New Beer Weekend #65

Poured into a16 oz Snulip glass canned in the last two weeks. Pour near pitch black with a massive 2 plus finger sticky mocha head that leaves thick rings of lace, with excellent retention. 4.5

Aroma is dark chocolate, coffee, vanilla bean, leather, toffee, and hints of tobacco.4.25

Taste follows dark chocolate, coffee, vanilla, leather, and pipe tobacco. 4.25

Mouthfeel is big, fairly soft carbonation, taste is probably bigger, and at 10.4% it goes down really easy. 4.5

Overall I will admit I had this in 2015 when it was 9.2% and now at 10.4% it clearly is not the same beer. This one is pretty impressive. 4.25

 

Having sold B United products for years I know this to be true. They are very proud of their offerings. I will see if my son can get me this fine sounding brew. Otherwise I'll get an Aventinus and still be quite content. Also from B United.

 

Well, I was thinking this was a new one, but it turns out I had this 5 years or so ago. So it's like new.
Mosaic Promise by Founders

2nd time around. 10/16/21
Thanks to @Whyteboar for this one received in NBS BIF#14
This time the aroma is firmer. The flavor carries more nuance: grass, pine, some citrus, and an earthy herbal spice note.
———————————————————
from 2016
On tap at Iron Press in Anaheim. Diluted Amber in color. Slight fluffy white head. Aroma is lightly Mosaic. I expected more. Taste is, well, a non-aggressive Mosaic hop that is subtly dominating the malt base. A lite pepper and warmth comes through in the finish. Mouthfeel is a tad slick but not at all active.

3.75/5 rDev -7.6%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75

 

Another one from @Whyteboar

Pure Michigan Autumn IPA

Pours a slightly hazy swirl of gold before it clears up. Fluffy white head rises 2 fingers and recedes. Slight lacing, decent retention. Nose is a nice balance between malts and hops. Bready malt, mild orange, slight peppery spice.
Flavor follows the nose, but adds more citrus notes into the blend. Floral lemon, and tangerine move towards grass, and hints of honey.
Mouthfeel is on the light side of medium, light carbonation, gentle bitterness.
Overall, a fine IPA.

3.89/5 rDev +1%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75

 

Good day BAs! Off to an unknown start to the day - I haven't looked or been outside so I have no idea what's going on with the weather. I suspect, however, that it's cool and overcast and might rain today, ie a typical pre-winter day in NW PA. Today's New Breakfast Beer is anything but typical fortunately:



Witch Meadow 2020 from Fox Farm. Received from @Roy_Hobbs in BIF #14. 500 mL bottle. Stored at home at 40 degrees. Reviewed 17/10/21. Note that I use DD/MM/YY protocol.
Stamped in end of label “2020 Bottle NO. 329/1716”. Served at 53.6 degrees in a hand washed and dried Jester King snifter. Final temperature 58.6 degrees.
Appearance – 4.25
First pour – Ruby Brown (SRM 24), hazy.
Body – Deep Brown (SRM 30), opaque. When rear-lite, some light penetration at the extreme edges, ruby.
Head – Tiny (Maximum 0.5 cm, aggressive center pour), chocolate, high density, fizzy, diminishing to a 0.3 mm brown sugar crown constantly being renewed by effervescence, and no cap. Second pour produces a high-density 0.4 cm crown and no cap.
Lacing – None. As expected at 13.6% ABV.
Aroma – 4.5 - Moderate bourbon with weak brown sugar and molasses, no malt, no hops, no yeast. Quite enticing!
Flavor – 4.5 – Markedly sweet, almost cloying, flavor somewhat follows nose – very pleasing bourbon and some brown sugar dominate, no molasses, no yeast, no malt, no hops. No ethanol (13.6 % ABV, as marked on container) taste or aroma. Marked gastric warming with each swallow, slowly fades. No dimethylsulfide or diacetyl.
Palate – 4.25 – Medium, almost creamy, soft carbonation.
Final impression and summation: 4.5 I couldn’t wait for the temperature to reach 57 degrees – the aroma was too inviting! Quite sweet, bordering on cloying. The bourbon flavor is near-perfect, with the mix of vanillin and tannic acid balancing the ethanol to allow repeated swallows without stripping the epithelial cells from hard and soft palates. The bourbon follows through on the exhale as the alcohol does not. It’s very difficult to believe that the ABV is really 13.6% - this drinks like a porter in the 6% range! Anyway, I’m REALLY glad I was able to try this delicious brew – my fruit fly drinking buddy is circling so I better leave his drop behind – it isn’t easy to share!
Rating 4.49, rDev +1.6%

Thanks Ross! This beer is fantastic!

 

@FBarber - Glad to see you loved Primal Coconut Deth, considering your historical aversion to the adjunct. I love coconut, and while I typically prefer a more balanced approach, I knew what to expect coming in, and the execution was perfect, which is why I deemed it the Kernkraft 400 of BA coconut stouts.

Welcome one and all to New Beer Sunday #869!

Returning to a Nelson beer, though this one is all Nelson Sauvin and from a local brewer. Hopefully it turns out better than my beer from yesterday.

Hop Butcher Meet the Nelsons



Can Notes: Purchased at Bottles and Cans Too, at room teperture on 9/30/21, refrigerated since. $3.90 plus tax. 16 oz, canned 9/22/21 @ 8:37:52 "Just Add Pitchfork". 6.5% ABV. Nelson Sauvin-Hopped India Pale Ale. Brewed in Darien, IL (in their contract brewed space at Miskatonic Brewery). Tasting notes: Sweet White Grape, Ripe Mango, Juicy Grapefruit.

Appearance: Multiple pours into a shaker pint glass. Golden orange hazy bay, creamy white head lingers a few minutes, leaving a thin cover over the base and soapy lacing. 4.0

Aroma: Smelled good opening the can, smell increased in strength and pleasure since. Nice sweet mango leads, gather grapefruit next and a smidgen of grape after a few attempts. Smells sweet overall but not overly. 4.5

Taste: Consistent with aroma. Nice ripe grapefruit leads, mango follows adding complexity. Unlike the aroma, the white grape comes in loud and clear. The mix really works well, Hop Butcher did a great job letting the Nelson Sauvin hops to shine. Really digging this one, hard to see how one can improve this. 4.75

Mouthfeel: Medium body, sweet flavors balanced very well with bitterness keeping everything in check, but also letting the flavors shine. Light and easy alcohol wise, drinks at or slightly below the ABV. Pleasant fruity finish, enjoying every sip, which in actuality are more like gulps. 4.5

Overall: This is an outstanding single hop offering by Hop Butcher. They really nailed each taste component, perfectly balanced, enjoying from start to finish. A bit more expensive than the average beer, but highly worth it and recommended. I will always invite the Nelsons in anytime they show up in the future. 4.75

Looking forward to catching up with the rest of the thread. Hope you have an equally pleasurable New Beer Sunday!!!

 

Poured into a 13 oz Teku glass canned on 9/21/21. Pours a hazy yellow with a finger sticky white head that leaves some thin streaks of lace, with excellent retention. 4.25

Aroma is lemon, peach, tangerine, passion fruit, honeydew, and apricot. 4.25

Taste lemon, honeydew, tangerine, passionfruit, peach, and apricot really well balanced. 4.25

Mouthfeel is a little above average, soft gentle creamy carbonation, not sticky or dry, and at 6.8% it drinks maybe a little bigger, but goes down really easy. 4.5

Overall another excellent NEIPA from this brewery. If it wasn’t for my friend I wouldn’t have even known about this little brewery in Rhode Island. Just happens to be that the friend will be my neighbor in less than 2 weeks. 4.25

 

Over the decades I've put down pallets of this brew - one of the few mass-produced porters consistently available that is worth drinking.

 

Glad you enjoyed it. I'm looking forward to picking up the 2021 version in a couple weeks, assuming they stick to their historical last week of October release. They have a "Witch Meadow Black" variant every year as well that has typically been excellent. Prior year descriptions below. Not sure what 2021 will bring.

2018 - We also have a unique variant we’re calling Witch Meadow “Black”. Also aged in Jos. A. Magnus bourbon barrels, we added Ghanaian Cacao Nibs, Madagascar Vanilla Beans and Ashlawn Farm Coffee. For the coffee, we opted for a blend of one of our favorite beans from Papua New Guinea and Costa Rica Hacienda Miramonte beans aged in a bourbon barrel from the very same lot used to age the beer itself.

2019 - Witch Meadow Black (2019) features additions of Amburana Wood and Cascara. Also known as Brazilian Oak, Amburana throws unmistakeable and pronounced gingerbread spice and vanilla while cascara rounds things out with impressions of dried dark fruit (cherries and raisins).

2020 - This year, Witch Meadow Black features a blend component of Rum barrel-aged stout and the careful addition of smoked coconut. Lovingly smoked in-house over several rounds and many hours (days, really) we find this preperation method imparts a wonderful depth of character on the beer. The smoked notes linger deep in the background but, along with a deft touch on quantity, the coconut takes on more chewy, nutty, savory characteristics and less candy-sweeteness.

 

Poured into a 16 oz canned shaped pint glass, canned on 9/15/21. Pours a cloudy orange with a 2 finger sticky white head that leaves loads of thin streaks of lace, with exceptional retention. 4.5

Aroma is cantaloupe, guava, mandarin, apricot, and grapefruit rind. 4

Taste cantaloupe, guava, mandarin, apricot, and a healthy dose of grapefruit well balanced. 4

Mouthfeel is big, fairly soft gentle carbonation, maybe a tad sticky but not dry, and at 8.6% it goes down pretty easy, but huge flavor. 4.25

Overall this has a lot of of West Coast stuff for a NEDIPA, but still a really nice brew. 4

 

Ok, friends, I have a beer to review at y'all today. It came from a friend in Arizona, who happens to be a pretty big fan of one of the two brewers of this collaboration, Wren House. I have already enjoyed their GABF medal winner, Spellbinder (a tad sweet, but tasty). I also got to try my first Tombstone beer, an interesting märzen that seemed a bit too bitter to me.

This beer is a collaboration with Arizona Wilderness, who's Willie Nelson Haze I had earlier this week (featuring Nelson hops, of course), which improved with warmth but had an extra lemon citrus to it. I thought I'd had more from AZ Wilderness, but I haven't rated any nor recognized any of their more often rated brews.

As I typed up my intro, the GF noted, "This doesn't taste very Oktoberfest-y to me." This caused me to review the label, given the split of märzen and festbier here, and read two things - "arizona collaborative festbier" and "Czech amber lager." That clears things up.

In reading, I also noted the beer is, actually unsurprisingly, brewed at Arizona Wilderness. I focused on Wren House because it is what drove my friend to the beer, I am sure. Also, reading left-to-right, the Wren House symbol is first on the label. The beer isn't in the BA database, so I have to decide which brewery (AZ Wilderness) and style (??) to put it under if I add it.

Anyhow, enough back story (and one small GF tasting note), here's the beer:


Well, it does pour amber, on the orange side of things, I'd say. The body obscures light that tries to struggle through it. An acceptable head adorns its top.

The nose doesn't seem out of whack with some of the season's beers I've had (admittedly, I haven't yet delved into the differences post-style adjustment). There's a honey leaning caramel sweetness, a bit of wet fall leaf earthiness, with some fruit notes in the form of melons and lemon/tangerine citrus. Combined, there is a little bit of an impression than someone decided to sneak in a little lemon tea to the batch.

Hmmm... taste seems directed more to the fruity, specifically the lemon, aspects that the nose portrayed. This might be where the GF's statement came from. There is a dry lighter-brown bread underneath the fruit attack, along with some of the earthiness from the nose. The beer cleans up well, with an off-dry finish that leaves just the slightest bit of tea, earth, and a droplet of lemon to consider before your next sip.

So, last week I had an adjunct, foeder-aged saison, and this week I get a Czech amber Oktoberfestbier. Post review, I dug in a little more. The description:

Given the impression of lemon I had from another of Arizona Wilderness' Nelson-hopped brews, that note is making some sense. It's also obvious that 100% typical German hops were not used here.

Also, the can indicates best by 9/29 - which is odd given that didn't even allow it to get through the actual Oktoberfest. Untappd doesn't list when the beer was added, and with waning interest, I couldn't find any press releases to help determine when the beer might have been canned, but I might guess July.

All in all, I'll agree with the GF's assessment, paraphrased: I liked it, but it didn't seem too much like an Oktoberfest beer.

 

I'll follow closely on the heels of @Roguer with my own blind beer review. As is always the case, my writeup will be nowhere near as interesting as his!

Mystery beer #1 from @2beerdogs instructed me to serve this beer at 50 degrees in a tulip. It also had a big clue on the side of "An homage to my brother & sister. Both like pie".

Blind review:

Appearance is a murky orange / yellow with a finger of loosely formed, short lived white head that quickly disappears leaving nothing behind. 3.75

Aroma is all lime and graham cracker. This smells like dessert, and is immediately making me think this is a key lime pie inspired beer, but we'll see. 4.0

Taste goes through three clear phases. The tongue is greeted by a very quick tartness. The lime flavor quickly follows that initial impression of tartness. What's most interesting to me is that maybe 5-8 seconds after each sip, a very, very clear and lasting taste of graham crackers kicks in. It's like I'm drinking a pie. 4.25

Medium feel with very little carbonation, which feels appropriate for this beer. 3.75

Overall this is a super-tasty beer. It's like I've had dessert, and it's only 11:00 in the morning. 4.0

The reveal: Key Lime Pie by Great Notion. Derek, this was a great call for a blind beer. Your clue definitely helped, but I think I actually would have pegged this even without it. Really enjoyed this one!

 

Glad that one was a hit!