New Beer Weekend #21

SweetWater 420 Strain Chocolope Stout, 6.4% ABV; 3.94 overall

Pours with crazy head, not that aggressive a pour, effervescent mahogany with 3+ fingers of rocky mocha colored head. Good head retention & lacing

S: Smells of weed, cocoa shows up once warm

T: Some cocoa. smokeyness, dryness & cattyness up front. Dark chocolate, roastyness, cattyness & dryness as this warms, even a little charred grain bitterness.

MF: Medium body, fairly creamy carbonation

Solid stout, the weedy/catty aspect may be off putting for some, but it doesn't overpower the beer. Certainly improved as it warmed

 

Nice! Their Raspberry Eisbock has been a major want of mine for years.

 

OMG SOOO HUNGRY!!!

Great job! Bread is a beating to get right.

 

Earlier today I hit this tallboy that arrived courtesy of @FrankenMiller. I was approaching it with a bit of trepidation, as my first exposure to Comet hops led me to conclude it was a hop I did not care for. Maybe it's a different hop when it's mixed with Citra, but I really dug this beer:

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/43215/361128/?ba=woemad#review
Really nice IPA. Tropical fruits upfront, but with a more bitter grapefruity backing. I'm beginning to be very impressed by Civil Society's beers.

 

Another entry from my newest go-to brewery is a Wee Heavy named Wee Heavy. This place doesn't mess with strange names. From 67 Degrees Brewing aka Franklin Brewing Company. Cheers.



Wee Heavy

Scotch Ale / Wee Heavy | 7.5% ABV

67 Degrees Brewing
Franklin, Massachusetts

4.35/5 rDev 0% | Average: 4.35
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

A strong pour from a 16-oz. can produced two fingers of coffee-milk colored creamy foam with average retention and a lasting ring yet no lasting lacing. Deep dark chestnut brown color, opaque with red-amber highlights.

Rich smell of roasted/toasted malt featuring milk chocolate and toffee. Baked and candied stone fruits imply sweetness. Faint coffee and alcohol in the background.

Bold malty taste on the edge of sweet and dry, caramel malt is king with roasted character a close second. The "Scotch" flavor is moderate; peat, warming alcohol and faint smoke are noticeable. Mild bitterness comes from roasted malt and light baking spices. The finish is quick and clean, the aftertaste is smooth, a blend of sweet, roasted malt dryness and balancing spice.

Medium-full bodied, enrichened by the big malt bill, reserved and lasting carbonation. Smooth feel and well balanced, warming alcohol with big flavor. True to style, for an American version. Perfect for a rainy night like tonight.
This is my first brewery fresh Wee Heavy, I'm going high on this one!

 

Very well executed comparison-contrast, I've tried the von Trapp, now I have another Beer to seek out....it never ends.

 

NBW beer #2
Burlington Beer Intangible Tides TIPA
Pours a very hazy burnished gold with a light biege head of 1/2" with a surprisingly decent retention and lots of sticky lacing.
Aroma is huge mango, tangerine, peach, dank weed, pineapple and sprucy pine.
Taste follows with tropical, citrus and citrus pith, stone fruit and pine. Hop oils coat the tongue and this beer is unusually NOT sweet for a triple with its simple clean malt bill.
Body is medium. For the 10 %ABV not sludgy, alcohol only present in the throat and stomach. Oily but fairly drying on the finish with a nice carb and a peppery and not too soft feel. Very citrusy/pithy.
Wow. This 10% drinks like an 8%. One of the best Triples in recent memory. They nailed this. Yes its super aggressively hopped but maintains what you would be hard pressed to to explain in this huge beer as a sense of balance. They knocked this out of the park IMHO. Excellent brew. Worth getting your hands on if you dig massive hops!

 

Spent most of the day taking a pickleball lesson with the family then celebrating my daughter's 10th birthday (yikes...). She wanted to eat at the Chinese buffet for her birthday dinner, so I'm paying the price for that. Now the wife, dogs, and I are sitting in front of the fire and watching a movie.

I got my incredibly generous box yesterday from @Dimidiata for the Mini NBS BIF 12.5. She noticed the dent in this can and was concerned for the quality of the beer. At her strong urging I'm going to test the beer to make sure it wasn't damaging in shipping.

Modern Times
Monster's Park
BA Imp Stout with vanilla





Pours a thick, deep black with almost no head and no lacing.

The smell is bourbon up front with a hint of sweet vanilla underneath.

The taste hits the sweet vanilla up front with a really nice bourbon balance. The finish shows a bit of char and leather that are a nice balance to the sweetness.

The mouthfeel is thick and smooth with low carbonation and a lingering, tongue-coating finish.

Overall this is outstanding. The balance is superb with a near perfect use of vanilla.

 

Opening up another new beer, Other Half DDH Triple Forever Citra, thanks @bl00!
4.38/5 rDev +3.8%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25

Thank you bl00 for this
16 oz can poured into a teku

A- A hazy golden copper with a two finger white head.

S- Citrus, pineapple, tropical fruits, touch of mango, some malt sweetness, slightly piney/earthy.

T- Citrus, tropical fruits, melons, some malt sweetness, earthy, pineapple, some oranges.

M- Smooth, a little creamy, medium body.

O- A tasty NEIPA from Other Half, a little on the sweet side but not too sweet for 10.5% ABV.

First review tomorrow with be this beer’s Galaxy brother, cheers!

 

Coming to the end of a cold Saturday here in Minnesota. Time to relax with an English stout.

Samuel Smith's Oatmeal Stout
ABV: 5.0%
IBU: 32



Deep and dark body, revealed to be a clear brown with a back-light, below a tall tan head, thick and creamy, from a vigorous pour into an Imperial tulip pint glass. The head develops a pitted and rocky surface as it recedes, leaving some strings of lacing behind. As the beer is consumed, the glass has sheets and strings of tan lacing from the top to the surface of the beer.

Aroma is roasted chocolate and figs. Some hints of coffee, but that is just the familiarity of the roasted smells.

The taste starts with the welcome flavors of English brewing, the minerals from the water and the flavor of the English hops and roasted malts, giving flavors of chocolate and dark fruits (figs and raisins). Smooth flavor and smooth body, with just a bit of bitterness, as from roasted coffee. The finish is sweetish, and yet dry.

The body is moderate to thin, as befits the English stout tradition.

Overall, excellent to sip by the fire on a near-winter evening here in the upper Midwest. I'm almost sitting in an English pub in my mind.

L: 4.25 | S: 4.0 | T: 4.25 | F: 3.75 | O: 4.25 | Rating: 4.14

 

Hey there everybody! This weekend’s new beer is the “coffee stout” entry from Bourbon County, #4. It advertises as a oatmeal coffee stout with roasted nuts, maple, and blueberry. The taste pretty much confirms it and its a lovely brew that’s a pleasure to drink and glad I was able to snare a few bottles and won’t even carp about the price because Bottle Logic is the same for less beer even though it’s great, also. Welp, Top Rank Boxing is on after an exciting football game, stay well beer friends and bottoms up!

highdesertdrinker from Arizona

4.45/5 rDev +0.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5

Pours dark brown with a small amount of head. It has the aroma of a brownie with nuts, rich. Tastes like Kwoffee, yes, and nuts, some maple sweetness, and bakers chocolate. Hard to detect blueberry at first but it announces it’s presence in the background as it warms a little. The barrel influence is there but the oats make it a very smooth beverage and not quite as hot as the Original, not that I mind when I drink one of those. A very worthy addition to the Bourbon County family and glad I have a few, cheers!

 

Another new beer today, Peach and Pink Guava Sour Weisse from Fremont.

32oz crowler served in a 2020 SIP Fest snulip. Crowler bought at the brewery today.

Pours a very hazy slightly peach-yellow with a biggish head and medium to high carbonation. Smell is kettle sour (but not terrifyingly so), definite fruitiness which is mapping to peach pretty readily since the word is in my head.

Taste is actually pretty wheaty, lots of fruit, kettle sour is there but not again not crazy.

Mouthfeel is medium, dry and light. Overall, probably one of the better kettle sours I've tried.

 

This evening ended a week where, for the most part, I was living the life of a single parent. My wife came for a ‘visit’ after having spent most the past week with her mother who is dealing with some health issues. My ‘not really’ single parenthood has given me a new found respect for single parents. It is its very own kind of hard work.

My twins turned four on Wednesday; and of course my wife was here for that. It was an odd birthday. This was the first one that really meant something to them, both in the lead up and on the day of. It was also a weird one in that COVID lockdowns here meant that we had Skype calls in which they opened gifts from their grandmothers and others. I’m a little sad they couldn’t have a party, and that having spent this whole year at home, more or less, they haven’t really begun making the friends that would have come to a party. Get back to normal world!!

I spent the afternoon cooking. I made soup with my kids in an attempt to get them to try more foods. They loved making it, but had no interest in trying it...

While I cooked, I enjoyed this phenomenal pastry stout from Brasserie du Bas Canada. Interstellaire. It has coconut, vanilla and coffee added. BBC are at the apex of the fancy stout makers in Canada. Their releases have been online this year, and sell out in seconds. I’m lucky to have a trade partner and proxy who helps me acquire them.



750ml bottle poured several times over the course of a few hours into my snorkel. Deep thick brown with a very limited head that dissipates to nothing in seconds.

The aroma is sweet chocolate with the coconut and vanilla peaking through in the background. No booze in the nose.

The taste follows the aroma. Milk chocolate, but not overly sweet, jumps out and coconut makes an appearance as a following act. The vanilla is present in the background throughout.

Great full body. Not syrupy at all.

This is an excellent pastry stout by the Canadian masters of the style. I selfishly hope that it never develops a following in the US. It is already a challenge to get bottles as it is!

Cheers!

 

Second New Beer Weekend #21, first New Beer Sunday #824 pour this early morning, a new beer this Fall I've seen a couple of times posted in the WBAYDN threads recently. Picked up a single can, a light and easy stout to start the day. Hope it goes well as beers from this brewery typically do.

Firestone Walker Chocolate Cherry Stout



Acknowledgements: Purchased a few weeks ago at Beer on the Wall, 12 oz. canned 10/9/20 @ 12:11, 5.5% ABV, poured into a Modern Times nonic glass.

Appearance: Dark brown poour, rich creamy tan bubby head lingers for a minute or two, leaving clumpy lacing in it's wake and a layer across the entire top of the pour.Significant carbonation. 4.0

Aroma: Nice roast malt aroma, chocolate, light coffee and whipped cream aroma as well. 3.75

Taste: Consistent with aroma, though less dimensional. Mostly roast malt and chocolate, bitter hops controlling the chocolate sweetness, not getting any cherry, the sweetness brings out a light maple syrup taste, also lactose cream. Nice balance to this stout. 3.75

Mouthfeel: Thin to light medium body, persistent fizzy carbonation throughout, mild to heavier dryness, alternates between bitter and sweet as I work through this. Light dry aftertaste. 3.5

Overall: This is a good stout offering, didn't detect cherry despite the beer name, liked what I did detect, nice balance between the hops and malt keeps this a stout in my wheelhouse, not overly sweet. Overall good beer. 3.75

Will come back later today with one more, perhaps another wheat offering.

 

Good day BAs! Another cool morning after yesterday's rain - at least it's not crispy. Today's cross-post with WBAYDN:




Barrel Aged Framinghammer – Super Mole from Jack’s Abby. Purchased 10/20/20 for $10.59 (Including tax) for 16.9 oz bottle ($ 0.627/oz) from Shangy’s in Emmaus, PA. Reviewed 12/13/20.
Undated. Below the left edge of the label at the bottom rim etched into the glass in near-microscopic characters “28190 043673A”. On room temperature shelf at store and stored at home at 42 degrees. Served at 54 degrees in a hand washed and dried Jester King snifter. Final temperature 58.1 degrees.
Appearance – 4.
First pour – Amber brown (SRM 18), clear.
Body – Black (SRM 40), opaque. When held to direct light, same.
Head – Average (Maximum 3.8 cm, aggressive center pour), fawn, high density, average retention, diminishing to a five to twelve mm crown fed by effervescence, and a thin complete cap with a rocky island. This lasts throughout the entire evaluation. Second pour produces a tight 0.8 cm head.
Lacing – Excellent! Wide bands of near-microscopic bubbles, with a few blunt stalactites, and connected by short columns.
Aroma –3.5 – Weak chocolate with a possible ghost of coffee, no malt, no hops, no yeast. None of the other additives (Chilis, cinnamon, vanilla) are noted.
Flavor – 3.25 – Begins slightly bitter with weak chocolate and no roasted malt, no hops, no yeast, no flavor of cinnamon, chilis, nor vanilla. No bourbon or barrel flavor. No alcohol (11.5 % ABV, according to BA, NOT marked on container) taste or aroma, although a weak esophageal burning does arise, possibly from the untasted chilis. No dimethylsulfide or diacetyl.
Palate – 4 – Medium, on the cusp of creamy, soft carbonation.
Final impression and summation: 3.25, after deducting 0.25 points for no date and 0.25 point for no ABV – I shouldn’t need a secret coder ring to see how old and what ABV my drink is. Both the aroma and the flavor are what keeps this in the average range. After careful consideration, I’ve decided the warming of my esophagus and hard palate is due to the chilis, so I can say they are making their presence known at a civilized level. I would suggest reclassifying this as a chili beer.

Rating 3.43, rDev -17.9%.