New Beer Weekend #149

I have absolutely bought a beer for the name and the label. In fact, I'll be posting one tonight after work!

 

New Brewery here, Orthodox Farmhouse Brewery Saisin, 5.3% ABV; 4.22 overa

Pours a slightly chill-hazed & effervescent gold with a sliver of beige colored head. Below average head retention & lacing

S: Juicy-fruit, gum, cloves, coriander & grainyness & perfumy hops

T: Follows the nose, a little dryness & grassyness as well up front. Pear comes through as this beer warms up, along with a little green apple skin, dryness, white pepper & cloves> Finishes with pear, a hint of white grape, white pepper & cloves, plus a little dryness

MF: Medium body, lively carbonation

A very solid, approachable Saison that will still make purists happy

 

That was my first.

I was impressed - a LOT. Kiwi and watermelon that doesn’t go to Cloyingville? Sign men UP.

I almost busted out that jalapeño ale today - next week for sure, along with the ESB and the Allagash stout.

 

Hoppin frog double chocolate cherry oatmeal stout which i have to thank @Blogjackets for
...appearance is motor oil black with a very thin tan head that dissipates pretty quickly
....medium light carbonation with an above average body.
....aroma is fresh cut cherry,juice with some cherry brandy. Mild chocolate and malt.
.....taste is cherry cordial,chocolate covered cherry and malt. Milk chocolate and cherry juice.
...overall it wasn't pleasant at first but it needs to warm up then its basically a chocolate covered cherry stout. Its rich,flavorful and was excellent to have while relaxing on the patio after a really long busy day.
If this is how @Blogjackets fills a box i may need to send him another jersey box of beer

 

Now, #3 from BBCo.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/33136/657154/



12 ounce can with no discernible date.

Moderate pour yields a one inch white head over a fairly bright body with sticky lacing.

Nose of cracker, slight malt, and even slighter fruit.

Taste is where the some of the described flavors on can come forward a bit with white grape, slight lemon peel, and orange then closing with a semi-dry finish.

Nice feel with nearly medium carbonation.

Overall, I would have again.

Cheers!

 

#2, also from @Roguer and NBS BIF #17. I have lots of words for my sender in this BIFer and this beer.

The words “world class,” “magnificent,” and “give me more of this” are featured prominently.





4.59/5 rDev +5.8%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
Pours 3 am black with zero leakage anywhere and the most beautiful creamy tan head you’ve ever seen that caps the beer and coats the glass. Just an incredibly gorgeous impy stout.

The nose features loads of roasty char maple syrup as you pop the bottle open, with some cocoa and a nice rum note as well. There’s a lot going on here, but the balance is on point.

The rum barrel flavor creeps forward on the taste, flowing into the maple syrup and cocoa flavors, but man oh man is that roasty char flavor making this beer for me, adding a balance and character to what could be a “too sweet impy stout” that is instead a top tier world class beer, IMHO.

My only nit to pick with the beer is the mouthfeel, which could stand for just a bit more heft to support the gravity of this world class imperial stout. Maybe the best beer I’ve had this year.

It should be a felony to make a beer this good - and yes, I am all …..



That can be dangerous for a 60 year old. IJS.

 

Alright, well I realized that I should probably accompany my work on the beer can armour with an actual beer, duh.
I decided to finally crack into Beatification, which @Beersnake1 was kind enough to send my direction as part of his return fire way back during NBS BIF #16. I've had a couple of the -ation series of wild ales from Russian River over the years (including the single most expensive beer I've ever bought: Deviation. It was partly a gift for a buddy of mine's dad, but we enjoyed one of the bottles together), and they've all been very good to fantastic. Does this one continue that trend? Stay tuned to find out!!
(spoiler alert: duh.)


(I was hungry and we're low on snacks, so I figured a cheese board. Then I realized how perfectly this beer would go with some funky bleu cheese. Yum.)

Russian River - Beatification

The pour is honestly not much to get excited about. It's a lovely clear, but not crisp, pale golden yellow, that's not THAT far off from a lighter shade of the label. Wet bubbles rise in the liquid, but there's no head, so no retention, no lacing.

If the appearance is nothing to write home about, the aroma is inviting me right back in. Fruit at the forefront (this is not a fruited sour. Not fruit in that sense, but fruit like the way brett etc can present fruity flavours), with some granny smith apple and a bit of sweet meyer lemon. The apple serves as the connecting force to a kind of musty/woody character that carries on into the earthy barnyard funk.

The flavour follows suit, more or less. Meyer lemon up front, with a bit of apple (though here's it's more crabapple), again transitioning through wood to get to the tart/funk. Barnyard, and specifically horse blanket (those terms always stand out to me as feeling so pretentious, partly because what they're referring to is not appetizing at all, but what they are describing can actually be quite enjoyable, but here we are). The lemon and the funk kind of build together to create a peak about two thirds of the way through that gets closer to harsh, though one of the things that really stands out to me about this beer in general is that, while it's still decidedly tart/sour/funky and pulls no punches there, it's also more... open? than most within the style? I don't know how else to describe it, but it feels like many tart/sour beers can feel kind of tightly wound, but this has a much more mellow impression. Actually, that's it... mellow is probably the word I'm looking for. Just really great execution from the folks down the coast and up the river.


(the beer in the work station [the razor blade isn't nailed down, yet], alongside some of the fully snipped cans just awaiting true flattening)

So to answer the rhetorical question above: yes, this absolutely continues the trend of the series being made up of delicious brews. RR are very good at what they do, and this is another wonderful example.
Thank you, Tim, for sending this my way!!

 

Happy Anniversary

 

New Trail Tropical Double Broken Heels - I am a fan of Broken Heels and Double BH and have been meaning to try this variant and came across a fresh can this evening. They are dating their cans now and I noticed that they have moved away from the plain can with a wrap around label to a can with the full graphics printed on it from top to bottom so if you see these you know it's fresh.

Pours from a 19.2 oz can (05/01/23) a hazy light yellow, thick and fluffy head. Smell is straight tropical fruit and I'm picking up the pineapple, mango and passion fruit (it's brewed with all three btw). Taste follows the nose and it's all tropical fruit with a bit of the base DIPA underneath it all, this is great stuff. Not too sweet and it's balanced nicely. If you like hazy tropicals you will enjoy this, the 9.2% is well-hidden. Budmo!

 

Good evening. After the pork-a-palloza that was yesterday, pretty laid back day here. Spectacularly cool and crisp, so dud some clean up chores, recycled flowerpot with the local greenhouse and planted a few stragglers.

@Roguer - happy anniversary.

Going back to Belleflower:



This one is Folk Magic, an IPA brewed with a local honey, hopped with Vic Secret and Idaho 7. Pale Malt and spelt also used.

Well, they have the pale yellow color locked in - another pretty looking beer. Head collapes, but there's a lot of cling to the glass.

The smell...ummm...I get a weird whiff of grape Jolly Rancher candy then a mix of tropical and citrus fruitiness, a little apricot, floral and earthy. It's a very nice, inviting drink me smell.

The taste opens with...melon? Where'd that come from? Pretty assertive, too. OK... that surprise rolls into a mixture of tropical and citrus. I'm leaning papaya for no other reason than it isn't mango. Grapefruit citrus. This gets topped off by a resinous and earthy hop hit with floral aromatics. Underneath it all, there's some bready malty goodness. I assume the spelt contributes something, but not sure I'd know what it is. Fuck it, Donny, it tastes great.

Smooth, silky mouthfeel. Moderately carbonated. A little, subdued bitter that reminds me of grapefruit.

Overall, a very nice, tasty, well-executed beverage here. The flavors hit me just right, it's light, refreshing, and very clean. Easy 4 to 4.2 here.

@jonphisher it won't matter which way you go with a smoker - here's the warning nobody gives you - leftovers! Tasty for sure, but the tendency seems to be making way more food than can be consumed, especially proteins. I mean we had company and still have enough on hand for at least two more meals for five.

 

Did you take all those cans with you on your recent move?

 

Update: as this warms the sweetness really starts to come out and the flavors get really jumbled...I much prefer this one on the cooler side. I do have this same issue with regular Double Broken Heels/DIPAs in general and why I don't gravitate towards them as much anymore.

 

They have joined me on every move for the last ~decade (not all of them obviously... the collection has grown over the intervening years as I've drank more!).

The thing is... all the empty cans are the easy beer-related boxes whenever I've had to move. The 'cellar' that lives entirely in boxes and has moved with me over the years, too, may be fewer boxes (maybe), but they're all full and mostly glass so they're heavy as hell!!

 

New campground, new beer - Sapwood Cellars, Columbia, MD “The Dragon” DIPA DDH with Nelso Sauvin, Hallertau Blanc, and Mosaic Cryo:



Canned 2/21/23. Poured at 53° from my mini travel chiller. A Tavour purchase. Pale gold with good clarity; two fingers of white rocky foam; good cap retention; solid ring; medium heavy lacing. White grape must nose; some dank notes as beer warms. White grapes, guava, strawberry, passionfruit; semi sweet base, just a bit of bitter grapefruit peel on back end. Medium light body, moderate minus carbonation; no astringency. Overall a flavorful beer; the Nelson shines here in nose and flavor; no distraction from the Mosaic; fruity but not juicy. I’d gladly drink again.

4.5 | 4.25 | 4.25 | 4.25 | 4.25
Score: 4.27 rDev +0.7%

I’ve heard of this brewery but think this is my first beer. I will seek out next time I’m in the greater DC area. Cheers y’all!

 

The latest offering from the Wizard of Albany, VT.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/47666/657152/



500 ml. bottle.
Brewed April 2022.
Bottled October 2022.
Delivered last Wednesday.

Moderate pour yields a one and a half inch white head over a hazy golden body with sticky lacing.

Nose of earthy funk, grapefruit, and a bit of flint or slate.

Taste is funky grapefruit, and white grape with a bitter, puckering finish of grapefruit pith.

Mouthfeel is exemplary with hints of pillowy mammatocumulus clouds!
Vasili has done it again!

Overall, search this one out and you will not be disappointed (if you find it!)

Cheers!!!