New Beer Weekend #81

I am surprised that haven't tried to trademark the phrase "The Big Game " & sue EVERYONE

 

IIRC, the phrase "The Big Game" came about because the NFL sued everyone, from corner bars, neighborhood groceries, everybody, who ran a 'Super Bowl' special. Whether a sale, or even just come watch the Super Bowl here type thing, that folks just started calling it The Big Game. By the time the NFL caught on, that term was in such wide usage that they couldn't realistically enforce it. Add in that there are other "Big Games' throughout the year, and that was a battle they couldn't possibly win.

 

Thanks for kicking things off, @SawDog505. I'm joining the thread late today, so I'll be catching up over the next ... well hour? 2?

Anyhow, tonight's new-to-me beer has been sitting in my 'fridge for awhile now, and this mild (for us) winter evening seems like a good time.

Founders KBS Espresso
ABV: 12.0%
IBU: 70

Aroma is rich coffee. Chocolate mixed in there, but dominated by rich coffee.

Impenetrable black body. Nothing gets through, even with a backlight. Topped by a 1½ inch dark tan head, thick and creamy, with good retention leaving gorgeous lacing as it does recede.

The taste has the coffee dialed back just a bit, allowing the chocolate to come through more and for the bourbon and barrel to make an appearance. Well balanced flavors, with none of them overbearing; just a very well done interplay of coffee and chocolate with the bourbon playing a minor role adding to the mix, but very much a subtle touch. There is a light amount of bittering in the middle which continues through to the finish and aftertaste; more of a coffee-like bitter rather than from hops. The finish is on the dry-ish side.

The body is substantial, but hardly viscous.

Overall, a BBA coffee stout handled with both complexity and subtlety. An excellent mild winter evening sipper.

L: 4.5 | S: 4.25 | T: 4.5 | F: 4.0 | O: 4.5 | Rating: 4.39

 

Sort of as promised, got waylay-ed by my wife who wanted to watch a movie. But here for my second of two for the day - Three Floyd's ChemTrailMix Dark Lord Variant.
It amused him to use Oberon glasses for this, not certain why.
Poured liquid darkness, black in black. The thin head dissipated very quickly but the aroma of cinnamon and pepper and oak-y bourbon and chocolate (Not cocoa, chocolate!) and if coffee was there it was under the cinnamon. Enticing, and I don't generally like beer with cinnamon in them.
The taste is outstanding; the aroma concerned me a bit but on the tongue the cinnamon plays a constant yet subdued (How did they do that? Almost Mexican Cake like the way it was incorporated) and the red peppercorns, if they are identifiable in the flavor, had to be part of the heat equation I was getting. The base stout was well represented as was the barrel notes. Just really impressed how this came together.
The feel is viscous, no bones about it. It rather needed the body to carry the weight of the flavor. We were both a little sad when our glasses were empty.
Cheers all! Talk to you tomorrow.

 

I am sure they are still working on it...

 

Prairie BA Moose Boots Imperial Stout, 13.4% ABV; 4.19 overall

Pours an effervescent ebony with a sliver of fast-falling mocha colored head. Viscous, zero head retention & lacing

S: Chocolate. vanilla, dark fruit & Maple Syrup, all fade a bit once warm

T: Maple syrup sweetness leads along with dryness, vanilla & a little toasty almond up front. Dryness & Maple syrup dominate with a little boozey bite, some dark chocolate & vanilla once this beer warms. Finishes warming, with Maple Syrup Candy sweetness & dryness, nice vanilla note, hints of toasted coconut as well

MF: Medium/chewy body, near zero carbonation & warming

Nice take on the style. I am a sucker for a Maple Syrup beer of the Imperial Nature

 

Oliphant and Nine Mile Collaboration Beer
Swamp Thang : Smoked wee heavy Scotch ale, 9% ABV, 16oz cans
????Not to be confused with the Oliphant beer called Swamp Thing from the past?????
Nine Mile Brewing is in Bloomington MN. There Grand Opening will be on Feb 11, 2022
https://www.facebook.com/9milebrewing

Now for the beer:
Look: body is brown, but copper brown when held to the light, some hazy or murky. Nice tall fluffy head the hangs on for a while leaving massive lacing.

Smell: Heavy toasted bread, maybe a hint of smoke

Taste: Toasted bread, mild smoke, maybe a micro hint of peat, a little caramel, Maybe a hint of rye or dark bread on the finish. Slightly sweet, smooth. Doesn’t seem like 9% in any way. Plenty of carbonation at first. Feel is ok, not thick or thin, soft feel, slightly syrupy. Not all that heavy of a malt for a 9% wee heavy.

A Ok beer. I would give it a 3.88/5 overall

 

Arbeiter Brewing, Minneapolis
Beers name: HAHAHAHA Pils.
HAHA x 2, Imperial Pils, 9.2% ABV. There anniversary beer. Tested from a 750ml crowler canned 1/31/2022.

Look: transparent light gold body. Nice white head that leaves some lacing.
Smell: bread, sweet malt, lemon citrus, smells good
Tastes: this one tastes best at lower temps. Sweet malt, a hint of honey comb and maybe corn. Bread, and lemon citrus plus a little floral hops. A hint of grassy bitterness on the finish. Somewhat sweet overall. Abv is very well hidden, but you sense there is plenty of ABV at the same time. Rather smooth. Clean tasting beer.

A good beer. I would give this one a 4.09/5 overall. I would buy more crowlers but I have too much beer is the house now including fresh Lake Front & Sprecher Mai Bock plus Lazy Monk Smoked Uber Bock

 

The high abv barrel aged head they manage to pull most of the time is so impressive. I feel like most have minimal to none. Beautiful looking beer, apparently it tastes pretty good too.

 

Good day BAs! Thanks @SawDog505 for starting this weekend's thread! I'm a bit behind but I'll catch up after this cross-post with WBAYDN. Today's New Breakfast Beer is:




Dark Apparition – Bourbon Barrel Aged from Jackie O’s. 12.7 oz bottle purchased online (no record of from whom or when). Stored at 40 degrees after purchase. Reviewed 6/2/21. Note that I use DD/MM/YY protocol.
Bottle stamped on rear of label “2020”. Served at 49.1 degrees in a hand washed and dried Jester King snifter. Final temperature 56.1 degrees.
Appearance – 3.5.
First pour – Ruby Brown (SRM 24), opaque.
Body – Deep Brown (SRM 30), muddy and opaque. When rear-lite, same with precipitate, but top edge is olive and bottom is ruby.
Head – Tiny (Maximum 0.5 cm, aggressive center pour), mahogany, fizzy and no retention, disappearing in seconds leaving a 0.5 mm ring of bubbles and no cap.
Lacing – None, but at 12.8% ABV lacing wasn’t expected.
Aroma – 4.25 – Dark chocolate and ethanol predominate, no hops, no malt, no yeast.
Flavor – 4 – Dark chocolate is much weaker than the nose suggests, but still predominates. No hops, no yeast. Weak ethanol (12.8 % ABV, as marked on container) taste or aroma. Mild gastric warming occurs. No dimethylsulfide or diacetyl.
Palate – 4.25 – Seems thin for a RIS, smooth but short of creamy, barely noticeable carbonation.
Final impression and summation: 4 Looks like a typical RIS or Impy stout. Aroma is mostly dark chocolate with some mediocre bourbon present. Tastes of dark chocolate and bourbon, not bad but not particularly desirable. Both aroma and taste seem simplistic for a BBA RIS. Cap seemed weak and flimsy, like it had been used previously.
Rating 4.06, rDev -6.2%

Now that I've discovered (that) I can buy Jackie O's stuff on line from their store, they'll be moving up in my hit parade (Age tell!). That'll save a 5-6 hour drive to Athens for the less common BBA brews that are miles above the canned brews I can get only an hour away. That cuts my Jackie O's inventory down to 10 varieties which'll be wiped out over the next two weeks. Prosit!

 

Happy birthday week to both of you!

 

Sunday salutations! This morning’s New beer is BA Krampus Cookies (2021) aged in Buffalo Trace barrels with vanilla and cocoa nibs added. Brewed by Old Irving Brewing Co., Chicago, IL via Tavour this past week:



Poured at 52°. Fast fizzy brown head; no cap retention; thin ring, some soapy lace; medium legs; charcoal black body. Bourbon nose and exhale. Bourbon entry; followed by bittersweet dark chocolate; vanilla and molasses as the beer warms; not at all sweet; dry, boozy bourbon finish. Full/on mouth warmth from 14% abv; silky smooth feel/not at all adjuncty; alcohol bite on tongue; medium light body; moderate minus carbonation. Overall a delicious bourbon barrel aged stout; thin for abv but super easy drinking; the barrel gets to the finish line far ahead of the base flavors, but the cone in a close second; and I do like the alcohol burn on my tongue; a beer I would seek out and gladly drink again.

4.5 | 4.5 | 4.75 | 4.25 | 4.5

Cheers y’all and have a great Sunday!

 

Good afternoon NBS/nbw and thanks @SawDog505 for hosting this week, That mixed bag of a storm Thursday-Friday left us with an ice encrusted landscape. Fortunatley not to damaging. It did however make for a beautiful terrain for hiking yesterday.
Todays offering is from our very good friends at Honest Weight in Orange MA. In full disclosure I have had this one other time at the brewery in the before times.
The silky smooth body and grain depth stand out, from the brewers notes

"A dark and decadent Multigrain Stout. Brewed with Flaked Oats, Malted Wheat, Chocolate Rye, Raw Buckwheat, along with freshly Roasted Barley from the fine folks at Valley Malt"
Cheers all

Tom Swamp Road

Stout - American | 6% ABV
Honest Weight Artisan Beer in Orange, Massachusetts

4.13/5 rDev -1.4% | Average: 4.19
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4
by SABERG from Massachusetts

Poured from an undated cacn into the test glass
A - Ebony wood color, holds all the secret, a lovely tan tight knit froth caps the offering. Lacing is lovely.
S - Nutty, earthy, notes of cocoa, char, a hint of toffee, and esspresso
T - All those aromatics and hints of black pepper, blackberry all are in the mix
M - Soft water, silky, medium in body, smooth on the palate, linger is bakers chocolate, and rye. Beatifully dry.
O - A very good stout, hefty enough with out being chewy, lots of depth, The texture is outstanding

 

More old beer that I have set aside, luckily this is another winner with aging, Wolverine State Massacre.
4.34/5 rDev +7.2%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

12 oz bottle, 2017, poured into into a tulip

A- Dark brown with a small tan head.

S- Bourbon, dark fruits, sweet cherries, some figs, toffee, some leather, oak.

T- Bourbon, dark fruits, leather, toffee, figs, cherries, oak, slightly earthy, some chocolate towards the finish that lingers nicely.

M- Smooth, medium to full body.

O- Haven’t tried this fresh so I can’t if it gets better with aged but it seems to age well.

Cheers!

 

Oakspire a 9% ABV Bourbon barrel Ale from New Belgium. The other day I was looking for something new and different. Saw this on the shelf, read the label seemed interesting and pick up a 6er. This beer is a collaboration Four Roses Bourbon. It's orange, brown with a thin but long-lasting white head. Mild aroma of malt and Bourbon. The taste is also surprisingly mild. it pleasant enough but I was expecting it to be much bigger. The mouthfeel is light and the finish sweet. The high ABV is hidden. Overall kind of let down was expecting a flavor bomb. Not bad but it should be a lot more.