New Beer Weekend #254

I am home now, and I will catch up on this thread after I post my closing beer today. I picked this up at Casanova Liquor this morning.

Hazy Like Sunday Morning - Barrel Theory Brewing - St. Paul, MN - NEIPA - 7.2%

Wow! I totally am a rocks and cows person, and truly hate big cities. That being said, I totally have to get back to Barrel Theory in St. Paul again. It has been way too long since I've been there. They continue to make amazing beers, and I'd put this up with the OG's of this style. I am impressed, and so glad I bought this beer this morning in Hudson, WI.

Review:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/49534/407573/
4.49/5 rDev +3.2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
From a 16oz can. Canned on 04/30/2025

This beer looks like pineapple juice in the glass, which is fitting with the style. Very murky and hazy looking with a thick 3 finger white head. The head retention is average, and there's a bit of lacing on the glass.
Holy hell, is this tropical smelling. So much pineapple in the aroma. Hints of grapefruit and tangerine. There's also a faint earthiness to this beer's aroma.
Taste - Holy hell! This flavor is amazing, and I'm burnt out on the style. So tropical. I get tons of pineapple, tangerine, and grapefruit. These flavors have an earthy hint to them.
The hops do cling in my throat a bit. I am guessing they used oats in the beer, because it is soft as silk. Smooth, and creamy feeling.
Wow, when a beer in this style is made right, it is downright amazing. This is made right.

Last beer of this new beer weekend. See you all at the virtual bar next weekend. Cheers to you all.

 

Good evening all, finally here with my first for the evening - a hazy IPA.
I know, boggled my mind too. It was a gift, so I tried it.

Poured muted orange, almost peach color with a very tall near white head.
The taste took me by surprise; most NE style (hazy) IPAs tend to feature citrus flavors and this one is more mango/apricot/peach flavors. no bitterness whatsoever, very soft tasting if that makes sense.
The feel is lightly viscous, seems to have lots of additives that cause the haze, it certainly affects the feel.
OA, tasty enough, would be fine drinking these regularly just for something different.
Okay, so I’ve had my hazy IPA for the month. Year? Don’t know. But it was pretty good.
Cheers, back later.

 

Toppling Goliath Mind Your Unwind DIPA, 8.5% ABV; 4.25 overall

Nelson Sauvin, Simco & Krush Hops

Pours a super-hazed gold with a thumb+ of tight eggshell colored head. Stays pretty hazed, good head retention & excellent lacing

S: Tropical fruit, melons, stays strong

T: Guava, passion fruit, dryness, green melon & white grape & a little citrus on the edges up front. Dryness, faint pineapple & tangerine surfaces as this beer warms up along with more white grape, green melon & guava. Finishes dry-ish with pineapple, tangerine

MF: Medium body, fairly creamy carbonation, enough Citrus bitter to balance fruity sweetness

Drinks fairly easy for the ABV, just got better as it warmed up, wish it was a little less dry, but I am nit picking a bit. This 3-week-old product is prime right now

 

As promised, a stop at Equal Parts Brewing in Houston. Two IPA's to review...

Oarfish IPA (have no idea where that name came from, assuming some kind of pop culture reference all the cool kids now ha). 7% ABV, IPA with Amarillo and Centennial hops.



Pours a crystal clear orange/amber color. A white head forms with good retention and lacing left all the way down the glass.
Aroma of pine and resin like hops up front and center. Citrus, grapefruit, grassy hops. Oh this is nice.
Taste wise, follows the nose with a big up front pine/resin and citrus/grapefruit bite. Bready malts, with a bit of caramelized sugars. It is certainly sweet mid palate. With a substantial bitterness lingering.
A medium to full body. Moderate carbonation that is appropriately hefty. With a big chewy and resiny character. A nice classic IPA to come back to.

It could be just a tad less sweet for me, but minor quibbles. An all around very good West Coast style IPA, that I hope to see around more often.

Overall score is 4.09, easy A-
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/44383/748247/?ba=champ103#lists

Next...

East End IPA, hey I get it...the brewery is on the east end of Houston...no need for stupid naming gimmicks ha. 6.5% ABV. IPA with Centennial and Strata hops.



Pours an impressively crystal clear yellow color. A white head forms with good retention. Lacing for days as I drink the entire glass down.
Aroma is citrus, orange and lemon pop. There is a peppery spice and grassy hops lingering as well. Very nice.
Taste wise, like the nose citrus fruity up front. Fresh orange and lemon rind. Zesty, spice, and a bitter dry finish.
A medium body with crisp carbonation. This is clean, bright and finishes wonderfully dry. Which all leads to something I can come back to and drink again, easily, in big gulps.

A nice simple and clean IPA. I don't have much more to say than that. Its just really solid, approachable, and moreish all the way around. Well done.

Overall score is 4.08 another A-
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/44383/748246/?ba=champ103#lists

I'm halfway through this excellent Russian novel by Vassily Aksyonov. Its one of the most sarcastic and cynical "Russian Epics" you will ever read. Imagine if Seinfeld and Larry David wrote a Russian novel in the late 70's ha.

 

Next up from Equal Parts Brewing...

Half Moon, India Pale Lager. 7.4% ABV, with Strata, Amarillo, Simcoe hops.



Pours a clear yellow color. A white head forms with good retention and plenty of lace left behind. Equal Parts always has very good looking beers at the brewery.
Aroma is pineapple, mango, berry and tropical fruit aroma. All fine and good, but a bit too modern IPAish for me...if that makes sense.
Taste wise, follows the nose with that tropical fruit medley. Ranging from pineapple, mango, berries. It becomes juicy sweet and fruit salad territory.
A medium to full body. Moderate carbonation, but thicker and way more sweet than a pale lager should be for my tastes. Certainly not hard to drink, but I can't say I'm looking to come back to this over any number of other offerings from the brewery.

This is an odd one, and hard to really pin down. If you are expecting a new aged juicy IPA, this is just fine. For a pale lager specifically, its a bit higher alcohol than I would like. I would also like drier and more crisp body. Saying all that, this isn't bad at all, but more of a Yellow Rose like lager...if you get my drift. And I'd rather just have a Yellow Rose, or one of Equal Parts superior lagers...this is kind of caught in between.

Overall score is 3.57, B
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/44383/748313/?ba=champ103#lists

The food truck that is at Equal Parts is always ridiculously awesome...

Pork Carnitas grilled cheese...and curly fries

 

A wonderful review 9/10. One point deducted for no Moe Cheers.

 

Ha, he has some left over curly fries, so he is happy and is now back to napping

 

Sounds like a very interesting description of a read, may have to look into this one once I'm done my current read. A book I hope to update in the book thread soon, I've been so busy so I'm slowing up but I still do my best to get in some pages each day.

If that were my last meal, I think I'd be happy...

 

Good evening, all. I'll catch up on the thread later...eight pages is nice to see!

Antsy to get the garden into high gear so spent yesterday in between sprinkles doing a bunch of prep work and fighting against a weather-induced funk. Got potatos in, and cherry tomatoes, kale. Sprayed poison ivy today hoping we are dry for a few days.

Tonight's beer:



Barreled Souls Gimme the Munichwine aged in tequila and Templeton Rye barrels, a 12.8% big boy beer bottled on 10/01/24. I guess it will be an American barleywine when I add it.

Pours a murky dark brown with faint reddish tints. No head on the pour but there is a small island and a scant ring of microbubbles after the fact. Update: cleared substantially as it warms. Second pour produced a half inch of tan foam.

The smell opens very slightly boozy and sweet. Brown sugar and toffee, dark bread. A little hazelnut. Very fruity - more plum than dark fruit but the dark fruit is certainly present. A little oak woodiness, an acid tang that I'd guess is Rye related. There is a mild spiciness - maybe clove. A wee bit of honey.

The taste is super smooth. Slightly sweet, nowhere near as boozy as the nose suggested. Malty and bready, toffee/brown sugar, figs and dates, and I still get plum. Then a little breaking ball - apricot. Pleasant Rye presence. It is quite fruity but in the overall sense - not overly strong in any particular fruit - and I'll chalk that and the little honey taste up to the tequila. There's a woodiness and just the barest hint of smoke flavor. Well in the aftertaste the little bit of spicy clove and a bit of pepper say hello.

Medium bodied, slightly sticky, a bit dry on the finish. It's dangerously easy to drink.

Overall this is one smooth operator! The base beer is well-represented and is complemented nicely by the tequila and Rye. The ABV is well-hidden but it's packing a hidden punch for sure. Nothing is particularly dominant in terms if flavor- everybody's playing nicely in the pool. Thinking 4.3 or so.

The question's answer - no food when reviewing. I do like pairing foods and beer when I know what the beer is all about. We will usually eat something when we do brewery visits. But reviews - those I do on their own so I'm focused on the beer.

 

Needed to have a stout to close out my weekend, so I grabbed one I found in a bottle shop in Colorado Springs that usually has interesting beers but old beers are not uncommon. Sadly, this was one of them. But barrel aged stouts should age okay though, right?

4 Years old already; I really need to start looking at dates closer. Barrel aged stouts without adjuncts or additives are usually good, pastry stouts, maybe not.
The pour was promising - dark brown with what seemed to be ruby colored highlights, which is a first for me. the head was light beige and grew a good inch high which was almost impressive.
The taste had the essential chocolate and was followed by raisins, which was a surprise. The coffee seems to have faded out as did any lactose flavor. The vanilla may be the raisin or it may also have faded but not really present any longer.
The feel is thinner than expected but by no means unpleasant or off putting.
OA, would have been nice to try this when fresh, but obviously it was not to be.
Been a good weekend, glad to have spent some of it with you all.
Cheers all!

 

That samich looks tasty

 

When you get a Dang from someone not from the South, that counts as a times 10

 

4 Hands Incarnation Juiced IPA, 6.5% ABV;3.67 overall

Pours a super-hazed gold with 2 fingers of ivory colored head. Stays super hazed, average-ish head retention & lacing

S: Pineapple, oranges, passion fruit & guava, fairly modest

T: Follows the nose, some dryness, plenty of acidity up front, perhaps a hint of apricot. Pineapple, passion fruit, guava & less dryness as this beer warms up. Finishes with pineapple & orange & a little dryness

MF: Medium body, subdued carbonation, close to creamy, carbonation flattens out, decent balance

Drinks alright, but no one flavor pushes through to dominate or help this meld together. Reminds me of the pineapple/orange juices we used to get with school lunches in the 70s; muddled, with no carbonation & meh

 

Thought we might limp this to 9 pages, es machts nichts

Mother's Brewing Company ( Springfield MO ) Atomic Mom Juicy Imperial India Pale Ale, 9.5% ABV; 3.54 overall

Pours a chill hazed gold/honey with a finger of eggshell colored head. Great head retention & better lacing

S: Honey malt, green melon & cantaloupe, a little doughy once warmed up, didn't help the cause. White grapes showing up late

T: Follows the noose, fairly cakey, some orange & lime notes up front. Cantaloupe, white grape dryness & faint pomelo notes as this beer warms up, cakey notes too. Finishes dry with cakeyness & a little pineapple

MF: Medium body, subdued carbonation, a trace of grittyness, skews too malty

Plenty drinkable, but rough on the edges, hops take a backseat & that is never great for this style. Will get drank fast enough; a mess style-wise

 

It's been a gorgeous, breezy afternoon here in Beaverton. After getting a handful of errands done, I got out to enjoy the weather and maybe the last New Beer of the weekend. (Or maybe not.)

I ended up at John's Marketplace for some light reading and a beer from their extensive array of coolers.



Zoiglhaus Platinum Circle Summer Lager
Collaboration with Breakside Brewing (both breweries are in Portland, OR). Canned on 04/24/25.

Look:
The beer has an attractive aspen gold body clouded with a hint of haze. The head of bright white foam shrinks to a collar that lasts to the bottom of the glass, and leaves blotchy lacing like a late-period Miró painting

Smell:
Clean, crackery malt with tasty details: nectarines, pears, Swedish Fish candy, and a spicy floral/woody undertone that suggests "men's cologne" more than it suggests "noble hops." (I know it sounds weird, but it's subtle and works really well here.)

Taste:
Faithfully follows the nose. The malt is dry and the fruity notes are a little underripe (which is how I like my nectarines and pears). Mouthwatering, not sweet, not too heavy. Mingles nicely with the light malt. The "spicy floral" character from the nose leans more floral than spicy on the palate. The finish is dry and quenching.

Feel:
Light-bodied and crisp with bracing carbonation.

Overall:
Zoiglhaus seems to fly a little under the radar in Portland, but they consistently make a range of excellent lagers. Breakside's "modern" lagers are always solid, sometimes excellent, and sometimes fall squarely on the too-fruity side. Together these breweries made a winner. Platinum Circle is a hoppy lager with subtle fruit character that hit me just right today. I might have to try it again next weekend when temperatures hit the 90s here for the first time this year.

 

Oh heck yeah. That looks spectacular. I could imagine maybe a little dish of red chile broth on the side for dipping...

 

Well Hello Late Night NBS(W)
@russpowell hit me with this and it was quite nice.

Onyx Coffee Stout

Beautiful pour. Deep ebony hue capped by a khaki to mocha colored head that leaps to the rim. 3 fingers solid. She slowly settles in at a finger. Great retention, leaving fluffy pillows of lacing.
Nose presents a firm coffee roast, hints of char, and smooth caramel notes underneath.
Flavor starts off the same but eventually the coffee roast makes a little space for some nuttiness and a very light hint of fruity coffee.
Mouthfeel is medium, low carb level, and finishes smooth.
3.77/5 rDev -13.1%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75