New Beer Weekend #5

I love those woody IPA’s and Burton Baton and Doom are two of my favorites. I’m always bugging Founders on social media to bring it back!

 

Alvinne SloePhi


Pours a vibrant red color with a medium sized, pinkish, spongy head.


Smells of a leathery, cheesy tartness, wrapped into wet leaves, cherry pulp and blueberries. Fruit and funk build up an intriguing complexity on the nose, peaking with a smoked pith quality.


Drinks utmost refreshing with a well accentuated sourness among a lively tartness and a lighter body.


Tastes of moldy earth, lighter cream cheese, introducing prominent cherry, orange zest and sandy blueberries. Turns a tad sweeter, fruitier then with a gentle creaminess among a lively, well dosed carbonation and prominent tartness. Finishes heavier on the funk, with accompanying mushrooms, remaining fruits and a lighter, dryer yet prominent tartness.


Incredibly refreshing and fruity with a powerful, masterfully nuanced sourness. This is a great beer.

 

I think every 7 Seas beer I've had can be summed up as "not bad. Not great."

 

Ha! Me too! I've been aging two cans for nearly a year. Sounded like something ideal to chew on while I put together a new shelf for the shop/shed. Despite a fair number of negative reviews of it being overly sweet, I was surprised to enjoy it. I think the licorice sold it for me actually (Fremont's Rusty Nail is in my top ten). This seems to be a polarizing brew.



4.5/5 rDev +10.8%
look: 5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.5
Aug 02, 2020
L: The darkest mahogany black brew with a forever dense head of tall espresso-milk froth. Left the widest band of foam at the tip top of the glass, and a lacy pattern below.

S : Dark roasted malts, hot cocoa, and a note of leather. This had that European dark ale vibe in the background which worked out rather nicely. Cherry liquor and licorice became more and more prominent as it warmed.

T: I was worried from other posts that this would be sickly sweet without balance, but I was pleasantly surprised.

F: Luscious silk and velvet sweetness, right carbonation and a real delicious sipper.

O: A fine evil Christmas milk or whatever they were going for. Well planned and equally well executed.

 

@JackHorzempa must be the weekend for this beer!

This beer really changed a lot from colder to warmer and I prefer it on the warmer side for sure, as for my palate the flavors blended together really well vs when colder I found that they were separated a bit and a little harsher. A very complex beer and I enjoyed it!

 

I agree with your comment of "prefer it on the warmer side". I drank my last can of this beer later last evening and I too really noticed that the last half of the glass was more expressive & complex compared to the first half. I too attribute this to the warming but needless to say there are other aspects going on during the 'opening up' process.

Cheers!

 

Spiral Brewery, "The Hatch" Maibock. Brewed in Hastings, MN
Bought a 4pak at Chicones in Hudson WI

16oz cans with a date on the bottom of 6/30/2020. 6.7% ABV
Look: gold body with a nice tall fine white head that dissipates rather quickly leaving plenty of lacing
Smell: mostly bread, hint of floral, honey
taste: bread, slightly sweet soft malt, maybe a hint of honey comb, The Hops come in half way thru and come out more as it warms. Mostly floral but there is some citrus too, lemon, grapefruit and maybe a hint of orange peel. A balanced beer, slight sweet then slightly bitter. ABV is very well hidden.
Decent mouth feel

A nice beer for hot weather. Not wimpy or heavy duty
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/52464/498165/

 

Schlafly Pumpkin Ale - I am a huge fan of pumpkin ales and while a little early thanks to seasonal creep when I see some fresh ones I just can't resist, no matter what the weather is like. Surprisingly this is my first time having this one and WOW, I can see why it is mentioned over and over in Pumpkin Ale threads, definitely ranks up there for me now. Pours a dark Amber almost Ruby-ish color and the smell is fantastic, perfect balance of everything...I am getting a little hungry just smelling this beer The carbonation is high but not too much and the taste is perfect. I will be drinking this often over the season.

And 8%, where?! Very well hidden. Bottled on 07/30 for those curious.

Repeat purchase? Won't be for me but that's just because of how I feel towards IPAs. But I will definitely enjoy finishing the pack.

 

No, but only because it is a freshness thing. This beer is a seasonal from Cigar City: “July – September 2020”. For my recent purchase the beers were canned on 6/15/20 and once I got them home I immediately placed the cans in my refrigerator. I am not sure how vibrant these beers would be now at my local beer retailers since they were not stored cold.

I will indeed purchase another 4-pack next year if available to me.

Cheers!

 

Wegmans KOP has a few packs left on the shelf with a 07/13 date it you're interested.

 

Covert Artisan Ales No Bake BA Imperial Pastry stout, 10.5% ABV. Pours thick and black, with a one-finger brown head that left no lacing. Nose is peanut, chocolate, coffee, and coconut. Taste follows, plus cold-press coffee and rum, quite sweet, slightly bitter. Excellent mouthfeel, if a bit light on carbonation. Overall world-class. They knocked it out of the park with their first pastry stout.

4.52/5 rDev 0%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5

Covert Artisan is a local that is known for their sours, but they really nailed this! First 25oz crowler I've seen around here.

 

Hey everyone. This was from a mix pack I bought this week. Its new to me because I don't usually drink Wits. This one is pretty good. Tried to rate to style and ignore my aversion to Belgian yeast.

3.6/5 rDev -1.1%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

Poured a 12oz can dated 06 DEC 2020, from a mix pack to a Nonic.
Light hazy yellow body below a 1/4" head.
Lemony smell with distinctive Belgian yeast.
Taste is light and refreshing. Some light spice but not identifiable by me.
Mouthfeel is thin, but that's kind of asset for this beer.
Not bad for a style I don't usually seek.

 

Breathing : Conservations is a DIPA from Finback
This pale yellow can pour is opaquely cloudy and hosts a 1 cm foam cap. The visible effervescence dissipates quickly.
The aroma is sweet: tropical and floral.
The flavor is full (overfull?) with orange, mango, pineapple and some peach notes.
This is a full fruit party.
There is some prickly carbonation in an otherwise soft, smooth mouthfeel.
This is a rich brew.

 

Late afternoon after working in the yard means it's pale lager time:

This is a collab between two NYC boutique brewers, Other Half and Interboro, conveniently dubbed OtherBoro.

I'm actually having a hard time wrapping my head around this one, so first thing off the bat is that I'm going to very broadly approach it as simply a "pale lager" and not in the Munich style. Because it's not. Totally not. And there's very little that's even 'continental' about it either.

On it's own terms here's what I believe they are going for: a "session" malty IPL. In fact, the aroma truly reminds me of Hoponius Union, except very toned down and gentle. That grapefruit/juniper/mango/grains of paradise quality is there, nicely lilting and clear as a bell.

It doesn't fully translate to the palate, however. There it's a mostly neutral grainy quality, reminiscent of watered-down, slightly sweet cookie dough; alongside some grapefruit peel pithiness and wafts of spice. There's enough bitterness to give sufficient structure, but that's about it. And the finish seems to be marred by slight astringency.

So, even on it's own terms it's not a success. It's pleasant enough, I suppose, if you just gulp it down and don't think too much. But I've honestly had better in that context, and at half the price (yesterday's Yuengling Golden Pilsner, for example). Even giving the benefit of the doubt it's a disappointing C (2.5). And I really had high hopes for this one, too...

 

Drinking this next variant of Deciduous Brewing's Dormancy imperial porter, this one brewed with Tayberries and organic unsweetened coconut flakes.



Compared to the fig and maple version, this one has a much larger frothier foam head that I had to stick my finger into to settle down and pour again. After putting my finger into the foam it was probably the loudest and most rapid foam reduction I have ever witnessed. Still going off of the hunch that these could be slightly tart. Initial aromas are of slightly sour milk. Creamy and not totally off-putting, reminds me of lactose gone wrong though. Still wondering what kind of yeast they used for these beers, like other reviewers.

This beer pours a maroon red brown black with a dense creamy dark beige foam head. Smells like slightly soured cream, fresh Tayberries, sweet red fruit almost like a cranberry craisin, dark fruit, rich caramel, toffee, chocolate, coffee roast, mixed berries, molasses, mild coconut, with earthy herbal hop notes. The taste has a similar quality to the fig and maple version I previously reviewed, a quite apparent upfront acidity that plays with the fruit, but somehow doesn't turn too sour or dominant against the dark chocolatey roasted malts. Really interesting combination here with the berries, of which I never heard of, I remember looking it up briefly in the store and then said eh wth it's berries and coconut. Real interesting dark red berry flavor, almost like a dried cranberry/craisin, or maybe even goji berry. Turns out a Tayberry is just a cross between a blackberry and a red raspberry, not as exotic as I thought. Now that I think about it, I'm tasting blackberries and raspberries, and the acidity feels normal. Super rich and chocolatey too, nice dark chocolate blackberry raspberry combo. Tastes slightly acidic upfront with fresh Tayberries, blackberry, raspberry, blueberry, red fruit, mixed berries, goji berry, craisin, an almost cinnamon-esque cobbler spice, dark fruit, black grapes, plum, hint of lemony citrus, slight cola, roasted malts, coffee, dark bakers chocolate, sweet coconut, creamy caramel, toasty toffee, molasses, touch of leather, licorice, subtle soy sauce, char, with earthy herbal piney hops. Feels lighter bodied, creamy and smooth with moderate high carbonation. Overall a real nice and interesting imperial porter brewed with Tayberry and coconut.

Cheers everyone, hope you enjoy what's in your glass, and happy New Beer Weekend!

 

A very well constructed beer, impossible to do it better.

 

While this is a good beer, it’s not even in the ballpark with Burton Baton. Just saying! Cheers!

 

I've had couple that didn't quite make that bar. Especially when they first started canning.

 

You have a great memory (or fantastic database).

Thanks for the tip!

Cheers!

 

Today’s new to me beer is from @JayWhitson - DDH Double June Grass, Mountains Walking Brewing Co., Bozeman, MT:



32 oz crowler filled 8/17/20. Deep gold with excellent clarity; two fingers of rocky white foam; very good cap retention; medium heavy lacing; heavy ring; thinnest of thin legs upon swirl. Dank weedy pineapples, grapefruit, orange, and pine nose; boozy retro nasal. Bitter lemongrass (65 IBUs) up front; pine, pineapple, grapefruit; phenolic boozy, tastes a tad hot; semi sweet malt foundation anchors the bitter hops and aggressive alcohol flavors. Medium body, sticky resin feel; moderate carbonation; warmth in mouth and alcohol bite on tongue from 9.3% abv. Overall there is a tasty bitter grapefruit/lemon linger accompanied by alcohol; I personally like boozy beers when the flavors compliment one another and this well made WCDIPA pulls it off in spades; this almost TIPA is my kinda beer - nothing off putting or wimpy here, just big bold flavors!

4.75 | 4.25 | 4.75 | 4.5 | 4.5
Score: 4.61 rDev 0%

Thanks Jay!