New Beer Sunday (week 612)

Wow, that's horrible news! Hope everything works out for both of your friends.

 

Awesome!

 

New Pumpkin Beer Sunday


This might be my new favorite in the style. It is very well balanced, with the spices not overdone but still noticeable enough. The carbonation is rather lively, but it seems to help the spices linger less and gives the 7%abv a rather drinkable feel. You can tell the base beer is well made. Nice job, DFH. I can't believe it took me this long to try one of the originals in the style.

Cheers, BA!

 

New Texas Beer Sunday here in the Brazos Valley:


Martin House's Turtle Power, an altbier with blackberries


proceeds benefiting the Turtle Survival Alliance


Do turtles eat blackberries? *That* one does.

Martin House continues to make good brews while trying different offbeat combinations with Turtle Power. The sweet malt presence is the highlight for me, big and fruity in the nose and just sweet enough to balance a solid earthy foundation in the flavor. The nose is so sweet it's like smelling candy ... candy cherry, candy strawberry ... maybe some blackberry in there, but it's easier to name the "sweet" aroma than the particular fruit. Also, both the nose and flavor have a Belgian abbey ale dusty quality. It's not a musty barn funk found in saisons but that dried dark fruit sweet dusty thing you find in quadruples ... a sweet stale smell that I personally love.

There isn't a ton of blackberry presence in it. As it warms, you can taste and smell something fruity, but if I didn't know there was blackberry in this beer, I'm not sure I could detect as much. Normally that's a turn off for me, but the beer is still so well made that it's hard to be disappointed.

The review:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/31272/140459/?ba=Premo88#review
3.96 (+9.4% rDev)

Cheers, NBSers!

 

Hello, NBS crew. After getting back home late last night from a week in Aruba with Mrs. O, I'm ready to break in a couple of new beverages tonight. First up, this nice IPA from Belching Beaver.



Full disclosure: I purchased this because because Little O and I saw the Deftones at Lollapalooza in 2011 (awesome show - that was also the year The Foo Fighters played "My Hero" in a hurricane). Not the best reason to acquire a beer, but what's a beer nerd to do?

Anywho, this is a beautiful beer, nearly clear, golden-hued beauty with a couple of fingers of white head. The aroma is citrusy wonderfulness, grapefruit rind and oranges, with heavy dank notes from the Citra/Mosaic hop combo.

The taste, though, is a bit thin, which surprised me, given the hop bill (Citra, Mosaic, Simcoe, Amarillo). I thought I'd be puckering up like I was getting ready to kiss Mrs. O, and the hop flavors were surprisingly muted. I enjoyed this, but it coulda been a contenda. Rated 3.98.

Next up, Imperial Stout time, courtesy of Odd Sides.



I sent a 2016 Darkness bomber to a beer nerd buddy for two of these. I thought I was getting the short end of the stick (and I was okay with that - the guy I traded with has sent me PHENOMENAL stuff). I was wrong.

This is traveshamockery good. It's like a hazelnut fudge float poured over a big stout. The key to beers like this, IMHO, is the base beer - if that's great, then the accoutrements will just enhance the flavors in said base beer.

Mission Accomplished. The base beer has all the RIS check marks (jet black pour, dark tan head, dark chocolate/dried fruit nose and taste), and then piled on top of that, you've got this chewy hazelnut aroma and flavor that elevates this 11 notches. Pour this on vanilla ice cream and serve it to me daily, I'd weigh 800 pounds in 6 months.

Rated 4.71.

 

New Beer Sunday: Tiny, the Imperial Stout

Evenin' NBSers, with special greetings to all you seekers of superior stouts.

Well the weather here is cool and clear which made it an ideal day for yard work. But then I also finished lots of items to be ticked off the "honey do" list and so I'm feeling pretty relaxed as I start sipping and reviewing this evening's new beer.

The beer I'll be describing is Tiny and is an Imperial American Stout brewed by Weyerbacher Brewing up in Easton, PA, so it is sort of local. They first released this beer 5 or so years ago and I'm not at all sure why it took me 5 years to get around to trying it.

My review now that I've finished about half the beer appears here:

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/392/56274/?ba=drtth#review

For my tastes this is a very nice and fairly complex imperial stout that is made more interesting by the use of Belgian yeast that brings some dark fruit flavors to the flavor profile. The aromas and flavors are a well blended mix of the dark chocolate and roasted malt flavors of the stout with the dark fruit flavors of the BSDA. Definitely a beer I’ll be coming back to as it seems perfect for a cold winter night with some blue cheese and a good book. (In fact, now that my review is nearly complete and I still have about half the beer left, it is time to break out some blue cheese. )



The other day, as I was deciding on my new beer for tonight I was also thinking about what to put on the player tonight. Then I remembered that our NBS drinking buddy @Roguer is back from his extended trip (which was dry, mostly). Since I know he's fond of a guy named Beethoven (and likes piano music) I chose to do a bit of a “side-by-side” listening with two of the finest composers of classical music ever, Beethoven and Mozart.

One of the few things these two had in common, outside of a love of music, was that they each spent a lot of time living in Vienna. For me personally they are also connected in that I once had the opportunity to live and work in Vienna for over two months (as well as get to make at least a half dozen visits of a week to 10 days). During my time in Vienna I was able to make a leisurely visit to the Mozart house museum in one of the few remaining places where he lived while working in Vienna. In addition I got to make a nice visit to the Beethoven house museum in one of remaining places where Beethoven lived while working in Vienna.

More importantly, another thing Mozart and Beethoven had in common was that each impacted certain forms of music and other composers in ways that few others have achieved. Beethoven was truly a revolutionary in that he created several works that set new directions and paths for exploration of music that no one had thought to follow before. Mozart was also gifted, but in a very different way. Several of his works raised some of the existing forms of music to a high level which no one before him had consistently achieved or thought possible. Effectively he was in the position of “forcing” others to copy him or to begin exploration of new paths on their own. Thus each composer, in his own way, was responsible impacting the work of others through creating some works of music that have never been equaled.

So the bottom line is that this evening I’ve been listening to a mixed bag of short works by Mozart and short works by Beethoven. Linked to below for each composer is one of his most highly regarded works. Both pieces of music appear regularly on a number of top 10 lists pros create when asked about the top 10 classical pieces ever written (or when they have their feet held to the fire, since 10 is actually a very short list. )

Mozart—Eine Kliene Nachtmusik

Beethoven--Fur Elise

Welcome back @Roguer.

Cheers, all!

 

This was the hop used in my NBS entry today. I don't believe I've had many with that hop but the beer- Limesicle Milkshake Ale was quite enjoyable. Cheers!

 

I have really been wanting to grab one of these, but my level of interest has peaked with the BCBS and Parabola talk. I still haven't had anything that really comes close in body/feel

 

I was actually reading that Motueka has a distinct lime aroma and flavor. As far as the milkshake ales go, I really want to try one. Not sure if it's going to take Trillium or Tree House to make one, hopefully I see a well-executed milkshake IPA w/ lactose available around me soon. I'm very interested in that concept.

 

Another New Scotch Ale Sunday



Silver City Big Magnificent Bastard Scotch Ale Aged in Scotch Whiskey Barrels

Evening, BAs. Drinking another one from the generous @kemoarps.

This one pours ruby brown with a finger of tan head that pretty quickly dissipates into a crown.

Musty hops and a touch of whiskey, stone fruit, toast and alcohol stand out in the aroma.

It has a very smokey, meaty, peaty taste, with light vanilla, caramel and scotch sweetness on the backend.

There's a well-carbonated, medium bodied mouthfeel with just some slight creaminess to it.

Pretty solid. I like it maybe just a touch better than the Fat Scotch Ale I tried earlier in the day. Lighter in color, this one is far smokier and sweeter.

Cheers, y'all.

 

Back for another from a trip around the bend of Lake Michigan I took on Friday to Transient Artisan Ales in Bridgman MI. A pint can of Flightless APA with no canning date and the abv. on the label listed as 5.5%. It's fresh because Transient is the latest darling around the southern shore and things sell fast! Let's check it out.....

Pours that coveted cloudy orange juice color with a thick finger of soapy white foam. Moderate lacing is left behind in it's wake. The smell is passionfruit, pineapple, some orange zest and fresh rubber. Taste is grapefruit, pineapple, a touch of floral, butyl and a peppery cracker taste in the finish. The feel is slick but on the watery side with a dry finish.





A tasty enough beer for the style, but I'm not overwhelmed by it. The feel is rather thin and slightly flat and the odd spicy cracker flavor strikes me as a bit out of place. While it's worth checking out, I'll probably keep future purchase at $13 a four pack of pints to a minimum and opt for less hazier but tastier cheaper options. Hint, Zombie Dust. My score is 4.03 / rDev -5.6%.

Back to football now. That Cowboys-Steelers game will be tough to beat! Here's the official scorecard for those keeping score at home. Have a great evening!

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/34258/255915/?ba=Prager62#review

 

One might almost think it was by accident....

 

The thing that surprised me is the crisp and light body and the lack of any real sweetness. Of course yeast likes sugar and even with most honey beers you gather a dry beer which this certainly was.
Just a 5.5% ABV though.

 

I just grabbed one yesterday. For $12, I'm expecting great things.

 

My last one for the NBS triple crown today and another from my trip to Transient on Friday. This one is an undated can of Crunchy Groove APA with oats. The abv. on the label is 5.5% and I'm pouring it in the footed Transient signature pub glass for the review because it's clean. Let's do this!

It once again pours the hazy orange juice color that they seem to have nailed. There's a generous finger of foam that slowly settles revealing heavy lacing. The smell is grapefruit, melon, sweet malt and yeast. Taste is cereal/malt, grapefruit and mild floral notes. The feel is thick and creamy with a slightly bitter and dry finish.





A good beer, but certainly not their best. It's too malty and lacking that juicy hop profile that I enjoy. The look and feel are the brightest attributes. They have better hop forward offerings that I'll stick to when considering future purchases. My score is 3.66 / rDev -4.7%.

I'm out for today people, have yourself a great week. Here's the official reading material for those inclined to look.....

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/34258/256050/?ba=Prager62#review

 

So glad this brewery has made its way to MI. Naturally, this beer begs to be compared to the infamous BBA Scotch Ale of my home state, Backwoods Bastard. The dried dark fruit flavors that are very prominent and are probably the best part of the flavor in this brew seem more reminiscent of a Belgian quad than a scotch ale to me, so for the style the nod goes to BWB. But, overall, this is an excellent beer regardless of style, and I am happy to have access to it for the coming winter months.

Cheers, NBS

 

Good evening, all, and Happy New DIPA Sunday! A very thoughtful opening by @cavedave today. One of my favorite parts of this journey has been the opportunity to try different beer styles that I never knew existed before I joined this community. If you all decide to do a New Style Sunday, though, somebody please tell me where I can get a nice Roggenbier. I've come up empty on this one.

After last night's WBAYDN insanity, during which I made good on an earlier promise to drink an Irish coffee out of my #proper Irish coffee mug, I had to ask myself: "Where have you been all my life?" Man alive, that stuff hit all the right notes! I had to make myself another one before church this morning. This could be my next obsession (as if I need another one). Right now, though, I'll return my focus onto my current hop obsession. One of my friends went to Chicago last week and asked me if there was any particular beer I was looking for. Well, thanks to all of you who have posted about Ninja vs. Unicorn, this is the one that immediately came to mind. I don't know how widely Pipeworks is distributed. (SeekABrew shows IL and NY, and that's it.) At any rate, I've been anxious to try this one. My friend gifted me a four-pack this morning, just in time for NBS. How cool is that?


I had this in the car for a couple of hours while I was running around this afternoon, so I put one on the freezer when I got home. It was in there for maybe 30-40 minutes. I got a really nice burst of pine and citrus when I popped the can open. Very attractive appearance, a cloudy amber color with a substantial snowy white head that left some sticky lacing.


When I first sampled this, it didn't seem like anything special. There wasn't the overpowering hop burst I was expecting, and the finish was crisp without much lingering bitterness or hop character. (There was no date on the can, as far as I could tell.) As it moved toward cellar temperature, though, it got quite interesting. The aromas of citrus and pine started to open up, and some floral notes began to come through. The flavors became more intense and the bitterness began to linger on the aftertaste. "This," I thought, "is how it was menat to be." Overall, this is an outstanding beer, insanely drinkable with a well-hidden 8.0% ABV.

Malts: 2-row, munich, special roast, white wheat, acidulated malt
Hops: CTZ, centennial, falconner's flight, zythos, cascade, chinook, falconner's 7Cs, simcoe
Adjuncts: dextrose
(Information from pdubs.net)

4.5/5 (rDev +5.9%)

 

#jhartley Just found out that Ollie the Shar-Pei is home and his owner Janet says he's not out of the woods yet. She is worried about atrophy in that leg. As for Dan, he escaped with his dog out of his burning house last night with no shoes and lost everything. Janet owns Burt's Pub here in Stowe and Dan works for Stowe Cider. Thanks for your concern!