New Beer Weekend #182

You are now in the NBS BIF inner circle.

 

Said I’d be back, and here I am.
Central Waters Reese and Desist

Pours stout black and sported a 1 finger light brown head which left sparse lacing.
The taste is a nice chocolate and peanut butter combo, essentially what the name suggests, along with a tiny bit of bourbon and a whole lotta malt goodness. No hops or hard edges.
The feel is a little thinner than most BBA stouts, which is a little surprising, but makes it easy to drink a little too quickly.
Good beer!

 

Cool can art and great song!

 

Founders stay in stout
...solid black appearance
...medium light carbonation with a thick,oily,slightly creamy body
...aroma is wood,dark chocolate, alcohol, maple
...taste is chocolate syrup, mocha, coffee grinds, wood. The chocolate is very rich and decadent.
. Overall its an excellent dessert beer that stops before it gets too sweet

 

Stonecloud Monster Mash Breakfast IPA with Frankenberry Cereal, Oats, Lactose & Cashmere Hops, 8.0% ABV; 4.22 overall

Pours a weird sludgy brown/purple with a pinky of cream-colored head. Not pretty, some head retention & lacing

S: Loads of berries, lactose & lemonade late

T: Follows the nose, vanilla, strawberry starts to shine along with dryness & lemonade up front. Vanilla, strawberries, dryness & a touch of lemon-lime as this beer warms up. Finishes with a strawberry lemonade vibe with dryness & a little vanilla

MF: Medium body, creamy carbonation, nice balance

Strange beer, but digging this as a one-off, very drinkable elements of pastry & lemonade at play at the same time. Good one-off, probably would drink this all Summer if I could; ABV is well hidden

 

It's been a while since I had anything from NJ. You might remember during the pandemic I'd shop in bulk at least once a month stocking up on Tonewood and Cape May. Wish both breweries bring their beers across to Brooklyn. Maybe in the spring, I'll be back. Around here I've only seen overpriced and old bottles of Jever. And one "craft beer store" is selling $5/0.5L cans, which are old and warm.

 

Great Notion - Queen of Fruits

16oz can served in a tulip-y wineglass. I think the date is 09.05.23.

Pours a slightly hazy golden color with a slight amber tinge. Head is small and short-lived, leaves a thin ring and a ghost of a dusting across the surface. Smell is kettle sour, pineapple, mango, general tropical fruit. Tart.

Taste is muted on the kettle sour front (thankfully). Super strong on the pineapple juice and pineapple-adjacent tartness. Some general overripe tropical fruit vibe.

Mouthfeel is a little bit on the heavy and sticky side. Overall...if you're looking for a tropical fruit punch, this'll nail it for you.

 

Hello New Beer Weekend!!!

Oh, man, it's cold outside. -6 right now on it's way to -10, or so. At least we didn't get a lot of snow from this winter storm.

Being so cold outside, and I don't work tomorrow, I thought I'd go for something that would warm me up.

Mexican Cake Antiguo - Westbrook Brewing - Mount Pleasant, SC - American Imperial Stout - 10.5%

I'll start off by saying that some kind of Mexican Cake is something I've been wanting to try for a while now, and the opportunity finally came up thanks to some friends who did a road trip to SC. They asked if I wanted any beer brought back and said Mexican Cake from Westbrook. I was gifted this beautiful bottle, and a want has been ticked off.

This is a tasty beer for me. I am a huge chili head, so I can handle spice very well, just keep the Carolina Reapers away from me. This beer has a nice little (to me) hit of heat that is balanced out by some sweet chocolate. Damn, this is downright delicious.

Review:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/24134/659516/


4.53/5 rDev +4.6%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.5
From a 22oz bottle.
A good hiss and a bit of smoke upon opening the bottle. The pour is pitch black in color, with no chance of any light shining through. It looked fairly thick while pouring. Overall the head is 1 finger and a nice brown color. The head retention is quite good and long lasting. Some sticky looking lacing on the glass.
Tons of chocolate notes on the nose. I am also getting a pleasing hit of cinnamon, vanilla, and a bit of spice on the aroma from the chilies. The sweetness of the chocolate and the heat of the cinnamon and chilies provide a nice balance and contrast.
The heat from the cinnamon and chilies hits right away, but, to me is very mild. I am a pretty hard core chili person. This heat lingers throughout the flavor of this beer. The heat does fade slightly to be added on to by a nice hit of vanilla and sweet chocolate.
This is a smooth feeling beer. Nice and full bodied.
This is everything I was hoping for in this beer and it's a pleasure to finally try this beer.


Be back tomorrow for more. Cheers.

 

First stop at Vegas VooDoo Brewing. Everything is shipped in from Pennsylvania, half the offerings are cans only. This is the one that looked appetizing.

VooDoo Pozan Piwo



Brewery Notes: $8.67 16 oz nonic glass pour, 6.3% ABV, Polish Style Lager.

Appearance: Faint straw clear color, bright white head leaves a dusting over the base, steady carbonation. 4.0

Aroma: Citra and stinky socks, more like an IPA than any type of lager or Pils, Pivo Pils with highly concentrated fruity hops. 3.25

Taste: This is weird, would say it’s a pale ale with New Zealand hops. Nothing close to style, and not enjoyable. 2.5

Mouthfeel: Fruity, light and easy slightly dry, juicy fruit gum finish. 2.75

Overall: one and done here, this is not consistent with style and not very enjoyable. 2.5

Hoping for better with the next one.

 

Yes I do, that’s why I hoped mentioning it would help you out

As for Tonewood, life with them is just better and better

 

Poured into a 16 oz Nordic pint glass canned 2 or 3 weeks ago. Pours an attractive hazy yellow orange with a solid finger sticky white head that leaves a thick ring of lace, with nice retention. 4.5

Aroma is buttery Chardonnay, mandarin, passionfruit, peach, and apricot. 4.25

Taste white grapes, mandarin, passionfruit, peach, and apricot well balanced. 4.25

Mouthfeel is above average, soft gentle almost creamy carbonation, not sticky or dry, and at 8.5% massive flavor but extremely easy going down. 4.5

Overall this is Nelson used proper. A very complex and well crafted NEDIPA. 4.25 Cheers all.

 

Nocturne
10% American stout by Dancing Gnome

Poured from a pint can, the body is a jet black with a small fluffy mocha-colored head. The beer looks as viscous as motor oil. Light lacing throughout the tasting.

Nose is heavy malt and a background earthy hop. Inviting.

Taste follows nose as the malt is full flavored with a deep chocolate flavor. Not a very sweet chocolate, good flavor with a wee wisp of sweet. Mid taste a soft but nice hoppiness appears. A solid bitterness that quickly fades. Careful with that stout, Eugene. This stout deftly masks its ABV.

Mouthfeel is light and soft. Unexpected in such a big beer. Delightful.

An excellent stout that is quite satisfying.

 

Well, this was not too bad. (I know that does't exactly pique anybody's interest here) But still I'll share.
Toña
Out of the bottle.
Quite pretty. Light in color, straw to gold. Lithe, fluffy head rises 2 fingers or so and tapers off to a thin film. Some lacing, good retention.
Nose is mildly sweet, basically corn. A mild hint of peppery hops.
Flavor follows the nose. The hops have a nice, prominent role here. When cold, this is pretty tasty. But as it warms the hops taper off and the sweetness becomes dominant.
Mouthfeel is a tad thin.
3.3/5 rDev +19.1%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.25

 

Hmmm, I got one of those from @FBarber . I have been waiting to pull the trigger. I'm thinking soon.

 

Boulevard Rye on Rye on Rye

Appearance: Dark brown with good head at first, poor retention.

Smell: Boozy, then vanilla, wood.

Taste: Maybe a kind of rye spice note then caramel cut with a lot of wood. Weirdly light feeling for 15% abv. Gets a little toffee/tootsie roll note to it as it warms, with the spice underneath.

Overall: Number three in the mixed BA pack from Boulevard, this again was kind of weird. The body was a little light for such a big beer. Some interesting flavors from all the rye flying around though.

After trying these three from the Boulevard mixed BA pack, I'd go Rye > Imperial Porter > Spiced Stout.

 

Following up from the "Well, this was not too bad." Now I give you this was DEFINITELY not bad!

Hunter Chili Pepper
Bottle 84/1600.
I believe I need to thank @Prager62 for this gem. If I am wrong on this, no worries. I owed him a thanks for others as well.

Sadly this was "cellared" with some other bigger beers that should be laid down for a spell. This one should not have been. Having said this, turns out no damage seems to have been done.

Deep, nearly black, brown with a bountiful cocoa colored head. This slowly recedes, leaving a 1/2 inch pillowy cap. Hints of lacing.
Nose captivates. Creamy and sweet (in a gentle way), cocoa, and yes...a warm chile not sprinkled with cinnamon.
The taste definitely follows the nose. It's rather lush and full. The cocoa is unsweetened, the lactose still brings a nuanced creamy sweetness, there is a hint of roast, and the Chile and cinnamon definitely bring a depth to this one that is really pleasing but nt overly done. Frankly, I am surprised that neither of this ingredients went sideways considering my storage error.
Mouthfeel is on the fuller side. Low carbonation.
Overall, I really like this one.
4.09/5 rDev -1.7%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4