New Beer Weekend #282

Thanks to @Victory_Sabre1973 for kicking off NBW.

Prairie Sticky Mittens BBA Imperial Pastry Stout, 13.9% ABV. Pours black, with a ring of light-brown bubbles that left an oily sheen. Aroma is strong cinnamon, vanilla, and nuts. Taste is strong cinnamon overpowering everything else, some bourbon burn. Decent mouthfeel, overall an excellent cinnamon stout.

4.06/5 rDev -8.6%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

This has more cinnamon than any cinnamon beer I've ever had.

 

Cross post from The Holiday Beer Tasting thread. Is it an AAL, APL or a Pilsner or a Helles Lager? Try it and decide for yourself. Cheers!



3.96/5 rDev 0%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

A moderate through-the-head pour released three fingers of white soapy foam with above average retention, a cap lasts yet no lacing. Clear deep golden straw body, yellow gold in sunlight.

Mild smell of German hops (floral and herbal) and bready malt (toasted and fresh baked white bread, some biscuit and very faint doughy yeast). Alcohol is barely detectable.

Neutral taste with medium-low bitterness at first, hop flavor is medium and now mostly floral. Balanced bready malt flavors prevails with a hint of corn. The middle is a bit grainy with a hint of apple and stone fruit. The finish is semi dry with a steep rise in hop flavor; overall bitterness reaches a tad above average. Again, alcohol is well hidden for 6.3% ABV.

Medium light bodied with soft and lasting carbonation, balanced well considering that four malts are involved. It mostly resembles a strong Helles Lager. Balanced, smooth and quaffable, "Celebration Strength Winter Lager" states the label. I could not agree more.

 

I'm very excited for this new beer weekend, mostly because I skipped last weekend because I knew a special box was coming from the great state of Oregon... @vurt and I exchanged a few beers recently and mine arrived this week. You know those boxes of beer you get and you can't stop smiling seeing each and every beer, that was this box. I have so many good ones to keep me excited these coming weekends.

First up a beer from Machine House; we've been unseasonably cold here in NJ this week and last, I love true cold, it brings me peace of mind as I bundle up and walk at night to take in what is usually my only silence of the day. I knew what beer I wanted to nourish the soul on this cold evening, a beautiful Oatmeal Stout, and yea beautiful and nourishing are the two best words to describe this beer...

Machine House - Oatmeal Stout (English Oatmeal Stout 6.2%)



Deepest of dark brown, quiet and silky looking pour; vigorous pour yielded a beautiful sustained head with over the top lacing, beautiful light brown; creamy and frothy.

Nose is full of ash and roast, some cacao nibs with acidic fruit leaning coffee and burnt toast.

Huge full flavor to this beer: all the above with a noticeable oat quality; so much rich bittersweet chocolate just oozing with deep roast character, again some acidic red hued fruit character; a bit tannin like, with earthy wet hop notes.

Medium body, it is full, leaning chewy but so smoothed out by the oats; lower carbonation enhances that luscious creamy feel, firm moderate burnt bitter bite that lingers so nicely.

This beer is about as perfect as a rich dark beer gets for me. It’s just
hefty enough yet still smooth and easy to drink, the flavor is just so intense but also so balanced. Thank you for sharing this gem Eric, a true treat.

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I have a few cross posts for the next two weekend days if all goes as planned, I'm looking forward to both this thread and the holiday tasting thread as we truly enter holiday season time. We may even get some early snow Sunday

 

Cheers @Victory_Sabre1973 for the kickoff. For me, Aslin's Sundaze which surprisingly appeared inactive on here, no ratings and was without photo. I'm rectifying that:



4.34/5 rDev 0%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
Pours a dark mahogany with minimal head. Nose is bourbon, toffee, caramel and a hint of maple. Drinks more as a barleywine than a stout-forward blend. Taste is sweet with notes of caramel, toffee, bourbon, raisin, molasses, and a hint of chocolate. Mouthfeel is medium body, moderate carbonation. Finish is sweet toffee and chocolate. ABV is well hidden.

I know this is listed as a Strong Ale but I do believe English Barleywine is the most suitable style to capture this. While blended with an imp stout, the contribution there feels limited and if it weren't for the labeling, I wouldn't have guessed a stout component was in this.

 

Hey folks, been a long work week with two full Thursdays. Family's out for the evening, so I decided to unwind in physical solitude while basking in your virtual company, enjoying new-to-me beer, and an uninterrupted end-to-end listen of Rubberneck.

Goldfinger - Bohemian-style Pilsner

16oz can served in a stemless rastal. Canned on 5/5/25, so it's pretty old. Picked it up some time ago from a singles rack at a Binny's. @FBarber stood me up on that trip, if I remember correctly.

Pours clear, bright brassy burnished gold, medium sized head that condenses fairly quickly into a thick dusting and a tallish ring. Smell is musty grain, lager yeast, hint of hay and grass, some earthy bitterness. A little bit of lemon rind leaning toward orange, but more about the grains than anything else.

Taste is earthy bitter, much stronger hay and hops notes. Lemon rind is definitely still there, and interestingly so is the hint of orange rind. Barley tea.

Mouthfeel is light and smooth. Overall, pretty nice now, should have tried it months ago, will not knock it for my mistreatment.

 

Thanks @Victory_Sabre1973 for the kickoff. My new beer today is Alluvial Double Barrel Murder, She Oat Barleywine from Ames, Iowa.

Appearance: Super viscous pour, takes a long time to fill the glass. Very dark brown, a head tries to form but can't muster enough foam.

Smell: Deep caramel, wood, vanilla, surprisingly not boozy.

Taste: Thickness from the pour shows immediately in the mouth. Then rich caramel followed by somewhat woody barrel. The booze comes in near the finish, a little strong. Finish is a combination of the sweet caramel and booze.

Overall: Double barrel Murder, She Oat is probably the thickest beer I've had. The regular version was thick and this ramps it up a level. Very tasty but the booze does come on pretty strong near the finish. If I had a few more bottles I'd sit on them for a year or two, but I probably won't be in Ames until next football season. Good stuff!

 

Some how my dumb as bought two of these. Not sure if I will get to it this weekend

 

Cheers to @Victory_Sabre1973 for getting us going, I believe this will be massive thread this weekend with the tie in to the Holiday Ales tasting thread all hail @thebeers for hosting

Sam Adams Winter Lager ( Bock with spices ), 5.6% ABV; 3.64 overall

Pours an effervescent copper with 2 fingers of sand colored head. Traces of head retention & lacing

S: Brown bread, noticeable cinnamon

T: Follows the nose, dryness, a touch of woody/spicy hops up front. A touch of Carmel sweetness, dryness & woody/piney hops as this beer warms up & just a little orange. Finishes dry with woody hops, oranges, caramel & a little cinnamon

MF: Medium body, fairly firm carbonation, decent balance

Not a bad offering as single, easy enough to drink, this works as a seasonal offering, met expectations. Glad they showed restraint with the spices

 

Will it give me goosebumps?

I received an email from a local craft beer bar/restaurant (Capone’s in Norristown, PA) and to my surprise and great joy they had several Goose Island BCBS beers still available on tap. I reached out to two buddies and we met there for some beers and lunch.

I started off by ordering two small glasses (5.5 ounces) of the regular BCBS and the Cherries Jubilee version:



I enjoyed drinking these two beers slowly as a side-by-side tasting. I enjoyed drinking both beers but in this ‘contest’ the Cherries Jubilee version was a winner for me. It had similar dark malt/bourbon barrel flavors to the regular version but for my palate they seemed to have a rounder/more integrated flavor profile and the subtle flavors from the cherry addition seemed to be very complementary here.

Next up was the Chocolate Praline version:



This beer was quite nice with the combination of chocolate/praline flavors quite notable. For my palate the chocolate/praline flavors overwhelmed the dark malt/bourbon barrel flavors to create a less than balanced beer. I would have preferred more balance here.

I have yet to purchase any bottled BCBS but my plan going forward is to purchase a four-pack/10-ounce bottles of the regular BCBS and perhaps one bottle of the Cherries Jubilee version.

Cheers!

@KOP_Beer_OUtlet @rotsaruch @RobH

 

Hello NBW!
Tonight I bring you a new barrel aged (okay a blend of) barrel aged stouts.

The pour is used oil black with a barely there dark brown head that finishes covering the top and then retreated to, well, nothing. Not altogether surprising considering the ABV, but indicative of the feel, which is viscous, very viscous.
The taste is over the sweet. Cloying even. Toffee and chocolate and caramel and, I think, a stout is in there somewhere. Normally Transient is more subtle, certainly Junie was.
Well, over all, it’s a poster child for the imperial pastry stout category.
Now I’m wishing I had bought another Junie instead of a second one of these.
But this is how we learn.
Cheers!

 

Another new-to-me (but not new-to-my-fridge) Goldfinger, now listening to some Skating Polly (Chaos County Line)

Goldfinger - Heller Bock

16oz can served in a stemless rastal. Canned 5/5/25, with low confidence due to low print quality. Picked it up at a Binny's somewhere around Naperville sometime around summer, been lounging in my fridge quite some time.

Pours mostly clear light brassy amber, small even skin of head with some pretty strong legs. Smell is earthy, hint of dark fruit, lots of fruity yeast esters. Maybe some wet hay, definitely some grain.

Taste is heavier on the earthy bitter and heavier on the dark fruit, lighter on the grain. Moderate sweetness that's kind of hard to pin down. Not honey, but in that direction.

Mouthfeel is thickish, smooth, soft. Pretty nice beer.

 

Speed Mettle by Trillium


4.31/5 rDev -1.8%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

10 oz pour On tap at Canton

Pouring a beautiful pale and hazy golden orange color, Speed Mettle offers an intense aromatic display of papaya, juicy mango, and candied orange. An extra dose of whirlpool hops brings out a beautiful citrus zest-meets-floral undertone, creating welcomed complexity as the glass warms. Impressively soft, with very mild bitterness and a dry finish, we're thrilled to see Speed Mettle make a return six years after its debut.

Pale milky hazy orange

Aroma is citrus,tropical fruits , papaya , candied orange

Taste is tropical fruits, papaya

Semi dry , gentle hop kiss on the finish

Good beer

 

Sam Adams Winter White Ale, 5.7% ABV; 3.53 overall

Pours an effervescent ever so slightly hazed gold with one finger of fast falling beige head. Never drops bright, zero head retention & lacing

S: Coriander & oranges, white pepper once warmed up, plus strong cinnamon

T: Follows the nose, cloves, a touch of honey & nutmeg up front as well. Just a trace of green melon mixes in the oranges, cinnamon, cloves & nutmeg. Finishes with faint grassy notes, cloves, sweet orange ( wish it was little more bitter ) & nutmeg

MF: Medium body, restrained carbonation

The spices could be a little less, but drinks alright, flavor meets the template for this type, beer. A little less cinnamon would've helped

 

American Solera - State Champs IIPA with Galaxy and Mosaic

16oz can served in a stemless rastal. Dated 09.03.25. Got it from someone in a trade...@russpowell? Gotta go dig that info up...

Pours hazy pale amber, big dense head, settles into a thick pillowy layer. Smell is pungent, screaming green and flowers, tons of resin. Orange blossom, vague citrus rind.

Taste is juice and melon rind, bitter resin, fruit skin, something tropical.

Mouthfeel is medium, kind of airy. Some resinous residue. Very nice beer, despite being slightly beyond my general age threshold for IPAs.

Didn't find confirmation of sender, but found record of receipt back in November. Still think it was Russ...

 

It was me, Alzheimer's setting in, now I wonder what I meant to send besides an extra can of the Ube Stout