New Beer Weekend #302

I offer this post as simply to understand...

Floaties and a thin head leads to a 4.25 look - are these desirable things to the appearance of a beer to you?

For reference, I have occasionally argued that you can call a beer ugly to its face (via a low appearance score) in this and other forums. But I also have fallen into leaning to the high side when I maybe shouldn't.

Either way, just curious about the thought process. Cheers!

 

4.31/5 rDev 0%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5

Look: pours a hazy pale gold with a fluffy white head - spotty lacing

Smell: ripe tropical, resin, grapefruit, strawberry

Taste: ripe peach, strawberry, pineapple and grapefruit with resin

Feel: med body with moderate carbo - soft with a fizzy citrus bitterness

Overall: 8.1% abv. Took down two 16 ouncers for this review. Brewed with Galaxy and Strata. I love both hops, so this brew really hit the spot with those ripe tropical notes. I enjoyed this brew and would definitely drink again. Funny note on the can art says, "will work for beer". Now that is funny because... That's what I do! Cheers!

 

Fidens Return To Life


Reviewed by TCgenny from New York

4.18/5 rDev -0.7%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
Just brought home from Fidens Albany pours Forsythea flower yellow with a slight haze, creamy head with a shiny sheen. Aroma is lemony zest, classic Centenial grapefruit, pine, . Taste follows presenting the classic wcipa: grapefruit lemon, pine, some spicy earthiness, excellent bitter. Medium smaky num num nums, mild salivary ache, really delightful. Chinook, Centenial, Cascade hops profile makes for a classic style. It’s great!

 

Tynt Meadow English Trappist Ale • English strong ale • 7.4% ABV • May 13, 2028 best-by date

Short version: Big, dark, bold English ale that showcases malt over hops with sweet dark fruits and caramel leading but enough hop bite to balance.

I saw "trappist ale" on the label and thought quad or Belgian strong dark, but this one is definitely more English IMO — the caramel/toffee/confectionary notes and bit of oak flavor tip it that way for me. Still, it has a lot of quad-like notes with fruitcake, dates, prunes and hints of licorice. The most interesting part of this beer is how every now and then it shows loads of stout-like chocolate and coffee notes ... it doesn't happen often, maybe every 10th sip or so, but I swear I get those notes every now and then. Mostly though it's a big ol' English ale and a good one with plenty of that bready, malty caramel flavor that's a hallmark of the style.

Official review:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/53152/354491/?ba=Premo88#review
4.31 (+5.4% rDev)

Sipping this beer, I can hear my bottles of whisk[e]y screaming at me to join the party. I could see almost any style of whisk[e]y going with this beer, so what to pour?

I think I forgot to say: Thanks to @vurt for a perfect opening.

Cheers!

 

Weihenstephaner Korbinian
Bayerische Staatsbrauerei Weihenstephan


4.16/5 rDev -1%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Drinking out of a small goblet.
Pours a slightly reddish mahogany with a thin head.
Fair mouth feel.
Malt forward. Tastes of dark malt with hints of chocolate and coffee.

 

Fidens Jasper with Nelson


Reviewed by TCgenny from New York

4.48/5 rDev +1.4%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
Canned 4/22 and poured today 5/3 pours glug glug whole milk style in the glass with a downy upright head that sustains itself, beautiful whipped egg white sheen to cap. Aroma takes off with the Nelson hops, intensely, white grape with dank, pineapple, luxx, thicc crazy tropical notes. Hmmmm, taste is just like the nose, delic sweet notes with more dank than bitter. It’s in the pocket. Feel is like a fruit whipp, thicc, luxx, not heavy, prickly carbonation , light smacky , dry on the finish, and some salivary ache so good. This is excellent!

 

I wound up at a bar I haven't been to in a LONG time. Its called PLONK! Beer & Wine. I need to make more stops as they always have a unique selection. Only about 10 taps, but always a nice variety, if not the most expansive. Which more and more, that is what I want in a bar.

While I have had this before...at least I'm almost positive ha, I can't see why I wouldn't have had this in the past...but I haven't reviewed it here...and can't remember the last time I had it. So here we go...

Hacker-Pschorr Munich Gold, Helles Lager...5.5% ABV.




Pours a brilliantly clear golden/yellow color. A white head forms and recedes rather quickly. Spotty lace is left behind. I think this is more a function of how the bar poured it than anything (there is bubbles clinging to the glass, so maybe not as clean as it should be?)...but the clarity is impressive.
Aroma is biscuit and sourdough bread. A touch grainy, a touch of a lemon rind pith. Very simple but enjoyable.
Taste wise, like the nose, this is simple. Baked bread, biscuit, sourdough flavors. Lemon like hops, but a more malty sweetness finish.
A medium body, with moderate carbonation. This is ultra smooth and clean. This is more semi sweet, but it all leads to something I can drink in big gulps.

I'm sure this isn't the freshest keg in the world. Even so, this is really enjoyable. I'm surprised I haven't reviewed this before, but it is a very solid example of the style. Of course I would like to have a fresher version if possible, but as is, I can come back to this with ease.

Overall score is 3.92, which is just a place holder really, this is a very nice Helles that if had in fresher circumstances, would be much higher...as is, my score is just a solid B+
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/76/31425/?ba=champ103#lists

Oh, and I did have another one...which was with their curry spiced mussels. Fantastic all around here.

 

It was supposed to rain today but it turned out pretty nice. Puttered around moving crap outta the house - just enough to say I did something. Unintentionally long walk in the woods. Something is enjoying its poultry out there - two piles of dove feathers, a handful of quail feathers over the week. Today - what I thought were turkey feathers but they don't match turkey in shape, color pattern details, and feather type. Another bit of found evidence absolutely points away from turkey. Trailed out over about 50 yards, lots of feathers. Wish I found a foot or beak. It definitely wasn't a turkey, so thinking owl or a raptor. Might be trail cam time...

So...back to Maine:



Batson River Brewing Acadian Skies. It is a 5.6% Schwarzbier. It's a style I keep trying because it should hit some happy spots for me but I never quite "get it" - the style seems like a porter wannabe to me. Let's see if this one clicks.

Pouring from the can it looks like root beer. In the glass it's a deep black coffee look, some reddish tingles, with a dense half inch of very light tan foam. Falls to a ring and a continent-sized island.

On the nose I get coffee and dark chocolate along with roasty malts. Enough roast to notice for sure - borders on a very light smoke smell.

The taste is quite pleasant. Roasty malts and a bright coffee, floral notes, and the chocolate leans sweeter then the smell suggested. Mild bitterness and coffee-like astringency. I do get a sense of smoke in the taste - a nice level of char.

Feel is light and dry. There's an astringent tingle that carries over for a while - almost an acidic sensation.

I'm liking this but still getting I'll grow up to be a porter vibes. Maybe that's OK? The flavors are good, the beer is very smooth, I like the play of coffee, chocolate, and roast. Thinking right around 4.0. I'd have it again.

 

let us know if/what you see if you set up the trail cam @LeRose, “Tales from LeRose Forest.”

 

I know, right? Dove and quail - easy. Any domestic or wild predator. The mystery large bird - kinda wanna know what happened. I injured and found? Attacked and down fighting? Dunno...

 

An absolute classic

 

Greetings Noob Beer Buddies

Well well...What do we have here???...Not only a new beer courtesy of the incredible BA trader @falloutsnow but also a new beer style tic for me!

Now do we really need a new beer style you ask? Well, I am not certain but let me introduce to you the Black India Pale Lager aka the Cascadian Dark Lager (this sounds like the start of a new @JackHorzempa thread ha)

Riggs Beer Company ~ Black IPL - Urbana, IL

Roast. Coffee. Smoke. Pine. And black as night. It’s appropriate that we’re releasing this beer on the day of the winter solstice. We used a large dose of custom roasted Riggs-grown malted wheat to showcase a fresh roast character that commercially sourced grains simply can’t deliver. For all of its upfront complexity, our use of Riggs-grown Corn and German Lager Yeast does its usual trick; this beer is dangerously drinkable. Our Black IPL is a perfect example of the seasonality of beer.

A firm charcoal smoke entry with some underlying spent coffee grounds. Similar to a Rauchbier actually. Strong pine in the finish. Moreso as the smokiness dissipates.

Roast. Coffee. Smoke. Pine.
Check!

Black as night?
Well, No!

But the mouthfeel is a well conditioned creamy delight delivering a Guinness like head and some back end bitterness to balance.

Much like all of the other Riggs beers I have tasted this is really well crafted with great balance. These guys are definitely praise worthy BA

 

Happy New Beer Sunday. Thanks to @vurt for the detailed and thorough opening this week. I've been meaning to review earlier in this weekend, but was doing other things like updating my Untappd account to align with my .1 rating scale that you get with insider subscription. Also have my flickr backup of every beer I ever drank so I am adding those too. Played plenty of chess as usual, plenty of books this week. I am almost up to 100 books for the year.

I finished Black Ops by WEB Griffin last night. 4/5 Been a while since I read his books, but a great Espionage Thriller. Very character rich and driven story with a slow plot, but the climax was great. The narrator Dick Hill did amazing character voices for everyone, so it was very enjoyable to listen to for a slow pace plot.

Started up A Primate's Memoir by Robert Sapolsky: 4.5/5 right out the gate. I read Behave by him a couple years ago, my wife said she read it in college for her Biology degree. He's a neuroscientist that observed Baboons for 20 years in Africa. Pretty lighthearted and funny talking about his experiences with the local tribes.

We watched Project Hail Mary on Friday night. Easily a 9-9.5/10 movie. I loved the book and this was intense acting, I got emotional. Followed the book super close and the scenes looked exactly like I imagined them in the book, but also had a few added scenes to spice it up a bit. Cats have been cute, half the time running all over the house, other half they are sleeping on the couch The $12 192kHz DAC for my 20 year old Z-2300 speakers is my budget home theater experience. THX certified. Amazing bass response. I need to just get a remote controlled outlet device, because since Optical is always on, you can't mute the TV with the remote. I can't stand listening to commercials for Pluto TV.


Sierra Nevada Dual Torpedo. Canned 2/12/2026. Lasting rocky head retention and thick soapy lacing on the glass. Aromas and flavors of big red grapefruit, tangerine, lemon, peach, pear, pineapple, passionfruit, mango, melon, berries, citrus peel/rind, wood, mint, peppercorn, pine, cracker, bread, and herbal/floral/grassy hop earthiness. Medium-high pine, woody, peppery bitterness on the finish. Medium carbonation and body; grainy malts with a long sticky/resinous drying finish on hop oils in the mouthfeel. Slight lingering astringency. Very smooth, mild warmth of 8.2%. Great all around CTZ, Idaho 7, Simcoe hop profile; very vibrant and dank with great complexity. Spot on west coast style. 4.13/5


Cheers

 

Saw someone post a Brew 9000 somewhere or other, figured I had to drop in and grab it. Couldn't resist this crowler while I was at it.


Fremont - Helles

32oz crowler served in a big dimpled stein. Got it filled at the Columbia City taphouse about an hour ago. Server wrote 5.4% on the label.

Pours crystal clear brilliant gold yellow, pours with a medium sized fizzy soda-like head, which disappears and leaves basically nothing behind. Tons of active carbonation. Smell is light, bright citrus, lots of grain tea, slight jasmine floral sweetness.

Taste is similar, milder particularly on the citrus, heavier on the grain maybe, jasmine floral sweetness significantly more noticeable. Honey character, might earthy bite.

Mouthfeel is light, smooth, clean. Very nice beer.

 

Not so fast, I have one more!

 

I'm waiting for a long file process to finish before I go to bed, maybe I need another new beer...