New Beer Weekend #9

Yeah, agreed. I was pleasantly surprised with both them.

 

Moving on to a nice barrel aged quad that @FlintB sent me.

4.3/5 rDev +2.6%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

12 oz bottle, 2017, poured into a goblet

A- A clear brownish ruby red with a small off white head.

S- Cherries, dark fruits, brown sugar, bourbon, oak, slightly floral, earthy, toffee.

T- Bourbon, oak, earthy, dark fruits, toffee, oak, brown sugar, floral, slightly yeasty.

M- Smooth, light to medium body, carbonation is leaning towards the high side.

O- A solid Quad, taste is a little weaker and less complex than the nose.

Cheers!

 

A friend of mine was in Philadelphia for work, and brought me a couple Tired Hands beers to try. Today I’m drinking Eviscerated Pathway of Beauty. This is a 8.6 % double IPA.
It pours a hazy orange color with a fluffy white head.
I could smells the citrus fruits as soon as I opened the can.
It tasted like oranges and grapefruits with a nice bitterness on the finish.
The body was medium bodied and creamy, with medium carbonation.
I really enjoyed this beer.
Cheers to all.

 

Hello New Beer Weekend!!!

Getting ready to go out of town again tomorrow, though this time I'll be headed to my happy place - Lake of the Woods to do some fishing. I totally can't wait. It will also be with a totally new resort - Springsteel in Warroad. That also means another thing, we'll be able to hit up Lake of the Woods brewing again. I'd say it's the northern most brewery in the lower 48, about 5 miles from the border. They also have an Oktoberfest, that I'll be interested in trying, and contribute to the Oktoberfest thread.

But enough about tomorrow, time for new beer now.

Daangergaarden from Dempsey's Brewery in Watertown, South Dakota. 4.2% ABV.

I was expecting a clear beer. it's fairly murky. I wasn't expecting a funky smelling beer, though it's a Belgian, so I should have. All I know is I'm really digging this, and I'm so glad I got a few 4 packs of it while I was there, because it's damn good.

Review:

4.09/5 rDev 0%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Pours a lot murkier than I was expecting. I would have guessed it would be a lot more clear. It pours a murky golden color. 1 finger white head. The head retention is good, and there's some lacing on the glass.
The nose is a wild floral aroma. Funky. There also is a hint of the wheat - banana and cloves.
Taste - The wheat kicks in mildly on the front. In the middle it gets a bit of the funk. On the backside the wheat kicks in again, and hard. I also get a faint orange flavor on the backside. That wasn't expected.
The body is decent, and good for this beer. There's a bit of carbonation on my palate.
This is one heck of a tasty beer, and easy drinking with a low ABV.


I'm sure I'll be back for one more tonight. See you then.

 

Thin Man Brewery Diplomatic Immunity


I primarily drink lagers, but I occasionally seek out IPAs and other styles. This is one of those occasions, as a gift from a friend.

I’ve generally felt disappointed by the NEIPAs in the DC area. They seemed flat, watery, and honestly, kind of bland (even from the perspective of a lager drinker!)

This one us different - it’s delicious, rich, and with all the right kind of hoppiness. It reminds me a lot of Fiddlehead and the other IPAs I enjoyed going to college in Vermont. An outstanding example!

 

Ozark Beer Co.'s Oktoberfest, just picked up to day. 4.28 overall

Pours an effervescent amber with a pinky of beige head. Good lacing & above average head retention

S: Brown bread & grassyness

T: Follows the nose; toastyness & brown bread up front. Some spicy hops with a little lemon & white pepper meld with toastyness & grassyness as this warms, plus a little malty sweetness. Finishes grassy with a kiss of lemon & brown bread

MF: Medium body, fairly firm carbonation, all nicely balanced

So easy to drink, a nice take on the style

 

ISO: that book.

 

Cheers New Beer Weekenders.
My new beer is Covered in Puppies a collaboration between Omnipollo and Trillium
8.2 abv DIPA canned 8/14/20


4.25 4.25 4.50 4.25 4.25 ave 4.28 dev 1.60
Appearance is cloudy straw colored yellow. Aggressive pour yields a 1 inch foamy head that dissipated quickly.
Aroma is of pineapple faint wet grass and a hint of pine
Taste is creamy pineapple, bready yeast and faint bubble gum.
Mouthfeel is soft with a slight tingle, medium to low carbonation. Slight alcohol finish
Overall it is a very easy drinking DIPA, juicey and a nice flavor profile. Good beer.

 

New Belgium Voodoo Ranger Higher Plane Hazy Imperial IPA,8.5% ABV; 4.28 Overall. Easily one of the best New Belgium offerings I've had in a long time

Pours a very hazy amber with a pinky of eggshell colored head. Insane lacing & good head retention

S: Bready, a little green melon & orange, plus a little cattyness

T: Green melon, grassyness, lime & a little nectarine, plus dryness up front. Lime, green melon & dryness dominate as this warms, just a kiss of sweet orange & a little herbal bitterness as well. Finishes with green melon, sweet orange, plus dryness & a little lime

MF: Medium body, mellow carbonation, nice balance

Good offering, not mind blowing, but very worthy. goes down very easy indeed

 

Round #2 came a bit faster than expected. The last one went down fairly fast.


Valkyrie Red from Dempsey's Brewpub. 5.6% ABV.

First off, my review of this beer is the first one of this in quite a while. The last one was by @DoctorZombies back in 2016. It could be a different recipe than back then, so who knows.

It is an interesting Red. It's got a flavor that I just can't figure out what it is. Not bad, but just different. I'm not the biggest Red fan, but I am somewhat liking this.

Review:
3.58/5 rDev +23.9%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.5

Pours a dark, clear amber color. 1 finger off white head. The retention is quite poor, and there's no lacing on the glass.
The nose is fairly faint. There's a slight malt aroma here, but fairly faint.
Taste - Very malty, and fairly sweet. There's also another flavor going on here that I just cant quite put my finger on. I wish I could describe it. It's not a bad flavor, just different.
The body is decent for this style.
An interesting Red Ale, and not bad, just a bit different.


And that will do it for tonight. I've got a long road trip tomorrow, so I can't go crazy. See you all from Warroad, MN tomorrow.

Cheers!

 

So on to new beer # 2 also from Definitive.
This is their Anniversary DIPA evidently brewed one for their 1st and now brewed again for their second.
Pours a hazy orange/gold - not turbid by any means. Head is 2 finger white and short lived with spotty lacing.
Aroma is lots of sweet orange, lemon and lime with some candied dried apricot/peach, mango and a touch of cannabis.
Taste follows with lemon, grapefruit, stonefruits, pineapple, mango, bruised thyme and crushed pine needles. I am not getting anything in the way of coconut that seems to be inherent in the hops. And frankly I stay away from Sabro for that reason. The first Anniversary was hopped with Sabro. This version uses Cashmere, Citra and Mosaic.
Feel is medium, only soft bitterness shows with an easy drinking 8.2%. Now with the finish I do get a slight astringency and maybe thats where the coconut aspect comes into play. It feels like that dry you get when you eat a fresh piece of that husky fruit.
Its an easy drinking double chock full of fruit flavors and soft with pilsner malt ala Treehouse. Good beer.

 

To me you have described a nice beer very well. I have sold these beers and would love to try this one. Thanks.

 

I had this new-to-me Festbier beer earlier today (I also posted it in the Oktoberfest tasting thread):

Weihenstephan Festbier
ABV: 5.8%
IBU: 26



Crystal clear pale gold, tall white head from a vigorous pour. Head retention is moderate, leaving thick lacing. This is a very good looking beer.

Aroma is a bit weak, but malty. Biscuity, slight herbal or grassy. Lager yeast.

The taste is, like the aroma, more generic lager than Märzen. Biscuit, herbal, and a bit of spice. Bitterness is present from the get-go, and remains throughout. Overall this beer is simple, well-brewed, and tasty. Very enjoyable. The finish is crisp and dry.

The mouth presence is thin to moderate.

Overall, and excellent German lager, but that pretty much also sums up why I prefer the Märzen substyle. While this style may be superior for all day drinking at the Fest, I don't buy these beers (or any beer these days) for that. The so-called Fest substyle just drinks to me like a generic German lager, rather than a seasonal to look forward to.

L: 4.0 | S: 3.75 | T: 3.75 | F: 3.5 | O: 3.75 | Rating: 3.74

 

2nd contribution for today, North Park Beer Co's Party Cup Mosaic Lager.



Illegibly dated can into a pilsner glass, paired with spicy Greek pizza.

A: Light golden with <1 finger of low density white head with limited retention and no lacing.

S: Nose POPS! Berries and dank, loved it!

T: Tries it's best to match the nose, but falls slightly short with less dynamic character. Finishes with mild bitterness and just a hint of astringency, palate slowly drys.

F: Low-medium bodied with medium carbonation, bubbly a just a wee bit thin on the tongue, slick and crisp on the swallow

O: Outstanding! If North Park keeps shipping this will be in rotation with Pivo in my beer fridge. If you like IPLs and Mosaic, you NEED to try this one!

BA score = 4.61, rev = +7.7%


Question for the Mods. My review, while tracked on the site as a review, shows truncated as shown below. I've deleted it, and tried entering again in a different web browser. It still shows truncated. Any ideas why?

 

Another new-to-me Oktoberfest:

Great Lakes Oktoberfest
ABV: 6.5%
IBU: 20



Burnished bronze color, but bright gold with a backlight revealing the rising bubbles. Topped with a tall, very thick and sticky white head with excellent retention; it just gradually sags a bit leaving strings of lacing.

The aroma is moderately strong, bread, caramel, dark fruits, molasses.

Taste has the dark fruits, and the sweet caramel, but is also quite bitter for the style. In fact, the bitterness tends to dominate. Not like an IPA, for sure, but it is noticeable and front and center throughout, from the initial taste to lingering into the aftertaste. The flavor underlying the hops is as expected for the Märzen substyle; malty, bready, and a bit sweet.

The feel has a moderate body.

Overall, this is a good Oktoberfest-Märzen in the American style with greater contribution from the hops, that is, the bittering aspect of the hops.

L: 4.0 | S: 4.0 | T: 3.75 | F: 3.75 | O: 4.0 | Rating: 3.88

 

Wipes drool from corner of mouth...

Wondered if it might be due to use of "<" character in the review text?

 

That's likely, since the "<" and ">" characters have special meaning in website programming languages (i.e. HTML)

Have you tried editing your review to replace "<" with the words "less than"?

 

Have a good NBW. Last week I had a phone interview on Monday with the chief HR manager of Superior Dairy. So after 15 minutes he tells me to come down for in person on Wednesday. I end up interviewing with one of the designers at first, then I went into the CEOs office with the HR Chief. I nail the interview, and amaze them with the answers I had to their scenarios. I worked for FCA for 8 years as an engineer. I was an easy interview for me as long as I get in the groove. If only in online dating I were as persuasive as I can be in an interview. So I will be either a design/mechanical engineer, or an production engineer supervisor. Might be pushing 6 figures. Required 5 years experience and all that.

So yea now I am just at my dads house. I helped him fix his shed of rotten wood yesterday for 4.5 hours. I took a circular saw right to the paneling and sledge hammer it off the studs. Flex glue/screwed in the new pieces in place place. Just been hanging out with some old middle/high school friends I had now that I am back in town. Need to wait for my new Galaxy A51 in the mail this week. I packed up half of my cellar in the hatchback. Amounts to 5 cases. I got some help wittling down the volume after my legal incident last year.


Natty Daddy Lemonade. This is really nice. Hazy pour, no lacing. Aromas and flavors of big lemons, juice, pulp, white sugar syrup; light berries, grain, herbal/grassy hops. A bit of booze in the aromas. Light herbal/grassy bitterness and alcohol spiciness on the finish. Medium-plus carbonation/body; some syrups and light sticky hops. Light-moderate bitter/spicy dryness; no cloying sweetness. Mild increasing warmth of 8%. Pretty refreshing. Pretty much what was expected when I purchased it after having some of the Natty Rush ones before. Will have to run through those eventually too. 3.85


Cheers

 

Poured into a 13 oz Teku glass not sure when it was canned, thinking mid to late August because I work at the store I purchased it at. Pours a hazy orange with a solid finger sticky white head that leaves thick streaks of lace after every sip. 4.25

Smell is passion fruit, papaya, melon, mango, and apricot. 4.25

Taste follows passion fruit, papaya, mango, cantaloupe, and apricot. 4.25

Mouthfeel is bigger than medium, a tad sticky not dry, soft gentle carbonation, and at 7% really easy drinking. 4.25

Overall this is a rock solid NEIPA from Branch & Blade out of Keene NH. Easy drinking with excellent flavor. Cheers all. 4.25