New Beer Weekend #26

Thanks to @Dimidiata for only the second dortmonder I've had (so please excuse the review if it completely missed the mark...). This was from the NBS BIF 12.5 and you may consider it an advertisement for NBS BIF 13 coming soon (I'm guessing).

Modern Times
Dort



Pours a deep yellowish-tan, perfectly clear with a modest white head and minimal lacing.

The smell is slight sweet floral with a bit of breadiness.

The taste follows with a cracker maltiness and a nice floral bitter finish with a little spice.

The mouthfeel is medium body and carbonation with a long, bitter finish.

Overall, this is very nice and balanced. Good flavors.

 

I don't think that beer is good as it used to be, but fresher might help. I don't remember it aging awkwardly back in the early 2000s & do remember it being more roasty

 

Good evening NBW, hope everyone is doing well. Starting today with Parish Greetings From Grand Isle, thanks @SouthernSips!
4.21/5 rDev +2.2%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25

Thank you SouthernSips for this
16 oz can poured into an oversized wine glass

A- A hazy golden straw with a small white head.

S- Sour, limes, citrus, some kiwi, touch of coconut, hints of wheat.

T- Tart, coconut, kiwi, limes, slightly earthy, gummy bears.

M- Smooth, light to medium body.

O- Nice combo of sweet and tart, easy to drink. Fruits are nicely balanced.

Cheers!

 

It recently hit NJ and I have to agree with this assessment, I remember it being a more assertive beer in the 90s.

 

2020 Vintage - 500ml bottle - poured into a stemless glass at 45°F.

I had a hard time rating this one. I normally bash pastry stouts, but genuinely enjoyed this for the first pour, until it got cloying. Also my first coconut stout. Trying to balance the rating between how enjoyable it was in small doses, and the overall imbalance is hard. Landed on a 4.25 total. Perhaps a bit generous.

Pours a visibly thick dark inky blackish brown, glugging into the glass and forming a short, super dark sticky head that dissipates in seconds, leaving nothing nehind but some coconut lipids floating atop the dense brew. Stains the glass. 4.25

Nose: Deeply roasted malts lend big aromas of dark chocolate, chocolate chips, milk chocolate, caramel syrup, vanilla frosting, hot and cocoa. The coconut starts to emerge, smelling freshly cracked, and also lending a distinct cinnamon note as well. There's a deep spice note that reminds me a bit of dark rum. 4.25

Palate: Niyok greets the palate with a huge sweet, dessert-like malt presence. I'm not going to lie, this is sweet stuff. Lots of caramel, along with sweet coconut, and notes of vanilla, toffee, butterscotch, and milk chocolate. The roast begins to develop, taking on more of a semi-sweet chocolate note. The coconut is very much here, but it's a feature, not the headline, playing nicely with the malt. The sweet chocolate wins over, along with some vanilla, highlighting more roast as it approaches the finish, but staying squarely in chocolate territory. The finish is still sweet, with very little roast cutting in, and lingering like chocolate syrup. 4.25

Mouthfeel/Body: Full-bodied, rich, thick, chewy, decadent, and even a bit viscous when it's cold. Cold, this stuff is fudgy. When it warms, it thins out a bit, but still remains very lush and chewy. It's not syrup, but it's about as thick as you'd want a sweet stout. Effervescence is naturally low, but there's enough fizz to cut through a bit. 4.75

Overall: This is a tricky beer to rate. If this were solely a style for big, thick, sweet dessert stouts, this thing would dominate. Drinking this bottle alone, the first few ounces were amazing, but it does start to get cloying, and I'm having to take breaks. The beer coupd really benefit from some barrel or some heavier roast to help dry out the finish, as the sweetness hurts it. However, from a coconut pastry stout standpoint, it's a worthy bottle with truly fantastic coconut integration. If you like 'em sweet and thick, seek this out. 4.0

 

I used to hang out with people much cooler than myself.

On to my halftime break beer before settling in with more sessionable favorites for the rest of the evening:

Harviestoun Ola Dubh Special Reserve 18, aged in Highland Park barrels; an 8% porter.

Ain't that an adorable little can?
<cue: that's what she said >

Really lovely and well-knit beer; and the barrel presence is just where it should be without overpowering the beer. Nothing is dominant at all, actually, and there's a perfect harmony to it. Dark chocolate, dates, smoke and oak apparent from the barrels, molasses, dark rum, vanilla and lavender all woven together beautifully. The feel is rich and creamy, but not overly so- kind of like half-and half, actually. The finish starts with a clean snap of bitterness followed by chocolate and whisky, and then lingering wood and tannin. Surprisingly potent for the gravity, actually, but never becomes 'too much'. A very pleasant A (4.4).

 

Greetings fellow NBSers (it's already Sunday here in Kiribati)! Was supposed to do some packaging today, but, things didn't quite work out, so i've just been dicking around on the internet all day. Starting my beer day with a new one from Structures a Schwarzbier called, well, Schwarzbier. Strong roast, and some chocolate on the tongue.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/43366/530052/

 

First new beer of the weekend, NBW: January IPA from Georgetown.

64oz growler served in a big snifter. Growler purchased at the brewery yesterday.

Pours clear bright golden. Medium to large head, medium carbonation. Smell is citrus pith, slight floral, a bit more pine, plain old hop resin.

Taste is a nice kind of updated west coast IPA, has the clean, crisp bitterness that I want from such a beer, but a ton of bright juiciness, too. Tropical notes and citrus zest.

Mouthfeel is very dry and crisp. Overall, this is really nice.

 

Greetings and salutations, NBW beer nerds. I made the trek to Transient today to pick up some things for me and also to put the finishing touches on a box that’ll go out this week.

I’ll join our beer nerd friend @Roguer in trying some new-to-me Transient hops. Let’s do this!!!





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

Pours the color of pulpy orange juice with a veritable slab of a pearly white head that clenches the glass on its journey to the stem. Beautiful beer for the style.

The nose is a pineapple slushee with some ripe tangerine (Citra!) and a dollop of pine (Chinook!) that works really well - and is amplified on the taste, with the pineapple very forward and augmented by the tangerine flavor, then amped up with some bitterness from the pine.

The mouthfeel is very full and edges toward creamy. This is the definition of crushable - loads of flavor, very well balanced, with the alcohol lingering just a bit to remind you that you’ve got a 7.5% ABV beer in your hands. Exceptionally well done, IMHO.

 

Back with a second Black Lager, Black Pils from Stemma Brewing. Not as boldly flavored as the structures beer earlier, but still nice and easily drinkable.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/56112/495419/

 

#2, a s’more in a big ol’ stout. Sign me up - but please heed the first couple of sentences in my review. IJS.





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

Let’s be very clear up front - this is a sweet dessert stout. If you don’t like sweet/dessert stouts, avoid this beer at all costs. Now that we have THAT out of the way .....

Pour is black with some mahogany hues on the edges and a gorgeous creamy tan head as a cap. The nose is rich milk chocolate, a sweet vanilla note I’m guessing is the marshmallow, and the graham cracker.

The taste features the rich milk chocolate, and the milk chocolate ..... and the milk chocolate. Wow, the milk chocolate is with this imperial stout. The marshmallow is also a significant presence, and the graham cracker is present and accounted for at the end of the taste.

The mouthfeel is rich and creamy, worthy of this big stout. Stated simply, this is a s’more for beer nerds - the closest I’ve found to a s’more in the dessert beer craze that’s hit our neck of the nape the past few years.

 

Greetings all from the Great Northwest, where we are mild for the season. A mix of sun and clouds today, and I'll be damned if I did not see 47 degrees on the thermometer this afternoon. Mild indeed!

This weekend we have Velvet Merkin from Firestone Walker Brewing. Mild it's not. A strong stout, with a strong scent and flavor to match. Mine was the 2017 edition, and I don't think it lost anything in the aging process.

I'm not much on the name however. I know very little about merkins, or velvet for that matter.

Until next time,

Happy Trails!

 

Sharing Casey Funky Blender Preserves: Apricot with the wife, thanks @Orca_Whale! Have to say I’m really impressed with the consistency of Casey’s beers, minor differences is taste than Funky Blender: Apricot but ended up giving it the exact same rating!

4.43/5 rDev +0.7%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

Thank you Orca_Whale for this
750 ml bottle poured into a flute

A- Hazy bright golden straw color with a three finger white head.

S- Tart, apricots, oak, pears, mild funk, earthy, touch of wheat.

T- Sour, lemons, apricots, some grapes, oak, pears, mild funk, slightly earthy.

M- Smooth, crisp, light body.

O- Not very different than Funky Blender Apricot, just a touch fruitier and not really getting any wheat. This is very easy to drink and very well done.

Cheers!

 

Good Saturday evening, New Beer Weekenders. Slack Tide Brewing Co., one of my favorite South Jersey breweries, celebrated its 5th Anniversary today. I've attended several previous anniversaries and wanted to do so today but the crowd size exceeded the COVID-reduced capacity - both indoors and outdoors. We didn't want to wait on line so I bought several new releases and moved on to another local brewery - Bucket Brigade.

One of the special 5th Anniversary releases is Brew of 62' (named to commemorate a terrible nor'easter in 1962 that decimated the South Jersey Shore), an American Barleywine. It pours a rosy-orange color with a large, creamy, ecru-colored head and spotty lacing. The aromatic nose features candied apple, raisin, banana, caramel, brown sugar, and clove. The first thing I taste is the booziness. There's no avoiding the 13% ABV. It's also strongly bitter - as typical for an American Barleywine - but the bitterness is balanced by the sweetness of the malt and fruit. As it warms I notice the strong malty background, along with the the raisin and perhaps fig. It will be interesting to see how the tastes develop as it ages in the can. The mouth feel is thick - almost syrupy - with mild carbonation, and the high alcohol level is warming. Overall, this Barleywine drinks big. It's a great beer for drinking on a cold winter's night. I generally prefer the English style of Barleywine but this is very good.

4.28/5 rDev 0%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25

Slack Tide also released a barrel-aged variant of Brew of 62'. It's supposed to be fully-conditioned by the beginning of February and I'll review it on NBW then.

Tomorrow, I'll crack another special anniversary release from Slack Tide - a BA Stout. Cheers, everyone!

 

My 3rd newbie today is from just up the street, Structures Brewing, Forest King "Traditional Pub Style Brown Ale". Came a cross as kind of a lighter bodied Porter.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/43366/486969/

 

Asam Bock is the wildest and most 'genuine' dopplebock around imo, with an overall goodness and some kind of indistinguishable 'deer´s sweat' character to it that definitely puts it in between my very favorites of the style (if not a leader). Too long since the last one, in fact.

*I was thinking about a nice new beer to join you, but might open my last Schlenkerla Urbock instead!