New Beer Weekend #259

This was from @RochefortChris

Old Armor Beer Co. ( Kannapolis, NC ) Earnhart Outdoors Ale, 5.5% ABV; 2.89 overall


Pours an effervescent honey color with a sliver of fast falling head. Zero head retention & lacing

S: A little bready, some floral notes, some pear & apple

T: Some cantaloupe notes, a little grassyness, hints of peach up front, some sweet apple notes, up front. Dryness, pears & a little grassyness once warmer. Finishes dry with pear & apple notes, on the verge of a drain pour

MF: Medium body, slight carbonation, that flattens out to nothing, more like apple juice than beer

This is not an Altbier & has some serious flaws. To me it seems to be a wayward Golden Ale. I could knock it down more by grading it as an Alt, but es machts nichts

 

This one is from @2beerdogs. Proceeds for this beer go to the Stop Soldier Suicide Non Profit

La Verne Brewing Heroes IPA with Citra, Crystal, Ekuanot, El Dorado & Simcoe Hops, 7.0% ABV; 3.69 overall

Pours a hazy gold with one finger of eggshell colored head. Average-ish head retention & lacing

S: Much tropical fruit, melons, fades a touch once warm, Still its best aspect

T: Mango, guava, orange peel, lime up front. Pomelo, dryness & more mango & passion fruit as this beer warms up. Finishes a little dry with lime, passion fruit & a little grassyness

MF: Medium body, restrained carbonation, kind of holds the flavor back a bit. Decent balance

Easy enough to drink, just doesn't quite bring the flavor

 

Feeling a bit tired, so likely staying in tonight. Have a few more new to me beers, but will save the two remaining Enegren selections for next weekend. This one like me is from Chicago, shipped here fresh a few weeks ago, and was recommended by my brother.

Hop Butcher For The World New Zealand Traveling Scientist

4.13/5 rDev -2.6%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25



7/6/25 - (DA’s Home) (Las Vegas, Nevada) Can Notes: Purchased refrigerated on June 26, 2025 at Khoury’s, and kept refrigerated until opening tonight. Paid $5.41 with tax for a single 16 oz canned 6/9/25 @ 10:04:08, can stamp All Around The Globe. Nelson Sauvin, Motueka & Nectaron T90 & Quantim-Hopped American Pale Ale. 5.75% ABV. Tasting Notes: Bright Pineapple, Cotton Candy Grapes, Lemon Lime Juice. Artwork by Dan Garza. Brewed and canned by Hop Butcher For The World in Chicago, Illinois and Bedford Park, Illinois.

Appearance: Center poured close to half the 16 oz can into a shaker pint glass, yielding an orange pineapple juice appearing base, generous creamy soapy lacing, head finally settles after a few minutes to yield a bubbly creamy cover over the base. 4.25

Aroma: Nice pineapple lead, backed by cotton candy, white grape, lemon and citrus. Sweet, but not overly, and strong. 4.25

Taste: Somewhat consistent with the above, pineapple lead, white grape and lemon. Nice. 4.0

Mouthfeel: Very heavy bitterness helps balance this one out with the sweet flavors. Drinks at the ABV, faintly dry. Pineapple the star of the show. 4.0

Overall: This is a beer I typically would pass over, but secured with my brother’s recommendation and was steered right. Heavy bitterness balances the flavors. I rarely suggest this, but if the bitterness was a little dialed back, this could find perfect balance. As is, a solid pour. 4.25

Cheers!

 

The end of the weekend brings me to my last new beer from @jonphisher , but what a great note to go out on!



Tonewood Brewing Garden Statement American Pale Ale

The beer pours clear and golden, with an attractive head of thick white foam. Moderate retention, minimal lacing.

The nose is a bit muddled, offering some sweet malt and a blurry combination of berries, sweet pineapple, tangy peach, and some fresh orange peel. There's also a distinctive note of unsweetened iced tea with lemon. Interesting.

The flavor starts with moderately sweet malt and fruitiness and then suddenly ***tangerines!*** Not "notes of tangerine" or "a citrus-forward character that leans toward tangerine." No, it's a full-on burst of tangerine juice and a bit of peel on the tail end. Incredible. Finishes with good bitterness, a bit of malt, and a prominent grassy note. The aftertaste features the iced tea with lemon that appeared in the nose.

This is a dazzling beer. And I was even more surprised to learn it was brewed with Comet and Idaho 7 hops, two varieties which I thought I didn't enjoy very much. Looks like I was wrong.

Thanks Jon!

 

Good evening NBWers. A reference to before Green Flash took over Alpine I assume - always happy to see OG Nelson inspired beers, though this isn't as satisfying as Muntz or a couple other renditions I've had in the past. Cheers!

4.19/5 rDev -0.5%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Canned the week of June 2nd, enjoyed on July 6th, 2025 - poured from a pint can into my Dogfish Head shaped pint glass.

Crystal clear pale gold body crowned by a fist of magnolia soft peaks. Soapy lacing; very good retention.

Spicy, earthy, citrus-kissed aroma with hints of berries, candied ginger, star fruit, and lime.

Weedy, herbal, and moderately bitter up front. Crackery malt offsets the hops and leads into a medium-dry finish with a touch of (white) rye bread.

Nelson, Citra, Strata, and Cashmere hops work well together as a foil for the rye. Somehow less than the sum of its parts, but an excellent beer none the less.

 

Never getting to 8 pages, but oh well

Greenhouse Aleworks Dogwood Imperial Stout, 8.6% ABV; 3.97 overall

Pours an effervescent cola/chestnut color with 2 fingers of tight mocha colored head. Below average head retention & better lacing

S: Peanuts, roastyness, some cocoa notes, all somewhat nutes

T: Follows the nose, a little sweet vanilla, dark chocolate & a little molasses up front. More roastyness, milk chocolate, sweet vanilla cream & peanuts as this beer warms up, some coffee notes. Finishes dry, roasty with some coffee notes, leafy hops & a little vanilla & peanut

MF: Medium body, firm carbonation. Carbonation becomes a bit creamier once this beer warms up

A solid Imperial Stout, nose could be better, pretty drinkable for the heft

 

Today has been sunny and has seen a return towards normal temperatures, with heat reaching the mid 80s. Tomorrow we're expecting mid 90s. Ugh.

Tonight I had a hitherto neglected member of the Samuel Smith family:

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/113/86189/?ba=woemad#lists
Not very impressed. Tasted like a chocolate cola.

That's it for new beers this weekend.
Cheers!

 

One more new beer for the long holiday weekend!



Fort George Sea Lion Tamer WCIPA

Collaboration with Baerlic Brewing (Portland, OR). 16-ounce can purchased at John's Marketplace in Beaverton, OR. Date stamp is present but unreadable.

The body is a perfectly clear yellow gold, and it's capped with rich white foam that recedes to a thin crescent surrounding a big island. The nose is full of crushed sweet oranges, berry compote, and a surprising amount of malt. The flavor is also quite heavy with malt. Caramel and toasted white bread flavors tangle with the fruit cocktail promised by the nose: peaches, berries, a ton of citrus, and eventually a rather sticky and resiny pine note. Medium-bodied and a little chewy, this is a very filling beer for a West Coast IPA.

For me, Sea Lion Tamer ended up as a rare misstep from two of Oregon's better and more reliable breweries. It ends up being too malty for a modern WCIPA, yet not hoppy enough for a "throwback" IPA. Not sorry I tried it, but probably wouldn’t drink it again.