New Beer Weekend #68

Getting weird with it, Best Maid Barrel-Aged Pickle Beer.
4.11/5 rDev 0%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25

16 ox can poured into an oversized wine glass

A- A slightly hazy dark straw with two finger white head.

S- Pickle juice, oak, nice mild briny quality.

T- Pickle juice, garlic, salty, oak.

M- Crisp, light to medium body.

O- This pickle beers are really interesting and I personally enjoy them. Oak aging really help cut through the sourness

Cheers!

 

A Flemish Sour Ale on a brisk cool Flemish style day.
Lots of rich fruit aromas, prune, cherry, grape, which intensify as it warms. Balanced sweet and sour flavors of raisins, cherry, plums, and an acidic aftertaste. Dryish finish.
Glad to have made it's acquaintance. I'll be looking for it in the future.
4.14/5 rDev +6.2%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

 

Good afternoon all,
Fall is definitely here and Ommegang has a new seasonal release to celebrate moving into winter.
Everything Nice is described as a "Strong Blonde Ale With Seasonal Spices and Natural & Artificial Flavor".
Ommegang's website describes it as

so I entered it into the DB as a Belgian Blonde even though it sits a little high for that at 9% ABV. The ingredient list is 2 row barley, caramel malt, Citra hops, the spice blend includes cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, and white pepper. 9% ABV & 27 IBU.
Bottled 09/08/21 BB 09/08/23

Everything Nice doesn't hit it on quite everything.
This pours a lovely apricot gold with a tall. long lasting white head that laces beautifully as it finally becomes a thick film.

The aromas are as you would expect from the label and the Belgian yeast. Banana, cloves, and nutmeg are dominant with ginger in the background.

The taste is the smell amped up. There is an explosion of banana, cloves, nutmeg, ginger, there is noticeable cinnamon, orange zest, with a background of smooth bready malt, and rounded bitterness with a pepper & cinnamon heat at the end.

Everything Nice looks and smells great, but it is unbalanced with the spice profile coming on too strong. The flavors aren't where they should be and I think Ommegang gave it a two year Best By because they realized that the ale was still a little raw.
I'll save the other three bottles for few months, maybe until next winter and, by then, I believe the spices will have mellowed and rounded into a excellent beer.

4.08/5 rDev 0%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

 

Next new WC IPA of the weekend is Quick Eternity, from Moby Dick, received in NBS BIF #14 from @WunderLlama as a retaliation that was more "scorch the earth" than "destroy the porch." He's my hero.

16oz can served in a Mayflower pint glass. Don't see a date on it. Can survived a fairly severe beating from FedEx while imprisoned in Auburn.

Pours a clear, light toffee amber with a generous head that collapses to about a centimeter thick, coarse layer. Smell is mild old hay, some toffee / nuttiness, vague bitterness.

Taste is also mild old hay and vague bitterness -- characteristics I associate with "past their prime" IPAs. Looking past that, I get some lovely grain tea notes and pine resin, maybe a bit of nuttiness. Pine resin finish increases as I keep sipping.

Mouthfeel is smooth, full. Overall, this is a pretty good beer, that might just be passing its prime. Even more of a guess without a date on the can.

Thank you, Maynard! Another brewery of which I was unaware!

 

I hope you realize that by drinking Pills Mafia you become an honorary member of the Bills Mafia and are required to root for Buffalo against the Jaguars on Sunday

 

Have a good NBW. Went to bed a bit early for a Friday and finally got out of bed around 1PM after Chuck kneaded my feet to wake me up then they both were fighting on the bed. I love that shit lol. Nothing much to do today. Listen to music and play video games. Rest of the week was normal engineering work and playing chess, and I still need to wait 2 more weeks to see Julia in person. I am forming a game plan now, because I will move her out of her parents house on my own dime if they won't budge. Fuck them if they don't like me lmao. We have spoken 5 times tops, 1 time in person. They don't know shit about me

Finally got dishes done so that's one chore I needed to do. I had to clean the crock pot and Instant pot out too lol. Also fed the cats. Still more tidying up to do, but I got the laundry done earlier in the week. I prefer the dirty and clean clothes hamper method

Foothills Festival Express IPA. Awesome juicy IPA. Lasting fluffy head retention and soapy lacing on the glass. Aromas and flavors of big apricot, mango, melon, papaya, passion fruit, blue/red berries, orange, citrus peel/rind, wood, peppercorn, pine, wheat, cracker, bread, and herbal/floral/grassy hops. Extremely complex, juicy, and vibrant aromas, with less dank pine and earthy hop notes than the flavors. Moderate pine, citrus peel/rind, herbal, grassy, woody, peppery bitterness on the finish. Medium-high carbonation, light-medium body, and fairly crisp finishing. Sticky hops with some light-medium grainy creaminess in the mouthfeel. Lingering resins with no astringency. Only listed as having 5 hop varieties, but I had some in mind right off the bat. El Dorado, Azacca, Simcoe, Idaho 7, and Mosaic in that order. They did a really impressive job at making a standard American IPA juicy. You get the juice in the aromas, and the American IPA in the flavors. Definitely more of a west coast in mouthfeel. 4.18


Glad to be local to them now, they have brewpubs in Winston-Salem!

Cheers

 

I'm with you on both parts here, I love that I found this thread last year (exactly a year now, maybe little more now??), my favorite part of BA. Also love the format for the same reason, otherwise I'd probably be skipping more than a few weekends.

 

I’m still working through the magnificent boxes sent my way by @BBThunderbolt in NBW BIF #14, so I have a couple of beers from those boxes, plus a beer I’ve had in my beer fridge for a couple of weeks that has finally broken my self-restraint defenses.

First up, though, is a gluten-free lager from Ghostfish out of Seattle - my first beer from that brewery, and I’m pretty sure my first gluten-free lager.





3.77/5 rDev +16%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75

Pours a nearly clear golden straw color with a sudsy white head that sizzles. Don’t usually get that sizzle with a lager, but it was definitely present. The nose has some grass and bread aromas, and there’s definitely a sweet note as well - maybe corn?

The sweetness is definitely present on the taste, and I’m guessing it’s corn, but I could be wrong. This reminds me a LOT of Old Style, which is a good thing.

 

I'm bucking the trend by presenting an NA beer as my submission to this forum. Call me a rebel. I actually took delivery of 5 different six packs of beer from Athletic Brewing this week including three I never had. I saved this one just for this forum. As it turns out I think the Dark & Gourdy pumpkin+holiday spice beer and the Sunset Stoke red IPA (both NA) are better beers than this one, but let's review it anyway.
Pours a yellow that is between straw and lemon even though the pic shows it more of an amber in the available lighting and background. No noticeable haze. A bit less than 1 finger of head, which is pretty loose and not long lasting. No real lacing. Nothing really noticeable in the appearance, but this shines somewhat better in the smell and taste, both of which are mango+other tropical fruit dominant, even to my poor olfactory senses. Coincidentally, the label says the ingredients included mango and pineapple puree, but this one walks that thin line nicely between having too much of a good thing and just the right suggestion of the fruit. Hoppy to the extent that there is no question that this is an IPA. I did not pick up any of the wort flavor that so many people complain about in NA beers. The mouthfeel is toward the medium side of the body spectrum, rather than the exceedingly watery feel inherent in a lot of NA. Overall, I like this one a lot, even though I don't feel it is the best beer from Athletic or even the best NA IPA beer from Athletic, and at only 80 calories this fits in nicely with the health conscious drinker.

 

My first offering from Burnt Hickory Brewery in Kennesaw, GA. This lager is everything but what the can describes. Instead of a crisp and hoppy German-style lager, this lager tastes vaguely like a wheat beer with hints of clove...very strange indeed. As far as taste, it is quite refreshing; just not what I was expecting. It is a little sour too.

 

Oxbow Brewing, Dance Language wild raspberry farmhouse ale, beautiful looking beer, head sustains well, light funky yeasty aroma, pungent raspberry’s, sour tartness that is quite pleasant and balanced. Well crafted beer, thanks for the opportunity @WunderLlama

 

This is also from @BBThunderbolt (and so is the glass).





4.35/5 rDev +9%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

Pours a hazy pineapple color with a white head that laces the glass nicely. The nose is dank citrus, primarily grapefruit and pineapple, and a bit of passion fruit.

The taste has the grapefruit and pineapple, which are delicious, but there’s this fruit cocktail flavor that makes this beer for me - it’s absolutely delicious, with a nice spin away from “citrus juice bomb” territory that’s typical with hazy APA’s/IPA’s in my experience.

 

Hey NBWers
Trillium LAX 2 JFK in the clouds
Imperial Oat Cream IPA 10.2 abv


Poured from a can dated 10/27/21
Thick cloudy yellow orange color, thin quickly dissipating head, no lacing no cap.
Aroma of fruit salad, pineapple, tropical stone fruits citrus. Bright smelling and notes of oatmeal
Taste is fruity, sticky sweet to slightly tart. A bit milky, some oatmeal and alcohol comes through
Mouthfeel is thick, smooth starting to astringent type of finish. Slight alcohol burns and very sticky but not overly sweet
Overall it’s a thicker heavy beer, distinctive fruit layers and a creamy starting prickly finishing beer.
Pretty tasty.
4.50/4.25/4/4.25/4.25 4.15. rDev +0.72

 

Stopped at Doc Ponds after work and had their last pour of E. H. Taylor Rye.
Now home for a Flemish Red Ale chaser.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/641/512840/




11.2 ounce can.
Bottom of can reads BT18.

Vigorous pour yields a 1/2 inch tannish pink head over a reddish brown body with some lacing.

Nose of malt sweetness, a bit of sourness, and some fruit.

Slight taste of sweet wine, slightly sweet malt, with a fairly complex tart sour flavor throughout.
Finish is not as dry as other Flemish Reds, but very tasty, indeed.

Nice feel with tiny bubbles.

Overall, a wonderful treat from Vichte, Belgian
Cheers!

 

Last one, I’m a HUGE fan of FBS (@DoctorZombies) and KBS, but this variant didn’t connect as well as some of the other variants.





4.24/5 rDev +0.7%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25

Pours onyx black with a beautiful tan head that surprisingly provides nice lacing, which I don’t normally see in higher ABV (12%) beers. The nose packs a cinnamon wallop and the coffee is strong, but I don’t get much cocoa, and the barrel and vanilla ghosted the nose.

The taste has strong cinnamon notes, and the coffee is delicious, and there’s a subtle cocoa flavor, but I’m not getting any vanilla or barrel flavors - as in none. It still tastes excellent, but the barrel would elevate this beer, IMHO.

The mouthfeel is watery, which surprises me with a beer from this series, which in my experience is always on the fuller, more velvety side.

I’m a big fan of the FBS/KBS family of beers, and this is certainly worth drinking, but it’s not to the level of the base beer or the other variants.

 

So our kids were sick last week I thought we dodged it all, nope, Thursday and Friday I was so sore, aching, and fatigued it was insane. I also happened to have off those days so it wasn’t bad but my four day weekend didn’t go as I intended. Well I’m finally having a beer again, so it’s all good. After loving Kozels dark lager I had to try the pale one available locally, their lezak.

Kozel - lezak




This is a very nice pouring beer, lots of brightness and dense bubbles of carbonation. Perfectly white head on a nice golden colored beer, settles fo minimal opaque layer with minimal to no lacing.

It is hard for me to pin down the aroma on this one, but I'd say first and foremost is spicy hop presence, also a wafer like aroma to go with it. I say this because it is a bread like aroma but it has just the slightest hint of leaning sweeter.

Taste is much like the nose with the same hops being the dominant note. The wafer smell I discussed above ironically comes out less sweet than I would've expected based on the nose. In fact there is no sweetness at all, maybe the slightest residual at the end.

Another great mouthfeel much like their dark lager I had last week. Light bodied but not watery, soft, smooth carbonation and goes down quick and easy. I really like how the bitterness comes out on this beer. It is moderate to low bitter but it is very noticeable, it comes off as earthy grassy bitter and really lingers but to a very low degree. I love bitter but to me its almost like this beer hit the perfect bitter for itself.

Overall a really pleasant beer, definitely a repeat purchase. Oh and they're (the dark lager as well) only 6.99$ a four pack. I picked up several singles of new stuff to try this weekend and next. In the meantime I'll keep busy with all the other great posts.

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@beergoot I think I knew but I just saw you post you're in colorado springs...my friend and I took a cross country road trip 13 years ago or so now. We had an atlas and a national park guide to help us travel. I remember driving past colorado springs because we needed a place to stop and saw the great sand dunes in our book, we thought nothing of it, until we were there. That place blew us away, so much so that we still talk about it to this day. I think it was the "no name park" we had no plans to stop at initially and after we went it was the highlight of our trip. With how much I see you post about biking etc. I'm guessing you've been there? What a cool place!