New Beer Weekend #38

#2, courtesy of our friend @larryi86, this is #2 in a string of potentially 7 lagers lagers that my beer sensai and I are enjoying whilst watching the Masters, hence the badass Masters glassware with the golf ball embedded in the base.



4.26/5 rDev +2.2%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

Pours a very hazy straw color with a dense white head that dissipates quickly. Grassy hop aromas and bready malt notes on the nose, this has all the hallmarks of a beer that emphasizes traditional ingredients in a straightforward manner.

The taste is all about the noble hop flavors for me, with a spiciness that accentuates the grassy flavor and really fits the bready malt flavors. Wow.

I could see myself sitting at the brewery and pounding through a couple of pints of this.

 

Good Sunday afternoon, New Beer Samplers and commentators. It's one of my favorite New Beer Sundays of the year - the blind review of a beer from the NBS BIF. @Roguer's first gargantuan box includes two "mystery" beers. Today's is the Happy Easter bottle. @woemad described the rabbit as psychotic but he looks friendly enough to me. Not know what I'll be drinking I took the bottle out of the fridge about 90 minutes ago and will use a tulip glass, which is my favorite all-purpose glass. The only clues Andrew provided were, "ABV: Smallish. Hops: Wrong aisle. Barrel: Sure!"


It pours a murky, muddy orange color with a large, frothy, milk-white head that dissipated quickly. The color is quite unique. The nose instantly indicates spontaneous fermentation but there is a strong fruity aroma (apricot? peach? nectarine?). It's also oaky. The smell is really pleasant. It's definitely some type of Wild Ale. It's sour but not distractingly so. I'm having trouble identifying the fruit but I'd say it is of the stone fruit family. As it warms and breaths in the glass it's becoming sweeter. It's very flavorful. I'm curious about the barrel references. It has a nice, thick mouth feel and fairly mildly carbonated for the style. So, what am I drinking?

I carefully remove the wrapper to preserve the rabbit, who reminds me of "Harvey."


I was wrong about the stone fruit. I was tasting Guava. Foerder Daze, a Foerder Aged Sour Rye Ale with Guava and Strawberry from Aardwolf Brewing in Jacksonville. Damn, this is tasty! Thank you, Andrew! I'm already looking forward to another blind review next week. Cheers, NBW!

 

Happy NBS, everyone!

I grabbed my next beer ("grabbed" meaning "clicked on" for my on-line order / curb-side pickup which I still do) on a bit of a whim. It is "best in style" of a style which has not many "bests". In other words, being the best in this style is a pretty low bar.

Anyhow...

Founders Solid Gold Lager - Adjunct #1
ABV: 4.4%
IBU: 20


The smell has lemon, cracker, bread, grass. Hints of sweetness.

Pours with a 1 inch white and bubbly head with OK retention... becomes a thick cap within a couple of minutes, and leaves spotty lacing. Heavily carbonated amber-yellow color, darker than your typical AAL (sorry, "Lager - Adjunct" just doesn't have the same je ne sais quoi as "AAL".

The taste is the lemon, grass, and cracker from the aroma, with a bit of tropical fruit as well. No bitterness to speak of, but a very slight (and I mean VERY slight) tartness or sharpness in the finish. It has an overall refreshing quality that is somewhat hampered by the body of the beer.

Speaking of which, the body is more substantial than expected for the style, which lends a bit of a coating to the finish which even the heavy carbonation cannot moderate.

The flavors of lemon & grass, backed by cracker & bread are well done. I enjoyed drinking this, which is fortunate, since the only way I could find it here is in 15 packs. I won't have any problem with them... in fact, they are unlikely to actually make it to the real hot weather here in the southern Twin Cities Metro.

Overall, as I said, not quite as refreshing as a typical AAL, due to the lack of crispness and the body of the beer, but it does go down easy and it has much more flavor than the typical AAL (which, no doubt, accounts for its high ranking in style).

The side of the can says "Puerto Rico". Was this brewed there, and so, not exactly a home-grown craft AAL, despite the Founders name on the can? IDK. The label also says "Brewed and Packaged by Founders Brewing Company, Grand Rapids, Michigan," which I note does "by" and not "in". Oh, well, a tasty AAL regardless of its heritage.

L: 4.0 | S: 3.75 | T: 3.75 | F: 3.5 | O: 3.75 | Rating: 3.74

PS: Speaking of not being a problem to handle the 15-pack... I'm already on my second Solid Gold! It is a tasty beer (that tastes like beer )

 

Plenty of new stuff today... I start training at the new job on Tuesday, so I'm enjoying my last weekend of being willfully-unemployed before my career change. Cheers!



Tilted Barn's Waterlemon Cay is a DIPA clocking in at 8.5% ABV. I had my first experience with this brewery the other day and it was a pretty good one, so I was looking forward to seeing how they did with a bigger IPA. They're one of those small breweries that is too cool to disclose their hop varietals for their IPAs, so we're gonna have to feel around and see what we can find here. This was canned 3/3/21, by the way, so it's approximately 5 weeks old.

Pours a hazy orange-yellow color with a good density to it, and the liquid is capped off by a very nice, retentive head that leaves behind spectacular lacing and legs, with the surface mostly covered, to boot! Great pour here, and really hits all the specifics of what a quality DIPA should look like in 2021. High marks; let's see if they can keep it going.

Great nose full of pineapple, passion fruit, and mango, with some lighter notes of grassiness and tangerine around the edges. Definitely seems like it'll be more of a juice-bomb than anything else, and there's some light ethanol showing in here, too, which means this beer isn't afraid to throw its weight around a bit. Not against it, as long as it doesn't affect the feel or drinkability.

Soft fruity flavors with a semi-coating mouthfeel. Upfront I get a lot of mango and pineapple with dankness in the mid-palate combining with an oat/wheat-laden graininess that makes everything nice and smooth. Maybe a bit too smooth, actually. I had the same issue with their Violet IPA last week, as I recall; it's just kinda muted, overly-yeasty, and under-carbonated compared to what I usually like in a DIPA like this. Not too far off the mark, but I just don't think this brewery is as worthy of the hype as some people evidently do (considering it's sitting at a 94 here and a 4.12 on Untappd at the moment) based on my couple experiences. Now, granted, it's 5 weeks old, and I get that, but I actually do like the hop flavors here and feel they are pretty well-developed and rendered in a nice way. I just think the feel of both IPAs I've had from them feels a little under-par and drags the experience down a touch.

Back with more... many more... soon. Apologies in advance for large amount of posts in the future!

 

Perhaps I misinterpreted the saliva dripping from his mouth as blood, and Monty Python & The Holy Grail came to mind.

 

I you're rating to style, it helps to know what style the beer actually is.

 

Up next is what was probably the beer I was looking forward to the most out all the brews @Pinz412 sent me, Gregg from Cinderlands Foederhouse. The label says it's a "Biere de Coupage". OK then. it's a blend of two saisons, including one with spelt, an interesting blend of hops, some of the beer aged in stainless, some in a foeder, and then blended in a foeder. WHEW! That's busy. The beer is damn great though.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/51312/520655/

 

I did enjoy that beer also, loads of coffee flavor.

 

Frank, congratulations to you and your family on this blessed event!

 

Afternoon NBW. All these BIF beers, especially the blind beers have me jonesing....Sorry I missed this one. I will shoot for the next. Everyone looks like theyre enjoying themselves.
Beer'd Heavyweight-Of-Sound IIPA
Pours a crystal clear amber with a huge tan head with excellent retention and settling to a 1/16" lasting white cap with plenty of gorgeous lacing. Nice looking beer typical of Beer'd.
Aroma is ripe orange, mango, pineapple, floral, cotton candy, earthy pine.
Taste follows with citrus, tropicals. Grapefruit and pine bitterness abound overcoming the slight sweetness and aligning with the perfect caramel malts. No hop burn or vegetal notes with the warmth of 11.2% felt down the pipes.
Feel is medium/full, barely any hint of alcohol, wonderfully dry for a heavyweight. Feels like "Waldo" may have dipped his toes in this for just a second- keeping the high alcohol "winey" notes for himself if you get my drift. Another good brew from Beer'd.
Cheers.

 

I am just waiting for them to open up the house again, the picture/house on the Tiny Tim is brewery and it is a great porch to drink on. They brew so many good session beers it’s easy to lose track of time on a nice day.

 

Yeah - I was a bit confused the first time I had it too.

 

Ok I will start with the end and work backwards.

spolier alert I did not get the chai, came across to me as old school c hops like SN.


But it was ton of fun and that is what matters!




Mystery Beer Review Thanks to @ovaltine .

16oz can no can date, nor other info as wrapped in foil, poured into surly tasting snifter aslo from Ovaltine

L: glowing orange with a huge fluffy white that exploded from the can upon cracking. Amazing lacing, a touch of haze since blind not hazy like NEIPA but not bright either

S: pure old school goodness, notes of resin /pine some caramel and finishings some citrus, even before you sip you know it will be hoppy. 4.5

T: the nose is touch strong the taste was expecting a touch more bitter, strong bitterness and pine light toffee malts on the backend. 4

M: high carb, not bone dry but dry and crisp for what Im assuming is IPA of some sort 4.25

O: with not knowing what I was drinking one thing is for sure, it was tasty, well done and really enjoyed. I can not wait to see what it was and if it was new to me 4.5

 

Poured into a 16 oz Nordic pint glass canned on 3/15/21. Pours a hazy yellow with a 2 plus finger sticky white head that leaves big thick gobs of lace with excellent retention. 4.25

Aroma is peach, melon, mandarin, apricot, and grapefruit rind. 4.25

Taste follows peach, honeydew, mandarin, apricot, and a little grapefruit. 4.25

Mouthfeel is above average, not sticky or dry, rather soft carbonation, and at 8% ABV it is pretty big on flavor but easy going down. 4.25

Overall this is a very good NEDIPA. I would recommend for sure. 4.25

 

Derek, this was the first time it was canned - I think in January but that isn't old for a Stout. The mouth feel was thicker the first time I had it from the crowler. I'm hoping to stop by Slack Tide in the next couple of weeks and I think I'll mention the mouth feel issue. I would definitely encourage a field trip to deep South Jersey. It's like being in a different state - the feel is more like Delaware or Virginia.

 

I think it was beer dripping from his mouth. LOL. I was just busting, Fred. I enjoy your sense of humor. My Dad's name was Harvey and I've always had a special place in my heart for 6 foot tall rabbits. We always enjoyed watching the film with James Stewart. Sadly, an off-beat movie like that wouldn't be made today.

 

Cross posted this from the BIF thread.

Back to the review from @FrankenMiller



So the first taste was very tart. I poured my wife some and wondered if we'd be able to get through the crowler. I picked up on blue raspberry, but wasn't sure if that was just me thinking how anything blue should taste. The second taste I was able to get lemonade. So I'm thinking some sort of blue raspberry lemonade kettle sour. It definitely got easier to drink after the first sip and happy to say we knocked it down quite easily.

Looks: Pours an electric, popsicle blue with very little carbonation. (4.0)

Smell: I get the artificial blue raspberry smell, much like a bomb pop. Very refreshing (4.0)

Taste: As I mentioned, blue raspberry lemonade is what I'm getting. Guessing a kettle sour, although it's not nearly as tart as I'm used to with kettle sours. (4.25)

Feel: Smooth and easy to drink, especially after a couple sips. (4.25)

Overall: I'm a fan, and happy to try it. Like I said, it was an easy drinker, which I definitely didn't anticipate (4.25).

And the reveal....



Sirene Bleue Hard Seltzer

Very sneaky! So I nailed the flavors and it makes sense that it's a seltzer as it didn't seem tart enough for a kettle sour, but seltzer never crossed my mind. Thanks for a fun treat, Gene.

 

A Kolsch from local-to-me High Nine Brewing.

3.61/5 rDev 0%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75

Poured from a 16oz stamped “CANNED ON 3/30/21 to a Pils glass at fridge temp.
Gold body is not quite clear with a tall white head. Lacing is medium. Tiny bubbles magically nucleate from the bottom of the glass throughout the session.
The aroma is slightly medicinal, peppery with some grassy background.
Taste is hoppy and bold and dry with a slightly oily mouthfeel.
Overall, refreshing, but kind of a middle spectrum Kolsch.