New Beer Weekend #45

Great beer Jay!! Thank You again!

 

NBS #2. Raising a glass in memory of @woemad's friend Dale.

This is a whale for me. Everett, an American Porter brewed by Hill Farmstead Brewery. I received this beer, among many others, out of the blue this week from the very generous @Roy_Hobbs. I've often posted on the WBAYDN thread that Founders Porter was my passport to the wonderful hobby of drinking fine craft beer. So the style is special to me and I seek it out. I've had a few beers from Hill Farmstead over the years, all of them memorable. It's been many years since I've been to Vermont so this is a special treat for me.

Canned on 5/18/2021 (how cool is it to get this can so fresh!). Poured at 59° into a Willi Becher pint glass. It pours nearly black with very dark cola hues at the bottom of the glass when held to the light, with a large, fluffy, medium khaki-colored had and thick creamy lacing. What a beautiful pour. Its fragrant nose features dark chocolate, cigar smoke, burnt coffee grounds and charred nuts. Wow, the taste is amazing! The initial chocolate malt sweetness is juxtaposed to acidic coffee (like it's from a Jersey diner), and bitter, earthy, nutty char. There is also strong tobacco. The blend and balance of flavors are exquisite. The mouth feel is rich and creamy - almost stout-like - with mild carbonation, and the 7% ABV seems perfect. Everett is highly drinkable but with excellent substance. This Porter is big and flavorful enough to pair with a fine meal of roasted red meat but you could easily drink a couple of pours casually. Everett's 100 Score is well-deserved. It's as good an American Porter as you'll have the great pleasure of drinking.

4.52/5 rDev +0.2%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5

Thank you so much, Ross. This made my day. Cheers!

 

Stone Liquid Poem. In CA right now, getting my real-deal WCIPA fix in. Sculpin yesterday, this gem today. It’s been forever since I drank a Stone beer, but @Roguer’s review of this yesterday intrigued me, so I’m trying it, improper glassware and all. I’m tempted to copy and paste his review, accurate as it is, adding that it’s as balanced a beer of this style as I’ve had, even edging into Pliny territory on that score. Beautiful appearance, crystal clear gold with swirls of hop oils dancing on the surface. Dank but floral and citrusy on the nose, as bright as Enjoy By is often dark. Taste is bitter but somehow light at the same time, slightly underripe pink grapefruit crossed with piney thyme. Zero alcohol detected, impressive as it’s 9%. Mouthfeel zippy and gulpable. Overall, just an impressive specimen, fresh as can be, as this bar is right across the street from the Stone taproom. I keep thinking of this as Enjoy By’s Good Angel twin, a joy to drink and something I’ll track down in bottles for sure.

 

Alrighty advocates! What fantastic brews to see. Wow!
Here's my next newbie and there's no ABV info on any of the cans in this mix pk.
Second: Lift Bridge THE WARDEN Milk Stout
L: Pours black with ruby on the top outer edge. Tan head that dissipates quickly with essentially no lacing.
S: Caramelized malts, light roasted coffee, char.
T: Lightly hoppy and bitter at first, toasty, light chocolate with medium sweetness, burnt toast, hops and char linger a bit.
F: It has a medium bodied soft mouth feel, medium carbonation and has a fairly even medium finish. Well hopped for it's softness, a little bit thin tasting but it's flavors are well balanced and pleasing. Not too bad.
L: 3.75
S: 3.75
T: 3.8
F: 3.75
Cheers everyone!! Keep on smiling!

 

As a postscript, I’m actually following up with a Pliny, and the balance comparison holds up. Weirdly, the Pliny by contrast tastes fruitier than I’ve ever remembered. At any rate, a great one-two punch.

 

It's been waaaay too long since I did a good old NBS post. I'm hoping to get back into the routine as things slow down with work and the summer starts.

Today was all blue skies and warm weather in West MI. The morning was youth soccer, and then some projects around the yard.

Today's new brew is from Bell's outpost in the UP, Upper Hand. This refreshing wheat really hits the spot on a late spring day.

12 oz. Can poured into a Stone Snifter ($9.59 sixer at C-Vine) Canned 04-13-21

A- A normal pour creates a 1-finger head atop a relatively clean, deep golden body that has loads of carbonation. As the head settles, nice foamy rings are left on the glass.

S- Sweet and wheaty, much like an Oberon. Hints of orange and a little spice. Gummy.

T- Kind of Oberon-light. Cream of wheat, light black pepper/clove, some orange. Relatively sweet.

M- Medium to medium-light feel. Dryish. Creamy.

O- A super refreshing summer brew. I could drink a few in a sitting. Will switch in and out with Oberon all summer long. Great beach or tubing Brew.

A-4 S-3.75 T-4 M-4.25 O-4

 

Ahem, I believe there was another review of that magnificent beer yesterday.

 

Nice, just read it! Hope they make this a regular in their lineup.

 

For Day 2, I have a couple of Michigan beers. The first is widely available (I believe), the second is a tough get (I know). And away we go .....





3.96/5 rDev +5.3%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4

Pours a beautiful golden color, but there are a lot of floaties. I don’t have anything against floaties, but I don’t ever recall seeing them in a blonde/golden ale. The head is a sudsy white color that disappears in seconds. The nose has a nice cereal grain aroma and a subtle lemongrass note.

The lemongrass is more prominent on the taste and the cereal grain provides a nice balance to this highly quaffable beer. The mouthfeel is a bit ..... tingly, which I didn’t expect.

This is aptly named, with the proper tag line: Just a really nice beer. That fits this beer perfectly.

 

I just picked up a couple of these. Huge fan of the Dragon's Milk series.

 

If they do, I’ll buy it all the time. I thought that beer was positively superb.

 

DDH Dirtwolf - not much to add to the review @JackHorzempa did but for me I do think that I prefer this to the original; but generally speaking I do prefer a lower IBU so that may have something to do with it.

Ambler Beer Citra Situation - a local and I have not had anything from them yet but have been meaning to try. Pours hazy with a nice head. Nose is a bit tropical. Taste is quite nice and the 7% is well hidden. But I definitely tasted more than the Citra going on so I checked their site and saw that it does indeed include other hops so the name is a little misleading. Good stuff, though, and I prefer it just slightly to the DDH DW.

CITRA SITUATION
IPA
ABV 7.0%
Luscious blend of tropical and citrus fruits and aromas. Including passion fruit, lime, mango and grapefruit. Hopped with Citra, Columbus and a touch of Simcoe, well, just because we could.
https://amblerbeerco.com/tap-list/

 

I missed out on ORVAL Day and finally got around to trying this almost legendary ale.
Exercise in patience, letting that head calm down and the aroma just makes me want to start drinking immediately.
The flavor though, was bitter at first, carbonation? I let it settle some more and it did mellow just a bit, more funky and musty than I expected but still had plenty of good malts and yeast and hops doing their thing.
I wish I could describe this better, I will definitely practice more going forward. And drink this again, and again and maybe again after that, just to get it dialed in.

 

Vienna Lager is a style you don't see very often, and Crooked Stave chose the style for its 10 anniversary - very interesting. This one is quite good with a nice, chewy mouthfeel, along with hints of rye and toasted malt. The hop profile and zesty carbonation keep this one refreshing and quaffable.

 

Ok, you followers and contributors to New Beer Weekend, I have a new beer that I am sharing with the GF. It is from the order I mentioned yesterday had a missing item in WBAYDN, but it also included the Pale Bock I reviewed last weekend. This was an interesting enough an item that I paid the price (countered slightly by the free shipping it helped me obtain).

So, this bottle of Sierra Nevada's Barrel-Aged Torpedo doesn't have a date on it, but I'm not guessing its entirely fresh. I also feel it was kept well, at least until it hit the shipping company's doors.

So the beer generates a nice froth, one that stares at me still, with a rusty white eyeball matched by a similarly colored exterior making up the surface. The teary-eyed impression I attempted to make lasts quite a while, with the tear drops forming a trail down the glass.


The nose is actually quite impressive - there are the remnants of the citrus hops bouncing off the barrel wood spiced its previous inhabitant. It's one of those sublime experiences that I don't think words can explain well (and as many of you know, I will use many words trying to explain something).

On the taste, the barrel and the bourbon notes it holds onto before being drawn into this beer break this experience. The notes are nice, even interesting on their own, but given room to breathe in a less alcohol-concentrated environment, they have a watered down aspect.

This watered down whiskey aspect takes the foreground, but the beer hasn't had it's say yet...

There is some coconut and reedy grass that act as a prelude to the beer's part in this play. It's a bit of a stumble getting there, but the ship seems righted against the "watery" opening. The spice of the alcohol numbs things a little, dulling the hoppiness of the beer as I recall it. The malt backbone carries through, though, and there still is some hop bitterness - minty more than piney (initially), with a hint of spice. Pine comes through in the linger.

Sierra's barrel-aged products have a miss-and-hit aspect to them for me. This one hit on the nose, and came up okay on the taste.


Lastly, not sure when I'll be able to get to the new Stone beer, @Roguer - but when I do, I'll definitely save it for the thread.

 

I loved reading your description of this beer @MacMalt it was very detailed and it really made me feel like I was drinking it again.

I picked this description as the quote because I have said to a friend that Everett to me almost tastes like a burnt cigarette dipped in dark roast coffee.

I really hope to be able to try it again soon.

edit: I did want to add...as I was drinking the Kalamazoo Stout last night that I posted about it was reminiscent of Everett to me in that burnt roasty bitter department.

 

#2, obviously I am a Transient fanboy, so imagine my disappointment when I learned their always eagerly awaited Buckley day was last Sunday, the day after Mrs O and I returned from a week in Florida.

I am all about pushing beer nerd limits, but convincing her that we needed to attend a beer fest the day after we made a (very late) return from a week away ..... that’s why we’ve been married 31+ years and I’ve not taken many shrapnel hits.

So I ordered an online allotment of 11 bottles while we were away - and much to my surprise got it. So while the beer I’m drinking (Canuckley) is from the 2020 Buckley day, I have 2 bottles from 2021. One of those will got to my target in NBW BIF #14 this fall, along with a Buckley and a Kentuckly.

So if you’re interested in the NBW BIF shenanigans, you’ve potentially got THAT going for you.

Let’s do this.

PS: Transient loves dogs and so do we. Buckley is their doggo, and I’m including a picture of Ranger, our doggo since 2012 and my companion on all my Transient trips, including today.







4.6/5 rDev +0.2%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

Pours a beautiful onyx black with a slightly fizzy and sudsy dark tan head that is a slightly fleeting participant in this beer. The nose is heavy on the barrel up front, with a significant boozy aroma, but as it warms, the coffee and vanilla emerge, and the maple from the barrel releases as well, and there’s a decadent milk chocolate note as well. Other than that, not much going on here.

I let this warm a while before I tasted it and I’m glad I did, because the taste has that rich maple flavor up front along with the milk chocolate and coffee, with the booziness from the barrel and the vanilla at the very back of the palate, for a warming finish. Wow cubed.

The mouthfeel is rich and creamy, more than substantial enough to hold this sledgehammer of a beer up and keep it on point all the way through the 500 ML bottle.

I’m guessing this is Transient’s offering to compete with CBS. It does so exceptionally well. World class stuff, IMHO.

 

This sucks, dude. I'm more and more counting myself lucky to have had employers that have generally cared about the business they are in and serving the customer and their employees equally.

@woemad - sorry to hear about your friend.

Also, I see there's an additional positive review from @JayORear on Stone's latest, so I'm more curious than ever.