New Beer Weekend #173

Its mystery beer time! From @DIM , no info given but a delightful drawing to obscure the label.



Mystery beer 500ml bottle, cellar temp (59F)

Pours into the glass a totally opaque dark brown. The few bubbles I got dissipated immediately with barely a ring around the glass to say they ever existed. The pour itself was viscous, so I'm immediately leaning toward pastry stout.

The nose backs that guess up - creamy vanilla and milk chocolate. I want to say there's something nutty going on as well. I get a bit of vegetal character that makes me think peanuts. There's some barrel under all that dessert, probably bourbon.

Tasting it, yep, that's a lot of bourbon. Palate isn't as sweet as the nose led me to believe, the barrel cuts the sweetness nicely. It has a nice darker chocolate richness to it, and I'd swear there's a nut or something else here adding in another layer besides the standard vanilla/chocolate combo.

Body is medium, not overly heavy and syrupy like some pastry stouts. Guessing the abv is in the 12-14% range. It leans a bit warm on the barrel side but I think that helps balance out the pastry adjuncts. Low carb as to be expected from the pour.

I'm gonna go with pastry stout, 13%, adjuncts: vanilla, cacao nibs, peanuts.

Woooo I was off by quite a bit!



Saturday Cartoons - Magnify/Bottle Logic collab, 14% abv. From the description - "Collaboration with Bottle Logic. This bend is made up of 50% Imperial Stout and 50% Barleywine aged in 12 Year Elijah Craig bourbon barrels with coffee and maple syrup. Pairs well with Saturday morning cartoons."

Well, I got the bourbon and pastry stout part right. Going back to it, I'm still not getting maple and I normally despise maple in stouts. I think the coffee is what was coming across as nutty/vegetal for me. And that barrel is STRONG. Makes sense that it's less sweet if they cut it with 50% of a barleywine. If I look for it, I might get some notes on the palate that I'd associate with barleywine, but to me, based on taste, this is a pastry stout.

Thanks for the fun, Dan!

 

Well after catching up this has to be the busiest NBW Friday I've ever seen!

Keep them coming!

 

Ommegang double barrel stout.
...solid,motor oil black appearance with minimal head.
...medium light carbonation with a really nice creamy,silky,thick body which all added up to an excellent feel.
...aroma is medium dark chocolate, roasted malt,bourbon with the wood from the barrel showing nicely.
...taste has some vanilla but doesn't overpower,definitely bourbon and wood as well.
There's chocolate, heavily roasted malts with maybe a little dark fruit.
...this is an excellent high abv stout. Makes for an excellent sipper at the end of the day but I must admit it went faster than expected

 

The Stout/Barleywine BIFfers are crashing NBW like it’s our targets porch! Starting the weekend off right with Odd Side XIII Anniversary Stout from the incredibly generous @BigIronH



I wasn’t sure if the orange and white chocolate would come through inca bourbon barrel aged Stout, but the boozy notes took more of a backseat. The adjuncts weren’t super forward in taste but this was still great for what it is, just a very fun Stout

4.09/5 rDev -1%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4

 

That's the only one I sent you that I've never tried, they only had one left. Sounds like an interesting beast.

 

Thanks, I'll pass the compliment on to my 10 year old! I raided his art area for this event.

 

That one is a new favorite. Wegman’s only release reportedly. I get “Weller” as one barrel, but can’t place the other. What would be your guess for barrels?

 

I cant for the life of me place the barrel but its definitely a new favorite. Might go pick up some more

 

Same here…many more to buy. I think this might be the sleeper beer of the year. 30 month aging from a relatively big commercial brewery? Hits all the right notes of an excellent barrel aged stout, IMO. We’ll see if @beergoot agrees eventually!

 

Poured into a 13 oz Teku glass canned on 10/12/23. Pours a very attractive hazy yellow with a finger plus sticky white head that leaves webby lace with excellent retention. 4.75

Aroma is passionfruit, peach, tangerine, papaya, and apricot. 4.5

Taste follows passionfruit, peach, papaya, tangerine, and apricot well balanced and really impressive. 4.5

Mouthfeel is above average, soft gentle almost creamy carbonation, not sticky or dry, and at 7% the DDH gives more flavor and an elevated mouthfeel. 4.75

Overall this brewery just keeps impressing me. I would highly recommend this one. 4.5

 

Hello BAs. Greetings on this Veterans Day and sending a big giant thank you to all those who have served. This weekend I'm blending yard work with a few new beers. I enjoyed this seasonal offering but wish it had a touch more carbonation to give it a little lift. Cheers!
Anderson Valley Winter Solstice Seasonal Ale 6.9% ABV
3.9/5 rDev +0.8%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
12 oz can into a Becher glass.
L: SRM 10 Pours medium reddish caramel color with a light yeast haze, a thin khaki head that recedes to edge foam, light fine carbonation, no lacing.
S: Caramelized malts, brown bread, figs, raisins, molasses, a hint of red grape.
T: Subtle dark mixed fruits, molasses, brown bread, a touch of honey, caramel malts, toasted cereal grains, figs, raisins, plum, light malty aftertaste and a relatively clean finish.
F: Moderately soft & smooth medium-bodied feel with a medium-fast finish that is very gently drying. Becomes quite smooth and lightly flat with warming.
O: Imagine a lower ABV Barleywine. That's what this beer has within its tastes. A good dose of brown bread taste and a smooth feel. Easy drinking and tasty, gently warming and malty. It is very good in its style.

 

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/44979/671749/

A new Belgian Pale Ale

An interesting fusion brew between Henderson Brewing in Toronto and Palm in Belgium

Poured a 473ml can into a pint glass. A two finger bubbly tan head on a hazy amber brown. Good head retention and lots of lacing.
Dark malt smells.
Spicy malt taste. caramel. mild to moderate hop finish.
Medium body and medium high carbonation.
Darker than some Amber Ales. True to the style. A fine collaboration and well worth a try.

 

first birthday beer of the day for me is my mystery beer from @Braunmeister_1943 from the stout/bw BIF. label has been peeled off and was sent in an envelope so my plan is to drink half this can “in the dark” and then i’ll follow up with another post after i find out what it is.

i let this one sit out for just about an hour in my basement while i went and had breakfast with my dad.

poured into my rev deep wood tumbler. pours dark brown, a bit see through but settles in the glass nearly black with over two fingers of mocha brown foam head. head dies down but never fully disappears leaving a thick collar around the rim of the glass. - 4.25

aromas of light pine and roasted malts at first that give way to day old, roasty coffee and light chocolate and even some vanilla. - 4 (just a tad too hoppy for me as far as stouts go… speaking of which i am guessing this is a non-BA russian imperial stout or american imperial stout but going with RIS for now)

taste offers more chocolate and coffee notes via roasted malts. there is light pine on the finish but it’s much more balanced than the nose. - 4.25

mouthfeel is smooth, rich, thick and creamy. - 4.5

this is at the perfect temp to where everything is popping. again, i am going to go with a non-BA RIS. assuming this bad boy is from our county’s rust belt (is that what they call where pennsylvania is??) but other than that i haven’t the foggiest which brewery or what brand to guess.

cheers!!

more to follow when i pull the label out of the envelope.

 

well, i wasn’t far off. in fact, quite spot on save for the abv which i was just a tad high on. tricky though as thing drinks really smooth for 9%. i really don’t have anything to change, add or amend to my original post. a really excellent sipper for this cold morning. cheers!

edit: i got impatient and didn’t get through half the can yet but kind of trusted my instincts so i went ahead but the revealing of the label.

 

Party? Did someone say party?

IT’S PARTY TIME!

Super Stouterday today and Barleywines tomorrow. Because @Dimidiata says so!

 

Huge thank you to all the veterans and to those of you currently serving, and thanks @Roguer for kicking off the thread. @Luscious_Malfoy happy birthday, glad to see you are off to an early start.

My first beer of the weekend is Bourbon County Barleywine from 2017.

4.27/5 rDev -5.3%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
Bottled October 6th, 2017.

While once settled in the glass it's a pretty straight-forward dark brown / black, this was really attractive on the pour with a bright, caramel color and a decent amount of beige head. Nice legs as well.

Aroma is fantastic. Rich caramel and molasses notes come bursting from the glass. Even from a couple feet away this beer beckons me to taste it.

When I first taste the beer, I'm greeted by alcohol and barrels, but not a ton of depth or nuance. That changes completely in the aftertaste, which reveals all sorts of lovely flavors that emerge over 20-30 seconds post-sip. Fig, caramel and bourbon notes all emerge and combine wonderfully.

Overall, very nice beer.

 

Well crap, I have it backwards. I'll have to switch to stouts after I finish my barleywine, while trying not to get too knackered given the 14.4% ABV