New Beer Sunday (week 625)

Honestly, I was astounded to see this on the shelf earlier today. I didn't think it was available in Massachusetts, but I was wrong! (Also managed to grab a bottle of Pirate BOMB! But that's a beer for another day...)

I'm super excited that I was able to try this after having a pour of TrillBOMB! at Trillium last weekend. The Chili is definitely more prominent in Prairie Bomb, but is still subtle. Has flavors of milk chocolate, vanilla, and coffee ice cream, all with that mild pepper background aftertaste. This is near hilariously smooth. There's no possible way that this is 13%.

 

New Beer Sunday: A new Oyster Stout.

Evenin' NBSers, with special greetings to all you enjoyers of English Stouts.

Well, there was a lot more moisture that came down from the skies today than I'd expected but it was never very heavy, just steady. Got in a trip to the gym, some grocery shopping and most of the chores scheduled for today finished so now it's time for a second new beer.

The Oyster Stout this evening is the Chesapeake English Stout from Flying Dog.

As usual my review, subject to revision until the beer is finished, can be found here:

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/68/75364/?ba=drtth#review

While this isn’t an exceptional stout it is a good one that at least touches most of the right bases for me. The aromas/flavors include some chocolate, some coffee and some dark roasted malt. If you’re looking for an intense “in-your-face” stout with strong flavors look elsewhere. This one is a stout made to go with food or an evening’s conversation with friends. (Especially if one has a batch of oysters to eat.)

Cheers, all!

 

Craig, my homebrewed and bottle conditioned IPAs need a minimum of three weeks in the bottle and often times 4-5 weeks to reach peak of flavor. I recognize this may be contrary to what most folks would report but my 20+ years of brewing experience says otherwise.

Cheers!

 

Good evening NBA, hope everyone is enjoying the end of the weekend once again. Thanks to @smakawhat for guest hosting today's thread. Been super busy at work once again, just finished up 5 hours of overtime today here at home. Hope things are sorted out for now, will find out tomorrow. We are getting a new team member tomorrow, so hopefully we can spread out the workload eventually. I will probably have to help train them as well. Review 5100 will be on Friday. Still have plenty of things in reserve for reviewing. New stuff seems to keep popping up every week. I always know where to shop when they don't hit my local places.

Today's new beer:

Can't believe I've never reviewed this; but I finally found a good freshness dating on the singles shelf, so maybe that's the reason. This was pretty nice! Nice head retention and lacing down the glass. Brilliant clarity. Aromas and flavors of cracker, lightly toasted biscuit, and light honey malts; with some herbal, grassy, light peppery hops. A hint fruity in the nose, but otherwise perfectly clean lagering in the flavors. Light-moderate herbal/spicy bitterness on the finish. Light-medium bodied; moderately crisp, dry, and clean finish. Fairly grainy/sticky balanced mouthfeel. A little thin, but otherwise solid and not watery feeling. Refreshing, well balanced, and flavorful. Really enjoyable, and spot on stuff for the style. 3.63


Really nice APA! Fantastic head retention and thick lasting lacing on the glass. Flavors of big grapefruit, tangerine, pineapple, lemon zest, orange peel, light pepper, and pine hops; with moderate honey, toasted bread, light caramel malts; and herbal, floral, grassy hop earthiness. Similar but weakened aromas. Moderate pine/citrus peel/spicy/grassy bitterness on the finish. Light-medium bodied and crisp; balanced grainy malt and hop stickiness in the mouthfeel; light resins and increasing dryness. Zero hop astringency. Extremely refreshing and very flavorful for 4.8%. Nice malt backbone for the ABV. Wonder if they used fresh or whole hops with this one. Feels pretty dank and herbal for Centennial/Cascade, but still bright on the citrus. All around delicious, would buy again. 3.91


Awesome american porter! Great head retention and lasting lacing all around. Aromas and flavors of big dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee, caramel, toasted dark bread, fudge, nuttiness, smoke and light charcoal malts; with some grapefruit, orange peel, piney, peppery, tobacco, and herbal hops; with light hints of raisin/plum/prune dark fruits in the back. Moderate pine/peppery hop and roast/char bitterness on the finish. Medium bodied with nice bready/grainy creaminess; moderate hop stickiness, chalky roast, and light resins in the mouthfeel. Increasing bitter char/resin dryness, zero hop/roast astringency. Super smooth. This is pretty aggressively hoppy for the style, yet not overdone. Given the labeled "India Style", I knew exactly what I was getting. Absolutely delicious. Great malt, hop, and subtle fruity yeast complexities all around. 4.1


This is fantastic as expected! Aromas and flavors of big milk/dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla, bourbon, caramel, toffee, brown sugar, toasted oak, brown bread, pepper, cream, and light smoke. Light roast/char bitterness and pepper/cinnamon spice on the finish. Medium-full bodied and light-medium carbonation. Really amazing creamy/silky/rich mouthfeel; minimal chalky roast, spice stickiness, or dryness. Loved this just a notch more than the base beer. The barrel presence is pleasant and not overwhelming. Very mildly warming finish, with zero barrel booziness. A lot smoother/silkier from the barrel aging. Amazing spice/malt balanced just like the base beer. Maybe not worth the price, but I loved it. Need to stock up on more regular Xocoveza, if I can still find it. Down to 2 bottles or something now. 4.25


Cheers, have a good night NBS.

 

Not my thing, super sweet with an unbalanced booziness. The maple is nice, but it's just too damn sweet.

 

That would be great. It's too bad that it's so hard getting a fresh bottle of one. I found an old Harpoon 100 Barrel one not too long ago and bought it knowing it was probably too old... but there's just so few choices out there (and the beer inside was in fact a bit too old). Maybe I'm being the fool since the name means "old beer." I wouldn't be able to join a tasting any time soon because I'm currently going through a self-imposed dry-at-home phase. Can't you tell that I'm drooling with every post.

 

OK, I will 'bite'.

Where do we buy our beers for this online tasting?

I might be able to buy a 6-pack of Straub Groundhog Altbier. My local beer store manager tried to get me this beer last Friday but he sent me an e-mail yesterday (Saturday) that the beer was not delivered to him.

Pretty difficult to have a tasting of a beer style that is not readily available for purchase.

Cheers!

 

Today's new brew is a last minute grab from the convenience store when I realized I drank all my new beers over the week. I braved the blizzard and grabbed a Long Trail Survival Pack, and in it a new brew, Flyin Ryan IPA.



Pours a fairly clear orange amber with a fluffy white head, quickly dissipating to a film but leaving great lacing.

Aroma is orange, grapefruit, daisy like floral, and grass and toast. Fairly light aroma overall.

The taste is candied orange, flowers, toast, grassy hops, and a little grapefruit bitterness, hint of peppery herbs. Also quite light in flavor but very well balanced and drinkable.

Mouthfeel has a light to medium body and spot on carbonation. Slightly drying.

Overall I'd say it's a fairly run of the mill IPA, perhaps on the lighter side of the style. I think it's pretty decent beer, not something I would grab everyday, but easy drinking. I liked the Standout IPA in last years pack a lot more.

Cheers!

 

Understood - and in discussing things with you, I learned this is completely okay (mainly from your Harvest Ale), especially because I noted some of my IPAs don't "suffer from age". They might suffer from my process, but still .

I only popped one (warm) to see its status. This batch was yet another little curveball in the length that fermentation took, so I was anxious. I plan on another 2-3 weeks for the batch, but might pop one in a week or so to check progress (again: because I am impatient, plus I have enough to pop one here and there).

 

Checking 1-2 beers along the way is perfectly acceptable. It provides you with input on how your beers will mature/evolve with time in the bottle. We all have out own unique homebreweries and learning how your homebrewey 'works' is part of the trick.

Cheers!

 

Well that was hard, but thank you cjgiant. It'll take some screwing with. But I got it that far, a first, but the pic is one of mothers natures best from the Maldives, a natural occcurance.

 

It'll take a little getting used to, for sure. Hope I explained it well enough along the way, and I'm willing to help again until it becomes second nature .

 

Just adding text for say a beer review, at what point do I insert that? There's a point in imigur to do that, or do I add text then download the url on BA thread?

 

When there's a will there's a way, folks. If it weren't for pioneers, the Gose, the Gruit, and the Gotlandsdrinka wouldn't have been resurrected! OK, well maybe not the last one, but you get my point. The Altbier will rise from the ashes! (Aaaaand, soapbox session complete.)

 

Thanks for the link - an interesting read about one of my favorite beer styles!

 

Good Evening NBSers. It is fairly rare for me to appear here but I always enjoy dropping in. Today I was inspired by the age old classic beer discovery voyage of the house party.....we had people over last night for a 'Bad Movie Night' and a couple of new brews were left in my fridge. This beer caught my eye - 21st Amendment - Sneak Attack. A winter seasonal saison with cardamom. My guest drank exactly one beer and left me the rest. Well that's a guest that may well be invited back!

Onto the brew....



The pour is slightly hazy with a head that said goodbye rather swiftly - carbonation is fairly lively. Came out of my main fridge cold so gave this a few minutes to warm before starting to dive in. The spice and yeast notes give up a nice yield when getting a whiff of this. Even more so as it warms. First few sips don't give up too much in terms of the cardamom, and the feel at first is slightly restrained. Pepper and cloves try to pop out to take over the show here but blend in overall to what is quite a balanced saison. There's little to no funk here, but the aftertaste leaves a pleasing spiciness, with hints of ginger and plantain coming in. You were expecting me to say banana right? Well more savory than that really, and reminiscent of the outer edges of a jibarito. Bit of a citrus zing cuts through the spice and slightly bready yeast elements.

Half way through drinking this I put together some queso style dip with chipotle cheddar (at my wife's request) and found the beer to complement it fantastically well. I think this is one that I will likely enjoy better with food rather than on its' own. I can see Indian curries, pozole and rich casseroles pairing up well here.

Overall, I like it. For something left in my fridge i'm happy to have a few more cans to enjoy.

 

Me and the Wifey at Tommy Condons / Charleston Sc last Oct. sorry for jamming up this thread and thank you cjgiant for the help. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing in a feeble mind.

 

I've liked both altbiers I've had, I would definitely want to see them become more popular.

 

What's the date on the Chemin de Croix? That's a great beer!