New Beer Weekend #248

New beer - Willow Rock Brewing Company (Syracuse , NY) Rugged Scotch Ale . A limited seasonal. Brown mahogany body, tan head. Malty ,toffee aroma. Taste is toffee caramel biscuit with burnt sugar bitterness. As the beer warms it become more favorable with the deep caramel toffee tones. A really good beer that would sell year round.

 

Looks like I need to some catching up on this thread

Dust Bowl Brewing Co. Peace, Love & Haze Hazy IPA, 6,3% ABV; 3.51 overall

Pours a very hazy gold with a thumb+ of cream-colored head. Good head retention & better lacing

S: Some grassyness, & a little citrus late, that is all. Nose is the weakest part of this beer for sure

T: Pomelo, a trace of mango, dryness & leafy hops up front. Bitter orange & leafy hops, plus pronounced dryness as this beer warms up, a bit of lime as well. Finishes a little dry with leafy hop bitterness, some orange peel & just a little sweet citrus & some peach

MF: Medium body, restrained carbonation, alright balance

This can is a year old, but since they can't bother to put freshness dating on their boxes, this rating is what it is. Drinkable enough, but clearly faded, but does maintain some juicy aspects

 

New to me is this darn good Schwarzbier named Dark As Hell by Jack's Abby of Framingham Massachusetts. Pairs well with a Redsox win.
Prost!

4.18/5 rDev +0.2%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

A slow pour with a kick at the end produced a finger of tan creamy froth with long retention yet no lacing. A thin film with some large bubbles and a ring persists. Aged rosewood deep dark brown with cryptic red highlights, clear in bright light.

Bready malts (toasted/untoasted dark bread/dough, faint caramel) greet the nose; coffee, bakers' chocolate, roasted grains and a hint of fruit (apple, grape and lemon) follow. Mild floral/herbal hop aroma, barely a hint of booze.

Coffee then unsweetened chocolate up front, it still starts semi-sweet at first with quickly creeping bitterness, above average hop flavor is overtaken by roasted character for a pleasant balance. The taste profile moves quickly yet the semi-dry finish is most of the aforementioned flavors steadily falling off with bakers' chocolate, coffee and hop/roasted grain bitterness hanging on. An almost burnt, hoppy/roasted bitterness lingers a while,


Medium malty rich body, sightly oily, well carbonated throughout. Smooth and very well balanced. It warms very well; alcohol is still an afterthought, and the malt stands out more. Lots of flavors blended and well balanced, a likely revisit.

 

Open Air - Open Air IPA

350ml can served in a tulip. Can't read anything, but looks like it's probably "best by" 2025.09. Bought it in Japan last week. Don't remember where.

Pours clear light yellow with a dense, creamy head that turns into a dense, even skin. Smell is green -- grass and leaves, honeysuckle and something between menthol and mint.

Taste is on the same train. Lighter, brighter, more lemon and flowers, bitterness not exactly subtle, but well-integrated so it doesn't stand out as a character on its own.

Mouthfeel is light, clean, dry. Overall, this is quite nice. Not a knockout, but easily would make "perennial fridge beer" status if readily available and reasonably priced.
2 minutes ago Edit Delete

 

That is at the low end ABV wise for a Wee Heavy for my liking to be sure

 

Industrial arts spring bock lager
....a very incredibly clear amber appearance
....medium bodied with the carbonation weighing in about the same.
.. aroma is far from overpowering but its still nice. Dark malty toast, caramel, floral earthy sweet honey. Almost seems to have q very mild wood elemebt
...taste has a very slight sweetness along with a very mild,floral earthy honey note. Some cereal,toast and bread finish out the taste.
....overall probably one of the best beer that I've had from this brewery

 

More generosity from @muchloveforhops3 Cheers Doug!

Sockeye Hopnoxious Imperial IPA, DDH Imp IPA with El Dorado, Mosaic, & Citra Hops, 9.0% ABV; 3.95 overall

Pours a chill hazed gold/honey color with 2 fingers of eggshell colored head. Very good head retention & better lacing

S: A little citrus, some tropical fruit, nose is a little subdued

T: Piney, a little cakey, dry with tangerine, oranges & some guava up front. Biscuitty malt, pine, oranges, dryness, a little grapefruit as this beer warms up. Finishes dry with a little cakeyness, oranges, grapefruit & pine getting pushed to the background, but still there; just a little booze dancing on the edges too

MF: Medium body, subdued carbonation, great balance, some acidity late

A bruiser of beer, but drinkable, great first impression of this brewery

 

Good evening all, tonight I had another one that @sulldaddy sent me in an unprovoked ninja attack during the recent (and still going strong!) Stout and Barleywines BIF.

Nero: CCV (Coffee, chocolate and vanilla)
Poured stout black with a very tall light brown head which made me wait way too long to really get into it. First world problems, right?
The taste is very much a milk stout- lactose gives a unique flavor; a soft sweetness, and with the vanilla and cacao it gives the impression of a frothy chocolate milk. With coffee, but that’s more a supporting substance than a primary flavor. It is a treat.
The feel is also affected by the lactose - an interesting softness. Nice viscosity.
OA, I very much enjoyed drinking this, and appropriately as dessert.
This is my one and done today, I will join in tomorrow with one @DIM sent me in the aforementioned BIF.
Cheers!

 

That sounds like maximum efficiency!

 

Funny, my wife got mad because she thought I was using her baking vanilla her friend gave her in small clear bottles for God knows what... I let her stew on that one awhile

 

That shed will be there next week

 

Did your food pairing work out well?

 

Sort of,used whole wheat flower so made it a bit dense and the sour ale way a lot more fruity than I thought it would be.
Couldn't have been too bad as I chowed down 3 pieces

 

Highland Park - High 11 Hazy IPA

16oz can served in a snulip. Canned on 03/18/25. Probably bought it at Windsor Homebrew a couple weeks ago.

Pours hazy yellow-amber with a big, fluffy head that settles into a thick, webby lacing and residual head. Smell is citrus pith and mango skin, fresh and lemony.

Taste is not substantially more expressive. Grain comes out more clearly, more floral than juicy, plenty of pith and fruit skin.

Mouthfeel is fluffy. Nice beer, but not revelatory.

 

On the road south to visit family. Managed to wrangle everyone into the nearest brewery...

Alematic Paint It Black - Sometimes it feels hard to truly grasp a reaction toward a beer. Having a popular example of the style for comparison feels necessary. This was good, pretty full-bodied, roasty, smoky bitterness. Black IPAs are always a draw in this household.

Alematic All Black Everything - Black, like my coffee. Actually looks identical to the IPA. Not bad either.



And then we somehow ended up at JAFB, which I had wanted to visit for a while.

New Stunt XLVI - IDK hops varietals enough, but the aroma was so pleasant on its own. Very tasty, easy to drink west-coast IPA. Tropical quality, hoppy, tolerable im bitterness.

Made purchases like a degenerate, now on the road again.

 

From the awesome @muchloveforhops3

Fremont Coconut & Coffee Barrel Aged Cuvee 2025 Imperial Stout with toasted coconut & coffee, 11.0% ABV; 4.39 overall


Pours an effervescent mahogany/ebony with one finger of mocha colored head. Below average head retention & better lacing, plenty viscous

S: Coffee, upfront, then coconut, some vanilla late. Coffee sticks around, but mostly coconut & a little fig & Maple Candy late

T: Follows the nose with a boozy edge, vanilla, a little toffee & woody hops on the edges up front. Toasted coconut asserts itself once warmed up, along dialed back coffee, vanilla & a little molasses & oaky barrel presence. Finishes with coconut & vanilla sweetness, oaky & woody dryness, some figgy notes & a touch of cola

MF: Medium body, pretty firm carbonation. Getting a little warmth & barrel, carbonation pushes the flavors

Well put together offering, toasted coconut is dominating & that is fine by me. Drinkable as can be, much to love here

 

Humble Forager and Forager - Elm, English Barleywine

12oz can served in a tulip. Don't see a date on it. Got it from @bbtkd in Stout/Barleywine BIF #2.

Pours dark...almost stout dark. Small head. Looks thick, approaching syrupy. Smell is oak and sticky toffee pudding, molasses and nuts.

Taste is sweet, boozy, oaky, molasses offset by tannins, some cola and horehound. Maybe a tamarind note? Abundant but not dominant vanilla.

Mouthfeel is thick, silky, with just a bit of prickle. Very nice beer.

 

Hello NBW.
Another beer courtesy of our very own @snaotheus
Matryoshka (Congo, Brazil, and Guatemala Vanilla Beans)

Ebony pour with a proud 3 fingers of mocha colored head. Great retention and clumpy lacing.
Nose is bright and warm with vanilla. I do not tend to appreciate a heavy vanilla nose, or flavor, but this is quite tempting in its delivery. Also picking up some cocoa, caramel, molasses, and lightly charred whiskey barrel.
Flavor follows the nose, vanilla is firm. Other notes of coffee, cocoa, dates, whiskey come in but the vanilla is a diva. I think she is trying to really monopolize the spotlight.
Mouthfeel is chewy enough and the finish is gently warm.
Overall, this hits a lot of solid notes but the strength of the vanilla in the flavor does overwhelm a bit. Not bad, and definitely a vanilla lover's dream come true.

3.74/5 rDev -11.8%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.5