New Beer Weekend #277

Back again, that last one went down quick. Going for a Treehouse version of a hazy with a rye malt profile. Here we go...

4.41/5 rDev +0.9%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.5
Purchased cold three-days ago at Charlton for $17.40/4-pack. Kept cold until severed. Poured to a Nonic from a 16oz can stamped “LIVE WELL 10.23.25”.
The body pours out completely opaque with a hue of yellow/light orange SRM 7. The white head is aggressive at 1.25in/32mm on pour and fades to a thin covering with a thicker ring. Lacing is good, but not aggressive.
The aroma is grassy, lemon and a generic hop sense (yea I know thats a FU comment, but I don’t know what else to say).
The taste is a little spicy, but there is melon, citrus rind and a significant hop bite finish.
The mouthfeel is creamy. Carbonation is borderline aggressive.
Overall- Maybe the spicy note is a signal of the rye malt, but I was expecting more. That aside this is a really good hazy, just don’t expect any rye notes.

 

Next up today was West Side Brewing's Gilligan's Porter:

Gilligan's Porter | West Side Brewing | BeerAdvocate





Decent enough brew but it was overcarbonated and that hurt my score. Still tasted OK though, one to maybe revisit sometime. Plan on having at least one more new brew, but if the next one ends up being like this then I'll just have to finish up with ones I've had before.

 

Happy Sunday y’all! My new to me beer today, I bought at the brewery, Wicklow Wolf BrewingCo., Wicklow, Ireland, a BBA Imperial Stout, Endangered Species No. 62, 11th Anniversary Special, Can #1976 of 2000:





Purchased at brewery, September 2025.



Poured black with ruby edges at 59.1°. Dark tan head disappeared quickly; brief, thin ring; small island of microdots; no legs. Bourbon and chocolate nose with a little bit of molasses in the background. Taste is bourbon, bittersweet chocolate, and stone fruit-dark cherry; black treacle on back end. Medium plus body; not adjuncty; moderate minus carbonation; silky, smooth feel; mild mouth warmth from 13% ABV. Overall, a little thin for ABV but layers of flavors, chocolate, cherries, bourbon, molasses; not sweet, but not bitter like an RIS… Nice in between; worthy.

4.25 | 4.5 | 4.75 | 4.5 | 4.5
Score: 4.59 rDev 0. I added beer to DB.

A special beer. Only a few cans left in the cooler at the brewery when purchased…wish I had bought more. Cheers y’all!

 

NBS#2 is Schlafly's Vanilla Pumpkin Ale. The "regular" version is one of my favorite Pumpkin Ales and I tend to drink a lot of it from Labor Day until Thanksgiving. It's the standard by which I measure others. So I wanted to try the Vanilla variant. While I can't criticize the idea of this ale, I like the O.G. better because I find the vanilla a little distracting. That said, it is still very good and I'll be happy to drink the rest of the sixer.

It pours a slightly hazy, rosy-amber color with more than a finger of creamy, light khaki head and film of lacing. The nose is similar to the regular Pumpkin Ale with just a whiff of vanilla - although it becomes more noticeable when the ale warms a bit. It tastes a lot like the O.G. But I do taste the vanilla at the finish and it adds an additional creamy sweetness. The mouth feel is also very similar. Well-bodied and carbonated, and the 8% ABV gives it a nice pop.

4.18/5 rDev +4.2%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

Have a great week, everyone! Cheers, NBW!

 

Toppling Goliath Krush DDH Pseudo Sue Pale Ale, 5.8% ABV; 3.79 overall

Pours a very hazed gold with a thumb+ of eggshell colored head. Good head retention & great lacing

S: Oranges, guavas. some catty notes once warm, plus a little onion

T: Pomelo, woody dryness, white grapes & passion fruit up front. Pomelo, pineapple & plenty of dryness, a touch of pine & coconut as this warms up. Finishes dry as a Baptist Wedding with pomelo, passion fruit, pineapple & pine

MF: Medium body, creamy carbonation, some acidity, decent balance

Drinks alright, wanted a little more sweetness & little dryness. Krush hops always seem too dry for me. Subpar effort for these guys

 

I've been watching football today. Who would have believed the Patriots are 8-2 at this point of the season? I decided to have a New England beer in appreciation. Legroom is a DIPA from Trillium.
The beer is an opaque light orange color color. Small white head, tiny bit of lace.
A great aroma of tropical fruit.
Taste of pineapple, mango, papaya. Some grapefruit. No bitterness.
Soft and smooth in the mouth.

 

Sierra Nevada Celebration (6.8% canned 10/2/2025): An IPA from California with Cascade, Centennial, Chinook for flavors of soapy orange, pine resin, and a smooth caramel malt body.

Finally found this and picked some of this up so joining the club. This has never impressed me much, but it was my birthday this week and it's snowing here so figured it's time. As always pours beautifully. Expected pine and caramel aromas. Flavors are orange, caramel, pine soap and resin. A bit more hoppy and bitter pine and drinking moreso like an IPA than I remember which is refreshing. I'm actually enjoying the pine and bitterness.
Watching some good NFL games today, but this is the worst late Sunday afternoon matchups I can remember. So instead I begin to think "who is the best NFL team?" I think for the first half of the season it was whoever most recently beat KC. Chargers, Eagles, Bills, etc. Now maybe the Patriots? No game for me this weekend, but big one with KC and Denver coming up next Sunday that could decide the AFC West. ...I digress. This is much better than I ever remember it.

 

Next up was this blonde ale from Hoppin' Frog:

Smashing Coconut Blonde | Hoppin' Frog Brewery | BeerAdvocate



This one really didn't do anything for me. Love Hoppin' Frog's imperial stouts, but have mixed experiences with a lot of their other brews and this was just OK I guess, and maybe I'm being generous in calling it OK. Figure I'll do one more new beer review, hope the next one is better!

 

Next up, Firestone Walker’s “Sleep Mode” (2024) BBA BW, a total of 36 months in Weller whiskey barrels and Heaven Hill barrels. A Tavour purchase:



Poured at 53.1°. Deep amber/copper color; ruby see-through; light tan cap; poor cap retention; thin ring at best; no legs. Whiskey/caramel nose, boozy retronasal. Taste follows nose; sweet bourbon, and slightly phenolic; chocolate covered cherries; vanilla; sugared raisins as liquid worms. Medium mouth warmth from 13% ABV; moderate minus carbonation; medium minus body; silky minus feel. Overall, outstanding; base and barrel balance nicely.

4.0 | 4.25 | 4.5 | 4.25 | 4.5
Score: 4.39 rDev +4.8

A barley wine I would like to drink more of in the future. Cheers y’all!

 

Social Project - Big Hop Kiwi, 8.1% IPA

2025-11-09
16oz can served in a curvy Monhegan pint glass. Don't see a date. Got it from @russpowell in something that might be called a trade.

Pours hazy orange-amber, whitish coloration, smallish head. Medium carbonation. Smell is tons of melon. Very juicy, but with a dense resin backbone.

Taste is more on the resin and cut greens side, quite intense, now the melon's in the background with a little juicy cry for help as it's sucked into the bitter vortex.

Mouthfeel is medium, maybe on the light side of it. Very nice.

 

A beer that hid from me for a few months ( purchased in May???) Cabin Boys Brewery Mrs. Stout Fire Imperial Stout with Abrol Chiles aged in Woodford Reserve Rye Whiskey Barrels for 11 months; 3.98 overall

2023 Vintage pours an effervescent mahogany with a thin layer of mocha colored head. Viscous with zero head retention or lacing

S: Cola, molasses & faint spicyness/peppers. Vanilla & chocolate late along with smokey peppers

T: Follows the nose, some carob notes, vanilla & smokey pepper heat up front. Dark chocolate, vanilla, low/medium pepper spicy notes, some plum & leafy hop notes once this beer is warmed up. Finishes with pepper heat, plums dark chocolate, leafy hops & vanilla

MF: Medium body, slight carbonation, some booze warming. Body becomes more silky once warm

Pretty drinkable for the heft, wish I had rescued this a few months sooner to get more of the pepper heat, but not sure how much difference that makes on a bottle from 2023. Perhaps a bit dear pricewise

 

Finished up my new beers today with North Peak's Vanilla Porter:

Vanilla Porter | North Peak Brewing Company | BeerAdvocate



I liked this one, although I wish it did have more vanilla in it. But overall it was a nice porter so I'm not complaining. Cheers and have a great week everyone!

 

Estrella Galicia Especial

500ml can served in a nonic pint. Dated 07/26. Sent to me by @jonphisher.

Pours clear dark brass color with a smallish head and lots of carbonation, little retention. Smell is grain and grass, a little bit of lemon, a little earthy/musty, definite bready/yeasty.

Taste is grain husk, earthy but less musty, still a lot of bread and yeast. Bitterness balances out nicely with the graininess.

Mouthfeel is light and smooth. Overall, pretty good, easily drinkable.

 

Good Sunday evening. Too close for comfort for the Pats this afternoon, but they did what they had to do when they needed to do it. Right now, I'm sitting here watching and wondering why the Celtics are even trying to win games...

Grabbed this beer as a random purchase but then learned the history of the brewery and am very interested to try this beer.



This is the 9% version of Kloster Ettal Curator Dunkler Dopplebock. The can says brewed using the original 1609 recipe. It also says brewed in Germany and packaged in the US - shipped in tankers according to the little pictograph thing.

It pours a clear cola color that looks darker in the glass. Half inch or so of light tan foam that settles to a hefty island and ring. The remaining bubbles cling prettily to the glass.

The smell is interesting - it's leaning quad or barley wine to me, maybe BDSA? Lots of fruit - dark fruit - but there's a mild toast note. It's reminding me of...yikes...fruitcake. It's got a bit of Belgian yeast character but not a whole lot of it. Fairly earthy.

The flavor mostly follows but it is a richer flavor than the aroma indicated. It is fairly sweet and the fruitcake-like dried fruits amp it up - fig, dark cherry, raisins. Some toffee in the background and a good amount of mildly toasted, bready malts. There is a chocolate flavor that builds a little. Earthy. Minimal bitterness.

Middle of the road on feel, mildly carbonated. Nicely warming alcohol. Very smooth.

This is a solid beer. It's got a barley wine/ quad/ Belgian strong dark vibe going on but it's much lighter drinking. The alcohol warmth is very pleasant and not intrusive. I'm surprised by the fullness of the flavor. Good drinking brew. In the low 4.0 territory. I'd gladly drink this again. Fits well with what's become a cold, rainy, dreary kinda night.

Thanks to all veterans as we approach the day of honoring our service men and women - one day is not enough!

 

Cool! I thought it would be a fun one to send, the first alcoholic beer I drank as a teenager when we lived in Northwest Spain (Galicia); brought straight back thanks to pops. I got a can and you got one

 

The "Dark Tripel" version of Strange Ghost - it lives up to its name - cheers!

3.64/5 rDev +7.7%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.5

"Lot 02 f a 21 best before 2024" - poured from a capped-and-corked 750mL bottle into a port glass.

Burnt umber with harvest gold highlights and a pale beige cap receding to a lasting surface slick and fine collar. Vague lacing; average retention.

Herbal, somewhat medicinal aroma.

Potent, bitter, herbaceous, vegetal, and floral on the palate. Woodsy and lightly acidic - menthol, tea tree oil, and bay leaf lead into a dry, lightly phenolic finish.

Medium bodied, well carbonated, with well concealed alcohol.

One of the stranger expressions from a brewer known for their peculiarities.

 

Happy (not too Late Night) New Beer Weekend-Sunday Edition.

I'm really enjoying the BIG BEER BOX. Tonight is Legroom from legendary Trillium.

Fluffy white head caps a turbid yellow swirl. Solid 2 fingers with great retention. Light lacing.
Nose is a pleasing mix of citrus zest, some generally tropical notes, a hint of cannabis, and some creamy malt.
Flavor digs in deeper than the nose. Nothing grabs the spotlight as a headliner but all get plenty of time to shine. The citrus notes go from zesty orange to pithy grapefruit. The tropical notes are now stepping up: papaya and mango. Finally a creamy malt note provides a solid base.
Mouthfeel is fluffy, medium carbonation and heft, with a slightly green, almost dank, note to close out.
3.93/5 rDev -10.1%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

 

You're awesome, Jon.


Otherlands - Songs of Courtship festbier

500ml bottle. Label says Batch No. 4. Probably bought it a while ago (1-2 months?) at Beer Junction.

Pours clear light brass color, medium sized to small head, lots of carbonation. Smell is grain and damp, cold, cellar. Maybe some wood, maybe some wet hay.

Taste backs away from that slightly to turn into an earthy bitter, woody / nutty garden of cut grass. Grain is still there, a little milder and wetter.

Mouthfeel is light and crisp. Nice beer.