New Beer Weekend #13

Hello NBWer’s!

Sipping on a Brewery Vivant Jamocha Love Shadow While watching Alabama & Georgia

I received this in an LIF from BIF Estonian Ticks & Rocket Balls Courtesy of @Whyteboar



4.26/5 rDev -0.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25

16oz can poured into a snifter

Canned 1.20.20, opened 10.17.20

“Only the shadow knows”

One finger brown fizzy foam cap quickly recedes to a ring over a dark cola brown liquid

Aroma is roast malts, chocolate, vanilla, coffee. As it warms i get more coffee and chocolate

The taste is chocolate, vanilla, coffee , bourbon on the final notes

Fizzy sudsing, Creamy mouthfeel , flavors nicely linger , this is an 11.5% abv beer and the alcohol is invisible. Not overly sweet but flavorful

Good beer

 

Jacks abby fire in the ham
..medium light carbonation with a just below average body.
...aroma is smoke,char,campfire,malt/brown sugar. There is definitely the smoked ham/meat aroma present as well.
Taste brings just about everything that the aroma presented. Mildly sweet with plenty of smoke.
...overall this doesn't have the depth or richness that one expects for this style but thats what works for it. Totally an excellent American version that would be a great introduction for a novice to this style

 

2019 Coffee Cinnamon B-Bomb Fremont Brewing Company






4.48/5 rDev -2%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.5

My youngest daughter gave me this for Christmas and had been bugging me to not wait too long to drink it (little does she know what's in my cellar). So I was waiting for the weather to cool down and today is it.

2019 poured into a DFH tulip. Brownish black body with a nice creamy head of tight bubbles with good retention. Smell is cinnamon upfront with not much coffee and deep roasty malts. Taste is big cinnamon with a bit of coffee and chocolate. Nicely complex. Can taste a bit of a booze burn when it warms but the balance on this is good enough that I'm not kicking myself for not aging this longer; at least not too much. Mouthfeel is beautifully creamy and that's what really sets this off. Usually with a big dark bomb like this I'm all about it being chewy but creamy really works.

Just a fantastic experience. Thank you, Jenny Wren.

 

Southern Tier Lakeshore Fog Hazy IPA, 6.5% ABV. 3.56 overall. This beer is 7 months old. Was at this store in July & it wasn't on the shelf. SW Missouri beer distribution is wack

Pours a hazy straw color with 2+ fingers of of rocky ivory colored head. Average lacing & head retention

S: Leafy hops & tangerine

T: Tangerine & grapefruit & a little bit of pear & lime up front. A little dryness & then lime, leafy hops & tangerine as this warms, plus a little orange. Finishes a little dry with lime & tangerine

MF: Medium body, restrained carbonation, good balance

Drinkable, but nothing special, will seek some out if I can find fresh

 

Leinenkugel, Toasted Bock
3.74/5 rDev +7.5%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75

Look: transparent copper brown body. decent head that last awhile leaving some lacing.
Smell: roasted grain, sweet caramel malt
taste: A little roasted nut, grain, maybe a touch earth/wood, slightly roasted caramel/toffee, micro hint of stone washed dark fruit. smooth, slightly sweet but turns more bitter towards the finish. turns more roasty towards the finish and turns more roasty as it warms. I don't taste any chocolate but there might be a hint towards the finish. Hint of hop spice on the very end.
Feel; somewhat lighter body, but not thin for a 5.1% beer

Nothing heavy duty here. easy drinking beer. I like it but it's nothing great. I think it's toasty roasty. I Think this beer would go good with a slow cooker beef/elk/camel roast and other foods. 3.71/5

 

Another new regional tick, Old Schoolhouse Chuck's School of Hop. From the label: this brew features "an experimental hopping method with NZ Rakau, Azacca, Simcoe, Mosaic, and Citra".

Pleasant enough brew.

 

That's one of the beers I had as a 6 oz pour at the brewery. Didn't do a full review, but I recall enjoying it. Glad you got to try it.

 

This afternoon I enjoyed Epic’s Son of a Baptist, an Imperial Stout with Coffee from the boxes sent to by @Ozzylizard in the current NBW BIF.

I’ve only had one beer from Epic before, Big Bad Baptist and I enjoyed it. It isn’t a brewery that gets any distribution around here.



Pours a cola black with a generous mocha head that sticks around for a little while. Lacing is minimal.

I poured this a little cold from the fridge and the initial aroma was of cold coffee. Not cold brew, but a cup of diner coffee that has been sitting for a little too long. As the beer warmed, the aromas changed. The coffee was still present, but improved in quality, and some chocolate and chicory notes jumped out too

Cold, the taste followed the smell. The cold coffee jumped out. As it warmed, the coffee gave way to roasted grain, milk chocolate and a gentle hop bitterness. Very pleasant.

The alcohol was imperceptible in this and I had to look twice to see that was indeed a higher ABV Imperial. The body started out quite thin, but filled out with time in the glass.

A very nice coffee stout that I would most gladly drink again.

 

Poured into a 13 oz Teku glass bottled on 3/11/2020. Pours pitch black with a finger plus brown head with minimal lace as it quickly settles. 4

Smell is bold deep dark chocolate, vanilla bean, expresso, and oaked bourbon. 4.25

Taste follows dark chocolate, Expresso, vanilla, and a healthy dose of sweet bourbon in the long lingering finish. 4.25.

Mouthfeel is about medium, low carbonation, not overly dry, and at 14.8% a sipper for sure and doesn’t drink that big, but the alcohol is very present. 4

Overall a tad thin, under-carbonated, sweet, and boozy but still solid. Not sure I will purchase but I still enjoyed it. 4

 

Hello New Beer Weekend!!!

Another work week in the books, and it was a long one. Hard to believe that in 2 short weeks, I'll be looking for a job for the first time in over 25 years. I do have something lined up, so we'll se how it works out.

Now on to the beer. I do have to take it easy tonight, because I'm going to take a road trip to South Dakota tomorrow to enjoy some good beer.

Tonight's beer:

From Lake Time Brewing in Clear Lake, Iowa - Cappuccino Stout - 5.6% ABV.

I do not drink coffee, but yet I love a good coffee stout. This is a good one, though a bit heavy on the carbonation. Very easy to drink at 5.6%.

It's a winner.

Review:
4.1/5 rDev +2.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Pours a dark brown color. Very heavy carbonation. I didn't do an aggressive pour at all, and I got a 4 finger tan head very quickly with less than half of it poured in the glass. The retention is long lasting. Some lacing on the glass.
The nose is nice and rich with coffee. It also has a faint hint of chocolate mixed in, along with a touch of caramel.
The taste - Lots of coffee in this beer. It starts off mellow, then it gets a hint of bitterness in it. I do get hints of chocolate and caramel, but they hit right at the start.
The body is sightly creamy, maybe there's a hint of lactose here. The coffee lingers in my throat for a bit.
Tasty and delicious. A good coffee stout.


That will be it tonight. I'll be hanging with a friend at the brewery in SD, so I may, or may not be posting tomorrow.

 

Return visit to Beer District Brewing in the heart of the Arts District. I’m trying the one offering that caught my eye but I didn’t get to last visit.

Downtown Dopplebock, an 8% Dopplebock Bock offering, $7 16 oz draft pour into a Covid ready plastic cup, 17 IBU. Let’s dive in.

Appearance: Clear dark brown bronze pour, tan off white head leaves within a minute, light ring around the rim. Faint carbonation. 3.75.

Aroma: Caramel bread, light in strength. 3.25

Taste: Much bolder taste, strong rich sweet caramel, light dry bitterness offset. Warm fresh pumpernickel bread from the oven is served. This is a very small brewery in terms of barrels, but based on all of my visits, they do really well regardless of style. 4.25

Mouthfeel: Thin medium body, sweet minimal carbonation. Light dryness easy finish. 3.75

Overall: Solid Dopplebock, continue to be impressed by this small microbrewery. 4.0

 

Philosophy and Velocity is a collaboration from two much appreciated brewers. I expected a rich stout with Belgian influences.
The brew is very dark, yet clear in bright light. It hosts a 3 cm foam cap and a sweet aroma with boozy notes.
The flavor base is toasted malt, caramel and some Belgian candi-sugar. There is a slightly burnt aspect and fig-raisin element.
The mouthfeel is smooth. It is a bit sweeter than my preference.

 

Hayduke Helles from Crux

12oz can served in a big snifter. Canned on 05/22/20. I know I didn't buy it that long ago, but wow.

Pours a clear pale yellow with a medium to large head. Smell is light, lemon, lager funk, and grass.

Taste is mostly along the same lines -- leans a bit more toward grain, but the lemon and lager funk is still pretty strong with a pretty grassy finish.

Mouthfeel is very light and very dry. Overall, not bad.

 

So, when I had it, newish, I didn't get the fruit notes you talked about. So, in the interests of science of course, I went across the street and rechecked. I did get some fruit notes I hadn't got before. Is it time? Is it the Kviek yeast? I dunno. But it's definitely different than it was a couple weeks ago. Wutevz, I think I like it better now.

 

Revision IPA, thought I had this but rating give so here we are. Glad I ordered this one.




Revision IPA. $8 6.5% Blonde crystal clear heavy carbonation, 16 oz snifter pour.

Appearance: Creamy white head. Really nice looking beer. 4.25.

Aroma: Nice dank pine was sharp, fresh nice. 3.75.

Taste: Very nice bitter dry pine, bold, excellent. 4.5. Hops really shine here, malt provides balance but doesn’t taste impede.

Mouthfeel: Thin crisp slightly oily mouthfeel, dry bitterness lingers in a good way. 4.0.

Overall: Excellent old school WCIPA. 4.0

 

How about that, pretty nice!

I'm not all that familiar with the yeast myself, but based on this beer I look forward to seeing more of these beers becoming available.