New Beer Weekend #73

Welcome to New Beer Sunday #877! Still need to catch up with the thread later this evening, but popping in to try the second planned Wild Onion Drago variant. I haven't had a coconut imperial stout since my DIY successful attempt in late October, so I've been looking forward to this one all weekend.

Wild Onion 2020 Almond Boy



Can Notes: 12 oz canned 3/20/20.11% ABV. 2020 Drago Bourbon Barrel Aged Russian Imperial Stout. Almond Boy with Chocolate, Coconut & Almond. Purchased in the Spring, cellared until 9/3/21, refrigerated since.

Appearance: Dark brown base, bright tan head quickly dissipates, burst of tan carbonation visible through the dark base during the single pour into a medium snifter. Light with tanish ring lingers around the rim of the base. 4.0

Aroma: Strong aroma of Dr. Pepper, straight up Dr. Pepper. Smells pleasant, one of the few pops I like, but unexpected. Light coconut about 15 minutes in, but the aroma remained stable throughout. 3.5

Taste: Bursting with wonderful flavor, sans the Dr. Pepper. A wonderful almond and coconut are front and center and really enjoyable. Next comes a pleasant sweet fudge and caramel. As this warms, about 20 minutes in from my refrigerator, the bourbon flavor creeps in, subtle, smooth, wonderful. I liked the bourbon flavor on this one better than the Hazelnut variant yesterday, though presumably they come from the same unnamed distillery, this version less sweet / Jim Beam like, more of a classic smooth balanced bourbon. The sweet flavors well blended, edges sweet but balanced for these flavor components. My sensory cues feel jumbled, as I continue to smell the Dr. Pepper but taste this wonderful stout, don't recall a similar disconnect to this degree. 4.5

Mouthfeel: Full creamy rich and decadent body, faint fizzy carbonation adds gravitas, bourbon continues to strengthen with the rise in temperature, providing a great balance tying in all these wonderful flavor components. Starts easy drinking, than hits at or slightly above the 11% ABV, be prepared but doesn't feel as potent as other Drago power punches I've enjoyed in the past. No lingering aftertaste. Really nice. 4.5

Overall: This is an excellent balanced imperial stout, bursting with flavor, well blended, beyond the odd Dr. Pepper aroma everything comes in better than anticipated. Really like this one, need to drink these fresh down the road to stock up on the best variants in future years. Great job once again Wild Onion! 4.25

It took a hot minute to figure out what that aroma was, Dr. Pepper being hard to fathom at first whiff because it was completely unexpected, but it is 100% Dr. Pepper once I focused.30 minutes in, Dr. Pepper still reigns. Perhaps I'll pick up a rare six pack of pop this week. I'd pick today's Almond Boy slightly over Hazelnut from yesterday, though the edge is a photo finish.

See you back next week, for two widely distributed options for the Scotch/Wee Heavy/Winter Warmer tasting next week. Looking forward to catching up with the thread!

 

Howdy all!

Having a fun weekend, up for taking it easy today... been out a bit having quite a lot of talking and meeting... so that felt...weird... my voice was actually a bit tired... when was the last time that happened??

That being said, I am one day behind on my gifted beer advent calendar. Not hard to catch up so let's check the next German offering.

This was contract brewed by Egerer.



Poured from the can into a Libbey style pilsner glass. Contract brewed by Egerer.

Pale amber, with light bronze colors and excellent clear clarity for the body appearance. Creamy rich forming three finger head. A simple solid white color, light swiss cheese bubbles, and a good island puck top filling the glass. Lots of lacing and retention and aggressive looking. Real good looking lager.

Aroma has some light sticky notes of caramel, and some spicy quality. There's a bit of hot grain like heat coming off this though, which is really jarring at first. Bit of a muddy aroma too strangely, kind of earthy.

Palate goes more towards an almost weakened Helles quality, and minimal toffee character. Mid palate hits with some wet bodied malt, and mineral hard water like flavors. Very dry grain, and nearly burnt bitterness in hop flavor on the finish. A little bit of caramel sweetness, but also comes across tasting like table sugar a bit.

Clean, but slightly acrid. Light bodied, but just a bit to weak. Slight malt sweetness, but doesn't quite hit marzen like rich malt highlights. Drinkable at least, but way better German examples out there.

look: 4.25 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.5 | Final: 3.63/5

Cheers!

 

Anyone seen this beer Stateside?

 

You asked for it by the Bruery

4.31/5 rDev +0.9%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25



Bottle received in Bif13 from @colts9016 poured into a stemless wine glass

Two finger fizzy brown foam cap quickly recedes to a ring over a dark cola brown liquid

Aroma is bourbon whiskey, tobacco, roast malts , vanilla

Taste is vanilla bourbon

Mouthfeel is smooth , fizzy

Good sipping beer for the holidays , Ho Ho Ho!

 

Wishing you all a complete and speedy recovery.
Take good care

 

Another great @BBThunderbolt beer and glass, I never tried this when we were in Seattle but I wanted to. Just to many beers, so I’m happy to be opening this one now.

Reubens Brews - Pils



Beautiful light crystal clear straw color with a perfectly white head. Recedes to that creamy thin layer of white that I love so much.

Very good and strong aromas, earthy, herbal/spice, light bread smell to it too and some citrus notes.

Taste is much like the nose with the bread notes hitting first followed but a really nice spicy grassy note couple with a citrus refreshingness.

Mouthfeel to me is where this beer really shines. It is light bodied, has a soft almost creamy like feel from the great carbonation, it’s in that perfect spot for a pale lager. Pair that with the nice moderate bitterness and dry finish and it’s a huge winner in my book.

I really enjoyed this one, it’s incredibly drinkable and has a nice hoppy kick on the finish. I’ll be back later today!

 

Best wishes for a quick recovery to you and your partner. Im still feeling some minor effects after 2 weeks. The Mrs has it but had the monoclonal treatment Friday. She has lost her taste and smell. I did for about 5 days. Best to you both.

 

Those Leinys look pretty good! Coming in with Mill House's fest. Pours an excellent vibrant copper, reddish color. Head holds just a little while. Definitely a malt bill favoring vienna/caramalt and the like.



The preferred beer of the Proletariat (Nutcrackers). Nice beer all around albeit perhaps a little one dimensional. Not a complaint per se, but I've been feeling lately that maltier lager styles, Vienna lagers and their ilk have somehow become less and less complex while the pale lagers have gone the other way. Not much beyond simple malt sugar, an overall clean caramel and bread middle and a really simple finish, maybe something kind of like the back end of cola, cassia? Earthy, warming at the end. It's a little sticky too. Yeah, not bad, but nothing special. Like the first time you broke 90 or going up to NH a week too early for leaf peeping.

Have a good Sunday!

 

Greetings fellow NBSers! A cloudy day here in the Fourth Corner, with some off-and-on rain showers. Worked a couple hours today, doing some prep for tomorrow, so that the 5am start goes a bit easier. At my theatre last night, we had a fundraiser for the victims of the flooding we had about a month ago, and a children's dance group doing a holiday show Saving Christmastown. The dance was on our mainstage, which seats about 1500, and the fundraiser, which featured 5 different bands was in our smaller 150 seat room. 2 divergent audiences for sure. Trying to do ID/covid checks got hectic, and, if you hadn't noticed, people don't seem that good at listening. We had two different entry lines set-up, and, well, some folks got upset that they had waited in the wrong line. maybe talk less and listen more next time, mmmkay?

Anyhow, here we are with my first NBS entry, courtesy @Roguer , Lawson's Triple Sunshine. Regular Sip is among my favorite IPAs, that I'll happily drink anytime I can, so I was really looking forward to the Papa Bear version. I thought the aroma was a bit muted, but the flavors were a big blast. I liked it!

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/17980/120372/

 

Sonora Sunrise. Arvon Brewing Co. from the brewery: Kettle Sour with Prickly Pear, Mango, Pineapple and Lactose. 5% abv. Pours a beautiful orangish ruby with a beautiful orange glow when backlit by the window. A thin white ring on the pour. Smell is sour base and tropical fruit juice. Taste follows suit largely with a super sweet pineapple juice on the front followed by the prickly pear and mango fruit medley. Finishing a slight tart but not off-putting. Feel is very smooth but not overwhelmed with fruit pulp like so many of these types of beers are. Has a lot of the characteristics of a fresh pressed fruit juice. I have come to find I really like Arvon for this style of beer and I will definitely buy more. Crunching the numbers, I think I’m going 4.25 across the board which I rarely do. Cheers NBS.

 

Jeez, hope you all feel better soon.

 

I wasn't expecting it to blow you away, so no worries. It's a classic and when I saw you hadn't tried it, I had to send it. It is the beer that started Beer Advocate after all.
https://www.beeradvocate.com/articl...-pale-ale-the-beer-that-started-beeradvocate/

 

Good Sunday afternoon, New Beer Sippers and commentators. Among the seemingly endless supply of beer I received from @FBarber in the BIF were several spontaneously fermented ales from Side Project Brewing in St. Louis. I've enjoyed them all. Frank also sent me the cool Lambic style glass. Blueberry Flanders is a Flanders Red Ale fermented in Missouri oak Chambourcin barrels and then aged on Missouri grown blueberries. It's seriously, puckeringly sour (in a good way). This isn't a style with which I have much experience or basis of comparison but I enjoyed it.

It pours a cloudy, dark magenta color with a very modest ecru-colored cap. The nose is exquisite: fragrant oaky blueberry with strong Brett notes. Wow, is it ever sour! The initial sourness is vinegar-like and almost overpowering but at the back end the blueberry provides some balancing sweetness. The best way to drink it is in small sips resting on the tip of the tongue. This ale has a pleasant, creamy mouth feel with without significant effervescence and it drinks easily at 6% ABV. Overall, Blueberry Flanders is really well-made and I appreciate it for the style. It's seriously sour and the casual drinker might not appreciate it.

4.31/5 rDev -2.5%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

Thank you, Frank. This was a fun ale to drink and review.

 

Continuing the "snow" theme for me this weekend,

Bent Paddle Snow Maker Pale Ale
ABV: 5.5%
IBU: 40

A few years ago, Bent Paddle used to be a regular in my refrigerator. I really liked their 14° ESB (which, for some reason, they changed the can label from "Extra Special Bitter" to "Extra Special Amber"), but I haven't been buying them regularly for awhile now. So, when I was looking for some winter seasonals, and I saw this one - a winter pale ale and not the usual "warmer" or stronger beer - I decided to give it a try.



Amber, mostly clear, well carbonated. Short off-white head. The pour was down the side of the glass initially, transitioning quickly to a down the middle vigorous pour once I saw there was not going to be much head. The head fades quickly, leaving a short wall of lacing.

Aroma is pine backed by melon of moderate strength.

The initial flavor that hits is the pine, with mild bittering appearing right away. Along with the pine, the melon appears shortly. The middle and finish develops a bit of an earthy character. The aftertaste has the pine and bittering lingering. By the time I am ⅔ done, the bitterness really takes ahold. This is a quite bitter beer, especially in the lingering aftertaste. The hop flavors and bitterness dominate any contribution from the malts.

The body is thin, more like a session IPA than a well-balanced APA.

The Snow Maker Pale Ale is not what I was expecting from a beer marketed as a winter pale ale. It's darker, sure, which may imply cooler weather, but there is not nearly enough malt character. It may not be a bad session IPA, but it is too thin and too hops dominated to be a good APA, (doubly so for one marketed as a winter seasonal).

L: 3.75 | S: 3.75 | T: 3.5 | F: 3.25 | O: 3.5 | Rating: 3.55

 

Another from @Roguer 's hit yesterday, and a great example of why I love NBS, and NBS BIFs. It's another ImpIPA, yet very different than the Triple Sunshine of earlier. This more in the 'classic', more abrasive style, and not the newer, sweeter, fruitier style. Yet, they got nearly identical scores (a minor difference in the nose). If not for the NBS BIFs, I likely would have never gotten either of these brews. Thanks again Roguer, and get well soon.

Dogs & Boats from Beer'd.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/30321/114936/

 

Glad you enjoyed it.

 

2 new beers today, both from the Cricket Hill Brewery in Fairfield NJ. The first is an Oktoberfest Lager brewed with German Munich malt and Sterling hops, 5.8 ABV. This is one of the best Oktoberfests I had this year. Served at the brewery it’s is is gold in color with a thick lasting white head. There is a nice malt aroma. The taste is slightly sweet malt with a bit spice. The mouthfeel in full and the finish dry. The second beer is an Abbey Tripel that was aged for 24 months in Wild Turkey Bourbon Barrels. This beer is dark amber with a thin white head. The aroma is Bourbon. The taste is complex various spices, malt and the Bourbon. The mouthfeel is medium, the finish is Bourbon. A very enjoyable beer that would be better served at a higher temperature.
,

 

First new beer of the weekend. My mom finally made the decision to move into a retirement community. While it may be 6 months from now or it may be 2 years from now (waitlist), she's been in the house since 1978, which means there's a #$% ton of stuff to go through in advance of whenever the move actually happens. I'm trying to get down there (Philly area) once a month or so to advance the process.

Anyway, apologies for the sidebar. My one and only beer for the weekend comes courtesy of @2beerdogs. I'm almost done the cans he sent me, which will allow me to finally start making progress on the huge selection of bottles he also sent. This is Mrs. Mocha, pastry stout from Chapman Crafted Beer. The can lists the additions as Brazil Natural Sul De Mina Coffee, TCHO Ecuador Organic Cacao Nibs, Vanilla Beans & Lactose.

4.02/5 rDev -0.5%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Deep, deep brown pour with a really nice amount of dense, mocha colored head. Very good head retention eventually receding to a thin ring and spotty cap. Aroma is rich & sweet, with the vanilla and lactose dominating. I'm not getting much in the cacao or coffee. Taste is quite nice. I get more coffee than on the nose, but without any heavy roast flavors / bitterness. The lactose definitely takes the edge off but in a balanced way that works well. The vanilla adds a nice element to it (I also tend to like vanilla which doesn't hurt). Very smooth with a fairly full feel.

Overall, my experience with pastry stouts is quite hit or miss, but this is much more hit than miss.

 

Good evening NBS!
Been a hard labor weekend but I think the 7 layers of old kitchen floor are out of the house and the ring shank nails that were holding down the last layer of luann and placed every 4 or 3 inches are pulled or driven in. I’m sore.
But the beer- this beauty was sent to me by @Roguer in an LIF related to NBS BIF #14.
G-bot.
Poured nearly transparent but not quite. Impressive head! Looks great.
The aroma is very NEIPA, despite the lack of murk- citrus and dark fruit and I kid not, I got peaches. Couldn’t figure that out, but it worked.
The taste followed, complete with peach in there somewhere- and hops, have I mentioned the hops?
Started with the fruit and transitioned to the west coast with piney hop presentation at the swallow. It took me all 12 oz to come to terms with how this drinks and then it was gone. Ah, sadness. Tell NEBCO they need to package this in pints at least.
Really tasty beer, thank you @Roguer !