New Beer Weekend #10

I see @SawDog505 wants to cut in on me with no introduction, but thanks for making the thread. I already wrote one.

Have a good NBW. Been a busy week. I gotta get ready to move next week, straight out of dodge, my parents don’t even care about paying off my last month of the lease. I did the shed/deck painting, and need to do the gutters next. Getting a Spectrum gigabit line on the 5th. I owe my parents a good 5 grand each after this year. Still trying to get a girlfriend, I currently have one scientist girl that we are clicking strong. Got her # a few days ago.

Feel free to share a new beer with us. Include full detail if possible: Appearance, Aroma, Taste, Mouthfeel, and Overall impression. Pictures are encouraged.

Sixpoint Bengali. So apparently they redid the beer recipe. Alright, free review lol, I lost one somewhere in time this month. This was fantastic. Lasting rocky head retention/thick foamy lacing. Aromas and flavors of big mandarin orange, red grapefruit, lemon, peach, pineapple, apricot, mango, honeydew melon, berries, wood, peppercorn, pine, biscuit, toast, and herbal/floral/grassy hop earthiness. Moderate pine, citrus peel/rind, herbal, floral, woody, grassy, peppery bitterness on the finish. Medium carbonation/body, and fairly crisp finishing. Balanced creamy/bready malts, sticky hops, and resins/rinds in the mouthfeel. Moderate increasing resin dryness, no hop astringency. Very smooth, minimal warming 6.6%. Fantastic Mandarina Bavaria and Amarillo profile. Very vibrant, dank, earthy, and fairly juicy hops; with a nice sized bready malt backbone. Minimal residual sweetness with crisp resin dryness. Loved it! Would buy again. Very classic tasting east coast IPA. 4.23


Cheers

 

I was just making a playful jab about it, no need to worry.

 

Good day BAs and welcome to the first weekend of fall. We've had beautiful weather the last few days - cool nights, warm dry days, ideal for working outside (or in the attic, my next project). Today's New Breakfast beer and first New Beer Weekend beer is:



I didn't even know they made any styles other than stouts! A very pleasing NEIPA.


$ 12.80 (Including tax)/six-pack of 12 oz cans ($0.178/oz). Purchased 9/25/20 from Pitt Stop Brew Thru, Vienna, OH. Reviewed 9/26/20.
Can stamped on bottom “CANNED D 09-03-20”. Stored at home at 42 degrees and served at 45 degrees in a hand washed and dried Jester King snifter.
Appearance – 3.75.
First pour – Straw (SRM 3), hazy.
Body – Straw (SRM 3), murky and opaque. When held to direct light, same.
Head – Large (Maximum 5.5 cm, aggressive center pour), off-white, medium density, short duration, diminishing to a four to five mm crown and a thin complete cap.
Lacing – Fair. Wide partial band of tiny to small bubbles.
Aroma – 4 - Sweet with pineapple and mango (papaya), generally fruity, a hint of citrus. No malt, no yeast.
Flavor – 4 - Starts sweet with weak pineapple. No alcohol (7% ABV, as marked on the label) taste or aroma. No diacetyl or dimethylsulfide. Ends slightly bitter with light malt and a bit dry.
Palate – 4 – Medium, slightly creamy, soft carbonation.
Final impression and summation: 4. Good take on the NEIPA style; aromatic, tasty, and pleasing on the palate. The can art is enjoyable as well.
Rating 3.99, rDev -2.2%.

 

Another “Finest Liquid”

The beers of Lawson’s Finest Liquids started being distributed to my area a couple of years ago. At that time there were two brands that were available: Sip of Sunshine and Super Session. Over the past two years the number of brands being distributed has expanded and recently, for the first time, I saw Chinooker’d IPA. This is how this beer is described on the can:

“Chinooker’d is our traditional American IPA recipe which is chock-full of Chinook hops bursting with pine and citrus aromas. Firm bitterness and a balanced malt profile gives way to waves of flavor.”

Woo-hoo! A new ‘regular’ IPA beer!! I enjoy drinking Juicy/Hazy IPAs from time to time but more and more of late I have a preference for drinking a “traditional American IPA” instead. I suppose I have been kinda ‘juiced out’ a bit?

Served in my Gulden Draak tulip glass:

Appearance:

Golden yellow with a slight bit of haze. A big fluffy white head.

Aroma:

An enticing aroma which is mostly piney but there is some grapefruit rind as well.

Taste:

The flavor follows the nose with predominantly pine but also some grapefruit rind as well. There is a firm bitterness to this beer.

Mouthfeel:

This beer has a medium body with a dry finish which provides the quality of crispness.

Overall:

I think this beer is excellent! If I close my eyes I feel like I am in a pine forest.

Cheers to the folks of Lawson’s for producing an excellent ‘regular’ IPA!

@KOP_Beer_OUtlet @rotsaruch @RobH

 

Good morning BAs. Today I have a new to me brewery and beer - “Black Is Beautiful” stout by Oozlefinch Beers & Blending, Fort Monroe VA. The description from the label reveals, “Imperial Stout With Bourbon Barrel Maple Syrup, Vanilla, Lactose, And Other Natural Flavors.” Sounds like my kinda stout, let’s go!



Pours black with ruby edges at 54 degrees; three fingers of rocky/fast fizzy brown head that vanished quickly leaving no cap and the thinnest of rings; small spots of lace and medium legs on swirl. Nose is roast malt and char; a whisper of maple as beer warmed. Taste is roast malt, char, burnt toast; bittersweet dark chocolate on backend. Thin yet silky (lactose) feel; light body; medium plus carbonation; no warmth from 9% abv; dry finish/wooden tongue coating. Overall, a nice enough stout, but kinda watery, and I couldn’t find any bourbon or vanilla and just the barest notes of maple; to me it tastes like a perfectly fine RIS with the added wood chips contributing an oaky dryness; in short, the beer did not deliver on the flavors as advertised.

4.0 | 3.75 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 3.5
Score: 3.59 rDev 0%
I added beer to the base.

 

Pours an orange hue with a nice head and lacing
Aroma has blood orange hints
The taste follows the nose with a nice blood orange flavor
A medium bodied well carbonated beer
A good IPA

 

Three "4.02" PAs tasted this month, 1 added to BA
#almost american pale ale | Garrett’s Ithaca Brewing | APA | 6%
4.02/5 rDev 0%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Added by Act25. 2nd from brewer, their flagship APA and it's good.
a) Walls of lace over a persisting white head over a copper almost clear body - models as solid as Dales Pale.
s) Caramel first, over a slightly smoky cedar / pine hop bill.
t) follows smell, that smokey pine rises from a caramel malt base, classic, appetizing, great food pairing, deserves a blind test vs APAs like Dales, 3Floyds, Troegs.
f) Engaging, clean, appetitizing, refreshing, solid.
o) My favorite from Garretts. Seek it out. (FingerLakes NY near Cornell/Ithaca)

Lucky Holler | Tröegs | IPA-NE | 6.8%
4.02/5 rDev +2%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
Always solid beers from Harrisburg's flagship, I am on the 4+ side of this IPA packed with flavor in 6.8% package.
a) lace coats the glass, in waves and thick zebra stripes, the head lasts and lasts, over a hazy apricot amber body.
s) Tamer than the taste but anticipates the following waves...
t) creamsicle of pineapple, tropical fruit, tempered back by dried flowers and peppery hop. Subtle, complex.
f) Creamy, wet, excellent tongue feel, then dries nice at the finale.
o) Sum is greater than the parts. I'd stock this with Dales and Zombie Dust as every day beers to share and savor.

LazerSnake | 3 Floyds | IPA | 7%
4.02/5 rDev -0.5%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
My 3rd beer from 3F. My local 07701 WFM finally stocks the brewer. Bravo.
a) Slightly hazed pale golden body that lasers laces around the glass.
s) Bright, almost pilsner nose, with bitey hops and light grain.
t) Follows smell with white and lighter flesh tropical and citrus fruit, good pepper prickle and complexity
f) Light but tingly.
o) Fine clean bright IPA.

 

Pours a hazy golden with a slight head and lacing
Aroma has pleasant tropical and citrus hints
The taste follows the nose with well balanced tropical and citrus flavors
A medium bodied very well carbonated beer
A good NEIPA

 

Three Floyds is newly available here. This pale ale, Zombie Dust, was canned a month ago, but still has plenty of hop bite.
-clear amber can pour with a thin , white foam cap and citrus aroma ( lemon and a bit of lime).
The flavor is an even balance of malt and hop flavors. Some orange and grapefruit zest show most prominently. The hop bitterness is moderate.
The finish is clean. I am thankful for the opportunity to try this brew.

 

Hello all you gulpers of gueuze, partakers of porter, and swiggers of saison.

The SS Oregon, a transatlantic ocean liner, was built in 1883. As the first ship with dynamos and incandescent electric lamps, Nikola Tesla worked on the ship while working for Thomas Edison. In 1884, the Oregon broke the transatlantic speed record, but in 1886, the Oregon collided with a schooner and sank off the Long Island, NY coast. Here’s a depiction of the Oregon in the water (note the steam power and masts)… followed by a much gloomier depiction of it sinking.




Fast-forward to 2017:
The brewer/owner of Long Island’s Saint James Brewery is also a scuba diver who has explored the wreck of the Oregon. The divers managed to recover unbroken bottles of unidentifiable English ale and probably porter from the wreck. The bottles were contaminated with salt water, but through hard work, isolated yeast strains were recovered from the bottles and then strengthened. Here’s a pic of some of the bottles. @patto1ro




Saint James specialized in Belgian-style beers, but this recovered yeast opened the door for them to explore English styles. With Deep Ascent, they are attempting to create an English-style pale ale from the late 1800s. Unfortunately, all of the media attention on this beer is focused on the story of the dive rather than the resulting beer. As a result, I have no idea what went into the recipe formulation for the beer. I listened to a 2 hour interview with the brewer as part of the media surrounding the beer release and they didn't even talk about the recipe formulation for this beer beyond the story of recovering the yeast. As a NY “farm brewery,” Saint James sources most of its ingredients from NY State, and I don’t think this beer was an exception. One would think that this might be less than ideal for an attempted recreation... even if coincidentally the UK brewing industry was getting agricultural product for brewing from the States (and I assume NY) at that time.

I traveled to the brewery to grab a bottle when Deep Ascent was released. They also had some other English-style ales on tap that were made with the recovered yeast. They had a brown ale that was served as a nitro and non-nitro pour… so I decided to have that beer both ways. Oddly, there was no noticeable difference between the two beers for me. That’s a first for me in comparing a nitro and non-nitro version of a beer. I don’t know if the servers made an error or intentionally served the wrong beer… or if it’s a brewing/serving issue. (The brewer claims that there should be a huge difference in the two.) All of Saint James beers are naturally carbonated, and I have no idea if that’s a factor here. OK, let's open a Deep Ascent.



Saint James - Deep Ascent - New York, Pale Ale

The beer has an absolutely humungous, beautiful, loose head. The whole glass is positively airy. It's a copperish light brown color. Smells faintly of apricot. There's very little carbonation in the texture.

The taste is very distinctive. This isn’t a run of the mill pale ale. Is this mainly driven by the yeast? - I couldn’t say, but the hops are certainly contributing a lot of personality. It’s intensely earthy. It’s dominated by a leafy, woody flavor and bitterness. There’s a fruitiness behind the leafy bitterness that can’t find the room to shine. It feels like it is fighting for attention and losing.

The total result is really odd and unfortunately off-putting. The feel of the beer is extraordinarily light but the flavor is really heavy on the palate. All of these elements sometimes work for me in other beers (De Ranke in particular uses some of these elements masterfully), but this combination doesn’t work for me in this particular case. I found it to be a chore.

 

Exactly how I feel about chinooker’d @JackHorzempa. We got some in south jersey too piney ipas are my favorite and chinooker’d puts in front and center, pine forest indeed!!

 

I just wish there were more IPAs like this plus at a more economical price. My four-pack of Chinooker'd was quite pricey and in all probability this will be a one time purchase for me.

Cheers!

 

I really enjoyed the new sierrra Nevada ipa dankful it’s also very pine forward, it was only 10$ or 11$ a six pack I forget exact price.

 

Absolutely picture perfect weather today in New England. This will be our last weekend up at the lake for the season, and it's nice to end on a high note. Unfortunately, I can't say the same for new beer #1 of the weekend.....Or Xata from The Bruery. I give them credit for trying something different, and I'm always game for trying out different things, but this one just wasn't to my liking. The big lesson I've learned today is that apparently I'm not a fan of dominant cinnamon in beer. May be back soon with another one to review, as I'm not sure I'll drink all of this one.

3.37/5 rDev -15.5%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.25

Pours a pleasant light copper color with a thin layer of head. Smell is very sweet, almost cloyingly so, with cinnamon clearly present on the nose. On the tongue, I can't get past the cinnamon. It's there at the beginning, middle, and end, making this beer a spicy one. Low carbonation, and medium bodied. A very different beer. Glad I tried it, but not one I'd be likely to revisit

 

I saw a stack of those beers yesterday at my local Retail Beer Distributor. I thought about buying a six-pack but I purchased a 12-pack of Lawson's Scrag Mountain Pilsner instead.

I will purchase a six-pack of Dankful IPA in the near future based upon your recommendation.

Cheers!

 

Hey what's going on!

Time for more new beers! Not much new these days, things look like they are slowing down a little so no worries there.

What's new for our hero?!



Poured from the can into a Spiegelau IPA glass.

Pale orange with hinting light colors of brown hues along the edges. Very nice topped off white head, somewhat khaki yellow like, but a pretty decent white. Light touches of pill like bubbled lacing, and simple retention and staying power.

Real nice aromatic nose. Hop forward as expected but with lots of variation. Perfume floral and lots of dank earthy tones on the nose. Highly pungent, with tropical exotic fruit, not so much mango pineapple papaya usual but something distinct and different. Real nice hop aroma here.

This beer on first sip is a real interesting animal. Supper juiced up body, practically feels like jam. Tangy tropical fruit mid palate with spicy hop herbality on first sip. Marmalade like sweetness as well, with a texture of spreadable jelly coating palate, and a good light minty herbal bite on the finish.

What a neat tasting beer for an IPA. Another winner, like liquid fruit jelly!

look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25 | 4.26/5

Cheers!

 

look forward to your thoughts on a future NBW!