New Beer Sunday (Week 683)

New Beer Sunday: A New IPA

Evenin’ NBSers, with a special alert for fans of Sly Fox beers.

After this morning’s snow flurries the skies eventually cleared here and it was mostly sunny throughout the rest of the day. After a trip to the gym and some grocery shopping it was time for some NCAA basketball. With today's first game resulting in Villanova moving on to the Final Four in San Antonio, the second game result means they’ll be playing Kansas.

This evening’s new beer is also a new IPA called Vupulin and is brewed by Sly Fox, a fairly local brewery that’s been doing beers I’ve enjoyed ever since I started my flavorful beer odyssey.

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

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/1853/311276/?ba=drtth#review


The aromas/flavors of this beer include some tropical fruits and a bit of pine resin. The profile is relatively complex and focused on the hops. There’s some noticeable mango, tangerine, and orange zest. The light, slightly bready, sweetness from the malt is nicely balanced with the hop bitterness so that the bitterness is up front but neither seems overdone. Most of the action seems to take place in the front and middle of the palate leaving the back some lingering fruitiness. This is an IPA worth trying and one I expect I’ll be having again.


This evening’s American Musical is A Little Night Music with Glynis Johns as a member of the original cast.

Send In the Clowns

Cheers, all!

 

Beer 2 tonight is another great beer from @CanConPhilly. All the beers have been great hits!

Tired Hands Daily Personal Best



4.27/5 rDev -1.2%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

Poured from a 16 ounce can.

Smell is a light boozy tropical smell. Mango stands out. Taste matches the tropical mango smell, but adds some sweetness. There's a medium feel as it's easy to drink but still a tad thick. It's a nice triple IPA that definitely doesn't drink like an 11% beer. The sweetness hides the alcohol almost completely.

 

Yup. If I give her a beer she will drink that one vs. mine.

To use a quip attributed to George W. Bush: Strategery!!

Cheers!

 

Thanks @The-Adjunct-Hippie. Time for today's pale lager review. Delicious stuff! Awesome head retention/lacing for the style. Aromas and flavors of lemon, cracker, corn, white bread dough, lightly toasted biscuit, and herbal/grassy/peppery hop earthiness. Light-moderate herbal, grassy, peppery bitterness on the finish. Medium-high carbonation, medium body, and moderately crisp finishing. Balanced bready/grainy malts and sticky hops in the mouthfeel. Touch of resins. Light-moderate increasing bitter dryness, no hop astringency. Perfectly clean lager flavors, never yeasty. Flavorful/refreshing, 5%. Old on the can, but I was a big fan. Over hopped as I expected, but it's not drastic. Really well done style example. Nice clean barley flavors and balanced earthy hops. Not overdone on the adjuncts. 3.93


Excellent IPA. Fantastic head retention and thick soapy lacing on the glass. Aromas and flavors of big tangerine, grapefruit, lemon, lime, peach, pear, pineapple, apricot, passion fruit, papaya, mango, melon, berry, citrus peel/rind, pepper, and pine hops; with moderate honey, toasted bread, light caramel malts; and herbal, floral, grassy hop earthiness. Light-moderate pine, citrus peel, herbal, grassy, spicy bitterness on the finish. Medium carbonation/body; balanced creamy/bready malts and sticky hops in the mouthfeel. Light resins/rinds, increasing bitter dryness, no hop astringency. Verydrinkable, never aggressive, minimal warming 7%. Another great IPA as expected. Great balanced mix of juicy, dank, and earthy hop complexity; nice bready malt backbone, mild residual sweetness. I was initially not a fan of Loral by itself(Ghost Hammer), but I have been liking it when paired with a complementing hop; Citra in this case. Maybe I am just getting used to it's unique earthy character. 4.03


Bruery/Garage Project collab. Awesome saison. Fantastic lasting head retention/lacing on the glass. Aromas and flavors of big lightly tart lemon, lime, peach, pear, red apple, melon, berry, chamomile, cinnamon, clove, peppercorn, mint, hay, straw, herbal, floral, and grass; with moderate honey, wheat, cracker, white bready malts; light musty funk, oak, and yeast earthiness. Light-moderate peppery yeast spiciness and light yeast/wheat tang/tartness on the finish. Medium-high carbonation, medium body, and moderately crisp finishing. Balanced bready/grainy malts and sticky hops/spice in the mouthfeel; light acidity, tang, and tannins. Light-moderate increasing tart/spicy/carbonated dryness, no pucker/astringency. Refreshingly drinkable, 7.2%. Not a ton of foeder presence, but solid. Awesome balance of Brett/Saison yeast complexity, lemon balm/chamomile spice, and pale/wheat malt notes. Delicious and spot on Brett saison as I expected. 4.13


Cheers, have a good night NBS

 

Demented gluttony coffee stout
Appearance is solid black
Body... seems just a little thin and the carbonation just over average but overall still not too bad
Aroma.. espresso,coffee beans,malt and possibily a touch of vanilla
Taste..similar to aroma,they definitely weren't cheap with the coffee in this one
Overall.. Very good,because of heavy carbonation it reminded me of a coffee soda but still very enjoyable

 

Craig, Villanova is in the Final Four despite the fact that you are cheering for them!!

Maybe you are a good luck charm (are you Irish?) and I should request you keep supporting 'Nova? Or maybe I should ask you to cheer for Kansas instead?

Boy, this is a tough call.

Cheers!

 

Fat Head's Head Hunter IPA courtesy of @WesMantooth from the New Beer Sunday BIF.

Second tick for me from Fat Heads after having Hop Juju a couple times.

The way they manage to pack so much dankness into such a crisp beer I'll never know. It's honestly only rivaled by Bodhi in that respect, which is insane to think.

I love me some Michigan haze these days, but Ohio can make some of THE most crisp, refreshing, make-ya-wanna chug it IPAs I've had lately. Respect.

Mouthfeel is off the charts for such clarity in an IPA.

Would recommend.

 

I had a visitor at work this afternoon bearing gifts!

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/28743/334401/



Moderate pour yields a one inch white head over a cloudy (not bright!) body with some nice sticky lacing. Nose of tropical fruit, citrus, and a bit of floral/herbal notes as well. Taste mirrors nose very nicely with a soft citrus pith bitterness on the finish. Feel is soft for a Bright in my opinion, but still nice. Overall, the haziest of the Brights I've had and thanks to Rob, my TH Man, for the hook-up. Cheers!

4.46/5 rDev -3%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5

 

First beer of the night is lighter summery one. I've been thinking of warmer weather this week. I picked this bottle up during a trip to DC in the fall.
Ardent Saison


Pours light golden, minimal head dissipates quickly. Smells of belgian yeast, lemon. Taste is bready, lemon with some white pepper and light fruity notes. Mouthfeel is not as lively as I would like from a saison. Decent offering but not amazing. Its a good sipper while I put together some boxes to go out.

 

Good evening NBS!

Tonight I'm toasting the city of Seattle and @kemoarps with a 2016 Fremont BBA Dark Star.



Pours thick and jet black. A foamy creamy head rises as the beer settles, and demonstrates incredible retention. The second I cracked the bottle I got a huge snoutfull of rich malt and just a touch of whiskey. A closer nosing gives more of the same, as well as some sweeter vanilla and caramel notes. This head isn't going anywhere.

This is a very rich beer. Layers and layers of rich malt, with just a suggestion of whiskey. The wood has done some good work here. Mouthfeel is initially creamy and thick, but finishes almost a bit oily. Rich chocolate finish goes on and on.

I'm enjoying the hell out of sipping on this, and glad I got to try it.

Cheers!

 

The term "prevening" was used by Sheldon on Big Bang Theory to describe the time of day when it's a little too late to be afternoon and a little too early to be evening.

I personally love Longwood - I could live in the palm and cycad house and be that weird shadow that flits through the undergrowth.

 

I'm celebrating the Duke loss (sorry but I'm a hater) with another new beer. Round #2 thanks to @TheIPAHunter again for this great beer!


look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4

Poured into a snifter. A very hazy golden color with a moderate white head. It looked viscous on the pour like an Albino RIS. Good retention with some splotchy laces in the glass. Good but somewhat muted aroma for the style with tangerine, pineapple, and berries. The same fruity notes were there on the palate. Moderately bitter for such a big beer, and there was some boozyness on the finish. Plenty of bitter citrus on the finish as well. A nice bready malt backbone that kept it from being too sweet. The lactose certainly gave it some heft and kept it from drying out too much, but this was not a "soft" beer. Overall I enjoyed this one, but it was too old school for the style. Good but not great.

 

All from walking the dogs this morning.
Doesn't really do service to the cherry blossoms. I love when they come out all over the city.
But then, it was snowing just three days ago, so *shrug*

We've been having enormous amounts of fun over in the BIF thread as boxes are flying all which ways... ninja boxes, regular boxes, ticker boxes, mystery boxes...

Except pretend it's cardboard boxes full of beer instead of windows logos...

@FlintB was my sender and... let's just say y'all will probably be seeing a lot of the fruits of his labours on this here forum for the foreseeable future. Among the multitudinous brews he sent my way was a three year KBS vertical: 2016/2017/2018. He also sent along a big ol' bottle of CBS, which is one of the first beers I remember lusting after here on BA.
I had been putting together a little mini vertical of KBS with the kind offerings of @WesMantooth and @BullDoza from previous NBS BIFs and so, foolishly, still have not drank it. That changes today. I cracked the CBS last night (after midnight! So it's technically Sunday!) and only drank about half of it. I will crack the 2016 KBS here and try them side by side since I now have a duplicate of that year.

I don't know whether these two are brewed with the same base (I know FBS is not used in the production of KBS, but I don't know how CBS relates to either one. No BS on this NBS!). FWIW.



(KBS+CBS)/KMA=

The pours this prevening (love it. I'm stealing that one @Ozzylizard ) looked remarkably similar. Not quite black, but no light getting through that heavy dark smoothe brown. The CBS was perhaps a little darker. KBS had a couple of sloppy wet bubbles that faded pretty quick. CBS was just a fuzz over the top. Last night on the original pour, however CBS had a thick frothy set of brown. All three iterations settled in fairly quickly, but even after sitting overnight, the CBS still presents more post-settle in its ring around the cuff compared to KBS leaving almost nothing. Possibly an artifact of being 2 years old?


Vs.

and last night:


I've got a pretty lackluster sniffer. Like that's something I've known about for a long time, and have lamented on multiple occasions on these very pages. Even given that context, I would argue that the aroma is the weakest point (and I use that term very relatively here) for both of these brews. KBS yields very little. It's all the classic components for sure: some char, some bourbon, some chocolate, some coffee, but it's all very faint. Not in the 'oh subtly done' manner, but in like 'oh the battery on my speaker died so it's turned all the way down' kind of way.
CBS is more pronounced in general here. It smells snappier, cleaner. It's got bolder flavours in my noseballs. Crisp black coffee and a faint sweetness that doesn't really reveal itself yet. Roast and char both. A touch of dark chocolate. Some sweetness from the barrel. Yum.

Let me be clear: these are both probably best served as sippers. And the family resemblance is apparent, but from the get go they present themselves in very different forms.
CBS is overwhelmingly sweet at first blush. Sugar maple assuages any concerns presented by the lack of maple on the nose that maple would not be a defining characteristic of this beer. The first hit is sweet sweet sweet maple, like the crystallized maple sugar found around the rim of a jug of maple syrup (don't lie... you crack them off and eat them as if they were maple candies too...). Have I mentioned that I really like the flavour of maple? As the beer warms, the sweet maple takes less of a dominant role and moves into support, but is still very present. Vanilla and oak from the barrel serve as the grout bridging the sweet maple to the middle acts which are driven by acrid black coffee and char and dark bitter chocolate.
KBS (obviously) doesn't have this sweet lead in, instead presenting its bold roasty malts first before yielding to many similarities: acrid black coffee and bitter dark chocolate. Barrel feels less pronounced here, which again could be a result of the age. That works really well here, as the oak is still there, but it doesn't carry the alcohol heat nor the overwhelming BA-ness that can be found in fresher examples. After crescendoing with some bitterness there, the backslope is a long smoothe creamy dark chocolate that conjures images of decrepit mansions and the juxtaposition of eternal legacy and impermanence that are found in those crumbling bricks. Like I don't know why but I keep coming back to The Fall of the House of Usher for some reason.
Anyway. This finish is smoothe dark chocolate blended in with some candied coffee beans.
CBS carried a similar finish (primarily the smoothe chocolate... but the maple sweetness lent it a slightly fudgier nature), but didn't evoke quite the same imagery for whatever reason.
The unpredictable nature of muses I suppose.

Both are aggressively carbonated, though I would argue that the CBS is more precise. Both are a little thinner than my thicky thick stout ideal, but not thin by any means. I just happen to love the used motor oil consistency for big heavy stouts. Both are high ABV beers, but both of them are easy to forget that while drinking. In both cases, the alcohol is masterfully folded into the surrounding flavours to the point where you don't even think about it. While neither are what I would consider 'hot,' the KBS definitely warms the belly a little bit more than the CBS despite being within 0.7% of one another, and neither one burns the throat. Founders have quite the reputation when it comes to stouts and dark beers in general, and it is incredibly well founded (no pun intended). These two are no exceptions.

My final assessment is that Founders makes fucking incredible beer. I definitely prefer the CBS between the two, and it is probably top ten beers I've ever had and will remain a permawant. KBS is also incredibly tasty, but I did not feel it lived all the way up to its (arguably unattainable) hype. I will joyfully drink the others I have when the time comes, but, as I said, CBS is probably a permawant, while KBS is a great beer that I'll gladly drink if it ends up in my glass but wouldn't seek out with the same fervor.

Cheer y'all. Hope you also have some incredible beers in your glass!

 

Love everything about this post!

 

Me too!

 

What a great read!

If you have the time and sobriety, open up the fresh KBS. I think you'll find it a completely different beer than the two year old. In a good way, to my tastes.

Cheers!