New Beer Weekend #100

Happy Hundred, NBW. I will catch up with the thread later. Grocery shopping and light brush whacking today while it is cool with low humidity. A little worn out...

Today's brew:



From Banded Brewing, this is Aglow, a 7.6% American stout featuring peppermint and chocolate. This is a collaboration with Maine Coastal Gardens.

It pours cola-colored with a nice khaki head. Typical look, but nice enough. Takes its tome falling to a uniform cap, tenacious cling.

There is obviously peppermint on the nose, not finding a lot of chocolate. There is a pronounced green herbal note, and mild roasted malt.

The taste is mainly the stout base with mild peppermint and a little bitter chocolate. Very herbaceous and the flavors conflict a tad. I think with a bit of sweetness this would be a better brew. The mint is not overpowering but there's no counterpoint to speak of with the chocolate mostly absent. Go milkstout and boost the chocolate - yeah. Fairly bitter and that trainwrecks a little against the mint and greenish herbal bits. I'm making it sound horrible, but it is really an accumulation of little misses.

The feel has a minty sting to it, a bit of creaminess from the foam cap, fairly astringent. Low carbonation.

Overall, I think I'd like this better with some sweetness and more chocolate. This one feels "almost there" to me. Thinking this lands 3.5 to 3.75 of thereabouts.

 

Drekker Strawberry/Passionfruit/Apricot BRAAAAAAAAins Double Fruit Smoothie Sour, 6.6% ABV. Pours opaque brownish orange with a 1.5 finger light-yellow head that left puree residue. Nose is strawberry, apricot, and vanilla. Taste is strawberry, apricot, vanilla, and salt. Mouthfeel is thick and creamy. Overall excellent.

3.94/5 rDev -6%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

 

Vanilla Maris, a collaboration between Timber, Horus Aged Ales, and Mindful Ales. A beer I actually purchased for myself.

16oz can served in a footed pilsner glass. Can is dated 03/25/21. Bought it at A1 Hop Shop in Seattle.

Pours a very dark brown with a very small head. Lots of fine, slow carbonation. Smell is tons of dark chocolate, and some vanilla. A little bit of a red licorice aroma.

Taste is soft, sweet milk chocolate, vanilla with a marshmallow vibe. Mild coffee notes. Dates and some oak.

Mouthfeel is thick and chewy. Overall, this is tasty. I would have guessed that there was a mix of stout with this barleywine.

I think I gave one of these to someone in NBS BIF #15 -- I think @FBarber. I don't think he's tried it yet.

 

Well, 1188346[/URL]]@Roy_Hobbs reached back for one so I had to - this one from 1244969[/URL]]@Mbgreg over a year ago in NBW BIF #13
I’ll have to post more later, but this was flat out amazing for the style. Malty goodness up to 11!

 

The second beer of a new beer and confirmation of my FIRST rating of a 5 across the board. So fine. Somebody is doing something right. I got the last one today at Total Wine. Please send more. Do What's Right~amen

 

Glad you enjoyed it! I almost got 2 of their holiday 12 packs just for that one.

 

Last (new) one for today, methinks. I've had a few Andechs but never their doppel. Everything from the monastery flirts with perfection.



Pours super dark, with very tight bubbles on the head. Smells of dates and figs with a good deal of simple caramalt, not quite dark and roasted but certainly caramalt. Thereafter is a hint of spice, almost like rye but not quite. Reminds me firmly of Korbinian's malt bill.

Oh wow. This is awesome. Fig upfront, with those classic dried fruit, but there's no real brown sugar there. Those can feel so sweet. There's a hint of almost oxidized character but I mean that in a good way, in the way that aged beer has that kind of flavor about it. Tastes so good. Just beautiful, rounded malt character with spice and some very tidy hoppy elements. Mostly though, it's just so full and decadent but in a drinkable way.

Cheers, Completely earns every ounce of its reputation.

 

Bike Rack Kviking Kviek IPA, 6.1% ABV; 3.71 overall

Pours a very hazed gold with 3 fingers of rocky pearl colored head. Good head retention & okay lacing

S: Green melon, peach,

T: Green melon, a touch of grapefruit, dryness & a little grassyness up front.
Sour orange, a little green melon & dryness as this warms, plus a little pear. Finishes dry with sour orange, dryness & a little white grape

MF: Medium body, restrained carbonation, kind of rough & grainy, skews a little bitter

Drinkable, but not in my flavor wheelhouse, very few beers using this yeast are

 

Man; I would love to see that beer in my local store, so good

 

Back for more fun…this one another local lager from the same brewery as the pils. This one is a czech amber

Triple Bottom - Ambrite (4% czech amber)





A beautiful beer, crystal clear medium brown; a thing of beauty when held to light. Light brown head that leaves some nice lacing. It settles to a thin creamy film of light brown that sticks around the whole time.

This is super crusty fresh baked bread all the way with a little spice; and nutty or husk like bite.

Same awesome bread notes with some spicy hop note; and again a nice grain note all flavors so balanced. A little touch of sweet; just barely noticeable, but it then finishes so dry it pairs perfectly.

So light and easy to drink; it has a super smooth and almost creamy carbonation. Super clean finish; and a little gentle hop in finish.

This is beer is awesome…a toasty rich little lager with a little hoppy kick that is so perfectly balanced and easy to drink. Two amazing beers back to back form this brewery; I will 100% revisit this place.

PS glad you enjoyed that one @ovaltine. You have me thinking about opening mine soon now.

 

Good evening NBW
It's been a long couple days, but I couldn't skip #100. Showing some class...

Hap & Harry's Tennessee Lager
12oz bottle coded 10722 poured into a paper hotel cup. Fancy. Appears to be golden in color with long lasting off white head. The aroma is mild with toasty and bready malt notes. The taste is semisweet toasty, bready malt with additional herbal hop presence. Mild bitterness. The mouthfeel is best part with a soft feel, thin to medium body and mostly dry finish. Overall, good.

Cheers all!

 

Toppling Goliath/Blackstack Suds & Buds Triple IPA, 10% ABV; 3.74 overall

Pours a slightly hazed honey color with fingers of eggshell colored head. Below average head retention

S: Super catty, a little cakeyness, a little orange cream sickle

T: Papaya, passion fruit, a little sweet vanilla & orange, plus dryness up front. Weedyness, dryness & more orange cream sickle as this warms, a touch boozey pineapple as well. Plenty of boozey pineapple in the finish, a little cattyness & vanilla

MF: Medium/chewy body, tamped down carbonation, pretty good balance

There are plenty of flavors I like here, I do think they don't necessarily play well together. The sum of all the parts don't really work great together

 

Last beer for the day. This one is Oskar Blues BA22 Volume 8. I've generally enjoyed this series, but this one just didn't do much for me.

3.22/5 rDev -23.2%
look: 4 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.25

Very, very dark brown with a beautiful, dense mocha colored head with excellent retention and lacing. Good looking beer. Aroma is nondescript. Faint roast, but not a lot going on here. Taste follows. This is oddly muted. It's not bad, there's just not a lot going on. A little bit of barrel flavor, but that's about it. I feel like I'm missing something. Medium bodied. Very forgettable beer.

 

Duck's Ass English Barleywine from Foggy Noggin, a little local place run out of a dude's garage for the last 20-ish years.

12oz bottle served in a tulip. 2019 written with a sharpie on the label. Bought it at the brewery a few weeks ago. Cap bears the mark of a hand-operated capper.

Pours a dark mahogany color with a small head and a small amount of carbonation trickling up to the surface. Smell is dominated by fig, maybe a little wet cardboard, maybe a little boozy and medicinal.

Taste is odd. There's a sharp tartness that might be sour plum. Booziness is noticeable but fairly subdued. Somewhat woody, some figgy/toffee sweetness. As I sip it (or as it warms), the sharp tartness fades a little but doesn't disappear. Strong fruit skin bitterness.

Mouthfeel is medium to heavy. Overall...it's not bad, it's far from what I would consider a traditional English barleywine (at least based on what I know, which is probably Americanized).

 

Péché Mortel

9.5% stout from Brasserie Dieu du Ciel

A magnificent stout with a bold in-your-face roasted coffee flavor. Poured from a twelve ounce bottle dated 2019.

Body poured bible black and with a short initial head that receded to a thin ring around the edge during the tasting.

The nose is roasted coffee with chocolate flavor expressed from the malts. Very pleasing.

The body follows the nose but adds a significant bitterness. Chocolate malts and char arrive with the bitterness then all fade to a dry finish.

Mouthfeel is good though a bit thin for my expectations of a stout of high ABV. The powerful flavor more than compensates.

Coffee fans must track this beer down. You'll thank me later.

 

Greetings all from the great northwest where our unusually cool weather continues. A little rain overnight and blustery today with temps in the low 60s.

Today we have Hopnosis from Firestone Walker.
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/2210/575701/

Decent IPA if not a little on the light side.

Until next time