New Beer Weekend #4

I can only go with what’s in my glass. Very little of what I had here import wise matches up with what I had in my 3 years in Germany other than Bitburger

 

I've been home for precious few weekends this summer (not complaining....when I've been away it's typically been at a lake or beach), but since I'm home this weekend, I hope to be able to review several new beers. I have plenty to choose from thanks to all the amazing beers that have been sent my way via the last NBS BIF and its ongoing shenanigans. For any of you on the fence regarding whether to sign up for the next Beer it Forward event (see the post #4 above from @Roguer), I highly recommend it. I had never even heard of a BIF until the beginning of this year when I joined the Rookies BIF, followed almost immediately by the NBS BIF. Heck, I hadn't ever heard of New Beer Sunday back then (I wonder how many others like me are out there that just lurk in the regional forums without exploring all that BA has to offer....?) Anyway, the generosity and camaraderie in the BIFs has been amazing, and I hope to be able to send some of you some great New England brews as part of the next one.

ok...enough of the ramble and onto the beer. I received a ninja box from @FBarber the other day. Alongside some amazing looking saisons were several IPAs, one of which was this one....Fully Saturated Double Daisy Cutter by Half Acre Beer Co. This is a big beer that isn't shy. Maybe I should have gone for something lower ABV for my first beer of the day!

4.12/5 rDev -3.3%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4

Appearance is a glowing hazy, golden color with an inch and a half of foamy white head that exhibits very good head retention and leaves behind a healthy amount of lacing. Smell is bright and citrusy, with a nice hop aroma. Taste is interesting, with a combination of tropical notes and plenty of WC style bitterness that makes for an interesting combination. It is definitely not short on flavor, and is fairly bold / direct in its presentation (i.e. not all that many subtleties).

 

A happy baby!
Great picture!

 

And IMO the freshness factor is very important. I personally much prefer to drink a fresh, high quality brewed US craft brewed Pilsner vs. an imported Pilsner that is several months old and needless to say not in peak form.

Cheers!

P.S. I had the pleasure of drinking a Suarez Pilsner at the source - the Suarez Brewpub. The Pilsner is the beer on the left below:



And I picked up a four-pack of canned Suarez Pilsner for my drinking pleasure when I returned home:

 

Back from a hike with the dogs. Obviously, it's best to go early morning before the heat really kicks in. We returned from our walk and it was 83 degrees. An hour later it's 94 and heading for the low 100s again.
My new beer for Saturday is Mind Haze from Firestone Walker.
A hazy pale orange color. A modest white head that disappears in seconds, scant lace.
Fruity aroma, both citrus and tropical.
Taste of orange, tangerine, pineapple, a little melon. Late floral hops.
Light-bodied.
Meh.

 

Firstly, needless to say but you and I have differing olfactory senses. When I drank my Tucher Hefeweizen there was very much a notable amount of banana on the nose of that beer.

Also, maybe this beer holds up 'better' in the can vs. the bottle?

Or, maybe...

Cheers!

 

single cut plaintop pilsner.
Cloudy light orange gold
...around a medium body with about the same for carbonation
....aroma is sweet citrus fruit and peel,floral earthy hops, yeast,sweet flowery honey and a little cracker
.. taste is very mild sweetness with an equal mild hop bite. Citrus peel,grain, and honey linger in the taste
...really nice pilsner with an excellent aroma and a complex nice flavor

 

Bell’s Octoberfest, I know that August is a little early for Octoberfest but I have enjoyed every Bell’s brew since they came to NJ and jumped on this as soon as it showed up. Good thing ,it’s an outstanding one. No one thing makes it outstanding it’s just hits all the right notes and is perfectly well balanced.

 

One of my "left overs" from last week's WCIPA tasting.

Lagunitas IPA
ABV: 6.2%
IBU: 52



Imperial pint can stamped 182 0 2 | 4683 1620 (obviously intended to communicate to the consumer exactly when this beer was packaged ).

My handy-dandy decoder ring (i.e. search BA) says this is a June 30 canning date, so not too bad, unless you are a freshness ****.

Poured into a 20 oz Belgian Tulip (Now, yous can call me Ray, or yous can call me J., or yous can call me RayJay, but ya doesn't hass to call me snulip).

Aroma is strong - it hits as soon as I cracked the can. Citrus and tropical. Orange and melon. Slight pine.

Clear deep amber color, topped by a tall bubbly head with OK retention, leaving thick lacing down the glass. Great look.

Taste is an interesting combination of the citrus, tropical fruits, and (as a weaker player) pine. The bitterness begins in the aftertaste of the first sip and grows from there with each successive drink. The aftertaste is decidedly resiny and bitter. This influence grows, giving the entire taste a piney, resiny, and bitter dominance after half-way through or so, more than you might expect from the IBU rating. The citrus and tropical fruits remain as a delightful aspect throughout. I really like the taste of this beer overall.

(EDIT: As the beer warms, it develops a malty, slightly sweet undercarriage that balances the bitterness quite well.

Body is moderate for the style, perhaps on the thick side (again, for the style; this ain't no BA stout!).

Overall, an excellent American IPA of the West Coast substyle.

L: 4.25 | S: 4.5 | T: 4.25 | F: 4.0 | O: 4.25 | Rating: 4.27

 

Beer #2, also courtesy of @FBarber . This one is Vivid Light, an American India Pale Ale from Phase Three Brewing (a new beer and brewery for me). I love being able to try out different beers from all over the country.

3.46/5 rDev -9.4%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

Normal pour into a teku resulted in the type of head indicative of a more aggressive pour. Once it settled a bit it revealed a copper color and a a foamy head that left behind moderate lacing. Smell is fairly meh. It reminds me of something I can't quite put a finger on, but the smell overall doesn't shine in any particular way. Taste reveals some citrus & pine, with light bitterness. Medium carbonation. Overall, I'm not entirely sure what this beer is trying to be. It's good, but doesn't stand out in any one area. It reminds me of the type of beer you'd get at your average local taproom, and I don't mean that as a dig. It's a good, very drinkable beer that 10 years ago would have made more of an impression on me.

 

First new beer for me this weekend comes from Trillium, and is actually a wine/beer hybrid wild ale called Armatage. The concept behind this beer came about from Firestone Walker's Terroir Project a couple years back, which they made an iteration of.

Trillium sourced Rkatsiteli wine grape juice from Westport Rivers Winery in Westport, MA. The Rkatsiteli grape is originally from the country of Georgia and is one of the oldest grape varietals in history. "In Georgia, clay vessels were found with seeds of Rkatsiteli grapes which date back to 3000 BC." I have tried a Georgian Rkatsiteli wine once or twice I believe at a wine tasting. I'm more of a red guy personally, but it makes a nice crisp white wine. Onto the beer...



Last Sunday night I reviewed a similar style from them, Oenobier with Sémillon grapes and I was perplexed at how wild funky and lambic-like that beer or at least the aroma was. This one seems less funky and wild and more wine-like and juicy.

Brewery notes:

This beer pours a slightly cloudy straw yellow gold with lots of bubbles streaming to the top and a frothy white foam head that recedes to a minimal ring. Smells like slightly funky fruity white wine, rather juicy with voluptuous fruit notes of tropical pineapple, pear, apricot, vinous white grapes, honeysuckle, lemongrass, some rocky minerality, tart pithy lemony orange citrus, hints of barnyard funk, hay, straw, touch of malty grain, with dusty floral earthy hop notes. Tastes moderately intense and vinous, tart and tropical, with upfront zippy pineapple and starfruit flavors, gooseberry, lemony orange citrus, tart apricot, pear, white grapes, mildly acetic white wine, honeysuckle, lemongrass, slight minerality, hay, straw, malty grains, hint of spice, with some dusty floral earthy herbal hop notes. Feels medium light bodied, creamy and smooth with crisp moderate carbonation. Overall a really nice wine/beer hybrid wild ale.

This definitely drinks like a nice crisp wine, and at 8.6% abv a bit smoother too. The malt adds a little sweetness to remind you it is still beer, but definitely closer to wine than maybe any other beer I've had from Trillium, which I think is what they were going for. Not too sour or funky, very vinous and juicy like a white natural wine. Quite nice, I'm enjoying. Cheers all, and happy New Beer Weekend!

 

Pours a very nice amber color
Aroma has resounding hop hints
The taste follows the nose with abundant hop flavors with a very nicely balanced bitterness
A medium bodied well carbonated beer
A ver well crafted Imperial IPA

 

Hey what's going on?!

Well another weekend in ! I am stoked! You know what I haven't had in ages?!?!?

PIZZA!! oh man getting some tonight!

and you know what goes great with Pizza???? you guessed it.

Did a very solid needed beer run as the funds were getting low. Strangely Summer feels like it's ending early this year, with a start to Fall which is unprecedented and awkward as could be. But the beers are plentiful.

Let's see what's new for our hero today.

Aslin Brewing Co. - Master of Karate Double IPA



Poured from the can into a Spiegelau IPA glass.

Exceptionally clear bodied, with a perfect brass yellow hue and fine streams of carbonation. Fluffy topped and very fine big bubbled head. Bright white in color and easily reaching four fingers with control and excellent staying power. Fantastic looking IPA.

Hop aroma is more subtle than obvious. First note is a dank, then a touch of simple pine notes on the hop angle. Hits oily zest but not quite distinct enough on then nose to pinpoint. Solid but a bit too much of discovery to find something.

Palate opens up a very new world. Oily and rich mouthfeel, with hits of hop deliciousness. Oily resin and pine mixing in with citrus oils in the mix to create a good pleasurable sensation. Lots of oily slow burning flavors, lemon rind, marmalade and hot pine needles. Aftertaste continues with the same flavors, but also is even a little numbing. There's a hint of chewy malt in this for counter sweetness as well for balance.

Pretty unique tasting IPA, doesn’t quite get all the right buttons for me, but certainly pushes many good ones. Very unique DIPA.

look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25 | 4.21/5 rDev -5.6%

Cheers!

 

Here's a Cigar City beer I have not had.

3.74/5 rDev -5.1%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75

Poured from a 12oz can dated 5/19/2020 to a tulip.
Body is dark brown with red hues at the edges. The head is briefly beautiful. Puffy, large many sizes bubbles tan/brown color. Trouble is it fades to a thin ring in about 100 seconds. Subsequent lacing in minimal.
Smells of sweet chocolate and roasted malt with a hint of fermented cherries.
On first taste I thought this is sweeter than I want it to be. However, that fades to dryness as you drink. I guess my pallet started to ignore the sweetness and concentrated on the finish for the rest of the session.
The mouth feel is smooth probably due to the oatmeal.
Overall pretty good but not special.

 

Yesterday I ventured up to Rockland County, NY for some beer hunting, for the first time since maybe last December. I was pleasantly rewarded by finding a couple of kegs of Marston's ales available for growler purchases. Last night I had the Pedigree Bitter, which was fan-freaking-tastic!

And today I just popped open the Pearl Jet Stout:

Coincidentally, I think this will go quite nicely in the pot of chili I'm about to get started on.

And sadly, this isn't nearly up to snuff. Even for a low-ish gravity English Stout it's fairly basic. It's playing that dark chocolate note well enough, but any support from any caramel or dark fruit is too subdued to lend much complexity. Fruit and nuts are actually there in the aroma, but don't really translate to the palate. A plus side is how nicely dry and bitter it finishes, but a body which is too thin almost works against it, leading to a washed-out and minerally overall feeling. Drinkable yet flawed and unexciting: C+ (2.95).

Last night's Pedigree was a solid A, btw, and on the level of some of the old Bateman's beer we used to get.

 

Time for another new beer!



Poured from the bottle into a teku glass. Vintage 2020.

Real nice looking brew here. Deep dark walnut brown, not quite black but certainly dark enough, with a real vanilla yellow and tan mixing colored head. Real unique head color sitting with creamy popping retention and fine bubbles. Great looking brew.

Delicious aroma. Muted oak notes, but a soft cherry to almost plum sense of fruit. Hits thick jam and some dark chocolate and gooey milky flavors as well. Light touches of roast coffee and soft cinnamon also. Quite a neat mix.

Palate provides a classic rich porter amped up experience. Chewy hits of almost taffy red hot candy and chocolate. Spicy hits of cinnamon and rich dark chocolate in the mid palate. Finishes with oaky touches of nearly winter warmer berry flavors but with more roast and warmth. Spicy, rich, but with a real light pleasing body that hits porter character of a nice papery light and chocolate wafer like crispness.

Real neat creation from Firestone.. Delicious.

look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25 | 4.27/5 rDev +1.7%

Cheers!