New Beer Weekend #22

Congratulations and all the best!

 

Good afternoon NBW
Cross post from the holiday beer tasting

The review:
2018 edition 750mL corked bottle with an advertised shelf life of 5 years poured into a snifter at 55 degrees F, 11% ABV per label. The beer pours medium brown in color with mocha colored head and ruby highlights. The head recedes to a pencil thin ring and island of tiny bubbles. The aroma is mild with dark fruits, brown sugar, malt sweetness, light rum and brandy. The taste is semisweet malt with complex and sporadic notes of rum, brandy, mild oak, tobacco, leather, cherry, plum, fig & candied apple. Minimal bitterness. The mouthfeel is medium bodied with average carbonation and mostly dry finish. The 11% ABV is well hidden with only mild warming of the tongue and belly over time. Overall, excellent.

Congratulations!

 

NBS #2. It's amazing how quickly things change in the craft beer world. A couple of years ago, the only way to purchase Kane beers was at the brewery, except for Head High and Over Head, which were in limited distribution. SBX is an "imperial" version of Kane's outstanding APA "Sneakbox." I wanted to try it but was always thwarted. Well, yesterday it showed up at my local bottle shop so I was pumped to try it. What a great beer! Here's my review:

4.43/5 rDev +2.1%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

Canned on 12/9/2020. Poured into a Kane snulip glass. It pours a totally opaque, dirty yellow with a large, fluffy bright white cap and thick, clinging lacing. Nice nose! lemon, lime, grapefruit, onion, and some faint floral hops. The taste opens quite herbal and piney, with lemon peel, grapefruit rind, and nice hints of berry , honeydew melon, and lychee. There is also a subtle oat sweetness at mid palate. The dry-hopping of Citra and Galaxy add a biting bitterness at the finish. This is a fairly basic recipe and it tastes great! The mouth feel is moderately creamy with pleasant carbonation, and the 8.4% ABV gives it lots of substance. Overall, it's hard for me to compare SBX to Sneakbox. They seem like completely different beers. But SBX is equally outstanding. Just a great DIPA for any time of the year. It's big enough to pair with anything grilled but basic enough for casual drinking. One can will not be enough.

These are strange times - but fraught with opportunities for craft beer lovers. Cheers, everyone!

 

Congrats on the Engagement!

 

Hopefully this shows in Arkansas, if not I will look for it in surrounding states

 

Great Raft Stagger Homeward Imperial Milk Stout, 10.0% ABV; 3.92 Overall

Pours an effervescent mahogany with a sliver of mocha colored head. Average lacing & lesser head retention

S: Cocoa, not much else

T: Dryness, cocoa, vanilla & a little roastyness up front. Vanilla, chocolate, & dryness as this warms along a little molasses & dark cherry, plus a little coffee. Finishes dry with sweet vanilla & chocolate, plus coffee

MF: Medium body, smooth carbonation, warming

Great flavor & drinkablity, nose could be better

 

Saved a non Christmas beer for NBW didn’t want to leave this thread out this weekend. Other Half recently started showing up in NJ distro and my brother in law shared a can with me. DDH super fun a 4.2% pale ale.




Pours like any hazy hoppy beer but it is not 100% murky, quick dissipating head and some minimal lacing only from the initial pour.

Smell is mostly orange, tangerine, sweet citrus stuff and some pineapple maybe.

Taste is similar I mostly perceive orange and pineapple.

Mouthfeel is very good, nice light body but it has some creaminess to it (no lactose to my knowledge) which makes this aspect impressive to me. It is very easy and pleasant to drink. Has minimal to no bitterness, I think I tad of bitter would improve this one.

I always tend to enjoy low abv full flavor hoppy beers and I’m enjoying this one a lot. The only downfall is the price but hey I was given this one so I’m happy to enjoy it. See you all next weekend!

 

Congrats and enjoy !

 

Lampshade ale By Bells

4.06/5 rDev -1.5%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4

Bottle received in Bif 12.5 from @Whyteboar poured into a teku



Dense rich thick creamy off white two finger foam crown over a translucent amber liquid , very good retention , dense curtains filled with lacings , settles to a pencil thick layer

Aroma of the first sniff is clementine oranges, second sniff is pineapple,

Taste is grapefruit. Hint of pine , hoppy, malts

Hop bite, not too aggressive , semi dry finish , good sudsing

Good beer

when I think about holiday lampshades. I think about A Christmas Story

 

Having a pretty tasty brew, from a local brewery. Surprised me. It's worth checking out.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/59593/524594/?ba=Wasatch#review

Cheers!

 

Poured into a 16 oz Snulip glass canned this week. Pours a light cloudy pink with a hal finger sticky white head that leaves beautiful thin streaks of lace with nice retention. 4.5

Aroma is plum, almonds, vanilla, fig, apricot, and a hint of marshmallow. 4.25

Taste follows for me the plum and almonds are dominant, apricot, vanilla, and marshmallow in the lip smacking but not over the top finish. 4.25

Mouthfeel is about medium, not dry, plenty of prickly carbonation, and at 5.5% it drinks bigger but goes down very easy. 4.5

Overall I am really digging this one, I no dislike sours and can finally understand the appeal. This stuff is really tasty and well crafted. 4.25

 

Congratulations to both of you!!!

 

Alright last one of the night! Saving (hopefully) the best for last. Definitely the biggest. I was super excited to see this at the Nashua, NH Craft Beer Cellar. I really enjoy the original Moat Mountain Imperial Stout, and this one is aged in rye whiskey barrels. My first BA beer from a pretty underrated brewery... let's do it!



Moat Mountain Chocorua Barrel Aged Imperial Stout pours an inky black motor oil color with a generous dollop of mocha foam for a head. This cap recedes to about a half-finger after five or so minutes, though it leaves behind some very consistent, sticky lacing as it does so. Cloudy and hazy surface with nice legs to boot. Definitely a pretty good pour. Looking forward to this!

Nose is dark baker's chocolate, light spice, earthiness, fig and raisin, molasses, treacle, and dark roast espresso beans. In other words, this hits pretty much all of the hallmark classic notes of a big ol' impy stout. I will say that the barrel treatment feels a little less intense than I expected it to, but rye barrels are less common than bourbon barrels and this has none of the tannic/vanillin/caramel/butterscotch sweetness that BBA can sometimes impart. The whiskey that was aged in the barrels this beer aged in is described by the distillery (Tamworth Distilling) as a "straight rye whiskey, made from a single crop of organic rye grain from Maine distilled in the sour mash style. The result is a cherry-like nose and depth accented by the rye’s peppery kick." I definitely get some of the cherry type darker/pit fruit notes here, but there's less peppery notes than I am used to when it comes to rye barrel beer.

The flavor is smooth and lightly-sweet with a solid roast profile and flavors ranging from rye bread to 90+% cacao chocolate. It's got a very dense and pummeling bittersweet chocolate flavor that combines well with a solid bit of ethanol heat, a touch of smokiness, and molasses, plus light hints of brûléed figs. I definitely would prefer slightly more barrel character here, honestly, but given that the beer is only 9%, it might not stand up to a longer aging period, so I feel like what is presented here feels about as expected when it comes to that aspect. Feel is rich and well-balanced, with a touch of spicy/piney hops bolstering the finish while the silky-smooth malt profile rounds everything out. I think this could certainly be taken a step further, but as it stands, it's a pretty damn good and satisfying BA stout from a brewery more people in the MA/NH area should pay attention to. Also, their barbecue is awesome. Once things settle down with COVID, if this place still exists, I should pay them a visit. It's been like... 6 and a half years or something.

Also, fun note. About half a year or so before I went to this brewery, I hiked Mount Chocorua with some friends. We actually made it to the summit, and it was freaking exhausting. I'm not in touch with the majority of that group anymore, but the ones who have remained in my life are people I count among my very best comrades. Hope to do something like that again some day... until next week, BA...!

 

Congrats, man! This makes me incredibly happy for you. Shoulda seen it coming with all the beers you two mutually love. Blessings to you both.

 

Last new beer of the weekend

Victory Merry Monkey
12oz bottle BB OCT 08 21 poured into a tulip glass at just above fridge temp 10% ABV. The beer pours bright light honey amber in color with light khaki head. The head recedes to an uneven cap and leaves a little lacing. The aroma is moderate in strength featuring nutmeg, orange peel, clove and cranberry. The taste is spicy, with malt sweetness balanced by the yeast and spice additions. Minimal bitterness. The mouthfeel is medium bodied with average carbonation and a dry finish. Overall, good & certainly festive. Not my preference with the heavy spice presence & not really a BSDA.

Cheers all!

 

Glad you liked it, Larry, Slice is absolutely killing it, both alone and with their collabs.