New Beer Sunday (week 509)

Thanks for filling in, JMS ... good pinch-hitting!

It's definitely a New TEXAS Oatmeal Stout Sunday over here:


I've slept on Independence Brewing quite a bit, in part because they don't have bottle codes and I've got a good feeling everything of theirs here in town is quite old ... but an 8% ABV stout? A little age can't hurt it much, right? Might even help it, and I think this one holds up well.

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/10284/47911/?ba=Premo88

I gave it a 4.00 (+1.5% rDev), and it might warrant a bit more. It's got a ton of dark-malt good stuff ... chocolate, coffee, some of that burnt oak/wood taste, and as it warms, the nose grows very sweet and even puts off a nice vanilla smell. True stout aficionados might frown on the light mouthfeel, but I love it. Very drinkable.

The head wasn't massive (even off a hard pour), but the beer percolates like crazy and what it does push up is super thick. I love these tan/brown stout heads.



Loved seeing the puppy dogs, @WesMantooth!

Cheers!

 

I will look for that brew. I doubt that central MD will see that version though.

 

Hello all you NBS fanatic fans of foam far and wide. What a great day here in SE Mass. After freezing our butts off last week, seems like a beach day in the 40's, might have hit fifty. Don't care - it was just nice. The Pats victory is great, but I'm finding the games relatively boring...like you know the outcome.

Bottled up a little home brew and decided to treat myself with a new to me beer. I enjoy their beers but have never had Maine Beer Company Lunch. Many of you have had it, many superlatives have already been written. There's a lot of hype about this beer and while I'd rather walk than blindly board the hype train, every once in a while it is justified. This beer is absolutely righteous - deserves every bit of respect it gets. Slightly hazy, orange/gold pour with an "chunky" off white head and just awesome juice, sticky lacing. I think if I give the glass a light rinse, I can have a "lite" version... Huge grapefruit/citrus aroma - predominantly grapefruit for me, but other notes present in the orange/tangerine. Some subdued floral notes, definite contribution from the resin family. Then late in the aroma game along comes this whiff of malty sweetness. Very appealing saying "drink me". The flavor follows the nose - big citrus, some resin, some reasonable bitterness, and somehow incredibly light for something just screaming "juicy" - a bit of sweetness counteracts the fresh citrus flavors and substantiates the bitterness. I'm thinking this will come down around a 4.3 - 4.5 for me when I get around to writing it all up.

Yeah - I would take this beer any time - do what's right? This beer is done right - I'm a fan.

 

Good Evening!
After a weekend full of cleaning for Thanksgiving- I pulled up a gem from the cellar for NBS.


4.26/5 rDev +1.9%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

2011 Bottle 6/213. 22 oz bottle poured into my FFF Teku glass and split with my husband.

A- Body is a dark brown/nearly black hue which is opaque and does not light pass through. An aggressive pour yields a 1 finger creamy dark tan head which fades pretty quickly and leaves a thin collar and some lacing.

S- Smooth, rich, bold dark coffee, overripe plum, vanilla, oak, bourbon sweetness and anise. Nose is pretty balanced overall. A slight hint of alcohol comes through as well.

T- Somewhat soft upfront with some coffee overtones, vanilla and oak make up the background with just a hint of bourbon flavor. Smooth coffee, a hint of overripe fruit, and very little alcohol come through for the finish. Left to linger is overripe fruit, and a mild alcohol heat.

F- Low to medium carbonation and a relatively thick, heavy body. Body is smooth-but not as much so as oil of Aphrodite.

O- Overall this is a great beer-maybe only slightly past its prime. The bourbon is soft and this brew is extra smooth and rich. You can definitely taste the base beer- Dark Apparition with this, so even though its BBA and with Kopi Lowak added- Jackie O's never loses sight of the original beer.

 

"Best By 05/05/15", or 18 days old assuming they still date 6mo. Light gold in the glass. Nose is bright and green, can't pick out any particular hop (aroma). Taste is bitter, slightly floral pine, then a little bit of caramel malt, with a clean and surprisingly bitter piney finish. Delicious, would expect any fan of WCIPA to enjoy. Might have to get another, right now it sure seems like a good idea Cheers NBS!

 

Another fine weekend in the books and I am sending it off with one more new beer.

Tyranena is only 20 miles from my house and they manage to avoid all hype even though they make incredible BA stouts and porters. This one is a brand new beer from them, which is exciting.

Carnal Knowledge in the Wood starts off with nice aromas of bitter chocolate, coffee beans, and roasted malts. I notice some of the rye barrel along with notes of wood. The flavor is where it all comes together, more than the aroma. The first thing that jumps out is the rye barrel and bittersweet chocolate. Mixes very well with the roasted malts, faint coffee and hints of vanilla. A finish so smooth and so tasty.

 

Seems like I've been drinking all big stouts and barley wines lately, so I thought I would go with Victory's Harvest Ale for NBS. Distribution channels are always a mystery. This just showed up around here this week.

Wow. Very well done. The smell alone convinced me this was going to be a winner. Lots of juicy citrus and dank hops. Just enough honey sweetness and malts to balance things out. Probably should have grabbed more bottles...




http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/345/142504/?ba=richj1970

 

and a new Stone beer Sunday!!!



... speaking of sleeping on things ... I got going hard and heavy on the good beer again in about 2012 (after about a 15-year layoff -- oops! ) and hit Stone pretty hard for awhile, then jumped off and started trying everything else. Meanwhile, there's a handful of Stone staples I've never sampled, so I'm happy to get this one down the gullett.

With that said:
http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/147/4083/?ba=Premo88

I do not like caramel/mangoy DIPAs, so I don't really like Ruination. I LOVE Enjoy By and Stone IPA is solid, but this doesn't jive with my gib. Just me. I can still tell it's a really well made brew ... has an almost German-like look with a sturdy English-style pale ale construction, IMO. Very solid. And I'm drinking it and getting ready for football, so all is good. But my numbers reflect my hatred for just that particular side of the DIPA spectrum.

Double cheers!

 

Sounds 100% like an old bottle to me, you definitely shouldn't be tasting any of the caramel malts. Just centennial hops, and a lot of them. Ruination gets an "Enjoy By" date 3mo. past bottling. The color even looks a little dark, seems to happen with older IPAs. Cheers!

 

Have you tried Another One yet?

 

well cheers to everyone on this beautiful fall day here in SE CT. i'm late here today spent the morning taking care of teh last of the yardwork for the season. weather was a nice 50 deg. so i took advantage. this afternoon i went out and took care of some primal urges and tagged myself a bambi got myself a gorgeous 169lb doe. first of the season. after spending the afternoon and most of the evening taking care of things ( without going into much detail) i finally got to sit down and enjoy some beer. sorry i have no pic, but today is Baxter brewing's Phantom Punch stout. new to me new to CT, very chuggable at 7% for stout ( i finished one while typing) not much vanilla flavor but it's there faintly. either way a couple more of these and im headed to bed, long day. good evening all and HAPPY NBS. by the way happy birthday to those with birthdays today

 

Firestone Walker Wookey Jack Black IPA
This is my first time having this beer and first time having a black IPA. I've seen black IPAs around but just the concept of an IPA that looks like a stout or porter never interested me. Now, having had this, it's very drinkable, I get the citrusy IPA flavors with some bitterness upfront, then there is a kind of light toasty, dry character on the back. It's very smooth, not at all disappointed, it's not as hoppy as Union Jack, tastes a little mellower but it's really good, Firestone has never disappointed me, cheers! This is part of the Winter Bundle, excited to try the Velvet Mocha Merlin.

 

No

 

Grab a freshie of Another One, trust me!

 

Will do. I'm roughly four or five hours from the brewery...maybe less...you wouldn't think that would be difficult. Mean Old Tom and Titus can both take some age, but the others? And MBC does seem to collect dust in my two local stores. Maybe the price, but I see more expensive stuff bought. Maybe people don't know? Kick myself for skipping the hoppy stuff when I was at the brewery. Well, I am now, anyway!

 

Good evening NBS! Hope everyone is enjoying themselves at the end of the weekend once again. Looking forward to the short work week, and have some nice bottles lined up for my family visit back to Ohio for the weekend. Here's tonight's new beers!

A nice and pleasant Belgian pale ale. Taste of lemon, apricot, pear, apple, white grape, light banana, honey, biscuit, light clove, and some yeast/herbal hop earthiness. Light earthy yeast spiciness and hop bitterness on the finish. Well balanced malt and yeast flavors with no cloying sweetness. Very smooth and fairly crisp finish. I've had much bolder versions of the style for sure, but this was quite enjoyable. 3.68


This is a very impressive imperial stout. Taste of big dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee, toast, dark bread, brown sugar, light dark fruit/licorice, light char, herbal, and roasted earthiness. Moderate amount of roast and earthy hop bitterness on the finish. Very smooth and moderately creamy mouthfeel. Great balance of bitterness/sweetness for the roasted malt profile. Medium-full bodied, moderate carbonation. Very smooth for 9.5%, not boozy at all for being so young. Aromas were much more forward on dark fruit and licorice notes with noticeable raisin and prune; but still well balanced with the deep malt character. Definitely a fan. Hopefully I can land some BBA when it's released. 4


Very nice Black IPA. Taste of big grapefruit, lemon zest, orange peel, pine, citrus rind, and pineapple; with nice balance of chocolate, cocoa, toast, and light char malt flavors. Fair amount of pine/grassy bitterness on the finish with some light peppery yeast spice. Very well balanced between the hop, fruity brett, and roasted malt character. Moderate carbonation and medium bodied; smooth and fairly creamy mouthfeel; slightly sticky from hops. Very enjoyable. I really like black IPAs that actually showcase the malts instead of being all hops with black color for fun. 3.9


Cheers, have a good night NBS.

 

ARRRRR

 

Yazoo Winter Seasonal - Yazoo Scotch Ale
Maris Otter, Crystal, & Aromatic Malts
No ABV on the bottle, six pack, or Yazoo's Website.

This is my first scotch ale. It's probably a little on the advanced side for my appreciation level. I'm not sure if I'm smelling or tasting the "scotch". I'm researching the malts included to try to be able to pick them out. But it's definitely not a bad beer. The bottle claims it's a good beer for cold, dreary, cloudy, rainy days. I definitely get some sweetness, and not really any hops. Give it a try if you can find it.



This is my first "New Beer Sunday" post. I's apparent that you guys have a tradition of including music that in some way compliments your Sunday beer. So...

 

I've had that beer. What did you think about this one? Recommend? Overhyped? Why? What do you taste?

We like to share our thoughts about beers we drink in New Beer Sunday, it's different than WBAYDN. Welcome.

 

Welcome to NBS. Man, I have had some great Scotch Ales lately, and I gotta say that even if you think you are not ready for the style, it is a very approachable style, and the kind I think is good to start with. I get toffee and caramel, sometimes even honey bread or brown bread, in my favorites, balanced with a nice herbal bitter to just dry the finish a touch.