New Beer Weekend #111

Fullsteam lion in winter. Fantastic imperial spot. Aromas and flavors of dark chocolate, dark roast coffee, nuts, molasses, caramel, dark bread/crust; light smoke, char, wood, herbal, grass, pine, dark fruit, and yeast/char earthiness. Lt-med hop/char bitter finish. Medium carb and full body. Creamy/silky/bready malts, some sticky hop and chalky roast mouthfeel. Lingering sticky/chalky bitter drying. No cloying/acrid/astringent. Great will rounded clean rich malt complexity, balanced hops, and restrained yeast. Outstanding American style. 4.25


Cheers

 

My mother in law returned from her Maine trip, I requested only two bottles from Maine Beer which they visited, Dinner!! Can't wait to try it and their black barn beer (experimental series) an altbier. I asked for one bottle of each, she bought me two of each The dinner was bottled 9 day ago

I'm hoping to open Dinner tonight and join you.

 

Great bscon cheese fries from Fullsteam. Super salty and undeniably the smokiest bacon I tried in a while lol. I can taste the wood they used to smoke it


Fullsteam 6:14. Fantastic dark mild. Poor head retention and minimal lacing. Aromas and flavors of caramel, brown sugar/bread/crust, roasted nuts; lt cocoa, coffee, dark fruit, smoke, char, wood, pepper, herbal, grass, yeast earth. Light herbal/spicy bitter finish. Medium plus carb and lt-med body. Bready/ grainy malt, light sticky hop and chalky roast mouthfeel. Lingering drying finish. No acrid/astringent. Min warmth of 3.3%, very flavorful for the abv and not watery. Spot on style stuff. Loved it. 4.2


Cheers

 

So I tried a very well regarded Märzen today and think I got a bad bottle as it had almost zero carbonation.

So it isn’t one I’ll rate as it wasn’t anything like what I have read about. But it was new to me!
Cheers all!

 

Barreled Souls Booker's Barrel Honey Pot Wheatwine, part of an all-killer-no-filler box from @Roguer. I think I can count the wheatwines I've had on one hand: Bourbon County, The Bruery's White Chocolate, and . . . well, maybe that's all. All of which is to say that I don't have a lot to compare to, although my impression is that they aren't all too different from barleywines (any thoughts, @Beersnake1?).

Anyway, this pours a dark amber, almost bourbon color, with zero head and minimal carb. It really does look like a glass of dark liquor. Aroma is caramel, currant, and honey, with maybe a little black pepper. Taste is incredibly smooth, again almost like a fine bourbon, with the honey dancing lightly atop bready dark fruit, leather, and tobacco. Grows more complex as it warms, but not crazily so, with the barrel pulling down the low notes into something close to a liqueur. Not as contemplative a drink as, say, some of the Transient stouts I've had this past year, but very sippable and warming. Pulled out some extra-sharp cheddar to go with about halfway through, a very nice complement. Thanks, Andrew, for this lovely experience.

 

Fullsteam adsr. Awesome coffee helles. Mellow aromas of fresh nutty coffee and grains. Taste of medium roast coffee, cracker, bread, vanilla, herbal, wood, grass, pepper, pine; lt cocoa/char. Lt med hop/roasted coffee bitter finish. Medium plus carb and lt med body. Fairly crisp clean refreshing finish. Balanced bready/grainy malt and sticky hop mouthfeel. Lingering bitter drying, no astringency. Very clean pils malts with balanced nutty coffee and noble hops. Spot on base style. 4.1


Cheers

 

Day 2, another special beer to enjoy over the holiday weekend that I’ve held for more than a while. This is the 2018 iteration that caused such a ruckus in our beer nerd world. Let’s see if it’s worthy of said ruckus.









4.71/5 rDev +0.6%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.75
Pours a rich dark brown color that is impenetrable by light and features a creamy mocha colored head that lingers a bit before dissipating to allow you to focus on the beautiful beer in your glass and the aromas drawing you closer.

And what magnificent aromas greet you - rich English toffee, vanilla, a bit of fig, oak, and a smidge of booze, all in perfect balance. I am literally drooling.

The toffee is forward on the taste as expected, but it willingly allows room for the vanilla (hurray!), oak (double hurray!), and especially the fig (cubed hurray!) that provides balance to the sweetness of the other components and coasts into the boozy warming at the back of the palate. Simply stunning flavor profile and nuance to a beer this big (13.8% ABV).

The mouthfeel is creamy and more than a bit oily, as expected. I sat on this a bit, and it was more than worth the wait. Truly a world class English barleywine.

 

Good evening all. Here with what seems like it should be a nice end of summer beer:



Oxbow Surf Melon brewed with watermelon, lime, and sea salt.

Pours a very much unclear yellow with a foamy white head that ends as a thin layer of bubbles.

It smells like a slightly malty beer with whiffs of watermelon and lime. There's a bit of a grassy hay and green herbal note as well.

The taste - well, I get the lime up front but it isn't obnoxiously strong. The watermelon eventually shows up and lingers well into the aftertaste. There's a little green note along for the ride. There is quite a bit of mineral impact without being overly salty. I do not know what the base beer is, but there's definitely a maltiness letting the other flavors play. Decent bitter hit on the swallow.

The feel is light and lively, certainly refreshing.

Overall, pleasant enough beer. It's nicely made and not heavy-handed. I think you need to be in the mood for this one. Glad to have tried it, but I don't need to have it again. Well made, just not my thing. Thinking around a 3.8 or so.

 

#2, the of the beers from the Extreme Beer Fest beers, this is a kettle sour featuring peanut butter.

Roll that around in your beer nerd melon for a minute.





3.62/5 rDev -2.4%
look: 4 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75
This beer pours a cranberry color with an off white head that evades capture in the glass. The nose has some grape and vanilla, but is overwhelmed by the peanut butter.

The taste is a bit more balanced, with the apple and grape flavors forward, but the big dollop of peanut butter is a bit distracting from the sour components expected from a sour.

The mouthfeel is medium, and a bit softer carbonation than kettle sours typically deliver.

This was definitely extreme, to the point that it tried to do more than it should have, IMHO. Still worthy of a try, and definitely something outside of my beer nerd comfort zone.

 

Sierra Nevada Liquid Hoppiness - The reviews have been pretty lackluster, it's not selling that well in my area and retailers did not order too much of it so my expectations are low. Also, the freshest I could find was canned on 07/06 so I picked up two singles from a retailer who has been keeping them cold.

Pours a hazy yellow, good head. Smell is kind of muted but there's some juiciness in there. Taste is hoppy and yeah kind of juicy but a little bland and I think that the hop selection here has created a bit of a muddled beer. While I am keeping the age of this beer in mind, it's still boring and not something I would be clamoring for again...especially with all of the choices (including SN's HLT, which is the better beer here). I'll have no issues finishing the other can but yeah, overall a miss for me and disappointing that Oktoberfest was axed and this was its replacement. Budmo!

 

Here's the first ever lager from Foley Bros.!

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/30542/619874/



12 ounce can, a few days old.

Gentle to moderate pour yields a one inch plus white head over a bright straw colored body with lacing.

Subdued nose of slight grass and slighter malt, with a bit of floral going on as well.

Taste of lightly toasted biscuit and slightly sweet malt with very low hop bitterness.

Nicely full and soft mouthfeel.

Overall, quite clean and smooth new offering from Brandon, VT.
Shipping next week and can't wait to get more than just a sample can.

Cheers!

 

So far today I've tried a Japanese rice lager brewed for a Chinese company in New York and a Japanese made milk stout with a funky sweet & sour twist. Logically, the next beer should be a Russian Imperial Stout made in Italy with hot chiles...

Verdi Imperial Stout
Birrificio Del Ducato
11.2oz undated bottle poured into a teku glass at fridge temp 8.2% ABV. The beer pours dense, dark brown with no light penetration and light brown head. The head recedes to a thin ring and partial layer of bubbles. The aroma is mild with caramel, roasted malt, dark chocolate, pepper and coffee. The taste is bittersweet roasted malt with minimal hot pepper along with dark chocolate. Mild bitterness. The mouthfeel is medium bodied with just less that average carbonation and a mostly dry finish. Overall, good.

Well, if nothing else, clean out the fridge weekend is always interesting. Cheers all!

 

Well @Roy_Hobbs I'm joining you...my mother in law brought me back a few bottles from their trip to Maine, they went to the brewery and she asked if I wanted anything. This is one of the beers I chose, it was bottled just 9 days ago...Never thought I'd try this beer and this fresh.

Maine - Dinner



Pours a dirty darker straw color; cloudy but see through; white head that laces quite beautifully, a dense film lingers and lingers.

The aroma literally jumps out of the glass on this beer; it has an essential oil like brightness to it, incredibly vibrant. A mix of fresh in season fruits; nothing tropical to me just local summer fruits, but with an extra citrus like bite to it; a little bit of vegetal dank on the finish, it cuts short of onion garlic territory for me.

Taste is much of the same but the beer becomes less fruity more citrus, pithy, with a pretty nice minor sweet malt presence; slight resin/sap aftertastes.

This is a double IPA that is for sure; it has a pretty hefty body, higher end of medium. A very clean drinking beer, dry and biting bitterness on the finish, prickly sappy tingling on the tongue. Also letting you know this is a double IPA is the slight alcohol presence on the finish, no overbearing by any means but present.

Well it is easy to see why this beer has the reputation it does. The aroma alone is intoxicating but the flavors and feel combine to make this a very good beer; I love the bite and big hop presence on such an aromatic beer. Lovely beer.

Back to school this week so I really really cannot wait till next weekend. In case I don't have a new one tomorrow...have a great week everyone.

 

Announcement Time regarding NBS BIF #16!!!

@Roguer
@2beerdogs
@FBarber

Do you like discovering new beers? Do you believe in Secret Santa? Have you ever played the game Clue? Do you like beer AND having fun?

Answer “yes” to the above and then…

Sign-up thread will go live on Saturday, September 10. All current and past participants are welcome to join. Any "new" members will have to be vetted by a current members and approved. New members should already participate in the NBW thread (or establish that they will), and should have an established (not necessarily lengthy) record in trading and/or other BIFs.

Hints and Hauls thread will go live on Saturday, October 8. That is almost a month for sign ups, and to finish up the current round.

The official share date is the holiday weekend of November 11-13

Please do not sign up here…this is simply an FYI

THE. BIF. IS. COMING.

 

Yor fries look way better than the fries we had a few hours ago...

 

Point Remove Brewing Co. Black Jack Pirate Ale, 5.5% ABV; 3.51 overall

They claim is has a cream ale base, not really tasting or smelling that.

Pours an effervescent Chestnut with a pinky of tan head. Zero head retention & lacing

S: Super roasty

T: Roastyness, a touch of sweetness & dryness up front, Dry, roasty & a bit of Chicory as this warms. Finishes dry, roasty. with a little corny sweetness & a little pine

MF: Body is a touch thin, restrained carbonation

Drinks okay, but the lack of body is killing this