New Beer Weekend #118

Day 2, if you’re my target in NBW BIF#16, you’ll see this beer on your doorstep very soon. Rev rocks across multiple styles, and this beer is another example of their prowess, IMHO.

PS: Ranger can’t help the photobomb - he’s all about the social media cray-cray.







4.42/5 rDev +8.6%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
Pours a clear amber color with red highlights on the edges and a sudsy light tan head that acts like a jealous boyfriend (very clingy). It actually looks like fall in my glass. Just a beautiful beer, IMHO.

The nose has spicy floral and citrus hop notes (thank you Cascade hops, AKA “the SNPA hop”) and a bit of pine and a nice, rich caramalt aroma. That fall theme continues its march with this beer.

The taste is very complex, with ripe cherry, resiny pine, and grapefruit flavors up front, a nice dollop of spicy pepper mid-palate, and the aforementioned caramalt flavor at the back of the palate for a nicely bitter (60 IBU’s) imperial red ale that is balanced and warms you more than a bit with its 9.3% ABV heft.

The mouthfeel is full and drying, reeling you in for another pull whilst you’re still working through your current indulgence. The beer nerd world needs more imperial red ales, and Rev delivered a magnificent here, IMHO.

 

Good Sunday evening. We survived all the musical escapades, some more adventurous than others. Singing the Anthem at the P-Bruins game was really cool, but man did those players look young! Our hand bell group did well on two numbers, but trainwrecked hard on the third. Bells are hard even for experienced musicians, and with a volunteer group we have a wide range of abilities so sometimes the wheels come off.

My second Tree House beer graces the glass:



This is Wycinanki, a Piwo Grodziskie.

Pours a kinda turbid pale yellow - paler than the picture, more like a pilsner color. The head is thick and creamy, falling to an ample cap while leaving a ton of residue. Decent stream of microbubbles from the bottom of the glass.

The aroma is decidedly smokey with a little whiff of bready wheat. There's a nice herbal component and light lemon.

Fairly noticeable smoke opens the taste, but it is well-controlled. Very present, but not overwhelming at all. The malt is bready and holds its own. There is a distinct herbal component to this. A little cinnamon and my instinct says Earl Grey tea, so a bergamot flavor and maybe a tad of lavender. Very light lemon, minimal bitterness. I expected more of a Noble hops profile, so a bit of a swerve on my pre-conceptions. But it all made sense after I looked up the hops used - Lubelski has just those characteristics. There's a bit of a tang I presume from wheat.

The feel is very light, a bit bubbly yet not heavily carbonated. A bit of a tingle develops, but it's not very pronounced.

This beer isn't complicated but damn is it good. It's nicely flavored and very smooth. Everything is well-integrated. I'm thinking I could call it delicate or gentle, actually, but I can also imagine it accompanying a plate of pulled pork just as easily. This is a very enjoyable beer for me - I guess those folks at Tree House kinda know what they are doing. This will be between 4.2 and 4.5 - if you like smoked flavor that's not ashtray level, find this stuff!

 

Alright new beer weekend fam, closing this one out with another @Coronaeus beer. When I saw this one it was the one I wanted to try the most I think; a Montreal brewery’s flagship 5% oatmeal stout.

St Ambroise - Oatmeal Stout (I showed off the French side) on the other side it says oatmeal stout



Whoa! This thing poured so quiet and slow with this monster medium brown head. I knew this would have retention the second I poured it but holy cow this thing just doesn’t quit. The thickest, creamiest densest cap with what is possibly the longest retention I’ve seen. Sheets of lacing all the way to the end. Perfection.

Seriously look at this, the is about 10-15 minutes after pour…



Nose is dark fruit; black cherry; and bitter roasty dark chocolate.

The taste brings more chocolate and roast; dark fruit hits and coats the tongue first but then the roast, verging on charred, comes full swing; bitter bitter chocolate. As it warms a licorice note emerges as well.

This is very smooth on the palette, the oatmeal is evident; creamy verging on nitro feel. The long and linger bitter finish is very intense for such a small beer. Like drinking an imperial stout without the abv; really wild.

Super bitter and roasty stout at 5 % and drinkable sipper beer. This thing is awesome.

I love trying beers like this! Thank you for sending this @Coronaeus it is such a beautiful beer; thanks a million. This is a beer experience I will not forget.

Hope everyone has a great week, be well and see you all next weekend!

 

Brewing Projekt BA Stuft Imperial Pastry Stout, 15% ABV. Pours darkest brown, thick, with a head that disappeared before I could get the picture. Nose is incredible chocolaty Oreo. Taste follows, but bourbon is pretty strong too, moderately sweet with some bourbon burn. Decent thick and creamy mouthfeel, with some floaters as promised. Overall world-class.

4.66/5 rDev 0%
look: 4 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.75

The store I got this from only got three, and they didn't have them out. Hope to land more, but doubtful. I may have under-scored this. Ironic that I'm watching the latest Thor movie, and getting hammered.

 

I'm going to break the pattern of posting a pretty picture and a thoughtful review and, instead, ask a question: is it harder to brew in the Belgian tradition when you are A Mile High ?

I ask this thinking about the Wit I just added and reviewed, Baere's Wit Cloudkicker. I won't repeat the review, but you can click on my Beer Ratings and the review is at the top.

I often ask this question because I order many brews from Beer Drop. In fact, Colorado is now third in my most ratings from a state. And while many of these beers are technically competent, it seems that a flacid foam is a common problem among Beer Drop Belgians and I assume the yeast does not perform as well when a Mile High.

Anyone got a comment or similar experiences?

 

That's awesome. That's some nature is metal shit right there. I've seen some cool stuff with Eagles up near my parents place, and I swear to god I saw a recreational insect wrestling match one time, complete with spectators and refs, but I've never seen a bald eagle fight a red tail in mid air. That sounds dope.

Also, Animorphs was the JAM back in the day. I think they came out when I was in elementary school, so of course I was all about it. Was Tobias the one who became a hawk, but stayed that way too long and couldn't change back or something? It's been probably 25 years since I read them, but for some reason that sticks out in my mind, ha.

Thank you!

 

It's been a busy weekend, some good, some...well, not bad, but not really good either. Anyway, here's the first new beer I've sat down to review.

Aslan - Fresh Hop Kolsch

12oz can served in a snulip. Can is not dated, as far as I can tell.

Pours clear light yellow with a fairly small, short-lived head that collapses into a thin layer with a little bit thicker ring around the edge of the glass. Smell is slightly lemony, pretty grassy, a little honeysuckle.

Taste is light, very floral, little hint of dankness. Little honeysuckle, slightly bready.

Mouthfeel is light, clean, dry. Overall, it's a nice, light beer with nice fresh hop accents.

 

Level - Fresh Hop Button Smasher

16oz can served in a footed pilsner glass. Dated: Simco, Colman Farms, 9/05/22. On the old side for a fresh hop, but we'll see how it goes.

Pours clear brassy golden, huge head, collapses into a rocky mountain range. Smell is a little cat pee, weedy simcoe aromas, a little bit of grain tea underneath.

Taste is tons of melon, which is a bit of a surprise, and a really sharp pine bitterness, some honeysuckle.

Mouthfeel is light, smooth, maybe a bit too still. Overall, pretty good.

 

Evening, fellow NBWers,

Last week I was not a participant in NBW as I was out of town, although I had a couple FH beers and an Oktoberfest last Friday at Moonshot Brewing, which is conveniently located about a ten minute drive from the Parental Palace in my hometown.

This weekend, however, I was safely ensconced in my little corner of the wilds of Spokanistan, where typical fall weather finely arrived this week. Friday and yesterday were fairly rainy and cool. Today was dry and partly sunny, but was otherwise similar in temperature, not getting above the mid-40s.

After breakfast at a local Mediterranean-ish restaurant called Baba (the Breakfast Pita, with lamb sausage, was quite good, although no suitable breakfast beer was available and I had to make do with a very unremarkable regional hefeweizen), I went for an hour's walk along the Centennial Trail.



I stopped by Nectar, afterwards, and, after grabbing a few cans and bottles to go for R&D purposes (NBS BIF #16's deadline is approaching), I had myself Lowercase's Adriatic Pilsner.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/33588/626224/?ba=woemad#lists
From the name, I deduced it was an Italian pilsner style beer, but found it tasted much more like a traditional Czech pilsner. Apparently it's name came from the fact that the hops and malts were sourced from Slovenia and italy, respectively.

Towards the end of the Seahawks game, I had a FH IPA from Single Hill that I picked up on my way out of my hometown on Monday.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/55446/626278/?ba=woemad#lists
Good, but nothing astounding.

Last beer tonight is Iredale, from Fort George, named for a famous shipwreck on Clatsop Spit, not far from FG's location in Astoria.

Numerous trips with family over the years, some so long ago I no longer remember them, with the most recent being in 2017, have acquainted me with the wreck of the Peter Iredale.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Iredale
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/16077/619619/?ba=woemad#lists
Rather nice Vienna Lager, perhaps a little sweet for the style, but not to a problematic degree.

 

Haha yup I think it was Tobias and he definitely got stuck as the hawk. I remember reading them in elementary school too.

I’d pay admission to see that recreational insect match; complete with red and spectators

 

What a beautiful site @woemad the pictures of that trail are beautiful.