New Beer Weekend #138

Well back at it, and this is a beer I am surprised I haven't had before now.

Saison Dupont - 6.5%

Holy cow, do I get a lot in this beer, and what I'm getting, I like a lot. I also am, for the 3rd time today, lower than the average, yet love the beer. Oh, well.

Review:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/637/1717/

4.09/5 rDev -2.4%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4
There was a nice bit of smoke upon opening up the bottle. The beer pours a nice murky dark straw color. When held up to the light I see lots of sediment in the glass floating and sinking to the bottom of the glass. I also see some carbonation bubbles rising in the glass. The head is 3 finger, white, and frothy looking. The retention time is decent, and there's some pretty good lacing on the glass.
The aroma is quite wild and funky. I get some wild fruits on the nose, like green apple. Very earthy and grassy smelling.
The flavor is best described as a smooth tart flavor. I get a lot of the green apple flavor. The flavor isn't as wild and funky as the aroma lets on. There's some sweetness in here. I get a yeast/bread flavor in this beer.
The body is quite smooth. The tart feeling hits, but does not linger.
I can't believe I haven't had this beer before. I've seen it so many times, but never bought it till recently. This is a delicious beer, and recommended.


Back later for another round at the virtual bar.

 

I picked up a single as my “play in” beer for this week in @ChicagoJ organized Beer Madness bracket.

 

Watching more college basketball and drinking this new beer.
Super Pistache Bros. from Prairie. It is a barrel aged imperial stout with pistachios, dark chocolate, Marzipan, and hazelnut roasted coffee. The ABV is 13.6%.
Dark black color, just a hint of a head, no lace.
Aroma of chocolate, nuts, vanilla, booze. A little coffee.
Great taste. Chocolate/chocolate fudge, coffee, hazelnut, pistachio, vanilla.
Fairly sweet, alcohol not a deterrent.

 

Good morning NBW, at least for 3 more minutes here locally.

The Mrs. is starting her tattoo internship today(very excited for it) and I've got a lot of time on my hands now that the household is taken care of.

From my 4 brewery bottle-and-can-spree yesterday

Fisher Brewing - Kölsch (style)

1st pour:


Second pour:


No date on the 25oz crowler, poured into a Pils glass at fridge temp.

Pours a very clean and crystal clear gold with a dense soapy head that thins out into a thin ring and thinner cap. 4

Sharp cereal, herbal and floral hops, and fresh biscuit aromas. It's quite delicious and clean. 4.25

Clean, clear grains, well rounded but not butter hops, with a nice herbal and slightly floral finish. 4.25

Light and crisp refreshing body. I daresay it's perfect for the style and that nothing is missing. 4.5

Overall: I haven't had a kölsch in ages and this obliterated my previous go-to, Breckenridge strawberry sky. It had everything I was looking for, and nothing I wasn't. A brilliantly brewed traditional style beer that I can't wait to pick up again.

 

Onto my second new beer

Red Rock - Shabop
Fruited sour with lactose


Brand new this weekend, picked up from the Red Rock production brewery/beer store

Poured into a Pils glass

Pours almost a dark and murky barn red with a thin white head and cap. 3.75

Strong tart and lactose aroma immediately, followed by raspberry. Didn't change much as it warmed up, perhaps muted a bit. 3.75

Taste is much nicer than the aroma. Sweet then tart. Raspberry then nutty coconut. 4

Light and more filling body, I suspect from the 7%abv. Otherwise fairly standard for a lactose sour. 3.75

Overall a definitely interesting blend of flavors that works, but could potentially use some work. The sum of it's parts worked better in some areas than others. Good enough I'd buy again. 4

 

I forgot about that--guess I should have saved it as it was my only one!

 

Sawdust City The Blood Of Cthulhu Imperial Stout with Cranberry, Raspberry and Tart Cherry.

I think I had a sample of this beer years ago at a cask festival. I never noted it, so I’m treating it as new.

Fruited stouts are hit or miss for me. Tart stouts are usually a miss. The tart cherries have me concerned but I don’t expect it will be a tart beer. Here goes…



Pours a deep, dark black/brown with a mocha head that is large and lasting. Much lacing is created as the beer is consumed.

Sweet raspberry hits the nose first, a slight tart note is present as well which I think must be from the cherries. There is some roasted coffee bean and cocoa elements there as well.

Taste is fruit forward with a strong chocolaty malty finish. Raspberry is noticeable and distinct. The cranberry and tart Cherry not really, but there is certainly more than raspberry going on here.

Full body with moderate carbonation. Highly drinkable for the 9.5%ABV. No booziness.

This was good. Not something I’d likely revisit on my own, but that has more to do with my lack of interest in fruited stouts. Worth a try if you come across it next time you are up in Ontario cottage country, weekending at your $1.5 million cottage.

Cheers!

 

Well I thought I had no new beer for this weekend. Turns out my son put this in the beer fridge.

3.74/5 rDev -1.8%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
Poured from a 16oz can stamped CANNED 10/18/22 to a Nonic glass at fridge temp.
Amber body (as advertised) with ½-inch off-white head that goes quickly.
The smell is sweet caramel, charcoal and dry hay.
The taste is malty, not too sweet and there are hops poking through creating a drier finish than you would expect.
Mouthfeel is light, carbonation moderate.
Not bad at all considering the age of this sample.

 

I actually was curious about how long it had been brewed and from what I found, pretty much since almost the beginning…

Full article is a good read too…

https://www.porchdrinking.com/articles/2018/08/06/great-lakes-brewing-co-edmund-fitzgerald-porter/

 

Probably last (new) beer, and another new one that just released on Friday

Bewilder - Pray for Rain
Smoked Helles Lager



No canning date, but like I said above, new this weekend

Poured into a weizen glass at room temp. Thanks @Todd for the glassware article.

Pours a clear and clean golden with a white head that settles into a thin cap and thicker ring. 4

Soft Smoked aroma off the bat, not too campfire-y and a bit more grainy. 4

Grainy first and smoked second on taste. Nice lingering hops as well. 4

Light, thinner but really clean. 3.75

Overall: a really good helles, pesudo-rauchbiet. Very glad I have a second one in the fridge. 4

 

Good aftenoon NBS/nbw and thanks to our host @AzfromOz for the beautiful start this week.
Just home now from a cask event at Brick and Feather, as always a treat.
This weeks offering is from our very good friends at Cambridge Brewing Company.
This bottle conditioned treat is from last fall, and based on this pour has a wonderful tragectory.
The house yeast and the hop choice seem to dance during the experience.

Cheers all

Table for One

Bière de Garde | 6.2% ABV
Cambridge Brewing Company in Cambridge, Massachusetts

Reviewed by SABERG from Massachusetts

4.08/5 rDev 0% | Average: 4.08
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Poured from the 375 ml bottle into the test glass
A - Lite straw colored backdrop, excellent clarity allowing for full view of the circus of carbonation to be viewed. Lasting snow white cap towers over the experience.
S - Craker, honey, a bit of apricot, and hint of lemon peel, herbal element green tea as well
T - Lemon peel, a hint of black pepper, baguette crust, all in synch
M - Crisp, texture, a minerailty runs through the entire experience, chalky in the best way
Expert tension between the semi sweet Pilsner and Vienna malts and the house yeast.
O - A very good De'Garde, lovely aromatics with that house yeast leading the way. I really like the lemonpeel, and ashen dry finish

 

Good Sunday afternoon, New Beer Sippers and commentators. The past 48 hours have been a blur as I drove down the shore on Friday afternoon, helped pick out paint and light fixtures yesterday, visit breweries, then drive up to Little Ferry for Brix City Brewing's 2023 Silk City Stout release. In addition to the old favorites, Brix always releases one or two new variants. One of this year's new ones is a BBA Pastry Stout collaboration with Magnify - Coconut Coffee Cake. While the standard BBA Silk City and the BBA Vanilla Bean will age okay during the next year, I wanted to drink this one right away. What's impressive is that it really does taste like coconut coffee cake. While it's very sweet and may not be for everyone, I give the brewers high marks for achieving the desired result.

Poured at 64°. It pours a dark walnut with a half finger of foamy medium-mocha head that dissipated rapidly. It has a big, Pastry Stout nose with cake batter, fresh coffee, vanilla, brown sugar, chocolate, coconut, macaroon, and a soft scent of bourbon. Hugely fragrant. There is a great deal of initial sweetness and it really does taste like coffee cake. But the sweetness is balanced by sour mash from the bourbon barrels and acidic coffee. The coconut and macaroon and also strong in the flavor. As mentioned above you can taste the bourbon influence but it's quite delicate and doesn't distract from the other flavors. The mouth feel is luxuriously thick and chewy - you can feel the influence of Magnify in this regard. It has a motor oil consistency - in a good way. You could pour it over vanilla ice cream. Overall, if you don't like Pastry Stout, then I'd pass on Coconut Coffee Cake. But if you like the style, you'll be impressed by how well the flavor simulates the desired coconut coffee cake. Very well done!

4.36/5 rDev 0%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25

Next week I'll review Barrel Aged Fat Elvis which is conditioned on peanut butter, banana, and vanilla. It's another that I don't think will age well. I've had some great Stouts this weekend! Cheers, NBS, and have a great week, everyone!

 

There is always more out there!

Also, good news is the popular plus curated beer bracket (expands the number of breweries to 68, number of states and styles involved, and narrow beers participating to the best in their respective styles) has overtaken the blind Top 68 Popular Beer List in terms of our tournament poll (over 100 votes have been tallied).

Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald will of course still be in the tournament, but avoided a play in game and will count on Thursday or Friday, and perhaps beyond if it wins.

The play in round (Monday-Wednesday) will have less “game action” based on the limited availability of the lowest seeded beers, but IMO a majority of people would have jumped on the Budweiser train with the OG Bracket, which would have created the incentive for folks to keep drinking Budweiser until it was eliminated for max individual bracket points.

Budweiser was eliminated from participating based on two criteria, falling under the 3.5 rating minimum and falling under the Top 100 minimum within style standard for most styles (expanded for PA, IPA, Saisons and Stouts to Top 300/500 based on the sheer number of beers in those categories).

 

Natural State Brewing Co. IPL, 6.0% ABV; 3.51 overall

Pours a hazed gold with one finger of cream colored head. Good head retention & lacing

S: Bready, floral hops

T: Grassy & grapefruitty hops, plus dryness & soapyness up front. Soapy, grassy, dry as this beer warms, some bready & sweet notes as well. Finishes with soapy & grassy bitterness, plus dryness

MF: Medium body, fairly firm carbonation, skews a little bitter

If you told this was a Pils, I would believe you, drinks okay, but glad I only purchased a single. Not a style I am in love with & this is just a middling example

 

Good afternoon/evening NBW.
I grabbed this variety pack at a local bottle shop this week. I got the feeling it had been there for a while, they had others and it wasn’t dusty so I’m not sure why I got that impression.



Six new to me beers, some of which I should have tried years ago so I was excited to get it.



First out of the pack is Gulden Draak classic. It was a gusher!
It doesn’t show in the photo but it is a rich, slightly hazy, chestnut brown. So far, I am really enjoying this one. I haven’t finished the review but at this point I am impressed. In a nutshell this has some of the rich flavor and complexity I expect (with limited experience) from a dark Belgian but is surprisingly easy drinking with the 10.5% ABV well disguised.
Nothing to complain about here.
Cheers!

 

4.15/5 rDev -3%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

Packaged on 2/10/23 - consumed on 3/12/2023. Poured from a pint can into my Dogfish Head shaped pint glass.

Clear gold body with a high ivory cap. Rich soapy lacing; superior retention.

Low blueberry/tropical notes in the nose - light complex maltiness as well - all fairly subdued.

Smooth, even bitterness with an excellent blend of strawberry/pine on the palate entry. Crisp, not-quite-biscuity, malt presence. Well balanced/integrated. Fairly dry, faintly earthy finish with some residual fruit notes. Hints of bubble-gum perhaps.

Snappy, medium-light bodied, with very good carbonation and low heat.

Very good IPA, though perhaps better paired with food (e.g. fish tacos).

 

Evening NBS hope everyone is enjoying their Sunday and here on the EC we are digging our "extra" hour of sunlight. Thought this would be a good one for a sunny day.
Notch Brewing French Disko French Style Pils
Pours a beautiful crystal clear pale gold with a large sea foamy like head that has nice retention but eventually falls flat. Spotty lacing present but minimal.
Aroma is sweet grain - almost corn like, thyme and sage, sweet flowers, white pepper.
Taste is lightly sweet malts.and grain, lemon peel and juice, pepper spice, white wine like minerality. Taste of Belgian wild yeastiness with slight clove and bubblegum.
Drying on the crisp clean and slightly bitter finish. Snappy carbonation throughout (naturally carbonated).
I will say it again Notch can do no wrong with their lagers.
I haven't had Kronenbourg for quite awhile. At the beginning of my craft journey I would drink quite a bit of that. This is a a doppelganger minus the skunk. Really enjoyable.

 

American Solera Wolf Treatz IPA, 6.0% ABV; 4.09 overall

Pours a very hazed gold with 2 fingers pearl colored head. Great lacing & good head retention

S: Citrus & tropical fruit ( mango & guava ), some dank notes as well

T: Guava, passion fruit, lime, dryness, plus pomelo up front. Seems like Cryo hop dryness going on here, plus passion fruit & green melon as this beer warms up, some grapefruit as well. Finishes dry with grapefruit, a little pineapple & green melon

MF: Medium body, subdued carbonation, good balance

This is a good IPA, but below the bell curve for American Solera IPAs. No regrets in buying the 4 ? pack, but not one I'd pull the trigger on again. Still plenty drinkable

 

Used to have some great Low ABV ales in England, but I also feel like all flaws are exposed with that small of a Malt Bill.