New Beer Weekend #178

My three day weekend has begun; back to work Wednesday!
Got a few new Vermont offerings to try.
First up is one from Hinesburg.
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/39297/680127/



Canned on 11/16/23.

Moderate pour yields a nearly two inch light tan head over a brown (with hints of red) body with sticky lacing.

Nose of malt, a bit of spice, brown bread and slight whiskey/oak.

Taste has slight caramel and malty sweetness that gives way to brown bread and then finishes a tad dry with that spice and hints of whiskey and oak.

Very nice near full mouthfeel with medium carbonation.

Overall, a nice stab at a Belgian Dubbel, would definitely have again, and would recommend.

Cheers!

 

Forest & Main Brewing Co. Stone Flower Pub Ale, 5.0% ABV; 4.38 overall Cheers Ira! @The_Kriek_Freak

Pours an effervescent amber with a thumb+ of tight cream-colored head. Good head retention & lacing

S: Fruity, jammy, you can really smell the Munich malt once this beer is warmed up

T: Bready, a touch of toffee, dry with some woody hops up front. Biscuitty malt breaks through as this beer warms up, pretty dry, some fig & cherry notes, a little bit of leafy hops as well, some tea-like hop notes as well. Dry flinty finish with tea-like & some woody hop notes

MF: Medium body, restrained carbonation, nice balance

This is spot-on for the style, pretty drinkable to be sure. This would be in the rotation if I lived near the source

 

The Triumph by Tree House


4.31/5 rDev -1.1%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25



Chilled 16oz can poured into a teku

Hazy deep orange colored liquid, one finger off white foam cap recedes to a thin layer with streaky lacings

Aroma is mango , tropical fruits

Taste is mango , dank

Mouthfeel is thick ,lush, smooth with a soft hop bite on the finish

Good beer

 

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/59351/673598/



16 ounce can packaged on 11/13/23 in Rutland, VT.
Brewed by Rutland Beer Works for Lucy & Howe Brewing Company.

Moderate to vigorous pour yields a nearly two inch mocha head over a black body with lacing.

Nose of bitter chocolate, roasted malt, and slight hops.

Taste is bitter chocolate chocolate, bitter hops, and roasted malt.

Nice mouthfeel with near medium carbonation.

Overall, a real bitter bomb, more from bitter chocolate than bitter hops. Not for the squeamish, but I rather enjoyed this as it's a change of pace from most beers in the style. Definitely at the bitter end of the spectrum!
Cheers!!

 

Sn oktoberfest
...clear amber appearance with a very thin but lasting head.
...medium carbonation with a slightly thin body.
...aroma is grassy,hay,floral,earthy,malt with some mild sense of sugar in the background.
...taste is similar to aroma.almost immediately a low grade dry hop bite shows up,builds,dominates and lingers.there is a sense of some sugary malt in the background.
...overall it might be me,bad can,or just not what I think of when I think oktoberfest. The hop burn is washing out everything else

 

Cross post with the Holiday Beer Tasting weekend thread-
Celebrating the holidays in a style out of my normal purview.
I have no idea why I waited so long to actually try this other than I normally focus on stouts and porters, but so many of you all seemed to think it was pretty good that I gave it a shot.
You know what? You all are not wrong! This is an excellent IPA. Lovely west coast pine flavors ride a smooth malt backbone and provide a crisp finish that begs for me to take another sip.
The feel is so nice, crisp and clean and somehow smooth. Very nice.
Just a really good beer.
Cheers all!

 

In Little Rock, as I'm traveling up to see family for the holidays. I usually always stop here for a night, and I get to try some new to me beers in the area.

Ended up at a pizza and beer bar called Raduno.

Had a few Gatahold beers.

First up is Tantivy Saison, 5.8% ABV. Had it with the sausage, fennel, and mushroom pizza that was excellent.


Pours a hazy golden/yellow color. A two finger white head forms with good retention. Plenty of lace is left behind.
Very aromatic. Esters of grapes and pears up front with a peppery spice. Plenty of yeast characteristics with doughy like malts. Very nice.
Taste wise, like the nose, plenty of esters that give off a fruity grape and pear flavor, and peppery spice. The yeast character is great with some pale cracker like malts. Just a touch of grassy hoppy flavor, and then it becomes wonderfully tart.
A medium body with effervescent carbonation. The crisp dryness is great. Which all leads to something I can drink a lot of with ease.

This is a really well done Saison. Lots going on from the yeast, esters, spice, even pale malts and light hops. Very glad I came across this and want to get more.

Overall score is 4.24, which is basically an A for me.
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/59462/682709/?ba=champ103#lists

Next up...

Gotahold Daily Bread, Doppelbock. 8.3% ABV



Pours a dark ruby brown color. A beige head rises to about a finger. Plenty of lace is left behind.
Aroma is toasted malts, baked bread, candied sugars in the nose. Dark fruits like raisins and cherries. There is kind of a cinnamon spice character here as well.
Taste wise, like the nose, plenty of malty characteristics. Toasted, baked bread with raisins and cherries. A spiciness that is a bit less defined than in the nose, though plenty of sweetness.
A full body with moderate carbonation. This becomes ultra smooth with the appropriate amount of chewiness and thickness from the malts. Which all leads to a nice sipper.

I like this. It is a bit on the sweeter side for me, personally. Though that follows a lot of American examples. Regardless, it is a nice example of the style. Glad I got a chance to try it.

Overall score is 3.84, a B+ for me.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/59462/585596/?ba=champ103#lists

And that is about all I can add right now, my hotel internet is just god awful, surprised I got the reviews in ha.

 

We went out and finished our Christmas shopping today. Not much to do. We still do stockings for the grown offspring - we said we were going to stop one year when they were in their 20's and had to stomp out an uprising...so tradition carries on.

Last weekend was two concerts for the festival chorus we both sing in and tomorrow we present the Christmas cantata twice at the church.



In the glass is Kismet Brewing's Twister. It is a fruited kettle sour at 8.1% ABV made with apples, cranberries, and thyme. New to me brewery as well as the beer, and I'm pretty much compelled to try things containing cranberry. The can claims it is a smoothie style sour, but I think not.

It pours pretty ugly. It actually looks like apple cider. Does build some head that lasts a bit and ends as a ring and a bit of a raft.

As soon as the can pops there is a big hit of sweet apple and then it stalls a bit until a good inhale finds the cranberry and earthy thyme emerges. It's pleasant enough, lively. It seems to have a lactose smell but the can says nothing about lactose.

Taste opens with a nice, sweet apple that is far more sweet than tart. The cranberry is subtle, providing some balancing acidity and puckery phenolics. The thyme...hmmm...super earthy, extremely strong late in the taste but mercifully brief. It's almost a surrogate for hop bitterness, but I think a couple more leaves would have overdone it - just short of too much as it is. I do get a vanilla taste that makes me think lactose...

The mouth feel is on the high side of medium but nowhere near being a smoothie. Mild carbonation. Refreshing in flavor but a little too heavy to be refreshing. A bit of a peppery spice lingers as the huge hit of thyme fades. The cranberry dries it out some.

Overall it's fun and festive and the flavors work pretty well together. Could have easily been a trainwreck but it only wobbles a little on the rails with the heavy hit of thyme. Feelin' 3.8-ish on this one.

 

Not many of those Cold IPAs have really done much for me. It seems ruin the best aspects of the yeast & the hoppyness to me

 

That last beer was like my ex,I kept trying and trying and finally had to look myself in the mirror and admit I couldn't stand her
But...bamberger rauchbier
...almost solid black appearance with a thick long lasting head.
...aroma is malt,dark bread but mostly its identical to the German butcher shoppe I worked in as a kid.smoke and smoked meat.
...taste is smoke with smoked meat wrapped in dark bread. Again it takes me back to the butcher shop with the German owner yelling at me in German all the time,which I don't speak a word of.good times.
Overall really well done objectively and personally I really enjoyed it

 

Good evening NBW
I took a gamble and bought a bomber of local BBA Russian Imperial Stout from a local brewer that has never, ever impressed me until tonight.

Damsel Brewpub Dark Dimitri

22oz undated bottle from a recent local bottling 12.2% ABV. Label states double barrel aging with the finish in George Remus Bourbon Barrel and claims a vanilla addition. The beer pours pitch black with medium brown colored head. The head recedes to a thin ring and little else. The aroma is rich roasted malt, bourbon, oak and vanilla. The taste is bittersweet roasted malt with additional notes of coffee, bourbon, vanilla, oak barrel and dark chocolate. The mouthfeel is full bodied with minimal carbonation and a semi dry finish. No ethanol in the taste or aroma, but the warming factor let's you know what's up here. Overall, very good BBA RIS.

Cheers all!

 

Surly Cold Smoked Cherry BBA Darkness Imperial Stout, 12% ABV. Pours black with a half-finger light-brown head that left no lacing. Aroma is cherry, vanilla, smoke, and some bourbon. Taste is mostly cherry, then vanilla, roastiness, and bourbon, sweet up front, bitter and cherry aftertaste. Decent mouthfeel, overall very good.

4.05/5 rDev +3.8%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

I've reviewed all three of this year's distributed Surly BA Darkness variants, and I rank them thus;

1. Parker's Heritage Heavy Char (4.67) - no add-junks
   
2. Coco Nitro (4.41) - with add-junks
   
3. Cold Smoked Cherry (4.05) - with add-junks

But who is 'Heavy Char'?

 

Gutsy to try again,glad it worked,sounds pretty good

 

Hey there beer friends, nice to finally be joining you with one on this nice evening. Tonights beer of choice was decided on by the holiday beer tasting, turned out to be a pretty neat beer that I would've otherwise never bought, a sipper for sure.

Last night holiday light parade down our street, Main Street; today Mrs Phisher is baking cookies and tomorrow our oldest turns seven; a fun special weekend thus far.

Troegs - Mad Elf Grand Cru (Belgian Dark Strong Ale 11%)



Beautiful colored beer, deep ruby red and crystal clear; red hued head, not great retention but a thick ring sustains. The color and its accompanying clarity really make this one of the prettiest beers I’ve seen in recent memory.

The nose on this beer is incredible; all beautiful cherry, both tart smelling and sweeter black cherry notes, alcohol presence, spiced honey; mulled wine like with no orange.

The taste mirrors the nose in a slightly different fashion; beautiful cherry again; opposite order the sweeter cherry followed by cherry skin bite; the spices come out again accompanied by light sweetness, sort of reminds me of a fruit bread.

Medium body, lightly effervescent carbonation; tannin bitter lingers on the tongue along with very light cherry sourness, alcohol lightly warms the sinuses.

Really tasty beer, harsh around the edges, talking alcohol presence, but take that out this is phenomenal in my opinion, dangerous beer to drink. A belgian big beer with a lambick-like twist; sort of reminds me of new glarus fruit beer I have had just toned down a bit.

See you all tomorrow with a non holiday beer

——————

The witchcraft of Mrs Phisher…

 

Samuel adams Oakes vanilla porter
..solid black appearance with a thin lasting head.
...just below average carbonation with a slightly thick creamy feel.
...aroma is vanilla bread,malt with some mild coffee the wood is there but mild and comes out in the aftertaste a bit.
...taste mildly sweet,malty,coffee and vanilla with very little wood.
...fantastic body qnd otherwise really nice

 

Back for one that *is* in my purview- Hopewell Deluxe, an imperial stout aged in “fresh” bourbon barrels for 20 months.

The pour is an awful lot like used motor oil and the head the color of the froth from said motor oil when things are really wrong in your engine.
Aroma is completely lost on me. Stupid Covid. (I can smell dog poop but not beer, sigh)
The taste, oh my. Chocolate notes are prominent, some dark fruit, plums and raisins and what coffee presence is there is so smooth and soft. Kona maybe.
The feel is pleasantly viscous, this is a sipper without a doubt.
OA, I think I need to pick up some more of these. Awfully good beer.

 

Mrs Phisher casts some really tasty looking spells!

 

Too bad it couldn’t be reversed; then again that may lead to some very hilarious and horrible situations should you ever happen to step in it

I was just eating more, and fresh ginger snaps now too, knowing full well how bad that much sugar probably is before bed, yet there I was…

 

The Alchemist Focal Banger IPA, 7.0% ABV; 4.6 overall. Prost to @The_Kriek_Freak

Pours a hazed gold/honey color with one finger of eggshell colored head. Stellar lacing & head retention, didn't see a ton of floaties; did pour it with finesse, which doesn't always happen

S: Oranges, melons, some pineapple & papaya once warmed up

T: Pomelo, oranges, limes & grapefruit up front, dryness as well & a little pine kiss up front. Sweet orange, lime, grapefruit & green melons as this beer warms up, along with plenty of dryness/piney notes . Finishes dry with pineyness, grapefruit & a little green melon to balance things out & just a little peach at the end

MF: Medium body, creamy carbonation, nice balance that tacks bitter

A juice bomb that will please most purists not fake fruity or over sweet here. So drinkable