New Beer Sunday (Week 649)

Okey doke. Imagine mixing equal parts lager and a relatively mild IPA and that's what this is like. It's hoppy enough that you can taste the hops but not all "challenging" as far as the hoppiness goes. If it were made by Dogfish Head it might be called 30 Minute IPA.

 

I have that one (its a rotating recipe beer) and Colatte left to try, I thought Iris and In Clover were pretty good, but that DIPA definitely needs some perfecting.

 

Happy New Saison Sunday!

Pretty nice day on the Western Slope, nice little hike, cloudy, around 88. Having a pretty tasty brew from SN, a boxset I picked up a few months ago, this is # 1 of 3. Watching the first year of Law and Order, never seen these before, shit, never really got into that series, but CI, and the pre-2010 SUVs are pretty decent. Had to wait a bit for the tacos today, a lot of people decided to go over to this place for eats.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/140/207537/?ba=Wasatch#review

Cheers!

 

Hope your Sunday has been a good one...

We finally got a break from the intense heat wave that has been plaguing these parts for the past few weeks, so I've been catching up on outside chores most of the weekend. Worn out now, and ready for a new beer.

This is Southern Prohibition's Belgian Style Tripel

Pleasantly surprised by this one. Nothing crazy fancy, but a well executed tripel. At $12 a sixer, I might have to pick it up again.



Poured from 12 oz can dated 3/15/2017

A: Slightly hazy sunshine yellow with a dense 2-3 finger white head that lasts forever and leaves chunky lacing. Traces of sediment appearing in the bottom of the glass.

S: Belgian yeast and ripe banana combined with hints black pepper and clove. There is a pleasant fruitiness to the nose.

T: Ripe banana, honey sweetness, and a little spices hanging around at the end - pepper and clove. Alcohol is very well hidden.

M: Medium body with average carbonation. Soft texture with a creamy element.

O: Very nice Belgian tripel. Nicely executed.

 

Just got back home from an excellent weekend up in Rangeley, ME with some very good friends. We stayed at a lake house with no cell phone or internet reception... therefore, in order to keep ourselves busy, we had to utilize the age old arts of swimming, canoeing, card/board gaming and of course, getting drunk! I brought up a ton of beer including some stuff I've been aging for a while, and we all had an awesome time. Can't wait for next year's trip already! Here's some beautiful proof that I was, indeed, up there. For some reason I can't get the full version to upload, but this is decent enough it seems.



And now on to my first and only NBS entry for this week. Realizing that I had skipped last week's thread, I had to stop in to a store on my way back home from where I had left my car over the weekend. Managed to snag a four week old 4-pack of this nice local double IPA.



I don't ever recall having Be Hoppy's big brother beer, and my beer memory is usually really good so I figured I'd contribute with this one for today!

Pours a light-ish goldenrod orange color with a retentive soapy head of white foam. Chunks of semi-consistent lace stick around after the initial head fades away. Lots of chunky hop sediment in this beer. Not really the best looking brew I've seen lately, but it'll do!

Nose is rather West Coast-ish with bright orange and grapefruit, pine resin and some light floral notes. Kind of soapy here as well. Dank, green and a little bit spicy with some interesting notes of an almost rye-like grain element.

On the tongue, it's very floral and intense with a lot of resinous and grassy/piney flavors. Less juicy than the nose had me hoping for, honestly, but the switch-up is pretty solidly done and surprised me in an overall good way. Very drinkable with a creamy, oily mouthfeel. Though the ABV is not super well-hidden by any means, I feel that its perfumey qualities and sharpness on the tongue help push some more complex rose water and spice notes that are absent from Be Hoppy. This is pretty good and I'm glad to drink some more of it for sure. Not mind-blowing or mind-expanding, but I'll always took a good ol' big IPA from a solid local brewery when given the chance!

 

Happy Sunday NBS players. A perfect summer day here on the island. Spent the day at the beach and have been taking it pretty easy on the beer after getting into it a bit too heavy last night. After a week long vacation I'm not looking that forward to going back to work tomorrow. Watching the mets continue to get killed in seattle and I have a nice marinated london broil to throw on the grill.

My new beer today is Wicked Chowdah IPA, another self proclaimed NESIPA, from 1940's brewing co here on long island. This is also my first beer from them and I'm pretty sure it's their first canning but I could be wrong. Still rather unknown, even here as a local, I will have to make an effort to get over to their tasting room. The brew checks in at 7.2% abv, and is features horizon, and citra hops. It's also dry hopped with amarillo.

A murky pour with a dark amber/golden color. A fast head that leaves a slim frothy layer. The nose is all fruit and decently floral. It kind of smells like fruit salad to me. The drinking starts with plush and soft hops upfront with virtually no bittering at all. A smooth, lush, and fruity flow with an equally smooth finish. Fruit notes of lime, strawberry, pineapple, grape, and mango. The mouth feel is moderate with a sort of thick and lush feel to it. Juicy, but it really isn't sticky at all and the flavors don't seem to linger long. The abv is not noticed.

Overall, pretty nice stuff. It's not a game changer but its a pretty nice hazy, fruity, and non-bitter beer. I'm right around a 4.2 here.

 

Time for another new hoppy beer, Burley Oak Scooby Snacks. This is from yesterday's release, it is a triple dry hopped double IPA brewed with malted wheat and a ton of oats. Hopping is a combo of mosiac, amarillo, citra and falconer's flight. Burley Oak has always been a solid brewery that I've enjoyed, but they really have stepped out their game in the last few months with there hazy IPAs and JREAMs. Now time for the first review of Scooby Snacks!
4.38/5 rDev 0%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.25

16 oz can poured into a teku

A- A hazy golden straw with a two finger white head

S- Mango, grapefruit, some pineapple, juicy tropical fruits, some dank/herbal hops.

T- Mango, melons, juicy tropical fruits, some citrus, some wet grass and dankness in the finish, some oats.

M- Smooth, creamy, medium body.

O- A solid NEIPA, hops are a little grassier than I tend to like. Burley Oak is really stepping it up with their hop game the last few months and this is just following their upward trend!

 

Forgotten boardwalk smoked porter.just like advertised,smoke and roasted coffee but not overpowering. This is working for me after a long day that was supposed to be a day off but not even close.

 

Nice beer! I'm glad they still make it- I hardly see it any more around here.

 

Good evening NBS, hope everyone is enjoying the end of the weekend once again. Thanks to @cjgiant for getting us started off this week. Not much going on here this weekend. Did my usual Sunday errands and finished up the laundry for the week. I had review 5600 last week. Still solidly stocked on new beers for now, but will likely have to make a haul next weekend once again. I haven't been to Livonia in quite a while. There always seems to be a lot of new stuff available every time I go down there(every 1-2 months).

New Beers:

Fantastic! Aromas and flavors of big sour/tangy blackberry, strawberry, raspberry, cherry, lemon, green apple, red grape, hay, straw, oak, and pepper; with moderate wheat/crackery malt balance; and light notes of leathery/musty funk and red wine vinegar. Light-moderate fruity/lactic tartness, fruit tang, and yeast/oak tannin spiciness on the finish. Medium bodied/carbonation; balanced bready/grainy wheat, acidity, and fruit/oak tannins in the mouthfeel. Lightly drying acidity and very slight pucker factor. This was amazingly easy to drink. Really well balanced with well rounded Brett/Lacto complexity, oak presence, and blackberry intensity. 4.2


Awesome DIPA. Amazing head retention and thick lasting lacing on the glass. Aromas and flavors of big tangerine, grapefruit, peach, pineapple, apricot, passion fruit, papaya, mango, melon, lime, lemon zest, orange peel, light pepper, and pine hops; with moderate caramel, toasted bread malt sweetness; and herbal, floral, grassy earthiness. Light-moderate pine, citrus peel, grassy, spicy bitterness on the finish. Medium-full bodied and medium carbonation; balanced bready/grainy creaminess and hop stickiness in the mouthfeel. Light resins, increasing bitter dryness, no hop astringency. Dangerously easy drinking, mild warmth of 9%. Absolutely delicious. Very vibrant, juicy, and lightly dank hops; balanced malts that never get too sweet or heavy feeling. 4.13


Really great stuff. Aromas and flavors of honey, wheat, cracker, biscuit, vanilla, bourbon, toasted oak, and nutty malts; with light notes of banana, pepper, clove, herbal/grassy hops, and yeast earthiness. Light herbal bitterness and yeast/bourbon/oak tannin spiciness on the finish. Medium-plus bodied; bready/grainy creaminess in the mouthfeel. Lightly silky from the barrel, with touches of sticky hops and oak tannins. Lightly increasing spicy/tannic oak dryness. Minimal warming 9.2%, zero barrel booze. This is just Fassinator BBA, I was a huge fan of that one.(though don't feel nearly the same of this). Bit of a weizen doppelbock, really. Weizen yeast notes are definitely there, though well restrained. This takes the base beer and balances it perfectly with bourbon barrels all the way through. Doesn't feel as malty rich and heavy as the base beer from the barrel treatment, though. Probably why I didn't feel so highly of it, vs the base beer. Still delicious all around. 4


The day would not be complete without a JP review. I seem to do these on NBS a lot. No idea why. This is a Gigantic collaboration. This is fantastic! Slight gusher here. Aromas and flavors of big lightly tart lemon, lime, grapefruit, melon, peach, pear, pineapple, orange zest, red apple, white grape, citrus peel, peppercorn, pine, oak, hay, straw, herbal, floral, and grass; with moderate wheat, cracker, white bread malts; with mild leathery/musty funk and white wine vinegar. Moderate peppery yeast/oak tannin spiciness; with mild fruity/lactic tartness and pine/herbal/grassy hop bitterness on the finish. Medium-high carbonation, medium bodied, and moderately crisp; balanced grainy malt, yeast/hop stickiness, some oak tannins, and very mild acidity in the mouthfeel. Moderately increasing spicy/tannic oak dryness; no astringency. Super easy drinking, 6%. Absolutely outstanding stuff. Labeled as a saison with lemon/lime peel, jasmine rice, and palm sugar. Absolutely spot on classic JP house funk and complexity, perfectly balanced with oak barrels; with a nice solid malt backing. I could drink these saisons all year. They have been really nailing it the last few releases, really mild on the Lacto with huge dominating Brett and Saison yeast complexity. Terrific, just as impressive as the Jester King collab I reviewed like 2 weeks ago. 4.25


Cheers, have a good night NBS!

 

Alrighty folks time for New Beer number 2. After being disappointed earlier I opened one of which I had ZERO expectations for. I was just hoping it was good. It is definately different but I thought it came out well.


The beer



The review




Hopefully I can squeeze another one in today....

 

Whelp, on to new Voodoo beer #2 from the sampler. I'll let my review speak for itself



3.53/5 rDev -6.1%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

12oz bottle poured into a tulip
A: Orange with a one-finger head
S: Malty, fruity a bit of yeast
T: Fairly sweet with all of the fruit (passion fruit/cherries/raspberries) mentioned on the label. Some Belgian yeast and sweet malt... but this is almost cloyingly sweet
M: Full-bodied, at 9.2% there isn't any booze but again cloyingly sweet
O: This would be nice if more of the yeast/fruit characters showed; as is all I taste is overwhelming sugar without any nuances

 

Greetings NSBers from an almost impossibly perfect July night here outside of Boston. Cool (70s), breezy, dry, and sunny. I'll try to remember this feeling as we head in to August...

Today I've got a beer from a brewery in western mass that only recently started distributing to the Boston area: Fort Hill Brewery. The fantastic thing about them is that they've apparently decided that they are going to differentiate themselves from the pack based on price - $7 six packs of pilsner, 8$ six packs of IPA, and $9 six packs of DIPA. Those are fantastic prices for local beer in this area and had the intended effect of making me take notice. I've had their single IPA before (and enjoyed it) but today I've got one of their two DIPAs - Double Paw clocking in at a hefty 9.3% ABV.




The beer pours a hazy, homogenous, dark honey color with a shallow head that dissipates quickly to a ring but continues to leave thick lacing for almost the whole glass. Nose is not as huge as some but is still quite a punch of "juicy" hops to the face with a little alcohol to follow it up. This is definitely in the mango/papaya/guava sort of realm and it inches up close to the line of having that sort of vaguely spoiled fruit note that these fruity DIPAs sometimes have (and which I don't like). This stays on the safe side of the line though.

The taste is less powerful than the nose but still has some nice tropical notes as well as a welcome bit of mild to moderate bitterness. Some honey like maltiness too though obviously the hops are the star here. It finishes surprisingly clean but with a definite note of alcohol. I like a "hot" DIPA so that's not a problem for me and, given the ABV, it doesn't strike me as being any sort of flaw. Any IPA over about 8% is going to show some alcohol one way or the other in my experience. Mouthfeel is very thick and chewy and while it's maybe not quite as soft as a stereotypical NEIPA it's certainly a far cry from crisp.

Overall a very tasty beer that is, to me, another good example of people utilizing some of the newer fruity approaches to the IPA while still holding on to some bitterness. These guys are definitely on my radar now and here's to hoping they might provide some downward pressure on beer prices in the area going forward.

And if I can sneak in one more thing, last night at close to midnite (so it sort of counts) I was surprised to run across a Schwarzbier in a 16 ounce can at Chinese restaurant: Pfungstadter 1831
I can't provide a lot of detail given the circumstances but it was very clean and mild and went excellently with the spicy szechuan food. I've never seen this particular brewery at stores around here so I'm curious how they ended up on the menu.

Cheers all!

 

Look what I just found in the beer fridge:

Yeah, it turns out I didn't finish all of the Beer Campers after all. The straggler is the Breuery's contribution Raspberry Sundae, with raspberries, cocoa and vanilla.

It probably goes without saying that it may have slipped my mind for a reason- it's not exactly my kind of thing, conceptually; plus, I've seen some gripes among forum posters as well. But also, some advice, which in this case means to serve it on the warm side. That's exactly what I've done here, and I'd estimate this sample is in the mid 50s.

So, how is it? maybe it really helps to go into some things with low expectations, because I'm thinking it's not bad at all. It's certainly on the sweet side, but hardly cloying; and there is a good amount of crisp clean bitterness on the finish to balance it out. Maybe the slightest snap of tartness, too. Flavors are as you'd expect, a harmonious blend of the raspberry, vanilla, caramel, with the cocoa bring up the rear. Unfortunately, the berry aspect is coming across as a bit cough-syrupy to me, especially at first.

About 2/3rds of the way through, that aspect is fading, while the tartness is on the rise, much to my delight. In the end, I'd say this was a success; they definitely pulled it off and made a palatable beer. Maybe even a fun one, too. But I doubt I'd be having another any time soon, which is a must if I'm going to grade something in the A range. B+ (3.7)

Overall, this Beer Camp was a real pleasure, with a number of hits and pleasant surprises. I look forward to the next one!

 

Dark Horse Obtuse Spruce, pale ale brewed with spruce tips, pours a hazy amber, with little head and almost zero carb, the appearance is really disappointing, smell is a little sweet, some berry fruit, very little in the way of a pale ale. I'd pass on this one if I were you! Glad I only got a single of this one.

 

Hoppin' Frog Extended Barrel Aged B.O.R.I.S. The Crusher Oatmeal-Imperial Stout, 9.4% ABV, 60 IBU. Pours thick and black, with no head. Nose is oak, bourbon and chocolate. Taste follows with a bit of sweetness, quite a strong bourbon taste but not as much as others I've had, a bit of charred oak, some vanilla, and not much bitterness. Smooth, well balanced but a bit under-carbonated - almost flat. Mouthfeel is excellent, overall outstanding. My favorite of the Hoppin' Frog stouts so far.