New Beer Sunday (Week 642)

Well I was wandering down the beer aisle and spotted this. The label said Pilsner and it was a done deal.



score 3.68
look: 3.5 | aroma: 3.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75

Light, bright golden color with white cap and lacing.

Aroma of sweet malt and slightly firm floral hops.

On entry there is a malt presence that manages to be full without being rich, rather a dry firmness which is quickly matched by the hops. Brewer's description doesn't say what hops but they taste noble to me and seem to be use as bittering rather than dry hopping. Yet they're not really bitter but firm comes close to the mark. A mouth filling burst of malt and hops that wake up the palate while remaining dry. A touch of sweetness does appear in the aftertaste that is balanced by hop bitterness. Flavors become richer as the beer warms.

Texture is full for the style with balancing carbonation.

The last time I had this same taste impression was the first time I tasted Pilsner Urquell. Now, I'm not saying they're the same, that's just the comparison that came to mind. This is not as complex as the original, or as polished, sorta like a relative who immigrated to America but kept in touch with his roots. The only specs I've got from the brewer are 1052 OG and 37 IBU if that gives you any idea. I suppose we could call it Pilsner and leave it at that but it does scream Czech

 

Good morning New BSers! OMG that's an OLD joke! But then, we're old jokesters so that's OK. Today's NBS entry is:



$ 14.83/four pack (Including discount and tax) of 16 ouncers ($ 0.232/oz) at Oppermann’s, Saginaw, MI.
16 oz can dated 101216 stored at 42 degrees. Served at 42 degrees in a hand washed and dried Jester King snifter.
Aroma – not much. Very faint fruitiness.
Head – large (Maximum 6.5 cm, aggressive pour), off white, fizzy, average retention, diminishing to an irregular two to three mm ring and partial layer.
Lacing – poor. A few tiny islands and drag marks.
Body – amber, cloudy.
Flavor – A mild apple cider taste, slightly tart. No hops, no toasted malt, no alcohol, no yeast per se, no diacetyl.
Palate – light, watery, soft carbonation.

A light and refreshing beer, pleasant and easily swallowed. I’m definitely not detecting the “light anise aroma of French hops”. Still, a good beer which I’ll pick up whenever I run across it.


Appearance 3.75, Aroma 3, Flavor 4, Palate 4, Overall 3.75. Rating 3.7, rDev -6.3%.

 

Greetings fellow NBSers, great start to the day with an old standard, @lordofthewiens . The punchline I first heard was for a cat, not a dog, and ended, "Okay, well, Mom climbed out the window and up onto the roof..."

Hope to join in later, will be a nutty day of last minute cleaning, and moving my son back in to job search central. Definitely gonna need a beer along the way and it's funny to note there are about 3 cases of beer in the fridge from the annual Vt. camping trip and only one growler is something I haven't yet had. I hope to locate.that growler in what looks to be a wall of beer. See ya then.

 

Cheers you all! Muchas thanks to @lordofthewiens for getting us started today. I have been tasting the beer camp case form Sierra Nevada and having lots of fun with it.

Happy New Beer Sunday!



Caramel, hops, malt richness bread and sweet plums. The skin of the fruit and very light brown sugar. Hop spice and floral.

Hazy plummy color. Fat beige head that falls slowly. Pretty clear.

Drinks very breaddy but also with tons of sweet fruit. Body feels at first thick and the finish is very sweet. A touch of alcohol on the palate for bitterness. The American hops centennial and loral lighten the aroma for me.


Drinks slightly less rich than a barleywine and without a big malt complexity . The thick mouthfeel abates as the beer warms. Hops do last and give a clean steady bitterness. Not as complex as some but these plums are a lovely addition . I am not seeing vinous and no chocolate. Does show the dried fruits. Now Fullers ecxpects to put their beer away and Sierra Nevada is concerned with hop appeal. Adding fruit brought those two things together well imo.


Historically isn't the old ale made to be a base beer and one that also goes into a barrel to be aged? Typically it's a style I associate with winter and I think bringing it into summer involved some thought. The secondary malt qualities of the old ale like cocoa and molasses; treacle are replaced with a brisk hop and the caramel malt. The color of it is the sweet blush from the plum. Bittering hops are magnum. That is 40 ibu's on the most malt of 4 beers from the case. The ipa the dipa, the barleywine and this one respectively. Modeled after the English bitter they did show you some hops. This one is the most balanced of all of those. The alcohol is perfectly balanced because in the finish I can taste spice. Fullers yeast shows an apple ester and that is in this beer but broader than it is in their beer. Often when you mass produce something it loses what makes it unique. I think it's safe to say that the successful big brewers are able to master that and keep something. This beer does taste like Fullers.

 

What is better than fresh? Re-fresh!?!

Last month Sixpoint Brewing implemented a re-fresh of their core lineup of beers which are: Crisp, Sweet Action, Resin and Bengali.

This re-fresh was a combination of efforts:

· A change of packaging including a change to the dates they place on the bottom of their cans. They now indicate both a canning date as well as a best by date.

· They reformulated their recipes. This is not so much of a new thing for Sixpoint since in the past they have continually ‘tweaked’ their recipes but for this go-around they seemed to have made bigger changes.

· They have made new efforts in sourcing their ingredients – hops

· They have eliminated filtering – these new beers are unfiltered.

There was a thread started which includes a press release for this update: https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/sixpoint-new-formulations-packaging.511559/

For today’s beer I have Bengali which is their IPA. Below is a short description of how this beer has been re-freshed:

“With BENGALI, we tweaked the hop character, and incorporated some new hop strains we’ve just recently acquired, to seriously dial in that citrusy-tropical aroma. Then we smoothed out the texture with oats, and dried out the malt body to let the hops take full control. This thing is all about huge tropical character up front, and a clean, dry finish.”

Some additional details from the Sixpoint website:

“Bengali is that go-to IPA you want by the pint. Big tropical hop character up front, super clean, with a dryness on the back end that leaves you wanting more.

Key Ingredients Flaked oats provide a silky texture, while Mandarina Bavaria and Amarillo hops give the beer a huge slash of citrus aroma, without lingering bitterness.”

Well, all of this reading has me salivating: LET’S DRINK!!

Served in my Spiegelau IPA glass:

Appearance:

Golden colored with a big white head; pretty clear appearance.

Aroma:

There is some pine/resin, some citrus and a hint of fruity aromas.

Taste:

The flavor follows the nose. There is mostly pine/resin & citrus. For the first few sips there is just a subtle malt backbone but as the beer opens up the malt flavor is more notable. There is a firm bitterness.

Mouthfeel:

Medium bodied with an off-dry finish.

Overall:

This beer is very good!! I really enjoy the hop aromas/flavors of pine/resin along with citrus. As the beer opens up (warms up) it becomes a more balanced beer between the hops and malt.

Cheers!

@Sixpoint @rotsaruch @RobH @KOP_Beer_OUtlet

P.S. What is printed on the bottom of my can:
“CANNED 11MAY2017

BB07NOV2017”

 

Old nation grand. Rye session pale ale.

4.08/5 rDev +1.2%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4

Pours amber. Thick, tall, off white head lasts a long time with light lacing

Smells caramel malts, doughy, spicey rye, citrus and earthy.

Tastes spicey rye, fruit, caramel malts. Followed by earthiness and pine. Finish is dry with citrus peel and rye linger. Medium body and fizzy medium carbonation.

 

Maria,

Below is what is posted on Wikipedia on this topic (and is consistent with my other readings):

“Historically, old ales served as a complement to mild ales, and in pubs of the era typically the landlord would serve the customer a blend of the sharper stock ale with the fruitier, sweeter mild ale to the customer's taste. In London especially, the aged ale would take on a tart note from a secondary fermentation with brettanomyces yeast which was present either in the pitching yeast or in the wooden equipment.[2] Because of the time required for the aging process, some investors would buy mild ale from brewers, age it into old ale, and sell it at the higher price. Eventually, brewers began to keep some beer behind at the brewery, age it themselves and sell it to the pubs. In some cases old ale was a blend of young and old. The "stock ale" was the brewery's very aged ale and was used to inject an "old" quality, and perhaps acidity to the blend.”

Cheers!

P.S. Perhaps we could solicit the opinion of Ron (@patto1ro). Maybe he will use one of his favorite words in response to the above of "bollocks'!?!

 

Good morning, NBS! Been in Philadelphia for an extended weekend, enjoying beers the whole time. A fair amount of new, much of which has been documented on WBAYDN, including our first trip to Tired Hands, our first trip to Monk's Cafe, and our first try of Cantillon.

While at Tired Hands, I had a sampler of a variant of my new morning beer. The Ethiopian coffee version was wonderful on tap. Thanks to @CanConPhilly, I am getting to try this beer a second time. Let's see how the canned beer rates (I'm assuming this is the same beer, the coffee variety is not listed on the can):


I only get a brief view of the head of this beer as it fizzles during its disappearing act. Thin ring also fizzles as I move the glass, but there's no lacing and in its place is a dark oily coating on the glass.

Nose was wonderfully robust roasted coffee at TH. While the can has a decent amount of dark coffee, it ends up more dark chocolate brownie overall. Taste follows this, though it goes through a strange relatively weak coffee opening, to a rich brownie, to a sweet robust coffee, and ending on a flat cola.

I was highly impressed with the boldness of the coffee in this on tap. It is a tad more integrated into a sweet-leaning stout on this can. I might like a little less sweetness in the beer, though that component is close to how I like my coffee - black, medium sweet.

 

Tanks for the morning chuckle. At first, I was thinking "Oh Shit!"

 

Craig, did you attend any Philly Beer Week events? My wife and I attended the Fishtown Festivale yesterday which was a good time.

Cheers!

 

Which Cantillon was your first?

 

Thanks for the awesome start @lordofthewiens for this weeks NBS. Should be back later with a new brew.

Cheers!

 

We ran around Center City (I think that's the area) with @CanConPhilly hitting a few tap takeovers on Friday. We were a tad beat after two-plus full days of beers by yesterday, or else we likely would've made it to the same Festiveale, ourselves. I hear this thing happens every year or so, so we'll likely get another shot.

 

Always happy when I get the chance to contribute here. Sunday mornings are a good time for, after getting sucked into a joke, quiet reflection. Some like examining themselves, others such as the denizens of NBS, examine beers. Mine is one that I studied the label, with passing glances for years but some label shinier or more colorful or with a wittier name would catch my eye.

Bottle conditioned but pours a clear, (despite warnings of the yeast layer) deep amber with orange highlights. The coarse head is large but gives way leaving a thin layer attached to a good ring but with little lacing. There is an initial malt aroma that escapes with the pour followed by nut meats and faint mint. Slightly malt forward but really balanced with a clean finish. This is more of a classic, old world type. Not flashy but solid.
L 3.75, S 3.75, T 3.5, F 3.75, O 3.75 = 3.65

 

Their classic Gueuze. We had it after Tilquin's same (on draft vs Cantillon from bottle), with a palate cleansing saison in between. The Tilquin struck me as having more acidity to it, and I found the Cantillon to have a nice balance to it overall and was especially taken by the overall feel of it.

Didn't want to sit and analyze for any review in favor of just enjoying it. I obviously need another go with it to remedy that

 

Coupla new beers today, starting with Mofosaic from Sand City...

7.2% abv single hop IPA featuring - you guessed it - Mosaic hops...

Medium-pale gold body, faintly hazed; tall head of white foam left lots of messy lace behind... Aroma and flavor impressions of citrus, melon, grapefruit and pineapple... Moderately sweet, mildly bitter, amply carbonated... Soft and smooth, medium-light fluffy body... Great showcase for Mosaic hops...

Anyone know the release date? @guinness77 @beerloserLI @Rcruz9230

One more new brew coming atcha shortly...

 

Happy Hot NBS! With the early summer heat I have made the switch to Hefes, Pils, Mexican Lagers, Pale Ales... You get the idea.

Hinterland Citra Pale was bottled about 2 weeks ago. Sun kissed orange with a white 2 finger head. Retention is nice and fades into a thin ring and leaves some spotty lacing on my glass. No doubt that this is Citra hopped. Big tropical and citrus notes fume from the glass. Sweet mango, pineapple, and grapefruit are the front runners. Light malts give it a subtle sweetness. Flavor is sweet and tropical with the mango and pineapple shine, but there is a good kick of grapefruit. The malts are light and act as a backdrop for the Citra hops. Nice light medium body that is spot on for carbonation with a slightly dry finish. A very nice local Citra APA.