New Beer Weekend #137

I'm visiting Augusta Georgia, and went to the Beverage Outlet on Bobby Jones Expressway looking for Atlanta and Athens beers. I can usually find some others that are not distributed in South Carolina. On this trip, it was Pseudo Sue.

Canning date five weeks ago. Murky golden color and an abundant white head and lacing. Lots of Citra grapefruit and pine aromas. Full bodied citrus and pine flavors from a 5.8 ABV beer. Very much lived up to the expectations I had for it.

4.32/5 rDev -4%
look: 5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25

 

3 Floyds Pillar of Beasts
13.7% barleywine

I enjoyed this one at Brew Kettle while talking with a couple from California. Light notes below.

Poured a medium brown with white head. Good lacing. Nose is light bourbon barrel and caramel.

Taste is a great mix blending flavors like salted caramel, cocoa nibs and vanilla beans. The modestly sweet bourbon barrel is there but not hot.

Soft luxurious mouthfeel with a delightful barrel tinged finish. In my version of heaven, this beer flows from all water fountains.

 

What is the title of the BIF?

 

Here's a new one from Tunbridge, VT!

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/46275/643520/



The first of the Northern Crescent series; this one using Comet hops.

16 ounce can, packaged a week or two ago.

Moderate to vigorous pour yields a 5/4 inch white head over a cloudy, medium-dark gold colored body with sticky lacing.

Nose of grapefruit with some grassy aromas as well.

Taste follows nose very closely with a finish of bitter grapefruit pith.

Nice, fairly full mouthfeel with medium carbonation.

Overall, a great little American Pale Ale everyone should seek out before it's gone!

Cheers!

 

Revolution freedom of assembly
Blueberry ginger sour
..cloudy ruby appearance.
.. medium bodied with about average carbonation that has a champagne like feel to it
...aroma is blueberry jam,malt, sour funk and very little ginger
...taste is mildly sweet but as it warms the ginger comes out with a bit of heat and sharpness. Blueberry comes off like jam and lingers
...overall I'm not a fan of blueberry in beer but this one was enjoyable

 

My offering today for this esteemed group of beer nerds is from an iconic brewery and the “big brother” of one of the iconic beers of the 2010’s.

In my beer nerd journey, Zombie Dust in the early 2010’s is probably the first beer I chased, and one of the beers that prompted me to ship a metric beer ton of Surly beers (Furious, Abrasive, etc) when we were living in Minnesota to Indiana so I could secure the elusive ZD.

Now The Dust is a shelfie, so I’m curious to see how this double version stacks up to the original that launched a thousand Citra-hopped beers.

I am so excited I could cry.







4.5/5 rDev +2.5%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
Pours a beautiful burnt orange color with the slightest smidge of hop haze underneath a creamy white head that provides a cap over the body as you enjoy the beer and laces the glass during the entire journey. Gorgeous Double Pale Ale.

The nose is rife with candied orange, some resiny pine, and a nice caramalt aroma, which fits the profile of this beer’s “little brother,” but it’s properly “supersized” as a double version of the original iconic APA.

The taste is led by that candied orange flavor, with the caramalt following, and bouncing off of the candied orange to provide a balanced flavor that coasts into the resiny pine that provides a welcome bitterness. Absolutely delicious.

The mouthfeel is full bodied and drying on the finish, with no alcohol present despite the 8.5% ABV. I was really excited to try this, and it exceeded my expectations - to the point that I prefer it to the original (that may be the “honeymoon” effect speaking, so consider that).

That’s right, I typed that.

 

2sp Delco lager
..has a great clear amber appearance.
...carbonation is definitely medium with the body being just below average
...aroma is malt,caramel, cereal,honey,toasted bread
...taste is definitely sweeter than I expected but theres an almost dry mild hop finish that balances it out.plenty of caramel and malt followed by cereal and grain.
..overall really enjoyable

 

I was going to drink this tomorrow, but I decided to drink it today...


Perhaps the haziest Pale Ale I've had, and all the way from NY.

 

I bought a 4 pack of these to ship out to LIF winners and thank you boxes but one of the recipients didn’t want NEIPAS so I had one to try myself.
City Built makes consistently great stouts so I was pretty sure they would be safe to send out blind.

I seem to have lucked out as this is really quite good, and for a sub 6% beer, almost amazing.
The fruity aromas and flavors so common for the style are here with the aroma so potent that even I could smell it. The feel is excellent, it looks murky but drinks clean.
OA, I may need to pick up some more of this.

 

Another new-to-me from just up the road in Hyde Park, VT.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/46703/642520/



16 ounce can with the Julian code "2340" on the bottom.
(Canned on the 9th of February)

Moderate to vigorous pour yields a one & a half inch white head over a hazy golden body with sticky lacing.

Nose of tropical fruit foremost, with a bit of floral aromas as well.

Flavors are exclusively tropical with very little bitterness until the finish of slight bitterness.

Feel is adequate for an American IPA with medium carbonation.

Overall, a fine representation of the style and I wouldn't pass up another!

Cheers!!

 

Dreary day here - raw and drizzly but we were supposed to get hit pretty hard with the dreaded snow/ice/rain toxic triplets so I guess that is a silver lining of a weird sort. Took the grandsprout for breakfast and haircut this morning, stopped by my work outpost on the way home and pretty much crashed on the couch until the beer alarm called.

From the BA box:



Black Daruma RIS, an 11% brewed with persimmon by Japas Cervejaria in Brazil. The brewery is run by "Nippo-Brazilian women resignifying our origins through our creations." Interesting story that is nicely presented on their website. So what's this stuff like?

It looks really dark in the glass, but watching it pour it is much more red highlighted than the picture suggests. Excellent clarity. The foamy brown head lasts for quite some time before falling to a thick cap with respectable cling to the glass.

The first whiff is interesting. I swear there is a very faint Juicy Fruit gum smell initially. Ok... Once i get over that there is dark roasted malt, chocolate that's more baker's than anything else, fresh coffee, a little charred smell, a kind of earthy woodiness. The net effect is quite delightful.

The charred note is pretty prominent in the initial taste. It is leaning toward woody/smoky and checks up well short of being unpleasant. The base stout is quite evident and quite tasty. A pleasing balance of maltiness, coffee, not at all sweet chocolate, some mild raisin or prune fruit taste. Not much hoppiness, but it's there and grounds things nicely. Then it gets interesting again with a light fruity aromatic combination I can't untangle immedistely except for an ephemeral citrus note and that kind of Juicy Fruit gum thing. There is significantly more of a brighter fruity flavor floating on top that's leaning to the apricot/peach family the more I think about it and a wee hint of citrus. I get a fairly strong caramel flavor emerging as part of the base flavor. Although generally drying, its got a nice bit of sweetness. After the fairly strong RIS notes subside a bit there is a tea-like tannin or phenolic taste. There's a lingering licorice and black pepper combo on the back end of the taste wirh those fruit aromatics carryomg over on top. No sign of 11% ABV whatsoever other than a little warming in the belly sensation.

Its medium in body and I guess if I really wanted to find a ding it seems a tad thin for the style. The sweetness starts to linger a bit but doesn't accumulate, and the fruity aromatics are very pleasant. Smooth, no rough edges on this one.

Well...I had no idea what to expect and I'm drinking an absolutely wonderful beer. I am going with the theory that this is a killer RIS and the odd little goodies come from the persimmon - what I'm tasting fits with what I have read about the fruit. To me, these little surprise things add dimension, but I can see where others may disagree. It's going to be between 4.0 - 4.5 - we shall see how the rest of the contents of the glass go down. Right now, liking it a whole lot, first one from the BA box that has really gotten my attention.

 

Sounds like a pretty unique an interesting beer…that was a fun read. That is one enticing pour too; beautiful.

 

Ayinger weizenbock
...cloudy copper/amber appearance
....medium light carbonation with a slightly above average body.
...aroma is banana,banana bread, wheat,grain,something that comes off as vegetable.
....taste is mildly sweet, banana bread,banana, molasses and an earthy finish.
...overall its a solid beer

 

Let's do it!

 

Got lucky...wasn't making much foam until the end. There were a couple o' dribbles... Really dug the beer, but I do understand it being potentially polarizing. The fruit seems a subtle and positive addition to me.

 

Kitchen is finally clean, down to the mopping and baseboards

Starting with a fun novelty

Kiitos - Glitter Green Ale



Even after rolling the can and swirling the glass (usually works for other glitters, nothing- hence the strike thru)

Fun holiday ale, nothing really remarkable though.

Decent golden. Crisp, light, clean and a bit thin.

Will move onto something better next.

Cheers BA!

 

Hersheys porter
...dark cola appearance
...light carbonation with a medium body.
...aroma is in a nutshell,a porter with chocolate syrup added.
...taste is a little sweet but theres bitter dry bakers chocolate. Malt,roasted malt with a mix of chocolate syrup and bakers chocolate that lingers.
Overall its not one I can recommend but I'm not arguing if someone seems to enjoy it

 

Fader by Half acre




3.78/5 rDev -1%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75

Can poured into a glass at the st Clair supper club speakeasy underneath the roister restaurant

Brewers Notes: Traditional pilsner, brewed with a less is more mentality. Pilsner malt and a touch of Vienna, hopped with only continental varieties of Tettnang, Tradition, Saaz.

Clear yellow liquid , foamy one finger white foam cap, spotty lacings

Light grassy aroma

Taste is grassy, honeyed

Soft, slightly sweet , low sudsing

Nice beer