New Beer Sunday (week 622)

Something to ward off the morning chill . . .



Score 3.89
look: 3.5 | aroma: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4

Dark, dark, dark color with deep tan cap that goes away fairly quickly.

Aroma is dark roasted malt with an underlying sweetness that I can't quite place. No hops apparent.

Taste is very rich roasted malt with a noticeable sweetness, sort of like a roasted nut dusted with cocoa power and sugar. Touch of chocolate with a full roundness and low hop presence. Just a few flavors and simply presented but good flavors none the less.

Texture is full.

The resident Guinness fan says this tastes like Guinness with a touch of molasses and I agree. The sweetness is there but not in an intrusive way. From an enthusiast view this is not a conversation stopping beer but it is a well thought out combination and well made. The competency of a First Sergeant without any flash or glitter. Sam Adams has a knack for turning out these brews that while not exciting do offer something a bit different in the fall variety pack.

 

Thanks to JackHorzempa , for starting NBS this week. Very nice review. Would be nice if this brew would show up in GJ. Will be back with a brew later on today.

Cheers!

 

Poured at near room temperature best by 13/01/19 is what the bottle cap says. Pours a very slick near completely black with a massive 2 plus finger light brown head that leaves behind gorgeous gobs of lace as it slowly settles into a thick layer of brown bubbles. 4.75 Smell is roasty grain, deep dark fudge, roasted coffee grounds, tobacco, leather, oaky vanilla, a little dark fruit, and some hints of char. 4.5

Taste follows a healthy dose of roasty grain and expresso, dark chocolate, pipe tobacco, leather, vanilla, a dark fruit, and char and a little warming alcohol. 4.5

Mouthfeel is pretty darn thick, plenty of carbonation, definitely slightly dry as I was expecting, and the drinkability is very good, but it drinks larger than its 8% ABV. 4.75

Overall this is a very complex and excellent stout. Not sure of the price because a friend from work gave it to me, would love to drink this again. 4.5

 

Cheers Jack and thank you for filling in for Dave this month and for getting us started on this beautiful Sunday. You are having a a beer today that I wish I could find. I have not been able to find it yet but suffice to say that your review makes me want to try it even more.

Happy New Beer Sunday everyone and today I have Sneak Attack Saison from 21st Amendment.



Pours golden with yellow highlights and a thick creamy head of white foam that is too lazy to fall. As it sits there tempting and teasing the cardamom that has been added to this beer gives the nose a bit of perfumey buoyancy. The nose exudes spice, citrus and a sumptuous breaddiness . The sweet perfume lifts the rest of the nose to you without overtaking it completely so I liked that. Pepper and plenty of spice, plus a sweet herbal. The yeast adds some sweet funk of it's own and that smells earthy to me. I thought that the scent of this beer was sensational and very old world. It smells very beery. IS beery a word? As citrusy as it is, it reminds me of bread not fruit. Lemon is light but pervasive.



Taste follows the nose all the way. Breaddy, crisp malt accented by tiny prickly bubbles that bring a somewhat surprisingly hoppy middle to you. Herbal notes and generous citrus finish this with a small tartness that is characteristic in the saison. It also has plenty of dry earthy funk on the palate and I think that sensationalizes the malt breaddiness as well. The cardamom offers a citrusy quality of it's own but leaves the perfume on the nose rather than on the palate which keeps the malt prominent in the finish. The hops are more succulent than you think at first and just when you think the beer is not really dry, it is.

I loved this and have paired it with all kinds of food since I bought it. Crisp, refreshing and a very satisfying malt. The difference I think the cardamom makes in this beer is that it's perfume actually increases the perception of dryness and marries well with the yeast they have chosen. It is not brut dry because it is just too hoppy for that, but it's dry enough. The hops bitter the finish just a little and then as you drink , just a little more. Soft and juicy hop flavors. This was rustic and charming with a lightly sweet funk that resounds in the finish and in the aftertaste with the malt.

Today Ima gonna make-a the rappini submarini or the rappini panini. Cheers and Happy New Saison Sunday!

 

Good morning New BSers! Thanks for the opening, Jack! Wood is an important topic to barrel aging - I assume the oak from northern Europe grew slower and thus had a denser structure than French or American oaks, but that's only speculation on my part. And what, exactly, was the "pitch" used to coat the barrels? Didn't it contribute to the flavor? Maybe @Squire123 can enlighten us?

My NBS contribution today is:



$ 19.44 (Including shipping)/bomber ($ 0.884/oz) from Blackwell’s, San Francisco, CA
Bottled on 11/18/16 (I guess, somewhat smeared) at 42 degrees into a hand washed and dried JK snifter
Aroma – heavy coffee and some chocolate
Head – large (Maximum five cm, aggressive pour), light brown, dense, creamy, retention fair, diminishing to a three mm ring with attached lacing. There is a thin complete layer with a large area of thicker bubbles resembling brown algae on a pond.
Lacing – excellent – wide bands of tiny bubbles
Body dark brown/black, opaque. Around the edges where light can penetrate it is distinctly brown.
Flavor – here the chocolate malt overpowers the coffee, at least initially. Then the coffee comes through, slightly burnt and slightly bitter. The bourbon barrels are not evident, nor are hops. There is no alcohol flavor or smell. The late soft gastric burn could be from the coffee as much as from alcohol. No diacetyl.
Palate full, creamy, soft carbonation

A very good stout-flavored coffee which lacks any trace (for me) of the alleged bourbon barrels.

Appearance 4.25, Aroma 4.5, Flavor 4, Palate 4.25, Overall 4.25. Rating 4.21, rDev +2.7%

On this beer bottle, Modern times also does this:



I really like the additional info and wish all brewers would do so as well. And yes, I know some others do and include such info as appropriate glass style and temperature for consumption. This is just my particular fetish, after dating bottles clearly on the label.

 

-fitting well with the barrel-aged theme, Almanac's Coffee Barrel Noir is a nearly black pour with a minute foam ring at the edge of the glass. Aroma is more bourbon than coffee and subdued. The flavors are deep coffee and oaked bourbon with no burnt- bitterness and minimal sweetness. The ABV is not noticeable. The feel is rich and velvety. This is a superb brew. I enjoyed it on tap a couple of times and will now enjoy some time with this crowler.

 

Beer sounds excellent......sandwich sounds fantastic!

 

I assume that it is wood pitch or resin (tar-like goop). If that is the case it surprises me that it would be the least "flavorful" option, but then again I'm no 19th century cooper. This stuff. They used to use it for all sorts of things.

 

I agree. And if you've ever been to Doyle's in Jamaca Plains, they make a great Cherry Wheat/Chocolate Bock. They pull the Bock into the glass first then the Sam Adams Cherry Wheat to make a delicious treat. I've tried this at home, but to no avail. It just doesn't taste as good as it does at Doyle's. Cheers!

 

Sorry, I guess I was inexact. I know what "pitch" is in general. I intended to inquire about the specific type of pitch used in this case and was curious about it's effect on the taste of the beer (or anything else, for that matter). While I cannot say that I've ever tasted or consumed pitch, It would seem to me that it should indeed have effect, probably detrimental, on flavor. Possibly the effect on flavor is less than that of oak, or maybe people at that time just didn't mind the taste of pitch as much as oak.

 

Thanks for posting that. Super interesting video and explanation from them!

 

Great lead post, @JackHorzempa !

If you have been following LNBA, I have enjoyed three new beers this week, but have three still in the hotel fridge to choose from for football and NBS on the road.

Three Floyd's Alpha King was a hit with its bold, balanced flavor and luxurious texture.

Tyranny Sheep Shagger Scotch Ale was a bit of a miss, but still a good beer. There was a background fruity note that I am not sure belonged there. Not disagreeable, but maybe a scooch out of place to my taste buds.

Bell's Two Hearted...not much to say that hasn't been said about this BA favorite. Just an outstanding, flavorful, wonderfully drinkable beer.

So the plan is to spend a couple hours in the plant, find a decent pizza, and settle in for two football games. I can't really lose unless the Steelers win, so things are looking good...see ya later, NBS-igators.

 

Wow! Thanks Jack! This is very interesting!

 

Continuing on the theme of wood aging, I am having my first taste of oude Geuze. I have been curious to try the style for some time and when the opportunity presented itself I seized it. The aroma of the beer is somewhat familiar, I am reminded by Orval in that it has a similarly musty funk to it. Flavorwise it is very different however, and I am initially taken aback by its bracing sourness. I get some of the same funk in the flavor as was present in the aroma, and after a while the sourness and the funk appear to reach a more harmonious blend than in the beginning. Perhaps due to the dissipation of some of the carbonation. I would call the overall experience more interesting and educational as opposed to tasty or enjoyable, but I'm certainly glad to have tried it.

 

Great post Jack.

Couple things -

I have seen it said that Goose Island was the first American brewer to match bourbon barrels with stout. (This is barring what people in homebrew clubs were supposedly doing earlier.) I think it's reasonable that that statement goes into specific detail (American, bourbon, stout) because it probably needs to. When it gets less specific, it probably begins to resemble marketing myth making.

I'm not sure, but I think lambics might have been aged in used wine barrels. If it's the case, I have no idea if any flavors were imparted as a result (or if it was desired). At the least, lambic production utilized unlined barrels. Rodenbach's tuns were (or are) uncoated wood. Traquair's original equipment includes unlined oak vessels for fermentation. Guinness used barrels without pitch. I think the same was the case for Czech lagers. And so on and so on.

I also believe the stories that place Bourbon County's origins at '94 or '95 rather than company statement of '92. It's worth noting that in Michael Jackson's 1993 Beer Companion, he mentions Scottish brewer Borve ageing dark ale in American oak Bourbon casks. Something to think about.

Of course I'm muddying the waters because I think the waters really are muddy.

Cheers!

 

Dark start...

Cloudy and gray outside the window, black inside the glass...


Immediately impresses with sweet, creamy, darkly roasted coffee... Bitter, dark, roasted malt flavors follow quickly, with just hints of char and blackstrap molasses in the background. Bittersweet chocolate and espresso notes linger on the finish, drying out the palate but leaving a little stickiness behind. Medium-weight but full-feeling, with a smooth, roundedness on the tongue. Real nice stuff.

Alright, that's all I got that's new today. Got Two to the Dome, Hopslam, and Sumi Zest to pick at for the rest of the day, and the conference championship games later on.

Here's to new beer in your glass: Cheers!

 

Greetings friends,
It's a chilly, foggy, rainy Sunday AM and we're delaying our hike for a short spell. We're usually intrepid in our ventures out, but the dogs were not so eager when we first leashed them up. OK, we'll wait you spoiled rotten hounds, and thanks!
Boy, are these interesting times! New definitions are being written. Yesterday was the 60s redux. Hold on everyone. I think I'll pop a beer!
Today's beer is Feldschlobchen Urbock 7% from Dresden packaged 12/7/16
I saw this one last week at an Aldi store and thought the 4-pack of 16.9 oz cans at $6.99 to appear to be a great deal. Beautifully packaged, claiming "German Craft Beer" and "Brewed According to the German Purity Law" right there on the can. I pulled the trigger yesterday.
This boy pours a "Newcastle" brown, paling at the edges, tossing a lovely khaki to off-white and rocky cap. The head recedes to a thin layer, light lacing. The nose is a slight roasty and malty waft with some yeast and ferment that blows away quickly. There is also a slight licorice or anise edge, a bit medicinal, but in a good way...Like, honey, now take your medicine! OK.
The first sip is roasty, with a nice little bitterness chipping away at the seeming sweetness. The predominant flavor is dark roasted malt with a little molasses. This urbock is notably "dryish", light in body, with a prickly carbonation and white pepper-like spicy warmth (alcohol/hops?).
This is an easy drinking, fairly high-toned, but still simple German dark beer. Is this a great Urbock? No. Is it a good drinking value? Yes. For taking a chance on an unknown, I feel OK. I would like try this one out on regular AAL drinkers as an intro to a different style. It really is just fine. Thanks for the rousing start Jack!

My daughter told me the other day that the "sound track" of her growing up was Joni Mitchell, Paul Simon, and Van Morrison. She remembered the many car rides and trips, and she loves these tunes today. That made me happy and that is the power and magic of music. Well, here's The Belfast Cowboy/Them entertaining a French crowd in 1965.

 

Goooood Morning, Jack!!!! What a super dooper cooper lesson. He he he, Wood!