New Beer Weekend #142

I'm definitely itching to get my hands on this one again, but I'm also on a Pils/lighter style kick currently, but I don't think that takes away from how much I enjoyed this one.

Cheers!

 

Free Will Hazy Moments - This is a local brewery that admittedly I just don't know too much about; they have the buzz but I just never tuned in for whatever reason, mainly because there are just so many breweries here.

I like hazies and this one is at 6.5% which is a nice sweet spot for me ABV-wise, as the alcohol won't add much to the flavors and it won't be too big/too heavy.

The can art is pretty cool but I do not see a date on it. Pours a hazy light orange/yellow, excellent nose and a ton of fruit going on here. Taste is great and it's a complex mix of fruit, tea-like notes, softness from the oats, but not too sweet at all and the perfect amount of bitterness to end it on a nice slightly dry note. The hops used are Mosaic, Citra, Idaho 7. I'm not the biggest fan of Mosaic but in this case it's barely there and fits in nicely.

For my palate this beer is very good and I would gladly drink this again and I will be exploring more of their beers. Budmo!

 

Somehow I missed this early start yesterday and I had a new beer yesterday…I’m going off of memory while sipping my morning coffee…

First hazy beer I’ve had in god knows how long but I love Carton and when they adopted a new flagship I figured I owed it to them to try.

Carton - Drip (hazy ipa 7%)



For the nerds…



Remarkably cloudy yet somehow not murky; almost like pouring lemonade or something…remarkably nice retention and some little above average lacing. I thought the appearance on this one was much better than many of these I’ve had.

The nose…well it was very balanced, melon like softness at the peak of freshness; not the overripe tropical mess some of these have. It had an herbal, slightly grassy and dank, note to it as well, I even would say mint like in some regard.

The taste is mostly fruit forward but again nicely balanced like the nose; the herbal hits first with the melon and fruit coming second and finishing the show.

Medium body but remarkably light for the style, in a good way, not heavy cloying feel, my biggest dislike of this style. A very low but noticeable bitterness tries to peak out on a surprisingly clean finish.

I’d recommend this to hazy ipa fans in an instant, it’s remarkably balanced and very clean tasting for the style.

For the nerds, carton has adopted the term “NJ IPA” for their beers like this one…their local water fermented with kölsch yeast. It is a pairing that works well and I think it contributes to the clean feel of this beer.

The galaxy hops shine nicely in this beer @JackHorzempa figured I’d tag you cause of your recent galaxy thread. This beer is worth a try IMO.

See you all later this weekend!

 

Happy 40th Birthday!



Today’s beer is from Brasserie d'Achouffe and there is mention of a 40th anniversary on the beer’s label.

From Wikipedia discussing the brewery:

“On the 27th of August 1982, with less than €5,000, they made the first 49-litre mash tub. Based on the legend of the Ardennes, a gnome was chosen as the company logo of the brewery.[2] At first seen as a hobby, the Achouffe Brewery developed to such an extent that one after the other, Pierre and Chris decided work on it full time.[3] They then decided to expand to the Netherlands. Drinkers who regularly enjoy the beer can usually be recognized by their 'Chouffewillo hat'.[4] The annual La Grande Choufferie party, on the 2nd weekend of August, celebrates the birth of the Chouffe beer, in a convivial and musical atmosphere. In the late summer of 2006, Duvel Moortgat Brewery purchased the brewery.[5]”

So, apparently the ‘birthday’ for this brewery was August 27, 1982.

My guess is that this beer is the ‘regular’ Blonde Ale they produce with just some extra details in the beer’s label to acknowledge the 40th anniversary that occurred last year.

On the front label there is mention that coriander was used in the brewing of this beer and on the back label it has a best by date of Nov. 2023.

Enough jibber jabber, let’s do some birthday celebrating!

Served in my Triple Karmeliet tulip glass:

Appearance:

Pours a medium golden color with a two finger white head.

Aroma:

The aroma is dominated with citrus but there is some general fruity aromas as well and a hint of spicy in the background.

Taste:

The flavors follows the nose with strong citrus flavors but accompanied with some fruitiness and a subtle spicy flavor. There is a hint of sweetness to this beer,

Mouthfeel:

Medium bodied with spritzy carbonation and an off-dry finish.

Overall:

I enjoyed drinking this beer, I think it is very good. An excellent beer to celebrate a birthday.

Cheers!

@KOP_Beer_OUtlet @rotsaruch

 

Good day yet again BAs! Back after talking to my furnace guy about why mine isn't working - no big deal - as long as the turtle heat lamps are working, us mammals can generate out own heat. Today's New Breakfast Beer is one I apparently never reviewed before, one of the B.O.R.I.S. variants:



Distinctly smooth and nearly flavorless - in a good sort of way.
Extended Barrel Aged B.O.R.I.S. The Crusher from Hoppin’ Frog, 22 oz bottle. Picked up at brewery 22/03/23. Reviewed 08/04/23 (Review 3068). Note that I use DD/MM/YY protocol.
Undated bottle. Stored at 34 degrees at home. Served at 50 degrees in a hand washed and dried Jester King snifter. The final temperature was 56.3 degrees.
Appearance – 3.5.
First pour – Black (SRM 40), opaque.
Body – Black (SRM 40), opaque. Under direct light, same. When rear lite, shows a translucent olive at the thinnest edges.
Head – None. Eventually, a broken ring of tiny bubbles forms.
Lacing – None.
Aroma – 3.25 – No malt, no yeast, no hops. No ethanol (9.4 % ABV as marked on bottle) aroma.
Flavor – 4.25 – Initially no hops, malt, or yeast; light chocolate. As it warms, a slightly sweet mixture of roasted malt, leather, cherry, coffee, chocolate (of course), under a mild bourbon umbrella. Moderate gastric warming. No dimethylsulfide or diacetyl.
Palate – 4 – Medium; creamy; soft carbonation.
Final impression and summation: 3.5 (After deducting 0.25 point for an undated bottle) Very dirty-motor-oil looking, pretty typical for a B.O.R.I.S. variant. But otherwise, mild, and flavorful, with the bourbon barrel mellowing the mixture of flavors. Virtually no aroma which harms the final rating as does the lack of head and lacing – at 9.4% ABV I’d expect at least a small head and some lacing.
Rating 3.79, rDev -12.7% This brew is much better than the final score would indicate.

 

Well, the fact that you made zero mention about onion/garlic flavors is a promising aspect.

It has been quite a while since I have purchased any Carton beers. My local Retail Beer Distributor has a number of their brands on the shelf but they tend to be very pricey so I typically pass on them. But maybe I will splurge for this one to see what a NJ IPA tastes like:



Cheers!

 

At a brewery in my neighborhood to start my long weekend off yesterday, yay,

New Magnolia Brewing, Czech Style Amber Lager. 5% ABV. I have had this a few times, but never slowed down to put thoughts to a review, but now I have.



Pours a dark reddish/copper color. A two finger white head forms with good retention and lace.
Aroma of toasted malts and caramel like malts in the nose. Becomes a bit sugary, would like a little hoppyness to poke through to help balance. Still an inviting malty aroma.
Taste wise, again, the malts are up front. Toasted, bread like and caramel. Becomes sugary and almost cloying. Right as I think its going to be too sweet for my tastes, a leafy, earthy bitterness helps just a touch in the finish.
A medium body and carbonation. The initial smoothness, gives way to a bit of a sticky sweetness. Though, still something that I enjoy and have come back to on several occasions.

This is probably New Magnolia's most consistent offering. Well the one I personally come back to most when I visit. Balance out the sweetness a little bit more, and I would put this in the very good category. As is, just solid, but slightly flawed (if being overly sweet is a flaw) in my view.

I have found New Magnolia fairly one dimensional in the past, at best, at worst they had big brewing flaws like diacetyl and DMS. Though seemed to have cleaned that up.

Anyway, overall score is 3.63, solid B territory.
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/58057/482930/?ba=champ103#lists

I have several other new beers this weekend. I'll get to at least one of them today. Weltenburger Kloster Hell, and Anchorage Brewing's The Calling which is a Brett Saison. The first time I have seen either of these around me, and I'm excited about that.

 

Canned 3/22/23, $14-15 four pack…in the world of haze that is not bad

 

Likely more at my local Retail Beer Distributor.

The added cost of paying the toll to cross the bridges!?!

Cheers!

 

A good beer to take off the chill. Plus at 22 ounces a shareable package!

Cheers!

 

Hey if @GreenBayBA asks, I'll run down to Hy-Vee and buy a 4 pack of Double Furious!

Appearance: Clear ruby, ok head but not much retention.

Smell: Woody, vanilla, boozy, hint of citrus.

Taste: Moderately sweet, lots of barrel wood and vanilla coming through. Light body for 13%. Caramel sweetness. The hops show up mostly in the finish, leaving a citrus bitterness after swallowing.

Overall: The barrel aging takes control of this beer. It'd be interesting to taste a double furious without the barrel aging, I think it would be a massive malt and bitter bomb of tastiness. I think the barrel aging kind of turns this into an interesting experiment that doesn't quite hit, like a lot of Surly's experiments.

 

Just curious: at any time did this beer sorta remind you of Shiner Bock?

Cheers!

 

I honestly haven't had a Shiner Bock in a long time. From memory, I would say Shiner is more grainy/cereal grain like. This is more sweeter bread, with a "fuller" body, probably from the residual sugars I perceived.

 

I personally pick up "caramel" in Shiner Bock which motivated my question to you since you mentioned "caramel" a couple of times in your post. In addition, Shiner Bock comes off a bit sweet to me as well (you made mention of sweet a couple of times).

Below is a review of Shiner Bock by @DavetotheB which fairly accurately reflects my perception of Shiner Bock:

"Copper-brown color. White head. Disappointing retention and lacing.

Smells of sweet caramel and bread.

Similar taste. Sweetish.

Wet mouthfeel, sweet aftertaste, low carbonation."

Cheers!

 

Weltenburger Kloster Hell, 4.9% Helles Lager.



Pours a clear yellow color. A dense white head forms with good retention and lace left behind.
A simple aroma with doughy malts, just a touch of honey. Just a touch of floral hops as well.
Taste wise, like the nose, has that slightly honey like doughy malt flavor. There is an old, almost copper penny like flavor lingering. Which detracts for me.
A light body with crisp and smooth carbonation. I would be more inclided to come back to this without the metallic/copper flavor.

I'm not sure why I'm getting a metallic/copper flavor here? Will see if that persists with the rest of the six pack. That kind of took over a very nice and subtle Helles for me. That I normally would very much enjoy. Not that that completely ruins this for me, but it is noticeable.

Overall score is 3.58, B
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/1315/618885/?ba=champ103#lists

I'm giving it a little bit of leeway, as I have loved other Weltenburger beers before, and never got that copper/metallic taste. If my next one is not like this, I'll be sure to update. In the mean time, just sipping on this and reading my book this afternoon.

 

Maybe if I had one again, I would get more of a sweetness, I'm sure my tastes have changed over the years, but also peoples individual perception of sweetness varies greatly from person to person.