New Beer Weekend #242

That was the only canned year then switched to 750ml bottles. Tomorrow is Hunaphu Day at CCB, but since Monster bought them it's a free for all, no advance buy, so I'm out.

 

Cheers for getting us started on what promises to be a great NBW.

 

Dogfish Head Grateful Dead Juicy Pale Ale, 5.3% ABV; 3.76 overall

Pours a super hazed gold with 2 fingers of pearl colored head. Nice head retention & lacing

S: Citrus notes, some cereal notes, oranges are predominant

T: Passion fruit, a little pineapple, dryness, a touch of green melon & dryness up front. Oranges, green melon & pineapple notes once warmed up, more dryness. Finishes dry with some orange, green melon & cereal notes

MF: Medium body, slight carbonation & a little grittyness, okay balance. Body thins out once warm

Drinkable, but not memorable. DFH impresses me less & less over the years

 

Thanks for the excellent kickoff @WunderLlama - I’m also here with a beer from the current Barleywine and Stouts BIF.
Most of us sent mostly stouts because barleywines are scarce, at least compared to imperial stouts.
But @DIM is apparently a magician, most of the beer he sent me were Barleywines.
This was one of the few stouts, and it not only new to me, but the brewery was one I’d never heard of. Cheers to that!

Mari by Ever Grain - Poured stout black with a brown head that barely covers the surface before retreating to a ring that left no lacing at all.
The taste is full of chocolate and vanilla and coconut, more chocolate, a little raisin and figs. All wrapped in soft bourbon. Though it reads like a pastry stout it’s really not very sweet. Okay by me.
The feel is lightly viscous, very appropriate for the style. Good sipping beer.
OA, a very good BA stout that apparently needs to get around more.

 

Streetside Brewing's BA Interstate Pastry Fight BA Imperial Doughnut Stout, 12.6% ABV; 4.06 overall

Pours an effervescent mahogany with a pinky of mocha head. Viscous, below average head retention & lacing

S: Chocolate doughnuts, vanilla

T: Bourbon notes mixing in well with the nose, traces of leafy hops, a little cola & dryness up front. More chocolate doughnut, some Maple & Bourbon Booze Smack as this beer warms up. Finishes with more doughnut than booze, but there is some hanging around, more maple too & a little dryness

MF: Medium body with just enough carbonation to push the flavor along, very warming & sticky once warm

Delivered on the advertised taste, great drinkability for the ABV

 

Alrighty then, back to posts

Sierra Nevada Pacific Torpedo IPA ( West Coast ) , 6.5% ABV; 3.92 overall

Pours a bright & effervescent gold with a pinky of eggshell colored head. Stellar lacing & good head retention

S: Some tropical fruit, a touch of breadyness, green melon & guava once warm

T: Follows the nose, dryness, green melon & lemongrass up front. Grapefruit surfaces, dryness, grassy notes, just a touch of cattyness once warmed up. Finishes with a little pine, some grapefruit & a little green melon

MF: Medium, lively carbonation, okay balance

Claims it's a West Coast IPA, not really getting that other than the grapefruit. Drinks easy enough, I really feel more heft is needed. Had so much higher hopes

 

The Piggy Brewing Company (France) collab with Fugu Brewing Co. (Belgium) ‘Fuggy’s’ BA Imperial Stout Cacao

33 cl can poured lightly chilly into a Teku glass. A moderate foam caps deep deep brown brew.
Nose is strong aromas of dark chocoloate, with dried fruits in tow. Undeniable whiff of oak.
Taste follows, the cacao right up front, presenting itself as rich chocolate cream, stone fruits appear. The use of chestnuts allows a nuttiness to compliment the barrel and keeps the Stout from being overly thick. No bitterness anywhere. Sweet chocolate takes a bow at the finish.
Mouth is full and creamy. Low end of medium carbonation.
Overall, a well crafted chocolate-forward Imperial Stout.

4.22/5 in the BA DB

 

Thanks for your Weekend Kickoff @WunderLlama , and for your and everyone's selections and comments on a busy Friday evening. Going un-themed with a beer I don't have a pairing for, since I may go out for a few tomorrow with the nice forecast for the next week.

Read many good reviews of this one during previous weekends, so have been looking forward to this for some time.

Boulevard 35th Anniversary Ale

4.37/5 rDev +3.3%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5



3/8/25 - (Bottle- Home) (Chicago, IL) Bottle Notes: Purchased at store temperature at Beer on the Wall for $4.55 including tax on November 27, 2024. I refrigerated this bottle upon returning home before opening this morning. 12 oz bottled 10/3/24, best by 10/3/26. 11.5% ABV, 35th Anniversary Barrel-Aged Blend Anniversary Ale aged in Holladay Bourbon Barrels. Feelin' Fine Since 1989. Brewed & Bottled by Boulevard Brewing Company, Kansas City, Missouri.

Appearance: Poured about 2/3 of the bottle into a snifter, yielding a dark plum brown near black base, white caramel color bubbly lacing which yields a block of razor thin lacing above, and creamy thin bubble congregation around the rims. Very tiny carbonation bubbles continue to emerge as this warms. 4.25

Aroma: After 15 minutes to warm toward room temperature, this yields a boozy and malty beverage, with a barley malt critical mass the far and away leader, and a smooth sweet bourbon on melting ice backing nicely. Strong and pleasant. 4.0

Taste: Malt and sweetness front, center and behind. Caramel, butterscotch, toffee, then plums, cherries, raisins. Really nice. Bourbon slowly emerges as this reaches peak temperature, some oak, sweet and smooth, though the sweetness may be just more malt. Let this warm for 30 minutes plus and you should be a happy camper. 4.5

Mouthfeel: Medium body, perhaps bolstered by all the sweetness, negligible gentle carbonation, mostly still. Sweet, perhaps maximum level for me to still really enjoy due to personal aversion. Drinks powerful and strong, above the ABV, from go. Molasses, caramel, toffee bourbon finish. Very nice. 4.5

Overall: Overall, I winced with first sip due to malt/sweet personal aversion, but for the remaining 11 + oz really enjoyed this special anniversary beer. 30 + plus from the refrigerator for peak enjoyment. If I didn't have such a full stock, I'd try to find more, but will keep this experience in mind for their 36th Anniversary and beyond. One of my favorite non local breweries, really love they keep distributing here and producing fine selections like this one. Great value too for what you get. Well done Boulevard! Cheers to 35 more years! 4.5

 

Brasserie Goudale (France) ‘Millésime 2025’ Biére Blonde Grand Cru

Big black 75 cl bottle, corked & caged, into a taster glass. Disappointing head on pure gold brew, no lacing anywhere. Super fresh!
Nose is what it is - a hoppy Belgian-style Biére Blonde.
Taste brings a grin; starts like an IPA, them hops up on front. Mild bitter in the middle. Wait for it.,., sweet Belgian at the door.
Mouth is high medium, there’s medium carbonation.
Overall, the use of hops from New Zealand & the USofA, plus French grain and Belgian style yeast bring a pretty good Big Brewery variant.

4.1/5 in the BA DB

 

Lift Bridge French Toast Silhouette

Appearance: Black, small head fades out quickly.

Smell: Smells like french toast, maple syrup, cinnamon.

Taste: Pretty sweet, then dominated by cinnamon—not in a hot cinnamon way, more sweet cinnamon. Buries the base beer almost completely, some alcohol sharpness comes through. Cinnamon through the finish as well.

Overall: Silhouette is a pretty solid BA stout, decided to try the french toast variant. I suppose my mom didn't put cinnamon in the french toast she made me, so it doesn't taste a ton like french toast to me. Lots of cinnamon, not too bad if you don't mind that aspect.

 

I enjoyed your tour of Sullivans this morning @champ103. I’m the opposite of you and enjoy nitro beers a lot, usually. I haven’t tried the other two Sullivans but your praises of them both has given me reason to check them out.

 

Ha, yeah, everyone's tastes are certainly different. I can't really drink nitro coffee either...just something about it mutes everything for me. I gave it a good college try to see if I could get past it though...doesn't look like I can, ha.

 

Good day BAs! Thanks @WunderLlama for opening the bar this weekend! I'm starting with the Magical Mystery Beer received from @Whyteboar in Barleywine Stout BIF #2:



Nice label Craig - it sorta reminds my of something...

Anyway, on to my future embarrassment:

Magical Mystery Beer received from @Whyteboar in Barleywine and Stout BIF #2. 16.9 fl oz capped bottle. Received 26/02/25, reviewed 08/03/25 (Review 3465). Note that I use DD/MM/YY protocol.
Stored at home at 39 degrees F and served at 55.0 degrees F in a hand washed and dried Jester King snifter. Final temperature 57.4 degrees F.
Appearance – 4.
First pour – Ruby Brown (SRM 24), clear.
Body – Black (SRM 40), opaque. Under direct light, same. When rear-lite, ruby at the bottom edge; red amber at the top.
Head – Small (Maximum 0.4 cm, aggressive center pour), wheat, high density, good retention, receding to a 0.2 cm crown and a thin partial cap.
Lacing – None.
Aroma – – Weak caramel malt and touches of “dark fruit” and brown sugar. No hops, no yeast, no bourbon, no barrel, no alcohol.
Flavor – – Begins slightly sweet with weak caramel, followed by some brown sugar. “Dark fruit” doesn’t translate to the taste. No hops, no malt, no yeast. No alcohol, but moderate gastric warming does occur. Not really detecting any bourbon or barrels. No dimethylsulfide or diacetyl.
Palate – 3.75 – Medium: not quite creamy: soft carbonation.
Final impression and summation: Seems to be distinctly on the porter-stout spectrum. Judging by the gastric burning and lack of lacing, fairly high ethanol content. Generally lacks the smoke/coffee notes of a RIS, but at the end temperature, an innuendo of roasted coffee whispers.

Final answer – American Imperial Stout

https://clip.cafe/the-running-man-1987/i-want-a-kiss-now-a-big-kiss-but-remember-no-tongues/

 

The use of chestnuts in a beer must be uniquely European as the tree went pretty much extinct in North America. Very interesting, thanks for sharing.

 

I uploaded a bright & shiny can pic for this one. This is a crusher:
Barrel Theory Superfractor Czech Pils 4.8% ABV
4.28/5 rDev 0%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
16 oz can into a Pokal.
L: 3 pours 99% clear light yellow color with a tall foamy pure white head that is soft in the center, large steady carbo bubbles, medium chunky random loose lacing.
S: Bread dough, a hint of pear, a pleasant aroma.
T: Lightly floral, pastry dough, yeast, light grains, a pear note, bready overall, pear cake aftertaste.
F: Crisp light-bodied mouthfeel with a fast moderately dry finish.
O: A clean drinking Pilsner with lovely malty bread notes. Goes down fast and easy. This is a much better example than Rage Quit, which was weak. Superfractor being quite traditional is excellent to outstanding in its style.

 

I think it is very well done

 

People are trying to bring back Chestnuts. I know it was a big part of diets for Eastern Tribes

 

If memory serves - a number of years ago there were attempts made to cross the American chestnut with the Chinese (fungus-resistant) chestnut. Unfortunately the F1 was fungus-sensitive and produced crappy wood. Now, our techniques are better and one would hope this research is on-going.

 

Schell's Baltic Porter

Appearance: Clear dark brown, big head.

Smell: Roasted malts, a bit of coffee, bit of minerality.

Taste: Moderately roasty start, then keeps going with more roasted malt, toasted bread. A bit of coffee bitterness in the finish. Medium bodied.

Overall: Only available in a mixed pack, this could stand on its own as a fall or winter beer for Schell's. Not too strong, nice balanced flavor, another great beer from Schell's.