New Beer Weekend #81

Organic Chocolate Stout from Samuel Smith



With thousands of reviews, I'll be brief. A low ABV at 5%, this stout is flavorful and dessert-like without being too heavy. That’s a good thing as it comes in a 550 ml bottle.

The aroma is as enticing as the many reviews suggest: a delicious waft of chocolate. A bit sweet to the nose, but the flavor is not as sweet. The beer never loses its place as a stout as the malty char is present, albeit second fiddle to the chocolate. Body and mouthfeel are a bit light, but it is a super easy drinker and its flavor more than makes up for those minor deficiencies (or perhaps better put, choices by the brewer).

Yet another beer I should have tried many moons ago. At roughly $2.50 a bottle, it will be part of my winter rotation.

 

My second new-to-me beer is one of some reputation, renown, and price. As a 2015 packaging, I'll also be posting this in the Cellaruary thread.

J.W. Lees Harvest Ale 2015
ABV: 11.5%
IBU: NA


Consumed at cellar temperature (~55° - guesstimate only, but a bit warmer if anything).

Appearance is dark orange, toward brown, slightly hazy with sparse carbonation. Very short off-white fizzy head with near zero retention; the head is completely gone with just a thin ring before I can put the camera down, and even this ring is gone before I can take a sip. No lacing.

Fruity aroma. Apple. Caramel. Toffee. Figs. Brandy. Quite nice.

The taste is a bit harsh. (Perhaps a 2015 is too young?) Citrus rind. Alcohol. Tobacco. Leather. Boozy. The citrus rind harshness lends a bit of bitterness and the tobacco earthiness is not a good counterbalance. The fruitiness (other than the rind) has not made an appearance. The alcohol warms my mouth and throat in the finish and aftertaste, with the tobacco/rind lingering.

Mouth feel has a moderate body and flat feel (no carbonation).

Overall, vastly disappointing, especially given the reputation and price at just under $1/oz. As I noted above, perhaps more age will mellow out the harshness. I regret buying two. The other one WILL remain in the cellar for more years, both to allow it to hopefully mellow out and because it will not be at the top of my list to try again.

L: 3.5 | S: 4.0 | T: 3.5 | F: 3.5 | O: 3.5 | Rating: 3.62

 

Freaks me out to see that beer in can, what next Thomas Hardy?

 

Toppling Goliath Strawberry Shortcake Fandango Kettle Sour, 5.8% ABV; 4.6 overall

Pours an effervescent Chablis color with 2+ fingers of pink head. Zero head retention & lacing
S: Smells as advertised

T: Vanilla, strawberries, cakeyness, dryness & a little tartness up front. More of the same as this warms, tartness & dryness start to win a little as this warms. Finishes with plenty of strawberry shortcake, a little tartness

MF: Medium body with delicate carbonation, a little sticky

Delivers as promised, strawberry shortcake in a can

 

For day #2, I’m going to venture down the “Cold IPA” path with Revolution (Bell’s also has one in the same “buy a 12-pack, get a new beer!” format). After doing some research, it appears this style ventures down the IPL path, a path that confuses me a bit, TBH.

And away we go!





4.03/5 rDev +6.1%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
by ovaltine from Indiana

This beer pours a CRYSTAL CLEAR golden color that is so clear, it practically glows - think the Vincent Vega “We Happy” scene in “Pulp Fiction” (in my “must watch at least once a year” short list movies of the last 40 years). Put that under a compact, creamy white head that laces the glass beautifully and you have an absolutely gorgeous WCIPA - stunningly beautiful to my beer nerd eye.

The nose has lots of berry, some tropical fruit, and a significant amount of resiny pine. Might be missing a malt presence.

The berry flavors are most prominent on the taste, and very nice, and the resiny pine adds a nice bitterness that works, but this could use a smidge of malt (caramalt anyone?) for balance, because it’s a bit one note.

The mouthfeel is crisp and sharp, if that makes sense, a direct nod to the lager yeast. That puts this on that “IPA/IPL” line, which isn’t a bad thing, but can leave a beer that is a bit ….. muddled.

 

Cigar City Florida Man DIPA. Gent-leee haz-eee. Pineapple-eee and nutt-eee aroma, fruity, full bodied. Good firm sweetness/bitterness balance. 'Tis excellent! Cheers!

 

I’m in the same boat on that beer still haven’t tried and I know I should’ve a long time ago. You’ve motivated me for next weekend.

 

I saw somebody call it the Celery Thread and that's a lot easier to spell, so I will say this beer today is celery-worthy. Good day with the sprout - long walk in the woods with an inch of ice and light powder showing tons of tracks, learned to tell cat from dog, rabbit from squirrel, and found one track that has me scratching my head. Then a successful build of one of those Lego kits that says they are for five year olds...

Ok...the beer:



Pretty Things Beer and Ale Project Our Finest Regards bottled in October 2013 if the check marks on the label are right. English barleywine that has quite the extensive brewer's notes on this web site of ours.

Pours cloudy brown with a short-lived, very short stature head. Basically just a ring around the glass so kind of obligatory to call it a head at all. It clears pretty well at serving temp for the style, 50-ish. Becomes a rich, red-brown color that is quite pretty held to the light.

The aroma is interesting. Fairly fruity and leaning toward prune-like, but a bit of apple, cherry, kind of a woodiness, still boozy after all this time, and...almond???

Man, is this still loaded with flavor! It drinks fairly sweet, but not a syrupy clinging sweet. Malty as can be. Then the role players layer on. Raisins, figs, a bit of apple, caramel, toffee all in the mixture. I get a bit of a high grade tobacco note, and yeah there is that almond thing again. I do get the marsala or sherry-like vibe as well. The ABV even still peeks out with a little warmth and mild spiciness.

Feel is medium, slight carbonation, a little bitterness. Sweet-leaning but not cloying at all. Feels rich without being syrupy.

So I probably shouldn't review this one. It is retired, brewery is gone, so pointless other than to preserve the impression...well, then I guess it does no harm then. I'd still land this 2014 vintage right around the 4.0 mark. Malt-driven, interesting brewing process, no oxidation I can find, no additives to get the flavors. Where is the almond coming from, eh? Kinda wish I had done the drink one/store one thing with this one.

 

Samuel Adams Winter Lager

Clear, bright, deep amber gold color with good off white cap and lacing .

Aroma of sweet malt with some hop sharpness.

Taste on entry is an even balance between malt richness and hop bitterness. I suppose some roasted or caramel malts were used to produce the deep rich color but I don't detect an edge of bitterness that I sometimes get with roasted malt. just good tasting stuff here and lots of it.

A Medium full texture with balancing carbonation

A will balanced beer that manages to be rich without being sweet, I could drink these all day without suffering any palate fatigue.

 

Got my threads criss crossed but here's the rating/review. Cheers!
4.09/5 rDev +4.9%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
by LesDewitt4beer from Minnesota
12oz can pkg date 11/29/22 into a pint glass. L: Pours a lightly hazed straw yellow/light gold w/a 1" soapy white head. Fair carbonation, decent retention and moderately thick lacing & banding.
S: Pineapple, nutty, pepper, honey, rich caramel.
T: Sweet juicy pineapple, lemon zest, tangy light orange, honey, buttery caramel. It is fruity, full flavored & lightly "spicy".
F: Crisp & moderately drying slippery med-heavy mouthfeel w/a med-length semi-firm linger.
O: A fairly sweet but not cloying fruity DIPA that drinks quite smoothly w/very little alcohol detected. Very pleasant overall. It is excellent in it's style.

 

Another weekend comes to an end, Sunday night time for one last beer and some peace and quiet before the work week. I hope everyone has a stress free week.

Been looking forward to this one…

cape may/workhorse collab - cut from the same cloth (cold black ipa/black IPL)




Pours a beautiful dark dark brown with a super dense creamy light brown head that just never quits. Ridiculous retention, some great lacing too. We are off to a great start…

I smelled this the second I opened the can on the counter. You know that hoppy smell when a brewery is brewing, this beer encapsulates it perfectly. Hiding behind that is a nice deep burnt/roasty aroma,

Taste comes in waves, first wave is incredibly hoppy in an earthy/herbal kind of way; second wave dark chocolate and black coffee; third wave lingering grassy hop aftertaste.

Medium body, a rich but incredibly smooth mouthfeel; the lager yeast is noticeable as this thing finish so clean; medium bitterness. It benefits the flavors immensely cause it lets this aftertaste of hoppy coffee breath just shine on.

I’ll be honest, this is one is amazing. It is so unique and so perfectly done. I couldn’t stop smiling as I smelled and drank this one. I’m buying more of this tomorrow before it’s gone. What a beer!

@DrStiffington I agree a good one indeed.

 

Good evening NBW
I have been scanning the Bell's beer finder every day waiting for the Box of Hearts mix pack to drop locally. It didn't, so I checked and found it at Meijer in West Lafayette yesterday. First up Black Hearted


12oz bottle PKG 01/06/2022 (31 days ago) poured into a Spiegelau IPA glass at fridge temp 7% ABV. The beer pours black with minimal light penetration and fluffy light brown head. The head recedes to an island & ring leaving a wall of lacing. The aroma is moderate featuring pine, citrus and caramel. The taste is semisweet caramel with a roasty hint and more pine and citrus. Moderate bitterness. The mouthfeel is medium bodied with average carbonation and a mostly dry finish. Overall, excellent black IPA. Bell's brought the color and just a kiss of roast to blend right in with the IPA base.

I love black IPAs, if the review didn't give it away. Now, if only, Founder's would re-release Dark Penance...

Probably done for the weekend. Cheers all!

 

We have just finished straightening up a little bit after closing up the cast party for my kids' play. It has been a chaotic day, with maybe 12 kids in our house, 10 of whom are not usually here. I think the kids loved being able to hang out with each other without having to focus on the play. I've known the director's husband for like a year and a half now, and today's the first day I've seen his face without a mask.

I've tossed a beer from my "cellar" into the fridge to chill a bit, and in the meantime...

@jonphisher thoughtfully sent me this Sunday Brunch from Kane.

500ml bottle served in a footed pilsner glass. 2021 vintage. Managed to keep this one out of my "cellar"!

Pours very dark brown with a small head that fades slowly to an almost invisible skin and a small ring around the glass. Smell is chocolate and cinnamon.

Taste is cinnamon first, and all else second. Milk chocolate is definitely there. Some coffee bitterness. Might be a hint of syrupy sweetness.

Mouthfeel is medium tending toward thick. Overall, this is a good beer, but too much cinnamon for me. But, I'm a little oversensitive to cinnamon in beer.

My rDev comes in super negative on this. More evidence for me that I'm oversensitive to cinnamon.

 

I saw you post something about cinnamon recently after I had sent it and thought of this beer I even feel like the cinnamon was more pronounced this year unfortunately.

Congrats on surviving a house full of kids on a Sunday. Hopefully the play went off perfectly. I talk to some of the play directors at school and I’m amazed at how much time they and the kids put in.

 

Thanks! The play did not go off "perfectly," but that's not really an expectation. However, the kids did a *fantastic* job of dealing with things going wrong on the fly. First time my kids have performed in a theater, first time my daughter sang solo in front of a crowd. Super, super proud of them.

 

So great! Hope you chilled something special from the cellar to celebrate. I guess I’ll see in the morning

 

Someone photobombed your new kitchen stove installation….