New Beer Weekend #111

Hmmm...maybe it's about time your friends renewed their vows...

Fresh hops are brewing right now, my friend...

 

Good Morning NBS/nbw and thanks @SawDog505 for hosting this week.
Its a lovely morning here in WMass, potato trucks are hussling all this week, tobacco is being hung with care, the slatted barns are all open, so you know its almost fall!
Todays offering is from the way back machine, and by my experience just at the right time.
Black Albert is an excellent sipper, and a reminder that good/great stouts dont need Lactose, coconut, marshmallow Etc, (sorry pet peeve). Heading to continue the clean out of our childhood home in a bit, always bitter sweet.
Cheers

Black Albert

Russian Imperial Stout | 13% ABV
De Struise Brouwers in Oostvleteren, Belgium

Reviewed by SABERG from Massachusetts

4.16/5 rDev -2.3% | Average: 4.26
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Poured into the test glass, from 11.2 oz bottle with "BA No. 14 BRS Brew" on the label.
A - Chalkboard black, with a thin off white ring of assembled bubbles, a slow moving archipelago in the center of the ring.
S - Burnt brown sugar, cigar wrap tobacco drying in the barn, dark cocoa, hint of soy, and anise.
T - Black pepper corn, bakers chocolate, again a hint of tobacco, with dark fruits being the center, fig, dried plum, with again hint of anise.
M - Medium bordering to to heavy in body, full palate coating while avoiding the "syruppy" trap, Start is semi sweet, with lingering bitterness acting as the clean up agent, Finish is just dry enough to invite another sip.
O - A lovely sipper, excellent RIS characteristics, with rich complex flavors, well hidden alcohol, and luxurious texture.

 

You captured many of my thoughts about it. Overall, I kept thinking, this has no right to be this good. So many ways it could have gone off the rails, but I, too, was blown away by every sip. It reminded me of some of the better "weird beers" I've had from Tired Hands. I ran back to my local who had a ton of it when I bought it, but it was already gone. Later today, I might find myself at another secret spot that might have it. Fingers crossed.

 

Glad you're having it now, with a few weeks on it. Brand new, it was green and a little unintegrated. The "single" version, Sleeping Chamber, is a dead ringer for OG Alpine Nelson; this has echoes of it, I think. Next time I get a hold of Sleeping Chamber, I'll be sure to send you some.

 

Grimm x Equilibrium Einstein's Lambo DIPA. Was super-excited to receive this collab in a recent porch strike from @tasterschoice62. When either of these breweries is at the top of their game, they're really impressive. Let's see if bringing them together creates something greater than the sum of their parts.

Upon pouring, even a careful pour, this produces the most head I've seen on a beer in a long time. And it doesn't seem to want to go away; not sure what that says about the beer, but it's pretty much of the opposite of Trillium, who can't seem to produce any head on any of their beers. Aroma is lightly citric, with some herbal dankness, but not exactly over-inviting. First sip tastes all Grimm, and not in a bad way: extreme balance and restraint, almost too much so. There's a complexity that comes through, especially as it warms, that reminds me a little more of Equilibrium, but nothing along the lines of, say, the Super Over Ripe that @Roguer reviewed above. Honestly, I think reading that review sort of biased me against this beer, which, at the end of the day, is impressive but not mind-blowing. It's a beer I admire more than love, which, in a crowded field of NEIPAs, is still an achievement. Thanks, Larry!

 

I just finished some outdoor chores when my grandson called to see if I wanted to go for a drive with him. He just got his Permit and needs 50 hours of drive time before he gets his license.
My new beer for today is Skyward Strike from Level Beer in Portland, OR. It is a hazy pale ale with 5.7% ABV.
A hazy orange color with a huge white head that subsides quickly.
Aroma of fruit and pine.
Taste of melon, grapefruit, and orange. Late pine.
On the bitter
A hazy orange color with a huge white head that subsides quickly.
Aroma of fruit and pine.
Taste of melon, grapefruit, and orange. Late pine.
On the bitter/hoppy side.

 

The other Nelson beer that comes close to OG Alpine, but not as close as Sleeping Chamber, is Nelson Baby! from Alvarado Street. But Sleeping Chamber is more or less an exact clone.

 

As I read through posts I get the strong impression how valued this time of year is to the NBS/NBW community. Everyone just seems to reflect gratitude.
Today’s beer is Konstantin from Schilling Beer Co. in New Hampshire. An Austrian-style Märzen, 5% canned 8/19/22.
Pours a brilliant copper penny. It’s semi-transparent but such bright clarity. Firm white foam cap recedes to a thin veil.
Aroma of fresh pretzel dough and baked pretzel with an earthy noble hop presence. If you made a pretzel bagel, toasted it and added honey you’d have this beer’s aroma.
Taste follows nose. Mouthfeel is lightly prickly carbonation that clears quick and dry. No cloying caramels here. Lovely beer.

 

Welcome one and all to New Beer Sunday #915! At Revolution Brewpub as the Taproom is closed today. Starting with my first Sunflower Seed beer.

Revolution Positive Light



Brewery Notes: 16 oz draft pour into Pilsner glass, 5% ABV. $7 plus tax and tip.

This Wheat Lager with Malted Sunflower in the mash marks our first beer brewed with sunflower seeds. A dry hop of Select and Crystal hops delivers a subtle floral bouquet, accompanied with a citrus (clementine) pop, while the Vienna malt and sunflower seeds lend a snappy nuttiness on the backend.

Appearance: Golden straw clear base, egg white head leaves creamy cover over base and nice lacing. Mild carbonation. 4.0

Aroma: Faint aroma, citrus after several attempts. 3.0

Taste: Different from the typical wheat for certain. Getting sunflower flavor, and while different I like it since I like sunflower. Citrus stronger than aroma. Malt is stronger than the typical wheat beer, with a sweet bread flavor, white but not Wonder. Digging this. 3.75

Mouthfeel: Carbonation stronger than it looks, dry, slightly sweet to sweet leaning beer. Drinks at to easier than the listed 5.0% level ABV. Clean easy drinking and finish. 4.0

Overall: Like that Revolution took a chance with this offering. Never thought of a sunflower seed beer, but glad they did. Light easy summer drinking, a bit maltier than expected, overall a nice Wheat Lager I’d enjoy again. 3.75

Meeting my brother in a bit, so not sure if I’ll try another new one here or elsewhere.

 

It's a cool little place and if you didn't know that it was there could drive right by it. Great beers and the food is decent too.

 

At Twin Elephant Brewing drinking Koosh a German style Kolsch. This is a nice refreshing beer pretty much what one would expect a Kolsch. Pilsner malts are used but that’s about all I know about it. Except to say it is very enjoyable.

 

Fiddlers Green fresh hop IPA at Fremont


RIP orange notebook. A fitting end.

 

I've got one of those! I use it every year for our Oktoberfest party!

 

Ectoplasm, collaboration WCIPA between Fremont and Half Acre


Found an only slightly used page

 

and so it begins…

My glass one is a half liter which is perfect. The grey ceramic one is a liter…

 

For Pumpkin beer, that one is not that bad. At least it has a hefty alcohol %.
It's not my thing either, but I've had several of those on the house.

 

I have the liter one. Got it for 5 bucks at a yard sale. It keeps beer cold for a while. Heavy though.