New Beer Weekend #79

I agree, reviews do a lot more justice than ratings especially with costly beers and especially when we’re talking about something special. Glad we’re on the same page. Cheers brother.

 

Good afternoon NBW
I purchased a single of this and thought I'd go ahead and review it today.

Kentucky Maple Barrel Stout
12oz can stamped 2021/11/11 poured into a teku glass at 50° Fahrenheit 12% ABV. The beer pours nearly black in color with little light penetration and light tan head. The head recedes to a uneven ring and leaves a little lacing. The aroma is moderate in strength featuring maple syrup, chocolate, light bourbon, and caramel. The taste is semisweet plus with bourbon and maple notes. There's a touch of oak on the backend (no surprise after 18 months in a barrel) and moderate bitterness. Unfortunately, there's a rubbing alcohol note on the finish as well. The mouthfeel is medium bodied with less than medium carbonation and a semi dry finish. Overall, good. It's pretty sweet, lacks body and has the ethanol note that combine to drag the score down. Worth drinking once for $5 a can, but I wouldn't go searching for it.

Cheers all!

 

I try to purchase every Toppling Goliath Brewing IPA that is released. This is their first IIIPA.

Playoff weekend in Green Bay, WI, is a special experience. The people who come to town often do not know that they were going to be here until the previous weekend. For the visiting team's fans, it typically involves a Planes, Trains, and Automobiles-style story of how they even arrived here, because January in northeastern Wisconsin is not a big travel destination, and the infrastructure is not necessarily in place for a lot of people to suddenly come here. I hung out with San Francisco 49ers fans last night. It was simply incredible! I just did it again this morning. Amazing! I picked up this beer on the way home to prepare for attending the game tonight.

The look is apricot/orange, honey/yellow. A lot of floaties. Murky. Swampy. Golden. The smell is tropical fruit, malty, bready, sweet flowers, and honey. The flavor is citrusy, soft pretzel, hard candy sweet, with light bitterness. The mouthfeel is thick, syrupy, medium carbonation, with a light alcohol burn. Overall, this beer seems like Surly Brewing's Double-Bladed Axe Man in a different can. I am going to drink that beer today as well. I will have some interesting posts today, drinking IIIPAs, while trying to stay warm.

 

Good afternoon NBS/nbw and thanks @JackHorzempa for the start this weekend.
I am thinking this is the first Saturday NBS/nbw post I have made. That is due to the fine intro and a nod to Baltic Porter Day.
So Baltic Porter it is.

Obscura

Porter - Baltic | 8% ABV
OEC Brewing (Ordinem Ecentrici Coctores) in Oxford, Connecticut

4.16/5 rDev -1.2% | Average: 4.21
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
by SABERG from Massachusetts

Poured from a 12 oz can undated, with the line "Please do not age" on the label? Fo figure.
A - Color is the point on the scale between brown and black. The pour yielded a quick to exit tin of white cap.
During the experience, carbonation crawls up the inside of the glass, supporting a thin ring.
S - Dark malt, a hint of char, raisin, fig. Theres a bakers chocolate component in the mix as well
T - The char is stronger on the palate, in no way dominates, the fig, raisin, cocoa are all the mix. A lovley grainy base supports the rest of the elements.
M - Beautifully soft, with a full feel thats also quite lite on the palate. Round without being flabby. The finish is semi sweet, and quick to dry out.
O - A very good Baltic Porter, lots of flavor, walks a tight path. The texture is something else. Well done.

 

Opening up The Referend The Big Sleep, over 3 years in the bottle for a lambic that 100% spontaneously fermented in oak barrels. Even after three years it’s still flat, but very well balanced and complex.
4.42/5 rDev 0%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

750 ml, blend 1 bolted 12/6/18, poured into a flute

A- A hazy golden orange with almost no head.

S- Tart, lemons, oak, leather, barnyard funk, some wheat.

T- Tart, lemons, leather, oak, barnyard funk, touch of wheat. Complex and balanced.

M- Smooth, light body, almost no carbonation.

O- A tasty and complex lambic. Only ”off” quality is that even after 3 years it is still flat. Reading the bottle it explains why it might be flat, it relies solo wild yeast/bacteria for the carbonation. Wish I had a few bottles to see what happens with time to this.

Cheers!

 

Brewed with Milk Sugar and coffee 10.4% Stout is pretty darn tasty. The stem got broken, but I can still drink out of it. Named after one of the brewers dogs that isn’t around anymore.

Pours a very dark near pitch black with a solid finger mocha head that leaves plenty of thick streaks of lace with nice retention. 4.5

Aroma is cocoa nibs, vanilla bean, toffee, and fresh coffee ground, really nice. 4.5

Taste follows rich milk chocolate, vanilla, toffee, and coffee, even better than the smell. 4.5

Mouthfeel is pretty big, gentle almost creamy carbonation, not dry or sticky, and at 10.4% it goes really easy, but flavor and feel are on point. 4.25

Overall this is another excellent stout from them. They have gotten it figured out and look for amazing things from Kettlehead in 2022. 4.5

 

Well, kind of blew it. No Baltic Porter. But I did try Round Trip (Atlanta) Dunkel Platz 5% ABV. Been wanting to try this since they opened last year. Happened to have s bottle of Hofbrau Dunkel available to compare. Below are my tasting notes. It's very tough to equal German made beers, after all, they've been making beers for 100's of years. I can usually pick the German made from the local craft beers. This was no exception. But, the Dunkel Platz was still an enjoyable beer and maybe a bit more suited to the hot humid weather we have in Georgia most of the year. I'll drink it again. Cheers!




3.86/5 rDev 0%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75
by ATL6245 from Georgia

Appearance: Dark Saddle Brown, pours a thick off white mousse-like head with good retention.

Aroma; Bready and toasty malt, mild herbal hops

Flavor & Aftertaste: Bready, grainy, toasty with a little caramel. Spicy. Very restrained bitterness.

Mouth-feel: Medium body, no astringency, drying. Low carbonation.

Overall: I had a bottle of Hofbrau Dunkel, so I used it to compare. Dunkel Platz pours a nice mousse-like head with very good retention. Not quite as thick and long lingering as Hofbrau, but near comparable. Aroma is malt forward with bready/grainy, toast and hint of caramel. There is also a very subtle herbal hops note. The Hofbrau as a very distinct malty aroma. Easily picked out in a blind triangle test between the two. Flavor follows aromas: malty with breads and grains up front. Some subtle caramel and a spicy hop note in there. Similar flavors in Hofbrau. Both have a slightly sweet impression but finish quite dry. Mouth-feel is where there is quite a separation. Dunkel Platz has a medium, slick body to it vs Hofbrau is full bodied and creamy. Dunkel Platz has a drying finish. Hofbrau almost feels like it is going to very sweet, but finishes nice and dry. I like this Dunkel from Round Trip. It is easily drinkable. It's lighter (but not thin) mouth-feel actually makes it a bit more appealing for year around, since the Georgia climate is hot and humid most of the year. Easily drinkable in summer. No, it does not quite reach the overall complexity, flavor & aroma of the true German Dunkel, it is a nice effort by an American craft brewery. Always appreciate the ones who attempt these lager styles. I give it a B+

 

Unfortunately for me, I did not realize that today is an important day for baltic porters, and neither do I have any on hand. Sad! I'm actually kind of low on new beers in general at the moment. Hmm... perhaps a trip is order to rectify this situation...
Speaking of trips, the new beer I will dig into this afternoon is from a much larger trip than the store run I was thinking of in the previous paragraph. This past autumn, my partner and I drove across country to visit her family (and get that damn car out to the east coast!). We drove from Seattle to NYC in five days, and saw some incredible sights along the way. We really do live on a beautiful continent (I say continent because we did detour briefly up through Ontario to see Niagra Falls from the pretty side). Anyway, our first night we camped out in Yellowstone. The following morning, while waiting bleary eyed for old faithful to do her thing, we stumbled into the canteen to find some coffee and cafeteria food (go for the sights, not the food), where they also had cans of Teton Brewing's Old Faithful Ale. Makes sense. So I grabbed a can. It's been sitting in my fridge for a little while, so I will give it a little bit of grace for that, but otherwise, lets dig in, shall we?



The pour is a hazy pale golden colour. I expected it to be more clear than it is, but it seems like blonde/golden ales are pretty loose in terms of style expectations in general, so *shrug.* It does pour a nice white pile of pillowy foam that never truly dissipates, and leaves respectable lacing behind as I sit and sip.

Nose is mellow. First impression is of grassy hops and clean crackery malts. Not much more beyond that. But it does smell like something that would be enjoyable on a warm summer afternoon while doing yard work.

My first impression of the flavour is that it's kind of watery/thin. My second impression is that this is immediately followed by a pronounced spike of earthy/pine bitterness that kind of thrusts itself into the proceedings like a sword stabbed into the ground in the middle of the road to denote limitations of travel. Which is kind of weird now that I really think about that imagery and the beer and the back story and everything. Maybe I should just stick to describing concrete flavours, ha. The pine bitterness slopes down the back with a faint kiss of honey, and the bitterness lingers.

I anticipated a fairly small beer here, and especially so when 'watery' was the first word that came to mind to describe the flavour. It's actually surprisingly medium bodied, however, in a pleasantly pilllow-soft manner that is punctuated with little pricks of carbonation that serve as a wonderful counterpoint.

This one ran counter to my expectatinos in a number of ways, and while it isn't any sort of phenomenal revelation, I do find myself leaving with an overall mostly positive impression, and I would say the reality of the thing skews higher than my expectations did. Cheers!!



This guy was just hanging out waiting for the hot water with all the rest of us, though he got a much closer view of the proceedings (it was about 20-25 degrees F that morning). Made for a pretty cool tourist experience, even if she was late to go off.
Do you know what his dad said when he left the herd that morning?
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Bye, son!!

 

Stonecloud Brewing Electric Lettuce West Coast IPA, 8.0% ABV

Pours a hazed gold with 2+ fingers of cream colored head. Above average head retention & nice lacing

S: Tropical fruit, citrus, a touch of cattyness, pine once warm

T: Grapefruit, passion fruit, woody hops, plus plenty pineyness up front, a little cakeyness too. Pineyness dominates as this warms, some cakeyness & dryness, a little pineapple and hints of orange. Finishes piney, dry, cakey with a little bit of sweet orange

MF: Medium body/fairly chewy with slight carbonation, nice balance

Super solid old school West Coast IPA, Easy drinker for the style & ABV

 

I don't know about the rest of the NBW crew out there, but my first few weeks of 2022 have been b-a-n-a-n-a-s. Almost out of control busy at work, with an equal amount of chaos on the home front. As such, I'm quite thankful to finally have a minute to sit down and enjoy a beer and catch up on my favorite BA thread.

First up for me is Chimay Bleue. Full disclosure, I've had this before, but it's been years and I've never reviewed / rated it. All I remember is that it was really good.

4.25/5 rDev -1.2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
by Roy_Hobbs from Connecticut

Pour is a light cola colored, but once in the glass it's a much deeper, darker brown. While the pour was fairly aggressive, there was more head than I anticipated, although it only last a couple minutes before receding to a thin spotty cap. Aroma is loads of rich malts, caramel & figs. Taste more or less follows the nose, with some bready notes joining the party. Well balanced, deceptively complex, and super easy drinking in a way that belies its ABV. Very good.

 

Hey what's going on.

Enjoying the weekend a lot actually. No pressure and just nestled in good. Working on some beers and it's nice to see new flavors and stuff come to life.

I am starting with a stout first, but more to come.

Here's the first new candidate.



Poured from the bottle into a teku glass. Vintage 2021.

Light tan colored head, nearly khaki yellow but manage to hold on to just a good shade of brown. Creamy looking top with two easy fingers, and some good surprising staying power for an aged stout. Body color manages dark brown faint hints of red color as well to the body, with a touch of fudge thickness and viscosity.

Aroma hits predominanty of coffee on first examination. Faint hints of a fruity tone that is somewhat cherry like that seems to come from the port wood nicely, although very small. More coffee exploration goes really well, swimingly with even hints of milky cream quality. Fact it seems down right exceptional coffee, like a fresh cup of brew with even steam milk added going for capuccino glory. It does seem to take away though from possible barrel characters, but a dam fine note it is.

Palate manages some common ground. A centric coffee dominated flavor, large roast and even delicious ground bitter dark roast flavors, with a lingering bitterness that hits nicely. Light mouthfeel for a barrel aging, not getting much roundness or hints of barrel character in flavor, but a faint touch of fruity sensing quality more like lighter brandy than port just squeaks out by a hair. Aftertaste lingers of a bit of boozy fruit quality and hinting fusel heat.

The Ox really seems to have the coffee angle nailed in their brewing, which you will find in abundance on this beer, unfortunately not so much everything else. Still much to enjoy here, and nothing to be disappointed with.

look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4 | 4.08 out of 5

Cheers!