New Beer Sunday (week 595)

Good Morning to all and thanks to @utopiajane for getting us going.
My beer this morning is in honor of @TheJermis who does great work for Boulevard Brewery and I am so glad to have the opportunity to talk about this great beer on NBS.
Happy New Spiced Chocolate Imperial Stout Sunday


Boulevard Imperial Stout X: Aztec Chocolate
4.27/5 rDev +6.2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25

.750 ml into Libbey Tulip
BB 4/2017
L- a dark black, with quickly dissipating dark brown head
S- rich chocolate aroma, cinnamon, hints of chili pepper
T- wonderful complex layered taste of cinnamon, chili peppers, and chocolate, with spiciness offset by the richness of the chocolate and dark-roasted malt
F- full-bodied but crisp, smooth, don't feel the alcohol at all
O- Warm, Spicy, Complex
This beer was one heck of an experience!! A wonderfully crafted stout, with complex layers, great drink-ability, hides the 11% ABV really well. Would be great in the winter, but was awesome now too!


Cheers to a wonderful new week!

 

Summer of Pilsners – One mo’ Keller Pils

Last week I discussed Summit Keller Pils which is a new beer that Summit brewed to celebrate their 30th Anniversary. I figured I would follow up with another Keller Pils: Southampton Keller Pils.

A few years ago Southampton came up with a concept to brew a ‘new’ seasonal beer every summer of a Keller Pils which would feature a differing hop each year. I would notice a difference from year to year with the change of hop varieties and one year they even changed up the grain bill as well. Are they still ‘tweaking’ this beer from year to year? I am uncertain. Chris (@zid), do you have any insight here?

What I can report is that on the neck label of the bottle it states: “Keller Pils is an unfiltered lager featuring a single variety of hop throughout the brewing process.” It also lists 5.0% ABV on the main label.

With those preliminaries out of the way: let’s drink!!

Served in my Polish Pilsner glass:

Appearance:

Straw colored with a BIG fluffy white head.

Aroma:

I am picking up some Pilsner Malt, some herbal/spicy aromas from the hop, and a bit of ‘yeasty’ notes.

Taste:

The dominant flavor is sweet-ish Pilsner Malt flavor but there is some herbal/spicy hops flavor as well. Moderate bitterness.

Mouthfeel:

Moderate carbonation with a soft/smooth body accompanied with a dry finish. A fairly complex mouthfeel for this beer.

Overall:

This beer is very good.! This beer has two ‘highlights’ for me: an enticing aroma and an intriguing mouthfeel.

Cheers to Southampton for crafting another enjoyable summer seasonal of Keller Pils!

@zid @rotsaruch @Lurchus @KOP_Beer_OUtlet @Ranbot

 

Good Morning, NBS. Thanks @utopiajane for kicking us off. I actually found I have a smattering of 22oz Gose in the fridge this AM, and think I may do a side-by-side-by-side eventually. But I didn't want to jump into that right away. So I decided to go with another kind of juice this AM, a new beer from a brewery that it may be obvious is one of which I am generally a fan:


This is Dogfish Head's new beer (a limited release, though I would bet it may depend on feedback as to whether it would return, maybe as a summer seasonal at a later date). From DFH's website, a description of Flesh & Blood:

Let's see if I agree:
First, if you look at the bottom of the left beer above, you might pick out an anomaly that is not in the right beer. This "anomaly" is the result of my clumsiness where I dropped the cap of one of the beers into the glass. It has helped provide nucleation to sustain a foamy-to-fluffy off white head. The GF's beer without such help (and hers doesn't count b/c she had one yesterday - it's not new to her ) still has have the surface covered in a medium layer of head, with a medium rim versus my almost complete coverage and a thick rim.

The beer, like most DFH beers, is actually quite clear if you can get through the consdensation from humid Northern Virginia (see attempt in lower pic below). A light burnt orange towards amber in color, this beer looks clean and neat.

The nose isn't very exciting. I definitely get the citrus additions as well as the hop notes (though they are indistinct). The beer actually has the smell of a beer that is hopped with a hop that yields citrus notes naturally (Citra comes to mind, but there are others). Deeper into it - I actually get a bit of grapefruit, which obviously isn't one of the additions.


The overall impression of the beer in my first sip reminds me of Romantic Chemistry - the new seasonal for DFH released this year replacing Aprihop - not in flavor but in construction. There is a nice representation of the added ingredient - but it isn't overpowering. It is more than an accent, though. There is a bit of a pine wood resin note in the base, but the citrus notes do cut that pretty well. I get some lemon amongst the citrus flavors - but the rest is not forming a specific fruit to me. As it warms, the additions gain some strength up front, but the drying resinous hops also gain traction in the late and aftertaste.

Of the three beers mentioned (Flesh and Blood, Romantic Chemistry, and Aprihop) based off my memory, I think I like Aprihop the best. I don't know if my ratings bear this out, but I will check. This beer doesn't really give you anything unexpected - and I think DFH's own description is not just a bunch of marketing. If you are a fan of many of the fruit-added (specifically citrus) IPAs out there, you probably will not dislike this one.


Cheers, NBS!!

 

Thanks - I must admit I had to flip the cap to get that - physics dictates the top likes to point downward .

 

Sure, I'm in . . .

Wiseacre Brewing Tarasque Belgian Style Saison



Appearance: Light gold, white cap, good lacing.

Aroma: Fairly complex mix of floral-citrus-spice with a touch of ripe fruit quality. Malt is mild but present.

Taste: Again, complex with more ripe yellow fruit and spice apparent. Flavor is on the mild side but all the elements hang together so well the impression is of more flavor. Good sum of the parts going on here.

Texture: Medium
Overall: This was a pleasant surprise. The Brewer calls it a Saison Belgian Style Ale and that works for me. Tasted blind I would've guessed a light Blonde Belgian. Good stuff, worth a refill.

 

Good morning New BSers! Maria, thank you for the wonderful start - Liopard Oir is certainly one of Lavery's better brews, along with their Belfast Black ale and 1847 Rye Stout. I was kind of surprised to find their brand around Buffalo when it isn't seen where I live (60 miles south of the brewery) and now it's in your neck of the woods. Guess they'll be invading Canada next, ay.

After returning from a successful quilt fabric and beer run into the Lancaster/Maryland/Downingtown area yesterday evening, I was able to add today's NBS beer to both my personal database and my BA base. I was surprised while checking my database because there were no listings for Flying Fish - their skeletal logo is one not easily forgotten. I know I've had some of their brews at either the old Stoudt's Microbrew fests or the Penn State Beerfests 10 years ago, about the time I started building my data base. I do remember associating the logo with mediocre to bad beer but I don't have any written proof, so ...



$ 9.90/25.4 oz bottle ($ 0.390/oz) at State Line Liquors, Elkton, MD
Undated bottle at 42 degrees into a hand washed and dried JK snifter, allowed to warm to 50 degrees
Aroma of roasted malt, some chocolate
Head large (Maximum 4.7 cm, aggressive pour), light brown, creamy with rocks, diminishing to a three mm ring and rocky partial layer
Lacing poor – narrow rings of small bubbles
Body dark brown/black, opaque
Flavor – roasted malt with a hint of chocolate, marginally sweet and a little toffee; no hops, no alcohol in the flavor but the stomach burns starts quickly, no diacetyl.
Palate – full, creamy, soft carbonation

Quite good. The first Flying Fish brew I’ve had in years – I hope that this is indicative of an improvement in the quality of their beers or perhaps my tastes have evolved. No matter how you cut it, I like the Baltic Porter style now (I probably didn't a decade ago) so any example of the style starts off with high expectations. Exit 18 lives up to these expectations.

Appearance 4.25, Aroma 3.75, Flavor 4.25, Palate 4, Overall 4.25. Rating 4.11, Avg 4.07, rDev +1.0%

Prosit!

 

A cross-post from WBAYDN. This is a beer I really enjoyed.

A wild ale/saison combo from Pennsylvania (don't let the Flemish name fool you). Inoculated with wild yeast in a koelschip (as per Belgian tradition), this beer has all the right funky aromas and flavors. The nose gives you hints of sourness and barnyard. The flavor is of mild sourness, hints of sweetness and definitely funkiness. Mouthfeel is of smooth carbonation and surprisingly thick. Appearance is murky orange and with not much of a head retention. Overall a great beer and for a price that is a fraction of what one would pay for equivalent imports.

 

Good choice! I found this at a gas station in TN east of Memphis while driving to TX a year ago. I wanted to try it because of the name and picture - a year earlier my brother and sister-in-law and wife and I had been to the Tarasque castle and I recognized the beastie. Wasn't a bad beer either! I left my gloves in the gift shop while purchasing a small model of the beast - It's COLD in Provence in January!

 

New beer from a new state for me this morning. At least I don't recall having any other beers from Virginia?

Escutcheon Agonic Line Lager
ABV 5.0%

This is a Vienna-style lager, a style I really enjoy. It pours into my tumbler glass a very hazy amber, almost cinnamon-like color. The head is soapy and frothy, receding to a healthy film with a thick collar and nice thick lines of lacing that eventually disappear. The aroma is sweet, bready, and ultimately smells like caramel. There's a spicy note on the back end from the hops. The beer tastes much like the aroma, although the spicy hops really come through sooner, and diminish the caramel sweetness. Mouthfeel is medium bodied and slightly dry.

Overall, 3.69 for a .08% positive rDev. When I first poured the beer and started drinking it, I did not like it. As it warmed, the typical vienna-style lager flavors started to emerge.

 

Thank you, Maria, for the excellent start to NBS.
So far it's a cool and cloudy day here in southern Maine. The sun is going to be coming out, and we may have some thunderstorms later. I am watching the British Open before my wife and I drive up to my mother's for a visit, where we will continue to try to convince a stubborn 91 year old to move in with us. It's been an uphill battle so far.

I bought this beer yesterday at Spruce Creek Provisions in Kittery, The Down Low brewed by Lagunitas.
It is a bright copper color with a one finger white head.
Aroma of sweet caramel and floral hops.
Caramel taste, some citrus, some late pine.
Very easy to drink, and at only 3.6% ABV, you could drink a few.

 

I know a lot of the breweries are newer and distributing in-state and to neighboring states mostly, but I am mildly surprised to read this. They are a fairly new brewery, and I would think their distribution is fairly small.

That said, funny you started with this beer, as I just had this beer by them recently on tap (which was my first by them, although I had tasted the John Riggins collaboration 4th and 1). I seem to recall exactly what you thought: not impressed initially before the Vienna Lager notes did eventually start to make themselves known.

 

Think that might describe what I get in about almost every Lagunitas beer .

 

Bring it on!!

 

Kooky label!

 

Wow lots of activity this morning and some awesome reviews by very knowledgable BAs. Unfortunately I'm not one yet but still working on it and I often say "I am going to try them all before I die".
Goose Island Sofie, pours a hazy yellow with small head that recedes to a cap quickly, smells of yeast, floral notes and a bit funky as expected. Tastes nice and complex, with peppery tartness on the tongue, light and champagne like feel. I'm beginning to enjoy the saison and it's a nice change from the IPA routine! Cheers

Riding the Suzuki VStrom out to Dark Horse today, hope you are having fun as well.