New Beer Weekend #128

In lieu of champagne for this evening:

4.5/5 rDev 0%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.75

Blend No 57 - season 16|17 - wort from 9 different brews, aged in 8 different barrels - bottled November 14th 2017 - enjoyed on December 31, 2022. Poured from a caged-and-corked 750mL bottle into my Drie de Fonteinen tumbler.

Not quite clear amber body with an active champagne fist receding to a small fine cap. Vague, sloppy lacing; no legs. Very good retention.

Subtle yet complex aroma - herbaceous and floral with a delicate funk bringing to mind superior washed rind cheese.

Palate entry brings to mind alfalfa fields, sorrel, and salty sea breezes. Tart but not bracingly so. Low earthy bitterness comes and goes. Goat milk, lanolin, crisp malt, and raw nuts. Finishes dry with earth, minerality, umami, and a hint of funk.

Medium-light bodied, well carbonated, nearly refreshing, but still soft.

Hard to find a more authentic example of the style - rich, complex, rustic yet refined. Reasonable value given the time and labor involved. A good candidate for aging indefinitely.

 

I lied…bonus post haha I forgot to post this one last night, stupid me. Wrote up in my notes on phone and forgot all about them till now…I even took a picture another beer with rye in it @cjgiant

I miss rye ipas a lot, yards and SNs, luckily a local place makes one once a year. I hadn’t seen it around until now though so it is new to me.

Slack Tide - Reef 11



Pours a mostly clear orange hued copper; off white big and quick forming head; huge amounts of lacing.

Nose has an interesting fruity note that dominates, like orange citrus in a fruit salad; slightly toasted malt and sap…the fruitiness unfortunately dominates here.

The fruitiness fortunately is not as dominant on the taste…present, but toasted and spicy malt presence is much more noticeable; a very sharp pine needle bite on the finish.

Mouthfeel is medium; tongue coating hop resin; dry and mostly clean with a big huge hit of bitterness; the hops leave an almost sticky feel once the sip is gone…beautiful. The rye definitely enhances the hop bite on this beer.

If you like bitter dry and piney this ipa will not disappoint you.

The fruitiness in the nose is the only let down of this beer and it doesn’t much interfere in taste; feel is the shining star, like biting into a hop cone followed by some toasty malt and rye. Very happy i was able to buy a six pack.

Ok now I’m done for 2022 Cheers everyone!!!

 

Good glass at least

 

Usually, the only time I like them aged is if they were just too raw when fresh

 

A big tasting Pilsner for a 12oz can! Cheers!
Von Trapp Bohemian Pilsner 5.4% ABV

3.94/5 rDev +1.5%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4
12oz can best by 2/15/23 into a tall Pilsner glass.
L: Pours light straw yellow w a 1+" white head w OK retention, a few large carbo bubbles, fair random lacing.
S: Lightly floral, a hint of dough, light honey. Very clean & simple.
T: Floral & herbal hops, a touch of pepper, a hint of bread dough, honey, kumquat, lightly sweet then citrus zest seeps in and is a bit sharp. Fairly full flavored. Sweet/bitter are dynamic.
F: Gently crisp then soft & smooth & wet med-bodied feel w a smooth medium length that is not too drying.
O: Very fruity, lightly sharp, a wet & smooth feel, full-flavored. A mildly robust Pilsner with a remarkably clean aroma. It is very good in its style.

 

I have officially sampled every dish we ordered today and can proclaim our Thai/Asian spot came through again. I've also made a slightly disturbing discovery that I am officially addicted to their coconut chicken fingers. Our grandson loves them along with their garlic shrimp and Singapore noodles - missed photo op with a Fu Manchu noodle beard. I put hot honey on mine, so that makes it ok...right?

My last for 2022:



Aslin Fancy Sauce 10% American Imperial Stout brewed with maple, bacon, Graham crackers, cocoa nibs and marshmallows. (Shhh... let's not tell @JackHorzempa that I am drinking a totally adjunct-laden concoction as the year's last beer...).

It pours syrupy thick and about as black as can be. No light gets through and i think the room is a bit dimmer... Nice little brown cap of typical stout head that falls to a ring and island. The liquid leaves tenacious legs, coating the glass and reluctantly falling.

The smell is maple and more maple initially, so it is inherently sweet. As it warms up, the maple at least calms down a little. Graham cracker shows up along with cocoa and a vanilla marshmallow-like smell. I don't detect any bacon smell. Well alrighty then...this really is dessert in a glass.

Hey...guess what the taste opens with? Why...it's maple...I'm like totally shocked. To my non-sarcastic amazement, the stout base is definitely detectable - there's a decent maltiness and a slight bitter char. The other flavors are certainly supporting cast members, but they are there. Graham and cocoa and that vague vanilla marshmallow fluff thing. There's an ever so distant smoky note that I guess would be the bacon, and it gets a bit stronger with warmth. Hard to say. It is very, very sweet.

It's thick and almost chewy, intensely sweet yet it somehow avoids being a cloying mess. The taste is surprisingly clean - heavy, but short-lived. It is quite pleasantly warming.

Not too sure on this one - it is very close to excess. It reminds me of an applied force joke from one of my physics profs - P = E. Plenty equals Enough, and this certainly has plenty. I'm thinking it is well-constructed and I'm liking it but not sure how much yet. The heavy maple makes me instinctively say one dimensional, but everything else eventually comes out to play. I'm not sure the slight smokiness is the bacon, but I could roll with that. I'll have plenty of deciding time - it's gonna take me an hour to get thru this! Gut feel - about 3.8 to 4.0.

The TCU game was awesome. It'd be great to see a smaller school win the whole thing, IMO. Georgia and OSU...I think UW would rescind my master's if I even think about Ohio State winning...

 

Cross-posting from Barleywine Appreciation Thread (hope no one minds!).

I've been saving this one for a special occasion, so tonight seemed like a good opportunity!

A Deal with the Devil 2022 Double-Oaked



It's just as good as I expected -- which it to say, excellent, since I had fairly high expectations. My one concern was it being overly cloying from the extremely high ABV and as some Anchorage stouts can be, but this one is balanced nearly to perfection.

I can't wait to (eventually) try my TO version.

Cheers and happy New Years!

 

Perennial Artisan Ales - Frances blend #3


poured from a 750mL bottle into a perennial wine glass. pours a foggy yellow with a two finger fluffy white foam head. musty oak, white wine, lemon meringue pie all on the nose and taste. however, the taste also has a strong sour green apple thing going on too. it has a lambic-like mouthfeel with a lot of carbonation and an extremely dry, oak-forward finish. overall, not too tart or sour and while it has decent depth, it’s just lacking some flavors for that for me are more enjoyable in sour beer. this one is heavier on the oaky dry, lambic funk. still, a solid ale.

4.5, 4.25, 4.25, 4.25, 4.25
overall: 4.27
rDev: +0.7%

cheers!!

 

Or some adjunct is just too much

 

Greetings all and Happy New Year from the great northwest.

For the last new beer of 2022 we have Coffee Cold Smoke from Kettlehouse brewing.
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/1916/405535/

A good brew. I think the coffee masks the Scotch Ale flavor, so I make this more of a coffee porter or stout.

Until next time,

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

 

Larry, what you drank was something filled with adjunks!

Both of the College semifinals games today were 'wild rides'! Maybe the beer style you should drink while watching the final a week from now should be a Wild Ale!?!

Cheers!

 

Vine Shine

6.5% New England style IPA by Magnify

Poured from a pint can, the beer has a faded yellow color with good head. Excellent Lacing.

Nose is light pine. Taste is dominated by the pine hop flavor, kicked up from the aroma. True to the New England style, the bitterness is low. Not much malt here. Unbalanced by design.

Mouthfeel is average with solid carbonation.

Light and easy drinking, this one is a pine lover’s beer.

 

Good Morning NBS/nbw and best to you all in 2023.
This is my favorite corner of BA and thats on account of the great contributions you all deliver.
We are preparing to host my sweethearts siblings for their annual get together.
Todays offering is from Zero Gravity, a Bottle Conditioned Green State Lager.
I am quite impressed with the impact on a beer that I have experienced alot of,
Soft, with a depth of flavor thats quite impressive. At $7.99 for a 750ml I can assure you there will be future research undertaken!

Bottle Conditioned Green State Lager

German Pilsner | 4.9% ABV
Zero Gravity Craft Brewery in Burlington, Vermont

Reviewed by SABERG from Massachusetts

4.19/5 rDev +0.2% | Average: 4.18
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4
Poured from the 750ml bottle dated 2022 on the label, into the test glass
A - Excellent clarity, allows for the full carbonation parade to be enjoyed. dark golden color with a thin cap during the experience.
S - Grassy hops, biscuity malt, there is also a touch of yeast, lemongrass and white pepper
T - Follows the nose well, with and emphasis on the grassy hops, the fresh french bread aspect is really nice.
M - Soft on the palate, round comes to mind, finish quick and pleasantly dry, It feels like bit of time in Foeder, so very soft.
O - A very nice twist on a very good lager, theres a lovely depth to this offering, I will be purchasing more in the morning

 

Happy New Year!
My wife and I stayed up until midnight for the second year in a row, then spent another hour calming the dogs down. They do not like fireworks. On the plus side, they let me sleep in this morning.
My new beer for today is Colfax Cream Ale, a cream ale from Westfax Brewing Company in Lakewood, CO.
Clear gold color, small white head.
Subdued aroma. Some sweet grain.
A little more in the taste. Sweet corn, then a hint of hops.
Light-bodied, tiny bit of bitterness.

 

Good afternoon NBW
A happen chance find at my LBS yesterday. For many years there were never barrel aged or allocated beers on the shelf there. Then, a few months ago tons of aged premium beer started showing up. I believe the owner was keeping things back for himself and friends, and for one reason or another, has chosen to clear his cellar.

FW Stickee Monkee
12oz bottle 2018 vintage that turned up in my LBS this week poured into a chalice at 47°F 11.4% ABV. The beer pours opaque medium brown with light brown head. The head recedes to a thin ring and little else. No lacing. The aroma is moderate in strength featuring candi sugar, raisin, bourbon and leather. The taste is semisweet caramel, bourbon and brown sugar with lingering tobacco, oak and leather on the finish. Minimal bitterness. The mouthfeel is medium plus bodied with just less that average carbonation and a semi dry finish. ABV is well hidden with just a touch of heat on the back end and no ethanol aroma or taste. Overall, excellent.

Cheers all!

 

Wax Wings - Covered (Vienna lager)


poured from an 16oz can into a new glarus dimpled mug. no canning date but i believe this was just released in november or december. pours a murky dark / burnt orange to light amber with a big off-white colored foam head. bready malts and slightly earthy hops on the nose. the taste is dominated by flavors of dark bread - pumpernickel and even a spicy rye bread flavor - with a semi-sweet and semi-dry finish that’s almost got like a pumpkin seed thing going on. medium-full mouthfeel with a lively carbonation to offset the malt presence. it’s malt forward while also being soft, approachable and drinkable. really good vienna lager. very much enjoyed.

4.5, 4.25, 4, 4.25, 4.25
overall: 4.17
rDev: 0%

cheers!!