New Beer Weekend #243

Cheers to @GreenBayBA for getting this party going!

 

I love banana stouts and this barrel aged Bananaversary from Other Half is the best I've had. Coconut, vanilla, and macadamia nuts in the mix as well.



Peanut butter and bacon sandwiches and banana stouts don't sound good but goddamn those are two of my favorite things to put in my face.

Sticky, chocolatey, barreled goodness up front and then all those extras kick in at the end. Glorious, sweet bananas, bruleed brown sugar, toasted coconut, and just a nuts sprinkled in. The body is still, used motor oil. Loving this.

 

Serendipity!

My wife and I had to conduct some business in New Jersey earlier today and on the way home we decided to stop at Triumph Brewing (New Hope, PA) for a meal and beer(s). As good fortune would have it, they had a cask ale available served via a handpump. As the beer was detailed in the beer menu:

“English Bitter: 5.5%

Triumph proudly pours unfiltered “real ale” finished and dispensed in the traditional British style, served at cellar temperature (50-55 degrees). This naturally conditioned bitter in the Burton-on-Trent style brings you the authentic flavor of an English Pub.”

Served in a tulip glass (two photos below showing the cascading beer and then later the ‘settled’ beer):

Appearance:

Amber colored with a billowy white head.

Aroma:

A fair amount of caramel/toffee aroma with just very tiny hint of earthy hop aroma.

Taste:

The flavor is dominated with malt, mostly caramel/toffee but a bit of breadiness as well in the background. A low - medium bitterness.

Mouthfeel:

Medium bodied with an off-dry finish.

Overall:

I thought this beer was good. It went well with my meal: a burger & fries (or chips in the parlance of an English Pub).

For my palate/preferences this beer would have benefitted from more hop flavor to provide some balance to the overall flavor profile.

My wife made the decision to order a pint of the Keller Pils. I had the pleasure of drinking a couple pours of this beer a week ago while attending the annual Bucks County Beer Bash. Keller Pils is an excellent beer.

Cheers!

P.S. This beer ‘reminds’ me that I need to order the ingredients for my annually homebrewed Bitter Ale that I make every spring. That beer will also be a “real ale” since it will be bottle conditioned.

 

@GreenBayBA i love me some CW . wish we got it out here but I'll live

 

4.46/5 rDev +1.4%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
No date found on the bottle, courtesy of @Roguer in '25 BIF:

After fighting through wax (damn you!!!), ToF pours a deep mahogany/walnut, almost on the verge of jet black in the glass. Head is non existent, only a subtle ring. Smells of rum, vanilla, and coconut. Taste is sugarcane, brown sugar, caramel, raisin, toffee, with the faintest hint of coconut (which is good because I generally don't find coconut in beers that appealing). As it warms, slight tartness develops, likely due to the addition of lime. Sipping, this gives Revolution Straight Jacket vibes albeit at a slightly lower ABV. Syrupy mouthfeel, moderately carbonated, very sweet, but not cloying, somewhat boozy finish. Outstanding.

 

Schlenkerla Erle

Appearance: Very dark brown, huge head.

Smell: Ashy smoke, a bit of roasty sweetness in back.

Taste: Roasted malts up front, then a lot of campfire smoke throughout. Crazy how much flavor is coming through for a 4.2% beer. Smoke, and more smoke through the finish.

Overall: Finally found 4 packs of Schlenkerla's smoked schwarzbier and it is awesome! Big smoke flavor from start to finish, like sitting next to a campfire for an hour. Wonderful smoked beer!

 

Hello New Beer Weekend!!!

Well, I might as well join our starter @GreenBayBA in having a new Central Waters beer. This beer was given to me by @cheeseheadinMinneapolis .

Milwaukee Reserve: Double Rye Barrel Imperial Stout - Central Waters Brewing - Milwaukee, WI - American Imperial Stout - 15.6%
Holy cow! This beer is a heavy hitter, as I was expecting. Great flavor profile. I love the rye influence. It adds a tasty layer to the beer. Damn good and honored I got to try it.

Review:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/652/737505/

4.41/5 rDev 0%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.5
From a 12oz can. Canned on 11/19/2024

This beer pours totally pitch black into the glass. It did look somewhat thick while pouring it. The head was a quite large 2 finger brown color. The smaller bubbles of the head did last a good deal of time considering the high ABV. When the head dissipated to a ring, there was no lacing on the glass.
There's so much chocolate, caramel and toffee on the nose. I am really just getting a very faint hint of the rye barrels used in ageing the beer.
Taste - In the flavor, I am getting a pleasing hit of chocolate, caramel and toffee up front. I do get the rye barrels and that signature flavor of rye in the beer. I have a hard time describing rye, but I say that it adds a sharpness to the flavor profile. There's a slight bit of bitterness that crops up on the backside.
This beer really tells you to slow down. There's a hint of heat from the ABV. The beer is thick and somewhat syrupy. Very full bodied and smooth.
Damn, this is very delicious. The flavor does make up for any shortcomings in the aroma department.

This is a heavy hitter, and will be all for the night. Cheers!

 

Great Notion Double Stack Imperial Breakfast Stout, 11% ABV. Pours black with a large-bubble two-finger light-brown head that left wispy lacing. Aroma, long before your nose is over the glass, is very strong maple syrup, strong coffee, and chocolate. Taste is strong coffee up front, then maple syrup, moderately sweet, equally bitter. Decent mouthfeel, overall outstanding.

4.51/5 rDev +0.4%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

A really robust breakfast stout thanks to @Beersnake sharing it with me in a Stout/Barleywine LIF box. I should have saved this for breakfast tomorrow!

 

Block 15 - Sticky Hands The Kine

 

Holy Mountain - Bitter Peace ESB

 

$60 dollar nachos double ipa
...that sort of off orange mango juice appearance
...medium light carbonation with an odd but seemingly thick feel
...aroma is straight up citrus in every way,grapefruit, orange, lime fruit and peel
...taste is similar to aroma but more complex with various different ftypes of fruit showing up. Mildly sweet in a good way with a very mild earthy bitterness
...overall a nice beer

 

That does sound like an awesome offering from Bamberg!

 

Toppling Goliath Cyber Sue IPA, 7.2% ABV; 3.94 overall

Pours a bright & effervescent gold with a thumb of ivory colored head. Average-ish head retention & lacing

S: Some citrus, passion fruit & guava, nose gets a little better once warm

T: Tangerine, a little pineapple & green melon up front. More green melon, tangerine some dryness & a little lime once this beer warms up. Finishes with pomelo, green melon, dryness & a little dried pineapple, plus some grassy notes

MF: Medium body, moderate carbonation, good balance

Nice juicy IPA, but not really wowing me, very easy to drink

 

Good evening, and thank you @GreenBayBA for getting the weekend started!
I was on a real Schwartzbier kick for a while (short while, there just aren’t many around here!) So when I saw this from Transient, well, had to try it.

Transient bills this as a German Schwartzbier but that sub style isn’t on BA.
The pour was coffee brown and looked nearly stout black in the glass. It was crowned with a 1” light brown head that left sparse lacing.
The taste is coffee and biscuits, with a well balanced hops bill that serves as counter point. So much flavor for the ABV.
The feel is just a touch more than a standard lager, which is good as I would drink the others in a two liter fest glass and come back for more. Might anyway.
OA, this is, in my very amateur opinion, an excellent example of the style.
Cheers all!

 

Boulevard Espresso Martini Imperial Stout, 12.0% ABV; 4.41 overall

Pours an effervescent chestnut/mahogany with a pinky of mocha colored head. Some head retention & lacing, fairly viscous

S: Tons of rich coffee, a touch of caramel, lovely nose

T: Sweet vanilla cream/caramel infused coffee, some dryness up front, some booze at the edges. Some bitter coffee edge works in with a pronounced sweetness. some cocoa, vanilla & caramel, some woodyness/booze from the barrel shows as this beer warms up. Finishes sweet, dry creamy with plenty of coffee

MF: Medium body, fairly firm carbonation, helps push the flavor along. Body thins a touch once warmed up

I already tossed the 4 pack holder, I am tasting barrel, but no mention on the bottle, drinks easy for the heft. I am not a coffee forward guy, but this works well