New Beer Weekend #151

I opened True Anomaly's Wild Bloom Saison. Traditional Saison yeast, aged for six months in True Anomaly's own oak foeders. 7.8% ABV.

Forgive my typical messy background, I like that though, but I'm a clutter kind of guy. Finishing up Javier Marias' last book Tomas Nevison. Which is the companion novel to his previous Berta Isla. A great Spanish writer, one of my favorites. He passed away last September and Tomas Nevinson was his last novel, finally translated to English. Its a long one, but almost done with it, as good as anything he has done before IMO...Anyway, on to the beer.



Initially, this is a small gusher, but is a manageable pour after a minute. There is a significant haze, which is not all that unusual for a Saison. Golden/orange color with a white head. Good retention and lace left behind.
In the nose...I wouldn't call it "funk" but just enough musk to satisfy ha. With a lovely ester aroma, orange peel, apple skins, and peppery spice. Perfume like, and billowing out the glass.
Taste wise, like the nose, some very light basement like musk. Doughy, English biscuit like malts are more noticeable. Orange peel, apple skins, I love the esters here. A very light acidic bite along with just enough vanilla/tannin character to be noticeable from the oak. This is fairly complex.
A medium body with effervescence carbonation. Which eventually smooths out, and this becomes wonderfully dry. I can drink a lot of this.

Not surprising, this is an excellent Saison from True Anomaly. I noticed this was in collaboration with another brewery, New Magnolia. Though, I have never been a big fan of their Saison releases. Either I'm biased in some way, or New Mag is just riding on True Anomaly's coat tails. Regardless, I really enjoy this one.

Overall score is 4.14, easy A-
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/55586/659080/?ba=champ103#lists

 

Jester King Cornbread KVASS, 4.9% ABV; 3.87 overall

Pours a slightly hazed gold with a pinky of cream colored head. Minimal head retention & lacing

S: Wet grains, wet grass, some horse blanket shows up late

T: A little dry, a little tart, a bit of pineapple acidity & raspberry & a little dryness, certainly has some cider-like qualities to this up front. Lemon & pineapple qualities as this beer warms up, some dryness & tartness. Finishes with some wet grain ( millet ), slight acidity & lemon

MF: Light body, lively carbonation, some acidity

New to me style that takes some liberties vice the original formula. Reminds me a lot of Faro beers in many respects. Not sure this sort of beer would be more than novelty act for me. Drinks easier than I suspected it would which is great. No one in my house would help me finish this

 

Hmm, interesting. I'm always up and down with Jester King. Sometimes they are great, others, I'm thinking what in the hell are you doing? I remember liking the original Kvass a lot, but I haven't had it in a while. If I saw this, with my hit an miss history, I'd probably pass ha. But good review, and the comparison to Faro beers is interesting as well

 

I'm on stop number three (Revolution, Beer Temple, Hop Butcher) of my mostly-out-of-my-ass Chicago beer tour, and it's going swimmingly so far. But now it's getting harder to take notes, so probably not posting more on NBW, unfortunately.

 

Lager to TDHopped. Shouldn't be allowed honestly.
Peppercorn Dork Club Hoof Hearted Brewing, Triple dry hopped with Galaxy, Citra and Nelson Sauvin.
Pours a very hazy gold with a nice creamy cap - pretty rings of lacing.
Snowglobe!
Passionfruit, mango, peach, lemon, orange, grapefruit.
Tropical fruits, pine and grapefruit, rind bitterness, Sauvignon blanc edge, green hops, honey malts and oats- not overly sweet. Medium/heavy body, creamy feel, filling from flavor to gut. Hard to detect the 10%.
Pretty good just after awhile these Double/Triple Dry Hopped big creamy IPAs start to blend together. Not really a complaint - you can only go so far. When you get one that's just a bit different you notice.....unfortunately this aint it! But it's not bad.

 

Day 2, I ventured to Transient today to pick up my Buckley allotment (hello, NBS BIF #18 participants), and picked up a few other things (of course), including this kolsch that was $7 for the 4-pack of pint cans.

I think I yelped when I saw that. This is Bruh.





4.2/5 rDev +4.2%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
Pours a hazy, unfiltered golden straw color with a fluffy white head that provides significant lacing. The body is a bit hazier than I’ve seen with the kolsch style.

The nose, however, is on point for the style, with an enticing lemongrass aroma that complements a spicy, earthy note from the noble hops.

The taste is led by the lemongrass, and it is delicious, again complemented by a spicy, earthy flavor that provides balance for this crushable kolsch. Outstanding.

The mouthfeel is medium and easy drinking. This would make an excellent lawnmower beer.

 

#2, also from Transient, this is Contronym, a Czech dark lager.





4.24/5 rDev +0.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
Pours a dark cola brown and settles black in the glass with a dense tan head that provides moderate lacing. Beautiful beer. The nose is all about the roasty malts, with some coffee and caramel notes and some grassy noble hop aromas for good measure.

The taste is a nice balance between the grassy noble hop flavors and the roasty coffee and creamy caramel notes. This is the perfect campfire beer, IMHO.

The mouthfeel is medium and crisp, adding to the drinkability. Transient nailed this, IMHO.

 

Here we go...

Wow! What a day, sorry to arrive here so late again but another busy day for the Phishers. We just spent the afternoon at the Novacare Complex, the Eagles practice facility. Our son’s dad, also his flag football coach, is the head strength/conditioning coach of the Eagles and a great person, so for an end of year party he invited us all to hang out there for a few hours. What a special time and some amazing memories were made by all. Saw and took pictures with Lombardi trophy, behind glass of course, ran around the outdoor practice fields, hung out in the weight room, walked through the locker room, the boys played foosball and ping pong in the player’s game-room, tossed around footballs in the bubble, the list goes on…it was pretty surreal, what a magical, fun, cool, unforgettable and exhausting day.

@zid thanks for joining us on this lovely Sunday, always enjoy reading your beer thoughts your keychain was with us on our journey

In local beer world news Tonewood celebrated seven years yesterday and I grabbed their new Vienna lager on the way home from said adventure. Can’t wait to see what they did with a style I’ve been waiting for them to brew. Happy Birthday Tonewood!!!

Tonewood - Vermillion (Vienna Lager 4.8%)



Pours bronze like in color, mostly clear, a pretty nice slightly off-white head builds and stays for a while before collapsing; the nice thing is a ever present film remains. Update...crystal clear now, chill haze gone.

Nose is interesting, it gently jumps out of the glass; somewhat floral in nature but more like aromatic woody, toasted malts present themselves as well; reminiscent of a heftier bread that has been lightly browned.

Taste presents more bread like character than you’d think, in fact lightly toasted bread is front and center, followed later but light hop presence, slightly woody and herbal in nature.

Light bodied beer that just steer shy of watery, mostly dry, wish it was just a touch more so, very light on bitterness but it does show.

This is quite a tasty beer, if there is one place for improvement it is in feel; just a tad drier would be perfect. Still, overall, quite a tasty Vienna.

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For the lifters…



For the fans…



Accidental selfie…



The bubble…



I got some catching up to do on this thread, nice work today new beer weekend fam

 

Love their creativity, sometimes they miss their intended mark for me. I won't buy all their stuff, but I've had more hits than misses from them

 

That's very kind of you to say. This is a great repeating thread with fantastic camaraderie.

 

Edit: Apparently I did have a bottle of Kwak with my wife 10 or 11 years ago, so perhaps this is more of a breach of NBW etiquette than I thought

 

Hello New Beer Weekend!!!

Late to the party once again, I'm afraid. Done with work today and it's time for a beer. I might as well do what @beergoot did, and have this.


30th Anniversary Quadruple - New Glarus Brewing - 10.5% ABV

No, I didn't know he was doing it also when I popped open the can. I have been thinking about enjoying this for the past few weeks now, and it finally worked out to have it tonight. Was the wait worth it?

YES!

This beer is so delicious. I love a good Quad, and this is one. Packed with so much flavor. I am loving it, and am glad I still have several cans left. I did get 2 four packs last time in cheese-land.

Review:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/590/649320/


4.69/5 rDev +8.1%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.75
From a can.
Dark brown pouring beer with hints of amber shining through when held up to the light. Even though it's quite dark, I see tons of carbonation bubbles rising in my glass. The head that's formed is quite thick - 4 finger. The head is tan in color, and looks quite fluffy with smaller bubbles, that forma a fluffy, soft looking pillow. The head retention is quite good, actually, very good, long lasting. There's some lacing that forms on the glass as the head dissipates.
The nose has a pleasing mix of aromas. I get lots of toffee, caramel, and some dark fruit. Some vanilla also seems to make it into the mix.
Taste - So many flavors going on here, and they work together very well. I get the caramel and toffee to start me off. Those flavors morph, but do not disappear. The next evolution seems to me to be a hint of vanilla. The Flavors transform to dark fruit - plum, raisin, fig on the backside. I also get an earthy flavor that also rounds out the mix.
The body is very thick and full, just what I'd expect from a Quad. No burn from this beer. Very smooth feeling with just a hint of the carbonation to tickle my throat.
This is so damn good, and it's what a Quad should be. I am impressed.


I think I've got one more in me, so I'll be back later for the next one.

 

Ship Bottom Brewery Pale Lager - Like many of us my craft beer journey led me to the high ABV DIPAs, Imperial Stouts, etc. But now for many reasons I prefer the lower ABV beers that are crisp and refreshing and the higher ABV stuff has become more of a treat and a once in a while thing.

In keeping with the theme of my new beers this weekend this is another beer from Ship Bottom. Pours from a 12 oz can (05/12) a nice clear yellow, decent head and lacing. Not much on the nose but there are some grainy Pilsner malts. Taste is great and it's light, crisp, refreshing and perfectly balanced. On this hot day it's really hitting the spot and at 4.2% it's a nice session beer too.

The description from their site sums it up well:

"This delicate Pale Lager features a light golden hue, classic noble hops on the nose, and a snappy finish. Pilsner and Lager malt with a blend of European hops, good brewing practices, and an extended period of cold conditioning combine to create this timeless beer."
https://shipbottombrewery.com/our-beers/pale-lager/

Good stuff, would gladly drink it again. Budmo!

 

This egregious breach of NBS protocol can only be corrected by sending lots of beer to all of us that regularly participate in this thread. IJS.

 

Is/Was - La Petit Epeature

 

I'm in Chicago. Do you want Chicago beer, WA beer, or a mixture in penance?

 

Beauty of a day here. Spent all afternoon outside with the sprout. Planted a bunch of marigolds, some saplings, filled bird feeders, and rode around on the tractor...errr...I mean mowed the field...yeah...that's it... Swordfish on the grill for dinner with sauteed fiddleheads - first time we've seen them reasonably priced in a few years. Good thing, too...the swordfish was an extravagance, but in for a penny, as they say. Still, about ten bucks a plate and there's leftovers.

This jumped into my glass, probably courtesy of the garden gnomes...



Pours almost clear honey gold with a pillowy white head that lasts, clings, and forms kind of a whipped cream dollop in the middle of the glass.

Smells pretty Belgian to me. Fruity- apple, pear, maybe a bit of melon. Very estery. Sweet malt - almost like a Portuguese sweetbread sweet* bread. Peppery, coriander, phenolic close the show.

The taste is bright, but definitely sweet. It's quite sweet, kind of honey sweet. The fruity melange is very flavorful mid-taste. Lots of green apple, a banana I missed in the nose, melon, pear. Grassy herbaceous hops, but not too much. The aftertaste is a big hit with me - quite peppery, a kiss of coriander, pleasant phenolic. Belgian yeast goodness with a deft overlay of hoppiness.

It's very dry, fairly lively carbonation. Aftertaste sneaks up then there's a wallop of peppery spice, some coriander, and Fruity bubblegum aromatics without the nonsense that comes with bubblegum - maybe more like Juicy Fruit. Apple revisits in the aftertaste as well.

This is some good stuff right here. Glad I grabbed the single, which are pretty scarce given the wrap-around cardboard four packs. Impressed - 4.4 territory - and I'll be trying some other gnome beer in the future.

* if ya know ya know; if ya don't - it varies with the maker and I'm mostly eating authentic bakery or home made, but usually quite a bit less sweet than an arguably related Kings Hawaiian. The texture can vary from nearly poundcake dense to a fairly rustic soft bread depending on the avo, origin, and the secret recipe...

 

Kenwood Original "A Better Light Beer" - A local beer that I don't know much about so trying a single; they currently don't brew anything else but this. Light/lighter beers have been my jam lately and the stats are 4.1%, 127 calories, 10g carbs; the carbs are a little high for a light beer.

Pours from a 12 oz can (04/21) a nice yellow color, head is decent and the lacing hangs around for a bit as you drink it. Smell has a bit of the white grape thing going on, taste is light but crisp and snappy and grainy. There's a fuller body here so I can see why there's some extra carbs.

Would I drink this over something like a Miller Lite or Michelob Ultra? As a calorie and carb counter that's a tough one, as those beers are lower, cheaper and easily obtainable and offer a similar drinking experience. But with that being said I would gladly drink this again and if I were out somewhere and had an opportunity to support a local instead I would go with this. Budmo!