New Beer Weekend #165

Ce n’est pas La Fin Du Monde from Unibroue.

Preliminary review:

4.1/5 rDev +3.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
12oz bottle (best by date obscured) into a tulip. Pours a somewhat murky dirty pale amber with a soft fluffy head that lingers.

Aroma is fruity and full of esters: peach, mango, overripe banana, clove, bready Belgian yeast, candi sugar. Tons of sweet malt.

Taste is likewise fruity and sweet with a solid hop presence in the finish. The sugars round out the hop bitterness but it’s there in the background. There’s a nice boozy warmth here too.

Mouthfeel is in the fuller side of medium, almost chewy. Satisfying.

Overall I think this was intended to be a hoppy twist on LFDM, and they more or less succeeded. Can’t say I prefer this over the original but it answers the question, what if they made a hoppy version of one of my favorite tripels.

 

Stonecloud Suspended in a Sunbeam American IPA, 6.0% ABV; 4.07 overall

Pours a slightly hazed gold with one finger of ivory colored head. Pretty nice head retention & lacing

S: Bready notes, grassyness & citrus once warm

T: follows the nose, plenty of green melon & some dryness, plus tangerine up front. Tangerine, lime, a touch of dry breadyness & more green melon as this beer warms up. Finishes a little powdery dryness with, lime, green melon, & tangerine

MF: Medium body, restrained carbonation, great balance

This features Strata hops, super-solid IPA that drinks so easy. This brewery rarely makes a mediocre IPA or even close

 

I love seeing that Kiitos glass.

This was a curious find from the dabc the other day. Untappd has it pegged as a 'traditional ale' which feels like an uninspired name for a catch-all. Frankenbrew was my proposal in the BA discord.

Turns out I was looking at a duplicate listing, and it's supposedly an Imperial Red.

Epic - Double Cross Ale



Dabc purchase - $5, no bottling date, but first appeared this July.

Poured at fridge temp into a snifter glass.

Pours a real dark and deep brandy wine red with a 2F dense tan head. 4.25

Heavy malt and toffee sweetness, some light fruit leather and fruity esters, paired with some soft earthy hops. 4.25

Brilliant toffee and caramel sweetness, fairly strong malts nearing on a roasted level. Fruitiness is low but present and satisfying. 4.25

Low but noticable alcohol warmth, rich velvety body and touch of lingering mouthcoating. 4.5

Overall not sure I'd call this an imperial red, more like a hybrid American/English strong ale (baby Barleywine if you will). But a very enjoyable ale regardless, and one I'm hoping to acquire more of. 4.25

 

Stonecloud Brewing's Hop Frequency Vol. 5 LBJ's Mix Hazy Milkshake Hazy DIPA, 8.0% ABV; 4.2 overall


Features Cryohop, Mosaic & Cashmere hops

Pours a hazed honey color with a pinky of cream-colored head. Decent head retention & lacing

S: Banana, vanilla, orange, fades away as it warms

T: Follows the nose, some lime & dryness upfront. More lime, vanilla, orange & dryness as this beer warms up. Finishes with a bit of pineapple whip, vanilla, a touch of dryness & orange

MF Medium body, dialed back carbonation, nice balance

Love, love this style when done right. This fits the bill! Wish the nose & appearance would've played along. Flavor just got better as this warmed up

 

An official NBW handshake (und bier) tick, and in Europe no less!

 

You gents look so happy. Cheers!

 

Start of my weekend was here. My soulmate went to Canada with family for 5 days and we had to make do with Skype good news is that Julia finally got her interview with the UNCG for a research position. Shit is competitive as fuck. Meanwhile I did a busy week of number crunching. Finally figured out how to analyze the tire load data in a rigid system without getting my mechanical engineering handbook I also watched a 7 hours excel course. I learned a lot. I am reading Blind side by Michael Lewis and its the best American football nonfiction story I've read. me and Julia decided to hit up the college town of Roanoke and this shit is busy. We got carded lol

Expedia had a deal in Salem for cheap. Gold membership being taken advantage of we will be married whenever we are DINKs



Founders French toast bastard. Wow. The nose is pure maple syrup and caramel/toffee. Taste of big caramel, toffee, butterscotch, brown sugar, coconut, nuts, bourbon, toasted oak. Brown bread, raisin, fig, herbal, grass, pepper, and yeast earthiness. Light herbal bitterness and oak tannin spiciness on the finish. Medium carb and medium full body; creamy silky and lightly slick malt mouthfeel. Lingering tannin drying. Mild warmth and booze of 11.1%. One of the smoothest and perfectly balanced things I've tasted. So much maple. This is obscenely easy to drink for the abv. 4.67


Cheers

 

Omg the burgers at Jack browns are top tier. Fuuuuu. I got a shroom/Guinness fried onions first and bacon/sunny side egg burger after. I discovered this is a chain, and there is one on OBX. Def going there.


Basic city bask dipa. Awesome hazy dipa. Taste of big white grapefruit, tangerine, peach, pineapple, passion fruit, papaya, mango, melon, coconut, vanilla, guava, berries, citrus peel, pepper, pine, oat, bread dough, herbal, floral, grass, yeast earth. Lt medium pine rind bitter finish. Medium carb and medium plus body. Silky/bready oats and lingering increasing resin drying with no hop astringency. Mild warmth and hop burn of 7.6%. Awesome juicy and fairly dank mosaic and Citra hops showcase. Tastes like sabro too. 4.1


Cheers

 

We came out to twisted track brewing in Roanoke yesterday.



Twisted track on it gose. This is great stuff. Nose is a little off and weak with some green sour apples and lacto funk. Taste is more balanced with sour lemon, lime, white grape, green apple, sea salt, hay, straw, grass, pepper, wheat, cracker, dough, lacto funk. Light-med tart/sour lactic finish. Crisp clean refreshing feel with lingering salinity. No puckering. Very traditional 3.98


Cheers

 

We got late night apps. Great stuff.


Twisted track Sierra railway. A really good standard west coast ipa. Aromas and flavors of red grapefruit, tangerine, peach, citrus peel/rind, wood, peppercorn, pine, cracker, biscuit, caramel, herbal, floral, grass, yeast earth. Large sized pine rind bitter finish. Medium carb and body; balanced bready malt and sticky resinous hop mouthfeel. Lingering resin drying with light astringency. It's a standard columbus/centennial feeling west coast so not too exciting but still well made. 3.9


Cheers

 

They had an oompah band playing for Oktoberfest. Prost! I miss playing tuba. I could 100% pick up a tuba and sight read music they were playing lol. I haven't touched one in 10 years.


Last call is for us to go back to the hotel and keep drinking. Twisted track plaid habit. Really nice Scottish ale. Aromas and flavors of caramel, brown sugar, brown bread, toast, nuts, herbal, floral, wood, grass, pepper, light diacetyl/yeast ester earthiness. Lt med herbal spicy bitter finish. Medium plus carb and light body. Crisp clean refreshing finish. Balanced grainy malt and sticky hop mouthfeel. Zero warming 4.2%. A little watery but given the abv this tastes spot on style otherwise. 3.9


Cheers