New Beer Weekend #305

Thanks Tim @Beersnake for starting NBW #305!

Kros Strain Grand Cru #4 40mo BA Dark Strong Ale, 13% ABV. This is a cuvée of Kros Strain Stout and English Barleywine. Pours deep reddish brown with a half-finger medium-brown head that left no lacing. Aroma is bourbon, grapes, and chocolate. Taste is bourbon, grape jam, chocolate, and toffee/caramel, moderately sweet, slightly bitter, some bourbon burn. Thick and smooth mouthfeel that left sticky lips. Overall outstanding.

4.46/5 rDev 0%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5

In answer to Tim's question about who we'd like to have a beer with, while I'm not very religious I think it would be interesting to have a beer with Cardinal Dolan. Based on many TV interviews I've seen, he sounds like a smart and down to earth guy. I don't even know if he drinks beer/craft.

 

A ‘running water’ beer

Today’s new beer is from East Branch Brewing (Downingtown, PA) and the words “East Branch” refers to the east branch of the nearby Brandywine Creek. They enjoy naming some of their beer brands with water references and today’s beer in in that realm: Alluvium IPA.

For those of you who do not know what “alluvium” means (and that includes me), the internet to the rescue:

“Alluvium (from Latin alluvius, from alluere 'to wash against') is loose clay, silt, sand, or gravel that has been deposited by running water in a stream bed, on a floodplain, in an alluvial fan or beach, or in similar settings. Alluvium is also sometimes called alluvial deposit.”

I met up with some buddies at East Branch Brewery for some beers and chit-chat. I am a BIG fan of their German Pilsener: Riemer. And after drinking one glass of Riemer I decided to give Alluvium IPA a try.

Afterwards I also ordered a Brisket cheesesteak sandwich and it was excellent!

Served in an East Branch Willi Becher glass:

Appearance:

Golden yellow with a white head.

Aroma:

An interesting mix of hops aromas, some pine, a bit of citrus (e.g., grapefruit), some floral and some bready malt in the background.

Taste:

The flavor follows the nose with a combination of pine/citrus/floral and some breadiness in the background. There is a medium bitterness.

Mouthfeel:

Medium bodied with a smooth mouthfeel. There is a dry finish.

Overall:

I enjoyed drinking this beer, it is very good. I found the combination of hop flavors to be very pleasing.

Cheers!

@KOP_Beer_OUtlet @rotsaruch @RobH

 

I have faith that Cardinal Dolan says "Cheers to you"!



Cheers!

 

Happy NBW all! Well this is my 1400th beer reviewed on BA, so what better choice than Fremont’s 9000th batch? Here we have Brew 9000, picked up a few weeks ago at the brewery. The Brew X000 series commemorates each thousandth batch of beer produced, and I believe is always a barrel-aged English barleywine. This one is outstanding. Preliminary review below. Cheers!
______________
4.57/5 rDev 0%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

22oz bottle into a tulip. Pours a clear reddish mahogany with a thin khaki head.

Aroma is loaded with vanilla, caramel, bourbon-soaked figs, and brown sugar—classic English barleywine character and exactly what I was hoping for.

Taste is likewise complex and expertly blended with dark caramel malt, oak, bourbon, vanilla, toffee, and sweet stone fruits. Hard to imagine this being much better.

Mouthfeel is silky smooth, medium-heavy body, lingering warm finish.

Overall another truly outstanding addition to the Brew X000 series. Just wonderful stuff. Fremont remains a barrel aging master.

 

WinterStern by Walter’s

2.38/5 rDev -28.3%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 1.75 | feel: 2 | overall: 2
Brewers notes: Reinheitsgebot tradition continues by bringing you WinterStern
Premium Non-Alcoholic Brew.
Two-Row and specialty caramel malts, along with a blending of imported hops give WinterSterns rich color, flavor and fuller body.

Chilled 11.2 oz can poured into a monhegan brewing glass. Very ornate can

Clear amber copper liquid, solid dense three finger white foam of shaving cream, great rentention , good lacings

Aroma is malty. You know when you walk into a brewery and the air is heavy with a malt aroma? That’s what this beer smells like.

Ah, the taste…not so much…watery malt water , no carbonation, flat, still, sweet, grassy….other reeeming qualities are its cold and wet

Mouthfeel is thin light watery, still

I gambled and lost on this NA beer. Purchased at Ocean State Job Lot, $9

Prost!

 

I’m bringing done the abv average…

 

Good evening NBW
I don't normally check in on Friday, but I couldn't hold back on this whale.

Keystone Light Apple

12oz can stamped OCT1926 poured into a vintage bar glass at fridge temp 4.1% ABV. The beer pours bright light golden yellow with off white head. The head recedes to a thin ring and single layer of bubbles. Slight lacing. The aroma is mild with tart green apple. The taste is more of the same with apple skin and barely tart apple fruit. Negligible bitterness, but not abundantly sweet. The feel is thin bodied with average carbonation and a semi dry finish. There's an oily finish that indicates a rushed fermentation, but it's hard to taste anything over the "natural flavors." Overall, it's not my preference in an AAL, but it's not awful for what it is.

I'll do better later. I promise

 

It's OK. I can bring that back up! We were at the Barreled Souls Stay Puft society members shindig. We tried three variants all over 12% there then went to the taproom and briefly dipped down to 10% but that one doesn't count - repeat.

So we sipped on DBA Willet Rye Stay Puft - just another amazing BA beer from BS. Slightly sweet marshmallow offset by the tang of the rye. Yummy and I have my bottle for a proper review.

Then 2026 Bourbon Vanilla Stay Puft - obviously there's the marshmallow theme and I have to say it's nicely managed - it'd be really easy to land this in the disgusting sweet territory but they aren't. The missus keeps saying she doesn't like bourbon but she keeps drinking bourbon barrel beers...hmmm...

Then there was 2024 Salted Caramel Stay Puft. A bit sweeter with the caramel but still not overly so. Very nice, rich caramel flavor and just a touch of salt.

It was a cool event - now that we know the game, we will be better prepared with chairs and food for the next time. Quite a few people and some really impressive hauls being loaded into cars. I have notes from our Thursday visit to decipher, too, and ya'll are gonna get tired of Barreled Souls reviews in the foreseeable future.

We also did a very cool nature hike - about 2.5 miles, super-easy and through a unique habitat. Saco Heath Reserve - basically a rare domed bog structure that's unlike anything we've seen before. One minute you are in forest and the next step is into a completely different world. PostImages doesn't seem to be co-operating at the moment...grrr...but it was a beautiful hike.

 

Thanks Tim! Not sure how much more of me you'll see this weekend, but ought to be more than one...daughter got her driver's permit last weekend and we need to start getting her hours on the road...

Cloudburst - Beautiful Bouquet, 6.9% IPA

16oz can served in a curvy Monhegan pint glass. Can is dated 04/28/26. I think I bought it about a week ago at Chuck's Hop Shop Seward Park.

Pours pretty hazy whitish-yellow with a medium sized thick head that settles fairly slowly into a thick, even skin climbing about a centimeter up the side of the glass. Moderate to high active carbonation. Smell is citrus rind focused on grapefruit, definite pine, some melon vibe.

Taste is somewhat more wan than I was expecting from the nose. Citrus and melon are ghosts, pine and grapefruit rind bitterness manspread across the palate, inconsiderately crowding out everything else.

Mouthfeel is moderately light and quite prickly. This is good -- it looks like a hazy IPA, but don't be fooled, it's WC IPA that happens to be hazy.

 

Happy NBW. Summer is fast approaching, so it's fitting to crack open Pizza Port's fresh seasonal variant - not bad, but I found it something of a let down compared to what they are capable of producing - cheers!

3.8/5 rDev -5%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75

Packaged May 5th, enjoyed on May 22nd, 2026 - poured from a pint can into my Dogfish Head shaped pint glass.

Krush, Krush Cryo, Krush Dynaboost, Simcoe, Riwake, and Riwaka Kief make up the hop bill.

Slightly hazy marigold to amber gradient supports a small stand of papaya whip foam. FIne sandy lacing; decent retention.

Fruit forward aroma, largely tropical but with a secondary wave of citrus and some low berry notes as well. Subtle but inviting.

The impression of sweetness on the palate entry is amplified by the fruit flavors: lime soda, guava, passion-fruit, white grapefruit, red grapes and faint peppercorn. Mild bitterness and gentle crackery malt base lead into a medium-dry finish. Tasty yet somehow generic blend.

Medium-light bodied with sufficient carbonation; soft and slightly oily.

Not sure if it is related to their use of contemporary hop extract products, but while I found this reasonably refreshing, it is not as potent or flavorful as many of their other offerings.

 

Happy Friday, New Beer people! Especially our host @Beersnake , who almost always debuts beers that are new to me. Clearly I need to get out of the Northwest forum more often.



Uprise Helles

The beer is straw yellow with excellent clarity. A spirited pour raises a puck of crisp white foam that takes a few minutes to collapse to a collar and a bubble-speckled surface. The nose offers clean, toasty malt and a gently spicy bouquet of floral hops. Faint whiff of sulfur. The flavors start with a similar foundation. The malt is soft and bready, with a drop of honey and a hint of sweetness. It could use a bit more depth, though. There are traces of lemon and herbs through the middle, leading to a low speed bump of bitterness in the finish. The balance is lovely. The aftertaste is toasty, crackery malt adorned with spicy hops and suggestions of lavender and hay. Light body with mellow carbonation. Easy drinkability.

Quite a nice Helles. Uprise continues to impress.

Cheers!

 

Kasō from Godspeed Brewery

From a 355ml can poured into a pint glass. A one finger tan head on a clear dark copper. The head diminished to some foamy patches.

Smokey malts in the nose. The taste is malty and smokey. Defiantly beech smoked malts. The smoked malts dominate but some some toffee and fruit come through. Leather and some moderate bitterness in the finish.

A medium body and light carbonation. Overall a solid English Barleywine. Smooth and well melded. Well worth a try.

3.95/5 rDev +1.5%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4

 

Doing my part to bring the ABV average back up.
This is one that is made every year (so far) but they change the whiskey barrel out every year as well. For 2026 it’s Eastern Kille barrels and they actually make their presence known in the current version.

As is typical for Transient barrel aged stouts the appearance is a used but very clean motor oil and is capped, ever so briefly, with a dark brown head that dissipated quickly and left no lacing.
The taste; where the rubber meets the road.
I am apparently a nearly hopeless optimist when it comes to these things. I mean, two years in a whiskey barrel (and bourbon) should provide nice un sweet edge. But not at Transient. No sir. The additives are the main event here - miles and miles of chocolate and caramel and vanilla and really mild coffee abound. The barrel does make its presence felt at the swallow; I got the sole non sweet aspect there.
The feel is typical Transient - just this side of syrup.
OA, if pastry stouts are your thing, this (and most barrel aged stouts from Transient) are right up your alley.
I keep waiting for an additive and adjunct free imperial stout from them and I will keep waiting because when they decide to make it, it will be excellent.
But for now they aim for the masses.
I try not to complain, as long as people enjoy their beer they will stay in business.
That is it for me tonight, I will be back tomorrow.
Cheers!