New Beer Weekend #82

This is my guiding principle. If a brew doesn't vary greatly (either + or -), it's gonna land in the 3.25-3.5 range. In any given style, most examples are gonna be more similar than different 9for better or worse).

 

Bodhi Loves Chachi, barrel-aged sour blonde ale with Montmorency cherries, cinnamon, and vanilla beans added. From Haw River Farmhouse Ales in Saxapahaw, North Caroline. I'm just gonna say Saxapahaw a few more times today.

500ml bottle served in a little Cantillon glass. I don't see a date on it. I left about an inch in the bottle -- there was visible sediment which I chose to avoid for the initial pour and review. I have no idea how long this beer has been in my possession or how it came to be in my possession.

Cap opens with just a slight sigh. Beer is an interesting pinkish-amber color, zero head or visible carbonation. Slightly hazy. Smell is mild cherry cream, cinnamon is barely noticeable, vanilla mixes nicely in, smells a bit like cherry cobbler.

Taste is moderate tart, moderate to high woodiness, again the soft cherry cobbler theme.

Mouthfeel is light, smooth, clean, dry, but could use just a touch of carbonation. Overall, this is very nice.

It's nice to find a beer with the word "cinnamon" on the label that I don't find overpowering.

 

Back with another from @Whyteboar , this time Founders Big Luscious (which, I might change my name here to. And, in real life.) Chocolate Raspberry stout. I love both chocolate and raspberry, so I was predisposed to like this brew:

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/1199/138289/

 

LOL! I know, even as I was looking at it in the glass, I thought, “This is the ugliest beer I’ve ever seen - next to that Drekker Chonk beer I had” - and I gave that a 2.75 for look …..

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/37051/500136/

My reaction to the appearance of that beer was so ….. pronounced that Mrs O inquired if I was okay. Yet I still rated its appearance as just a bit below average, which makes zero sense.

I am a ratings conundrum.

 

Had that in the Hoppy Sampler. I really liked it and hope they keep that in the rotation. Your review was perfect for me.

 

I need to pick that up and revisit it - because I too LOVE chocolate and raspberry. Thanks for the nudge.

 

I think the artist for that particular label is familiar with Chernabog:

 

Look at each aspect in a vacuum. The first 4 are totally independent of each other, while the Overall gives you your room for creativity.

 

Hi all, it’s not that I haven’t had new beer this weekend (indeed, because of and thanks to @Providence (Who’s real name is not Eddie much to my surprise) but write up times are scarce as I am the family handyman and the daughter’s furnace went out and that has kept me coming and going.
But I will, soon. Promise!

 

We could use one of those...my brother and dad are the handymen in our family. Fixing a furnace, now that is above both their knowledge set. It will be a beer review well deserved

 

Good afternoon NBW
I was prepared to say that this was my first time with this variant and WWS in general, but a quick scan of the line-up reminded me I reviewed the vanilla & oak variant a while back. I still have a 2018 WWS in the cellar fridge, but neither @FBarber or @Todd are going to talk me into drinking it right now...

Utopias Barrel Aged World Wide Stout

12oz bottle coded D2701143111 (Sept 27, 2021) poured into a signature DFH tulip glass at 55° Fahrenheit, no ABV listed on label, but 24.5 IBU. The beer pours black with minimal light penetration and light brown head. The head recedes to a thin ring and single layer of tiny bubbles. Sparce lacing. The aroma is chocolate fudge, rum and roasted notes of coffee. The taste is bittersweet, boozey, chocolate with more rum, oak and bourbon. There's a coffee like component, even though there's no coffee involved and mild bitterness. The mouthfeel is medium bodied with just less that average carbonation and a semi dry finish. The alcohol is very prominent in both the nose and taste, yet it's pleasantly warm to my taste and not overly hot. Overall, excellent Imperial Stout.

I've never had to opportunity to sample Utopias either and this bottle has me more curious than I've ever been. I will have to watch for the chance to buy a small pour, as I'm not the type of whale buyer who would ever have to opportunity to buy a bottle. I may buy another bottle of this beer to stash away for a February of the near or distant future. It seems well suited to age...

Cheers all!

 

Afternoon NBS!
Thanks @Shanex for kicking er off!
Happy to be home with beer and football after a very tough week at the restaurant. 64 yesterday and people came out in droves to the waterfront. So two 10 hour days of straight out prep and line cooking are now in the rear view. And now theres 4" of the white stuff and its still snowing. There is just no doubt the world is changing. Have to think we are speeding the process up of a dying planet...
But lets get positive with Mosaic. One of my favorite hop varieties.
Grimm Tetraplex. TIPA (yaaas!) With Mosaic, Falconers Flight and Citra.
Pouring a hazy ( but not turbid) golden yellow with a nice off white 2 finger head has surprising retention for the abv. Leaves some nice sticky lacing as it recedes. A really pretty beer in the glass.
Smell - bang! Mosiac city: Big blueberry, tangerine, very dank weed mixed with some pineapple, strawberry and peach.
Taste follows with with fruits, earthiness and grass, sweet malts balanced by a bitter pine resin and citrus. Incredible balance. Resiny and oily but drying on the finish. Lightly, prickly, but lasting carbonation. Very little alcohol in the taste but the 10% is warming in the stomach. Incredibly drinkable. A very good Mosaic IPA!
I would put this in the category of one of my favorite Mosaic beers Tessellation - which is 100% Mosaic.
This combo works very well.
Cheers folks. I have 2 more but will see how distracted I get. Will be lurking though...

 

My favorite fictional take on Chernobog is in the Shin Megami Tensei/Persona series of video games.



Something about a badass dark mushroom god with a sword that speaks to me on a deep level

Okay, up now is the other half of my Other Half entries (groan) for today. This is Green City, a DDH IPA clocking in at 7% ABV. It was canned on 1/18/22.



Simcoe, Citra, and Centennial. That speaks to me on a deep level as well, honestly. The initial pour here is a bit better than the last one. Not as insanely dense-looking, and the head builds up a bit more consistently. Could be the glassware, though, I suppose. Lacing is a little more traditional, too, but the legs still seem to leave something to be desired somehow. Once it all settles and I hold it up to light it... almost does have a green tinge to it. Hmm, maybe I'm imagining it. Or maybe this is just really chock full of hops. Maybe both.

Nose is popping with bright, juicy citrus ranging from mandarin orange to grapefruit, just as some cattiness from the Citra comes into play and the Simcoe unleashes some tropical and funky dank notes. Some floral and grassy hints, too. Exciting... this one is nice and complex with that punchiness I want from a Simcoe/Citra combo. I'm thinking I'll appreciate the comparably-lower 7% ABV here, too, and the fact that it's not advertised as an "oat cream" IPA is also nice. Maybe it'll be crisp like I want something with this kind of hop bill to be!

First few sips are kind of chalky, but as it warms a little bit, I start to really feel the hop combo coming into focus on the palate. Musky tropical fruit (mango and guava are prominent) mingling with deep dankness and tangerine in the mid-palate. A kiss of bitterness engulfs the palate towards the finish, which zips out of existence rather quickly with a solid dryness left behind. Most of the feel is a little chewier than I thought it would be, but I dig the quick finish. This would be a pretty good common drinker IPA from these guys. Too bad their stuff is kinda on the expensive side, which limits my desire to grab it with any more regularity. Well, that and the scarcity in my area. Hopefully at least the latter can be slightly remedied soon-ish. Worth a drink, for sure!

 

According to my vast research that is constituted within this one post, I'd say you can wait a few years' of Cellaruary, yet.

Definitely find a friend. It was quite a while ago at an Extreme Beerfest in Boston, but a shot of Utopias was $25. We got a half ounce at the fest, and we definitely feel it's more the experience of having it than what it is. It's good juice, but the squeeze might be tougher. A nice port or sherry is more approachable. Others can disagree, of course.

 

Greetings, fellow NBWers.
Mostly sunny, and in the low 40s here in the wilds of Spokanistan as I wait for the start of the Super Bowl. I am rooting for the Rams entirely because I want Cooper Kupp (a fellow Eastern Eagle) to be a World Champion.

I had several new beers last weekend at a couple of breweries in the area where I grew up, but for the rest of the weekend I was simply too busy to get into it on last week's thread, as I was hanging with the Parental Units, getting some work done on my car in my dad's shop (which turned out to be kinda unnecessary as the weather was so mild I could have easily done it outdoors), and eating a belated birthday dinner with them (this involved eating a fantastic steak at a restaurant on the Columbia River).

This week, the weather has been similarly mild for the most part, frequently getting into the high 40s and low 50s.

Speaking of weather, or, ahem, wether (how's that for a smooth transition),
Bellwether's a brewery I think I can best describe as one that I cautiously like. They have a lot of imagination, but I find their quality can be quite uneven. Sweater Wether (geddit?) - which I paid $16-17 for without being able to sample first, is emblematic of their good and bad points.





Normally, chipping away at the amount of wax over the cap is an activity that tends to shake up a beer. Not this one. There's a very low level of carbonation to this, but I guess it kind of makes up for it by also being rather light and watery in the mouth feel. Decent Bourbon Barrel flavor, but not as barrel-y as I would expect for something so relatively new.
As it warms, it generally tastes as advertised. While the base beer tastes a little like a dry stout, the bourbon barrel aging does give it a sweetness. The booziness is fairly well hidden for the most part even after it's warmed up. Kinda frustrating, as it's almost there, but it's carbonation and mouthfeel are it's Achilles Heels.
As often is the case with Bellwether, at least in my experience, this was a good idea that seems wanting in execution.

 

My father in law brought some of 10 Barrel's Pub Beer ("cheap fun," according to the label) to share for the super bowl. I thought I'd get a review in while things were still fairly sedate around the house. We're hosting a surprise 40th birthday party in about an hour.

12oz can served in a tulip. Best By 15 May 2022.

Pours a clear dark golden with a biggish head that settles into about a millimeter thick sustained layer with a pretty substantial amount of ongoing carbonation. Smell is yeasty funk, a little grain, and an odd, misplaced fruitiness I can't pinpoint.

Taste is very grainy, I'm not getting the odd fruitiness here (no wait, there it is in the aftertaste). It might actually be corniness coming across a little weird. No idea if corn is actually used in this, though. Kind of watery. Light grassy bitterness.

Mouthfeel is thin and watery, carbonation is noticeable but not as much as I would expect from the appearance. Overall...it's an OK beer. I suspect I'd get more enjoyment per dollar from my regular AAL of choice. Bud, as opposed to Hamm's, for me, according to my recent eye-opening blind tasting.

 

Been a while since I popped in here . . . after a mostly-dry January, I've been drinking Double Nugget Nectar almost exclusively, so not much in the way of new beers Finally digging into this Firestone 25th Anniversary Ale, part of an awesome trade with the inestimable @Beersnake1. These anniversary ales are always enjoyable, often stellar, so my hopes are high. Pours a deep, dark brown verging on motor-oil black, with a thin, cocoa head. Looks a little thin compared to other FW barrel-aged beers, swirling leaves minimal legs. Bourbon, toffee, and chocolate on the nose, with the tequila barrel peeking through. Chocolate is strong on the first sip, with some fig and cherry that that resolves into something I can only call Coca Cola-like. Flavors meld in an enjoyable if not terribly challenging way; thankfully, the tequila stays in the background. Mouthfeel is honestly a little disappointing, not very viscous or tongue-coating, it's a little too thin and effervescent to make a lasting impression. Thankfully they used the non-rye, "Autumn" Parabola version for this blend . . . rye might've thrown this one way off-course. Overall, not one of my favorite FW Anny beers, but enjoyable all the same. (It's also possible that I've recently become jaded by Free Will Ralphius, for which I have infinite love.) Cheers!

 

Good Sunday afternoon, New Beer Samplers and commentators. I continue to enjoy the massive amount of beer received from @FBarber in the BIF #14. After a sunny, mild Saturday that presaged Spring, today is cold and snowy. So I'm livening my spirit with a "tropical" Saison called It Was Like a Holiday from Keeping Together Brewing in Chicago. It's barrel-aged and brewed with toasted coconut, Meyer lemon, orange, and honey.

It pours a hazy, yellow-to-orange color with a modest, creamy, bright white cap. It's effervescent with lots of small bubbles ascending the glass. The smell is big and fragrant with lots of lemon peel, orange, banana, oak, and coriander. As it warms a bit the smell of honey emerges. The taste is equally bold: In addition to lemon there is orange/tangerine, honey, white wine grape, oak, and Belgian yeast. It took awhile but I finally detected the coconut. It's subtle and pretty deep in the background but it adds a hint of tropical cocktail. Along with sweetness, the honey contributes a touch silky creaminess. The sweetness, tart citrus, and funky herbal notes balance well. There is a dose of peppercorn at the finish which becomes more evident as the ale warms. The mouth feel is a touch more viscous than I expected which adds a nice touch. The carbonation is lively and the 6.3% ABV gives it good substance.

4.24/5 rDev -1.2%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

Thank you, Frank! This ale added a sparkle to a rather dreary day. Have a great week, everyone!