New Beer Weekend #76

Just squeaking this review in as company has arrived.

4.33/5 rDev +9.9%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4.25

Poured from a 16oz can date 8/10/21 to a diagonally cut .
Pours out a black body with just a hint of brown at the meniscus. A thin 1/4-inch brown head, lacing is negligable.
Wow this is coffee and chocolate! Great aroma.
Taste is similar, strong coffee with a background chocolate that really doesn't hide. There is a sweetness to the finish that I would prefer be more bitter, but that's just me and a minor complaint at that. I still rated the taste high due to the excellent coffee and chocolate flavors.
If this had a thicker mouthfeel it would be better, but still not bad.
I really liked this despite my preference for a less sweet stout.

 

Howdy all! getting some year-end ticking in today. I think I'm around 525 new reviews for the year, and the vast majority are new brews to me, but there's probably a few 'wait, I've never reviewed that? I've had it a gazillion times!' beers in there as well. Shrug.

I believe that BA clock ticks over at 4pm West coast time, so this might be my last new brew and review of the year, Matchless Overdrive Red IPA (which is no longer a style here, so I entered it as a Red Ale. Shrug.): https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/47868/583612/

 

I highly recommend it if you get the chance. In terms of the beer I found the huge variety and quality of traditional styles to be the most welcoming part.

The best non beer part…It was so bizarre to me being in a city yet surrounded by such beautiful nature, the coolest thing. Someday I hope we go back and properly explore said mountains and forests.

Put those two things together you got a good place to visit @ChicagoJ

 

New Beer #2
Servaes Brewing Company
Barrel Aged All My Pieces


16oz undated can poured into a snifter at 55° Fahrenheit 13% ABV. The beer pours opaque medium brown in color with cola like light brown head. The head fizzles away in seconds leaving on an incomplete ring of tiny bubbles rising and popping from the bottom of the glass. The aroma is mild with bourbon and malt. The taste is semisweet bourbon soaked caramel with a side of raisins and chocolate. Minimal bitterness, but the barrel char and subtle alcohol heat balance the malt sweetness. The mouthfeel is thin to medium bodied with average carbonation and a mostly dry finish. Overall, an enjoyable sipper with plenty of punch.

This version was aged one year in Buffalo Trace barrels and it shows. No missing the barrel here.

Thanks @Harrison8

 

Next time, come to The City of Subdued Excitement. You'll have a half-decent guide.

 

Up now is Fremonts latest iteration of Head Full of Dynamite, v.34. As it's a series of Murkbombs, it's not my favorite thing, but, ticker gotta tick yo!

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/20680/583633/

 

I’m honored to be the supplier of your 2,000th beer on BA. Your review, as usual, is spot on. Exceptionally well done.

 

You got a deal.

 

Happy freaking day 365 of 2021.
Picked this up because I made a CT run and rarely see Hoof Hearted which Ive found to have pretty decent IPAs.
This is the Quad hopped version of Konkey Dong. Hops, hops and more hops. Seems a bit excessive even for a hophead like myself. But thats what todays craft is leaning towards- cramming more of everything almost everywhere. Makes you really appreciate a fine lager....or SN Pale Ale!! Anyway enough babbling.
Pours a fairly turbid yellow gold with a decent white head, light retention (9.5%), and moderate lacing.
Nice strong aroma here from the 4x Dry hopping. Sweet orange, overripe pineapple, mango, peach and lots of cannabis notes.
Taste follows with strong citrus; orange morphing into mild grapefruit, tropicals, white wine notes, green bud, sweet malts balanced by a bracing bitterness - grapefruit/orange pith and light pine needles. Some white pepper on the finish.
Feel is medium full, rather soft for this behemoth, tiny carb, drying finish. Leaves a coating on the tongue. Little alcohol burn.
Pretty good. Not quite as rough as I expected. Definitely a one and done brew though. Definitely worth a try if youre a hop nut. Not as graceful as a hop saturation that Treehouse or Trillium etc would brew but then not many are.
Cheers friends and heres to 2022!

 

Wow, 2021 is just about in the books - it’s incredible how fast time flies, especially as you get older.

I resemble that description.

Thanks to @ChicagoJ for the start and the topic, which is appropriately for this thread, a review of beers we’ve enjoyed in 2021. This year, I’ve enjoyed 360 new beers, or approximately one new beer per day. Some I’ve enjoyed immensely, some not so much, but as a beer lover in the purest sense (I really do enjoy enjoy beer in all its facets and styles), I always appreciated the opportunity to try someone’s creation, which is the beer that a brewery has offered to we, the beer nerd republic.

As for favorites, I’ll just list my favorite, as judged my rating and the enjoyment I received from trying it …..







BCBS Brand Classic Cola Stout. I had this right after the Black Friday release and was bowled over by how much I enjoyed it. A magnificent, world class beer, IMHO.

On to tonight’s beers. A significant source of the new beers I’ve tried through the years are the NBW BIF events. I believe I’ve participated in 11 of these, and am probably around 300 or so beers new to me from these events.

That is not a typo. Over the past 5 years, I’ve enjoyed the beers a lot - and I’ve enjoyed the interaction with the other participants a lotter. Just a fantasy group of extraordinarily generous beer nerds that are a pleasure and an honor to cavort with.

To that end, my new beers tonight are the detritus of NBW BIF #14. First up, a Helles lager from our friend @snaotheus.





4.06/5 rDev 0%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4

Pours the most beautiful crystal clear color I’ve seen in a beer with a sudsy white head. Wow. The nose has significant grassy aromas and a substantial bready aroma as well.

The grassy flavors are most prominent, but there’s also a bit of lemon and the bready malt flavor is a nice balance to the noble hops.

The mouthfeel is very crisp and fitting for the style. What a great lawnmower beer this is.

 

#2, this is beer #4,100 for me and is courtesy of our friend @FBarber.





4.39/5 rDev +1.4%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

Pours as black as a 3 am morning with the darkest tan head I’ve ever seen. Absolutely gorgeous beer. The nose tosses off booze as soon as you open the can, and there’s a substantial chocolate fudge note as well and a bit of oak from the barrel.

The taste is led by that decadent chocolate fudge flavor, and then the barrel and oak notes jump in, and at the very back of the palate, stone fruit as represented by plum and dark cherries settles in. Truly delicious, IMHO.

The mouthfeel was surprisingly just a bit watery, but this is still a fantastic BA imperial stout, one that I’d jump into a line to acquire.

 

I had a lot of great beers in 2021, 26 of my top-50 rated beers. My top-rated 2021 beer is also my top-rated beer; Kros Strain Bakery Boyz, which I rated 4.82. My third-rated beer was Covert Artisan Banana Boat which I rated 4.75. I reviewed 231 beers in 2021.

My final review of 2021 though listed as 2022 because UTC;

Firestone Walker 25th Anniversary Ale American Strong Ale, 11.5% ABV. Pours black and moderately thick, with a one-finger beige head. This is a cuvee of five of their BA beers; two stouts, a quad, a barleywine, and a wheatwine. Nose is moleasses, dark fruit and bourbon/tequila. Taste is a bit more complex; roast malt, dark fruit, chocolate, moleasses, toffee, moderately sweet, slightly bitter. Evolving as it warms. Mouthfeel is light carbonation, a slightly dry finish, leaves the lips slightly stickee. Overall outstanding.

4.44/5 rDev +2.1%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

I took the beer out of the box, and found the paper shown in the picture. It's the "recipe" showing the percentages of the five beers it contains. It also lists those involved in developing the recipe, mostly local vintners.

 

Great Raft Barksdale Bubble Double Dry Hopped IPA, 6.5% ABV; 4.4 overall

Pours a very hazed gold with 2+ fingers of cream colored head. Great head retention & lacing

S: Tropical fruits & citrus, fades a bit once warm

T: Mango, passion fruit, nectarine & tangerine & a little dryness up front. Passion fruit & green melon as this warms, some pineapple too. Finishes dry with pineapple, nectarine & mango

MF: Medium body, restrained carbonation, balance is on point for the style

Easy drinker, I think they knocked this one out of the park

 

I WILL be visiting Goldfinger this winter...I'll give ya a heads up so hopefully we can coordinate!

 

Thats awesome and Im definitely going to take you up on that. I go to Cost Cutters in Dayville but I also hit their other store in Plainfield occasionally. Then the backroads to Treehouse are always a great ride....