New Beer Weekend #294

At first, I was confusing this with their Amber, and wondering if they had relabeled it or something...then I looked it up and they call the Amber their Altbier. Which I gave a similar score of around 3.9 or so. So yeah, very solid all around from them...I need to pick this up one of these days as well...

 

Cheers, NBW! This is my first new beer in a few weeks, so here we go



Broken Heels Superdelic
Hazy IPA | 7% ABV
New Trail Brewing Company in Williamsport, Pennsylvania

Reviewed by beerdedking from Pennsylvania

4.09/5 rDev -0.5% | Average: 4.11
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
This is an easy drinking and flavorful iteration of Broken Heels and better than the parent version IMO (as was Krush Broken Heels). Initial presence gives a large volume of foam that dissipates fairly quickly leaving little lacing behind. Wafting forth are scents of papaya, tangerine, and light pineapple. Drinking this hazy IPA is enjoyable with strong papaya notes leading the way with some dank citrus and lightly sweet oats in the backbone. It has an average body which leads to positive drinkability. This is nothing fancy for the hazy space, but it is solid in flavor especially if you like papaya which this BA does. Worth picking up for sure

 

High praise that rarely works for me as well

 

Your honor, pretty sure I've had this before but on advice of counsel will consider it a first timer. Note: Zero Gravity makes like 3 beers with this Juice name, so hopefully that will confuse the court.
Back story: was in New England last week for a wedding. At the reception there was an open bar, with a Zero Gravity IPA tap handle. No idea what it was...but it was great. Amber color, malty, bitter enough. NOT A HAZY. Imagine that.
Back home and trying to recreate. Bunch of Zero Gravity around here, had a Madonna last night. Knew this guy could be found, so kept on with the quest.
Little to no aroma on can popping, not worried so far.
Lighter color, still not in the hazy camp.
Mouthful a thin astringency, but pleasant.
Definite juiceiness on first sip, but not obnoxiously so as some of those juice bombs can be.
So, is she the one? No, but they never are. Would I see her again...think so.
Still on the quest to meet her sisters and cousins. Getting there is half the fun.

 

Hey there beer friends, happy weekend; our time to shine like diamond, foreshadowing...any it is nice to be back doing what we do best with each other @hefeweizass this beer is for you, a west coast pils, if you happen to have a new beer feel free to join the best weekly hang on beer advocate.

Long week here, my son started lacrosse and I coaching his team, the Maple Leafs are toast for the season and my three favorite classes I can ever remember in all my years teaching were just abruptly ripped away from me so I could cover someone else's classes because she changed her surgery date. They couldn't find another chemistry teacher so they took my environmental classes and so said person could teach them, this sadly also happened to my colleague. All things considered though, I can't complain I have a house, job, beautiful family, good beer and people to share it with, aka all you friends...so, thank you.

This "style" stirred up the pot as any new "style" does, and should, in a thread this week. I'm all for this style whether it becomes official or not, just like my friends @Nugganooch, or was it @augustgarage ??? praising pizza port for finally making one, and @beergoot.

I LOVE good West Coast IPA but to be honest I don't like the abv and heft a lot of them have, so package that in a 5 % pils format, yes please, again and again.

This one is brewed with all local malt; hopped with citra, cascade, and centennial...

The Seed - Diamonds Shinin' (West Coast Pilsner 4.8%)



Pours see through but lightly cloudy straw; above average retention on a pure white head; some lacing with nice dot cling.

Nose is mostly hoppy; bursts with pungent and bright citrus; cotton candy grapes, nice light grainy malt character.

Taste is mostly bright citrus hops; grapefruit and orange; peel-like with good resin that gives perceived pine presence; again those cotton candy grapes; pils malt rounds out nicely on the finish.

Light body; dries out nicely for the most part, just slightest bit of residual malt on the tongue; really great hop coat stickiness...all over the tongue; but then finishes with a lighter bitterness then you'd expect, however that and the stickiness linger really nicely.

Alright, this beer is good, close to very good; I'm gonna be slightly nit picky because it is so damn close to perfect; tone down whatever that grape fruitiness was and up the bitterness and you'd have gold, again I'm only saying this cause it is so so close to glory.

Shine on you crazy diamonds...!



@JackHorzempa

-------

I grabbed a new Troegs beer I'm super excited for so I may be back with it tomorrow but I also may save it till next weekend, depends what tomorrow brings with the time change. I'm gonna guess I'll hold off but time will tell.

 

I just gotta ask: what the heck is “cotton candy grapes”?

Cheers!

 

They’re exactly what they sound like; white grapes that have a distinct cotton candy note. This beer would be gold if that note wasn’t there. I’d love for you to try and tell me if and what off flavor it may be or if it’s just the hops somehow.

It just rears its head in all the old school hop character.

I will try and enjoy the six pack but I wish single was an option, at least that’s how I feel tonight.

 

Hi, all. Ended up being a lazy day here. Snow is melting and it's a gawdawful mess with water, ice, snow, and mud. It was pretty - not so much now. A cedar tree went down in the blizzard - not a dead one I was going to cut but the nice one. Apparently our little deer herd loved it as an emergency food - there's not a bit of green left on the 20-ish feet it. It was fun watching them the past few days.

My dad turned 90 today and we were supposed to meet up for lunch as a family but our grandson had a 101 fever and was coughing and sneezing. Not happy about rescheduling but would have been less happy if we'd gotten them sick. Two weeks no school.playing outside in the snow. A week back and sick again. Think maybe they could done some extra cleaning/sanitizing while the building was empty for 14 days?

A lighter choice for tonight:



Oxbow Brewing's Space Cowboy, a 4% farmhouse ale. Canned in June 2025 and it says drink within a year, so let's see what happens when that whipped cream falls.

Pours a slightly cloudy honey color with a huge whipped cream head that's off white. Lacing is incredible and there's lefty of residual foam as I venture into sniffing and tasting.

Lots of biscuit/bready malt on the nose with a little bit of lemon and very mild funk. It's got typical saison spiciness but it's got some fruitiness - white wine grape and a little apple.

The taste is slightly sweet, bicuity on the malts. The citrus taste is more orange than lemon. Really laid back funk- just enough to add interest. A little coriander and light clove, a bit of pepper in the aftertaste. There is some fruitiness- apple and grape. Floral, earthy, and grassy herbaceous notes. It has a nice level of bitterness. I'm leaning toward Noble hops or in that vicinity. The fruit flavors linger in the aromatics and the light peppery spice at the end is pleasant.

It's got a nice body and creaminess to it - I'd guess from the oats used in the grist (according to their notes). It's not particularly dry or crisp, but it's got plenty of flavor.

This is a tasty concoction, easy drinking, plenty of flavor. maybe a tad bit full bodied for the style but that's nitpicking. Definitely enjoyable to me and strongly in the Oxbow wheelhouse. In the 4.0 territory.

 

Happy Birthday to your dad, that is awesome! Cool little deer story too, piggy backing a previous conversation, my son keeps asking to go look for sheds so I said we could explore some woods tomorrow; gonna explore behind my moms, I told him chances are slim to none but we'll have fun exploring.

 

Whoa! That is an 'interesting' mix of flavors that I am unfamiliar with.

The Seed beers are not sold in my area (or all of Pennsylvania?) so not likely I will ever see this beer for sale.

To quote Bill Clinton: "I feel your pain". I have also in the past purchased sixpacks of beer that afterwards I thought to myself: I wish I could have just purchased a single of this beer. A 'mystery' of beer appreciation? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Cheers!

P.S. Perhaps on a related note, at Christmas time I was gifted a four-pack of Von Trapp West Coast Pilsner. The first beer of that four-pack had a harshness aspect to it. I decided to place the three remaining beers in my beer refrigerator and 'age' those beers. After a couple of months I drank the next can and the level of harshness was noticeably diminished. And after a bit more time cans 3 & 4 even more so. I actually enjoyed drinking those last two cans. Maybe this 'method' will be helpful to you with these beers from The Seed?

 

My wife loves those grapes, they seem a bit sweeter than most white grapes

 

Good evening NBW
Picked this up at Total Wine last month. Didn't realize the date was impending...

Bluebird Bitter XB

500mL bottle stamped BBF 03-09-26 poured into a mug at 55F (as suggested on label) 4.4% ABV. The beer pours bright light golden amber with off white head. The head recedes to a thin ring and single layer of bubbles. The aroma is mild with sweet pale malt and faded citrus zest. The taste is semisweet pale malt with hints of fading lemon and orange. Mild bitterness. The feel is soft, thin bodied, yet substantial. Just less than medium carbonation and a mostly dry finish. Overall, very good despite it's freshness date and having been stored at room temp or worse until I picked it up a month ago.

The label details American Mt Hood hops on an English pale ale and bottle conditioning. The hops are rather faded, but I expect the bottle conditioning is why this is still pleasant. Cheers all!

 

Good luck - kids are the best at finding stuff so maybe fortune will be with the younger eyes. You never know - I never thought we'd find owl pellets as much as I look for them, but the little guy spotted them easy enough - didn't know what they were but knew enough to ask "hey...what's this stuff"! And he found the lay down spots the deer made in the snow, so if you have some snow look for those, too. It'll be a fun day no matter what you find!

 

That’s the plan Jack, I’ll revisit next week and if I still taste it; I’ll forget about them for a while and see how the change.

Yes, I’ve enjoyed them but get the flavor out of this beer

 

Okay a departure from me; a retroactive review from about 6 hours ago.

Ozark Beer Co. Englis Pale Ale, 5.3 w/Fuggles & UK Golding Hops; 4.42 overall


On tap at the source. Bready, a little fruity with lemony and herbal hops.

Nice clean dry finish with herbal and woody hops.

Carbonation could've been a bit more restrained and the nose a little less. Beautiful beer true to the style

Sooo drinkable

beer on the left, duh

 

I'd have to try it. I like a lot of one-off flavors, sometimes

 

I grudgingly admit I love these grapes - definitely have a cotton candy sweet flavor and I'll start eating them before we hit the checkout counter! They aren't as sweet as the real thing, but definitely have that slightly cooked sugary flavor.

 

This is actually a very good way to describe the sweetness I’m picking up, coupled with lite fruitiness.

 

Industrial arts pocket pale
....hazy burnt orange appearance with a lasting thick white head
...below average carbonation with about a medium body
... aroma has some mild malt,floral, but is mostly dominated by earthy bitter hops
...taste is sweet malt, citrus peel and fruit,mostly orange with earthy bitter hops
...overall a well done beer, seems a bit disjointed but works still

 

2025 Goose Island Cherry Jubilee Stout-
Having a quiet birthday night at home with the dogs drinking the most complex beer I have to date..
The nose is oak,vanilla,burnt sugar and orange zest,with chocolate showing up about 15 minutes later..
The palate is more of the same but slightly more muddled,resolving to burnt sugar on the front end,chocolate on the mid palate and a super rich candied tart cherry on the finish..
Really nice beer..
Cheers guys..