New Beer Sunday (week 569)

Hello, NBS!

My new beer today is a Belgian Tripel: Straffe Hendrik Burges 9. Poured from an 11.2 oz bottle into a teku, this beer is a bright if slightly murky orange with a 2" white creamy head. Very pretty in the glass.

The nose is mainly yeast, sweetness and a little spice. Taste is very nice: sweet, yeasty, a little fruitiness, some spice. Mouthfeel is slightly sticky and chalky. Finishes clean and dry with a kiss of hop bitterness. A little alcohol warmth at 9.0 ABV (as per the bottle, and not the 11.0 reported on this site).

I've only tried a handful of tripels, but this is a very nice beer. Bit of a pricey import, though, at around $5 for an 11.2 oz bottle.

Cheers!

 

New Am. Double Imperial Stout

Greetings all,
From frosty cold SCMN. We are not expected to get above 0 degress until Wednesday. No complaining, it's just a matter of fact in these parts. Here's another picture of what it looks like.

So, this kind of weather calls for big ales, so I plan to submit to the circumstances and oblige and indulge.

This is a top notch beer. Still a touch of youth to it, but mature enough to offer great complexity of malt and just enough hops to make interesting.
http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/287/181572/?ba=garymuchow
I think I might be back later with another big beer. Yea!

 

Ok, completed my tasks for the weekend! Now it's time to sit in for some football, as it actually has started snowing here (flurries that aren't sticking yet, but still). I need something to take me away from here, and since I couldn't find any Calgon here at the GF's place, I'll have to come up with something. Let's see if this will do:


Despite the backlit left photo, this beer pours very clear orange-golden, with a nice white head you can see. Whispy lacing even after that cap fades.

Nose was generically tropical when I first opened it, but everything became more muted after sitting and doing this review. That seems a pattern for today. Again, some warmth opened up grapefruit most noticeably, and then I got a mango/guava thing (and checked the label to see that's close to what SN thinks I should be getting, ha). I do not find it "intensely aromatic," however.

Taste is more guava-like to me, with a nice little pop of sweetness (maybe papaya-like as the label indicates). These flavors are not overly fruity - and are laid atop a clean bitterness that keeps this beer from being "juicy", in my opinion. Feel is light enough, maybe medium light, refreshing, and easy drinking, for sure. As this warms, the balance of the fruit and bitterness (that lingers on the tongue more each sip) becomes more enjoyable to me.

I can see the love this is getting from maybe BAs is pretty much deserved. Also agree with them that this would be a killer summer seasonal vs the winter release it is. Cheers!

 

Moving along for round 2. Quite a Quirker here... American style stout with Coconut and Pineappple... uh ... huh...

Brewhouse Rarities: Tropical Stout - Flying Dog Brewery


Flying Dog Brewing - Brewhouse Rarities : Tropical Stout by imbibehour, on Flickr

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Poured from the bottle into a Flying Dog goblet glass.

A very dark classic dark walnut brown body, with a bit of clarity to it looking up into the headspace. Head creation is a little tiny at a faint espresso brown, but keeps a good sized collar while settling. Solid looking stout?

Aroma is certainly unique. Creamed coconut slightly mixing in with some simple pineapple juice. Definitely getting a pina colada thing going on, but also no excessively either which is nice. Slight hint of milk chocolate just to round things out a bit makes it interesting.

Palate is a bit more beer like which is nice. Big dry roasty character with a lighter stout American quality. Some good charing going on in the mid palate, which seems even more large and unexpected from the fruity and sweeter nose. Hop forward aftertaste with some slight grainy finish upon the swallow and giving to tropical black IPA character slightly but with a much lighter stout and bigger malt presence. Not much creamy flavors that I thought would be coming from additional coconut, but as a basic stout it's bang on in feel.

It's a neat beer, quite fun but sort of leads to a bit of disappointment with the aroma and the palate sort of disconnected. Still as a solid unique stout it delivers enough, just not crazy about it.

look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75 | BA generated score : 3.85

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Checking out these 2 side by side - a 2013 Narwhal, and a 2014 barrel aged Narwhal - I am assuming they BA beer had about a year in the barrel, so should be around the same age.

The BA version is about 3% higher ABV, so not really the same base beer is my guess.

Regular - Pours jet black with huge 3 inch mocha head. Lots of roast and a acidic black patent malt finish. Overall a satisfying, but middle of the road Impy Stout.

Barrel Aged - Minimal head and lacing, just a ring of mocha foam. Lots of Vanilla and oak on the nose, with a touch of bourbon booze. taste follows nose - more a show case of the barrel than dripping in excess bourbon (which I prefer). Creamy mouth feel and tons of chocolate.

Overall the BA version crushes the regular, but so it should given the price difference! I think I would pick up the BA beer again if I ever saw it even at $20 a bottle, but I doubt I would get the regular again - Ten Fidy, Founders Imperial and Expedition are all better beers and just as readily available.

 

Good afternoon NBS-ers! Today's entry is one I picked up a while ago and was keeping for a NBS! Been really looking forward to trying this one, too.

Anchorage Brewing Co. Whiteout Wit Bier With Brett


Poured from a cork and cage 750ml bottle. Batch #4 June 2015 bottling.

Pale yellow golden body, a full light bubbly head of bubbles that waned down to a thin line along the edges of the glass. Constant bubbles rising from the bottom to the top.

Picking up on the coriander, bitter orange peel, and of course that Brett funkiness.

Decent witbier flavors of coriander and orange and lemon with a spiciness on the end from those black peppercorns. Some oak thrown in; there is also a subtle amount of sweetness as well.

Light mouth feel; dry clean finish and the fizzy carbonation is nice as well.

Love the flavor with this beer, a real treat. Nice light bodied beer with a ton of well balanced flavors.

Cheers!

 

Ballast Point The Homework Series Batch#6 Robust Porter
The founders of Ballast Point ran a home brew shop before they started the brewery. This recipe for this beer is the one they gave to home brewers for a Porter. There is a collar on the bottle with the recipe including times and temps. This brew has everything a beer lover would want is a porter. Nice roasty malt aroma and flavor, pretty ruby brown body with a tan head. There is a nice hop presence and a slightly bitter finish and after taste. This beer is 7.8 AVB but you would never know it . A very nice porter by any standard well done.

 

Would you describe its dominant flavor as "citrusy" in general, or more specifically as one of the citrus fruits like grapefruit, lemon, tangerine, or maybe even...?

 

I agree with you @Ozzylizard . This Billionaire is quite good. I tried to go back and find my notes...to no avail. But I remember it fondly. Unlike you, I'm a huge English Barleywine fanboy. The cognac gives such a different dimension.

 

Higher ABV doesn't mean a different base beer. During aging there's some water evaporation through the pores of the wood and there most likely would have been some alcohol left in the barrel pores to be absorbed into the beer (especially if the barrel was "wet" when put into use).

 

One of my all-time favorites of the style, ages really well, too. This guy flies under the radar, and I'm glad it does, more for us, aye?

 

Well @kemoarps I gotta admit that I love languishing languidly along with your elocutions less late than the latter days. (le' alliteration back at you). Good reading you earlier.

 

If you like this guy, get yourself a bottle of The Tide and Its Takers, also by Anchorage. Tripel with Brett. Yum.

 

True, but I have always understood that will account for only ~1% extra abv. Didn't think it could add 3% more abv, but I am just assuming!

Someone once mentioned (I think @Sixpoint maybe? Can't remember) that it is quite common for the barrel aged version to be brewed "bigger" to begin with. Extra malt and a bit bigger and thicker, so that as the base beer ages it doesn't thin out too much. Not sure if it is true - would love to ask the pros some time if I get the chance.

 

Good day NBS friends! A sunny but very cold day along the southern shore that will have temperatures below zero tonight. I should be reviewing a stout, but I'm going with one that I always stare at on the shelves when I venture to Illinois and beer shop at Binny's. I decided to finally grab a bottle of MO with a pretty fresh bottle date of 12/22/15 and an abv. of 6.0%. Pouring this in my tulip glass like an Eskimo out in the back woods. Hey, I prefer natural light when taking my beer photos!

Pours a pale straw color with a very generous two fingers of soapy egg white foam that lingers. The aroma is spicy in nature. Grapefruit and green onion prevail, followed by bready malt and yeast. It's flavor once again is hop spice forward with grapefruit, pine, and a bit of green onion. There is some bread in the hearty malt that rounds it all out. The feel is slick with a spicy bitter bite washed down by a healthy malt backbone.



Overall this is a clean and crisp pale that leans toward the spicy side as opposed to many of today's juice bomb versions of the style. It's very drinkable and a great alternative from that. I'll definitely buy again in my future beer travels! My score was 4.43 / rDev +4%.

Looks like the first game is over at halftime, I'll have to find alternative entertainment until the second game. Here's the review, have a great Sunday.

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/20681/78906/?ba=Prager62

A different Moe that kept popping in my mind since buying this!

 

Hello NBSers. Some light snow falling here in SEPA finally and sticking to the grass and trees. Just got the outside Christmas lights down and packed away. I was able to grab just a single of this one a few weeks ago. Review is below.



Bottle date is just 2015.
Pours murky brownish orange with some amber highlights. Little to no head and leaves only half a collar.
Nose is caramel and toffee and maple syrup. Not really picking up much wood.
Taste is sweet with a bite of alcohol. I get caramel and some burnt sugar. Minimal maple syrup but it definitely adds to the sweetness. Also carries some tartness and some light pear and apple like fruit flavors. Some hop bitterness helps tone the sweet sugar aspects. Alcohol bite recedes and opens up more fruit and maple flavors.
Body is medium and maybe a bit thinner than one would expect with a 10.5 barleywine. Carbonation is tight and a bit fizzy on the palate. The carbonation keeps it from being mouth coating syrupy and lessens the stickiness. Alcohol doesn't really become too prominent.

I know reviews have been mixed on this. It's well crafted and nothing really throws the beer off for me, but I can't find anything really special about it either. Like a barleywine should be, it's sweet and malty and the maple plays its role well. There is even some bitter hoppiness to attempt to balance it. I guess I'll leave it to say that my overall thoughts are mixed as well. It's really good, but fell short of my expectations. However, I will definitely try this again if given the chance too.

4.03/5 rDev +3.6%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

 

And now for new beer #3!

Triple Bag - Long Trail Brewing Co


Long Trail - Triple Bag by imbibehour, on Flickr

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Poured from the bottle into a snifter glass. Bottled October 21st 2015.

Deep opaque honey orange body color, quite dark a bit, but with a bit of tangerine orange dark edges along the glass. Head is creamy tan yellow, and easily making two fingers off a center punch pour. Scattered fine leopard like lacing and dots surround the edges, a very solid and nice looking brew.

Aroma is a bit closed. Subtle hints of caramel sweetness, very small though, but at least a hair noticeable. Pleasant, small, but not much really going on.

Palate is pretty solid. Good malt body with hints of honey but far lighter in feel and taste. Mid palate opens with some simple toffee, then taken over by a full pine hop flavor and aroma. Large lingering pine dryness while finishing, and more lighter honey coating qualities. Definitely hop forward, even some of that lip smacking oily lip coating flavors of honey and tree sap seem to be the dominant character. Good mix of classic malt sweetness of caramel and a big classic hop pine balance that lingers what seems like forever and pleasantly.

Really reminds me of a milder Arrogant Bastard, which is good company to be keeping in! Just wish this had a bigger bouquet on it.

look: 4 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4 | BA generated score : 3.82

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New American IPA Sunday

Hello all! Very cold here in Milwaukee today. Sunny, but only around 0 degrees (with wind chills making it even colder). Today's brew is from New Belgium - Citradelic. It's a very pleasant IPA that features Citra hops and has a tangerine/orange character that enhances it. I scored the appearance a 4.25 and 4.0's for all other characters, resulting in a score of 4.02 which is about on-target with the current average of 4.04. Here's the link:

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/192/197183/

I recently received an Android tablet as a gift, so I'm going to try to figure out how to upload pics for future NBS's.

Have a good day!

Cheers!

 

Don't have the background give you numbers here, but the critical point is that higher ABV after barrel aging doesn't mean that the base beer isn't the same.

I'm sure there are some who brew two versions, but equally sure there are others who don't. Also it seems that an increase in ABV might well be influenced by how long the beer is left in the barrels and whether or not additional fermentation is taking place.

I've heard more than one pro brewer claim the ABV can increase by as much as 3% during barrel aging, but didn't understand/know enough to ask some of the questions we're raising here.

 

Good afternoon to all the NBS followers and participants. And many thanks again to Maria for getting us of to a great start. I had picked a beer for today yesterday but had also decided to attend the release of Elevensies at Night Shift this morning. There was a larger crowd than I actually expected when I arrived at about 10:45 this morning for the 11:00 am release. But being somewhere in line to the plus side of 100 I had to change plans a little as I had hopped to sit down and enjoy a pour at the brewery this morning but alas it was too crowded to enjoy that. But I got my bottles and a few others and headed home.
So my new beer for this Sunday is Elevensies from NightShift.

4.24/5 rDev 0%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

Poured from a 750ml bottle from this mornings release. It pours a dark black color with little to no head even with an aggressive pour. The nose is strong to a molasses flavor with the apple brandy barrel aging following this. There are also hints of the roasted malts that linger in my snifter glass. The taste to me follows the nose with perhaps more of the barrel aging at first then the molasses overtones followed by the roasted malts. The lack of the head in the pour concerned me at first but the beer is nicely carbonated. It drinks very smoothly. I'm wishing there had been more bottles available, with a 2 bottle per person limit it won't get to much chanced to be cellared for a while. In all this is a very good drinking BA Porter.

The little sun we saw here in Central NH this morning is long gone to a dull gray overcast. They a saying another light snow fall tomorrow morning. I'm glad at this point to be retired and not having to make a commute every day. I've got another new beer in the fridge so I may be back with another later on.