New Beer Sunday (week 574)

It was really nice yesterday with sunny skies and temps close to 50 in WI. I had to work part of the day and then decided I should rotate my car tires in the afternoon. I've done it many times before and it isn't too difficult. That is until you discover a mechanic drove a lug nut on with an impact wrench that ended with a cross thread... Took me much longer than I anticipated and now I have to take it in to get the bolt replaced.

At least I have some very nice beer to enjoy today. Perennial Sump is my first offering. It pours black as night with a very thin tan head. You can tell it is thick, but there is no lacing on the glass.. Wafts of nice deep roasted coffee and dark bitter chocolate are the biggest aromas. Hints of caramel and even some vanilla. A very rich and sublime coffee flavor with some notes of caramel, milk chocolate that are blended back to the original intense coffee flavor. Wonderful dark chocolate on the finish. Lower carbonation for the style, but very smooth and creamy mouth feel that is full in body. This is very good with a wonderful coffee and chocolate flavor.

 

WOOT! a BIF! I had to look up FOMO BTW. Now I am an abbreviated hypochondriac.

 

Good day, New Beer Sunday drinkers!

Gotta a real goodie for today.

Cold but almost spring-like temperatures outside, cloudy and humid...

Watched this beer at the store for the past few weeks. While it is a boxed Firestone Walker product, it moved very slowly, no doubt owing to the $25 price tag, which was what kept me watching the beer rather than buying it.

But there's just so much I can take!!

Beautiful!

With the NFL season behind me, I've got a sporadic interest in sports - loved March Madness and the Final Four last year. NY hockey was compelling, too - y'know, right up until we lost...
NBA? *crickets*
Knicks? *crickets*
Last time the Knicks meant a thing was in the 90's...

Nothing special on the pour, but it had a glassy character that was not apparent in the glass.


Here's your money shot, people...


My official review:
Super-nuts and a lotta fun. You've got all these top shelf barrel aged beers tossed together. Closest I've come to something like this was Flight of the Angry Beast, from Clown Shoes, which was also incredible, but this has a greater air of sophistication to it. Dark brown pour looks black in the glass. Brief tan cap slips into a slim collar. Aromas of bourbon barrels, dark roast; tobacco and leather...? Body is medium-weight and smooth, wrapping around the tongue while pushing vapors of alcohol and wood onto the palate. Complex array of interwoven flavors get muddled, but impressions of rich dark malts, caramel-like sugars, molasses, brown sweet bread, and chocolate-covered fruit all occur thoughout the drink. Little bit of stickiness on the finish, alternating flavors of chocolate and malty caramel. The high abv is elegantly masked with dense flavors and feel. A real treat.

Here's their official blend list from the box insert...

Wow, right?

I've had everything except the Bravo, which had to have been good...
We get real shitty distro on their boxed beers like Parabola and Sucaba. It's gotten worse the past two years. My claim to fame will be that I got to sample that 2013 Parabola, which was fucking otherworldly...

Anyways, I'm onto my second pour now...

Rocked out to some great tunes but you'll have to check out WBAYDN for that kinda action...

Here's to your new beers - cheers!

 

YES! That dude is my hero.

Seriously, man, you're making some of us look bad! This photo spread should hang in the NBS wing at the Louvre.

I can top neither that dazzling display of digital photographic genius (I'm assuming digital) nor what looks like a brew I would adore, but it's still New American-made English Style Sunday over here and that makes me :

Very excited about this new malter in Texas:

Real Ale’s Brewers’ Cut Series has made an appearance or two on NBS before ... I might’ve posted one myself, and there’s a good BA out there somewhere who recently prompted me to get back on this series, so here it is, Project No. 23 in the series, an English-style ESB.

It’s a fine beer for starters, forget the style. Plenty of flavor, easy drinking, nothing "off" once you get into the glass a bit. In particular, I love the aroma when I take it outdoors and get away from the air fresheners and kitty litter box and thousand other smells that live in a home. Out on my porch, the bread-malt aroma is amazing ... a true English pale ale-esque bouquet, fruity and sweet, like apricots. Reminds me of the first time I smelled some Samuel Smith’s Pure Brewed Lager Beer (very underrated, IMO), just an explosion of bread malt.

As for the flavor, it’s a good mix of malt sweetness and East Kent Goldings and Bramling Cross hops, the hops mostly adding an earthy or dirt bitterness for me. Maybe some spiciness with pretty tame bitterness. It’s rated 45 IBUs, but I’d have guessed in the 30s. And the bitterness isn't medicinal at all. Very tasty.

The flavor highlight for me, though, is a more American than English note, and that’s this bit of oak-wood/charred wood flavor peeking in after the first few sips. It kind of disappears about halfway into the glass, but damn was it tasty while it hung around.

5.2% ABV -- 45 IBUs -- 13.5 OG (plato)

The review:
http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/458/211957/?ba=Premo88
3.84 (+7% rDev)

I’ll enjoy this 6-pack plenty. And it's got me wanting to revisit Fuller's ESB for a comparison.

You friendly NBSers have set one hell of a pace this morning ... and on 500 day. Hell, yeah!

Cheers!

 

lot of drinkin going on here, so here's my contribution to nbs.
I love the locals, so from half acre I dipa

poured clear amber with frothy white head, clinging tracks 4/5

fruity and hoppy, pineapple orange mango hints 4.25/5

big and edgy. Sharp hop bitterness, I like the initial thoughts in that this is delish.maltiness comes thru, but hops get the edge. 4.25/5

full mouthfeel, chewy for sure. Noticable but balanced alcohol, prickly carbonation. Bitter aftertaste, leaving grapefruit senses on the tongue. 4/5

IMO, this is not a DIPA beginners beer, would be too bitter, but if your palate is seasoned, drink up!great beer, I loved it

cheers BA!

 

Michelob ULTRA a superior light beer, 26 carbs,95 cals 4.2ABV
A guest left 2 bottles at the house, since I had never drank it before I'll give it a try. Pours as light a golden color as I have ever seen. There is a thin white head that lasts about 20 seconds and leaves no lacing. There is not much aroma at all. There is a very mild sweet malt taste and no hops seem to be involved. Mouth feel is that of slightly carbonated water. I guess that is an extreme light beer hard to see how one could brew a lighter one. It is refreshing but so is seltzer.
A lot of drinkers must enjoy the brew, since 4,100,000 barrels of it were shipped in 2013. Anyway I think I'll move on to a Bigfoot.

 

Watching America's Race the Daytona 500 enjoying Boulevard Long Strange Tripel.

 

Thank you for the kind words. I try, but overall probably have more fails than shots I am proud of, though have fun with the attempt on each shot. And yes, it's digital, all from my phone .

 

I REALLY want to get back into trading, and since I will only do so with/for CANs, it makes it slightly more challenging for new traders. That said, I am currently unemployed with a backlog that would fell an elephant. If you read about me reviewing something REALLY interesting, reach out, but otherwise, allow me to catch up & get back into the game.

In the interim, my NBS check-ins will all be themed for your amusement.

 

With the past two days reaching 60 degrees here in mid-February in SE Michigan, I felt a little California (Chicago?) citrus was in order.

Bottled 2/15/16!!!

Looked the part, coming in bright orange-ish gold in the glass. The aroma was much more juice than hops, and it was predominantly orange, as you'd expect. The taste followed the nose, as it was bursting with juiciness. The finish was almost identical to orange juice for me, perhaps even a little smoother (I like a lil' pulp in mine). I feel like this needed a bit more of a hoppy bitter/dry finish to bring it together. I enjoyed it, and it went down very smooth and refreshing for nearly 8%, but I think that 8% showed itself in the sweetness, thus why I felt it needed more bitterness. This was not quite as good as the Born Yesterday to me, but at $2.09 for a single, I am not disappointed. Gotta love Lagunitas.


3.97/5

Cheers, NBS!

 

I REALLY want to get back into trading, and since I will only do so with/for CANs, it makes it slightly more challenging for new traders. That said, I am currently unemployed with a backlog that would fell an elephant. If you read about me reviewing something REALLY interesting, reach out, but otherwise, allow me to catch up & get back into the game.

In the interim, my NBS check-ins will all be themed for your amusement.

 

WTFAYTA? I don't get it! And insomniac!

 

But one can drink about 50 of them and bounce around like a 20 year old all over again, or for the first time.

 

Good afternoon all,

First up is a Manor Hill IPA



Nice frothy beige head that offers spotty lacing above this solidly orange beer.

Nose boasts everything we've come to love from Mosaic, as in a tropical dankness surrounded by pungent rubber thing.

Taste is very similar to the nose with an additional slight saltiness up front that sets up the tongue battering before a dry sweetness fades out.

Very quality beer for sure.

 

Hopped in Half by 3 Floyds
5.3% ABV, 35 IBU, and SRM 2

Pours a crystal clear straw color with a two finger head that dissipates to a lingering thin layer with virtually no lacing. The aromas are floral, citrus, sour and plain popcorn. The flavors a similar with creamed corn and a slight black pepper bite.

 

From Oddball Brewing of New Hampshire comes their Idle Idol IPA. What a fun name? It was released for the first time on February 12, 2016 so this is definitely a new beer for New Beer Sunday. In fact, I had to add it to the BA database.

It is a traditional English style IPA with a 6.7% ABV. By 'traditional' I mean that it is not in your face citrusy, piney, grapefruity, etc. It is more caramel forward with a mild earthy hop note. This is a sweet beer with a bitter bite that kicks in quickly at the finish.

 

Hello New Beer Sunday.

Today is my last full day in Padre, and I wasn't sure if I would participate in NBS. I stopped in the Stripes C Store, and found this



Southern Star Bombshell Blonde Ale.

As expected, nice golden in color, with a bit of head. No nose to speak of. The taste is fairly light flavored, but there is a slight hoppiness to it. Fairly easy drinking beer sitting on a balcony, watching the ocean. Glad I bought it. I have a feeling hat I will down 4 of the 6 pack this afternoon.

 

"Rot -fla- mayo"

 

Count me in this time. Better late than never. Cool idea!

 

Hey again NBS crew. I really thought I only had one new brew to try today but this was hiding in the back of the fridge. I've been told I should check out the sour program from Reaver Beach in Va Bch which is relatively nearby. This is my first try. Price definitely factors in here, but I was pleasantly surprised. Anyway, thanks for letting me drop in and not giving me grief if I'm doing it wrong. Cheers!


4.29/5 rDev +0.5%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25

Pours a nearly clear amber with a thick frothy head that retains better than a lot of sours but still fades relatively quickly. Zero lacing.

Nose is big, bright and tangy. Plenty of sour notes, ripe bright fruit like apple. Grass, lemon and sweet white grapes come through big for me. Definitely big notes of the funk on the back end, wet hay.

Flavor is a nice overall. Acidity is great, decent amount of sour (I could stand a bit more but it's a really nice, clean, crisp level here). The souring bacteria is supposed to be native to coastal VA, which is really cool and it works really well here. I do wish there was a bit more pucker. The fruit notes are a bit more tropical than I expected - pineapple and lemon definitely come through for me. The earth notes are bright and light - fresh cut grass. The brett funk is there but it's very mild (much more so than the nose would indicate).

Feel is nice overall - sour has a nice almost tannic feel, body is solid, no rough edges. Carbonation is basically perfect. But there is definitely a bit of a watery touch here.

Overall for the price of $13 for a 750ml this is a really good deal and definitely better than I expected. I like it a lot right now, but am now curious to age some. I bet the brett funk develops more but the acidity and sour falls a bit and I think I like those where they are. Regardless, nice to know someone is pulling off some quality sours nearby.