New Beer Weekend #267

Other Wonders from Otherlands, Helles lager at Beer Junction

 

Taking advantage of the bonus day for a third and final Chicago selection.

Pipeworks True Reality

4.11/5 rDev -0.5%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4



9/1/25 - (Home) (Chicago, Illinois) Can Notes: Purchased a single 16 oz can at Beer on the Wall at store temperature on 8/23/25 for $4.55 including tax. Canned 8/6/25 @ 10:57 AM. 7.0% ABV Double Dry Hopped Oat India Pale Ale with Amarillo and Citra Hops. Pipeworks Brewing Company. Brewed and canned in Chicago, Illinois.

Appearance: Poured about half the can into a Pipeworks shaker pint glass, yielding a murky white orange juice looking base, generous bright white bubbly and creamy head that lingers for several minutes before leaving significant soapy lacing and a sustained rich creamy cover over the base. 4.25

Aroma: Generous citrus, pineapple and tangerine backing. High strength, digging this. 4.5

Taste: Taste subdued in terms of strength, but consistent in content with the aroma. Citrus, pineapple, tangerine. Fruit basket. 4.0

Mouthfeel: Drinks at, perhaps a bit over ABV with a diesel strength alongside significant hop bitterness subduing the sweet fruit flavors. Enjoying the balance. Sustained slightly prickly carbonation adds to a watery light to mild body composition. Citrus, pineapple and tangerine from start to finish. 3.75

Overall: The aroma was the peak enjoyment for this one. Flavor nice, the diesel kick the one aspect I'd change for a more enjoyable experience. Still a solid NEIPA offering,, and I'm injuring despite my judgmental take on this style. 4.0

See everyone next week for either Hop Butcher For The World offerings and or a field trip to a Chicago brewery.

 

Another beer from my cottage country haul. This one is Spruce Kveik from Haliburton Highlands Brewing in Haliburton, Ontario. I purchased this at the brewery which is a quaint spot at the main intersection in Haliburton. The can indicates an ingredients list including water, barley, wheat, spruce, hops and yeast. As a big fan of beer with spruce tips. I was pleased to have grabbed one of these. Canned on August 26th, 2025.



Pours a cloudy deep gold with a light head that dissipates to a thin ring fairly quickly. Negligible lacing.

Light farmhouse notes, orange blossom and evergreen on the nose. The aromas are muted but come off as integrated. As it warms, the spruce notes start to strengthen.

The taste is light. Mild citrus notes, some indistinct tropical fruit qualities hidden in behind. The spruce is fairly limited on the tongue. I’d like more.

The body is medium. Mild carbonation.

I always hope for more spruce qualities in beers brewed with spruce tips than I ever seem to get. I have the same disappointment with smoked beers, always wanting more smoke. That said, this was an enjoyable beer. The slight farmhouse quality that I assume comes from the yeast, marries well with the spruce that is there. I’d gladly enjoy again, and am looking forward to trying the five others from this brewery that I picked up.

Cheers all!

 

Good evening NBW
Another single from Jungle Jim's. 99 cents invested...

Rhinegeist Cinci Light Lime

16oz CANNED 07/24/25 poured into a perfect pint glass at fridge temp 4.2% ABV. The beer pours mostly bright light yellow amber with nearly white head. The head recedes to a thin ring and island leaving no lacing. The aroma is mild with lime juice over light pale malt. The taste is semisweet pale malt with an undercurrent of lime juice. No real bitterness on the finish and just a hint of lime zest appears. The feel is thin bodied with average carbonation and a mostly dry finish. Cleanly lagered. Overall, good yellow beer.

Cheers all!

 

Feel like I feel same way about spruce tips, just mostly earthy character; just gimme a beer with straight pine needles not tips

 

I’m not a huge drinker of soft drinks, but my favourite soda is the classic Québécois Bière d’Epinette (Spruce Beer). Everyone I know can’t get past the smell and tell me it smells like pine floor cleaner or pine car freshener. They aren’t wrong, but I love the stuff. The traditional examples are often alcoholic as well. Those are hard to find. I tend to stick to the store brand soft drink examples. I bring a box of these home with me every time I return to Québec for a visit. I love the spruce!

 

Black Raven + Bale Breaker - Alpha Bird Cold IPA

16oz can served in a stemless Fremont glass. Canned on 07/23/25.

Pours clear light yellow, medium sized head, fine carbonation. Smell is moderately dank, some melon or bubble gum, lots of lemon pith and lemon rind. Floral.

Taste is melon, light white grape, thin lemon, maybe some lime. Resin bitter. Dankness is toned down a bit from the smell. Resin builds, melon builds.

Mouthfeel is light, quite effervescent despite no strong hint in the appearance. Overall, nice, tasty hoppy beer on the citrus side of a WC profile.

 

Now we're talking...that probably tastes so good.

 

Triceratops - NinjaWitch Fresh Hop Hazy IPA

16oz can served in a stemless BA rastal. Don't see a date on it. Has a sticker on the label proclaiming "fresh hop Chinook." Bought it a few hours ago at Beer Junction.

Pours hazy light yellow with a big, short-lived head, second pour seems to show a bit more retention than the initial one. Smell is juicy, lots of fruit but nothing specific, no resin.

Taste brings some pretty serious resin and dank notes I didn't get in the aroma, which is kind of odd for having been slightly less cool than I would have preferred. Cut greens, very bitter, though all that tropical fruit is still drifting around in the background.

Mouthfeel is sooth, smooth, pillowy, maybe a hint of stickiness. Overall, not bad from a fresh hop perspective, pretty good from an IPA perspective.

 

This might be my last New Beer of the long weekend. (And it might not. I'll keep my options open.)



Fort George Trail Names West Coast Pilsner (collaboration with Tall Trees)

Enjoyed on draft at Wildwood Taphouse, in a Becher glass.

The beer is bright yellow and clear, with a persistent skin that leaves a few meager fragments of lace. The nose is quite dry and fruity, offering notes of underripe nectarine and mango, fresh blueberries, and a smidge of diesel. The taste is similarly fruity, with more sweetness than the nose suggested (still not very sweet though). There's some tasty lemon-lime character in the middle, perfumed with a subtle floral note. That floral character lasts through the finish, intertwining with more underripe stone fruits and sweet orange peel. Light-bodied with brisk carbonation. Just enough sweetness to enhance the fruitiness, and just bitter enough to finish crisp. Pleasant enough, and certainly well made, but I am not really a fan of modern fruit bomb pilsners, and this didn't win me over.

 

Sounds like you (and perhaps @Coronaeus too) might enjoy a couple beers from Fort George Brewery up in Astoria, OR. One is called Spruce Budd, and it has no hops, only spruce. The other is their Christmas seasonal, Magnanimous IPA, which has plenty of hops and is seasoned with spruce tips. Just a gorgeous beer.

 

Greetings, fellow NBWers, and happy Labor Day!

Now that I have a job with union representation, I no longer have to work this day. Wish I'd gotten my current job much sooner!

Right now it's a partly sunny yet somewhat smoke-hazed day in Spokanistan. It's 102° right now, so I'm considering driving somewhere for food rather than heating up Haus woemad.

Yesterday, I paid a visit to Uprise Brewing. After drinking their Mexican Lager (which was ruined for review purposes by the unasked for insertion of a slice of lime), I had their Color TV, a hazy IPA:

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/63795/716098/?ba=woemad#lists
A decent fruit-juicy approach, but I didn't care for the acidic burn that came with each swallow.

Today I knocked off a can from Monkless Brewing that purported to be a double dry hopped Tripel brewed with PNW hops:

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/65782/523684/?ba=woemad#lists
Not bad, but mightve been better if fresh, and I've no idea if it was fresh or not, as Monkless doesn't date their beers, but only prints batch numbers.

 

On behalf of the cranberry growers in SE mass, thank you for your support

 

Those both sound like very appealing beers @vurt

@Coronaeus we found our leader…

 

The knowledge that I actually worked for the growers at the end of the day was a definite source of motivation. No regrets on the career and doing my part to move the cranberry along. Appreciate the kind words.

 

Sierra nevada oktoberfest
....a really nice clear light amber
...medium carbonation with about the same for the body
...aroma is not overwhelming but its malty,cereal, bread and something that almost seems like spice but I believe its the hops.
...taste is malty, cereal, malty bread and grain mash. An almost dry mildly bitter hop element that finishes dry..
....overall its well done,enjoyable but I found the hops didn't match well with the malt and grain

 

Tonight I have another gift from @Ozzylizard and it’s one of (okay, not one of, definitely the one) my favorite styles. Russian Imperial Stout.
Rather hating Russia right now but that’s nothing to do with the beer.

The other Adroit Theory RISs have been pretty sweet, not as sweet as the Barleywine from last night, but sweeter than the style guidelines. This one doesn’t have that issue.
The pour is rather similar to a very clean used oil, but with a 4 mm brown head that left no lacing.
The taste is coffee (French Roast) forward, some dark chocolate, and a little dark fruit. Worn leather enters the frame, and it finishes with more French coffee, darned near bitterness.
The feel is lightly viscous, nice for the style.
OA, not as sweet as the other Adroit Theory stouts I’ve had the pleasure of trying, and I enjoyed it a lot.
Thanks Bob!