New Beer Weekend #301

It does seem like a big swing that could be a big miss though

 

Enjoyed catching up with the first evening.

Didn't get the extra box of the Revoultion Peach Brandy, but it will be on for at least a few weeks so I'll try a draft pour and hopefully enjoy it as much as you @bbtkd , and congratulations on your upcoming year round deck!

Also loved reading about new to me breweries mixed in with the classics like @doomXsaloon 's Deschutes Black Porter. Hope you enjoy your upcoming shows and whatever additional celebrating you will be doing.

Just finished laundry after returning from a Sox win. Mid afternoon game tomorrow, so want to get this one in while I can. Nice to have lower ABV after a heavy rotation of BA offerings to close out Winter.

The theme was to be international beers, as I was excited to try my second beer from Norway. However, I did not read the can close enough, as I missed the "Product of the USA" as this was brewed by Against The Grain brewery in Louisville, Kentucky.

Oslo Brewing Company Nordic Pilsner


3.48/5 rDev -8.4%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.25

Full review linked above. This can was six months old, not sure how it was stored beyond store temperature as it was found. Smelled nice, muted flavor and mouthfeel. Would try another if found fresh or on draft, but this is a meh experience as is.

Will enjoy a few later tomorrow, but likely not a new one until New Beer Sunday #1105.

 

Covert Artisan/White Elm collab Team Lift Old Ale is a cuvée of a BBA Stout, a BA Belgian Dark Strong, and a Cognac BA English Barleywine, and lastly was conditioned in Rye Barrels. While I rated this 4.58, it is pretty 'busy', too much going on. Nor a misfire, but blended differently 'could have been a contender'. I've had two of the component beers.

 

L: Signorina 2025; R: Piacere 2025
Moeder Fontainas. Happy Zwanze Day!

 

L: Scarabée 2025; R: Barbera 2025

 

Good day BAs! Thanks Craig for opening the thread!

Today's New Breakfast Beer (or, at least, newly reviewed)



Roaming Elk Stout (2026) from Staub Brewery. Six-pack of 12 fl oz cans, purchased 23/04/26 from Franklin Beer, Franklin, PA. $ 10.50/$ 0.146/fl oz. On room temperature shelf at distributor - stored at 40 degrees F at home. Reviewed 25/04/26, review 3727. Note that I use DD/MM/YY protocol.
Bottom of can stamped 03726 RS – only one of the six is legible. Served at 45.6 degrees F in a hand washed and dried Jester King snifter. The final temperature is 53.8 degrees F.
Appearance – 4.25
First pour – Deep Amber (SRM 15), clear.
Body – Ruby Brown (SRM 24), opaque. Under direct light, same. When rear-lit, entire volume glows ruby.
Head – Large (Maximum five cm, aggressive center pour). Sandy Tan, medium density, average duration; the head drops to a 0.6 – 0.8 cm crown, and a rocky, partial cap. As the head retracts, a three-dimensional lacing remains, covering most of the glass.
Lacing – Excellent! As the level drops, the glass is coated with a massive sheet of bubbles of varying sizes – it begins to resemble torn curtains almost immediately.
Aroma – 3.5 – Virtually none.
Flavor – 3.5 – Slightly bitter with roasted malt, slight chocolate. No hops, no alcohol (7 % according to the label). No dimethylsulfide or diacetyl. No gastric warming.
Palate – 4 – Medium: Slightly dry: Soft carbonation.
Style: Follows the BA style description.
Final impression and summation: 4 Uncredited label art. Easy drinking example of the style, excellent price point.
Rating 3.7, rDev +3.1%

Not much to say about it - basically a solid stout lacking "add junks". Now if only their Groundhog Altbier would start getting here again - I haven't seen it locally in the last ten years - are the groundhogs hijacking the deliveries?

 

Cheers all!

This one is from last night. I grabbed it at Bellwoods last weekend after their anniversary/Motley Crü celebration. It used to be that you’d have to line up for hours to get the anniversary beers at Bellwoods each year. I miss the meeting new people and chats with old friends from those days, but not the hassle of trying to get a beer you want to try.

This one is an IPA collaboration with Kilter of Winnipeg. It’s a blend of their Juicii and Bellwoods’ Jutsu recipes. The offspring is Jutsii, a 6.5% ABV hazy IPA that uses a newish hop called Mantilla.



Pours a cloudy straw gold with ample pillowy head that sticks around for the duration albeit in diminishing volume.

The aroma is strong with mango. There are some other tropical notes in there as well. Slight dank note.

The taste is similar. Lots of mango, pineapple and a broad tropical blend of flavours. The dankness is accentuated and the finish is fairly long with the slightest of bitter notes.

Smooth creamy mouth as expected of the style with those oats.

Really good for the style. I’d grab again gladly.

Cheers and more later.



oh… and Go Habs Go! Thank you my American friends for the unicorn that is Lane Hutson!

 

Hello New Beer Weekend!!!

On the road today in New Ulm at August Schell Brewing.

Time for my first new beer of the day.

No Frills - August Schell Brewing- New Ulm, MN- German Pilsner- 5%

This is a well made beer. The aroma is a bit light, but the flavor is amazing.

Review:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/417/593578/#navigation
3.88/5 rDev -1%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
On tap at the brewery.

Clear looking golden pouring beer in the glass. Nice slow moving stream of carbonation bubbles rising in the glass. There's a bit of a white head to the beer.
The nose is fairly light. There's hints of biscuit, grain, and floral notes.
This beer is quite malty. Notes for grain hit hard in a pleasing way. There's notes of buttery biscuit in the middle. The finish has a nice sharp bitterness that lingers in my throat.
Body is quite crisp feeling. Very clean feeling beer. Smooth. Lingering bitterness.
This is a tasty beer overall. Well made and good to style.

I do have a meeting to go to in a bit, and I have to leave my friend Tim here to suffer in the bierhall. I will be back later from another stop with new beer. Cheers.

 

Central Waters Brewing Ice Wine Barrel English Barleywine. An English barleywine-style ale aged for 33 months in Cabernet Franc ice wine barrels. Courtesy of @cheeseheadinMinneapolis. I called him on Black Friday, the day this beer was released, and he said he had a can for me, so it saved me a stop. The look is black, with a crimson tint. There was no foam. The smell is powerful. Red wine dominates, but there are also peach and caramel scents that are pleasant. The taste is intense. There are waves of flavor. It starts with red wine, then transitions to a malty and sweet flavor, featuring the taste of caramel, molasses, and dark fruits. Red wine dominates the aftertaste. The mouthfeel is syrupy, thick, smooth, and full, with low carbonation. Overall, this is beer provides a unique experience. I would not describe it as delicious. It is basically barleywine poured into wine. When beer is aged in bourbon barrels, the bourbon barrels add layers to the beer. In this case, the ice wine barrels devoured the beer.

 

Happy NBS everyone! Started off with this tasty pastry stout from Bottle Logic:

Jam The Radar | Bottle Logic Brewing | BeerAdvocate





Thought this one was good, no one flavor overpowered the other and it was an enjoyable brew for sure. Wish the barrel packed more of a punch but no big deal. Should be back with another new beer or 2 in a little while.

 

Thank you from your neighbor down south for giving the lightning hell so far. How may leaf fans are currently chanting go Habs go!!

Will the flyers sweep tonight??

 

Apollo - Mortalis

This is the third of a series of IPA’s I have enjoyed from Mortalis this week, (2IBorisove - IIIPA and Ceres - IIPA being the other two). While the three have striking similarities, Apollo is less similar and generally the lesser of the three. Not that Mortalis had intended them to be a trio. All were canned between 4.Apr.2026 and 11.Apr.2026.

Apollo is more pale yellow than the picture suggests. Too hazy for an American Pale Ale, imo. That fluffy white head had been above the rim less than a min. before the picture, and left only a few spots of lace as it settled to a thick blanket.

The aroma is far more catty than my other two. Toss in a lot of wet pine and a touch of canned pineapple to round it out. ** Edit - In the few minutes it took to type this, strong garlic and burnt rubber have come forward. **

The flavor is muddy, less bright, and more pith than citrus than the others. Much more bitter too; clearly West Coast influenced. Orange and grapefruit are apparent. The finish is long, powerful and astringent.

Full bodied with a sharp nylon texture that makes the carbonation seem more lively than it really is. The alcohol is also more present than might be expected from 5.5%abv. Hop oils cling to the lips, as if anyone needed another indicator of just how hop forward the beer is.

This is a good west coast variation on Hazy IPA, and certainly not a traditional American Pale Ale. Not that Mortalis dabbles much with tradition anyway. More of a one per day beer.

 

Cross-post with WBAYDN

Ruben's Brews "Recreational"
4.13/5 rDev +3.3%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4

 

Good afternoon to all partaking of a new beer this weekend and to all lurking and checking out what they are drinking. While at the store last week, I picked up a lower-alcohol offering from a DC brewery - Bluejacket. This isn't a beer that is in the N/A category, but doesn't sit much above the low-alcohol realm. It is an English mild (not dark as listed here - it is even lighter than my pic IRL; I did request an update to the entry). Moonrise Kingdom is listed at 3.8% here and 3.5% on my can, but I didn't note that in my update request.


This thing is definitely malty. Its nose reminds me of the days I once used to make my own beer. I mean specifically the days on which I was making said beers. Anyone who has visited a small-scale local brewery where you are sitting meters from the containers that make the beer you are enjoying, you know this smell.

It could also remind one of a bakery making grain bread. Though it might not be quite as yeasty as that, the malt grain and yeast do open the nose and taste. I do get a bit of a metallic note in each which I get with British style beers (and I assume is mostly yeast, maybe combined with certain English malts). I don't know what Bluejacket used in this, and their website doesn't offer much. Although I do see they are offering it on cask - so wish I actually lived in DC and near the Navy Yard; I would definitely stop by.

As I stated in my review, this is malty, but not sweet at all. It starts neutral to husky bitter and drifts more bitter from there - husky to dry grass to earthy, perhaps. In random sips, I get a little acidic tang between the malt grain and more tea like finishing bitterness.

This is pretty dang good out of a can, although I could see an argument for this sub-4% brew being "watery" - but I don't care, I am enjoying it.

Much like I am enjoying the Canadiens taking 2 of 3 from TB, @jonphisher. I have another beer I might get to this weekend, one from the state of the other team you mentioned (who are one of those classic match-ups here I wish both teams could lose).

 

Brewer's Reserve: El Ganador
A stout aged in used tequila barrels with coffee and cocoa nibs




Poured from a twelve ounce can, the body is black with light tan head. Light lacing.

Aroma has a light tequila and a wee bit of roasted coffee. Taste follows nose with the tequila barrel more prominent. A bit boozy but no barrel heat. More coffee flavor than in aroma helps to balance the tequila a bit. I don’t pick up the nibs at all.

Mouthfeel is a little thin with light carbonation.

A nice sipper for fans of tequila.

 

Next up today was this great rye barrel aged imperial stout from The Bruery:

Stave & Spice | The Bruery | BeerAdvocate





As I stated in my review, think this would be a great winter/Christmas time stout since the ginger and molasses in this beer fits well for that time of year. Tastes pretty good today too! Think I'll have one more new brew after this.

 

I found this to be an excellent N/A beer

 

Tap 6: Mein Aventinus
Schneider Weisse G. Schneider & Sohn

4.21/5 rDev -2.8%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
Drinking out of a small goblet.
Pours a moderately clear copper color with a thin medium head.
Smells of caramel.
Fine mouth feel.
Malt forward. Nice sweet taste of caramel.