New Beer Weekend #293

Aloha bruddahs and sistahs! Well this one is appropriate for a couple of reasons. First, NWTM = “no work ‘til Monday,” and that’s surely true enough. Second, I opened this Hawaiian-themed beer just a couple weeks before I’m heading with my family to our favorite island, Kauai—this will be our third trip and I’m really looking forward to it. Anyway, happy NBW! Preliminary review below. Cheers!
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4.47/5 rDev +3.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

750mL bottle into a tulip. Pours an oily black with no head to speak of. Looks basically like flat Coke in my glass—which I’m OK with given the other qualities of this beer.

Aroma is rich and complex with notes of chocolate, bourbon, vanilla, and coconut leading the charge. Oaky, smoky char, toasted marshmallow, sweet black cherries.

Taste is all those aromas blended expertly together. The dark rich malt is bittersweet, then the booze and smoke kick in, and then the more subtle flavors wash over the palate. Lingering juicy sweetness from the pineapple. Man this is good.

Mouthfeel is sticky and thick, on point for a nearly 20% beer. This one hangs around.

Overall a really tasty, over-the-top imperial stout. Excellent.

 

Fiddlehead Second Fiddle

Appearance: Slightly hazy gold, big head.

Smell: Moderate citrus aroma.

Taste: Moderate sweetness, then solid citrus bitterness with a good malt base. Medium bodied. Finishes with another kick of citrus hops.

Overall: Another from my Halftime shipment, another classic DIPA. An embarrassment of riches. It’s great to finally try these beers I’ve seen on BA and to have them meet and exceed my hopes. Tasty modern classic!

 

Happy NBW, thanks to @bbtkd for starting this weekend off for us. Last night me and my wife watched the slapstick Casino Royale and it was hilarious, a bit of a mess plot wise near the end, but it was very enjoyable. Also learned about Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass and the composer was Burt Bacharach, who I never knew about and now need to read a biography on, he made a lot of pop hits in the 60s-80s. I read the Ian Fleming book Casino Royale 2 days ago.

Finished The Coming of the Third Reich by Richard J. Evans, still a 4.5/5 though the ending slowed down a bit on excitement. Incredibly detailed book. Started The Republic by Plato which is interesting because it's basically just Socrates asking philosophy questions and the others are answering them yes/no for the first part. 3.75/5 I will probably post my February book list on Sunday. I got 23 so far.

Celluary pull and BIF review from @Ozzylizard . Real Ale Real Heavy. Bottled on 12/23/2021. Poor head retention, and minimal lacing, but good clarity. Aromas of big caramel, brown sugar, brown bread, nuttiness, toffee, raisin, prune; with light notes of molasses, chocolate, wood, leather, tobacco, herbal, grass, yeast earthiness. Taste follows with big caramel, brown sugar, brown bread, nuttiness, toffee, raisin, prune, fig, date; with light notes of molasses, chocolate, wood, leather, tobacco, herbal, grass, pepper, pine, and yeast earthiness. Light pine, herbal, woody, roasted bitterness on the finish. Medium carbonation and medium-full body; very creamy/bready malts and light-moderate sticky hops in the mouthfeel. Lingering sticky/light resinous hop dryness, with no cloying flavors after the finish. Light increasing warmth of 9.3% after the finish. Awesome all around scotch ale: great rich English malt complexity, with balancing English hops, and fruity english yeast that isn't overpowering. 4.07/5

Cheers, Just passed 10,100 reviews with plenty more backlog to do.

 

Cheers to @bbtkd for getting us started

Eibauer Das Hefeweizen, 5.2%; 3.38 overall ( Reviewed under Eibauer Hefeweizen Hell, as far as I could tell the same beer )

Pours an effervescent & slightly hazed honey color & one finger of cream-colored head. Head rapidly vanishes, zero head retention & lacing

S: Some breadyness, faint clove notes, faint banana peel late, a little yeasty

T: Bready, some band-aid, not much, & dryness up front. Some pear notes, bready sweetness, dryness & juicy fruit, & a hint of lemon as this beer warms up. Finishes dry with a little green banana, faint juicy fruit & a little pineapple

MF: Medium/light body, slight carbonation

Not bad, a little under carbonated. Not one I'd buy again

 

Bacharach was a hit machine of a certain mellow style back in the day! A lot of good songs for Dione Warwick

 

Cross- post from WBAYDN, for a change.
Wormtown Be Hoppy. Pretty familiar to the New England BAs, new to me. At the hotel bar in Gloucester. They have it in cans and while I'd usually default to a draft figured this may be my only chance and I have been hankering for it for a while.
Immense happy bloom (duh) as soon as opened and poured. Just enough head and lacing.
Bitter. Quite bitter. Like you don't seem to find that much of lately. 6.5%, drinks right on point for that. Quite the anomaly: a righteous WC IPA here in the land of the hazys.
Planned on trying to find some of this to bring home. Now will make it a mission.

 

Garden Path - Spontaneous Ferment: 5 Year Blend on Tayberries

500ml bottle served in a snulip. Don't see a date on it. Bought it August last year at Full Throttle Bottles.

Pours a mostly clear purplish red, not a lot of head but a lot of carbonation. Smell is very berry jammy. Some hay and some wet wood, light earthy notes.

Taste is very, very tart. Strong unripe berry and fruit skin/stem bitterness. Woodiness is strong but masked by the jam, of which there is still a lot -- though it is utterly unsweetened.

Mouthfeel is light, cotton-mouth dry, still. Overall, it's interesting and pretty good -- love the fruit level, acidity is a bit too high, would like a tiny bit of carbonation to soften the mouthfeel a little bit.

 

Cheers to @mlench10 for this one, part of my dumb luck spoils from the Superbowl Squares 2026 BIF!

Other Half All Puggle Everything DDH Imperial IPA, 8.5% ABV; 4.35 overall

Pours a very hazed gold with a thumb+ of eggshell colored head. Good head retention & very good lacing

S: Catty, some citrus. Peach & melons once warmed up

T: Follows the nose, also peach, white grapes, cantaloupes & dryness, a little pine too up front. Passion fruit, a little grapefruit, pineapple, a little strawberry & pomelo as this beer warms up. Finishes a little dry with pineapple, green melon & pink grapefruit

MF: Medium body, restrained carbonation, lovely balance, slight acidity

Superb drinkability, if the nose & body had a little more going on world class, damn close though

 

Those can hit me so wrong these days

 

Reuben's - Farm Team WC IPA

16oz can served in a pint glass. Can is dated 02.04.26. Bought it a couple days ago at PCC in Bellevue.

Pours clear light yellow, medium sized dense creamy head, not a lot of visible active carbonation. Smell is very floral-resinous in character, make me think of fresh hops but without quite as much pop. Orange blossoms and honeysuckle, soft biscuit graininess.

Taste is similar, dryer than the nose hinted, less floral and more dry resin. The honeysuckle is there if you wait for it, though.

Mouthfeel is very light, very dry, airy. Very nice beer.

 

This beer is from @muchloveforhops3 via a Ninja Porch Strike

Old Bull Brewing Baltic Porter, 8.7% ABV; 4.16 overall

Decanted from a crowler, sealed 12-29-25

Pours a very effervescent cola/chestnut a finger of tan head. Very nice head retention & lacing

S: Roastyness, coffee, trace of vanilla & cocoa, some caramel late & a little black pepper

T: Follows the nose, a little dry more vanilla than coffee, working for me up front. Hints of molasses, vanilla, some roastyness & coffee as this beer warms up along with cocoa. Finishes with a little booze heat, woody hops, roastyness, coffee/chicory & trace amounts of vanilla

MF: Medium body, creamy carbonation, just a little booze bite on the lips & tongue. Pretty creamy would almost think Nitro, warming

Good for style, perhaps a touch too sweet, but didn't detract from my overall enjoyment

 

Thanks for opening the thread @bbtkd , hope you have a great Hawaii trip @Orca and nice going with your review posting catchup and book reading @superspak . I'm still in preliminary stages, and perhaps I'll get all my place and beer reviews in while I still have a chance.

Have two Chicago brewed lagers planned for the weekend, including one for Polish Pilsner #TeamPilsner for the Sunday eve to perhaps my favorite holiday of the year. I'll be celebrating this year starting at 10AM..Starting off with Off Color's Doppelbock Style Lager, brewed in part with Pils malt, so perhaps I can count two Pilsners using The Chicago Way counting method.

Off Color Brewing Well Fed Goats

4/5 rDev +2.3%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4



Full review linked above. Four is a solid score on my end, and this perhaps is my second favorite Chicago brewed Doppelbock behind one brewed around the block by Pipeworks. Hits the style expectations, a very nice caramel flavor leads. Think most fans of this style would enjoy this offering.

February is in the books, see you in March!

 

@bbtkd thanks for kicking us off this weekend and being my first morning read today.

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@Orca nice seeing you here after a few weeks absent and really neat on your upcoming vacation. Wife, and kids, sometimes mention Hawaii one day and I say “I’d rather just go back to Washington, throw in Oregon, and explore the northwest proper.”

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@Mdog neat you’re finally getting to try all these classics thanks to your recent order, I’ve been enjoying the ride.

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Couldnt agree more on that beer @richOutsidePhilly, last time I had that beer it was on our travels from a gas station purchased can while in a hotel like yourself

 

Thanks @jonphisher , here's another one from my Half Time order, Lawson's Finest Liquids Epic Sip:


Appearance: Clear gold, huge head.

Smell: Hawaiian punch, then more of a honeyed malt note.

Taste: Moderately sweet to start, then more honeyed malt with the tropical fruit from the nose. Medium-to-heavy body. Finishes with a fair amount of citrus bitterness.

Overall: Another in the Sip line, at the smell I thought this was going to taste similar to the voodoo ranger “force” beers, super fruity. Instead it was a very malty experience. Still plenty of hops, just more balanced than I expected.

 

Happy you enjoyed it, Tim! Cheers

 

Glad you were digging that one, Russ- I enjoyed it as well! Cheers