New Beer Weekend #103

American Solera Terpy Secret DIPA, 8.0% ABV; 3.9 overall

Pours an effervescent& hazed gold with 3 fingers of cream colored head. Nice head retention & lacing

S: Citrus, cantaloupes, leafy hops

T: Green melon, grapefruit, pine & a little dryness up front. Plenty of pine, green melon & grapefruit as this warms, plus dryness. Finishes dry with pomelo, grassyness & a little pine

MF: Medium body, soft carbonation, good balance

Solid DIPA, not the biggest fan of Secret Vic, so that certainly influenced my taste rating

 

New Belgium Lime Light - I'm a big fan of crisp refreshing Lagers with lime so I gave this a shot. Pours a light yellow, decent carbonation and a nice head that lingers. Smell is the usual sweet Lager with a hint of lime but there is also a nice light floral thing going on too. Taste is very good and there's just enough lime in there and it plays well with the other flavors. I would gladly drink this again and it's perfect on this hot day. Budmo!

130 calories*, 10g carbs, 4.4%. Pahto (not a hop I'm familiar with but tastes good in this beer), Willamette, Cascade.

*The bottle says 130 but the site says 129.

https://www.newbelgium.com/beer/lime-light/

 

Happy Day 2, NBW friends. When I saw this earlier this week at my beet store, I grabbed it and ran to the register despite a bit of concern over its age (nearly 60 days).

My concern was unfounded. Rev’s brewing prowess is exquisitely multi-faceted.







4.25/5 rDev +2.9%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
by ovaltine from Indiana

Pours a beautiful golden orange color with a substantial, sudsy off white head that provides ample lacing. Lovely WCIPA appearance, and a lovely WCIPA nose, with dank tangerine most prominent, a nice pine note, and some bready malt.

The Citra hops are center stage on the taste, with that dank tangerine flavor bursting through up front, some resiny pine bitterness mid-palate, and the bready malt flavor for balance at the back of the palate, with a bit of warming alcohol for good measure. Delicious stuff, IMHO.

The mouthfeel is full and very dry, as expected. This is really well done and worthy of a “fridge IPA” position any time Rev brews this excellent WCIPA.

 

Hey what's going on?!

Enjoying the end of the weekend here, definitely trying to get in one last grilled meal for the end of the weekend. Had some crazy rain yesterday but it's all good now.

Had high hopes for this one, but it was a bit of a curve ball.



Poured from the can into a Spiegelau IPA glass. Packaged June 7th 2022. Canned at Old Ox Brewery for Silver Branch Brewing Co.

Deep amber body color, almost getting into brown with very dark orange/reddish body color, and some good clarity. Real creamy topped head, khaki and yellowish to off white tinged and can be served with a spoon. Icing caked with a three to four finger top and really not even budging.

Aroma seems to have more of a malt presence at first. Good caramel and an old touch of soft biscuit cookie quality seems to be the first thing that is noticeable on the nose. More of a sense of pine than classic citrus pith grapefruit, but also heavily malt forward. That biscuit quality in inescapable and seems to push my mind more towards an English bitter ironically. Is that aroma good, certainly, but not really sensing West coast let alone IPA quality here.

My palate on first sip seems very happy, but also very confused. Creamy almost like a fruited English ale yeast flavor of cream sensation with a nice touch of herbal pine. Soft caramel notes bring a good sweetness, but the hops here aren't really the focus. Good lasting herbal and pine finish, with some of that caramel and creamy flavor balancing things out.

Problem is where's the classic notes of West coast fruit character? This tastes more like and English bitter/IPA with maybe a faint hint of pine quality which isn't what I am looking for in this style. Still, for what's put together here this is actually pretty tasty otherwise, but as a big old school West Coast IPA fan of old I can't help but feel disappointed here.

look: 4.25 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5 | BA Score: 3.54

Cheers!

 

Transient Buckley Reserve #1 2021 (Imperial Stout with vanilla, Tugboat coffee, Michigan maple syrup aged in a whiskey foeder and then Weller barrels). This is essentially double barrel Kentuckley.

Pours pitch black with a half-finger of dark, reddish mocha head that goes away quickly. Coats the glass with a brown film and has plenty of alcohol legs. A menacing-looking beer. 4.5

Aroma is wonderful. Rich, roasty coffee, sweet maple, and rich vanilla all working in tandem with one another. The barrel makes it's presence known with charred oak and whiskey/bourbon spirit. Also getting a big dark and milk chocolate note. Despite the vanilla and maple, this smells nicely balanced thanks to the coffee and barrel. 4.75

Taste is also wonderful. Coffee, maple, and vanilla are all significantly there, with the barrel presence rounding it all out. As it warms, this one becomes even more intense and complex. Roasty coffee/espresso, maple syrup and even some candy, creamy vanilla, nougat, 90% dark chocolate, Hershey's chocolate syrup, roasted malt, slight molasses, slight tobacco, big charred oak, drying oak tannin, whiskey and bourbon spirit. Sweeter up front with the maple, vanilla, and chocolate syrup, but that gives way to a drier and more intense finish with the charred oak, spirit, dark chocolate, and coffee, with the vanilla character still fighting in the background. 4.75

Medium body. Nice levels of carbonation for the style. Silky, oily, sticky. It's slightly boozy, but has awesome whisky and bourbon flavor. Definitely warming as it goes down. 4.5

Transient almost never disappoints, but especially when it comes to their stouts. The complexity and balance between adjuncts, barrels, and base on this one is exceptional. Might be one of the best stouts I've ever had by them. 4.75
Overall: 4.71...highest rating I've ever given one of the too many beers I've had by them. Cheers!

 

Good evening NBW
My wife was in Little Rock for a conference last week and brought home a six pack of this one.

Lost Forty Easy Tiger

Labeled only as a Mexican style lager with a recommendation for serving with a slice of lime, I was surprised to see it listed as a Vienna lager. It is though...

12oz can Best By 10/15/2022 poured into a tall mug at fridge temp 5.2% ABV. The beer pours bright light amber with off white head. The head recedes to a thin ring and leaves no lacing. The aroma is sweet, toasted, caramel bread. The taste is semisweet, nutty, toasted malt with a hint of earthy hop flavor and light finishing bitterness. The mouthfeel is thin to medium bodied with average carbonation and a mostly dry finish. Cleanly lagered. Overall, tasty Vienna lager. I did find the packaging confusing, and was prepared for something yellow and fizzy... Pleasantly surprised, but some may not be.

Cheers all! I have another new beer we hauled back from St. Louis this weekend that's chilling now.

 

That's very nice of you to say, and I hope you enjoy it!

 

Third up is Hard B.A.R.A. from Modestman. It is an imperial boysenberry sour clocking in at 8% ABV.



I had their Hard Rass (raspberry version of this general concept) recently, and it was ridiculously good. The main takeaway I remember from it was that it was actually super different from their normal raspberry "Berliner weisse," which is probably at least sort of the "base beer" for that imperialized one. I haven't had (and don't even know if they make) the single version of this, but I'm still interested in how this came out for sure.

Pour is deeply-crimson with a thin-ish head of pink hued foam that has decent legs and actually leaves behind some alright lace at times. The can describes the pour as having an "infinite wine hue," which is pretentious and stupid. Anyway.

Nose is lightly acidic and heavily-jammy with strong suggestions of blackberry and boysenberry. Definitely has some tartness under the hood, and there are some raspberry, tannic, and blueberry undercurrents as well.

First few sips aren't too impressive, but once this opens up it's quite a trip. Very satisfying jamminess with flavors of boysenberry, blackberry, and complex red wine... slight herbal undercurrents run through the finish as well, giving some intrigue off so that this isn't just a straightforward dark fruit bomb. Light lactic acid sourness (but no lactose! This brewery is anti-lactose I believe) and a deep, intense profile. Feel is full-bodied and palate-coating. This is good stuff... think I enjoy Hard Rass more, and I'm glad that one does seem to be the more available variety, but... I'd drink this any time I happened to be in the mood for a strong sour beer with character and panache.

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More Dom Tropen progress...



Getting there! Probably be done in an hour or so! Goodnight folks!

 

What a day here, the last low humidity day for the near future. Great day to do nothing, so I perfected that skill. Watered the crops, threw a meatloaf on the smoker on autopilot for four hours and chilled.

Tonight's victim:


Schilling Alexandr - a Czech pilsner at 5%. I already have high expectations when I pop a Schilling brew, so let's get to it.

Knockout of a pour with a dense, soapy head floating on a crystal clear straw gold colored liquid. The head falls to a substantial cap - quarter inch or so. Incredible lacing like growth rings as the liquid volume inevitably recedes.

On the aroma...hmmm...not a ton of strength here but hitting the right notes. Biscuity malts, light lemon, and ample traditional Noble malt smells slowly assemble into an inviting but mild scent.

The taste opens ever so slightly sweet with biscuit-like malts. There is a nice level of lemon that delivers evenly across the tasting. The hops kick in with floral, herbal, grassiness and an extremely subtle bit of peppery spice. There is a sturdy bitterness on the finish. On repeat sips, that bitterness becomes a constant backdrop and everything else plays off that anchor.

This beer is smooth and well-rounded. It is medium heading to full in terms of the body. A bit drying, a little lingering bitterness that's a bit like grapefruit albedo. That very mild pepper note stays that way with a slight tingle.

This here is a very good beer and I hope it shows up here regularly. I continue to be impressed with Schilling. Well-crafted lager here, straightforward and well constructed with no tricks. Feeling 4.25 or a bit better here. In contrast to last night's "Italian" pilsner, this is fuller, slightly more bitter, and the hop presence while similar, has a bit less of the herb garden greenness, less aromatics, and more bitterness. Pilsner fans can't go wrong with this one, if you ask me.

 

Poured into a 13 oz Teku glass best by 6/13/22, in the store I thought it said canned, oops. Pours a slightly hazy yellow orange with a massive 2 plus finger sticky white head that leaves thin streaks of lace with excellent retention. 4.25

Aroma pear, orange, pineapple, passionfruit, and apricot. 3.5

Taste follows pear, orange, pineapple, passionfruit, clove, and apricot. 3.5

Mouthfeel is above average, not sticky or dry, fairly soft carbonation, and at 9% it goes down easy enough. 3.75

Overall I am not sure how much it being a month past it’s best by date affected this, but I think not a ton. 3.75

 

My final new beer of the weekend
Urban Chestnut Big Cat Golden Pilsner - 2022 STL Zoo Bier

16oz can stamped 22-05-27 10.25 poured into a becher glass at fridge temp 4.8% ABV. The beer pours very bright, very light straw yellow with nearly white head. The head recedes to an uneven ring and a few islands. No lacing. The aroma is mild with pale malt. The taste is semisweet pale malt with a hint of earthy hop final bitterness. The mouthfeel is medium bodied with above average carbonation and a mostly dry finish. Fairly clean lagering. Overall, good.

Cheers all!

 

Captain’s Daughter

8.5% IPA from Grey Sail Brewing

A mosaic hop party that is light and yet strong. I can see these beers going down easily on a hot day.

I drank from the can so neither head nor lacing information. I do like certain IPAs in twelve ounce cans and this one fits that bill.

if you like mosaic, this one is a no brainer. If unsure, give it a try. A nice citrus taste and good bitterness. Wish I had tried it sooner, but alas not available in my home market.

 

Heirloom Rustic Ales Temple Dreams DIPA; 8.0% ABV; 3.79

This version checks in at 8.0% ABV

Pours an effervescent & ever so slightly hazed gold with 2 fingers of eggshell colored head. Floaties, not filtered, fined or pasteurized & that shows. Okay head retention & lacing

S: Bread, grassy, some tropical fruit

T: Follows the nose, dry with oranges & grapefruit up front. Bready, dry with passion fruit, green melons & woody hops once warm. Finishes with pineyness, dryness, lime, green melon & oranges

MF: Medium body, slight carbonation, good balance

Solid, drinkable take on the style

 

Poured into a 13 oz Teku glass. Pours jet black with a half finger mocha head that leaves little lace. 4.25

Aroma is deep dark chocolate, coffee grounds, vanilla bean, and toffee. 4.25

Taste follows dark chocolate, coffee, vanilla, and toffee very well balanced. 4.25

Mouthfeel is a little above average, gentle carbonation, a little sticky, and for 13.5% you a little sweetness but the alcohol is well hidden. 4

Overall I would say worth a try, but I payed $28 for a 4 pack. I liked it. 4

 

This is for the 2019 release; sent to me by @colts9016 as part of NBW BIF #15
Poured nearly black, which for a winter ale was a bit surprising. Still, capped with the brown head it looked quite enticing.
The aroma was bourbon, and that’s about it.
The taste followed- there was some roasted malts that came through but I couldn’t find any coconut in the mix. Not sure if if it “aged out” or something, but I never found it. I drank about 2/3 and kept the rest for tomorrow- maybe allowing it to get warmer will help mellow it. But how mellow can one expect a beer with a gorilla wearing a grass skirt and coconut bra on the label?
The feel was excellent for the flavors, bourbon is a sipping drink you know.
I am glad to have tried this, and would like to revisit a fresher version if possible just to see if this one was an anomaly.

 

Just getting this one in before the weekend ends.

I've only met a handful of people in person from BeerAdvocate, but one was last Thanksgiving. I saw he trying to knock out the top 250 and I had one he needed. I reached out and we were able to meet in person for a quick drop off. I was happy to help someone that needed one, and wasn't expecting anything in return since it was so little work, but he gave me a few beers as a thank you. One of those beers has been in my fridge ever since and I finally cracked it, so thanks @22Blue

American Solera Delta Blend



4.37/5 rDev +1.4%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
by swenny916 from Illinois

Pours dark brown/nearly black with about half a fingers worth of mocha foam.

Smell is boozy, I'm getting the bourbon, but not much more. Just a classic barrel aged smell.

I let this warm up a bit before drinking and am glad I did. The bourbon does hit at the start, but in a very nice, slight way. It doesn't hit you over the head which makes it nice to drink. I also get a bit of oak. Very clean overall.

Medium to full bodied on the feel. Like I mentioned earlier, it's clean and easy to drink.

Overall a very nice beer and thanks to @22Blue for giving me the chance to try it.

 

Happy birthday, man!

Today has been a full on Carlos Santana appreciation day. Just listening through the catalogue of the musician (thankfully he's ok after collapsing on stage this week!), in honour of the baseball player who has been instrumental in our recent successful (finally) foiling of the annual Blue Jays invasion series. Don't look now (Terry), but the Ms are looking pretty well set up for the rest of the season after it seemed like they were dead in the water just three weeks ago. Very exciting. Looks like the Angels' cowardly attempts to fabricate a fight to jumpstart their season backfired and actually ended up being a turning point for us instead. c'est la baseball.



Anyway, beer. I stopped by Chuck's, which -- as any Seattleite will tell you -- is one of the Meccas of local beer stores the other day with the intention of securing a keg for my brothers' upcoming wedding. He tasked me with getting kegs for the event because he knows that I'm into beer (which may be a surprise to those reading along here on this beer-focused website... /s), with the instructions that he wanted something in the vein of Pacifico (light, inoffensive, appeals to the masses since it's not like the wedding invite list is a bunch of BAs anyway. Also, ironic that we've got a Pacifico sighting here in this week's thread!). So I chatted with the folks there for a bit and we kind of had a bit of back and forth about options etc. Thankfully I didn't finalize anything, because it turns out, no, he actually just wants me to grab a keg of literal Pacifico. That's fine. It's his wedding, he knows his guests better than I do, etc, but... like if you just want that, just order it? I'm happy to pay for it, but why ask the person who is into beer to find beer for you if you don't actually want local/artisinal beer options? And thank goodness I am a procrastinator and hadn't finalized the other two kegs I was planning to get quite yet since. Anyway, whatever, I'm happy to grab it for him and am excited that they're doing this thing, it just feels silly.
Oh, yeah. The point of why I mentioned going to Chuck's in the first place. While there, my wife opted to stay in the car, since pregnancy is sapping her energy pretty completely. I tried to warn her that sending me in there alone, even with a mission, means accepting the consequences of that choice. She did a double take, but by then I was already through the doors and perusing. So I picked up a couple* of things. She's not drinking lately (obviously), so it's just me, and without her sharing, I've been drinking a lot less, but it's still good to have some new and variable options in the fridge again.

Today I opted for one of those brews: Chuck "Hop Shop" Shin is an IPA brewed by Seapine, who I think is a little bit underrated in the Seattle beer scene, and brewed (predictably based on the name) in collaboration/to celebrate said store, and the founder of said place.



It was a lovely pour. Yellow body that in the light gets a little neon-y, and a large billowy white head that sits around and sticks to the sides of the glass beautifully.

Nose was intriguing, as well. Light grainy malts lay underneath a fruity nose of tropical fruits, some melon, and maybe a bit of floral. It grew on me the longer I let it sit and dig into it.

Flavour unfortunately didn't stay completely true to the depth of promise in the aroma. Many of the same flavours are there, some light mango and honeydew, some spicy hops and crackery malts... it thins from there into a sharp green character that finishes unripe fruit bitter.

Body is slightly less than medium, moderately scraping carbonation. Finish is dry and bitter.

Overall it didn't fully live up to what I was hoping for, but it was not bad by any means or anything like that.

Cheers, hope everyone is enjoying their weekend and summer, and remember: be excellent to each other!!

 

Drie Fontainebleau framboise

4.31/5 rDev -4.6%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25




Caged and corked Bottle that was muled back to me from Belgium by my friend Chip

Ranked #6 as a fruited sour on beer advocate

Brewers Notes: Re-labeled as "Framboos Oogst" in the United States.

Multiple vintages; ABV varies slightly on every release.

Look is reddish liquid with a pink foam. AP that quickly settles to a ring

Aroma is tart raspberries

Taste is tart raspberries

Soft fizziness , tartness lingers

Good beer