New Beer Weekend #2

Hey all! grooving in on the weekend... looks like another really hot one out here today and muggy... not fun... giving up on my lawn..

with that said just getting started. unfortunately this is a bit of a dud.. but there's more beer where that came from I think.



Poured from the can into a nonic(k) pint glass.

Copper bodied, with a hint of chestnut brown and orange on the sides. Fairly clear bodied appearance wise, but slightly hazy. Off white head, a little khaki in color, with a soapy pale ale classic retention.

Slightly aromatic hop of tea and orange. Minor sense of sweetness, touches of actual simple malt backbone. This actually doesn't entire smell like a N.A. but a just simple straight pale ale. Solid!

Oh woah… palate is really missing here. Extremely wet bodied with just faint grass flavors. Off bitter hop that doesn't really add much character to the beer. Watered own tea aftertaste, and minimal flavor, almost like drinking herbal flat water.

This is drinkable just barely, but not in a real enjoyable way. Scoring fairly neutral, but there are way better options out in the N.A. realm than this.


look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2.5 | 2.95/5

Cheers!

 

Pours a clear golden color with a nice head and lacing
Aroma has banana, clove and wheat hints
The taste follows the nose with pleasant and well balanced banana, clove and wheat flavors
A light bodied well carbonated crisp beer
A great Hefeweizen

 

Good noon-ish (east coast time) NBW... I'm wondering if @Roguer has this beer set up (or snuck in while I type this up), given it's from the same brewery as the last beer post of his I read. This new-to-the area brewery (as far as I know), Humble Forager, had three beers available at my store, and I chose one of the fruited sours. I'll also admit here that the can art drew me to them initially - then a quick check of BA and figured it'd be worth a try on one of them.

My choice was Coastal Sunshine - Passion Fruit, Mango, Pink Guava, which is not in the database as I type, but I figure it is going to be like the other Coastal Sunshines that are which have low-to-mid 4 ratings. In reading a few reviews, I expect this to be a fruity, juicy, smoothie-like beverage - one that might not really seem like a "beer" - per my own personal criteria for the term.

Well, luckily my phone wasn't out yet, but I was randomly pouring this mango purée into the glass on the deck when someone walking their dog strolled to the end of the street. To her credit, she did ask, "What kind of beer is that?" and thought it "looked pretty."



There was an orange head that was bubbling up from below similar to a nitro-Guinness pour. However, instead of forming a creamy head, the orange bubbles transformed from tiny, to small, to medium, and finally (you guessed it) large soapy bubbles that popped quickly. Even though I lost control and some slipped over the side, literally seconds later I had a still-looking orange shake. Even my morning OJ has more bubbles than this thing.

So, in the end, it's actually kinda ugly. I feel I could throw a stick in it, pop it in the freezer, and have a nice tropical popsicle before too long. That said, the nose follows this impression well, with mango leading the way, though the three fruits all show up in the nose. There is a little sour note from the passion fruit, but the fruit hides any "typical beer souring agent" - which the can does indicate is used.

Thick, but not quite as viscous as it appears. There is a tiny amount of carbonation that is just enough to prevent stickiness, though the beer coats the palate well - almost as well as it coats the inside of the glass, not with lacing, but... pulp? Looking a tad lower, I can see individual bubbles struggle to reach the heights defined by the surface of the beer - like photons of light trying to escape the sun's core.

The passion fruit sneaks through the mango to grab my attention, though the base is once again the mango. The combination has produces a pseudo-tangerine note. The guava is nearly lost, sorta of sneaking in the back end. The carbonation and perhaps moderate alcohol level (6%) produce the impression of fruit moving beyond ripe and into fermentation, stage one.

This was a good choice for me this morning, after a nice walk. It was refreshing despite its generally heavier nature. The sourness was nowhere near puckering, and it comes across as a fine alternative to a Sunday brunch mimosa - though perhaps one with a little too much fresh orange pulp and not enough bubbly.

 

Welcome to Humble Forager Brewery! We are a distribution brewery located just outside of Madison, Wisconsin created by Forager Brewery's Head Brewer Austin Jevne. Our mission is to offer our thoughtful, specialty beers developed at Forager Brewery wherever adventure takes you. Each beer we create uses high quality ingredients, inspired by flavors from around the globe. We ask you to bring us along on your great beer adventure.

Austin Jevne Owner of Humble Forager Brewery

-- http://humbleforagerbrewery.com/#about

Apparently, they are the distribution brewery for Forager. Some MN brewers have in the past found opening a distribution brewery in WI to be a useful end-around wrt the MN beer laws. Or, it just may be contract brewing. Hard to tell, exactly.

 

Pours a clear golden color with a nice head and lacing
Aroma has malt and floral hints
The taste follows the nose with malt and floral flavors
A light bodied well carbonated crisp beer
A good Pilsner

 

One of my golfing buddies has relatives in Fredericksburg. I enjoy their altbier.

 

One of my favorite beers so far this year!

 

I’ve never seen Cake on the floor here before, this is a first, and I’d guess most might not be familiar with it. It’s certainly not in a very prominent place. I was never a fan of Bomb, at $10 a bottle it needs to be a better beer, I haven’t had one bottle that had any heat, just flat chili peppers. Again age plays a huge part in these Habanero beers. Fresh Cake used to be great, but off the top of my head I couldn’t date them, many months though at least.

 

The second day of New Beer Weekend. Today I am drinking Bourbonic Plague from Cascade Brewing. It is described as an "imperial porter aged in bourbon barrels with dates and spices." I've had a few Cascade beers before and, while I like them, the price has been a deterrent. This 500 ml bottle was $14.95 at my beer store, so I went for it. And I'm glad I did.
A very dark brown color. Small tan head that increases in size due to the carbonation. A pretty sight.
Aroma of funk, bourbon, dark fruit, cinnamon.
Bourbon and funk to start the taste. Raisin. Cinnamon. A little orange. Tart finish.
Medium-bodied. Alcohol not at all noticeable.
Would try this again.

 

A week of vacation at the beach started for us in earnest today (travel days don't count). You can expect plenty of pictures taken against a similar background to be posted here / on WBAYDN over the upcoming days. It's hard to overstate how much I'm looking forward to enjoying some good beer from the deck while staring at the ocean, something I suspect this group fully understands (the beer part at least)

First up is this beauty courtesy of an unprovoked ninja attack from @2beerdogs. I figured this was a good beer to set the tone for the week.



4.51/5 rDev -0.4%
look: 4.25 | smell: 5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

Very slightly murky pour into a traditional pint glass. Somewhat dark straw color with an inch of dense head that took a couple minutes to fade away, leaving behind clingy white lacing. Smell is absolutely fantastic. Just waves of beautiful hoppy aroma wafting out from the glass. I love when I can be sitting a few feet away from a glass of beer and still clearly pick up the aroma. Taste is a really nice balance of traditional piney WC IPA, but with a nice balance and feel that keeps it from being too rough around the edges. Nice full mouthfeel. Very good beer.

 

A good start to your vacation. Enjoy the week and watch out for sharks!

 

Another local beer in the spotlight today for my New Beer review. This time, no history, just beer talk.



Alma Mader's Original Mind.

Style: American Pale Ale. Pour is a pale orange with low saturation. Mingle the low saturation color richness with the thick opaqueness for the transparency and it looks like a under-ripe peach. Head is a finger and a half of white foam as poured from a 25oz crowler. Head retention is good. Aroma is papaya, tangerine, orange peel and lemon zest. Despite the focal point on tropical fruits, it doesn't come off as overly sweet, instead landing more of a mild balance between sweet and bitter. Light earthy and bready malts help to achieve this balance. Flavor profile is in the same vein, landing notes of tangerine, lemon zest and orange peel with grassy and herbal hops behind. Malts are earthy and bready. Balance is great, featuring a little zesty hop dance up front with malts forming a solid baseline of support behind. Mouth feel is lightly creamy but quickly diverts into a fuzzy, lightly bubbly texture. Crispness is lacking for that, "ahhh, refreshing" moment. Overall, balance is good, and along with the mild notes, makes for a pleasant sipper that doesn't throw a jab at the taste buds at every chance.

Score: 4 | 4.25 | 4.25 | 3.75 | 4 | BA Score: 4.14 | rDev: +1.2% (one other review)

 

Good afternoon (NBS) NBW and thanks @JackHorzempa for the start this weekend.
Todays offering is from Grassroots, brewed with what could be called a dream team of brewers at Crooked Stave. With Hill, Wittter-Merithew, Broillet IV. and Yakobson working together.
Created a lovely saison thats sharp, clean, enough mixed culture to keep you guessing.
A delightful offering.
Thank you all who contribute to this thread.
Be well
Do good

Wachu Saison

Farmhouse Ale - Saison | 5.5% ABV

Grassroots Brewing
Greensboro Bend, Vermont

4.16/5 rDev 0% | Average: 4.16
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Poured from a 375 ml bottled dated Feb 26 2020, into the test glass
A - Forsythia color, withe excellent clarity. Meandering carbonation strolls contemplatively toward the surface. A thin ring of white hangs on the glass wall.
S - Fruit up front, Yuzu, lemon, a bit of citrus rime, I do get the hints of rice, and certainly a red pepper thread.
T - Light grains, sharp citrus, dance the dance, as the offering warms the Szechuan peppercorn holds its own. leaning toward the sweet hot side. This rolls really well with the sharp citrus edge.
M - Light in body, crisp on the palate, tart start moves toward the sweet finish. That transition alone is a delight. Linger is lemondrop candy in the best way.
O - A very creative and delicious offering from a great team of brewers. the rice added keeps this super focused of the fruit and peppercorns. While not giving full permission to take over. A very good offering

 

Humble Forager Coastal Sunshine Fruited Sour - orange, pineapple, banana. Brewed with red and white wheat, barley, and spelt, before being soured with Forager Brewery’s lactobacillus blend. Have enjoyed this brewery and this particular series up to this point, so let’s see what this one has to offer.

Pours an extremely turbid, creamy orange color with a finger of a super soapy head that dissipated very quickly, leaving a flat appearance. Looks like an actual fruit smoothie.

Aroma is tart orange, orange Smarties, pineapple juice, ripe banana, lemon juice.

Taste brings a tart orange presence, almost like OJ with lots of pulp or a tarter Tang drink. The lactobacillus enhances the tartness of the orange and also provides some bright lemon acidity. Pineapple is secondary to the orange, adding some balance with sweetness and juiciness like store bought pineapple juice. The banana is there too right after the pineapple, bringing more sweetness and creaminess. The pineapple and banana nicely balance the orange and bacteria.

Medium to high medium body. Not as thick as other beers of this “fruit smoothie style”, but still robust for 6%. Although the beer looks flat, the carbonation is quite prickly and moves the beer through the palate well. Creamy, sticky, slightly chalky, and mouth-coating.

Another good one by this brewery. I particularly like this series of “beer”, if you can even call it that. Nice balance between the three fruits/bacteria and decent carbonation to where is doesn’t get too tart or too cloying. Nicely done.

 

It looks like the series has a lot of similarities in look and feel, at least. Your review of the Tangerine, Passion Fruit, et al beer made me curious enough to buy the one I reviewed earlier. Thanks!