New Beer Weekend #83

#2, literally the opposite end of the beer nerd spectrum, on every level, IMHO.



4.72/5 rDev +0.2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.75
by ovaltine from Indiana

Pours a cloudy mahogany brown with a soapy tan head that evacuates the premises almost immediately, as if it knows the stars of the show are approaching at warp speed to begin their epic performances, and it wants to afford them the megastar status they have earned.

The nose is sublime, with ample booze that could dominate a 15.7% ABV beer, but in this case is a costar to rich toffee and caramel notes, with a nice cocoa aroma and an enticing stone fruit component (note: I absolutely LOVE stone fruit in a barleywine).

Speaking of stone fruit, the taste features a truly delicious dark cherry and plum flavor (thank you, Armagnac puncheon!)that glides into the toffee, caramel, and cocoa flavors with decided confidence, especially as the beer warms - and warm it does, with the booze presenting as a welcome heat at the back of the palate.

The mouthfeel is rich and creamy, probably the best I’ve experienced in a barleywine. This is a magnificent, high-level world class beer that is to be savored, IMHO.

 

Night of the Cold IPAs! And fitting too, as Winter is back with a vengeance today after being in the high 60s a few days ago. Don't like the weather at any given moment in PA? Just wait a few minutes, it will change

First up is a collaboration between Workhorse Brewing Company and Cape May Brewing Company called Cut from the Same Cloth, a cold black India Pale Ale. In short this beer is a hybrid between a Lager and a NEIPA, and black. This has everything I enjoy in one beer so I am hoping to like this (and some of the recent reviews around here have been favorable).

Pours a dark black color with a very thick and frothy head. Smell is very interesting and I am picking up notes from every style here. Taste is amazing and I pick up on a bit of Lager, a little more NEIPA, and then the black and roasty malts at the end...a bit of black coffee here. Ends dryly but not too crazy and quite balanced, particularly if you are used to hops.

This beer is very good and I'm glad I took the chance on a four pack (16 oz cans). And I am happy to see something new and creative vs the usual. Prost!

 

Three brand new 4.2 rated beers
Chat de Grande Taille | Carton | 7.5% | Open ferment Dubbel
4.21/5 rDev 0%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
Added by Act25.
Open Fermented Dubbel where the wildness (today) yeilds a perfumey, fruity cidery cellar beer.
a) Dubble caramel, sudsy lace, clear.
s) Yeast, caramel, perfume, gingerbread, would be great with soft ripe cheeses.
t) Follows smell, more caramel, ginger, scat and perfume.
f) flinty, minerally.
It’s so different, the locals are gonna pass on it.

Something Romantic | Carton | 5.3% | Saison
4.2/5 rDev 0%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
1st Review.
I could drink this all spring. The added fruit is just right, against the farmhouse backdrop.
a) copper, saison haze, scant head, abundant lace.
s) Fruit and yeast on the nose, some cellar and earth.
t) Follows the smell, adds orchard, fruit, never becomes candy (good!)
f) Cleans up astringent, winelike, vibrant mouthfeel.
o) Perfect for Valentines or date night.

Homestyle IPA | Bearded Iris | TN | 6%| NEIPA
4.2/5 rDev -1.2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
Straight down the fairway. Glad to finally find it.
A) Hazed golden body white head lasting lace and cap.
S) dank pine nose resolves in citric bitter zest.
T) Follows juicy aromas with more sweetnesss and the abrupt bitter, pine and peppery finale.
F) Juicy, prickly, fresh.
O) Clean classic NEIPA but not sip o sunshine.

 

Bell's Cold Hearted Cold IPA - Pours a dark yellow/light orange with a decent head, very carbonated. Smell is sweet, a bit fruity, and almost a touch astringent. Taste is okay, a bit hoppy and fruity but the aftertaste is a little odd and almost like a Lager that has gone wrong and a little medicine-y. Gets a bit better as it warms but this is not something I would want to drink regularly. About 3/4 of the way through I decided not to finish this beer and to save the rest of the calories/carbs for something else. Not a bad beer and I'm sure many will enjoy it but just not my thing really.

Cape May Key Lime Corrosion Sour Hazy IPA - this looked interesting so I grabbed a single. It's their Sour IPA that has Centennial and Citra hops and they added Key Lime juice and Motueka hops. Pours a very carbonated light yellow hazy color with a crackling head that dissipates a bit quickly. Smell is sweet, hops, lime. Taste is very nice, the hops are there along with the lime and it's crisp and refreshing; the 6.5% is shockingly non-existent and this tastes like a 5% Hard Seltzer. I like some of those and I am a big Sour/Gose fan so this is right up my alley and I think that this would be a crowd pleaser. Prost!

 

Finally joining you all, later than I had hoped but hey, better late than never. This beer I have been wanting to drink for a while...I finally opened it tonight after taking a nice walk in this cold winter wind that returned today. Sent to me courtesy of your truly @snaotheus

Chuckanut - Doppelbock



Pours deep dark brown, light penetrates at the edges of the glass. Slightly brown head, multiple vigorous pours gives this a nice head, settles quicker than expected into a opaque layer of light brown.

Aroma; dark crusty bread, chocolate and a cola like aroma. Taste follows suit, toasty bread with a chocolate like taste, little bit of hop presence and a minor sweet note that is reminiscent of dark fruit.

Drinks nice and full but very easy to drink; the carbonation comes off as soft and almost gives the sense of creaminess. Slight roast on the aftertaste, with no bitter.

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We got a new sound bar speaker inside because the subwoofer broke. I put the old one in the garage and waited for the idea to come to me...here it is right under the dart board. Finally have a reason to hang out in the garage again and enjoy a beer and play solo cricket! The speaker/music also enhances other garage activities I enjoy

 

Hi NBW

El Dorado Double IPA Sixty Seven Degrees Brewing Franklin, Ma.
8.9 ABV







Pours cloudy apricot colored with a white fluffy head, dissipates to thin soapy lacing and white veil

Very bready aroma, floral, peach and apricot

Taste is kind of mushy, malt forward, kind of sweet and a blend of stone fruit

Mouthfeel is muted, sticky up front low carbonation a resinous note and finishes sticky and a lingering dryness on the back of the tongue. No hint of alcohol

It’s a pretty easy drinking beer, one thing does not stand out over the other. Predominantly sticky but not sweet. Pretty average

4/ 3.75/ 3.75/ 3.50/ 3.75/ 3.74

 

One of my favorite new beers in a long time, I have one left. If its still around next time I beer shop I plan to get another four pack.

 

I agree with you, I really enjoyed it and the other three will be going quickly. And the Wegmans here has four packs for $12.99 so a decent price too.

 

Poured into a 20 oz goblet canned on 1/19/22. Pours a very dark near pitch black with a tiny mocha head that settles rather quickly, leaving little to no lace. 4

Aroma is deep dark chocolate, coffee grounds, vanilla bean, toffee, and actually a little alcohol is present for sure. 4.25

Taste follows dark chocolate, roasty coffee, vanilla, toffee, and a little alcohol in the lingering finish. 4.25

Mouthfeel bigger than average, soft carbonation, a little dry, and at 9.3% it drinks bigger. 4

Overall this one would be better if it had more body in my opinion, but still a very solid Imperial Stout. 4

 

I have always been a "New Beer Sunday purist" kind of BA, but tonight I am posting my first NBW on Saturday this weekend...

This is Southern Tier's Irish Cream Stout, a 5.8% ABV stout made with lactose and natural flavors. ST has, in the past, been almost too good at approximating flavors so I picked this up to see how they did. I have had exactly one other Irish Cream beer in the past... Black Hog's Irish Cream Coffee Milk Stout.

Pour here is superb. A dark-brown beer that builds up to near-impenetrable blackness in my glass when it's all said and done. Nitro-like, tight head that eventually settles to a half-finger of consistent suds, leaving behind drippy lace as it does so. Surface is evenly-covered with foam, too... good stuff!

Nose is whiskey-like with hints of lactose-focused creaminess and deep English toffee-esque elements. For sure, this has some intense lactose presence that sits atop the roasty malt backing. It's sweet-smelling and almost-cloying, but I can see this one appealing to those on the fence about stouts, such as those who have only ever been able to appreciate nitro Guinness.

Flavor is as expected... sweet, with flavors of dense caramel and toffee. A mediating malt component and some leafy hop balance comes out over time. This is definitely a sweet stout if we're talking style, and it would be hard to pretend this type of beer would satisfy a palate that does not prefer such things. Like many ST beers that are named after specific desserts and whatnot, this is one that I wouldn't recommend to those who don't want exactly what is written on the label. I think this is pretty cool, for what it's worth, but it's not something I would seek out with any regularity.

 

Popping in with a quick review of a less than notable local brew, Eldian Kellerbier from Menace: https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/32830/590872/

It was beer.

 

Some catching up to do on this thread for me. courtesy of @sulldaddy:

Fox Farm Bust Unfiltered IPA, 7.0% ABV; 4.35 overall

Pours a hazed & very effervescent gold with 2 fingers of pearl colored head. Sheets of lacing & better than average head retention

S: Mangoes, peaches, vanilla, catty notes as this warms, plus oranges

T: Tangerine, a hint of vanilla, dry breadyness, mangoes & papaya & a little lime up front. Pomelo, dryness, lime & a kiss of pine/cattyness once warm. Finishes with grapefruit, mango, a little dryness & some tangerine as well

MF: medium body, creamy carbonation, carbonation pick up a bit as it warms. Great balance

Starts out new school & ends up old school/Westcoast IPA IMHO. Great drinkability

 

Late on Saturday night and I'm just checking in on NBW ... haven't ready ANY of the posts yet, not even the open by @ChicagoJ (and, thanks for getting it started).

Anyhow, I was back and forth about opening this beer tonight since it got so late. I bought this, and a couple of others from them as the ongoing Cellaruary thread pushed me to pull the trigger... they've been on my "some day" list for awhile now.

So, it has not been cellared in MY cellar for the last 6 years... brewer? importer? distributor? store? IDK. It's been in my 'fridge since I bought it.

Wherever this beer has been stored, I've never tried it before so I'm posting here first. I'll cross post it to the Cellaruary thread, but given the lateness of the hour, I may put that off until tomorrow.

J.W. Lees Harvest Ale (Port Cask) 2016
ABV: 11.5%
IBU: NA

Clear amber with sparse tiny bubbles below a quickly disappearing short off-white head. The remaining ring does leave lacing as I tip the glass, but it promptly slides back down into the ring.

The aroma is port front and center, which also lends a ripe fruit aspect as well. Lingering over the aroma also reveals tobacco.

The flavor also has the port wine front and center, rich in tannin and oak. The mix is not at all sweet, but fairly heavy with the tannin astringency. This may sound like a criticism, but no, it is stated with strong appreciation. The overall mix of flavors is excellent, like a fine port, but one of the oak-aged tawny variety rather than a dessert wine. While the port flavors are obvious, as is the tannin, they do not completely hide the underlying barleywine with the dried fruit flavors (raisin, fig) poking though.

The body is medium and the feel is a bit astringent.

Overall, an excellent after dinner beer for a cold evening.

L: 3.75 | S: 4.5 | T: 4.5 | F: 3.75 | O: 4.5 | Rating: 4.38

 

Mahalo to @sulldaddy for this Fox Farm Brewery Echos Baltic Porter aged in Bourbon Barrels & Stainless Steel with honey, 11.0% ABV; 4.13 overall

2021 Batch #1 pours an effervescent chestnut color with a sliver of mocha colored head. Some lacing & head retention, vicious

S: Dark fruit, carob, cola notes & a little vanilla, All fade as this warms, Maderia & Black Currant notes as well

T: Cola notes, vanilla, woody barrel notes, some Bourbon heat as well, pretty dry & a touch of tea up front. A touch of raisin & prune as this warms, barrel rawness, touches of dark rum & even a little choke cherry & figs, plus leafy hops. Finishes with barrel warmth, dark cherry, leafy hops & figs

MF: Medium body, cola like carbonation. Warming, carbonation goes almost still

Well thought out take on the style. Glad they didn't get heavy handed with the honey, dry just the right amount. Flavors expanded as this warmed. as they should. Pretty darn complex, pretty drinkable, all things considered

 

I'm in Sacramento for Junior Theater Festival. It's been a long day, starting at 7:30 and ending at 9:00 PM. At least I got to have lunch at Fieldwork, in addition to watching my kids and a bunch of other kids perform "junior" versions of a bunch of musicals (that are mostly musical versions of movies (that are probably movie versions of books)). I picked this beer up yesterday to have in the fridge, hoping I'd get a chance to have one beer a night.

19.2oz can served in a crappy hotel room wineglass. Bought it against my better judgment at BevMo with no date on the can. No date on the can = brewer guarantees this beer tastes as good as it ever will.

Pours a hazy pale yellow. Medium sized head. Moderate active carbonation. Smell is mostly citrus pith. Very lemony.

Taste is kind of muted citrus, kind of green tropical, moderate sweetness. Doesn't have anything that really pops, but doesn't have anything that really drags it down, either.

Mouthfeel is moderate thickness, moderate effervescence. Overall...it's a perfectly OK, not very notable IPA. Nothing disappointing, nothing exciting.

Another day of kids' theater activities tomorrow, and then a long day of flying to Hawaii.

 

What did you drink at Fieldwork?

 

Sabro Incognito and Mosaic hops in this 9.5% NETIPA. Poured into a 13 oz Teku not sure when it was canned. Pours a hazy yellow orange with a solid finger sticky white head that leaves plenty of thin streaks of lace with nice retention. 4.5

Aroma coconut, pineapple, papaya, tangerine, a hint of garlic, and apricot a little unusual but I find it pleasant. 4

Taste follows coconut is the lead, pineapple, papaya, tangerine, a little garlic, and apricot I like that it is very unique. 4.25

Mouthfeel is above average, gentle carbonation, not sticky or dry, and at 9.5% it has a bunch of flavor and not too sweet like some triples and easy going down. 4.5

Overall this one if you have not had Sabro hops might be a bit much, but I actually like how it works with the mosaic. I would recommend giving it a go personally. Thanks @jzeilinger for this can. 4.25 Cheers all.