New Beer Sunday (week 504)

Good morning Cavedave and thanks for the Sunday reminder.
I really enjoyed some Pride this morning, we do love the tight definition of this beer.
Those exacting and creative Danes do some beautiful brewing.

Cheers all

The Sinner Series-Pride
Amager Bryghus
American Double / Imperial Stout / 10.00% ABV

3.86/5 rDev: -1.8% | rAvg: 3.93
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75

Poured form a bottle into a modified tulip glass.
A - Deep darkness, beautiful dance of carbonation is present but not overactive.
Crowned with a light cocoa creamy head. Lacing trail shows no sign of quitting.
S - Dark fruits, fig, medium chocolate not to dark, a slight hint of toffee. Malt bill
is not weighted to any one area. The nose opens up with time, leading to hints of
alcohol and mint.
T - Danish stout for sure. As big as it is still a tight flavor, chocolate malt, lingers only slightly,
the hop bite has a touch of pine, maybe juniper.
F - The initial pass is rich bodied, the middle has a quickness and feels like it wants to run away,
Finally the end has an intriguing desire to stay, the linger is quite delightful. Not to sharp on the tongue.
Definitely that Danish approach, slightly whimsical and refined.

O - A fine example, not to far a field from Stanby or the Dr. each a fine example.

A nice treat on this cool autumn morning

Cheers

 

Tasted new release Shipwreck Porter 4.4 from Carton so had to bench mark it against TEN FIDY 4.5 & Founders Porter 4.25. It must be halloween or Oct, but everyone here drinking Porter or Stout today....

CARTON SHIPWRECK PORTER
4.4/5 rDev +7.6%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25

At the brewer, new release, 10-18-14, into a tulip named Carton. Benchmarked vs Founders Porter and TenFidy - 2 of my faves in this dark realm.

A- Syrupy from the honey, ship stain brown-black, scads of lace, looks as good as TenFidy.

S- Roast malt, milk chocolate, Kahlua, spices and sweet rum. Nicely integrated. Dessert like, last beer of the night.

F- Follows the smell nicely, with more sweet rum barrel and honey on the tongue coupled with long, smooth roast malt softened by Kahlua, milk chocolate, espresso, with a dash of spice. Complex. Up there with TedFidy, sweeter.

M- Full body, silky, smooth, like an after dinner drink, it's boozy.

O- I really need to place this side-by-side with TENFidy and Founders Porter to fairly compare. But Carton seems to bring a bit more of the rum barrel, wood, and honey to the experience.

FOUNDERS PORTER
4.25/5 rDev -0.5%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25

Founders always seems to be on the podium.

Offers a creamy malt feel with spicy, peppery American hop finish.

A Just like a stout. Dark tan head, fades too fast but laces to the extreme.
S Feel like I am in Dublin between the peat, roasted coffee, tea-room, the salt Liffey wharves, and Guinness brewery. Complex, earthy, old wood, with grass, pine, pepper in the finish.

T Coffee dominant, followed by roast coffee, brewery, old wharf wood, cedar. then bit of cocoa and sweeter notes mixing with the peppery hay of the hops. Complex and better as she warms.

F The sweet body, dries to a powdery finish. Almost a bitter sweet, baker chocolate feel. A dry chalky finale. Again complex and a great beer to finish the evening, great in the winter half.

Must try.

TEN FIDY
4.5/5 rDev +2.7%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.75

Consistent. Across all my fave reviewers, this is one excellent RIS. A great style from a great brewer.

Gotta sip and let this one warm as it only gets better. This is one helluva blending beer! Try blending it with a sour Flemish or Belgian ale, or with any pale ale for a black & tan. Works wonders and often its a 4+4=9 result.

A Everyone agrees: Darkest, baddest, thickest, stickiest. - True to my experience. Want a Stout experience in your glass with sticky windows of lace and a permanent brown cap - this is it!

S Its aroma is not over whelming, it's powerful chocolate/ roasted coffee / dessert like. A good night beer. Some malt and vanilla. Some church and some high altitude melting snow, like 14,000 feet or higher.

T Wine like, massive. Like a large cabernet. The flavor is huge and dry, following the smell: Chocolate, coffee, malts, vanilla. Weight and alcohol with a nice see saw of sweet first and then bitter, with bitter winning the day in a dry, licorice lingering finish. Great place to leave your mouth.

M Most full bodied. Creamy, heavy, tickler. Fine finale.

D A sipper. A meditation beer. Perhaps the best RIS - up there ABOVE BORIS and Weyerbacher, up there with Founders, Rasputin, Narwhal. Worth it. Try it. Must have. And have again.

 

Happy NBS friends! I hope this morning finds you enjoying the weekend. Spent the day at the in-laws celebrating my nieces second birthday. Tomorrow is my birthday, so I'll make sure to enjoy good beer today.

My first is one that @utopiajane had last week in NBS. She pretty much nailed the review (as always), but I'll provide my tasting notes.

Starts out with a hefty bourbon flavor along with the Baltic porter base. Plenty of vanilla, soft chocolate truffle, and hints of wood, brown sugar, and a touch of molasses. There is some noticeable alcohol on the finish, but it is tasty and sublime. It should be an easy beer for anyone to attain that would like to trade for it.

 

Fonta Flora, Morganton NC - these guys are killing it.

 

Good day, NBS people...

I've been checking out a couple of beers from Avery's Annual Barrel Series...

Last night enjoyed this Imperial pumpkin porter aged in bourbon barrels...

Absolute stunner - Pump[KY]n

Vegetal pumpkin spice suffused with dark fruit, smooth chocolate, and sweet bourbon...

And then this morning, I opened its sibling ale, Rumpkin...

Was looking for this last year (or the year before? Both? ) but it never made it round. This year my store musta gotten in a case, along with Pump[KY]n. One-bottle limits are SOP in these parts - and fair, far as I'm concerned - but you do haveta keep your eyes peeled and your ear to the ground...

Before drinking, I had fortified myself...

...with a well-balanced breakfast of bacon-wrapped scallops...

An' den da beer...

This rum barrel-aged pumpkin ale is another great big beer from Avery - they love making these things strong - Rumpkin comes in at 16.73 and Pump[KY]n at 17.22. I prefer a more bold approach in a pumpkin ale - to me, these are meant to be big beers - sippers, full of sweet pumpkin and spice - most of my favorite pumpkin ales break the 7-8% abv mark.

All the rum barrel beers I've had have a pineapple sweetness to them and this is no exception.

The pumpkin's vegetal character is subordinate, but the flavors and spices are present throughout.
Boozy and sweet, a great seasonal pumpkin sipper.

Nice fall weather here, too - finally - it was positively tropical last week and I hate that. Today's crisp and cool, however - overcast but forecast to clear; you can feel the air drying in the breeze... Fox Pregame followed by RedZone on tap for me as well as more beer. I expect my Giants to lose today, but that's cool. Dallas (*sworn enemy* ) is playing some lights-out football and I hate when that happens. Whatevs. That's what RedZone's for... Meantimes, me an' the missus been enjoying some American Horror Story and Walking Dead. Great month for horror. AHS has season 3 (Coven) on DVD and season 4 (Freak Show) on FX Wednesday nights. Every season's a new story, but features many of the same cast, so we're watching them concurrently. Also finally saw this season's first episode of Walking Dead last night. Great stuff...

I'll see you later with a new local IPA during the games...

Cheers!

 

Cheers! Dave and to the rest of the NBS crew!

A gorgeous Autumn day here in Casper so I bought a "lighter" brew yesterday that many folks really like. I am now amongst them. Okay, I tell a lie; I REALLY LOVED it:

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/697/2013/?ba=Bitterbill

I'm a bit disappointed with the pic I took but it's the beer that counts in the end, eh?



Cheers to more beers!

 

New American IPA Sunday

Greetings NBSer's,
From SCMN where we are having some splendid autumn weather and fortunately I was able to spend a good amount outdoors yesterday and hope for the same today.
I submit today a solid beer from a large regional brewery (more national than regional). Now I'm a fan of big bold and high alcohol beers as much as anyone, yet having been doing this hobby for awhile I also really grown to appreciate breweries that consistently put out affordable, drinkable and tasty beers consistently (such as Anchor, SN, Magic Hat, and more locally August Schell, Summit and New Glarus but there are more). So here is a toast to the long standing breweries that give beer lovers pleasure consistently and afford-ably.

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/28/112128/?ba=garymuchow

Best to all this week.

 

Good afternoon New BSers! Today's offering is this RIS from Sly Fox in Phoenixville/Pottstown, PA; always good for a meal and a few beers when I'm in the area. This ain't no Ten Fidy but it's one of the better RISes - slight alcohol smell but no alcohol taste, roasted amlt and dark fruit flavors, good price point. Sly Fox makes some good beers and a host of mediocre ones (IMHO), but this is definitely one of their better ones.



http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/1853/89027/?ba=Ozzylizard

 

A big thanks to you. I bought and drank a 6er and did not review it. I gotta fix that.

 

At the local brew pub, Prof. Bob's Brown Ale, served a cellar temp from a hand pump. This ale is not cast conditioned but still much different from this beer on a tap. Nice beer malty with a bit of hop bite in a nice aftertaste.

 

Good Morning all
Today it's a rather blustery day
Fall is moving in and I have these offerings which all have a slight autumn flair.



Along with these beers I have a song which also will work well on these cool blustery October morn'

 

Getting ready to brew a Jalapeño Saison with today's new beer, Ballast Point Even Keel, a well done session IPA.
Overall 4.08
12 oz can poured into a snifter

A- A clear copper color with a two finger white head 4

S- Dank, pine, citrus grapefruit, pungent 4.25

T- Fairly bitter piney dank finish, grapefruit/citrus, light malt backbone. 4

M- Smooth, crisp, light to medium body. 4.25

O- A good session IPA worth trying, like other session IPAs I feel it has a big hoppy nose, but nice lighter taste. 4

Rocking out to my favorite Coheed album on vinyl, cheer!

 

Been awhile since I have had time on a Sunday for the NBS thread. During the NFL season I am usually covering a game, but the team played on Thursday night, so I have a day off today.
Decided to try one of the beers my son sent me from Texas - Real Ale Gose, a German style wheat beer with coriander & lime. Pours nicely with a full head, and a scent of citrus. Has a hazy golden/light amber tone, typical of wheat beers. The first sip reveals a strong limey flavor, with a slight wheat sweetness. I can barely taste the coriander, as the lime is dominate, especially on the sour aftertaste. It is very refreshing. I am not a big Gose fan, but I am learning to appreciate the style more and more!

 

The aroma is full of dark chocolate and salted bread. I get more chocolate, less salt (but it's present), and hints of black licorice in the taste profile. Nice mouthfeel, alcohol well hidden. I like this beer, but I think the aroma trumps the taste. Salt and chocolate in a stout? Sounds delicious. Smells delicious. Tastes ... pretty good. I don't regret spending $7 on it but it's not a beer I'll be remembering after a while either.

 

Hi y'all and happy NBS from the sunny southeast. I have a couple so far from late last night but I will count 'em as I am alas expecting to have to some work things this afternoon. (Work is the curse of the drinking class)

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/345/1003/?ba=Roxie_B
Tastes of marzipan, coconut, and banana skins. Points off for occasional notes of hot alcohol but pretty middle of the road in general. Quite a bit more tropical than the average tripel with a disappointing lack of focus on the yeast.

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/609/2420/?ba=Roxie_B
This one isn't as bad as some of the reviews would have led me to believe but it is an example of why mouthfeel matters. Somehow it managed to be thin AND vaguely powdery. I didn't get any of the coffee bitterness or acrid tastes other reviewers described but there was a distinct impression of club soda and coco powder. Not terrible but not something I would go out of my way to have again. There are definitely better ones out there.

 

Hey what's going on?

Time to get back into some NBS love, way too busy in the past weeks traveling, and feels good to sit down in familiar surroundings with a beer in hand.

What's new for our hero today?

Warrior IPA - Left Hand Brewing Company


Left Hand Brewing Co. - Warrior IPA by imbibehour, on Flickr

Review here, or just read below: http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/418/9182/?ba=smakawhat

----------------

look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.25

Poured from the bottle into a Spiegelau IPA glass.

Deep caramel brown and orange bronze colored. Crystal clear body, with just the right amount of fine and slow rising carbonation. Head is a creamy light tan, creme like color, with a big whipped up appearance. Large island retention and soapy lacing at a simple three fingers tall.

Hop aroma is solid if a little varied and subtle. Hints of caramel like malts sweetness, and light floral pine action. Some hints of dank quality as well, matching nicely with what seems a thick malt presence.

Palate seems however to be a little bit uninspiring. Slightly chalky mouthfeel with a dry hop aromatic light pine. Strange bitterness on the finish and a bit indistinct, not really showcasing a sense of variety or distinct hop character. Malt sweetness thought to be expected is actually almost hard to even taste, coming off as a very watered down beer with not much else going on.

Cascade. Where's the citrus action on this? Overall just a regular IPA that while drinkable doesn't really stand out in the crowd.

Final score: 3.48 - 70

 

Greetings, NBSers

It was a sporadically damp week, but today it’s a sunny fall day in the city where ‘hawks fans spent a morning swearing at the TV and wondering if they should be submitting resumes for Special Teams coach to CenturyLink Field. Right now the Seahawks are in disarray – there’s no other word for it. But I’m not a bandwagoner, I sat through the 1992 season (a litmus test for anyone who claims to be a hardcore Seahawk fan), so I’ll be watching this one to the bitter end. Yesterday, college games were hit and miss for me. My Eagles won competently despite their second week without their all-world QB, but the Dawgs went up against the buzzsaw that is known as Oregon.

Today I went local, with a 32oz grunt of Manito Triple IPA from Iron Goat:

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/29334/141754/?ba=woemad

This is a one-off brewed for the Manito Tap House (which is the only place you can find this besides Iron Goat). Despite 98 IBUs, this is way more drinkable than one would think, and since it’s so approachable, at 9.8% alcohol it’s positively dangerous! I had been thinking about driving over to Idaho and picking up a bottle of whiskey for my brother (Washington residents know why I would want to go out of state to do that) and checking out Mad Bomber Brewing, but I don’t think it will be wise to stray from the nest!