New Beer Weekend #9

Georgetown's You'll Get Nothing and Like It IPA, bought a growler at the brewery earlier in the week. Served in a Georgetown sample glass.

Pours a mostly clear medium to dark amber with a modest head. Smell is super juicy.

Taste is juicy without being too sweet, bitter and not oppressive. I get pineapple for sure, generally tropical, still has a really nice pine/resin finish.

Mouthfeel is dry and light. This beer is really good. Really really good.

 

Here we are after a hot very dry few months and Summer is not officially over yet but today and tomorrow will feel very much like October. We still need some rain... Will be doing an outdoor show again tomorrow. It will be honoring both a young talented
Woman who can sing like an angel. She recently was diagnosed with a rare bone cancer and has been fighting like a trooper. Just had a surgery to remove a leg so Im dedicating my set to her and my Dad whos days are numbered also due to lung cancer. Should be very therapeutic and I am sure I will shed a tear or two. Thats what music is for. It feeds the soul and I couldnt (wouldnt) live without it.
So lets get on with the positives starting with this beer I picked up in the way back from Maine.
Definitive Brewing Bass Reflex DDH IPA.
This ones off to a great start with a beautiful orange hazy sunset in a glass with a 2 finger eggshell head that settles to a thin ring leaving loads of sticky lacing.
Aroma is tangerine, cantelope, crushed pineapple, lemon and mango.
Taste follows with citrus, tropical fruits, pithy bitter and damp pine.
Feel is medium with a really nice bitter finish. This baby is on the dry side. Theres very little sweetness and its almost quenching in the way it finishes with a spritzy carbonation throught. I realize these NEIPAs start sounding like a broken record after awhile so Im always looking for characteristics that are different. In this one its the big fruit that dances on a seemingly lighter body due to the carb and without the creaminess. The very interesting drying bitter finish is a nice change. Im with @SawDog505 on this brewery. They know the hazy style well and can set themselves apart.
Cheers all have a great Saturday.

 

Prairre corner piece
...solid black
...low carbonation with an above average body. Has a creamy thick feel,one of the thickest beers I've ever had
...aroma is roasted coconut, coconut and vanilla cake and vanilla frosting . Milk chocolate in the background
...taste is coconut and vanilla cake with vanilla frosting all the way. Some roasted malt and milk chocolate.
...not a post lawn mowing beer but a top notch excellent dessert beer

 

I loved that beer, I’d say right now that Mosaic might be my favorite hop.

 

Posted this one in Oktoberfest thread too new to me...



Pours beautifully color in photo is accurate. Frothy head lingered for a pretty long time before leaving some lacing up top, minimal lacing after that. Smell was sweet and bread as you’d guess. Taste was sweet as well but not overly so. The mouthfeel for me made this really good it was bigger in body than the other festbiers for me but it was also creamy smooth. It made for a really pleasant drinking beer. Overall I very much enjoyed this beer it was very easy to drink and kept begging me to take another sip. Glad I grabbed the big cam for the occasion.

 

Poured into a 16 oz Nordic pint glass canned on like 08/05/2020. Pours an attractive yellow with almost no head, but leaves some thin lines of lace after each sip. 4

Smell passionfruit, pineapple, melon, mandarin, and apricot. 3.75

Taste follows passionfruit, melon, mandarin, cantaloupe, and apricot.3.75

Mouthfeel is less than medium, really soft carbonation, kind of thin and watery, but at 5.8% really easy drinking. 4

Overall this is pretty good, but nothing memorable and can’t imagine myself purchasing again. Glad I just grabbed a single can. Would probably be a good gateway NEIPA. 3.75

 

A nice fall day here, but we desperately need some rain. Wells are starting to go dry, and the water level are lower than I have,seen in my 64 years here.

So...drink a beer...Jacks Abby Boston Rising hoppy lager, hopped with Galaxy, Nelson, and Citra.



Nothing mysterious on the pour. Golden, clear, big old rocky head. Good cling as it falls to rafts and ring.

The smell strikes me with a little sweetness and a clean, light malt. But this is a hoppy lager, and they are certainly there but not as powerful as Mass Rising. Clearly citrus dominant, but subtle pineapple, lemon like lemongrass, lightly floral.

The taste opens for me with malts a little on the sweet side, but there is a concurrent bitterness to balance. The hops do the flyover, but they don't completely dominate. Nicely complementary. Citrus, grapefruit and lemon, bright floral.

I find this beer fairly light. The sweet and bitter balance, while the hops flag flies high without killing the show. It is a bit creamy, slight citrus oil feel and flavor on the end.

Easy 4 on this one, just a question of how far over it goes.

 

I’m cross-posting with the Oktoberfest tasting event thread, because that is how I roll. This beer surprised me, even after I read the label.





3.94/5 rDev +2.6%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4

This pours a crystal clear golden amber color with a dense white head that provides ample lacing. A truly gorgeous beer. Bready aromas are forward on the nose, and there’s a significant fruity aroma as well. Even though the fruity character is noted on the label, I didn’t expect it to be so ..... significant.

It’s even more significant on the taste, almost a plum flavor that accompanies the bready malt flavor that I wish was more prominent to give this a little more balance.

The mouthfeel is crisp as advertised. I really enjoyed this, I just wish the fruit flavor had yielded a bit of ground to the bready malt flavor. Still a very enjoyable festbier.

 

Hello, new beer swillers, it's been a beautiful couple of days in my neck of the woods with more on the horizon. A sunny and crisp 60 degree September day is the perfect way to kick off Oktoberfest and get ready for fall. At the end of this month I have a milestone birthday coming up, but since my wife knew I was excited for the Oktoberfest tasting currently happening she decided to give me an early gift. This thread has been the impetus behind me trying to analyze my imbibing in a more conscious way. I've loved reading and participating for what must be 8 or 9 months now, and have only missed a week or two since. My very thoughtful better half has picked up on this, and today presented me with a leather bound journal for my beer notes. The inside book has spaces for most of the important information plus room for notes. On top of it all she had one of my favorite quotes from Phish's Theme From The Bottom inscribed on it. It also came with replacement books. I'm very lucky to have found such a thoughtful and supportive spouse who is willing to put up with my expensive and often ridiculous hobby. Here's a closer look:


I decided to break it in with my first couple rounds in the Oktoberfest tasting, that since they were new to me I'll share here. Onto the beer.

I started the day with Weihenstephaner's Festbier. It poured an immaculately clear golden straw color with a large pillowy white head. The head left behind a good deal of lacing and the carbonation flowed freely and amply. The aroma was of a crackery/bready malt bill with some minimal grassy hop characteristics. I enjoyed the balance of the complex malt and some bitterness of the hops. It had a crisp and dry finish and kept me coming back for more. It was infinitely drinkable as I jotted in my notebook.

4.11/5 rDev +8.7%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25

Round 2 was Hacker Pschorr's Oktoberfest Marzen, and it's hard to believe that these two beers are in the same category. This beer poured a richer amber color with a denser white head. The carbonation was much less by comparison, but didn't suffer from a lack of bubbles. The aroma was bready, but leaned into a yeastier territory. I noticed a much more complex malt bill and almost no hop qualities in this marzen. The flavors also packed greater spice and peppery bite while also being sweeter and lingering on the palate longer. There was a flavor on the finish that I couldn't quite put my finger on. Another new to me and quite enjoyable beer. Overall, I think I'd give the nod to Weihenstephaner's Festbier thus far. Looking forward to having another couple this weekend.

3.92/5 rDev -1.5%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4

(cc: @FBarber - She found the journal on an Etsy shop called SomethingForKeepsAU)

 

Tis' the moooost wonderful tiiiiiime of the yearrrr
That's right... fresh hop season. It's been a pretty slow season up here in Seattle, for whatever reason (even before accounting for the fires and all that), and I've been consistently reading the NW forum with a tinge of jealousy towards all the delicious Oregon FH brews that seem to be bubbling from our neighbours to the south. I've come across exactly two FH offerings, and while I haven't been as proactive in searching things out as I may have in years past, there still just haven't been as many around and about so far.

Ah, well.

Hellbent is one of those breweries that I feel like I see around pretty regularly, but never really think about. It's also possible that they get conflated with a couple of other similar-tier local breweries in my mind-brain. The beers I was thinking of them are actually from a different brewery, for example. The one other offering of theirs I've written up in here was a winter warmer done with spruce a couple of years ago that I actually remember really enjoying, though, so there's that.

Strata Fresh Hop is just the second FH beer I've had this year. The first was one that I'd previous years' iterations, so I didn't bother writing it up, so this is really the first truly new to me FH of the season. Does it live up to the hype of said season?



Pour is a nice burnished gold that, while I wouldn't describe it as crisp, it is mostly clear. A nice initial wet head settles in to a fuzz, and ultimately down to just a galaxy swirl.

Nose is a fleeting thing here. Initial impression is a big burst of tropical fruits... guava is the name that jumps out at me. However, after setting it down just long enough to start typing, then picking it back up, most of the hop aroma has blown away, and my impression is much more grain-forward. Further settling brings back a somewhat non-descript fruity/floral sweetness that's kind of in that over-ripe fruit genre.

Immediately upon taking a sip it is just a burst of juicy fruits, and I see why they talk about passionfruit when they talk about strata hops. Bursting with sweet bruised fruit, it's passionfruit and again guava, and then a grainy malt base, then the finish is just a carry-forward of the bruised fruits from above. Not much bitterness here, even in the lingering post finish, though there's a little bit.

Medium body with decent carb.

Normally I feel like FH impressions dominate the nose for me, but in this one that is simply not the case. The nose has some of that character initially but it fades pretty quick, but the flavour is just bursting with fresh juicy fruity FH notes. I feel like I have a better understanding for the strata hop after drinking this. It's not my personal favourite profile for an IPA, but it's certainly flavourful and tasty, and I think there will be some folks for whom it hits just the right notes.

Cheers y'all.

 

Poured into a 16 oz chalet glass canned on 8/31/2020. Pours a murky light brown with a half finger white head that leave a thin wall of lace after every sip. 4.25

Smell is fig, dates, oaked vanilla, plum, toffee, caramel, and sweet bourbon. 4.5

Taste follows dark fruit dates, fig, plum, caramel, toffee, oaky vanilla, and healthy dose of rye whiskey. 4.5

Mouthfeel is a little bigger than medium, gentle carbonation, not dry, and at 11% ABV extremely approachable and easy sipping as it warms your entire body. 4.5

Overall Clown Shoes still brews killer big beers Stouts, Wee Heavy Scotch Ales, and BarleyWines, especially when they Barrel Age them. I can promise I will be squirreling away more of these for the colder months coming. 4.5

 

Yes, I'll just say that I think the regular Yuengling is too sweet, bordering on cloyingly so. I can have two at best. A great dryish amber malty beer is an accomplishment. I love trying beers this time of year, finding gems, revisiting old favorites, and further knowing that IPAs are a good bracer between these Autumnal beauties.

 

Bruery Ruekeller Marzen is todays new beer and I'm going to shamelessly double dip in the Oktoberfest tasting thread:

Appearance: Clear amber color with a generous-sized foamy light beige head that slowly faded. A good looking beer.

Smell: Moderate bready aromas along with some mild fruity aromas. Not a bad nose but fairly subdued in how it comes across.

Taste: I pick up some moderate sweet malt notes with some mild bready malt notes also present. The hop bitterness comes in the finish drying the beer out somewhat but a mild malt sweetness and some mild fruit notes are what remains at the end and leaves the final impression.

Mouthfeel: Light bodied with a fairly generous level of carbonation.

Overall: A good clean tasting Marzen.