New Beer Sunday (week 548)

Thanks for the pointers! Will be sure to message you if I can get away from the grind.

 

Sounds good! Either way, enjoy your time in my neck 'o the woods :-)

 

A new beer for this Sunday. Splitting it with my son as it is not my summer cup of tea.

 

Sweet Child of Vine is popular and even though it doesn't score that well on BA it's a good drinking ale.
The stuff they do with their RIS tends to be good. Worthy Adversary is a solid RIS and War and Peace is it with coffee, also solid.
It's interesting they are getting down your way. Typically the beer direction is WI to MN, but lately I'm finding Schells and Summit all over WI, plus Surly is now in WI.

 

And off for the next brew...

668 Neighbor Of The Beast - New England Brewing Co.


New England Brewing Co. - 668 The Neighbor of the Beast by imbibehour, on Flickr

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Poured from the can into a NEBCO tulip glass.

Deep creamy and supper fluffly topped thick white head. Meingue and just a hint of soapy retention, sits easy two fingers tall on top of a slightly orange apricot colored body. A bit opaque, but also some thin carbonation really crawling up on the sides. Solid looking Belgian pale.

Aroma is quite interesting. Real nice malt angle on this, with sweet toast and almost English biscuit quality to it. There's a hint of woody and bark like sweetness, almost clove but not as hot or sweet smelling. Sweet breaded malts, a touch of honey peaks out as well, with some soft esters.

Palate is real nice, helped with a real supportive mouthfeel. Chewy malts and good biscuit sweetness, mixes with some toast as well. Finishes with a little bit of honey but very subtle. Sweet middle gets into some subdued cinnamon and almost cardamom like sweetness to match. Real chewy and meaty density on this guy.

Almost comes out like a bit of a amped up malt American/British angle mixing in with classic Belgian sucrose sweetness and melting yeast. Weird to put this guy in words. Fun brew.

look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4 | Final Score : 4.09

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Cheers!

 

Alrighty then, playerzzz

Muggy as fuck on Long Island.

Stone has been cranking out some great DIPAs this year, from the ongoing Enjoy By series, to the recent Points Unknown and Ruination and RuinTen - and even Enjoy After (though I enjoyed it "before" )

This here's their Thunderstruck IPA 19th Anniversary ale...

Features Australian hops, including two I've never hard of until recently, Ella and Vic Secret.

Pours one and two revealed the same...

Very juicy and fruity on the nose and tongue - lots of tropical and citrus impressions - bright, clean and clear, tingly - undercurrents carry darker pine and resin elements, which bring a nice rounded bitterness to the finish.

Bursting with plush citrus and resinous pine.

Preseason week 2 drags itself along. Some week 3 games will be exciting, but the last thing you want is an injury to a key guy because a meaningless game took on meaning...

Hey! On a brighter note, we have zombies!

Fear the Walking Dead premieres tonight - 9:00-10:30 on AMC

I'm pretty psyched. This'll be a six episode season, with season 2, in 2016, having 15 episodes. (image)

Cheers...

 

Agree with @MUTINY, enjoyed your description of this beer.

Don't forget Old Ox, which isn't too far from Lost Rhino.
There's also a World of Beer in Reston Town Center if you want a wider selection on any day. There might be something similar in Ashburn that I'm not aware of.

If you and @MUTINY meet up, maybe he'll give me a heads up and if you guys hit a public spot I might crash the party, maybe .

 

That hop name (Vic Secret) sounds as though it was picked by an Aussie with a great sense of humor. In the Southeast of Australia one of the states is Victoria, often abbreviated in documents etc. as Vic. So sounds to me a lot like a play on the name of a famous store for women which does have locations in Australia. Also suggests where the hops might have been grown.

 

This sounds like a memorable BA meetup in the making

 

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

Bomber dated 7/14/15 poured into a tulip glass. Pours a hazy golden yellow with a fluffy, white head leaving nice lacing behind. Smell is dominated by mango. At first there is a hint of bitterness followed by the mango. Light bodied with a dry finish. The mango dominates cold but the Kölsch starts to shine as it warms. Very refreshing and enjoyable. Worthy of a pick up. Quite enjoyable on a warm, sunny summer afternoon.

 

The Trouble with Triple DIPA's



Fegley's BreWWorks ~ Hop'solutely ~ Triple IPA
This bottle was beamed up to me from @jzeilinger



"Dammit Jim! There are so many great DIPA's! And then among the great DIPA's, the flavor really doesn't vary THAT much!

You KNOW I'm right Jim!"

With all DIPAs you can expect some variation of hoppy, piney, sweet, malty, resinous, syrupy, citrusy tipsy goodness...

"Dammit again Jim! Even more Trouble with DIPA's is that many travel at warp speed into the Barleywine-Style end of the universe...which is where I believe Hop'solutely is going..."

In another word, Yum!!!

: )

With few exceptions, for me, the real Trouble with DIPA's is that I love 'em ALL!!!
And I love you too Lieutenant Uhura...



Cheers Triple DIPA geeks!

 

LJ, truly an amazing post! Loved it top to bottom! :-)

 

Good afternoon NBS.

After trekking all around Chicago yesterday I am taking it easy today. Went to my first cubs game (as a braves fan...so yeah...), hit up my favorite brewery (Half Acre), and grabbed some good grub and beer at Northdown. And last but not least I went to Binny's because the last thing I need is more beer gracing my fridge and cellar.

Decided to finally pull the trigger on a Fifty/Fifty Eclipse Variant. So here we go.
Fifty/Fifty Eclipse (Yellow Wax). I have been told this is Buffalo Trace barrels.



Pours a dark black with a nice mocha colored head.

The honey is definitely present in the nose as a lingering sweetness. Not quite cloying, but definitely there. Some dark fruit/raisin notes. Roasty notes round out everything on the back end.

Taste begins just like the smell. Sweet. Residual sugar from honey coating some bitter, unsweetened bakers chocolate. Roast and some char come on the back end as well as...wait...is it there...barrel character. Seriously though, I am having a hard time distinguishing any barrel character except for a lingering burn at the back, but I don't know if it's the beer or the curry I had at lunch. I will admit that as the beer warms some of the more traditional bourbon flavors begin to come out. Caramel sweetness and a slight oak char begin to compliment the honey. Took a bit for it to come through though.

Mouthfeel is somewhere between too thin and not thick enough. Lingering flavors of roast and honey on the palate help to aid in making this beer seem more viscous than it is.

Overall this Eclipse variant is a good beer, but the price makes my next purchase of a variant somewhere in the distant future. I have heard that a few of them are worth the price, but I don't think my blood is rich enough to play that game. I have a friend who has had most of them. I'll have to get his recommendation the next time I decide to pull this trigger.

On a side note I'm am so jealous of this glass. Seriously. Where can I find one.

 

Hi again NBS-ers! Time for new brew #2, likely my last contribution here for the day:

Founders ReDankulous Imperial Red IPA


First, some BA stuff:

A: 4.25, S: 3.75, T: 4, M: 3.75, O: 4, BA says: 3.93

My official review:

750ml bottle into a shaker pint.

A: Pours a beautiful, clear vibrant amber with 1 1/4" tan-ish head that recedes somewhat quickly. Retention & lacing are both out-of-this-world. I absolutely love how this beer looks, it screams 'Drink me!'

S: Dank, as expected. Piney & resinous hop qualities paired with a bit of a spicy note, primarily black pepper, a touch of ginger. I'm picking up traces of green apple & caramel. The malt presence is moderately sweet, with a graham-cracker/honey note.

T: Comes on brilliantly bitter, no frills-burly bitterness. This immediately dissipates into caramel & heaps of pine tar leading into the mid palate. Mid palate itself is grassy, somewhat herbal & balanced nicely against a big malt character that imparts more subtlety than flat-out sweetness. The finish is again quite bitter with just a touch of caramel to temper it. ABV is well-hidden. Fairly straightforward overall, but very effective.

M: Moderate-to-almost-high carb married to a bruiser of a big malt body. Pretty soapy, a bit oily as well. Finishes just a bit dull.

O: Yowza. This beer lives up to it's namesake. It is deep, dank & delicious!

So, safe to say I enjoyed this one. It's definitely a looker, truly one of the more enticing pours that I've had recently. I'm really finding every aspect of this IPA to be above-average, objectively, regardless of my love for all things Red Ale. It is dangerously easy-drinking, which I view as a good thing in this case. The flavor profile is somewhat dynamic & very dense, moreso than my review might imply, also a good thing!

I'm really enjoying today's NBS, lots of interesting new beer - more than a few posts have given me some ideas on new brews to try. That's part of why we're here, no? :-)

Once more - wishing you all good beer & good cheer!

 

good afternoon beer lovers! I pulled this out of the dark recesses for a new beer taste

the results

pours very thick with a burnt butter ring

I can smell gingersnaps

taste has a just right sweetness that I like in an imperial stout, also bitter chocolate

big mouthfeel, licorice comes in at the end

I wanted to go outside of the u.s for this, and took a shot. glad I did I approve of and recommend this to imperial stout lovers cheers!

 

I was looking to try this beer for a long time, and my local shop just happened to get a case of it somehow (not a usual NYC distro). A very tasty DIPA with a fantastic citrus nose. Well worth the wait.

 

Picked this up in a trade with @tbryan5 ( my new BFF) 'cause this is stunningly good:



Ghost in the Machine DIPA
12oz bottle 2 weeks old into a snifter

L - bright hazy orange with off white head that dissipates fast into moderate lacing
S - Orange and mango fruit punch, with a touch of passion fruit and candied citrus rind.
T - Less citrus burst than the nose would suggest, but still lots of mandarin oranges, a touch of honey sweetness with a firm bitter finish that is drying and a touch astringent
F - medium full bodied but lightened up a touch from a slightly prickly carb. Improved with a few swirls to knock the carb down

Overall a stunning beer - sneaky alcohol is well hidden, hops are fragrant and tropical, and malts balance perfectly - top tier DIPA that deserves your attention!

Rating: 4.63

 

Weird, it's not muggy at all here in NJ today.
I thought the Thunderstruck IPA tasted exactly like I remember Schlafly Tasmanian IPA tasting.
Can't wait for the new Walking Dead show!

 

Another week gone , and another Sunday here with my friends. Figured I'd start early today since I've been up since an ungodly hour taking care of the honey do list. Might as well keep the trend going with another sour beer here. Usually I'm not a fan of this brewery but decided to give this a shot.
Look -- good color huge head (vigorous pour) that is gone before I can take a pic and get a sip
Smell -- nothing noticeable maybe. Hint of wheat ale
Taste -- gonna say this one is actually good. Not much in the way of cherry but a good sour nonetheless

Gonna go on a limb here and say l probably grab another pack of these to cellar away an see how they do. At least they are readily available for a limited release. The chasers haven't caught onto this beer yet. See you guys/gals next week / enjoy your day.

 

Props for the photo shop effort! well played sir. well played