New Beer Weekend #272

Self Mummification



8.5% American IPA by Masthead

Poured from a pint can, the body is a lightly hazy gold with a good white head.

Aroma is hoppy (and a bit like cat pee to be honest). Not great, but it's light.

Taste is a tamer version of the nose and much better. A wee bit of pine and a light waft tropical fruit. The bitterness is medium and upon finish does not linger. Dry finish. No sign of the ABV.

Mouthfeel is standard for style and good carbonation.

A solid but not memorable beer.

 

Leinenkugel White Mocha Stout, 5.6% ABV. Pours golden, with a one-finger white head that left no lacing. Aroma is coffee, vanilla, and chocolate. Taste follows, slightly sweet, equally bitter. Over-carbonated, overall excellent adjacent.

4.01/5 rDev +6.6%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4

If the flavor matched the sweetness of the aroma, this could have been outstanding.

 

Hop Butcher for the World
Extra Giardiniera
Hazy Triple IPA
10% ABV
4.35/5 rDev +4.6%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25
PKG 8/26/2025. Poured into a Samuel Adams Perfect Pint.

A: Murky gold with 2+-finger with frothy head with good retention and thick bands of lacing.

S: Sumptuous tropical fruit nose with pineapple, guava, orange, passion fruit, and floral notes. Nice dank undercurrent too.

T: Flavor is very tropical fruity with orange, tangerine, guava, pineapple, and passion fruit. Dank notes are a great counterpoint to the sweeter fruit notes. Bitterness is low.

M: Full body with moderate carbonation and full finish.

O: Hop Butcher Extra Giardiniera is an exceptionally drinkable TIPA. Great job Hop Butcher.

 

Quite excited to try out my first from Schilling. With it being a radically unseasonable 82+ today, this is hitting rhe spot. Trying to cram as much heat in the house as possible to push off heating season.

Have a good week, NBWers!

Schilling Alexandr
5.0% Czech Pils



Pours bright and clear straw yellow with a three-finger brilliant white head.

Aromas of lemon zest, bread dough, biscuit, honey, and floral hops.

The taste is everything you want. Honey, white bread, very slight toast at the front of the sip, shifting to bread dough and biscuit near the middle. In the middle floral and citrus hop notes mix in and then transition to hop bitterness at the dry finish. The bitterness builds through the aftertaste, scouring and clensing the palate for the next sip.

Medium-light bodied with moderate and lively carb. Really easy drinker.

Overall, great pils. It's a pleasure in all aspects. My only markdown is that the finish is a little too bitter.

 

It like this beer. Look forward to drinking more. The new distro'd batch is good. But the Original was better and more heavy duty..
My review from last year:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/commun...drinking-now-4449.679372/page-11#post-8102827

 

Cross posting in the Oktoberfest tasting thread - cheers!

3.9/5 rDev +1.3%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4

Packaged on 9/16/25 - enjoyed on 10/5/25 - poured from a pint can into my Moonlight willibecher.

Clear ochre to harvest gold gradient supporting a fat off white cap, receding to a popped collar and lasting surface slick; sandy lacing; adequate retention.

Sweet, malty aroma with hints of toasted walnuts.

Toffee, caramel, bread dough, and toast on the palate - mild bitterness with earthy hops and some gentle lager yeast notes. Faint notes of black pepper and burnt sugar. A bit nuttier as it warms. Medium-dry finish.

Creamy, smooth, medium to medium-light body. Adequate carbonation.

Imperfect, but tasty domestic marzen.

 

Finally a few minutes of time to dive into and focus on a beer with you all. It's been a busy weekend with two slightly farther away soccer games, next weekend no different but oh well, the home games and colder weather will come eventually. Sad to see the Phillies not pull it off last night, but hopefully tomorrow they can. Hockey starts this week!!!!! Hard to believe every year, that when the playoffs finally come we'll be in the final part of the school year

Today I have an import I've never tried before that I stole from my dad's fridge. I've enjoyed Spaten's Oktoberfest but have never tried this beer and it fits with your Euro Pale Lager weekends @scott451, and like most of your final comments, serviceable but not one I'd seek out or buy again, read on to find out more...

Spaten - Premium Lager



Pours brilliant bright light gold, crystal clear, perfectly white head, cohesive, slightly airy though.

Nose is green bottle signature smell, touch of noble hop spice character, nice bread quality to malt; it’s rich and pleasant smelling.

Taste is white bread to me; albeit a touch darkened, there is a syrup quality to the malt that I don’t find that appealing, hops lend what nose foresaw, light black pepper.

Body verges on medium, mostly due to a syrup like sweetness, not as crisp as I would’ve hoped, sweetness sort of lingers, light but noticeable bitterness.

Overall not the best German lager I’ve had; glad I didn’t pay for this one, it has more “mass” produced feel than any of the other Germans I’ve had, too heavy and full to be refreshing or enjoyable for me, the hops are nice but they don’t save this beer.

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That is it for me this week and I hope to join again next weekend if all goes as planned. Until then, be well and have a great week everyone!

 

Good Sunday afternoon, New Beer Sippers and commentators. Yesterday, I visited my favorite local bottle shop and was both surprised and thrilled to see canned IPAs and Stouts from Bottle Logic. As far as I know, this marks the first BL distro to New Jersey. All my prior experience with this legendary brewery has come through BIFs. I passed on the IPAs because they weren't very fresh but even at $26.99/bottle I had to try Fundamental Observation, which carries a 100 BA Score. I probably would have paid more on Tavour.

This is the best of the 5 Bottle Logic Stouts I've reviewed. Poured at 65°. It is ink-black in color and its frothy, medium-mocha head fizzled away almost immediately leaving a large ring. The smell is fantastic: dark chocolate, roasted nuts, vanilla, and soft but noticeable bourbon. The taste follows: sweet cocoa; somewhat bitter vanilla bean, and nutty char, along with a bourbon presence that is a little hot initially but mellows nicely as the Stout breathes in the glass. The flavors are big and bold but blend seamlessly. This Stout has a plush, viscous mouth feel with subdued carbonation, and you can definitely feel the 14% ABV. Just superb! If it wasn't for the price point I'd buy more bottles; I am tempted.

4.61/5 rDev -1.5%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.5

I hope that this isn't a one-off delivery to North Jersey. The irony is that Kane's finest BA Stout, A Night to End All Dawns, is only available on the internet and sells out immediately. In my opinion, Fundamental Observation is better. Cheers!

 

Uh oh. Back-to-back. Our in-town brewery, Autodidact Beer, has been on a tear recently brewing southern hemisphere hazies. This week's release is Infinite Source, singled-hopped with Egger's Special hops from New Zealand, which I understand to be similar to Riwaka. The hops in this brew remind me a lot of Nelson Sauvin.

Reviewed 4 days after canning. It pours an opaque, pale, muddy tangerine color with a large, fluffy, egg-white cap and lots of soapy lacing. The smell has a New Zealand vibe with big white wine grape balanced by oaty sweetness and just a whiff of tropical fruit. Its taste opens with tart lemon, lime, and grapefruit, along with dry white wine. The use of wheat adds to the dryness. But it is balanced by oats in the grist and by some notes of tangerine and ripe melon from the Eggers Special hops. Being freshly canned there is a touch of hop burn at the finish that should mellow. The mouth feel is terrific! Thick and creamy with moderate carbonation, and the 8.8% ABV provides a nice punch.

4.28/5 rDev 0%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25

This is the fourth straight release from Auto with southern hemisphere hops. I don't know how long this trend will continue and I'm looking forward to something different next week. Cheers and have a great week, everyone!

 

Agree with both New Jersey takes here.

Fundamental Ovsevation and other stouts without too many adjuncts are very enjoyable. Worth a visit in OC if you are near Anaheim.

I don’t like Spaten’s Lager or Helles (both 2.75 overall for me), but have enjoyed these three beers by Spaten if you have them available.

• Oktoberfest (4.25/3.75/4.50/4.00/4.25) 5.9% Marzen
• Opimator (4.50/4.25/3.75/4.25/4.00) 7.6% Dopplebock
• Weissbier (4.25/4.25/3.75/4.00/4.00) 5.0% Hefeweizen

Go Devils!

 

To be honest I don’t think I ever knew Spaten made a weissbier, something I need to eventually rectify @ChicagoJ

 

Good evening NBW
Some may wonder why I'd bother with this one, but it represents my 50th country with a beer reviewed. Not bad for a guy who's never had a passport and lives in Kentuckiana...

Kronenbourg 1664

11.2oz green bottle 5105 J 1256 poured into a pilsner glass at fridge temp 5% ABV. The beer pours bright light gold in color with off white head. The head recedes to a thin ring and single layer of bubbles. Minimal lacing. The aroma is mild with sweet pale malt and a hint of fruit. The taste is semisweet pale malt with notes of apple or pear before a mildly bitter finish. The feel is thin bodied with average carbonation and a mostly dry finish. Overall, decent pale lager.

Cheers all!

 

Didn't do much for the mouthfeel

 

One thing that I learned from reviewing a bunch of lagers is that some of the imports that are not rated very high I found to be not bad. Meanwhile some of my local brews are not that good. I think that it might be because people expect local craft to be good, and expect euro lagers to be bad.

 

Equilibrium Light at the End of the Tunnel IPA, 6.8% ABV; 3.92 overall

Pours a super-hazed gold with 2+ fingers of whippy/tight pearl colored head; slight gusher. Very good head retention & even better lacing

S: White grapes, breadyness

T: Follows the nose, pomelo notes & dry as well up front, some peach as well. Faint grapefruit, more dryness, white grapes & some green melon once this beer warms up. Finishes dry with pomelo, white grape & green melon

MF: Medium body, soft, creamy carbonation; great balance

Nice drinkability, nice fruity IPA

 

Carbonation?

 

After a long two week work schedule, my wife returned home this afternoon, wiped out and exclaimed: “I need you to open a really good BA stout for me. No birthday cake or waffle nonsense! Just barrel!”

Being the loving husband I am, I found something downstairs that I thought might fit the bill. This is Central Waters Double Barrel Stout Brewer’s Reserve (Bourbon Barrel). Bonus, it’s a big shareable bottle!



Pours a deep dark brown with a nice head that does recede to nothing after several minutes. Pour suggest a decent body.

The bourbon shines on the nose. Some wood, vanilla and a touch of cocoa.

The taste is what the doctor ordered. Lots of we’ll integrate flavour notes. Barrel, whiskey, a little soaked fruitcake. Just a touch of dark chocolate and fresh brown bread.

The body is medium-full. Quite drinkable for the 15.4% ABV.

Great stuff, happy wife! Cheers!

 

Roger, should've been more specific

 

How Old is that bottle? 5 years?