Birdie Pilsner from Red Tape Brewery Poured a 355ml can into a pilsner glass. A good one finger fine white head on a hazy gold. The head diminishes to a layer. lots of fine lacing. Bready malts in the nose. Some hop spiciness. The taste follows the nose. Some citrus. A very mildly bitter finish. A light body and good carbonation. Overall a decent Czech pilsner. Clean and refreshing. 3.75/5 rDev -0.5% look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
Brasserie La Debauche (France) Oak Chronicles No. 4 / Amorena 2025 Calvados barrel aged Imperial Stout with blackberry, blueberry, pistachio, almond and Amorena cherry. 15.5% abv. 33 cl bottle poured into a brewery branded Teku glass. Purchased from the brewery. Nice fizz of bouncy foam mellows down quick onto a flat deep brown brew with brilliant ruby highlights. Nose is winey, woody, mildly roasty, light pipe tobacco, light roast coffee. Taste comes on with the Calvados (an apple Brandy from the Normandy region of France) barrel right up front. Once the stun subsides, the roll of flavors pop with tart (not sour.,) assorted vine fruits, oak barrel. Finish is a chocolate covered Amorena cherry kiss, and nicely muted heat. Pistachio and almond flavors are very nuanced and serve only as complements to the experience. IMO, this is a stylish hybrid beer / wine. Mouthfeel is smoove from the addition of oats and lactose. Medium in density and carbonation. Overall, a beautifully stylish and elegant taste sensation. 4.49 in the BA DB.
It has been a bit since I joined you all. Poured into a 16 oz Nordic pint glass canned on 4/20/26. Pours a very attractive hazy yellow orange with a 2 finger sticky white head that leaves thick streaks of lace with excellent retention. 4.5 Aroma is peach, mandarin, mango, guava, passionfruit, and apricot. 4.5 Taste follows peach, mandarin, guava, mango, passionfruit, and apricot. 4.5 Mouthfeel is above medium, soft gentle carbonation, not sticky or dry, and a 7.6% debatable if it should be called a NEDIPA or NEIPA, bigger flavor but easy going down. 4.5 Overall I am really enjoying this one. 4.5 Cheers all.
I have two beers to review for this weekend... First up, a stop over at Southern Yankee Crafthouse, former brewery taproom, but now just a regular old beer bar. Project Halo Brewing, Das Cool Dunkelweizen, 4.3% ABV Pours a dark brown color. With a tan head that forms, good retention and lace left behind. Aroma is light cereal grains and toasted malts up front. Some banana esters. Enjoyable, if a bit light. Taste wise, follows the nose, with light cereal grains and toasted malts/baked bread. The lightest amount of chocolate covered bananas. A light body with moderate carbonation. Finishing clean and dry. Which all leads to something that is overall easy and enjoyable to drink. I love that they are tackling a Dunkelweizen. A more session example of one to boot. I do enjoy this, but I think this is one of the few times I would like a bit more of an ABV bump. Which would give this just a slightly bigger and smoother body. Which is a very small gripe, and otherwise a very enjoyable and moreish example of the style. Overall score is 3.82, B+ https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/63714/802800/?ba=champ103#lists Next up, a visit to Eureka Heights Brewing. Eureka Heights Wunder Bock, 5.5 % ABV Pours a murky reddish/brown color. A small white head tries to form, but recedes to basically nothing after a moment. Aroma of bread and caramel malts. That is it, simple and straight forward. Taste wise, toasted bread, caramel malts, and sweetness. The sweetness does become a little candy like for me, with plenty of residual sugars. Though it just borders on being too cloying for me, without going completely over the top in that regard. A medium body with moderate carbonation. Its just kind of there...which isn't really a bad thing. Easy to drink if at the brewery, but I wouldn't seek it out otherwise. This is fairly one noted and overly simple. Its fine for something to drink at the brewery, but doesn't really stand out for me in any meaningful way. Just down the middle of the road, and that is not always an entirely bad thing. Just nothing I will probably get again. Overall score is 3.46, I guess in the B- range for me, but that is kind of a generous score as well. https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/46198/803107/?ba=champ103#lists Thats it for new beers for me this weekend, at least so far
Which is becoming a pattern lately, having some Bruery brews for my NBW. Started off with this good one: Society Cuvée | The Bruery | BeerAdvocate Lots of lime in this one, so it's a good thing I like limes! Kinda key-lime pie tasting, thought it was good overall. Found that Rock am Ring is having a live stream today so I'm watching some of the concerts now. I'll probably spend the rest of the day watching it: Rock am Ring 2026 I plan on having another Bruery stout next, cheers!
Industrial Arts Torque Hazy Double IPA 4.25/5 rDev +0.7% look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4 Look: golden with an orange hue, hazy, sudsy soapy head, left scattered lacing Smell: ripe tropical, resin, grassy Taste: tangerine, pineapple, resin, grapefruit, berries, apricot, pine, passionfruit, citrus pith, spicy note Feel: thick body, moderate carbo, prickly, dry Overall: 8.2% abv. Time to drink a beer, drink a New Beer! Very tropical on the nose. First sips were tangerine, pineapple and resin. Taking my time with the sips paid off. More tropical flavors came thru with citrus pith and a spicy note. I felt the Cryo Simcoe was too strong though. It created a concentrated citrus sweetness. So that took it down a bit for me, but this was still pretty good. I would have no problem drinking this brew again. One more thing you should know, let's go! I enjoyed this beer while listening to We Will Rock You by Queen.
Lots of great reviews starting with the musical opening plus brewery visit by @vurt . Was thinking my next "new beer" purchases will be another deep dive in my Polish Deli / Grocery like @mactrail did for his Kass pickup. Still trying to recover to get to go out and have a few brewery selections, but today at home with this Wild Ale by Lost Abbey. I have a second and final on hand out of state selection from the other coast if I also enjoy New Beer Sunday from home tomorrow. The Lost Abbey - The Tasting Room Ghosts In The Forest 4.68/5 rDev +12.2% look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.75 Full review linked above. Perhaps it's a function of having limited taste the past few days, but this bursts with everything I enjoy in a wild ale (funk, tart, lemon, citrus, oak, wet horse blanket). Really need to hit this brewery next visit to Southern California.
Sierra Nevada Pils German Pilsner 4.19/5 rDev +6.6% look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25 040826. Poured into a Samuel Adams Perfect Pint. A: Crystal clear gold with 2-3 finger foamy white head with below-average retention but some spare scraps of lacing. S: Lightly bready pils malt and orange and lemon citrus noble hops aromas T: Flavor echoes the aroma profile with delicious bready slightly toasty pils maltiness with lightly herbal noble hop flavor accented by lemon and orange. Medium bitterness. M: Light bodied with high carbonation and crisp, dry finish. O: Not surprisingly, and excellently executed German pils by SN.
3 Floyds Brewing Co. -- Calumet Queen Kölsch style ale ABV: 5.5%; pouring temperature: 46.6 °F; bottling info: n/a Source: local purchase (Lots A Liquor) 3.78/5 rDev +3.6% look: 4.25 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75 Clear, golden look; dense carbonation; thick, frothy, white head; sticky patches and strings of foam line the glass. Fine aroma; biscuit-like malt with a touch of honey; trace of esters. The taste has a subdued cracker and bread crust notes; delicate herbal hop bitterness; pear-like sweetness. Medium-light body; crisp mouthfeel; hint of dryness towards the finish. This must be an older bottle of this beer as the ABV is higher than what is currently indicated on the brewery's web site. That said, this is a decent tasting kölsch. It touches on all the basic kölsch style points although not excelling at any of them except, perhaps, the looks.
Hello New Beer Weekend!!! Well, done with work, and it's time to crack into some new beers. I'll start off with this one. French Nelson - Inbound BrewCo - Minneapolis, MN - Hazy IPA - 6.0% The hops keep turning in this beer and I am liking it. It may not have the cling feeling that is more of this style, but this is a solid beer. Review: https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/45230/803125/ 3.99/5 rDev 0% look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4 From a 16oz can. Canned on 03/14/2026 This beer is slightly hazy and murky looking, but not to a great degree. The pale golden color of the beer does look pleasing.There's a 2 finger white and fluffy head to this beer that has decent head retention. There's some good sticky lacing on the glass as the head dissipates. There's a lot of tropical notes in the nose of this beer. I do get some pineapple notes. There's a hint of some grass in the nose. Up front the beer is mellow. There's a hint of the hops right that is more earthy and grassy, and it comes with a good grain/malt hit. This does change toward the middle where the hops hit harder and have more of a sweet citrus character. The finish is more of a grapefruit citrus where the finish has a nice, but not too strong bitterness. The body has a nice feeling from the bitterness. It really isn't juicy feeling, nor is it clingy feeling. It does feel full bodied. It is interesting in this beer how the hops change as the tasting goes on. Quite interesting and good. I know there's at least one more in me today. See you all later with my next new beer.
Horus Aged Ales -- Signed Monarchs Sextuple bourbon barrel aged imperial stout with Comoros vanilla beans, Congo vanilla beans, Mexican vanilla beans, Samoan vanilla beans, Tongan vanilla beans, and Ugandan vanilla beans added ABV: 20.40%; pouring temperature: 59.0 °F; bottling info: n/a Source: Tavour 4.68/5 rDev 0% look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 5 | feel: 5 | overall: 4.5 Dense, viscous, opaque dark brown pour, looks black in the glass; nice tan head, dense and somewhat creamy in texture, fades a bit but lasts. Richly sweet elements of dark charred grain, dark chocolate and cacao nibs; faint note of whiskey and barrel wood. Heavy malt sweetness and liquid chocolate; subliminal bourbon undertone; vanilla. Lush and viscous mouthfeel; dense and oily. Talk about a powerhouse barrel aged imperial stout, this is it. Reading the shear amount of vanilla bean variants added, one would think the vanilla might overwhelm things somewhat, yet it nicely balanced with the base beer and the various barrels used in the aging process. Yipper! Balance and complexity ooze from the depths of this beer, and it all comes together into one fantastic BBA and vanilla bean wonder.
Kinda late on posting this, got busy watching the Electric Callboy Rock am Ring set that just ended a few minutes ago. Last new brew of the day was this other tasty Bruery imperial stout: Chère Mardi | The Bruery | BeerAdvocate I liked it a lot, worth trying for sure if you like red grape/oak barrel aged brews. Lots of dark fruitiness in this one. Not sure if I'll have any new brews tomorrow, leaning towards not but who knows. Cheers again!
Fort George + Great Notion - Peaches and Creamation, a 13.9% blend of imperial stout aged in bourbon and rye barrels, conditioned on grilled peaches and vanilla. 12oz can served in a stemless rastal. I think it's dated 11/04/25. Don't remember where or when I got it. Pours dark syrupy brown, approaching black except where light bleeds through at the edges. Small head, not nonexistent -- thin ring with a couple dusty islands. Smell is rich, lots of vanilla and molasses, sticky toffee pudding. Booze is noticeable. Taste is very sweet -- syrupy sweet, fruitiness that makes me think of peach rings (though not sure I would have named that if it peaches weren't in the name), even more intense molasses and sticky toffee. Booze less noticeable, possibly masked by the sweetness. Vanilla is still really strong. Mouthfeel is thick, sticky, viscous. Overall, interesting and tasty, glad it's no bigger than 12oz with this sweetness.
