New Beer Sunday (Week 651)

I looked in my fridge for a new beer, and to my chagrin found there were No New Beers! I will have to rectify this egregious error. See you later.

 

What is your favorite Köttbusser style beer?

A good friend gave me a can of Grimm Brothers Snow Drop beer. On the can label it states: “Köttbusser Ale” and provides details of “Ale brewed with honey and molasses”.

Yeah but, what exactly is a Köttbusser Ale?

Well, let me tell you something:

“Kottbusser is said to be a cousin of the grand family of “white beers” due to the use of wheat malt. Supposedly named after the town Kötbuss in Germany, Kottbusser is a golden-colored ale brewed with wheat, oats and barley, a healthy addition of noble hops to create a floral bouquet in the aroma and honey and molasses to add more fermentable sugar and a bit of subtle complexity. But what sets Kottbusser apart from other wheat-based German beer styles, like hefeweizen, is the clean fermenting yeast. Hefeweizens are known for their yeast-forward character, which can embody notes of banana, clove and even bubblegum, but Kottbusser was fermented clean with nearly no discernible yeast character.

Coming in table strength (~3% ABV) and stronger (~6%) versions, Kottbusser’s use of wheat, oats, honey and molasses made it illegal after 1877 due to Germany’s strict Beer Purification Law. This ultimately ceased the commercial brewing of Kottbusser and ultimately lead it to fade into obscurity.”

https://www.homebrewersassociation....ing-kottbusser-from-grimm-brothers-brewhouse/

Well, I like historical beers! I homebrew the historical beers of Classic American Pilsner and 1896 Michelob so maybe I will like this ‘old’ beer too?

Some stats from the Grimm Brothers website:

ABV: 7.1%

IBU: 10

SRM: 20

Style: Kottbusser Ale

Served in my Sly Fox Bock Fest Willi Becher glass:

Appearance:

Yellow/gold colored with a small white head.

Aroma:

I am picking up some Pilsner Malt with what seem to be ‘yeasty’ notes (maybe this is from the aromatics of the honey/molasses?). This aroma reminds me of a Keller Pils beer.

Taste:

The flavor is a bit different from the nose in that for me the dominant flavor is tart apple but the Pilsner malt backbone is there in the background. As the beer opens up I pick up a bit of spiciness which I presume is from the hops.

Mouthfeel:

The body is thin- medium. The carbonation comes off as prickly. There is a dry-ish finish to this beer.

Overall:

I enjoyed drinking this beer. This is the best Köttbusser Ale I ever drank!!


Hopefully other US craft breweries will produce Köttbusser Ales. I appreciate when craft breweries appreciate old historical styles and produce reconstructions of these beers.

Cheers to Grimm Brothers Brewhouse for crafting an enjoyable Köttbusser Ale!

@zid @rotsaruch @KOP_Beer_OUtlet @RobH

 

Good morning and thanks to @cjgiant for getting us underway today. I am not ready. I need to get something going here today. I agree that NBS has been one of my favorite threads for years now. It's fun to put on a little formality and come over here to give a review of a new beer. It's the idea of the Sunday best that grabs me and keeps me coming back. PLUS you are all so literate, so warm and so intelligent that I have enjoyed reading you. This is my favorite Sunday magazine. Cheers and see you in a bit!

 

@lordofthewiens No new beer? That little blue guy with the funny face would have been perfect here. Morning.

 

New Beer Sunday: A new local German style Kellerbier

Mornin’ NBSers with a Kellerbier pointer for seekers and samplers of German style beers, along with thanks to @cjgiant for the early start.

Well the weather here is expected to be practically perfect again so it seems like there will be another family outing today.

But that also means I’ve time for yet another morning new beer.

This beer is from the 2SP brewery which is quite new in that they first opened their doors for business just about 2 years ago. This morning’s new beer is their 2SPils which is a Kellerbier that has been canned for the first time this summer.

In the Pils world in SE PA, a new one, whether officially Pils or Kellerbier, can easily get lost in the shuffle. While 2SP brewing is a relatively new brewery the Head Brewer, Bob Barrar, is not a new kid on the block, having won a number of medals for his beers at the GABF, including a Gold that he recently brought home to 2SP with his stout, a RIS appropriately named, The Russian. Since we know around here he can brew a mean stout, the question in my mind now is how will he do with the German style beers.

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

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/40976/225975/?ba=drtth#review

This beer, appearing in cans for the first time this summer, was canned for the first time ever in mid-June and so is fairly fresh. The aromas and flavors are clean and crisp with lots of Pils malt and grassy herbal hops easily found. While I enjoyed the beer enough to be willing to have another, my only reservation at this point is that it seemed to me the fade out at the end should have have bit more malt to balance the grassy herbal bitterness that closes the show. But I confess up front that fresh Kellerbiers are not the easiest style to find to find around here (whether German--because of shipping induced delay--or US brewed--because of their relative scarcity) so I may not be tuned into the style well enough.

Continuing with my ongoing plan to listen to original cast recordings of American musicals, on the player this morning is the original cast recording of Kiss me Kate, with Patricia Morrison and Alfred Drake.

Wunderbar.

If all goes as planned I expect I’ll be back this evening with YANB (yet another new beer).

Cheers, all!

 

Yup, looks to be a gorgeous day! My wife and I will again be attending the Bethlehem Musikfest today (we went last Sunday) to soak in the sun and listen to some Blues music, eat some wurst and needless to say: drink some beer!!

Cheers!

 

Good morning New BSers! Thanks to @cjgiant for today's start and to Jack for his always interesting new beer posts.
Well, it's supposed to be a sunny day here in NW PA so I'll be terminating some more yews before climbing the ladder once again to chip, chip, chip, chip, chip, and eventually paint. So, in keeping with my goal of not falling to my death, today's New Breakfast Beer is:




A gift. My son picked up some of these for a golfing buddy with gluten issues. Of course, since the last time they'd golfed that particular course, the rules had changed and you couldn't bring your own beer. They edged into the rule change gradually so they had some beer left over.
Enjoy by 24 Sep 17. 12oz bottle stored at 42 degrees. Served at 42 degrees in a hand washed and dried Jester King snifter.
Aroma – very light citrusy hops.
Head – large (Maximum six cm, aggressive pour), off white, low density froth with above average retention time, leaving a two to three mm ring, lots of torn curtains attached to the ring, and a heaped island.
Lacing – fair. Many irregular pieces of curtain with bubbles ranging in size from tiny to small.
Body – dark yellow, chill haze.
Flavor – begins with hop bitterness followed by a maltiness. The citrus from the nose does not appear in the flavor. No alcohol, no diacetyl.
Palate – thin, watery, soft carbonation.

A decent looking and smelling brew, with something to desired in flavor.

Appearance 4, Aroma 3.75, Flavor 3.5, Palate 3.5, Overall 3.5. Rating 3.59, rDev -1.1%.

 

Enjoy the fest as you did last week! Again my wife has come up with a different plan for the day that does not involve the drive to Bethlehem.

 

I came home from a 20 hour Vermont marathon at midnight with 11 IPAs that score over 90 that I had never even seen before. I will get back to you at noon. If I start now my wife will kill me.

 

It was big and bruiser or small and bright this morning and I opted for the latter . . .





Score 3.84
look: 3.75 | aroma: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4

Brilliant shimmering light gold color with white cap and lacing.

Aroma of sweet honeyish malt with flowery hops and a touch of orange zest.

Flavor is relatively mild with some depth. Sweet bready malt on entry. Not complicated but decidedly not simple with a malt forward approach that carries to the finish with sweet floral touches in the aftertaste. I like this one.

Medium texture with balancing carbonation.

Overall it's a very pleasing brew with no noticeable flaws and a little bit of richness that sets it above average.

 

Upper Hand Brewing, Double Ringer, DIPA at 10%, this brewery is a division of Bells, located in Escanaba Michigan, in da UP eh! They only distribute in the UP and northern Wisconsin so take a trip to the great white north and check them out, beautiful country. The beer pours a nice amber with a small head the does not stick around long. Smells a bit floral, sweet fruits not too strong on the nose, tastes really balanced, very strong malt backbone, viscous piney medium mouthfeel, as the beer warms, it gets a little boozy to remind you of its ABV. Nice beer! Cheers BAs

 

Sounds like your wife's plan is for you to cut the grass , weed the garden, and trim up a bit.

 

Cheers you all and Happy New Beer Sunday! Today I have one of my favorite styles and it came in a pint can. I like that because it lets me pour it into my weizen glass which I don't use often enough for that very reason. (the reason being that the twelve ounce beer is too little for the glass I have)

I have done nothing all week except contemplate the universe and I like the wit beer for that activity. It is phenolic so it has a few surprises in it. It uses corriander, rose hips and orange peel. I did not read the label when I bought the beer and I had the thread in mind , "Is there orange flavor in your wheat beer?" This one has it because it was added so I am not going to post it there.





The coriander in the wheat beer is something many people seem to despise. I think it tastes like sweet earth and and it also adds dryness imo. The rose hips in this beer act like the hops except they leave a bit of sharpness to the floral that I think is a tiny bit different form the traditional wit beer. The phenols are not too bold and the orange is sweet, fresh and a bit spicy. This beer has an interesting fact about it that demonstrates it's completeness as a beer. That is that the nose and the taste description are exactly the same. "Taste follows the nose." Nothing on the nose that is not in the flavor and vice versa.

The appearance is golden and hazy. Slightly turbid but not fully milky cloudy. Fat Belgian style head of foam on the pour that did not last too long but fell completely and clings well. The nose is fresh with a firm banana ester and the sharpness of the rose hips to compliment the light cool herbal from hops. The wheat smells golden and just sweet as though it was kissed by the sun. Peppery phenols and a softer but still crisp bubble finishes the beer with a light bitterness. The bitterness seems to coat the palate so I think the beer is still relatively fresh because that is the stickiness from hops. Firm malt and the banana is not overly ripe or showing bubble gum flavors.

This was a treat and a real looker too! Cheers and Happy New Of Course That's Orange Sunday!

 

Naw, that's the regular Sunday plan. I think today she wants to head down into MD and see a bit of the town of North East which is a nice little place for wandering around in good weather. It's on the Chesapeake and has some nice little shops and places to eat, etc.

 

@MacMalt might bust me for the new beer I am having today, as I was greatly enjoying his company at Rushing Duck where I sipped a two ounce taster of my new IPA.

Back when I was a co-host here I guess I could have pardoned myself for this, but will hafta rely on the kindness of today's host for a ruling, haha.

Got some shoe to DEET first, though, so see y'all in a bit.