New Beer Weekend #79

Now at Bellwether Brewing, where I'm drinking their Obey The Decider, their non-barrel aged RIS, the current batch of which is clocking in at 10% abv.

Deceptively mellow for the style. While not tasting like a dessert beer, it's considerably less bitter than, say, an Old Rasputin. I'd definitely hit it again, though probably a bad idea for sessioning.

 

I love that first scene @ovaltine the best “that’s what she said scene” of any

 

Nice!

 

I had a Baltic Porter for last week's thread, and a pretty good one at that, from Jack's Abby. Does that sorta count???

Cold and shivery here again, but I can now settle in and enjoy the Packers game from what was like a second home for me between plant start ups and grad school. And remembering being in WI in minus 35 and two feet of snow...the snowless ten or so degrees we are at now? Well, I will take it.

New "old" beer tonight:



Yeah...a little slow here, I suppose. Founders Velver Rush brown ale. I find I have had a few brown ales, but most of them of the flavored variety. Need to find a non-adjunct version to get a better read on the base style, methinks.

The pour is a tad murky, reddish brown like mahogany MinWax. The tan head collapses to a nice ring and a raft.

The smell opens with cold brew coffee for me. There is a little chocolate, even less vanilla, slight sweetness like light brown sugar, and hardly any barrel initially. Light bourbon creeps in after a few minutes.

The taste follows, but it is much stronger than the smell. Cold brew coffee, the chocolate plus vanilla plus lactose combo starts to play like milk chocolate, but the initial chocolate taste is more like baking chocolate. The barrel influence seems pretty minimal, but it's there. There's a decent level of bitterness just at the end of the taste. I do not find this to be very sweet, and that is surprising. No indication of the 11-ish percent alcohol.

Feel is fairly light, well carbonated, slightly drying astringency, but pretty smooth and silky. The coffee lingers as does the chocolate. A very mild vanilla sweetness builds in with repeated sips.

Overall, it's a very decent brew. Might land in the 3.8 range. Part of that is my expectation of more intensity. It's well-balanced and the flavors are quite harmonious, and I would say restrained compared to other flavored Founders offerings.

 

4 Cartons make almost a 4-pack in Atlantic Highlands, NJ
This Is Definitely Not A Fake Duck | Carton | 12% | Winter Warmer
4/5
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
1st review at brewer. This is revised Decoy where the backstory, narrated by a fat, 40-something Augie Carton is lovingly told below in 2013. 8 years later what have we learned?
a) splash of peppery lace around the snifter over a solid walnut brown body. (brown sauce)
s) faintly of peppercorn and spice, tea and spice cabinet of black teas and old spice, wood, smoke.
t) Follows the aromas with a nice back-drop of peppery burn.
f) Silky, sweet/pepper, last beer of evening (at least before you hop on the winter stationary bike and do a Time Trial)
o) It’s a replay of Decoy, with slightly more pepper? Save for special occasions.

Bit Of The Filth | 10.5% | DIPA
4/5 rDev 0%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
1st Review at brewery.
Sultana comes through loudly with wash of pineapple, pine and citrus, amplified by citra.
a) Hazed solid yellow body, turbid, slowly receding white ring.
s) Fruit salad mostly pineapple
t) Massive flavors but too one-sided citrus for me. Lots of pulp and pineapple. A bit sweet for me too, not enough bittering.
f) Crunchy.
o) Unusual, original, oversized.

Austen 1 | Carton | 4.8% | Smoke Beer
4/5 rDev 0%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
1st Review, at brewery. “Wanna smoke a beer?” asks the label of this smoked rustic lager. It’s so far out in the country offering dense wood fire smoke along with a pack of smokers of backwoods and coyote twisted cigars in smokey, sweaty working flannels and carhardts. But the smoke forces you to sip slowly and enjoy and lean into a long slow set of small draws.
Be sure to aerate.
a) Pours clear crystal body with thin head that lens a skinny rim only.
f) cidery, astringent, bright mouth feel.
o) really interesting w ripe and stinky cheeses, smoked fish, olives.

Bič | Carton | 4.4% | Czech Pils
3.98/5 rDev -4.8%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
1st Review, at brewer. Bic is Euro lager built for east coast usa.
A pale yellow clear body, scant head, white rim.
S Classic apple, lemons, straw, grass.
T Follows aroma, straw and grain comes into play. Feel like I’m in Luxembourg.
F) crisp, Astringent, almost sauvignon blanc.
O) If you like plains of Europe beer, this is a great classic fit, because it’s so much better when fresh.

 

Blueberry & Marshmallow Hopsicle Sour, from White Lion, courtesy of my brother in central MA.
Lives up to billing, with mildly sour blueberry/cranberry aroma & flavor, with a touch of vanilla-y marshmallow. Slightly rough on the carbonation, but still enjoyable overall.

4.01/5 rDev -0.2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/37413/558467/?ba=mikeinportc#navigation

 

Hey all again.

While this isn't a new beer for me this weekend, @JackHorzempa nicely asked that I should revisit this beer for the upcoming NBW and thoughts.

So without further delay, here is my take on this Baltic Porter I recently had from Tributary Brewing up in Kittery Maine.

Some back story. I was spending another Christmas up in Maine visiting my in-laws in 2021 and like many trips would stop by the usual buying spots for beers. Naturally, I would pick up local items, things that would not be in my area when visiting. However, I made a mental note of one particular brewery to revisit if I was ever to be passing by again.

Tributary is a brewery founded by Tod Mott. To make a long story short, as a long time searcher and enjoyer of beers, Tod was well known for an enthusiastic beer here made back before his Tributary days called "Kate The Great" from Portsmouth Brewery in NH. Nothing more needs to be said about that if you know the history of that beer. Tod has since set out on his own, and has created Tributary. Conclusion... I had to seek out Tod's new wares.

While stopping briefly, and needing much time to get back on the road during a covid epidemic, contact was kept at a minimum. The silver lining, is that much great beer has now been available with technology that has been embraced by many retailers. 20 minutes away from the brewery in my car, I pull out my cell phone, scan the breweries online selections. I fill my cart up with items available, punch in my transaction, and the beers will show up delivered to my car when I arrive.

Upon arriving I knew that Tod also created another similar beer to facilitate the insatiable need for beer geeks who clamored for some other greatness to chase called Kate The Great. He named it Mott the Lesser. When I arrived at the brewery parking lot, with instructions to call for pickup I asked the young man just as a random joke if they had any. He did reply that it was available only in the tap room if I wanted to come in.

However, crappy weather conditions were on the possible horizon, we hadn't much time to continue on the journey, and I had plenty of beer being brought to me which I was very highly keen on drinking and reviewing for my beer appetite. Their website filled the common need of beer current lust, IPAs and so forth, but one stood out on the menu..

There was a Baltic Porter.

no... not an classic English porter... heck not even AMERICAN.. it was one of the THOSE porters...

I was skeptical... but this was the person who made Kate the Great... this was not to be trifled with... this was not to be brushed off... This was going to be consumed amongst the safe and knowingly trusting pale ales and IPAs offered by this brewery and at minimum the result should be...

satisfactory...

You probably need to understand my life with Baltic Porters, in the years I have tried and reviewed them.

For me... they are the style that gets buried, and is somewhat taken to the back burner of enjoyment. I get it, everyone digs their own thing, but for me this style just always skewed me.. well... sort of wrong... in general.

Baltic seemed to hint of sourness.. it had light or sometimes thick body, but never quite the quality of stout flavor. It seemed dysfunctional, almost a place of not knowing where it was coming or going. Traditional with lager yeast in a dark beer, but never tasting like a light refreshing Schwarz. Confusion even remained as sometimes from what I read, it would be either made with ale yeast also, adding more to my confusion and what I would only consider, an odd property that just warped my sense of enjoyment either in my taste buds, or from just saying.. nobody here makes this dam thing domestically anyway. A porter here is domestically now American, and more so, it's imperialized.. with a giant ZZZ and probably thrown in a barrel. Not that the results sometimes aren't a bad thing mind you.

Looking over my past reviews, I am still sitting at myself dumbfounded. My high rankings for this style are often reserved for barrel aged versions, or enthusiastic beers I had very on early in my reviewing career. In many ways that seems of cheating myself of goodness. Classic examples don't push the right buttons, other reviews were just down right nasty. However, Browar Fortuna and Kees seems to stand out...

But then my mind grasped at what could exist in the can of a style that was made in the far reaches across the Piscataqua River. A seemingly dark red label on an un assuming can that screamed PORTER, yet Baltic hiding in plain white.

I was to try Tod's Baltic porter.



my enthusiastic initial review is here

That being said some thoughts jump to mind as I have since enjoyed this beer more so since it's initial review.

Appearance aside, I am struck by this enjoyable and stunning sense of cherry quality on this beer. Looking back at some of my past BP reviews, it has happened... what a resource BA is, but this one is shockingly rapture-ish in it's flavor profile.

The can and website profile even hinted at it, which made me even more skeptical. But the cherry quality on this is unlike any other flavor I have had on ANY style, that includes beer styles I normally associate such as estery sours of Flanders Red and old ales, or even the plethora of cherry added additions to the enormous amounts of kettle sours, lambics, and barrel aged stout, or even cherry wood infused beers I have had.

Pitted cherries... bull shit I said to myself. I but fresh cherries at the market every Summer, don't talk to me about pitted cherries in beer. But then I literally drank this beer and felt I was going to spit out pits. the tannins, the skins and juicy rinds all hit out of nowhere in a stunning plethora I could crunch them out between my gums. Cherry flavor in high rolled barrel aged stouts, with black forest cake and chocolate, yes... many.. but this was unlike anything.. crisp almost crackling light coffee with a skin and pitted tannin that just stunned my brain.

The beer also seems to skew a fine line. If I have done my homework, it's a mix of both and ale and lager yeast strains. For you all beer geek and brewer and enthusiasts. this is your time to call me out wrong, so feel free to correct me, and go research. I wont complain, I will still enjoy it. Perhaps giving to some truly unique qualities, or skewing my idea that this is some sort of fucking sorcery, either way it's unlike any Baltic I have had.

It comes across as the craft beer echelon... a term I really hate to throw around, but does seem aptly deserved for this beer, as a mix between classic but new world twist. It has that old style but a new found American porter lightness not unlike a borrowed English, but with a wizardry and flavor that is unlike any I have had before.

Either way... do enjoy a Baltic porter... or just any porter as far as I am concerned.

Here is my current top 4 ranked Baltic Porters to date

1. Tributary Baltic Porter (the one you just read about)
2. Duck Rabbit Baltic Porter - this one for me is really worth a re-visit. A very old review in my beer review life and probably more excited about my discovery of this style. This might have been the first Baltic porter I ever tried, so my review reflects that. Still, I would definitely not turn one down. sounds like it is time for a revisit!
3. Komes Baltic - Browar Fortuna
4. Nocturne - Green Man Brewery NC

Cheers!

 

Rare Sat night off requires a rare beer...
Treehouse Peaches and Cream
The beer is a variant of Haze.
Pours a golden hazy orange, almost OJ with a slight off white 2 finger head that lingers for a moment but leaves plenty of lacing.
Lots of vanilla on the nose with a melange of fruits: yup loads of fresh peach, tangerine, mango, some passionfruit.
Taste is orange creamsicle, bruised soft peach, mango/passionfruit.
The sweet up front leads to a burst of solid flavor in the middle but with all that it finishes with a perfect touch of piney/orange-grapefruit pithy bitterness. Wow, wow, wow.
Mild carbonation throughout with a drying, leaving a nice bittersweet beer
candy finish. Gentle in the mouth but not entirely soft, great mouth feel. Absolutely no hint of 8.2%
Im not a huge fan of base beer adjuncts but damn they enhanced Haze. The base peeks through with the hops. Just an incredible beer for me. Limit was 2/16oz PP. I was skeptical even to get the 2 but now I wish was able to get more.
Cheers.

 

@WunderLlama sent me this beer a few weeks ago, I think from a trip he took to Tennessee, as part of NBS BIF #14 hijinks.

Southern Grist's Who Needs Galaxy, NE DIPA brewed with Azacca, Mosaic, and Citra.

16oz can served in a big snifter. Dated 9/??/??, so I'm assuming canned sometime last September.

Pours a hazy orange-amber with a fairly small head, a relatively small ring around the glass with a very light dusting across the surface, but a lot of visible active carbonation. Smell is ripe to overripe tropical fruit with a little bit of old, musty hay. Maybe a little lemon zest.

Taste is citrus (maybe leaning toward orange and lemon), tropical juice, moderately sweet, fair amount of resinous bitterness in the finish.

Mouthfeel is on the light, almost watery side. Overall, this is a pretty good beer.

Thank you, Maynard!

 

I think the only thing I need honestly is an editor these days...

Cheers!

 

It was good but I didn't get a accurate rating on it at the tap room. I recommend giving it a try if can.

 

Vanguard - Rotor Wash. An "American Red Ale" a friend from Oregon left at my house. I expected it to be boring. I was wrong.

16oz can served in a pint glass. Don't see a date on it anywhere.

Pours a slightly hazy reddish-amber color with about a finger of dense, creamy-looking head that collapses to a thick skin that leaves a heavy curtain up the side of the glass. Smell is a little nuts and toffee, little bit of yeastiness. Kind of vague citrusy hoppiness.

Taste is right up my alley! Hoppy, west coast bitterness, with a rich toffee sweetness. Yeasty/breadiness is kind of mild, nuttiness might be there also as an undertone.

Mouthfeel is medium and clean. Overall, I'm impressed. I like it a lot.

I continue to pine after my dearly departed Imperial Red Ale from Lagunitas. I no longer remember specifically what that beer tasted like, but this has huge sweetness + caramel/toffee notes and the huge piney bitterness that make me think of it. Yum.

 

Thoroughly enjoyed reading this as I ate breakfast this morning. Fantastic post.