New Beer Weekend #11

Looks good on this end

 

That's so nice of you to say, I really appreciate it. I usually just try to capture the beer's personality but sometimes it takes me on a bit of a ride as well, so hopefully I can convey that kind of thing too.

 

You obviously didn't mention it, but you reminded me very viscerally of my experience with Lagunitas Imperial Red. I miss that beer. Enjoying a hazy fresh hop now, and wish I had a toffee/caramel hop bomb right now...mmmmmm

 

Bell's 35th Anniversary Expeditions Stout Reserve, 11.5% ABV. Pours black with a on-finger tan head that left great lacing. Nose is chocolate, dark fruit, and vanilla, with a slight brown sugar lingering in the background. Taste is dark fruit, vanilla, coffee, and chocolate, slightly sweet, slightly bitter. Decent mouthfeel, overall excellent. A barrel-aged version would be welcome.

4.23/5 rDev -5.2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25

 

I like that they literally named it “extra special.”

 

Bottled on 9/02/2020. Poured into a 16 oz Snulip glass. Pours pitch black with a half finger mocha head that leaves thin streaks of head with solid retention as it slowly settles. 4.5

Smell is chocolate nibs, vanilla bean, toffee, and caramel really pleasant. 4.5

Taste follows chocolate, toffee, caramel, and vanilla very balanced and absolutely tasty. 4.5

Mouthfeel is above average, maybe a touch dry, low carbonation, and at 11.5% incredible drinkability. 4.5

Overall this is an amazing Imperial Stout that hits on all the right spots. I actually love this stout and am happy I purchased more on @Roguer recommendation because my store only got one case. Impressive stuff.4.5

 

Fantastic!!! Thanks for sharing ALL of those. It’s been a great BIF and we still haven’t jumped into the mystery beers.

 

Black is Beautiful from Reuben's.

16oz can served in a big snifter. Dated 08/03/20. Bought it at the brewery a couple days ago.

Pours black with a medium head. Smell is roasty, rich, chocolate and a little smoke.

Taste is right along the same lines, maybe chocolate is accentuated a little more. This is really nice.

Mouthfeel is medium and a little fluffy. Overall, really nice beer.

 

Orval Day today.

Orval Trappist Ale
ABV: 6.9%
IBU: 32



My first Orval.

Hazy amber-orange with heavy carbonation. Off-white, thick, sticky, whipped cream, mountainous head with long retention, leaving sticky lacing behind.

Spicy, bready, with a little funk characterize the aroma.

The taste continues with the spicy bread, slightly bitter. The finish has a bit of funk.

Mouth feel is moderate with heavy carbonation tingling.

Overall, an excellent beer, but I guess it doesn't seem as sublime to me as it does to others.

L: 4.25 | S: 4.0 | T: 4.0 | F: 4.25 | O: 4.0 | Rating: 4.04

 

Number 2 after some yardwork, then off to get the wife some thai takeout.

Pizza Port's Today's Forecast, 7.2% WCIPA, Hops: Mosaic, Mosaic Cryo, Cashmere, Azacca, El Dorado

Can dated 09/09/20 into a tulip glass.



L: Vibrant golden with 2 fingers of frothy pillowy medium-density white head with good retention and left moderate ringed and spotted lacing.

S: Very herbal and earthy, mosaic dankness after that.

T: Follows nose well, subtle pine layer not noticed on the nose. Finishes with moderate bitterness and slight acidity, acidity lingers a bit.

F: Medium bodied with medium-high carbonation, dances on the tongue, moderately full on the swallow.

O: Its just OK for my palate and preferences, I've had many better beers from Pizza Port. Wish they'd used more Mosaic, as there's not much of that coming through. My experience with this beer is nothing like their description. Maybe the cryo Mosaic fades really quickly and I needed to try this much fresher, or maybe this saw some non-ideal storage prior to purchase.

BA score = 3.76, rDev = -5.4%

 

It's an IRA. FH Red ale.

 

Hah! Whatdya know, I just looked at the label a little more closely and that's exactly what they say it is.

 

Quick hit in the ongoing @beertunes provided session I'm doing, mostly because my palate may be getting hopped out:

Reuben's Fresh Hop Crikey IPA

This is really working for me due to the expert and sublime construction; it is the platonic ideal West Coast IPA in execution. As vibrant as it is lean and dry; bitter, piney and citrusy in perfect harmony; clearly and cleanly defined flavors; and it just crackles with energy.

There's also an undercurrent here, a complexity I can't quite put my finger on but I do like it. It's not really 'stemmy', more like 'twiggy'. Very much woody in nature, without being overtly oaky, which goes incredibly well with IPAs, imo.

I'm seriously digging it, looking around a 4.5 at the moment but I'd love to try it again on a cleaner palate some day.

Thanks again for all of this stuff Terry!

 

Hello NBW.
I just wanna cheat a bit. Totally new beer to me (thanks to the generosity of @FrankenMiller in our NBS BIF #12) This was so good, not in the database, and drank a few days ago)
A true gem, and very unique as far as the haze craze goes.
Tropical Sunset by Ellipsis Brewing

Pours a moderately hazy burnished gold with a fluffy white head, solid retention, scattered lacing.
Nose is pulpy blood orange, sweet mango, and a crackery grain note. Deep and lush in the fruit notes.
Flavor follows nose, and leaps forward. Deep, juicy blood orange. Mango notes go from an initial earthy and young mango flavor, then builds to a pulpy, mature, dripping with juice mango flavor. Yet this flavor never fully eclipses the blood orange.
Mouthfeel plays is somewhat fluffy like I would expect, yet it retains a creaminess as well. Carbonation is moderate.
Overall, a stunner. A hazy with a very unique citrus profile coupled with mango.

4.31/5 rDev 0%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/51348/511137/

 

I received my first box in the NBW BIF yesterday from the generous Mr. @Ozzylizard . I plan to crack the first cap on one of those bottles tomorrow. For tonight, I had to get to a triple IPA that’s been sitting my fridge a little too long.

Barncat Artisan Ales Triple Riwaka IIIPA



Triple IPAs are not generally my thing. I usually find them to be too boozy and too sweet. But, Barncat is one of the best breweries in my neck of the woods, and they excel at IPAs, so I figured I’d take the plunge.

Pours an opaque and dull light orange with a thick creamy bead that dissipates slowly. Not much lacing to speak of as the beer is consumed.

Nose is slightly boozy with an orange/tangerine note that pushes through. It suggests it will be sweet when that first sip is taken.

The citrus sweetness that Riwaka is known for jumps out onto the tongue first. The booze is present, but not overpowering. Some bitter citrus pith is welcome as the sip is swallowed. Pleasant.

The body is thick and creamy. Really creamy.

This is one of the better IIIPAs I’ve had. Still not my thing though. I’m left thinking this would be nicer with the ABV scaled back.
Cheers!

 

Like a handful of folks here already, I'm dipping into the world of Fresh Hops, aka the best time of the year.

So, as usual, I had some longwinded background and context typed out, but apparently now we have a cap for how many characters we can post? WTH BA? Though I suppose in this instance it probably improves the reading experience for the masses
But for real. I've completely cut two paragraphs and tried to trim elsewhere and I'm still over the limit. This is the kind of change that makes me just not want to use your website.
Since typing out my thoughts leads to too many characters, even after I trimmed everything else away, I'll just leave a link to my review and probably step away from NBW for a while.

 

Greetings, NBW participants! I don't usually make my first entry into the thread at this hour on a Saturday, but the beer I just finished warranted some attention. The Alchemist's Dark Schwarzbier is probably the best example I've had of the style, but my experience is admittedly limited. This beer poured a dark rich brown, bordering on black, with an ample tan head that lingered until almost the end of the glass. The aroma was malty and roasty. The flavor followed with a bitter/dry finish. That finish made this glass ridiculously drinkable and kept me coming back for more. The glass was gone before I knew it. The medium body felt creamy on the palate with a clean finish. A fantastic beer that I wish I could drink regularly. Everyone loves The Alchemist's hoppy beers, but this one should not be slept on.

4.29/5 rDev +0.9%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

 

Northbound Brewpub: Wild Rice Amber Bock. Minneapolis, MN
3.88/5 rDev +0.3%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

Wild Rice Amber Bock. Fall 2020 Version 6.8% ABV, 20 IBU I take it this edition is a lager. They have been Ales sometimes in the past. Tested from 750ml crowler.
Look: Very transparent redish slightly dark amber body, not much head that rapidly dissipates.
smell: bread, caramel, wild rice(berry)
taste sweet bread, caramel, wild rice. Smooth, sweet. the wild rice comes out more as it warms.
Thin mouth feel
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/29923/91212/

 

Nightcap, Urban Roots' Life Adjacent, BBA Scotch Ale, 10.5%

Can labeled "Finds A Way, Batch1" into a snifter. Gifted from a buddy.



L: Dark mahogany, slight chill haze, with nearly a finger of khaki tan head that quickly dissipates to a ring at the glass edge, left no lacing.

S: Nose is dominated roasted malt and barrel aspects (vanilla and whiskey). More subtle toffee and caramel aspects show more as it warms.

T: Follows nose but with less barrel prominence, more sweetness than expected from the toffee and caramel aspects. ABV is well integrated, just the slightest hint of heat.

F: Low-medium bodied with moderate carbonation, thin syrupy on the tongue, tiniest bit of heat, coats on swallow.

O: Very approachable for the ABV, a little thin and sweet for my palate and preferences. Barrel aspects are nice, but might be better more pronounced. I've got another can that I'll let sit and see if the sweetness fades any bit. Nice beer, but not something I'd seek out.

BA Score = 3.97, rDev = +1%

 

Bearded Iris DDH Ever Clever DIPA

Poured out of a can, at 4 weeks of age.

Look: These days when I see anything DDH, my mind automatically goes to exclusively hazy IPAs, but here is one that is actually not hazy (at least not completely hazy)... What initially appears to be a slight chill haze is in fact a moderate cloudiness that lasts even after the beer warms up. Nice 1-inch head that lasts about a minute or so...

Nose: The aroma is not all that appealing, even though it improves as the beer warms up. There is nothing hoppy about the nose at first, with a nuttiness and a not-so-pleasant chalkiness dominating. However, this subsequently gives way to some more fruity and tropical notes, albeit not as strong as you would expect from a DDH product.

Taste: This beer sits on the sweeter side of the spectrum, with a distinctive honey-like sweetness, accompanied by resinous notes. The bitterness levels are pretty restricted and can be detected as an aftertaste. Not a bad taste profile by any means but I am biased and usually prefer drier and more bitter DIPAs.

Mouthfeel: Fairly thick, even for the style, and with mild carbonation.

Overall this is not a bad beer at all, but I suspect that the DDH effects are not evident due to being a month removed from canning and possibly the effects of transportation. A hoppier nose can alter the profile of this beer quite a bit.

Many thanks to brentk56 for this beer