New Beer Weekend #286

Happy NBW all!
My favorite weekly thread, not that my thoughts or feelings on the matter are pertinent to anything, but there we go.
This is one I approached with trepidation as their offering last year was sub par at best.
This year they managed to release a very good stout.

I’ve grown used to bourbon barrel aged stouts and it takes a really good one to impress me these days. (That may be really sad commentary)
But whiskey barrel aged stouts are still rare enough that I try them whenever I find them.
This is good. Not great, but for them, surprisingly good.

The pour is dark, a bit darker than “stout black” and is capped with a light brown head that left no discernible lacing.
The taste is, well, in between a bourbon barrel aged stout and a whiskey barrel aged stout. Which boggles my mind. Why not go all in on the whiskey barrel? And if they did, get a better whiskey next year. Something with teeth.
The feel is nicely viscous, it’s probably best sipped and lends itself to that concept.
OA, probably the best stout I’ve had from these guys in years. I know that isn’t a very high bar, but still. It’s good. Not sweet like bourbon barrel aged.
So that’s one and done for me tonight, hopefully I will be back tomorrow.
Cheers!

 

Can the CFP final end in a tie? I really don't want either team to win, so I also don't want either team to lose. I think I gotta lean for the ACC team. <<chokes down some bile>> Miami.

 

All in for Indiana as I would've been Ole Miss. I need a better game next week

 

Thank you, sir, for you have inadvertently given me a reason to lean into rooting for <<hiccup>> Miami. Even if just to perhaps have some fun posting about it when they play, which has to be better than this game, no?

 

Windsor Browns...A little west of the usual spot.

 

Great question. My system is to link all new to me BA beer entries in the Beer Haul thread, to confirm whether to add a beer, photo and or beer notes on BA. I rarely read any BA reviews under the beer entries, but do read the reviews and comments in this thread or reviews linked in this thread, WBAYDN and other places on BA.

I get many great beer and new to me brewery ideas in NBW/NBS, one of the reasons I enjoy reading and sharing here. I try never to read anything beyond beer notes and listed style while conducting a review to write an unbiased review. Also, at first I’d look up ratings/reviews her before buying, but after a year or two I stopped doing that and trust my gut, the info, and any trusted recommendations including in this thread by people with similar tastes.

On to the review. I had a great new to me Maplewood English Brown Ale selection on Wednesday, so I’ll continue with this Belgian Style Tripel brewed in collaboration with their friends at Soul Honey Records and the band Milk Wash to celebrate their new album DUCKFAT.

Maplewood + Soul Honey Records & Milk Wash Duck Fat

4/5 rDev -3.8%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75



1/10/26 Home (Chicago, IL) Can Notes: Purchased on 12/10/25 at store temperature at Beer on the Wall for $5.69 with tax, before refrigerating until opening this morning. 16 oz canned 11/17/25 @ 9:44:01 AM, can stamp DUCKFAT. 9.0% ABV Belgian-Style Tripel. Pairs perfectly with the new album DUCKFAT from Soul Honey Records & Milk Wash, streaming everywhere now. Brewed by Maplewood Brewing Co., Chicago, Illinois, in collaboration with Soul Honey Records and Milk Wash, Chicago, Illinois.

Appearance: Poured about half the can into a chalice, yielding egg white head that settles into a creamy bubby cover over a darker orange unfiltered base. 4.25

Aroma: Clove, banana and honey strong and enjoyable. 4.25

Taste: Generous honey the clear leader, coming in sweet with the banana clove there but in the back. Very sweet. 4.0

Mouthfeel: Very sweet, more so than the typical Tripel. Not sure if they added honey (to honour Soul Honey Records), and I’m enjoying the flavor it’s just too much. Drinks strong, over the 9% ABV. Body very creamy and rich, gentle faint carbonation, honey sweetness start to finish. 3.75

Overall: This is a solid beer, would have sailed back the sweetness for my personal preferences but still glad I tried this today. 3.75

See you tomorrow with another at this point undetermined Chicago brewed beer.

 

I'm gonna answer this one separate from my review post this weekend...

A lot of times I tend to glance through the review first to inform my decision on whether to purchase a six pack or not, much like in your case. This in particular has got me excited to try the new Sierra Nevada spring seasonal, to me it's strength in numbers and in any review.

The notes reviews pick up on may not always be consistent but if a common note, or feel keeps showing up I know there is a good bet that it is probably in there. This is why I personally wish more people reviewed beers and didn't just rate them. Numbers are subjective, even when they are consistently high and low. I've rated consistently low beers as way above rdev and the opposite is also true.

Give me a resource, like a review, any day of the week to help inform whether I should invest in a six pack or not. Singles be damned, it's a fun gamble, and in that case I read reviews after the fact.

 

Visited a couple of local breweries with some new beers...

First is Saint Arnold, as they did an impromptu English Week." A few English styles, and a Mild on cask, which I drank a lot of

English Dark Mild. 3.3% ABV



Pours a dark ruby brown color. A gently receding white head leaves some lace behind as well.
Not particularly aromatic, but all the baked brown bread and nutty malty aromas are there.
Taste wise, big on the baked bread flavors, nutty, toffee, just a hint of sweetness, just a hint of fruity esters. Subtle but very nice.
That perfect cask body, that makes this feel bigger than it actually is. Ultra smooth and fine carbonation. Something I can come back to, and down in big gulps.

A very nice example of an English Dark Mild on cask to boot.Typical American examples of the style can often seem to roasty for me. This however, has a lot of great baked bread, and nutty, malty nuance that is way more than just roast. The cask conditioning is spot on as well. A very moreish offering that I wish would be around longer.

Overall score is 4.19, easy A- bordering on an A
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/337/776472/?ba=champ103#lists

Then yesterday, was at Baileson Brewing, and had their new Pale Ale. With Citra and Galaxy hops.

Brams, 5.4% ABV


Pours a clear pale copper/orange color. A one finger white head forms with good retention and lace left behind.
The aroma is pretty simple, with some citrus pith and tropical fruits. Simple but enjoyable.
Taste wise, plenty of citrus and tropical fruit flavors. There is a touch of sweetness and a little bitterness lingering.
A medium body that has crisp carbonation. This is a clean Pale Ale, and that all leads to something enjoyable to drink. I can come back to this with ease.

Certainly not super complex, but less is more here. Its just an enjoyable version of the style, without reinventing the wheel.

Overall score is 3.84, B+
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/50448/776986/?ba=champ103#lists

Both good while finishing up my JP Donleavy novel..."I'd just like a glass of beer in some cozy joint with a booth."

 

Good day BAs! Thanks @Beersnake for opening the thread with a thought-provoking question!

I don't read reviews before I review a beer, unless it happens to be in a NBW thread that I've read in the past. I try to review any new beer as my first ( and probably last) beer of the day. Occasionally I'll check other reviews IF I've got an aroma I can't quite put my finger on - too many years in labs has limited my olfactory senses. So yes, my reviews tend to be blind.

Today's blind review of my New Breakfast Beer:



Alpha Klaus (2025) from Three Floyds. Six pack of 12 fl oz bottles from Franklin Beer, Franklin, PA. Picked up 10/01/26, on room temperature shelf. $ 12/six pack (including tax) ($ 0.167/fl oz). Reviewed 10/01/26, review 3667. Note that I use DD/MM/YY protocol.
Stamped on bottle shoulder in yellow ink “BOTTLED 10/03/2025”. Stored at home at 40 degrees F. Served at 46.3 degrees F in a hand washed and dried Jester King snifter. The final temperature is 55.2 degrees F.
Appearance – 4
First pour – Deep Brown (SRM 30), Light barely passes through.
Body – Black (SRM 40), opaque. Under direct light, same. When rear-lite, black and opaque, amber at the edges.
Head – Large (Maximum 4.2 cm, aggressive center pour) biscuit lightening to sandy tan as it oxygenates, high density with average retention, ending with a jagged 1.0 – 1.4 cm crown and a complete cap. An irregular thin band of lacing appears as the head contracts.
Lacing – Good. Multiple bands of near-microscopic to tiny bubbles remains attached to the crown by short, thin columns. Parts of these bands dissolve into torn curtains. See also above.
Aroma – 4.25 – Slightly bitter chocolate, weak piney hops, and a hint of smoke. No alcohol (6 % ABV according to BA, the bottles are not marked).
Flavor – 4.25 – Initially slightly bitter with weak Baker’s chocolate, weak piney hops, and a hint of smoke/char. No alcohol. No dimethylsulfide or diacetyl. Mild, barely noticeable, gastric warming.
Palate – 4 – Medium: Almost Creamy: Soft but lively carbonation.
Style: Follows the BA style description.
Final impression and summation: 4.25 Uncredited label art. Quite good for a porter, well-balanced but still surprising hop presence – both very drinkable and desirable – think I’ll have another!
Rating 4.25, rDev +2.4%

And, BTW, I'm drinking my second Alpha Klaus as I type this!

 

Crowded day at the gym, although it was mostly parents and kids signing up and participating in some fitness classes or something. Showered and prepped lunch, so now its time for a beer. This is another from a neighbor from the Sam Adams winter pack - the Cold Brew coffee stout.

My phone's camera hides the nice look of the head on this beer. As I tried to hide the flaws the broken thing introduces to pics these days, it has fallen to a creamy half centimeter cap on the beer. A quick tip for a sip and there is pretty significant lacing, so this is a nice looking beer.

The nose has more of a dark lager vibe at first, but I do get some coffee after doing a little searching. This is a lighter stout at 6%, and I am fine with lower ABV stouts. Usually they are a bit lighter and a little thinner, but this one is pretty thin and somewhat effervescent.

The taste is pretty much on point, though. I get a little pumpernickel bread before a modest amount of coffee fills in from the edges. This isn't a beer that is knocking you over the head with roast or coffee, but gives you enough to put it squarely in the stout style. There is a little tang at the end that is about the only thing I think is out of place.

I liked the Winter White a bit better than this one, but this is fine enough.

 

I will say if I lived in an area with better/wider beer choices I'd probably read more in advance of purchase. What do more of these days since memory sux is look to see if I have reviewed it before...

 

Hello New Beer Weekend!!!

I will be catching up on this thread after I get home later today. Right now I am in Parkers Prairie, MN at Thousand Lakes Brewing and having this.

Striped Overalls Light - Light Lager - 4.2%

Light and refreshing. This would be amazing on a hot summer day, which today is not here in central Minnesota.

Review:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/58377/777033/
3.47/5 rDev 0%
look: 4 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
On tap at the brewery.

Clear golden looking beer in the glass. There's a light stream of carbonation rising in the glass. There's a white head to the beer.
Super light biscuit grain aroma.
Taste is light. It has a touch of grain and biscuit. There's a light sweetness on the finish.
Light crisp and clean body.
Tasty, easy drinking beer overall.

Be back at the next stop.

 

Drekker Chonk Peanut Butter and Jelly


Appearance: Murky purple/brown with a light pink colored head.

Smell: Really strong strawberry aroma.

Taste: Starts pretty sweet and strawberries right away, then a little twang of sourness, then the peanut butter. Then everything reverses course the way it came in during the finish—PB, sourness, strawberries. Heavy feel.

Overall: My first smoothie sour beer, Drekker makes countless numbers of these which I've always ignored. Until now, when my OCD says I need to tick the style. It's actually better than I expected, the sweetness is stronger than the sour. Worth a try, but it'll be a while before I plan to have another.

 

If you could remember all 7,500+ beers you've reviewed, I'd be heckin' impressed. And frankly jealous.

 

Hat tip to @Beersnake for kicking off my favorite thread on BeerAdvocate.

Last night I opened a New Beer. This morning I bashed my notes into something more like an actual review.



Fremont Brew 5000
English-style barleywine aged in bourbon barrels

Look:
Clear reddish-brown with dark persimmon highlights. A vigorous pour raises a thin skin of foam that quickly makes itself scarce. Minimal ring, no skin, no lacing. Looks plenty viscous.

Smell:
The nose is rich with brown sugar, fig preserves, oak, and bourbon.

Taste:
The flavor starts off sweet and fruity, leading with lots of figs and dates and pivoting halfway through to dark, sweet cherries and some raspberries at the end. There's loads of brown sugar too, augmented with hints of caramel, oak, vanilla, bread pudding, and an unexpected speck of cinnamon. Bourbon is easy to spot but not over the top.

Feel:
The full body is lush and velvety. The low carbonation gently percolates on the surface but gets lost in the body. Alcohol heat could be dialed back a notch.

Overall:
On the plus side, I really like the fruity character and the amount of barrel character. On the down side, the sweetness is too much for me and a bit one-dimensional. I wish the caramel were ramped up and the brown sugar proportionally ramped down.

-----

I drank about half the bottle last night, so I'm looking forward to seeing how it holds up tonight. (A Macallan stopper sealed the bottle just fine.)

 

Can't even do it in less shallow pool here...

 

Now at 22 Northman Brewing outside of Alexandria, Minnesota.

Joe Dort - Dortmunder - 6%

Damn, great flavor. Great malt bill, and the coffee has a great complexity to it.

Review:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/56480/628107/
4.04/5 rDev 0%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4
On tap at the brewery.

The beer has a darker golden color to it and it is clear. There's a bit of a white head to the beer.
The aroma is dominated by coffee. It is a nice dark and rich aroma.
The beer has a malty biscuit hit right away. The coffee comes in stong next. This is a very roasted coffee flavor. The malty biscuit does come back as the coffee fades a bit. There's a bit of bitterness on the finish.
The body has a decent fullness to it. some clingy feeling.
Very delicious overall. Well made beer.

Copper Trail Brewing is the next stop.

 

Good afternoon NBW
Bought a six pack of this one just to scratch the occasional itch this January.

Michelob Ultra Zero

12oz bottle Freshest Before 15JUN26 poured into a pokal glass at fridge temp 0.0% 29g carbs per label. The beer pours extremely bright, pale golden yellow with nearly white head. The head recedes to a thin ring and island. No lacing. The aroma is very slight with just a hint of pale malt. The taste matches with a quick burst of pale malt wort then fades quickly to water with a hint of hop flavor and bitterness. The feel is thin bodied with average carbonation and a mostly dry finish. Overall, ok for NA. I feel like I'd be hard pressed to pick this out in a blind tasting of any number of Inbev NA beers.

 

Petskull Brewing Snap! Krackle! Stout! "All the goodness of a Scotcheroo bar...peanut butter, chocolate, butterscotch, marshmallow and, of course, Rice Krispies! We also add lactose to give it the sweetness a Scotcheroo deserves." I added it to the database. The look is black with a light brown tint, and a small amount of brown foam. The smell is is that of Rice Krispies bars with milk chocolate. Dialed in. The taste is that of a Scotcheroo bar. This is an excellent facsimile of the original. Rice Krispies cereal, peanut butter, chocolate, marshmallow, and butterscotch. I am a preacher's kid from Wisconsin, and my dad brought Scotcheroo bar pans home many times when I was growing up, after church bake sales. The mouthfeel is creamy, silky, smooth, and crisp. Very delightful. Overall, this is a nostalgic pastry stout of the finest quality.