New Beer Weekend #72

It's warmed up, so I'm getting ready for a dog walk.
Today I'm drinking Highwayman Pilsner from Roadhouse Brewing Company in Jackson, WY, part of my latest Beer Drop shipment.
The beer is a pale gold color with a large, white, sticky head.
Aroma of toast and flowers.
Taste of toast, floral hops, pepper.
Crisp and clean.
This is a winner!

 

Back again, and as I type this I got a notification on my phone that former Senator Bob Dole passed away at 98. Rest in peace to a man who served our nation well over his life.

Now to my new beer. It is one of my last beers from the MobCraft Advent Calendar

Get Razzy Wit It - Witbier - 5% ABV.

I'm damn impressed with this one. Tons of raspberry in it, and it tastes real, not artificial. Slight sweet, slight sour, slight funk. All in all damn good.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/32325/580100/

3.75/5 rDev 0%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75

This beer pours a nice pink color. Somewhat murky, and hazy. There's an off white (pink) head that is pretty long lasting, and a bit of lacing on the glass.
The nose is full up raspberry, and it's pretty strong. Slightly funky smelling, but in a good way.
The taste is like the nose - raspberry. There's a bit of sweetness to it as well as a bit of sour, with a slight funk on the back.
The body is actually pretty full.
Not bad at all, and a good beer in their Advent Calendar.


I don't know if I'll be back later, or not. I do have a meeting with my coworker at Backshed in a couple of hours to warm up, then we're off to Pantown to see what crawlers we want to stock at the store. If I don't see you today, I'll see you all down the road.

 

I've wondered this for a long time. "Let's put the stronger version in a larger format package!"

If it was all the same format size, OK, nothing to say about personal opinions. But when it comes to different formats to begin with? Why would you do that?

 

A Homestead Brew Joyce's Baltic Breakfast Porter, 9% ABV. Pours black with a 2+ finger beige head that left decent lacing. Nose is maple, graham, and coffee. Taste follows, faintly sweet, slightly bitter, and a bit salty. Carbonation was heavy. Overall excellent.

3.99/5 rDev 0%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4

 

I have so many great beers on hand courtesy of the NBS BIF / associated shenanigans, but for my first beer today (and maybe my next one or two) I'm going to try and clear out some beer that I actually bought myself. First up is Tideline from Fox Farm.

4.17/5 rDev +1.7%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.25

Appearance is a hazy orange / amber color with a finger of medium density white head that recedes slowly to a thin cap leaving behind a small amount of lacing. Aroma is plenty strong, in a good way. Loads of tropical fruits, with mango leading the charge. There's more going on than just the mango, but I lack the sophistication to pick up the exact underlying fruits, but I do know that I like how it smells.

Taste is nuanced and nicely balanced. There isn't any single flavor that that hits you in the face, but there's a nice blend of mango / pineapple that works very well with a light bitterness that rounds out the flavor profile nicely. For my tastes, the feel is the standout here. Extremely full and pillowy soft.

Very rare for me to come in over rDev on an IPA, but I'm really digging this one.

 

My last Seattle beer from September. Cooking my first Minnesota hotdish and sipping on this beer from fair isle, Saison aged in gin casks. I’ll post a picture later @MNAle, let me know where I went wrong or if you have a recipe you like. Or any other Minnesotans I’m forgetting about.

Fair Isle - Vince



Pours light cold, slightly clear and also slightly cloudy. Big bubbly head, this thing almost poured like a champagne but with better retention.

Aroma acidic, bright lemon/lime, slightly sweet smell to it almost like a lemon bread.

The gin comes out in the taste along with the aromas above. The gin is present for sure in its pine/juniper flavor. It really lingers in the aftertaste once it warms up a little.

Mouthfeel is soft, bright carbonation, and ever so slight a warming sensation in the throat from the gin. I only noticed this as the beer warmed up. Leaves a slight acidic sour feel on the tongue as well.

As a gin fan I’m enjoying this beer. I don’t drink saison often but this is nicely balanced and quite nice to drink.

Keep the good beers coming, it’s been a pleasure reading as always.

 

Three Floyd’s Crushing Mass (BA Imperial Coffee Stout). Made with Dark Matter coffee out of Chicago and aged in Willet barrels for over a year.

Pours pitch black with a half finger of dark mocha heads that went away quickly. You can tell they used loads and loads of coffee in this one…an absolute coffee bomb. There’s a good amount of sweetness that comes through as toffee, slight caramel, and simple syrup to balance the dark roast coffee. Dark chocolate, bourbon, charred oak tannin, slight coconut, marshmallow/vanilla, and peat are there too. Warm as it goes down and the bourbon is apparent in the flavor, but all things considered this is quite smooth for 15%. High medium to low full body. Slick, oily, slightly sticky. I think Floyd’s makes some of the best coffee stouts out there and this is no exception. If you’re a coffee stout fan, seek this one out.

 

That is one of my favorite glasses. I am terrified it is going to break. -And, when it does...I'll be one sad man upset at his wife. (OK, it doesn't have to be her fault, but there's a higher probability she finds a way to break it than I do. )

 

Starting with Sunday with Conshohoncken Irvins’ Famous Chocolate Cream Stout.
3.9/5 rDev 0%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

16 oz can poured into a pint glass

A- Black with a three finger mocha head.

S- Roasted malts, chocolate, some vanilla, hints of lactose

T- Chocolate, lactose, roasted malts, some vanilla.

M- Smooth, light to medium body.

O- A tasty cookie inspired stout, nose is a more bitter and balanced the taste.

Cheers!

 

It’s so damn fragile I’m sure it’s bound to break but still hasn’t. I feel like I only end up using it for saisons, it is a beautiful glass I agree.

 

I opined during the brown ale online tasting a few weeks back that IMO, Founders is the best all-around barrel aging brewery in the country. They don't have the highest-rated BA stout on BA, or even MY highest rated BA stout, but the all around program is just the best (again, IMO).

So, I've been a bit behind the curve in securing some of the KBS variants. On my last shopping trip (when I picked up the BCBS's) I also grabbed a couple of KBS variants I had not gotten around to: The espresso, and today's, the cinnamon-vanilla-cocoa.

Founders KBS Cinnamon Vanilla Cocoa
ABV: 12.0%
IBU: 45


Allowed to warm for 20+ minutes from a ~40°F refrigerator temperature.

Impenetrable black topped by a tall, dark khaki, bubbly head, creamy on top with large bubbles developing underneath, leaving plentiful sticky lacing as it recedes.

Moderately strong aroma. Cocoa to the fore (and to my nose, it is cocoa, not generic chocolate), with some vanilla and a little spiciness behind. The spiciness may be cinnamon, but it is not strong enough for me to be that distinct about it. After a short while, the cinnamon becomes more obvious.

The initial taste is a symphony of flavors all at once. Cinnamon, cocoa, vanilla, barrel, and bourbon. All backed by a bit of alcohol warmth. The flavor that leads the pack for me is, as with the aroma, cocoa. The middle develops a kind of a baker's chocolate bitterness (perhaps actually from the coffee) that continues through into the finish and aftertaste. The vanilla is secondary, but still strong throughout, along with the bourbon and cinnamon. I don't get much, if any, coffee anywhere. I appreciate that the cinnamon is a secondary flavor, providing a nice accent. The finish has a nice bitterness and is relatively dry with very little residual alcohol warmth.

Mouth feel is moderately thick.

Overall, while not my favorite in the BA Imperial stout landscape, it is well done with the flavors well balanced.

L: 4.25 | S: 4.25 | T: 4.0 | F: 4.0 | O: 4.25 | Rating: 4.13

 

Yep, fragile indeed. I also tend to only use mine for Saisons, although on rare occasions for a stout, BW, or...whiskey. It's quite nice for that.

 

How long have you been married????

Faultfinding rules of marriage

1. Everything is ALWAYS the husband's fault.
2. If it is not the husband's fault, see rule #1.

 

I didn't say that I'd let my wife know how I felt, I just said I know to be true.

 

Next up is Easy Like, a New England Style IPA from Berkshire Brewing. I really should have had this in the morning given the name of the beer, but at least it's still Sunday.

3.71/5 rDev -5.8%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75

Hazy, golden pour with an inch of dense white foam with excellent retention. Aroma is fairly nondescript. Some grapefruit citrus notes that are pleasant, but overall the aroma is unremarkable. Nice hoppy flavor with some grapefruit & resinous bitterness that doesn't overwhelm. It's like a New England / West Coast hybrid, both in taste and feel.

This ended up being a solid beer. Much less sweet and juicy than other "NEIPA" beers, but not in a bad way.

 

On a separate note: for official BA reviews, didn't you used to be able to 'like' a review? It seems you can't anymore?

 

I remember that, but I feel like the feature was deleted a while ago

 

Thanks. I haven't thought about it for a long time, but I was reading a very good review and it occurred to me.