New Beer Weekend #66

Ah! Here it is again - quite possibly my favourite time of the week - New Beer Sunday within the dinner hour. Football on the telly and a Rock Cornish Game Hen into the oven.
Temperatures dropping drastically here but it still can't take away from the Fall romance in the mind of how beautiful it is outdoors.

Time for a fitting beer

Waterloo Dark
Brewed locally
5% abv

A European Dark Lager

Served slightly chilled into a thick glass mug. Waterloo Dark reveals a dark chest nut brown beer. Red and copper highlights sit below a latte looking head that thins out and clings to the side's of the mug. A very nice looking beer

Aroma has very thin notes of chocolate bittering malts. Some very, very distained hop character. English noble hops no doubt.

Pairing well with the game hen roasting away!

A very thin bodied beer - almost 'feels' more like a dark english bitter. Waterlook dark has a quick but delicate and pleasent creamy note to it and a wonderful mix of chocolate and black patent malts. No particular hop presence, the malts dominate for the style yet it still comes out balanced. Enjoyable with the non visible carbonation in the body of the beer. No bubbles prickling away on your tongue

Even when put up to the ear there are no distinct loud sounds of snap crackle pop.

In conclusion - I wish I bought 2 cans. A very nice beer. I give Waterloo Dark a resounding 3.75 out of 5

And to all of you - great to be here with you on a New Beer Sunday evening. Cheers and good evening to you all.

 

Opening up another Wolf variant, another tasty sipper.
4.21/5 rDev +1.4%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25

12 oz can poured into a stemless teku

A- Black with a small mocha head

S- Bourbon, chocolate, vanilla, caramel, touch of pistachios.

T- Bourbon, chocolate, vanilla, touch of pistachio, some caramel, oak, some roasted malts.

M- Smooth, medium body.

O- A tasty stout, little heavy on the barrel.

Cheers!

 

@FBarber's BIF boxes are like the 12 days of Christmas but with considerably more days! So much amazing beer. Next up is Saison du Fermier - Pinot Noir Puncheons from Side Pocket Brewing in Missouri. First, I love drinking it from the Side Project Lambic glass that Frank generously provided. Friends and family are often amazed by how many beer glasses of different styles I have. But each one tells a very special story and this one will be cherished.

I love the Saison style and this one is brewed with local Missouri wild microflora and fermented in and aged in Pinot Noir puncheons for 7 months before being naturally conditioned in the bottle. Pinot Noir is one of my favorite wine grapes and it provides a sophisticated sweetness that balances the sourness of the spontaneous fermentation. As expected for a farmhouse ale is has rustic notes of spice and musty tobacco smoke. Just superb! Here's my full review:

4.43/5 rDev -1.3%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

It pours a cloudy, golden-orange color with a half finger of creamy, bright-white head and lacing. Its nose has the classic farmhouse funky scent of a Saison, including musty tobacco notes, with addition of the Pinot Noir grape. It's a great aroma. The taste is unique and fabulous. The Pinot Noir barrel is evident in the first sip and gives it a great depth of flavor. The base Saison offers tart lemon and a hint of banana sweetness, along with the coriander and musty oak I'd expect. The local wild microflora is evident but not distracting and there is an earthy tobacco, as well. As it warms a bit the sweetness of the Pinot Noir becomes more evident and the balance is superb. It has a great, crisp mouth feel with lively carbonation, and at 7% ABV a second pour from the large bottle is welcome. This is my second offering from Side Project and I'm very impressed by the creativity and quality.

I hope everyone is enjoying a new beer(s) as much as I am today. If you haven't participated in the NBS BIF before, then I'd heartily recommend it. Not only do you get to drink amazing beer but you get to interact with some wonderful, generous BAs who make the experience special. Cheers!

 

You need to do a side by side with the non-Cosmic Tiger edition (if that even exists!)

 

Third and final Oktoberfest beer of the day again comes courtesy of @foundersasap. This one is Oktoberfest Celebration Lager from Rochester Mills Beer Co.

3.48/5 rDev -6.5%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.5

Pours a dark amber with a khaki colored head that is more dense than the other two Oktoberfest beers I've had today with less lacing. Noticeably cloudy. Nose is relatively weak malts and is fairly unremarkable in general. Taste is fairly bitter and seems to be missing some of the bready / toasty aspects I often associate with the style. Feel isn't as smooth as I would have expected. All things considered, this is still a good beer that is very easy to drink, but relative to some other Marzen style beers out there, it's half a step behind.

I'm a big fan of this style of beer, and have definitely enjoyed all three I've tried today.

 

How are you liking North Carolina? Do you live in the east? It's a big state with tons to see and learn about. Have you driven up from Oak Island through the Green Swamp? That is some really interesting terrain. I'm up in Greensboro but know the state well. 70 years worth so far. Cheers to you. You sound happy!

 

Ive Had their IPAs and found them to be very good. That certainly looks interesting.

 

Another NBW BIF compliments of @WunderLlama, Treehouse September Sun. Fantastic example here, tons of citrus aroma and smooth hop profile, lacing galore, enjoying with Lions in background up 19-17, Stafford who?

 

It was nice to have a vacation again. Even cooler that I got to meet an old school trading partner. We really do go back and I forgot just how far! @superspak really does have a great palate/nose for things, identifying hop varietals and yeast strains immediately. He has unjustifiably caught crap for that on here by some ****s, but he's absolutely legit. Was super cool to see that. I can get there, but it takes me a bit longer. This dude could hit it immediately. Also easy to talk to because I can be shy at first but his passion for beer made conversing so easy since we share the same passion.

We really lucked out on some cool restaurants despite that most of them closed (IMO, early) at 9pm. Great food in the Wilmington and Shallotte area, I think my favorite may have been Wing & Fish - their seafood lasagna was FIRE definitely go there if you're hitting up some beach-side digs.

Came home with a trunk sagging full of beer from 4 or 5 states, maybe all 50 represented, who even knows, and since I had so much was able to share a large sampling of them together on our share night. May or may not post a picture of this haul, I'm logging all of my stats and seeing how far I went over this time compared to last time. Plus unloading it and stacking/organizing it by date and brewery and style etc etc etc. It's so easy to go overboard when there's 1,000 cans and bottles staring at you at every store.

Anyways...even though I don't post on here nearly as much anymore, I just wanted to pop in real quick.

Also, so this isn't completely off-topic...I am drinking a beer now, and it's Perennial Southside Blonde, a beer that gets way less recognition than it deserves. Practically a session Gulden, IMO. When it's right it's right, am I right?



In the words of Dr. Steven Brule at the Fertility Clinic....ccheeeerrssz

 

American Solera Fat Camp Imperial Milk Stout, 10% ABV. Pours thick and black with a nice two-finger brown head that quickly dissipated, leaving no lacing. Nose is cinnamon, roast, slight chocolate. Taste follows, plus vanilla/marshmallow, slightly sweet, slightly bitter. Decent mouthfeel, overall excellent.

4.09/5 rDev +1.5%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Just a quiet NFL-watching cool wet fall day. Figuring the leaves could blow away before I get a chance to do something about it.

 

Are you central or southern IN? Taxman alone would be a sufficient brewery to blow someone’s porch up with excellent beers, IMHO. I’d add Sun King, Daredevil, and Deviate to the list from the Indy area.

Further south, Upland could pack a couple of boxes, especially if you dig into the BA sours.

I’d take a couple of boxes of brews from any of those breweries!!!