New Beer Weekend #253

Black Howler Beer Co. Baltic Porter, 7.5% ABV; 3.93 overall

Pours an effervescent cola/Chestnut color with a thumb of tan head. Below average head retention & lacing

S: Roastyness & toastyness

T: Follows the nose, also a little plum & apricot, plus leafy hoppyness on the edges up front. Some molasses notes, faint brown sugar, toastyness & just a smidge of charred grain & chocolate as this beer warms up. Finishes a little roasty, somewhat toasty/dry with Baker's Chocolate & woody hops

MF: Medium body, moderate carbonation

Solid take on the style, I usually like these a little higher octane, but super drinkability and stays on style

 

Good evening NBW
I noticed these were new to the liquor store and decided to advance my country tick by one.

Prestige

12oz stubby bottle Best By JAN -2026 poured into a pint glass at fridge temp. Label reads "Pride of Haiti" 5.6% ABV and "Brewed in Holland"
The beer pours bright, light golden yellow with nearly white head. The head recedes to a thin ring and island leaving little lacing. The aroma is more than mild with a mix of skunk, grass (lawn, not recreational) and mineral. The taste is more of the same with flabby pale malt and more skunk sprayed lawn. Mild bitterness. The feel is thin to medium bodied with above average carbonation and a semi dry finish. There's a hint of sulfur that suggests a rushed lagering period. Overall, not recommended unless you're desperate for a couple more country ticks to hit 50...

https://youtube.com/shorts/Emb7mPTFKGo?si=uOOIZc6JtjVSKXwL

 

Have a good NBS. I am at Natty Greenes for dinner with my wife. We watched terminator 2 judgement day last night and it was amazing. Perfect directing with the iconic lines said only once and at the right time. Watched the first earlier in the week. I started The Peripheral by William Gibson and i am enjoying it so far. Slow start.

Natty Greenes mighty citra. Fantastic pale ale. Lasting head retention and soapy lacing. Aromas and flavors of big red grapefruit, tangerine, peach, pineapple, mango, passionfruit, berries, citrus peel/rind, wood, peppercorn, pine, toast, light caramel, herbal, floral, grass. Medium-high pine, citrus rind, herbal, spicy bitter finish. Medium carb and body. Balanced creamy bready malts and sticky resinous hop mouthfeel. Lingering resin dryness and minimal hop astringency. Minimal warming 5.4%. Overall outstanding vibrant and dank hops with a toasty malt backbone. I love it. 4.26/5


Cheers

 

The big nasty loaded fries and the Bavarian pretzel. The mustard is better than the beer cheese frfr.


Natty Greenes newzilla saison. Aromas of peach, pear, banana, bubblegum, clove, wheat, and light honey/ floral. Taste of big banana, peach, pear, pineapple, red apple, bubblegum, peppercorn, wood, pine, clove, wheat, cracker, herbal, floral, grass, light honey, and yeast earthiness. Medium pine, herbal, woody bitterness and yeast spiciness on finish. Light yeast tang/tartness. Medium carb and body. Balanced bready grainy malt and sticky resinous hop mouthfeel. Lingering crisp resin dryness with minimal hop astringency. Tastes a lot like achouffe yeast, tons of phenolic complexity. Never had newzilla hops but they make a great hoppy saison. 4/5


Cheers

 

Well, we were supposed to have a house full for this afternoon with people coming and going, hence the large amount of pork cooked, but ended up with only a couple of extra bellies to fill. Looks like pulled pork leftover variants for a week or so. May have to take some in for my vultures at work. Oh well...not a great weather day that just felt lazy from the jump. Couple more tweaks to the recipe worked out well.

Here's what's in the glass as I watch 600 more miles of racing (or as long as I can stand). Indy was cool, but I'm a stock car guy at heart.



Jacks Abby Pineapple Mayhem. It's got mango and pineapple. In the fruit and field beer category here.

Pours moderately hazy pale gold with a couple inches of rocky white head that doesn't last and vanishes into nothing.

Smells pretty good. Pineapple and resin-like mango. The pineapple is kinda candy-like vs fresh. Bready malt and a bit of yeast character. Very slight indication of sweetness - not sure if it's fruit or grain sweet.

It's not so in your face with the fruit on the flavor. The malt seems a little more prevalent with some yeasty bread and it works to anchor the fruitiness. The pineapple is actually a bit syrupy in the taste like canned pineapple. The mango is a quite piney and pungent, but it is a little in the background. There is some bready sweetness as well as sweet from the fruit. It's counteracted by a decent level of fruit acidity and some mild bitterness.

The feel is medium, carbonation is modest. Fruity flavor carries over like Juicy Fruit gum.

This is pretty good - fun to drink. Was it Pete Seeger - "If I had a habanero, I'd put it in my beer..." Might sound crazy but a little hot pepper would be good with this. Fairly well balanced between the lager and fruit - avoids becoming one-dimensional. Thinking 3.75 or so.

 

Had my favorite kind of day with the family, pedaling along the Susquehanna on a perfect day, watching Rock climbers, bird watching, hiking on side trails, and just generally enjoying one another's company. We averaged barely two miles per hour for the 6 hours we were out there but what the hell, we had fun. We explored this gorge pretty far upstream that was right off the trail.



Home now and enjoying this Baltic porter courtesy of @Whyteboar



This is clean, smooth, and dangerously drinkable at 8.8%. What a beautiful malt bomb. The roast is very light, offering hints of smoke and very light char at the finish. Up front this is slightly nutty with some brown sugar and just a touch of vanilla. I cannot believe how fast this can is disappeared. Thanks Craig!

 

Celebrating a successful trip with Mom to see the Astros walk-off the dirty low Mariners:

Jester King Fen Tao • wild ale refermented with peaches • Batch 10, July 2024 • 5% ABV

The short version: I should've opened this last summer when I bought it, though it's not a total loss by any means.

There's no peach flavor, very little fruit flavor and it had very little carbonation left in the bottle. Jester King often uses corks for their bottled wild ale, but this one did not have a cork. I may stick with buying their corked beers from now on ... not sure on that.

Despite the negatives, it's a great example of Jester King's house profile ... dry, tart, lemons, lime and plenty of their barnyard funky stuff. This one has a lactic funky note that reminds me a lot of Springbank/Kilkerran single malt Scotch. The mouthfeel starts off splendidly, and while it is losing its carbonation quickly, it's still pretty solid for the style.

Official review:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/24018/135083/?ba=Premo88#review
3.89 (-10.8% rDev)

Any beer with fresh fruit in it should probably be drunk ASAP. That's my main takeaway from this one. I will not be sitting on my JK beers for months at a time anymore.

Cheers!

 

Another Bavarian pretzel


Natty Greenes Greene-Go. Great vienna lager. Great head retention and soapy lacing. Aromas of caramel, brown bread/crust, toast, light roast, herbal, grass. Taste follows with caramel, brown sugar, toast, brown bread crust, wood, mint, peppercorn, pine, herbal, floral, grass; light roast, dark fruit, yeast earthiness. Medium pine, woody, herbal, spicy bitter finish. Medium carb and body; balanced bready grainy malt and sticky resinous hop mouthfeel. Fairly crisp with resin dryness and minimal hop astringency. Very clean lager flavors with minimal fruity/yeasty notes. Zero warming 4.8%. A little too bitter but the flavors are spot on in vienna/Munich malt complexity. 4/5


Cheers

 

Gotta catch up on my NBW-ing! Here are a couple more new ones from yesterday:

#1 Third Eye - Jungle Eye on Dixie High II



Notes:
Courtesy of @jzeilinger

P gold w/ a slight chill haze
N soft med nose of berries, a touch of mint, caramely sweetness
T nice caramel malt base supports berries, a bit of resiny pine, some citrus in there too
Mf med bodied, med to med high carb
O a well-built wc dipa w/ good balance and drinkability

---

#2 Cellarmaker - Simmer @DIM (sorry Dan, couldn't resist )



Notes:
Courtesy of @Beersnake

P deep mahogany, sm khaki head
N med to med bold nose of choc, peaty notes, dark sugars
T delicious, big profile of sweet dark sugars, choc, toffee, offset by earthiness, peaty notes, light heat in the finish/ aftertaste
Mf light-med bodied, soft to soft med carb
O an excellent barrel aged barleywine; rich, yet still has good drinkability despite the style and abv

Cheers

 

Magnanimous EX OBLIVION


4.03/5 rDev 0%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4
Magnanimous Ex Oblivion , no canned date , gifted by a famous BA from Florida, ( @Ocalafox ) this ipa a light yellow murk with a dewey velvet head, aroma is citrusy. Taste is soft mellow light grapefruit, some peachy, melon. Feel is excellent combo of creamy and light. Overall this is a light touch ipa that is refreshing, no bitter just smooth. This ipa was created with the metal band TOMBS , but in a blind taste test I picked the Starland Vocal Band because this collab is an afternoon delight.

 

2022 Firestone Imperial Walker's Reserve
12% smoked porter aged in bourbon barrels



Poured from a 500ml bottle, the body is an opaque black with fluffy, light mocha colored head. Light lacing.

Aroma features a lightly sweet bourbon and chocolate. A hint of smoke.

Taste follows nose with the smoke a wee bit more assertive, but not heavy. The bourbon is present but not hot. Notes of oak, tobacco, and vanilla are tasted. At swallow more smoke flavor appears then quickly fades. An expertly balanced beer that features its elements and allows them all to shine.

Mouthfeel about mid weight. Almost heavy stout feel but a notch under. Carbonation light.

Overall a delightful porter that deftly balance malty bitterness and light smoke. I believe this one was from the BA box from last year.

 

Happy NBS!

Having a very tasty/juicy NEIPA from Casey (CO), one of their best to date for me. Made a Hamburg/Potato Casserole.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/35633/446999/

Cheers!

 

Natty Greenes Yuzu Gose. Aromas and flavors of big tart/sour lemon, lime, white grapefruit, orange, citrus zest, green apple, white grape/wine, hay, straw, grass, pepper, wheat, cracker, lacto funk, light salt. Medium fruity lactic tart/tang, and spicy yeast finish. Medium high carb and light med body. Crisp clean refreshing finish. Balanced grainy malt and lactic/tangy fruit mouthfeel. Slight salinity. Nearly bone dry finish with no pucker and light lingering fruit. Zero warming 5.2%. Huge yuzu citrus vibrancy. Not overly lactic. 4.25/5


Cheers

 

Hey, how many BAs can say they have a high quality Barrel aged barley wine named after them?? Truly an honor.

 

That casserole looks solid! Cheers, @Wasatch

 

Where's the green Chilles?

 

Well, I am back yet again, and much later than expected because I had to cover for a sick member of my team.

Time for a tasty beer.

Just Beachy - Castle Danger Brewing - Two Harbors, MN - Kolsch - 4.3%

Light, refreshing, and full of flavor. This went down crazy fast, and I liked it a lot.

Review:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/25567/747258/#navigation
3.99/5 rDev 0%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4
From a 12oz can. Canned on 04/21/2025

This beer has a nice touch of a faint murkiness to it and is a pale golden color. There's a nice fluffy looking 1 finger white head to the beer. The head retention is decent and there's some nice and sticky looking lacing on the glass.
Aroma is so damn nice to my nose. There's malty grain notes to it. I get a faint sweetness to it. I am getting a good floral element to the aroma.
The beer has a very floral flavor that hits right away and it does linger for quite a while. The floral elements do have a peach flavor to them. The floral/peach does mellow out and I get a nice biscuit/malty grain flavor in the beer. There's a nice bitterness on the finish of this beer.
The body is lighter, though not watery. There's a crisp and clean feeling to this beer.
Damn, this would be very tasty and refreshing on a summer day.

Be back shortly for another.

 

Not this time, at least.

Cheers!