New Beer Weekend #104

I'm proudly cross-posting, took as much as I could stand of the Red Sox (like the bottom of the first) and watching Nascar.

Here we go, let's get to it:



Notch Kolsch. The condensation on the glass ruins the clarity - its clear. Beautiful white foamy cap that lingers a bit and at least in my glass it's leaving some interestingly shaped residue. About 1/8 inch of head persists replenished by microbubbles working to the surface.

The nose is quite mild overall. Grainy light malt maybe a tad cracker-like, light floral and herbal hops, maybe very faint pear or white grape, very clean.

The taste is more or less following along, and it's nice and orderly. Clean, soft malts maybe a little towards the cracker side. I do get the white grape effect ever so slightly, then the floral/herbal hops and a light spice that lingers. I get a bit more of the grape and fruit in the aromatics on the swallow. The flavors just meld smoothly for an overall clean and satisfying beer taste.

Medium bodied but the effect is light, crisp, refreshing. Only a slight bitterness.

This is a good one. I've been luke warm on Notch, but this is an excellent beer. In my opinion it ticks all the right boxes, it is uncomplicated and straight to the point. Interesting enough, but not super complicated. I'm thinking 4.25 or so here. Recommend this one with no reservations.

 

I’m in Texas for work and hanging out with work friends, so pardon the brevity of this review - this is as live as it gets. Not a kolsch, but in the same general direction. This is Manhattan Project Beer Company’s Necessary Evil, a nice German Pilsner.



3.79/5 rDev -2.3%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75
by ovaltine from Indiana

Pours a beautiful straw color with a nice white head, and aromas of fresh cut hay and some cracker notes.

Nice grassy flavors and the aforementioned cracker note, with a bright, crisp mouthfeel. A really nice summer crusher/lawnmower beer.

 

A Minnesota brewed beer from a new-to-me brewery.

Inbound Laser Loon Kölsch
ABV: 4.3%
IBU: 22

Pale yellow-gold color. Clear, lightly carbonated body. 1 inch white head that fades fairly quickly to a foamy cap, leaving spotty lacing.

The aroma is, first, bready malts with a subdued fruity aroma as well.

The flavor is very light. Some fruity flavors, some bready flavors, but it is so light it is hard to be very descriptive. There is a mild bitterness that starts in the middle and carries through to the aftertaste. The aftertaste is dominated by the light bitterness rather than flavors from the beer. Don’t misunderstand: the aftertaste is dominated by the light bitterness due to the near absence of flavor, not because this is a bitter beer; it isn’t. It just isn’t much of anything to be honest.

Mouth feel is thin and watery.

Overall, this beer is watery with little flavor. This beer is more of a light lager than a Kölsch.

L: 4.0 | S: 3.5 | T: 2.75 | F: 2.5 | O: 2.75 | Rating: 2.98

It's sad that I ended the weekend with such a downer. Maybe I'll go crack open a can of Reissdorf Kölsch I have in the 'fridge.

(In fact, as I finish the last few swallows of the Inbound Laser Loon, I'm thinking I overrated it... we'll see what I finally post as an official review after I give it another chance with a second can in a day or two.)

 

A couple of the latest Grassroots offerings; first up is Wachu Saison.



https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/23205/564503/




375 ml. bottle.
Bottled April 12, 2021.

Moderate to vigorous pour yields a 3/4 inch white head over a hazy straw colored body with lacing.

Nose of citrus (mostly grapefruit) and white wine (Pinot Gris, methinks.)

Taste is very wine-like, with grapefruit and a bit of yeast flavors as well.
Finish is slightly sour grape.

Very nice feel as in most Hill collabs.

Overall, quite a gem and quite delicious.
Go out and find it!

Cheers!

 

Verrückter Brauer Is a mammoth lager by the ABV fiends at Hoppin' Frog. I had a five ounce sample, so I'll provide a Readers Digest review.

Not much head. Not much lacing. A bit syrupy in taste and is heavy on the palate. The point of this beer seems to be making a Frankenstein lager. At 15%, they succeed. This beer is not nearly as good as their 15% Pentuple which I like to call the tripel from hell. The tripel flavor manages to mask/blend with the booze much better. The lager base has nothing to hide the alcohol. Unlikely I’ll be revisiting this one.

 

Closing out the weekend with a beer from @ovaltine (BIF 15). I purposely didn't read anything on the can to go in completely without any power of suggestion. It is gonna be the hottest most humid week of summer coming up, unfortunately this coincides with the first to Phish shows of summer that I will be at, gonna be hot!!!! Lets pretend its winter and warm up with a nice barrel aged beer.

Revolution - Cuvee de Grace



At first pour it appears to be close to black, looking closer under light it is a dark muddy brown. Nice light brown head that does its best to remain despite all the alcohol. What remains are some nice thin swirly islands and a nice little ring around the glass; no lacing.

Nose is rich in the raisin department, some nice woody tannins, hint of booze, minor chocolate in the background. It all melds so so well; each aroma really playing a perfect part to the other.

Wowzers on the taste!!!! That minor chocolate is definitely much more present in the taste and hit me way out of left field. I'd even say this is fudge now more than just chocolate. It is so so rich and not what I was expecting from the nose, absolutely awesome. There are some raisin like qualities to it as well...the nose picked up no baking spice notes but there are some definite subtle spices in the taste, a subtle sweetness really makes this one rich and tasty. Just as the nose; everything just so perfectly balanced.

Viscous beer, smooth creamy and low carbonation, some roasty bitterness and a minor heat that ever so slightly builds.

This beer is really really neat; it is so complex and yet so balanced. My taste buds keep telling me to drink it and my mind wants to keep drinking to more understand it and pick up on the nuances. What a treat to drink @ovaltine; a knock out punch on Sunday evening.

Thanks for sharing!

------

So after writing I checked what was in this blend, now all that chocolatey fudge and the darker color make some more sense. I gotta say it again, damn, what a beer.

 

Poured into a 16 oz Snulip glass not sure when it was canned. Pours a hazy yellow orange with a finger sticky white head that leaves thin streaks of lace with excellent retention. 4.5

Aroma peach, honeydew, pineapple, mango, and apricot. 4.25

Taste follows peach, mango, pineapple, honeydew, and apricot well balanced and loaded with flavor. 4.25

Mouthfeel is above average, not sticky or dry, soft gentle carbonation, and at 8% real easy drinking. 4.5

Overall I am not a huge fan of these breweries with hoppy stuff normally, but this one is real tasty. 4.25

 

Greetings all from the great northwest where the dog days of summer are upon us. We're cat people and they like summer as well. Week #104. That's 2 years under the new format. A measure of success for sure.

Today we have Cascade Fog hazy IPA from No-Li brewing in Spokane.
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/936/475421/

It's a well balanced brew with a bit of a chewy feel.

Until next time

 

Here's the 2nd Hill/Grassroots.



https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/23205/567844/




375 ml. bottle.
Bottled March 18, 2021.

Moderate pour yields a one inch white head over a slightly hazy light amber body with scant lacing.

Nose of citrus (lemon), wood, (oak), booze, slight green apple, and funk.

Taste is lemon, booze, green apple; not too sweet and not too sour.
Lemony bourbon on the finish.
As it warms the oak comes forward a bit.

Nice feel.

Overall, I'd have this again and so should you!

Cheers!!

 

The last one tasted great and went down fast. One more

Night all!

 

Poured into a 16 oz Snulip glass canned on 6/3/22. Pours an attractive hazy yellow orange with a 2 plus finger sticky white head that leaves thin streaks of lace with nice retention. 4.25

Aroma mandarin, peach, mango, and apricot. 4

Taste follows mandarin, mango, peach, and apricot well balanced. 4

Mouthfeel is above medium, gentle carbonation, not sticky or dry, and at 8.2% easy going down. 4.25

Overall this is good, worth a shot for sure. 4

 

Happy Sunday. We watched Dune extended edition and ready player one last night until 4am. I slept til after 3. Going to watch more movies tonight.

Went out to mellow mushroom. Got a hoots gashopper ipa. Amazing ipa. Lasting rocky head retention and thick soapy lacing. Aromas and flavors of big red grapefruit, tangerine, peach, pineapple, passionfruit, papaya, mango, honeydew, guava, berries, citrus peel rind, peppercorn, wood, pine, toast, biscuit, herbal, floral, grass. Good sized pine/rind bitter finish. Balanced creamy/bready malt and sticky/resinous hop mouthfeel. Long resinous drying finish. Minimal astringency. Super spot on style west coast ipa. Amazing centennial zythos and Citra profile. Very juicy dank and earthy hops with a clean malt backbone. Loved it. 4.33


Spinach artichoke dip, cheese bread, pretzel bites. Amazing apps


Cheers

 

So this playing in two threads leads to the rare weekend threepeat...



Beautiful pour of exceptionally clear liquid capped by a pretty dense head. The liquid look sparkles. The head fell fairly quickly with some lacing. Endless bubbles stream from the bottom.

Sweet, bready malts lead the aroma. There is a very slight sulphur note, but it seems to go away. There's a little citrusy lemon smell mixed in with a fruity white grape. The hops are quite faint, but herbal and a bit floral, and there's some slight yeasty earthiness.

I find this a bit sweet on the opening of the taste with clean and cracker-like malts. It has a bit of a honey vibe going on. Then there is an herbal and little floral taste with a mild spice kicking in. There is a hint of bitterness on the finish, and I do get a bit of a Sulphur taste now and again. Earthy yeast. Very well balanced between all of the component tastes and it is pretty harmonious.

The feel is light and fairly lively, pretty refreshing.

Overall a pleasant drinker with outstanding clarity, a light and delicately balanced flavor. It's a nice example of the style. My instincts are telling me I "like" the Notch better, but it's darned close. The Sunner I had yesterday is not even in the same league, but is possibly suffering from age in the bottle. In the 4-plus range.

 

It's not my first one of these, but I shared the other two with family during my son's birthday party, so this is my first time sitting and thinking critically about it.

Luminous 11 from Great Notion. A sour IPA with passionfruit, pineapple, orange, natural flavor, certified color, and milk sugar.

16oz can served in a WABL sample glass. Dated 05/26/22, I think -- it's kind of washed out. Bought it yesterday at Chuck's Hop Shop Seward Park.

The appearance is alarming. It's a brilliant blue or teal or something, with a maybe 1cm blue-tinged head. It's very hazy. I find the color novel, but not attractive. Smell is a light hoppy freshness, a melange of fruits with maybe some vanilla, together giving a slightly minty vibe.

Taste is leaning into the lactose, with fruit juice tartness and a background of floral hops.

Mouthfeel is medium, slightly effervescent. Overall...it's a pretty decent beer, but the appearance is offputting, hokey, and annoyingly gimmicky.

 

Stonecloud Professor Dank: The Dankening Cold IPA, 7.0% ABV; 4.04 Overall

Pours an effervescent gold with 3 fingers of rocky pearl colored head. Above average head retention & lacing

S: Tropical fruit & cattyness, fades as it warms

T: Passion fruit, green melon, pineyness, dryness & pomelo up front. Dryness, grapefruit & pineyness once this beer warms. Finishes dry with grapefruit, green melon, & dankness

MF: Medium body, subtle carbonation, nice balance

Nice fruity, dank beer, very drinkable

 

I am glad to see you enjoying the beers I sent. This is what life should be about. Enjoying it!

 

**** Punks Fuck Off! -- a German-style pilsner from local Future Primitive.

16oz can served in a footed pilsner glass. Stamp on the bottom says 188, 190. I don't understand that, but I got this beer from a CSA which hasn't given me a beer older than a month yet, so I doubt this is very old.

Pours clear golden with a couple inches of head that settle into about a quarter inch, tons of active carbonation. Smell is grainy, lots of grass, a little lemon.

Taste is similar, though the grain is augmented by honeysuckle and there's something slightly mineral-y about it.

Mouthfeel is stiller than the appearance would have suggested, smooth and clean. Overall, this is a pretty good beer.

 

That one is a full-fledged flavor tsunami, IMHO. I had it for the first time last summer on a hot, muggy day.

It worked well for me, glad it did the same for you, Jon.