New Beer Weekend #160

We lived 20 miles from Schell's for 18 years (1999 - 2017) and Joy and I took the tour a half dozen times. Their branding during that period was "German craft" and that's all they did - German beers. They had an altbier as part of their regular lineup for goodness sake. It was literally beer nerd heaven. I've rated/reviewed 60 Schell's beers.

They've apparently gone a little different direction since we left. Now they offer a cold IPA as part of their regular lineup, had a "house IPA" for a couple of years, and have brewed a NEIPA.

I have no words.

I'm sure it's still worth a trip, but I think you would've REALLY enjoyed a visit to Schell's circa 2008, Jon.

 

Finally found some Sierra Nevada Oktoberfest Festbier. 6% ABV.



Pours a perfectly clear orange color. A dense white head rises to over two fingers. As the foam gently recedes, lace is left behind.
Aroma of baked bread and a bit of floral and pine like hops...odd for any kind of Festbier, but not bad at all.
Taste wise, here, I find the hops a bit too much considering the style. I get a floral, and almost west coat like pine hop character that is kind of resin like. Plenty of bitterness in the finish. Just a bit of baked bread going on in the background.
A fuller body that becomes a bit resin like for me. Crisp carbonation and finishes clean and dry. Not having any problems finishing this, but not what I have come to expect from the style.

Don't get me wrong, this is a fine offering. Though its not really a Festbier or even a bigger Marzen. Maybe a hoppy American Amber lager is more like it. While its not unbalanced, definitely leans more American hop forward, than not for me. Always glad to get a new and fresh Sierra Nevada in a different style than just a variation on IPA though. I would have liked a more traditional version of the style, and this is coming off more negative than I want. It is still something I can very much enjoy.

Overall score is 3.73, B bordering on a B+
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/140/657725/?ba=champ103#lists

A good early afternoon beer, while reading James McBride's new novel. Which is wonderful.

 

Follow up from my original post, this can with a month's age on it produces an initial head was much more attractive than my on tap pour...


...but it did fall pretty quickly. There are also some particulates (not a surprise, really) in the bottom when I pour in the last of the can. Looks aside, the aromas were more prominent and enticing on the pour from the glass, but they fade quite a bit, similar to the head. Initial sips have that citrus tang, though it's a bit more orange-like than lemony, overshadowing much the lighter banana bubblegum flavor that is consistent with what I perceived yesterday. I'm going to let it warm a tad like I did at the bar.

While I wait, I looked up the BJCP for a Hefe (Accenting by me):

In the waiting, the beer's appearance completed its balding to end with a nearly still appearance. The aroma became more akin to a witbier with an old orange slice in it. The taste continued to exhibit the tangy citrus note the BJCP indicates "is often present" - though like many descriptions, there seems to be some broad ranges covered, like "low to moderately strong," for some characteristics The feel seems to be slightly better in this pour, at least.

In the end, this did nothing to alter my impression of the beer. I'm not sure if my expectations are out of whack, or if there might have been some mis-handling in its travels from Texas, or if the brewery was offloading a less than stellar batch to a market (which seems an odd and unlikely thing to do), but my experience is different than the typical BA for this #2 ranked Hefeweizen. Oh, well.

 

This beer could use a bit more work as it's neither here nor there. Cheers!
Excelsior Oktoberfest Lager 6.3%ABV
3.27/5 rDev -6.8%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.25
12 oz can into a Becher glass.
L: Pours clear amber with steady carbo bubbles, a fizzy thin eggshell white head that goes to edge foam within a minute, broken creamy scattered lacing.
S: Sweet malts, honey, lightly floral.
T: Moderately sweet malts, lightly toasted grains, medium level sweetness, a hint of sweet bread, background fruits, gently floral.
F: Brisk, med-full body with a med-long and fairly drying finish. Becomes very smooth with warming.
O: Not as bitter as many other Marzens but not overly sweet. Stays on middle ground. With its color and taste, I want to call it a Festbier. Not much personality but it is okay in its style.

 

@cjgiant the best place to have Live Oak Hefe is in Austin. Personally my purchases of Hefe cans has gone down a lot over the years, as most six packs are well over two months old. I don't know if there is something about the canning, and anything within two months is usually fine for me, for whatever reason that one seems to either fall of way faster or I just got tired of the cans ha. Though a fresh keg is still were it is at. Live Oak Pilz still holds up best for me, and that is always something I have on hand.

 

I took my friend Tim there yesterday, for his first time. He likes beer, but he's not into reviews as much as we are on here. He assumed Schell's meant low cost/quality beer, and didn't really get them much. He was blown away by the beers he had at the source, and got several in New Ulm at a liquor store (he was a huge fan of their Oktoberfest on tap, and that was what he got in his 12oz pour). They have done IPAs, but they're really sticking with the more German styles, for the most part. Yeah, I had Fresh Prints IPA as my 12oz pour, and it's good, but they're staying more traditional for the most part.

Oh, and I found out that there's a distillery in New Ulm now, and a member of the Schell family is involved with it. Jeez, how the heck am I going to find time to fit that into my next trip there?

Now back to NBW
A beer that I picked up locally in a can.

Hidden Headwaters - Humble Forager Brewing - American Amber/Red Lager - 5% ABV

Forager Brewing is well known in Rochester, MN. This is an offshoot of them that they make in Wisconsin.

This is a very layered malty beer. I'm getting things in it that may not be there, but I get it. I like this beer a lot, and I will just let my review say what I'm thinking.

Review
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/58881/632951/

4.02/5 rDev +3.9%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4
From a can dated enjoy by 11/01/23

Clear amber pouring beer from the can. When I hold it to the light I see a few bubbles rising in the glass. The head is off white in color, it has yellow hues. It is quite fluffy at 2 finger. Retention is decent, with some damn good lacing on the glass.
The aroma is malty, as expected. I get a bit of a rye aroma from this beer. Some bread also comes through.
The flavor is very malty, but it seems more like rice up front to me, and I knida doubt it, no clue if there's any there. Tons of wheat, and I do get a rye kick on the back. Malty to the extreme, with various malts.
Crisp and very clean body. Quite full feeling, yet light.
You want an easy drinking beer with a lot of flavor? Well, you would not go wrong here. Damn.


I think I have a few more in me today. Cheers!

 

Yeah, I am certain something is off, as my observations vary from every other review I persused quickly. There's a difference between not living up to the hype and being considerably different in character

I even asked the GF, and she said, "No, I wouldn't think it's a Hefe. Though if I was looking for it, I sort of get some banana."

To be specific, the can is dated 7/11/23 - so even better age than you tend to find it, lol (granted, there's no previous stock to replace in northern VA). I'll definitely consider it one more time in what I think might be a more favorable situation. And I'll likely get to the Pilz in the very near future; hopefully it'll redeem the Hefe

 

Or you just flat out don't agree with the consensus and hype. Which is also perfectly fine. There are plenty of well regarded beers in all kinds of styles that I'm not the biggest fan of, and don't get a lot of what others seem to find in those, ha.

 

Oktoberfest

5.8% märzen by Hacker Pschorr

Poured from bottle, the body is the familiar amber/light brown. Fuzzy white head dissipates quickly and retreats to a thin edge ring. Light lacing.

Nose is an inviting malt. Taste follows nose and adds a balancing small bitter note. A light malty sweetness is present but very much background.

Mouthfeel is smooth and satisfying with solid carbonation and slight coating of the palate ( though it is not a coating of sweetness).

Superdrinkable as an Oktoberfest märzen ought to be. Best example of the style for my tastes.

 

Just a couple new ones for me today, a good Festbier (or 2) from local brewery Heart State:

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/60239/619164/?ba=bluejacket74#lists



And a pretty good imperial stout from Akron's R Shea:

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/40873/502558/?ba=bluejacket74#lists



Happy NBW/NBS everyone, have a great week!

 

Tucher Festbier, really excited to come across this. I think this is the first time I have seen this on the shelves. 5.8% ABV.



Pours a beautifully clear, pale golden/yellow color. A dense white head rises to over two fingers. Excellent retention and plenty of lace left behind as it gently recedes.
Aroma of pale malts, that are the show. Baked sourdough bread, biscuits and honey. This is like walking into a bakery. Just a touch of earthy hops.
Taste wise, love the pale malts again. Baked bread, biscuits and honey. A bit of an apple cider character. Just enough herbal and grassy hops to make a presence without any real bitterness added.
A medium to full body. Wonderful carbonation that is at first crisp, but becomes ultra fine and silky smooth. With the apple cider like character, it does finish a bit sweeter than I would like. Though that is a small gripe, and can drink this all day in big gulps.

This seems like a great traditional Festbeir to me, with lots of character. I hope to see this more often, I think this is the first time I have noticed this on the shelves near me. I'll be getting a lot more.

Overall score is 4.13, easy A-
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/129/566017/?ba=champ103#lists

 

Drekker Blackberry/Lemon/Apricot BRAAAAAAAAins Double Fruit Smoothie Sour, 5.8% ABV. Pours thick and opaque maroon with a one-finger pink head that left puree residue. Nose is blackberry, lemon, and vanilla. Taste follows, with lemon up-front and shading the apricot, equally sweet and tart, with salt on the close. Decent thick and creamy mouthfeel, overall excellent.

4.06/5 rDev -2.6%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Crock-pot gumbo for supper. Still have to add the shrimp at the end. This will be good on a rainy fall-like day.

 

What is this rainy fall like day you speak of, can that be described? I can't remember the last time that I saw a cloud, let alone the temperature being below 100 ugh or ha, can't tell what emotion I'm suppose to have...

 

I'm enjoying the start of the Premier League season, and the other soccer available from various cable and streaming sources. No guilt in sitting inside all day as the heat outside is lethal. I bought a few beers from Tree House week before last. The only one that was new to me is Gggreennn!

My experience with Green, and Very Green were several years ago, so I can only rely on my reviews to make comparisons.
These cans were dated 7/31/23. Labelled American IPA, 7.5% ABV.
Very smooth mouthfeel and less bitter than the other members of the Green clan. Plenty of juicy citrus and tropical fruit flavors. Well carbonated, and no flaws in appearance or flavor.
4.69/5 rDev +3.3%
look: 5 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 5 | overall: 4.75, which is close to the same rating I gave Green and Very Green.

 

Yesterday (8/12/2023) on the way back from the Madison, WI beer run I stopped at the Moose Jaw in the Dells. I was not in the mood for any more beer drinking but I wanted to see what they had to go. I asked them what they had for big high ABV beers to go. They gave me a sample of the 3 they had. I didn't get a accurate read on them but all seemed solid. so I bought a few bottles of each. This is one that I drank last night:

Brandy barrel aged WISCONSIN MUDDLER
Old Fashioned style ale @ 11.3% ABV
12 oz bottle.
This one tastes better after you let it settle down and warm up a bit.
It's hard to describe the base beer, Maybe it's a old strong ale type base.
The is some barrel there but it doesn't over power the rest of it.
It's sweet at first with cherry notes but turns more bitter on the end when the orange peel shows up.
Not bad. The more I drink it the more I like it. It's a sipper. I wish I had more bottles. But the price was too high to buy a 12 pack

Ya I know some people reading this think Moose Jaw/Wis Dells brewing is not very good.
True they can be hit or miss and may not be the most consistent. But they can put out some solid beers. Here is the funny part: of all the beer I brought home in the coolers only Wis Dells brewing beers were above 8% ABV
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/1749/667009/

 

I was in southern Minnesota yesterday. One of the stops was to visit my dad. Sadly, it's a very one sided visit in the family cemetery between New Ulm and Sleepy Eye. I paid respects to many generations there.
This side trip eventually led me to the small town of Gibbon that has a brewery. I've been there before back in April I had a beer there. I had a beer there yesterday, but didn't review, because I was with a friend and too busy. I am home, and trying a crawler of this that they had on tap.


Mitch's Bitch - Whit Wort Brewing - Gibbon, MN - American IPA - 7.1% ABV

The aroma is a WTF?, but the flavor is damn good. I know I will be back there, and will be enjoying more from them.

Review:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/63366/653330/

3.51/5 rDev 0%
look: 4.5 | smell: 2.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.5
From a crawler filled at the brewery on 8-12-23, consumed on 8-13-23.

Extremely clear amber pouring beer. 3 finger off white head. Head looks quite frothy and fluffy from the can. Very long lasting. Super sticky lacing on the glass.
The nose is, well, malty? WTF? Umm, this is an IPA, and it's a malty nose with no hops? It's not offensive, not bad, but wrong.
Taste - Ok, the aroma was not right, but the flavor really is. Damn, I love the pine I'm getting in this beer. There's also s bit of mango that comes through, but it's more pine than tropical.
Crisp, and clean. Full bodied.
While the aroma was a let down, the flavor makes up for it. It isn't an extreme hop bomb, but it has a nice hop flavor. i am happy with it, and wish I would have gotten another while there.


I'll try for one more today.

 

Another new Tucher offering for me. Also, a completely new style for me. Rotbier, 5.2% ABV.



Pours a near opaque reddish/orange color. A towering beige head forms with excellent retention and lace all the way down the glass.
Aroma has a big malty presence. Toasted, biscuit, toffee, dark fruits. The malt character is incredibly inviting, and like some of their other beers, reminds me of walking into a bakery.
Taste wise, again, all the malt character you could want. Dark toasted and baked bread. Toffee/caramelized malts and dark fruits. Certainly sweet, and a rich malt profile. Though far from cloying or unbalanced in anyway. I just love the malt character here.
A full body with crisp carbonation. That also becomes ultra smooth and silky. This feels like it should have more ABV. Though because it is not high in that regard, this is incredibly moreish to drink.

I love the rich malty character here. In that regard it is almost in the Doppelbock range, but with a much lower ABV than is typical for that style. Which makes this all the more easy and inviting to come back to. All around well done.

Overall score, is 4.25 across the board. Easy A for me.
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/129/460091/?ba=champ103#lists

That is it for new beers this week for me. I have reviewed a fair amount more than I usually do, and on top of that all of them were very good to great. I'm getting close to 3K reviews, maybe next week

 

Afternoon NBS, time for a beer.
Gotta few today but really looking forward to this one first.
Schenker Beer Co. Hellbier, Helles Lager.
Pours a beautiful clear pale gold with a fluffy white head that settles to a thin ring, minimal lacing.
Smell is potent grainy, doughy, malts. Floral and grass.
Taste follows with doughy malts, lemon, slightly sweet, moderately bitter.
So clean and crisp. Drying finish with a slightly bitter finish.
Hard to describe how good this is.
Excellent beer! Off to a good start!
Cheers.

 

Hello favorite people of BA, I'm finally joining in after a busy Saturday. Just was flying solo with the boys for a while and I said "I'm gonna go hide in the basement with my beer friends." Mrs. Phisher is the best. Still at in-laws another month or little longer but wow has the house come along, getting excited to see it when finished and to move back in.

"...cause down shore everything's alright." -Bruce, song: Jersey Girl **my sister in laws wedding song, she married someone from Maryland

That line popped into my mind as I opened this can that was brewed down the shore in Wildwood, NJ where I once carried a giant pier footing from the beach in drunken stupidity with a friend in the dead of winter. Luckily a friendly police officer came across us and just laughed and followed us as we carried it back to the sand, stupid things down at the age of 21...

I hope this IPA, labeled as American IPA, is alright too. I've pretty much given up on small local-ish traditional IPAs cause they never are dry or clean enough but this one had all my favorite IPA buzzwords so I grabbed a single. New to me brewery and new to me beer...

Mudhen Brewing - 1883 IPA (American IPA 6.7%)



For the nerds…the last lines got me…




This beer almost looks the part, goldish with hints of orange, a white head that leaves a nice sustaining film, cloudy at first but mostly chill haze as it clears up quite nicely; off to a potentially good start, slightly above average lacing.

Nice pungent nose on this beer, it is bright in the floral department, there is some light fresh smelling pine; a very light fruitiness but more in a sweet orange with a hint of pineapple kind of way...there is a pleasant malt presence lurking underneath as well.

The taste is quite lovely on this beer, the hops instantly hit; resiny, grassy and sappy, gives way to some orange like fruit on the finish, again a touch of fruit, pineapple...the malt is very well done on this beer, just enough heft and touch of sweetness to counteract all that resin like goodness.

Mouthfeel is decent, for 6.7% this thing drinks very nicely; barely teettering (spellcheck?) on medium body, spot on smooth carb, and a beautiful piney bite on the finish, good bitterness...I say decent mouthfeel because it is just ever so slightly chewier than I like an IPA but this is far from what other local places have dubbed "west coast" IPAs; finishes quite clean and dry.

I have to say this is probably one of the better, if not best, examples from a smaller local brewery of a classic IPA. It really really hits the spot for me, and they put it in 12 oz cans!!! I only bought a single but I'm wishing I grabbed a six, since it is quite fresh, late June canning. I will explore more from this brewery if I see them.

-------------------------

That is all I got today, I hope you all have a great rest of your Sunday and a great week to come. Looking forward to seeing what else everyone gets into the rest of the day. Cheers Friends!!!