New Beer Sunday (Week 740)

On to new beer #2 from the King of Ohio @WesMantooth
Hard to stare at this one any longer. Time for some black gold....
JackieOs Oro Negro
Pours motor oil black with a coffee tinged head of 1/2" that settles to a thin ring with spotty lacing.
Smell upon sticking my nose immediately upon opening is chocolate and nuts. After the pour there is lots of roastiness, chocolate, coffee, vanilla and dark fruits.
Taste follows with bakers chocolate, dark roasted malts, roasted coffee beans and then the cinnamon really comes through with the touch of vanilla beans. The habenero peppers are gentle at first but can be felt at the back of the throat and on the way down. Im not getting alot of the walnut except for the intial whiff at opening. A complex blend of flavors that comes together in a balanced way. The flavors are actually a softer touch and not the punch in the mouth you might expect. Really incredible in the way this blends together.
Feel is medium/heavy with a coating of cinnamon oils on the tongue tip with a slight pepper burn in the back. Carb is decent throughout.
The blending of big flavors in this stout is just outstanding. It to me is as good as Ive had in a adjunct added stout.
I love this brew. Thanks again Corey!

 

Dogfish Head American Beauty

3.78/5 rDev -1.8%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75

Was at a music club and this was the most interesting thing on tap. A good example of an American Pale ale with nothing that struck me as distinctive, which Dogfish Head offerings frequently do for me. That isn't meant as a slam because it was enjoyable as was the music.

 

The peppers seem to vary quite a bit. The very first batch many years ago was fairly hot and the cinnamon was more in your face. It is definitely more balanced than it was originally. Still the best pepper stout I’ve had outside of Mexican Cake

 

Red Lodge Ales Czechmate Pilsner, 3.7 Overall

Pours a bright gold with 2+ fingers pearl colored head. Nice head retention & pretty good lacing

S: Soapy & perfumy hops

T: Follows the nose, dry with a little sweet grainyness up front. Some pears mix with dryness & soapyness as this warms,a little grassyness as well, plus sweetness bordering on cloying. Finishes dry, sweet & grassy

MF: Medium body, crisp carbonation, skews a little sweet once warm

Drank a little slow, due to the sweetness, started strong, but faded down the stretch

 

Evening, NBS.

Coming at you with a late entry from Hilton Logan Airport.

Not the first new beer of the day. Traveled up to Boston today and had dinner at The Gingerman with a new, local brew from Devil’s Purse called Surfman’s Check ESB. It was OK. Not a great ESB. Then I stopped by Trillium and had a 5.6% Citra /Mosaic pale ale that was hoppy, delicate, juicy, and tasteful, in both the literal and figurative sense.





Now is the first time I’ve had the chance to sit down, relax, and put some thought into what I’m drinking, which is exactly what I’m in the mood to do after a few hours of train travel earlier today.

Here I have Trillium PM Dawn. An American Stout with Cold Brewed Coffee coming in at 9%. Canned on 4/22/2019. Purchased today from the brewery.



Look: This beer pours an opaque, dark brown color that resembles cola. Light brown around the edges as the light tries to shine through. A light brown head of one finger. As I type up the appearance the foam creates a speckled layer of foam across the top of the beer...



...with a levitating ring where the top of the foam once sat.



Smell: This beer smells like a cold brewed cup of coffee. Mild, nutty, lightly roasted coffee aromas. Spicy notes of cinnamon. Light, creamy vanilla. Light milk chocolate and chocolate pudding. Hint of vegetal note that I describe as fresh pumpkin that I often get from coffee beers. I think it’s the same as what people call green pepper. In small doses it doesn’t bother me and adds complexity to the beer. Zero 9% ABV on the nose.

Taste: You never know what to expect with a coffee beer. Coffee with beer added? Other way around? My immediate impression of this beer is smooth, cold brewed coffee with simple syrup and cream added. On the tip of the tongue you get a sweet and creamy cup of cold brewed coffee. Chocolate pudding snack pack. Now this beer actually reminds a lot of what my family would call Ice Box Cake, which is simply cinnamon graham crackers layered with chocolate pudding. As the beer moves to the middle and side of my palate I get some more dry cinnamon notes and faint hints of dark fruit that I’d describe as something like a dark chocolate raisinette/dark chocolate raspberry jelly candy. Lightly roasted malt. This beverage is more of a coffee with beer added, but I’m really enjoying it, and the presence of roasted malt prevents the beer from going overboard to cloying and/or dessert territory.

Feel: It’s not the thickest stout, but it’s sticky sweet, especially on the lips. A sweet beer with some dry qualities on the finish from the roasted malt. A third time, no heat at all from the ABV

Overall: This beer is definitely one for the coffee drinkers. I really enjoy drinking this one, and I love that you have a stout with coffee that almost pushes the boundaries. Almost goes pastry, which in and of itself is an accomplishment since there are no dessert ingredients here such as cinnamon or vanilla. They’ve extracted a lot of nice flavors here. Finally, zero indications of 9% ABV anywhere in this beer.

4.25 across the board for me. Cheers NBS participants and lurkers!!!

 

Happy late night NBS! My first and likely last new beer is Red Wine Barrel aged Narwhal. I will say that outside of Tequila Barrels, red wine barrels have to be very difficult to pull off in a stout.



And my feeble review..



Cheers all! Hope you are enjoying your New Beer Sunday.

 

Doc, Thanks for saying that. It really is important for people to SERIOUSLY consider advice from their medical professionals. Most doctors understand the importance of research, replication of research, and the process of peer review. I am all for people seeking out information on their own, but for God's sake, please have the intellectual fortitude to check multiple sources of information, AND consider how credible sources are.

Anyway, Hello Late Night NBS...
On to friendlier microbes.

Devil Dog Oatmeal Stout by Roak Brewing Co. in Royal Oak, MI

Thanks to foundersasap for this MI gem. Received in our great chaos known as NBS BIF Nein (#9)

Pours a deep, mysterious brown. Mocha colored head rises a fluffy 2 fingers high, hovers, and slowly retreats to a scattered, milky cap surrounded by a firm ring.
Nose is a blissful mix of roasted caramel and cocoa, a nutty (slightly woody at times) note, and grainy oatmeal. A smooth sweetness hovers, always accompanied by a smooth round coffee roast.
Taste begins with coffee, bitter and a tad fruity, followed by earthy cocoa. Sweetness is definitely tamed by the roast. As it warms, I get a little more earthy peat notes and a subtle click of burnt caramel in the back of my swallow.
Mouthfeel is close to full enough but I'd prefer a tad more chew. 8.3% ABV is well hidden.
Overall, pretty solid. I've had the French toast version (blew me away), and that's a hard one to follow. This would be even more in my wheelhouse with a tad more body, and a shade more cocoa notes.

3.79/5 rDev -4.5%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75

 

Change your phone number, Dave.

 

Amen. Like the parent who sends their kid to school, the child is feverish, and then he tells you that he threw up that morning... Thanks for exposing the other 24 kids in our class, Mom.

 

Congrats to you and your son !!

 

Sorry it did not work. I have had that before and it was fine. My guess is a really old bottle as I have not seen it in quite some time.

 

Platform Emo Barrel Aged S'mores Imperial Stout

4/5 rDev +1.3%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Poured a 12 ounce can into a DFH tulip. Nice sized tan head which faded quickly over a dark brown body. Smell when cold was a bit off putting as an oddly medicinal sweetness seemed to be isolated from the barrel, but as it warms you can detect each individual aroma of a s'more including the charred marshmallow. Likewise on the taste where you can detect more of the barrel. Mouthfeel is incredibly light for a beer of this ABV. As someone else said this is dangerously drinkable.

Platform gets blasted a lot for whatever reason by Ohioans. I have no hidden agenda in defending them (like every place else they serve their imperial stouts much too cold) but when they do things right I acknowledge it. I'm sorry this was just a one time thing.

 

After having the base earlier I wanted to get this one in tonight as well. Another thanks to @superspak

Pours the same dark brown/black as the base but with less than a finger of khaki head.
Upon opening the blueberry aroma jumped out and smacked me before I could pour it, fresh whole berries. Roasty malts are there as well as some vanilla.
Taste follows, loaded with blueberry. Roasty malts, chocolate, vanilla. If I could imagine a chocolate blueberry milkshake this would be it.
Medium to full body with good carb level. Smooth and creamy.
Overall I enjoyed this one. I don't typically seek out the fruited sours but this one was good. Blueberry burps linger long after this one was fiished.

 

We all love side by sides, yeah?
This evening I'm going to go chocolate/coconut for a side by side.
Caldera's Toasted Coconut Chocolate Porter is kind of a NW classic (or at least I always see it around), but I've never reached for it before for whatever reason. Luminscent is one of the last cans I have leftover from my trip up to Canada and is brewed by Deep Cove. Maybe I SHOULD tap into a Coconut BBOMB... afterall I've got Oregon and BC, it's just a Washington sandwich. Am I really going to leave my home state out?
(spoiler alert: yes, I am. I think these two will be plenty enough for this evening, and I don't have a NEW Washington coconut chocolate porter on hand anyway).



The pours offer varying shades of the same theme: dark mahogany brown with ruby/garnet at the edges. The Luminescent is noticeably darker, both in body and head, and has a much rockier, more robust head. It's thick and sticky and really inviting. The Caldera in comparison is a lighter/redder body in general with a smaller more velvety head with some larger soapy bubbles interspersed with the softer substrate. Caldera leaves minimal lacing, while the Luminescent leaves old cobwebs on the edge of the glass. Both are promising, but the Luminescent gets me much more excited than does the Caldera.

On the nose things start to significantly diverge. Cold, Luminescent is almost completely absent, offering only a thin metallic note that does not inspire much confidence. I set it aside to let it warm up and hopefully work past its issues and open up a little bit. I don't work on the PBMU, but I'm willing to work with a beer and try to help it find more productive behaviours and coping mechanisms!
Caldera opens with a promise delivered: Nutty roasted coconut husk and a fudgy/cocoa chocolate (which I keep wanting to spell choculate for some reason. Next time it happens I'm just going to roll with it. Fair warning). There's some roasted malts etc underneath, but it's those two in tandem that are the important aspects and that dominate the proceedings.
After it sat in a contemplative silence for a while, the offputting metallic note has mostly receded on the Luminescent. However, where the Caldera was all about the adjuncts, I just don't find hardly anything of the sort on the Luminescent. There's some toasty/roasty malts... and knowing that it's supposed to be coconut/chocolate, I could probably convince myself that there's an element of each, but really it's just the standard porter malts and I would not identify either of those flavours if it didn't say it on the can. Leaves me significantly wanting.

Flavour offers a similar experience. Caldera is a little less sweet and bouncy, offering a slightly more reserved take on the same themes. Roasted coconut and rich drinking chocolate over toasted malts and it all comes together really nicely. Drier than expected based on the nose, and has a nice bitter finish that has elements of coffee and earthy hops and a faint hint of ashy character to pair with a fudgy ribbon. I appreciate that it's not the diabeetus bomb that so many adjunct stouts are these days. It feels like too many brewers presently are trying to shortcut into people's good graces with just shit loads of sugary overload, like a Michael Bay movie for the mouth, and that's never really been an approach that has appealed to me.
Luminescent continues to come up short here. Similar to the nose, I could convince myself that I find some coconut or some added chocolate if I wanted to, but I would know I was lying to myself. As a basic porter, it's solid but unspectacular. But it's supposed to be rich chocolates and coconut and all that, and I just don't get ANY of that. Finish is probably the best part of it with a nice mild fudgy ribbon to balance the faintly ashy/smoky dry finish.

Both have relatively smoothe bodies and carbonation that is noticeable, though the Luminescent feels better integrated. Both are on the thinner side, though the Caldera offers a stick depth that is not in the Luminescent. Luminescent has an earthier, more bitter finish. Caldera has a little bit of alcohol flavour that makes it seem higher ABV than it is, and is a minor ding to its overall impression.


(what, was I supposed to NOT pair my chocolate/coconut beers with the last of my chocolate/coconut/caramel Samoas??!?)

Overall, both of these beers have their warts, but I don't regret picking either one up. Caldera I'd consider again, but wouldn't prioritize, and Luminescent was pretty disappointing. Reading the other reviews, my experiences do not seem to line up with those of others, so it's possible I just got a really old can or something, but with no date code anywhere to be found I have no way of knowing for certain and so can only take it at face value and rate it for what it is.

Hope you're enjoying what you've got in your glass, and I'm so damn close to finally getting caught up on my MCU marathon (complete coincidence that I should be finishing this week in time to see Endgame in theaters), and so I'm going to jump back into that. Cheers!!

 

Glad you enjoyed it!

I don't have any family or close friends with family etc with autistic children, so it's not something I feel I can speak on from experience (other than working with a fair number of patients at work who are on the spectrum), but this is the other element that has always infuriated me about the main thrust of the antivax movements argument. They treat being on the spectrum as the most hideous thing they can imagine and even without a personal connection to it, I find that an incredibly offensive approach to take. Like, forget for a second the fact that the 'study' asserting such things was entirely fabricated, but you (antivaxxer) feel like the risk of your child becoming neurodivergent is worse than potentially physically crippling or killing them or their friends? FUCK THAT. Sorry if it's not my place to get worked up over that, but it boggles my mind

Similar: I FINALLY got my bike fixed back up after taking a nasty spill following an ill advised detour... last October or something. That coupled with the gross weather (I'm a wimp: I hate riding in the rain. I'll admit it.) had kept me off the pedals, but with spring blooming and the bike tuned up, I've been riding in to work again, and as much as I can definitely tell that I haven't in a long time, it feels really good to be consistently riding again (even if I don't enjoy the in the moment aspect of it as much as I remembered, I still FEEL much better at work). Did NOT, however, miss the fools at the intersection who aren't looking or just choose to blow through the big red 'NO RIGHT HAND TURN' sign, or who take the presence of bikes on the road (in a bike lane!) as a personal affront and almost (or do) hit me (or honk and swerve threateningly in my direction). Cheers!