New Beer Weekend #49

A trifecta of beers for me today on a beautiful day in Northern Indiana, including a new style for me, this first beer is a ninja hit from my beer nerd friend @WunderLlama in NBW BIF #13.

He sent me SOOOOOOOOO much great beer in the four boxes he sent my way, but he does owe me a porch for all the structural damage his boxes did - and the PT the delivery person had to go through after lugging those ballast-laden boxes to said porch.

You rock in a most egregiously head banging way, my friend.





4.25/5 rDev +4.9%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

Pours a gorgeous golden color, nearly clear, with a sudsy white head. The nose has very nice lemon and grassy hop aromas, and a bit of bready malt.

The lemon and grassy hop flavors are forward (thank you, noble hops) and deliciously refreshing and balanced by the bready malt flavors. To be honest, I didn’t get any oak notes, but this beer is balanced perfectly and the flavors are not meek - they’re bold, so maybe that’s the oak conditioning coming through.

Whatever, it works exceptionally well for me, as does the mouthfeel, which is very crisp. This is flavorful and crushable, the very definition of a lawnmower beer, IMHO.

 

https://www.deschutesbrewery.com/beer/fresh-haze-ipa/

I guess it is, but I think I picked up more of the Amarillo and Mandarina Bavaria citrus dominated notes.

 

#2, new brewery and new style to me (I think I have 5 left - Kvass, anyone) from my beer nerd friend @FBarber. You’ve gotta love a beer that comes with opening and pouring instructions!





3.27/5 rDev -4.1%
look: 3.25 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.25

Pours a murky brown color with LOADS of particulate. In other words, floaties. Lots and lots of floaties. There is a minimal sudsy light tan head that evaporates before you set the glass down.

The nose has a mineral aroma that doesn’t fit well with the subtle tart notes and the substantial sweetness from the brown sugar. The brown sugar provides a very forward and very substantial sweetness that overpowers the tartness of the base beer. If this had a bit more acidity, it would make this beer substantially better, IMHO.

The mouthfeel is not as effervescent as I’d like in a lambic. Overall, this was interesting and fun to drink as a new brewery and a new style to me.

 

Rogue Honey Kolsch - I remember when this brewery was one of the whacky beer pioneers like DFH. They may still be but I don't see their beers much in my area at all anymore except for a few that are still around, and Dead Guy Ale will forever be a classic.

I love the Kolsch style, I love honey, so how could this beer go wrong? And thankfully it can't, it's quite delicious! Pours a nice golden honey color (no coincidence there) with a generous head and lacing that stays throughout. Smell is sweet and Lager-ish and smells like home to me. The taste is damn near perfect and is a touch sweet but never crosses over into too sweet territory and the honey is definitely there. This beer is delicious and I would gladly be in for a sixer+. Prost!

5% ABV, canned on 05/11/21.

 

Last one, also courtesy of @WunderLlama and my first beer from this brewery as well.

I’ll be back for more from these guys. Wow.





4.59/5 rDev +0.9%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

Pours a beautifully hazed golden straw color with a minimal soapy white head that dissipates immediately. The nose is tart pears - rich, delicious tart pears. With a subtle malt aroma just to keep you on your toes. Wow.

The tart pears are absolutely dominant on the taste, and truly delicious - with just a slight smidge of malt in the background. The mouthfeel is bright, tart, and refreshing.

This is done exceptionally well, IMHO, truly a world-class sour. I can’t wait to try the cherry sour I also have from these guys.

 

Ah, first beer of the day. Things have been quite busy around here what with the preparation for and celebration of L'Enfant Terrible's 2nd birthday. There is a corollary between a two year old and his retried grandfather. Neither of us has a job description, we get to play all day with excuses for our behavior, each new day is an adventure, every day is a holiday and every meal a banquet.

I'm having a Bud Ice and it's nice.

 

New Biere de Garde Sunday

3 straight days of rain have finally given way to sunny, blue skies. That meant I could get in a run, and get my youngest out to the pool.

After some work around the house, I broke out a new beer I picked up while out of town last weekend. Here's my review of Two Brothers' Domaine Dupage. While others seem to find it pretty "middle of the road," count me a fan. Maybe not the truest biere de garde, but about as drinkable as a Bell's Amber Ale.

12 oz. Bottle ($9.99 sixer at the Two Brothers Roundhouse Brew Pub) best by 11-05-21, poured into a Stone snifter
A- A normal pour creates a 1-finger, fluffy, tan head atop a clean, amber body with lighter carbonation. The head settles to a thin film with nice webs left on the glass.
S- A nice mix of caramel, stewed stone fruit, and some light herbal/leafy hopping. Plum and fig-like aromas. A little warmth brings out a nice leathery scent, and heightened stewed fruit and herbal tones. Maybe a little rum-like.
T- Much as the aroma suggests. There's big caramel malt with a touch of leafy hops. Light notes of leather. Some tobacco with warmth.
M- Medium body and carbonation. Relatively dry with just a little hop tickle.
O- A really pleasant brew that's quite drinkable. Almost a malty amber/red ale. I can see why this is a "flagship" beer, it's very user friendly.
A-4 S-4. 25 T-4.25 M-4 O-4.25

 

Finishing off the new beers for this weekend with Human Robot Rangi.
3.93/5 rDev +0.5%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4

16 oz can poured into pint glass

A- A clear golden straw with a three finger white head

S- Herbal, wet grass, doughy bread, touch of peppercorn, earthy.

T- Biscuits, doughy bread, earthy, herbal, touch of mint, earthy.

M- Smooth, medium body.

O- A solid pils with nice balance, but I’ve had better from Human Robot

Might have another beer or two before bed, but done with the new beers, until next weekend stay safe, cheers!

 

Fretting NBS and thanks to @ChicagoJ for the kickoff. I will catch up with the thread later...long week and weekend. Three major breakdowns at work and three ridiculous workarounds so we could meet schedule. The lawnmower, in the home front, continued its stubborn refusal to stay running even after TLC last weekend, but victory was achieved after re-gapping the plug again, draining water from the fuel bowl, as thorough a carb cleaning as can be done on a modern, mostly plastic carburator.

Enough jibber jabber, what am I drinking?



Panther Cub from Founders. And I am liking this one just fine.

Pours almost black with the khaki head that falls to a decent player with some larger rafts. Pretty clingy on the glass, too.

I can smell everything it claims to have. Vanilla, maple, bourbon immediately, then the porter base shows up with coffee, sweet chocolate, and just a bit of char. Nice, and opening up more as it warms.

The taste follows pretty well. It does have a pretty hefty sweetness overall compounded I suspect by the vanilla plus maple. The flavors arrive first, meaning vanilla and maple, barrel character from whatever they used, but then there a hit from the roast malts - a fair amount of char, a little bitterness. The porter part coming to play. Chocolate and coffee. Its pretty layered, and the aftertaste is sweet and more sugary than I'd expected. An ever so brief impression of licorice.

Feel is medium, there a little chalkiness, and the lingering after taste becomes sweet chocolate and vanilla. No feel from the 9% ABV.

Good beer here, low in the 4 range for me. Enjoying the experience and glad that we found six. Might have to wrassle the missus for this one.

 

DFH Slightly Mighty - I haven't gotten around to trying this yet because I'm just not that into IPAs/hops anymore; but I am into lower calorie stuff and my drinking habits have definitely shifted in this direction. Pours a hazy yellow with a decent head. Smell is typical hazy I suppose. Taste is...interesting. It's hoppy for sure and drier/less balanced and tastes like sugar free drinks (the Monk Fruit I am assuming). I'm now used to this taste because I drink sugar free drinks occasionally but I would imagine this would turn some people off. Not a bad low calorie option by any means if you're a hop head but for me I would rather drink a Hard Seltzer or a lighter Lager or something...but for what it is it certainly packs flavor.

 

I'm generally a DFH fan, but I was not so with that beer. I liked your comparison to sugar free drinks, even though it's been a good while since I had it. But reading your review and having had a few N/A beers between my tasting and now, I wonder what I'd think of it in a context more conducive to what it was made for. I'm guessing I would also/still be on the train of rather having something else (including SeaQuench) if I'm saving calories. Maybe some day I'll find out.

 

You can buy Kvass on amazon or mail order from Russian groceries here in the US since most are 2% ABV or less. That's how I got mine. Happy hunting!

 

Been away longer than I'd like, but it's been a long week so I've looking forward to a beer tonight for a few days. I decided to crack out one I've been saving from @colby600

Barreled Souls Cluster F%*K



Pours a cola colored brown with about a finger of light brown head that dissipated very quickly. Smell is heavy on the chocolate, not getting much of the nuts like I thought I would. Taste was all chocolate cold and the hazelnut started to come through as it warmed. Definitely not a thick stout, but still tasty.

 

Last new beer of the weekend

Voodoo Love Child
12oz undated bottle poured into a teku glass at fridge temp 9.5% ABV per label. Tripel brewed with cherries, raspberries and passion fruit. The beer pours mostly bright red tinted amber with off white head. The head recedes to a thin ring and island of tiny bubbles. Nearly no lacing. The aroma is mild with vague fruit and some Belgian yeast notes. The taste is sweet, clovey with plenty of malt and candi sugar. Minimal bitterness. The mouthfeel is medium bodied with above average carbonation and a mostly dry finish. Overall, good. Tripels aren't my favorite style, but this is well done and the fruit is very subtle.

I'm out. Cheers all!

 

Able to fit one more review in for the weekend. Of the singles I grabbed there were quite a few schilling beers, this is the first of the pack.

schilling - maly 8 (a 3.1% czech pils)



Pours a relatively clear dark shade of straw. The initial head formed mostly from bigger bubbles was quick to dissipate into a few small islands of opaque white.

This one smells mostly of bread dough with floral and grassy notes mixed in. There is also just the slightest hint of toast present as well.

The flavor leans mostly towards earthy and floral. The bread aromas to me come our more as cracker like in the taste. There is also a little touch of something sweet as well.

This beer has a great mouthfeel, definitely light body but in no way watery which is shocking to me at 3.1%. Really nice and clean beer no lingering aftertaste or feel. There is just enough bitterness to notice it but I’d say it’s less than low.

What a cool beer! I can’t believe this is only 3.1% and considering it tastes this good I wish there were more of these available. If I drank this without knowing it’s abv id say it was like most other lagers I drink 4.5-5.5 range. There is nothing about this beer that says it’s as low as it is. Only the second Schilling beer I’ve ever had and been impressed by both. Two more from them for next weekend. Have a good week everyone.

 

A nice Bitter served on cask....Heaven.

 

I have been consistently amazed by de Garde. I have sent a few bottles that are a year or 2 old, and I always hesitate, but I have popped multiple bottles with 2, 3 and even 4 years on them-and never a dud. I'm thinking about a few in the next NBS BIF...IJS.

 

What part of Italia are you in?

 

I agree and I really enjoy SeaQuench and at 140 calories and 9g of carbs it would be my choice as well, by far.

 

On a sidenote...New Beer Sunday (last weekend edition). I don't know if any of you have tried Eliqs.com for customized gifts, but I did gift my dad their IPA in a customized can with a pic of Pops, with the trophy, from our awesome 2 days at the Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight games in 2019. But the IPA is actually quite good. Not a promotion for them, but just wanted to give them a shout out, not disappointing in the beer quality. Here's my partner with his can.