New Beer Sunday (week 729)

A-Pours a hazy rose orange color with a slight head and lacing
A-Aroma had cherry crabapple hints
T-The taste follows the nose with a very nicely balanced tarty and fruity flavor
M-A medium bodied very well carbonated beer
O-A very well balanced unique tarty and sour beer

 

That actually sounds really goddamn good to me- refined, dry, clean, cohesive. I'd describe the Ommegang in the same way.

 

It was right at a month old, but they just distributed it this week, so I assume that someone made a decision somewhere to not send it out earlier. Who knows? Boreale does put out a few very nice NEIPAs and so I feel that they know what they're doing as far as hop character I think they just went lighter here. As for the juniper, I thought that was funny as well, but their use of the term "clin d'oeil" (nod to) leads me to believe it was just symbolic, at least I couldn't taste it.

 

The parallel to champagne imo is rooted to its fizzy and dry, that’s about it. Maybe I’m a bit off, but the style certinly hasn’t worked for me to date, I’m about done trying to love it. I mentioned it before as have others, but the similarities to aals is certinly there. Didn’t AB have a Bud Dry or something similar ever like many many years ago?

 

Thanks @cavedave for the guest (re)appearance!
I found this guy at Cable Beverages, was sitting on the shelf for a little while, but it didn't do too much harm.
Shiner Farmhouse Rye

(Sorry for the hazy pic)

12oz bottle into goblet
No visible date code
Pours a murky orange brown, with off-white head, decent retention
Toffee, dark fruit,
orange jam, spicy rye dough, fruity finish
Light-bodied, below average carb
Overall this is a very solid beer, with complex flavors at a low ABV

Was a bit funky but overall enjoyable.

Cheers NBS!

 

Given that the beer was only a month old I would agree with you here.

Cheers!

 

Apparently Labatt Citra exists now. That's a start, I guess.

 

This one clicked with me more than Ommegang's... but there's a hundred reasons why that might have happened (and most of them involve me rather than the beer). It's also very knee-jerk for me at the moment. That being said, I don't feel like buying more of them right now though.

"Fizzy and dry" - "fizzy" like most beers and "dry" like some Champagne. I compared Sierra's to a pilsner when it first came out, but they don't make me think of AALs specifically. This one didn't either. For me, brut IPAs are all over the map. Eye of the beholder though.

Cheers.

 

So Lawson's Finest Liquids is reaching out and distributing their first beer in Connecticut that is not contract brewed by Two Roads. Here we have Maple Nipple. Living in CT and having anytime access to Sip of Sunshine it's kind of become my house beer. Happy to see this new arrival, though I understand that they have been brewing this for 10 years already. New to me though and with my impression of their quality commitment I did not hesitate to snap it up without researching scores first.

3.95/5 rDev +4.5%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4

Poured from an undated 16oz can to a Nonic. Caramel-red translucent color (dare I say grade A maple syrup-like), Frothy off-white head lasts 3-4 minutes, laces glass beautifully.
Not much nose, evidence of burnt caramel, maybe some hops.
Taste is unique. Maple, caramel, malt, cane sugar. Peppery finish with alcohol noticeable. Body is medium, carbonation on tongue is higher than expected after looking at the settled glass.
Definitely unique. I don't normally like sweet beers, but I can deal with this one. I can imagine pairing this with a plate of sausages. Maybe add some cabbage with acidity to balance the sweetness.

I am going to assume (without research) that the wider distribution of SOS with Two Roads contract brewing and distributing has really paid off financially for Lawson's. They have a new beautiful tap room up in VT (I gotta get there) and now are beginning to further distribute their in-house brewed beers. Keep it up and keep up the quality.
Finally, thank's @cavedave for doing the intro duties today and adding that little history reminder.

 

Wrench from Industrial Arts. Pours a hazy medium orange with a half inch white head that left some spotty lacing. Smells of strong citrus fruits with a hint of tropical fruits. Tastes of orange, peach, mango, pineapple, tangerine and a bit of bready malts. Medium bodied, soft carbonation, mild bitterness, dry finish.

 

Alright, second and last new beer for this week. Settled on a plan for a date tonight with the girl I've been seeing, so I'm pretty excited. I'm almost 30 and have been single for years (mostly due to lack of trying to find anyone, to be honest, but doesn't everyone say that?) so I hope to not screw this one up. She is very cool and open to trying new beers (loves getting flights at breweries and learning about different styles), so I think I might have a real catch

Anyway, enough about my life... how about a new brew? I'm sure that's more interesting to you fine folk!



This is the first stout I've had from Four Quarters Brewing out of Winooski, VT. They're located right outside of Burlington, basically in a suburban area from what I remember. It's been cool to see them grow over the past few years to a point where I can find their beers in stores. They typically do inventive cocktail-inspired sour ales and hazy IPAs, so finding an imperial breakfast stout from them was a real treat. Let's hope the beer is a similar treat!

Pours a deep brown color with moderate clarity. Medium-khaki colored head builds up to a few fingers if poured somewhat aggressively. Sticks around with some macro bubbles for about 2 minutes before sinking down to a half-finger of solidly-retentive foam. Spotty, minimal lacing and not much in the way of legs. A good looking pour, but a modest one for a 9% imperial stout. Perhaps the adjuncts affect it?

Speaking of adjuncts, the can says this includes lactose, maple syrup, coffee beans & cold brew. I don't think I've had a coffee stout that uses two different forms of coffee, but that's kind of interesting. I wonder how it will come across in the finished product? My first sniffs indicate that this will be a rather balanced affair (though still quite intense, to be sure). Light notes of dark berry immediately washed away by roasty malts and coffee presence. Slight suggestion of maple with a lot of charred grains and a light creamy note right after. Honestly smells like a good cup of (iced) maple coffee, which I think is kinda what they were going for.

Flavor profile is nice and roasty with flavors of dulce de leche, crystal malt sweetness, roasted barley, intense earthy/fruity coffee and a solid hit of maple toward the finish. This beer strikes an incredibly good balance between sweet and dry, I must say. I know I'm not the only person who saw that this was brewed with both maple and lactose and felt a little pang of diabetes flow like a wave through their body. I'm glad my hyperglycemic fears were allayed for the most part, as this has a superb malt bill built to withstand the sweetness, and the coffee gives a well-rounded and complex overtone to the whole affair.

At 9%, however, the feel is a little less heavy and intense than I really want. Kind of funny that my biggest issues with both of my (very different) new beers today have been mouthfeel related. I usually am alright with lactose in stouts, but even though I do get a subtle suggestion of cream, this doesn't have quite the body that I typically expect from milk stout-type beers. It does lend a bit of complexity to the mid-palate, where it melds with the aforementioned excellent grain bill, but it doesn't follow through as well as it could in the finish. That's my only knock against the beer, though, to be honest. This was a bit better than I expected it to be, but that's only because tiny little breweries can have trouble with adjuncts despite all of them wanting to reach pretty far into the pool of available weirdo ingredients these days. I'm glad 4Q pulled this one off, then. It is a testament to their strengths as a brewery that they can create such a wide-ranging gamut of styles. I haven't loved everything they've put out, but I respect them... and that's important these days.

 

I’m far from a champagne expert, far from it, but there’s a huge difference between a Dry and a Brut. I happen to like the little bit of sweetness you get from a dry, and it’s very little. But this comparison has no business imo being compared to a dry ipa. Dry compared to a juicy ipa? I’d opt for juicy, and juicy doesn’t mean sweet, I don’t like sweet beers in any style. I don’t like sweet wines either, you can get the fruit without the sweet.

 

Great start Dave! Nice to read your prose, in spite of you returning to "pro" status temporarily. I wish a quick discovery of your replacement, and a contentment in your return to the "non-pro" status of retirement.

 

Love help with languages. Gonna use this new to me "Russian" phrase, "Toughski shitski, comrade!"

 

New beer #5. Thanks @FlintB !

Morphology - Speciation
Berliner - 4.2% abv
Vintage 2018
Score: 4.1 (-0.5% rDev)



Review:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/48069/313096/?ba=CanConPhilly#review

Synopsis:
Not my favorite from Speciation, but that’s only because they’ve set the bar so high. This is a milder, less barrel-influenced sour than the others I’ve tried. It’s refreshing, and undeniably tasty, but without much nuance. Basically a lemony berliner with only a hint of wild yeast influence. Still a treat to drink. Thanks again Brian!

 

New I Don’t Mean to Bramble Sunday



4.15/5 rDev -4.6%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

From a 2018 16.9 oz bottle.

Fairly viscous pour. Appears to have the same body as the rest of the lineup. Moderate amount of reddish tinted froth that receeds into a sustained ring.

It smells excellent. Like raspberry jam, chocolate, whiskey, and spice.

The flavor is a punch in the face with raspberry. There is a more sourish, darker blackberry that follows it. It is a nice balance of sweet and sour. After the fruit, it transitions into rich chocolate, some roasted malts, oak and a decent amount of spicy rye whiskey on the finish Some lingering oak and whiskey with a bit of bitter char before the fruit settles back in.

The body is silky smooth. Seems like it’s a touch thinner than most of the versions to me. Makes it really drinkable, but still plenty of body.

While the fruit is a nice flavor that works well overall, it could definitely be dialed back quite a bit in my opinion. Or some more kick from the rye. I feel like the aroma is better cold and the flavor better as it warms. They seem to flip to me.

This one reminds me of the Vanilla a lot as in it probably wouldn’t work nearly as well without the rye. It really helps balance out any sweetness and heavy handed added flavors.