New Beer Weekend #7

Good morning! My new beer comes courtesy of @basaywhat , a imperial stout with vanilla and coffee, brewed in Bloomington IL by Lil Beaver Brewery - “Coffee Cloud Maker”:



Poured at 55 degrees, black liquid with ruby edges; some clarity under a fast fizzy reddish tan cap that began to vanish by the second pic, leaving no retention, and only the thinnest of incomplete rings; no lace or legs on swirl. Some espresso on nose with a whisper of vanilla. Taste is Vanilla, mild roast coffee and cocoa nibs; no bitterness; mineral/metallic finish. Medium minus body, moderate carbonation; no warmth from 11% abv. Overall this stout is ok; it feels thin for the abv, and there is something artificial and/or metallic in the taste...I keep thinking “tinny”...not bad, per se, as there is vanilla and coffee flavors...a one and done.



Thanks again Chris! Cheers!

3.75 | 3.75 | 3.5 | 3.25 | 3.5
Score: 3.55 rDev -1.1%

 

Have a good NBW. I've been creeping around Indiana for the last 2 weeks on a mini vacation. Was in Fort Wayne for a week and a half with old college friends/fraternity brothers, now in Fishers IN at my old roommate's house with his wife and 2 fraternal twin children. They are almost 2 now. We have been playing steam stream games to our laptops last night. Still finding time to review beers again. Getting some local brewery visits in there as well.

Mad Anthony Ruby Raspberry Wheat. Excellent fruit wheat. Lasting rocky head retention/soapy lacing. Aromas and flavors of big ruby red raspberries, fruit skin/seeds, peach, pear, apricot, red apple, wheat, cracker, biscuit, light toast, herbal, floral, wood, grass, and yeast earthiness. Light herbal, woody, grassy, bitterness; and fruit tang/tartness on the finish. Medium carbonation and light-medium body; with a very smooth, moderately creamy/grainy wheat, and lightly sticky/acidic/tangy mouthfeel that is great. Lightly increasing bitter/tart/tangy dryness after the finish; no cloying sweetness. Very smooth, soft, and refreshing. No warmth of 4.7%. Great balance of juicy/jammy raspberries, fruity yeast, and clean pale/.wheat malt flavors; with solid earthy hop presence. Light residual sweetness with lingering dryness. No complaints. 4.03


Cheers

 

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 very well carbonated crisp beer
A good Kolsch

 

A new IPA substyle – Bavarian IPA!?!

Happy Labor Day weekend everybody!

At the end of July I started a thread with that above title:

https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/a-new-ipa-substyle-bavarian-ipa.644065/

I will be borrowing some elements of the OP for that thread for today’s discussion:

“München On Hops - Bavarian IPA”

I visited the Devils Backbone website to learn:

“We’ve been brewing world class beers inspired by German traditions for over a decade, so when Spaten, the granddaddy of all Oktoberfest breweries, called on us to collaborate we thought, “Let’s brew the hoppiest new-school German party beer this side of München” (a.k.a. Munich, for our stateside friends). So that’s what we did. München On Hops uses all German ingredients and abides by the Bavarian purity law, but we gave it some American flair with extra hops straight from the source. Grab a handful of steins and celebrate this Oktoberfest by dancing on benches with your hop-loving freunde.

Hoppy, Bready & Fruity notes.

Malts: German Pilsner, Light Munich, Cara-Hell, Malted Wheat, and Acidulated

Hops: Hallertau Blanc, Calista, and Hull Melon

ALC/VOL: 6.7

Color: Deep Golden”

https://www.dbbrewingcompany.com/beverage/munchen-on-hops/

I am familiar with Hallertau Blanc and Hull Melon – they are ‘new wave’ hops from Germany.

I had to research Calista hops. Firstly, this must be a new hop for the Devils Backbone folks since they misspelled it on their website – it has two l’s: Callista.

“Callista was developed by the Hop Research Center in Hüll, Germany. Its low alpha acid content and strong aromatics make it an ideal choice for late kettle additions and dry hopping. Callista's aroma and flavor profile is characterized as citrus, stone fruit, passion fruit, red berries, and gooseberry.”

https://www.morebeer.com/products/gr-callista-pellet-hops-place-holder.html

So, another ‘new wave’ hop from Germany. Maybe this beer does deserve a new sub-style name of Bavarian IPA?

This beer is packaged in 12-packs in my area and without tasting this beer first I was not willing to commit to buying it. Luckily a local beer retailer made these beers available in their singles section so I purchased a couple of bottles.

Served in my Spiegelau IPA glass:

Appearance:

Pours a golden color with a BIG white head.

Aroma:

There are vibrant fruity aromas: berry fruits, stone fruits.

Taste:

The flavors follows the nose with fruity flavors but they are less vibrant on the palate. There is not much there in the way of malt flavors. There is a medium bitterness.

Mouthfeel:

Thin - moderate bodied with an off-dry finish. There is a hint of astringency.

Overall:

Overall this is basically a good beer. I did find the slight astringency to be a bit distracting.

If I were served this beer blind I would likely characterize it as being an American IPA. Tony (@boddhitree) has detailed a number of German brewed IPAs in the Germany forum that have distinctive attributes of malty flavors (e.g., from a notable amount of Munich Malt as being part of the grain bill). IMO those sorts of beer would be more appropriately categorized as a Bavarian (German) IPA.

Cheers!

@KOP_Beer_OUtlet @rotsaruch @RobH

 

Welcome to NH Industrial Arts. This is a 4 year Anniversary NEDIPA with Galaxy and Amarillo hops canned on 8/18/2020. Pours a hazy yellow orange with a finger plus sticky white head that leaves a big thick foamy collar around the entire glass with amazing retention.5 Gorgeous beer.

Smell is guava, ripe melon, peach, pineapple, apricot, and some grapefruit rind. 4.5

Taste follows big in flavor but low on bitterness, and amazingly balanced throughout. Guava, honeydew, pineapple, peach, passionfruit, apricot, and just a tickle of white grapefruit in the finish. 4.5

Mouthfeel is big, soft gentle carbonation almost creamy, a tad sticky not dry, and at 8.2% it goes down very easy, but may drink more like 9% in flavor and body. 5

Overall this is a special beer and I can’t wait to what arrives from this place, I had some stuff from them in trade and never realized how well priced they are at $16 a 4 pack for killer suds. 4.5

 

Pours a nice clear light amber color with a slight head and lacing
Aroma has slight hop and barley hints
The taste follows the nose with a well balanced hop and barley flavor
A medium bodied decently carbonated beer
A good English Bitter

 

Pours a nice hazy golden color with a slight head and lacing
Aroma has tropical and citrus hints
The taste follows the nose with a nicely balanced tropical and citrus flavor
A medium bodied well carbonated beer
A well done IIPA

 

A new to me beer I picked up at the brewery yesterday, Angry Chair’s “The Rake”, a DIPA DDH with Mosaic and Citra:



Hazy deep gold with some clarity under fluffy two fingers of white foam; very good plus cap retention; medium heavy lacing; heavy ring. Strong dank weedy nose; pineapple, mango, with lemon rind on backend; onion as liquid warms. Taste is tropical fruit with a touch of citrus peel bitterness; onion middle; melon, pineapple, guava, grapefruit finish. Medium light, moderate carbonation, no warmth from 8% abv.; not fluffy, but juicy and soft feeling. Overall, easy drinking and tasty; for the most part the Mosaic plays nice with the Citra, although I could do without the onion notes; the feel is just right for me - juicy, but not full, soft but not pillowy; a NEIPA light in a DIPA format?; glad I bought a crowler, and I’d drink again in a heartbeat.

4.75 | 4.0 | 4.25 | 4.0 | 4.25
Score: 4.2 rDev -0.9%

 

Interesting. Southern Tier used to market this beer as an "ESB" but your pic shows that they are now calling it an "IPA." Their old description of it stated: "Harvest is brewed with a combination of fresh English hops, cracked barley, and hard work." but their new description states: "Our Harvest IPA is brewed with American hops, cracked barley and hard work."

Is this just another case of sticking "IPA" on a beer label? There might have been a recipe change, but maybe not... or perhaps it was a gradual shift. Last year, when their description still called it an ESB with English hops, their flavor notes were: "spicy pine, overtones of grapefruit and fresh hops." Those flavor notes remain unchanged this year. Maybe they updated part of the description last year but not all of it.

Personally, this beer always struck me as an "American pale ale" (for as long as can remember) before it was marketed as such no matter what ingredients they've used. I wonder if their "English hop" claim has been inaccurate for a long time (if it was ever inaccurate).

@TongoRad

 

The American-English hybrid ESB has long been a brewing tradition on these shores, going back to Anderson Valley and Red Hook. That being said, I always thought that Harvest was a really good one. I've seen this year's but haven't gotten it yet, so can't say if it's been revamped or not.

 

@TheGent sent me this imperial stout from Kane. Appearance is jet black, slick with some darker tan head. Aroma is toasty with bitter dark chocolate. Taste is bitter dark chocolate up front with some great honey sweetness on the back end. Mouthfeel is thick and creamy. Overall I’d dig this again in a heartbeat. Thanks Anthony!

 

Trial by Wombat by Thin Man Brewery presents a scary can image but a pleasing cloudy yellow can pour. There is 1 cm of soft, fine foam and an aroma of fruit salad and flowers.
The flavor includes tangerine, pineapple and melon. The flavor is full. The hop bitterness is low to moderate.
The mouthfeel is quite smooth.
I’d like to try this brew on tap at the source someday.

 

Very perceptive!

I am no expert. So, I went to the bottle. The bottle states it is an “Autumn IPA”. Their site describes it as an ESB.

Like I said, I am no expert. But it does not drink like an IPA, nor a Pale Ale. It does have a somewhat similar taste to an ESB.

I wonder if they called it an Autumn “IPA” for marketing purposes (to max the IPA profit). I don’t really know. But it tastes good, using fresher harvested ingredients it seems, but from my experience it does not feel like a Sierra Nevada harvest ale.

 

Howdy, NBWers. (Still getting used to that new acronym).
A new one, this one from the can (had it from glass last night)


4.34/5 rDev +4.8%

look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

L - Typical ORB yellow/gold murk sauce here. A little head, decent lacing.
S - Better combo expectations from the tropical and citrus wall contained herein. Mosaic and Citra front and center.
T - Even better on the palate; you definitely get the full impact of 9% - not boozy, but immensely flavorful from this 1 week old batch.
F - Great full palate impression, could use a tad more carbonation maybe (for me), but darn mouth filling with its prickly alpha acids, and deft alcohol balance. Way too dangerous for 9%. Has a bit of that hallucinatory effect that big DIPA/TIPAs can have.
O - This is one of the better DIPAs from ORB, if you see it, get it.

 

Thank you @jkblr for kicking things off, and welcome Advocates worldwide to NBW 7 and tomorrow's NBS 811. Just a friendly reminder to add the Brewer and Beer Name to your text, as either/both may not be visible to the reader in the picture, or your picture hosting website my pull the picture.

Had a very good and a good saison yesterday, so skipping my planned final "School of Brett" pour until next week. Today's selection is Two-Flat, brewed by Hop Butcher in Lake Zurich, ILL.



Just the facts ma'am: Pint canned 7/21/20, "What's the rent?" the accompanying text, 5.75% ABV. An American Pale Ale brewed with Amarillo, Simcoe & Idaho-7. Multiple pours into a pint glass.

Appearance: Clear faint straw color pour, nominal carbonation, fluffy white head recedes after a few minutes leaving full lacing rings throughout the pour. 4.0

Aroma: Sweet bold aromas, pine and mango lead, tangerine and citrus back. Sweet but not overwhelming. 4.0

Taste: Consistent with the aroma, sweet but balanced. Pine, tangerine, melon, lemon and citrus. Refreshing flavors, full and enjoyable. 4.25

Mouthfeel: Thin/medium body, light fizzy carbonation lingers throughout, slightly oily. Slightly dry, light bitterness provides balance to the sweet hop flavors. Clean easy finish, very easy drinking. 4.0

Overall: This is a very good great tasting APA, light on ABV bold on flavors. Should have purchased in an earlier release, will definitely seek this out in the future. 4.25

Have a great new beer day!!!

 

Picked this up locally here in the big city of Bedford, TX. I am truly amazed and just about half lit after half a glass. Damn Good Beer! And it's only 12:45.
My BA Extraordinaire, The Magnificent @LeperJim sent me some art work I adored so much. Let me say, in front of the world, Thank You Sir so much!! I truly love the gesture as much as your art. God Bless You to the ends of this earth. And a hearty CHEERS!!!



https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/52077/505997/?ba=Thankin_Hank#review

 

You’re welcome Hank! My instincts told me you needed to keep an eye on it. Cheers!