New Beer Sunday (Week 668)

Hey what's going on!?

Holy carp, it's another new beer Sunday.

I've slowed down a bit, not by choice mind you, but more so I think by unforseen circumstances that I have chose to do. There that makes sense. As I may have mentioned previously, I am recovering from secondary Lyme, and it's going real well, but it did a number on my joints, and currently the son of a bitch seems to have re activated an older shoulder wound of the past and caused some tendonitits. ark!! not fun.

As a result, I have gotten familiar with too many bottles of pills and antibiotics that hinted you probably should steer away from alcohol. In reality it wasn't THAT bad, even though I went dry for about a week which was really... boring..

However, I was more importantly hoping to crack #4000 (unofficial review) a lot earlier and it seems that's a real slow train that I don't seem to be bothering to speed up right now with all the holiday stuff going on. I might be able to time that #4000 special but I think it's going to be tough cause of all the parties, and cavorting to even bother. Perhaps that special bottle will be #4012... or something.

Speaking of special days.. it's MY BIRTHDAY!!! No I am not going to be subtle about it either, or give thanks for all the great beer and times with you all... Just flat out today..

I am your god.

There ... deal with it... At this point I should have a plethora of fine rare and EXUBERATING brews DUMPED on me and left at my door step.. and I am not talking bout that hyped up stuff.. uh uh.. You can all just leave at my door, that odd bottle of Kate The Great, that obscure Batch 23 Russian River I've been wanting for ages, Buckets of solid oud brune and beer brut. Trillium IPAs... PFfft forget it.. why don't you just give me one of your Kolsch-es! Or all of them.. or those German monks who should be bowing down to me right now and leaving cases of Mönchsambacher Lager right out side my door.

You all owe me. Yes serriee! Youngins... pffft... people... what do they know... pfft... NUTHIN!! chewing over their NEIPAs... BAH... FARKLE THAT! and you don't even send me any... pfft!! something something... ramble ramble!!

Is this what all the cool kids are doing?!?!? heck with them... pfft...

All that beer I've reviewed and drank it's not enough. Every single want on my list should be on my lawn.. tomorrow so get on it..

Actually no.. the driveway.. GET OFF MY LAWN!!

And make sure to leave the beer. No I am not going to be subtle... just... sledgehammer like.

I am old...

er..

like a sexy 10 year aged cellar-ed J.W. Lees & Co fine barleywine baby.. DRINK IT UP!!

With that said, I certainly need a drink and the going is certainly getting good. Our hero needs sustenance.

What's new for our hero today?

and NO you can't have it (well if you find one then you can but you can't have this one OK??!?)

Blonde De L'Enfer | Unibroue


Unibroue - Blonde De L'Enfer by imbibehour, on Flickr

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Poured from the bottle into a tulip glass.

Real nice mix of body colors. Hits a very bubbly carbonation throughout the body, with orange, red, yellow, and brown hues. Hits more towards a full bronze orange quality, with an excellent top rocky three finger head. Lots of repopulation and deep opaque appearances, and a classic mid column of fire going on in the middle like a roaring flame. Too much goodness going on, scores real high and worthy of it.

Aroma is a mixed bag. Fleshy apples and touches of cinnamon like sweetness mixing in with classic Belgian candi like sugars. It's got a hint of that bile smell but it's faint and mixed in with a good sort of Christmas spice mix quality. Pretty solid overall.

Palate is sharp and powerful, but drinkable. Very dry bodied and crisp with even a touch of bitter hop which is a surprise. Good balancing sweetness of malt and sugars, with touches of more raisin and darker fruits not hinted on the nose. Gasesous a touch but tolerable, but also for a fun playful palate.

So this blonde from hell is certainly a fun one. As the description later mentions a bit of champagne effervescence and non traditional Belgian spin, I have to agree. Although some more touches on classic yeast and malt profile would be great too.

look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4 | BA Generated Score: 4.03

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Bow down! I am your god.

stand by for further instructions.

 

Glad to read this, makes me think I need to go ahead and crack the bottle I have rather than let it sit there for awhile.

 

This one has been on my radar....

 

Jersey Squirrel a 6.4 ABV Brown Ale from Twin Elephant Brewing. TE has brewed a lot of different Brown Ales since they opened in may of last year. They have all been good and this one may be the best one yet. It's brewed with Pale, Crystal, Chocolate and Campils malts and a small amount of Oats. It's hopped with Centennial, Chinook, Nugget and Simcoe hops. American Ale yeast is used. Poured from a 32 oz growler Jersey Squirrel is golden brown with a thick tan head. The aroma is malt as is the taste. The finish is dry and the mouth feel is both full and soft. An excellent Brown Ale by any standard.
Brown Ales don't get posted about very often on BA, it's not a popular style these days. It's a shame, They can be excellent beers.

 

Thank you to @lordofthewiens for getting us started today. Today' beer is Delirium Noel.

3.6/5 rDev -7.2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75

A: Pours a beautiful amber with a rich 1"- 2" white foamy head, and exceptional lacing.
S: The nose is light, getting some wine, figs/raisin, bread, and malt.
T: Tase follows the nose, with some alcohol bite throughout. Getting a little bitter aftertaste that is not so nice.
M: Medium feel
O: Not my favorite beer, flavors seemed harsh and underwhelming to me for the style.

 

It's about time!

Seriously, it's good to hear from you.

 

Happy Sunday NBS players. A rather cold winter day here on the island with lots of sunshine following the first snowfall of the season. I'm looking at a pretty nice week of vacation and the fiance and I will be hitting up New Orleans for a little get away. A Jets 4:00 game has been pretty rare this year so I'm getting into my new beer a little earlier today.

My new beer today is Dean - Pacific Northwest Mahogany Ale- from Singlecut. I've only been to the brewery twice but I'm still rather surprised that I have never tried this. I guess I'm usually too busy guzzling down their ipas. The brew checks in at 6% abv, 70 ibu, and a 10/31/17 bottling date.

The pour lives up to it's mahogany name with a rich amber/brown color. Nice clarity with a full and fluffy white head. On the nose I get malt and sugars. A rather light and dry start on the drinking. A smooth and malty flow that finishes crisp and slightly bitter. Really nice flavor pairing of the rich/dirty malt tones and decent amount of bitterness. The malt really seems to work between a brown ale and an amber. Nice notes of caramel, molasses, brown sugar, and a rather distinct bitter pine flavor from the hops and high ibu. Mouth feel is on the lighter side of moderate but it comes off a crisp and refreshing.

Overall, I'm not nearly as in love with the amber style as I was say 20 years ago but this is really pretty good stuff for the style. It's got really nice balance and the flavors just really work together to keep the brew interesting. I'm right around a 4 here players.

 

Cigar city cafe con leche. Jet black color,medium body and carbonation with an overall great feel. Aroma is roasted coffee beans,roasted malt,cocia,milk chocolate. Taste is same,dry,and the roasted coffee dominates. It's a stout that isn't cheap with the flavor and is worthy of picking up another bottle when I find it

 

Happy Return to New CAN I Cut a Single in Minneapolis, MN Beer Sunday (Week 668)!

By now, you may have intuited that I am beginning my day with some SingleCut CANs. I CANtinued with:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/30452/231916/?ba=woodychandler#review


which segued into:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/30452/268249/?ba=woodychandler#review


but now, I had exhausted my stash from these guys, so it was off to the warm, sunny climes of Mini-Apple-Us, Mini-Soda. Hey, why izzit frigid? My travel agent wouldn't lie to me, would she?
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/22167/249776/?ba=woodychandler#review



Oh, well. Now that I am in Mini-soda, I may as well make the best of it & see what else they have to offer.

 

Happy Birthday! We tremble in obedience & await further instruction!

 

A-A nice light golden hazy color with some head and lacing.
A-Belgian yeast, cloves and spice hints.
T-Well carbonated saison with a complex taste.
M-Light bodied saison with a good balance.
O- Very well balanced saison with a good kick.

 

Well, our planet's tilt and position in it's orbit around the sun has put us almost as far from the sun's direct rays as we will be. This causes colder temps, and occasionally crystallized water to fall from the sky, as our host today had noted. I got my wish yesterday in that we got a nice covering of wet, white stuff but it didn't affect the roads (though it did affect a few on the roads, but only to my mild frustration).

My first beer for the day is a hazy IPA from Captain Lawrence. The beer is brewed with Pilsner malts and flaked oats, and a couple of forms of Citra hops. Is it a NE IPA? Is it a juice slushy? Or is it a classic or even West Coast IPA? I'm definitely not the definitive source, but I came to a conclusion...


The beer has a certain haze to it, created by visible micro-balls of... well, I don't know. They do sit there like they belong, as if that is their place in the galaxy. In fact, in the little galaxy of my glass, they are obstinate bodies that grab carbonation bubbles in their gravity before releasing them on their way to the surface.

This galaxy does seem to be changing, just like ours. Unlike our universe - which is getting colder, this one is warming. This shift in temperature has caused a more grapefruit and tangerine citrus with rind an pith to shift to have a little more overripe tropical fruits.

The emptiness of space has a light toasted biscuit taste to it, but is not nearly as thick as one might think given the bodies it contains. My tongue does catch space and matter, however, and the citrus notes have a tangerine sweet-tartness along with a sweeter-leaning tropical note. The dark matter of the hop forms do quell the citrus with a pith and eventually piney bitterness. This works with the dark energy of a lively carbonation to spice things up a tad.

Though it's not quite as "clean" as a classic American IPA, I think Orbital Tilt (Citra) fits more in that category. It's not cloudy, and not quite as smooth as what I think of for a NE IPA, though it has a certain fruity aspect to it.. My opinion only, as I don't know where the science sits on defining such things. I think we're still learning

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The marketing on the beer talks about changing tastes. I figured I'd throw in my morning beer (as it also showed the snow a little) as a beer I decided to revisit after seeing people enjoying it on this site. This beer still doesn't work for me - just too much bite from the barrel that distracts me from the far less noticeable notes of the base stout and coffee. I'll age the last two and see if the alcohol aspect settles and blends a little better to my tastes.

 

Taking a break from Imperial Stouts and Winter Warmers to try a new IPA

 

Samuel Adams Oatmeal Stout

So here’s new beer #3, and if you can believe it or not, this is literally only the third beer I’ve had today, normally I hit it hard early on Sunday to give me time to shut it off and recover for work, but since I’m on vacay I’m in another mode, it’s kinda weird but I like it. Full disclosure: I love nutcrackers. We have probably 5-6 around the house and I just love the variations of them. Now that my 11% coconut stout is gone, I’ll slide into something a little less intense.

Look: Deep dark chocolate, black, absolutely chunky oat flake colored head.

Aroma: Dark bittersweet chocolate, charred malts, oat flakes, orange peel tang.

Taste: Dark chocolate, oats, and a strange very tangy finish.

Mouthfeel: Medium bodied, slightly chalky.

Overall: The aftertaste of the tanginess is just weird. The rest of the beer is classic Sam Adams, just above par, nothing great nor bad.

I’m watching the Chiefs beat up on the Raiders which is always fun. I do believe I will come back for a record 4th new beer later. Can’t wait for the mid-season finale of Walking Dead.

 

I have a couple beers in the fridge for today. Which one I pick depends...

Handbell concert at the church tonight. We had a disastrous run through on Tuesday, so scheduled an extra woodshed session for yesterday afternnon, which we subsequently cancelled and rescheduled for this afternoon. If we don't get our shit together, we will be cutting numbers which I absolutely hate doing. In my mind that is a form of surrender. So I have a bunch of playing to do and three songs to sing with small groups tonight. My son and I are doing the Bowie/Crosby thing for the first time in about ten years.

So the beer selection much later will depend on how things go.

Welcome back, @kemoarps Happy birthday @imbibehour Great kick off @lordofthewiens And although I also enjoy the four seasons, I would enjoy snow a hell of a lot more if I could just sit in the house, drink beer, read/watch TV, and wait for it to go away.

 

Happy Birthday sir, if there are bottles in front of your door, I left the best one. Cheers!

 

Green St. Sour IPA from Hermit Thrush.
This seems like a kettle sour with some woody notes
-clear amber can pour with a thin foam cap. Aroma is vinegar and sour grape. Flavor is sour apple and oak with moderate bitterness. This is not a complex or deep flavor profile, but pleasing.

 

Greetings, fellow NBSers, and thanks to @lordofthewiens for getting us going.

First back-to-back NBS for me in about a month. It's currently 32° in the city where Bing Crosby's toupee resides safely under glass. We've had an inversion layer the last week or so that's kept things dry but also cold outside, and the pollution is gathering under it, Spokane being much like a miniature L.A., so I've been carrying my inhaler with me lately.

This week I've mostly been hitting fridge beer staples such as Bodhizafa, but I
did review an IPA from Fort George brewed with fir needles:
9
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/16077/189172/?ba=woemad#review
Most beers brewed from trees or bushes, at least in my experience, tend to be dominated by such adjuncts. Not this one. Everything was exceptionally well balanced.

I also had a barrel aged oatmeal stout from local stalwart Iron Goat that I've yet to add to the database:

Aged in Dry Fly Triticale wheat whiskey barrels, the nose on this imperial version of Goatmeal is superb, but after that things are unfortunately rather thin. A rare miss for a brewery I'm generally a cheerleader for. Maybe with age the heat will drop and allow more stout flavor to emerge.

Momentarily, I'll be hitting a beer that I didn't expect to have a shot at until just over 24 hours ago. Details forthcoming.

 

Man I never thought I’d see the day when it snows in Georgia before it snows in Kansas. It may as well be summer here in the Midwest

 

Beer #2 for NBS.

Currently watching the Giants, Cowboys game. If the Cowboys lose, the Eagles clinch so go Giants! Surprisingly decent game considering the poor season the Giants have had so far.

Been on a porter kick this winter so had to finally check out one of the more popular ones, Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald.



Pours a deep brown, almost black color with a finger thick, light tan head. Smells of roasted malts, coffee. Taste is a little bitterness, dark chocolate, smoke. Medium body, quick finish with a little bitterness lingering. Very nice, leans towards the bitter side as advertised. Different for a porter and I like it. Would happily have again.