New Beer Weekend #31

That's a shame. I hope you have something good to reset your palate.

 

I didnt label the bottle so thats bad on my end. Hopefully Im not wrong.
Cheers!

 

I hope everyone is having a nice Sunday afternoon / evening. Here we are having some light snow with warmer temperatures in the mid-20s. It is nice to look at out the back window, even though it means I will likely have to clear the snow from the drive and walk later.

Today I am having another beer from what is becoming one of my favorite locals (well, semi-local; they're up in St. Paul). I encourage our other MN BAs to give them a try. They do distribute crowlers into several of the metro liquor stores.

Anyhow, on to the beer itself.

Waldmann Düsseldorf Altbier
ABV: 5.6%
IBU: NA



Aroma is roasted malts, figs/raisins, caramel, hints of chocolate.

Appearance is dark brown (ruby with a backlight, which also reveals ample rising bubbles) capped by a tall tan head, thick and creamy at first, that recedes to a thin cap after a few minutes, leaving no lacing.

Taste is malty, slightly roasted, with figs/raisins, touch of spiciness (but, just a touch). Nice and flavorful. Easy drinking. There is a very slight bittering in the middle, but it does not last long. The finish is semi-sweet, leaving a pleasant aftertaste. Very smooth with a clean finish.

Mouth feel is thinnish, with little noticeable contribution from the carbonation.

Overall: well-brewed, balanced, subtle and refined. An easy drinking altbier.

L: 4.0 | S: 3.75 | T: 4.0 | F: 3.5 | O: 3.75 | Rating: 3.84

 

Melvin/Thai Me Up Back in Da Haze Hazy IPA, 6.5% ABV; 3.85 Overall

Pours a hazed gold with 2+ fingers of cream colored head. Stellar head retention & lacing

S: Nectarine, mango, a little grassyness

T: Follows the nose, dryness, some breadyness, green melon also. Lime, tangerine, & dryness as this warms. Finishes dry with plenty of citrus, nectarine and some grassyness

MF: Medium body, fluffy carbonation, nice balance

Easy to drink, was hoping for more flavor, but a little less age might help ( canned 11/24/20 )

 

Up next is Grimm's Gull Wing Door, a new addition to the... erm, "Car Door Family"(?) of DIPAs they make. This is the same hop bill as Lambo Door with an extra Nelson dry-hop. I mean, that sounds awesome. Lambo is already amazing, so how can an extra hit of Nelson hurt?



Pour is gorgeous, for sure, but that's not surprising considering the lineage of this DIPA. Lambo Door is almost certainly one of my favorites, as I mentioned above, but this actually looks even better. Perhaps it's just the new glassware, but the pale-orange liquid topped off with a huge, retentive, foamy cap looks absolutely fantastic, and the lacing it boasts is definitely top-tier. A consistent, surprisingly-volumetric sheet with excellent legs as well.

The nose is quite excellent... right upfront, I get peach ring gummy candy, passion fruit, guava, mango, tangerine peel, and a hint of dankness hitting just right. Lighter notes of the typical minerality Nelson can bring, along with some suggestions of the other elements it fools around with (acidic white wine, gooseberry) are noticeable but not super prominent. In other words, I have to kinda focus to find them, but I think it's just cuz of how well all of this is integrated and not a dry-hopping issue. Quite the contrary, really; I somewhat prefer how subtly Nelson seems to interact with the El Dorado/Citra/Simcoe basis here. It still has this fresh and intriguing aspect to it that lends some mystery instead of being a punch-in-the-face.

First sip has my tastebuds doing freaking backflips, guys. This is everything I have loved about Lambo dialed up to 11, with Nelson stealing the show in the transition to the finish. Unlike on the nose, it's really prominent on the palate, with tons of gooseberry, tropical papaya and passion fruit, and notes of airy pine resin crossed with lightly-tart peach/mango candy. Pillowy profile with a soft but palate-massaging carbonation. Fluffy, yet not so much that I want it to be more aggressive... the solid kick of bitterness at the end of each sip really drives home the point: this is a superbly-well-made DIPA, and it is certainly extremely worthy of being part of the aforementioned Car Door Family of Grimm beers. Buy or die!

 

NBW #2. Black Orpheus, a Schwarzbier brewed as a collaboration between two new breweries in New Jersey, Sunken Siloh Brew Works and Ashton Brewing Company. I visited Sunken Siloh yesterday for the first time I had a West Coast IPA and an American Stout conditioned on birch chips. Both were okay but not special. Ashton took over the brewery formerly operated by Demented Brewing Co., which showed promise but flamed out. These breweries are at a similar place; mediocre beer but lots of promise. Ashton like brewing German style beers, which is a plus.

Black Orpheus is pretty good and shows the potential of the two breweries. It pours a very dark cola with ruby hues at the bottom of the glass, and a thin, creamy, light khaki-colored head and sheen of lacing. Not much to the nose: some roasted malt, leather, and tobacco smoke. The taste is better than the smell. It's malty with notes of tobacco and burnt char. As it warms there is additional malty sweetness and a hint of chocolate. The mouth feel is lite and crisp with pleasant carbonation and it's an easy drinker at 5.4% ABV. Overall, Black Orpheus is a nice rendition of the style. I suggest not drinking it too cold. The flavors develop as it warms in the glass.

3.73/5 rDev 0%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75

Cheers, NBW!

 

Big turn from the other new beers this weekend. I IIPAs really at all these days but my brother gave me one of these to try and it’s a nice change of pace. Imperial cloud walked from victory.



Looks is a hazy orangey straw color with a nice thick head of white from initial pour. It is not murky in fact held up to light you can see your cloudy finger on the other side.

Very strong aroma to this one orange and tangerine most notable to me. Follows by pineapple it almost smells like an orange like Hawaiian Punch.

Taste is definitely similar to the nose but I think even more Hawaiian Punch like with a tad of orange. It’s like the more prominent aroma switched spots in the taste.

Mouthfeel is medium and has a creamyness to it. I was gonna say I don’t think it has lactose but then I checked the can. Well the creamy feel makes sense now. Little touch of heat but very subtle for 9.6%. Perfect little kiss of bitter at the end for this beer

This beer is definitely really well made and to be honest I really am enjoying it for the style. I just wish it wasn’t 9.6% good thing I’m sharing. If you like juicy ipas give this one a try it’s very good.

 

Last new beer of the weekend I'm reviewing Melvin Hopshocker IIPA, 8.0% ABV, 3.95 overall

Pours a slightly hazed amber with 2 fingers of fluffed up pearl colored head. Good head retention & great lacing

S: Breadyness & pine once warm

T: Bready, dry, piney, some tangerine and green melon up front. Sweet orange, breadyness & pine as this warms, a little pineapple as well. Finishes cakey with pineapple & tangerine, green melon, and plenty of pine

MF: Fairly chewy body, slight carbonation that picks up once warm. Nice balance

Thus drank great despite being 5 months old, nose really suffered I'm guessing . This will serve as my place holder review for now. I dream of getting back up Wyoming way soon and checking their beer & food at the source, I still owe my wife a trip up that way for sure ( she wrecked her knee 2 days before we went , my son & I still went )

 

Howdy NBW's
It's a rare 2 new beer weekend for me
This is one from Cold Harbor Brewing Co, out of Westboro, Ma.




Poured from a can dated 1/18/21 8.2 abv NEDIPA 4.25/ 3.75/ 3.50/ 3.75/ 3.75 / 3.68
Hop profile is El Dorado Azacca Mosaic and lactose

Cloudy orange appearance with a thin creamy head, fair good lacing

Aroma to me was kind of a peach/ apricot thing, slightly musty and hoppy. Maybe sour milk too

Taste is fruity kind of a bitter sweet peach and apricot, not a whole lot going on

Mouthfeel is initially silky to prickly and sticky. A dry lingering finish that kind of sticks on the back of your tongue. Low carbonation. No alcohol burn.

Overall not a bad representation of the style, fairly nice drinking, smooth start to a slight astringent finish but kind of thin tasting.

 

After letting this sit out for another 20-30 mins, the roastiness on the palate pulled back quite a bit and I got more of a creamy mocha thing going on rather than the initial heavy roast malt flavor. As a session stout, I don't think I should have to wait for it to warm up like a big stout since that seems to defeat the purpose as session beers aren't really something you linger over. However, given that I've labeled quite a few barrel-aged 14% abv stouts as "easy drinking", I'm probably not the target audience for this beer.

Thanks again for the opportunity to try this, @WunderLlama !

 

Hubbard's Cave Chocolate Pot de Creme

Wasn't sure I was going to sneak a new beer in this weekend!

16oz can served in a Georgetown sample glass. Batch 2020-2. Bought it from Tavour.

Black, initially no head, slowly a small head appears and then disappears. Smell is chocolate cake.

Taste is sweet, chocolate, shadow of booziness. Coffee / anise echoes on the back end, actually a bit of a bitter finish, which is a nice touch for the pot de creme series.

Mouthfeel is thick, still. Overall, solid beer.

 

Last one of the night, and I don't really have high hopes. Four Quarters has been one of the most inconsistent breweries to me over the past few years, at least when it comes to their packaged beers (stuff I've had at the brewery has been pretty consistently great, oddly enough), and the Shakedown series in particular has had me scratching my head on more than one occasion. However, call me a sucker, but I freakin' love freeze-dried ice cream, so I considered it my duty to give this one a shot. According to my ratings and reviews for prior Shakedowns, this has about a 50% chance to be good stuff. Those odds are bad, but whatever.



Space Station Shakedown is a milkshake IPA with lactose, Barbe Rouge hops (known for their strawberry-like profile), and "astronaut icecream." That is not what that is called, guys. Anyway, the pour here is decent enough, but it looks almost exactly like the other beers in this series, with maybe a touch more vibrancy in the body. That big, fluffy head in the above picture sinks to a quarter-finger with the quickness, leaving behind some splotchy lace. Good legs here, though, I must admit, and surface coverage is quite dense. Guess it's not all bad. I'm going to try to stop being cynical now.

*sniffs beer*

Forget it, this deserves cynicism. Guys, why can't you just make things that smell or taste like what you're going for consistently? It really probably isn't that hard, and if it is, you should stop doing it or trying to do it. Or maybe I'm just being an idiot because I keep giving them chances. The strawberry element of the Barbe Rouge hops absolutely dominates here, and the rest of this is just the most bland, inoffensive, ester-driven thing I've smelled recently. It's just weird strawberry-leaning (but also very non-specifically-"fruity") elements with next-to-nothing else happening at all. I don't even get vanilla here! What is the malt bill?! Is this even beer? Why does this have three 4.5/5 ratings?! Am I insane?

This just tastes like strawberry-ish, lightly-grainy seltzer. What the actual hell. Holy shit, guys. Why. It really cannot be that hard to put in enough effort to make a beer taste like what you want it to taste like. It's really weird to me that a few of these Shakedowns (with crazier ideas than this, mind you) have actually panned out rather well. Okay, so maybe using actual freeze-dried ice cream (sorry, "astronaut icecream") wasn't the best idea, but perhaps you could have, IDK, figured that out when testing this out in a small batch and decided "ya I mean, we could add some astronaut icecream to say we did it but otherwise we could make up the flavors with cocoa nibs/powder, etc."? I can't even comprehend how someone could drink this and be satisfied with what was done to attempt to achieve the stated goal here. I think I should just blanket ban 4Q from my fridge from now on. It's actually almost offensive how much this doesn't do what it says it's going to do on the can. Homebrewers can (and often will) to a better job than this at introducing adjuncts into their beer. Now kindly get out of the way and let breweries like Definitive (whose glassware did not deserve to be sullied with this imposter beer) actually achieve results within the boundaries of the concept of Milkshake IPAs.

Guess I should say a little more about what this tastes like, eh? No one comes here to hear me rant, after all. I appreciate you if you do, of course, but that aside... some light notes of herbal hops, one-dimensional graininess, light melon/peach, and slight tendencies towards slick esters toward the finish. The lactose is extremely superfluous and really only achieves a perception of "increased body," though the beer itself is quite fizzy and even-tempered with a boring mouthfeel regardless, so it's really rendered moot. Alright, I'm done. This is a hard pass and if you like it, I'm not going to say you have no taste, but I'm going to strongly imply that your tastebuds may be working in an imperfect manner. I'm done with this brewery right here and now. Way too many crappy beers being passed off as wacky, fun, and unusual without actually following through on those claims. I loved them years ago, but it's clear they're just phoning it in now. It's really ironic that their "This House is Haunted" IPA is probably my favorite of their distributed stuff despite it being literally green. And, of course, MA didn't get any of that this past year. They were too busy making five different marginal-quality Shakedown beers or something, probably. Over it at this point.

*steps off soapbox and calmly shoves it in the corner*

Have a good week, all.

 

Now up 2Toms S’Mores from @LloydDobler, hope to get in at least one more review in after this tasty stout.

4.12/5 rDev 0%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

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

A- Black with a four finger mocha head.

S- Dark chocolate, roasted malts, touch of smoke, vanilla/marshmallow, touch of caramel.

T- Chocolate, marshmallows/vanilla, some caramel, roasted malts, touch of graham crackers, hints of smoke.

M- Smooth, medium body.

O- A tasty s’mores stout that is on the sweet side without being overwhelming sweet.

Cheers!

 

Last new beer for me this weekend is Tiddly, an English-style dark mild from Fox Farm. They make a non-nitro version of this that I've yet to try. This one is the Nitro version. Fox Farm likes putting out English style beers, which aren't always the most popular styles, but credit to Zack Adams (owner of FF) for brewing styles he likes / respects. Let's see how this one is.....

From the brewery...We’d also like to introduce you to a new beer: Tiddly. It marks a step into a category we truly love and miss in many ways. English-style pub ales are a unique joy - simple but flavorful, memorable or perfectly forgettable depending on the mood. Tiddly is our take on a Dark Mild, a style we think hits at that dichotamy particularly well - you could certainly savor them but they’re small beers we find are best enjoyed a couple at a time and without much fuss. We had hoped to serve Tiddly on cask at the brewery but given the circumstances, we thought nitro cans would make for a fun alternative - after all, nitrogenated dispensing was conceived with the intent of replicating a carefully poured pint at the pub

My take....in what is becoming a theme for the weekend (after two altbiers yesterday), this is a beer I desperately want to enjoy with friends at a pub. This is a style that's rarely going to blow me away, but when done right, is super easy to drink and the kind of beer you'd easily throw several back of without realizing it. At 3.8% this is very much that kind of beer. I really enjoyed it and look forward to having it on cask at the brewery at some point in the future when things get back to normal.

3.96/5 rDev -2.5%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Canned 11/4/20 and poured into a Fox Farm Willi Becher. Pours a dark brown that once in the glass is like dark cola. When held up to the light, a little bit makes it through, but not much. Really nice, thick head that lasted a few minutes before fading away, leaving a nice thin layer that I didn't wait to fully disippate before consuming. Aroma is lightly roasted malts. Taste is mostly malts with a little bit of nutty flavor and a sweet, very smooth finish (thanks to the nitro presumably). Feel is medium body and low carbonation.

 

For NBW Day #2, I have a couple of beers, the first is my second beer from Tripping Animals Brewing Company out of Doral FL and courtesy of Half Time Beverage, the distributor for EBF a couple of weeks ago. I highly recommend both parties.





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

Pours a hazy golden straw color with a white head and minimal lacing, the citrus aromas are forward on the nose, but it is the coconut note that stands out to me, courtesy of the Loral hops.

NOTE: there are two foods I don’t like, green peas and coconut. I have not had to concern myself with green peas in a beer (thank the beer godz!!!), but coconut shows itself fairly regularly in the beer nerd world, and it’s always worked for me before, but I’m a bit cautious before that first taste.

No need for caution - there is a substantial coconut flavor, but it is complemented perfectly by the juicy citrus flavors of ripe tangerine and pineapple. Absolutely delicious.

The mouthfeel is softer, per the style, and fits this Triple IPA perfectly - if you didn’t know this was a 10% howitzer of a beer, you’d pound your way through a few pints of this.

And then you’d try to stand up.

Really excellent beer, I’ll look for more from these guys.

 

Sunday evening with this fun offering from Founders. I get the maple and bourbon; not so much vanilla. This is an easier drinking version of KBS\CBS, with a softer ABV and less body. Still does the fix for the malty notes with maple and bourbon. Glad a buddy shared a bottle.

 

Hello again, NBWers,
A little late to the new beer party this weekend, but here we are. And it's the first time this brown under this name has been reviewed, nice.

TRVE's Death Ripper, a brown ale. 4.5%
Canned 1.13.21, enjoyed (this is the second, tee-hee) 2.21.21

Note and disclaimer: Listed as "retired" as a California Common, so I had to log it in as a "new beer" and review it as a "Death Ripper Brown" - somewhere at BA Headquarters, someone might be mad.

More? Please read on...

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

L - Very light in appearance, even for a brown, then I look - Oh, 4.5% - that makes sense. Nice head, decent residual lace for something this light. Dark mahogany in the glass, not opaque.
S - Bread-malts, toasted, not stirred. Just the overwhelming smell of molasses, pumpernickel, and toasted malt. It's not super-rich on the nose, but it's there. Liquid brown bread smells...
T - Tastes remarkably like it smells; no duping or tom-foolery here; just solid toasted roasty malt backbone, a little light hop bite, but clean dark bread in the mouth.
F - Great carbonation, stays balanced, not a huge finish, but at this weight? Give me this over any AAL all day long. Fantastic stuff.
O - a great low ABV brown ale.
Note to moderators/BAs - this was listed as "Death Ripper" already, but as a California Common, so it's still Death Ripper on the label, I just jammed in the "brown" because... well, because. Canned 1.13.21 and opened and enjoyed 2.21.21.
Please to enjoy.