New Beer Sunday (Week 688)

A-Pours a hazy amber color with a nice head and lacing
A-Aroma has fruity and hoppy hints
T-The taste follows the nose with fruity and hoppy flavors
M-A medium bodied decently carbonated beer
O-A nice refreshing beer

 

New Beer Sunday: A New American Blonde Ale

Mornin’ NBSers with an alert for folks looking for light, drinkable beers that would be refreshing to drink during the heat of summer. Also special thanks to @lordofthewiens for today’s start up.

The weather here today is expected to be breezy with some sun and temps in the mid 50’s, down about 20 degrees from yesterday.

This morning’s new beer is the Twilight Summer Ale from Deschutes. (From that name we might think the beer was targeted for the end of a working day and before the evening really gets under way. )

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

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/63/17984/?ba=drtth#review


This lightly flavored, refreshing beer shows off lots of biscuity malt and sweetness that does not cloy. That malt is backed up by a touch of lemony bitterness and some spicy, almost peppery grassiness. While this beer is not particularly complex or intense in its flavors and aromas that’s actually what I want in my cooler as a summer ale that can be on offer for both guests who are fans of flavorful beers and those who favor AALs. Drinkable and refreshing with moderate to low ABV. What more could one ask of a summer beer?

Cheers, all!

 

Sounds like there's a new beginning in store, and yes it will involve lots of work but the end result sounds to me like something that will be worth it. Enjoy your new home and the excitement of being able to move there and do the things you enjoy!

There was a time in my life when I was packing up all my belongings and moving from place to place every 6 mos. or so. While I didn't have as much stuff in those days all those moves shaped my philosopy of packing to move. Unless you are 100% sure you really don't need something any more (e.g., a snow shovel or window scraper), take it with you. Leave it in the middle of the room for 6 months (metaphorically not literally) and if you still haven't needed or used it, then get rid of it.

For me that reduced the stress of packing for the move and helped me not dispose of something that I later wished I had kept. It's much easier to divest yourself of excess baggage when you know from experience that it isn't needed any more.

 

Cheers you all and a Happy New Beer Sunday to you. Thank you Doc for getting us going this chilly morning. I have a beer from Southern Tier this week. It's their new blonde 8 days a week. A long time ago fx matt used a marketing ploy to get you to try their legacy IPA. It was called the brewers dozen and each case from that season had one extra beer in it. That one. Southern Tier has taken a page out of that book and has brought you an 8 pack of this beer for a lovely price point same as a sixer.

I over poured.



Pours lovely pale straw color gold, fat creamy head of white foam, just a touch hazy. The nose is a hint of fsweet cracker, light lilting hop floral and a few hints that they are herbal. The nose is the like scent of a gentle summer breeze . Generous crackery malt comes to the palate first and firmly. It's generous and breaddy but also fine like a cracker. It's a little lighter than breaddy showing the soft middle of the country white bread. The hops presence on the nose is light too and yet they exude so much character. They impart a gentle softness to a beautiful fine malt. They also give a sweet impression with their floral. The herbal is like new grasses, just a bit sweet and has softly permeated the beer so that it does not stand out too much but simply fills up the background. Crisp clean and malty finish.

Shake your money maker.

 

Glad I was up early enough to report to admins the false start to today's NBS, which they deleted this time lol

Congrats Doc on the move! I love New Mexico, it's one of the most beautiful and unique areas in this country. Certainly can't blame you for wanting to escape the NE winters. I bet you will be happy there, and I wish you all the best!

I have been begged by so many friends and relatives sto do the same, but I have discovered I am bound here permanently by my love of this area, and even kind of surprised to find I love it more now than when I first set eyes on the Shawangunks fifty-two years ago.

I hear the beer is good in New Mexico and I can say that the five or six I have tried have been excellent. Speaking of beer- will be back with two beers from a different warmer-than-here part of the country, Alabama. I've been looking forward to this side by side of a BA old ale called Unobtanium, one of which is a year older than the other. Back in a bit, see y'all then.

 

Do you like Juicy Fruit gum?

Today’s new beer is from a new brewery (well, new to America): BrewDog Hazy Jane.

Last year BrewDog opened up a new brewery in Columbus, Ohio. I have read in past BA threads that Columbus was in the running for the Stone new East Coast brewery. The decided to open in Virginia instead but apparently the due diligence work they did was good enough for BrewDog.

On the bottom of the 6-pack box it states:

“BrewDog came howling into the world in 2007. Born in Aberdeen, Scotland, we now brew our beers in Columbus, Ohio. A full-circle journey that brings our craft beer back to the place where the Craft Beer Revolution started. Beer that is powered by the people – our unique community of 55,000 beer-loving investors helped us build our breweries in Scotland and America. Bringing people and beer closer together.

Freshly uncompromising beer born and raised in Scotland now available in the USA”

In my opinion it is pretty ballsy for the BrewDog folks to open a new large scale, distributing craft brewery in today’s ultra-competitive market. While breweries like Green Flash is closing their East Coast (Virginia Beach) brewery that has only be open for a year or so and Deschutes deciding to delay the opening of planned East Coast brewery and… the folks of BrewDog seem to be ‘saying’ – Damn the torpedoes full speed ahead.

On the side of the box it lists:

“Born in Scotland Brewed in the USA”

On the can it details:

“BrewDog Hazy Jane 7.2% ABV New England Style India Pale Ale

Hazy Jane

An all-out New England Patriot of a beer. Brace yourself for a full-tilt fruit hit. Aromas of pineapple, mango, stone-fruit and hints of lime head for the State-line. Brewed with oats and wheat and left unfiltered for a smooth ride. Fall for the East-Coast crush.

Hazy Jane – Clouded clarity for the IPA generation.”

Well, that is some top shelf marketing spiel right there!!

In past NBS posts I took a crack at defining the attributes/qualities for the so called 'NE' style IPA:

• Low/moderate bitterness
• A turbid/murky/opaque appearance
• A soft/velvety mouthfeel
• A quality that some (many?) folks like to describe using the terminology of "juicy"

So, I will drink this can of Hazy Jane with the above criteria in mind (note: this beer is the third can I had from the pack).

Served in my Spiegelau IPA glass:

Appearance:

Golden yellow colored with a turbid/murky/opaque appearance. There is a two finger fluffy white head.

Aroma:

This beer is very fruity. It even smells “juicy”.

Taste:

The flavor follows the nose with BIG fruity and “juicy” flavors. There is a low/moderate bitterness. This beer really reminds me of Juicy Fruit gum.

Mouthfeel:

There is a soft, velvety mouthfeel.

Overall:

I want to say this beer is very good but….


So, needless to say but this beer is consistent with the criteria I itemized above. While the name of this beer is Hazy Jane I think it would have been more ‘accurate’ to brand this beer as Juicy Jane (needless to say this would not be politically correct to do this). When it comes to “juicy” this beer gets an A+. If this is a quality that you look for in a beer than run (do not walk) to your local beer retailer and buy some.

Even after drinking three cans of this beer I am undecided if Hazy Jane is a beer for me. It has been several decades since I last chewed on Juicy Fruit gum and while I enjoyed this gum in my younger days this is simply not a gum for me anymore. Do I really want to drink a beer that reminds me of Juicy Fruit gum?

Do you remember this commercial?

Cheers to the brewers of BrewDog for brewing an A+ “juicy” beer!!!

@KOP_Beer_OUtlet @rotsaruch @chipawayboy @RobH @BillManley

 

More importantly is NM a beer desert?

 

Great review Jack! I do remember that commercial and I also remember juicy fruit gum and the jingle if not the whole commercial. I recently tried my first brew dog beer the other day and I am going back to look for this one. I have to say that it is the comparison to juicy fruit gum that will cause me to buy it. I thought the gum was quite sugary tasting and I remember that muddled syrupy tropical flavor. Cheers!

 

Juicy Jane — LMFAO - now that would have been a ballsy move

 

If anybody would have done this it would be the chaps of BrewDog.

Cheers!

P.S. Did you ever watch the BrewDog TV shows? There was a classic episode where they were in Northern California participating with Dr. Charlie Bamforth and as per usual came up with a wacky recipe. When they came back to talk to Charlie they mentioned one of their ideas and Charlie responded with: "Who came up with that stupid idea?". Nobody would reply to his question.

 

Congratulations!

 

Congratulations my man, you picked a beautiful spot to relocate. I discovered Las Cruces by accident and in subsequent years made a point of stopping there whenever travels took me West. I understand the generational ties that may bind us to a place but life is a one ticket per customer trip and my next move is in the planning stages. Not yet site specific but I will be trading my current view of pine trees for a mountain vista.

 

Poured a little colder than I prefer into a 16 oz Magnify Snulip glass not sure when it was bottled. Pours a beautiful slick black with a massive 2 plus finger mocha head that leaves spotty lace behind as it slowly settles into a thin layer of mocha bubbles. 4.75

Smell is dark chocolate, roasty dry coffee, vanilla bean, char, and maybe a little anise.3.75

Taste is much better no anise, dark chocolate, vanilla, coffee, toffee, maybe a little dark fruit, and just a hint of char and maybe leather. 4.5

Mouthfeel is pretty dark big and slightly creamy, perfect carbonation for the style, a tad dry as I expect out of a stout like this, and drinks bigger than 9.6% ABV but still very drinkable. 4.5

Overall this is a very attractive and tasty Imperial Stout the nose was a tad strange, but really a excellent stout. Thanks @jzeilinger for this great beer. 4.25

 

Just the thing to start off my day . . .



Deep red brown color leaning toward dark garnet with slightly off white cap and lacing.

Rich scent of dark malt, ripe black figs, something like cola and dark yeasty bread.

Flavor is a complex mixture of the scents with all combining into a seamless whole. I do not really notice alcohol or hops except a slight hoppy bite in the finish and aftertaste. A touch of roasted chestnuts as well.

Full texture with balancing carbonation.

I have read reviews comparing this to Westmalle Dubbel and speaking as a Westmalle fan that's a fair comparison. Except this New Belgium expression drinks a bit cleaner and dryer than Westmalle. This is really good stuff.

 

Oskar Blues Fugli IPA
5.8% ABV

Poured into a nonic pint glass.

I’ve never heard of yuzu or ugli fruit, but this beer is brewed with those things and it’s quite delicious.

Look: Burnt orange, light copper body with a white head that recedes to a film, light foamy lacing.

Aroma: Sweet dried fruits about with a very clean, light pine aroma.

Taste: Bright and fruity up front with sweet dried fruit notes of pineapple and apricot. Finishes dry, clean, and lightly spicy.

Mouthfeel: Medium and dry.

Overall: One of the better IPAs I’ve had this year, very clean, fruity, and lightly spiced with no bitterness.

 

So we ended our D&D campaign last night (I know... NERDS!!! Whatever) with a big dramatic showdown with the big bad vampire lord of the realm. Complete with a full fledged betrayal, an expected betrayal that turned out to be a double cross in our favour, and YET A THIRD betrayal, this one unexpected, but also turned out to be a double cross. The final moment was pretty cinematic and intense with the Strahd believing it was his own dear brother (who he'd killed) delivering the final blow, since I was dressed in said brothers armour, wielding said brothers sword, etc. Anyway. Fun times.
All that is just to lead into the thematic tie-in I chose for todays offerings. I decided to do a side by side by side with the three Dragons Milk Reserves that @FlintB sent along as part of the NBS BIF#007. I used my pumpkin beer festival mini-snifters because they have jack-o-lantern faces and I thought that was vampire-y. *shrug*

So the three variants Brian sent along were the Salted Caramel, S'Mores, and Mint Mocha. I'd had the original a couple of years ago when @BullDoza sent it along during NBS BIF #... I want to say 2 or 3? Anyway. A while back. Two apartments ago.



The three of them looked very very similar. Dark dark chestnut/cola brown that doesn't quite make it into the near-black range. The S'mores one had a little cleaner colour build to it, and perhaps a little more garnet redness in the light, but it was close enough that it could easily have been a trick of the mind.



Nose on all three was intriguing and in each case was the an immediate reinforcement of what the flavour profile they were going for was.
The only one of the three that wasn't immediately incredibly sweet was the Mocha Mint. That one offered cold brew coffee right off the bat with an interesting earthy vibe that I could only think to describe as incense... though not a flowery incense, maybe a little closer to the nag champa sticks constantly burning at the local hippie shop.
The other two were immediately incredibly sweet, with the appropriate routing of said sweetness through either a rich burnt caramel or a bright marshmallow. These pretty well dominate leaving little room for anything else coming in off the aroma.



Flavour-wise there are some certain commonalities between the three while they each continue to assert their own individual personality through their respective listed flavour profiles.
As far as similarity, I feel like all three of them did a great job of bringing out the 'adjunct' flavours they advertised, but none of them did a GREAT job of blending it in seamlessly with the background stout. All of them also had a little bit more of the bourbon mash than I prefer as well, though to varying degrees.
The caramel came in initially with a strong offering of rich fancy caramel and vanilla, but then it felt like it brought the entire production to a standstill to shift gears and change scenes over to the BBA component. The salted aspect comes in as a much stronger salt presence than any of the oyster stouts I've been experimenting with lately, and while I liked the salted caramel aspect on its own, I felt like it was the worst offender of the three as far as failing to really blend into the rest of the beer.
The marshmallow on the nose of the S'mores continued forward in a sweet vein with notes of vanilla before having to turn completely and start committing to the bourbon. Less jarring than the Salted Caramel, but still not as smoothe a transition as I'd prefer. This one also had more of the classic stout ashy/char than the others, though even that descriptor is being a bit generous. More bitter coffee to give it some balance, which I felt the Salted Caramel was lacking, as it reminded me more of a caramel tea I have that's almost kind of buttery in its flavour.
The Mocha Mint gave the most unique profile of the three leading in not full fledged sweet, but starting off from a foundation of rich coffee but still with that almost sandalwood exoticness to it, grounded by an earthiness of fresh chewed mint leaves. There is also an element of 'spicy' mint oil influence as well. Some oak carry throughout, and I didn't get much of the chocolate (except as it could be attributed to the hippie spice I list above).



All three are on the thinner side (as I remember with the base Dragons Milk as well), and a bit more aggressively carbonated. The caramel gave that one a bit of a boost on the body, affording it a slightly creamier, chewier feel (...like caramel).

Overall I'm gratefull to have gotten the opportunity to have tried these for myself, and would have to say, contrary to the general populous, that the Mocha Mint was the one I enjoyed the most out of the three. The other two were both good in their own rights, and were certainly different, but I'd have to think longer and harder than I have the energy for to tell you which one I liked better. Thanks for sending them along Brian!

Now if you'll excuse me, I am exhausted and I've got to go to bed.
Cheers!

 

Nice start @lordofthewiens for this weeks NBS. No new beer for me today, but a very tasty one though.

Cheers!

 

Congrats! Hope the golf game flourishes! Not to add more stress, but how early are you going to have to get up every other Sunday??