New Beer Weekend #81

Mrs O and I are going to dinner to celebrate our birthdays (we’re 5 days apart), so just a single from me tonight. This is our 32nd “birthday week” as a couple - when did we become these old people? Here’s a pic of us on the day we got engaged (Christmas Eve 1989).



Obviously I outkicked my coverage by 3 football fields. Anywho, on to tonight’s beer.





4.35/5 rDev +2.8%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
by ovaltine from Indiana

Pours a turbid orange color with a sudsy white head that provides very nice lacing on the journey down the glass. The nose is nectarines, mango, and some melon. Salivation mode initiated.

The ripe nectarines are forward on the taste and delicious, and are complemented perfectly by the mango and melon flavors, and there’s a really nice creamy oat flavor as well.

The mouthfeel is medium and on point for the style, which is to say on the softer side. Vitamin Sea doesn’t have the notoriety of the other New England breweries, but everything I’ve had from them has been outstanding.

 

They put toy trucks in the beer? That might be the extreme innovation I've heard of yet!

 

Back with another from @Whyteboar , Bell's Black Hearted. It is an atypical CDA: https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/287/462912/

 

3 Brooklyn IPAs > 4 that you must know...
Flower Record | Grimm | 6.8% NEIPA
4.2 rDev +2.4%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
1st review. Amazing mid-weight IPA.
a) Pollen laden payload over loaded hazed body with lacing, lasting head.
s) Pollen, wood cabinet, medicine cabinet, citrus blossoms, honeysuckle.
t) Follows the smell like a bee.
f) Chalky, powdery, clean. Bee pollen feel.
o) Original, rare in a sea of IPAs.

Deadly Combination: Sabro and Citra | Barrier Brewing | 7.4%
4.2/5 rDev -0.7%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
by Act25 from New Jersey
1st review. So east coast, long-island, barrier island, salty, mineral base water.
a) Clouds and haze and sea froth head.
s) More melon, citrus, grass, salt water.
t) Love the outdoorsy, seaside notes along with the melon and beach plum and rosehips.
f) Excellent chalky, bright, clean finish.
o) Top of the combos.

Bodega Run | Brooklyn | 6.7%
4.11/5 rDev +2.8%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
3rd Poohbah review. One of the best from Brooklyn.
a) Outpours a hazy yellow golden that clouds majority of glass w lace and lasts a long white cloud head.
s) Agree that bold aroma is unique. Flowers forward, flower shop, wet humid leaves. Some citrus, perfume and cracker.
t) Follows nose with floral and citrus notes. More fresh grass and wet leaves, a flower shop of flavors that now add melon, fruit salad, herbs, wheat and bitters up with white pepper.
f) Juicy, fluffy, mid weight and carbonation.
o) Hard to believe they could make a new flavor profile but they did. Nice mineral backbone.

 

Happy Birthday Week to you and the Mrs. It is funny we are the same way, ours are 3 days apart. Hopefully you both enjoy a good meal and even better time together. Cheers!

 

Thankfully no massive snow dump this weekend, but the ice was pretty scary on Friday. Glad we had nowhere to go...

Here's what's goin' down the hatch:



Exhibit A Brewing Company All The Barrys Kettle Sour Ale. Hey...a clear date code, 07/12/21 and it just showed up in a local bottle shop...hmmm. The can claims a kettle sour brewed with Belgian yeast, house Lactobacillus blend, and fermented with blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, and blackcurrant.

Pours with that huge soapy head over a very slightly hazed orange body. Head falls fast to a small foamy ring.

The smell is mixed fruit medley with a very faint vinegar note. Nice, but nothing jumps out as particularly exciting.

The beer tastes OK, but pretty much ends with a vaguely fruity in the generic berry way, a little bit sour tempered by a touch of sweetness. I don't get the Belgian yeast signature here for sure. It puts me in mind of a saison somehow.

Ok, overall it is a decent beer but nothing outstanding. I think it could be a bit more assertive - seems confused about what it wants to be when it grows up. I am going to land this around a 3.7, good beer, but better available in the genre.

Tomorrow I will have one worthy of the Cellaruary thread...

 

Happy to be back here for another weekend, I feel like there has been quite a few posts so far and some very delicious sounding beers. I don't know how many remember but two months ago I posted how our dog tore her acl and we did the simpler of the two surgeries. Well we're at the 8 week mark and she's walking very very well. Still noticeably slower and stiffer but man at least she can walk around. I took her for her first nonbackyard walk today, it was only a few 100 yards but were going slow and steady, she was wiped and sore after that cause she was too damn excited...you can even see the hair growing back on her leg she’s been a little slower since the surgery and maybe that’s just what she’ll be now, she is almost 9. It’s hard to process because we used to walk miles a day together, she’d successfully hunt rabbits and squirrels, and sprint all over our backyard. Anyway here she is passed out for the night.



Well now its time for the beer part of the post, @snaotheus continuing to take care of my NBW needs, three weeks running now. This one a kolsch, from the mountains of Washington, brewed in snoqualmine pass (I could say that name all day).

Dru Bru - Kolsch



Pours a really bright lively light pale, nice multitude of carbonation forms as it pours, a very nice pouring beer. Head was a very nice perfect white, stayed longer than other kolsch but like most did eventually dissipate to not much.

When I smelled this beer I immediately thought of honey then got whiffs of bread and a little bit of grain, and interestingly enough as it warms a smell that reminds me of green tea.

Taste is mostly honey, paired with the bread and green tea note, and even just a hint of hops in the form of a bright lemony note. It isn't strong, I say bright cause it really gives a nice refreshing feel that is noticeable.

Mouthfeel nice and light, no bitter, clean and dry finish.

This beer is quite enjoyable, thanks for sending my way Ryan.

Off for a nightwalk, I will hopefully be back with another beer later tonight.

 

Southern Tier Irish Cream Stout - I saw this and wanted to try, as I love a good Stout. Pours a nice dark color with a frothy head. Smell is heavy on the cream, which is okay but smells like it's going to be a bit too much. Taste is okay, follows the nose and it is indeed a little heavy on the cream and pretty sweet, slightly odd aftertaste. A good dessert beer but my preference would be to tone the cream down just a bit to let the Stout flavors come through more. Enjoyable but a one and done for me. Prost!

 

I had been meaning to ask how she was doing, thanks for the update. Very glad to hear she is on the mend, albeit a little slower than before. Best wishes!

 

Had a small bottle share today; I took the Second Dinner that @Roguer sent me a while back (LIF connected with NBW BIF 14) and I had saved for this occasion (It was supposed to happen a while back)

You can see the color and translucency, I was expecting something more transparent for some reason but the appearance did not distract me from the rest of it.
Even though it was a couple weeks past it's "Best By" date it still had a potent and very pleasant aroma or citrus and soft fruits (Peaches came to mind) and a dankness that indicated the hops were not all soft and squishy.
The flavor followed, though the appearance made me think NEIPA for a hot second, the first sip shut that down fast. The fruits do lead the taste but the piny, and dare I say biting, hops are not playing second fiddle. It's an amazingly balanced DIPA - not overly sweet and not overly bitter, but comforting levels of both.
The feel was ideal for the style and appearance, couldn't wait to take another sip. Almost made me regret sharing it!
(My friend that I shared it with brought my second new beer tonight: ChemtrailMix - A Dark Lord variant from Three Floyds. I'll post about that soon!)
Thank you Andrew, this was amazing.

 

Time to reconnoiter - we’re at Cafe Navarre in South Bend, and they have an AMAZEBALLS beer list. First up - Galactic Double Daisy Cutter.

I was trying to figure out how to secure this - and here it is for dinner. Bawitdaba!!!



4.48/5 rDev +3.9%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
by ovaltine from Indiana

Pours a beautiful mango color with a creamy white head that clings to the glass like Velcro. The nose is very dank and weedy, and there’s loads of mango, pineapple, some berry notes, and passion fruit.

The taste features that dank, weedy flavor up front via the mango and pineapple, and the berry flavors are more pronounced, with a bit of sweet oats at the back of the palate to balance the delicious bitterness..

The mouthfeel is full and surprisingly a bit dry. I love the base beer (Daisy Cutter), and I really like the Double, but this may be my favorite. Exceptionally well done, IMHO.

 

So, my friend the meat cutter got lucky and has next Sunday off (this is a very rare occurrence) so, we decided to have a bit of get-together for the Superb Owl. Since it's at @Immolator 's house, it was decided that we're also doing a stout/dark beer bottle share. I was just digging through my stash at work to see what I had, and found a couple things.

One of the things I found was most certainly not a stout, or dark, so in the spirit of the Celery Thread, I decided to pull the cork out of this bottle of Ale Apothecary Sahati, from June 8 2017, that I believe got to me via @sharpski .

Aww hellfire! This brew is amazing!

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/29600/95992/

 

Here's a really nice clean & easy new to me brew: Sweetwater Mosaic Single Hop Hazy IPA. It's only availible in the IPA mixed 12pk. Well worth it! Here's my take on it...Cheers!
4.19/5 rDev +3.7%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
by LesDewitt4beer from Minnesota
12oz can EB date 4/29/22 into a Spiegelau glass.
L: Pours dull straw dark corn yellow/gray with a 2" white foamy head that gets creamy with a solid cap down to thick skin. Well carbonated. Good lacing & banding.
S: Floral, stone fruit, pineapple, hard candy, a subtle earthiness.
T: Pineapple, passionfruit, watery orange, a hint of biscuit, sweet malts, very clean tasting. Affable sweetness is on top of bitterness.
F: Quite a brisk & snappy, clean semi-juicy med-light bodied mouthfeel w/a moderately soft med-fast lightly drying finish.
O: An extremely pleasant and easy drinking clean tasting single hop IPA that is fruity, semi-juicy and incredibly light on it's feet. It is excellent in it's style.

 

I just laughed out loud at this and had to try and explain to mrs phisher why I was laughing so hard.

 

The NFL is very protective of their trademarks, I most certainly do not want their lawyers coming for me. Safety first folks!

 

Last one, this is Aggromaster from Three Floyds, a Scotch Ale with coffee added.



4.27/5 rDev +3.9%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
by ovaltine from Indiana

The pour is the most beautiful mahogany brown color you’ve ever seen, with a creamy light tan head. The nose is filled with roasty coffee aromas and rich, decadent toffee notes added for good measure.

The roasty coffee leads the taste, but it’s that creamy, rich toffee note that makes this beer one to seek, especially if you like Scotch ales (guilty as charged, your honor).

The mouthfeel is medium and a little creamy, fitting what this beer tries to be. I’d drink this for DAYS, especially around a campfire.

 

Samuel Adams Cold Snap Wijter Ale

Nice slightly hazy orange gold color with a small white cap and decent lacing.

Aroma of sweet malt with a touch of spice. Can't quite describe the spice elements, clove studded orange peel perhaps, as they are subtle but are present.

Taste of sweet malt on entry followed by a low key spice presence with a citrus touch in the dry finish. This one doesn't wander off into too sweet which I appreciate.

Medium texture with a bit more carbonation than it needs.

I really like this one though it's not very complex. A classic Belgian White Ale can be as complex as a full blown symphonic voice section supported by an orchestra. This one is more like a trio with a single string guitar. Tastes good though with an approachable personality and no rough edges. Not a lot to be found here but a lot to like about what is found.

 

Great Raft/Celestial Brewing Collab. I Told You This Would Happen DDH Tripel IPA, 10% ABV; 4.22 overall

Pours a super hazed amber with 2 fingers of rocky beige head. Average head retention & lacing, stays murked up

S: Loads of citrus, some tropical fruit

T: Passion fruit, guava, oranges & pink grapefruit, some dryness & lime up front. More grapefruit, some leafy hops, passion fruit & some green melon as this warms up, some pine shows as well. Finishes dry, piney with passion fruit & guava, plus green melon

MF: Medium body, creamy carbonation, nice balance

Very nice, heavy hitting IPA