New Beer Sunday (Week 732)

@lordofthewiens , thanks for starting NBS. Czig meister bond of flesh and iron stout.
....solid black color
.... medium light carbonation with an above average body. Nice thick body which produces an overall very nice body
...aroma is espresso, black coffee, milk chocolate candy, dark chocolate
..taste is roasted malt and coffee beans,, bitter black coffee, bakers chocolate.
This is a very well made,nicely balanced stout. Has a very flavorful profile with a very above average body

 

I'll be glad to add to the mix but it will be after breakfast.

 

Happy New Training My Evil Stoned Dragonne Twins Sunday (Week 732)!

In June 2008, my chauffeur (yes, I had a volunteer) & I spent two weeks to the day traveling through Florida. The Salvador Dali Museum was a highlight as was transiting the Everglades. Yesterday, I was on a whirlwind tour of the West Shore of Harrisburg, winding up in Carlisle before heading back to Lancaster. I now want to go back as there were several places left not visited.

Today, I will be embarking on a load of Evil Twin beers, but I also have a couple that I have had in abeyance, including:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/147/182952/?ba=woodychandler#review

& while it may not be precisely new, this one was a revelation with each sip:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/2958/30972/?ba=woodychandler#navigation


"Pfeffernüsse are tiny spice cookies, popular as a holiday treat in Germany, Denmark, and The Netherlands, as well as among ethnic Mennonites in North America. They are called pepernoten in Dutch, päpanät in Plautdietsch, pfeffernuesse or peppernuts in English, and pebernødder in Danish."
The greatest choice that I ever made in high school was taking Foods in HomeEc. Once I advanced into baking, I felt like I had found my calling, I loved the way people reacted to baked goods & soon, I wanted to do nothing BUT bake, plus I liked using the oven while I was baked. I don't really go for beef & steak, but my Beef Wellington was spot-on! And our holiday cookie output was phenomenal. Lancaster (City & County) is the home of the Pennsylvania Dutch (Deutch) & many of us embraced or German roots in the kitchen. My Pfeffernüesse were a big hit throughout the building & the scent as they baked was literally enticing.

 

Prairie Artisan Ales/Evil Twin Bible Belt, 13% ABV. Pours black with a half-finger brown head. Nose is coffee, chocolate, and vanilla. Taste follows, plus peppers, with a slight bitterness. Decent mouthfeel, overall very excellent to near-outstanding. Essentially an Evil Twin Even More Jesus mixed with a Prairie Bomb.

 

Poured into a 16 oz Snulip glass canned 12/14/18. Pours a very attractive near pitch black with a 2 plus finger mocha head, that leaves plenty of thin wisps of lace as it slowly settles yielding excellent retention. 4.5

Smell is dry roasty coffee grounds, vanilla bean, some biscuit , and some dark chocolate. 4.25

Taste follows roasty coffee is the star of this beer, with vanilla, biscuit, and dark chocolate lending a hand. Really tasty. 4.25

Mouthfeel is just above medium, plenty of life, maybe a tad dry like most coffee Stouts, and at 5.1% goes down easy but more like 6.5 in flavor. 4.5

Overall this is a excellent sessionable coffee stout. You could drink a few on a cold evening and not get to buzzed, but it would still keep you warm. 4.25

 

What exactly defines what a “Mexican Lager” is anyway?

Last year Sierra Nevada produced a beer branded as Sierraveza that was part of a variety pack. They marketed this beer via:

On the back of the bottle is a story:

“Inspired by the classic cervezas served ice cold by the beach, we created our own take on these easy drinking beers born south of the border. Sierraveza is golden and crisp, with a balanced malt flavor and a hint of floral hops that will have you calling out for another round.”

This beer of 2018 had some corn (corn grits) as part of the grain bill. I thought that considering what type of Sierraveza was it was a pretty good beer. I discussed it in this NBS thread:

https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/new-beer-sunday-week-691.573622/#post-6027384

Sierra Nevada decided to produce Sierraveza as a year-round beer in 2019 and this ‘updated’ beer is now all malt. Having stated that, the ‘connection’ to Mexico is still apparent in their marketing of this beer: “Inspired by the classic cervezas served ice cold by the beach, we created our own take on those light and easy beers born south of the border. Sierraveza is golden and crisp, with a balanced malt flavor and a hit of floral hops that will have you calling out for another round.” And the images of palm trees is prominent on the labeling.

So, back to my question that I posed above. Well, I suppose one aspect of what defines a “Mexican Lager” could be that the beer is brewed in Mexico? I must admit that I am not well experienced with drinking Mexican Lagers. I have had a few (e.g., Corona, Victoria, Dos Equis Special Lager) but there are plenty of brands that I have not consumed (e.g., Tecate, Sol, Carta Blanca, Cerveza Pacifico Clara, Modelo Especial,…).

While I visited a local Retail Beer Distributor to purchase some craft beer I was chatting with the store’s manager and we just happened to be standing by a refrigerator that contained large format AAL beers. One customer stepped by us to buy 6 large (quart size) bottles of Corona Familiar beers. I took note of a BIG (19.2 ounce) can of Modelo Especial in the refrigerator and a ‘light bulb’ went off: why not try this beer? Now some of you might ask: why Modelo Especial vs. the others I listed above? Well, I have read a number of BAs opine that among the Mexican brewed beers they had a preference for Modelo Especial so I figured I would see for myself.

Below is how the brewery describes this beer on their website:

“Brewed as a model of what good beer should be, this rich, full-flavored Pilsner-style Lager delivers a crisp, refreshing taste. Modelo Especial contains Filtered Water, Yeast, Malted Barley, Corn, and Hops.”

Enough jibber-jabber. Let’s drink!!

Served in my Firestone Pivo Pilsner glass:

Appearance:

Golden colored and brilliantly clear accompanied by a BIG white head. This beer has good head retention and forms a bit of Belgian Lace as the beer is consumed.

Aroma:

There is a subtle, pleasant grainy aroma.

Taste:

The flavor follows the nose with a nice, pleasant grainy flavor. The one word that pops into my mind is “clean”. There is a low bitterness.

Mouthfeel:

Light body, medium carbonation with a dry finish.

Overall:

I think this is a good AAL beer. It is very cleanly brewed with no off-flavors.

Oh, to circle back to the question I posed as the lead in to this post. In my opinion a “Mexican Lager” is an AAL beer.

@rotsaruch @KOP_Beer_OUtlet @RobH @jesskidden @Crusader

 

New Beer Sunday: Belgian Pale Ale

Mornin’ NBSers, with a recommendation for those who like to support breweries that sometimes take “buy local” seriously. Also a thanks to @lordofthewiens for his early start this morning. It’s great to hear he’s getting to spend time seeing some of the special sights now that working for a living is no longer his primary obligation.

Well the weather here today looks like there’s a lion headed for the door next door. It's expected here to be mostly cloudy most of the day with light rain and snow developing in the afternoon then turning into snow overnight. Fortunately we're on the fringes of the incoming storm and are only expecting 2-4" rather than the heavier amounts expected in the Northeast. You guys up there in NE IPA country, stay warm!

This morning’s new beer is called Sixteen Counties. It’s brewed by Allagash and all the grain comes from Maine. According to the brewery, “We named this beer to honor the rich tradition of farming in the sixteen counties of Maine. We brew the beer with malted Maine-grown barley, unmalted Maine-grown red wheat, and Maine-grown organic oats.”

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

https://www.beeradvocate.com/user/beers/?ba=drtth


The aromas/flavors in the beer have some spiciness from the yeast. There is also some light grains and crackery malt backed up by some floral and herbal hops. The sweetness from the grains quickly gives way to the yeast and the hops. The ending is dry and tinged with the spicy yeast and some light herbal bitterness. For me this is a nicely drinkable beer and one I’m enjoying enough to go look for more.

Cheers all, and stay safe if the heavy part of the storm is pounding you or is headed your way!

 

I just checked my reviews of the Allagash beers I've had and out of the 11-12 there wasn't one I didn't enjoy. I think their White is the best Wit brewed in the US.

 

Good morning New BSers! Thanks, @lordofthewiens, for starting today's thread! Next Tuesday Mrs. Lizard and I will be headed back to TX for a couple of weeks. Once again we've made a list of some sights we want to revisit (McNay, Witte, etc.) and some new stuff as well. How much of it will actually happen depends on how we feel when we get there. Our original plan was to drive to FL and visit/revisit various sites before driving across I10 to SAT. But I just don't feel like driving that much right now, so we'll be flying into SAT via HOU (No thing as a direct flight from PIT), renting a car, and joining the demolition derby on I35. Where was I going with this? Oh yeah, and hitting (and reviewing) some new brewpubs, breweries, and beers, some for the next NBS BIF, #9. And speaking of travel, at the end of May, first week of June, I'm tentatively heading to the Bamberg area again, but my friends and I need three more people to make this a "GO". If you're interested, contact me and I'll enlighten you. Trust me, it's a good time with good people (other than me, I'm a dick). Anyway, today's New Beer, At Least to Me (NBALtM):



$ 5.24 (Including shipping)/16 oz can ($ 0.328/oz) from Tavour, Seattle, WA. Reviewed 3/3/19.
“CANNED: 12/12/18, BEST BY: 04/11/19” stamped on bottom of the can. Stored upside down at 42 degrees and served at 42 degrees in a hand washed and dried Jester King snifter.
Appearance – 4.25.
Body – Yellow and hazily opaque.
Head – Large (Maximum seven cm, aggressive center pour), off-white, medium density, average retention, diminishing to a lacy, irregular, five to ten mm ring and a thick partial layer. Head retraction leaves behind some small islands of lacing.
Lacing – Good. A wide band of predominantly tiny bubbles with a few small bubbles and multiple stalactites.
First pour – Yellow, hazy.
Aroma – 4 - Initially a burst of grapefruit but that quickly morphs into a spicy, herby, mélange which fades but is still noticeable for the remainder of the pour.
Flavor – 4.25 - Herby and vegetal, there are definite highlights of spice and a soft, pulpy, wood such as poplar. No alcohol (6.8% ABV), no dimethylsulfide, no diacetyl.
Palate – 3.5 – Medium, almost creamy, lively carbonation.
Impression and interpretation – 4 – A bit different than the Sue series because of the use of only nugget hops. The woodiness is different from the vanillin-forward oak mostly used in brewing, being virtually vanillin-free and tending more toward a chemically processed wood product or just a soft hardwood but not the wet cardboard flavor of oxidation.
Rating 4.07, rDev -3.1%.

 

Today I will not be doing my usual coffee beer first. Instead, I’m diving right into something I’m very excited to try.

Barrel Aged Behemoth by Three Floyds. (A 12.5% barleywine aged in bourbon barrels for a year)

And in preparation for this, I enjoyed a 2019 Bigfoot on Friday night, and then a 2019 Behemoth last night. (and still have a little of the Behemoth left to reference as I’m drinking this)


I get more impressed with each of those beers year by year. I am usually much more of an English Barleywine fan over the American style, but it seems my palate is adjusting to enjoy both for what they are.

Anyway, to the New Beer of this Sunday.


Pouring this 2018 (silver wax) bottle into a tulip, this beer pours out a dark and turbid brown. Like a very strong brewed tea. It forms over a finger worth of tightly packed, tingy yellow bubbles to create a crown. Leaves some lacing. Impressive crown for something barrel aged and if it wasn’t for the turbid looks, it would get higher marks. 4.25

The nose comes in with raisins and dark fruit galore. Waves of figs, caramel, leather, tobacco, vanilla and wood character. It overrides a lot of the prominent hop aspect found in the original. I do still detect it slightly, in the form of a light fruit aspect, like apricot, but not as heavily. Absolutely beautiful smell though and I hope this depth is continued. 4.75

With the first taste comes sweetness of caramel and vanilla. There is almost a candy like presence as well, like candied fruit of some kind or even Swedish fish, maybe some grilled pineapple. It could be the light fruit notes I’m picking up in the hops mixing with the sweetness. It then melds into the other depths of the brew with the notes of leather, figs, raisins. Once again though, absolutely beautiful. I wouldn’t change a thing about this taste right now if I had the power to. 5

The mouthfeel brings a bourbon warmness, like it should. It doesn’t bring too much though and doesn’t burn. Where the original is medium-full bodied, this definitely gets the extra boost it needs to declare full bodied. It doesn’t bring a real pop of carbonation, it goes in and leaves quite the same, however it does work for this. It finishes with a dry, clean oak character. 4.5

Overall, this truly is a world class beer. I tried to judge it fairly and mark it for characters liked and unliked. But it still comes out on top. It’s a different beer completely than the original Behemoth. It still shows those light fruit hops, but takes a lot of the burnt sugars and resiny pine elements away from it. So I can see how some people like one but not the other. But man, am I happy I got to try this. Thanks to my sister for grabbing it on a trip. 4.75

And that’s it for me today BAs! As I polish these two brews off today, I won’t have room for anymore. But that doesn’t mean I won’t be here, waiting patiently to see what you bring to the share!

Cheers NBS!

 

Have you considered joining NBS BIF #9? Signups end wednesday (I think).

https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/nbs-bif-9-sign-up-thread.606119/page-5#post-6403427

 

First one from this brewery for me.

A-Pours a very dark amber color with a nice head and lacing
A-Aroma has mocha hints
T-The taste follows the nose with a nicely balanced mocha flavor
M-A medium bodied decently carbonated beer
O-A good Brown Ale

I enjoyed it.

 

I have considered it, as I’ve been wanting to do a BIF for a little bit now and NBS is my favorite part of the site. I’m always a lurker on the BIF threads, but I would want the timing to be right as I would want to give my best to it.

I’ll think about it some more. Thanks and cheers!

 

A-Pours a hazy burnt golden color with a nice head, which dissipates quickly and nice lacing
A-Aroma has slight cucumber and cantaloupe hints
T-The taste follows the nose with a nicely balanced cucumber and cantaloupe flavor
M-A light bodied well carbonated beer
O-A good Gose that would be very drinkable in the hot summer months

 

Happy Sunday, NBS crew! Hop Butcher has been on my radar for a long while. Finally getting to try a beer from them today, thanks to @Jimmy_Kneecaps .

Unwind Your Mind - Hop Butcher
NE IPA - 7.5% abv
Canned 2/13/19 (18 days ago)
Score: 4.31 (+2.9% rDev)



Review:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/40359/279909/?ba=CanConPhilly#review

Synopsis:
This thing has the juice taste mastered. Smells and tastes like a blend of tangerine, orange, and pineapple juice. Super clean, without any dirty, aggressive hops that often accompany the style. The body is watery, but that’s the only fault I can find. I could kill a whole 4-pack of this way too quickly. Thanks again JT for the new beer, new brewery, and wants list trifecta!

 

Medium gold color with a slight copper tint. Thick white cap and good lacing.

Rich scent of malt with some citrusy, piney hops.

Taste is much more hop forward than the scent. Brewer lists the IBUs at 75+ but this doesn't taste particularly bitter to me. There is a strong hop presence but it has a clear, clean piney citrusness about it that is refreshingly dry while having some depth at the same time. These two elements, pine and citrus (which I'll call grapefruit) remain constant from start to finish without lingering in the aftertaste.

Medium full texture with balancing carbonation.

Perhaps this is a counterpoint to the haze craze going around. Clean, clear, hoppy, dry, tasty, I could go on but you get the drift. This is simply good beer in the West Coast Style and when you reach for it you already know what you're gonna get.

 

Thanks @lordofthewiens for the great start to this weeks NBS. Will be back with a new brew later on.

Cheers!

 

A-Pours a very nice rosesy golden color with a nice head and lacing
A-Aroma has slight passion fruit and lychee hints
T-The taste follows the nose with a very nicely balanced passion fruit and lychee flavor
M-A light bodied well carbonated beer with a very nice sourness
O-A very well balanced Weisse