New Beer Weekend #303

Oh yes, it has. Life has been absolutely slammed lately. My youngest is graduating, and when you’re 18 you’re full of piss, vinegar, and hormones, so it’s been a wild ride around here. On top of that, my wife and I bought a house, and she’s actually going to let me build a temperature-controlled beer cellar, which I am ridiculously excited about.

We’re getting closer to the empty-nest phase—well, almost. My wife’s youngest is still a freshman, so we’re not completely there yet, but the light is starting to show at the end of the tunnel. I’m really looking forward to slowing things down a little, getting back into beer trading, drinking great beer, and posting more regularly.

Cheers, my friend

 

Irori is a Scotch Ale / Wee Heavy with an ABV of 8%. It's listed on BA as a "Smoked Beer", which is kind of a catch all, but really Godspeed's "smoked beers" are true to their base styles. They just have some smoked malts included.

 

So does it taste like a banana split?
Not sure I would like that

 

I'll have a new beer with you @jonphisher ... why not?

Sierra Nevada's West Ghost • American IPA • 7.2% ABV • 2/20/26 born-on date

Self-labeled a "Modern West Coast IPA."

Short version: If this were a fastball, it would pierce the middle of the West Coast IPA strike zone at 95 mph.

The aroma is grapefruit-pineapple-mango right out the can, sweet, almost candied, but it doesn't cross over into caramel or anything I'd call confectionary. The flavor is similar but way less sweet, way more bitter — never too bitter. In fact, the highlight of this beer might be its 10/10 drinkability for being so hoppy and big and bold. The uninitiated would likely find it very hoppy, but I'd imagine the average lupulin-tolerant BA would find it in check. As the beer warms in the glass and the palate adjusts, it has a very detectable and tasty layer of biscuity malt that helps keep the hop buildup from becoming too much.

Official review:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/140/599268/?ba=Premo88#review
4.15 (-1.2% rDev)

I'd love to try this beer side-by-side Torpedo, just to see what there is to see. I'd also suggest that if this particular release seems a bit gimmicky (cool name, cool can art, not much different from the core release version in the same style), at least it's a very good beer.

Cheers!

 

This is a really nice smoked doppelbock.
I like smoked beers, on occasion, and I like the sweet maltiness of a doppelbock. This is a particularly nice one



Aecht Schlenkerla Eiche
Schlenkerla (Heller-Bräu Trum)

4.21/5 rDev +3.2%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
Drinking out of a small goblet.
Pours a clear bronze with a small head.
Smells smoky.
Fair mouth feel.
Malt forward. Tastes of sweet caramel, overlaid with smokiness.

 

Isn't that Club Raul? @RaulMondesi know about this?

Good luck with the project ... here's hoping you and the Mrs. are able to lift a couple of glasses and cheers the place soon!

 

To me, the only thing at all wrong with West Ghost is the can label. This has nothing at all in common with anything else I have seen Sierra Nevada release...ever ha. I'm positive I walked passed this at the store over a several week period cause it was the stupid $15 16 oz 4 pack, with not particularly good art work on it...I didn't even know it was Sierra Nevada. Put in their regular typical outdoorsy themes or iconic label, and I wouldn't have thought a moment about picking it up the very first sight. But getting past that, its a fantastic IPA, and more of this need to be on the shelf

 

Gumballhead's Blood Orange and Lemon Pale Ale...



look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Has an exceptional look to it - very appealing to the eyes with its darkly hued orange color and a scent that hints of a sweet tasting beer, but far from it when you taste it. Mouthfeel is astringent to me and slightly tacky. The taste is sour to my tongue with a dry aftertaste to chase it. Overall though, I find this layered - different ones that made the experience unique.

 

But how did you really feel about the artwork first time you saw it?

Seriously, though, you're right about Sierra Nevada pre-2024 or whenever they started putting the spooky Hop-Head Man on their Hoptimum. Maybe they did something goofy before that, but that seems to me the first time I saw Sierra Nevada cater to the marketing team wanting to get young and slick and cool. It happens.

 

New Glarus Brewing Pear 26. The look is apple juice, athough my glass appears to contain the spirit of an evil robot. There was very little foam. The smell is fresh pears. It is remarkable. I love pears. The taste is absolute pear juice. Freshly squeezed pears with carbonation. This would be very refreshing on a hot summer day. It has a level of sweetness that would allow drinking this beer one after the other. The mouthfeel is juicy, sparkly, and clean. Overall, this is the only pear beer I can think of. I find no other pear beers necessary.

 

Oh I forgot about that label ha. At least that had the scrolling Sierra Nevada label that is easy to see. I thought this was just some new Texas brewery, or new regional brewery, or something. That may or may not know a West Coast IPA if you dunked their brewers head in a bucket of Torpedo (yeah, I'm a bit jaded with many new breweries I see anymore ha).

 

Pretty much, but no pineapple. Strong on the chocolate.

 

Well, I needed something to follow up that first beer - and it probably needs to be good. But since I've never had the beer if I am posting in this thread, how would I know?

I'll go with a brewery I trust pretty well. And for this review I will take a short bit to sit with the beer instead of distracting myself with sharing it. Although, I am sharing with the GF, but that's expected and normal.


Or maybe the GF is sharing this Hop Wired from Lawson's Finest Liquids with me, since she picked it out. So Lawson's is doing a hazy...

Yep, certainly looks like it. This fits into that nice level of haze, I feel. It doesn't start to look sludgy ugly, but also isn't mostly transparent / barely translucent. Is it highly or lowly translucent when you can mostly see through it? Whichever it is is what I mean.

Nose isn't really bringing a lot - it's a bit sweet malt with perhaps some papaya-like tropical sweetness and maybe some mango peel. Definitely no peaches or apricots. After taking a sip - that peel is what comes through. It is not at all as sweet on the palate as I though it might be given the nose.

So I go back and... and yeah, not as sweet on the nose, but still pretty bare on that sensory aspect for me today. Back to the taste and the start is husk along with orange peel - a thick peel heavy on the white pith. Then I get that fruit peel vibe and something that could be a mix of grass and pine.

Feel has a bit more lively carbonation than expected, and it is a bit heavier and thicker than a regular IPA. The funny thing is that there doesn't seem to be a lot going on or interesting in this beer... but I actually enjoy it. I think this could end up being one of those cases I rate the individual categories lower than my overall. Or to quote the GF, "I like it. It is good."

LOL - I scrolled past the beer posts to post this review, stopping only if something caught my eye. I also checked out the shorter response posts and this post made me scroll back up. I, too, "strolled/scrolled" right past it. Your impression of the label is deadlock in step with mine

 

100%

Btw, speaking of new brewery jadedness ... nice to see an old hand like Real Ale putting out good stuff. That Extra Pale Ale sounds solid. I'm about due for another sixer of Hans' Pils, and I'll look for the Extra Pale.

 

Diving into another of Jester King's "regular" beers:

Jester King Brewery • The Garys • American IPA • 7.2% ABV • no date on can

From the can: "West Coast-style India Pale Ale with columbus cryo, krush cryo and hand-selected simcoe, mosaic and citra."

Short version: Good not great, or as the Scottish might say, nae bad.

Coming off the heels of Sierra Nevada's West Ghost, it's like a poured another only the volume got turned down from 8-9/10 to about 3-4/10. It's extremely similar with citrus notes, mainly grapefruit, and a nice bitterness from the hops but without the same intensity of smell and taste. The main difference I'm getting is a bit more green onion/onion/cilantro/weed in the aroma and less bitterness in the flavor. Good beer I will not buy again unless I knew it was fresh out the vat — I would like to try that for Ss and Gs. This can feels like a fairly old version, I'd guess minimum 6 months, possibly over a year.

Official review:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/24018/732312/?ba=Premo88#review
3.73 (-7% rDev)

Honestly, the biggest takeaway for me is I keep trying these non-Jester King Jester King beers (beers that are not farmhouse ales, wild ales or saisons) that have no bottling date on them, and they keep not sucking. I mean, their pilsners were solid, this American IPA is solid, and I expect the next "regular" beer I try from Jester King will be solid. I wouldn't recommend them b/c the prices tend to be a bit over the odds (I'm buying singles at big city prices ), but if you could find them at reasonable prices, they might be worth it?

Cheers!

 

Another big winner from my favorite brewery 30 miles up the road (Jackie O's in Athens Ohio)

Dangerous for the ABV with the citra hops. Very good peach bomb with 0 alcohol burn.

 

This is going to be my final new beer of the day.

Tell Your Friends - Three Twenty Brewing - Pine City, MN - Hazy IPA - 6.9%

This beer has way more bitterness than I would expect from the style, and I am liking it.

Review:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/49804/792716/

3.75/5 rDev 0%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75
From a 16oz can. Canned on 04/22/2026

This beer is quite murky looking. The color of the beer is a hazy lemon color. There's a thick 3 finger white head to the beer that has good retention, and great lacing left behind on the glass.
The aroma is quite earthy from the hops. There's a bit of citrus in the hop aroma, maybe a pineapple aroma?
The flavor is bitter. It starts off right away and just clings There's a hint of floral that comes into play during the bitterness. There's a slight bit of pine and some pineapple notes.
The feeling from the bitterness just clings to my throat for a very long time. The body is juicy and sticky feeling.
This is an interesting take upon the style. It does have a lot more bitterness than a lot of this style have, and I think I like it.

I should be back tomorrow for at least one more.