New Beer Weekend #105

Sierra Nevada lagerworks pilsner. Amazing. Amazing clarity and lasting head the whole glass. Aromas and flavors of lemon, cracker, bread, wood, peppercorn, pine, herbal, floral, grass. Moderate pine/herbal/grassy bitter finish. Medium carb/body. Balanced bready/sticky hop feel. Fairly crisp on lingering resins. Perfectly clean lager flavors. Fairly aggressive noble like hop feel and a clean and flavorful malt backbone. Top tier for the style. 4.36


Cheers

 

Good afternoon NBW
I am stepping firmly outside my comfort zone here. I have resolved to review at least two beers in each style and I've been putting this one off.

Hanssen's Oude Gueuze

12.7oz green corked & caged bottle notched BOTTLED IN D 2016 (nearly 6 years old) poured into a teku glass at fridge temp 6% ABV. The beer pours mostly bright, soft medium amber in color with short lived, nearly white head. The head recedes to a few scattered bubbles about the perimeter of the glass. No lacing. The aroma is intense (like you can smell it while taking the picture) lemon, orchard fruit, horse blanket, funky cheese and vinegar. The taste is sour, overwhelming so to my palate, but I don't generally care for sour beer. Digging past my initial instinct to quit this bottle immediately, I get waves of citrus, big vinegar, and funky ass bleu cheese. Mouthfeel is thin bodied, highly carbonated and bone dry. Overall, I will capitulate to the BA overall rating of world class for a Lambic Gueuze and rate it accordingly. However, I would not serve this to a sworn enemy dying of thirst...

A valiant effort was made, but I will be innoculating my compost pile with the remainder of this bottle. Best wishes for good beer to all the NBW faithful. I believe I'm switching to bourbon for the night...

 

I was a different tap room in Minneapolis/St Paul about a month ago. They were no cash also.
I asked why? they had no answer at first. but later the bartender told me is because there trying to avoid getting gun point robbed with a large amount cash on hand. I will not say which tap room this was at.

 

Zero Gravity Rescue Club Pils. An N/A beer.



Pours a hazy gold with light head that dissipates quickly leaving a negligible ring around the glass’s edge.

Mild cracker and grass on the nose. Quite mild.

Taste follows. Very mild light toasted grain. Grass and subdued herbal notes.

Light bodied. Thin. Slightly watery. Crip, sharp finish.

This is a solid N/A beer. The lack of body is the only real detracting aspect. I’d be happy to have this again.

Cheers!

 

That's awesome. Hope you are able to find and continue to get fresh beers. Ninja vs. Unicorn and Mini Unicorn are my favorite regular offerings.

Great pics and updates from SN @superspak ! Hope it's not too far from your home and can visit when you wish.

Perhaps I'm old school, or just old (53), but I wish every business still accepted cash.

Welcome to New Beer Sunday #909! Inspired by @budsNpils in WBAYDN, I was happy to find and pick up a four pack of this collaboration IPA between two West Coast (ish) breweries.

AleSmith / Revision Split Aces IPA



Can Notes: 16 oz, canned 5/26/22. 6.8% ABV. West Coast-Style India Pale Ale. Recommended serving in a becher glass at 45-50 F. Purchased for $13.99 plus tax refrigerated at The Beer Temple.

For this collab, you've been dealt two ace breweries split by the distance between San Diego and Reno. We partnered with our friends at Revision Brewing to make a West Coast-Style IPA, This beer features notes of tropical fruit, pine, and berries from Idaho 7, Chinook, and Mosaic hops, Cheers!

Appearance: Multiple pours into a 12 oz becher glass. Golden tan clear base, medium persistent carbonation, rich creamy bright white head lasts a long time, leaving a nice base over the base and soapy lacing throughout. 4.5

Aroma: Mango, piney, pineapple. Not getting much malt which works for me. Sweet and dank. Nice. 4.0

Taste: Consistent with aroma, though pine is the lead here, grapefruit and tropical, pineapple, tangerine and citrus. Brings a SweetTART backing to the traditional piney bitter WCIPA. This is a modern take, is balanced and well excecated. 4.25

Mouthfeel: Dry and bitter, light sweetness attempts to burst through but mainly held in check. Drinks pretty strong for a 6.8% beer. Nice piney bitterness lingers afterward, medium body, feels a bit thick with the fruit flavors and somewhat syrupy medium to full body. Light fizzy carbonation persists throughout. 4.5

Overall: This is a nice modern take on the WCIPA, with old school components firmly holding the reins. Full flavor, dry and bitter but sweet fruit flavors provide a nice contrast. This held up well refrigerated over the two months, recommend if found refrigerated in the wild and hope they return down the road! 4.5

Hope you all get a chance to visit Reno or San Diego, and the two respective breweries. I still need to get to Revision, but have enjoyed their beers over the years. AleSmith is my favorite San Diego brewery, and a must visit.

 

Amazing bacon smash burger and fries.


Sierra Nevada Blair wheat project. Awesome hoppy wheat. Lasting head retention and thick soapy lacing. Aromas and flavors of big grapefruit, orange, peach, pear, red apple, white wine, melon, passion fruit, berries, wood, peppercorn, pine, citrus rind, wheat, cracker, herbal, floral, grass, yeast earth. Moderate pine/rind bitter finish. Balanced bready/grainy and sticky/resinous mouthfeel. Lingering resin dryness, no astringency. Awesome Nelson and El Dorado profile. Very juicy/dank/earthy hops and a soft wheat malt backbone. Very impressive. 4.13


Cheers

 

Good Sunday afternoon, New Beer Samplers and commentators. Today was supposed to be the hottest day of the current heat wave but it's actually quite pleasant with a nice soft breeze causing the trees to gently sway. I really hope we get some rain this week. My poor lawn!

Among the avalanche of beer I received from @FBarber in last Fall's BIF were a couple of Wild Ales from Off Color Brewing in Chicago. Pear Reine Des Renards is a Flemish Blonde Style Ale fermented in a Calvados Foedre with pears, pear juice, and native yeasts. The malt bill includes Pils, CaraWheat, and Vienna. This is a delightful summer treat.

Poured from 8.5 oz. bottle into a Stange. It pours a hazy, golden amber color with a small, ecru head and almost no lacing. The nose is pleasant with funky, oaky pear that is quite sweet. The taste is sweeter than I expected. The notes of ripe pear and apple are strong and the sourness of the native yeast is fairly muted. Beneath the fruit is a solid, crackery malt base. There is a strong oak presence and hints of tart lemon and Chardonnay grape. The mouth feel is rich and somewhat syrupy with appropriate carbonation, and the 7.8% ABV gives it good substance. Pear is one of my favorite fruits and I enjoyed this ale a lot. I expected it to be more sour but it's a great entree for someone inexperienced with Wild Ales.

4.21/5 rDev +1%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25

Thank you, Frank! This was terrific! Btw, it appears that Off Color is now distributing to New Jersey and one of my favorite bottle shops carries a few of its offerings. I'm looking forward to trying some of them. Cheers, all!

 

Hey NBS.
Hot as heck but at least Im out of the heat of the kitchen.
Liquid Hot Magma DIPA from Zero Gravity.
Pours a hazy orange/gold with a bright white head that settles to thin ring. Some mild lacing.
Pineapple, passionfruit, lemon and grapefruit on a fairly aggressive nose.
Taste follows with citrus, tropicals and nicely bitter pine and grapefruit.
Medium bodied, solid carbonation throughout, drying really bitter on the finish. This really is a nice combo of East and West coast styles...Vermont IPA. A very well done DIPA that is nicely priced. Definitely worth grabbing if you see it.
Almost too damn hot. Pool is 87° and the air is still 93°.
Hope everyone is staying cool.
Cheers!

 

I checked out a new brewery in Houston this afternoon. It is downtown, right by Minute Maid Park. Considering, this area is crazy town when the Astros are playing, and you have to pay ridiculous fees to park, the only time I really want to visit is on a Sunday afternoon. When the Astros are away, and its free parking downtown on Sundays ha.

Frost Town Brewing
First up, view from above...a really big area that is industrial and loud.


First beer is the Southern Style Pre-Prohibition Pilsner, 4.7% ABV.
I'm not exactly sure what they are going for here, its not an adjunct lager, but apparently they say this is from an old historic Houston brewery. Though the specifics on that are scant as well. Anyway.



Pours with a light haze that eventually clears up. A pale yellow color. A small white head forms with some lace left behind.
There is a hoppy aroma here, that is not very aggressive, but noticeable. A fruity, citrus, strawberry kind of aroma. Kind of a soapy character as well.
Taste wise, light grains, and then sweetness takes over. A soapy fruity character. Citrus and strawberry. With a light bitterness. Sweet and fruity for the most part. Not that there is an intensity of flavor here, but its all kind of muddled and odd for me.
A light to medium body. Moderate carbonation, and lightly soapy/oily. I would like this to finish drier as well. While I didn't have a problem drinking this, I can't say I would come back very often.

While I can't say this is what I really look for in a Pilsner, let alone a lager. I also can't say its really bad, just...I don't know what they wanted to make? There is not a lot of lagerish character here. What is here, is a light fruity, soapy, sweet, hoppy character. That just makes it muddled and undefinable. Maybe somebody will like that? I don't know, but I wanted a Pilsner.

Overall score is 3.27, if I have to make a letter grade..C ish?

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/63298/614407/?ba=champ103#lists

Next up...

Verano Pale Ale, 5.1% ABV



Pours a pale yellow/orange color. A one finger white head forms and leaves some lace behind.
The nose is all fruity hops. Kind of nondescript. Citrus, peach maybe, some soapy/detergent character in the nose as well.
Taste wise, like the nose, a generically fruity flavor. Some citrus and sweeter fruits Again a soapy character I can get sometimes. Doughy, yeast, and sweetness. Light lingering bitterness.
A medium body and carbonation. That soapiness carries over and makes this a bit oily. OK to drink, if at the brewery. Though can't see me coming back to this often.

One of those that is fine to drink at the brewery, because nothing is really wrong with it outside of some soapiness. Though nothing that would distinguish itself if out in the wild. Just an OK Pale Ale. Though while I think about it, not really dissimilar to their Pilsner.

Overall score is 3.47, B-
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/63298/611582/?ba=champ103#lists

Last is...

Bier De Bayou Saison, 5.6% ABV



Pours a hazy golden/yellow color. A one finger white head forms and recedes with some lace left behind.
The nose up front is a plastic phenolic aroma. Peppery spice, light grassy hops and the phenolic character again.
Taste wise, like the nose, phenolic yeast. A candy light sweet peppermint flavor. Citrus and grassy hops, light bitterness.
A medium body with crisp carbonation. Fairly smooth as this breaths. I don't get the soapiness that I got from the other beers. Enjoyable enough to drink.

This is that typical Americanized Saison. All phenolic and plastic. I would like some Esters to help balance. The grass/citrus hops are nice. Overall probably my favorite from the brewery, but I don't think that is saying much.

Overall score is 3.54, B

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/63298/614410/?ba=champ103#lists


Hmm, I'm sure I've got some better beers at home...

 

Zilker/Stonecloud There's More Where That Came From! Cold IPA, 7.0% ABV; 3.96 overall

Collab with Zilker out Fort Worth, I believe
Pours a bright & effervescent gold with a pinky of beige colored head. Better than average head retention & lacing

S: Green Melons, grassyness

T: Follows the nose, lemons, papaya & dryness up front. Green melon, pomelo, dryness. a touch of lemon & grassyness as this beer warms. Finishes crisp, a little dry with lemon, lime & papaya & some white grape notes

MF: Medium body, fairly firm carbonation. Carbonation smooths out as this warms, good balance

Very drinkable IPA, not necessarily sold on the need for this sub-style, but this is poundable

 

Here's a new offering from Ten Bends Beer, Hyde Park, VT.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/46703/614413/



16 ounce can.
Canned 173rd day of 2022.

Moderate pour yields a one inch pure white head over an ever so slightly hazy straw colored body with little lacing.

Nose of lime and slight hibiscus.

Taste of lime and hibiscus; a little bit sour, a little bit sweet, and very refreshing.

Good enough lager feel.

Overall, a quite refreshing summertime heatwave (91 degrees today in northern Vermont) thirst quencher.
Go get it!

 

All right, I'm back at it.

I, with my co-workers, went to Starry Eyed Brewing in Little Falls, MN - the home of Charles Lindbergh, and, we did drive by his home on the way home.

Thanks to the new, slightly less stupid laws in the People's Republic of Minnesota, we were able to buy 4 packs at the brewery now, and this is one I picked up there.


XX Citra - Starry Eyed Brewing - Little Falls, MN - IPA - 6.8% ABV

First off, this is dank, and in a ganga (sp) way. I am totally not a fan of said flavor/aroma. That all being said, it isn't in a stupid strong way. I've had beers that had that flavor/aroma in a stupid strong way, and were total drain pours.

While it has a dank smell and flavor, it I am able to enjoy it and drink it. Maybe something I wouldn't go for, but I can drink it.

Review:

3.54/5 rDev +0.9%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.5
Finally able to purchase this size at the brewery, about damn time here in the state where nothing is allowed. Bought as a 4 pack, and gave 2 to a friend as a swap.

This beer pours a clear golden color. The head is 1 finger and white. There is no lacing on the glass, and the retention is ok, but not really long lasting.
The aroma is hoppy, and there's a hint of a dank aroma from the hops. Not the biggest fan of said aroma, but it's not too strong.
The flavor is full of hops. There is a dank flavor here, and it's the main flavor from the hops. Not the biggest fan, but not stupidly strong. There's also a bit of malt in this beer, that mellows this out a bit.
Body is decent, and full. The hops dominate, but not stupidly strong.
Interesting beer. I'm not a dank fan, but I still like it.


I am a bit blotto here, but, maybe I can do one more from my pick up today. We will see.

 

Time for another from Starry Eyed brewing, and bought there thanks to the laws being less stupid.


Oatmeal Stout - Starry Eyed Brewing - Little Falls, MN - 6% ABV.

Delicious is the main word for this. Very solid for the style, and as it warms, even more chocolate.

Review:


3.81/5 rDev 0%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75
This beer is a dark brown pouring beer, with a thick, 3 finger, brown head. Head retention is decent, and there's some nice lacing on the glass.
nose is malty, and has a hint of oatmeal, as should be expected.
Taste - There is a lot of malts here, and it leans toward oats. This also gives a creamy flavor that hits in this beer. Some chocolate as well. Slight bitterness on the back.
I like how this feels. Creamy, malty, and bitterness.
Delicious, and a very good beer in the style.


Maybe more from today? We will see.

 

Good evening BAs! Thanks to @SawDog505 for starting this weekend's thread! Lately my guts have begun protesting to the mixture of beer and prescription drugs with which I start the day, so I caved in and started eating solid food in the mornings and not drinking until later in the day. Also, my supply of "New Beers" has been dropping, so It's getting more difficult to select a "New Breakfast Beer". I though I was just taking another beer from inventory until I checked what I was drinking today - Damme! It's a "New Beer" but for dinner rather than breakfast! Good Thing I checked!




D’Tango from Weyerbacher Brewing. Purchased at Franklin Beer, Franklin, PA, at an unknown date for an equally unknown price for a 25.4 oz corked and caged bottle. On room temperature shelf at store, stored at 37 degrees at home for literally years. Reviewed 24/07/22. Note that I use DD/MM/YY protocol.
On neck in blue ink “Packaged 06/15/17”. Served at 54.1 degrees in a hand washed and dried Jester King Snifter. Final temperature 58.6 degrees.
Appearance – 4.
First pour – Pale Amber (SRM 9), clear.
Body – Deep Amber (SRM 15), opaque. When rear-lite, clear, and red with a few spots of sediment. 0.8 cm of sediment rests in the bottom of the bottle
Head – Average (Maximum 2.5 cm, aggressive center pour), floral white, fizzy with short retention, receding to a three mm creamy crown fed all around by effervescence, and a thin partial cap.
Lacing – None.
Aroma – 4 – Distinctly cherry with some Brett funk and oak. No hops.
Flavor – 4.75 – Follows the nose. Cherry predominates, oak vanillin and tannic acid follow, with some Brett funk trailing. No hops. No ethanol (9.6 % ABV according to BA, NOT marked on label) aroma or taste. Weak gastric warming. No dimethylsulfide or diacetyl. Ends slightly bitter and dry.
Palate – 3.5 – Medium, lightly syrupy, soft carbonation.
Final impression and summation: 4.25 If I’d have known how good this would turn out, I’d have purchased a case like I did with the base beer Tango. This is excellent, even better than most of the Belgian Kriek beers I’ve consumed. Fruit fly approved.

Rating 4.3, rDev +7.2%

 

I have a couple of beers for Day 2. The first is a collab from two iconic breweries in our beer nerd world.

And what the heck, let’s do it live.





Pours the ubiquitous hazy orange color so many hazies gravitate toward, with a delightfully creamy white head that is gripping my glass for all it’s worth. Dank citrus notes dominate the nose, with (glancing at the “Hazy IPA Brewer’s Dictionary”) ripe tangerine, grapefruit, loads of pineapple, and a literal truckload of lychee.

The lychee is forward on the taste, and is delicious, balanced by the tangerine, grapefruit, and especially the pineapple, with a medium mouthfeel that edges toward creamy, making this an especially drinkable hazy - yet I wonder one thing:

Why the need for a “collab” when this is strikingly similar to other TG hazies? This is delicious, and worthy of your consideration if you’re itching to drink an excellent hazy (IMHO), but there’s nothing “special” here. It’s another hazy in a veritable sea of hazies, and I’d expect a collab from two world-class breweries to step a bit outside the proverbial box.

Rated 4.35

 

Had to pull this one out for the after memorial for a friend of a friend. I didn’t know him well but he was well loved by the many people that showed up. Surprisingly I have had it for two years and never drank it. Gotta thin down my cellar!
Canned 10-14-2020
Poured dark, tar dark and the brown head that reached as high as an inch dissipated quickly and left no lacing.
The aroma was faint for my damaged nose, but I did get some bourbon and roasted malts.
The taste leads with the barrel; bourbon and oak and transitioned to the stout, definitely coffee forward and the malts carry the whole lot forward.
The feel was thinner than expected, not sure if being almost 2 years old caused that or it’s just not viscous. Smooth as silk, but not viscous.
OA, glad to have gotten to try this. It’s a very well done BA stout.
Cheers all!