New Beer Sunday (Week 663)

I'm a huge UNC fan, mostly because my family is from North Carolina and our daughter did her undergraduate at UNC and is doing her PhD there. But ultimately I'm a Patriot League fan because they have the right emphasis on academics and sports! That's where my heart is!

 

Greetings, NBS friends, and thank you @cjgiant for the launch. If I told you all how much time I spend fretting about beers for NBS ..... you’d call me a beer nerd (guilty as charged, your honor). I hold beers for NBS, I buy beers for NBS, I trade beers for NBS, if I had any talent, I’d brew beers for NBS.

Alas, I have no brewing talent, but I’m very good at producing a credit card to buy beer, and I’m very capable of saving (and savoring) many beers, so my NBS well will not run dry anytime soon.

On to tonight’s beers - I have a tropical IPA and a stout (shocker, I know). The stout traveled a LOOOOONG way to make it to NBS, but first, the IPA from an iconic brewery.



3.99/5 rDev -1%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4

The pour is like a glass of orange juice with pulp - not as murky, but very orange, very hazy, and loads of floating particulate with a light tan head (I’ve never had a glass of OJ with a tan head, BTW).

Pineapple is really forward on the nose, with oranges and tropical fruits falling in line behind. The taste has a significant bitterness at first, but the pineapple helps cut that a bit, which is welcome, as are the orange and mango flavors I’m picking up.

Another very nice IPA by a brewery that helped define the style here in the states.

 

I'm no fan of the Redskins but it doesn't make me feel better!

 

New Beer Sunday: A Spiced Ale

Evenin’ NBSers with an alert to fan’s of spiced Fall and Winter seasonal beers. Also a big thanks again to @cjgiant for the start today. But more importantly, my thanks to those of you who are veterans. It’s always good to see you here and while I’m finishing tonight’s new beer I'm doing a tip of the glass in your honor.

Well the weather here today has been mostly cloudy with temperatures in the mid 60s, making it an unseasonably warm day for early November.

Not surprisingly this has been quite a day for doing mostly (except for a wee bit of time watching the Eagles ) outside chores that focus on prepping the house and yard for what is shaping up to be another roller coaster ride of weather from now to next spring. While there are still lots of leaves to fall yet the gutters are now prepped to prevent clogging and should allow effective drainage.

This evening’s new beer is from over in Southern New Jersey and is called Mop Man’s Mop Water by the brewers at Cape May Brewing (you can’t get much further south in NJ without getting your feet wet). The backstory from the brewery is that they asked their head Mop Man to name his favorite spices and then they developed a beer recipe to focus on those spices.

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

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/25890/104775/?ba=drtth#review


The flavors and aromas of this beer are strong with Vanilla and pumpkin pie spices such as cinnamon, ginger and allspice but it doesn’t pretend to be a pumpkin ale. The vanilla, well supported by the spices is upfront in the aromas and flavors and there’s a noticeable dark bread sweetness from the malt. Meanwhile lurking in the background is some earthy character from the hops which are left behind to close out the ending as the other flavors fade away. I found this an enjoyable beer that I’d be willing to have again, but I don’t think I’d want more than one a night.

Tonight’s musical is Flower Drum Song with a cast including Pat Suzuki

I Enjoy Being a Girl

Cheers, all!

 

Harpoon vanilla bean porter. Dark brown,strong carbonation. Aroma is vanilla and malt and taste is identical. It's got a light and fizzy feel,reminds me of dr pepper soda in feel and taste. This was okay but wouldn't look to get this again

 

I'm nearing the end of my annual barley wine indulgence. There were only two 100% new-to-me beers in the group and I'm drinking them both today.



First up:



Magic Hat Jinx

This is a Scotch ale. At 6.9%, it's fine if people don't think that this really hits barley wine territory. With peat smoked malt, I'd call this an "American Scotch ale."

This beer is a chestnut brown. This is the kind of beer that if someone knew it had smoked malt, they'd probably say that they could clearly pick up that flavor, but if they didn't know, they probably wouldn't guess that it was there. It's oddly bitter (rather than malty) for a beer listed as 20 IBUs. In fact, it feels like this beer is the inverse of expectations regarding the malt, bitter presence and listed IBUs. The result is a beer that reminds me of bitter cocoa. There's a small amount of banana in there... and perhaps caramel.

Given the ABV and lack of any overwhelming components (the bitterness isn't overwhelming at all), this is rather easy to drink. Unfortunately, it also doesn't have much personality.

 

While I now have the taste of defeat, with the Seahawks losing at home (?!) to the Redskins, I also have this taste in my mouth, which is far more enjoyable:

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/1432/287410/?ba=woemad#review
Like most English-style barleywines, it's less hoppy than an American-style barleywine would be. It would make an excellent dessert beer or nightcap. Still, I have to wonder: was one of the five(!) beers that went into this Cuvee a rye beer, because I swear I could smell and taste rye in this!

 

Hope you are having a great Sunday with an amazing beer in your glass. Getting a late start since I spent all day taking advantage of some warmer weather to do some fall cleanup.

Today's new beer comes to me from @Roguer - Cigar City's Marshal Zhuhov's Penultimate Push. I was thinking I had a small pour of this one before, but didn't record a rating or review, so maybe I'm dreaming.

Classic imperial stout with coffee and vanilla on top. Wonderful flavor and aromas. Highly recommended.

I have a bottle of the base beer in the cellar that I picked up in Nashville last month.

Perhaps I will pull it out next week and compare notes...



Poured from 22 oz bottle

A: Ink black with smallish one finger espresso colored head. Decent retention and leaving some light lacing.

S: Strong black coffee, bittersweet dark chocolate, and vanilla. Rich roasted malts with a subtle bitter note.

T: Chocolate fudge, roasted coffee beans, and vanilla. An inherent sweetness that comes off like molasses but balanced with the bitterness of the malts.

M: Full bodied with fairly light carbonation. Coats the tongue like a syrup without being heavy. Finish is sweet and a touch bitter.

O: Excellent stout. The coffee and vanilla blend nicely on top of an already outstanding imperial stout. Very well done.

Now to catch up on 5 pages of this thread...

 

Good evening NBSers going to try and take it a little easy this week prepping for a trip to Richmond this coming weekend so going to build my liver resistance up. Starting with a local beer from a brewery in Florence, SC Local Motive That Juice clocking in at 5.4%. They have putting out some decent beer and this one was just a little of a let down from an appearance and feel standpoint. It is billed as a NE session IPA, while the look and feel are not what I expect in a NE IPA it is still a solid session IPA.



Appearance 3.75 - pours pretty clear golden color with thick white head that dissipates to a thick ring with spotty lacing.

Aroma 4 - Light orange and grapefruit with a touch of tangerine sweetness. Light malts and a touch of hops.

Taste 4 - Pretty well balanced between bitterness and a solid malt backbone. Grapefruit and orange peel.

Feel 3.75 - light bodied well carbonated with a slightly dry finish.

Overall 3.95 - They are calling this a session NE IPA does not look it or taste it but still a solid IPA.

 

Wow. The name and label combo looks more like a parody than anything else. What were they thinking?

 

Glad you enjoyed it! Black Label is a brewery I don't hit very often. They're on the far side of Spokane's downtown core, which I generally prefer to walk for drinking purposes. When they opened, they declared their intention to brew beers that favored "drinkability", and I found them to craft very serviceable yet relatively unmemorable beers. I've found that has changed, and am now playing catch up with them. The fact that they're the only local brewery with a crowler machine makes them pretty cool as well.

 

Probably, "Lets have some fun with this one." But as you can see from my notes I thought they did a nice job with the vanilla upfront and the pumpkin pie type spices well under control and in the background.

 

My last New Beer of this fine Sunday, again courtesy of @smanson56

Crossed off a want with this wonderful beer.

Pours a milky, just a touch lighter shade of OJ. Small white head disappears quick. The nose is all citrus, peach and pine. Dang! Tropical fruit, mango, peach, pine and pineapple. The mouthfeel feels a bit overcarbonated and prickly. That’s what bring my overall score down a bit but still an awesome beer. 4.4

 

I've only had this and Cranberry from Cascade, and both almost simultaneously, but Figaro was the winner for me. I'd love to get my hands on a bottle of that!

 

#2, this came from Sweden, and is worthy of the praise it receives (Omnipollo Noa Pecan Mud Imperial Stout). Thank you for the recommendation, @Beersnake1. You are truly a rockstar.





4.56/5 rDev +4.1%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

Pour is sludge black, zero leakage around the edges, and a creamy tan head. Aromas are dominated up front by decadent milk chocolate, salty nuts, and rich, sweet fudge. I am now ready to eat my own hand.

The taste is felonious, with a Snickers bar smashed together with a Milky Way - and then some stone fruit mixed in for giggles at the very end of the taste.

I’m not prone to hyperbole, but this is as good as brewing gets, IMHO.

 

I feel bad that I forgot to credit @WesMantooth for providing me with this delicious beer! Thanks, Corey!

 

Enjoying reading all your posts, but that is as much beer enjoyment as this old hippie is gonna get today. Pretty sure this stomach upset has nothing to do with the who knows how many sour/wild beers I tried yesterday, but ya never know. For your viewing pleasure here are some of them.

Cheers NBS, see ya all next week

 

Another Happy New APA Sunday!

Glad to see Surly here in GJ, Abrasive and some Darkness would be nice as well.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/13014/212431/?ba=Wasatch#review

Cheers!

 

Is that a Mountain Dew in there?