New Beer Sunday (Week 599)

New Beer Sunday: A new "Farmhouse Ale?"

Mornin' NBSers with special greetings to those who like to find a Farmhouse Ale to try.

Thanks to @utopiajane for the high quality start this morning and once again she has set the bar very high for interest and quality of review.

The weather here this a.m. is hot and humid and we're expecting a "feels like" temperature in the low 100s. Sunny and clear but a good day to test out our air conditioning system.

This morning is another rare occasion with a new beer to start the day and a different breakfast than usual. While fixing the food this morning I've been testing out the Sly Fox Grisette.

My review, which is almost finished, appears here:

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/1853/32762/?ba=drtth#review

A Grisette is a Saison-like Farmhouse ale. Since this is my first one I've not yet figured out how it is different from a Saison except that the original versions were reportedly brewed for Miners in a particular Belgian province rather than elsewhere in Belgium for Farmhands working in the fields.

This Grisette, with it's close family resemblance to a Saison has many of the same aromas and flavors I'd expect. It's quite flavorful and tasty but I'm not sure I'd want more than one at a time. I think it was worth the try and I'll probably have another, if only to try and figure out if the differences involve more than just who it was brewed for back in the day. (But that may require more than one side by side tasting with a Gisette and various saisons. :-))

The breakfast that is just about ready to eat includes hash browns with bits of onion and bell peppers mixed in for flavor and color. There are also two eggs over easy and a slice of an occasional treat, some pan fried Scrapple.

For those not familiar with it, Scrapple is a particular regional food item which I'd hever heard of before moving to PA. Apparently it originated with the Pennsylvania Dutch community way back when. While Scrapple is "officially" a loaf shaped pudding, a slice looks and cooks a lot like a sausage patty. But as someone once said, about sausage and politics, you don't want to know what goes into them. So I'll just leave the description there. (But I will point out that there is an old PA saying about the Amish that says that when they butcher a hog, they wind up using everything but the squeal. )

Well time for food. Hoping I'll be back this evening with a 2nd new beer. Have a good day!

Cheers, all!

 

Morning, Maria! And an early howdy to the good NBS crew!

The rains hit early last night here in the Brazos Valley, and it’s cooled us off for the first time in two months. When I walked Huevos the Puppy Dog last night after the late shift (around 12:30 a.m.), the heat index was 76. It had been averaging 90-92. I feel terrible for the poor Baton Rougians and others across the South dealing with floods, but it was hard not to enjoy walking around after midnight in something other than oppressive miserable heat.

Speaking of heat, Jester King brought a little to this party I had earlier Sunday morning after that puppy walk …



Gotlandsdricka, a smoked beer with juniper berries and myrica gale
(batch #5, April 21, 2016 -- I'm almost positive this brew has been on NBS before)

Inspired by the Vikings, Gotlandsdricka tastes like a Jester King barbecue -- smoked lemons. That’s a reduction of course, but it’s definitely tart/sour and smokey. It’s got several other flavors, including some sweetness in both the nose and flavor, but the No. 1 feature here is the beechwood-smoked malt mixing around with a good foundation of farmhouse ale … earthy at times, tart-to-sour at others, but always full of a smoke presence that’s a pinch peaty but not too much.

The review:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/24018/86286/?ba=Premo88#review

4.64 (+26.4% rDev)

I rated the hell out of this sucker because I am a sucker for the smoke. Can’t really say why … I mean, I’m not sure how much I really like the flavor. But the fact that a brewer can get that much good smokey flavor into a bottle? I fall for it every time. And this JK brew stands up very nicely to the good stuff from Schlenkerla (which I’m now very much in the mood to revisit).



Huevos goes back to Houston today. We had another fun two-week run of walks, talks and other activities (including checking out BA.com he likes BA.com), but it’s always fun to see him safely back home … and then to see Midnight the Cat resume his position of authority.

Citra pils, huh? The eloquent-as-always review sounds about right. Here's betting we see something like that pop up in Texas ... I hope so. I'd like to give one a whirl.

Cheers!

 

New Beer Sunday, a chance to catch up with what everyone has been doing and drink beer at the same time. What a concept!
Several days of heat and humidity this week, reminding me what I didn't like about living in South Carolina. Then yesterday was a cooler, less humid day and today promises more of the same. The universe has righted itself.
We played golf earlier this week in the heat and humidity, but walked off after 16 holes when a thunderstorm blew in. Neither of us were playing particularly well, so we stayed in the bar and drank. Played again yesterday in almost fall-like weather. Played well (for me this year, anyway) and bought a new driver. I have a 10 year old Cobra driver and have been trying demo drivers for the past three years, thinking there must be some metal fatigue as an explanation for my loss of distance. Alas, I didn't hit any of them better than my old faithful Cobra. Yesterday I tried a Ping, and suddenly gained twenty yards in distance, so it's staying in my bag. Thank you, Cobra, for all the good years you gave me.
Today Mrs Wiens and I are meeting my sister and brother-in-law in Portland for lunch. We haven't seen them for a month. I am not sure what Silly's will have on tap, so I thought I'd drink my new beer now. I am drinking Hoppelbock, a collaboration between Heavy Seas and Troegs.

Best by OCT1216 on the label.
In my rarely-used pilsner glass the beer was a reddish amber color. There was a small tan head that left a bit of lace.
Caramel aroma. Herbal.
Very malt-forward, lots of caramel. This was followed by an herbal, spicy taste.
Medium-bodied, drinking well for me.

 

Good morning! It's still like a steam cooker here in the central plains, but with highs "only" in the upper 80's next week, I'm going to pretend that Autumn is around the corner. Speaking of Fall, today I am excited to try a new beer from Avery that has just been released for Autumn. It's hard to find any information about this beer. All I can find is a basic list of ingredients. One website claimed they didn't even know what the base of the beer is. Let's call it a brown ale, and go from there. ABV is 5.2%

Look: Deep, dark brown with lighter brown on the edges. The head is fluffy, dark cream in color, and even after 15 minutes still sits on top as a rather solid film. Lacing is webbed and thick.

Aroma: Malty and bready up front lay down a good base to add spices to. The beer is dominated by chai tea spices such as cinnamon, clove, and ginger. The ginger in particular adds a nice spicy kick in the back end.

Taste: A little sweet to start with some bread and nuttiness before the attack of spices. As this beer warms, you start to think maybe you are drinking cold chai tea. Cinnamon and ginger come out in full force and like the aroma, there's a nice spicy finish.

Mouthfeel: Hinges on watery. It almost seems to get thinner as the beer warms.

Overall: I've had a few tea-inspired beers. This one is probably the easiest to pull off and imitate the taste of tea. Ironically, chai tea is about the only kind of tea I don't drink. As a base for a Fall seasonal beer, it works well though. It makes me wish it were a crisp 53 degrees outside with falling leaves.

I have not rated or reviewed this beer yet, and as of this post, there have only been two ratings on this beer in the BA database. I'll go rate it now, and I'm betting on a score around 4.2

Cheers!

 

Good morning, NBSers! I'll take two seconds to say this is the week of Throwback Thursday, something you helped convince me was something worth doing (yes, starting to shift blame if it all goes wrong). I know quite a few of you peruse WBAYDN where I have blasted a few promos, but figured I'd give a quick reminder here.

Now onto the real work, reviewing new beers!! And what a trio do I have for today (or so I'm told, let's see if the stories are true). The beers come from a very nice BA, @CanConPhilly as he pulled them from his cooler at the get together he, I, and @MUTINY had at Ocelot yesterday. @CanConPhilly had just come from Aslin (where they had one of their IPAs for him to compare) and I was told that these beers are in the ilk of this local brewery (I was also told by a proud Philadelphian that Tired Hands beers are better ).

I will run up the ABV ladder with these beers today as I brew my second batch of beer this weekend (which I may speak of in upcoming posts). The first beer is D2H3: Galaxy - a "double dry hopped Pale Ale" promoting a heavy amount of Galaxy. The instructions say this beer is "fragile" and should be imbibed as soon as possible. So let's get at it:


The beer pours like a watered down fresh OJ coming out of the can. It is much more yellow in the glass, with a thin cap of white head. Not very impressive in volume, the head does have some staying power. Lastly, the bubbles atop the beer somewhat resembles the Aslin beers I've had in eventual coverage, though Aslin's are more soapy in look.

At this point, I tipped the can upright after shooting the canning date. Whoa!! this thing is pungently bitter, just like the can said. But that was the dregs, I still got the nose to check out...

I'm a little surprised here. I expected more strength from the nose given the double dry hopping. I swirl the beer to bring the aroma out with a bit more strength. A peachy to orange rind fruity note peeks through a pungent juniper to pine resin evergreen bitterness. The note has a spiciness to it that is more like a powerful extract of the already noted scents than a new scent of a specific spice.

The GF made an off-hand comment that this is more bitter than she cares for. I think maybe she is still asleep, because I am not sure she would ever say that while conscious. She also walked it back slightly a little later. Ok, diving in for myself...


This beer is not as "juicy" as I'd expect. The notes that come out more are a woodiness from a pine tree, a bit of spruce tip like notes, and a backing of pitted fruits (nectarine, peach) more than the citrus rind I also get. I also not it is not nearly as tongue ripping bitter as that last drop from the can.

That isn't to say it isn't bitter, it definitely is. A couple more sips and orange and grapefruit rind flavors start to pop into my senses nearer the end. A light fizziness is detected, but it almost feels like the carbonation can't quite poke through the hop film that coats my tongue. Warmth does seem to quell the evergreen notes slightly and allow the fruit notes mentioned to play a little more.

This is a very interesting brew. Definitely seems like I could be drinking a watered down fruit drink with a bunch of hops in it. In that, I mean the malt flavor is completely lost to me, replaced by one of the few hop notes that appear in this beer. I do like it, but I also do miss at least a little malt sweetness to balance the bittering agents.

 

Good Morning all. I want to thank Maria for the fantastic gift. The review and descriptors on that brew were stellar and make me want to go get some- but how did she know today is my B'Day?
Heading to one of the greatest beach bars in Matunuck but should be back later with a new beer.
Catch up with everyone later. Enjoy NBS!

 

Summer of Pilsners – An Organic Pilsner

My wife and I are heading up to the Bethlehem Musikfest in a few hours where we will likely ‘melt’ as we listen to some good music but I wanted to report on a new Pilsner first.

I am not much of an organic food shopper but I figured that I would give Peak Organic Fresh Cut Pilsner a try anyway.

The ‘mission statement’ of Peak Organic Brewing is: “Peak is a craft brewing company, dedicated to making delicious beer using local, artisan and organic ingredients.” Well, that does sound cool.

According to BA Fresh Cut is a Czech Pilsner.

Below are some details on this beer from the Peak Organic website:

“Fresh Cut is a dry-hopped pilsner. Chinook, Citra and Centennial hops provide aromas of citrus, grass and spice. Though the front palate is loud with IPA qualities, the finish is distinctly pilsner- crisp, dry and extremely refreshing. Enjoy!

ABV: 4.6%

Suggested Food Pairings: Fish Sandwiches, Lobsters, and meals eaten on rustic outdoors single-origin hand-hewn Amish furniture”

This beer does indeed read “different” beyond just the organic aspect.

Let’s see how this beer drinks!!

Served in my Polish Pilsner glass:

Appearance:

Straw colored with a big long lasting white head.

Aroma:

Moderate aromas of grassy hops are present in the nose along with faint hints of the underlying bready malts.

Taste:

The taste follows the nose: flavors of grassy hops stand out in the taste and contribute a light to moderate amount of associated bitterness. The hints of bready malts are a bit stronger compared to the aroma, but the hop flavor is dominant.

Mouthfeel:

Moderate carbonation, light- moderate body with a pleasant dry finish.

Overall:

The most distinguishing feature of this beer is the grassy hop aroma/flavor. There is a nice and pleasant bready malt backbone that complements the hop aroma/flavor. Overall this is an enjoyable summer sipper.

Cheers!



@zid @rotsaruch @KOP_Beer_OUtlet @Ranbot @RobH

 

Ooh- that one sounds so much up my alley it's not funny! I wonder how it would do paired with some BBQ- that tartness seems to be very much in its favor.

 

I think the way you described this fits perfectly with my personal experience on double dry hopped brews-not that much malt shows in many of these "juicy" IPAs but with DDH brews I find the bitterness is not unpleasant, but takes over the experience

 

Wow, it got down to 74 degrees at dawn this morning so I opened the windows and turned on the fans. The air is still chewably thick with humidity but hey, It's 74 degrees.

In keeping with the recent heat wave I thought I'd try something light and refreshing so this . . .

Blue Moon White IPA
5.9% with an undisclosed hop level



Appearance: Light yellow color that appears hazy but there's no visible sediment. Whatever called it's too thick to see my fingers on the other side of the glass. Attractive white cap and lacing.

Aroma: Yeasty, vegetable, slightly spicy, something a bit floral, malt too light to notice.

Taste: Brewed with four varieties of hops all of which are tucked away neatly in a corner. The only orange and coriander I could find were the words on the label. A colorless (pun intended) version of the style and an IPA in name only. The flavor is pleasant in an unoffending way, what's there comes across as a mildly tart lighter style of brew with hints of flavor rather than actual flavor. It is pleasant but empty like a politician's smile. Hops do make an appearance at the finish, which is clean, and linger slightly in the aftertaste, which is short.

Texture: Thicker than thin but thinner than medium.

Overall: This is an IPA? Call the Hop Police. I guess it's official now, you can slap an IPA label on just about any ole thing. Tasting blind I would've guessed a tart wheat beer. A Blue Moon IPA for Blue Moon fans I suppose. Truth be told I like it better than regular Blue Moon and wouldn't be surprised if others feel the same way.

 

Good morning New BSers! Maria, thanks for getting us started - too bad we lost the other opening. It's another overcast and rainy morning here in NW PA - definitely moving into fall weather. Mrs Lizard and I spent the mornings of the last week running to doctor appointments. All PM stuff - no worries. And I was able to hang out with the contractors working on my new single-stall shed behind the house. If it hadn't rained every afternoon, it'd be nearly done. With a little luck (other than bad) it'll be done this week and then it's off to Texas before it gets too cold. We'll be taking my three female red ears to re-home down around Seguin - they're getting too big to overwinter in our house.

Today's new beer is from one of my more favored semi-local breweries (five hours driving on the interstate is semi-local for me). Someone else added this beer to BA TODAY and so beat me to it. At least I was able to add the photo and the first review.

First pour:


Second pour:



Penultimate pour:



Purchased at brewery. Since they use low-end machines that don’t itemize, I don’t know what I paid for anything.
Undated bottle at 42 degrees into a hand washed and dried JK snifter
Aroma – spicy hops, lasts
Head – ridiculous. First pour gave about one cm of liquid and the balance (eight cm) foam, over the rim and over the counter. When it began to subside, I carefully added some more beer and got a repeat performance. The third pour (down the side of the glass, slooowly) finally gave me adequate liquid for the picture.
Lacing – good. Partial rings of tiny to small bubbles with stalactites and stalagmites and isolated small islands forming archipelagos
Body orange, hazy, some of which is chill related
Flavor – really not very good, in fact once the fizziness leaves your mouth, so does any flavor. I poured part of the bottle into a pint nonic so I could swirl it more violently to release the CO2. This helped – now I can taste the hops somewhat. Again the hops flavor is ephemeral but now I get some malt sweetness and flavor with no vinous qualities from the red wine barrel aging. No alcohol is tasted or felt as a stomach burn.
Palate medium, oily, fizzy

Appearance 4, Aroma 4, Flavor 3, Palate 2.75, Overall 2.75. Rating 3.23

I've had the base beer (Double IPA) in bottles and from a cask and the cask version is miles better. I think there's just too much going on with the double dry hopping and the wine barrel aging - this ceases to have any clean distinct flavors and is just muddled.

 

Wichita Brewing Company here in Wichita often make seasonal offerings with locally grown produce such as their watermelon wheat. Indeed, that is cool.

 

Greetings friends,
Thanks again Maria for a lovely beginning to NBS. It is really tough outside. We walked our morning 2 miles and we were drenched. The dogs are not lethargic, but they linger sniffing, putting off walking for as long as possible. There are a number of foxes being sighted these days, and it's funny to see how concerned people are. No rabid ones yet, so why worry? They're beautiful and these woods are their home. The dogs know that the foxes are about. We spotted the Osprey again this morning, up close; that's a big raptor!
Today's beer is Stone Arrogant Bastard (7.2%). This is a deep reddish brown, brooding, threatening looking brew. The cap is khaki/tan and lingers nicely as the beer settles into the glass. This is a red and tan for sure! Big piney hops and a real roastiness dominate the nose, waiting, brooding, and bubbling. The taste is the same...big pine flavors and a roasty malt/char mostly dry but sweet at first. This is a really very hoppy, dry, audacious, singular and angular, un-nuanced brew. Arrogant Bastard would make spicy chili stand down. It is rich and full in the mouth, alive, and bitterer than most. This is a truly great beer, like liquified and beyond dry marmalade. It is not my cup of tea, so I give it a 3.0.... No, it's a great beer and I'll let the scorers score. I may not be worthy.
The PGA tour is here this week with The Wyndham at Sedgefield CC (a classic Donald Ross design). The tournament has been here since 1938, the new Bermuda greens are likely the best on tour, and there's a great field. The players love the course.
This tune is dedicated to an ugly political season that is historical in ugliness.

 

Hey What's going ON?!

Oh it's August in the Washington DC area... that means... heat and humidity.

It was a year ago at this time I took a vacation and was slumming around rural Vermont cycling and drinking beers. Rough life as you can imagine. It really does pain me reflecting on that time. I was out last night past 9 PM and the temps here were in the 90s. I was sweating all night outside... at night.... IN THE EVENING!!!

It explains also why during this time, those who can go on vacation get the heck out, it's just unbearable sometimes. Last night had to be one of the worst I've experienced.

On a happier note, I have been able to take some freetime and go buy a lot of NEW BEER! Oh man what a doozy too, got lots of cool new goodies. Last trip went and hit my wallet very hard as well. EEK!

But that's life... and always new beers!

So since Maria was talking bout Citra... and ok let's have a Citra party... or whatever new "it" hop is next.. cause that seems to be the only thing to talk about...

No wait..we can talk more about beer than just it hops right?! Why yes we can.

But first I am going to start of simple. Oh those American Blonde Ales... I am not always the biggest fan of this style, but I find myself picking them up to review from time to time.

What's new for our hero today?!

Narragansett Summertime Citra Ale | Narragansett Brewing Co

Narragansett Brewing Co. - Summertime Citra Ale by imbibehour, on Flickr

Poured from the can into a nonic pint glass.

Big sexy looker in the glass. Bright brass yellow and gold body color, quite clear as well. Very little noticeable carbonation, the odd cola sized bubble pops up here and there, creeping up a little bit. Thick rich bright white cap. Easily four fingers and looking a little styrofoam like. Stops solid with big retention. Clumpy chunks of lace and thick cling with a bit of thick styrofoam appearances. Great looking brew.

Aroma is pretty dull. Soft grains, a bit of chewy sensations and some leftover sweetness that seems a bit like muted honey. Not much going on here.

Palate is a bit uninspiring. Soft fruited ale sensations with a simple malt bill. Decent body, but not exactly making the flavors pop or coat the palate. Minimal hop flavors, not particularly citrus or tropical sensing, but more of a dull basic pine, and more noticeable in the aftertaste than anywhere else.

It's a pretty simple inoffensive brew, without any flaws. But it's also a bit boring and not really exciting. Not really showcasing the citra, but then again that's not what they brewers were intending for more than likely. Still ordinary is ordinary.

look: 4.5 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3 | feel: 4 | overall: 3 | BA Generated Score : 3.25

Stay tuned happy beer drinking folks!

 

Above is what happens when I post without drinking coffee beforehand.

 

Stupidly hot on LI these past few days (90-95), a trend forecast to continue - so we have an "excessive heat warning" in the area. I do hate the heat, but I have a/c, so I'm undeterred, going forward with my new beer for the day...

Aún Más Todo Jesús imperial stout from Evil Twin...

Brewed at Cervesa del Montseny in Barcelona...

Made with cinnamon, cocoa nibs, chili peppers, and coffee beans... 12% abv...

Much like combining Aún Más Chili and Café Jesús into one brew...

This has a nice aroma of coffee and chocolate, mingled with something sharp and herbal, presumably the peppers and cinnamon. The feel is solid, perhaps not as thick as some of their other Jesús products. Flavors of espresso coffee and bittersweet fudge dominate, with ample tingle of peppery heat - not a tongue-burner, but way more appreciable than say, the Xolotl imperial stout from Avery that I had last Sunday. Similarly priced (this was a $12.99 bottle) and of comparable quality, though I happen to like this more than Xolotl mostly because of the chili sting and the bigger body. Perhaps a little less sweet, too, with hints of char and smoke. Drying finish leaves roasted chocolate and chili tingle behind...

Here's to new beer in your glass - cheers!