New Beer Sunday (week 550)

Hello everyone, and Happy NBS!

Like @Premo88, I'm trying a bier de garde today: Jenlain Ambree. This beer, from France, comes in a 500 ml can and has a 7.5 ABV. It pours a slightly cloudy copper/amber with an off-white head.

The smell is sweet and malty with a slight bit of funky yeast and a little fruit. The taste is also malt forward with some spice and maybe a bit of tart green apple. Just a little bit of funky flavor, perhaps from some conditioning going on in the can?

I like this beer. The bier de garde style intrigues me; I always want to think of it as France's version of a farmhouse ale, and so find myself wanting them to taste more like a funky Belgian saison. And some certainly do, like JP's Oro de Calabaza, which though a really delicious beer, makes me wonder if it would be better labeled a saison (and a really great one at that!)

Anyway, Jenlain Ambree strikes me as true to the malt-over-some-slight-funk style that I take to be emblematic of a bier de garde (but I could be completely wrong!). Not a mind blowing beer, but complex and tasty enough. Still, it falls short of my reigning favorite of the style, Cuvée des Jonquilles.

Cheers everyone!

 

Under $4 for a bomber of 8.6% beer? Hello Lagunitas Imperial Pils ...

I didn't think I'd do two new beers today, but the beer gods always surprise us.

This beer looks like lemon gold - a lemon candy with a nice tan. The white meringue head dissipates to a nice film as the beer goes down. Light bands of lacing cling to the glass.

Immediately I smell that typical Lagunitas aroma -- dank, cedar, spicy hops, and a beautiful finish of lemongrass.

The taste really impresses me. The lemon citrus comes through a lot more than it does in the aroma. It's definitely hoppy and spicy too, but I get a lot of citrus and lemongrass in the taste. Tart aftertaste. It's boozy when you start to think about it.

Mouthfeel: Feels like a 6% beer. Dry.

Overall: I continue to be impressed with this brewery. Yes, their signature taste seems to be an issue but I found enough lemongrass in this boy to enjoy it a lot.

 

Are you ready to Rumble Oktoberfest Style!?!

Well it is officially September so I can now start drinking the Oktoberfest beers that I have been amassing in my basement for the past few weeks. I took a vow that I would not drink a single Oktoberfest beer until the month of September. I find the early releases of seasonal beers to be irritating but whatcha gonna do? Needless to say but what I do is buy and wait.

It has been a while since I have conducted a side-by-side tasting for NBS so I figured for this week: why not.

In one corner will be the ‘upstart’ of the Sierra Nevada/ Brauhaus Riegele collaboratively brewed Oktoberfest beer. Below are some stats for this challenger:

Overview

• Alcohol Content 6.0% by volume
• Beginning gravity 14.6° plato
• Ending Gravity 3.5° plato
• Bitterness Units 30

Ingredients

• Yeast Lager yeast
• Bittering Hops German Magnum
• Finishing Hops German Select, Tettnanger, Spalter
• Malts Two-row Pale, Steffi, Pilsner, Munich

In the other corner is my personal ‘champion’ of Sly Fox Oktoberfest beer. For the last 5+ years this beer has been my preferred Oktoberfest beer. Some stats for this beer:

Bronze Medal GABF 2013

This traditional Oktoberfest beer celebrates the arrival of Fall. It is a medium-bodied, smooth and malty brew made with German Vienna malts and German hops.

13.8 OG | 25 IBUs | 5.8% ABV

A quick review of the above stats indicates varying ingredients between these two beers but what is missing from the stats is the aspect of brewing process. In my opinion, brewing process is just as important for determining how a given beer tastes.

Well, I have rambled enough. Let the contest begin!

Served in my Spiegelau Lager glasses:

Appearance:

Sly Fox: A light golden amber color with great clarity and rocky off-white colored head.

Sierra Nevada: A light golden amber color with a fluffy off-white colored head.

Aroma:

Sly Fox: The first smell is toasted bread but there is some herbal & spice from the noble hops.

Sierra Nevada: Clean mild malt aroma with some light toffee; a bit sweet smelling.

Taste:

Sly Fox: Pleasant toasted bread with a hint of nuts and dry herbal hops carry on in the taste into the finish. Moderately bitter

Sierra Nevada: The flavor follow the nose with light toffee and a richness to the malt flavors. The hop flavor is subdued; this beer is all about the rich malt backbone. Moderately bitter.

Mouthfeel

Sly Fox: Medium body with a light creamy texture that ends in a nice dry finish.

Sierra Nevada: Medium bodied; lacking a dry finish.

Overall

Sly Fox: The beer has an excellent balance of malt (toasted bread) and herbal/spice from the judicious utilization of noble hops which is completed by a pleasing dry finish.

Sierra Nevada: A tasty and enjoyable beer which features a rich malt backbone.


I enjoyed drinking the Sierra Nevada/ Brauhaus Riegele Oktoberfest beer but it lacked the balance that I personally seek in an Oktoberfest beer.

My preferred Oktoberfest beer is perfectly balanced between malt and noble hop flavors with a dry finish which proclaims “drink more”. Sly Fox Oktoberfest meets these criteria.

I will finish my 12-pack of Sierra Nevada/ Brauhaus Riegele Oktoberfest beer and enjoy drinking those beers.

I will be heading back to the beer store to buy more Sly Fox Oktoberfest beer.

@sierranevadabill

Cheers to Sly Fox and Sierra Nevada for producing tasty Oktoberfest beers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Good morning BAs, or good afternoon, I guess. Today's beer is a new one for me so here goes.
This is Maine Beer Company's MO, a 6% American Pale Ale



Look: 4; Smell: 4.25; Taste: 4; Feel: 4.25; Overall: 4

To save myself from re-reviewing this beer, I'll just hit some key notes. Nose is very lemony and piney. Has some lemony taste with a subdued hop bitterness in the sip. Lighter side of medium with a dryer finish.

 

will be reviewing an Oktoberfest later as well, and this is the month for it!

 

Happy NBS. My family is finally cured of all its ills. It hasn't been cool enough to enjoy a fall beer since last Saturday.

Today's offering is from Funk Factory, an American Kriek style of beer called Door Kriek.

A - Almost perfect, but not quite enough carbonation. A stunning shade of crimson/pink that is transparent. A think white head forms and quickly fizzes away into oblivion. Lacing is non existent on this hot/humid day.

S - A very pleasant fragrance of fresh tart cherry along with a musty and oaky aroma. Funk is light as are any vinegar notes.

T - Starts off with a slightly tart cherry juice flavor and is not overly sour. A bit of funk and mustiness comes through as well as a bit of oakiness. Some cheese and yogurt, but they are very subtle. Not much in the way of sour vinegar.

M - Very light in feel and carbonation. Refreshing and tart with a slow palate drying effect.

O - I enjoyed this Kriek style from FF. Enough tartness and funk without it being an intimidating sour bomb.

 

New Saison / Farmhouse Ale Sunday!

Picked up quite a few new beers yesterday on my monthly beer run to the local ABC Fine Wine & Spirits. This being one

Boulevard Smokestack Series Tank 7 Farmhouse Ale



Beautiful slightly cloudy golden colored body; with a near explosive amount of carbonation when poured into the glass. Ended up with 2 fingers worth of head before pouring the rest of the beer into the glass. Tons of thick chunky lacing left behind in the glass.

Aromas of peaches, slight sourness and funk followed with a bready malt aroma. Funky yeast aromas coming through as well.
Tastes much different than I was expecting! Sweeter at first without a lot of that Belgian funk, which comes later on. Getting lemons, peaches a muted orange and then a twinge of that funk you would expect from the style.
Feel is light and easy. Not a lot of carbonation...? I guess it all got spent on the pour, because there's not a lot of that fizziness present while drinking it. 8.5% abv?! Ummm, yeah not picking up on that at all! Super hidden.
Overall, this is a pleasant surprise for me! I like trying Saison/Farmhouse Ales, but I am usually put-off if they have large amounts of that barnyard funkiness right away. This one starts out sweeter and has a nice middle bitterness ending with a tart funk on the end. I really like the way this one is put together.

Haven't had it yet? Give it a try NBS-ers!

Cheers!

 

Happy NBS, y'all! This is not a new beer for me - in fact, I swore I drunk this one during a past NBS. Whatever. This right here is one of the first bottled batches of Calvert Brewing's Good Company Pale Ale. And it's great! Citra hops are showcased nicely, with both tropical and piny flavors appearing equally.



Man, I'm really pounding this one!



Here's my old review (it still fits perfectly):

Appearance: Pours a clear copper color. The head is a two fingers high, with a shade slightly off-white. Its texture is very fluffy, almost like whipped cream. Retention is good but not great, with a little bit of lacing left on the glass. (3.75)

Smell: Oh yeah, this is the kind of pale ale I like. The hops here are nicely complex, bringing notes of mango, melon, grapefruit, spice, and pine. I also get just enough of the malt backbone to balance things out (but not too much!) While the hops aren't explosive by any means, they still have a nice presence - basically, it's not an IPA, but it's not some middle-of-the-road pale ale, either. (4)

Taste: The palate is a bit less fruity and a bit more spicy, but neither come across like shrinking violets. Its fruitiness opens it up (mango and melon, primarily), while the back end has a pleasant spiciness to it (but the more it opens up, the fruitier the hop notes become) Bitterness is damn near faint, and somehow the malts aren't an obstruction, either. Talking about the latter, they bring a mild breadiness and MAYBE a kiss of caramel too. Even with the building malt character, it still remains endlessly likable, and it even has a bit of depth to boot. (4.25)

Mouthfeel: This one is dry to the point of creating a cottonmouth sensation. Of course, I like that in a beer, so no complaints there. A tiny amount of malt sweetness does linger on the palate after a few sips. Carbonation...well, I don't really notice the fizz, good or bad - so that means it's doing a good job. (4)

Overall: I'm impressed. Calvert managed to make an excellent pale ale, but they also kept it firmly in pale ale territory. This means the malt flavors come through, without overpowering the hoppiness. The vice versa is true, also. This is a great pale ale, plain and simple. (4)

4.09/5: An impressive first showing from a brand-new local brewery

 

Good Afternoon NBS Folks!

I made a quick dash to the US last week (into your neck of the woods @utopiajane ) and managed to pick up a few new beers to try. I was surprised to find this one so fresh at a local Wegmans:



Hercules Double IPA | Great Divide Brewing Company

4.12/5 rDev -0.5%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

A: Pours an amber gold with a minimal amount of head, but that small amount lasts quite a while. When the head does break, there is some nice lacing left behind.

S: Malts right off the bat, the sweet caramel notes are noticed immediately. After a breath or two the hops really works its way in: Piney and floral. These aromas blend nicely together.

T: The taste follows the nose closely. Malts are definitely on the front end here, but the hops meld in so smoothly that there is no harshness to their being there.

M: There is a full-bodied feel to this beer with medium carbonation. At times the beer can be a touch thick/syrupy in feel, but it does not take away from the enjoyment.

O: Hercules impresses me. I really enjoyed how the malts and hops blended nicely in this beer to create a nice enjoyable beer experience.


Color me impressed with Great Divide. Not only have I never had a bad beer from this brewer, but I have always been impressed that we can get beers like Hercules so damn fresh so fast. This bottle had a mid-August bottled on date, and I found it outside of Syracuse, NY...not exactly the easiest distribution path.

Hercules immediately drew me in...the name brought back such cheesy memories from early 70's childhood and watching this...



Does anyone else remember this?

Have a great Sunday all...remember, most of us get an extra day this weekend! Have a good one!

 

I've been kind of wary of this beer myself. I just don't see how a cream ale with coffee & vanilla is going to be tasty.

 

It's been a busy week, and I'm happy to have this long weekend to recuperate. My daughter visited us from Phoenix. She was here for a friend's wedding. I haven't seen her for two years, so it was great that she stayed with us. On Wednesday my wife, daughter, and I went to visit my mother. We talked about her buying a house a few houses down from us. She's a stubborn 90 year old, but she's actually considering the idea. She's getting to the point where it's getting more difficult to live on her own, so living a few doors down from us would be great. On Friday @SomethingClever showed up. My wife and I had a nice dinner with him, then he and I played golf on Saturday. So today and tomorrow are days to relax.

For New Beer Sunday I had SN Oktoberfest. I feel like I'm the last person on earth to have this beer. None of my local places had it, but I found it at Whole Foods last week after visiting my mother.

In my Tributary pint glass the beer was a golden color with a good-sized white head.
Aroma was grassy, earthy, sweet. There as a touch of hops at the end.
Taste of caramel primarily. A little doughy. Faint hops showed up at the end.
This was a light, crisp beer.
Well done!

 

Good morning friends,
It's a beautiful cool morning in the Piedmont- Fall in the morning and Summer trying to hang on in the afternoons. The leaves are changing a bit and this is a beautiful transitional day.
Yard work early and damned if Otis the **** Hound doesn't get loose and begins a true madcap chase, but we got lucky and caught him early. That dog needs to run!
Today's beer is Sierra Nevada Tumbler "Autumn Brown Ale". This is from the Fall seasonal 12-pack (also contains Flipside, Vienna Style Lager, and Pale Ale). All of this pack were excellent and fresh from Mills River. This beer presents a big frothy chunky-looking head, gorgeous lacing, really and truly brown, but not opaque. The nose is a pure roasty malty nutty melange and is very enticing...smells like a Fall beer! This is a beautiful beer to contemplate, even before sip one. The flavor mimics the nose, nicely roasty/toasty, with very fresh malt obvious. This beer is more dry than sweet, but a perfect blend in between..great balance! A great lingering roastiness persists. Sierra Nevada keeps hitting it out of the park. I love this beer.

Look at the Sparassis Radicata (Cauliflower Mushroom) that my son found yesterday in the woods behind his house (Guilford College Woods). This thing is the size of a volleyball! Mushroom soup tonight.
Here's another song from my deep memory and formative years. I thought that it was odd when I was a kid, still believe so, but damned if I don't love it. It evokes a time period and stood out as unique and ahead of it's time.

 

Back again waiting for the girlfriend to get ready to head out shopping for a gift and maybe grabbing a beer near my sister's. Only problem is I have a better idea what breweries to potentially hit than what my nephew might want (that he doesn't already have). Is it time to teach him about gift cards?!?

Maybe some inspiration... Lie in another beer that fell in my lap. Just happened to be at my normal bottle shop when they released singles of this, and they gave me one of the 24. This is Terrapin + Cigar City Vapricot - an apricot/ginger IIPA. Are they trying to do too much??


Might not be so obvious, but the beer pours pretty darn clear, and a little more vibrant in color than my pics. Head does return with a swirl and carbonation is a tad light, but fine.

The nose is an amalgam of scents: I get a tart pit fruit which is likely the apricot, but it's scent is muddled by both a piney, somewhat dank bitterness and an earthy, root-like ginger smell. The ginger smells more like it's husk-enveloped form that the spicier fresh-cut form. The overall impression is actually reminiscent of a farm stand by the side of the road.

A cold sip is probably not the wisest choice I made. Huge break between the fruit and bitter green pine. A little warmth opened the apricot up front, which does combine with the ginger in a twirling dance until mid-taste. The middle seems earthy - bark and leaves - until the pine takes over. These transitions smooth as the beer warms- and in certain cases the combination seems almost tropical, and in fact by the end, the pine is almost an afterthought. There is a hint of alcohol in the nose and taste at temp reminiscent of IIPAs, and I think the ginger spice also builds on the tongue, leaving a tingle between sips.

Very interesting. I initially thought I was going 0-for-2 today when I first started sipping this. It's still a bit odd, but quite interesting - something I think is helped by my trying to analyze it. I would definitely give this another try at a bar, but pretty sure I wouldn't do a 4-pack.

 

Good afternoon everyone on this lovely Labor Day weekend. Getting brunch at a get local spot and since there is a beer I haven't tried on the board I went with it. Burley Oak Local, pours a nice golden amber color, smells, faint citrus, pine, slightly grassy, nice light malt backbone, taste has more citrus than the nose, earthy/piney finish, just a enough malts, lighter body, overall a solid pale ale. It's in the low 4s range, pairs well with the scrapple and egg burger, cheers!

 

Whats up NBS peoples !!!! although its a holiday weekend i'm still stuck working o well at least I had a coupla new beers this morning after doing yard work. first up

revolution rosa.... hibiscus ale...... smells just like hibiscus, taste like a pretty decent ale till you get the hibiscus flavor, not off putting but VERY noticeable. definetly a thirst quencher on a hot day doing yard work

but wait........... 2nd new beer already
my buddy went up to Treehouse and grabbed me this.......

sorry about the guy in the pic, his names ChUnK and yes he like baby ruth.
curious 21 from treehouse... smell dank as good kb, taste I don't really know hw to describe this one, but not my favorite ipa by them... comes close to a miss for me
enjoy your holiday everyone maybe I;; get back when I leave work

 

Aaaaaahhhhh The HORROR! In my hastiness to get the weekend going and the fact that this Is like one of 4 Sundays I don't have to work I forgot to get a NEW BEER......... My lord whats wrong with me????? I'll have to try to forage. But if I can't find anything I'll have to wait until next week and enjoy all your posts. ( I kinda made up my mind I'm not going to any stores today.) Caught a nice 3 pound largemouth on this beautiful Sunday Am. Great start. Enjoy yours BAs!

 

here is my afternoon special, Oktoberfest from spaten

i'm smoking ribs Memphis style today and this is brainfood for the task!

pours super clear dark amber, a notch above rootbeer

munich hop presence duly noted here as well as Bavarian malt to make that unique malt flaver that is marzen

carmel tastelays down on the tongue for a short time leaving my mouth watering like when my brain knows im about to eat hot salsa

I think this is my favorite marzen, but I will surely try more to be fair, back later to review a DIPA before I take ribs off smoker(pictures will be included!)

 

Good day all.

New Marzen Sunday

Sierra Nevada Octoberfest



Nose is really grainy, which is to be expected with strong bitter almost corn kind of smell that overwhelms anything else that may be in there.

Taste immediately heads in two directions; sweet and savory. While the sweet never really goes away, as to linger in a cloying way, the savory gives way to bitter grainy taste and really little else, save for a slight presence of alcohol.

Finished dry, still a little sweetness from this medium bodied beer.

I was really looking forward to this, but turned out a little raw and unkempt for my liking. Guess I just enjoy the traditional German offerings a bit more.

 

Greetings NBS aficionados! I'm starting with training wheels on after the marathon at my bro's yesterday. It's nearing 90 degrees and humid as a rainforest today. Going with what should be a good beer for such a day and taking Short's Brew Spacerock APA for a ride. The label states it's hopped with tasty little nuggets of alien technology. We smart ones just call that hype. The bottle date is 07/21/15 with no abv. listed on the label.

It pours an absolutely brilliant hazy gold color with a bit of soapy white foam. It has an aroma of green melon, lemongrass and spice. The flavor is honey dew melon, lemon zest, grass, with a rye like spiciness in the finish. The feel is super thin and dry.



Overall nothing special. A warm weather alternative to heavier beers and something with more bite than a Kolsch. As I finish it, there are aspects of this beer that remind me of Sam Adams Summer Ale. Perhaps the lemon zest flavor? I'm glad I bought a single to try when I was in Michigan a couple weeks back and I'll leave it at that. My score was a 3.88 r/Dev +1.6.

Time to catch up on today's posts and contemplate my next move. I'm hopeful there's nowhere to go but up! Full review below.

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/9629/150274/?ba=Prager62