New Beer Weekend #15

Fifty Fifty
What Lies Beneath
2020 Vintage
500 ml

Appearance: Black with a generous sized thick foamy dark beige head that slowly faded. The head stayed thick for a while and subsided very slowly. An extremely good looking stout for my tastes.

Smell: Moderate brown sugar aromas, moderate Bourbon aromas, and mild roast malts aromas. Not an extremely complex nose but very appealing to the smell.

Taste: Prominent whiskey notes, moderate roast malts, moderate caramel/brown sugar, a touch of black pepper spiciness, and drying tannic oak notes. The finish is fairly dry. The alcohol is nicely hidden for something 14.0% ABV.

Mouth-feel: On the light side of full bodied with a medium level of carbonation. I'm not sure what stouts Fifty Fifty blended to come up with this beer but it comes off fuller in body than any Eclipse I've recently had.

Overall: I'm an Eclipse fan and while I have no idea what stouts Fifty Fifty blended to come up with beer it flat out works for my tastes. While I love a well done pastry stout there's a pureness for me with this beer, no adjuncts added, noticeable roast malts in the taste profile, and great bal-aging. Nicely done Fifty Fifty.

 

Big Black Stout by Ellison

4.21/5 rDev -0.9%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

Can poured into a snifter



Received from @Whyteboar in a Lif from bif#12

Dense, solid creamy brown foam cap , good retention, settles to a ring over black motor oil

Aroma is roast malts

Taste is roasted malts, char, ash , licorice

Creamy, roast malt astringency in the beginning but fades as the glass warms

Good beer

 

I can’t believe I’ve not had this before, but I haven’t. That changes this evening.





4.42/5 rDev +1.1%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5

Gorgeous mahogany brown color with a light tan head, the nose is filled with malty caramel aromas along with stone fruit notes. I am now officially salivating.

The caramel actually is closer to toffee on the taste, and the stone fruit is more pronounced, a black cherry flavor. The mouthfeel is medium, and well carbonated.

What a magnificent beer this is, especially on a chilly fall evening in Northern Indiana. World class, IMHO.

 

Good evening, NBW family. We aren't much for Halloween, but our grandson is onto it. Happy to say there was a safe neighborhood to at least have some fun. He was The Cat in the Hat.

Cold as hell here compared to the recent mild weather and yesterday we got about two inches of October snow.

Been saving this, no idea why.



Yep...never had this before. I have no way to add to what most of you already know about this beer. It looks perfect. It smells, tastes, and feels damn near perfect. It gets even better as it warms, layering flavor on flavor. Coffee early, then awesome chocolate, finally the bourbon shows up with perfect woodiness and just enough vanilla for sweet balance. Barely a hint of the alcohol, but pleasantly warming on the second really cold night of the year. This beer might actually exceed the hype. It is going to land above 4.5 without a doubt.

 

Poured into a 16 oz tulip glass bottled on 10/2/2020. Pours near pitch black with a 2 plus finger sticky light brown head that leaves thick gobs of lace with excellent retention. 4.5

Smell fudge, strong coffee grounds, vanilla beans, and sweet bourbon really really nice. 4.5

Taste follows deep dark chocolate, strong coffee, vanilla, and oaked bourbon really balanced and tasty as hell. 4.5

Mouthfeel is big, a tad dry, soft almost creamy carbonation, and at 11% a sipper that goes down very easy, but warms your entire soul. 4.5

Overall I had high expectations and I feel it delivered nearly on my highest expectations. Very well made and my entire body is warm and blood sugar is most likely off the charts. 4.5

 

Triptytch Fruit Aisle Sour Vanilla IPA with Raspberry & Cherry, 8.2% ABV. 3.97 overall
Cheers @basaywhat

Pours an effervescent & hazed rose' color with a pinky of purplish/pink head. Below average head retention & lacing

S: Tart Berries, some lime

T: Vanilla, sweet cherry, a little lime & sour currant flavor up front. Sweet and tart cherry, some raspberry & a little vanilla & lime as this warms. Vanilla & tart berry & cherry in the finish

MF: Medium body, restrained carbonation, became creamier as this warmed

Drinks easy, needed a stronger nose, but tasty enough

 

Austin Beerworks Black Thunder Black Lager
4/4/4/4/4
Overall 4 (Very Good)
12oz canned 9-30-20, opened 10-31-20.
Look
2 finger beige head, very good retention.
Dark brown hue with great clarity. Full, clinging lace.
Smell
Light roast, woodsy with faint chocolate and coffee notes.
Detecting a hoppy / grassy aroma under it all.
Taste
Coffee with cream, bitter roast malt - toast and nuts.
Again, as in the aroma, a grassy/spicy hop flavor comes on late. Lots of flavor.
Feel
Light body, somewhat creamy mouthfeel.
Lingering bitter and roasty finish. Surprising power.
Overall
Very Good.

 

Greetings fellow NBSers! After some yard chores I'd been putting off, a collab Wit from Ecliptic and Cloudburts, called, straightforwardly, Witbier with Lemon. Lemon seems a bit faded, the date on the can is unreadable, but, I'd guess this was a summer release.

 

Creatures from the Deep by VitaminSea & Unseen creatures

4.53/5 rDev 0%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.5

A collaboration DIPA with Unseen Creatures. This beer takes a heavily-oated Pilsner based malt bill and pairs it with Galaxy and Nelson Sauvin hops

Canned 10.29, opened 10.31



“Happy Halloween”

two finger fluffy off white foam cap over a turbid orange liquid, very good retention, settles to a solid pencil thick layer with heavy lacings

Aroma is orange citrus, orange marmalde, white grape , faint sweetness

Taste is white grape, orange juice, melon

Velvety smooth, creamy , a quaffable 8%abv, hop taste, no bite

Great beer

 

So new beer #1 for the weekend is XoCoVEZA from the CAN which to me makes it a new beer since Ive only had it bottled and its been a long time.
Pours a pitch black with a huge beautiful tan head that recedes leaving spotty lacing and a nice "crown".
Aroma is bakers chocolate, dark roasted coffee/malts, cinnamon and hints of vanilla.
Taste follows with cocoa powder up front, blending into coffee, very slight hints of spicy pepper, vanilla and then a drying cinnamon spice. There is also a hint of soapy hops in there somewhere. The pepper takes a fruity aspect here - like a sun dried but reconstituted ancho pepper.
Feel is medium, lighter than you would expect- porter-like actually which for me, I like, although stout and sweet stout lovers may say it needs a bit more body. The carbonation is light but remains throughout and the finish is drying from cinnamon and has a anise/licorice quality. The spicy pepper is perfect in the finish not taking over at all.
This is one fanastic beer. The full flavor is amazing for such a balanced combination of multiple additions. One thing for me is I could take just a tad less cinnamon- it just dries the sweetness out just a bit too much. An awesome brew and so glad they canned it. Cheers!

 

Planete Rouge from Deschutes.

500ml capped/waxed bottle served in a tulip. Bottled on 10/10/18. Don't remember where or when I got it.

Second pour has a bunch of sediment in it. The first pour is a translucent, deep, rich, red, small head. Not much carbonation. Smell is gorgeous dark cherries and tartness.

Taste is tart and cherry with a strong skin/stem bitterness.

Mouthfeel is dry. Overall, quite nice.

 

One more for me tonight, an old 2017 Weyerbacher Imperial Pumpkin Ale. Seemed to have forgotten about this one a while back, and upon inspection it seems alright so I'll give it a little go for Halloween celebrations.



Pours a cloudy hazy opaque maroon red brown with some sediment, and a dissipating off-white foam head.

Smells pretty good, a little sweet and malty, lightly fruity, pumpkiny and a little vegetal, with considerable spices, strong cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom and cloves, toasted bread, dark caramel, molasses, sweet toffee, some honey, biscuit, a hint of vanilla, fresh gourdy pumpkin, mild dried fruits like apricot, fig, dates, and some earthy herbal slight vegetal hops.

Taste follows mostly strong on the autumn spices, cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom and clove blended in harmony over some sweet toasted malts, dark caramel, molasses, toffee, honey, biscuit, toasted bread, mild vanilla, dried fruits, apricot, fig, dates, fresh pumpkin, and earthy herbal hops. Pretty good balance of flavors, sweet, toasty, malty, fruity, spices, and fairly strong pumpkin.

Feels lighter medium bodied, slightly creamy with moderate carbonation.

Overall this is a really nice pumpkin ale. 8% abv, rich in malts, strong in spices that don't seem medicinal at the moment, a little sweet, good pumpkin taste, light fruitiness, a real well made imperial pumpkin ale that I'd be happy to pick up and drink again if I see it fresh. This might be in the top 3 pumpkin ales for me now, definitely top 5 and close to the top. Cheers all, Happy Halloween!

 

Next up was one from @FBarber and his ninja box during the recent NBS BIF #12, Dovetail Maibock. Nice example of the style.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/45802/282299/

 

Jackie O's Bourbon Barrel Champion Ground Imperial Stout



Happy Halloween.

4.35/5 rDev -3.1%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25

I bought this a while ago in a bottle shop when it was too hot to enjoy a big barrel aged stout so now's the time. Poured a 12.7 ounce bottle into a DFH tulip and the head just didn't measure up over a blackish brown body so it gets nicked for that. Smell is of a generic brand Jackie O's stout, which is a pretty high standard but they have a certain sameness to them albeit on a high plane (I hope this is making sense to someone who's experienced this). They loaded this up with Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee (which coffee wise is out of my not cheap range) so it's present in the smell and taste but not to an obnoxious degree; instead things are nicely balanced. Mouthfeel is just fine for a barrel aged stout.

This has been a good experience despite my lower than average scoring.

 

Poured into a 16 oz Nordic pint glass best before dating, stupid in my opinion. 6 weeks old maybe. Pours a hazy yellow with some floatie chunks of sediment, with a half finger sticky white head that leaves some thin streaks of lace with solid retention. 4

Smell papaya, passionfruit, ripe melon, apricot, and grapefruit rind. 4

Taste is papaya, passionfruit, cantaloupe, apricot, peach, and a little hint of grapefruit. 4.25

Mouthfeel is bigger than average, a little sticky not dry, soft gentle carbonation, and at 8.5% ABV really easy drinking. 4.5

Overall for me, this is the best beer I have had from them hands down. I would recommend giving this one a shot. Well done. 4.25

 

Hello New Beer Weekend!!!

Well, it's the end of an era for me - my 25 years in the restaurant business ended today, with the closing of my restaurant. It was a totally wild day. We had an all time record day, even adjusted for inflation. 72 years of this restaurant being open in St. Cloud has ended. Heck, the Mayor even issued an official proclamation honoring our years of serving the community - which is damn cool.

We all busted our asses to get our customers their final sandwiches, and sides. It wasn't easy, it was so much work to just even try to keep up, however, we somehow did.

Now the clean up starts tomorrow. There's a lot of equipment that needs to be removed. There's a lot of work that needs to get done before the new property owner can gut the place and get it ready to rent out.

But now I am home. I have a frozen pizza in the oven, because I really didn't have time to eat today. And, of course it's time for a new beer.

For this bitter sweet day, I've decided to go for a very heavy beer.

Black Tuesday from The Bruery. 2016 release - 20.3% ABV.

This is the strongest beer I've ever had, by about a half percent, which was also another Bruery beer.

This beer was so kindly sent to me by @Orca_Whale . He hit me hard with some of their hight ABV Stouts, and this is the king.

This is one hell of a beer. I do like high octane stouts and this fits the bill very well. Very boozy. Thick. Full bodied. Rich.

There's a bit of an alcohol burn, but for such a strong beer, not as harsh as I was expecting. There's tons of barrel here, but there's a lot more.

I am really liking this, and am glad to be drinking it. Thank you so much Orca_Whale for it.

Review:

4.54/5 rDev -1.1%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.5

2016 release reviewed on 10-31-2020.

Pours a very dark brown. Almost no head, as expected with such a high ABV beer. What was there was tan, but went away rapidly. However there is a bit of carbonation rising in the glass. and it's refreshing a ring of foam around the edge of the glass.
The nose is a boozy experience. Some toffee, and caramel on the nose. A hint of chocolate.
Taste - Boozy flavor, however there's a lot more there. Up front I get some chocolate. There's tons of toffee and caramel on the backside. Tons of barrel flavor throughout.
This is very boozy, and you know it's very high ABV. It has a warming burn, but not too harsh. Just enough to let you know you're drinking a 20%+ beer. Fairly thick. Smooth also.
This is a sipper for sure. Yes, I know some have chugged it, but it's really best to take your time to enjoy this beauty. Probably the biggest knock against it is the size. I really don't like 750ML really high ABV beers. It's just too damn much for one person. I bet it was "hotter" fresh, and might have mellowed out a bit with age. Highly recommended.


This will be it for tonight. I might cap the rest in the bottle, and save it for tomorrow. Cheers all.

 

Congratulations on a job well done.

 

This hits home like you wouldnt believe. I wish you the best. I have the utmost respect for anyone being able to survive that period of time in this business. You did something right and you did it well and consistently for a extended period of time and that something you should hold to your heart and feel very proud of. Ive been in this business almost 40 years and right now Im in a quandary. No Idea whether Im coming or going especially due to Covid. I wish I could share a brew with you now I really do. Best wishes and really....congrats to your success.