New Beer Weekend #16

Now I'm trying Breckenridge's amber ale, Avalanche.

12oz can served in a tulip. Dated 05JAN21.

Pours a clear medium amber with a smallish head. Smell is sweet and malty, maybe a hint of nuts or toffee.

Taste is kind of watery, grainy and tealike.

Mouthfeel is fairly light, smooth. Overall...it's fine. Not inspiring, not bad. Unremarkable.

 

I've been a bit all over the place this weekend so finally catching up on the thread and now time to enjoy my first new beer of the weekend. No better place to start than with some Hill Farmstead. The aroma was the standout for me with this one.


4.47/5 rDev +0.7%
look: 4.5 | smell: 5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25

Canned 10/27/20 with a drink by date of 11/17/20. Poured into a BA teku. Very attractive beer. Glowing orange with a ton of thick, fluffy white head with excellent legs, leving behind lots and lots of lacing. Aroma is glorious. When I can smell it from several feet away it's usually a good sign, and this was no exception. Grapefruit, peach, and herbal notes all come through on the nose.

Taste also has notes of grapefruit and all kinds of hops. It's an interesting and well done balance of juicy bitterness. Citrus notes, including orange peel, with a medium amount of bitterness. Feel is medium bodied and very smooth going down.

 

NBS #2: Magnify Brewing's Infinite Universe. Lately, Magnify's been releasing a lot of kettle sours, pastry stouts, and somewhat gimmicky IPAs so I was happy to a straight-forward, single-hopped (Galaxy) Quadruple IPA. This is fabulous! It has a classic murk-bomb appearance. The head and lacing are long-lasting. The smell and flavor includes lemon, grapefruit, tangerine, and passion fruit. The Galaxy hops add a nice bitter bite and there is a touch of Magnify's famous hop burn that will likely dissipate with some time in the can. And then there's the mouth feel: it's stout-like; thick, creamy, almost chewy. It's hard to believe the ABV is 12% given how smoothly it drinks. I probably drank it too quickly. Overall, in my opinion Infinite Universe is Magnify's best QIPA yet. I haven't had a better New Jersey-brewed IPA of this gravity.

Here's the score:

4.44/5 rDev 0%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

 

Ok, so after a morning at the gym and a fairly standard walk home, I gave an official review for my Saturday NBW post beer. After a Pilsner and watching of A Bronx Tale, it’s time for another stout from a major craft brewer, Oskar Blues.

For some reason, I’m expecting this to be the next in a series that started with a beer I loved, Bamburana. As of the start of this posting, I had no way to defend this position, and I believe I am probably wrong (I think Bamburana was a collaboration, even). Either way, here is Amburilla.


Ok, if the condensation on the closeup of the can may indicate, I let this warm a bit before pouring. Like the new KBS from yesterday, this beer showed a deep brown liquid flowing from the can that turned black as it collected in my drinking vessel. The head was looser bubbles, but of a deeper color than yesterday's - it also fell a little less gracefully.

Nose is pretty heavy on the ginger. I've found I like ginger in more and more beers, after not being a fan in the first couple I tried. Maybe brewers are just using it more properly. It takes a little effort to get beyond the ginger, but I want to say there was a hint of lemon on the edges (though I could definitely chalk that up to imagination and memories of ginger food dishes). Anyhow, I do get some stout-like coffee and chocolate with a slow, deep whiff, but mostly... ginger.

Vanilla? No. Ginger doesn't smell like vanilla to me.

There's a light fizziness - I think no more than tickling. The ginger adds some bite to mimic a stronger carbonation.

At this point, the GF says, "I get a gingerbready taste to it. Taste and smell." I'm sure reading the label will not surprise her much.

Ok, back to me.

Ginger influences from the beginning, starting with brief spiced dark note to open - more like a lightly spiced black licorice. A quick drink and there's a bit of a chocolately impression (this is the only way I get vanilla with any strength). Also, if I hold the beer on the front of my tongue for a second or two, I get some familiar stout flavors

Regardless, once the liquid rolls towards backwards, the ginger distinction comes fairly quickly. Funny enough, I am once again getting some lemon-like notes around the spice. Vanilla maybe sneaks in after the bite subsides, but more obvioulsy (and like the KBS this morning) I get the barrel later in the taste, melded in pretty well. In this case, I think it's lightness is more a factor of the strength of the ginger than solely being deft barrel treatment. In fact, there's an impression of rye whiskey thanks to the ginger bite.

So, I do like this, but I wish the ginger were toned down a tad. I got two 4-packs, so I can let some try to mellow a tad.

I sorely wish I had some to really compare, but my questionable linkage to Bamburana doesn't seem as far out of whack as it probably should. Reading my review of the retired beer (was a collab with Cigar City), there isn't an obvious thread to tie the two together. But the interesting notes the Amburana wood added, in my memory at least, have a pseudo-parallel to the ginger notes (though considerably less aggressive).

Oh, to add to the multiple asides in this post, an aside of a pic from today’s spring-like fall walk, with the moon again:

 

Collective Arts created my new beer for today. I have a good opinion of these people, the beer is good and the can art is always quite original. Can says "West Coast Style" but the beer says New England.

4.23/5 rDev +4.2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25

Poured from a 16oz can dated 09/17/20 to a Nonic glass at fridge temp.
Light yellow/gold hazy body. Pillowy, puffy white head, laces nicely.
Smells of oranges, mango with a hint of hops.
Taste is similar, hops come out at the end. Alcohol is noticeable, but subtle. Malt also makes an appearance.
Mouthfeel is a little light for the appearance and flavor, but not bad.
Pretty good beer.

 

East 6th Brewing's Pretty Girl From San Diego IPA, 5.8 ABV, 3.66 Overall

Pours an effervescent goldenhoney color with two fingers of rocky head. Fairly average head retention & lacing

S: Breadyness, grassyness & a little citrus

T: Grassy bitterness, lime, biscuitty malt, plusy pineyness up front. More pineyness as this warms, cakey dryness and just a little grapefruit. Finishes with pine, a little mango & dryness

MF: Medium body, moderate carbonation, decent balance

A decent drinker, but nothing special & not worth the pricepoint

 

The Bruery, Vermont Stickey Maple, thanks to @2beerdogs for this one! Pours nice motor oil black with creamy frothy head, aromas of well maple sweetness, taste follows, all maple, like pancake beer, should have had this for breakfast, sweet and stickey with some chocolate, coffee and little barrel presence. Overall a nice desert type beer. Thanks Derek

 

Dueling Edward reviews - I like it. Considering it was neither was a BIF beer or a beer that recently saw extended distribution, having this fairly classic beer newly reviewed twice this weekend is interesting. Cheers!

 

I've always taken NBS to mean "new-to-you" beer. Is that not the case? Have I been doing it all wrong, and the proper etiquette is to review newly released beers? That never even crossed my mind.

 

Continuing to dig through this mixed pack. Strawberry Sky from Breckenridge.

12oz can served in a tulip. Enjoy by 11/23/20.

Pours a clear honey-gold with a small head. Smell is mild, a little strawberry and a little grain and yeast.

Taste is very mild, light grain/honey, hint of strawberry. Strawberry gets stronger as I drink more of it, in a fake flavoring kind of way. Not fantastic.

Mouthfeel is light, not quite crisp. Overall, it's all right. Another unremarkable beer from Breckenridge.

 

Wow, another beautiful day to be outside! I'm enjoying a really nice helles thanks to @zid :

Suarez While Helles

I really love the finesse and balance of this beer. The malt is crackery with a delicate graham cracker slant, hops are spicy and lean towards lime peel, bitterness has just the right pop. The palate starts honey sweet but finishes dry and crisp. There could be more depth here overall, but it's still such a pleasure to drink, and goes down pretty damn fast. A- (4.1).

Thanks again, Chris!

 

No, you have it right. I'm not sure how I inadvertently gave the impression I was saying otherwise. I take both posters' newness to Edward as honest, and was simply stating that it was enjoyable to see a known beer reviewed twice as something that doesn't happen every NBW, unless there's an outside influence (i.e. BIF).

 

That's probably all on me and my misinterpretation of your comment. Thanks for clarifying though. I got worried there for a moment! I haven't had a lot of Hill Farmstead. Being from California, and the fact that they seem sparse in the trade forums, and now living in Maine and not having anything VT traders want, it's rare for me to get my hands on their beer. I have a lot of catching up to do!

 

Howdy NBS. One new one for this evening.



Undead Red is the newest Kill Your Idles beer from Idle Hands. For those who are unfamiliar with these, KYI is a sour beer series that uses different combinations of fruits (as well as lactose) and tends to have some cool concepts throughout. The last one I really loved was called Salted Rim, and it was probably the best example of a "margarita"-style sour I've ever had. As the label says, this one uses both tart cherry and blackcurrant purée; sounds good!

The pour is definitely a dark reddish hue with nice saturation to it. The head is massive and retentive for this style of beer, measuring about three fingers at its highest, and slowly sinking to a clinging single finger after five or so minutes. There's even pretty nice lace here. I'm impressed, for sure.

The brewery's description of this beer's nose intrigued me. They could have just said "smells like cherry and blackcurrant," but the way they talk about it makes it seem like those fruits (along with the base beer) underwent an alchemical reaction, as they mention "cinnamon stick," "cabernet sauvignon must," and "grenadine." Interesting. Personally, I definitely do pick up a bit of a buttery/oaky red wine note along with a slight note of Winter-type spice, so I guess they're not far off in a way. It doesn't really smell as "fruity" as this combo of additive ingredients would have you believe. I do get some slight cherry in here, but the blackcurrant itself does not feel as apparent as some other blackcurrant sours I've had. Not sure about this, but the way it tastes will likely really inform the entire experience.

First sip is creamy and less sour than expected. Almost a bit cranberry-like, though, in its firm "tartness" without much in the way of actual "sourness." There's acidity, but it feels highly-tempered. Looking a bit more into it, it seems like this KYI actually has a dialed up (by 25%!) lactose addition compared to the others, which could certainly change how it presents on the palate. I do get a bit of where they were coming from with the references to cabernet sauvignon here, and the mid-palate has a little bit of graham-crackery malt and a big, heavy body. Very odd, but not bad. Probably one of the more wine-like sours I've had lately. It's more "complex" than just tasting like the fruits that were added, but part of me wishes it kinda did just taste like them because cherry and blackcurrant sound really good together, and I almost don't even get them in this. At least I probably wouldn't be able to pick them out from this if I hadn't known this included 'em in advance.

Not sure how successful this one is. I don't think I'd want another, but it also might just be not to my taste. Interesting and definitely kinda experimental (even compared to other weird entries into this series over the past year or so), but... maybe not for me?

 

Last new beer out of this mixed pack: Breckenridge's Hop Peak IPA.

12oz can served in a tulip. Best by 01/02/21.

Pours somewhat hazy yellow-orange with a fairly large head and moderate carbonation. Smell is grapefruit, lemon, hop resin.

Taste is lemon and bitterness, a little grain, cut greens.

Mouthfeel is medium. Overall...it's all right. Not bad to drink, but not something I'm going to be excited to drink .