New Beer Sunday (Week 719)

Buffalo Bill's Tasmanian Devil

This is my final beer today from my barley wine group. This is a 8% "double ale" brewed with Tasmanian hops. It's copper colored. Great head. It's sweet and with a slightly bitter finish. Tastes of mild tangerine and caramel. Neat beer but not one you'd fall in love with.

 

Just review the beer on it's own. Forget abouy style. That's what I do. Maybe people don't like that, but a good beer is a good beer to me, regardless of what someone on this site or at the brewery labels it.

Edit: I feel like you may be doing others a disservice by dropping your rating because someone on this site decided to label the beer a NEIPA instead of a DIPA. If I choose not to buy an excellent beer because of your rating, I'm missing out. Not trying to be hard on you, just giving my opinion on the matter. We're each entitled to do things how we like on this site. That's what makes it great.

 

This is just me, but I simply don't view beers through the lens of how they are classified on this site. That's not a knock against this site or its user base in the slightest. Viewing a beer this way would make me feel like I was putting my underwear on over my pants... but to each their own, so folks should figure out what works for them. How a beer is marketed by the brewer is another story, but that's not necessarily gospel for me either. I also don't always think in terms of a beer being "mislabeled" here. I think things are open to interpretation.

For Double Sunshine, you were very explicit in your review regarding how you went about things. Personally, I think that's great. Someone else can be far less aware of the context and add a review stating that at 8% ABV, Double Sunshine falls outside of the ABV range that BeerAdvocate has stated for the NEIPA style, and therefore the brewer did not do a good job. And then once BeerAdvocate hypothetically adds a "Double" NEIPA style to their list and the beer gets reclassified once again, that person might modify their existing review to take away this criticism. I'd say that this person might be better off adding a bit of the "big picture" to how they view things to begin with.

 

Now I feel like I must google this & find out there is something there besides a National Championship, because it is Joe.. I am cringing as I type...

 

Happy Late New English Strong Ale Sunday!


Ridgeway Brewing's Reindeer's Revlot, an English Christmas Ale

When I saw this was a Ridgeway brew, I grabbed two bottles on a quick beer shopping trip last week at my local World Market. I've only had one Ridgeway beer previously, their IPA, and it was fantastic, and it seems they have a solid reputation.

I'm going back on Old Beer Monday tomorrow and buying all they have of this one. It's like an English quadrupel! Super fruity with fruitcake, toasted peach/apricot, peach kolaches, plums, prune, cranberry and an earthy English-hop backbite that any true bitter fan would adore. I thought it was a winter warmer and expected a relatively average pint (no offense, winter warmer, but you generally underwhelm). Turns out it's an English strong ale and there's no mistaking right off the bat ... first notes both in aroma and taste are sweet yummy bread-malt explosions, and the beer gets better each sip.

Bonus points: It holds up really well in the Samuel Smith nonic with a CO2 nucleation point. I shy away from using this glass because it can render some beers flat before I've reached the halfway point. Not Reindeer's Revolt.

The review:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/7944/39625/?ba=Premo88#review
4.67 (+39.8% rDev)

The beer was rated just 3.33 here on BA.com when I reviewed it, and it appears many U.S. drinkers have gotten old bottles. My bottles have "F20 192" printed on the back label, which I did not look up, but apparently it's code for "fresh in Dec. 2018."

Cheers!

 

Hey Kestrel. Glad you liked that one. I know Hazies are a little polarizing here. I have drank a few of these cans, yet not taken the time to review them. (Guess I can't NBS it- HAHA). You nailed it, with regard to the flavor. But the reason I really do like the NEIPA style is exactly for the fluffy, pillowy mouthfeel that this one exemplifies in spades. A well done NEIPA has that feel that contributes to the flavor and vice versa. I really like this one, and I'm glad it was well received.

Cheers

 

Speaking of handshake ticks...again. Hello Late Night NBS.
Offertory by Holy Mountain (An American Wild Ale/Saison with a LOT GOING ON)
Thanks to kemoarps for this lovely.
Golden with a pink tinge, slight bubbles. Almost no lacing.
Aromas of light funk, sulfur, green apple, funk, gentle floral lemon.
Taste is all over, in a great way. I'm not typically a fan of Saisons. But this one is alive. Green apple, slightly grassy, underripe blueberries, and so many other fruity notes that I'm trying to nail down in the space of a gentle funk.
Mouthfeel is lively and a bit dry on the finish. A dry to sweet finish lingers.
Overall, I'm a fan.


4.14/5 rDev -2.1%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25

 

I would have loved to have been there.
I missed my chance to hang with @Lingenbrau when he was playing drums for one of his last times here in SoCal in my very backyard... The Doll Hut, in Anaheim. Ah to travel back in time. But I'm happy to hear of your handshake tick. One day, I hope to get to drink with both of you. Thanks for sharing your story.

 

GREAT read, Jack!

 

Sneaking in a couple I shared with my stepdaughter yesterday in town from Tampa until Christmas. I have been trying to introduce her to good beer. She is more of a wine person but we have figured out that her preferences lie in the fruited gose, sour, wild ale styles. I have several that I have acquired and have been saving for when she visits. Today she chose these that were courtesy of @RedhawkPoke in a recent box.

This was my first from American Solera and I must say I was impressed.
Poured a slightly cloudy apricot color with a thin white head that disappeared pretty quickly.
Smells tart, a bit of funk, oak. A bit of tart strawberry comes through as well.
Taste follows, strawberry comes through more of the tart outer edges than the sweet juicy flesh, funk, lots of oak. Tart but not quite reaching sour.
Medium bodied with good carb levels.
Overall a pretty tasty one. Well balanced and well made.
Decided to have the Blackberry version next. She wasn't a fan of this one but I definitely enjoyed it.

Poured a cloudy garnet with minimal pink head.
Smells very tart, oaky, not quite ripe blackberry.
Taste follows, this was much more sour than the strawberry version, tart berry, oak.
Medium bodied, very dry finish.
Overall an excellent sour. I look forward to more from American Solera.

 

I've gone back and forth on rating to style vs rating for a good beer. I find I naturally align with the first, but that's most likely due to my background, including a short stint of teaching. Due to the nature of my subject area and the projects we did, I had to, (and enjoyed the process of) generate a new rubric per assignment. That rubric was vital in both holding me accountable scoring 25+ projects across a half dozen classes, and it also held the students accountable. It was also huge in explaining how a score was derived, especially when an irate parent steps in to have a chat. So for me, I reviewed Double Sunshine within the rubric of the NE IPA. Perhaps I can revisit it and type up a DIPA review as well. Regardless, I made sure to express how I arrived at my numbers so if anyone disagrees, they can ignore those numbers. The overall rating is still a 4.65, and maintains its spot as #24 on the Top 250 list.

I don't expect to change your mind, just expressing my view point. I think it's an intriguing debate worthy of its own thread at some point. I thank you for sharing.

 

I seem to remember those threads. I didn't have a dog in the fight at the time, as I was sorta building my own interpretations of how I wanted to consistently review. At this point, I side with rating to style, and with the lessons learned from my final review yesterday - I'll prioritize the brewer's style over the listing.

I also didn't impact the overall rating of the beer that spurred this discussion. It's still rated an incredible 4.65 with over 2,200 ratings. I made sure to include my frame of reference for clarity for anyone who does, or doesn't, agree with my numbers. That's something even the shortest reviews provide over a rating.

Cheers!