New Beer Weekend #121

Thanks for the bonus day of NBW @Roguer ! Going to kick off the long weekend with a beer distributed to the store in October. Was negligent looking at the can date before buying (email stated it was dropped within a few weeks), but sadly came to realize it was canned six months earlier. Hopefully it held up well.

Phase Three Rye Lager



Can Notes: $3.00 16 oz single, canned 4/7/22 (distributed to the store the week ending 10/14). Rye Lager, 7.3% ABV. Purchased at store temp, refrigerated upon returning home until cracking open this afternoon.

Appearance: Multiple pours into a shaker pint glass. Dark caramel bronze clear base, creamy tan-white head leaves significant soapy lacing. Carbonation medium while pouring, slows to a trickle a few minutes in. 4.25

Aroma: Spicy rye leads reminiscent of dark rye bread, strong and enjoyable. Caramel and cinnamon back. 4.25

Taste: Consistent with the aroma, the the dark rye bread is boiled down taste wise to rye seeds, or similar to a Triscuit's shredded wheat taste. Caramel backing. 4.0

Mouthfeel: Creamy rich medium body, carbonation is flat at this point, not sure if this is due to the seven months that have elapsed since canning. A hoppy bitterness holds this beer together creating a nice overall balance. Drinks lighter at first to the 7.3% ABV listed, but hit me 1/3 of the way in. Not sure if my current cold is playing a role. Easy clean finish. 4.5

Overall: This is a solid rye offering, love the isolated rye seed and wheat flavor. This is right up my wheelhouse, glad I picked this up and hope to find fresher batches down the road. Definitely a solid choice if you are a fan of rye like I am. 4.25

I have two more suburban brews on hand for the rest of the weekend, looking forward to catching up on threads and diving in my quest to hit 200 + new beers in 2022.

 

I think this will close my day, and it's not a beer from the BIF.

Honey Orange Tripel - New Belgium Brewing - 10% ABV

I can't describe this beer very well. That being said, I like it.

Review:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/192/279353/

4.11/5 rDev +3.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4
Murky golden pour with a 2 finger white head. There's decent head retention, and pretty sticky looking lacing on the glass.
The aroma is quite wild and floral. There's honey in the aroma.
The flavor is quite complex, and I can not put words to what I'm getting completely. There's a lot of a flavor that's wild and funky tasting, quite earthy. Some honey hits in the mix, that adds sweetness on the back.
The body is quite good. Full bodied.
I have to be careful with the style, but I like this one. Delicious.

I am sure I'll be back Sunday with more. Cheers all!

 

Next up is another beer (and glass) from @foundersasap

Thanks to @foundersasap for this one. Appearance is a light gold with a good amount of foamy white head and good lacing. Beer is cloudier than I would have expected, but good looking nonetheless. Aroma is understated, with lightly sweet grains and Granny Smith apples.

Taste is sweet grains with hints of fruit. Lightly floral with very low bitterness and hop flavor. Medium bodied, smooth and fairly crisp. Overall another good, very drinkable beer.

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The more beers I try, the more I appreciate classic German & English styles.

 

This fine beer comes from the generous @Roy_Hobbs in NBW BIF 16, i encourage everyone to give this a try. Good guys having fun and exchanging top shelf beers. This one is Tree House Nomad, a Czech Dark Lager, pours deep brown with nice sustaining head, light bready aroma, taste is brown bread, nuts, charred malts, very smooth medium body, zero bitterness. Loved this one, thanks Ross.

 

Man, you're efficient!

 

It just dawned on me that I haven't reviewed it yet. Shame on me. I'm glad I have another bottle.

 

I really like this beer although I don't think it compares with Carton's Epitome, which is released the day after Thanksgiving. It's my favorite Black IPA and when fresh it's a desert island beer for me.

 

Put me on team knockdown…the fact that we have two world class ones locally is a pretty cool thing. Source just brewed one too but I cannot see it usurping knockdown so I may pass; we’ll see what they’re charging down the street…

 

This, this is the beer I've been searching for. Carton 077xx, what they bill as a Double IPA, but at 7.8% that might be stretching it. But then...

Initial pour, more than decent head but the smell! Piney hops aroma from 5 feet away. First sip, it's bitter, bitter I say, a taste that seems to have vanished in the last 5, 10(?) years. They call this an East Coast Double. Kinda misleading. You'd expect a softer, fruitier haze job, but no: this is what I think of as a Midwest IPA. Actually, it harkens back to a WC IPA. And I'm gonna say it, blasphemy be damned: it reminds me, makes me feel the same way, when I drink Pliny.
Full disclosure: I found a single of this the other day, and had been looking for it. Poured it, tasted, was overwhelmed...and then saw the date. It was almost a year old. Immediately thought, have to find a freshie. Did today, and guess what, not much difference. So, as it was a "new" beer, figure that qualifies for NBW.
I don't think Carton gets more than local Jersey/Pa distribution. If it was more readily available I'm sure it's ratings would move up and up.

 

Humble Forager Coastal V5 Sunshine Fruited Sour, 6% ABV. Pours opaque bright orange with a two-finger light-orange head that left no lacing. Nose is orange and pineapple, taste follows, plus banana and spelt. Decent mouthfeel, overall excellent to outstanding adjacent.

4.38/5 rDev +2.1%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

I hate it when people do food prep in my beer studio!!!!!!!

 

Finished up another long day at work and decided to kick back one of the couple beers remaining for the awesome boxes @BBThunderbolt sent me. I loved everything brother and this one is no slouch either.

Pours a bright hazy orange with some amber hues, a decent white foamy head rises and fall quickly to a substantial cap. Nose is dank and bitter pine sap and citrus with some tropical notes there as well, making this a full and complex hop bill for me. Taste follows suit, finishing sweet with a lack of that bitterness I detected on the nose; however it is still present. Feel is crisp but nearly oily and mouthcoating in some regard. Overall, very good and I would nearly compare it to a slightly easier drinking 2H. Cheers fellas.

 

Good evening NBW
I am drinking this excellent beer through the generosity of @beergoot. Also, if @TheIPAHunter asks, it definitely tastes superior from the can...

Focal Banger
16oz canned 09/27/22 with a sample poured for appearance sake and the rest reviewed from the can. The beer pours hazy pineapple yellow in color with off white head. The head recedes to a thin ring and island of tiny bubbles. The aroma is mild with tropical fruit galore. The taste is bittersweet pale malt with major notes of dank earth, tropical fruit and citrus. Mild to moderate bitterness. The mouthfeel is medium bodied with average carbonation and a mostly dry finish. Overall, excellent. Just because I can't name a bunch of individual fruit flavors does not mean this beer is not delicious.

Thank you so much Dave. I work both days this weekend, so I'll be lucky to review one a night here. Cheers all!

 

NBS BIF #16 Share Weekend is here!!! This is like Christmas on PED’s for beer nerds!!! As you can see, I’m very excited!!!

Mrs O and I are currently at a hotel close to O’Hare in Chicago, pregaming before our trip to ARUBA BABY tomorrow morning. And I’m pregaming with a beer from my friend @woemad in the aforementioned BIFer that features Zappa hops.

I’ve never enjoyed Zappa hops, so I’m very excited!!! Let’s go!!!

PS: my apologies for the “glass,” @woemad, you’ll have to trust me on the color description. I truly looked.





4.19/5 rDev +0.7%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
Very hazy straw color with a chalky, creamy white head, this Zappa-wet hopped beer (my first dance with Zappa hops) features a nose that is weedy, with mango, passion fruit, and some mint. Very interesting.

The taste has a very pronounced (on my palate) weed and mint flavor, with just enough mango and passion fruit to provide balance and keep in the general vicinity of its lane as a hazy.

The mouthfeel is medium and on the softer side, per the hazy style. This is an exotic, interesting beer featuring a hop varietal that I’ve never enjoyed before, and I am really digging it.

 

The is “glass” of the year type stuff @ovaltine , hope you and the Mrs have a peaceful and reenergizing trip away from home; safe travels.

 

I am on the road right now, in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Craft beer here is not *nearly* as prevalent as in W. Michigan. I had to travel to find some. But I did-

I was excited to find this one offering from MBC and expectations were high.
Poured “stout black” with a tall light brown head that remains for most of the drink and left regular lacing.
Aroma was a bit bitter, coffee grounds like, with a little malt sweetness.
The flavor threw me, it was coffee forward with cocoa and toast and some almost grassy taste. Not sure why I was expecting more, but once I reviewed the label and saw the abv it made more sense. For a sub 6% stout, it’s really quite flavorful.
The feel was a letdown of sorts, again, the abv may explain it but it is really thin. Cold brew coffee thin.
OA, glad to have tried it but it’s not going to be one that makes them more well known I think.
Thanks @Roguer for kicking this off today, and THANK YOU to all the veterans who may be here.

 

Frigging styrofoam. I’m a glassophile, and this upsets me to my beer nerd core. I’ll get over it, but C’MON MAN!!!

Thanks for the good wishes, Jon. We’re gonna get our beach on, in all my pale skinned magnificence.