New Beer Weekend #254

Thanks to @Beersnake for the start. As for the question of the week, I normally do not eat anything alongside the beer if I am writing a review. If I'm not reviewing, I might eat something but I'm not normally a "must have snacks while drinking" guy.

This weekend my new beers come from an Oskar Blues mixed pack of easy drinking beers. First up is Oskar Blues Mas Lima


Appearance: Slightly hazy pale yellow, big head.

Smell: Mostly limes.

Taste: Refreshing and easy to drink. “Beery” with obvious lime but not overly sour. Gives a bit of grassiness in the finish. Light bodied.

Overall: I never used to go for any fruit in beer, but I must be getting softer in my old age. This just hits the spot, you still can tell it's beer (and a pretty good one) while getting a hit of lime flavor. Nice easy drinking beer.

 

At a German place in Kawasaki

Black Tide + West Coast - Tidal V DDH IPA

 

Thrash Zone - Another Bastard Ale

 

Thrash Zone - Envenom Barleywine

 

You’ve been over there a lot lately, we’re happy that you bring your pad and pen each time.

Duck ramen sounds yum.

 

Thrash Zone - World Downfall stout

 

I rarely eat food with beer, all I want are for the notes from the beer to shine; this is just a preference thing. I will occasionally snack one some cabot sharp cheddar, pretzels and/or nuts but not with a new beer I'm trying to take in.

My goal in providing a review is that I try and describe that beer as accurately as I can, I practice every weekend I know that if I have food it will lead to a less accurate description of the beer...eat something sweet it kills all sweet subtlety in said beer, eat something bitter, there goes the bitter nuance, etc.

I think my favorite way to socially review a beer is sharing a beer with a fellow beer lover and talking about it together, much like this thread but when you're both trying the same thing it brings a level of camaraderie and enjoyment as you react to one another' observations; looking at you @skivtjerry, t minus 2.5 months or so

 

Vienna Lager from Avling Kitchen and Brewery

Poured a 473ml can into a pilsner glass. A big three finger fine tan head on a clear dark amber brown. Excellent head retention. Sticks around to the end. Persistent sheets of of fine lacing.

Mild caramel and toffee smells. Tastes of toasted bread. Sweeter malts in the middle. A longish mild hop finish.

Medium body and carbonation. Overall a pretty solid Vienna Lager.

3.83/5 rDev +5.2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4

 

Are all their beers bird labeled like that? Really cool if so, I’ll look forward to seeing the next one.

 

Ayinger kellerbier


3.81/5 rDev -1.3%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75


On tap at Ayinger bier hall across from Hofbrau in Munich

Translucent golden with occasional carbonation streams ,two finger white foam

Aroma is sweet, grassy, straw

Taste is grassy , straw

Mouthfeel is light and soft

Good bier

 

Hmmm
New shared beer thread starting up when?

 

Yea…it popped into my head, how do we make this happen?? Maybe we can somehow do this with newly available national, or close to nationally distributed beers

 

Cheers all!

I’m sharing a cellar pull from yesterday evening after a very long day of chaperoning at the Ontario Small Schools Athletic Federation Tier 2 Grades 3 and 4 Track and Field Championships. It’s a federation of small private schools that come together to offer athletic competitions for their students. All the coaches and officials are volunteers who put in great effort to give the kids a great experience. I was tasked with marshalling our athletes competing in long jump through their jumps. It was nice, because both my kids competed in the 8 year old category. It brought back a lot of memories for me, as this was my best track event as a kid. (I still have my medals from age 8-11 where I won three golds and a silver!) No medals for our team in long jump this year, but lots of great jumps and even more smiles. In the end, our school - the smallest there with only 15 participants - came home with gold in the Grade 4 boys 100m (a huge result in the marquee event) and 4th and 5th in the Grade 4 boys 200m. My son’s best result was a fourth in his second 100m heat, finishing with a time two spots out of making it into the final. Similarly, in the 200m, my daughter finished 4th in her second heat, also with a time 2 spots out of the final 8. They loved the experience.

On to the beer….

I grabbed this from the cellar a few days ago, and put it in the upstairs fridge. I meant to remove it 20 minutes or so before opening, but forgot, and decided to start cold. This is BA Connexion from Brasserie du Bas Canada in Gatineau, Québec. BBC is considered by most of the beer cognoscenti in Laurentian Canada to be the best brewery in the country, particularly for barrel aged stouts. This one was aged in bourbon barrels and conditioned on Macadamia nuts, coconut and Madagascar vanilla. It was unintentionally aged in a cellar with far too much beer. In my experiences, BBC flavoured stouts do fine with a few years age. They tend to mellow a little, which I’m more than fine with.



Poured a deep black/brown with negligible head. The pour suggested a medium body.

The aroma is muted. The barrel is noticed first with lots of bourbon and oak and then the nose picks up some vanilla, chocolate and nutty notes. No coconut to my nose.

The taste bring out very well integrated flavours of vanilla, bourbon, wood, mixed nuts and a hint of coconut. Likely mellowed from its time in my basement, the flavours are still present and noticeable (perhaps with the exception of the coconut). The way they come together seamlessly with every sip makes this very enjoyable. As it warmed, the flavours intensified a little.

The body is medium. No syrupy sludge one often gets in these add-junk stouts. Despite the big 11% ABV, the beer is smooth, and eminently drinkable. My wife and I shared the 750ml bottle, but I could easily see myself finishing the whole thing without trouble.

I always kick myself for waiting so long with some of my cellar stuff. I don’t really cellar intentionally. I just buy too much beer for my drinking habits. These big Bas Canada stouts seem to do ok for me with time. The fact I have a tonne more down there makes me content.

If you ever find yourself in the Ottawa area, like big stouts (and barleywines and IPAs and lagers), do yourself a favour and cross the river to visit Brasserie du Bas Canada. It really does deserve its status as claimed by many as being the best brewery in the country.

Cheers!

 

Avling is one of the several local breweries to me that I still haven’t gotten around to trying (just too many of them…). I’d read a couple months back that the brewery was up for sale. They used to can in short cans with a fairly generic label design. This move to tall cans appears to be new according to their website. Looks like not only birds, but other animals as well. Quite nice looking. Scott may know more.

https://www.avling.ca/shop

I’ve only ever seen their black lager on shelves in the LCBO. I’ll have to drive out to the brewery to give them a try. I’ve meaning to for some time now.

Cheers!

 

Good morning New Beer Weekend People,
Thank you @Beersnake for hosting and the ice breaker question of the week. My beer reviews are without snacks… I find it’s an exercise in really being aware of my senses, being in the moment, slowing down to enjoy the experience and attempting to verbalize it. It’s fun, the more you do it, the more descriptors you learn, and I will peruse previous reviews to see if I can recognize what others may have found.

Medusa * Strange Lights In The Sky


3.92/5 rDev -1%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4
Gifted by a prominent BA residing in Cape Cod @mickyge . Canned 4/28 cracked 30 days later, pours a light orange yellow murk, rich head that reduced quickly to ring around the glass with tree rings inside the glass. Aroma is soft apricot, mango, melon. Taste follows along with a hint of lemon, pine. Feel has soft warming carbonation, mild sweet and the pine is in the taste not the finish. Tasty fresh fruity with a bit of pine zip yet neutral in the mouth aftertaste if this makes any sense. It’s very good!

 

And how did it compare to the Chuckanut?

I can't agree more with this take. Having someone else to bounce things off and from whom you can receive another perspective that may open new things to your mind that hopefully leads to more enjoyment.

 

They are labelled like that, but with other animals, not always with birds. https://www.avling.ca/shop

 

Spinning Yarn barrel aged farmhouse is available in bottles in the LCBO https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/56671/567820/ I picked one up whan I was there earlier this month.

I remember the short cans of mostly European styles in the stores. That's what I was hoping for when I went there. They do a good job of what they brew.

 

I’m glad you liked it, they are a nice brewery and well worth the visit if you are in the metro west area of Ma.