New Beer Weekend #28

Digestion Advocate is born....

 

Yet another cross-post from the barley wine tasting. I enjoyed this bottle last night, but didn't get around to writing about it until this morning. This bottle of New England's Attempted Redrum came to me from the ever generous @Roy_Hobbs. I thanked him for it over in that thread and I'll do it again here - thanks, man! This bottle in particular is the 2019 version of New England's rum barrel aged barley wine.

This bottle poured a beautiful deep red with hues of maroon and copper. The blood-tinged off white head was quite large and reached for the edges of the glass, and took its time settling down. The initial aromas while the head was at its peak reminded me of Belgian yeast. Once the head settled into a blanket there was a ton of fig, date, and raisin with some leather and spice. The rum was present, but never overwhelming. This was very sweet as the liquid delivered a rich concentration of the dried fruits mentioned on nose. There were deeper flavors of leather and oak as well with some spicy oak on the finish. The feel was sticky with the body landing somewhere between medium and full. Some nice heat from the booze lingered on the palate. Overall, this is a barley wine that I could look forward to annually. Big, rich, and sweet with some nice barrel work.

 

Thanks, man, it's much appreciated. The nice thing is that she's still mostly her usual self when her new meds aren't messing with her or knocking her out. She's a trooper, but we won't let her suffer.

 

Have a good NBW, I haven't been in this thread a lot as I have basically been drinking one beer a day for the past 2-3 months unless I go out with my girlfriend to a brewery or something. Just been lazy, but trying to review more. Me and Julia are 4 months since our first date on Wednesday and she is moving in a month here. I am still looking for Engineering jobs, but ziprecruiter has gotten me 3 call backs so far, so I hope one of them pulls through. I just work at at gas station on third shift now, and referee cat fights at home for 4 hours in the morning My life is a lot different than it was a year ago, in a really great way.

Sierra Nevada Big Little Thing. Excellent DIPA. Lasting fluffy head/foamy lacing the whole glass. Aromas and flavors of big mandarin orange, red grapefruit, lemon, lime, peach, pear, pineapple, apricot, passion fruit, mango, honeydew melon, berries, citrus peel/rind, wood, peppercorn, pine, cracker, white bread, light biscuit/toast, and herbal/floral/grassy hop earthiness. Moderate pine, citrus peel/rind, herbal, floral, woody, grassy, peppery bitterness on the finish. Medium carbonation/body; balanced bready/grainy malts and sticky/resinous/rindy hops in the mouthfeel. Light-moderate increasing resin dryness, no hop astringency. Light increasing warmth of 9% after the finish. Great Crystal, Chinook, Idaho 7, Columbus, Cascade, Mosaic profile. Very juicy, vibrant, dank, and earthy hops, with a nice clean pale malt backbone. Minimal residual sweetness with crisp resin dryness. Would buy again, very standard west coast, and not the hazy like the Regular little thing. 4.06


Cheers, depending on when my Gf gets here I might review more. Mr @Shanex got me a box last week and he is needing me to be reviewing those.

 

It's Sunday, which means we're going to Zoom with my wife's side of the family. I always look forward to what my loose cannon sister-in-law has to say. Absolutely no filter on her mouth.
I am drinking another beer from my birthday beer club membership, Depew Street from Joyride Brewing, described as a Belgian style single.
Hazy pale yellow beer with a small white head. There was a good amount of lacing.
Not much to the aroma, some sweet fruit.
The taste improved on the aroma. Grape, apple, peach. Some late hops.
Crisp and dry.

 

Hey waking up to a nice snow filled morning... time for a nice bit of roast.



Poured from the bottle into a branded snifter glass.

Deep walnut brown, with a creamy like consistency and slightly muddy strangely. Light tan forming two finger head, which manages to settle slowly and then leave a big collar as well.

Aroma for all it's exotic ingredients just smells good and basic. Light touches of roast malt, hints dry maybe a touch of woody like smoke as well. Faint touches of biscuit like notes with some light aromas of dark chocolate also.

Palate seems to continue the basic theme. Light bodied with hints of milky instant cocoa powder and a big roasty more porter like character. Sweetness is noticeable but lowly dialed in nicely, and is contrasted with a real good bitterness. The bitterness is quite prominent, which I actually enjoy as opposed to a gooey sugar rush that I might have expected from this type of beer.

If this was just a straightforward milk stout, I'd be pretty much impressed and satisfied. However, much of the extra added ingredients don't seem to get a chance to show off, perhaps that's a good thing.

look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Cheers!

 

Back at it today. While I had several more new beers yesterday at work, and after work at my friend's house, I was very lazy with reviewing. Sorry about that. I did drink this amazing new beer last night, but have no review of it.

Dragon's Milk 2017. To say it was amazing is an understatement. So smooth and did not drink like a 17% beer at all. No burn what so ever. That's the best I can do 14 hours later. Never had it before, but if it comes out this year, I'm getting some.

Now on to a new beer, and this one is thanks to @NorthStateCustomCraft .


System of a Stout - 11.2% ABV - Beachwood BBQ & Brewing - Long Beach, CA.

First off - sorry I drank half of it before I remembered to take a picture. I was doing a video review of it, and lost track of taking a picture.

Second - Damn! This is amazing. Such a beautiful beer. So thick and creamy feeling. This beer doesn't drink like an 11.2% ABV beer at all. Such a nice mix of coffee and vanilla, and I like it a lot. I'd love to try this beer again someday.

Review:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/25959/284437/

4.54/5 rDev +4.4%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.5

Pours a pitch black color. 3 finger brown, and very fluffy looking head. Head retention is amazing for the ABV. There's really some nice lacing on the glass.
The aroma is a nice mix of malts, coffee and a hint of vanilla.
Taste - you get a hit of vanilla up front that mixes with the coffee. There's a nice malty sweetness on the backside.
This is one thick, creamy, rich, full bodied beer. The beer clings to my throat as it goes down. It is also very smooth, and doesn't drink like an 11.2% beer.
Solid stout, and I'd love to try this beer again someday.

 

Sorry to hear about the dog. Unfortunately many of us have been in that situation. Best to you and the doggy. Honestly its harder than letting humans go sometimes. Hoping for the best.

 

Watching is snow and starting with Tired Hands Iounno2?, a blended barrel aged imperial pastry stout with coconut, vanilla and cinnamon. This is a good stout, but not as good as most Only Void beers.

4.22/5 rDev 0%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25

12 oz can poured into a tulip

A- Black with a small tan head.

S- Roasted malts, dark chocolate, toffee, cinnamon, some vanilla, oak, hints of bourbon.

T- Dark chocolate, roasted malts, some dark fruits, some syrup, cinnamon, touch of vanilla, some toffee, oak, touch of bourbon.

M- Smooth, creamy, full body.

O- A tasty stout, 12.5% ABV is very well hidden. Not getting much bourbon and the coconut isn’t noticeable. This is good and not too sweet for a pastry stout.

Cheers!

 

All right, on to the next new beer, and another that @NorthStateCustomCraft sent to me. He sent me 16 16 oz cans in a flat rate box. It was amazing how many he fit into there, and I'm really thankful of each and ever one I've had.I'll likely be bringing one into work Wednesday for a tasting at work.

Did I mention I love my job?



Wholesome Jams from Alvarado Street/Other Half Brewing - IIPA - 8.1% ABV.

Very tasty beer. A pleasure to drink. Solid IIPA.

Review:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/35259/424317/

4.43/5 rDev -0.9%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

Pours a creamy looking pineapple color. 2 finger white head. Retention is ok, but not amazing. Some lacing on the glass.
The nose is very full of pineapple. There's hints of grapefruit and mango as well.
Taste - very pineapple forward. Rich and full of it. On the backside the mango, and grapefruit flavors kick in.
Very "soft" feeling. Very tropical feeling. Very juicy feeling. Full bodied.
Solid double IPA. Great to try if you're an IPA fan.


Might try to enjoy one more on this NBW.

 

12 oz can, best by date of 3/13/21.

Pours solid black with a creamy and sticky beige head.

Aromas of note include strong roast coffee with backing notes of chocolate and caramel.

Flavor is the coffee and roasted malt backbone. Moderate hop bite midway, chocolate sweetness lingers in the background throughout. Pleasing bitter finish, not terribly sticky on the palate, but begs another sip.

Medium body with moderate carbonation.

I pick up an odd aroma here and there that reminds me of something you’d smell when you’re drinking a Heineken, Becks or similar. None of those flavors are present, that aroma did catch me by surprise though.

All in all, a fine brew. Not a staple of the style by any means, but there are certainly worse interpretations.


Cheers BA’s!!

 

Happy Sunday all! Today I'm drinking a 2016 Stone Old Guardian barley wine style ale dry-hopped with Pekko hops.


Pours a semi transparent foggy bright ruby red with some darker brown shades, and a dense compact creamy beige khaki colored foam head that has good lacing and retention.

Smells like a complex blend of sweet toasted malts, dark dried fruits, and herbal earthy savory hops. Toasted bread crust notes, dark caramel, bold toffee, light molasses, hint of roasty char, raisins, grape, apple/pear orchard fruit, dried apricot, fig, date, prune, hint of berry, with some woody earthy herbal fresh piney savory hop notes reminiscent of twigs and leaves.

Tastes big and strong, plenty robust, rich and malty, toasted, sweet, charred, fruity, lightly bitter, strong herbal earthy piney hop presence similar to Bigfoot in my experience, this one lays a little sweeter I think. Similar taste to the aroma, some toasted bready malts, dark caramel, toffee, molasses, roasty char, hint of red apple, raisin, grapes, pear, apricot, fig, dates, prune, dark berry, dark dried fruits, brief floral citrus rind, bale of hay, subtle spice, earthy herbal woody piney savory hop notes, a touch of leather, with a really nice lingering seedy nutty whole grain dark toasted bread crust aftertaste.

Feels medium plus bodied, heavy, thick, viscous, slick with smooth moderate carbonation.

Overall a real nice and interesting dry-hopped barleywine ale. This has a few unique flavors that I wasn't entirely expecting. Fairly balanced, not too sweet or too bitter right now, just a good blend of flavors, toasty, roasty, fruity, hella malts, just a bit much earthy herbal almost minty pine hops for me, which provide some complexity and depth to keep the beer from straying too sweet or heavy. Pretty nice barleywine from Stone. Cheers everyone, and happy New Beer Weekend!

 

Likely final new beer for the New Beer Sunday #831, purchased at the Chicago Brewery, but brewed at their main brewing facility in Bridgman, MI.

Haymarket Brewing Barrel Aged Bollocks



Can Notes: English Style Barleywine, 12 ounces canned at the Bridgman Brewery on October 21, 2020. 12% ABV. Online notes - the barrels used were Woodford Reserve.

Appearance: Dark brown clear pour, heavy carbonation, slight off-white tan head quickly dissipates into nothing. 3.75

Aroma: Mostly raisins, plums, dates, light to mild in strength. Light barrel noted after several attempts. 3.5

Taste: Taste fuller and broader than aroma would lead. Nice barrel heat detected, smooth though potent. Have to take this one slow. After a few more sips the dark fruits noted in the aroma emerge, raisins primarily backed by plums and oak. Everything smooth, subdued. Really enjoy Woodford Reserve, both neat and in this beer. Not complementary but rather as lead. Not sure if other flavors are minimized by the barrel, or just not vibrant. In any event, this is a enjoyable primarily for the Woodford Reserve. 3.5

Moutheel: Faint fizzy carbonation, thin to medium body with sweet creaminess, fruit sweetness held in check by the whiskey. Malt vacant. Easy drinking, though strong ABV felt throughout. 3.5

Overall: This is a good barrel aged barleywine. I'm curious as to how the base alone would fare, but I believe the barrel component enhanced this offering, and was the primary factor in my enjoyment. 3.5

Need to catch up on these threads after a busy weekend of reading and fretting about the snow buildup outside (another several inches on top of the previous snowfall earlier this week).

Cheers!

 

Today I am starting with Fox Farm's Ashlawn coffee stout. Ashlawn is a local coffee roaster that happens to have a retail coffee shop near my office.

4.41/5 rDev +2.6%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

Poured from a 16oz can dated 01/20/21 at room temp. The date stamp ends with "Ethiopian Yirgacheffe" which I assume is the variety of coffee used. Not sure if they change the variety with different batches. Some Google results list Volcanic Yirgacheffe as "the best" Ethiopian coffee.
Pours dark (duh) with a small dark tan head that fades soon. Not much lacing but a swirl of the glass creates a temporary brown oily coating.
Aroma is hard to describe some coffee, but mostly pepper astringency? Some volatiles for sure but I just can't describe it and neither can my table mates.
Taste is amazing if you like great unsweetened dark roast coffee (I do). Very dry finish.
Mouthfeel is good, but lighter than the oily glass coat effect suggested it would be.
I really liked this.

 

OK, time for the next new beer.

But, first, please pardon a word from our sponsors

The beer is brewed by La Doña Cervecería. They don't seem to get much mention among the MN beer geeks here on BA, and since (warning - pre-shadowing of the review) I was so impressed with this beer, I thought I would give them a plug, and I encourage MN BAs to given them a try (of course, this is based on my tasting of exactly ONE of their beers, but it was impressive...)



La Doña Cervecería is located on Freemont Avenue in Minneapolis.

From their website,...

WE ARE YOUR LOCAL CERVECERÍA
La Doña is a Latin-influenced craft brewery reflecting the Latin experience in Minnesota and promoting accessibility to the craft beer industry.

Our Mission
To celebrate the vibrancy, breadth and depth of Latino and Minnesotan culture through superior product and customer experience as a fully operational brewery and community/event center, while raising awareness of and providing support to social, economic, and environmental issues that impact us all.

For Benefit Corporation
La Doña Cervecería is a Registered Benefit Corporation aiming to make a positive impact on society, our workers, the community and the environment.

------------

OK, on to the beer.

La Doña Ocēlōtl Mezcal Barrel-Aged Barleywine
ABV: 10.0%
IBU: NA (but low perceived)



Bottled on October 14, 2020.

Deep brown from the front; dark amber with a backlight, revealing a single column of rising bubbles. Short khaki head from a vigorous pour, receding quickly to an airy bubble ring and half-cap. Some strings of lacing if you tip the glass. Given the ABV, I didn't ding the rating too much on look due to the short head and relative lack of carbonation.

Aroma is bright, almost citrusy, but not really citrus - perhaps this is the mezcal (in any event, I've called it that through the rest of this review ... just be aware, I have no first-hand familiarity with mezcal, and only occasionally with tequila - and this flavor is not tequila). Intermixed with the mezcal are dark fruits, raisins, molasses, brown/burnt sugar. Very, very good.

Taste brings out the mezcal and the barrel, and as with the aroma, backed by the expected barley wine flavors of raisins, generic dark fruit, molasses, and brown sugar. Very slightly bitter on the initial taste, but this fades through the middle and is nearly gone by the finish. The finish is toward the sweet side, but balanced by what bitterness remains and the brightening flavors from the mezcal. I'm enjoying this beer, and despite the price ($20 for the 750ml), I'm glad I bought it for this tasting.

Mouth feel is thick, but not chewy. A tinge of alcohol in the mouth.

Overall, a very good barley wine nicely accented with the Mexican heritage of the head brewer, Dicky Lopez. He clearly knows his stuff. If it weren't so expensive, I might buy a couple more for the cellar to revisit in the coming years. (And, I might dust off my wallet and do that anyway).

L: 3.75 | S: 4.0 | T: 4.5 | F: 4.25 | O: 4.25 | Rating: 4.26

 

Covert Artisan Ales Banana Boat Imperial Pastry Stout, 10.5% ABV. Pours oily black with a slight brown head that dissipated quickly, and left banana residue. Nose is one of the best I've experienced, real strong banana, plus chocolate, peanut butter, coconut, rum, and coffee. Taste follows, again with banana prevailing, quite sweet, very slight coffee bitterness. Excellent mouthfeel, overall world-class.

4.75/5 rDev 0%
look: 4.5 | smell: 5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.75

This is my second highest rated beer, out of 1,081 I've reviewed.

 

Covert Artisan Ales Upside Down Fruit Sour, 6.6% ABV. Pours hazy orange with a 1+ finger white head. Nose is strong pineapple, sweet vanilla cake, and cherry. Taste is pretty much tart pineapple and cherry. Excellent mouthfeel, overall excellent to outstanding-adjacent.

4.35/5 rDev 0%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25

Interesting that a beer can smell so sweet and taste so tart. Is sweetness really a smell or is it the mind associating sweetness with the smell of things that are always sweet, such as vanilla cake?