New Beer Weekend #4

Thanks for the great kick off @SawDog505 Hope I can finally make it to NE to taste these great pours you and others poster here consistently. Allagash and Maine are the two primary brewers which make their way here. In the interim, I will keep making notes of great breweries to check out, hopefully sometime over the next few years once things return to normal.

I bought a saison mixed four pack from one of my favorite micro brewers here, Lake Effect Brewing. They call this series the School of Brett. These are saisons aged for 8 months in red wine barrels. Three of the four pours have brettanomyces added, and the fourth which I am drinking is the base beer with no added brettanomyces.

Lake Effect School of Brett Base Saison



Base saison aged for 8 months in red wine barrels, canned in July 2020, 6.2% ABV.

Appearance: Golden slightly murky orange golden pour, bright fluffy white head lasts for a few minutes. Persistent carbonation throughout the pour. 4.0

Aroma: Very nice funky aroma, sweet grape, lemon, black pepper, lemongrass. Bold and inviting. 4.25

Taste: Lighter than the aroma, though flavors are consistent. Lemon, pepper grass, funky. 3.75

Mouthfeel: Wafer thin, lightly dry, low key tartness and acidity, sweet. Carbonation persistent throughout the pour, very easy drinking. 4.0

Overall: Nice saison offering, looking forward to trying the Brettanomyces versions over the next three weeks. 4.0

Looking forward to a few more local pours this weekend, and reading all the numerous great beers and write-ups found in this thread.

 

I am a huge Japanophile. I have been in Japan several times and I love the culture, the food, the whisky and so much more about this beautiful country. Not interested at all in the anime or manga culture and also not a huge fan of their beer scene. It's not that their beers are not well made (quite the contrary) but the fact that they emphasize subtlety and balance does not sit well with my American-trained palate which seeks "bigger" and "louder" beers.

Nonetheless, I never deny myself the chance to try new Japanese beers, even when I know that probably they are not for me. Here is one that I had not seen before and I thought I should give it a try.



This is a very interesting beer. I have to confess that I bought it simply for the name of the brewery. Far Yeast? Love it. The name of the beer (Tokyo White) makes you think this is a Wit but in fact it is a Saison (it says so in small print somewhere on the bottle).

Appearance: Pretty light colored and with a mild haze (I opted to not pour the yeasty sediment). Nice head that lasted only a couple of minutes but kept producing nice lacing.

Nose: It smells very grassy, herbal, and with a good amount of brett-y notes. It definitely invites you for a sip. It smells refreshing if you can say that without actually drinking it.

Taste: This is really good. Sourdough, yeasty, citrusy, and with a nice and dry finish that is ever so slightly brett-y.

Mouthfeel: One of my main complaints of Japanese beers is that they invariably have a very light mouthfeel (by design). This is not the case for this beer. It is brewed to style when it comes to the mouthfeel and it is in fact very pleasant.

Overall: This is a great beer. I think it's one of the few Japanese beers that express the desire to be subtle while simultaneously offering flavors that are loud enough for the drinker to focus on. This is not a cheap beer but I should have bought more.

 

Dropping in-laws off at the airport allowed me to swing by Trillium Fort Point this past week. They were serving up two of the higher rated beers in the Trillium Universe: Headroom and Max Headroom. I know that these are sought after beers, especially since I gave a Headroom to my dentist. He used to be an asst brewmaster at TreeHouse and Hill Farmstead, " Oh, I've never had that one, great!"




Max Headroom by Trillium

4.61/5 rDev -0.9%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.5

Canned 7.30, opened 8.8

A 16 oz can poured into a teku glass

Two finger big bubbled rocky gosamer white foam cap , okay retention, settles to a ring over a hazy, pulpy looking pale orange liquid, no lacings. No carbonation, the haze is dense, but large bubbles at the base of the beer!

Aroma is mango, pink grapefruit, whiff of pine and a hint of fresh clipped grass

Taste is mango, orange citrus , hint of pink grapefruit

Low sudsing, smooth with a gentle hop nibble that lingers on the back and sides of the tongue. The 9.1% abv is invisible. Very well crafted to mask the abv in this one.

Great beer, happy to have purchased this one

we like this one!

 

What is your favorite beer for the Dog Days of Summer?

We just got done with our 5th heat wave of the summer season a few days ago. And personally I hope that this will be the last heat wave but I am not holding my breath here.

One of the beers that I enjoy drinking during the hot times of the year is Hefeweizen. To my pleasant surprise my local Retail Beer Distributor has gotten a few new (well, new for them) German beers lately and I will be discussing one of them today: Tucher Helles Hefeweizen which to my surprise is in the now popular craft beer format of four-pack of big cans (in this case a 0.5 liter can). I suppose the German brewery just did this for US export? @Snowcrash000

There are many reasons to enjoy a Hefeweizen but the two attributes that are most alluring for me is the combination of banana & cloves flavors. Needless to say there is more to a tasty Hefeweizen but those two attributes are what I most appreciate.

Below is how this beer is described on the Tucher – USA website:

“Tucher Helles Hefeweizen - Recipe Number 132

Tucher Helles Hefeweizen is a yeasty wheat beer how the Franconians like to drink it, Tucher's own "Sapienza" yeast and "Bagou" wheat malt together with bright barley malts give this Beer its aromatic yeast character.

With the first sips you experience the lemon prickly flavor with full bodied banana and kiwi notes and a long lasting tangy finish.”

https://www.tucher-usa.com/Tucher_Helles_Hefeweizen.html

Hmm, no mention of clove in that description!?!

Served in my Kapuziner Hefeweizen glass (which was gifted to me at the Philly German Bierfest):

Appearance:

A hazy golden yellow with a BIG billowing white head. This beer has excellent head retention.

Aroma:

A notable combination of clove and banana. Woo-Hoo! There is also some wheat malt aroma in the background. And yup, as per the above description even some lemon. Overall quite an intriguing aroma profile.

Taste:

The flavor follows the nose with clove & banana being front and center but the other aspects of wheaty malt and some citrus (lemon) there as well. There is a low bitterness.

Mouthfeel:

This beer is medium bodied and smooth with a moderate to high carbonation level.

Overall:

I enjoyed drinking this beer! It achieved on my two favorite attributes of having a combination of banana & clove flavors plus more.

This beer is most definitely an appropriate beer to drink on a hot and humid summer day. I may have another.

Cheers!

@rotsaruch @RobH

 

Of course there are multiple possible reasons for this, including freshness and what @The_Kriek_Freak said about American palates (we can agree the bulk of ratings are American, I hope).

The other thing is some of those beers ahead of German brews don't have the spread of ratings from people who don't buy into the "hype" of the brewers that might drag down the ratings a bit. Although, as you state, those brewers aren't likely brewing bad beer, so I might circle back to my first last paragraph.

For what it's worth (probably not even the two cents I just gave above), pFriem is my highest ranked Pilsner on the Top Rated Pilsner list, and Ayinger's version is tied with two Victory versions. I noted in my review of Weihenstephaner Pils that it had a mild tinny note included, even though I was having it on tap, which kept it at a four in my book.

 

I sold Hitachino for years. The white ale was great and really all of the beers were tasty.

 

Nice job on the review (and the rant).

As to the part I quoted... celebrate the hype!

 

Me, too.

 

Interesting career trajectory!

Brightened my day!

 

Just to agree and disagree with two points you make, both concerning Suarez Pilsners.

First I agree that it is strange to have Pilsners made in America of the quality of Suarez that approach or equal the quality of those made in Germany. But then, Suarez is to me where all brewing seems to be going, which is a post regional world of beer styles made with excellence, brewed true to roots, and fashioned for local taste enjoyments anywhere in the world.

I must disagree that Suarez is in NJ. It is, and hopefully always will be, a Hudson Valley, NY brewery

 

NBS was my favorite thread. I am usually coaching and then watching live matches ( soccer or lacrosse) on Saturdays, and then catching up on chores. The current situation has suspended soccer seasons so I have an opportunity to taste and present.
Simcoe Rewind is an IPA from Grimm Artisanal Ales.
This hazy orange can pour hosts 2 cm of foam and a faint aroma of pine. The flavor is prominently resinous. Some orange and tropical fruit notes are in the margins. The hop bitterness is moderate.
The mouthfeel is smooth, full and the finish is somewhat dry.
This is a “dank” (sorry) West-Coast style IPA, a tasty one!

 

Greetings, NBW! I'm always amazed by how many of you manage to enjoy a morning brew and then go about your day. Today, however, I decided to start my imbibing on the early side myself since the weather outside was finally tolerable. It's overcast, but mid-70's is a dream compared to the 90's of the past week or two. Since I was starting earlier than usual, I decided to go with something that reminded me of morning. This may have been misguided as I settled on a Eleventh Hour's version of Black Is Beautiful to start the day. No doubt most of you probably already know about this beer, so I won't get into the history. Eleventh Hour decided to make their version an imperial stout and condition it on cocoa nibs, vanilla, and local coffee from KLVN. They also added into the mix a portion of 12-month Willet barrel aged imperial stout to make up 15% of the total yield. In addition, they barreled a portion of the beer to be released as 12 and 24 month barrel aged versions. I love the fact that not only are they raising money for good causes now, they also have future fundraisers planned with these BA variants. I'll be trying to make a few stops in this thread this weekend as long as starting my day with a 10% imperial stout doesn't ruin those plans.


4.34/5 rDev 0%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

Look - Pours a dense opaque black with a minimal tan head. Very little light penetrating the brew at all.
Smell - Big notes of coffee, roasty malt, and chocolate.
Taste - A beautiful imperial stout with a very roasty malt bill. The coffee and bittersweet cocoa work well together. A hint of sweetness from the vanilla, but only a touch. Other more subtle notes include some oak and char with the slightest hint of bourbon.
Feel - Thinner than expected, but pleasant on the palate. Medium to full bodied, and the perfect amount of carbonation.
Overall - A fantastic imperial stout that keeps it's adjuncts in check. They work well together with a drier finish than one might expect. A great beer that is a great lesson in balance of flavor.

 

There can also be different degrees of rating "bumps". And a brewer who is more known for their trendy styles is more likely to have their take on a Pilsner or such to receive even greater grade inflation than one such as Suarez or Notch, whose actual mission is to produce such styles in the first place. And I think that's because the ratings are primarily coming from different crowds.