New Beer Weekend #144

Been a minute since I've had the OG in bottle form

 

Here's one I neglected while on the wagon before Easter.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/45496/648717/



16 ounce can packaged on 03/22/23.

Moderate to vigorous pour yields a 5/4 inch white head over a bright and clear, straw colored body with fleeting lacing.

Nose of intense concentrated orange from the Bergamot.

Taste follows closely with orange and slight finish of cit-rice.

Nice feel with medium carbonation and fairly full body.

Overall, this would be a great summer quencher and I would recommend it!

Cheers!

 

Day 2, a pair of Tree House beers from @Roguer and NBS BIF #17. If I lived near Tree House, I’d have a camper parked outside their gates.





4.46/5 rDev +3%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
Pours a very hazy golden color with a creamy white head that provides lots of lacing, this Nelson Sauvin-hopped hazy (NOTE: I absolutely LOVE Nelson Sauvin hops) features loads of white grape, passion fruit, and clementine aromas, all in their dank, beautiful glory.

The taste is directly derivative of the nose, with the white grape and passion fruit flavors forward, and those delicious clementines following for a delicious transition to a slightly sweet oat finish. I could drink gallons of this.

The mouthfeel is medium and surprisingly prickly, fitting the “down under” motif of this classically juicy Tree House hop bomb.

 

Same here. At one time it was being distributed here, but it's kind of hard to find nowadays.

 

I am fickle & cheap. So only pick up the new stuff unless I see a fire sale

 

Kids wore me out today, in a good way for the most part. I think some caffeine is in order. South County's Virgil, barrel aged imperial stout with coffee and vanilla.



South County is one of my go to local IPA options, didn't know they made any stouts. I was shopping for something else to send to @FBarber but when I saw this I grabbed it instead. Glad I did. The base stout seems to be dry, kinda old school with a lot of roast and bitterness. This works well with the strong coffee addition, very dark roast but not quite charred. The bourbon notes are well incorporated and the vanilla is very subdued. The carbonation is light and the body is silk. Overall I am very pleasantly surprised by this.

 

#2, also from @Roguer and NBS BIF #17 and Tree House, if you like trying new beers and haven’t participated in an NBS BIF, I would respectfully recommend that you do, because you will receive beers from breweries that you’d usually not have access to.

In volume. I think this is my 15th BIF since 2016, and I’m approaching 400 beers received in these magnificent events.

That is not a typo. Come join our merry band of beer nerds on the BIFer journey.





4.25/5 rDev +0.7%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
Pours a hazy golden color with the ubiquitous creamy white head I associate with TH hazies. Beautiful beer. The nose features citrus notes, blueberries, and a touch of maple syrup.

The maple syrup is more pronounced on the taste, and works well with the blueberry and orange flavors, which intensify as the beer warms. There’s a lot going on here, but it all fits together very well.

The mouthfeel is medium and soft. Tree House did a really nice job with this, as expected.

 

Flounder brewery nitro irish stout
...solid black appearance with a nice mocha head that had staying power.
...light carbonation,just enough to tickle the throat with a creamy feel to the body.
...aroma is roasted malt,dark roasted black coffee, very mild and in the background there was wood,chocolate, and sweet dark fruit.
....taste was dry with an even drier finish and aftertaste that lingered. Roasted malt,dark unsweetened bakers chocolate and black coffee.
...overall for a small,new,local brewery this was very impressive and if a fan of dry irish stouts its definitely worth a try

 

Dreary drizzly day has descended on us here. We were supposed to get over an inch of much needed rain, but it's hardly been what was predicted.

Tonight's volunteer:



Loon Call, a German Pilsner from Batson River Brewing & Distilling in Maine. It says this here beer was brewed in Wells, but I think the base operation is Kennebunk. My grandson saw the can and said, very earnestly - "Papa...you can't drink that...it's loon juice".

So...how's the loon juice?

Pours clear golden color with a half inch of foam that vanishes and leaves a whole lotta nothing. Unremarkable.

The smell is bready and very lightly sweet. There's floral, herbaceous, slightly peppery hop aroma. Hmmm...not melting my butter like Pilsners tend do do.

The flavor is OK. It ticks the pilsner boxes well enough, but it's quite a bit more pronounced on the bitterness than expected. Bready malts, very slightly sweet, floral aromatics give way to a peppery spice on the finish that lingers.

Feel is not as crisp as I'd like and it is undercarbonated. The spiciness accumulates and is a bit much - distracting and annoying.

It's mainly OK, thinking 3.5 would be generous. I'll often judge a brewery by this style or an equally "simple" style, and it's not making me want to run back and explore more of their offerings. Pretty much a ho-hum here.

@cavedave - I remember when you and Maria (utopiajane) ran the NBS show here fondly, looking forward to each Sunday and finding a beer so I could play with the big kids. Special for me, being a relative newbie, and you continued the welcoming nature of this thread admirably. You were the king of alliteration! But you and Maria were the first two people I had serious conversations with (besides Jack H about home brewing). I learned much, and not just about beer. And I remember exchanging porch bombs and enjoying some brews I'll likely never even see again. Dave - thank you for everything you've done for this thread and BA, and in particular the influence you had on this BA. Cheers!

 

Back again as promised yesterday morning.
This is the tasting thread for the NBS/W BIF. This fits in, though I am not in this round. This comes from the previous round, and is thanks to my great sender @Beersnake1 .


Intrepid Orchid - English Barleywine - Bottle Logic Brewing - Anaheim, CA - 11.2% ABV

I am a huge fan of Barleywines, and this is a damn good one. I really love the vanilla added to this, because it starts it off, and continues throughout. Vanilla does seem like a great flavor to add, because it works well with the flavors that come from a barleywine. I am so happy and thankful this was sent to me, You rock beyond words for sending me this beer. Thank you.

Review:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/33824/475883/

4.5/5 rDev +3.4%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
From a bottle - 2022 release - Batch 002

Lots of smoke upon popping the cap off the bottle. The beer pours a very dark brown into the glass. No light comes through when held up to the light. The head is 2 finger and brown. The bubbles are fairly small in the head. The head retention is quite good for such a high alcohol beer. There's a bit of lacing on the glass as the head dissipates.
From afar, I get a slight boozy aroma. Up close it is more complex. I get vanilla, which provides a sweetness to the aroma. I also get some plum, raisin, caramel and toffee. All the aromas seem well balanced.
Taste - right away the vanilla kicks in and doesn't let go at all. The vanilla stays throughout. After the vanilla hits, I get the raisin, and plum. These fade away a bit and the caramel and toffee hit on the back. There's also a slight bitterness from the hops that comes in on the back to smooth out the sweetness a bit.
The body is fairly smooth feeling. Full bodied, and thick feeling. The beer coats my throat in goodness. There's a very slight burn that does make an appearance in this beer, but it's slight.
I am always up for a good barleywine, and this is a good one. The vanilla really provides a nice addition to the style, and I am happy with it.


I might have another in me, but, this one is going to take a while. Cheers!

 

Here's another one from that sample 4-pack from VCA.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/63859/651990/



16 ounce can with no discernible date.

Moderate to vigorous pour yields a nearly two inch white head over a hazy body with sticky lacing.

Nose of tropical fruit and sweet citrus.

Taste mirrors nose; exhibiting loads of sweet citrus with a citrus pith, semi-dry finish.

Full mouthfeel with medium carbonation.

Overall, a real nice stab at an Imperial IPA and would recommend searching for this one!

Cheers!!

 

Good evening, new beer people. My beer day started not with a new beer, but with an old favorite.

It seems counter-intuitive that I find it hard to pick out the best brewery in Oregon, yet I find it easy to point out the single best IPA in the state. That beer is Pallet Jack IPA from Barley Brown's out in Baker City.

I point this out because my first new beer of the day is a brand new take on another long-time PNW favorite: Fort George Vortex IPA.



Fort George Cryotex IPA
This beer is draft only. Enjoyed at the Beaverton location of John's Marketplace, served in one of their bulbous glasses that reminds me of those Samuel Adams "Perfect Pint" glasses.

Look:
Deep gold and perfectly clear, topped with a finger of dense, finely-textured white foam. Low retention and not much lacing.

Smell:
Wow. Pungently fruity. Ripe mango and pineapple. Grapefruit and mandarin orange peel. Fruit punch Starburst candy. Pine resin. Diesel. Intense!

Taste:
At the risk of repeating myself: WOW. Starts with intense citrus flavor. Thick-cut marmalade, candied grapefruit peel, grapefruit pith, lime zest. Then it morphs into ripe mango, peach nectar, red Swedish fish candy, diesel, fennel seeds. Sweet but not too sweet, with a lip-smacking tangy edge. All the while, bitterness accumulates and provides necessary balance. Finishes with pine resin, mango, gummi bears, grape tannins, a breath of carnations.

Feel:
This has a medium-full body lightened with moderate carbonation. Mouth-coating and a little oily.

Overall:
This is one of the most intense single IPAs I've had in many years. So many layers, such density of flavor. The regular Fort George Vortex IPA is a big beer, but Cryotex is a science-fiction alternate universe version of that beer, still recognizable but far more efficient and powerful, and frankly a little daunting. Unsessionable and hard to follow. Plot your course accordingly and approach with caution.

 

Glad yinz enjoyed it! Weyermann is a malter that produces literally tons of malt each year, primarily for the brewing industry, and runs a small experimental brewery to find new beer formulas for their products. "Starkbier" just means "strong beer" and refers to ABV. There are currently about a half dozen brewers in Bamberg, with Schlenkerla and Spezial being the primary producers of rauchbiers - Schlenkerla uses 100% smoked malt and Spezial uses only a percentage (50%, I think, but don't quote me) of smoked malt in their brewing.

The photo is a tablet outside Fassla which lists the brewers which have been in Bamberg - the ones in bright white are currently in business (Although Klosterbrau hasn't been open the last two times I've been there).

 

Weyermann the malt company? I had no idea they made beer too. I am happy to know this, and also emphatically jealous.

 

Super cool, thank you!

 

How long have they been brewing? Did I miss something when I was there in 04???

 

Another heavy hitter from @sulldaddy Tree House Juice Machine DIPA, 8.2%; 4.62 overall

Mine says 8.2% ABV, es machts nichts
Pours a super hazed gold/homey color with one finger of eggshell colored head. Sheets of lacing & good head retention

S: Oranges, peaches, guava

T: Follows the nose, papaya, green melon, dryness & cantaloupe up front, just a touch of grapefruit. Papaya, green melon, tangerine as this beer warms up, a little bit of cherry lime-aid as well, Finishes dry with some tang orange notes, pineapple, more cherry lime-aid & kiwi fruit

MF: Medium body, fairly soft carbonation, great juiciness/balance, some acidic notes

This totally brings the flavor & the juice. So thrilled to have the chance to try it