New Beer Weekend #242

Hello New Beer Weekend!!!

It's that time once again for the amazing virtual bar to open up for service. It is open to all who like to talk about your new beers - regulars and first timers. Stop in, talk about your life, and talk about your new beer. We also love pictures of your new beer here.

My first new beer is thanks to a generous trade with @falloutsnow . He was looking for some Schell's beers that he can't get in Illinois, and he gave me a ton of new beers try.

Hefeweizen - Riggs Beer Company - Urbana, IL - 5.2%

Well the thing that interested me the most about this beer is a bubblegum aroma and flavor. I have to think that they used some Belgian yeast to make it. If so, I would say it really worked well. It added another flavor to the style, and I think it works. Thank you for the beer.

Review:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/46277/238731/

4.23/5 rDev +6.8%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
From a 16oz can. Canned on January 15, 2025.

This beer has a nice murky golden color to it. When I hold it to the light I see a nice stream of carbonation bubbles rising in the glass. The head is 1 finger in size and white colored. The head is frothy looking and has good retention. There's some lacing on the glass as the head dissipates.
The aroma hit as I was pouring the beer. I was just getting a huge banana aroma. Up close I also get the cloves. I also have to wonder if they're using Belgian yeast, because I get a huge bubblegum aroma as well. Quite pleasing aromas.
Taste - I get a Belgian yeast bubblegum flavor up front. They must be using Belgian yeast in this beer. It is an interesting flavor for the style. The bubblegum flavor mellows out and the sweetness of the banana and cloves kick in. All the flavors work together.
The body is smooth and bubbly in nature. The feeling of the yeast does linger in my throat for a while.
This is a tasty take on the style, and I'm happy I got the chance to try it.

Be back in a bit for one more beer today. Cheers!

 

Mystery beer from barleywine/stout bif courtesy of @snaotheus



Half the can to go along with dinner prep, this is a dry wheatwine and a very tasty one. Biscuits, milky sugar, toffee, and butterscotch.

And the reveal

Well I was waaaaay wrong, this is not a wheatwine.



I completely forgot golden stouts are even a thing! Great choice for mystery beer! This is an interesting one, I think I can find some roasty coffee now I'm told it's there I guess my milky sugar descriptor could have been a milky latte kind of thing? Hope I do better tomorrow!

Good stuff, thanks @snaotheus , never had anything like this.

 

Enegren Brewing Christmas Bock. It could be because I started the bock beer thread, or because of my incredible photography and personality, but @Nugganooch thought of me when he purchased this beer, and made sure I was able to experience it. Thank you sir! I appreciate it very much! The look is gorgeous pretzel brown, translucent, and majestic. There is a light brown foam top. The smell is incredible. It is like candy. Carmel, brown sugar, peppermint, and spice explode from the can. The taste is less sweet than the smell. Caramel, toasted brown bread, molasses, vanilla, cardamom, and spices create a wonderful flavor profile. This would be great to pair with buttered lefse during the Christmas season. The mouthfeel is clean, smooth, crisp, bready, and full. Delightful. @Nugganooch, I am so happy you allowed me this pleasure. This is a delightful bock beer. One of the best. This is my first beer from Enegren Brewing. I look forward to trying more.

 

This is all correct

 

Saltfire Dirty Chai Stout, 6.7% ABV. Pours brownish black with a nice 3-finger light-brown head that left sparse lacing. Aroma is chai, coffee, and roast malt. Taste is chai and coffee, slightly sweet, slightly bitter, decent creamy mouthfeel, overall excellent.

4.2/5 rDev +11.4%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4.25

Another great beer sent to me in a Stout/Barleywine BIF box from @NorsemanOne

 

Well, it's time for my final new beer of the day. This is one I picked up last Sunday when I had a road trip.

Trip Hammer - BeerClub Brewing - Mora, MN - Tripel - 10%

This beer really hides the booze in it. It is very smooth drinking. I know it's high alcohol, so I am taking it slow and enjoying it. It does some grassy and earthy notes along with the Belgian yeast flavors. I am enjoying this beer.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/53755/404130/
3.81/5 rDev +0.8%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75
From a 16oz can. Canned on 2-5-2025

This beer pours slightly murky and it is golden in color. The head that forms is 1 finger and white in color. The head retention is decent and I am digging the clingy lacing on the glass.
The aroma is a hint of Belgian yeast with bubblegum notes. There's an earthy aroma that hits my nose. There's a bit of grassy hints to the aroma.
Flavor - The flavor starts out earthy and grassy. The grassy and earthy are somewhat mellow and a bit muted. The yeast hits on the back. It is a nice bubblegum hit and it is pleasing.
The body is very full. The beer does seem to hide the 10% alcohol. Very smooth and clingy feeling.
Very interesting beer. I am enjoying it.

Time to take it easy, and I'll see you all sometime tomorrow. Cheers!

 

In the mood for a proper stout now and hot damn did I choose well! Opening Matryoshka from Fort George. Via the barleywine /stout bif @snaotheus is awesome



I love the packaging on this one. Classy and understated. Layers of incredibly smooth chocolate are at work here. I get creamy truffle innards, Belgian chocolate, cocoa powder, light fudge, just so much desert decadence. There is a hint of something vinous to along with mild bourbon in the background. I know I used the word already, but damn this is smooth. Soft, with well rounded edges, and not a trace of anything rough or abrasive. Just a wonderful beer and a joy to drink, thanks Ryan!

 

Well this one took me for a ride:





Courtesy of @Roguer in the Stout/BW BIF.

4.46/5 rDev -2.4%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
Notes were blinded to what this beer was, dated 3/1/22, courtesy of Roguer in BIF:

Pours deep black, nice foamy head. Smells of berry or cherry. Tastes of berry/cherry and bourbon, oak, and perhaps maple. Mouthfeel is appropriately carbonated with a lingering bitter aftertaste that turns sweet as time progresses with some heat as it warms.

This was a puzzler for my tastebuds. Turns out this wasn't fruited and the maple I thought I tasted was confused with molasses; that said, it's a great beer through and through.

 

Riggs is one of my favorites, from my home town Champaign/Urbana IL

 

Burgeon Beer Dutchman's Pipe. An imperial stout conditioned on coffee and vanilla beans, with lactose. Courtesy of @Nugganooch. An excellent selection. The look is black as night, with a light-brown foam ring on top. The smell is black licorice, coffee, vanilla, hazelnut, and cream. The taste begins with coffee. I love coffee stouts. The coffee flavor is right where I like it. Cream flavor and black licorice blend in nicely. There is a light caramel flavor. The mouthfeel is silky smooth, rich, velvety, and full, with light-medium carbonation. Overall, this is delicious coffee and vanilla imperial stout. It would be a great beer to start off the day with. Thank you so much, @Nugganooch! After The Wolf weekend at 3 Sheeps Brewing next weekend, I will ensure that you will enjoy some delicious Wisconsin imperial stouts. Hopefully I will see @Bishop there next weekend.

 

Catching up on some reviews, while I watch my Fighting Illini against Purdue this evening.

I picked up what was available to me from the Sullivan's Brewing Company in Ireland.

First up Sullivan's Black Marble Stout, Irish Dry Stout on nitro, 5.1% ABV



Pours a near opaque black color. A dense, creamy beige head forms with the nitro pour. This is super charged as far as that is concerned. With retention and lacing for days.
An almost neutral aroma for me. Some grains and toasted malts. That is it.
Taste wise, again, roast and grains. The bittersweet character lingers on a bit. Other than that, almost nothing. Nitro really covers everything up as far as I'm concerned.
Just a gassy feel. There is no smoothness here, just watery, kind of gassy. Saying all that, not the hardest thing to drink.

I debated leaving a review, as I'm a notorious nitro hater. I wanted to give this a try though, as I wanted to re revisit my nitro opinion, and check out what this brewery had to offer. This doesn't change my mind, as I feel the nitro covers up any kind of nuance lurking underneath. Well, I think this just reaffirms my opinion, and I'll be done with nitro again for the foreseeable future.

For me the score is 3.26, obviously others thing different...
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/45989/540208/?ba=champ103#lists

 

Next...

Sullivan's Malting's Irish Ale, 5% ABV



Pours a dark reddish brown color. A dense beige head forms with good retention and lace left behind.
A simple and nuetralish kind of aroma. Toasted grains, toffee/caramel like sweetness that is it. Though not bad.
Taste wise, a much more nuanced malt flavor. With baked bread, toasted malts. There is some toffee/caramel like sweetness, light esters and dark fruits poke their heads in. There is a sweetness, but finishes with a light earthy bitterness that gives a nice balance.
A medium to fuller body than expected. Moderate carbonation that becomes very smooth as this warms. This is very nice and enjoyable to drink. I can come back to this easily.

Really well done here. Lots of malt character, that is really well balanced. I need to get this more often.

Overall score is 4.06, A-
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/45989/417535/?ba=champ103#lists

 

And, the last of my Sullivan's for the evening.

Irish Gold, 5.2% ABV



Pours a brilliantly clear golden/orange color. A dense white head forms with good retention and lacing for days.
Aroma is doughy baked bread, biscuit, toasted malts. Light herbal and earthy hops, with some fruity esters mingling in there.
Taste wise, follows the nose, with the doughy baked bread. Toasted malts, herbal hops, there is a bit more of a spicy hop character here as well, and light fruity apple esters. The earthy/herbal hops leaves a nice bitterness lingering.
A medium body with crisp carbonation at first. This smooths out to be soft and smooth, that finishes wonderfully dry. Yeah, this is really easy to drink and come back to.

A wonderful example of a pale ale from across the pond. I love the delicate fruity esters, that balances the malts and herbal hops perfectly. Something that is very much missing when American breweries try their hands at the style. I just want to have this on cask now.

Overall score, 4.09, A- and is probably my favorite of the three.
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/45989/475831/?ba=champ103#lists

Enjoyed these while I read some John Banville, one of my favorite Irish writers.