New Beer Weekend #109

Nectarous Mango by Tree House


4.25/5 rDev +2.9%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

Brewers Notes: Nectarous Mango is an American IPA brewed with a studious selection of fruit-forward American hops, mango purée, and a touch of milk sugar. Pouring a vibrant orange color into the glass, it carries rich notes of mango creamsicle, mango gummies, and mango cream. Meticulously brewed to be incredibly flavorful yet deliciously drinkable, Nectarous Mango is a delightful beverage with wide appeal.

Canned 7.16.22, opened 8.20.22

“Got my mind set on you”

Poured into a teku produces a frothy white two finger layer over a hazy orange liquid , good retention , settles to a pencil thick layer , lots of lacings

Aroma is mango, tropical fruits , bubblegum

Taste is mango , hint of vanilla , a mango creamsicle is an apt description

Smooth , creamy , slightly sweet



Good beer

 

That is a great old-style bottle. Reminds me of the Ringnes bottles (from Norway) back in the early 70s.

 

New batch, so new beer I suppose? I first had this in can last year, not sure how long they've been canning it for. Last year I had it late in the season, maybe around late September, this year I got it fresh as I can.



Schnitzengiggles by Nebco. This is a genuine festbier. Pours a nice, clear copper, golden amber. Beer has the faintest haze but that's likely because it's just out the fridge on a warm day. (forgive my apparently dirty glass)

Nose is white grape, tannins, musty pith, maybe some hay, toast/bread, lemon peel, fine pilsener malt but moreso the husk than the interior of the grain. The hop bill is "Hallertau" which I take, from the nose, to be hallertau Mittlefruh. Really lively malt and hop characters pulling from the nose. It smells excellent. I should say that I'm a festbier over marzen person.

Mouth is quite full and rounded. There's a pleasant early bitterness, mostly presents in the same way as the nose. Big robust burst of lemon, sharp malt character, and a lot of herbal presence, not just in the finish but all throughout.

This is better, to me, than last years. It's excellently conditioned, head hanging around with some lacing and it's nice and clear now. Ever drinkable, best fest I've had this year so far. Will see if Jack's Abby can put in a wrench in that with the copper legend.

4.71/5 rDev +21.4%
look: 4.75 | smell: 5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5

 

With nearly 3,000 BA reviews I won’t pile on, but today I had my first St. Bernardus Abt 12. Wow, what a beer and worthy of the accolades. A lightly sweet, dry, 10% quad that masks its power, fluffy head, aroma and flavors of figs, malt, caramel, and a smooth finish. Amazing beer. What a great suggestion for an informal tasting @FBarber!

 

Alright, here's Copper Legend - Jack's Abby (Marzen)



Perhaps not evident in the picture, but it's a clear burnt orange, head is just off white, in the light it leans amber/copper.

Nose is traditional, malty, robust caramalt, sweet malt sugar, some fresh cut grass, that really authentic smell in the air at an Oktoberfest festival. Smells as good as it does every year.

Taste is definitely more rounded and complete than previous years. It's a really clean, well executed take. Lends itself maybe 75/25 to marzen and it's that 25% festbier character that is shouting out from the base. It's hoppy and floral, there's a lovely malt body supporting all the herbal bitterness. The malt character isn't pure vienna or caramalt but feels like a really well balanced pilsner base with some medium roasted malt character.

Excellent take as always from JA. More my kind of marzen than a pure caramel bomb.

 

Alaskan Juneau Juice Hazy IPA, 7.5% ABV;3.82 overall

Pours an effervescent & no so hazy honey color with 2 fingers of cream colored head. Good head retention & lacing

S: Tropical fruits, but not a ton

T: Mango, passion fruit, dryness, a touch of breadyness & tangerine up front, pineapple as well. Dryness pineapple, oranges & passion fruit as this beer warms, a little green melon as well. Finishes dry with green melon & tangerine & a little caramel & grassy hops

MF: Medium body, soft carbonation, good balance

Drinkable, solid offering, but not one I'd buy again

 

Been wanting to get rid of this 4/2020 bottle of shorts, so I am making a 4 lb pork roast tonight. It smelled fine when I opened it. A lot of yeasty gunks got in the pot but it'll be fine. It'll be doing 1:20 in the instant pot with the beer and spices. Fragrant beer smells of boiling.


From @snaotheus Mirage Beer Opening Day. Awesome hazy. Great turbid green appearance and fluffy head retention/foamy lacing. Aromas and flavors of big tangerine, coconut, lemon, grapefruit, passion fruit, apricot, mango, honeydew melon, berries, citrus peel/rind, cedar, mint, pepper, pine, wheat, cracker, bread dough, herbal, floral, grass, yeast earthiness. Light-moderate pine, citrus rind, herbal, woody, spicy bitterness on the finish. Medium-high carbonation, medium body, and fairly crisp finishing. Balanced creamy/grainy malts, and sticky/resinous hops. Long resin drying finish, with no hop astringency. Minimal warming 6.2% or hop burn after the finish. Very drinkable and not aggressive. Very bright, dank, and earthy hop flavors, with a nicely soft feeling malt backbone. Great showcase of Sabro mostly, I really liked how it worked here. 4.1


Cheers

 

I decided to have a thirst-quenching lager this evening. I always wanted to try this one but could not find it here in Florida until now. This has a very attractive and bright golden hue with a foamy white head. Not much can be said for the aroma as it is almost nonexistent.

This lager is very clean-tasting with a pleasant malt presence balanced by subtle hops; most importantly, you often find no off-flavors with this style of lager. Overall, it is a refreshing and quaffable lager perfect for a hot summer evening. I am pleased to have this opportunity to try a New England Classic.

 

Back with an old time Pilsner I’m finally getting around to trying.

Grolsch Premium Pilsner



Bottle Notes: 15.2 oz bottle, best by 2/7/23 11:02, unknown by me bottle date. Purchased at room temperature 8/19/22 at total wine Summerlin for $2.79 plus tax. Refrigerated since purchase. Poured 10.8 oz in a Pilsner glass, the other 4.4 oz for my brother. Imported by Grolsch Importers, Washington DC, bottled by Grolsch Bierbrowerij Enchede-Holland. Ingredients: Water, Malted Barley & Hops.

Appearance: Clear golden straw, medium carbonation, white full head lasts about a minute before leaving a dusting on the base. 4.0

Aroma: Nice noble hops, salty cracker, but not too salty. Fresh. 4.0

Taste: Similar to aroma, a bit lighter in strength. First dips a bit salty and skunky, but both faded for the remaining pour. Noble hops, cracker, nice balanced taste. Digging this. 4.0

Mouthfeel: Thin body and light carbonation throughout. Very easy drinking, slightly dry, neutral bitter/sweet, clean finish. 3.75

Overall: This is a solid Pilsner, not sure why I didn’t have until now, but would by bottles fresh despite the green bottles, and would like to try draft as well. 4.0

 

Is it to early to enjoy a marzen oktoberfest after spending an afternoon at a swimming pool? Probably, but I wanted to try this beer since I purchased a 12 pack blind and was curious. I also know several BAs have asked about it so I'm gonna throw my take out there as well...

Troegs - Oktoberfest




Beautiful crystal clear amber, slight off white colored head. Vigorous pour yields some very generous lacing with some nice retention. Quarter inch cap of dense froth lingers and lingers; splotchy lacing continues. Swirling this one around is a pleasant site; beautiful plethora of bubbles that slowly rise back to the head. This beer is definitely a looker...

The nose is full of lightly toasted malt; some grain husk with some very soft aromatic noble hop undertones.

The flavor gives much of the same impression but there is much more depth to the malt; more toasted bread like character than expected. There is some subtle toffee as well, followed again by a gentle almost floral hop note.

Light side of medium body, rich bready feel, soft creamy carbonation with low to no bitterness that finishes quite dry, drinkability is very high.

I couldn't be happier with my blind purchase of this 12 pack, I will enjoy this beer quite a bit as the weather cools in September and October. I would recommend this beer to anyone who is a fan of marzen style oktoberfests, this is a keeper and I hope Troegs brings this back yearly from here on out.

@keithmurray

 

Wow @ESHBG we couldn't have had more different takes on this beer...I do have a Neshaminy Oktoberfest in the fridge too which I haven't had in a year or two so I'm looking forward to revisiting with your comment on that one. I think I'm gonna save that one for cooler weather.

 

Mother's Beer Co. New Prague Dark Lager, 4.8% ABV; 3.9 overall

Pours an effervescent hazel/caramel color with a thumb+ of sand colored head. Pretty good lacing & average head retention

S: Some toastyness & a little brown bread

T: Follows the nose, some dryness & woody hops, plus a little chicory up front. Roastyness, dryness, a touch of nuttyness as this warms. Finishes roasty & dry & just a touch of sweetness ( caramel)

MF Medium body, restrained carbonation

Not a bad dark lager at all, pretty flavorful, drinks pretty well

 

But in reading your description I'm not sure that we really did, as you also touched on a few of the things that I did but the difference is that you seemed to enjoy it a lot more than I did; I'm looking forward to your thoughts on the Neshaminy now too.

And I am not claiming that it's going to make much difference but for awareness mine was in a bottle.

 

Yea true I guess I really latched on to the enjoyment factor part. I’ll let you know when I do for sure; last time I had it was 2 years ago I believe so to me to recent for NBW but I’ll post in the NE Oktoberfest thread…patiently waits for a cool night…

 

It's definitely a solid beer but for my palate not towards the top for the style. And with this weather you're going to be waiting quite a while for those cool nights

 

Good evening NBW
My first from a mixed case that inbev released this year. 6 each of GI, Karbach, Golden Road oktoberfests and 6 Widmer Brothers Okto (actually an ale).

Karbachtoberfest
12oz stamped ENJOY BY 111822 poured into a mug at fridge temp 5.5% ABV 25 IBU. The beer pours mostly bright light copper in color with minimal off white head. The head recedes to a thin ring and island. The aroma is mild with bready malt. The taste is semisweet bready malt with mild nuttiness and pronounced, perfumy floral and herbal hop flavor. Mild bitterness. The mouthfeel is thin to medium bodied with average carbonation and a mostly dry finish. Cleanly lagered. Overall, good. The hop flavors are somewhat pronounced compared to an authentic marzen, but the malt notes are right, if a bit watered down.

Alright, I'm a bit relieved as I expected this whole case to be shit. I don't care for GI Oktoberfest at all, so those will all go for soup base. The Karbach beers I'll drink. I may be back in a minute with an ultimate Oktoberfest...

Cheers all!

 

Half Acre Lager Town Octoberfest - I have enjoyed their beers that I have tried but something tells me that this is going to be hopped all to hell for the style...I did not read any reviews or even look up the beer going into this so that I am unbiased and to see if I'm right.

Pours from a 16 oz can (07/18/22) a hazy amber, very carbonated, fluffy head that looks IPA-ish and confirms to me that this is probably going to be hoppy. Smell is hoppy, some malts in there. Taste is...yup, hopped up for the style and it goes from sweet malts immediately to hops and ends dryly; it's crisp also which is nice. As it warms it does mellow out a bit. The head and lacing are very thick.

Is this good? Yes. Is this what I want in an Octoberfest? Not really. There are way more than enough hoppy things on the shelves that to me this is a bit unnecessary. It's an interesting beer at least due to the flavors playing off of each other and it being a bit dry does add to the drink ability...if you want a hoppy Lager this would be your jam. Budmo!

*Not much on their site about this beer.