “American Pilsner”. I am of the opinion that there are three sub-styles of Pilsner: Bohemian (Czech) Pilsner, German Pilsner and Classic American Pilsner. I know that the craft beer industry is competitive (and maybe this is more stressing during this time of pandemic) but do they really have to ‘invent’ new beer style names to sell their beer?

There has been some discussion in BA threads of referring to Pilsners that are dry hopped as being “Italian Pilsners” but IMO that is just another farce. Just because a Pilsner is dry hopped doesn’t mean it is a new sub-style of Pilsner.

Well, with that ‘rant’ out of the way let’s see what a Crispy Boy tastes like. I will be splitting this crowler with my wife.

Served in my FW Pivo Pils glasses:

Appearance:

Golden yellow colored with a white head.

Aroma:

There is a combination of Pilsner malt aroma accompanied with some spicy hop aroma with a hint of floral.

Taste:

The flavor follows the nose with a combination of Pilsner malt flavor with hop favors of spicy and even some herbal. There is a moderate bitterness.

Mouthfeel

Medium bodied with a dry finish.

Overall

I think this beer is very good. If I were served this beer blind I would likely say this beer is a German Pilsner.

I asked my wife what she thought of this beer and her response was “It was good”. A rare instance of just a few words?

Cheers!

@RobH @rotsaruch @nc41 @KOP_Beer_OUtlet @zid @nc41 @Ranbot @FBarber @Jacobier10 @scottakelly @tzieser @ESHBG

 

Pours a dark amber color with a slight head and lacing
Aroma has nice chocolate and caramel malt hints
The taste follows the nose with a pleasant Chocolate and caramel malt flavor
A medium bodied moderately carbonated beer
A well done Doppelbock