New Beer Weekend #58

Hey VS, thanks for kicking things off & glad to hear you had a good time at your reunion. I have to admit, I'm one of those people who never shows up at those events, (bad on me).

Also glad to hear you were able to track down the Uteplis, but bummed it didn't live up to a great Octoberfest, too bad!

I am on a real Octoberfest kick right now. I have been enjoying Great Lakes, New Realm & now Fucher Festbier, (I see many folks are going back & forth about the description of this beer, but no matter what it is labelled as, it is one fine drink!)

My wife is in MN right now & I have her picking up the following: Schells, Fair State, & Lift Bridge Octoberfest beers. Any others I should have her grab, Summit maybe? Thanks!

 

Welcome to the forum, I’m no poobah but I’d say you did very well with your first post here!

 

Today I have Fat Camp, a milk stout from American Solera. I've had this in my fridge for about a month now, but with the sweltering weather I just kept grabbing other beers. We've got a Saturday of 72 with some rain today so I'm digging into it.


4.15/5 rDev +2.5%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Poured from a 16oz can stamped 03/05/21 to a diagonally cut tumbler at 60F.
A very dark body pours out with a a very active dark brown head that disappears within 10 seconds of pour completion.
Aroma is of dark chocolate, cinnamon and hint of black coffee.
Taste is similar with the cinnamon being more prominent with a slight vanilla finish. What sweetness there is in the front is dried out on the finish. Warmth of the alcohol can be felt well after the swallow, but its not apparent in the taste.
This beer is oily on the tongue and and sticky on the lips.

I don't usually like sweet stouts, but this is complex enough with a surprisingly dry finish that I really enjoyed it.

 

Thank you!

 

Welcome! @Whyteboar beat me to it, saying the same things I'd offer, but I will repeat that it's good to see you join in. Cheers!

 

I see people stating in on the Octoberfest beers in August and dig in my heels.
October is in September dammit. ;-)
Any ways, here today courtesy of @WunderLlama who pummeled my porch in an LIF associated with BIF 13. If you don’t know what those acronyms are, you are missing out on some serious beer related fun.

This poured like apricot juice with a 1/2” dense and soft white head.
The aroma was crisp and clean and spoke of citrus and papaya and maybe mango. Really nice.
The taste followed the aroma and ended with a hops bitterness that almost clashed, but all those hops have to come out somewhere.
Feel is smooth and soft and good.
Really nice DIPA from the Bissel Brothers.

 

Nice beer and all that, but tell me about the puppy!

 

Good afternoon NBW
I am the guy who has never attended a reunion of any kind. Next year would be my 30th high school. No Purdue football homecomings or founder's day at my fraternity either.

I'm also the guy who picks up a four pack of Oktoberfest from a brewery known for hazies...

Old Nation Oktoberfest
16oz can stamped AUG 09 21 poured into a dimpled mug at 58° Fahrenheit 5.7% ABV 18 IBU. The beer pours bright light copper in color light beige head. The head recedes to a thin ring and single layer of bubbles. The aroma is mild with semisweet toasted malt. The taste is more semisweet toasted malt with a hint of herbal spice (rye maybe?). Earthy hop flavor lingers but bitterness is minimal. The mouthfeel is thin to medium bodied with average carbonation and a mostly dry finish. No off flavors or flaws in the lagering. Overall, very good. I love a clean, toasted malt Oktoberfest and this one hits all the notes. The hop flavor and bitterness might be high for some, but I believe it's acceptable.

Reminds me of a couple of previous years Sierra Nevada collaborations. I'll have no problem getting through the four pack. Oktoberfest review number 92 and hoping to hit 100 this year.

Cheers all and enjoy the new beer in your glass today!

 

Yep, I get what your saying regarding early Octoberfest beers, especially w/ these hot/humid temps. But on the up side, at the moment, these beers are so damn fresh!! I picked up a 6 pack of New Realm that was packaged on August 18, (10 days ago!!)

Also, I figured if I keep drinking these beers it will bring good cool weather Karma!! Bring on fall & winter!!!

 

Another hazy IPA for me (ya, I know a lot of BA'ers are going "yawn") but I like IPAs including hazy style and I love trying new ones which is easy courtesy of my local Trader Joe's that sells one can at a time with no premium over the 4-pg or 6-pk price and they always have new stuff to try. I need this one. Just returned from my weekly volunteer stint at Planes of Fame Air Museum in Chino, CA where I am working on the B-17. Today we were prepping and coating the newly fabricated ammo boxes for waist gunners made exactly to original specifications. Fun, but it is a long time to work in the 100 F weather. This beer makes it easier to face my afternoon task of yardwork....somewhat less fun that working on a B-17.

Today's selection is Neon Giants, a collab between Firestone Walker and OMG. Only 3 ratings (3.87 average) and no reviews on BA. Pours very opaque with color and body of yellow grapefruit juice, although there is no indication of pulp or any suspended solids at all. Very nice brilliant white and very long-lasting head (perhaps partially the result of the glass's nucleation grid ) that leaves some reasonable amount of lacing when using the glass pictured below. I believe we agreed (per consensus in a separate thread) to call it "something that looks like a shorter, squished San Adams perfect pint glass with nucleation grid, but don't sue me for referencing the Sam Adams perfect pint when this glass is not made by them". (A picture is truly worth almost a thousand words)
There are 8 hops in this mix. See second photo. Taste pretty much follows the nose of mainly grapefruit but with fleeting hints of something more tropical and a very nice balance with the malts. Just enough bitterness to let you know "this is an IPA". Medium body, with low-ish or approaching "medium" carbonation in the mouth. Overall I like this one, even though I can't say it his a highly distinctive or original version of a hazy IPA.

 

Mrs O and Ranger and I are visiting my Mom in Dayton for her 76th birthday. Yes I muled beer here. Sue me.

This is the 11th beer I’ve had from the Lager Fest box, and I’ve loved all of them - exceptionally well done by @Todd on the selection. Like world class well done.





4.35/5 rDev +8.7%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

Brilliant straw color, with the most beautiful “hanging haze” under a sudsy white head, the only knock on the look is that the head dissipates immediately and provides no lacing. The nose is a little grassy and a LOT of sweet corn, which I love, and a bit of hominy as well.

The taste is heavy on the corn and hominy, which is great because the hominy balances the sweet corn really well, and opens the door for a grassy flavor on the finish, a perfect way to cap this crisp, refreshing lager.

 

Thanks!

 

I can't argue your logic, but for those of us who would prefer a fresher Oktoberfest beer, say, for the actual event, what are we to do?

Probably just quote other's professing of enjoyment and bitch about it

I'm coming around though. So much that I'm thinking about setting of my fireworks fireworks on June 4th next year.

This post is all in good fun... we all deal with our own perception of "offenses" in our own ways.

 

Thanks for starting us off @Victory_Sabre1973. Damn I must be the buzzkill here, I have not gone to a single HS reunion, I forget what number the last one I heard of was but I think it was 15 year one. Still I'll never attend one, I'm not one for gatherings other than to see a certain band I love .

Long, but related to this beer, banter to follow, cause I think it is a cool story that relates back to the beer and high school friends...you've been warned

I brought down my oldest son on a 24 hour trip to visit my best friend from high school, he lives in Baltimore County. I finally got to meet and hold his almost one year old son for the first time, really special time for us all. Well he used to live in Salisbury, MD and I visited him their 8 years ago and attended the only beer festival I've ever been to, I drank a 2 oz sample of Nanticoke Nectar, so I'm counting this beer as new cause 2 oz of beer 8 years ago, come on...anyway this "girl" picked us up and he told me "someday I'll be with her," well he was right, they finally got married two years ago with me as a groomsman a few guys down from him. And well here I am drinking that same beer from 8 years ago after having spent a day with him, his wife, and son. Crazy how things come full circle sometimes and beer is always somehow involved . Alright onto the beer...

Nanticoke Nectar - RAR brewing

Pours an attractive light copper/orange color with a nice white head, settles into a thin layer of white. No lacing.

Aroma is awesome! Super pungent sticky pine sap/resin like smell, hidden underneath are notes of citrus rind and grapefruit. This is a very nice start, all the smells I love in an IPA. I could smell this one all day long and be happy.

The taste really follows the nose on this one but the order changes. Its like biting into and orange or a grapefruit...There is the rind type bite followed by the sweetness of the citrus, which mainly now comes out as grapefruit to me cause of the bite of the first sip. It ends with loads and loads of pine.

Mouthfeel is medium, nice smooth carbonation. This beer finishes dry and leaves this amazing resin like feel and piney aftertaste, it just lingers and lingers and lingers. It also has a really nice and substantial bitterness to it, I think it is amplified by how dry it is. Very impressive.

I really loved this beer! If it was locally available it would be my go to when I needed a hop fix. Hats of to RAR for still making this beer in a world where so many flaghips change or leave.

Looking forward to reading all your reviews and stories tonight and tomorrow. Hoping to add one more new one tomorrow.

 

I believe this would be considered their flagship. The GF buys it on occasion to have as one of her various go tos (Jai Alai, 60 Minutes, Mind Haze are others). As I recall, I was lukewarm to it back in the day and really haven't revisited it in a while. Maybe I need to next time I see it in the fridge.