New Beer Weekend #112

I just had a nutty Marzen - it’s like we’re living the same beer nerd life.

 

#2, I liked this significantly better than #1 - need to pick some more of it as a nice fall beer.





4.17/5 rDev 0%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
Beautiful amber color in the glass, almost clear, with a light tan head. Gorgeous beer, IMHO. The nose features toffee, a nutty aroma, and grassy hop notes.

The toffee and nutty flavors are forward on the taste, with a bit of grass mid-palate, with a cracker crisp mouthfeel for a very crushable Marzen. Really good stuff, IMHO.

 

Sorry to hear about your cat.
Cheers

 

Good evening folks. It was supposed to be a nice day here today, but it turned out to be a damper, swampy kinda day with no sun. Good day to watch the Patriots get their butts handed to 'em...plus my Badgers grasped defeat from the jaws of victory yesterday. But there's always good beer, right?

Tonight's sacrifice is:


Pantless Thunder Goose from Mast Landing. The can says it is a DIPA, we call it a NEIPA here, so whatever... I can smell tropical fruit as soon as I pop the can, so let's get to it.

It pours smoothly, all the while emanating tropical fruitiness. It's obviously a hazy, but the picture is a tad dark versus reality - it's lighter visually. Pineapple juice look to it. The head is tight foam, very white, fairly persistent falling to a pretty even cap. Stick pretty well.

Aroma - while enthusiastic it is actually pretty soft when I stick my nose in. A fair amount of pine-like resin actually comes through the tropical fruits. It's mostly tropical - I'll go mango with a little pineapple, then a slight citrusy orange. Peach eventually exerts itself fairly strongly, but it takes a while. It really says drink me, so...

The flavors lead with the tropical flavors. Mango, maybe some guava, some pineapple, that bit of orange. There's a good dose of resinous flavor, then the peach just kicks ass. The flavor is more substantial than the aroma would suggest. There's a nice bit of pithy bitterness, and a little oily citrus sting. Tasty stuff.

It's smooth, a tad bit chalky on the tongue, moderately carbonated. Very slight alcohol warmth. Actually goes down dangerously smooth at 8.5%...

Overall, digging this one. Well made, if undifferentiated from the crowd. Enjoyable, smoothly integrated flavors, not overdone. My first non-stout from Mast Landing and I am certainly not disappointed - just as impressive as Gunner's Daughter and variants. Maybe around a 4.3.

@Roguer - sorry to hear about the kitty. We're adopters/rescuers as well, and I think those animals truly have a great appreciation for their circumstances. They are absolutely family members.

 

Good evening NBW
First beer of the day.

Hitachino Expresso Stout
11.2oz bottle coded ES.21.06 P poured into a tulip pint glass at fridge temp 7% ABV. The beer pours dense black with minimal light penetration and light brown head. The head recedes to a thin ring and little else. The aroma is moderate in strength featuring dark chocolate, rich black coffee and fudge. The taste is bittersweet with more of the same. Very dark chocolate, fudge, expresso all make an appearance. Moderate bitterness. The mouthfeel is medium plus bodied with just less that average carbonation and a mostly dry finish. There's a fair amount of alcohol presence here for the ABV. Not enough to be a problem, but it's there. Overall, very good. You would have to like strong coffee in your stout to get behind this one.

I may have another in me. Time will tell. Cheers all!

 

Definitely the closer

Brooklyn Black Ops Four Roses
16oz undated can poured into a Spiegelau stout glass at just above fridge temp 12.4% ABV per can. The beer pours impenetrable black with fizzy, cola like head. Spotty lacing.
The aroma is moderate in strength featuring notes of chocolate, coffee, vanilla and bourbon. The taste is bittersweet roasted malt with an immediate and delicious bourbon bite. Further sipping offers a little dark chocolate and coffee. Strong bitterness. The mouthfeel is medium bodied with average carbonation and a mostly dry finish. Alcohol is well hidden for 12+ ABV. Overall, excellent. This is a bourbon lovers RIS and that's ok with me.

Cheers all!

 

Joining late tonight, and having trouble getting Imgur to resize, so I apologize for the large picture.

Tonight's beer is courtesy of @schinebd. I've had several Vitamin Sea IPAs but never anything else, so I've been excited to try this.

Vitamin Sea Imperial Seven Bells



Look Smell Taste Feel Overall
4.25 4.5 4.25 4.25 4.25

Pours black with about two fingers of mocha foam that dissipated quickly.

Cold, the smell was mostly coffee to me. I'm not a coffee drinker, so I've learned that I am much more sensitive to it than others. As it warmed, the maple really started to show, which was pleasant.

Taste, again at first was overwhelming coffee, but as it warmed, it turned to chocolate and maple.

Body was medium to thin, but not in a bad way. It was easy to drink, and definitely not thick.

Overall, a pleasant night cap. Hope to see you all again next weekend!

 

Stonehooker Broad Reach Nor’easter IPA.


Pours a slightly hazy gold with ample head that dissipates slowly.

Aroma is generally tropical with some grassy/herbal notes blended in. A little muddy.

Taste follows. Tropical hop notes dominate with that herbal quality coming through in the finish. Lighter flavours overall.

This beer has limited body. Certainly less mouthfeel than I’d expect of the style.

A serviceable NEIPA, that I’d likely not make an effort to revisit.

Cheers.

 

Condolences to you. Slink lived long and I’m sure you gave her a great life. Keep those memories close.

 

Well the babyshower went off without really any hitches (2 and 4 year olds melting down at 2100 is not a hitch... it's to be expected!), it was a good get together of family and friends, there was copious good food, some tie-dye onesies, and we even got great grandma in on zoom! So that's always fun. And bonus... the smoke cleared up enough that we could have the doors opened up and utilize the outdoor space as well!



For many reasons, this is the most wonderful time of the year. The transition away from constant sweltering temperatures, the coziness of fall settling in, and of course... harvest season. In our BA context, this also means fresh hop season. The true reason for the season. For those that don't live in hop growing country... it's around this time of year that the hop bines bear fruit (well, flowers... I think the cones are flowers, right?). Typically, as most of y'all probably know, the cones are then dried and processed so that they stay stable for use throughout the year, much the way we do with dried herbs. Well, if you live within a couple of hours drive of the ranches where the hops are grown... why not buy those hops as soon as they come off the bine, and brew with them right away, without freezing, without drying, without processing... just fresh pure hops? Typically, into the brew within 24 hours of coming off the bine is the time frame we're dealing with. In much the same way that fresh plucked basil just has a whole different character to it than dried (or even stuff bought out of the cooler at the store, tbh), so too fresh hops. Not every brew is a winner, and some of that is up to the brewers, but some of it is also honestly just up to the batch of hops. Working with fresh hops is much more unpredictable, which can lend to frustration in this season, but also some of the magic of it, as you'll get brews that you'd never expect that end up being some of the best of the season.
Sometimes, however, it doesn't come across as well as you'd hope, and that's always that much more disappointing, especially when you know how good it COULD be.


(we had helpers for the gift opening portion)

Last year, Flying Lion had one of my surprise winners with their Strata FH beer. This year, the season is juuuuust getting started, so it's still early, but honestly I've been a little underwhelmed overall. Unfortunately, this Flying Lion option does not change that impression. Brewed with experimental hop ADHA-218, which they describe as being, "...full of surprises. [with] [n]otes of lime, sweet fruit and even bubblegum!" Hmm...



This one pours a lovely honey-caramel colour. Nice fluffy head that dissipates eventually, leaving no lacing, but a few vague islands and a slim ring against the glass.
The nose starts off... unusual. And I can't quite put my finger on exactly what the flavours I'm picking up are. It's definitely sweet... almost like a sweet apple sweet would be the fruit I would name if I was really trying to figure it out? But not even really like an apple. It's tough to nail down. It's also quite woody on the balance. It doesn't really have the... je nais se quois of typical fresh hop brews. There's a brightness, an oily freshness that fresh hops impart that's lacking. Spoiler alert: the same is true in flavour.
The flavour has some of that same pear/apple kind of fruit, but also a definite sharp lime bitterness and sure enough some of that bubblegum they talk about. There's also some baking spice type note as well. But it lacks the FH character I look for this time of year.
The finish is the lime pith bitter.



Cheers y'all and come join the BIF!!!

 

Sorry about your cat Slink. What a great name. I'm up now with my 17 year old Treeing Walker Coonhound Greta. These are her last days and I'm caring for and cherishing her while she is still comfortable. She is the essence of family and these great long-living members of our families are living memories and the definition of heart. Take care and love your doggies ever more.

 

Beautiful post, and an exciting time for changes of all types. Our oldest just started kindergarten last week and our youngest starts preschool today, fingers crossed that goes well. I actually remember bringing home that flying lion strata FH from our trip last year and your drinking it in a Tonewood glass!

Tonewood has always done a FH beer, they used to drive up to Maine fill up a van and drive home. This year, with their bigger production facility open, they just took shipment of fresh amarillo hops flown in from OR. I can't wait to grab some and I can't believe I'm lucky enough for them to be my local brewery.