New Beer Sunday (Week 684)

Good morning NBS, hope everyone has a good Easter Sunday. Thanks to @lordofthewiens for the intro this morning. I usually go visit family on the holidays, but this year they were not doing anything this time. Mid weekend for me, as we get tomorrow off as well. Got my targets BIF box ready to pack up and ship today or tomorrow. It will be a massive one for sure, so they should prepare their porch.

Kicking off the NBS thanks to @MacMalt from BIF #7. He sent me a few big beers, but I chose this after looking at reviews. This was insane! Deep, dark, dense pour with amazing lasting head retention and thick soapy lacing for the ABV. Aromas and flavors of huge milk/dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee, caramel, brown sugar, toffee, nuttiness, and toasted dark/brown breads; with light notes of vanilla, molasses, wood smoke, charcoal, raisin, plum, fig, leather, tobacco, and herbal hop earthiness. Very mild roast/char and herbal/spicy hop bitterness on the finish. Light-medium carbonation and very full body; with a very creamy, silky, velvety, and rich mouthfeel that is insane. Slight sticky hops, chalky roast, and increasing dryness. No acrid/astringent roasted flavors. Minimal warming 10.9%. For a standard no frills imperial stout, this is just mind blowing. It has everything you want, and nothing you don't. Super rich and complex, no overly bitter/charred on hops or black/roast malts. The mouthfeel was pretty much perfect. Dangerously smooth drinking for the ABV. One of the best American imperial stouts I've ever had, easily. This was my first from Kane. Got a couple other cans. 4.55


Cheers, will be back later with plenty more new beers.

 

Good morning New BSers! Thank you, @lordofthewiens, for starting today's thread. For what it's worth, I think you and @cjgiant are doing a very good job - essentially you each have to come up with a stimulating topic every other week - something only someone creative can do.

Today's New Beer Sunday brew is:



$ 6.67 (Including shipping)/12 oz can ($ 0.556/oz) from Tavour, Seattle, WA.
Unable to locate bottling or BB date. Stored at 42 degrees and served at 54 degrees in a hand-washed and dried Jester King snifter.
Appearance – 3.5.
Body – Dark brown/black, opaque, some effervescence.
Head – Large (Maximum 4.6 cm, controlled center pour), dark tan, dense with rocks, average retention time, diminishing to a two to four mm ring fed a couple of places by effervescence, a thick complete layer with a few rocks, and some irregular lacing formed as the head retraxts.
Lacing – Very little additional lacing as the level drops – just some slight lengthening of the lacing left from head retraction.
First pour – Dark brown, nearly opaque.
Aroma – 4 – Cocoa, roasted malt, faint bourbon.
Flavor – 3 – Begins with a slightly bitter light chocolate. Ends with some bourbon and a slight gastric warming. No hops, no alcohol, no diacetyl, no dimethylsulfide.
Palate – 3.25 – Full, creamy, soft carbonation.

Impression and summation – In both palate and appearance, this brew is somewhat more of a Russian Imperial Stout than an Impy stout. It certainly smells like something I’d want to drink! But then comes the actual consumption. Disappointment. This is no more flavorful than Impy stouts at half the price. A little chocolate, a little post-consumption gastric warming, $ 70 more per case then Ten Fidy? No, thank you. Rating 3.35, rDev -19.3.

As you can see, this hardly lived up to expectations. When you pull this beer up, BA gives other examples of the style - KBS, BCBS, Breakfast Stout, Abyss, Speedway, Bomb, Dragon's Milk, Storm King, CBS... Talk about class differences!

 

New Beer Sunday: A New Berliner Weissbier

Mornin’ NBSers and a Happy Easter Sunday. This morning I’ve a heads up for fans of Berliner Weissbiers who’d like to try one with a white wine influence.

Also my thanks to @lordofthewiens for today’s start up, as well as some encouragement. Your start ups have been well written, interesting and often thought provoking. I'm glad you've had the encouragement of your wife to help keep us going and to help you discover that sometimes what keeps us from doing something well is emotional rather than lack of ability. (I think you already know that skills improve with deliberate, focused and reflective practice.)

Well the weather here today is expected to be at least partly sunny and breezy with temperatures getting up to near 60. Looking like it’ll be a nice day for a mid-afternoon family gathering and sharing of a meal.

This morning’s new beer is the Hopvine Bling from Stillwater Artisanal Ales.

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

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/22150/236553/?ba=drtth#review


The aromas and flavors of this beer display both the influence of the lacto fermentation and the presence of the white wine grapes. There is some definite tartness and some white wine presence, a bit of citrus and some barely noticeable bitterness. The tartness creates some astringency in the back of the palate and roof of the mouth that fades slowly and a small bit of it is there for a long ending. A very refreshing beer with an interesting aroma/flavor profile. Well worth trying if you can find it.

Cheers, all

 

Happy Anniversary! Glad to find out our choices of you and Craig were so good. I think I speak for all of us when I say thanks for the great job you do. It was a seamless transition, and the thing that malty, Matt, Maria, and I most cared about, keeping NBS true to its roots, has been accomplished spectacularly. We, each of us, tried to make it a reflection of ourselves too, and both you and Craig have succeeded well at this. Here's to NBS, and a great future for it with you at the helm. Cheers!

 

I can vouch for this. After a 50+ years spent writing in various styles and forms I can say that this concentrated and lengthy effort has greatly improved my typing skills.

 

Good morning, all! It's race morning for the Ronde van Vlaanderen (Tour of Flanders - a one day classic spanning over some brutal cobbled stretches and punchy short hills) which means an early morning for me. The lead group just crested the 3rd climb of the day with a 5'22" lead over the peloton. To celebrate today, one of my favorite two cycling races every year, I've got a bit of Belgian beer. While I've had "8" and "10" by this brewery, I decided it was time to give this one a whirl after spending quite a while in the import aisle, something I don't do hardly enough.



Trappiste Rochefort 6.

Pours a rich orange-plum with two fingers of khaki-colored foam retaining exceptionally well. Aroma is pale, bread, biscuit, and earth malts with rich notes of plum, clove, and yeast spices. Flavor profile is bread, biscuit, earth, and pale malts with plum, clove, and yeast spices. Yeast spices deliver that quintessential Belgian beer flavor. Mouth feel is smooth and creamy with a medium thickness. Overall, a big beer even if it's just sitting around 7% ABV. It's the complete package, with every aspect of the beer coming off meticulously constructed.

Score: 4.5 | 4.25 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 4.5 | BA Score: 4.44 | rDev: +7%

Cheers!

 

Happy Hoppy New Easter April Beer Fools' Sunday (Week 673)!

Between hops & wanting to make a fool out of myself, this seems like the perfect way to spend the day. I am off tomorrow as part of an amended Spring Break (Good Friday & tomorrow, but not Maundy Thursday), so I feel like I have been given an imbiber's green light. Even better is the opportunity to further The CANQuest (tm), which has now become an impossibility - new & limited-release CANs hit the market EVERY day (or so it seems). I am not giving up, but CANversely, I know that I am missing out. C'est la guerre & I do not suffer from FOMO, mofos, since I have more than enough to keep me satiated for a LONG time. Onward!

2018 has been a great CY thus far with multiple monthly full moons & coinciding/overlapping holidays/celebrations, like today. If you missed it, I celebrated Happy Ashy Valentine's Wednesday by getting my g/f ash-filled chocolates & a bouquet of burnt flowers! Today, the Easter egg hunt is for colorfully decorated rotten eggs, which should make for a fun surprise. A colleague is telling his family that it will be the most challenging Easter eggs hunt ever & to not give up. He is not hiding any eggs, however, so I can imagine that it will be rather challenging.

The hoppy bunny has left me all sorts of colorfully decorated aluminum cylinders filled with lots of tasty treats & it will be my pleasure to share the results with you fools over the course of the day, beginning with:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/140/324284/?ba=woodychandler#review


Ooops! It looks like the Easter egg hunt has begun & since I don't want to miss out on the fun & festivities as the young'uns uncover the putrid foul fowl treats, I need to close here. I'll return later in the day with more ... stuff!

 

Another Sunday and my favorite thread rolls around. Here's my new for me beer . . .



Very attractive orange gold color with creamy white cap.

Yes, it does smell like pineapple, backed by citrus and pine.

Flavor is quite citrus fruity with pineapple leading the charge but not dominating. These tasting notes sound simple but this is a very complex brew resting on a solid malt base. I get a bit more of the piney high notes in the finish and aftertaste but find those add a refreshing end.

Medium-full texture with balancing carbonation.

Overall the fruit elements here tame the aggressive hop profile somewhat adding a roundness and fullness moreso than the regular Sculpin. In fact I prefer this over the grapefruit Sculpin which I also prefer over the regular Sculpin. Not really a food paring beer but an interesting one that I'd certainly offer to my craft drinking friends, especially if they hadn't already tried it.

 

Cheers @lordofthewiens and @cjgiant ! Happy Easter to you both. Has it been a year already? It seems like just yesterday my living room floor was strewn with waded up papers and empty beer glasses. You two have been doing a wonderful job of hosting NBS. It can be a daunting task but the I found the best way to tackle it is to fret and worry, to pace and talk to one self. Just kidding Doc. =) I am very glad the two of you were there to step up and step into it.

Today is fast becoming a couch day. I am finding myself a bit under the weather. After I stop sneezing I think I won't even cook today. Cheers you all and Happy New Beer Easter Sunday!

 

No cooking? You aren’t feeling well.

Hope you are feeling better soon!

 

Thanks to @lordofthewiens for another great open to this thread. Happy anniversary and Happy Easter to those who are celebrating. I feel like I can relate a bit to your opening today. I don’t always post, but do almost always read through. I’ve never been much of a wordsmith, and I think that kept me from posting here for a while. Just sheer intimidation from some of the better reviewers here kept me on the sidelines. This really is a welcoming community though. No judgement and lots of support. Big thanks to everyone here! Anyway, on to my review...

16oz can dated 02/28/2018 poured into large snifter
“SHOTGUN RESPONSIBLY” typed on the bottom of the can.
This is Kitten Kong from Hidden Springs Ale Works sent to my by @Graham19840

Happy Easter! Heavy pour is dark brown and leaves a dense foam topping that just chills for a while. Graham crackers are heavy in the nose. So much so that I can’t get past it to pull out anything else. I’ve never had the best sniffer and can’t pull out a ton different things from most beers, but I’m pretty sure this one isn’t my fault. This is as much a s’mores Girl Scout cookie in beer form as I could ever imagine. Mallow, graham cracker, chocolate. Bitter coconut is also present as this kicks it’s initial chill. Very thin and not as sweet as I was expecting. Would love to try an imperial version of this.

 

Plus, we both have a key quality necessary for the job, we get up early on Sundays.

I can’t believe we’ve made it a whole year, Dick. I’ve had fun doing it and surprisingly only had real bouts of writer’s block on a couple weekends. Here’s to continued, we’ll call it “success,” my friend.* Cheers!

* it’s not like we drive the thread, we just give the car a push so others can engage the clutch and actually keep the vehicle running.

 

Great opening @lordofthewiens and @cjgiant are doing a great job. This very new local brewery about an hour away rek’•lis first beer from them. My friend who gave it to me said it is on Nitro. Poured aggressive and got this massive 2 plus finger head that leaves loads of dark tan lace as it slowly settles into a thin layer of khaki bubbles. 4.5

Smell is biscuity grain, faint coffee grounds, cocoa nibs, vanilla beans, a hint of anise, and toffee. 4

Taste follows some biscuit, vanilla, dark chocolate, dry strong coffee, a little anise and I really mean a little, and a healthy dose of toffee. 4.25

Mouthfeel is creamy and bigger than average, very smooth because of the Nitro, a tad dry as you would expect, and at 7.7% ABV extremely approachable. 4.5

Overall this is a very nice and complex stout, that really gives you a new flavor sip after sip. Plenty of flavor, but you would never know it is almost 8%. Well done and can’t wait to try my next beer from these guys. 4.25

 

If there is such a thing as a get well beer, I recommend it. Hope you are feeling better soon!

 

Forgot to post the pic

 

Feel better soon! I always look forward to seeing whatcha got cookin’!

 

Do you have a favorite brewery?

Firstly: Happy Easter everybody!!

Now, back the question from above. I have a favorite brewery and it is Hill Farmstead located in Vermont.

My very first Hill Farmstead beer was Edward (an APA) that was served on draft at a local beer bar during a Philly Beer week event. This was quite some time ago; I would guess 10-ish years ago. Boy, that was a glorious beer.

For a period of time Hill Farmstead beers were available in the Philly area on draft. For me it was always a special treat. One of my local beer bars would conduct an annual 4th of July event featuring Hill Farmstead beers. One of the bartenders would drive up to Vermont and bring back a half-dozen or so kegs of differing Hill Farmstead beers. I was only able to make it to a couple of those events due to other commitments but I really enjoyed the two that I went to.

Then tragedy arrived a couple of years ago: Shaun Hill decided to withdraw from the Philly market.

Well, thanks to the generosity of a fellow BA tragedy was replaced by great joy for today I will be drinking a can of Hill Farmstead Society & Solitude #4. To the best of my recollection I have never tasted this beer before so I am very excited today.

On the can there is a nice write-up:

“Hill Farmstead Brewery is the culmination of travel and insight, of friendships and explorations, and of realizing the sense of one’s place. Upon the hand hewn land of our forebears, we honor eight generations of Greensboro ancestry by thoughtfully engaging with our heritage and with our distinctive beers. This offering is our effort to revive, diversify, and prolong the memory of Hill Farmstead.”

At a past Philly Beer Week event I had the opportunity to chat with Shaun Hill for 15-20 minutes. I appreciated his willingness to speak with me and respond to my many technical brewing questions. He responded to every query with kindness and grace. During our much faceted discussion I got the distinct impression that he is a very contemplative fellow. I appreciated my time with him.

As regards today’s beer of Society & Solitude #4, below is how this beer is described on BA:

“Our experimental Double IPA experience continues. Hybrid Imperial IPA... Think Double Citra Meets Double Galaxy.”

Well, from my homebrewing with Galaxy and Citra I am big fan of those two hops so… Let’s Drink!!

Served in my Spiegelau IPA glass:

Appearance:

Light golden colored and very hazy with a one finger white head.

Aroma:

There is a complex hop aroma here. There is tropical fruit, some citrus and something else which I can’t properly describe in words.

Taste:

The flavors follows the nose: a tasty combination of tropical fruit, citrus and that ‘something else’. Just enough malt to provide some balance. This beer is moderately bitter.

Mouthfeel:

A light-medium body with moderate carbonation

Overall:

I think this beer is very good. I found the complex combination of aromas/flavors to be enjoyable and intriguing. I also appreciated that for a DIPA is was not in the least cloying.


In a recent conversation with a local beer store owner he made mention that he heard a rumor that Hill Farmstead will soon start distributing in the Philly area again. I have my fingers crossed that this is indeed the case.

Cheers to Hill Farmstead – my favorite brewery!!!!!!!!!

@KOP_Beer_OUtlet @rotsaruch @chipawayboy @RobH

Go ‘Nova!! @cjgiant

 

My new beer today hails from Wisconsin, courtesy of @GreenBayBA, Perky Porter by Stillmank Brewing Co., Green Bay WI:



Per the label, this beer is brewed with, inter alia, locally roasted coffee beans. At 7% and 30 IBUs I’m eager to get my coffee going this morning.

The beer pours dark brown with ruby hues; light tan foam fizzles and recedes quickly leaving a few sparse micro bubbles and a thin ring; no lacing. 4.0



Strong coffee aroma with light roast right behind. 4.0

Flavors of roasted coffee and lite bitter roast and slightly charred. The coffee is stronger in the nose than on the tongue. 3.75



Light body; thin watery feel; moderate minus carbonation. 3.5

Overall there is plenty of coffee to keep me interested and I like the residual coffee finish; there is a lite bitter roast linger; for a 7% beer, this porter is lite and poundable, perhaps a bit too thin for me, but still enjoyable drinking. 3.75

Cheers and have a Happy Easter!

 

They helped me win $75 yesterday, so hell yeah!!

(Anyone have an early line on the championship game?)