New Beer Weekend #8

Time for another new beer!



Poured from the bottle into a Libbey style pilsner glass.

Deep brass gold body, maybe nearly brown on the edges and filled with lots of very fine linear carbonation. Head is a creamy eggshell topped white and making a nice presence. Egg white retention and whipped up froth of head, three fingers tall and some good presence. Real nice looking lager.

Aroma is deep and rich. Thick bread dough, nutty slightly, with a good chewy sweetness that begs to be bitten into. Slight hint of fruit tone which is surprising, and classic clean sensations and a touch of faint grass herbal hop. Very impressive so far.

Solid delicious palate. Sweet malt on first sip, bringing thick bread and white crusty flavors. Rich chewy texture and some light herbal and grass bitterness that makes a nice play. Finishes almost spicy with a popping hob angle of green grass and light bitterness for balance.

Good simple tasty keller.

look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4 | 4.1/5

Cheers!

 

Hey, Dave. Great to see you review a beer! All the best!

 

Went to the UP for vacation and picked up this new beer from Upper Hand (Bells). There is no disto on Upper Hand beers out of the peninsula. This is their IPA, 7% ABV, pours a copper hue with little head generation, some stickey lacing is nice. Faint aroma of pine, sweet fruit, taste is piney and tropical fruit. Medium mouthfeel with slight bitterness. We done IPA.

 

My last new beer for this weekend is Founders Oktoberfest. I was interested to try this and finally found a place that got it, so picked up a 15pk for the months to come. Canned on 08.20.20. Figured it would be appropriate to have 2 like I've been doing with the 12oz cans of JA Copper Legend. Ended up pouring a second of Bitburger last night too when I finished the first glass, partly because I forgot to finish the ratings before the beer was gone. This should be a good amount to get a first impression from. Watching some football too, Cam Newton looks pretty good on NE, waiting to watch TB play on TB now... oddly enough.



Wanted to get good lighting since the red mahogany wood background in the living room doesn't do the appearance of clear lighter colored beers justice. This pic actually looks like how the beer looks to me held up to light, a nice clear amber golden orange with yellow highlights around the edges, and a fair frothy white foam head that recedes to a thin ring around the glass. Smells toasty, malty, a bit fruity and sweet, with some caramel and dried apricot notes, nutty toasted grain, mild toffee sweetness, hint of spice, with a touch of earthy floral hop notes. Tastes a bit more rich and concentrated, malty notes of light caramel, nutty toasted bready grain, mild toffee sweetness, dried apricot fruit, dark amber honey, charred bread crust, with a gentle hint of spice and earthy herbal floral hops. Feels medium lighter bodied, creamy slick, almost heavy and thick, with smooth moderate low carbonation. Overall a real nice märzen Oktoberfest beer.

This is a bit different and maybe a little less dry than some others I've had recently. I'm liking this, and I think it's a pretty good domestic märzen style. The aroma is a bit muted and weak for me right now, and at first I thought it tasted like Sam Adams Octoberfest. The taste on this is definitely richer with a nice grainy nutty toasted malty aftertaste. I'm enjoying and glad to have 13 more for the cooler seasons. Cheers everyone and happy New Beer Weekend!

 

I don't have a review for this one yet, and I'm not even sure there's a listing for it on BA (the 2019 version is retired). Pretty sure this is a fresh hop beer, based on how it was listed at the store where I bought it (which you can see on the crowler). C.S.A. Farm Harvest from Matchless Brewing in Tumwater, Washington. Nicely hoppy, my guess is Centennial and Amarillo, with a pale biscuity malt backbone that definitely allows the hops to shine. Super drinkable and great for a lazy Sunday afternoon with not much to do. Cheers!

 

Good Sunday afternoon, New Beer Swiggers and commentators. High Point Brewing Company, in Butler, NJ, brews under the name Ramstein. It's one of the gems of the state. Nearly all of its beers are authentic German styles and they're generally very good although the distribution is limited. I believe this is the first time Ramstein's canned its Märzen. It's a beautiful pour: deep, rich amber with a large, long-lasting head. The smell is spot-on. And the taste? Extremely well-balanced between sweet caramel malt, buttery brown bread, and spices with Noble hop bitterness at the finish. I haven't had a locally-brewed Oktoberfest lager this well-balanced; they tend to be overly sweet or too bitter. This stands toe-to-toe with Ayinger, which for me is the gold standard.

I'll be back shortly with a BIG IPA from one of my favorite breweries. I'm glad I reviewed the Märzen first so that my palate isn't wrecked. Cheers, NBW!

 

Okay, so that wasn't the best experience I've ever had, especially not the best new brewery experience, so let's see if they can make up for it with the Mexican Hot Chocolate Pumpkin Stout. Why the hell not?



This one pours a really good looking dark-brown that borders on pitch-black once it builds up in my glass. As you can see, this thing has quite the head upon first pour, but it did quickly settle down to about a half-finger of mocha foam. Nice lacing as the head sinks down, and pretty good legs to boot. Perhaps this will redeem them from whatever the hell I just drank.

The nose here is pretty good, actually, but it does seem highly adjunct-dependent. I smell dusty cocoa powder, earthy chili peppers, cinnamon, nutmeg, roasted grains, coffee (though there is none in the beer as far as I know), vanilla, and marshmallow. Once again, it seems like they may have forgotten to put pumpkin in this beer. Did they literally just forget to put pumpkin in all of their pumpkin beers? I didn't really know how these flavors would marry with the squashy pumpkin flavor anyway, and Mexican hot chocolate stouts typically have a lot of similar spices in them compared to pumpkin beers anyway, so maybe it's... for the best?

The flavor profile is not bad either... strong cocoa and yeasty notes with a dry, roasted grain-forward main flavor on the palate followed by some cinnamon and a rather nice, lingering heat from whatever kind of chili peppers they added. This is actually pretty nice... well-balanced, flavorful, fun to drink, and somehow also sorta light-bodied (only 5.9%). I have to say that the piquancy and lingering burn from the peppers is the best part of this one. I've had some other Mexican hot cocoa stouts and similar styles, but this one actually does a really good job with balancing everything and still making the base beer prominent enough. I just don't get an autumnal/pumpkin spice feel from it. It just feels like, well, spice. Cuz that's what it is. Hmm. These both make me want to try the other pumpkin beers O'Fallon has put out just to see if my hypothesis about them forgetting the actual, ya know, pumpkin itself is true... shrug.

One more in a while... currently have beer bread in the oven featuring a can of Avery's The Kaiser (imperial Octoberfest). I had no idea they re-released that, by the way. Was shocked to see it in my local crappy liquor store at the fine price of $13.99 a sixer. It's freaking 8%! I last had The Kaiser 7 years ago at a buddy's house, back when it came in a bomber. Wonder if anyone else here remembers enjoying that one back in the day. Cheers!

 

I am a fan THAT Kaiser...

 

Triptych Dank Meme Hazy APA, 5.0% ABV; 4.22 overall

Pours an effervescent & hazed straw color with 2+ fingers of fluffy eggshell colored head. Great lacing & very good head retention

S: Mangoes & oranges, fades down the stretch a little

T: Mango, green melon, oranges up front, dome dryness & white grape as well. Green melon, lime & grassyness as this warms, a little peach as well. Finishes juicy with lime, green melon & peach

MF: Medium body, creamy carbonation, nice balance

Nice drinkability, a very nice offering

last second edit: Started getting pineapple as well.

 

NBW #2. Rushing Duck is one of my favorite breweries. The beer is excellent, Chester, NY is a very cool town, the facility is really nice, the staff is super friendly, and James is the world's greatest brewery cat. There's no brewery in the metro area that blends BA Stouts and Quads better. August marked the brewery's 8th Anniversary. I always try to attend the anniversary celebration, which is a blast. This year, however, it was a bit lower key with two Saturdays of special releases. RD isn't shy about brewing high ABV Stouts, blends, and IPAs. Double Duck In is an 11.1% DIPA. Brewed with Simcoe and Mosaic and dry hopped with Citra and Azacca, it's super dank and has that distinctive Rushing Duck taste - maybe it's the water or the house yeast but you can tell. This is very good and I think it drinks bigger than 11.1% Congratulations to Rushing Duck on another year of fine brewing and good times. I may not be a Chester townie but I'm one of your biggest fans.

4.18/5 rDev 0%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

Reviewed the day after can release. Poured into a Rushing Duck 8th Anniversary 10 oz. glass. It pours a hazy, bright golden-orange color with a thin, milk-white head and minimal lacing. It's highly aromatic with tangerine, pineapple, lemon, lime, onion, a whiff of vanilla, cannabis, and resinous pine. It's as dank as they come and opens with a strong dose of malt, lemon peel, grapefruit, tangerine, onion, and pine sap. As it warms in the glass I begin to taste some stone fruit. The hop bill is pretty basic: the Simcoe hops provide pine, earthy citrus, and strong bitterness, while the Mosaic contributes additional citrus and spicy bitterness, and the Azacca adds still more resinous pine. The mouth feel is thick and dense with moderate carbonation, and you can really feel the 11.1% ABV. Overall, at a time when many brewers are releasing TIPA and even QIPAs, Double Duck In drinks big and bold. I can understand why the brewery serves it in 10 oz. pours. This is a tasty and fun beer to drink. Happy 8th Anniversary, Rushing Duck!

 

Yummy find.



4.48/5 rDev +4.2%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.5

The Merkin, poured into a Willie Becker glass, is a rich and roasty looking stout, very dark, a thin head with a little carbonation. The aroma is toasty sweet molasses and/or brown sugar. Amazingly lighter than it smells, it is an excellent oatmeal stout and is not overpowered by the sweet molasses, brown sugar aroma suggests. Nor the bourbon or its barrel. Smooth and creamy Merkin goes down with pleasure. Delicious. Overall an outstanding oatmeal stout. Do this one again. Vintage 2018. "BEER BEFORE GLORY"

 

Hello NBWers, and yes, that's a compliment.
Didn't expect to have a new beer for today, but hey, shit happens.
Prost Brewing's KOLSCH. 4.8% of winning.
Canned 7.27.20
More? Read on.

4.1/5 rDev +8.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

L - clear as a bell for a Kolsch; good head, not much lacing, but at 4.8% who would expect a lot?
S - Fantastic sourdough citric apple; clean for days
T- taste the malts, motherf****er; more bread than a bakery, very nice apple-esque hoppy Kolsch characteristics, still smooth at the end however. Threatens too much hoppiness, then quickly backs off, kidding. In a traditional way. (That's good). - is it Dovetail-quality Kolsch. No, but then again you knew I was going to say that.
F - Great balance for this hybrid style; so many lean either too malty or too overdone on new American hops. This is proper.
O - A damn fine, affordable, and widely available six packer of classic Kolsch in cans? What's not to like. I'd crush a sixer of these on the front porch listening to accordions.

 

Are you out on the coast or in the Seattle area today? Just wondering, as that heron doesn't appear to be masked up.

 

That looks like an AWESOME beer, Dave, but it's not nearly as awesome as seeing you back in this thread with a beer to share with us. Welcome back!

 

On the coast of Whidbey Island, AirBnB with my in-laws west of Oak Harbor. To be fair, the heron's taking a bite. He had to take the mask down.

 

I usually have the same background every weekend, haha. I still have yet to add my book about modular synthesis to my coffee table collection, but you can't go wrong with Swedish Death Metal and beer books!

Alright, here's my last new beer of the week. It is Tart Strawberry M-43 by Old Nation, and I'm super excited to give it a shot!



I first had M-43 and its older brother, Boss Tweed, almost four months ago when we first got a random really-fresh (11-12 days old) drop of both of these coveted Midwestern NEIPAs in the actual vicinity of New England. I negative-rDev'd both of them, which is probably expected coming from someone who is used to the "real thing" when it comes to New England hazy/juicy hoppy beers, but I didn't mean anything bad by those ratings... I legitimately thought both were very cool beers and completely understand their massive appeal to the markets that they are regularly/commonly available in. Then I saw recently that we got a small drop of the "tart strawberry" version of M-43, and I decided to pick one up...

This one initially seems to pour similarly to the normal M-43... hazy/opaque orange juice, but with a slightly deeper color to it this time, and without much in the way of legs or lace. I recall the original variant having much more in the way of retention, legs, and lace, so I can't say I'm super impressed by how this one looks by comparison. That said, I did give M-43 a 4.5 for appearance, so this would be closer to a 3.75 or so, I think.

The nose is fantastic, and immediately brings me into the fold and makes it known that this is a well-made beer. First off, holy shit that strawberry aspect is amazingly present! The only beers I've had that make proper use of this fruit have been sours, but I can't believe how they got it to pop in this recipe! Very surprised they didn't sub Mosaic in to get some of its berry notes to come out and play, but the hop combo of Citra/Amarillo/Simcoe is solid enough to give off some bright tropical fruit and aggressive pine, both of which work to keep this in the "IPA" realm, taming it from wandering off into fruit beer land.

My first sip is strongly berry-forward, reminding me of strawberry candy and tropical fruit gummies with a moderating bitterness and a little hint of malty balance. Overall, this is pretty heavy-handed with the strawberry addition, though, which is something I suspected from the way the smell of the beer came across. If you like strawberry, you're gonna enjoy this one. If you don't, you'll be quite likely to hate it... there's almost surely no mid-point. It does dip its toes into "fruit beer," to be honest, though the floral and slightly-tropical hop bitterness in the finish will probably turn off a lot of people who can't stand IPAs. This seems like a polarizing beer, but as long as you're mildly open-minded and enjoy the idea of a mildly-aggressive fruit addition in an IPA without it being a "sour fruited milkshake IPA," you'll likely find a lot to enjoy.

My beer bread is done...



Came out good. I did use a kit that I bought while up in Maine, so it was pretty much just "add beer and top with butter before baking," but it's pretty tasty! I added some spices and stuff of my own throughout the process though... onion salt, chives, dried minced garlic, and smoked paprika.

Until next week, BA!

 

Hold the Spoon - Black Chocolate Cake from The Bruery is the current new beer. Bought it today at Whidbey Brew Works. Speaking of which, I need to put in a place review. Neat little store.

16oz can served in a wine glass. Dated 04/13/20. Bought it today at Whidbey Beer Works.

Pours black with a small head, not much carbonation. Smell is chocolate cake. Little or nothing else.

Taste is pastry stout -- chocolate, a little vanilla, something roasty that is not quite coffee.

Mouthfeel is thick but not sticky. Overall, pretty nice beer.

 

Hello to all NBW participants and spectators. It's especially nice to see @cavedave make an appearance, and to read that so many are already feeling the change in seasons coming. While it's cooler here today, it's also overcast and very humid. That won't stop me from savoring an IPA that is not only new to me, but is a first time release from Four Points Brewing. Unbranded is a new series that provides a counterpoint to their Overbranded series. Overbranded is always a single hop double dry hopped DIPA, while Unbranded is the just arrived younger sibling of an IPA. This first installment focuses on Topaz, an Australian variety. I decided to read up on it after drinking the beer to try to avoid the tasting notes influencing my review, but alas some of them are printed on the can. The last six months have made me a big fan of the work that Four Points is doing, and this addition to the lineup just reinforces that appreciating.

4.17/5 rDev 0%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

Look - Poured into a becher glass, Unbranded - Topaz is a vibrant, opaque straw/yellow topped with a lingering soft head nearly two inches thick. It left ample sticky lacing around the top half of the glass.
Smell - A melange of citrus and mango combine with a touch of dank, musky grape.
Taste - Much like the aroma, the citrus is up front mixed with more tropical flavors. Less pronounced is the dank and earthy quality, but it does finish the sip for me.
Feel - Pillowy soft while ample carbonation leaves a layer of suds atop the glass throughout.
Overall- A well made and delicious IPA that is a great introduction to Topaz hops.