New Beer Weekend #33

Hello New Beer Weekend!!!

Home from a long, hard, and VERY productive day at work. Got a pretty big facing project done, and helped to train in the new guy as well. A lot of work, but well worth it. But, now on to beer. I can't go too crazy tonight, because I'm headed to South Dakota tomorrow morning to relax, get some beer for the NBS BIF 13, and beers for friends at work.

so, on to the first beer:
This one is thanks to @NorthStateCustomCraft - Thank you so much for this beer.


Never Sleep from Monkish Brewing - Imperial IPA 8.4% ABV

This is hitting the spot tonight. I really like the flavor, and the body is good. I am so happy to have had the chance to try it. Delicious!

Review:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/28657/519962/

4.24/5 rDev -2.1%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25

Pours a hazy, murky, creamy looking pineapple color. 2 finger fluffy, frothy white head. Retention is very good. There's some nice lacing on the glass.
The nose has a decent pineapple aroma to it.
Taste - Like the nose - very nice pineapple flavor going on here.
A bit of a tart feeling here. The body is decent, and the hops do linger in my throat for a while.
Tasty and very solid IPA

 

Going to catch up on the threads chilling to the local Yatch Rock show. Didn't know if I'd go for two, but after a nice walk in the woods have cracked open a second WCIPA, this one from a brewer on the West Coast that I just tried for the first time a few weeks ago with their milk stout.

Heretic Brewing Evil 3



Can Notes:

Appearance: Nice bright golden tan pour, generous creamy head leaves clumpy lacing along the nonic glass, light carbonation. 4.0

Aroma: Nice pine aroma, like walking through a nice pine forest. Light malt sweetness detected, grapefruit and citrus as well. 4.25

Taste: Bursts will flavor. The sweet malt brings a nice caramel flavor, the piney bitter hops assert their presence, demanding I "respect their authoritah". This triple is strong, and bursting with flavor, nice balance ABV confronts you a few sips in. Citrus and grapefruit backs well Savoring every sip. 4.75

Mouthfeel: Full body, creamy, light carbonation, dry and somewhat bitter overall, very pleasant and brewed to style. Light bitter aftertaste. 4.5

Overall: This is a beer I love. Only disappointment is I haven't run into this until 2021. Wonderful full bodied and flavored Triple IPA, old school WCIPA, malt provides a nice balance though edges piney and bitter as is my preference. I'm on beer purchase timeout with my current stock, but may break that to scoop up whatever of these I can find to enjoy this Spring. Still holding up well nearly two months after canning, really want to hit this fresh down the line. Highly recommend. 4.5

Continue to be very impressed with Heretic, really looking forward to the the porter I've been saving for next week's BA tasting. See you back tomorrow with a few nationally distributed IPAs, one possibly brewed a few miles away from me.

Can Notes: 11.5% ABV, canned 1/13/21. This is the story of three friends: Tasty McDole, Mitch Steele, and Jamil Zainasheff. Three bold men with hops in their blood and crazy in their hearts. Once a year these three passionate brewers come together to concoct a beer that represents their lifelong bond. A beer that is bold. A beer that is hoppy. A beer to share with your best friends.

Editorial Note: Tasty McDole sadly passed away in October 2020, Mitch and Jamil decided to honor his memory and continue to brew this in his honor.

 

Poured into a 16 oz Nordic pint glass canned on 2/15/2021. Pours a fairly clear orange amber with a finger plus sticky off white head that leaves massive streaks of lace with excellent retention. 4.25

Aroma orange, caramel, biscuit, pine, apricot, and grapefruit rind. 4

Taste follows orange, caramel, biscuit, apricot, pine, and grapefruit definitely a tad bitter, but plenty of malt in to support it. 4

Mouthfeel is big, plenty of life, a tad sticky and dry, and at 9.4% it goes down plenty easy. 4

Overall this is a nice change of pace and I will have no problem working through this 4 pack, but I just not my thing anymore. The malt stands up as much as the hops of not more. 4

 

I am pleasantly surprised by how fresh this one is. The date on the bottom of the can is stamped, 12/22/2021 which seems too far into the future to maintain freshness; pasteurization, I guess. It has hints of lemon and vanilla, similar to quality Helles, but with that well-rounded flavor and mouthfeel from an ale. This is my first German brewed Kolsch, and I am very pleased.

 

My local has been churning out some new beers recently, including this gem. The beer won’t be in the boxes I send to my target in the impending NBW BIF #13, but I guarantee the brewery will be, multiple times.





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

Pours a nearly clear burnt orange color with the slit it of hop haze and a dense, creamy oatmeal colored head that is Velcro to the glass. Gorgeous beer.

The Citra hops referenced on the can are forward on the nose with a juicy ripe orange note that is augmented by the bright floral notes from the orange blossom. Wow.

The taste is surprisingly boozy, which fits for this beer, because with this could get a bit cloying from all the activity generated by the Citra hops, orange blossom, and the honey, but the booziness balanced that to keep drawing you in for another sip.

That can get dangerous with a 9% ABV DIPA. IJS.

I loved the base beer, and this managed to surpass that beer, IMHO. Just a joyful flavor ride.

 

Up next, and thanks to friends who just got back on Monday from their vacation in Mississippi and Alabama, with a quick stop in Pensacola, FL.


Bama Mosa from Back Forty Beer Co - Gadsden, AL - Brut Beer - 7% ABV.

Ok, this doesn't feel like a 7% beer. It has no burn at all. Very smooth and easy drinking. If I had a lot of these on a hot summer day, and I'm grilling outside, things could go very bad, very quick. I do like this beer.

Review:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/21868/402291/

3.74/5 rDev +3.9%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75

Pours a murky almost white color. 1 finger white head. The head retention isn't the best, and there's no lacing on the glass.
The nose has a nice orange aroma. It smells real, and not artificial. There's also a slight, and I can't find better words for it, yeast aroma. Not strange, but pleasing.
Taste - Lots of orange going on here. I also get a hint of lemon in here. Maybe it's the Brut? Not sure.
Crisp body. Doesn't feel like a 7% beer, but not in a bad way. There's no boozy feel here, no burn, though there's not too much from most 7%.
Tasty and very interesting beer.

 

Ok, since this was second in my blind tastings of Three Floyd beers, I figure maybe I'll compare notes as I add an official review. Today's pic of Three Floyd's Dreadnaught...


Agree with most of the look @SawDog505 noted, although the lacing I haven't found to be as strong. I definitely got a little more tropical or floral in the nose last night, but today I am getting a bit more of the grapefruit pith. There's some citrus and perhaps apricot, but in general it's a bit more of a classic DIPA nose than I was getting last night.

I also agree that this is an IPA with a decent malt backbone, but one that isn't as sweet as it could be since it's sitting at 9.5% - I'd have guessed high-7/low-8% if forced to give my best guess (so there's another agreement, it seems). Side note, the GF seemed to think she liked Dreadnaught the least in our tasting due to her growing apart from DIPAs in general.

Back to taste, the grapefruit with pith was evident last night, and seemed to only have a little pine late. Today, the pine gets into the taste a little earlier and a little more evidently, but doesn't overcome the grapefruit.

So I think there is a lot of agreement in what my and @SawDog505's palates were perceiving. Where we seem to mostly disagree is that this is what I am looking for these days, and I'm happy to have gotten it. Hopefully 3F isn't hit-and-running the Virginia side of the DC area, as I'd definitely grab their stuff on the regular if they stick around.

 

I have a second NBW today courtesy of @WunderLlama
It called Snowbird from a fairly new brewery called Second Wind out of Plymouth, Ma.
DIPA. 8% abv hopped with Citra and Azacca
Pours thick light yellow big fluffy dissipating head light lacing veiled cap

Aroma of tart orange, grapefruit and a hint of soured milk

Taste follows nose sweet and tart citrus and a milky finish. Cream cycle pop cycle taste, semi sweet but not sticky. Vanilla notes.

mouthfeel is milkshake like, thick and smooth. A little bit of a bite up front, vanilla middle and a lingering finish of tangerine

Overall it’s a incredibly smooth DIPA, very little bitterness, no alcohol taste and easy drinking. I finished it before I finished my notes on it.
4.25 4.25 4. 4. 4. Solid.
Another good one Maynard, cheers

 

Pliny The Younger - Russian River

I'll probably be indebted to Mr. @jrc1093 for the rest of my life, for him sharing this legendary beer with me, and I will make sure to put all that I have into paying my dues to him for it.

Let's get into it, shall we?

Pours a brilliant, unfiltered clarity honey golden blonde - impressively light for a triple IPA. The elixir is topped with a big, dense head of off-white foam, with pretty fair retention, eventually receding to a thick, bubbly collar, with some spotty lacing. Slow, but constant effervescence. 4.5

Nose: That classic Pliny spirit is so evident. Beautifully composed malt, with some toasty caramel, sweet honey, and clean grain, with just a touch of fresh Italian bread. The hops are Pliny to a T - bursting with floral aromas of magnolia, lilac, and gardenia, lemon blossoms, and some sweet pine sap. There's some sweet fruity influence, with apricot jam, marmalade, and a thin thread of white grape, gooseberry, and fresh grass. A touch of grapefruit pith, and just a hint of that subtle boiled Simcoe dankness. Saturated and cohesive. 4.75

Palate: Pliny The Younger greets the palate with a sweet malt foundation, with a nice grainy backbone. Some honey and fresh bread lay down a base for the swift flood of hops. Sweet, almost candied notes of grapefruit, tangerine, marmalade, and a touch of sweet white grape, while some brighter citrusy lemon and lime define the high end. In typical Pliny fashion, some floral, flowery hop notes emerge before an oily, resinous hop bite cuts in with bitter pine sap and pithy bite, quickly drying out the malt sweetness. The finish is resinous, moderately bitter, with potpourri, pith, and grains lingering. 4.25

Mouthfeel/Body: For such a big, imposing imperial IPA, the beer drinks absolutely beautifully. Medium-bodied, with a soft, smooth malty backbone, and a bright, fluid crispness that allows it to remain exceptionally drinkable. Effervescence is soft, restrained, but ample and very present, providing just the right amount of lift and sparkle. Never cloying, and the hops dry it out beautifully, finishing with an oily, resinous, almost waxy cling that adheres to the palate, and let's those pithy notes really dig in. 4.75

Overall: This is one of those larger-than-life beers, and it can often be difficult to maintain realistic expectations. I mean, how much can you possibly get out of an IPA, right? Keeping a level head, it's a brilliant beer. For a 10 1/4 percent ABV triple IPA, it is remarkably drinkable. It's a wonderful balance of malt and hops. All of Pliny The Elder's influence is here, and it's strong. It really is an amped up Pliny The Elder. I may have been expecting something a bit more aggressively hoppy and bitter, with a more knock-your-balls-off hop explosion, but at the same time, the impeccable balance is hard to complain about. Now, I wouldn't stand in line for 8 hours or pay $100 for a bottle of it, but I also can't deny that it's a beautiful triple IPA, with unmistakable Pliny lineage. At the end of the day, it's just a fantastic IPA, and what more could you ask for? 4.5

Overall: 4.49/5

 

Canned on 2/03/21. Pours a very dark brown with a 3 finger sticky light brown head that leaves barbed wire like lace with solid retention. 4.25

Aroma is peanut butter, waffle cone, cocoa nibs, and vanilla bean simple, but really pleasant. 4.25

Taste follows peanut butter and chocolate hit first with vanilla and waffles in the balanced and tasty finish. 4.25

Mouthfeel is a little bigger than medium, maybe a tad dry, just the right amount of carbonation, and at 8% it may drink a little bigger but goes down really easy. 4.25

Overall this is another really nice stout from these guys, one dimensional but well made and tasty. 4.25

 

Geeze, after someone posted about Pliney the Younger, what’s left to say?
I went a different direction tonight and pulled this one out of the cellar.
Surprised by the pour, which was far more like chocolate milk than a stout at first, but coffee colored beer soon took over. The caramel color head insisted on staying around for the whole drink.
The aroma was coffee and then malts, rather pronounced.
The taste also featured coffee forward flavor and a touch of bitterness from, I think, the coffee. Malts eventually made themselves known.
The feel was what one expects from a Nitro, silky smooth.
I am glad to have tried this, and did enjoy it, but it’s not one that flipped all my switches so won’t likely keep it around.
Cheers all!

 

Hey all,
I decided since I opened my trap last week I should at least do a beer on Sat AND Sun....for as long as I can. 2 job offers on the table that will start in approx 2-4 weeks. Probably means alot less participation on at least Sat, and on the weekdays as well. Im trying to get a schedule to fit in my acoustic solo crap as well....
An overlooked brewery as of late. Their flagship IPA is more of a West Coast Style. This DIPA seems to swing differently.
Counter Weight Crucial Mass DIPA
Pours a very hazy gold with a 1/2 head that has decent retention and leaves alot of sticky lacing.
Aroma is mango, pineapple, dank week, juicy orange and some blueberries. I may be getting a hint of white grape/gooseberry as well. Can says hops are Northern and Southern hops. Im pretty confident there is Mosaic in some capacity in this one.
Taste follows with tropical, berries, grape and citrus. Good amount of dankness here. It does have a nice bitterness - more of a tangy lemon pith thing going than pine.
Feel is medium but feels lighter due to the substantial prickly carbonation throughout. Finishes on the drier side for the style with more of a orange/lemon pith bitterness with no hint of 8%. Really easy drinking.
In a sea of IPAs this isnt going to stand out. That being said its a very well constructed and brewed IPA. Its very clean in every aspect and enjoyable to drink. Their flagship I may like a little better. There were changes awhile back but obviously they know what theyre doing. And its gone.....

 

Head full of dynamite v26 from Fremont Brewing

4.14/5 rDev +4.5%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4

Can received from @BBThunderbolt in a LIF associated with BIF 12.5

Canned 1.25, opened 3 5 21, poured into a willi becher glass

One finger creamy white foam cap, good retention , settles to a few islands with a solid ring ,sticky lacings over a hazy orange liquid

Aroma is malty, citrus grapefruit, orange,mango, whiff of pineapple

Taste is grapefruit hops,mango, orange, malty

Medium sudsing, hop taste, gentle hop nibble, hop taste lingers but doesn’t really bite

Good beer, thank you Kiribati denizen!

 

Machine House's Dark Mild, clocking in at a whopping 3.7% abv, and a ton of flavor. I like this beer.

500ml bottle served in a big nonic pint glass. Bought it at PCC in Ballard earlier today. No date on it that I can find.

Pours very dark, almost black, with a very small head. Smell is roasty, nutty, a little burnt toast.

Taste is rich, nutty, roasty, maybe a little coffee or chocolate. Almost stout-ish, but not quite.

Mouthfeel is rich but light bodied. Overall, I really like it.

 

That’s a great pour out of a can. I remember the cascades of bubbles enjoying Guinness stouts on tap in Ireland. Your image looks similar...

 

Westbrook 10th anniversary. This was a fun interesting dessert beer.
Solid black with a thin brown head
..medium light carbonation with an above average body. Has a bit of a slick, thick,oily,creamy feel which adds up to a nice body.
Aroma is peanut butter and marshmallow upfront. Some nut butter,coffee,roasted malt,dark chocolate.
Taste is mildly sweet balanced a bit by an even milder coffee bitterness. Marshmallow, nut butter, dark chocolate, bitter dark bakers chocolate, chocolate liquor.
Overall its a really well done dessert beer.