New Beer Sunday (week 574)

Is it me or does the label art look eerily like Saucony Creek?

 

Next we have Pacific Gem Pale Ale from Green Flash



This head is again, frothy but more white. Lacing is moderately decent while the beer itself is hazy and golden.

Nose has two overbearing smells - floral and grassy. Backend of the smell is reminiscent of slightly spicy noble hops.

Taste is right away driving towards floral but it teams up with a very proud malt backbone. Very well balanced. Finish is very bitter and dry.

No complaint here, as this isn't bad at all.

 

Well yes. On Wisconsin!

 

Good day NBS friends! A bit cooler today along the southern shore, but still above average and better than what Mother Nature can deal at this time of year. I'm going to pop the cap on one I picked up a few weeks back in Michigan that I've been longing to try and finally stumbled across in my travels. Let's have a taste of Weyerbacher Insanity, 'ale aged in oak barrels', weighing in at 11.1% abv. that I poured in my Weyerbacher tulip that @jzeilinger was gracious enough to send a while back.

Pours a reddish brown color with a small finger of light tan foam that settles to a ring around the glass. The aroma is huge barrel presence of whiskey, caramel, dark cherry, vanilla, and oak. Flavor is also dominated by caramel malt, boozy whiskey, vanilla, cherry, wood and some char. I get a bit of corn in the finish. The feel is slick with some mouth tingling carbonation and a good dose of alcohol.



I used to see and read a lot about this beer years back. It's seems like it's taken a back seat to 'newer' toys like many old favorites have these days. I'm pretty stoked that that more of the higher rated Weyerbacher beers have finally found their way into my Michigan travels. The label states it's aged in oak barrels, but I'll be damned if this isn't big bourbon barrel flavor that runs with the best. I will definitely be looking for a couple more. I have another I plan to cellar for curiosity.

With that said my score was 4.35 / rDev +5.1%. Here's the review for review for the curious.....

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/392/18199/?ba=Prager62

 

We need more! Tell us about the aromas and flavors! We have to know!!!

 

I won't try to top Dave's intro. Very simply, I'm still enjoying my job as Head Beer Consultant where I work, and of course, have a great review for all of you. The weather here is more like early spring, and not deep winter- 48 and sunny. Unlike last week, I have no Soundgarden re-write to go with it, but feel free to stop by and read:

My review

Fun fact- my wife bought me a mini-studio to photograph my beer, so you'll see better quality pictures than you're used to seeing from me in the past. Cheers, everyone. Or, as the Polish say, Na zdrowie!

 

I trust you have one or more in the cellar, as I hear that's a classic American BW to age.

 

Good afternoon NBS. So I came across a 750 ml bottle of Great Divide Whiskey Barrel Aged Yeti Imperial Stout and decided to take the plunge. Rang up at $29.95 so i'm thinking this better be one of the best brews i've ever had, but knowing how much i like regular Oak Aged Yeti, i had high hopes. Happy to report no disappointment here.

Pours dark with a short brown head like a typical Yeti, but the aroma was noticeably different. Smells of chocolate and whiskey.
Taste is roasted with a small whiskey (alcohol) burn. The real win here is the aftertaste. The flavors evolve and compete between the roasted flavors and whiskey flavors as they fade.
Has the great mouthfeel an Imperial Stout should.

At $30, one will do, but it does rank as one of my favorites. Cheers!

 

Good afternoon, NBS folk. Today, Ant-man and Spider-man are helping me present my new beer for this Sunday:
Ballast Point Ginger Big Eye. Ballast Point has been going crazy of late with all their fruit and mint variants. I like ginger so I picked this one up.



Pours a lovely clear orange with a big, fluffy head. Good lacing as I drink this one down. The ginger is present in the nose. Taste is interesting if not "wowing." Getting a mix of ginger and citrus hops, just a bit of bitterness. Not the most overpowering flavors. Subtle, but flavorful IPA. I wouldn't buy this again, but I'm glad I tried it. I may do another NBS entry later. Cheers!

 

Going from Ultra to Bigfoot sounds like a pilot going from a Piper Cub to an SR-71!

 

Like this? Guilty! The doors have cracked, the shelf above is collapsing and the reason it was 'retired' from food duty and moved to the basement. I'm all about repurposing!

 

Home from lunch, and decided to go for a nice afternoon sipper (I hope) while the food digests and before we head to dinner with the family. This is yet another beer that was planned for a couple of previous NBS, but never got the call up. Coach says it's time to get into the game, now though:


Bruery [Terreux] Rueuze
What can you say about a Bruery sour? Popping the cap off this didn't do much, but the first splash of pale golden liquid into the glass brought a classic woody tart smell to my nose, even with the whole wide open available to diffuse the scents. A little chill haze does fade to a barely light-fuzzying component of the body.

Tangerine, lemon, sour apple, and maybe a little nectarine in the nose yield a more apple-centric initial taste. The nectarine impression comes in as a balance in subsequent sips. The first drink was quite sour, but once I adjusted the sour component seemed more dull and the oak started pushing its way into the flavor profile.

Expectedly, the beer does seem to change a bit with each sip until there is a slight, but distinctly different taste than I got a few sips back. Mid-drink I am getting a sour melon that may be the blending of the oak with another tart note - and this is accented by that sour apple note that was the primary note I got initially. What I get as nectarine and tangerine occasionally still tickle the sides of my tongue. On a warming beer I also get perhaps the lightest accent of vanilla deep in the background (and since I sometimes have trouble specifying vanilla, I am not usre on this one).

There's a light butteriness to the feel of this beer (not to be mistaken for flavor possibly indicating diacetyl), as the carbonation acts as miniscule ball bearings easing the liquid over my tongue.

The bottle says "earthy, sharp, funky". I'm not sure on the earthy part, though the beer seems well grounded. Sharp I definitely see early on, and even after my palate adjust, there is still a light puckering nature to the beer. I've definitely had funkier, but this beer isn't just biting sour - it has the oak component that brings a little farmhouse to the party. A wonderful beer, one that I think is very well worth the hefty Bruery price tag for special occasions.

 

I should have done a side by side!

 

WOW..........thanks so much for sharing. Very Jealous!!!!!!! Great pics! Great review. Cheers.

 

Great review! And since I've never had any Grimm offerings I'll be "rushing to duck" them haha at 28$ a 4 pk!

 

I CAN help with questions/advice, having participated in the past, but I am on the sidelines for the foreseeable future since I am a) currently unemployed & b) I have a backlog that would stop an elephCANt in its tracks.

 

$28 a 4 pack? Ridiculous! I'm with you on this. I didn't find the Tesseract to be better than other cheaper stuff

 

Have one from Victory that I have put off trying

Vital IPA


Huge white frothy head that leaves behind sticky lacing atop a clear yellow beer.

Nose is a little soapy with a little botanical thing happening

Taste is also soapy up front with a little tangerine, maybe some mango mixed in with a crisp, dry finish.

Not bad but likely one I won't revisit. I'm typically a Victory fanboy but this one isn't doing it for me.