New Beer Weekend #196

Prost to @FBarber for this Goldfinger Vienna Lager via the NBS BIF#18

5.5% ABV; 4.38 overall

Pours an effervescent & bright honey color with one finger of eggshell colored head. Average-ish head retention & lacing

S: Toasty, some brown bread, a little toffee

T: Dry, toasty, caramel & Brown Bread, woody hops up front. More woody hop bite, a hint of sourwood honey & toastyness as this beer warms up. Finishes toasty, with woody hops, dryness & bit of honey & some herbal hops

MF: Medium body, subtle carbonation, lovely balance

Great example of the style, drinkable with nary a flaw

 

Happy NBS #1,000! That's a lot of Sundays, fellow advocates. Approaching three years of Sundays, in fact. Looks like 3x365 NBS's occurs on 15 February 2026, I'm sure I'll see you all there, too!

I'm back home, trying to pretend I'm in the right time zone...new beer reviews are a pretty typical Sunday afternoon activity for me, the hard part will be staying up a reasonable bed time.

Fox Farm - Wile. 16oz can served in a Monhegan glass. Can is dated 03/27/24. Provided by @Roguer in NBS BIF #18.

Pours hazy light amber, small head (1cm or so), lots of fine active carbonation. Smell is screaming citra hops, right from cracking the seal. Citrus rind and cut leaves. Very bright. Very nice.

Taste is also very bright citrus rind. Like the aroma, it has a character I associate with citra hops, but that's not a very useful description. Moves to a more orange zest flavor.

Mouthfeel is very dry and pretty light. Very easy to drink, very tasty beer.

 

Poured into a 16 oz Snulip glass canned on 3/12/24. Pours an attractive hazy yellow with a 2 finger sticky white head that leaves plenty of thin webs of lace with nice retention. 4.25

Aroma is peach, pineapple,white grape, and apricot. 4

Taste follows peach, pineapple, white grape, and apricot rather balanced. 4

Mouthfeel is above average, gentle carbonation, not sticky or dry, and at 8% it goes down very easy. 4

Overall not bad. Nothing to scream about, but not much to complain about either. 4

 

Happy NBS!

Having a very tasty Impy Stout, 9%, very easy sipper.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/38773/505458/?ba=Wasatch#lists

Cheers!

 

Dave, your (and Maria's) contributions made this thread really special. And on a personal note our meet-ups at Rushing Duck and Equilibrium (see, I remember!) will always be special memories to me. If ever that could happen again, I'd be thrilled. All the best, my friend!

 

Hope the virtual beer has been serving you well this weekend. I know game 1s are what they are but congrats on your Rangers.

And PS if you haven’t watched any of what Phish has done with the sphere, go check it out. They’ve posted quite a few on their YouTube page, Sand jam was gold; but all the visuals have been wild.

 

NBS #1,000. I still plan my beer week around this thread, ensuring I have something to share, as I’ve had the privilege to do the past 9+ years. I have three beers to share today, all on the lighter side of things and all courtesy of @snaotheus and NBS BIF #14.





4.23/5 rDev +10.2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
Pours an unfiltered golden color, exactly as described in the “beer style description” here on BA, and sports a compact white head that lingers and provides a nice ring atop the body of the beer as you enjoy it. Beautiful kellerbier.

The nose features floral hop aromas, some lemongrass, and a nice bit of cereal grain. This bouquet of aromas has that “this is a beer drinker’s beer” nose that I associate with well-executed lagers.

The lemongrass is more pronounced and works really well with the subtle floral hop flavors and the substance and balance of the cereal grains. The bottle label says this beer is a “rustic, full flavored pale lager,” which is a perfect description of this beer.

The mouthfeel is medium and just a smidge short of crisp, but it’s still so drinkable. Very well done.

 

Mortal Bloom


6.2% NE IPA (called a hazy IPA on the can)

Poured from a twelve ounce can, the body is an orange-yellow and as its name suggests is hazy. Good initial fluffy head and very good lacing.

Aroma is floral with some citrus notes of orange and lemon.

Taste follows nose with a dampened hop flavor. No bitterness as expected per style. Finish is a bit malt heavy with earthy hop flavor.

Mouthfeel is good, soft and supported by solid carbonation.

Overall an okay beer that is drinkable enough, but whose hop bill provides little to excite me. If I see it on tap, I will give it a try. Otherwise it's one and out.

 

#2, also from @snaotheus . I need more schwarzbiers in my beer nerd life.



4.43/5 rDev +3.7%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
Pours a dark mahogany brown and settles nearly black in the glass with a dense, creamy tan colored head that provides a decent amount of lacing. Beautiful schwarzbier.

The nose is rife with roasty malt notes, including coffee and wheat toast, as well as a bit of dark chocolate that resides in the background.

The roasty coffee flavor is up front and slightly bitter, which works REALLY well in this dark lager, with the wheat toast and dark chocolate mid-palate and a bit of grass at the back of the palate, coasting into a crushingly crisp finish.

This is one of the better schwarzbiers I’ve had - maybe the best. World class stuff.

 

It’s fun to give a friend a super brew! Glad you enjoy it Pete

 

I have only had a couple, but I've been really impressed with Other Lands' traditional lagers. Some with @BBThunderbolt, in fact!

 

Last one, also from @snaotheus .





3.34/5 rDev -7.2%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.25
Pours a hazy straw color with a sudsy white head that disappears in seconds, but does leave a ring around the body of the beer.

The nose is tart, bright citrus, with orange rind and grapefruit most prominent, and that’s where the taste lands. The label says this beer doesn’t have the bitterness of hops, and that’s accurate - there’s zero bitterness, and it’s very tart and refreshing with a watery mouthfeel.

This is a good beach drink that’s not very much like a beer.

 

I managed to go back and find my first NBS post. It was on June 8th, 2014 and of course I did not write down the week. @cavedave and utopiajane were the hosts at the time. I'd liked the thread for a long time and finally just dove in. The beer I reviewed was a 2010 bottle of Smuttynose Farmhouse Ale, setting a trend for Cellaruaries yet to come - reviewing old beers!

I don't know what took me so long to participate. This is a very gracious and welcoming group as I have learned. A wee bit of nostalgia seeing some of the names in threads long past, and seeing some who are still here every weekend. This is the thread I look forward to all week and I do plan for it.around Wednesday I get antsy as I rummage around the pantry looking for a new to me brew.

So for tonight, I've been sitting on this one since last summer. Bought on the recommendation of the server at the source and another new style for me:


Barrelled Souls Honey Pot 2023. The folks at Barreled Souls said this was a good one. It's a wheatwine, 12.6% ABV, and a new style for me. By what I read,a wheatwine should be right up my alley. Let's see if it's worthy of this auspicious occasion.

Pours a rusty reddish brown color, moderately hazy. No head in particular but a ring of microbubbles where beer meets glass. Not the Belle of the ball by any means.

The smell is delightful.

 

They were one of the standout breweries I brought home a few years ago. Their festbier was awesome.

 

Ok...let's go to Part 2 here...I have no idea what I did...but it was wrong...

Delightful smell - yes. It leads with a honey sweetness then there is a wheat whole grain bread smell. Caramel comes to play and a dark fruit that I'll say is fig for now. Aromatics - oh my how nice. Fresh apple, a bit of grape, and wildflowers. This is outstanding - a late dummer or early fall orchard where you can smell honey from the hives and caramel on the apples.

The taste opens fairly sweet, the honey component is obvious but not overdone. The honey sits on some great wheaty whole grain bready biscuits. There's a nice tang that I'll guess is from the wheat and it keeps the sweet in bounds. The aromatics float over everything - apple leaning a bit to the cider side, fig leaning into dates, a slight caramel/toffee sweetness. Then the wildflower meadow shows up - it is a very enjoyable inhale after the swallow. Decadent, elegant. The sweetness checks up just sort of too sweet and the "lighter" flavors are strong enough to balance the overall flavor.

Feel is slightly sticky, soft, lucious, slightly dry, nicely warming, non-intrusive carbonation.

Yeah...I'm diggin this a whole lot. Easy 4.3 or more for me as it just keeps ticking happy boxes. Unique - like nothing I have had before. If I lived near Barraled Souls I'd install a tapline.

 

I thought that review was oddly short at first…lovely read as always…

It’s just supposed to start getting warm and you’re having me wish for fall.

 

I started writing this about three hours ago, and had to pour another beer and replace the photo. Since I don't like reading beer reviews, or any reviews, I'll keep this short.

It has hazy in the name, but it is a Sierra Nevada IPA, so it's not a typical NEIPA.

Appearance is almost tranceluecent light orange beer with a big fluffy head.

Smell is of fresh hops with citrus and slight dank.

Taste is of recognizable Citra and Mosaic hops with a little sweetness and decent malty backbone.

Mouthfeel is the only one resembling NEIPA hiding the complexity and leaning toward juiciness.

Overall a refreshing old world meets new world IPA that drinks very easily.

 

Can I blame fat fingers and 12% alcohol? I must have hit post while typing. Thank you for the kind words!

 

For someone who doesn’t like reviews that was a pretty good review

Plus you’re in a thread dedicated to reviews; so do you really not like them? See you next weekend