New Beer Weekend #18

Hailstorm has garnered some hype and criticism for its barrel program, in the Vlad series, but I have only praise for their barrel aged barleywine.

Arctic Ale, an English barleywine aged in bourbon barrels.


12oz can dated 10/29/19 and states: "Best enjoyed within 12 months".
Look is a muddy, orange-tinged, opaque, brown, ever-so briefly floating a 1/8" cap of off-white tiny bubbles, yet leaving sheets of infinitesimally small-bubbled lacing that runs back to an edge-hugging ring.

Aroma is bourbon forward with toffee, butterscotch, and vanilla easily blending with the bourbon oak and molasses notes.

Flavors match and the smooth, velvety, feel is a perfect introduction to the palate. Dark stone fruit flavors arrive with the rising temperature. A very pleasant experience evolves in this elixir. No booze warmth, odd at this abv, and dangerous, as another can begs to be enjoyed.

Overall a high-lined barleywine, that might be a nice flavor warmed and thickened over ice cream.

 

After spending a day and a half in the yard doing leaf cleanup, it's finally time for a beer. As usual for a Sunday, I'm also torturing myself watching the Eagles. I'm not sure why I keep watching, as I'd be happier just reading a book (or watching paint dry), but I keep coming back for more.

Anyhow, today's beer is The Original Milkshake Stout, courtesy of @Whyteboar in NBS BIF #12. This is new beer and a new brewery for me.
https://i.imgur.com/HbXa3ul.jpg
3.7/5 rDev -0.8%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.75

Appearance is interesting. On the pour, it's way too light, almost looking like watered down coke as it comes out of the can. That said, once it's in the glass, even when held up to the light it's much darker than it appeared initially. Nice, foamy head with good retention and tons of lacing. Smell is heavy on the chocolate.

Taste is more chocolate, and overall is semi-sweet. Not particularly complex. It's smooth and easy going down, and almost has a small amount of smokiness to it. Feel is very thin.

 

Those are more or less two names for the same thing.
(BTW, I love the "Egyptian Revival" grave pic.)

 

Glad you liked it. I really enjoyed that beer and have gone through a couple six packs recently. I agree it doesn't quite fit a style, and I haven't tried to review it.

 

Seems a bit slow in here right now. Oh well, on to my second new beer. Adroit Theory popped up randomly late last month in MA and I picked up a few of their offerings. I kept a few to myself and shared some with friends, and pretty much all of the beers I picked up were at least good. This one is a hazy imperial IPA with lactose called All Shall Perish. Coincidentally, All Shall Perish is the name of a deathcore band, Adroit Theory seem to be a metal-themed brewery, and I'm listening to another deathcore band (The Concubine) while I organize my CD collection, which is, you guessed it, mostly comprised of metal albums.



Alright, so this is apparently double dry-hopped with Mosaic, El Dorado, and Idaho 7. Unfortunately, I didn't think to check the date on this when I bought it, but it's also almost 2 months old, so hopefully that doesn't totally ruin the experience. I have faith that it will still be pretty good, however. The pour is hazy but not totally-opaque, building up in my glass with an orange hue that reminds me a bit more of a West Coast IPA than most paler New England offerings. Decent ring of foam that builds up lazily, leaving behind a consistent ring of thin lace. Weak legs and slight surface coverage. Not super convinced by the appearance, but it could definitely bounce back.

Pungent aromatics throwing out a lot of citrus (blood orange and grapefruit rind, mostly, with a hint of yuzu and tangerine), some light tea-like undertones from the Idaho 7, and a hint of grassiness. Funky pine resin and background notes of apricot and papaya. A decent amount going on in this one even with a couple months on it, which makes me pretty happy. El Dorado seems to play a good supportive role here, as it somewhat meets Idaho 7 in the middle with its light melon-like suggestions and a hint of tropically-influenced fruitiness. That said, I can tell it's getting up there in age a bit, because it definitely feels like it would have been significantly more intense and hoppy even a few weeks ago.

Flavor profile is satisfying with prominent flavors of peach and watermelon candy backed up by resinous bitterness highlighting some grassy and piney elements. Light raspberry and red currant in the mid-palate, bolstered by the lactose addition which lends body without being too obtrusive. I tend to find a lot of lactose additions in bigger IPAs to seem a bit superfluous (and, at worst, really harmful to the beer as a whole), but this one is pretty well-done. Finish is semi-sweet and the beer is full-bodied, drinkable, and overall pretty damn enjoyable. I am happy to say that even with two months on it, this remains a good drink. Next time, I'll be more diligent with checking for dates on AT stuff (it's printed on the side of the can instead of on the bottom), but I hope they do another drop soon. Despite thinking most of their stuff seems more than a little pretentious (cans are individually-numbered, they list super-fancy cigar/food/cheese pairings, and they use "catalog number"-like denotations for their beers), I also think they at least walk the walk for the most part.

 

Congrats on surviving yr first shift. That's always a bit of a nail biter for me, especially if it's a bit outside of what I was doing before.

 

My first NBS entry of the day is from Structures, renowned for their murkbombs. Well, West Coast IPA is as murky yellow as anything they put out, but has an OG hop profile.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/43366/519488/?ba=beertunes#review

 

Hey what's going on?!

Been a bit busy, but definitely a few new beers this weekend. This is a good number to end on for sure.

Aslin Beer Co. - Belly Shirts



Poured from the can into a teku glass.

Out of the can, the beer pours like motor oil thick, and super viscous. There is hardly even a sound as the walnut brown and nearly black body coats and fills with not a hint of noise. Virtually no head creation, minus a faint forming collar of pencil thin tan ring, that does actually manage to stay for quite a bit of time.

Nice aroma but not very noticeable. Soft touches of dark thick chocolate, a real subtle sensing nutty quality that's hard to notice at first. Soft and subtle is probably the best way to describe it.

What the nose lacks the palate makes up for tremendously. Rich chocolate with a big nut butter sensing quality. Exotic nuts and mixing in with a mild sweetness and thick fatty flavor. Rich umami like oil slick texture, hits of melted dark chocolate and even some tropical fruit quality. The flavors really play with your senses, is that coconut and pineapple too or is it all in my head? Milky thick hinting vanilla and butter rich nuts as well.

Really well controlled heat on this as well for the high abv, just another big stout from these excellent creators.

look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.75 | 4.5/5 rDev +0.4%

Cheers!

 

Old cemeteries, especially those with monuments for folks that had some money or some importance, locally, can be fascinating places to spend some time.

 

Good Sunday afternoon, New Beer Samplers and commentators. This is my 2,000th review on BA. I considered trying to find some highly-rated, "special" beer but given that I've reviewed more beers (211) from Magnify than from any other brewery, it's appropriate to give the honor to a new offering from my friends at Magnify.

Spruce Juice is an "8.0% experimental Holiday inspired Imperial IPA designed with cooler months in mind." As the name implies, it's brewed with spruce tips. I enjoy Dogfish's Pennsylvania Tuxedo so I wanted to give this one a try. It's an inspired recipe: The grist base is English Maris Otter and it's heavily oated and wheated. Magnify added local wildflower honey and spruce tips, then dry hopped it with Mosaic and Simcoe. It's a pretty pour with a large, fluffy, milk-white cap and lots of soapy lacing. The smell is probably its weakest link, although it's fruity and floral with a whiff of spruce. The taste is terrific! The Maris Otter barley base gives it a bit of an English Bitter feel but the spruce is evident in the first sip and makes it pop. As the ale warms, the honey appears and its sweetness balances the tart citrus and the bittering Simcoe hops. The mouth feel is creamy with pleasant carbonation, and at 8% ABV a second pour is not an issue. Overall, this is a really tasty and enjoyable offering. A big shout out to Greg F. who came up with the recipe. I need to grab another pack while it's still available.

I hope everyone is enjoying his/her new beers this weekend. I'm looking forward to a short week and my favorite holiday before the grueling end of the year push begins. I'll be back momentarily with a local BA Stout. Cheers, NBW!

 

Crane Brewing's Blackberry Peach Sour IPA, 6.0% ABV; 3.45 overall

Pours a very effervescent & hazed pinkish orange with a pinky of slightly pink head. No head retention or lacing

S: Blackberry & that's about it

T: Blackberry, a little vanilla, dryness & sweet orange up front. If there's any peach in this, it is hiding behind all tart & sour from blackberry & cherry, plus a little lime. Finishes with tart blackberry & lime

MF: Medium body, firm carbonation

Not a bad drinker, but nothing worth getting too invested in. Glad I was able to purchase a single

 

Here's a very tasty beer that came to me thanks to @2beerdogs

Three Weavers Blood Junkie

Like you'd expect from an Imperial Red Ale, this one has big everything- pine, citrus, caramel, bitterness, malt. And it all works beautifully well together. The key is in the bitterness, which not only slices through the caramel sweetness but accentuates the evergreen hoppiness. It's a classic combo, and it's pulled off with style here. A very enjoyable A- (4.0).

 

See two posts above, thought I posted that an hour ago, yikes...

Left Hand Nitro Chai Milk Stout, 5.0% ABV, 3.88 overall


Pours a very effervescent chestnut tinged mahogany with a thumb of tight tan head. Stellar head retention & good lacing

S: Chai & sweetness

T: Follows the nose, sweet milk notes & cinnamon up front. More cinnamon & sweet milk as this warms, plus plenty of dryness. Finishes sweet, dry with plenty of cinnamon

MF: Creamy, medium body

Delivered the advertised flavors, just not a huge fan of chai and wouldn't mind it being a little higher in ABV

 

Third out of four, and my last new IPA of the day. This is The Agent from Kettlehead, a beer I have heard a lot of local (NH/MA) hype over. I am excited to give this one a shot, for sure! I don't know the can date of this, but it's probably pretty damn fresh because the store I happened to be shopping at on Friday when I got out of work early had just gotten some in stock along with five other beers from these guys. Talk about good timing!



The Agent is a 7% NEIPA which the label claims is "armed with pounds of Columbus, Summit, and Citrus [sic] hops." I'm pretty sure they mean Citra, and that is definitely a stupid typo, but I think their intentions are probably much better than their spelling and proofreading is.

The pour is an extremely stable, gorgeous-looking opaque orange with "Bellini"-like undertones to the hue if held to direct light. Dense as hell with a creamy, thick head of pure-white foamy suds. Incredible lacing and superb legs. Just an awesome-looking NEIPA. I am excited.

The use of "West Coast" hops I usually associate with non-NEIPAs definitely intrigued me here, and I have to say there is definitely a bit of a "classic" undercurrent running through the nose. This reminds me of the first time I had Heady, honestly. Though I am not a huge Heady fanboy, I recognize that it was an incredibly important beer and I recall the first time I had it being pretty awesome. The Agent carries forth huge swaths of pine, spruce, and citrus oils immediately on the nose melding with some light tropical aspects that mostly dip into guava and papaya with a hint of passion fruit grassiness/tartness. Summit hops really flex their unusual "onion"-like notes here, too, to an extent, but I do pick up a ton of orange zest as well. This is a very aromatic beer, and I'm excited to dig in to its flavors.

A bit doughy and yeasty on the tongue with big oat/wheat maltiness, though it's all backed up by ruthless hoppy citrus zest flavors and consistently-impressive tropical underpinnings. This is chock full of dense waves of grapefruit, papaya, tangerine, tangelo, and guava, with just a hint of zippy bitterness toward the finish. Lightly-sweet but not heavy or imposing. Moderate carbonation that isn't aggressive, but also doesn't feel lazy or unengaging. I really enjoy this beer and would gladly crush a four-pack any time. This is definitely one of the most well-made and well-built NEIPAs I've had lately, and I'm glad to count myself as a fan. Now I'm hoping they'll rebrew and package the Galaxy DDH version... I want that badly.

 

Okay - and now a side-by-side that will forever settle the debate of stout versus porter.

<<pauses while readers get up off floor and dry tears of laughter from their eyes>>

(Oh, and this is a long post, even for me; sorry in advance)

So this year, Hardywood Park is offering a Porter version of their quintessential holiday milk stout (on that this year quotes a certain BA review that made it onto some social media). So Gingerbread Porter has the same additional flavor ingredient as Gingerbread Stout (GBS), without the lactose. The back of the can even states that lactose was the driving factor behind this new beer - specifically that some people didn't like it.

So, in some ways, the only the difference could be the lactose here. The GF and I noted the label has the spices in different order, but I'm sure there's no legal guidelines and don't think there's any general brewer standards for how brewers market their beer's ingredient list. So if we assume the only difference is lactose, wouldn't this just be a non-milk stout? Well...

How would Hardywood market it then? Their milk stout isn't called "Gingerbread Milk Stout," so... Porter it is called to distinguish it from the classic. I'll offer as further evidence that on the label, the little man has "gbs" in icing on both cans. To be sure, this is my interpretation based on what little facts I have at hand, but I'd put $20 bucks I'm not far off.

Anyhow, does the Porter live up to its highly rated predecessor?


Looks - the bodies are both black or near to it, but the Porter's head seems a little darker. As they settle, the porter has a slightly thicker collar, though the GBS has more interesting lacing out of the gate.

Nose - to me, the cinnamon stands out a little more in the Porter, with the ginger a little more prominent in the GBS (note: the Porter is a month newer at 2 weeks old). There's a little bit more of a molasses lean to the sweet aroma where the GBS is more honey-like in comparison.

Feel - the milk stout is silkier, a little slicker, a little softer - as expected (though I will say I don't always notice a better feel in milk stouts). The porter has a little more spice bite to go along with what seems a slightly higher carbonation level.

Taste - Porter has a dark chocolate base with cinnamon and ginger spice additions. The GBS is a little sweeter, and in a turn from the nose, has a bit more of a molasses flavor. The Porter has a roasted bitterness in back that carries a hint of minerality. There's a bit of an impression of that last sip of coffee with a bit more saccharin at the bottom aspect.

Ok, that last statement sounds bad, but I think its the lingering ginger that is throwing a curveball. It's not as bad as I described it, but it could definitely be better. It's a strike that just catches the outside corner.


In the end? What do I think? Well, if we assume that the Porter is the same beer (or near it) sans lactose... I think the lactose is a necessary addition. The GBS is a more enjoyable beer to me, and a better constructed beer. The GF agreed with me on the more enjoyable side (though with more deliberation).

GBS is definitely sweeter, which I am led to believe might not be attributed to the lactose; if lactose imparts "tang" more than sweet, it's at best a minor component in the difference. This is still a relative comparison, as GBS is not at the newer pastry stout level, but it does evoke the classic cookie a bit more due to the extrasweetness. As stated above, the Porter is more like a spiced chocolate stout in comparison.

This is the second year for the Porter (I'll offer guess that it's the first year packaged), whereas GBS was added back in 2011. Obviously this was brewed because people didn't want the lactose - though what does "didn't dig the lactose" on the label mean? Is it the flavor or the intolerance that drove variant? If the latter, I feel there could be some tweaking to get the Porter to be more like GBS. If the flavors and smells that lactose imparts was the cause, this might hit what their customers and were looking for.

Enough pontificating, folks. At least from me - love to hear more from yous. Time to settle in to the last hours of the weekend. Cheers!

 

NBS #2. My first beer from Beach Haus Brewery in Belmar, New Jersey. Barrell Beer, a chocolate stout aged for a year in bourbon barrels. I received this can from a non-BA beer buddy. By happenstance, it was canned one year ago today: 11/22/2019. This is really better than I expected. The bourbon has overtaken the chocolate so I'd like to try it fresher, but the brewer did a nice job with this. Here's my full review (my rating is low because the only other rater gave it a 4.53 which to me is wildly high):

3.99/5 rDev -6.3%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Exactly one year old. Canned on 11/22/2019. I let it warm for about 2 hours before opening. Poured from 12 oz. can into a stout glass. Highly-effervescent - it was a gusher. It pours a very dark walnut, approaching black. The dark mocha-colored head dissipated within seconds. The aromatic smell features strong bourbon notes along with dark malt, char, burnt nuts, brown sugar and caramel. The bourbon barrel dominates the taste but there are also notes of dark chocolate, vanilla, and oak. There is a nice hoppy bitterness at the finish that balances the sweetness of the bourbon. The can says it's 13 IBU but it seems higher than that. This can being a year old, I suspect the chocolate is stronger when fresh and I'd like to try this year's batch. It has a moderately thick mouth feel - I wish it were more viscous) and the initial carbonation from opening the can didn't last. With an ABV of 12.1% it's definitely a sipper. Overall, Barrell Beer intrigues me due to the age of the can. I'd like to try this fresher. With more pronounced chocolate it could be really good.

 

I try really hard to keep any beers that have been sent to me through BIFs / associated shenanigans marked with the name of the sender so I can give appropriate credit when I drink it. That said, I have no idea where I got this can of Punch by Prairie Artisan, so my apologies in advance if you sent it to me!

3.49/5 rDev -8.4%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.5

Cranberry red pour with a small amount of fizzy white head that doesn't hang around long. Aroma is sour with cherry and other berry notes. I assume it's the blackberry, but I would not have picked it up as that unprompted. Taste mostly follows the nose, and feel is thin and somewhat undercarbonated. Overall, this beer is meh. Not great, not bad.