New Beer Weekend #152

I suspect you would enjoy Bottle Logic's Electric Eden.

 

Happy Father’s Day to all the dads here. Joy and I are heading out for dinner in a bit, so one and done for me this evening. A special day is worthy of a special beer, and this (Tree House’s Eleventh Anniversary beer) more than qualifies, IMHO.

PS: glassware courtesy of my friend @Roguer and NBS BIF #17. This is a SPECTACULAR glass, again IMHO.







4.5/5 rDev +2%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
Pours an opaque Crayola yellow color (I actually looked that up - and it’s actually a thing) with a delightful creamy white head that grabs the glass and doesn’t let go. Gorgeous hazy. The nose is a juicy tropical fruit punch, with loads of mango and pineapple, ripe orange, grapefruit rind, papaya, passion fruit, and a sweet oat aroma for good measure.

In other words, this is a juicy fruit cup for beer nerds.

The mango and pineapple flavors are forward and exquisitely delicious, and the rest of the cornucopia of tropical flavors works really well, but it’s that grapefruit rind flavor, which imparts a nice bitterness counterbalanced by the sweet oat flavor that really elevates this beer for me.

The mouthfeel is full and soft, an entirely too drinkable 8.4% ABV beer from the brewery that perfected this style, IMHO. World class stuff here.

 

Queensicle
... cloudy pale gold appearance
...medium carbonation with about body
...aroma is really similar to an orange vanilla Creamsicle. Theres some dairy/cream, with just a bit of cereal in the background
..taste is again very...Creamsicle like but it isn't really too sweet. The Creamsicle dominates though and there isn't a lot else going on.
...overall its unique and delivers what it promises. I enjoyed it but its one at a time beer

 

Payout by Bearded Iris


4.25/5 rDev 0%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

Brewers notes: Our Craft Brewer's Conference DIPA release brewed with Pinthouse Pizza and Yakima Chief Hops. The beer showcases YCH 301 for max fresh hop character & HBC 586 for cached notes of mango, guava, lychee, and citrus.

Can received in a trade with Bearded Iris brewmaster Paul Vaughn, poured into a chalice , streaky lacings

Hazy pale lemon orange capped by a one finger white foam , good retention, settles to an island

Aroma is citrus orange, mango, lychee

Taste is mango, guava, lychee

Smooth , clean beer , slight hop kiss on the finish



Good beer

 

Happy Father's Day to those of you who are fathers! I'm spending my day slowly building my wife's birthday cake, a lemon blueberry cheesecake cake (cheesecake is the middle tier in a three layer cake). Chilling in the fridge now with the crumb coat on.




Meanwhile, I'm drinking Snorkel, by Jester King, via a trade with @MrSandman101.


16oz can served in a little Hoppin Frog snulip (@Ozzylizard might find it familiar). Can is dated 01/19/23.

Pours very clear pale yellow with a big coarse head, settles into rocky clumps. Looks pretty carbonated. Smell is funky with a little woody spice, some lemon.

Taste is lots of that yeasty funk with an earthy bitterness, lemon and grassiness. Light overall, surprisingly refreshing for something with mushrooms in it. I don't think I get any of the mushroom directly, I think it's coming through as that earthiness.

Mouthfeel is light, crisp, effervescent. Overall, this is a nice, light, refreshing summer beer, I would be happy to take a four pack camping with me on a hot weekend.

 

Evening and HFD to Dads.
Going to throw a quick one in here. Sitting on the West Deck and the sun is getting low. Time to grill.
Just happened to get lucky and see this.
Modestman Tipping Point DIPA
Galaxy, Nelson, Vic Secret.
One of the descriptors is "dried gooseberry". Hmm I mean who really knows what a gooseberry tastes like?
And a dried gooseberry?
Well quick story I actually do know a bit of what a gooseberry tastes like. At a very young I had a neighbor friend named Sandy. She was kind of Tom boyish and we hung out together (including standing in her homes bay window naked next to each other one time) .
We did alot of exploring and we would run through all the backyards and someone had a gooseberry patch!
I remember they were low lying thorny bushes. But we used to pick and eat them....they could have been poison!
Some things you taste when you're young like that you keep in your mind your entire life. All I remember is sour white grapes with like a tartness.....
Pours a turbid pale orange with creamy head and alot of lacing
Actually quite a bit of NZ blanc grapes on the nose along with the peach, passionfruit, orange Julius.
Ooh wee, creamy, thick, fruity hop milkshake. No lactose just a perfect blend of tropical and stonefruit hops that rings in the grapefruit rind/pine bitterness in the finish. Not sweet.
How can a beer this powerful be so soft with tiny carb? More on the feel in the mouth it runs the gamut: slick up front, oily middle, drying finish. Just enough malt to provide a solid base for the hop monster.
Excellent beer. And better yet the Nelson seems to dominate and play a majority of the profile.
This would be a one timer for a non NE IPA lover. Even if you're not a lover of the style you have to occasionally be adventurous. This would be one that just might give you a better feel
Cheer!

 

Revolution straight jacket barleywine
....murky iced tea appearance
...medium light carbonation with about a medium body.
..aroma is a blast of malt,boozy,bourbon, wood,molasses and more that I cant place.
....taste is mildly sweet at first but gets super sweet on the finish and lingers.
Malty, with bourbon,wood,molasses and brown sugar.
...overall its a very rich malty boozy bomb but very well done

 

Ha! I got this beer thinking I hadn't had it before and because of the once often posting of glasses bearing the aquatic animal by a few (I believe one perpetrator might have been @Ozzylizard, but my memory fades).

Anyhow, after getting it home, my brain thought, "We've gotten Jester King around here for a while. Plus, we've visited the midwest often enough, you think maybe you have reviewed it?"

And yep, I had. But I don't remember it, and I love a comparison (for those who don't know), so I will compare my updated thoughts with yours.


I wouldn't call what I have in my glass "very clear" in any way, but it's got a medium haze that isn't preventing seeing through it. I got a lot of initial head and some clumpy lacing.

I got hay and pepper and some light citrus rind funk in the nose, I'd say close to what you got in the nose/taste combined.

Pretty light or just off it and effervescent I'd totally agree with - adding in that it's pretty dry.

Earthy, hay, and barn with a lemon more than lactic acidity and a bit of funk - pretty close. I do get a light salinity as it warms that gives me a late impression of seaweed, though (the marketing may be helping here). I tried, but I can't quite get the mushroom you seemed to allude to, though I might see what you are talking about very late in the taste where I think I may be getting a hint of the smoke in the sea salt - but maybe it's the mushrooms?

Seems we're not too far off in our analysis, and I'm quite enjoying this can and am debating if it's worth hitting the store to see if they have some left to pair with the summer months here.

Cheers!

 

Happy Father's Day, New Beer folks. Well yesterday was errands, and today was chores. Fortunately, there's time for at least one New Beer. And since I'm at John's Marketplace, I don't doubt that a few New Beers will follow me home.



(Standard disclaimer: No official review yet because I'm still working on the numbers.)

Hetty Alice NZ Pils
16-ounce can purchased at John's Marketplace in Beaverton, OR and enjoyed in a John's-branded pint glass. Date stamp reads "06/12/23 KIWI JUICE!"

Look:
Pale yellow-gold and slightly hazy, with a short-lived cap of foam that recedes to a thin ring and leaves minimal lacing.

Smell:
Gently fruity: green grapes, honeydew melon, gooseberry jam, a drop of buttery chardonnay, a twist of lemon. Mildly grainy with a hint of sulfur.

Taste:
Closely follows the nose, with grapes and gooseberries up front and nice cool honeydew prominent in the finish. Through the middle there's doughy malt with some tangerine on the breath. The finish shows toasted malt, dry white wine, the aforementioned honeydew, and a delicate anise-flavored herbal bitterness. There's a tiny bit of butter at the tail end of the aftertaste. Not diacetyl, but not welcome either.

Feel:
Light-to-medium body with finely-textured carbonation which seems a little low to me.

Overall:
Hetty Alice NZ Pils is a rather confounding beer which ultimately lives up to its name. It does a good job of showing off the Nelson Sauvin and Riwaka hops, but these are not the hops I want in a Pilsner.

 

Yeah, what I thought might be mushroom was a kind of earthiness in the aftertaste, which could also maybe be described as a hint of smoke, so overall I'd say remarkably similar. Although mine was most definitely clear...when I reviewed it, almost half the beer was still in the can, so maybe some sediment didn't get mixed in?

On to my next beery adventure: Aecht Schlenkerla Lentbeer

500ml can served in a snulip. Can is apparently not dated.

Pours a murky dark brown with a smallish head and a moderate amount of carbonation. Settles into a medium-thickness ring (sustained by said carbonation) and a swirling dusting on the surface. Smell is smoke, nuts, and toffee.

Taste is similar -- not as smoky as some other Aecht Schlenkerlas I have had, but quite smokey. Toffee and maybe horehound / root flavor in addition to the nuts. Moderate barky bitterness.

Mouthfeel is light, smooth. Overall, very nice rauchbier.

Update on lemon blueberry cheesecake cake:

Dissatisfactions:

• Frosting is lumpy
• Frosting is not silky smooth looking
• I suck at decorating -- floret things are unevenly sized, malformed, placed, and I did a bad job of mimicking the garnish in the original recipe's photos
• I forgot to put the lemon zest in the cakes

We'll see how it tastes after dinner!

 

The Wolf Double Barrel.

 

A rare afternoon to ourselves with the sprout visiting his other grandfather, hence the trip to Ptoclamation, steaks on the grill with asparagus, tiramisu for desert. Time for a beer.



Capisce from Proclamation in cahoots with Oberlin and Gift Horse restaurants. Says it is made with local and regional heirloom corn from Freedom Food Farms and Maine Grains...hmmm... They call it an Italian lager on the can, an Italuan pilsner at the brewery, so I added it under German pilsner with all the other Italian pilsner.

It pours a very light golden color, tight half inch of white foam. It's just about crystal clear.

The brewer's notes make some weird claims about aromas of grapefruit juice and raspberries...yeah, no. I get pretty typical pilsner aromas - with some overlay of corn bread. Lemony, slightly spicy, a bitbof grapefruit zest.. On tap a few hours ago and in the can, I'm not finding anything resembling berries.

The taste is a bit heavy for a pilsner, but it checks the right boxes. Slightly sweet in a cornbread way, bright lemon citrus, spicy hops accumulates, but not too heavy. Peppery notes emerge at the end. Mildly bitter, the flavor lingers a bit. Hop expression is in the realm of traditional Noble hops.

Feel...well, when cold I didn't notice it but as it warms I am getting that pasty feel I got from the AAL Rupee I had last week. I think it drags down the otherwise bright flavors. I don't know what they used in the grist beyond the regional corn they are bragging on, but is this beer more like a CAP, hence skating around and calling it an "Italian lager" on the can and Italian pilsner on the board at the brewery (@JackHorzempa). I think it has far too much hop character to call it an American lager, so pretty much by default in BA world its a German pilsner...

Other than the nitpicky chewy thing, and not knowing exactly what it should be called, I think this is a pretty good beer. Slightly better on tap than in the can, and definitely prefer it on the colder side. Around a 3.8, easy drinking, plenty of flavor.

 

OK, a few things but first permit me to state that earlier today I drank a homebrewed CAP as I watched the Phillies beat the Oakland A's.

Italian Pilsner

I am not a fan of this whole alleged "Italian Pilsner" thing. An alleged "Italian Pilsner" is just a German Pilsner which just so happens to be dry hopped (with noble hops preferably). Is Caprice dry hopped? If so, what hop(s) are used for the dry hopping process?

Corn

Do you know what format of corn was used? Was it grits? Or did they flake the corn? Or maybe they produced malted corn?

Everybody has a differing palate so...I use flaked corn when I brew my CAP and it does contribute to the flavor profile but it does not 'taste' "pasty" to my palate. And yes, I will confess that I ate paste as a kid. I do not have a good word to use to describe the sensory quality that corn provides to me CAP but I use the vague descriptor of a sort of a sweetness quality. Below is how Jeff Alworth describes corn in his book The Secrets of Master Brewers:

“Morgan found that the corn contributed only subtle flavors of corn and sweetness. The effect on body and mouthfeel is more pronounced. Corn lightens as expected but also gives a beer a clean, crisp quality that seems almost lager-like (no wonder it was used in cream ales). But because it also contributes to the perception of sweetness, a beer made with corn will finish crisply but leave a kiss of sugar behind. This is that comforting, familiar quality I described, and although subtle, it adds a nice dimension to these beers”.

Does anything above resonate with you?

Cheers!

 

Hey...who didn't eat paste as a kid? What I got with this beer (and the Rupee AAL) is hard to describe and I used the word that kept coming to mind. It's like it coats ever so little and kinda blocks the otherwise very nice flavors this beer offers. Makes me want to lick my tongue across my teeth. So in my mind, anyway, this Capisce beer lacks a bit in the crispness I would expect in any variant of a pilsner. The effect was not as pronounced when the beer was cold, nor on tap. I happen to know Proclamation has an excellent canning machine and I assume they know how to run it properly. That said, after my first sip on tap I said I'm done - I can drink this one for the rest of the day. The canned version is by no means a bad beer, but it's a bit different. Maybe the difference in a 5 oz pour and a 16 ounce can - not sure.

What resonates is that I definitely get a sweetness and I'd describe it as a cornbread sweetness. I can't find what form of corn was used unless it's buried on the can - will double check.

There's no reference to the hops, but I certainly get Noble hop character and I can't tell you whether it was dry hopped or not. So that mostly resonates.

Other beers I have had making the Italian pilsner claim I have found to be very light, bright, lemony, slightly sweet, and variable in hop impact - Bocce from Foundation is by far the best one I have had that says it's Italian style. I don't have a problem calling them German pilsners, and I guess that's the best match for this particular beer regardless. It's got the lemon, sweet, and a pretty hefty Noble hops taste - it misses on the bright and crisp by a little and maybe I'm just finding it a tad bit annoying. He'll, it's light years better than the so-called Kolsch trainwreck!

 

Last new one for tonight cheers!

 

Polishing off the Wolf. Good day, BAs!

 

That kinda reads like a mouthfeel aspect.

An example of a mouthfeel aspect is astringency. Analogies for detailing astringency is sucking on a used teabag (which I have never done) or chewing on a grape skin. I suspect that astringency is not the 'issue' here but perhaps something similar.

Cheers!

P.S. I personally do not recall the paste I ate as a kid having a sensation of astringency. But at that early age I wouldn't have known the word "astringency".

Edit: I wonder if malted corn provides the mouthfeel aspect that you are experiencing?