New Beer Weekend #131

I tried this beer (any version) for the first time last Friday, a day short of New Beer Weekend. I enjoyed it but found it a bit challenging to work through the 16 oz between the strong alcohol (complete opposite of your reaction - felt much stronger) and sticky full resinous body. Enjoyed it overall, but felt more like drinking a triple IPA, and definitely could not drink a second back to back.

Had 10 oz of their Russian Imperial Stout after, and it was one of my favorite beers of the trip. Slowed down after that, with a final beer (Pliny) a few hours later before heading back to the hotel.

I saw Ruination at the store here, but bought too much Revolution previous (plus won’t be home in February). The one beer I want to run into a six pack or two here or Vegas is FW Wookey Jack, which was also incredible. How these beers drop out of sales and circulation is a mystery.

Will be back shortly with one of two from a solid suburban brewer.

 

Maybe the brewery one was slightly different or not the OG one?? I hate any hint of booze and didn’t get anything at all from mine other than the slightest sinus hint. I’d be curious to read your response if you try a can and find them to be different, let us know.

I agree on these older zombie beers…wookey jack is so perfect, let’s hope it’s a yearly return.

 

Yeah, you appeared to 'react' to this beer quite differently than me. I was a bit surprised that as I was about 2/3rds through that I was not picking up any sensory aspects of the high(er) ABV. I didn't perceive any heat or other facets from the alcohol. This beer went down 'smooth' for me.

Jon (@jonphisher), did you find it "challenging" to drink Ruination?

Cheers!

P.S. Perhaps time, once again, for my well worn adage: we all have our own unique palates and preferences for what we enjoy in a given beer style.

Edit: As I discussed in my post one thing that sorta 'surprised' me with Ruination was that the beer did not taste super bitter to me which is what I would have expected from a beer that is specified to be 100+ IBUs.

 

Just want to add 8.2% ABV is within my preferred range for IPAs, which Ruination was in. It reminded me of Hopslam in terms of body and feel, sans the honey part.

I have a local WCIPA, one of two from Roaring Table planned for the weekend. Since this is one of my favorite styles, I'm always curious to try new offerings, as we don't have the depth in this style I can find out West.

Roaring Table Concision



Can Notes: $6.00 after tax single purchased at Beer on the Wall on January 10th. 16 oz canned 12/22/22. "Drink". California-Style Double IPA. 8.8% ABV. Lupulin ablaze a pilsner malt firmament. Hops Strata, Mosaic & Nelson. Brewed & canned by Roaring Table Brewing.

Appearance: Several pours into a shaker pint glass. Clear straw base, light carbonation, creamy soapy foam leaves generous lacing and a creamy covering over the base, a layer carbonation bubbles trapped underneath waiting for a sip to escape. 4.0

Aroma: Nice fruity, moderately dank aroma emerged upon cracking the can open, and persists throughout. Citrus, dank weed, tangerine and white grape is what I'm getting, all come together well to create a very appetizing aroma. 4.25

Taste: Consistent with the body, though the dank weed is clearly front and center, with tangerine, white wine and citrus sitting back and admiring. Hard to restraining gulping this down before finishing the review, always a good sign. 4.0

Mouthfeel: Drinks much easier than the listed 8.8% ABV, dry and slightly bitter, slight isolated alcohol feel with light burn throughout. Carbonation light, body light to medium, watery, very easy drinking. 3.75

Overall: This is a solid local dank WCIPA style offering. Enjoying this, would definitely pick up again, even with the higher price point, and hope Roaring Table comes back with this. 4.0

Having Revolution's Legal Hero a few days ago, I liked that beer slightly more, more dankness and a fuller taste flavor profile, no alcohol burn / feel. Wish I tasted what I got aroma wise here, would have been able to compete. Have a second, much lighter styled beer from Roaring Table planned for tomorrow.

 

3 Floyds Brewing BA Blot out the Sun. This brewery's batting average of quality is probably higher than any other brewery, in my experience. This beer features a gorgeous black color, with a light beautiful brown foamy crown. The smell is unique to 3 Floyds Brewing. Very recognizable. If you smell it, you know good beer and heavy metal music is impending. Brown sugar, bourbon, brown bread, chocolate, vanilla, and graham cracker. But different from other beers of the same style and description. The taste is also proprietary 3 Floyds Brewing. This is a BA stout, with no adjuncts. It fits the profile, but the experience is so unique to 3 Floyds Brewing. Huge fudge, bourbon, and vanilla flavors, but there is also a desirable vegetable flavor, like Thanksgiving dinner-style delicious vegetable flavor. Toffee, graham cracker, and brown sugar finish the ride. The mouthfeel is oily, creamy, thick, luscious, and velvety, with low carbonation. Overall, this is a very delicious BA stout, at a great price, from one of America's most important craft breweries. The label art and quote from the finest business mind of our generation, C. Montgomery Burns, solidifies this beer as an absolute treasure.

 

Brewing Projekt Drawbango Puff Tart Fruited Sour, 4.8% ABV. Pours opaque rust-red with a one-finger light-pink head that left puree residue. Nose is strawberry, mango, and marshmallow. Taste follows with the fruit prevailing, moderately sweet, slightly tart. Decent mouthfeel, overall outstanding.

4.27/5 rDev -0.9%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25

Another melty, sunny, and warm (25F) winter day. People are out doing stupid things, like climbing up on their roof and shoveling the snow off. Thanks, but I'll stay on the ground and patiently wait for it to melt off, always has. I'm not plummeting 25ft off a roof.

 

Varietal + Barley Brown: Dammit Bobby WCIPA

 

I may be biased, but this GIF fits better with your previous "fly eagles fly" post

 

Sierra Nevada Juicy Little Thing Hazy IPA, 6.5% ABV; 4.06 overall

Pours a hazed gold with 3+ fingers of eggshell colored head. Great head retention & good head retention

S: Tropical & citrus fruits. fades as this warms

T: Guava, passion fruit, tangerine, plus dryness up front. Pomelo, dryness & Passion Fruits as this beer warms up. Some Guava sweetness in the finish, plus dryness & a little pineapple

MF: Medium body, pretty firm carbonation, pretty good balance

Easy to drink, starts out great, but the flavors fade & then resurge. I would probably buy this again, solid flavor & nice price point for this style of beer

 

Oh how I’ve missed all of you, it’s a pleasure to join once again on this lovely Saturday. Got some good one kid time over with my dad earlier and now cooking up breakfast for dinner as we do on Saturdays. The never ending box from @snaotheus continues, I thought a dry Irish stout paired well with dinner so here it is…

Fast Fashion Brewing - Is Fast Fashion Old News (dry Irish stout 5%)



Pours a dark brown, light brown head, quick to dissipate, minor lacing.

Nose is a tangy cocoa powder, with characteristics of darker chocolate, and chalky roast.

The taste carries the same tangyness which almost reminds me of cherry skin; a long lingering dark cocoa taste coats the tongue and lingers, there is a little bit of espresso bite on the finish.

Light body, lightly sweet, little bit of bitterness on the finish; ashy dryness, residual dark fruit feel is left on the tongue, again like cherry skins to me.

This is a pretty tasty beer it actually reminds me of guiness in some ways. I’ve always felt guiness has a slight acidic tangy thing going on and this beer has that, slightly magnified.

———

@cavedave you were the motivation for this post, I remember a dry January post where you said you used to enjoy Guiness with eggs, I think…? Here’s my dinner version with a PNW Irish stout…

 

Guinness, or others in that style, with breakfast is definitely one of life's finest pleasures. Your memory is excellent. .That looks amazing, like I want to jump into the pic and just go for it. Cheers!

 

Thank you…I felt ambivalent about sharing but I know you have strong will power hanging with us on the weekends so I knew it was safe. Cheers Dave!

 

KBS Chocolate Cherry
11.6% stout by Founders Brewing Company

Poured from a twelve ounce bottle, the body is a black with tan head. Good lacing at first but none as the stout warmed. I let this one sit in glass for over an hour before drinking.

Aroma has chocolate, coffee and oak notes to complement the bourbon. A classic Founders stout nose but the cherry is barely noticeable if at all.

Taste follows nose with a bit of background cherry. At first I could taste more cherry on my lips after drinking than in the swallow. Sweeter than the base KBS but not as sweet as other variants. The barrel dominates but isn't too hot.

Compared to a recent Bourbon County Cola that I finally tried, this stout is much less sweet and the flavor is more subtle. Less bourbon sweet and more alcohol presence without going over the top.

Mouthfeel is creamy and substantial. Carbonation good. The finish dries up quickly leaving the mouth covered with a cherry-chocolate film after the barrel fades.

This one feels like a course correction after the likes of Maple Mackinaw Fudge and Vanilla variants to a more subtle variant that features the barrel, coffee and oak. That's okay with me.

 

Well, let's hope the Eagles don't lay an egg tonight.

 

Here's the summary for my next beer....I don't like it

3.25/5 rDev -26.5%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 2.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3
Pours a murky, dirty orange with a medium amount of somewhat short-lived white head that receded to a thin cap & ring. Solid looking, but unremarkable. Aroma is bursting with tropical notes. Mango, guava, grapefruit and more. I'm not a huge Tree House fanboy (I don't love IPAs in general), but they do tend to nail both the aroma and feel.

On the tongue, my overall impression is decidedly "meh". It's too heavy on the hops, leading to some clear hop burn and loads of bitterness. There are some nice tropical notes hiding behind all that, but not enough to make me enjoy this beer.

Overall, I'm sure there are loads of people out there who would love this beer. Unfortunately I'm not one of them. Doubtful I'll finish it.

 

Although more supply should lead to lower egg prices, my economics class said

Though that was years ago and we've determined in this thread how well my memory works.

Speaking of, apparently I rated but did not review Wookey Jack six and a half years ago. I try to stick true to the purely "new" when posting in this thread and wasn't going to post it, but it seems to fit this weekend, right or wrong.


More or less pasted from my revisit rating yet initial review (original ratings: 4.5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4)

Well, the looks obviously kept up from my original review, but my mentality now is even more impressed. Not sure I'd want much more than a dark beer with a beige-to-tan head that mushrooms in the snulip and provides copious lacing.

My old thoughts on Cascadian darks/black IPAs were that they needed a little citrus vibe in the hop profile to really work for me. I'm not sure I'd argue I don't want that citrus, but after this brew, I'm not thinking "need" is near the right term at all.

The aroma is slightly roasty, but the hops push through in an oddly distinct way. They're not in my face, but there is definitely a mix of floral/herbal with a fruit skin edge that floats above the oddly light dark chocolate malt scents. Put another way, this definitely says to me, "I'm an IPA, not a hoppy American stout."

The taste walks back from the nose's promise just a bit, but it's not disassociating itself at all. I feel the roasted malt bitterness and classic C-hop vibe pair well. I can't say I can pick out the rye, but when I consider it, I can see how it might be bridging the two components of this beer quite nicely. Warmth leans into the hops more than the roast, which backs it up with a more and more distinct rye impression as it warms.

Fairly robust and medium plus in body and leaning full in boldness, this beer is stopping short challenging my palate to a fight. My original rating [only] came of a different time with both a different beerscape and personal palate. As of this review, I'm on board with this beer being produced more often.

Side note: I was happy the GF wasn't as enthralled with this beer when I gave her a taste. She argued it was still a little cold and I am sure she will grab at least one on her own, but I might have to hit the beer store again soon to grab more of this and look for the potentially elusive Ruination.

 

I fully support your post @cjgiant not that that means anything but I felt obliged to show support

I want to buy another six of wookey but I’m so slow to get through beer I haven’t yet. Then again it’s warm on the local shelves so maybe I should get it in my fridge before it’s to late…