New Beer Sunday (week 557)

Happy New Beer and football Sunday NBS’ers

Today’s new beer is Smuttynose’s (Smuttlabs) Kung Fu Hobo. Too much to do today to have anything high-test so need to go lighter. Have been sitting on this beer awhile so time to just drink it.
While Kolsch’s are not a preferred style for me I’m a sucker for Smuttynose stuff and will grab a single of anything that throw up on the shelves. Last US brewed Kolsch I had I believe was Kmita Kolsch by Dark Horse and I was not a fan.






L: Thin head. Cloudy pale yellow and looks like there are some floaties in there as well. Indeed there are! Nice looking beer just not what I expected for a Kolsch

S: Crackers and straw. Crisp, with a hint of hops in there.

T: Yeast and bread and then more bread. I can taste the hops especially at the tale end. It’s a refreshing taste with some grassy notes.

M: Mouthfeel is not as light as I am used to in a Kolsch (compared to Gaffel for example). Medium bodied with high carbonation. Finishes super clean. Very easy drinking.

Rated to style this is very good, though it’s hard to “rate to style” for something I may not necessarily like style wise. This is a fruitier Kolsch and I liked it even if I would never get it again. Smutty did a nice job on this one and was happy I grabbed a single to give it a whirl. I’ll stick to German Kolsch’s if I ever feel the need

3.71/5.0

Enjoy your Sunday all.

 

Stunning review that as usual makes my mouth water and I am not that big of a fan of bourbon barrel aged beers.

 

Wet Hopped Beer Time: Woo-Hoo!

A couple of weeks ago I lamented the fact that I could not find any wet hopped beers at my local beer stores. Well, I have found one brand so far: Sixpoint Sensi Harvest Ale. Below is from the Sixpoint website:

“SENSI 2015

The Mad Scientists make a pilgrimage to the hop motherland during harvest time to find the ripest, juiciest cones to put into SENSI. This year, Amarillo and Cascade were calling our name. Crack open SENSI 2015 and be transported to the hop fields... it's Mad Science.

ABV: 6.3%

IBU: 64

SRM: 10”

I enjoyed last year’s Sensi which was a Session IPA. This year’s version is a full bore IPA at 6.3% ABV.

So, let’s see what this year’s version is like

Served in my Spiegelau IPA Glass:

Appearance:

A pretty golden/amber color with an orangish hue and a fluffy white head.

Aroma:

The first thing that hits my nose is a combination of earth and resin. Not much in terms of malt.
Taste:

The taste pretty much follows the nose with flavors of earth and resin. Noticeable bitterness.

Mouthfeel

Medium bodied with a dry finish.

Overall

In my opinion this is a well-crafted IPA. The flavor profile is not exactly what I prefer when it comes to an IPA but it is a well-made beer.


This is the third beer I have had from the 6-pack. For some reason this beer is sort of growing on me. I was not a big fan of the first beer I had and by no means am I a big fan now but I seem to like this beer a bit more with time. I am glad that I bought the 6-pack but once I am done drinking the last beer from this pack I will not be seeking a second 6-pack. For folks who are fans of earthy & resiny I would highly recommend this beer.

@Sixpoint

Cheers to Sixpoint Brewing for continuing to be Mad Scientists which is fitting for the Halloween season!

 

Good morning New BSers and good morning to you Maria! Thank you for starting us off here on the last Sunday in Oktober with a new semi-local brew. It's interesting to see that Saranac is entering the bourbon-barrel ballyhoo - wonder if they're using actual barrels or just staves.

It's another typical fall day here in NW PA - wet and dark. In only a week it'll be the end of daylight savings time, the clocks will fall back, and the days suddenly become an hour shorter. Let's see, if I cut off one end of the blanket and add it to the other end, that'll make the blanket longer, right...

Anyway, for today's entry into NBS and my 1000th review, I wanted to find something that was new to me. My data base only goes back 10 years although my (craft) beer drinking began when Jim Koch started brewing Boston Lager in Pittsburgh. I remember noticing the odd flavor:

Me: What's that odd flavor?
Mal: That's hops.
Me: What're hops?
Mal: Dunno - something they put in beer.
Me: How come it's called Boston Lager but it's make in Pittsburgh?
Mal: Just drink the damn beer!
Me: Dunno man - think I like Iron City better.

However, by comparing my DB with my cellar and with recent purchases, I did find a new (to me) beer that might be worthy of the occasion:



I've been seeing this on shelves since christ was a child and never bought one - initially because it was too expensive for my plebian budget and later because I'd seen it so often it became part of the background, expected but unnoticed. So here goes:

750 mL bottle labeled L13-744 (cork stamped 2013) at 42 degrees into Duvel snifter, allowed to warm to 52 degrees
Purchased at Wegman’s, Millcreek, PA, price unknown
Aroma – malty, perhaps some dates as well – definitely attracts fruit flies; lasts but does get fainter
Head average (three cm, aggressive pour), off white, frothy/fizzy, rapidly diminishing to irregular two to four mm ring and partial frothy layer
Lacing - none
Body more on the red side of dark amber, hazy, effervescent
Flavor distinctly malty with some figgishness coming through; sweet, but not sticky sweet; ends slightly dry; no hops, no alcohol, no diacetyl
Palate medium, creamy, fizzy

Appearance 3.5, Aroma 4, Flavor 4, Palate 3.75, Overall 3.75. Rating 3.9, rDev -4.9%

Worthy? Well, it's OK, but... I'm somewhat disappointed. Reading the BROS review (after I wrote mine, of course) I have to wonder if we were describing the same beer. Or has the cost of being ubiquitous lowered the quality of a trappist beer? Dunno, just know that I was not particularly impressed and I won't be buying any more bottles.

 

5.1% alcohol. 11 IBU. Brewed in England. Certified organic.



4.15/5 rDev +8.1%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

Samuel Smith’s Organic Raspberry Ale has a medium, fizzy-ish, pink head, a clear, ruby red appearance, and low-level lacing left behind. The aroma is of strong raspberry juice with bread. Taste is a one-two punch of acidic & sweet raspberry juice and bready malt. Bitterness is low. Mouthfeel is medium, and Samuel Smith’s Organic Raspberry Ale finishes dry and highly drinkable.

RJT

 

Our second pumpkin of the season is growing splendidly, and hopefully the first hard freeze won't come until the gourd grows a few more pounds. But again, another non-orange pumpkin ... Egh.

There are two entries for Goose Island Autumn Ale in the BA database, so I have no idea which one to review. One that was entered in 2004, or in 2015? I suppose it doesn't matter.

The beer is a pretty clear copper or deep rust color. Light cream color on the foamy head. After dissipation, an even-layered film remains with odd, random patches of lacing.

The aroma is strong in the spicy hops category, layered with sweet caramel. Dried out cedar in the finish.

The taste mimics the aroma, with tons of spiciness and hops. Caramel maltiness evens the score somewhat, but the caramel sweetness is a bit watered down, thin. There's a citric, bitter finish with hints of grapefruit.

Mouthfeel is medium bodied, if not a little on the thin side.

Overall, not a bad Autumn Ale, a little hop-forward. I prefer a heavy malt bill in my Autumn Ales, but the spiciness in this is a winner for me. I'll go review it officially now, everything about this beer screams 3.75 ... nothing wrong with that, but not something to purchase again.

 

New beer at deer camp

 

So it's new? What else can you tell us? Is it tasty? Color and clarity look good. I don't see much head. How's the malt profile? I'm curious.

 

Started my day with a Soul Style IPA from Green Flash (actually had sushi first )

Rainy and grey in the 60's here - awesome, far as I'm concerned...

Featuring Simcoe, Citra, and Cascade hops, this beer was sure to please. Bright and fruity aromas followed by plenty of citrusy bitterness; a soft and smooth body has some tingle and fuzz; groovy bitter aftertaste lingers.

Best by date of 2/19/15... 6.5% abv...

Watching EJ Manuel hand the game over to the Jags in London... ...Wow - gotta feel a little bad for the guy - whatta shitty way to start your Sunday... Meanwhile the Jags are just tearing through the Bills D - they're playing like they know they can't win the game... Which is may be true at this point, but you just can't play that way...

More new stuff ahead... Cheers...

 

Good Morning Maria et al.
Wow, I always love the openings that you and Dave provide. @smakawhat too. It's nice to wake up early on a Sunday morning and read your eloquent descriptions of our beloved fermentations. I'm not, usually , popping one open this early on the Left Coast but I do enjoy the prose. This was a great line today:

The beer seems earthy like a tree trunk. Planted and rooted.

Sometimes a few words can speak volumes.

Cheers.

 

Sushi, IPA, and football... Somebody's bringin' it early. Well done, Sir.

 

I haven't had it in years, but I found that to be the least interesting of the 3 main Chimay beers. Chimay in general hasn't blown me away for a long time. I generally gravitate toward St. Bernardus these days when wanting Trappist -style ales from Belgium.

 

Good morning NBS. Plan on having a few to post today, since I have built up a backlog of new beers. But it is morning, so I figured I'd pop the one beer that mentions something about coffee. It's not a coffee beer, but does mention "hints of espresso" on the can (but not on Cigar City's site). This AM's beer is Cigar City Maduro - a brown ale at 5.5%.


The site says this is a Northern English brown with the ABV upped a little (yes, to 5.5%) and oat flakes added. The first thing I notice is the appearance (duh) - and it's not a good one. I poured first into the clear coffee cup and the head fizzed up almost like a soda before disappearing completely. Similar in the snifter. The second beer completed the fill of the snifter, and the head was better, but still unimpressive. Still trying to figure if it was the can or the vessel.

The beer itself is a deep brown, but obviously clear when looking through the glass. The nose is actually fairly nice for an English brown, in my opinion, but is also fairly light. I get toast that you realized just too late that you forgot to reset the setting from high - not burnt but well toasted. Then there are some light coffee notes just stronger than the little bit of toffee I get.



Taste takes some warmth to open up, and even then the portal isn't too wide. The base is obvious brown ale and I get more toast and dark crackers than any nuttiness. There's a little flat cola note in the middle with maybe a lean toward caramel. The bitterness is perhaps the interesting thing as it seems to be more of weak coffee than any green conical flower. Feel is a bit flat, but not totally, and somewhat thin.

Definitely a drinkable beer, and I wasn't expecting a thick offering at 5.5%. However, this beer is more nuance than power, and probably meant to be paired (Cigar City suggests cigars on its site). I know there are a lot of people who don't like brown ales out there, and this one probably won't change their minds - it's not quite as bitter as some get, but it is still pretty close to what I've associated are the components of the style.

Edit: It also reminds me with some of the base flavors of the brown ales I have made - which makes me think there is some small part I am doing "right" .

 

That's a great beer. Can't remember if I ever reviewed it, but it was definitely another win for Green Flash.

What the hell happened to the Bill's D? That was supposed to be their calling card this year, but they are getting beat by the offensive juggernaut that is the Jags?

 

My first NBS beer today...


Skull Splitter

Orkney Brewery
Scotch Ale / Wee Heavy / 8.50% ABV

4.24/5 rDev +4.4% | Avg: 4.06
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25

L-Pours a deep clear dark brown with a creamy 1 inch head which recedes to a thick film with incredible lacing.
S-a deep malty aroma with peat and alcohol presence
T-Malt and alcohol right off the jump with the warming alcohol lasting until the finish twining with some peat in the finish.
F-light carbonation leads to a medium mouthfeel.
O- Really good wee heavy. The alcohol presence is a little stronger than I'd like it as it overwhelms the malt a bit too much for my liking. Glad I have a few more to let age and see how they develop.

 

Up early with my daughter who doesn't sleep late no matter how late she goes to bed. Today's New Beer is an East Coast pils with some East Coast IPA influence:





3.9/5 rDev +1.8%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75

Poured from a 12 ounce can into a pilsner glass.

Darker golden and hazy, not what you expect from a pils and certainly more resembles the East coast IPA in appearance. Compact sudsy head and sticky lace pegs to the glass. 3.75

Smells tropical and juicy before an abrupt entrance of bready malt and a grassier, earthier hop profile. Really great aroma. 4.25

Hmm, that nose didn't carry over to the palate. I'm getting a lot more of an oniony, garlicky flavor that I don't enjoy in IPAs much less a pilsner. There is a pleasant mango flavor that mingles with bready, slightly caramellly malt before the grassier hop finish. 3.75

Light and easy to drink, as it should be. Surprisingly zesty for a pils and I like that, but it also has a sweeter tropical feel too, that for me works, but may be objectionable to some pils purists. 4

This was enjoyable, but as has been said often of pilsners, flaws are glaring and here that is the case. Not deal-breakers, but they do keep this from greatness.

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Good NBS to all. I'll probably be back late in the evening as is usually the case, but glad to be able to participate early. Pilsners lend themselves well to the early morning participation.

 

Greetings again friends everywhere,
Today is birthday day for "me" wife, and the house is full of kids, dogs, children and food getting prepared. I'll check in and enjoy the usual beautiful collegiality, humor, and intelligence. So, please drink a few for me and everyone please have a nice day! You gals and guys are great.

 

a rye barrel aged old Rasputin, I love the standard stuff, so...



pours dark with an almost red hue with a large brown head reducing to thin cover 4/5
the main smell here is licorice and gingersnap slight funk from barrel 4/5



definitelycan get the rye and the anise is dominating!
I get a full mouthfeel and got a touch of sweetness in the finish.but sure does end with some anise bitterness. 4.25/5
I prefer a chocolaty stout, but in this style of stout, it is flavorful and warming, alcohol definitely noted 4.25/5