New Beer Weekend #146

A big beer for today's NBW thread! Double Barrel V.S.O.J. from Revolution. Barleywine that comes in at 16.8% ABV.

Poured at fridge temp but allowed to warm for 10 min or so in the glass. Pours dark brown with a fairly thin layer of head. The nose is super intense. Huge notes of bourbon, vanilla, oak, raisins, black currant, toffee, molasses. Boozy!!

The taste is equally as insane. Boozy chocolate and dark fruit. Toffee, raisins, prunes, molasses, vanilla, maple candies, and tons of bourbon. Wow. It's sweet, but not cloying. It's actually quite amazing how hidden the 16.8% ABV is on this one. Getting more dark fruit with time. Figs, blackberries, black currant, and slight tobacco.

The mouthfeel is medium bodied. The aftertaste is sticky toffee, molasses, and booze. Overall, a wonderful treat.

4.48/5 rDev -5.1%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5

 

It's been so long since I had OG Nelson. The Nelson totally shone through, but IIRC, OG Nelson was a touch more potent, and Nelson Sauvin single-hopped. I also found the rye in Nelson less prominent. Overall, those minor differences might have made the difference - but again, it's been forever since I've had Nelson.

I'm definitely looking forward to the next can. I recently had Beer'd's reinvention of Hobbit Juice (which you know well), called An Unexpected Upgrade (looks like there may have been legal troubles under the old name), and I found it so dank it was difficult to finish - not at all how I remembered it. This beer you sent me is not at all that, by any means (and certainly neither was OG Nelson!).

I do wonder, though, if Nelson Sauvin crops are experiencing something similar to what Galaxy harvests went through. I'm finding Nelson single-hopped beers to be far danker and dirtier than I recall, and less fruity overall. Could just be me and my palate.

 

First of what I anticipate to be a few posts tonight. Another beer from NBS BIF #17 and the boxes O' Beer that keep coming from @snaotheus THANK YOU!
This is Cloudburst Brewing and their Minima rice lager. 4.7% ABV according to the brewery website. Fun fact, the brewer at Cloudburst used to brew in Connecticut and I got to know him a bit while he was out here. Nice to try some of his west coast treats.
I did get to add this beer to the database, which is always cool

onto my review:

I am sampling a cellar temp 16 oz can of this beer and pouring into my .5L dimple mug. The beer pours a clear golden color with minimal fizzy bleached white head foaming up, even with fairly aggressive pour. This foam is gone to nothing soon into the sampling.
Aroma is some faint grainy malts and a bit of spicy hops, but the nose is very mild overall.
First sip reveals a light body with fine tingly carbonation and also a smooth light texture.
the flavor is also fairly mild and light, with grainy malts and a little bit of spicy hops, but generally not a ton of complexity nor robust profile here. There is a hint of light sweetness on the swallow as well.
I end up drinking my mug fairly quickly and find the beer to be a bit of a chugger. Nothing bad, but it just didnt have much of anything going on. Which is probably per the style. Id probably go for a kolsch instead of this style next time something light is on the menu.
3.58 in the BA DB

 

Ok. maybe this is the last one for me tonight. Suddenly got super tired. This is another beer from @snaotheus and NBSBIF #17. You want a lot O'beer join this trading group.
This is Fremont Brewing Amba Laga. A 5.0% amber that is apparently a brewery only release.

onto my review:


Sampling a 16 oz can poured into my .5L dimple mug at cellar temp. Date stamp is packaged on 3/14/2023.
The beer pours a rich caramel color with soft fluffy beige head of 1 cm. This foam fades to a thin edge layer soon after the pour.
Aroma is some caramel and toasted bread, with a bit of a floral hop note. Overall the nose is kinda mild.
First sip reveals a medium body with fine gentle carbonation. Texture is smooth and this beer drinks pretty easy on the physical traits.
Flavor is similar to the nose with caramel and again toasted dark bread. Hops give some balance with a bit of floral or grassy notes. Finish has a dryness to it and some lingering bite. A well balanced flavor profile.
This is a tasty balanced beer that works well as an amber lager. Not a common style these days, but glad to have received this one and enjoyed emptying the can.
3.97 in the BA DB

 

Good morning, Weekenders, and welcome to New Beer Sunday! I've got very limited drinking time ahead of me - in fact, today, and then I'm dry for an indeterminate amount of time - so I'm going to drink early and drink often (Sierra would be proud).

Kicking off my NBS with Fidens Jasper, a 7.8% double NE-style IPA featuring Citra hops. @JayORear sent this my way, and it's not only a new-to-me beer, but a new-to-me brewery.



This one really took me some time to figure out my ratings. It's not a beer that blew me away within the first couple of sips, but neither was it immediately a let down. It was a touch less full than I wanted, but it was still creamy and soft. The yeast expression took over on the palate more than the Citra, but not unpleasantly so.

If you know Citra hops, then you mostly know how this expresses on the nose and the palate, except for the yeast influence, which comes across as bits of banana, clove, and slightly sour mango puree. (I'm assuming it's the yeast, but I've never had a Fidens beer before, and I don't know what malts they used, or anything else that might give them a unique flavor.)

At the end of the day, this one really grew on me. It went from very good, bordering on excellent, to Tree House territory - not up there with their best, perhaps, but absolutely worthy of pouring a glass side-by-side. And that's pretty damn impressive.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/58755/470716/?ba=Roguer#lists
4.41 / +1.1%

 

New Beer #2, and I'm sticking with Fidens (thanks to @JayORear ):


The Sound of Rain Double NE-style IPA (8.5% ABV) with Citra and Strata

I'm way below the NBS BIF here on this one. It's a very unassuming beer in terms of both appearance and aroma. It definitely redeems itself quite a bit on the palate, but even then, it's far from spectacular - and a far cry from the Fidens beer I reviewed earlier just today (Jasper).

Granted, I'm not a huge Strata fan, so I can't figure out how much that might play into everything I'm experiencing. Very lively for the ABV, but missing that softness and creaminess.

I really liked this one, but am I putting this one in Tree House territory, like I did with Jasper? Definitely not.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/58755/607770/?ba=Roguer#lists
3.86 / -11.1% (4th full review out of 10 total ratings)

This is another one I wouldn't mind revisiting. I wonder if the can was a touch off, given the poor head production and retention. Even so, I really liked it, quite a bit, but just didn't find it as world class as my BIF brethren.

 

I plan on it. I may overdo things today, but if I don't get to them today, then they're only going to be less fresh whenever I can, so ...

 

After some brewery database cleanup, I'm ready to bring you New Murkbomb #3: TDH Punge NZ Double IPA.



Tired Hands is arguably the top of the food chain when it comes to NE-style IPAs brewed outside of New England. Alien Church is a revelation (pun not intended, but accepted), and they're widely credited with basically inventing (or at least popularizing) the milkshake IPA sub-style.

Punge is a series of imperial strength NE-style IPAs, often dry hopped with a variety of different, well, varietals. In this case, it's triple dry hopped (if that's even a thing, which it arguably is not), but the can only reveals NZ, as mentioned. Nelson Sauvin seems a given, but they already have a different TDH Punge with Nelson Sauvin and Motueka (and yes, that seems to be a different beer than what I have here).

Well, given the expression on the nose and palate, I'm not sure what other varietals were used here, but I can confirm Nelson is definitely in play.

Very attractive beer for the style. You have to judge such a beer in terms of style; subjectively, you may find murkbombs unattractive, but not all murkbombs are created equal. This one has very good (not great) head production and retention, and no visible sediment or floaties.

Quite fragrant and expressive on the nose. A blend of citrus and tropical fruit, green kitchen herbs, and mild dankness right off the bat, followed by mint, guava, orange, earth, pepper, mango, strawberry, and peach. Those notes don't stand out quite as uniquely as I might prefer, trending toward more of a melange, but it's quite lovely.

Tasting notes are similarly more of a melange, but I do note mango, orange, white grape, mild to moderate earthy dankness, peach, melon, lemon, and bright green herbs.

Yes, Nelson Sauvin seems a given here, and quite prominent, at that.

Is this up there with Tired Hands' best, or the best out of Tree House and Trillium? Perhaps not, but it's really damn good, and an excellent showcase of Nelson Sauvin hops in a NE IPA format.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/28383/653717/?ba=Roguer#lists
4.19 / added to database

Thanks, @JayORear !