New Beer Weekend #196

Happy #1000, New Beer Sippers, Samplers, Swiggers, Swillers, and commentators! My favorite post today was @ovaltine's memory of his first NBS post. I did some quick research and mine was on NBS #539 (6/21/2015). It was Father's Day and @cavedave emceed and posted a (typically for him) witty ode to Dads. For my first NBS I reviewed Tokyo, an Imperial Stout from Brew Dog. What impresses me is that so many of the participants that day are still regular NBW contributors. I want to thank you all for many years for fun and comraderie on this thread. I've enjoyed it immensely and have learned a lot about many things - not just beer. The NBS BIFs have been great fun, as well. Joining you all on Sunday afternoon is still a highlight of my week!

Yesterday marked the annual Silk City release at Brix City Brewing Co. in Little Ferry, NJ. Each year, Brix releases its signature BA Stout along with several variants. "Silk City" is the nickname of nearby Paterson, NJ. The theme of this year's release is ice cream desserts. I bought 4 bottles of the O.G. Stout and one each of the 4 variants. Today, I'm reviewing Banana Split, conditioned on Wild Thai banana, cocoa nibs, and vanilla. I selected it for today because (i) I thought it might be the one I'd like the least and wanted to save the better ones, and (ii) I was concerned how well the adjuncts would last. Well, I'm pleased to report that my concerns were baseless.

Poured at 58°. The color is a lovely, dark mahogany with a half finger cap of medium mocha-color foam and a thin sheen of lacing. A nice smell featuring bourbon, tobacco smoke, dark chocolate, freshly-brewed coffee, and subtle but noticeable ripe banana. I was concerned the banana would be too sweet and strong but it's not. The taste is much like the base stout with lots of bitter chocolate, acidic coffee, and fairly hot barrel notes. The banana influence is modest and comes through at the finish. In fact, were it not for the name I would barely notice it. This stout has a creamy, viscous mouth feel with low carbonation and it's surprisingly boozy for 10.5% ABV. Overall, I was prepared not to like Banana Split but Brix did a very good job in modulating the banana influence. This is fun to drink.

4.28/5 rDev 0%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25

I'll be reviewing the other variants over the next few weeks. Cheers, NBW!

 

Thanks for the information. I had a hypothesis that might be a possibility, given the timing of the release. I definitely have a place in my fridge for both, should JA see fit to send both my way in the future

 

Given the milestone today, I want to first thank all of you who keep this thread going. I wasn't around for NBS days and stumbled upon this when it switched to NBW, four years ago now?!?!?! I tried to find my original post but with no luck unfortunately.

All of you were so welcoming and open to discussion, I was afraid of being judged on my newly attempted task of reviewing a beer because I'd see people question one another's taste elsewhere. Here...never...its such a positive place; so is BA in general but the BS that does pop up elsewhere never does here, ever.

I know there seems to be some history with the whole NBS/NBW thing but let me just say this...the collective you were/are the most welcoming of beer lovers around. So here is my thank you list:

Thank you for....

• reading my attempted reviews the past four years, sorry, I'm gonna keep them coming
• teaching me to love and truly explore beer again
• sharing countless beers with me via beermail, a heck of a lot of you
• letting me learn from your reviews and interactions
• letting me send beers to so many of you
• FOR JUST BEING ALL AROUND GREAT PEOPLE

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We've been nonstop today and are still going so I will not be adding a beer today, for that I apologize but I wanted to get those words out to you all. I hope we can continue to do our best and keep this thing going. Next weekend should be a special one for a few of us...I'm going to meet two more BAs...if all goes as planned @cjgiant, @ChicagoJ and I will be sharing beers together at Tonewood next Sunday. Perhaps a joint post from little old Oaklyn, NJ in a week's time.

 

Happy NBS #1000!
Had to pull out a special one for today, and how appropriate it was given to me via a secret mission during NBW BIF #18.

@Roy_Hobbs sent this to me simply out of sheer kindness. He claimed he was trying to thin out his cellar, but I think it is a special kind of crazy that would think mailing boxes of beer to people across the country is the best way to accomplish the goal. Of course, it *does* seem like we have some fairly certifiable people in the NBW BIF group.
In any case, the beer:
This one was dated 13 December 2018.
Poured the color of burnished bronze and sported an ivory white head of a cm in height that recedes to a ring which stays the whole time.
Wish I could smell it, sadly not happening. Stupid Covid.
The taste; like tart orange flavored oak with a sharp acidic bite at the finish. There are many other flavors in this but I have no idea how to describe them. Very tasty!
The feel is appropriately viscous, it seems like a beer of this caliber should have some body, and it does. The only quibble is the lack of carbonation, but considering the acidity, it might be better without that additional bite.
OA, one of the beers I never thought I would be able to try, so happy I did. Thanks so much Ross!

 

Lovely write up, can't believe I guessed it haha...it is a lovely beer for sure and one to savor and sip.

Piggy backing off your post, here is the original Luscious bottle…the beer that survived the flood, hard to read but it’s pretty wild.



This came courtesy of our favorite people on earth up in Vermont. We stay with them each year, they’re our adopted family. They gave us a few bottles the first time we ever met them just cause they knew I loved beer, this was 8 years ago now…I saved the bottles, obviously

 

There’s a little known, but VERY important secret council here in NBW, Jon, and we’ve decided to offer you membership in this VERY important secret council because of your many contributions to this recurring thread and your positive outlook - it’s very refreshing and indicative of someone we want to include in our VERY important secret council.

As you can see by now, this is a VERY big deal and not something to be trifled with - as a matter of fact, we take VERY seriously our untrifleability, so there is an entry fee for inclusion in our esteemed, VERY important group.

Simply send me four cases of Tonewood beers and I’ll distribute them to the members of the group.

You’re on the verge of greatness, my friend - don’t HESITATE!!!

 

Cheers to @FBarber 3 Sons Brewing Co. Citrus Machine Hazy IPA, 6.5% ABV; 4.07 overall

Pours a very hazy gold with a finger of eggshell colored head. Above average head retention & lacing

S: Citrus, passion fruit, green melons

T: Blood orange, limes & dryness, plus some green melon up front. Passion fruit, tangerine, dryness & lime as this beer warms up, hints of pineapple as this beer warms up. Finishes with bitter citrus, dryness & a little white grape

MF: Medium body, slight carbonation, nice balance

Very worthy Hazy IPA. Drinks easy

 

Our 1 year old brewery in my little home town of Morris Plains, NJ, Autodidact Beer, focuses on hazies but they've been killing it lately. This ale, Higher, was released this past Friday for 4/20. Unlike everyone's latest favorite hop, Strata, I'm not sure what's so "weedy" about Citra, Mosaic, and Simcoe. But man, did Auto coax flavor out of this bill. I'll admit it's dank but it's also super fruity and the mouth feel is great. Here's my full review:

It's a murky, muddy orange color with a big, creamy, bright white head and long-lasting swirls of lacing. The smell is fragrant and fruity with notes of tangerine, pineapple, melon, berry, and soft floral hops. Wow, this is good! Lots of lemon, tangerine, peach, ripe melon, and red berry. There is a slight hint of pine sap but a sharp bitterness from the Simcoe - particularly at the finish. It's well-balanced and flavorful. The mouth feel is nicely viscous with appropriate carbonation and you can feel the 8.5% ABV. Overall, Higher is an outstanding DIPA.

4.34/5 rDev 0%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

We get distribution from some renowned breweries in other parts of the country but the beer is often 3 months old. Higher is a fabulous DIPA released 2 days ago. $18 for a 4-pack. To me, there's not even a question. Cheers and have a great week, everyone. See you for #1,001!

 

Wasn't planning on posting today but when I noticed it was NBS 1000 then I figured I might as well. 2 of my new brews today were Urban Artifact's latest barrel aged fruit tarts, both tasty and good but the bourbon was really subtle in them and IMO wish they would have been barrel aged longer.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/40297/698678/?ba=bluejacket74#lists



https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/40297/698680/?ba=bluejacket74#lists



Had a couple other new brews this weekend, I'll post them next.

 

Here's my other new brew from today, another good Urban Artifact one but this variant isn't quite as good as the base beer:

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/40297/698682/?ba=bluejacket74#lists



And just one new brew from yesterday:

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/16866/682894/?ba=bluejacket74#lists



Cheers, happy NBW/NBS and have a great week everyone!

 

This is pretty incredible--thanks for sharing. I hadn't realized they salvaged anything from the flood. You've got quite the piece of history there. The same friend who gave me the can I drank today lived right down the road from Alchemist's original location but not until after the flood. So I've walked by the pub many times but never got to go!

 

Ended up at a small brewery in Houston this afternoon called Baileson's.

They had a new IPA on, Strongly Related. 7.1& ABV, a west coast style IPA.



Pours with a slight haze, that clears up after a minute. A golden/yellow color. With a two finger white head and lace left behind.
Aroma is big hops up front. Pine resin, citrus, grapefruit, even a bit dank. Simple, but very aromatic.
Taste wise, like the nose, all the hops are here. Pine, resin, and citrus/grapefruit. There is a substantial "woody' hop character that I get from time to time with IPA's. Which detracts just a bit. A lingering bitterness as well.
A medium to full body that is well carbonated. Resiny, sticky and oily as well. Overall, a nice and substantial IPA that has a bit more heft than a lot of other examples of the style lately. So its a good one to come back to for me.

Dial back the "woody" character a bit, and this is excellent. As is, just really well done anyway. A nice old school West Coast style IPA.

Overall score is 3.9, easy B+ and probably a bit of a lower score. I can see me uping this on more tries.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/50448/699016/?ba=champ103#lists

 

but second...

YOU know what YOU just did right...? When the time is right, YOU will receive a secret private message. In said message, a nice variety of Tonewood, and maybe others, beers will be offered up...it will be up to YOU to accept or decline said offer. No offense will be taken either way, I will not forget, keep an eye on YOUR messages over the next few weeks or months...

 

That's pretty wild, I bet our two friends have crossed paths unknowingly, or knowingly, at some point. I hope I can snag a four pack when we're up there, end of summer. I haven't had it in a few years now, your post made it an easy purchase if it happens to be there during our trip, let the countdown begin...

 

All right, I think this will be the closer for the weekend here, and it's thanks to @Whyteboar .

Dragon's Milk Reserve Coffee Chocolate - New Holland Brewing - American Imperial Stout - 11% ABV

Damn, I've had other variants of Dragon's Milk, and I think this is the best. It is so damn tasty. I am thankful it was sent to me, because I have not seen it locally.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/335/697548/

4.31/5 rDev +5.9%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25
From a 12oz bottle. Bottled on 01/22/24

A bit of smoke upon opening, and a bit of a hiss. This beer pours pitch black. Thick looking pour. The head is a thick 3 finger brown color. Somewhat frothy looking overall. The head is long lasting and there's some damn good lacing on the glass.
Aroma is full on coffee. I also get hints of vanilla and chocolate. The aromas work well together. The flavor starts out with coffee, and this flavor has a slight bitterness to it. The flavor then goes on to a somewhat sweet chocolate mixed in with some vanilla.
The body is thick, full and creamy feeling. There's no burn to this beer.
This is a tasty variant and one of the better ones.


This will be the closer for the weekend. I might be somewhat AWOL the next couple of ones, but, if I can pop in, I will. Cheers all!

 

Just work schedule or will you be away?

 

I used to be a regular here and not sure what happened but life's too short so of course I have to post a beer on this special day.
Proclamation Nierika Oak Aged Ale with Blackberries, Raspberries and Sumac.
Pours a hazy mahogany with a slight red tinge.
A short lived rusty colored head lingers for a minute than dissipates to a thin ring.
Aroma is lots of the berries on the nose with a bit of funk and oak.
Taste is berries, lemon, funk, light vinegar, slight astringency from tannins, oak, tart.
Feel is medium, tiny carb, snappy dryness, lingering berry finish.
Overall a really unique and decent brew that I would gladly drink again or recommend.
Cheers!

 

Next weekend, both. Following weekend I will be on a much needed vacation where I will likely get my beer from the final state I need to get all 50.

 

!,000? Holy crap, imagine that! Congrats to the best and longest running thread on BA!

Was a great pleasue being the designated opener here as it allowed me to be surrounded by such fine people as you all are every Sunday (now weekend), and part of a virtual beer share in which the best beers were consumed and most excellent discussions about them always occurred.

Now this old hippie steps to this virtual bar to drink beer that is virtual as well. Lifting my imaginary glass to 1,000 more! Cheers!