New Beer Weekend #234

Sounds like a good beer, I saw it around back in December here but never grabbed one. It’ll be on my list for next Christmas season @LeRose

I love ginger in a beer when done right.

 

Near as I can tell, it was canned in October or November. Not sure if that helped it " calm down" a little, but Jack's Abby rarely let's me down.

The ginger was definitely done right, in my opinion. More apparent in the aftertaste as an aromatic. I'm assuming the beer was formulated by design vs taking an existing beef and dumping in way too much "stuff".

 

Good evening all!
Today I accomplished a fair amount, so I am treating myself to not just one, but two new beers.
The first one is one given to me by a friend who was very impressed with it and wanted me to try it. Fair enough, I was happy to oblige-

Hopstronomy from Broadleaf brewing, the “American” arm of Brewery Vivant. They claim it is an IPA, and maybe for some it is, but if so it’s a throwback to a much earlier time.
Poured an unfiltered orange color with a very reasonable beige head that left sparse lacing.
The taste was that of an excellent pale ale with a touch of hops added in. Curious that this is touted as an IPA repeatedly. That said, it’s really quite tasty.
The feel is light and almost crisp, but not quite. Easy to see how one might drink a few of these in an afternoon.
OA, quite enjoyable, just not what I’d consider an IPA, American or otherwise. Did the original IPAs taste much different from the pale ales that they were attempting to replicate over long distances and time? Maybe they are closer to the original than I thought they were.

 

Hello NBW.
And thanks to my brother, @hophound for bringing this from New Mexico.

Santa's Favorite House from Bosque
As George Takei would say, "Oh my!"


Pours a deep, nearly black, brown. Khaki colored head rises over a finger and slowly settles to a solid 1/2 inch. Great retention and decent lacing.
Nose carries a smooth, warm Bourbon barrel note. Caramel, toffee, cocoa, and a mild spice (probably barrel spice).
Flavor takes all of this to another level. Deep caramel and cocoa, chewy toffee meets date, and a hug of boozy warmth.
Chewy and, again, warm. The finish is a smooth, non-cloying, sweetness.
4.13/5 rDev +1%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4

 

With your endorsement, I will definitely give that one a shot!

 

Right, my nightcap is another one that @Resistance88 sent me, one that I was going to share with my SAN group but chose to drink it solo. (Hey! I’m saving the Maple one for them as well as the BBA version, they won’t be missing much)
This is the Rocky Road version of the Speedway Grand Prix series, and it’s quite good-

Poured stout black with a very decent light brown head that left sparse lacing.
The taste features nuts, almost overwhelming, the chocolate, vanilla and mallow come in after. The coffee which is an intrinsic part of Speedway is almost lost in the mix, but somehow the stout comes through.
The feel is typical Speedway, lightly viscous and way too easy to drink faster than one probably should.
OA, I liked it better than the coconut Vietnamese coffee version but not as much as the raspberry chocolate one which blew me away with the deftness of the flavors.

 

I made sure to try them all before i sent them to you and feel i still haven't recovered

Definitely isn't for the weak

 

Really digging that glass, Craig! The Speedway iteration sounds tasty as well

 

Well, once again I am here way later than planned, but work duty called. I did get hit hard today with a beer box from a former member here. It is a box I am just excited to get into, and here's the first from it.

OldManBeerMa - Waimea - Mortalis Brewing - Avon, NY - Imperial IPA - 8%

What really interested me with this beer was the aroma. It was so tropical when pouring, but, up close it was dank and earthy. This is a tasty beer, and so glad to have had the opportunity to try it.
Review:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/52338/639283/

4.34/5 rDev +0.2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25
From a 16oz can. There looks to be a date on the can, but it's smudged.

This is a very murky looking beer. It looks like a cross between pineapple juice and cream. So murky and hazy. There's no light that can shine through this beer. There's a 1 finger white head to this beer. The head retention is average, but there's minimal lacing as the head dissipates.
Aroma is off the chart tropical smelling. There's so much hitting my nose as I poured it into the glass. Up close It has more of a dank smell and quite earthy with notes of the tropical. Quite interesting to say the least.
The flavor seems somewhat mellow up front with just faint tropical hints. The hints of dank and earthy are on the back, and they do linger. They're more than hints, but not overpowering or offensive. There's also hints of tropical that mix in with the dank.
This is a soft and juicy feeling beer. The beer is also a resin feeling to it. There's a bubbly feeling to this beer.
This is a very tasty beer. It has a lot going on here, and a pleasure to have the chance to try it.

Well, I should have tomorrow off work. Should I attempt another beer tonight? Not sure yet. I'll enjoy this one more, and decide. Cheers!

 

Welcome to New Beer Sunday #1038! Just a reminder, we will celebrate the 20th anniversary of New Beer Sunday on Sunday, February 23, the closest Sunday this year to the February 20, 2005 original thread.

Hopefully I will survive this, the third 16 oz Pipeworks BA stout of the weekend.

Pipeworks Barrel Aged Abduction

4.44/5 rDev +1.1%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.5



1/12/25 - (Can - Home) (Chicago, IL) Can Notes: Purchased a single can for $11.01 with tax on August 23, 2024 at the Pipeworks Dojo, refrigerated at home until this morning. 16 oz canned July 16, 2024. 13.0% ABV. Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Stout. Label Art by Beejay Olson. 2024 Pipeworks Brewing Company. Brewed and Canned in Chicago, Illinois.

Appearance: Poured 2/3 of the can into snifter. Dark black thick pour, thin dark tan black head lasts less than a minute before leaving just a bright eclipse looking white bubble ring around the base with about 5% cover over the very dark black with shades of chestnut brown base. 4.0

Aroma: Mild bourbon aroma leads several minutes in, with bakers chocolate malt and leather backing. Nice to finally get the base after the prior versions with additives and or heavy barrel treatment. Let sit a few minutes more and the bourbon strengthens, smooth and enjoyable. 4.25

Taste: After15 minutes to warm, found a constant and very enjoyable flavor, with a smooth bourbon complementing a nice bakers chocolate malt base, chocolate fudge . Liking a lot, Bourbon tasted sweet with initial sip still very cold, so take your time. and let this warm 4.5

Mouthfeel: Medium to full sticky body, drinks about at ABV, drinking feels much easy until the second half. Nice balance between the bourbon and malt sweet base. Faint carbonation, nice chocolate fudge and smooth bourbon finish. 4.75

Overall: This is an excellent BA stout, no additives required. The bourbon barrels applied in proper measure, the base allowed to shine. Really enjoying this experience, will pick these up despite the intimidating 16 oz size, when released in the future. 4.5

For me, the vast majority of the time I prefer a straight base + barrel over same + additives. I know the additive hype raises eyebrows and interest, but keep it simple and delicious vs. throw in the kitchen sink and hope for the best.

Look forward to your Sunday contributions and see you next weekend!

 

Good day BAs! Here's yesterday's New Breakfast Beer, which I didn't post because the time change had me befuddled:



Stowe Style Kellerbier from von Trapp Brewing. 16 fl oz can. $ 3.00 (Including tax), $ 0.188/fl oz. Picked up at Franklin Beer, Franklin, PA, 08/01/25. Reviewed 10/01/25 (Review 3443). Note that I use DD/MM/YY protocol.
Bottom rim of can stamped “BEST BY 01/19/25.” Stored in reefer at the distributor, at 39 degrees F at home. Served at 42.4 degrees F in a hand washed and dried Jester King snifter. The final temperature was 50.1 degrees F.
Appearance – 4.
First pour – Straw (SRM 3), clear.
Body – Light Gold (SRM 4), hazy. Under direct light, same. When rear-lite, hazily transparent.
Head: Average (Maximum 3.5 cm, aggressive center pour), white, high density. Quickly drops to a 0.6 – 1.1cm jagged crown fed by spotty carbonation, and a rocky partial cap.
Lacing – Good. Band of tiny to near-microscopic bubbles, forming micro-stalactites and connecting to the crown with a few columns of varying width.
Aroma – 4 – Begins with strong fruity hops, but this rapidly weakens. No malt, no yeast, no ethanol (7 % ABV, as marked on label). No disulfide or diacetyl.
Flavor – 4 – Slightly bitter and weakly fruity. No yeast, no ethanol. No disulfides, no diacetyl. Ghostly gastric warming.
Palate – 4 – Medium; watery; lively but soft carbonation.
Style: Sort of follows the style guidelines as condensed by BA.
Final impression and summation: 4 Decent lager but tends away from the kellerbier category in that there is minimal to no yeast presence, either in flavor or appearance. The kellerbier I’ve consumed in Germany couldn’t be penetrated by a gigawatt laser and had lumps of yeast the size of peas.
Rating 4, rDev +2.8

Now I'll do today's New Breakfast Beer.

 

I'm back! It's nearly an hour later and here's today's New Breakfast Beer:



Stowe Style Zwickel Bier from von Trapp Brewing. 16 fl oz can. $ 3.00 (Including tax), $ 0.188/fl oz. Picked up at Franklin Beer, Franklin, PA, 08/01/25. Reviewed 12/01/25 (Review 3444). Note that I use DD/MM/YY protocol.
Bottom rim of can stamped “BEST BY 04/14/25.” Stored in reefer at the distributor, at 39 degrees F at home. Served at 41.9 degrees F in a hand washed and dried Jester King snifter. The final temperature was 54.8 degrees F.
Appearance – 4.
First pour – Pale Straw (SRM 2), clear.
Body – Pale Gold (SRM 4), clear. Under direct light, same. When rear-lite, transparent pale gold.
Head: Large (Maximum 4.8 cm, aggressive center pour), white, high density. Quickly drops to a1.5 – 2.0 cm jagged crown fed by spotty carbonation, and a rocky partial cap.
Lacing – Good. Forms a band of tiny to near-microscopic bubbles, with many stalactites.
Aroma – 4 – Begins grainy with light herbal hops. No malt, no yeast, no ethanol (5.3% ABV, as marked on label). No disulfide or diacetyl.
Flavor – 4 – Slightly bitter and grainy. No yeast, no ethanol. No disulfides, no diacetyl. No gastric warming.
Palate – 4 – Medium; watery; lively but soft carbonation.
Style: Sort of follows the style guidelines as condensed by BA.
Final impression and summation: 4 Decent lager, but not to my taste. There is a QR code on the label which tells of the special strains of Austrian malt and hops used in its brewing.
Rating 4, rDev -2.7%

For those of you without current access to a can and the QR code - both the malt and hops were strains from prior to WWII and were used in an attempt to recreate a pre-WWII beer.

 

Constellation, an Oatmeal stout from Halo Brewery

Poured a 355ml can into a pint glass. A one finger tan head on a very dark, almost black amber brown. good head retention. lots of fine lacing.

Coffee and cocoa in the nose. The taste follows the nose. Dark, sweet roasted malts. A very smooth finish.

Medium body and and carbonation. Very smooth and silky. overall a a fine Oatmeal Stout. true to the style. Well worth a try.

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

 

Firestone Walker California IPA

Appearance: Clear gold, good head.

Smell: Piney aroma.

Taste: Mild sweetness, then a pretty balanced flavor with a little bread and citrus hops. Not as bitter as expected. Medium bodied, semi-dry citrus finish.

Overall: A new IPA in the mixed 12 pack, I was expecting a little more old school bitterness, but instead this was a balanced, very drinkable IPA. A solid beer.

 

Good to hear this passed your inspection and the issue I had with the batch was just my palate being off. Happy to share this JA staple with you!

Hopefully back this afternoon with another new one from the holidays.

 

Poured into a 10 oz Prairie tulip glass bottled on 10/23/24. Pours near pitch black with a solid finger plus dark mocha head that settles at warp speed leaving no lace. 4.5

Aroma is chocolate fudge, peanut butter, vanilla bean, marshmallow, and a whiff of coconut, no barrel presence in the nose. 4.5

Taste follows but even better. Fudge, peanut butter, vanilla, marshmallow, coconut, and just the smallest hit of the barrel. 4.75

Mouthfeel is a little bigger than average, very gentle carbonation, maybe a tad dry, and 12.7% it is a sipper that goes down extremely easy. 4

Overall as always an amazing stout that gets held back from a thin body. Still exceptional, but I wanted more in look and body. 4.5 Cheers all

 

Good morning NBS/nbw and thanks to our host this week @Beersnake.
We had a blustery and cold week here in the 413 but only a dusting of snow so this
bland season continues. Todays offering is from Bright Ideas Brewing. A Baltic porter that is an easy to drink, flavorful beer with nice texture and a lovely quick dry finish
Enjoy the coming week all

Porpoise

Baltic Porter | 8% ABV
Bright Ideas Brewing in North Adams, Massachusetts

Reviewed by SABERG from Massachusetts

4/5 rDev 0% | Average: 4
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Poured from a 16 oz can dated 11/21/24 into the test glass.
A - Deep dak brown, a creamy cap of mocha froth resides for a bit, then morphs into a thin ring.
S - Cocoa, a bit of char, espresso notes with a hint of fig.
T - Roast malt, milk chocolate, again with that esspresso and hint of burnt pumpernickle toast.
M - Creamy, medium in body, just bitter enough, excellent dry finish.
O - A very good, and to style Baltic Porter. That stays in its lane well, I will crtainly be looking out for this offering.

 

Thanks! @Resistance88 sent that to me as well, but I understand it’s no longer available.
That said, someone posted a link to a Libbey set of glasses that looks really similar, if it isn’t the actual glass used by Alesmith. I’ll look for that link.