New Beer Weekend #79

Tree House Vanilla Bean Truth


Pours onyx black with a dark brown film atop, which results in a small layer of lacing at the rim of the glass.


Aromas on this are defined by complex flowery and spicy vanilla, bakers chocolate and lighter molasses among a well accentuated, toasty, oaken barrel.


The beer’s mouthfeel is rich and decadent, smooth and heavy with a fitting lower carbonation, which manages to develop a late effervescence, leading to a pleasant refreshment.


Tastes of milk chocolate, spicy molasses and toffee, together with a warming, weatherbeaten, yet elegant, sweet and flowery appearing barrel. Got an earthy coffee bean dry- and roastiness going on, gently balanced by lots of soothing whipped cream and chocolate cake. Finishes with a warming, sweet spiciness, lingering, licorice accompanied vanilla bean and more chocolate among an evenly spicy, yet toasty maintaining barrel dryness.


This got an A+ balance to it with a truly fulfilling mouthfeel and a well working adjunct, establishing a nice interplay with the prominent barrel in this. Well done!

 

That sums it up for Benevolence better that I did!!
Cheers

 

Riverlands Brewing & Penrose Brewing Collaboration Alsatian Fields French Country Lager



Can Notes: Brewed and packaged by Riverlands in St. Charles, IL. 16 oz canned 12/30/21. 6.7% ABV.

Alsatian Fields Forever! Alsatian Fields is a French Country Lager hopped with Barbe Rouge hops. This beer is a collaboration with our friends at Penrose Brewing, and named for the majestic Alsace region of France. This is the scenic site for a majority of France's hop fields.

Appearance: Multiple pours into a goblet. Clear bronze base, medium carbonation, creamy egg white head lingers a bit before leaving a dusting over the base and creamy ring above the rim of the glass. 4.25

Aroma: Faint malt and barley, neutral. 2.5

Taste: Sweet malt, corn, salty. Light in strength, sort of just there, nothing much to recommend, though not objectionable. 2.5

Mouthfeel: Light body, faint carbonation, sweet and salty, easy drinking, clean finish. 3.0

Overall: Not recommended, lacking flavor, rate lower than the average European Strong import. 2.5

New Beer Sunday 883; WBAYDN 3382; Home @ 1/23/22.

 

Greetings All from the Great Northwest where we are cold and foggy for what seems like dozens of days in a row. Watching some playoff football, glad Green Bay is gone. I don't like watching those frozen tundra games. It's just bad football.

Today we have Toasted Bock, oddly enough from Wisconsin.
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/710/507335/

I'm not a big fan of the style, but this one is better than most I've had.

Until next time

 

It's sunny, but cold here. I'm getting stuffy & lazy and looking for a warm and comforting beer so I figured it was time to open up Lagunitas' Unrefined Shugga, a 10% “strong ale brewed with whole cane sugar” “chockfull of malted barley, malted wheat, Munich malt, and crystal malts, then generously dry-hopped with Simcoe, Columbus, Cascade, and Centennial hops”

As soon as you open the bottle you're hit with the aroma of dark rum and brown sugar. This stays with you for as long as the tall khaki head lasts, when the head disappears so does the aroma.

The flavors are dark rum like (Myers not Bacardi) caramel, brown sugar, sweet malts, with a mellow burnt sugar bitterness in the background.

That's where all of those hops come into play. Unrefined's sweetness is well balanced and complimented by the hops. It all balances out, resulting in an easy drinking beer with a surpringly dry finish.

Lagunitas refers to this as a barleywine and it is a fine example of a heavily “American” version of the style.
3.94/5 rDev +0.8%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

 

Good afternoon NBW
I am drinking a first of the four pack beer here that I purchased at People's Brewing Company a few weeks ago. The brewery is a mere seven minute drive from my son's new place right across the street from Mackey Arena.

Captain Black Strap Imperial Stout brewed with molasses

12oz can stamped BEST BY 03/10/22 poured into a tulip pint glass at 55° Fahrenheit, no ABV listed on label. It does state "best stored refrigerated" and "age below 55F". The can was purchased at the brewery a few weeks ago. The beer pours pitch black with no light penetration and abundant light brown head. The head recedes to a quarter inch cap and leaves rings of lacing. The aroma is mild with molasses and caramel most noticeable. The taste is bittersweet roasted malt with molasses and restrained caramel. Moderate plus bitterness. The mouthfeel is medium plus bodied with just less that average carbonation and a mostly dry finish. Overall, very good as a Russian Imperial Stout, which the brewer labels the beer. It's at a numerical disadvantage as an American Imperial Stout here on BA.

My newly renewed relationship with moderation makes this my last beer of the weekend. Cheers all and enjoy the new beer in your glass today!

 

Not a new beer, but one I haven't had in a while - Westmalle Tripel !!! The last time I had it was around 2015 in Rome because I wanted to compare it to the new Trappist brewery that had opened there, Tre Fontane (completely different beers!), but I used to drink it fairly often in the late 80's and early 90's when there weren't that many craft breweries. It used to be expensive, but now, in comparison to American craft brewers, it's cheap - the large bottle was just $12!

 

Something new from Short Fuse, a local brewer......


4.5/5 rDev 0%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
by ZebulonXZogg from Illinois

L: Pours a very dark brown with a small tan head that fades to a ring, no noticeable lacing.
S: Snot locker gets vanilla, coffee, booze, char, caramel, a bit of fig.
T: Some bitter roast, a bit of chocolate, toffee, dates, a Nintendo of whiskey and some dark fruit.
F: Thick, but not quite chewy, not much carbonation.
O: The can label attributes the name, 1995, the Goose Island introduced BCBS to the world and changed beer forever. If Short Fuse was trying to "clone" BCBS, they certainly succeeded.

 

Final beer of the weekend comes courtesy of @2beerdogs. Derek, I think this is the last of the cans you sent me, but I still have TONS of bottles to drink.

On the way out of the can this looks a lot like cola, but is much darker and less translucent once in the glass. Almost no head, and very little retention. Aroma is very, very sweet with chocolate, lactose and peanut butter all combining to form an interesting, if not all that noteworthy smell.

Those same notes show up on the tongue, but they work better together than on the nose. The peanut butter leads the way, followed by plenty of lactose sweetness and chocolate. Medium feel and almost no carbonation.

Overall an interesting, sweet sipper.

 

I'm going to say right up front that this is definitely not my style of beer. I'll eat a banana or a dessert with real bananas, but beer, that's totally different. I actually don't really love Belgian yeast either. But I got this in a gift pack so "rate to style" here we go.
My son research tells me that Well's brewing ( the epitome of banana beers) was either bought, merged or bought by Eagle Brewing, the parent of this beer.

3.28/5 rDev -7.3%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.25

Poured from an 8oz can stamped "BBE 29/05/22" to a tulip at fridge temp.
Pour and elegant dark gold body with a nice white head. Lacing is pretty good throughout the session.
Aroma is of banana liqueur and vanilla.
Taste is very similar to those bananarama candies. There is a hint of real banana, but the overpowering affect is artificial.
Body is appropriate.
Overall, too much artificial taste to make this enjoyable. A niche market of people for sure.

 

Good Sunday afternoon, New Beer Samplers and commentators. This week, Twin Elephant Brewing Company released a new batch of its Honey IPA, The Swarm. I remember when it was first brewed in 2019 and it's been released at least one other time (maybe more) and I was certain that I had tried it before, that is until I checked and found no prior review. I think I may have had it on draught at the brewery but my memory ain't what it used to be. I know I haven't bought cans before. And my fellow Twin Elephant habitué @hopsputin says good things about it so let's go.

It pours a dense, murky, dirty yellow color with two fingers of creamy, bright white head and thick, long-lasting lacing. It's an attractive pour. The fragrant smell includes lemon peel, lime, grapefruit, and a nice dose of honey. Its taste opens with the creamy sweetness of the honey and oats but it's quickly balanced by tart lemon and grapefruit from the Citra hops, notes of ripe honeydew melon and berry from the Huell Melon, pineapple from the Vic Secret, and dry wheat cracker. As it warms the honey reemerges and melts on the tip of the tongue. It finishes with clean, bitter hop bite. The mouth feel is thick and creamy with fairly lively carbonation, and while it's a substantial ale at 7.2% ABV, a second pour is not a problem. Overall, The Swarm is very tasty and fun to drink. Don't be put off by the honey; it's used very well. I like it a lot.

4.19/5 rDev +4.2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

 

Greetings fellow NBSers! A foggy morning has given way to a cloudy and overcast afternoon here in the Fourth Corner, with temps somewhere in the 40s-ish. A pleasant change from the rain, snow and wind that has been our weather this fall/winter.

Starting out with another from local murkmeisters Structures, Who Goes There. It is, in nothing of a surprise, fully turbid and frooty: https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/43366/586818/

Got a couple other victims lined up, back in a bit.

 

Pineapple Berliner Weisse from Brothers Brewing in Guelph, Ontario.

I think this one is new. New to me anyway.

A cloudy dirty yellow. Minimal head which soon diminished to a ring. Minor lacing.
Fruit in the nose.
Lots of pineapple up front. Prickly sour..
Light body and carbonation.
A fair Berliner. Not as sour as some. Light and refreshing as it should be.

look: 3.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75 | 3.74 out of 5

I looked for Baltic Porters locally. Can't find one.

 

Urban Family Saison 1100

L 3.75
A 4.0
T 3.75
M 4.0
O 3.75

500mL bottle into a Hennepin glass. Pours a slightly hazy, golden color with a bright clean white head.

Aroma is bright and grassy, mildly tart. Classic saison smell. Green apples.

Taste is likewise funky, earthy, grassy. Biscuity malt. Light mineral/crushed aspirin quality. Mild lemon juice.

Mouthfeel is clean and light, crisp finish.

Overall a pretty good, average saison. Not mind-blowing but enjoyable.

 

Agreed cheers!

 

I went to the food coop to grab some NBS brews earlier. Logged on to BA, to post my first of the day, and at the top of there was mention of it being International Baltic Porter Day (or something similar). I LOVE Baltic Porters, they're probably in my top 5 styles. Damn. if only I had known that when I went to the store .

Wait! What did I happen to grab? Silvernail, a, you guessed it, Baltic Porter from Structures.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/43366/584622/

 

I can only think of one local baltic porter for me and it seems to be brewery only, or at least the stores by me don't order it, Neshaminy Creek Brewing. They only seem to brew it once a year too I believe.

A baltic porter from a local murkmeister (sorry that word was too fun not to use again) brewery? That's neat.

Oh and on a sidenote my coworker kept telling me I have to watch the nova episode about peregrine falcons, well you just posted another sign for me to do that.

 

They're an excellent brewery. I think their best stuff is their Saisons, and other various barrel-aged things. But, if we have a "hypebro" brewery in town, it's these guys and their murkbombs.

I'm a bit sad that it took me until today to have Murkmeister pop out of my brain. Please, use it often (where applicable). I encourage everyone to use it.

 

Fortunately for me, Wander has Global Mutt. It used to be year round, but is now more limited. Fortunately, it holds up well with time.