New Beer Weekend #3

Surrender Dorothy Rye-PA, 7 Locks Brewing

A tasty rye pale ale, love rye beers!

 

Good evening from the hideout. Tonight's beer was brewed and canned 3.8 miles from where we are sitting. So much for a hideout...

Not what I intended to purchase, but a beer canned last month that I will have to add to the database. It is a collaboration beer brewed by Lake St. George Brewing Company and Sterlingtown Public House in Liberty and Upton, Maine, respectively. It is a witbier cleverly named Common Wit...

Quoting the cleverly designed can. "Ours is a friendship forged from a common vision to create gathering places that showcase a passion for good food and good beer." It goes on for a bit. Lastly, the can says store upside down for optimum flavor, so we did as we were told... The can art is clever in that the normal bottom half is orange with Dan's loon logo upright with the Sterling Public House signage. The normal top half is dark blue with the loon reflected and the brewery name upside down. The can code includes the text flip the bird. The can is actually striking, in my opinion. Why I can't upload to Imjur is a mystery...must be the tinfoil hat...

Ok...it is a witbier so what do we expect when we flip the bird and pour, kids? You got it...very pale golden color and cloudy haze. It is actually pretty hazy, to the point of being opaque. Not much of a head and what there was fell fast despite an aggressive pour.

Smell...wow...strong spiciness, coriander and I find some clove notes as well. And bright citrusy orange emerges buoyed by the bready, bright wheat. Nice stuff here, possibly a touch strong. Compared to Allagash White, this is much stronger.

The taste follows the formula, but this is quite flavorful. The wheat is the anchor here and everything else complements that baseline flavor. No doubt this a Belgian influenced beer and it shows...eventually. Whereas the spice came on strong in the smell, it is more restrained in the taste. If the spice isn't supposed to be "over the top" in a witbier, this one stops about a micron short of being too intense. There is no doubt what you are tasting. Coriander and I still get clove, orange peel, a little sweetness and a little wheat tang as the beer warms up. On the aftertaste, peppery phenolics and a lingering orange that are quite pleasant. Zero bitterness.

Light bodied, moderately carbonated, a bit dry on the finish. What I like is that it isn't watery

Ok...not my favorite style typically. Hot summer day beer for me, yet I have reviewed 11 of them and I generally score them well. My wife likes them, so I drink at least one of any she tries. Actually she says she likes them, but my database of what she actually drinks begs to differ - we ain't goin' there, kids! Anyway, I dig this one a lot. Much more flavorful than most I have tried and very well-balanced. Springdale's Pearly Wit is smoother, but much less flavorful, and I'd have to say the same for <gasp> Allagash White.

So...is a flavorful witbier an oxymoron that warrants points off for not adhering strictly to style? Nay, says me. This is a very good beer brewed by a Maine brewing legend. Pushing the envelope? Maybe. I'm thinking rebellion, personally, because it seems to me that maybe this is what the style should be - balanced and well flavored. Who says a wit can't be a bit bold and that you should be "guessing" at what hints of flavor are present? Kudos and well done, Mr. McGovern...this is an excellent beer and we are headed north of the 4.0 line again today.

 

Last month I was digging through some on my older beers and came across a 4 year old bottle of Tired Hands Thesaurus. I completely forget about it but luckily barrel aged saison from Tired Hands tend to hold up well.
4.11/5 rDev +5.9%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25

750 ml bottle, bottled July of 2016, poured into a wine glass

A- A slightly hazy amber with two finger white head.

S- Sour, lemons, wine grapes, pears, oak, some wheat, touch of band-aid funk.

T- Tart, pears, some lemons, tannins, oak, some wine, earthy funk, touch of wheat.

M- Smooth, light to medium body.

O- A little different than some Tired Hands Saison but it does have the usual levels of sour and funky for them. Held up nicely over the years, wine barrels add a nice level of complexity. Given the color they probably could have gotten away with labeling this a Flanders ale.

This will be my last beer for this New Beer Weekend. I hope to pop in next week but might not have the time to share thoughts on a new beer since I’m getting married on Saturday! Stay safe everyone, cheers!

 

Thanks!!

 

Sixpoint Trail Haze - I am a fan of session beers and the low calorie trend, as I am a calorie counter and I haven't found many to be all that terrible. This beer is 4%, 10 IBU and 99 calories, 7g of carbs.

Pours a very hazy light yellow. Smell, UGH! Straight onion/garlic that I can't stand in beers, this beer definitely has Mosaic in it so I look it up and yep, my arch nemesis, the Mosaic hop! Vic Secret, Enigma and Mosaic is the hop bill for this one. Thankfully the taste isn't too bad and it's crisp and refreshing and as long as I don't inhale as I drink I am fine.

I will eventually drink the other two (or give them away) but this beer is definitely not a repeat purchase for me; thankfully it came in a mixed pack and there's only two more left.

 

Nice start!

 

Late entry...busy weekend. Gave my mom our old SUV yesterday, celebrated my mother-in-law's retirement today. Wanted to do this early this morning, but after all the chores, I didn't have time. So here goes...

Two Chuckanut pilsners. Bohemian Style versus Citra Leaf.

Both pour a very light yellow color. The Bohemian style had a slightly larger head, neither of them look particularly carbonated. Both of them retain a fairly thin cap.

Smell on the Bohemian is mild lager yeast, quickly overwhelmed with honeysuckle and a suggestion of grass. The Citra Leaf has even less lager yeast, a little less honeysuckle, and moderate fruit juice lying on top of the grass.

Taste on the Bohemian is bitter -- lager yeast is there, grass and pine are there, but dominated by bitterness that I can't quite characterize. Might be pine. Not killer, but powerful. Comes across fairly crisp. Taste of the Citra is similar, but again leaning toward fruity. Bitterness is much less pronounced; experience is crisper, but couldn't explain why.

Mouthfeel of both is pretty light. The Bohemian might be a little stickier, but neither is particularly sticky. Overall, I like them both quite a bit. The Citra Leaf just tastes and feels lighter and brighter.

 

4 Giants from Founders
It was bottled almost exactly 5 months ago but held its own with the curry I had for dinner. The aroma was awesome, citrus and flowers, but the hops had dropped out a bit. Still had bite to balance the malts, but made me wish I hadn’t forgotten this down in the cellar.
Cheers!

 

Well Hello Late Night NBW (Sunday night)
I am posting here before trying to read through the contributions of all of you fine BA's who generously share your thoughts and musings on our beloved fermented elixirs. I have barely been away from the old computer (my work one) prepping for my first virtual day with students. This is rough, let me tell you. All of the usual work and then some. The teachers at my school, along with a great principal and some amazingly dedicated support staff have really busted their asses to make sure families can safely get materials and devices, as well as all of the support to connect, they need for their students to "come to school" tomorrow morning. So after my brief break to opine here, I'm going back to work.

New but old... Row 2/Hill 56 Pale Ale by Russian River
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/863/77648/
Evidently I had this years ago, but never wrote down my experience.

Canning date of 7/28/20
Pale golden orange. Slightly hazy. Fluffy white head recedes to a thin film. Clumpy retention finds the glass. Moderate patchy lacing. Aroma begins with a spicy Simcoe herbal jab that hints at onion and grass that is then followed by grapefruit and orange rind.
Flavor is slightly herbal, akin to lavender with hints of onion. Berry gives way to grass, grapefruit, bready malt, and a drying out bitter finish.
Mouthfeel is smooth. Carbonation is mellow but definitely plays along well. Slightly bitter, dry finish.
Overall, this could make it into regular rotation in my fridge.



Back to work

 

Wow. Nowhere near my experiences with Jai Alai. I'm assuming a bad batch or witches.

 

Arcobräu Mooser Liesl Bavarian Lager
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/5709/198460/

11.2 oz bottle. date code : 20075
Look: very transparent, very light gold body. Decent head that lasts a while leaving some lacing.
Smells good: grain, bread, lemon, floral, slightly sweet
Tastes follows the nose, Smooth, very clean beer. I notice no off flavors. tastes fresh.

A solid easy drink'n beer that doesn't stand out in any way. Worth trying out.

 

I think so, simply because they are using cans (still a no-go for the average beer drinker over here) and are well known across Europe (even more so than in Germany itself). At the same time, they don‘t brew unfiltered, one-off IPAs, so I am quite unsure what tickers will think of these.

 

Alright second entry into the weekend's shenanigans is going to be an old switcheroo. Initially I was planning to drink the Golden IPA (what does that substyle refer to? Legit question.) my friend gave me as a thanks for helping them out when they had to rush their newborn down to the NICU here (same week Ms. kemo started working on that unit... crazy coincidence [also: little fella is doing much better... already graduated from the NICU to the regular floor just trying to get him up to weight before surgery]).
Then I was planning to do a side by side of a pair of new IPAs Fremont released, one of which I had a couple of weeks back on top of the mountains that we can see from our patio, since we just picked up the other version today. But then unloading the car one of the OTHER Fremont cans fell out and all of a sudden there was a hiss and some leakage. Well, the hole was small enough we brought it inside and prepped it for surgery. Cleaned it with water, and made the incision (popped the cap).
So that's the story.
Black is Beautiful, by Fremont. My understanding is that Black is Beautiful is a 'shareware' recipe brewed all over the country to benefit the BIPOC community. I am unclear as to whether each brewery ostensibly brews the same recipe and just whatever their brewing particularities/skills leads to whatever differences, or if it's more loose and each brewery uses their own recipe and just releases something under the BiB umbrella. Either way, this is Fremont's version.



The aggressive pour yields a near-black pillar capped with half a glass of medium brown pillowy bubbles that settles in and leaves a beautiful design of islands along the side of the glass.

Nose is rich and dry. Coffee and burnt malts and some faint cocoa and an ephemeral almost kind of sweet perfumey/fruity note that you catch just out of the corner of your eye, but then as soon as you try and look at it it disappears, like it's being protected by an SEP Field.

First note of the taste is dry bitter bakers chocolate and some fresh coffee. Deeply roasty malts that tumble over into blackened/charred, with an ashy dry bitterness as the culmination. That sweeter fruit/perfume thing doesn't really manifest in the flavour, at least not discretely enough to be recognized here.

Body is reasonably smoothe, but a little thinner than I like in a stout. Or not even really thin, but just not... it just doesn't have much depth to the texture. Fizzy carbonation and a lingering ashy bitter finish.
I dig it. Fremont does great work in general, in my opinion, and this is a slightly different take on the stout style than their typical darker offerings, falling more in the ashy/dry side of the stout spectrum than I usually see from them. It's not the best they've made, but it's solidly enjoyable, and supports a good cause.

Cheers!

 

Sneaking in one more new beer before a Two Hearted (thanks NV for beer I can't get local in my area of CA), then a shower and some Zzzs.

Hike didn't go as planned, cattle dog was overheating, so we punted on the peak 0.5 mile from the summit, and slowly made our way back to the vehicles. He made it out on his own power, but we had a Fido Pro evac harness to carry him out if needed.

On to beer, today's new to me beer is Great Notion's Superstar.



Can dated 7/20/2020 into a imperial tulip pint.

A: Orange murk juice with 1+ finger of medium-high density white head with good retention and left mixed lacing.

S: Potent tropical nose Mango and Melon (cantaloupe).

T: Follows nose but less impressive. Finishes with mild bitterness and moderate acidity, which hangs on the palate.

F: Medium bodied with medium-high carbonation, full on the tongue but lots of tingling from acidity, slick on swallow.

O: Way too much carbonation/acidity really detracts from what I bet is a delicious beer.

BA Score = 4.01, rDev = -4.8%

 

Rogue's Chocolate Stout Nitro is just okay. Could use some work for sure. If not, my first time having it will likely be my last.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/132/469224/?ba=neenerzig#review

Eric

 

Well, this is what I get for not catching up on the thread before posting, ha. I even almost put in a little side comment that maybe someone has reviewed another of the BiB beers on here this weekend, but decided against it. Fool! Foolish fool! Not only did @StoutElk_92 have another one, @woemad had the same damn thing! Sounds like we had similar experiences with the Fremont can, as well.
Sorry, gents (not you @TheGent ). I should read before posting!