New Beer Sunday (week 579)

Happy NBS everyone! Great posts today!
I've missed the last few. But made a point to save this beer for today and I'm glad I did.
Had to wait to crack it open till after I got done visiting family and eating a ton..
Now home listening to music and enjoying this.


Off Color Whiskers.
American wild ale aged in puncheon wine barrels.
8.1%

Even Sounds awesome was stoked to see it sitting on the shelf!

L: Dark orange a bit copper...Layer of foam that stuck around.

S: Tart cherries some wine grape for sure. Lots of oaky funk.

T: A really nice wine grape taste up front fades with some tart cherries maybe some green apple. Nice musty oaky funk throughout.

F: Nice and thick by prickly carbonation at the same time. Really nice.

O: Really good wild ale from Off Color. A ton of barrel character.

Cheers!

 

I picked that up (I once had 2; the other was a victim of a hardwood floor) at the Viking Tavern here in Spokane in the early "oughts". They used to do a promotion on Wednesday nights. If you ordered a pitcher of a pre-designated beer, you got a free glass. At the end of the night, not too long after I would roll in, getting off work around midnight in those days, they'd usually have some left over, and I had a friend or two behind the bar.

 

It's a collectors item now. My BIF target may, or may not, receive the current model in his box.

 

Seconded. Hopefully, nothing too serious causing this.

 

Escutcheon John Riggins 4th & 1

Picked this up from the lovely people at The Better Beer Store in Winchester, VA, on Friday morning. I asked for local beer, and they recommended this German pils and a coffee stout both from Escutcheon in town. Those are two of my favorite styles, so I asked for a crowler of each.

As they were serving me, I heard how the owner of the Washington Redskins apparently collaborated on this one (which was listed as 4th and 1 at the store -- only found the John Riggins part of the name on this site). I said, oh crap, just pour it out -- but they encouraged me to think of it as "football beer," which I guess is a good compromise.

Football beer pours a mildly hazy gold, effervescent, with a finger of white head. Bready malts and noble hops traditional to the style stand out in the aroma. It's light tasting, yet quite sweet, with none of the crispness or floral hops the nose suggested. Medium bodied for the style with a slightly slick, greasy mouthfeel. It's refreshing enough, but definitely below average.

Washington should change their team name. Even if they do though, go Eagles.

 

Cool, but it kinda makes me regret more or less continually using it!

 

The pleasure is all mine my friend! I'm glad you're enjoying the brews. I hope to join back in the fun next week when I'm off all the meds from the knee scope. I picked up some new beers this weekend to review in the coming weeks. Cheers until then!

 

Just work.

 

Told ya the tree was bigger now.

 

Ha Ha! That's how a rival fanbase sucks you in, man! First it's seemingly unrelated beers, next thing you know' you'll be dressing up as one of the Hogs!

 

Great list of ingredients, especially the "Secret" ones.

 

Good afternoon and if you partake of the holiday Happy Easter.Thanks Maria for being such a gracious and wonderful posting host as usual.
Chilly on the deck here in western RI. Some great posts today - beer and food wise. Hope you're all enjoying.
My beer today is from the Wild Beer CO. This is my second from them -Schnoodlepip- being the first which a found to be a very intriguing brew.

Evolver IPA. Hops and 100% Brett.

Pours a clear golden color with a thin but creamy head that leaves nice "world map" lacing.

Lovely Brett aroma touched with grassy hops and some mango/tropical notes with citrus blossoms

Taste is clean and crisp with funky Brett notes and a good grapefruit rind bitterness and granny Smith Apple in the hay taste. Brett polishes the whole package and keeps this a light and easy drinker.

Feel is crisp and lively with overall creaminess and a lighter body with tiny bubble carb. Brett seems to carry flavors for me which means a lingering taste on this one.

Overall I thought a fantastic beer that lightens up the style but still has all the flavors you want. Loved the first beer I had from them and this follows suit. Don't see many posts on this brewery based on a farm in the UK but if you would like a break from the norm seek these beers out. They are not cheap but IMO worth every penny. Looking forward to anything else they come out with.
Thanks for taking the time and enjoy the rest of your evening and week.

 

Howzit NBS? Checking in on ya with a new grapefruit soda today!

So for those of you who don't follow WBAYDN, I just had a Grapefruit Sculpin before this one so maybe that has tainted my view of this beer a tad. Anyway here are my thoughts on Sam Adams Rebel Grapefruit IPA...

3.77/5 rDev +1.6%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75

Enjoy before date is May 2016 so I guess it's somewhat fresh. Pour is lighter than expected and the head doesn't look full at all. Very light head that is hanging on by a thread and virtually no lacing to speak of. Smell is of sharp citrus and almost a hay aroma to me. There's so much citrus on the nose that it makes it smell like a malty lime bomb with some hay mixed in. Taste is a breaded flavor, much maltier than I expected, and very sharp and borderline sour citrus/grapefruit. The feel is of a thin and almost overly crisp beer. For the style of the beer it really doesn't go down very easily. After each sip you are hit in the taste buds with an almost overbearing citrus and sharp flavor that leaves a lingering sour taste to me. This beer is okay, probably won't be buying it again unless it's under 10 bucks for a sixer. Ballast Point definitely did a much better job in my opinion.

¡Salud!

 

I got to try this one thanks to a mostly blind trade, and it was one of those I was glad to get a chance to try. I agree with your assessment in that I would likely buy it regularly if it were available to me. I thought mine might have specifically mentioned rye whiskey barrels - wonder if they make different variants with different barrels??

 

Cheers man! I'll be back on here in a little bit with a tasty new brew!

 

Happy New DIPA Sunday,

Greetings NBSer's and Happy Easter,
Kinda' gloomy here and it was suppose to sun up, but it seems to have never arrived. Matches my mood I guess.
I did get to play trumpet this morning with an 88 year old who doesn't play as well as he used to but enjoys it as much as ever, and you know what, that's worth a lot. It's the little things that seem to make the difference.
I have a beer I was able to pick up last week in Duluth, in which I quickly ran over to WI and got this. A well reviewed one and a beer I've seen frequently on NBS. While the appearance and aroma were average the combination of the full hop flavor with no excess, pleasing bitterness and great mouthfeel pushes this towards the top of the list of style for me. Also the unbelievably masked abv hidden by a great drinkability make it very dangerous. I like it.
http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/10607/110895/?ba=garymuchow

In case I don't make it back - Enjoy your day and have a great week.
Next week I'll have a beer or two from NBS BIF #3. Can't wait. I'll have something interesting and exciting.
Here's the happiest song I know.

 

I'm bleaching out my Eagles glass right now.

 

Now that dinner with the in-laws is over, I can get on with my NBS beer sharing. #1 on the day is this Helles Landbier from Jack's Abby.



House Lager

Jack's Abby Brewing
Munich Helles Lager / 5.20% ABV

4.12/5 rDev +1.5% | Avg: 4.06
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Canned 03-01-16

L-The beer pours a pale gold so clear you can read through it without difficulty. The head is bone white and about 2 fingers high in my glass. The head recedes quickly down to a thin layer with light lacing.
S-The nose is pretty clean with only faint hints of crackery malt.
T-The taste is initially dry crackery malt that finishes with just a hint of sweetness. Hop presence very mild and herbal in nature which seems in perfect balance with the malt sweetness.
F- The carbonation is moderate and the overall mouthfeel is light with a dry finish.
O-This is an excellent Helles lager that is very much to style. This will be a definite rebuy as the weather warms and when I'm looking for an alternative to an IPA.

 

New Pulling A Night Shift Sunday
Thanks to @SawDog505 for another tasty beer.


3.84/5 rDev -8.6%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Cloudy gold in color. Huge foamy white cap settles into a 2 nickels thick film and leaves sticky, soapy residue all over the glass

Aroma is very muted. I mean I don't get much of anything other than slight tropical fruits and a little bit of earthy mustiness until in gets really warm.

Surprisingly it is not flat in flavor whatsoever. A big sour punch from grapefruit and lemon peel. Some medicinal to piney floaral green hops. Very ripe/raw tasting. A little bit of melon and sublte orange. Sweet doughy malts are fairly heavy/ full for the style. Clean finish. A very solid bitterness lingers.

Very good, but the citrus is less juicy/sweet and more sour/pungent and I prefer the former a little more.

★708 characters

 

Ok, a not-so-great start by UVa. Making a little run, and I am sure by the time this review is over it will be halftime. Why, because this is a Quad that clocks in at 11.2%. I had a BBA Quad from this brewery during the Butler game, so I figured I'd try it again. I am guessing this might be the base beer for Redneck Wedding, but this one is specifically called Goochland Quadruple Ale (the farm brewery is in Goochland, VA):


What I can get out of the way early is the look: a nice brown, perhaps a little rusty reddish hue to it. The head is basically tan, and builds up in a nice tight foamy cap. It is still there as I type and let the beer warm.

Nose isn't as dark as I'd expect, and it leans more towards the prune/plum side than the date/fig side. The bottle mentions the use of Candi Syrup, but it takes a little warmth before a note of molasses starts to come out. There's something else in there as well, but I cannot tell what it is (maybe the Belgian yeast).

Taste starts out a little cola-like, followed by a strange woodiness that is unexpected. This morphs into a light unsweetened molasses (yes, I understand this oxymoron). It's a strange sensation, I keep expecting a little turn sweet, but the beer stays balanced to even bitter (a balanced to woody bitterness). The tarter dark fruits from the nose don't really come out in the taste, and I'd have to go maybe towards fig if anything. Really, it's more lightly spiced rooty in nature. Feel is pretty smooth, a little tingle from carbonation, and actually a little dry, alcohol is in there somewhere, I guess.

Different than I expected but not bad. I almost think of this more like an "American Quad" than a Belgian in the sense that an American Barleywine tends to go heavier on the hop bittering than the old continent does. Personally I wanted just a little more malty sweetness.

So not quite halftime, and while UVa is up, it's been an ugly first half. Will be a struggle (for me at least) for the rest of the game.