New Beer Weekend #221

Thanks @Victory_Sabre1973 for getting things started

Big oyster brewery atlantico mexican lager
...amber/orange appearance with very little head
...medium light carbonation with about a medium body
...aroma is the strongest element here and is a nice mix of grain, toasted corn, lime zest and a little bit of some floral earthiness
...taste is more subdued than the aroma but the grain and lime zest come through nicely
...overall its a solid Mexican lager

 

Thanks for staring us off @Victory_Sabre1973, and, with what sounds like a great beer.

 

Cove Pils from Storm Stayed Brewing Co.
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/52773/675459/

From a 355ml can dated 2024/07/29

Poured into a pilsner glass, a three finger fluffy white head on a clear gold. Excellent head retention that sticks around to the end. Lots of patchy lacing. Grassy, grainy malt smells.

The taste follows the nose. Sweet and herbal. Finished crisp and dry, as billed. A clean, mild hop finish. A medium light body with good carbonation.

A fine German Pilsner. Definitely worth seeking out. It easily rivals some of the better imports.

look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4

 

A special Human Robot beer: The American Zoigl Project Pre-Prohibition Styled Lager

The term Zoigl refers to a brewing tradition in a region of Bavaria (Oberpfalz) where people will ferment the beer in their households and when their beer is ready they will place a sign (six peaked star) outside their house letting others know they can come in and drink. A photo of that sign:



Some US craft brewers were inspired by this tradition and decided to brew an American version of a Zoigl beer. There is a thread which discussed this and below is a short extract:

“Ours is an American interpretation of this timeless tradition. Corn grits cereal mash, American barley, American hops, cold fermented and horizontally lagered. We collaborated with our friends @LiveOakBrewing and @yakimachief who set us up with some Cluster and whole cone Mt Hood hops; two classic American hop varietals. This 4.4% abv American Zoigl lager has a pleasant cereal maltiness, balanced with classic piney and grapefruit hop character.”

https://www.beeradvocate.com/commun...agining-what-an-american-lager-can-be.675421/

The Human Robot version of this project is a bit different from the above. From the BA description of this beer:

“Pre Prohibition Lager - We are honored to participate in the American Zoigl Project, an homage to a wonderful German brewing tradition. Dried evergreen and bright spring flowers over a toasty but light malt profile. We started with a corn based cereal mash, combined that with Vienna style malt from Double Eagle Malting, and hopped all the way through with the classic American variety, Cluster.”

One aspect that jumps out at me from the above description is: “…hopped all the way through with the classic American variety, Cluster.”

I use Cluster hops when I homebrew my Classic American Pilsner but I solely use it for a bittering addition and I choose to use Hallertauer Mittelfruh hops for the flavor and aroma additions. In the extracted paragraph above the functional equivalent to Hallertauer Mittelfruh hops would be Mt. Hood hops.

Cluster hops have a reputation for providing flavors that are described as blackcurrant which is a berry I am unfamiliar with.

This will be an interesting drinking exercise. Let’s see what we shall see.

Served in my Polish Pilsner glass:

Appearance:

Pours a golden yellow color with a BIG white head.

Aroma:

On the initial pour the aroma is a combination of bready and a hint of fruity. As the beer warms/opens up the aroma is dominated by earthy.

Taste:

On the first sip (and subsequent sips) the flavor is dominated by an earthy, almost ashy, flavor profile. There is a firm bitterness.

Mouthfeel:

Medium body with a dry finish.

Overall:

I am not a fan of the earthy flavor profile of this beer. I suppose the best I could say: for folks who like blackcurrant perhaps this is a beer for you?

It seems to me that Human Robot would have been better served to follow the suggestions of the American Zoigl Project folks and used Cluster hops for bittering and Mt. Hood hops for the flavor/aroma additions.

Cheers!

@KOP_Beer_OUtlet @rotsaruch @zid @RobH

 

Thanks for getting us kicked off this weekend @Victory_Sabre1973 - I found one today that I hadn’t seen in years and then realized it wasn’t quite the same, this one is bourbon barrel aged.

Ever since I got to try the Dark Mode from the Extreme Stouts box, I’ve been looking for something similar. So far no luck. Not that this one is bad at all, just not what I was looking for.
Poured stout black with virtually no head, which for a very fresh stout, barrel aged or not, is a little curious.
The taste, well, I did say fresh. Bourbon front and center, the liquor heat was very high.
Once I got past that it presented the typical lactose laden stout characteristics, a smooth, sweet collection of mild coffee, chocolate, figs, plums and raisins. (You know, those “dark fruits” that are so frequently present in stouts.)
The feel is a little lighter than I expected, but not too bad. Very lightly viscous.
OA, it’s not Dark Mode, but I can’t hold that against it. It’s a bit hot, bourbon wise, it might be interesting to stick a few in the cellar and see if it mellows at all.
Cheers!

 

Hi Jack, not sure how you managed to get this image instead of what you wanted, but wanted to let you know-

Cheers?

 

Neshaminy creek punkless dunkel
...an almost solid black appearance with absolutely no head
...light carbonation with about a medium body. Odd as it comes off slightly thin yet theres a bit of a creamy feel.
...aroma does not reveal a lot but allspice is the most obvious scent out front. Behind the spice theres some malt and coffee with chocolate muffin
...taste has a mild sweetness, chocolate and coffee with malty bread/pastry.
...overall its unusual but in a good way

 

Toppling Goliath Riwaka Dry Hopped Pseudo Sue APA, 5.8% ABV; 4.48 overall

Pours a very hazed gold with 2 fingers of beige head. Above average head retention & lacing

S: Tons of mango, passion fruit, guava, a little pineapple, great nose

T: Follows the nose, dryness, some green melon up front. More guava & mango, a kiss coconut as this beer warms up, more pineapple at the edges, plus dryness. Finishes pretty dry with passion fruit, pineapple, lime & a little grassyness

MF: Medium body, fairly creamy carbonation, good balance

Really liked this one, very crushable

 

No clue what "hotlinked" means but it seems to be showing now.

Another photo of a Zoigl place:



Cheers!

 

Boulevard Bourbon Barrel Aged Chai Imperial Stout, 12.% ABV; 3.88 overall

Pours an effervescent ebony with a thumb of mocha colored head. Below average head retention & lacing

S: Plenty of chai & cinnamon, great nose. Love the smell, not so much the taste

T: Follows the nose, some barrel bite, which is a good thing in this case. More of the same, a little cocoa, vanilla & booze bite as this beer warms up, some woody hops. Finishes with too much cinnamon, more booze bite, chai & vanilla

MF: Fairly chewy, restrained carbonation, very warming. Carbonation picks up once warm

This one came in with some baggage for me, not a fan of chai or any more than trace amounts of cinnamon. Having said that, this is a solid offering. If you are into the 2 ingredients I don't care for, this is probably your huckleberry

 

Oddly enough I saw this beer available in Vermont over the summer; but nowhere near home other than brewery I guess.

I didn’t try it and sounds like I’m not missing much either.

 

This post brought to you by fight milk…

 

Sharing cause it came up last week @utopiajane and @shkin its ready…



And now we wait…

 

Thanks @Victory_Sabre1973 for the opening

German Chocolate Stout by FH Beerworks

3.73/5 rDev +1.6%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75

New brewery, new beer courtesy of @Whyteboar in bif18

Brewers notes : Dry hopped stout brewed with cacao nibs, vanilla, coconut, and coffee.

Dark brown cola liquid with a two finger taupe foam cap when poured into a pretentious beer glass

Aroma is cocoas, coffee, coconut

Taste is coffee, Cocoa, chocolate, coconut

Sweetness form the coconut, medium mouthfeel

Good beer

 

Big thanks for the tag Jack.

Black currants have a very tart dark fruit flavor that I wouldn’t describe as earthy. Cluster hops also have a reputation for being earthy (and I’ve seen them described as earthy more often than fruity). It sounds like the earthy qualities of this beer were much louder than any fruity ones for you - which signifies that your impression of the beer was more influenced by what you tasted than any particular hop associations you had before drinking it… but you were also able to attribute them to the hops regardless.

I didn’t realize (or forgot) that any American Zoigl Project beers were being packaged. I am surprised to see this although I shouldn’t be. Maybe I’m off, but this seems like another case of American brewers twisting something in a way were all meaning is lost - and doing such in this case is a real shame since their entire concept is about bringing a tradition and language to the US. It feels like there is almost nothing “Zoigl” about this Zoigl project. These just seem like any ol’ collaboration lager. What’s the point?

 

Not sure where I got 3.88 from it was 3.9 overall. It was a long week at work.

 

That is where I purchased my beer. At a bottle shop in Waterbury. The fellow at the store mentioned that Human Robot brought that beer up for a beer festival (Burlington?).

Well, I was not a fan of this beer's flavor profile but it might be appealing to you? For example, I regularly homebrew a clone of Orval and my wife won't even take a sip of this beer. She will take a small sniff and make a face and state: "Why do you drink that horse piss!".

Cheers!

 

Alluvial Brewing Murder, She Oat
Barrel-Aged Oat Barleywine

Appearance: Very dark brown, Small head that fizzes out.

Smell: Pretty strong vanilla and wood, bit of booziness.

Taste: Thick and coating from the start. Vanilla from the barrel is strong, backed by a moderate caramel/toffee sweetness. Just super thick and coating, big beer. Finishes with more caramel and vanilla along with a bit of alcohol twang.

Overall: Saw this on the Alluvial website and was intrigued. Picked up a bottle before the ISU game and brought it back for tasting. Really heavy body and really nicely flavored, one of the better BA barleywines I've had. Might have to grab another if they still have them in a couple weeks!