New Beer Weekend #292

Vice - Not Getting Any Younger California-Style Triple IPA

16oz can served in a curvy Monhegan pint glass. Bought it a couple days ago at Chuck's Hop Shop Seward Park. Dated 1/26/26.

Pours clear brassy gold, medium sized head or a little shy of that, steady state is a generous ring and incomplete blanket. Smell is pine resin and honey, flowers and pine. Boozy with grapefruit rind.

Taste is a wrecking ball of booze and pine. Delicate floral and honey notes have left the building. I do get some lemon zest, heavy pine bitterness.

Mouthfeel is big, thick, hefty but not oppressive. Overall...it's not bad. If you're looking for a monster WC IPA style bitter bomb to knock you on your ass, it'll do the job.

 

Welcome back!

 

That is a damn good Bourbon for $ IMHO

 

This part of my Superbowl 2026 Squares BIF haul. All props to the Seahawks D & @mlench10 for this beauty

Drekker/Fidens Collab Bottom Feeder Freddy The Fishman 3X Dry Hopped Hazy DIPA, 8.5% ABV; 3.97 overall. Great descriptor of the beer on the profile too lazy to list it all

Pours a super-hazed gold with 2 fingers of beige head. Above average head retention & lacing

S: Tons of tropical fruit, faint dankness, fades a bit down the stretch

T: Pineapple, pomelo, a little weed, a touch of dryness & nectarine up front. Pineapple dominates along with dryness, a little green melon & gooseberry as this beer warms. Finishes dry with much pineapple, dryness, green melon & a little pomelo

MF: Medium body, creamy carbonation, acidic. The acidity threw the balance off for me

Drinks alright, usually love pineapple in these 2XIPAs, but too acidic to love

 

Happy Friday, New Beer people! Cheers to @Whyteboar for opening the bar.

My first New Beer of the weekend is a new IPA collaboration which was canned earlier this week.



Fort George Vor Tai P.A.
This is a collaboration between Fort George Brewery (Astoria, OR) and Alvarado Street Brewing (Monterey, CA) that interpolates both breweries' flagship IPAs: Vortex and Mai Tai.

The beer os bright gold and clear, with a short-lived head of heavy white foam that leaves a few spots of lacing. The nose is a tangy but subdued mix of pine, pineapple, and stone fruits. The flavor is more lively than the nose, and fruit is first out of the gate: sweet pineapple, peaches, mango, guava, and a squeeze of citrus. Muddled pine and crackery malt come through as the wave of fruit subsides. Bitterness is muted, and takes a back seat to a hot citrus peel bite in the rather astringent finish. Alcohol leaves a sullen burn.

Overall, this is not one of my favorite Vortex collaborations. It starts subdued and ends a little too sharp with noticeable hop burn. The Vortex and Mai Tai aspects don't talk to each other, and then they fight. Maybe it needs a little time to settle in. I'll open another can next week to see how it's coming along.

 

I got a revisit review. Summit Extra Pale ale. I reviewed in 2/5/2014. BB 10/10/2025. Lasting fluffy head retention and foamy lacing down the glass. Aromas of big red grapefruit, tangerine, citrus peel/rind, wood, mint, peppercorn, pine, caramel, toasted biscuit, nuttiness, herbal, floral, grass, and yeast earthiness. Taste follows with big red grapefruit, tangerine, citrus peel/rind, wood, mint, peppercorn, pine, caramel, toasted biscuit, nuttiness, herbal, floral, grass, and yeast earthiness. Moderate pine, citrus rind, woody, spicy bitter finish. Medium carbonation and body; balanced creamy/bready/grainy malt and sticky/resinous hop mouthfeel. Lingering oily hop resin dryness, with mild astringency. Fairly crisp on hop resins after the finish. Spot on english pale ale, a bit better than I remember. Great balance of juicy/earthy Cascade and Fuggle hops with a balanced toasty English malt backbone. 3.85/5


Cheers

 

6th Anniversary Barleywine from Lumberbeard.

4.47/5 rDev +4%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4.5

Poured from a 16 ounce can dated January 2026 into a snifter at 57.2 degrees F.

Appearance- Ruby brown, opaque, medium brown sudsy head, below average head retention, zero lacing, high alcohol legs on glass wall.

Aroma- Bourbon, oak, raisin, fig, cherry, molasses, vanilla, tobacco, between medium and high strength of scent.

Flavor- Bourbon, cherry, raisin, fig, vanilla, molasses, oak, moderately spicy, moderately sweet, very high strength of flavor.

Feel- Medium body, severely below average carbonation, silky, moderately sweet, moderately spicy, highly mouth warming, mildly mouth coating, high alcohol burn.

Overall- Ruby brown and opaque with below average head retention and zero lacing. The nose was a complex mix of bourbon, oak, dark dried fruits, molasses, vanilla and tobacco. The flavor was bourbon forward with plenty of cherry, raisin and fig providing balance. Notes of vanilla, molasses, oak and spice round out the flavor profile and add complexity with a strength of flavor landing off the charts. This beer sports a medium body with carbonation that is noticeably below average. It had nice mouth warming properties, but was only mildly mouth coating. Overall, this was a complex and enjoyable ABV monster.

 

I liked that fresh, but not so much otherwise

 

Last new one for the night courtesy of a Ninja-style porch destruction today from @muchloveforhops3

Bombastic Brewing's Waddle Breakfast Imp Stout w/Maple Syrup & Coffee, 14.0% ABV; 4.24 overall

Pours an effervescent chestnut/mahogany with a pinky of tan head. Viscous, minimal head retention & lacing

S: Plenty of coffee, faint maple candy notes & peppers, fades some

T: Coffee, a little vanilla, some booze, chiles & a little maple candy up front, along with dryness. Maple mixes in more with the coffee, some woody hops to include pine,& black pepper this beer warms up. Finishes with coffee, woody hops, maple candy & woody dryness & dark chocolate

MF: Medium body, mid-range carbonation, a little warming

I am a sucker for Maple & this achieves great balance & drinkability between the coffee & other flavors. Stellar drinkability for the heft & style

 

Thank you @Whyteboar for opening this weekend, your offer to snag Mosaic Promise (I'll find it, or it's not meant to be at least until next release, if there is one). Glad you are making substantial progress with your cellar clearing this month, and wish the Chicago Guinness would brew barrel age or really anything interesting (or have Extra Stout or Foreign Extra Stout on draft / imported from Ireland) but it doesn't seem meant to be.

I tried finding my review of this in my off line notes, and found a Founders Mosaic Mystic, which per my various searches never existed. It wasn't the nine other beers Founders has with Mosaic in their BA title, so I adjusted the name in my notes.

I state this because I wanted to see if there was a reference to the honey noted in @JackHorzempa 's review, but my notes were short and brief at a bar outing that day. I will seek that specific flavor out, as it is one of my favorites in a beer when done right, like Hopslam or Fifty/Fifty Eclipse brewed with honey, my all time favorites. Perhaps this is why I loved picking up their 15 packs distributed here until my last can on September 14, 2021.

Really glad you received some up there. Reviewed it (either lost the OG or never formally reviewed) and loved it like you did.

In terms of this weekend, we will be celebrating the 21st Anniversary of New Beer Sunday tomorrow! I will post regarding the history of the thread and my two home beers will be from Goose Island, my original craft beer (a share with my brothers of Prop 2014 and or Coffee) and joining this site within two months which was a great decision. It will be really cold with wind chill (single digits), so may not get out one or both days for additional pours.

Folks should post their favorite personal memories, either of their participation over the years, perhaps regarding the Original Six Host Era (February 20, 2005 - July 19, 2020) before the thread transitioned to New Beer Weekend.

• @malty
• @mattcrill
• @cavedave
• @utopiajane
• @lordofthewiens
• @cjgiant

Hope everyone will be able to share a beer or two and or their favorite experiences over the years!

See you soon with my first weekend pour.

 

Picking two Chicago home beers this weekend from two of my favorites, with Spiteful and Dovetail also favorites though they don't come out with new beers very often.

This selection is an ESB Style Ale, 5.5% brewed with Pale & Caramel malts, and Northern Brewer, UK Golding and East Kent Golding hops.

Off Color Brewing Beer For Bowling
(No can date, distributed week ended 2/5/26)

4.39/5 rDev +7.9%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5



This is my first recollection of tasting butterscotch in a beer. It's one of if not thee favorite hard candy flavor for me, and this is executed like a beer made for me. Off Color is awesome, as is this beer, and I will have to fight impulses with my full refrigerator in mind to wait for the next release vs. buying more NOW.

 

Wow! For quite a few of us, a favorite thread has become legal!!

I actually have beer for the occasion, thanks to the GF. I will post them tomorrow. But you forced me to look back, Jason. And here is a link to one of the threads that jumped out to me in the search results, from 2020. It is an opening by @cavedave - well after his tenure as an unofficial host of the thread.

Thanks to you for keeping up the count.

 

Good day BAs! Thanks Craig (@Whyteboar) for opening the thread, fortuitous since my new beer came from you!



The Nightman Leaveth (2025) from Odd Side Ales. 12 fl oz can, received 17/02/26 in a Ninja box from @Whyteboar (Thanks Craig!) Stored at 40 degrees F at home. Reviewed 21/02/26, review 3694. Note that I use DD/MM/YY protocol.
Printed on can bottom edge “MFG 10/21/25.” Served at 55.9 degrees F in a hand washed and dried Jester King snifter. The final temperature is 59.9 degrees F.
Appearance – 4. Basically, looks like every other stout.
First pour – Medium Amber (SRM 12), clear.
Body – Brown (SRM 30), opaque. Under direct light, same. When rear-lite, opaque with ruby highlights.
Head – Average (Maximum 2.0 cm, aggressive center pour). Caramel lightening to Sandy Tan as it oxygenates, medium density. Short retention, rapidly dropping to a 0.2 – 0.7 cm crown fed by active but spotty carbonation, and a thin, partial cap. Some irregular lacing remains as the head collapses.
Lacing – Excellent! Wide band of tiny to near-microscopic bubbles, with only a couple of rooms hosting a rare stalactite.
Aroma – 4 – Begins slightly sweet with chocolate. No rye, no vanilla. No alcohol (11 % ABV, as marked on the label).
Flavor – 4.5 – Sweet and follows the nose. Distinctly spicy RYE from the first taste to the end. Some vanilla on the aftertaste. No hops. No alcohol. No dimethylsulfide or diacetyl. A pleasing gastric warming occurs.
Palate – 4 – Medium: Creamy: Soft carbonation.
Style: Follows the BA style description.
Final impression and summation: 4.25 Uncredited but excellent label art. Good example of a rye ale aged in rye barrels! Thanks again Craig!

Rating 4.25, rDev +1.4%

 

Something lovely about the color composition of this picture for me. I just added, a few minutes ago, some more recently propagated prayer plant back to my pot. I've slowly been filling it out over the past few years; yours is beautiful looking.

Thanks for sharing, I always enjoy the nuggets you find; and thank you GF for making sure you join us again this weekend. We have a beautiful day today so I'll have an appropriate beer to celebrate the occasion before F**K snow round two arrives tomorrow.

 

Never Strangers from Fixed Gear Brewing Co

Poured 473ml can into a weizen glass. A big three finger fine white head on a clear light gold. Good head retention.

Wheat malts and faint citrus in the nose. The taste follows the nose. some mild fruit notes. Some very slight phenols but no banana evident. A prickly soft finish. Slightly spicy.

A light body and good carbonation. Crisp and clean. Overall a fine Kristallweizen. Light and refreshing.

3.66/5 rDev 0%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4

 

Lawson's Double Sunshine

Appearance: Slightly hazy gold, huge head.

Smell: Big grapefruit first, then stabilizes with a mildly dank aroma.

Taste: Starts with mild sweetness, then a nice mix of citrus and some underlying breadiness. Medium bodied. Some bitterness in the finish but pretty mild.

Overall: Bit the bullet and did an online order to Halftime for some long-time wants. First up is Double Sunshine. Excellent old school-to-early modern double IPA. Nice grapefruit flavor (old school) but not overly bitter (early modern). Very tasty, glad I got two cans in the box!

 

Love it