New Beer Weekend #16

Thank you @SawDog505 for kicking things off for NBW 16 / NBS 819. Your beer looks like a very sweet way to kick off the weekend.

It has been a most beautiful week in Chicago, with 70s through Tuesday forecast. May be the last good weekend to pull out a Saison, and I wanted something nice and easy to start the day. I present Thoughts Without A Thinker, a saison by Keeping Together.



This is saison with oranges, earl gray tea & saffron. Per Averie’s website, it is 5.8%. Further brewer notes are linked here.

Appearance: Nice crust clear golden pour, looks like apple juice. Champagne level sustained carbonation throughout, very generous large bright white bubble head lingers for a few minutes before leaving nominal lacing. Looks beautiful. 4.5

Aroma: Nice very funky citrus leads, sweetness prevalent. Rich lemongrass aroma, the saffron balanced out the orange well. I do not detect the tea, but do detect cinnamon, peach and apricot. Very fruity sweet and inviting, barnyard funk providing an offsetting balance. One of the freshest and bold Saisons I recall on the nose. 4.75

Taste: Taste is more subdued than the aroma leads. Citrus and lemon lead, sweet but soft on the palate. Less tart and funky than expected, lightly dry. Tea cones through, provides a nice backing to the varied flavors. The saffron provides further flavor, fresh floral, light grass as well. Overall wonderful taste, this aged well over the approximate half year in the bottle. Great morning offering. 4.5

Mouthfeel: Medium body, dryness and faint carbonation sustained throughout. Light tart and a more pronounced sweetness tingles the tongue. Clean crisp and refreshing. 4.5

Overall: This is another outstanding saison by Keeping Together. Bold complex aroma and taste, light dry and easy to drink, looks great. Only bought one of these, really hope a similar offering is released down the road. 4.75

On deck are a few Revolution offerings I am trying to prioritize for this and next weekend.

I wish you all a wonderful beer weekend!

 

Good morning NBW
Overnight shift complete and time for a beer...

Imperial Stout Aged in Bourbon Barrels by Guinness's Open Gate Brewery in Baltimore
11.2oz bottle coded L0252T2001 (tiny etched print under label-presumably 9/8/20) poured into tulip pint glass at just above fridge temp 10.3% ABV. The beer pours dense black with light brown head. The head recedes to a thin ring and puffy island. Some clingy lacing just above the beer as I drink. The aroma is mild to moderate in strength featuring coconut/vanilla, oak and roasted malt. The taste is bittersweet roasted malt & dark chocolate at first with an oaky, drying, moderately bitter finish. The mouthfeel is medium bodied with medium carbonation and a dry finish. Alcohol is well hidden except the final lingering finish, which is a bit whiskey hot. There very little bourbon here for me, mostly barrel. Overall, good, but not $5 a (not even the full 12 ounces) bottle.

That's all I've got. I picked up a bottle of the gingerbread version as well, but I'll sample that one closer to Christmas. Cheers all and enjoy your Saturday!

 

A beer to be thankful for!

Today’s beer is a new beer from Sierra Nevada brewed for a good cause; Dankful IPA.

As Sierra Nevada details the cause:

“A better tomorrow is why we brew Dankful, a resinous West Coast IPA that celebrates the great work of nonprofits in our communities. One way we say “danks” is through donations, so these folks can continue their important work. These nonprofits stand up for social equality, economic well-being, and environmental protection in our communities. We’re Dankful for that.

$1,000,000 COMMITMENT

WE’VE COMMITTED AT LEAST $1 MILLION IN DONATIONS THROUGH DANKFUL IN 2021.

Rather than making donations contingent upon Dankful sales success, we’ve committed to at least $1 million in donations over the next year, which will be supported in part by Dankful sales. We’ll partner with new nonprofits each quarter, allowing our support to be nimble and immediate as needs arise.”

I am personally happy to buy this beer and contribute to the cause.

Below are some details about the beer:

Malts: Two-row Pale, Caramelized malts, Rye

Hops: Columbus, Chinook, Mosaic, Ekuanot, Nelson Sauvin, Zappa, Idaho 7

Yeast: Ale Yeast

The beer is 7.4% ABV with 55 IBU and has a resinous flavor with notes of pine and tropical fruit.”

That is quite an interesting list of hop varieties listed there and the flavor description has me salivating.

Let’s drink!

Served in my Spiegelau IPA glass:

Appearance:

Copper colored with a BIG fluffy off-white head.

Aroma:

There is a lot going on there! There is some pine, a resinous quality, even a bit of a berry aroma and also some citrus.

Taste:

The flavor follows the nose with a complex combination of pine, resin, berry and citrus (pretty much in that order in terms of flavor intensity). There is a notable bitterness.

Mouthfeel:

Medium bodied with a medium carbonation level. There is an off-dry finish.

Overall:

This beer is very good. The complex hop flavors play very well together and I am very happy there is not much of a dank (i.e., marijuana-like) quality in this beer; I am personally not a fan of that flavor aspect.

Cheers!

@KOP_Beer_OUtlet @rotsaruch @RobH @SierraTerence

 

[Spicoli]Dude, dank is slang for excellent.[/Spicoli]

 

Pours a nice solid jet black color with a nice tan head and some nice lacing
Aroma has generous fudge, maple syrup, bourbon, coffee and chocolate hints
The taste follows the nose with a well balanced fudge, maple syrup, bourbon, coffee and chocolate flavors
A medium bodied decently carbonated beer
A very well done Imperial stout

 

Chimay Grande Réserve to start celebrating today!

4.37/5 rDev +1.9%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

750 ml bottle, 2018, poured into a goblet

A- A brownish ruby red with a two finger off white head.

S- Dark fruits, figs, bananas, oak, earthy, hints of whiskey, floral.

T- Dark fruits, bananas, figs, hints of chocolate, oak, touch of whiskey, floral, earthy, hints of caramel.

M- Smooth, light to medium body.

O- Barrel works well with this, amount of banana is a nice surprise.

Cheers!

 

I haven’t seen that around, but from your review, I definitely have to keep an eye out for that! Cheers!

 

I have on found it in one store. I kind of feel a lot of places are ordering because of the price tag and I know regular Chimay doesn’t fly off the shelf.

 

Road trip!

 

Thank you, @Shanex for the great joke. Here's a non-politically correct one:
A guy comes home from work and finds his girlfriend packing a suitcase.
"What's going on?" he asked.
"I'm leaving you. I just found out you're a *********."
"*********? That's a pretty big word for a twelve year old."

 

State Line Liquor in Maryland has 2016-2020 on the shelf if you want to make that road trip!

 

Good Saturday afternoon, NBWeekenders. It's a lovely, mild day and I decided to pop one of my remaining IPAs from @jdell15: Parish Brewing's Double Citra Daydream. As it's hopped only with Citra, it's simple but very effective. Lots of tart lemon, grapefruit, and orange peel, along with ample oaty sweetness. The mouth feel is fantastic! It's plush and creamy with an ideal level of carbonation. And if there is such a thing as a "session" 8.5% DIPA, then this is it. I can't believe how quickly I drained the can.

4.29/5 rDev -2.1%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25

I have lots of new beer from Jacob, as well as some fresh locals, and I look forward to reviewing them on this thread tomorrow. Til then, cheers NBW!

 

Pollyanna's St. Charles brewery is celebrating their first anniversary and released a couple of beers. I have compared them here and, unfortunately, I prefer to enjoy the many other Pollyanna offerings.


Fire and Ice

From Untapped:

"We brewed two beers using the same hops (Citra, Zythos, and Huell Melon) for our first anniversary in St Charles. "Ice" was brewed cold (Lager yeast) and "Fire" was brewed hot (Espe Kveik yeast). The result is two similar, but completely different beers."


The look is the first observation I make that distinguishes these two beers and is appropriate for the styles. Hazy IPA is hazy, and the IPA is crystal clear. The head on Ice is clearly more significant, and the tight bubbles match, but neither lasts long.

Aromas share background depth, but the citrus and melon are more prominent in Fire and the Ice has more earthiness.

Flavors are divergent, yet again a similarity hovers.
Fire remains fruity with a vegetal quality. Orange, grapefruit, melon, and shallot or vidalia onion.
Ice has a strong soapy flavor that yields to a classic (Hamms or Old Style) beer amd clears the palate with a fruity finish. Interesting in that Ice was not brewed with lager yeast, but Fire was.

Mouthfeel is interesting. Ice is lighter and finishes clean, whereas Fire leans more full while remaining medium and finishes slightly chewy.

Overall both are okay. They each have pro's and con's for me and I don't think either recipe is dialed in yet. My preference is for Ice, but Pollyanna has many better options available.
Happy Anniversary, St. Charles! Now get back to work.

 

The Garden Brewery Kveik Pale Ale


Pours a clouded pale golden color with a huge, foamy head.


Smells of tropical passion fruit, blueberries and melon, entangled into lime zest and lighter caramel notes.


Has an utmost refreshing mouthfeel, resulting from the light bodied beer, bubbly carbonation and slightly funky Kveik yeast presence in this.


Tastes of an initial lime bitterness, which gets complimented by unripe papaya and water melon. This gets enhanced by a crackery note and a lovely, well nuanced tartness, which offers a lighter leather note on top. Finishes with an ongoing hop bitterness, sun ripened oranges and a light crispness, which gets enhanced by the effervescent carbonation in this.


Lovely, light bodied Pale, which makes great use of the unique Kveik yeast, by adding just an unusual, well working nuance to the beer.

 

I went with Beerdrop for the first time and they promptly rewarded me with a whole box of mediocre beer. Makes me think we already get the best beer Colorado has to offer already on the shelves. The first of the weekend is from Sanitas Brewing:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/31765/516998/?ba=morimech#review

And the second is from Bruz Beers:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/47053/514202/?ba=morimech#review

I will give Beerdrop one more month to make things better, otherwise that will be that.