New Beer Weekend #290

Yukon Cornelius coffee porter icarus brewery
.. an almost solid black appearance
... just below average carbonation with a slightly thick heavy body
...aroma is espresso, mocha, raw coffee beans and im not so sure the last one is good
...taste is coffee,coffee soda, coffee grinds, malt and roasted malt. I cant explain but something is off about this,like something has gone wrong.
..overall the coffee flavor tastes like it was just some shot of espresso poured into a decent porter. Flavors don't seem blended well

 

Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. - Bigfoot
2023 Vintage. It's a big, bold American Barleywine. At the same time, it's a really pleasant and comforting beer that is an ideal sipper. I haven't had one of these in a long time. I prefer this with a bit of age, and it's drinking very nicely right now. I wouldn't mind if it had a bit more age on it, and I plan to let my other bottle cellar longer before opening it. It's got lovely big malty notes of caramel and toffee, along with the classic bitter and woodsy Chinook-hop forward finish that lingers long. A delicious beer that is an amazing example of the style!

Cross-posted in WBAYDN #4859, Cellar Review Thread (2026), Cellaruary: Beer is meant to be consumed, not collected. (2026), and Online Tasting: Sierra Nevada Bigfoot (February 6th to 8th, 2026)

 

Toppling Goliath Hazy Day Sue IPA, 6.5% ABV; 4.04 overall

Pours a hazed gold with one finger of eggshell colored head. Good lacing & head retention

S: Citrus & tropical fruit, peach, cantaloupe & lime late, still a bit muted

T: Tangerine, dryness, a little white grape up front. A touch of pineapple, a little grassyness, guava & papaya, plus pomelo as this beer warms up. Finishes with plenty of pineapple, some pineapple, a bit of cactus & pear & dryness

MF: Medium body, fairly creamy carbonation, nice balance, acidity late

Easy drinker with plenty of juicy tropical flavor. To me this screams summer release, but middling for this series

 

Was hoping for a hallmark ending. Turn on the charm @GreenBayBA

 

I didn't come across this thread until after retirement. Sunday night was my relaxation night, just doing laundry and listening to the jazz lineup on WDCB (which I still do when home).

For beer and this thread the past several years, Saturday is my experimental day or perhaps the beer I may anticipate as not being as great as my "Primetime" Sunday selection.

PS - I miss @kemoarps ' contributions here.

OK, It's Primetime New Beer Sunday #1094! For many here, it will also be Super Bowl Sunday. Putting out a save the date for two Sundays from now as we will be celebrating the 21st Anniversary of New Beer Sunday on February 22.

The first New Beer Sunday was created by @malty on February 20, 2005, with only one Sunday missed (2/19/12 during the transition from the previous forum software to the current one) this entire time.

Spiteful Blood Moon

4.38/5 rDev 0%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5



Full review linked above. This is classified as a Red IPA by the brewery, a style not available on Beer Advocate. I classified under American Amber / Red Ale. The previous 12 entered here range from 3.04 to 3.81. It's just a style I don't gravitate toward., but this beer is a home run for me. My overall rating:

Hope you all have an equally enjoyable beer or two today, and those watching enjoy the game as well.

 

@jonphisher thanks for posting this review. Spot on. The brewery/restauarant is in the NE quadrant of metro Atlanta, so it is not as well known and does not get as much BA traffic as SweetWater, Monday Night, or even Halfway Crooks Beer, but us locals love it and pretty proud of what they produces. As you saw yesterday, I had this on cask at the brewery. It just enhances the flavors and mouthfeel. The 4% abv is perfect for me these days. GWB makes a Dark Mild too that edges this one as my favorite on cask.

Brewer/owner Todd DiMatteo is relentless in pursuing his craft. He has been in England this week hanging out with brewers and exchanging ideas and techniques. He did the same in the Czech Republic last summer and some wonderful Czech style beers resulted. I suspect some more English style beers will be rolling out over the next few months. Glad to hear you enjoyed it! Cheers!

 

@jonphisher I was just looking back at the place reviews and realized you've been to the brewery before and I just told you a bunch of stuff you already knew. Cheers!

 

Maybe someone has a similar user name. I have not been to the brewery. These came from @FRANKHAZE and he sent me the dark mild too

 

Good grief. You're right. Very similar name. It's too early. I need to go back to bed.

 

If it’s @jophish17 i just saw him the other day for the first time and was gonna ask “where have you been my whole life?”

I was excited to try their beers thanks to seeing you praise them so many times here and there. Also got one of their pils. Tags incoming as I drink, whether you like it or not

 

Sounds like a winner Jay, and I too miss @kemoarps my fellow Star Wars hip-hop loving friend, if I had to guess he knows that song, it was my bat signal...

 

That's who it was. Keep'em coming bro!

 

I’ll just say glad I can help hahah, love Good word I’ve known Todd for nearly 20 years

In the spirit of the thread I’m drinking RichKat Deja Vu DIPA at their taproom in Central Hong Kong. RichKat had tons of bars across China& territories and produces some really quality beers - just be prepared to pay 21usd for a sampler!

 

Hey! There he is. Say his name three times and he appears! Yep, I've gotten to know Todd over the last four and he's a good dude. Cheers!

 

Oh man, that is taking me back. I haven't had it in forever cause I don't live in Illinois anymore, and when I do go back up to visit, I never see it. But that has long been one of my favorites of the style especially ones made in the US, from breweries not named Guinness ha.

 

Young Blood Glitterbug

Appearance: Murky dark orange, big head with a slight pink hue.

Smell: Sour citrus fruit.

Taste: Starts with a little sweetness, then switches to a sweetened sour flavor. Reminds me of the sour candy Smarties. The sourness is pretty mild, and I keep wanting another drink. Finishes with continuing sweet/sour flavor.

Overall: My first sour IPA, I like it a lot more than I expected to! I’m not a big sour/tart beer guy but this one must have enough sweetness to make me enjoy it more. Maybe I’ll have to try some more of these crazy things.

 

Ok, I was challenged, a bit, by a strong advocate for this thread to post this weekend. The GF happened to buy a bunch of beers this week, hopefully not a sign of how she will be "spending" her retirement. Of the new purchases, none seemed to interesting to me, but I decided on this one because it was at the front of the fridge.


I've generally had middling experiences with Peak Organic, nothing wrong with their beers, but I always feel I want a little more. In this case, I am liking that the beer doesn't get trope-ish wth the color, and the hue is purplish rose, as one might expect from actual blueberries. The nose is even better on the blueberry front. Distinctly so with a mix of sweetness and tarness expected in the beer. That is countered by a little graininess or grain husk.

On the taste, it starts out as a lighter macro beer, maybe a bit more malt-specific. I wish it continued along that path. However, it quickly gets seltzer-y, though, with a seemingly overly aggressive carbonation. The quite light heft of the beer bolsters the seltzer impression. The blueberry comes in and it is quite refreshing - I have zero complaints about this specific addition.

I start getting a little hay-like vibe underneath the blueberry as I adjust and the beer warms. I am trying to give this a chance, but the flavor ends up where it started. It isn't the blueberry note, I think that is very nice. It is the beer around it that seems to have missed the wake up call on brewing day.

 

I was wondering if we'd see you this weekend that label, and name, look eerily similar to a book we used to read to the kids, Blueberries for Sal...



Wonder if that is the case, or just coincidence?