New Beer Weekend #26

This IPA is We decided my best interest? from Thin Man (Buffalo, NY)
From the can this pours a cloudy yellow-orange and hosts a 2 cm white cap of froth that dissipates quickly.
The aroma is considerable. Tropical fruit dominates.
The flavor is full with mango, orange and kiwi noted. The hop bitterness is moderate and the hops also add a wine-like aspect.
The mouthfeel is soft and smooth.
-unique and tasty.

 

Last week I did Springdale's disappointing (Grapefruit) Juice & Ginger.
Yesterday I decided to pick up their Paloma and give grapefruit another try.

This is part of their Not Stirred series and is described as a "Beer aged in tequila barrels with pink grapefruit"
The label says:
Aged minimum 13 months, 8.2% ABV
"Grapefruit zest and juice compliment this blend of red and golden sours aged in tequila barrels for our twist on this refreshing classic"

This is really good. No one is going to mistake it for a real Paloma in a blind tasting, but it does hit the idea of a Paloma. The grapefruit is front and center followed by zest from bitter orange, lemon, and lime. You don't really taste the tequila, but you do taste the oak barrel along with barnyard, hay, and yeasty funk. A little too slick over the tongue, but it finishes with a clean, puckery, saliva inducing dryness.



So, I'm researching Paloma to enter it into the database and discovered Springdale has retired it. New beer for me, new beer for BA, and listing retired all on the same day , at least there are still 6 or 8 left on the shelf.

4.21/5 rDev 0%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25

L: Murky golden amber with a thin white head that quickly dissolves into film islands
S: Grapefruit, oak, hay, barnyard, orange & lemon zest
T: Grapefruit, bitter orange, lemon zest, hay, oak, green grapes, yeasty funk
F: vinous over the tongue with a lingering tingle, clean dry saliva inducing
O: a very good attempt to mimic a Paloma. The tequila doesn't come through, but you can taste the barrel. Plent of grapefruit and a nice mix of light & dark sours. You wouldn't mistake this for a real Paloma in a blind test, but it is about as close as a beer can come.

 

Baron Von Slamminhausen a 5.0 ABV Kellerbier from Twin Elephant Brewing. Twin Elephant is known for brewing Pale Ales and IPAs that compare well to any breweries. They brew very few lagers. I The ones they have brewed have all been good so I got a crowler. This is how the brewery describes this brew
Kellerbier | 5.0% |

Bavarian-style Lager made with time and patience. Subtle, delicious and smooth with a high degree of crushability. Essentially an unfiltered Munich Helles the aroma is of honey crackers,apple skin, lemon thyme, & sweet spice. What vibrates on the palate is quite the same with bread crusty German pilsner malt up front bolstered with clean citrus & pink peppercorn. Medium-full and crisp. Frothy, little drying with a fizzy tingle fading into grainy sweetness.
I agree with that 100% . Poured into a pint glass it's light gold with a thick white head. The aroma, taste and finish are as the brewery said. Light mouth feel . A very enjoyable brew.

 

All I wanted was a Pepsi, just one Pepsi...

 

You should chime in on the Golden Monkey thread
https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/victory-golden-monkey.653756/

 

This is Fuck 2020 from Abomination Brewing.
So my son brought this home yesterday. Millennials are big on artwork and shock value. I had no knowledge of this brewery and I instantly formed an impression that this was an effort by someone to profit off the moment. Well, that may still be right, but I really like this beer.
While drinking I learned Abomination is in PA, but I guess the reason we have it in CT is that it is distributed by that ever increasing in prominence, The Twelve Percent Project located in Connecticut.

4.36/5 rDev +3.1%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25

Poured from a 16oz can dated 01/04/2021 to a Nonic straight out of the beer fridge.
Super hazy murky orange-juice-like body complete with pulp! (Actually yeast floaties) You can see them in the pour and if you lift a clear glass they have settled prominently on the bottom. Head is medium in height, white, and laces the glass decently during the session. Head stays as single tiny bubble thick cover the entire glass.
Aroma is musty orange peel, hay, and mild lemon.
First sip is disappointing, kind of dank and flat but as my pallet warms up this beer becomes a friend. Orange rind and alcohol but in a good way.
Body is as creamy and thick as can be before it become off putting.
I knew nothing of this brewery when I opened this can and I thought this was a gimmick beer. Fairly impressed.

 

Happy New Beer Weekend everyone! Today I'm drinking a newly released Concord Grape Fated Farmer barrel fermented wild ale from local Trillium.

Label dates 21/JAN/2020

Pours a beautiful scarlet orange tinged red with moderate haze particles and vibrant bubble racing carbonation, with a small frothy white foam head that reduces to a ring around the glass that eventually dissipates. The last pour from the bottom brings out a more cloudy looking haze.

Smells great, like a sweet Concord grape jam, jelly, natural and juicy, fresh sweet black grapes, some oak barrel, toasty hay, straw, slight barnyard funk and farmhouse complexities, hint of peppercorn spice, bready malt, almost like a dessert wine or ice wine, sweet fruity, concentrated, jammy, berries, mild earthy dusty hop notes, real nice, I could smell this for days.

Tastes very tart and bracingly acidic, sour Concord grape candy, sweet dark grape flesh, juicy tannic skins, a bit vinous and cider-esque, tart, dry, fruity with a hint of sweetness, some bready malt, oak barrel, toasty hay, straw, peppercorn, slight barnyardy farmhouse funk, with mild earthy herbal dusty hop notes.

Feels medium bodied, fairly rounded, dry, crisp with moderate high carbonation.

Overall a real nice and interesting wild ale, and another good entry in the Fated Farmer series. Out of all the fruits I've tried in the series I think the ones featuring grapes have been my favorite. There's a real nice balance of fruit, sour funk, oak, rustic malt, and farmhouse complexities here, great beer. Cheers everyone!

 

Alright so I may have had this beer before back when it was around. But, I’m also not 100% sure on that, if I did I have it I don’t remember anything about it other than the fact that it’s a black IPA. So...that coupled with the fact that if/when I did have it I wasn’t reviewing or taking notes while drinking I am gonna count this one as one of my new beers this weekend. This beer also has its own thread right now so I thought reviewing it would be a good idea...



Pours black with a nice thick head on it. Initial head lingered for quite sometime and left behind some little islands of head with a little lacing.

Aroma was very strong pine and a little citrus, grapefruit to me. There was also a little dark malt smells but they were subtle or maybe masked by the prominent hop aroma.

Taste, super hoppy, same as the nose pine, grapefruit and resiny. Again not much dark malt notes either, muted or subtle, not sure. There is just the tiniest roast and chocolate note to it.

Mouthfeel, lighter side of medium. Very biting strong and pleasant bitterness. No heat but you can definitely detect that this is high in abv.

A great beer that I’m glad I am trying, or retrying after many years. I think like most of us wish that this style would come back, or at least be available from time to time.

 

From Arkansas, Norfork Brewing's Scurvy Dog IPA, 6.2% ABV; 3.81 Overall

Pours a hazy honey color with 2+ fingers of fluffy Ivory colored head. Never clears, Above average head retention & lacing

S: Doughy, lemons, some sulphur notes once warm

T: Cakey, some grassyness & lemon up front. Sulphur once warm , plenty of dryness, grassyness & bready sweetness, plus pear notes. Finishes dry, grassy with a little pear & lemon

MF; medium body, slight carbonation, decent balance

Drinks decent, a throwback to kind of IPA you'd see a lot of in the 90s

 

I've had a number of stellar Transient beers from @ovaltine's killer mini-BIF box, including Buckley and Quarantuckley, both of which I consumed in contexts where it wasn't easy to post/review. (The easiest way earn lots of "weirdo" points at a family gathering is to take pictures of your beer.) This afternoon I'm at home with my mostly-tolerant partner, so it's a good time to dive into Transient Bad Hombre, 2020 Maple Barrel Edition. Both @ovaltine and a number of online reviewers state that the Rye version is slightly better, so I'll try that for comparison tomorrow.

Pours an incredibly thick, viscous dark brown with a fast-dissipating, cocoa-colored head. As gorgeous in the glass as any stout I've had, and from above looks like a perfect pull of espresso (see second photo). First aroma hit is dark chocolate and cocoa powder, with a faint undertone of maple; already, you can tell this is going to be a restrained, balanced brew. It's not that usual that a stout gives me that "come drink me" vibe, but this one definitely does. First few sips, still cold, is almost like chocolate milk, and I don't mean that in a simplistic way, but the lightest, creamiest end of the chocolate spectrum. Maple is riding right alongside, but subtle, even muted. Barrel character is slight, again, not in any negative sense, but almost like a veneer that's sliding against the other flavors. Overall, becomes more dimensional as it warms, unfolding into darker chocolates, vanilla bean, slightly more assertive maple, and just enough char to make itself known. Even warm, the barrel stays behind the scenes in a supporting role. Mouthfeel is superb, rolling over the tongue with just enough effervescence to keep you wanting more.

I don't know why it should, but this beer surprises me with its excellence. The easy comparison is to CBS, which I like best of all the BSs, including the much-vaunted KBS variants, but I think this beer exceeds even CBS. It doesn't have CBS's aggressive edge (which I often admire), but comes off as a more gentlemanly, even elegant beer that belies its tough-guy name. Color me blown away, and extremely eager to try the Rye version . . . it's hard to imagine how it will top this.

 

Hello New Beer Weekend!!!

I'll just get straight to beer after a long, but very productive work week.


Polar Espresso from Bad Habit Brewing - 6% ABV

Not much really to say here. It's a coffee beer, and it's good, but also nothing special .My review is not very wordy, and is very brief.

Review:

3.81/5 rDev -4%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75

Pours a dark brown. 3 finger tan head. Head retention is ok, but not too long lasting. There's a bit of lacing on the glass.
The nose is full of coffee notes. I do get a faint hint of malt, but coffee is the main aroma.
Up front there's a bit of a malty sweetness. It then turns complete coffee.
The beer has a decent body. The coffee lingers in my throat. not watery at all.
Decent coffee beer.


I'm sure I'll be back later with more.

 

That's an excellent review which perfectly captures the beer. Transient is a muddertrucking gem of a brewery - they're easily my favorite in the area because they brew multiple styles, and they do them all very well, IMHO.

I just got back home from visiting them after picking up three 4-packs (a DDH DIPA, an imperial stout, and a German Pilsner) that are all uber fresh, and two of which I'll share with this esteemed gathering of beer nerds. I'm glad you enjoyed the Bad Hombre - and for our friend @Roguer, you definitely would've received that one if it was available when I shipped your box, but I believe they only brew it once a year.

THAT was an unfortunate screw job, but alas, the beer godz can be fickle with their schedules.

 

Hello NBW
My new "beer" for this weekend

Clausthaler Dry Hopped

12oz bottle P 01.10.2020 E 01.04.2022 poured into a perfect pint glass at fridge temp 0.5% ABV. The beer pours mostly bright with early chill haze in a deep, darker honey colored amber with khaki head. The head recedes to a thin ring and island leaving a web of lacing behind. The aroma is fresh wort with caramel malt and notes of lightly sweetened black tea. The taste is more of the same with sweet notes of malt sugar, subtle tea-like earthy hops and mild bitterness. The mouthfeel is thin to medium bodied with average carbonation and a semi dry finish. Overall, great NA offering. Reminds me of my ESB wort with added carbonation. I don't get the citrus from the Cascade dry hop mentioned on the label and it's only 3 months into it's advertised 18 month shelf life, so I'd definitely check dates on future purchases.

Cheers all and enjoy the new beer in your glass this weekend!

 

Norfork Brewing's Black Oak Stout, 6.0% ABV, 3.47 overall

Pours a scarlet tinged mahogany with much effervescence with 2 fingers of rocky tan head.

S: Iron, a little roastyness, some dark cherry & fig notes once warm

T: Follows the nose, fairly dry with a little nutttyness that would work better in a brown ale, but also some roastyness. Mostly dryness and roastyness as this warms, plus a little vanilla sweetness, not much as this warms. Finishes roasty and dry with a little iron & charred grain & a little out of place nuttyness

MF: Medium body, slight carbonation

Not bad, but pretty middle of the road for the style, drinks easy enough