New Beer Sunday (week 631)

I frankly didn't know what to expect and was pleasantly surprised . . .



Score 4.12
look: 3.5 |aroma : 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25

Lighter shade of gold with white cap and good lace

Striking aroma of passion fruit, orange and something else even stronger which I presume is the guava listed by the brewer. Can't state that for a fact though, I have no idea what guava smells like or even how it tastes for that matter. These combinations are intense enough to over shadow the grain base scents.

Remarkably smooth, round taste incorporating the fruits and the grain base which includes wheat in the mix. The parts mesh together and complement each other so well it's difficult to tease out the flavor threads individually. Suffice to say everything is in good order and it works. The fruits are ripe yet not overly sweet or cloying, rather dry actually, malt/grain base is rich without being heavy, a complex and subtle approach that displays sophistication.

Texture is a well muscled body for such a light hearted brew.

What with the fruited flavor and festive presentation it's easy to call this a Summer brew but it's much more. A well thought out highly flavorful beer served on a solid grain base that itself could stand alone as good beer without the fruit embellishments. It all works and works well.

 

Mavens of maibock, pillars of pilsener and bastions of brown! Cheers you all and welcome to New Beer Sunday! Today is the day and this is the place for you to TRY a new beer and TELL us about it. Beer is appreciated in each of five categories. Appearance, nose, taste, mouthfeel and overall impression.

The first thing I do in the morning is tune in to this website. It's been like that for a few a years now. Of all the places on the web for a gal to meet up with positive, focused and encouraging people this is it. And NBS is the cherry on the Sundae! A place to do a bit more formal live tasting with Matt leading off with a fiesty alliteration just to get us going! For me NBS has been like fulfilling a wish because I always wanted to write. I have kept a journal my whole life and adding beer review to it was my first step. Then it was impossible not to be swept away by all of you. I love the early birds, the morning people like me who have been thinking about that review since 5am. I love the fellowship and the cameraderie. I look forward to reading it. From @Greywulfken's snack plates, to @JackHorzempa's hop plant, @Roguer's Beethoven bust and @Lingenbrau's glasses. New Beer Sunday is special.

It's also family and that is why it's time for us two oldsters to go and two new hosts to come in. I don't think either Dave or I will ever miss a Sunday of this thread. I'll be here to kibbitz and chit chat, to cook and play that funky music. To lead us off starting in April will be our very own @lordofthewiens and @cjgiant !

Thank all of you for having confidence in me. For treating me like one of the guys and for wanting me always to do my best.

Happy New I Read it in a Thread Sunday

First lemme tell you that I made these crackers for all of you. They are made from spent grain. I put them with home made hummus and fresh oregano in olive oil. This is Peak Organic's Nut Brown Ale!


I am drinking this beer now!






Pours mahogany brown with copper and orange hues. Thinner head of cream colored foam that lasted well. Clear. Nose is toasted malt and hard nutty caramel. Cool, woody hop. Breaddy, a soft dark fruit back note but nothing too prominent.

Drinks nutty , twiggy and quite hoppy because it's fresh. Best by -7/19/17. The caramel is fim and nutty but also velvety and a bit rich. The mouth feel is medium but fuller. That means the fullest medium. Right here is where we can say it's not a porter or a stout because it's not full it's just fullish. It demonstrates how persuasive caramel is in the malts. It's soft with lots of breaddy malt and there is a crisp, bigger bubble. No bite just an open feeling in the finish, an expanding. The hops are twiggy. Caramel is a secondary flavor in beer and imo if it becomes too prominent the beer seems off balance and too sweet. Also the wrong color. This one is nice and dark brown, very toasted and not sweet. Excellent. Hearty yet gentle. It is not too complex and that is the trademark of the brown ale. A bit of nutty toasty flavor on some vibrant hops.

The new guidelines differentiate the American brown ale with a bigger hops presence and abv all the way to 6.2%. In the old guidelines this would have been an English brown and the cap at 5.4%

Cheers you all and Happy New Beer Sunday!

 

New Beer Sunday: A Blood Orange IPA

Mornin’ NBSers, with special greetings to all you fans of an IPA to start the day.

But most important of all, a big THANKS to @cavedave and @utopiajane for their commitment to keeping this Sunday tradition alive, well and flourishing. My new beers today will be 2 in number, with each being hoisted in salute to our co-hosts for so long.


Well, the weather roller coaster ride I thought was ending seems to still be going on. For a few days this week it was clear and cold. This Friday it began to warm and yesterday temperatures were above normal and well over the 70 mark during a cloudy day with scattered rain showers. This morning as I look out the window all I see are overcast skies and signs of scattered showers. Today and the next day or so are supposed to be much the same before we see a another sunny day here.

So….

While waiting for the oven and breakfast I decided to do a new beer.

This mornin’s IPA, hoisted in salute to our retiring Co-hosts is the Flying Dog Bloodline Blood Orange Ale which is full of flavors from the hops and Blood Orange zest used in brewing.

As usual, my review is in progress, but almost finished, and can be found here:

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/68/92018/?ba=drtth#review

This is a nicely balanced, fruit flavored IPA with aromas and flavors that include some grapefruit, some blood orange zest, a bit of pine, some light sweetness and some well controlled but definitely noticeable bitterness. The flavors are crisp, clean and all play nicely together nicely even to the end of the finish, when they leave behind that nice, dry bitterness that invites another sip. Definitely a beer worth trying and I’ll probably doing some repeats on this one.

Cheers, all!

 

My 1000 review and a beer sent to me by @jzeilinger, seems fitting. Thanks @cavedave for as always for a poetic opening. This beer says vintage 2016, 9% ABV not sure of the actual date. Poured near room temperature into my favorite Lost Abbey long stim tulip glass. Pours near jet black, with a 2 finger light brown head, that slowly settles into a fairly thick layer of khaki bubbles and leaving nice wisps of lace behind. 4.5 Smell is baker's chocolate, vanilla, roasted expresso, toffee, heath bar, and a hint of alcohol. Kind of one dimensional and I am not complaining. 4.25 Taste follows just loaded with cocoa nibs, strong roasted coffee, vanilla, toffee, heath bar, and a hint of Kahlua in the lip smacking finish. 4.5

Mouthfeel is pretty thick and vicious, slightly creamy, moderate amount of life as I have come to expect from a Imperial Stout, and it is so tasty it is easy to forget it is 9% ABV, drinks very easy. 4.5

Overall this is a world class dessert beer, as I said a one trick pony, but it is very good at that trick. Taste exactly like you would expect a beer brewed with cocoa nibs and coffee should taste and that is fine! 4.5

 

Cheers to you and Maria
I always look forward to NBS and your stewardship has been a factor in that
weekly desire to explore and learn.
Best to you both

 

@cavedave
Thanks so much for all your starts to NBS. Thanks to you, and all the other starters, Sunday has become my favorite day of the week.

I'll be participating later today, without pics, because I'll be in Baudette, MN after fishing the Rainy River. Yes I'll see Canada from the boat I'll be in. I've got 4 new brews that I'm taking there, and I can't wait to enjoy them, while cooking up some tasty walleye.

See you after fishing, and have a great NBS everyone!

 

The very frequent real artistry that Dave and Maria have brought to the love of beer is to be celebrated. We are all fortunate to have been along for their part of this unique gathering. My sincere thanks to you both. The energy here will not cease. I have great fondness for @cjgiant and @lordoftheweins and look forward to their stewardship of this fun place on any and every Sunday.

 

Congratulations! =)

 

Thanks Maria, I see you are 15 away from 1000 formal reviews also. Cheers

 

Thank you Dave And Maria , a terrific job and thank you for making this a Sunday staple for me. Looking forward to the incoming CJ and lord to carry it on.

Today's will be something I've been sitting on for two years now, I've babied it kept it cold and dark. But that's for this afternoon, another weeks a coming.

 

Thanks @cavedave for the awesome start today. This is my celebratory post-nightshift, ready for some days off new beer Sunday beer.
Shorts Cat's Pajamas DIPA brewed with blood orange & guava

12oz bottled 2/8/17 poured into an IPA glass at fridge temp. Pours golden red with off white head. Lacing is substantial enough to coat 50% of the glass as the beer is consumed. Smell is sweet tropical fruit. The blood orange is the first taste followed by a balance of malt and bitterness. That is not to say that the malt and bitterness aren't there in large part each. Mouthfeel is soft with abundant carbonation playing off of the blood orange juice to deliver a sharpness just short of tart. Overall, unique and enjoyable. I would not guess the 9% ABV or 71 IBU from the glass I'm drinking.

 

First time posting on NBS and cross post with WBYDN. Chocolate Indulgence from Ommegang.Pours a dark brown with a half inch tan head that was poorly retained and left little lacing. Smells and tastes of dark chocolate and roasted malt with just a hint of coffee. Not very much depth to the flavor. Light bodied for a stout, really more of a porter IMO. Minimally carbonated, smooth and creamy mouth feel. Kind of disappointed in this beer, I will stick with the Chocolate Quad from Kasteel. Cheers!

 

Yep. 14 in a few minoots.

 

A bittersweet moment. Dave and Maria have been exemplary co-hosts for some time, and they will be missed (especially by me). I am busy preparing for next Sunday.
In the meantime, we are on the west coast visiting our daughter and grandkids, so we are a little behind you east coasters and Europeans. I will be out and around once the sun rises, and will have a new beer later today.
Cheers all!

 

Good Morning, NBS!!

First things first, huge thanks to @cavedave and @utopiajane for directing this NBS ship I believe at least as long as I have been participating. NBS was the first social thread I participated in, first one I did regularly, and like many have said - the first one I looked forward to. Sure, our captains steered the ship, but it takes this whole crew, veterans and greenhorns alike. So cheers to all of you, but in particular a raising of the glass(es) to our leaders each Sunday. Cheers!!

Ok, since today is a day of out with the old, in with the new (not that I mean to call @cavedave or @utopiajane old, or definitely not me new**... ugh! Quite an inauspicious start.. ).

Anyhow, I figured I'd not just go with a new beer, but also a brewery new to the area. Earlier this week, I happened to notice a bunch of sours in store after store from a brewery that I definitely recognized. I had the chance to try their IPA on a trip to Colorado, but that was my only foray into their beers. I grabbed one wild ale, and then saw this offering from Almanac at one of the stores and figured it'd make a nice NBS morning brew:


From the Coffee Barbary Coast can, "All level of debauchery ran unchecked here for decades." I must admit, I skimmed the can before jumping into my review, but I should've paid more attention. It also says "... this decadent imperial stout was brewed with oak staves, sea salt, a hint of spicy chili..." chocolate and coffee.

Before I dug into my review, the GF had already said, "I like this more than most coffee stouts we have. It doesn't have that ashtray note to it." It should be noted the GF is not a coffee drinker at all.

Her like for this beer is counter-weighted by my relative disappointment. It doesn't take long for this beer to appear flat or near it. The nose is a bit flat, or at least missing strength. The notes I get seem appropriate for the style and ingredients, but it takes some warmth and coaxing. Coffee, some roasted malt, a little vanilla, and even some cinnamon in some whiffs.

I think many won't like the feel, but it was what I liked the most. For a 10% sweet beer, this was far from thick or sticky. In fact, it had the feel of a nice, robust coffee. The flavor, however, was like I took that coffee and put too much sugar and vanilla syrup into it. That might explain the GF's enjoyment .

I don't get the chocolate too much, and the beer tastes more like a soda to me - sugars and vanilla helping that impression. There is a very subtle heat from the chili, which is a nice aspect countering the parts I am not a big fan of.

Well, from inauspicious start to a parallel finish in the beer I chose, I bring my post to a close. I wonder what some of our west coast NBSers think about this; I was a 10+% negative rDev, and that came up from a lower score as it warmed.

Happen to be listening to Van Morrison this AM, one of my favorite albums of all time. This song has obviously different meanings, but has some pertinence (especially the title) to today:

(Hopefully one post violating the unwritten no/limited music on NBS won't put me on probation )

Have fun and enjoy your new beer(s) today, folks!!

Edit:
**(I have not met the fine doctor yet to know for sure, he might be spry )

 

Spring of the so called ‘NE’ style IPA

Firstly, happy spring time everybody!!

I have been extremely fortunate to have been gifted some new beers of the so called ‘NE’ style IPA. Since these beers seem to go with warm spring weather (hell, these beers are good in any sort of weather!) I will be reviewing them over the next few months.

First up is Tree House Eureka.

This is my first ever Tree House beer. Tree House beer gets crazy love on BA!! On the top 10 of the top 250 list there are four Tree House beers.

I have never visited Tree House but by all reports it is an ‘interesting’ visit. They are presently located in Monson, MA which is about a two hour drive west of Boston (which I am sure is time of day/traffic dependent). I have read some blogs and it sounds like it is a pretty location. They sell cans at their location and from my readings you line up to purchase what is available that day (a few cans per visit?).

The good news is that Tree House is opening a second, larger location in Charlton, MA (also west of Boston) and hopefully with this second and importantly larger brewery Tree House beers will be more readily available) You can read about this expansion here: http://www.bostonmagazine.com/restaurants/blog/2016/03/08/tree-house-brewing-charlton-expansion/

So what does a revered Tree House beer taste like?

Served in my Gulden Draak tulip glass:

Appearance:

Yellow colored with a turbid/murky appearance. A BIG fluffy white head.

Aroma:

Strong citrus fruity aromas (including some lemon) with some tropical fruit as well. My initial impression is that of a creamsicle. As the beer opens up there is a notable aspect of dank.

Taste:

The flavor follows the nose: a combination of fruity flavors. There is just enough malt backbone to provide a sense of balance. It has a rounded bitterness.

Mouthfeel:

Medium bodied with a soft texture. This beers approaches the quality of “creamy” but not quite there. A dry finish.

Overall:

I think this beer is very good! I really enjoyed drinking this beer and I must confess I was a bit surprised on how quickly I consumed this beer. As the Magic 8-ball would say: “All signs say Yes!!”

@RobH @rotsaruch @chipawayboy @KOP_Beer_OUtlet @mythaeus

 

Thanks for the great start on NBS @cavedave and @utopiajane, and sorry to see you release your realm. Let's all give a great thanks to @cjgiant and @lordofthewiens for taking on their new positions. Will be back later on today with a new brew or two from NBS BIF#5.

Cheers!

 

I find it most weird that she knows what an ashtray tastes like.

In all seriousness, though, does she usually like coffee stouts/roast flavors in stouts despite not liking coffee on its own?