New Beer Weekend #144

Well I'm on my second weekend of stay-at-home-dad duty/paternity leave and so far I've only gotten strep twice and some other unknown (non-covid, thankfully!) viral respiratory crud once! Nailed it. I initially started this write-up yesterday afternoon, but, well, as Fry observes: time makes fools of us all!



I've been really enjoying being home with this little goober, even if she does keep me on my toes. As I get more comfortable with our routines, I'm going to try and return to this fair forum more frequently, and hopefully sooner in the weekend as well!
Before I get into this week's brew, I just have to echo the sentiments of so many others here when I say how great it is to see @cavedave back amongst our ranks, even if only infrequently. I'm glad health is allowing you even intermittent forays back into the fermented arts, and more frequent mycelial meditations!



OK, enough from this sappy pappy (*groan*), and onto beer:

Teenage Jesus is an english bitter brewed with oats, from Bizarre Brewing here in Seattle.

I was struggling with figuring out how exactly to describe the colour of this one, and was looking at the style-guideline to see how well it seemed to line up with things even if I couldn't capture it with words, and well, it hit me like a tonne of bricks. Copper. Copper is the colour I was looking for, and conveniently that's exactly the colour it's supposed to be! Maybe on hte dark side for copper, but well within the copper realm. Clear without being completely crisp, it's also got a head that won't quit, and leaves evidence of its passing as the level gets lower in the glass.

Nose is grainy with some brown bread toast, maybe even light molasses, and hops presenting as earthy/noble with a bit of floral/fruity (presumably from the comet) sweetness.

This has great flavour for a reasonably modest ABV. A lovely interplay of malts and hops, they primarily intersect at the points of spice and sweet. The hops have that noble spicy character, and the malts have an almost rye-like spiciness to them (though there was no rye involved). Sweet-wise, the malts offer again in the realm of toasted sweet brown bread, while the hops have a touch of... fruit/berry/can't quite put my finger on it? The yeast also plays in here, dovetailing in the grainy brown-bread side of the malts. The back third commits to the hops and is earthy and bitter. Bitterness is high for the size of hte rest of it, but doesn't come across as just hop-water. Basically it nails what it's going for impressively well.

Drinks smoothe, with prickly carbonation to counter-balance. I'm really digging it. And at just 4.2% (conspicuously listed on the can as 4.20%, so it felt appropriate for this weekend...), it's one I can see myself returning to and having several of over the course of an afternoon/evening.

Cheers!!

 

Same here

 

---Sober carpenter---

 

East End - Bigger Hop, an imperial IPA

16oz can served in a curvy Fremont glass. I'm not sure because the date is distorted, but it appears to be dated 01/16/23. Got it from @Ozzylizard in his NBS BIF #17 barrage.

Pours clear amber-orange with a big, approximately two finger fluffy head that collapses slowly into a creamy mountain range. There's some active carbonation, but not a lot. Smell is citrus, pretty orangey, honeysuckle.

Taste is bright citrus zest and citrus rind bitterness, a little bit of orange juiciness. Bitterness really builds up on subsequent sips. Alcohol is very noticeable, but not dominating.

Mouthfeel is somewhere around medium weight with a very dry texture. Overall, this is interesting, it makes me think of a WC IPA brewed with NEIPA hops.

I think I have one more new beer not in me yet for the weekend

 

Now that I had a chance to look again, I did find the listing on weyermann.de for #10.

 

After a warm spring day in Idaho, and I enjoyed the sunshine, I thought I would post another beer from Palisades Brewing. The Views is an IPA. Using a tulip glass, I served the beer at around 44 degrees. The pour produced a frothy, creamy, two-fingered bright white head with excellent retention—the color charts around SRM 4. The clarity is mostly clear, with some haziness.
Nosing the glass, I smell oranges, grapefruit, pine, floral esters, pharmaceuticals, dank, crackers, malty sweetness, and grass.
The flavors are similar; I am getting mandarine oranges, grapefruit, pine, floral esters, pharmaceutical note, dank, grassy, herbal, biscuit, and grass.
The mouthfeel is slightly astringent and thin. The body is medium, has a medium carbonation, and is finishing dry.
I think the beer is more on par with a pale ale than an IPA—a refreshing drink after being outside most of the day.

 

Hoppin' Frog - Pineapple Upside Down Cake

16oz can served in a SIP Fest 2020 snulip. Can is dated best by April 19, 2025. Received from @Ozzylizard in NBS BIF #17.

Pours a mostly clear light yellow with a medium sized head on an aggressive pour that settles into a thick ring and an incomplete thin skin. Not much active carbonation visible at rest. Smell is...dessert. Pineapple, pineapple syrup, and cake batter. Possibly because I'm looking at it on the label, I smell maraschino cherry. But...given the style is pretty open (fruit & field at the time of this review) and this is pretty clearly the brewer's intent...it smells really tasty.

Taste is along the same lines. A bit of tartness, which is good because it prevents overpowering sweetness. But, it is very much pineapple pastry sweetness, you can imagine a vanilla cake soaked in pineapple juice with a glaze on it very easily.

Mouthfeel is medium to light, surprisingly pleasant given the pastriness of the beer. Effervescence is pretty much perfect for this beer. Overall...I was looking for something pretty out there but still enjoyable, and this was the perfect choice.

And...I'm out for the weekend. Sleep well, see you next weekend!

 

Dang, I should have popped that one as well. @FBarber sent it to me in the NBS BIF #17 assault. I'll probably try for it next weekend (if it lasts through the week).

 

They've literally been there for decades but they weren't open to the public, just the industry. I first visited Weyermann's about ten years ago - at that time they sold only beers to go in cans and bottles, IF the brewer used Weyermann malt. They had a new bar where you could try glasses of their in-house experimental beers, but the bar was only open if you were there on an organized tour.