New Beer Weekend #289 (for @cavedave!)

Cheers again to @cavedave with my last new to me brew today on this fine NBW:
Speedway Grand Prix MMXXV Chocolate Pecan Pie Edition | AleSmith Brewing Company | BeerAdvocate





Have to say these last 2 Speedway Grand Prix MMXXV variants were better than the ones I had last weekend. Still undecided if I'll have any new brews tomorrow or not so cheers everyone!

 

Prost! I could pound a few Krugs of that one for sure brother

 

He sure did! He couldn’t resist a terrible pun. One might even say, “He dug, she dug, you dug, I dug, we all dug puns. It’s not a great poem, but it is deep.”

Resist In Peace @cavedave. We allready miss you.

 

Got home so I can finally cross-post my earlier new beer from WBAYDN? Too difficult to do on the phone!

O'so Ida's Dark Secret

Drinking with @GreenBayBA

Appearance Clear red with a decent head that fades out over time

Smell: raspberry, quite tart

Taste: neutral arrival, then gives a nice mix of tartness and raspberry flavor. The raspberries hold their own against the tartness.

Overall: A pretty solid barrel aged sour! I'm not a big sour fan but this is quite tasty. Nice raspberry flavor.

 

Here's one that @cavedave would have enjoyed, I believe. I certainly associate Vermont IPAs with him, myself.

Epic Sip IPA by Lawson's-


Aroma is heavily fruity, mostly tropical but seemingly balanced with citrus peel. Mostly mango and orange with pineapple and apricot like stone fruit underneath. Very rich and appealing.

The palate features more of the stone fruit and bitter citrus rind. Still rich and appealing, and perhaps more so as a serious swath of bitterness cuts through everything. Oh yes, baby, this is a big ale, and not a glass of fruit nectar. A lot more spry than the 9.5% abv would suggest. Dangerously more-ish, and much more preferableto me than the Triple Sunshine. It's a solid A (4.5)

Dave, we never met in person but I miss you already. Hope you're in a groovy place!

I'm more of a Jorma head than a deadhead, but I'm sure Dave enjoyed this take on Sugaree:

 

Hello New Beer Weekend!!!

I am a bit late to the party. I was in the cities today to visit my dear friend Heather, who was visiting her mom here. I then stopped by to visit my mom, and had a great time with both.

I have escaped the metro, and it is time for one here at home. I knew that this must be my first beer of this thread to honor @cavedave .


Bourbon County Brand Stout Reserve (2023) Eagle Rare 2-Year - Goose Island Brewing - Chicago, IL - American Imperial Stout - 14.5% ABV

Holy hell, I don't think I could have picked a better beer to honor cavedave. Wow, this is off the charts delicious, and I am so happy I opened it today. Cheers to you cavedave. Rest in peace.

Review:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/1146/666469/
4.97/5 rDev +10%
look: 4.5 | smell: 5 | taste: 5 | feel: 5 | overall: 5
From a 16.9oz bottle. Drink by Sept 4th, 2028. In honor of cavedave.

There was a nice hiss upon opening. While I was typing the last sentence, the beer started slowly gushing out of the bottle. I lost very little in the process. This beer is a thick looking beer while pouring it into my glass. This beer is so pitch black that there's no chance any light will shine through it at all. There was a 1 finger brown head that formed, but it did dissipate fairly fast. It finished up as a brown ring around my glass.
The aroma hits hard and fast. I was getting so much beer aroma while pouring the beer and typing this. Getting up close is just intense in a very good way. I get just a huge hit of dark fruit. I am getting a ton of chocolate, caramel, and toffee. These flavors are backed up by barrel notes. I get oak and vanilla from them. All aromas are strong in a good way, and are pleasing.
Wow, the flavor is so intense. I just don't even know where is the best place to start. I get the dark fruit right off the bat. Intense raisin and plum hits my taste buds. The next flavor that hits me is a rich milk chocolate flavor. I then get some caramel and toffee notes. The finish has the barrel notes, with oak and vanilla. The flavors fade a bit throughout but never fully fade. They all blend together to create a world class taste.
The body is off the charts thick and smooth: so full feeling. The beer has just a very faint alcohol burn to tell you to slow down just a touch and enjoy the ride.
I knew there was a very good chance that this would be an amazing beer, I just didn't know how amazing it actually was. I've had a lot of BCBS over the years, but this might be my #1 of all time. I'd have to look at my ratings of others to see.


Wow, I highly doubt any other beers will come close to this, but I may pluck off one more tonioght. Cheers to all BAs.

 

Here is my cheers to @cavedave , feels like a wake in the best sense! I hope his buddies from the Doom Saloon see this outpouring of respect, stories, comaraderie, and good cheer!




Reviewed by TCgenny from New York

3.94/5 rDev -8.6%
look: 3 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Gifted by a prestigious BA @GreenBayBA on the 28th anniversary of Central Waters Brew tonight!,,,,,from Wisconsin , this delight pours dark burgundy with a film of Khaki lace on top that shrank to an octopus starburst swirling on top of my Don Mario Branded Barleywine glass. First sniff yields toffee, raisins, earthy toastiness. Taste has additional char, molasses , tangy bourbon, nutty. Mouthful is medium, granted I’m a sipper so it’s hitting nicely. Overall dynamic sweet, balanced , flavorful, dry finish. It’s very good obviously.

Cheers BAs !

 

Braved the cold to pick up sandwiches for supper. My play list musta been channeling the spirit world. The Band - I Shall be Released and The Weight. Grateful Dead - Attics of My Life and Brokedown Palace. It's on random and I have thousands of tunes, it rarely doubles artists...hmmm...

Here was the edge of the field about 4:00 this afternoon. There were six in that spot after dusk the day after the storm. That's about 30 yards from the back steps and she's a big girl!



Tonight's beer in honor of Dave:



Barreled Souls Dark Matter aged 11 months and 22 days in Heaven Hill Single Malt barrels. ABV 14.7%, bottled on 3/31/25, bottle 251 of 720. I'm not sure when Dark Matter became an Imperial Stout but the bottle says that's what it is...

Skip to the end? Another awesome barrel aged brew from the crew in Saco, ME. Easy A to A+.

Pours very dark brown so let's say dark black coffee color. About an inch of dense khaki foam that falls to an incredible ring which clings beautifully to the glass.

Lots going on with the smell. Fantastic bourbon floats over the roasty malts, dark fruits, a bit of char, wood, a little milk chocolate and coffee.

The initial taste I get is sweet - dark fruit and brown sugar - but that's quickly overlaid with a glorious bourbon flavor. Dates, raisins, prune. Dark, sweet bread. A little milk chocolate and a little hint of coffee. The oak comes on stronger with repeated sips giving a little phenolic tingle. I get some brighter fruit - seems like cherry. I think it's a trick in my mind but I'm picking up marshmallow or something close to it.

This one feels thick and a little syrupy. There's a bit of alcohol tingle and it's ridiculously warming.

Diggin' it. It's a slow sipper for sure. They called it a stout but I'm not sure I agree. It's like a mosh pit of stout, barleywine, and strong ale. Then again who am I to argue. I'd say around a 4.3 - it's just a tad bit sweet.

 

This bomber is special. Purchased at brewery .

The nose is a bread basket

San Fernando Brewing 10th Anniversary Wheat Ale made using Sonora Wheat . This was their flagship before prices for the wheat skyrocketed.

Its amazing..this is for Dave.

 

Bottle logic logic light
....an incredibly clear pale gold with a lasting fluffy white head
...just below average body and carbonation
.... aroma is yeast, honey and fruit along with grain but very subdued
..taste has more impact than aroma. An odd but pleasant fruity earthy sweet bitter honey out front with some grain and cereal
...overall would be nice on a hot day after mowing the lawn but not so much after walking the dog in 15 degree weather

 

Received this beer today from @GreenBayBA before he went off to the Central Waters anniversary party. Now that I'm home, I'll give it a review.

Central Waters Brewer's Reserve 7 Layer Stout



Appearance: Black, small head but decent staying power.

Smell: Chocolate, coconuts, barrel, vanilla frosting.

Taste: Sweet to start, then the sweetened coconut comes in along with chocolate and booze. Full bodied. Finishes with the coconuts and a little alcohol hit.

Overall: Thanks to @GreenBayBA for this nice barrel aged stout. Not sure if I’ve had a 7 layer bar but this beer approximates boozy Mounds bars. Tasty!

 

Craft beer has had its share of trends, such as the beer snob (or more plainly - jerks) reputation or the insistent complaining about the proliferation of IPAs, but the constant bright light on BA across all of those trends was CaveDave. No matter the trend, no matter the topic - CaveDave offered a fair & heartfelt assessment delivered in an eloquent & elegant way.

My run-ins with CaveDave were not many. We interacted the most around the height of NBS threads - which were daunting and intimidating to share in initially, knowing the likes of CaveDave, UtopiaJane, and others were sharing their thoughts. Despite those daunting moments, CaveDave - amongst others - offered what any great hobby group craves: nourishment & support. Perhaps that's why I continue to look back on NBS so fondly.

For this weekend's New Beer - it's one that celebrates life. That's not something I say facetiously - the couple that owns & brews for Alma Mader brewed this beer to celebrate the birth of their first child. After aging the beer some 26 months in oak, they released a beer bearing their son's name - Mateo. Considering the circle of life in which we find ourselves on some part of the wheel at any given time, this seemed like an appropriate beer to sip, savor, & enjoy. Without further ado:

Alma Mader's Mateo.







Pour is black with a near complete stillness, having no foam bubble up upon a ~6oz pour directly into the glass. Only after a vigorous swirl does any mocha colored foam bubble up around the edges, nearly immediately swallowed by heavy dark oily legs that cling to the glass like some motor oil used for 10,000 miles.

Aroma is rich & potent. Dates, dark chocolate, toffee, and molasses interlay and weave alongside fudge & brownie batter. Oak and barrel note is forward, especially at temperatures closer to fridge temperature. As the beer warms, barrel develops a looming shadow throughout the nose, never masking or obscuring the rich chocolatey notes out front, instead offering a firm backdrop.

Flavor profile is softly spoken, but firm. Chocolate and cocoa nibs work alongside molasses and brownie batter. Oak and barrel are again heavily present, though a shade or two less than the nose. After the initial splash of chocolate, dark fruits, dates, and soft vanilla sweep through. As the beer warms, dark chocolate notes crescendo with a furiosity of a well coordinated finale.

Mouth feel is thick - bringing with it a little silty texture that adds some grittiness to the otherwise soft and light effervescence.

Overall, this is not something I say lightly - but this is one of the best BA imperial stouts I've had to date. The depth on this one is absolutely incredible, allowing the imperial stout underneath to sing loudly while retaining the burden of a dark shadow of barrel. It features lovely notes of dark chocolate, dates, and molasses that work together splendidly well.

Score: 4.75 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | BA Score: 4.99 | rDev: NA
______________________________________

Closing thoughts: a beer that celebrates life has given me a lot of time to reflect upon mine, as I've been slowly sipping through this bottle for around five hours now (and still have approximately 5oz to go). In those reflections, it never occurred to me before how much an internet stranger can mean to me. Feels like a great send off for me to memorialize CaveDave and all of his contributions as a pillar within our community. Wishing nothing but the best for his family and friends.

Leaving you with this, perhaps not a band that CaveDave followed at all, but rather a somber song about the circle of life. Despite it's heavy message, it's one I quite enjoy, and I hope you'll enjoy it too:

 

I do not have a new beer to share this week, but I thought I'd duck in and tell a NBS/NBW-related Dave story.

Back in the New Beer Sunday days, the founders and NBSers decided to start doing Beer-It-Forward boxes. I think I skipped the first couple, can't remember all of the particulars, but when I did finally decide to join in, I drew Dave as my BIF partner.

*gulp*

In my mind, drawing @cavedave for a BIF box was like drawing Zeus in a lightning-bolt exchange. Still, I made the rounds in my part of Texas and put together what I thought was a decent collection of beers (Live Oak, Lone Pint, Real Ale, maybe even a Jester King?). Everything was solid if not fantastic with one exception: I put in a beer that had a grand reputation but that *I had not tried myself*. Huge mistake, the cardinal sin of beer trading or BIFing, and sure enough, Dave reviewed all of my BIF beers on NBS and said nice things about all of them except this one beer *I had not tried myself*. Weeks went by, maybe months, and finally I couldn't take the suspense, so I sent Dave a direct message asking what he thought of this beer *I had not tried myself*.

Dave's very politic response: "Oh, I shared that with some friends, but we don't talk about beers like it."



I felt like an ass, immediately began putting together a smaller but much more well-tested box of three extra beers and shipped them to Dave without telling him. Granted, he never complained about the original BIF box. In fact, quite the opposite, he was gracious about my effort. Still, I felt I needed to make amends.

Dave was surprised and super excited when the extra box showed up at his doorstep. He thanked me over and over, and when I told him I felt bad about that one BIF beer *I had not tried myself* and felt I owed him something a little extra, he basically said that no, I didn't, and besides it's just beer ... no worries. And he thanked me again for the extras.

Sure enough, about a month later, a small box showed up at my place in Texas postmarked from New York. Dave had sent me a couple cans of fantastic stuff just to say thanks in the best way a BA knows how.

Thank you for indulging me, and thanks to everybody here on BA.com over the past week who has toasted Dave. The beers are great, but it's BAs like Dave who make this website truly special.

Cheers!

P.S. I found this Dave poem in my DMs from Dec. 31, 2017 ... if somebody else has already shared, I apologize for reposting:

Got the stuck sparge blues for Christmas,
All I gotta say.
Now my baby left me,
She done ran away.
Said she ain't a'waitin',
She ain't the waitin' kind,
I stand here by my mash tun
I'm about to lose my mind.
Got the stuck sparge blues for Christmas and I'm cryin' in my beer.
Don't care my baby left me,
It's her coming back tomorrow that I fear.

 

I enjoy all Central Waters products by the generosity of @GreenBayBA Micah gave this to me in the hopes that I would crack it on a special day, whether that was my next multi-million dollar deal, a new super model girlfriend, or even reaching my Good Reads goal.

Don Mario is a beloved WBAYD character. He claims Italian royalty, he loves a good meal, he has been diligent promoting his lifestyle brand. He wants you to know : you can do it, you can be it, fame doesn’t grow in scoopable kitty litter. @Beersnake dig deep, get your paws in the dirt, live large and go for it.

-his words, not mine!

 

Thanks to @jonphisher for the heads up on this release. Victory is an essential PA brewery and this offering reminds me of why



Headwaters Pale Ale
American Pale Ale | 5.2% ABV
Victory Brewing Company - Downingtown in Downingtown, Pennsylvania

Reviewed by beerdedking from Pennsylvania

4.04/5 rDev +3.6% | Average: 3.9
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4
This is a sublime example of APA leaning towards English Pale Ale. It pours copper penny in color with a lush volume of head that leaves more than expected lacing throughout the drinking experience. Scents arrive with citrus, pine sap, and caramel in equal amounts. Flavors proceed along equally to nose commencing in a fully dry and lightly bitter finish. Feel and carbo are perfect for style. This is a husky and delicious APA that toes the IPA line but doesn't cross. I love what Victory has been doing bringing out their classics lately

 

This is a beautiful post, sir. Cheers and long live the memory of Dave

 

Great Notion - Greater Things, sour ale with strawberry, pineapple, and mango

16oz can served in a nonic pint. If there's a date, I don't see it.

Pours murky / muddy reddish - pinkish - tan, big coarse head that soon settles into a clotty, uneven layer. Smell is strawberry banana smoothie with some rising bread dough in the background. Heavy on the strawberry.

Taste is tart, acidic, heavy on the strawberry like the nose, but with more of a fruit medley behind it. Pineapple for sure, vaguely tropical smoothie notes. Moderate fruit skin bite. I get some of the kettle sour flavor, but not a ton.

Mouthfeel is thick, a little chunky. Overall...it's not bad. Based on my understanding from lovers of the style, this would probably be considered pretty good.

 

Love your write up @beerdedking …

That beer verges on perfection for me, across board: look, aroma, taste, feel; its return still hasn’t gotten old.

I’ll probably go back for one more six pack when I finish off my second and pray it comes back again next year.