New Beer Weekend #237

This will be my last beer in this thread today because I do have to go to Lupulin Brewing tomorrow.

Velour Hen - Dangerous Man Brewing - Maple Lake, MN - Tripel - 8.5%

My brewery rep gave me a couple of cans of this. They must be using Belgian yeast to make this. I get the bubblegum notes from it. Quite tasty.

Review:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/30349/728921/


4.04/5 rDev +0.7%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4
From a 12oz can. No date on the can.

This is a fairly clear golden pouring beer. The head is a 1 finger white color. The bubbles are small looking. There's a bit of lacing on the glass.
The nose is full on bubblegum, and it hits as I opened the can. Up close I get some floral hints with a lot of the Belgian yeast bubblegum aroma.
Taste is somewhat malty up front. This malt then goes to a honey like flavor. The finish is a bubblegum flavor that is totally Belgian yeast.
Very smooth feeling, and nice and full bodied. Slightly bubbly feeling.
This is a damn tasty beer. Very good to style.

See you all down the road in this thread. Cheers!

 

Finally getting around to this one that I picked up as part of my pre-Christmas haul. Something a bit different than the usual JA black lager.

Hopefully back tomorrow with another new one.

Jack's Abby Don't Call It A Culmbach
6.5% Kulmbacher Export-Style Lager



Pours black with slight ruby at the edges when back-lit. A frothy two-finger tan head collapses to a coating.

Aromas of chocolate, slight cocoa, roast coffee, black bread, and toasted grains.

The sip starts sweet with semi-dark chocolate and cocoa. After this quick hit, a strong roast profile comes to the fore, with coffee prominent as well as black bread and toasted brown bread. The roast bitterness brings the chocolate notes down to dark, almost fudge, which goes well with the coffee. The finish blends dark fruit and coffee, with the fruit building through the aftertaste. As it warms, a slightly medicinal alcohol note joins the fruit on the aftertaste.

Medium bodied with natural carb leads to a smooth and creamy feel, and makes this feel heavier than the usual JA black lager.

Overall, this is pretty great. Huge malt profile that's well balanced and never gets close to too sweet. The can say hoppy, but I don't get any, though I suspect they're doing a lot of work keeping the malt in check.

 

Have a good Saturday. Was up last night late, me and my wife got Cook Out at 1AM, and I had a food coma on the couch and woke up with a food hangover? I got the bacon cheddar dogs for the first time, and they are amazing. The dogs were burnt to a crisp Just the way I like em. Still have some leftovers. I started Terraria for the first time, and it looks like my new MMO mouse will come in hand. I keep dying from blobs in the dark lol Had too look up a crash course on YT. Was up listening to some nonfiction books again this morning while she slept in


Fat Head's Head hunter Double Dry Hopped. From the IPA 12 pack. World class west coast style IPA as usual. Amazing head retention and thick lacing on the glass. Aromas of huge red grapefruit, tangerine, peach, pineapple, passion fruit, papaya, mango, melon, guava, blueberry, gooseberry, citrus peel/rind, wood, pepper, pine, cracker, bread, herbal, floral, grass. Super vibrant and dank nose. Taste follows with big red grapefruit, tangerine, peach, pineapple, passion fruit, papaya, mango, melon, guava, blueberry, gooseberry, citrus peel/rind, wood, pepper, pine, cracker, bread, herbal, floral, grass. Large sized pine, citrus rind, woody, peppery bitterness on the finish. Medium carbonation and body. Balanced bready malt and sticky/resinous hop mouthfeel. Long resin drying finish with mild hop oil astringency. Feels more dank on hops and resinous on bitterness as expected. Simcoe, Centennial, Mosaic, Citra, Chinook, plus an additional dry hopping of Strata and Mosaic hops leave a wonderful showcase of hop complexity. Mosaic always is my favorite. 4.48/5


Cheers

 

Lupulin Double Stuffed Sandwich Cookie Imperial Stout, 10% ABV. Pours black with a 2 finger brown head that left light lacing. Aroma is chocolate cookie and frosting. Taste follows, moderately sweet, equally bitter. Decent mouthfeel, overall excellent. I rated the salted caramel variant much higher, wasn't as bitter.

4.08/5 rDev 0%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

 

At Revolution, so will catch up on the thread when I return. First I’m up, a variant of my favorite Revolution beer.

Revolution A Little Crazier

4.21/5 rDev -3%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25




2/1/25 - (Revolution Taproom) (Chicago, IL) Draft Notes: $8 plus tax 16 oz draft, 6.8% ABV draft Double Dry Hopped Belgian Pale Ale.

Appearance: Crystal clear beige golden base poured into a special beaker glass. Light initial carbonation ends within a couple of minutes. Egg white head leaves a creamy cover, thin above and thicker around the rim. 4.0

Aroma: Belgian traditional yeast, clove, banana and bubblegum. Mild plus strength, higher in enjoyment. 4.25

Taste: Consistent with the aroma, traditional Belgian flavors with a citrus boast, consistent with the current year batch but stronger. Everything comes together well. 4.5

Mouthfeel: Light consistent slight fuzzy carbonation drinking though not seen. ABV feels consistent with the posted 6.8%. Dry, balanced, nice banana clove citrus combo throughout til the finish. 4.25

Overall: This is a solid variant. A little more hoppy than the OG A Little Crazy, though only slightly higher and different from their batch release this year using Krush hops. Well done and a worthy offering of their Greatest of All Time Belgian Ale. 4.25

Will return shortly with a second new to me beer here.

 

Having a rauchbier from Pour man's, my favorite local lager-er, after helping with my youngest's indoor baseball practice and destroying the entire family at ping-pong.



This is really nice, the smoke is clean and works well with light caramel and a nice note of toasted, seeded bread. I get light bitterness at the finish that has a slight ash component to go along with black tea and grass. Definitely digging it.

 

Last weekend my son couldn't find a downtown parking space so he parked at the package store where he knows the owner and most employees. They guard parking well -"for customers only". He noticed the only worker inside was someone he did not know. So he went in and grabbed this. I'm glad he did. I really liked this beer and I don't think I would have ever bought it myself. I have enjoyed many other beers from lager-centric East Rock, this just further proves their proficiency.

4.24/5 rDev +3.9%
look: 4.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
Poured from a 12 oz amber bottle to a Pilz glass at fridge temp. Pulled from a 6-pack purchased cold last week for $11.99. I found no dating on the bottles or the carrier.
This beer has a deep gold, crystal clear body. Many continuously rising bubbles are hypnotizing. A micro-bubble slightly-off-white head puts on a topographical display and laces generously with both wide and narrow rings.
The aroma is of bread or crackers but with a pungent note.
Taste is clean and quite hoppy. Bread in the front, slight dry citrus rind middle and a slight sweetening on the finish.
The mouthfeel is light and carbonation is just right.
For some reason I don’t drink many Vienna Lagers (3 ratings on BA before this one). My memory is clouded with regard to this style by the ubiquitous SA Boston Lager. This East Rock version is significantly better in my opinion. An excellent beer. Probably not as sweet as the BA style description states, but that is what I like about it.

 

Back with the second and last New York me beer available here. This is from their Pilot Series.

Revolution All or Nothin’

4.31/5 rDev 0%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25



2/1/25 - (Revolution Taproom) (Chicago, IL) Draft Notes: $7 plus tax 16 oz draft, 4.9% ABV draft session India Pale Lager.

Appearance: Pilsner glass golden tan clear draft pour, carbonation minimal, egg white head leaves generous razor thin lacing and cover over the base. 4.25

Aroma: Nice Pilsner and Nalt aroma, strong and very pleasant. Really digging! 4.5

Taste: Consistent with the aroma, Pilsner, malt, hoppy. Light citrus and tangerine backing. This all comes together very well. 4.25

Mouthfeel: Faint carbonation drinking though not seen despite the flute Pilsner glass. Drinks at the session 4.9% ABV. Dry, balanced, nice blend of malt and sweet citrus and tangerine hop flavors, tug-of-war between the two through the finish. 4.25

Overall: This is a solid session India pale lager. Nice balance between the barley, malt and hops. Bursts with flavor despite the lower ABV. Hope to see this again in the future. 4.25

Will be warmer tomorrow and I’ll try one or two stops, perhaps a second on the way home. Cheers!

 

This was an earlier in the week cheat new beer, so as I always do, please forgive me @HoppingMadMonk. However; I believe I did this in the name of beer...another beer from @Resistance88 and yes I know it was only a few days earlier but I cracked open a new to me hoppy beer the day I received my box. I forget if I've ever had this, but if I did, I forget...years ago Pizza Port sent bombers here and I'd grab them but I don't even remember what beers they were at this point. So this is new to me, and I've been dying to try it, thanks for making beer dreams come true Tomas.

So on this Saturday night I share my thoughts on a gold standard IPA...

Pizza Port - Swami's (AIPA 6.8%)



Pours a burnished gold, slight chill haze; big billowy white head with well above average retention and great lacing.

Vibrant and bright nose; refreshing shot of citrus and pine; underlying less noticeable overripe fruit character; light grainy malt.

Taste mirrors the nose with a touch more fruit character; star of the show is citrus, bites like grapefruit, little orange as it warms; touch of fruitiness and light grainy malt presence come next with some clean pine resin on the finish.

Medium body; light residual malt sweetness; smooth; very clean and sticky dry bitter bite on the finish, the kind that sort of lingers on the tongue.

This beer is very good, really grateful to have finally tried this one thanks to the generosity of @Resistance88, three more new ones to come; and I can’t wait.

------------------

I may get into one more new one tomorrow but we'll see, may save them to have for next weekend's thread. Leafs Oilers tonight and I'll be watching out in the "freezer" with my space heater and a beer in hand. Hoping #34 can keep his hot streak going for your fantasy team @ChicagoJ.

See you all tomorrow, with or without a beer...

 

10k reviews. Prolific!

 

First ever Trillium, a BA German chocolate cake doughnut stout. Poured cold to a mini snifter. It looks heavy and thick, slamming into the glass. Deep onyx color. No head at first, but eventually a scant lake of infinitesimal bubbles break to the surface. Aroma is spot on to the name. First sips have a solid bright bourbon note right on top of the decadent German chocolate profile. The coconut does well to find a voice toward the tail end of the sip, whereas the vanilla seems to struggle being found. Mouthfeel is intensely thick, right on the line of syrupy. A small drop on my finger stains the skin brown. Expectedly sweet, but it avoids an overly candied or cloying effect. 12% hides altogether. As it warms, the coconut starts to pop more, and pulls out the vanilla. A very nice dessert stout, albeit expensive at $37/500 ml.

This reminds me of a cleaner version of Thin Man’s Poor Decisions, a BA stout that used a veritable ton of Tim Horton’s chocolate TimBits.

 

Technically I guess this qualifies as a new beer for me. I'd been seeing it lately on BA posts, and thought of it as somewhat of a whale. I looked it up and saw that it clocked in at 8%...same as regular Sip. Couldn't make out much of a difference on paper. According to the guy in the beer store (shoutout to Bryn Mawr Beverage, what a place!) he tells me it's the same beer as Sip. The distinction is Sip is contract brewed in Connecticut, by Two Roads. Double Sunshine is made by Sean, in Vermont, limited production. Different water at the least. Sounds plausible to me, and maybe old hat to you pros.
I'm not a devotee of Sip of Sunshine per se; nothing wrong but don't go out of my way for it. Do understand that there are a lot of big BA fans. And maybe cause I haven't had the OG in quite a while I gotta say I'm liking this one. Won't go into descriptions as it's all been said before. But it is hop bitter enough, and refreshingingly not too hazy.
But does make me yearn for the return of Triple Sunshine.

 

I love that name!

 

Cold, drizzly morning with a wee bit of snow
Lots of Lego play, but spent the afternoon in the woods with the grandson. Love being out there even with light snow. Quiet and peaceful. Visually things looked more open than usual so we did some exploring and finally broke through to the farthest boundary - marked the route and with some brush snipping we will open up a nice walking path then connect it up to other paths and be able to walk the entire boundary except for a small swampy bit.

Getting ready for racing season. This weekend's format intrigues me - it's basically short track Saturday night style I grew up on. Run what ya brung takes on a new meaning at this level, but I think they should do more with heats, last chance, and features as a short track format.

i know...shut up and get on with it! Tonight's volunteer:



Boulevard 35th Anniversary Ale, an 11.5% American strong ale, a barrel-aged blend.

It pours looking like shellac and lands muddy brown in the glass, but backlighting reveals a beautiful deep red beverage. It looks thick on the pour. Scant khaki-colored head that doesn't last and leaves no trace. The liquid itself coats the glass gloriously.

The smell is subtle but loaded. Smells sweet - brown sugar, caramel/toffee, vanilla. Bourbon wafts in eventually. Figs, dark cherry, raisins. And I'm getting a little hint of maple syrup and a bit of oakiness. Rich malts. It seems like a sherry or maybe a cognac character overall.

Oh my...this is some good stuff! It's rich and decadent. Sweet caramel and brown sugar. Jammy dark fruit - lots of fig and dark sweet cherry. The bourbon takes front and center once you get past the sweetness. Vanilla peeks out and some woodiness. I do get a very faint maple. It's pretty boozy but not to the point of being "hot". There's a vague citrusy note as well. Rich malt is strong enough to hold up these flavors and provide an anchor. A bit of tobacco. It does go along the lines of a sherry maybe leans even more into cognac character. As it warms, a red grape flavor comes in and rounds the flavor out even more.

It's a rich, creamy mouthfeel with a bit of stickiness. It's more than a little warming - this feels really good going down after tromping around outdoors in 20 degree weather. No bitterness to speak of and for the intensity of the flavors it finishes fairly clean.

Overall really diggin' this one. It does seem like a barleywine, but that's not what they call it. This is just a well-crafted and thoughtfully executed beer. If you like barleywines or strong ales, I'd give this a shot if you see it. I'm glad I bought two and am thinking about grabbing a couple more. Easily up around a 4.5 for me.

 

Structures - Double WC IPA at Chucks Hop Shop

 

I always love the updates from Fort Lerose, Larry; in my head I always imagine what it must be like

 

Jolly pumpkin Blanca farmhouse witbier
... a sort of mildly cloudy orange/amber appearance with zero head.
...medium light carbonation with about a medium body but overall a nice feel
...aroma is a sour sweet funk along with sweet tart candy,floral and flowery.
..taste is mildly sweet with tartness quickly jumping in and lingering in the aftertaste. An almost candy like flavor but not in a sugary offensive way. Funk and a bit earthy and floral
...overall it was really enjoyable, didnt go to the extremes which allowed the flavors to show up but not dominate

 

That dog doesn't look too burnt. I do despise them that way. That is a tasty looking dog.