New Beer Weekend #91

You would think ... the problem is I still can't figure out if I love it or hate it.

 

Alright, taxes are done and submitted and I need a beer ... today I was at a bottle shop I do not usually go to picking up some Pirate Weekend, and they had single cans of the 450 North slushy beers ... curiosity got the better of me, so I grabbed 2 cans to try. This one is Sour Worms a smoothie style sour ale with tart cherries, lime, peach & passionfruit.



So yea, this is one of those smoothie sour beers - its murky, chunky, opaque, sludgy, ugly ass beer. Thinnish, weak head. Aroma has notes of fruit - its tarty, sweet and somewhat artificial. I do get notes of peach, passionfruit, cherries and lime.

Taste follows the nose with tart notes of fruit. Its sour. It reminds me of sour gummies. The fruit tastes like fruit flavored fruit ... i.e. not the actual fruit. Feel is gritty from the chunky debris in the beer. Moderate carbonation.

I do not really know what to say about this beer. Its ... as advertised? Sour gummi worms? Yup. Smoothie beer? yup. Is it a beer I'd want to drink more than one of? Absolutely not.

look: 1 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 2.75 | overall: 3.5 = 3.28 (rDev -23%)

 

I reviewed this one with dinner preps last night, but didn't post (we shifted to wine with pasta). So, here it is: Taps Fish House Irish Red Ale.



As straightforward a name as it is a beer. 5.3% ABV, and sent my way by @2beerdogs as part of NBS BIF #15.

A lot of American takes on red ales are trying to be American India Irish Ales (AIIAs?). Even more balanced red ales (Irish and otherwise) are usually still more hoppy than more traditional takes in the style.

This is not one of those American hoppy distortions. This is clean, balanced, and exceptionally drinkable. For some people, it's probably borderline boring; there's little yeast or hop expression, and low sweetness. Taste is toast, light caramel, herbs, and a touch of brown sugar.

What an excellent take on the style.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/2700/12194/?ba=Roguer#lists
3.91 / +11.4%

 

Good morning, Weekenders, and welcome to Sunday! I'm kicking off the morning with an ESB sent my way by @beergoot as part of NBS BIF #15.



I have extremely limited experience with the ESB style, this being only my fifth review (and only another four reviews of the English Bitter style). I also can't claim to have repeated (m)any in the style, either, so it's not like I just found one or two I love and keep crushing them.

Part of this is my entrance to craft beer. Instead of being introduced to cask ales, I was introduced to German lagers, abbey ales, and - much, much later - IPAs. To top it off, ESBs aren't exactly huge sellers in the American craft beer market, so the availability of new bitters of any kind - as opposed to new IPAs or even pilsners - isn't great to begin with.

Thus, my apologies if my rating for this one seems skewed. I am admittedly rating more to taste than to style. I am considering, of course, what I understand as the style, but I can only approximate if this is a "faithful" interpretation, and therefore must rate more to personal taste.

As for style, this seems to me to be a very faithful take, albeit one on the higher end of the ABV scale.

For me, flavor-wise, this is a home run. So hopefully it's pretty faithful to the style, because my ratings are going to come in very high on this one.

Pasting from my review, as I covered it pretty thoroughly there:

"Very aromatic and hop-forward aroma, with notes of citrus, tannins, tea, flowers, leather, honey, and toffee.

Flavor follows, but with much more sweet malt than the nose implied. Caramel, brown sugar, pecan, and honey up front; strong tannins and a pungent bitterness in the middle; tea, lemon, and honey on the finish. Light toast throughout, including a very mild char on the aftertaste."

Yeah, I like this one a lot, and it delivers pretty directly on what I expect from the style, perhaps a bit more flavorful and powerful, but it's not an IPA masquerading as a bitter (my wife, who as far as I know, has never had a bitter ale, said it reminds her of an IPA "without the lingering sting," and unlike an IPA, she can finish her small ~5 oz pour). I wonder how this one might translate to a traditional cask experience; it certainly doesn't have a cask-like mouthfeel. But in terms of flavor, this one is a home run.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/2695/24280/?ba=Roguer#lists
4.25 / +10.1%

An interesting but unsurprising observation on rDev. Out of my last 10 reviews, I have been within +/- 1.2% of rDev on reviews of IPAs, stouts, and a Doppelbock with only one exception (out of eight such beers). But my last two reviews - an Irish red ale and an ESB - both clock in with double digit +rDev. I only have one other such review out of my last 50 (a wild ale), so I'm not traditionally an over-rater (compared to the average). To me, this speaks to the style bias we all know exists on BA: IPAs and stouts are rated very highly by the masses, but more understated styles are rated lower.

I get it, too, as I think every person rates at least somewhat to personal tastes; it's likely impossible not to, try as one might to rate faithfully to style. And if personal tastes favor IPAs and stouts over Helles and bitters (bigger, bolder flavors over something more "boring"), then those beers will get higher ratings.

Even clocking in with double digit +rDev, these beers aren't exactly high on my chart, with weighted scores of 3.91 and 4.25. So consider this a small sample size that checks with our assumptions and observations.

Cheers!

 

My next new beer this Sunday was also sent my way by @beergoot , and is the second Local Relic offering from the box.


BBA Peppermint Chocolate Stout

Wow, this one is a conundrum. My wife had two sips and gave up (so ... more for me!). I suspect your enjoyment of this brew will depend heavily on how much you like the mint.

Peppermint is absolutely overpowering on the nose. The chocolate is almost lost, and the bourbon comes across as an almost neutral, woody booziness; it lacks any sweetness or sourness from the mash.

If the peppermint is less dominant on the palate, it's only slightly. In addition, it lends a vegetal, earthy, almost dirty aspect. The bourbon, while boozy, is still somewhat indistinct. Bitter chocolate is present mostly on the back third.

Drinks thin for a stout. There's a boozy bite, despite (barely) clocking in the single digits, but it's not unpleasant.

What this beer really needs, IMO, is to get amped up to the 12-14% range. It simply lacks the body and sweetness to support the additives and barrel aging. There's not enough stout in this imperial stout.

That said, I am enjoying it (unlike my partner), even if I'm not floored by it. The only other review is David's, and he found the bright peppermint refreshing and unique. I have to agree, even if I find its influence too potent for my preference, and lacking in support from the malt base (while I'm at it, the yeast expression is nowhere to be found, either).

Tough beer to rate. Interesting? Definitely! Unique? Yes! Tasty? Yeah ... it's tasty enough. Great? I don't think so, but YMMV.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/43168/597361/?ba=Roguer#lists
3.54 / -5.6% (two total ratings/reviews)

Thanks David!

 

You are not sir. I don't eat ice cream anymore, as I generally don't eat desserts at all. But when I was younger, I loved the runny stage of ice cream, and indeed would microwave it for just a moment.

Microwaving a beer, as @Ozzylizard did today, is far stranger - and, I think, a brilliant way to amplify an otherwise underwhelming beer.