New Beer Weekend #232

Toppling Goliath Seismic Sue TNEIPA, 9.8% ABV. Pours hazy orange with a one-finger white head that left no lacing. Aroma is tropical fruit. Taste is tropical fruit, grapefruit, pine, zest, moderately sweet, equally bitter. Decent dry mouthfeel, overall excellent.

4.2/5 rDev -4.1%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25

This would be a good picnic beer on a hot day, but at 9.8% you'd want to pace yourself, not slam them.

 

Hanging at Iron Hill Brewery in Rehoboth on a warm winter day. Light and tasty Autoplay IPA, the burger’s on its way. Cheers

 

Popping in briefly, in the middle of binge watching Breaking Bad for the first time. Will catch up with the thread later today. Two drink fresh beers planned from Off Color, one of my favorite Chicago breweries. Still on the fence regarding my Sunday selection, though plan a back to back with Off Color.

Off Color Ten Crowns

4.28/5 rDev +1.7%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5



12/28/24 - (Can - Home) (Chicago, IL) Can Notes: Was comped a single can on November 16, 2024 at Beer on the Wall Park Ridge via rewards points. This beer retails for $2.89 plus tax, refrigerated upon returning home before opening this afternoon. 16 oz, canned 10/29/24. 5.5% ABV Czech Style Dark Lager. Malts: Pilsner, Dark Munich, CaraMunich, Chocolate, Huskless Roasted Barley. Hops: Sterling, Tettnang. Secret Measurement: liter/person. Brewed and canned by Off Color Brewing, Chicago, Illinois.

Appearance: Initial 1/2 can pour into a large mug yields a dark brown near black base, creamy tan white head which lingers for several minutes before yielding soapy lacing. Looks like a root beer float. 4.5

Aroma: Dark chocolate, bakers chocolate and caramel malt lead. Not getting much beyond that, but enjoying what the medium strength aroma is yielding. 4.0

Taste: Consistent leads with the aroma, though much stronger and the added benefit of freshly baked and still warm chocolate cookies into the mix. Really nice. 4.25

Mouthfeel: Drinks light and easy, perhaps a bit below the 5.5% ABV. Sweet flavors contained by the hops, leading to a nice balance, mild dryness, and a chocolate chip caramel cookie finish. 4.5

Overall: Not experienced enough beyond a few local offering to determine how close this offering is to international offerings. That said, I am enjoying this more so than many of this style or other malt styles based on the appreciated hop balance that yields strong enjoyable flavors, but no excess sweetness. Thank you as always Off Color! 4.5

 

Greetings NBW - enjoying something appropriate for the season (if not the weather here in sunny SoCal) - cheers!

4.07/5 rDev +5.2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25

Packaged on November 7, 2024 - enjoyed on December 28, 2024 - poured from a pint can into a snifter.

Impenetrable, clear Van **** brown liquid supports a lasting wheat raft. Fine sticky lacing; excellent retention.

Malty aroma with hints of chocolate, chicory, forest floor, and plum.

Spicy, hop-forward palate entry followed by a wave of complex malt with hints of cracker, cocoa nibs, and scalded sugar. Orange rind, spruce tips, with hints of fruit cake alongside a low but lasting bitterness. Earthy, medium-dry finish with a glimmer of alcohol suggesting a cordial.

Medium bodied, well carbonated, gently warming.

Very well balanced example of the style, relying on a complex malt bill and careful hop selection rather than heavy-handed use of adjuncts to suggest characteristic seasonal flavors (dried fruit, dark sugars, spices). Almost closer to a Black IPA than an Old Ale.

 

Cervecería Bucanero (Cuba) ‘Cubanero Fuerte’

Fresh 355 ml shiny red can poured into a taster’s glass. Surprised to find this at an international market, but France isn’t on active embargo against Cuba goods. Havana Club rum and Cohibas are available, too.
Slim foam up on pee gold brew. 5.4% ABV.
Nose is a tad skunky, spent malt.
Tastes like an average Latin pilsner, only sweeter. It’s the sweetness that makes it tolerable, yes, interesting even. There’s a tinny taste that doesn’t overstay. Finishes with a mid-tongue bitterness, leaves a sticky lip.
Mouthfeel is medium to full, medium carbonation.
Overall, I like it. Drank it ice cold. Bet it would be good with a sandwich Cubano and an order of tostones in Habana.,.
AND - I get to check off another country!

3.03/5 in the BA DB

 

Another holiday leftover today. Not bad, but not what I expected compared to the original. Definitely better than the blond roast from the same mix pack. That one was like a Molsen golden with yesterday's stale coffee dumped in. Not sure what is going on with BAs rating both of these pretty high.

Might be back with another tomorrow, we'll see how the chores go.



Pours black with a two-finger tan head.

Off the pour, the aroma is all vanilla and chocolate, like some American milk chocolate bars. As it warms, it's still just vanilla and chocolate.

Thankfully there is more nuanced flavor, but not too much. It starts with vanilla and milk chocolate, with some hints of cocoa. Some roast bitterness emerges in the middle of the sip along with black bread. Nearing the finish, roast coffee joins the party, providing more bitterness to offset the vanilla and chocolate which are prevelant throughout, and keeps this from being cloying.

Medium bodied with lowish and fine carb. Really easy to drink.

Overall, not bad for what it is, but doesn't stand up to the robust porter designation and is a shadow of their non-flavored porter.

 

Amorphic Beer 2024 Major Particles. An imperial stout aged in J. Henry & Sons rye and bourbon barrels with Madagascar vanilla. The look is pitch black with a light brown foam covering. The smell is strong with vanilla. Rye and bourbon scents follow, with a chocolate and caramel conclusion. The taste is very chocolaty. There is not as much vanilla or booze flavor as I expected. Strong flavors of oak and leather emerge. Vanilla and booze do follow the rest. The mouthfeel is syrupy, creamy, oily, thick, and smooth, with low-medium carbonation. Overall this is a decent barrel-aged imperial stout, but not as good as many others from the emerging craft beer scene in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

 

Had a couple tasty big stouts today because apparently I can't drink lower ABV beers like normal people.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/16866/720937/?ba=bluejacket74#lists



https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/35568/710127/?ba=bluejacket74#lists



Cheers everyone, planning on having a couple more new to me brews tomorrow!

 

Leinie's Red Lager my 1st beer. Back in the day 60's-70 my Dad and Uncle would take my cousin and I on a fishing trip to Northwoods area of Wisconsin. In the summer of '65 my Dad taught to me to drive on those Wisconsin back roads. I caught my 1st Northern that summer and it was celebrated at the lodge that evening, the owner asked if I wanted a beer to celebrate, Dad nodded agreement and I had my 1st full 12oz of beer. I don't think I've had this since. Needless to say it's a good memory.


3.4/5 rDev +8.6%
look: 4 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.75
Nice reddish-brown pour, big soapy head and some lacing. Snot machine says cooked grains and bread. It reminds me of a watered down SA Boston Lager. Thin watery feel. A summertime crusher, it holds some sentimental value. The sum is greater than its parts.

 

We’re hosting a New Year’s Eve party and while I have hundreds of beers in my basement, very few are fit for such an evening. As such, I found myself down at Fox Farm today to pick up a bunch of more mainstream beer (lagers, pilsners, dunkels, IPAs etc.). Fox Farm usually has a beer or two on cask, and today was no exception. While not posted on their website, one of them was Barrel Aged Georgia Candy. While I don’t usually post brewer’s descriptions, I will in this case.

Three years ago this month our friend Farmer Digga at Hunts Brook Farm(@huntsbrookfarm) approached us with an ingredient we’d never seen before, let alone considered for a beer: Georgia Candy Roaster squash. The first thing anyone notices about this heirloom squash is its striking appearance and size - much of the fruit we received was over 20 pounds. Originally bred by the Cherokee Nation, it’s prized for its heartiness and storability. The flesh sweetens with time and those that visited our tasing room that fall might have noticed our 400 lb. stockpile ripening to the side.
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This beer started by roasting the squash over a large pit of coals - as the name suggests, the flesh is creamy/sweet and caramelizes beautifully. The roasted squash was added to a mash of predominantly Connecticut-grown grains that included malted barley, flaked and malted rye, wheat and characterful caramel malts. Fermentation began with our house mixed culture in a stainless fermenter before moving onto one of our American oak foeders and finally being laid to rest in a pair of maple syrup (formerly bourbon) barrels and a chicory liqueur barrel. A tasteful accent was added in the form of Madagascar vanilla beans.

I’m positive this is my first farmhouse ale on cask.

Barrel Aged Georgia Candy from Fox Farm

A nutty tasting farmhouse ale on cask? Sure, why not!

This looked like a normal fruited farmhouse ale, with a dense off-white head sitting atop a rusty cranberry colored body. The aroma was plenty tart, and I got lots of raspberries, even though there are no raspberries in the beer. Tiny hint of vanilla.

The taste is where things get interesting. This beer is distinctly nutty in flavor, which took a minute for my brain to calibrate as I don’t typically think of farmhouse ales as “nutty”. There were several other flavors present, but my palate wasn’t sophisticated enough to identify them individually. Whatever they were, the beer had nice depth and complexity. Not overly tart, and very easy to drink.

Overall, I’ll always tip my cap to brewers who are willing to try something different (without being gimmicky) and manage to pull it off, which is exactly what Fox Farm has done here.

 

Fieldwork - Brother of the Quill English barleywine

500ml bottle served in a footed pilsner glass. If the bottle is dated, I don't see it. Bought it at Full Throttle Bottles three weeks ago.

Pours on the light side of murky (after the sediment, anyway), dark amber, smallish but certainly existent head. Retention is not bad, leaves a creamy multi-millimeter layer some time after the initial pour. Smell is oak, toffee, caramel, some orange blossom. Booze.

Taste is bitter nuts and woody tannins, caramel and toffee sweetness, earthy bitterness, and let's re-affirm the caramel and toffee sweetness.

Mouthfeel is big, thick, sticky, bordering on chewy. Overall, this is quite nice.

 

Happy Saturday everyone!
Tonight I begin slow, with a beer I never thought I’d review:


Ever since my disastrous introduction to Dragons Milk White, I have shunned any beer labeled as a “White Stout”
Why I gave this one a try I’m not sure, but to my surprise, I rather enjoyed it.
The pour is a nice amber color and transparent. The off white head doesn’t hang around long and leaves no lacing.
The taste is right along with the additives; chocolate, vanilla, and coffee with a backbone of relatively sweet malts.
The feel is a heavy viscosity, must be all the additives.
I rated it to style (such as it is) and they accurately presented the flavors that were mentioned. However…
Personally, I’m not a fan of “white” stouts and I’m not sure why brewers label them as such. They are not truly stouts, more of a gimmick, and if they were presented as something new, it would possibly be popular.
But nobody listens to me.
Cheers, I’ll be back later!

 

Well, we are back at it again. Seems like only a couple days ago... Finally got over to see my parents today after the "hey...you two are playing bells tomorrow" panic practice at church. Fortunately a fairly easy number we got to a presentable state fairly quickly.

Tonight's victim comes from a brewery ten miles from the fortress:


Crue Brew Brewery Firepit, an American amber/ red ale.

It's a beauty to look at. Crystal clear deep amber color with a huge, rocky, light tan head. The head falls to chunky rafts with great cling to the glass.

The smell is predominantly caramel-like sweet malty goodness. Overlaid is a bit of citrusy hops, but it's very light and therefore a bit difficult to define.

The taste follows. It's very malt driven, but right at the finish there's a strong hit of resinous and grapefruity hops with a brief wallop of bitterness. The dominate flavors are caramel, sweet bready malt until the hops say hello. The bitter clears the pallet and there's just a hint of dankness which is not a favorite flavor for me but it's reasonable here. Not what I was expecting at all, although I understand reds can be aggressively hopped. The hop smack is really late in the taste. There's a little floral and herbaceous aromatic flavor but it's very faint.

It's a bit above medium in body, a bit creamy feeling, but the bitter clears anything wanting to linger reasonably well. The aromatics linger just a tad.

Overall, I rather like this beer. I think they could change up on this recipe and end up with a decent pale or even an old school IPA. It works fine as an amber, though. The way the flavors arrive is interesting with malt dominance up front and the pop of hops on the back end. I'm thinking 3.8-ish on the BA scale. Good introduction to a new and very convenient brewery.

 

Rusty rail cheat day from @Ozzylizard . Very nice sour. Hazy orange copper color. Great head retention and spotty lacing. Aromas and flavors of tart/sweet red cherries, fruit skin/pits, lemon, lime, green apple, white grape, light vanilla/cream, peppercorn, hay, straw, grass, lacto/Brett funk. Lt-med herbal bitter, yeast spice, and fruit tang/tartness on finish. High carb and light-med body. Crisp clean refreshing finish. Lingering sticky hop and drying. No puckering/astringent flavors. Not as dessert focused as I hoped. But as a general sour with a lot of well developed Brett flavors it was very enjoyable. 3.9


Cheers

 

Courtesy of @muchloveforhops3 Full Sail Brewing Co. ( Been a while ) Wreck the Halls DIPA, 8.5% ABV; 4.07 overall

Pours a chill-hazed amber/scarlet with 2 fingers of tan head. Good head retention & stellar lacing

S: Fairly bready, toffee, a little pine & citrus once closer to room temperature

T: Follows the nose, dryness, plenty of pine & some cakeyness up front. More dryness, pine, a touch of grapefruit, a little toffee once this beer is warmed up. Finishes piney, a little dry with some grapefruit & cakey notes

MF: Medium body, restrained carbonation, nice balance

A great no nonsense DIPA that is true to the roots of this brewery, nice drinkability

 

Not much of a fan of that style either