New Beer Sunday (Week 712)

As Fresh Hop season winds down, finding new hits is getting trickier. Bale Breaker and Crux did a "collab" where they each harvested some hops in the morning, met up, swapped half of each load, retreated to their respective breweries and made the "same" beer. I had the BB version a couple weeks ago, and found the Crux version yesterday. I prefer the Crux version. If you're a hop head, you need to come visit the PNW in mid-late September and bask in all the freshest of fresh hop brews:

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/29415/374153/

 

I had both as well. Crux was indeed the deliciouser of the two.

 

Getting into a new beer style today. Boulevard produced this as a 'test' beer for their Beer Hall, and thanks to good sales, has put and two other 'test' beers on the local Kansas City shelves. This is also my first beer from that pack.

Getting into a new style for me, so I'm going to quote Beer Advocate's style notes:

Boulevard's Brut IPA.

First thing that stands out about this beer upon making a modest pour is the activation of head formation. Three fingers of dense, white foam bubbles up top of the pale straw color. It's transparent until the final ounces into the glass, then it turns cloudy. Head retention is good. Aroma is an immediate dry herbal spiciness from the hops that melds into delicate tropical fruits and citrus hop notes. Doughy biscuit and pilsner malts form the base. Aroma is staccato, that is to say, brief. Flavor profile furthers the dry spicy herbal hop notes from the aroma, but this time they play the main melody throughout the flavor profile, as opposed to being the opening statement of the aroma. Tropical fruits and citrus hops ooze a little more juicy tang, but are still kept short, with the looming dry finish that closely follows each sip. Pilsner malt are more evident in the flavor profile, aiding in the dryness. Pilsner and biscuit malts form the doughy ball of support for the hops to play. Mouth feel is a crisp effervescent, followed by a short, dry finish. Mouth feel is medium in thickness. Overall, a great and interesting beer. It certainly carries a good dryness without requiring a sip of water to keep the tongue from drying out. Fruit flavors add a little addition pizzazz without distracting from the simple and novel IPA underneath.

Score: 4.25 | 4 | 4.25 | 4.25 | 4.25 | BA Score: 4.19 | rDev: N/A (first review/rating)

@JackHorzempa

 

?

But yeah, I agree with ya. Both are very tasty, but this Crux is a step ahead.

 

Oooh, if that's a local-only thing, I may have to send you a message!

 

New beer #5. Thanks @JBowenGeorgia !

Automatic - Creature Comforts
APA - 5.5% abv
Canned 9/11/18 (33 days ago)
Score: 4.02 (-5.9% rDev)



Review:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/34456/181005/?ba=CanConPhilly#review

Synopsis:
@larryi86 liked this a bit more than I did, but I’m still digging it a lot. Tons of lemon/lime flavor, with a lighter body that makes this easy to down quickly. After having several different Creature Comforts beers (thanks to John), Tropicalia is my favorite, but all of them were very good. Look at Georgia go!

 

Your mushroom recipes sound fantastic. Since we have about 50# as wellI am wondering how you do your fried version. Battered and fried? Or simple flour/egg/bread crumb and fried.

 

@JamFuel ”boiled vegetables”...glad I’m not the only one that tastes this in certain ipas!

 

Tempura batter is what I used this time, and they came out great! Highly recommend cream of maitake soup too, first time making it and it's delcious.

 

Having this after Tree House Typhoon isn’t even fair, but you know how I roll BAs! Poured into a 13 oz Funk Teku glass canned on 9/28/18. Pours a clear orange, with a 2 plus finger head that leaves a wall of webby lace behind as it slowly settles. 4.25

Smell is mellon, apricot, mango, pine resin, and grapefruit rind. 3.75

Taste follows but bigger and more pronounced mellon and apricot hit first, followed by some pine and grapefruit that hangs on for awhile after each sip. 4

Mouthfeel is a solid medium, plenty of life, a tad dry as we all once enjoyed, and at 6.5% a ton of flavor and goes down pretty darn easy. 4.25

Overall this is a very nice beer and like I said the last one is apples and oranges compared, but I think this is a very nice IPA. 4

 

I was regurgitating what I had heard before, but it sounds like it may hit other regions soon. I'm not sure how far or wide that region goes, but it may land closer to you.

Press release by Boulevard.

 

My son gets married next weekend, joining a great family with wonderful in laws

My new beer is You from Finback

4.43/5 rDev +0.9%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

Canned 9.20.18 - poured into a teku glass on 10.6.18

“Who said this?”

DIPA brewed with Mosaic , 007 and Blanc hops

Translucent hazy golden yellow, two finger frothy white foam cap, settles to a ring in 5 minutes, some lacings

Aroma is tropical fruit, bit of citrus, whiff of white wine

Taste is tangerine, tropical fruit, bubble gum, white wine

Smooth mouthfeel , taste of the hops , no bite, lingers in the back of the mouth

Good beer, repeatable

 

That sounds very tasty. Thank you!

 

More Brut IPA action, although this time I'm doubling down with a Brut DIPA. Figured if I was going to dive into a style, that's go all in. I ended up finding this on the shelf the same day as the Boulevard Brut IPA - "a NBS in the making", at least, that's what I thought.



Stillwater Artisanal's Extra Extra.

Pours a foggy, cloudy straw color that turns to a murky straw as the final couple ounces are poured into the can. Head formation is a finger in height and white in color. Head formation is low for a Brut IPA - a style known for its effervescence. Aroma is dry, short, and compact. Along the way it hits notes of herbal, floral, spicy and tropical fruits. It comes off a little confused, with hop notes stuttering and stumbling over each other. Bready pilsner malt and a sharp yeast give it a little depth beyond the hops. Flavor profile is bready pilsner malts right up front. The camera slowly pans across the room reveling an obnoxious party with herbal and floral hop notes making out in the corner, while spicy hops tries to do a keg stand with weak and feeble dry, rye notes supporting it prior to crashing back onto the earthen notes. Pilsner malts maintain their cool and presence, tucked into the back corner. In other words - it seems muddled, with gaps big enough to allow the 8% ABV to come roaring through. Mouth feel is slightly dry, with a light crispness, like day old bagels. Overall, muddled and confused with a dry finish and light crispness. It ticks the boxes of a Brut IPA with heavy hops, but fails to deliver a consistent and put-together response.

Score: 3.75 | 3.75 | 3.75 | 3.5 | 3.75 | BA Score: 3.73 | rDev: -7.4%

 

probably my last NBS entry for today, a nice little Porter from Montana: https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/27119/145006/

 

Toppling Goliath Pseudo Sue

Happy Sunday, BAs. I’m on the road today and forgot to pack any of the NBS BIF beers generously sent to me by @beertunes. Fear not though. I have picked up a bunch of new beers, including several new Oktoberfests and my first ever beer from Toppling Goliath.

Pseudo Sue pours a hazy orange color with two fingers of airy, near-white head that are quick to dissipate and leave very little lacing.

Light orange marmalade, mango, peach, pineapple, spruce needles and biscuity malt show in the nose.

Moderate bitterness shines throughout the taste, with more spruce bouncing off against lighter tropical fruit and citrus than the aroma. There’s a flash of bubblegum as well.

It’s extremely full bodied for an APA, with a very fizzy feel — but with a finer, tighter fizziness than a soda, if that makes sense.

The pine in this one was unexpected, but it really pops and makes a great contrast to many other NEIPAs out there these days. Tons of flavor and depth. Very enjoyable.

 

Alright, on to my last new beer of the day: a hazy IPA from... Almanac? That's pretty weird, as I'm only really familiar with these guys from their sours and BA farmhouse beers that we started getting over here in New England a couple years ago. While I've had some mixed reactions to those, overall I have found that the brewery tends to be quite trustworthy (albeit expensive). Will they transition to the new world of hazy IPAs well, or will they get lost among the better players in the game...?



This is a 6.6% ABV NE-style IPA double dry-hopped with Mosaic, Simcoe and Citra hops. It uses pilsner and pale malts as well as oats and, to my surprise, spelt! Spelt is a really cool ancient grain; it's like an earthier wheat malt that has some light natural tartness without being acidic. The pour here is pretty beautiful; a bombastic light gold color with a frothy head measuring three fingers at its apex... it is, of course, very hazy and nearly opaque, and it bears a solid crown of foam after the initial pour wavers a bit. Decent legs and spotty lace. Overall pretty good looking. Safe but worthy!

The first whiff I get of this really doesn't seem too promising, I have to say. It's kind of plastic-y, with a "cleaning solution"-like note that doesn't work well for me. Luckily, after I took my first sip and let it sit for a little bit (~5-7 minutes), it started to acclimate for whatever reason and now smells much more in line with how I imagined it would. Tangerine, dank pine resin, light berry notes, earthy and musty with some bright mango and papaya flesh... at times, these elements fight for attention rather intensely, making it a little messy. I blame Mosaic, as it seems to have the upper hand here. Don't know whether it's interacting with the yeast in a weird way or something, but it really appears to browbeat the competition.

The flavor, as I mentioned above, felt a little weird at first. It, like the nose, seemed to come into better focus after a bit, with the requisite dank and tropical hops situating themselves right upfront on the palate. Some interesting spiciness and rustic, earthy flavors meld surprisingly well with the fruitiness here, and the yeast throws out some solid esters that round out the finish. Fruit gum and bright, fleshy citrus toward the end of each sip. Good malt balance here, too, though the DDH is certainly felt. Simcoe gives off its trademark pine in this recipe, which deftly balances the juicier stuff going on. Mosaic is less aggressive than expected on the tongue, with some of the more tropical Citra seeming to take the reins. Surprisingly heavy carbonation on this one with a nice, dry finish. Maybe a bit different mouthfeel than expected for a hazy IPA in this day and age, but it kind of stands out because of it. Though I was initially prepared to dislike this beer, it has really grown on me throughout the session. I would buy more of it, for sure.

 

New beer #6. 6th new beer from 5 different BAs. This one courtesy @Dragginballs76 .

Native Flightless Bird - Heist
Milkshake IPA - 7.4% abv
Canned 9/21/18 (23 days ago)
Score: 3.94 (-2.7% rDev)



Review:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/29922/372920/?ba=CanConPhilly#review

Synopsis:
Quite sweet, but that is in line with the milkshake substyle. The NZ hops bring some tasty citrus flavors (I would call this an orange/pineapple upside down cake Milkshake), and the use of lactose is restrained, but the sweetness is a bit too powerful. Still very drinkable, though.