New Beer Weekend #292

Hop Butcher for the World
Neon Green Beef
Hazy DIPA
8% ABV
PKG: 1/20/26. Poured into a Samuel Adams Perfect Pint.

A: Opaque pulpy juice gold with short cap of white without much retention or lacing.

S: Aroma is mostly pineapple, melon, and lighter coconut with more herbal honeysuckle semi-mint notes.

T: Flavor is more melon-heavy than the aroma also with green grape, pineapple, coconut, lime leaf, and herbal light lemongrass. Esters are low. Alcohol is not evident. Bitterness is low.

M: Feel is creamy and full with low carbonation and full finish.

O: HB Neon Green Beef is a good but not very distinguishable hazy DIPA.

 

902 brewery Italian pilsner
... clear medium amber appearance with a very thin but lasting head.
...about medium carbonation and the same for the body
...aroma is mixed grains, well done toast, cereal and some mild earthy honey
...taste has some mild sweetness with a mild hop bite which shows up mid taste and builds then lingers. A bit of honey also shows up in the aftertaste and lingers
...overall a really nice pilsner from a local brewery

 

This Boulevard beer review # 170 for me! I bet they are most reviewed Brewery, but too lazy to look. ( we'll see)

Irish Cream Barrel Aged ( Irish Whisky ) Stout, 11.0% ABV; 4.1 overall -7.77 rDEV

Nitro pour with Chestnut/Mahogany color & a tight one finger tan. Head & lacing go AWOL
S: Vanilla & butterscotch, Bailey's as the beer warms up

T: Faint coffee, vanilla cream, some dryness & cocoa up front, a kiss of barrel. Certainly getting the Irish Cream now as this warms up, some cocoa & dryness. A little booze & barrel in the finish, along with Bailey's

MF: Medium band, creamy silky carbonation. carbonation dissipates as this beer gets warmer

ABV is fairly well hidden, easy to drink, glad I got to try this, but not sure I'd buy it again

 

So thrilled @mlench10 sent me this! Part of my Superbowl Squares haul.

Troegs Independent Brewing Double Nugget Nectar Imperial Red Ale, 9.5% abv; 4.52 Overall

Pours an effervescent amber/honey color with a thumb of cream-colored head. Sheets of lacing & very good head retention

S: Some cakey notes, toasty, a little pine. Toastyness, honey malt & pine as this beer warms up, citrus late

T: Cakey, tons of pine, plenty toasty, some booze bite up front, a bit sour mashy, but it sure as Hell works, dryness too. Some peach sneaks in between all the cakeyness, pine & caramel once this beer is warm, booze fades away. Finishes cakey with pine & some orange & grapefruit sneaking in! plus caramel & dryness

MF: Medium body, creamy/smooth carbonation, great balance. Body gets a little chewier once warm, starts sticking to the teeth a little

Lethal drinkability, one to approach with respect. If I could, this would be a must pick every year

 

Future Primitive - No Cross Black IPA

16oz can served in a nonic pint. Canned 1/29/26. Bought it a couple days ago at Chuck's Hop Shop Seward Park.

Pours cola brown with a smallish head, medium carbonation. Translucent at the edges, but too dark for light to pass through the body. Smell is roasted coffee, hint of chocolate with toffee, burnt toast and pine resin.

Taste is similar, dryer than I expected. Roast + toffee turns into slightly burnt toffee, bitterness really kicks it up a couple notches. Dark roast coffee now, not quite Starbucks level scorched but approaching it.

Mouthfeel is light, clean, almost crisp. Very nice black IPA.

 

Single Hill - DDH Eastside

16oz can served in a nonic pint. Can is dated 09 Jan. Bought it at Chuck's Hop Shop Seward Park a couple days ago.

Pours clear light yellow, small head that settles into a thick, even skin, clinging almost a centimeter up the side of the glass. Smell is powerful, bright, hint of dank cattiness, floral with a slight undercurrent of earthiness.

Taste is more in the catty direction, lots of lemon rind and leaves, floral notes are there but kind of need to be hunted down.

Mouthfeel is light, cotton-mouth dry. Pretty solid beer.

 

Really enjoyed your sharing of the April 26, 2020 edition of New Beer Sunday #792 @cjgiant ! This was @cavedave 's 70th and final time hosting, shortly after the shift from rotating hosts, and three months before the shift to New Beer Weekend.

I only have limited internet wayback data from the February 20, 2005 through February 12, 2012 database that is no longer available. If @Todd still has access and can shoot over a file for the first 365 editions of New Beer Sunday, I would love to add to my spreadsheet.

New Beer Sunday highlights we can retrieve and celebrate:

• NBS #1 - #365 (2/20/2005 - 2/12/2012) - @malty created and sustained, typically averaged a couple dozen posts.
• February 19, 2012 - The lone skipped New Beer Sunday, due to the aforementioned database / website change and @malty technical inability to create a thread.
• NBS #366 - #480 (2/26/2012 - 5/4/2014) This era was led by @malty (hosted 24 Sundays) and @mattcrill (89 Sundays), and averaged just under 34 posts a weekend.
• NBS #481 - #631 (5/11/2014 - 3/26/2017) This era was led by @cavedave (70 Sundays) and @utopiajane (71 Sundays), and significantly increased participation to just under 152 posts per Sunday!
• NBS #632 - #804 (4/2/2017 - 7/19/2020) This was the final New Beer Sunday, which ended with rotating hosts the final four months. @lordofthewiens (77 Sundays) and @cjgiant (75 Sundays) raised it to 11, increase participation to the peak average of just under 166 posts per Sunday!
• New Beer Sunday #540 hosted by @utopiajane was the biggest New Beer Sunday Ever, with 326 posts!

The spirit of New Beer Sunday is kept alive today within each New Beer Weekend thread (average full weekend participation through last week is an average of 144 posts per weekend).

There have been 42 weekend hosts to date, with the following hosting 10 + weekends to date:

• 45 @SawDog505
• 31 @Beersnake
• 23 @ChicagoJ
• 23 @Roguer
• 23 @Victory_Sabre1973
• 19 @JackHorzempa
• 14 @AzfromOz
• 10 @WunderLlama

Hope the spirit continues to live on for another 21 years, so we can all enjoy sharing and discussing with each other new beers, experiences and camaraderie each weekend in the best and oldest thread on Beer Advocate!

Thanks most of all goes to @malty for creating this thread, and everyone else who helped with the concept. And thank you @Todd and all the Moderators, and every host and participant who has have helped sustain and grow this thread over 21 years.

Debating on opening my new pour now or sometime later today as I'm about to enter a food coma. Cues Spanky & Our Gang.

Cheers!

 

Welcome one and all to New Beer Sunday #1096, our 21st Anniversary Edition (February 20, 2005 - February 22, 2026).

Goose Island started my craft beer journey after my brother shared with me and my youngest brother 2014 Bourbon County Proprietor and possibly also coffee after Thanksgiving Dinner. I joined Beer Advocate shortly after (February 1, 2015) and after my first four or so years only visiting the Great Lakes forums finally came across this thread, and I've enjoyed my time here ever since.

I picked up five different 2025 Bourbon County Brand Stouts on clearance a few weeks ago, and selected this one to celebrate today, based on no adjuncts and rye barrels.

Goose Island Beer Company Bourbon County Brand Reserve Stout (2025 - Bottled 6/25/25)

4.24/5 rDev -5.4%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25



Full review linked above. I expected a stronger barrel than the average stout, but this one was a bit stronger than anticipated, included a dominance vs. a complement against the always excellent base beer. I've had reserved and double / triple barrel BCBS treatment in the past that was executed on a more balanced level in the past. The rye is good. Bottom line, this came in more like the "single barrel easter eggs" showcasing the barrel over the base, vs. the more balanced treatment I prefer with the standard blended version. As the years go by, the regular continues to consistently be the best version for my preferences. Still glad I tried, though may not finish the rest until later today.

Looking forward to enjoying the rest of the weekend with you and your contributions. Cheers!

 

+100 to you for starting NBW with a N/A beer ... and spot on review IMO FWIW ... it is both terribly lacking and shockingly decent at the same time. I would love a fully carbonated version b/c I think nitro sucks, but what do I know?



Cheers!

 

Short version: If you like huge stouts and chocolate-raspberry lattes, you will like this beer. If you don't? Good luck!

There is nothing subtle about this beer, which is why I bought it. It's darker than I'd prefer, but it delivers what the label says ... chocolate (yes), raspberry (yes), coffee (yes). And it's not overly thick or slick in the mouthfeel, which IMO makes it more drinkable. Though I'm not sure you want "drinkable" in 12% ABV b/c the more drinkable, the more dangerous. That's my way of saying it's dangerous. If that makes sense.

Official review:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/396/722114/?ba=Premo88#lists
4.33 (+6.4% rDev)

Cheers!

 

Did you follow their cow-tipping instructions, turning it three times, likely while saying eject, eject, eject in your head (or something like that)? Bummed I forgot.

 

I concur with @Roguer ... very cool that you went to the trouble to backtrack and figure out the NBS connection on the 21st anniversary, especially in light of recent events. Very cool stuff @ChicagoJ!

And tag me when you get back to NBW/NBS with a new brew @Roguer ... I'll open a new beer with you just because why not?

 

We miss you @Roguer hope you can join us this weekend and beyond again soon.

 

I did not was already paranoid about gushing. If I bought a 4 pack, I'd still have a chance. I don't expect to see that beer down here.

 

Time for a new beer that I picked up yesterday at Spilled Grain Brewing in Annandale, MN.

Hopflix & Chill - APA - 4.2%

Not a big fan of this one to be honest. It's ok, but it seems a bit muddled to me. It was a $5 crawler, so I'm not too upset. At least, unlike my last beer, I can finish this one off.

Review:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/41674/766667/
3.4/5 rDev 0%
look: 4 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.5
From a 750ml crawler filled on 12-22-2025

This beer is a murky looking beer and has a dirty golden color to it, if that makes sense. There's a 2 finger slightly off white colored head to this beer that had decent retention, but minimal lacing on the glass.
The aroma is quite faint and light. I do get a slight hint of the hops used to make this beer in the nose.
The flavor is somewhat muddled in my opinion. I do get a bit of hops in the flavor and the hops are on the dank end of the spectrum. I am getting an earthy flavor to this beer. There's a bit of bitterness on the finish that builds a bit.
The body does seem pretty decent. The feeling from the bitterness does linger. Decent depth for a 4.2% beer.
I am glad I finally got to try this beer, but it is one I may not get again from them. It's just not working totally right for me.


I don't think this is a good way to end the weekend, so I'll go for one final beer of the weekend in a bit.

 

Well, back to back beers, and this will close out my weekend. I totally didn't realize that I've started 23 NBW threads. Holy cow! I wasn't sure about the change from NBS to NBW, but I got used to it fairly fast. I thank @ChicagoJ for keeping tabs on the stats for this thread, this virtual bar, that I like so much.
Since it is the anniversary, I might as well finish off special.

Swamp Buck Maple & Walnut - Thousand Lakes Brewing - Parkers Prairie, MN - RIS - 12.1%

I was up there back in January and picked this beauty up. I am no longer a fan of high ABV beers in this size format, because it is getting too much for this old man to do. That being said, I am so glad I bought it.

This beer gives me CBS vibes. The aroma is one note, and that's the only knock on the beer. The flavor is very layered and just so damn well made. Everything works together in a well balanced machine. What a way to end this 21st anniversary thread.

Review:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/58377/787809/
4.37/5 rDev 0%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5
From a 750ml bottle. Bottled on 12/30/2025

I did let this warm up a bit before opening. This is a thick looking beer as I pour it into my glass and pitch black in color. There's a 1/2 finger brown head to this beer that did last a long time considering the ABV. The head dissipates and leaves no lacing on the glass.
The nose hits hard and fast. While pouring I just get a huge maple hit. Up close the maple gets intense, like CBS intense. I feel like I want to eat some back bacon and drink a 2-4. I also do get hints of the RIS in the background with some dark fruit notes hitting my nose with chocolate, caramel and toffee. Not getting any walnut notes, but I think the maple does overpower it.
Oh my! The maple on the nose would suggest that this would be a maple bomb, but it isn't. The beer has the standard RIS flavors up front. I get dark chocolate, caramel, toffee, and dark fruit notes to start off the parade. The middle is interesting, it is earthy and nutty. The finish is where the maple shines, but is not excessive at all. It is just right. All the flavors don't really leave, but blend together so well.
The body is ok. It has some fullness to it. It may be a smidge light for the ABV. I am getting a very smooth feeling to this beer. There's not really any burn to this beer.
Holy cow! I had a feeling that this could be really good, and it is. But, boy, the size makes it a closer for sure. Very delicious beer.


I should be able to join for one in the next NBW virtual bar on Saturday, after work. I do have a lot to do that day after work. There may be more NBW posts, but, it all depends on the adventure. This may be cryptic, but, I need some adventure, and I'll get it. Cheers.