New Beer Weekend #170

Caught up through the weekend and ready to enjoy New Beer Sunday #974! We are all a half year away from reaching #1000!!!!

Going for part two of my Vitamin Sea Weekend. Glad they are scheduled for I believe their first appearance at FOBAB this year. Also looking forward to trying another 2023 New To Me Brewery 1840 shared earlier this year by @Danmullens1 , and many returning favorites from around the country plus a few I'm eager to try.

Vitamin Sea & WeldWerks Collaboration Nautical Terms





Can Notes: Obtained via trade with Adam @Qu3st via Beer Advocate on 8/19, refrigerated until opening this morning. Brewed by Vitamin Seas, Weymouth, Massachusetts. 8.0% ABV, 16 oz, Double India Pale Ale. A Collobration between Vitamin Sea and WeldWerks Brewing. "What's Your Favorite?" can stamp on 8/3/23 11:21 AM.

Appearance: Initial pour about half the can into a shaker pint glass. Light stray yellow turbid base, generous bright white soapy lace lingers for several minutes before leaving clumpy lacing and a creamy generous cover over the base. 4.25

Aroma: Poured 1/2 of the remaining 8 oz.to assist with this aspect of the review. Mild in strength, a bit higher in enjoyment with a light citrus pineapple mix, but not much else after a few attempts. 3.75

Taste: Stronger taste, citrus very strong with a pine and grapefruit backing, with significant bitterness attempting to tame the even greater sweetness that is contained by not exceeded. 3.75

Mouthfeel: Creamy, medium body. Gentle carbonation. ABV hits you quickly in, drinks a bit stronger vis a vis the ABV.. As this warms, the balance comes together, with both the excess sweetness and bitterness components merging to form a very nicely balanced offering. Lightly dry, a citrus SweeTarts finish. 4.25

Overall: A similar experience to my NEIPA Vitamin Sea enjoyed yesterday. Mouthfeel the star again, nice balance both edging sweet, the stronger ABV and focused taste components the takeaway today. Overall a solid pour, thank you again Adam for sharing this brewery, and I look forward to trying what they bring to Chicago at FOBAB in two weeks. 4.0

Believe I am slating my final two new to me Notch offerings for next weekend. Cheers!

 

Good morning BAs! Today’s new eye opener is from Jackie O’s Brewery, Athens OH - an imperial stout aged 16 months in high-rye bourbon barrels - “Bound By Dust”:



Bottled 2022. Purchased at brewery 2023. Poured at 57°. Tight tan head with mixed bubbles sits atop black with ruby edges body;poor cap retention leaves a fleeting island of micro dots; brief solid ring; no lace, no legs. Bourbon and chocolate nose; dark fruit as beer warms. Sweet chocolate, bourbon, plums, figs; mild oak middle; sweet toffee finish. Smooth feel; not adjuncty; bite on tip of tongue; medium body; light carbonation; mouth warmth from 13.3%abv; dry barrel finish. Overall quite tasty; layers of base and barrel flavors; a tad thin, but that’s JO’s; long wooden/oaky linger. A limited release…I’d buy again if our paths cross…

4.0 | 4.25 | 4.5 | 4.25 | 4.5
Score: 4.39 rDev +1.4%

Cheers and have a great day y’all!

 

Poured into a 16 tulip glass canned on 10/10/23. Pours a very attractive clear orange with a half finger white head that leaves thin streaks of lace with solid retention. 4.5

Aroma is caramel, toffee, biscuit, and a whiff of brown sugar. 4.25

Taste follows caramel, toffee, biscuit, and brown sugar. 4.25

Mouthfeel is above average, plenty of carbonation, not sticky or dry, and at 5.5% a very easy drinking beer but enough malt to warm you on a Fall evening. 4.25

Overall this is a very tasty Copper Ale, I will enjoy all of these. Balanced and a very well made. 4.25

 

It's a lovely morning in South Carolina and I am spending it cruising around downtown Columbia on my bike. At Bierkeller on the riverfront I am trying for the first time their Dampfbier.

I don't know what the malt bill is, but clearly barley with weizen yeast. Smooth, well carbonated, flavorful. A very good beer.

 

Good morning NBW
Bought this single on a whim because: 1. There aren't enough porters, and 2. Medals right on the label...
My first beer from Heretic

Shallow Grave

16oz can BEST BY 02/29/24 poured into a tulip pint glass at fridge temp 7% ABV. The beer pours opaque medium brown with light brown colored head. The head recedes to a thin cap and completely laces the glass. The aroma is mild with very dark chocolate and coffee. The taste follows with bittersweet chocolate, lighter black coffee notes and a tiny dark fruit sweetness that plays well with the darker roasted malt. Mild bitterness. Mouthfeel is thin to medium bodied with average carbonation and a mostly dry finish. Overall, excellent. A fairly simple beer executed perfectly. Delicious.

There you go. Wish I would have grabbed more, but hindsight...
Cheers all!

 

Drekker It's the Berries BRAAAAAAAAins Double Fruit Smoothie sour, 6.1% ABV. Pours thick and opaque purple with a 1.5 finger light purple head that left puree residue. Aroma is strawberry, blueberry, and vanilla. Taste is strawberry and blueberry in front of the light vanilla, quite sweet, equally tart, with salt on the close. Excellent thick mouthfeel, overall outstanding.

4.33/5 rDev 0%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25

We're going all-in for Halloween; small rubber ducks, fidget toys, small frisbees, and small screaming ducks to hand out (and candy for us). We'll have ominous music on a hidden Bluetooth speaker, and a crime scene with crime-scene tape, evidence markers, a skeleton, a shovel, a crime-scene floodlight, and whatever else we come up with.

 

Harrods 1849 Premium Lager by Hormark Brauerei



3.68/5 rDev 0%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75

Brewers notes: Traditional and modern brewing techniques have been combined to produce a unique yet authentic lager. Brewed for 60-90 days, this lager is a deep, golden colour, well-balanced, strong and pure. It should be served nicely chilled. A classic German-style Pilsner is straw to pale in color with a malty sweetness that can be perceived in aroma and flavor. Perception of hop bitterness is medium to high. Noble-type hop aroma and flavor are moderate and quite obvious. Distinctly different from the Bohemian-style pilsner, this style is lighter in color and body and has a lower perceived hop bitterness.

Returning from a European vacation. Purchased at Harrods at Heathrow, tried to spend my leftover cash so i didn’t have to convert back to dollars, grabbed a bottle, why not! Paid 5 pounds. Best by 31.5.2024 .

A nicely chilled hinge capped and sealed brown bottle is poured into a flute . Results in a clear golden liquid , numerous active carbonation streams , two finger white foam cap, nice lacings

Aroma is grassy, malts, slight sweetness

Taste is grassy , malts, slight sweetness

Mouthfeel is sudsy, clean, crisp, light, dry , hop kiss

Good beer

 

True Anomaly's Saison Serfer. 7.8% ABV.

A Rye Saison, that spent 6 months aged in an American Oak foeder. With a mixed culture of Brettanomyces and Lactobacillus.



Pours a dark orange/reddish color. A dense two finger white head forms with excellent retention and plenty of lace left behind.
The aromas has a dusty, musty, basement like "funk" up front that I love. Fruity esters of apples and pears. Peppery spice and baked bread. This is really well done.
Taste wise, follows the nose with plenty of basement like funk and fruity esters, with apple skins and pears. Peppery spice and baked bread again from the rye. Maybe some caramelized apples, and sweetness, but a great acidic tartness dries everything out in the finish.
A medium to full body. Effervescent carbonation, and finishes dry. There is a bit of a tannin like quality here as well. This all leads to a really enjoyable and easy to drink Saison.

This is pretty complex, and like a good American Saison, just a wonderful and balanced mix of a lot of things. From the yeast character, acidic tartness, a nice malt character from the rye, and even a bit of tannin from the oak. It is all really well balanced and just excellent.

Score is 4.25 across the board. Basically an A from me.
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/55586/675779/?ba=champ103#lists

A good reading companion for me while I try to work through a stack of Solzhenitsyn novels on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

 

Yes, when I’m out especially with friends or family but even solo at times I prefer to order familiar beers to avoid phone time or feeling I’m missing out a review for a beer I may love.

What I have done and works for me is to take a photo of the beer and record a few brief 5-15 second voice memos to allow completion of a review upon returning home.

I’m also aware of the ability to have the phone or pc type text to dictation, but I’m not that technologically advanced or interested. This method is good enough for beer review purposes, and I can flush out proper sentences after the fact.

Signed,

Gen X Beer Advocate

 

My plans fell through today, so I'm at home and trying a new beer. This is one I picked up at the Oktoberfest in Dallas, WI a couple weeks back, and I've been looking forward to it.

Golden Meadow - Valkyrie Brewing - Dallas, WI - Hefeweizen - ABV not listed

I'm going to guess the ABV of this beer is around 5%, but not sure.

I remember looking at the beer list before I went to Dallas, and was damn excited to see this one in bottles for sale at the brewery. I just love a good Hefe, and this delivers in my book. Damn tasty banana and clove flavors backed up by a faint grassy flavor. The body is so smooth and soft. I am just loving this beer, and glad I got 6 bottles of it, though I gave away a couple to friends. The crazy thing is my rating is so much higher than the others who have rated it. I don't think I've been 60+ points higher before, but I'd say my rating fits the bill for this beer.

Review:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/683/4922/

4.03/5 rDev +61.2%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4
From a 12oz bottle purchased at the brewery.

This beer is actually fairly clear looking and straw colored. A decent amount of small carbonation bubbles rise in the glass to form a 1 finger white head. The frothy looking head has decent retention, and there's just a tiny bit of lacing on the glass.
The aroma is quite strong and pleasing. There's just a ton of clove aroma in here backed up by a pleasing banana aroma.
Taste - Taste is the opposite of the nose to me. I just get a ton of banana that just doesn't let up. This banana is backed up by a pleasing clove undertone. There's also a slightly grassy flavor that also comes into the mix, that works well with the main players.
The body is quite soft feeling, which, considering they have naturally very soft water at the brewery, is not surprising. Slightly bubbly feeling, and quite smooth also.
Damn solid beer overall, and I'm glad they're brewing it again.


I know there will be more today, and probably fairly soon, as this beer is going down fast.

 

Here is a truly new beer, packaged 11 days ago, the first and possibly last time it will ever be made. Melange: Barrel-Aged Cuvée from Fremont Brewing. So new that I submitted the BA profile and photo myself after picking up a 4-pack at the brewery on Friday and have now posted the first review (see below). Quite good. Cheers!
_________________
4.19/5 rDev 0%

look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

16oz can (packaged 10/11/2023) into a tulip. Pours a deep dark brownish black with a 1-finger mocha head.

Aroma is bitter and roasty with notes of dark malt, cocoa, and vanilla. A warm nutty quality emerges as it warms.

The taste is more impressive than the aroma—a counterbalance of bitter and sweet with tons of dark chocolate, marshmallows, cocoa, bourbon, caramel, and vanilla. Some cinnamon and nutmeg too. There’s a milk sugar sweetness, almost like sweetened condensed milk, even though it’s not listed as an ingredient.

Mouthfeel is velvety smooth, medium bodied. As expected, this is not as heavy as Fremont’s full-on barrel-aged offerings, but it’s by no means thin either. Taste lingers on the palate.

Overall this is better than I was expecting from a $4.50, 16oz can of partially barrel-aged beer. This is a very good blend and certainly better than countless beers I’ve had that were far more expensive.

 

Luddite here also. I will not do voice to text on my phone. I do use the virtual keyboard on it, but really wish I still had a physical one like my first "smart"phone back in the day. I am typing all this on my PC, and if I'm at home, I will write my BA posts on it.

Now, it's time for a new beer, and I had to actually add it to here, which surprised me. This is another I picked up in Dallas a couple weeks back.

Rune Amok - Valkyrie Brewing - Dallas, WI - ESB - ABV Not listed.

I'm going to guess it's in the 5% ABV range like the last one, though higher in the 5% range.

I am a fan of bitterness in a beer, and there's a pleasing bitterness in this beer. The bitterness is not a hop bitterness, but a totally different animal. I am not extremely experienced in the style, but I do like it. The flavor is quite light and subtle. I think I do like it.

Review:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/683/675943/


3.51/5 rDev 0%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.5
From a 12oz bottle purchased at the brewery.

There's a nice bit of smoke upon opening the bottle. Beautiful darker amber in color. When held to light, it's pretty clear looking. I do see a few carbonation bubbles rising in the glass. The head that forms is 1 finger and has what I'd call a dirty white color. The frothy head dissipates slowly, and produces some lacing on the glass.
The nose is, well, really not much there. I am getting an extremely faint malt aroma. It's just so light. It's hard to get anything off it at all.
Taste - The flavor is somewhat light also. I do get malts here, and some earthiness. There's a good bitterness on the back, that is quite different from a hop bitterness. This bitterness does build after the sip for a while, then dissipates.
The bitterness is a nice feeling. Soft body.
I don't have a lot of experience in this style, though I do have some. I do think this is tasty, though, at the same time, very light in flavor. I do like the bitterness, which is quite different than hop bitterness. I should do some research as to how it's created in this style, so I can judge it better.

I will be working on this for a bit, but will be back for at least one more today.

 

Weekend project of painting a bathroom has been completed (side note....bathrooms are my least favorite room to paint....by far) and now it's time for a beer.

This bottle of Tilquin's Oude Quetsche has been sitting in a fridge for several years, and for whatever reason it was calling to me today, and I'm glad it did. This is excellent.

4.23/5 rDev -3.4%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4.25
2018 / 2019 vintage

Pours a bright, translucent orange with plenty of fizzy, short-lived head. While it's a good looking beer, the appearance takes a back seat to the aroma, which is spectacular. A funky, earthy aroma bursts from the glass in waves, with what I can only assume is the plums adding a nice fruity component. Just a really good smelling beer.

Taste is very much in line with the aroma. The fruit works really well with the funk, and it's very well balanced with just the right amount of tartness. Very light bodied.

Overall, this exceeded my expectations. Excellent beer.

 

Safety glasses pils
Very pale cloudy gold appearance with a thin. Ut lasting head.
Medium carbonation with a slightly thin body.
Aroma is the nicest as well as the strongest element. Malt, hops,lemon zest as well as a little floral and earthy.
Taste doesn't stray too far from the aroma with it having a bit of sweetness. The hops are more than noticeable and keep the sweetness in check.
Overall for an na beer its one of the better ones I've tried.