New Beer Weekend #176

If I’m an angel, then you are a saint

I fell in love with that beer recently, wanted to share in hopes you would enjoy too

 

Pollyannas Personal Chain Letter aged in Whiskey Acres Blue Popcorn Bourbon & Rye Whiskey barrels.
4.29/5 rDev +2.6%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
Dark brown pour, tan head didn't last but did leave some spotty lacing and an oily film.
Lotsa booze upfront, some vanilla, choclate and coffee. Taste is similar, nothing overpowering. Smooth, well balanced. Loved it.

 

Martin House Brewing Cookies ( Cookie Dough Inspired Stout ),6.2% ABV; 3.56 overall

Pours an effervescent Chestnut with one finger of tan head. Some head retention & lacing

S: Cookie dough, brown sugar, best part of this beer

T: Follows the nose, dry with some carob notes up front. Some dryness & Brown Sugar as this beer warms up, a little coffee & vanilla as well. Finishes dry with a hint of molasses & vanilla

MF: Medium body, fairly firm carbonation

Okay as a one off, not one I would buy again, does get a little better closer to room temperature

 

Just a couple new brews for me today:

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/16866/671141/?ba=bluejacket74#lists



https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/1432/609211/?ba=bluejacket74#lists



Should have some more new brews next weekend, cheers everyone!

 

Zambaldi Beer Bull Dog Porter. An imperial porter aged in bourbon barrels. The look is pitch black, with a light brown foam top, which quickly disappears. The smell is brown sugar, bourbon, brown bread, molasses, and vanilla. The taste is brown bread, bourbon, caramel, almond, and vanilla. The mouthfeel is thick, smooth, and full, with medium carbonation. Overall, this is a good beer. It doesn't really stand out from other good porters.

 

You know this thing has got to be done...

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/46317/680868/



16 ounce can packaged 11/16/23.

Nice artwork; but I HAD to pour a bit into a glass, right next to an 8.0% Heady. Both vigorously poured into two Willi Becher glasses; maybe 5 ounces each. 20th is markedly brighter than the hazy Heady; both had identical, pure white, two inch heads with sticky lacing.

20th's nose is fruit forward in the best way possible with loads of amazing tropical fruit aromas, and hints of dank pine and citrus, but the tropics win out all the way.

Taste mirrors nose very closely with nearly the same percentages of tropical fruit, pine, and citrus as its aromas. As for abv? It's as well hidden as the Ark of the Covenant!

Feel is near perfect, as expected.

Overall, go get some! If you miss out on this batch, John and crew will be producing three more batches somewhere around March, June, and September of 2024.

Cheers!!!

 

Cold, drizzly, and dreary day. Making me question my solar Christmas light committment... Our large non-church chorus has tech week which are basically dress rehearsals with orchestra and eventually with the sound system. Lot goes into it moving people and stuff, and our car is jammed full o' stuff. We gave a shortened program concert for an area church this afternoon. What I love about singing in most churches - great acoustics and our sound was amazing with no electronic help at all. Very different than most other venues. But dang it was HOT!!! So I was going to go with a big, moderately bad beer I sat on from last weekend but opted for lighter, brighter, and "hydrating refreshment" - yeah...I'll stick with that. Plus it's a cellar dweller.

Oxbow Penumbral graces the glass. Brewery notes: Penumbral is a blend of strong dark farmhouse ale with mixed-fermentation farmhouse ale aged on whole montmorency cherries and Maine-grown lowbush blueberries.



It's been hanging around a while but according to the bottle it's within an acceptable consumption window...barely.

Beautiful pour with far more red hue than I'd expect but it's pretty much honey colored and crystal clear. Tight head of white foam that persists landing as a hefty cap. I thought it didn't cling much but the cap cascades spectacularly down the glass post sip.

The initial smell from the bottle is a burst of cherry and blueberry. The blueberry becomes tea-like. There's a very mild and pleasant funk giving just a hint of the wild side and a little earthiness.

Straightforward saison - bright and clean. Fruit forward and I'd say the cherry is the lead with blueberry providing depth. I do get the tea note in the taste. It's mildly sour with sourness from the fruit and a sharper hit I suspect from the fermentation. The funk - yeah its there but it's pretty laid back and there is something different about it I can't quite describe. There's some sweet taste woven into the funk and almost a cheese note thats quietly saying to my oeanut brain...brie??? Definitely something different and I do like it. It's an enjoyable flavor combination that's a little layered but not overly complex. There's just that slight but fascinating sweetness that comes and goes.

Feel is light, fairly brightly carbonated and a tad bit drying but not astringent. The fruit and funk carry into the aftertaste and slowly fade. I get kind of a brandy-like or maybe sweet sherry taste after the fruity funkadelics fade.

Good beer and a fun one to drink. It's complex and layered just enough to be interesting but not so complex as to make it a science project. Easy to like this one. It goes well with the butter chicken we made for dinner. Curbing my enthusiasm I'm thinking right around the 3.8 to 4.0 neighborhood.

 

Cross post with the Barleywine/Stout BIF #1 thread


4.12/5 rDev +5.6%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Poured from a 12 oz can into a stemmed tulip glass

Pours the dark, dark brown (nearly black) with a big khaki head that dissipated slowly, leaving behind a small amount of lacing.

The aroma is lightly toasted dark bread and milk chocolate, with notes of coffee and brown sugar. As the beer warms I also get faint hints of dark fruit. From the description I expected some hints of Belgian yeast, but I did not get any of that.

Similar to the aroma the taste is of bready, toasted malts and creamy, chocolatey coffee. There are hints of brown sugar and dark fruits, but no real hints of Belgian yeast, or any real yeast character at all. Medium/full bodied and moderately carbonated, with a creamy mouthfeel.

Overall, this was a very nice stout that I quite enjoyed! Thanks to @Whyteboar for this one!!

 

Poured cellar temp to a small tulip glass. Color is a menacing mahogany. A bit of carbonation brings a wisp of a surface head that lasts a few seconds. The bourbon aroma is cutting and crisp. Flavor is a solid 50/50 split of a sweet English barleywine and a dark heavy stout, the latter of which carries a dark baker’s chocolate kick. The barrel wood comes across wet and full of bourbon. Alcohol cuts through up front just enough to keep the sweet notes in check, and brings some warming with the 14.5% ABV. The lingering flavors stay on the tongue for quite some time. Thick thick thick leaves a stain coating on the glass.

I’d drink it again, though I think I prefer the Inaudible barleywine as a standalone.

 

Glad to hear you liked it. I wasn't sure I was going to buy one but my curiosity won out since Dystopias is so good. Because it's third use and we don't know what the contents were originally it felt like a gamble.

 

I’m old, so my mind automatically goes to this:

 

I enjoyed reading all of these thanks! @VodkaPong87 just sent me the bourbon barrel version and I'm am very excited to open it. Except for the vanilla one, TH barleywines have all been stellar.

 

Surprised I haven't had this one yet, but also not quite because I never knew what style it was until I picked it up.

Rogue - Dead Guy


Illegible canning date
Purchased from the dabc for about $2.50
Poured at fridge temp into a chalice

Pours a cloudy coppery golden with a pretty and lightly shiny cap. Full lacing and persistent head. 4

Fairly balanced toffee and bitter earthy hops. Hop spice starts to peek through as it warms up. 3.75

Herbal bitter and honey like earthy hops make a nice mix. Hint of burnt toffee sweetness/caramelization. 3.75

A tad too carbo'd in my opinion. Mild froth and lingering hoppiness. 3.75

Overall a decent beer, need more experience with the style. 3.75

Cheers friends!

 

I hate to go and add to an already lengthy post, but the Oxbow Penumbral needs a second mention - as usual I started drinking it a bit over fridge temp. But I forgot I had a second pour and it got up to room temp. Talk about a beer blooming? I noticed as I got to the bottom of the first pour some changes happening. It becomes more winelike and it delivered more of the saison character- very nice layer of peppery spice on the back of the taste. I suspect the wine notes suggestive of grape is from the time spent on the cherries and blueberries. I get a bit of apple. The funk recedes a few levels but plays a supporting role. It's still got the brie cheese sweet weird thing but it's harder to pick out. It's melded. Much better integration warm, delivering a more holistic and stronger flavor profile. This one goes up a pretty hefty notch for me - really a very, very nice beer. Suggested serving temp 65F???

 

The things you do for science! Really enjoyed the triptych - I think you made the right choice to not do the head's up comparison triple threat match. Good reading!

 

Pretty glad I sent you that one after reading @Roguer ’s reviews. I bought all 3 and specifically two of those because I wasn’t sure which one I was going to send you, but definitely wanted to try the BBA version out of them all.

 

Martin house Brewing Colombiana Rum Barrel Aged Imperial Stout with Cherries & Coconut Flavor, 12.8% ABV; 4.09 overall


Pours an effervescent mahogany with a sliver of mocha colored head. Zero head retention & lacing

S: Coconut aplenty, some cherry notes

T: Follows the nose, a little Rum & Coke action with the dryness you'd expect up front. Dryness, Rum barrel, coconut & a kiss of cherries & lime as this beer warms up. Finishes with sweet coconut, a touch of lime & cherry, plus some rum & coke

MF: Medium body, slight carbonation, warming

This flavor combination is really working for me, great drinkability despite the considerable heft