New Beer Weekend #2

Sat August 1
3 New beers this week, 2 local 1st reviews of Carton, made with local ingredients, all exceed my expectations
Battle of Monmouth | Carton | 5.9% | Keller
4.36/5 rDev +6.1%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25
1st Review. If Hamilton has not yet woken your views of people's pre-Constitution appetites, perhaps this ancient recipe Keller will. Naturally, it's brewed of fresh Jersey origins that could have been produced in 1776. Courtesy of Carton, my hometown brewer.
a) As with recent Carton beers, mounts a creamy white lasting, lacing head over over a golden slight haxed body with loosely coordinated champagne like bubbles.
s) Honey, orchard, earthy, yeast. Bright Germanic hops.
t) Honey dominates but suitably tempered by the lemon zest, peppery, clean, grassy hops. Great food or afternoon beer, great conversation beer. A shame to enjoy by oneself unless over a really great meal, book, idea sketch, photo edit, or contemplation.
f) Peppery and yeasty, clean, fresh, wine like.
o) Another great reflection of our terroire, a cradle of American rights and independence.
Wedge Issue | Carton | Atlantic Highlands | 8.2% | DIPA
4.2/5 rDev 0%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4
1st Review for Carton Wedge Motueka/Waimea. My 1972nd. Beer sharing / tasting has been a lovely hobby better than wine collecting/ sharing.
a) Pours thick, pulpy like pear nectar of childhood, springs a 1 finger head that fades and laces dots.
s) Fresh at 7 days old, sends floral greenhouse signals that would make a bee line, flowers, pine, citrus blossom, rind, perfume, cedar, less tropical.
t/f) Follows aroma. Positively chewy on that oat flake base. Sweeter and more floral that my pref, but interesting, odd, and original. More flowers and nectar than anything else.
o) Lovely and as different, as provocative, as its wedge siblings, or as the Carton brothers. Drink Wedge fresh, or your local brewer fresh and buy direct when you can. July 25, 2020
Voodoo Ranger XPerimental IPA | New Belgium | 6.6% | IPA
4/5 rDev +4.2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
14th Review. Possibly my favorite Ranger to date, tho nothing new, just straight, fresh, big Citra brew.
a) Over a clear deep amber body spots a one-finger head with lots of retention and lace.
s) Fresh, large, citrus and tropical fruit. with dank hops, grass, herbs, cracker malt.
t) Follows and nicely dry. Adds flowers, and dry earthen path and grass. Smooth, balanced, inviting, w nice earthly, tangy, peppery finish.
f) Smooth, easy, fresh, clean, peppery.
o) My favorite of Voodoo.

 

Great start Jack. Sounds like a good choice for breakfast.

 

I'll quickly pop in to let you know Wild Mind is actually in Minneaoplis. They're using that place in Wisconsin to contract brew cans for them.

 

I picked up a new to me stout variant from one of my favorite local breweries that I was forcing myself to wait to drink until Sunday for this thread. I completely forgot that it was expanded to the entire weekend. I'm beyond excited to be able to crack it open day earlier than I anticipated. Will report back soon.

 

Pours a hazy amber color with a slight head and some nice lacing
Aroma has malt, plum, raisins, grapes, banana and clove hints
The taste follows the nose with a pleasant and complex malt, plum, raisin, grape, banana and clove flavors
A medium bodied decently carbonated beer
A well balanced Bock Weizenbock

 

Nice review. I like Wild Mind; they were one of the locals I supported during the shutdown (in fact, I have one of their Imperial Stouts on tap for later today). As a brewery focusing on wild ales and saisons, Imperial Stouts are a style a bit out of the mainstream for them (as is a WC IPA, by the way).

However, they are in Minneapolis.

 

Pours a hazy golden color with a nice head and lacing
Aroma has grapefruit and floral hints
The taste follows the nose with a grapefruit and floral flavor
A light bodied well carbonated beer
A good India Pale Lager

 

Not sure at this point if you could call Cape May underrated, but every beer I’ve had has been outstanding. I tad pricy, but if they were fresh and available all day long. It’s one of my first beers I start looking for when I’m back in Pa.

 

It might be a stand alone for SJersey, and Philly their target market, but I love their beers. When I’m home I’ve seen some limited Carton at Joe Canals in Lawrenceville but not styles that I wanted. Can’t say I’ve ever seen Kane floating around, but I’ve has enough of both to consider them both excellent obviously. I’m just assuming very small footprints.

 

Recycling done, dogs fed and walked. I believe those are my only obligations for today.
My new beer for today is The Exercising of Baxter, an imperial stout aged in rum and port barrels. It was bottled 05/27/19 and according to Beer Advocate is a retired beer.
Pitch black beer with just the hint of a head.
Boozy aroma, coffee, chocolate.
Both port and rum represented in the taste. A heavy dose of coffee, a bit of chocolate. Late char.
A big-bodied, enjoyable beer.
I will have to see if there are more at my package store; this is certainly worth another look.

 

Just a guess but they’re in Neptune? So I’d assume NJersey and NYC to be their market. I’ve had a few growlers of Kane via trade, but they’re we’re excellent. Tired Hands is solidly in the Bucks Co area, and I enjoy my trips to the Hulmville Tavern, where it’s easily almost half the price of Sir Isaac Newton’s in Newtown. Gotta float that Newtown rent, a round of beers $20, hard to imaging having a few beers no food and it’ll eat almost a $50 bill, with tip it will.

 

Greetings, NBW! I mentioned that I'd be back soon with my first contribution, but I didn't expect it to be this soon. Alas, my wife and I decided to delay the grocery shopping until tomorrow. That just leaves buying beer, picking up beer, sipping beer, and eating food as my responsibility list for the day(not necessarily in that order). Later today I'll be picking up some bottles of a strawberry rhubarb wild ale that I'm excited to try. I also made a purchase to be picked up later this week as part of FreshFest. For those that don't know, FreshFest takes place in Pittsburgh each year and is the first beer festival in the country to feature Black owned breweries. This year they decided to expand the format into a multi-day block party style with added vendors and entertainment, but unfortunately it had to be cancelled due to covid. They were able to move most of their festivities online and will still be offering brewer roundtables, chef demonstrations, live music, tasting sessions and more as part of their newly named FreshFest DigiFest. They're selling a mixed 8-pack of beers that are collaborations between the invited breweries and local craft brewers that is well rounded in terms of styles that I'm very much looking forward to getting my hands on. Serendipitously, while making that purchase I found out that the distributor where I'll be picking up the haul also sells bottles of pickle juice which I need for an upcoming dinner recipe. I was expecting to have to waste a jar of pickles just for the brine, but beer saves the day again.

Today I'm finally getting to enjoy Dancing Gnome's Black Clouds Mexican Chocolate for the first time. DG is one of my favorite local breweries and their Black Clouds Imperial Stout, coming it at 11%, is always top notch. I was out of town for last year's inaugural release, so I made sure I was ready to pounce this year. What I love about their Black Clouds series is that although they don't shy away from flavor adjuncts, they're rarely used to excess and keep a nice balance with the base stout. The Mexican Chocolate variant is no exception to that rule. The Black Clouds base provides a big roasty stout that does not taste like 11% going down. The chocolate flavor is dark and bittersweet to compliment the stout while the vanilla and cinnamon give a hint of sweetness. The habanero peppers provide more depth of flavor than heat. All of the other Black Clouds hallmarks are still here as well. It pours like motor oil and allows no light to penetrate. The aromas will make your mouth water. This was worth the wait.


4.59/5 rDev +1.3%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

Look - Jet black with a one cm dark tan head. Watching the can pour is like watching motor oil flow.
Smell - Dark chocolate, vanilla, a touch of sweet cinnamon compliment the roasty malt bill.
Taste - A perfect balance of dark, bittersweet chocolate and sweet vanilla and cinnamon. The peppers add more depth of flavor than heat. Under it all is a very well crafted imperial stout that manages to shine alongside the other flavors.
Feel - Rich and full bodied with just enough carbonation.
Overall - This beer did not disappoint. A top shelf imperial stout thoughtfully flavored to give the drinker the best of everything. Fantastic.