New Beer Weekend #295

There are more than a few Vets, but not all like to talk about it for various reasons. I had a great run & although I did some major damage to my body, no regrets. @beergoot & I never crossed paths while were in, but there are few intersecting points on the chart for sure!

 

Well, I am a happy camper. Michigan is awesome, and for Purdue to win today is huge!

 

I like the idea of returning to the regular thread openers. I only mentioned posters staking claim the previous week for the following week because I thought Todd and the Mods wanted the ability fo anyone to open the thread.

The current starting time of 11 PM DST / Midnight ST BA Time limits reasonable thread starts to American Posters. You also lose the flexibility New Beer Sunday hosts had within the first several hours of the morning. Really leads to a pre written open and review. Could also go with the original time when the thread expanded to the weekend (open consistent with WBAYDN - Midnight Pacific).

https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/new-beer-weekend-25.653446/

Like the proposed possible starters plus @Beersnake and others here regularly. Two or three Mods may be best so they can open early with their team's blessing or keep open an extra day for Holidays.

 

Hetty Alice is a Portland brewery that flies a little under the radar. They cover a decent range of styles, and their beers are always solid and sometimes exceptional.



Hetty Alice Giddyup IPA

16-ounce can purchased at Noble Hop Bierhaus in Hillsboro, OR. No date stamp. Enjoyed in a small Becher glass.

Look:
The beer is a yellow-gold that leans slightly more cool than warm. The coarse head of off-white foam settles into a collar and a thin island that leaves respectable lacing.

Smell:
The nose is a riot of fruit: grapefruit peel, fresh orange juice, red Twizzlers, a chunk of peach, a scrap of mango, a dash of lime zest, a handful of ripe strawberries. There's also an aromatic woody note for contrast.

Taste:
The flavor is frankly a bit of a letdown after that nose. It's a muddle of citrus and melon with a decent bitterness on the back end. The second half of the can adds some zesty peach notes to the mix. Not too sweet!

Feel:
The body is a hair heavier than medium. Carbonation starts a little rough but settles down after a few minutes in the glass.

Overall:
Giddyup offers a tasty WCIPA profile, certainly, but nothing particularly memorable. File this under "Another solid offering from Hetty Alice."

 

From the awesome BA @MutuelsMark some 2026 Superbowl Squares BIF haulage

Tree House Haze Hazed DIPA, 8.2% ABV; 4.83 overall

Pours a super-hazed gold with 2 fingers of eggshell colored head. super head retention & lacing

S: Pineapple, citrus, melons, stays robust throughout, faint booziness late

T: Pineapple leads the way, tangerine, lime, dryness, white grape & green melon up front. Grapefruit & pine fight through the omnipresent pineapple, some papaya, passionfruit & dryness once this beer warmed up. Finishes in a blitz of pineapple, orange juice, melon, passionfruit & papaya

MF: Medium body, creamy carbonation, noticeable acidity. Good balance, sticky on the teeth towards the end

Great drinkability for the heft, dangerous, juicer to the max, as good as any I can remember enjoying in this style. A little more finesse & this would be 5s across the board

 

I appreciate this level of flexibility, as I would very much enjoy the chance to open this thread at some point in the future.

 

More generosity from @timmy2b via the Superbowl Squares BIF

War Horse Brewing Turn & Burn Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Stout, 11.6% ABV; 4.37 overall


Pours a fairly effervescent chestnut/mahogany with 2 fingers of mocha colored head. Below average head retention & lacing

S: Plenty of barrel, plums, dark cherry, & figs, faint chocolate, fades a little once warmer

T: Follows the nose, getting some caramel & salted dried plums. dryness & Baker's Chocolate up front, Bourbon is artfully crawling all over this. Baker's Chocolate. leafy hops, barrel sweetness & dryness, a little caramel, salted plums & dark cherry once this beer is warmer, Bourbon on the edges. Finishes with some barrel sweetness, a little char, dryness. caramel, chocolate, black cherry tobacco & salted plums

MF: Chewy as hell, restrained carbonation with plenty of warmth. Carbonation picks up a little once warmer

Luxurious take on the style, barrel presentation is great. Great beer post to post, started out a little aggressive but just grabbed my attention & never let go

 

Have a good NBS. Friday night we were up late and had a huge Cookout feast with oreo shakes and I was drinking a liter of water an hour after that salt. We watched Inglourious Basterds finally after hearing all the hype. Half the film is in French/German and we thought we had the wrong language, but we always use subtitles, so it's never an issue(VLC subtitles are best). The Christoph Waltz performance was incredible. I slept all afternoon after reading 2 books in the morning. I had a weird dream where I was in France and my car broke down and the daughter of the garage owner was the Shosanna character. SSRI do some weird shit. Also I was in my underwear for the whole dream. I got her phone number, because it was somehow a smartphone era, and then I got lost and couldn't find my way back. The Tarantino cameo is literally him getting scalped. He also chokes the Movie Star character so the stunt people didn't have to. 8/10

Books: Atoms and Ashes by Serhii Plokhy a slow but detailed book about nuclear disasters, gives insight into regulations and the fact that Chernobyl isn't going to be cleaned up til 2065 4/5. Live and Let Die by Ian Fleming liked this more than Casino Royale. More spy stuff and a memorable story build up with the treasure and poison fish and such. Showing its age with the racially sensitive terms for Mr. Big's entourage. 4.1/5

Roxie doing well with the 5 kittens after 1.5 weeks. The gray tabby with the white belly is the most developed and has their eyes open. Getting greedy on that milk. Going to be cold this week so we got a space heater for the 2nd bedroom.


NBS review. Luce Line Ecstatic Static IPA. Another probably from @LesDewitt4beer at the last year Green Bay tasting. No can dating. Nice fluffy head retention and light spotty lacing on the glass. Aromas of big red grapefruit, tangerine, lemon, peach, pear, pineapple, strawberry, coconut, passion fruit, mango, melon, cannabis, citrus peel, wood, peppercorn, pine, wheat, cracker, white bread, herbal, floral, grass, and yeast earthiness. Taste follows with big red grapefruit, tangerine, lemon, peach, pear, pineapple, strawberry, coconut, passion fruit, papaya, mango, melon, cannabis, citrus peel/rind, wood, peppercorn, pine, wheat, cracker, white bread, herbal, floral, grass, and yeast earthiness. Medium pine, citrus rind, woody, spicy bitterness on the finish. Medium carbonation and body; balanced bready/grainy malt and sticky/resinous hop mouthfeel. Lingering resin dryness with minimal lingering hop astringency. A very well made West coast IPA. Very vibrant, dank, and earthy hops of Simcoe, Strata, and Citra Cryo. Quite stone fruit heavy, and a bit of hop fall off/oxidation noticed, but not too detrimental to the overall experience and feel. 3.99/5


Cheers

 

Well. My laptop bricked on me and it rather sucks. Hoping one of those USB sticks with Windows boot software will help get it back on track. So this is all by phone.
No gaming tonight due to the laptop issue, so my wife and I chose to watch a movie instead. Zootopia 2. It’s fun, obviously fluff but tonight I wanted something light to slide into darkness.

This one I was saving for the next SAN, but needs must, ya know?
The Owl from Arvon, I picked it up the day after their anniversary party. I also found out that the Owl with Fluff is one that they actually put the contents on jarred marshmallow “fluff” into the brewing process. I always thought brewers would use the base ingredients, not the finished product. Shows what I know. Had a taste of that one and it was sweet, very sweet. This is not that beer.

The pour is stout black with almost no head at all. Even for a barrel aged stout there should be something of a head.
The taste is chocolate covered figs and raisins and dates. Coffee enters the picture but doesn’t dominate. Bourbon wraps it all together. It’s so much more than I have words for, but that’s it in broad strokes.
The feel is not quite, but almost still. Viscous as is expected for the style and the lack of carbonation didn’t make a difference. For me at least. I just sat back and enjoyed.
OA, a very tasty BBA stout that is a local treat.
That will do it for me this weekend, hopefully you all have a great Sunday night.
Cheers!

 

Oddly, I have had the barrel aged version of this beer several times but never had the base beer. It sounds quite good. Hopefully I will find this next time I go to Colorado.
Cheers!

 

I would like to volunteer as thread opener in a rotation, depending on how many want to do it, we can make an excel calendar or something too.

 

Forest & Main - The Brewery - Fellow
English Pale Mild Ale (more like an English Amber Ale but that style doesn't exist)
Collaboration with Human Robot
It's very tasty - only 4% ABV and very malty, also a nice dryness and drinkability. Nice toasty, nutty, cocoa and coffee notes. Really fun and delicious.

Cross-posted in WBAYDN #4895 and What Mid-Atlantic beer are you drinking now? (2026)

 

Well heck, I ran out of New Beers before I ran out of weekend. That's not ideal.