New Beer Sunday (week 612)

Stillwater Contemporary Stereo

My son brought this home today and I thank him. A little heavy on the alcohol nose, but other than that quite tasty. Nice looking pour, a little cloudy with bits of sediment, but hey, I like that today.
Malt comes on at the end.

We lost a great one today. RIP Leon Russell.

 

Hi friends!
I'm always surprised how @cavedave can come up with an endless supply of alliterations to get us in the mood!
With that I present:
Stoneface brewing Mozaccalypse!
A 8% DIPA double dry hopped with Mosaic and Azacca hops.
Poured from a pint bottle (undated) into my snifter. It looks golden in color with a very rich looking compact to finger cream colored head.
Aromas of big juicy DIPA start wafting towards me as I pour it. And heading into the snifter, he promises me of a great trip encountering fruits like mango, peach, pineapple, tangerines and maybe some stone fruit. Dank piney aromas of hops are coming through too.
It has this wonderful rich taste that follows the nose. This is a very satisfying and Flavor loaded DIPA full off the promise of hop essence of mosaic and Azacca. Waves of tropical and fruity goodness along with the piney, floral notes from hop balance with some amount of bitterness to balance the flavors comes through.
This DIPA delivers its promise. If it's apocalypse (kinda feels like that somehow) or not, it's delicious enough to savor it's gifts.
Very satisfying mouthfeel with mildly dry finish makes it so drinkable.
Cheers!

 

I really liked the bottle I got from him. In fact, I may make him my sender again in the future.

 

Went back into @SammyJaxxxx 's box for this tasty, low ABV IPA: https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/40579/251684/

 

The boots are now shiny and ready for a day at the office tomorrow. Maybe I'll clean my AE Strands later, but those Red Wings are just so fun to shine. I'm onto a different beer now, because I like to review in pairs. Especially when the only other things I have going on on Sundays are doing laundry and stretching and rolling out my muscles (painful, but necessary). This beer I found on a whim. I walked into my favorite bottle shop after a few months absent (life got really busy there for a bit), and found one bottle of this. I figured if there was only one bottle left, it must be good. Either way, it's a Russian Imperial Stout, and I can't pass up one of those I've never heard of before. Let's dig for some treasure...



O'Dell's Jolly Russian.

Pour is black with a thin, fizzy head of caramel colored head. Head formation is actually fairly strong for a RIS, but nothing to write home about. It does look great. Lacing forms small islands strung out across the globe of my snifter from the get-go. Malts in all shapes and forms dominate the aroma. In particular, there are roasted, toasted, biscuit, and bread malts. A little barrel aged booze, rum, spice, and caramel shine through. It smells darker then a Sith Lord. Malts, malts, and malts are the story of the flavor profile. Those malts come in the form of roasted, toasted, and bread. Spices, rum, caramel, and a bit of oak all force their way through to add to the complexity. The palate is completely washed over with dark, rich notes. While the booze burn, or alcohol isn't incredibly prevalent despite the 13.3% ABV, it still has enough complexity to force you to sit back and savor each sip, which is the for the best. Mouth feel is filling, with a hearty, full consistency. Feel is, what I could only imagine, what it would be like to sip on motor oil. It makes it an absolute pleasure to sip on, but take a bit more then a sip and it's too much. Best drank slow. Overall, it's an incredibly complex, rich beer. It's filling, with notes that draw up inspirations of hearty winters spent in parkas, and digging for the rum stash on a beach. Although, this beer would be much, much better consumed in the wicked cold when you don't have any plans for hours after. At 13.3% with a knack for pillaging, this beer is best sipped and savored.

Score: 4.25 | 4.75 | 4.75 | 4.5 | 4.5 | BA Score: 4.65 | rDev: 7.6%

Reflections: I had an unusually high rDev on this guy, so I want to provide some additional reflections on this review. First off, one thing I did not touch on with this beer in the review in the label art - I love it. I don't spend nearly a dollar an ounce often, but when I saw this, I couldn't resist. You can thank the art work for grabbing my attention, but part of that credit/blame for my purchase also rides on the fact that I love imperial stouts of any version, making this time of year incredibly expensive and tough to train through. That love leads me to my second point: I love imperial stouts, Russian varieties included. Now I consider myself pretty aware of my biases and faults, maybe painfully so, so I will say I love RISs, and this is a hearty, fierce, killer RIS. Seriously. It's 13.3%. I will also say, I'm not usually a big fan of barrel aged varieties. While I'll still pick them up to try because I'm a bit of a ticker, I often find their flat look and feeling to be... off putting. Barrel aged beers almost always trade off the fun of the first pour and the hearty feel of a stout for a - too often - boozy bourbon burn. Fortunately for Jolly Russian that was not the case. Instead, it remained fun to pour and drink, while having a rum twinge to it. A welcome change to the stark world of barrel aging (can we just call it bourbon aging from here on out? That's about all it is 95% of the time). This semi-anti-bourbon sentiment is coming from someone who loves bourbon, but also someone who wants their beer to have something to say from when I pour it to when I analyze it on my palate. I am attending a whiskey tasting event next week, if you don't believe my love for bourbon. I guess what I'm trying to say in a long winded, run around way is I love this beer. So much so that I feel as though I may have some biases in my ratings. Regardless of it's at a 4.65 or a 4.5, it's something incredible to try. Now I'll leave this here for you all to chew up and try and digest.

Cheers.

 

Haha, after the box he sent me I would do the same if I could

 

Wow what a post! I'm hungry AND thirsty now.

 

First time seeing these around here, been wanting to try it since I saw it was a thing. Seeing as I enjoy regular Jai Alai (like many, when fresh), and that I have heard good things about this, I am a little excited to try Jai Alai aged on White Oak, by Cigar City:


The right photo is more natural light, and shows the color a little better. The head ends up soapy, with globs of lacing early in the pour.

Nose is heavy on the oak, almost as powerful as walking into the entrance on the other side of the Home Depot, sawdust and all. There's a citrus impression behind the wood, and maybe even a little cherry tartness near the end with a deep whiff.

Taste also leads with the oak flavor. This can is 2 weeks old, so not much oak has faded, I'd guess. If so, I can only imagine how powerful the flavor is off the canning line. The wood note fades fast, but does not go away. It actually recedes to a normal level, allowing the citrus flavor to come out. The beer has a somewhat floral impression at this point, and some fleshy tropical fruit notes gain the end taste.

This beer is actually a little heavy-handed on the oak for me. I am not sure whether to give it a little time to fade, given my feel as to how the base beer fades. However, this offering doesn't have the bitterness in the end that the base beer does, so maybe it'd work out fine. I'm guessing a couple people have had this, and may be able to chime in, @jhartley or anyone else?

 

It has been a beautiful fall weekend here in TN, with chilly temps at night for the first time all year. I was able to venture out yesterday to a great local brewery, Bearded Iris, which just released their first canned beer. The brewery itself has a great atmosphere, so I enjoyed a pint or two before picking up my cans - great stuff. It was also nice to see a bunch of Cheeseheads from Wisconsin there! Sorry about the Packers game today...

Homestyle IPA, Bearded Iris Brewing, Nashville, TN


look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25

It looks like a typical NE IPA: a turbid golden-yellow color with a moderate white head. The foam lingered for several minutes before settling into a nice cap. Great lacing. Big aromas of blueberry, pineapple, orange, and some earth and grassy tones. The taste followed closely with typical Mosaic flavors as in the nose. Very fruity with grapefruit, orange, and blueberries. A mild dank character but this is subtle. Also a little grassiness. The malt was understated but there was a nice bready presence. The feel was superb: creamy and soft. Dry finish. I'm pumped to have such a quality hoppy local offering. Hopefully their consistency will be dialed in.

I like also the commentary on the bottom with the packaging date, a page from Oskar Blues, although I'm a West-Coaster. Cheers!

 

My last entry for today is from Toppling Goliath - Pseudo Sue



Looks great, crystal clear, golden, nice frothy head. Nose is spicy and grassy, little else. Taste follows along quite closely to the nose as grassy is the predominant characteristic in this beer. Get past that and we find a fairly sturdy malt backbone, best explained as slightly nutty with a green tea quality. Great complexity, no problems with depth either. Nice beer.

 

Maybe we can start a "Fitness, diet, and progress" thread. I know for myself it's incredibly tough to balance beer and hardcore training.

One of the main runners I train with now that I'm out of college athletics can drink a KBS and come out and run mid 6:00 minute miles for 90 minutes the day after. If I sip on a KBS and try to run the following day I'm winded if the almost immediately. That's why I'm only drinking (or trying to) on the weekends. The same could be said for me going out and cycling after a night with a beer. And I'm not a bad runner. I ran low 16 minutes in the 5k with a few other solid PRs. I just can't turn around after a beer and run hard.

I'm training for a half marathon in April (although I'm not looking to run competitively). I'm looking to run a fast mile a month later, and possibly a hard 5150 Triathlon a month later (3 races over 3 months sounds pretty good). I could use a little support from the people I like to talk to about beer.

Cheers.

I'm on Strava, and may be getting another GPS watch for running, and my first for swimming. If so, I'll make all my runs and swims public. Otherwise, only my cycling data is out there. So if you want to follow me on there or unTappd, send me a PM.

 

Greetings NBS people! A very busy weekend of living life and drinking beer with little regards to constantly posting about it. I hate to admit it, but it's been rather refreshing. Damn you social media! On to the beer....

A quick stop at Red Robin for a bite with a beer from a regional brewery that I never thought I'd see in a chain restaurant compelled me to tell you about it. I think my palate has sufficiently recovered from FOBAB yesterday as well! Today's offering is Spotted Saddle APA by tiny One Trick Pony in Lansing IL. Let's break it down!

It's a slightly cloudy gold color with a centimeter of white foam. Heavy lacing is left behind as you sip it down. The aroma is rather tame with some floral, citrus and malt. Taste is a pleasant mix of floral and citrus with a kiss of refreshing lemon zest in the finish. The feel is resiny with a chewy malt backbone.



This was a nice surprise from a brewery that's been on my list of places to visit. A wonderful balance of floral, citrus and chewy malt that drinks rather easily. I sure wish this was packaged! My score is 3.98 / rDev +0.3%. It washed my Black and Bleu burger down nicely!



Heading home soon, not sure what's next? I hope you have/had a great day of new beers! Here's the official scorecard.....

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/29403/96209/?ba=Prager62#review

 

Notwithstanding a Sue interlude as I busied myself with chores about the condo today, I have given myself over to the darker side again - Sierra Nevada's Barrel-Aged Bigfoot Barleywine-Style Ale, aged in Whiskey Barrels (2015):



Pours an amber brown but really darker (18 to 24) with ruby highlights; off white head; decent cap retention; light haze with lots of small particulates; no legs... 3.5



Boozy malt nose with fruity/spicy hop nose; whiskey exhale. 4.25

Bitter, spicy almost peppery earthy hop start; boozy malt with fruity/spicy flavors; whisky, prunes, vanilla, brown sugar, toasted marshmallows, whiskey bitter hop finish. 4.5

Mouthfeel is almost full with a chewy, resinous body; moderate carbonation; warming dry tongue coating; not really creamy, but there is an undeniable gravitas that warmly sits on the tongue. 4.25

Intense bitter/boozy linger (I'm still sipping as I write); overall, there is a rich mild sweetness that pushes up against a bitter hoppiness that will not yield, even after a year plus in the bottle; oh, yeah, whiskey asserts itself and the boozy bite competes well with the hoppiness; together a fine, strong complimentary finish. 4.25

I'm still sipping...drink what you enjoy friends; Share, love, laugh...cheers!

 

Prolly my last NBS entry, as I have to work for a bit (the Seacows are on SNF, and I have to set up for it), but I will be having beers whilst avoiding the game. Finally getting the chance to tick a much hyped brew that ruled the roost 3-4 years ago, I wasn't terribly impressed, glad I only grabbed a 4 pack. https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/345/99873/

 

Hmmm... a thread for "dieting BAs" might be interesting. Have to find some way to keep it focused on beer, which might make it a tad difficult . But where there's a will, there's a way!

 

Oh, I thought we had a general talk forum, but admittedly, I very rarely surf the forums here. Maybe "Beer and food" would work? Or general beer talk? Would "I almost had a RIS, but settled for a Michelob Ultra" suffice? It may be an attempt in vain.

Seriously though. I dropped a few pounds in the month I didn't drink at all, and I was running easily 15 seconds per mile quicker. I actually felt comfortable from the first stride, and was able to push the pace. Winter is especially hard to balance drinking with training considering my love for stouts, and also how bad those beers wreck my training. Gah.

Let's start a big health personal conversation. Those can be more then a few people. PM me if you want in. It's time I start training and feeling better, but I still want to be able to enjoy some good brews.

 

I'm going to check that app out! I've got a Fitbit, but I can't seem to find any other beers on the calorie count except Budweiser, Sam, and Miller Lite.
I figured if I count my calories all week and exercise, I can enjoy a few brews on the weekend!
Don't fret! You can do it when you're ready .