New Beer Sunday (Week 746)

Good afternoon and happy New Bing Sunday, BAs. Been a hectic week at the new position again. Stressful, intimidating, challenging. But ultimately rewarding. Not much going on here. Nice weather, gardening, chasing the psycho kids around, then off to a birthday party in a few. But first...

Cascade Brewing
Kriek (2017)





A deep dried blood red with auburn and chestnut highlights bordering the clean body towards the browner side of the spectrum. It would be still looking if it weren't for the few rising bubbles hopelessly devoted to supporting some kind of cap above, but a failed attempt nonetheless.

Sweet and sour cherries clearly and proudly display themselves front and center with a mouthwatering acidity. Deep red wine, oak barrel and all shine from withing. A touch of pepper and damp mulch linger in the end.

Wow, this thing tastes like straight sour grape and cherry Fun Dip. I think the puckering powdery tartness not only exemplifies the feel, but must be considered a flavor to this beast as well. As it warms, oak certainly comes through.

Feel?... See above. Add some strong tannins, an initial slickness, a wood stripping acidic drying tartness,and almost no carbonation, and viola. There you have it.

This is a sour to compete with the most of sours. Delicious, well executed, but so friggin intense like most of the offerings I've had the pleasure of enjoying. Certainly not for the faint of heart.

After my official review, I gave Kriek a rating of 4.28 with an rDev of+1.2%.

Cheers.

 

Damn, you had both Naughty and Nice by lunchtime! When was your nap??

 

Good afternoon NBS
I'm ticking a new country with a beer I couldn't pass on.

My review:
11.2oz undated bottle poured into shaker pint glass at fridge temp 5.4% ABV. The beer pours barely hazy in a dull light golden yellow color. The head builds to about an inch on a hard pour and recedes to single layer of off white bubbles. No lacing. The aroma offers little, maybe a touch of yeast and pale malt. The taste is barely sweet pale malt up front with mild tea flavor coming through mid to late palate. Very low bitterness. The mouthfeel is medium bodied with average carbonation and a dry finish. Overall, very good. This is a very nice and refreshing lager with no brewing flaws and a pleasant use of tea (with or in place of hops?).

I wanted more background than the label provides, so I found this information on B. United's website:
Jasmine Tea Lager is a lager that uses Jasmine Tea produced in Guangxi province. Each tea leaf is roasted with fresh Jasmine flowers at least six times in order to get the optimum amount of aroma, while adding fresh jasmine flowers to each roasting cycle. The tea is then brewed at a medium temperature for hours to extract the tea flavor but with minimal tannin extract, which adds to the final beer’s richness. The overall tea flavor on the beer is mild as to complement the lager quality of the beer, making this a very easy to drinking & refreshing beer.

Thanks for the opening @lordofthewiens. It's a very different world than what I grew up in. I can remember explaining to people in college that I had around 50 aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, second cousins and great aunts & uncles within 5 miles of where I grew up. Moving to the next county was like moving cross country. My parents (in their 60's) haven’t made the 5 hour car trip to where I live with my wife and kids in 4 years because it's "just too far." On the other hand, I can see my wife and I going just about anywhere if my kids don't return here after college (I'm encouraging them not to!). Time will tell, but the adventure should be interesting.

Cheers all and enjoy the new beer in your glass!

 

Good Sunday afternoon, New Beer Samplers and commentators. It's a gorgeous Sunday afternoon in North Jersey: golden sunshine, blue skies, low humidity, and a nice breeze. It's more like September than June. Today's review is The Stone Raft, a Belgian Fruit Lambic brewed by The Referend Bier Blendery in Pennington, NJ. I'll admit, it's taken me a long time to appreciate wild ales but visiting The Referend several times recently has really helped. They brew only spontaneously fermented beers - mostly Lambics, Berliner Weisses, and Saisons. The Stone Raft is a blend of young and old spontaneously fermented golden ale, refermented with peaches, cherries, and plums, then refermented again in the bottle with local cranberry honey. It opens up as it breathes in the glass and you can taste the various stone fruits. It's refreshing and highly flavorful. Here's my review:

4.49/5 rDev 0%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

2018 release. Bottled on 1/18/2019 and released in May 2019. Poured into a Referend cylindrical glass. It pours a hazy, golden honey color with lots of effervescence. The head faded very quickly. It's fragrant nose includes lots of stone fruit: cherry, peach, plum, oak, and the unique funky smell of a spontaneously fermented ale. It opens highly tart and fruity. I can really taste the fresh peach; the other stone fruit is more in the background but becomes more evident as the glass warms. In particular, the cherry really opens up; ripe and fairly sweet. In fact, the longer the ale breathes in the glass the sweeter it becomes. This is in part due to the refermentation with cranberry honey. There are also notes of oak and whole grain wheat that remind me of a Triscuit cracker. This ale is crisp and dry with lively carbonation. The 7.1% ABV gives it nice substance without being overly strong. Overall, The Stone Raft is really exquisite. It's highly flavorful but quite delicate and the tastes evolve through the pour as the temperature changes. I never thought I'd enjoy a Belgian Fruit Lambic this much! Sip it casually outdoors with some good cheese.

I hope you're all enjoying your new beer(s) today. I'm having a good time reading your reviews. Cheers!

 

I'm glad you're enjoying your new home. It's been interesting following your transition from Maine to New Mexico. What an amazing country this is!

 

On to a big beer...Saint Arnold's 25th Anniversary Grand Cru. 11.1% ABV.

Saint Arnold had their big Anniversary party yesterday (I think today is a ticketed private tasting at the brewery as well). I went for the 20th Anniversary. A good time at a great brewery, but I have had my fill of waiting in lines and crowds so I just got a bottle and have hit a few tap takeovers at other bars around town.

Anyway, this is a bourbon barrel blend of the following beers they have done in the past:
50% Belgian-Style Quadrupel
25% Russian Imperial Stout
25% English-Style Barleywine

Pours a near opaque brown color. A small beige head forms, but sticks around as a cap throughout. Not much lace, but I can see alcoholic "legs" crawling down the glass (on close inspection). Huge bourbon and barrel notes. Wood and vanilla. Chocolate, amazing baked bread, dark fruits. A full body with higher carbonation than you would typically expect for such a beer. Though Saint Arnold does always tend to be higher in carbonation than most. This does smooths out as it breaths and warms however. Big alcohol presents of coarse, but much more warming than say a fusel alcohol. An excellent sipper. I love Saint Arnold, and glad to be able to drink this for their anniversary. Anybody that likes the Firestone Walker blended anniversary beers should like this just as much. Overall score 4.34. Review below:

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/337/420656/?ba=champ103#review

 

NBS beer #1



Queen Connie

Fiddlehead Brewing Company
American Brut IPA / 6.80% ABV

3.79/5 rDev 0% | Score: 3.77
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75

L- The beer pours a hazy yellow orange. The head is a fluffy pillow of white several inches high. I had to pour it in segments to avert disaster. The head lingers still as I write this. Legs of lacing ring the glass as a pile of mousse like foam still remains.
S-The nose is sweetish orange mixed with lemon and a touch of mustiness.
T- The beer starts with a much lighter amount of sweetness. This quickly transitions to grapefruit pith of moderate intensity. The beer finishes lightly bitter and dry with a combination of the pith and mustiness.
F-Mouthfeel overall is on the lighter side of medium. Carbonation is likewise light medium. The flavors give the beer some dryness, but I wouldn't consider it even moderately dry.
O- A fair representation of the style in all but clarity. It's worth a purchase if you like Brut IPA's, but it's not going to knock anyone's socks off.

 

This is a side by side I have been wanting to do for a while, couple months at least. Both beers were served at the same temp and stores in the same conditions. Both beers are also the exact same ABV. Although I have no idea when either was bottled I think both are within a year.




It’s Hoppin Frog’s BORIS the crusher and barrel aged Boris (aged in whiskey barrels)

Both beers are identical in appearance, thick, black, oily with dark tan colored head. Regular Boris had a little more head production and retention than the barrel aged version. (Edge goes to the OG)

Aroma in the OG is chocolatey with espresso and pine notes. The barrel aged version has whisky, vanilla, dark chocolate, brownie, and fudge notes with only a hint of pine WAAAAAY in the back. (barrel aged is the clear winner here)

Taste in the OG has a small milk chocolate glimpse before the piney and earthy hops hit and take over. Espresso comes in during the middle and stays through the milk chocolate finish. Taste on the barrel aged is a quick hit of whiskey followed quickly with vanilla, bitter dark chocolate, fudge brownie, and espresso. It’s decadent and smooth with just a sight warming when it goes down. (again barrel aged is head and shoulders above the OG)

Mouthfeel on the OG is thinner than expected, but a solid medium, maybe a little more. Oily and dry finish. The barrel aged version is completely different. Much more full and chewy with the same oily dry finish. (BA gets the nod again)

Overall I greatly enjoyed both but the barrel aging does wonders for the base beer here. Clearly I enjoyed the BA version more, but that doesn’t detract from the fact that both are excellently crafted stouts!

 

@Mrstiffington. sadly I did need a short nap. Between working this morning, high abv,and couldn't hold my liquor I crashed for 30 minutes

 

I'm on the deck enjoying this beautiful beer to go with this beautiful day. @superspak beat me to adding this to the database, which I appreciate since I still can't figure out how to add photos to an entry. But I have the first review.



The beer pours a deep, thin brown with a quick, fizzy head and no lacing.

The smell is lacto with huge notes of chocolate raspberry. The vanilla is there, but subtle.

The taste starts with slightly sour oak. The raspberry and chocolate come through nicely in the finish.

The mouthfeel is medium body and slightly fizzy.

Overall this is a very subtle and complex beer. It's not overall sour, allowing the flavors to come through nicely.

 

Right along here NBS players. This next beer comes from another great ba known as @ovaltine.

My second new beer today is A Ton Load - Citra, iipa, from Bare Hands brewing. The brew checks in at 8% abv and no canning date. Also, my first ever beer from the brewery.

A murky yellow color on the pour with a frothy white head. The nose is ripe with citrus. Rather hop forward on the initial sips with lots of plush and soft citrus notes. Crazy smooth on the flow and rather absent of bitter. Big time fruit notes of grapefruit, mango, orange, lemon, and grape. A moderate mouth feel and body that holds up well and does a great job of not being sweet.

Overall, pretty nice hop juice. I'm in the low 4's here. Thanks a bunch Mike.

 

Poured into a 13 oz tulip glass canned recent with a finger plus, sticky white head hazy as heck dark yellow leaving a thin layer of webby lace as it slowly settles. 4.5

Smell is guava, pineapple, apricot, mandarin, and hints of grapefruit. Yes 4.75

Taste follows guava, tangerine, apricot, pineapple, and some grapefruit bitterness but very subtle. 4.75

Mouthfeel is big, sticky not dry, soft gentle carbonation, and at 9.5% goes down insanely easy. 4.5

Overall this is a serious wow beer for me, the 9.5% hides so well and you literally beg for the next sip. Juicy! Citra, Topaz, and Simcoe hang out like old college roommates at a bar near the beach, insanely good. 4.5

 

summer weather in New England means heading to the beach

Nauset lighthouse by Trillium

4.23/5 rDev +4.2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25

Can poured into a teku glass

Canned 5 28 19, opened 6 1 19

Hazy orange liquid, two finger white foam cap , good retentions, settles to a ring and some lacings

Fragrant pour, citrus orange, tangerine, mango, pineapple

Taste is slightly sweet, orange, mango

Medium sudsing, dry finish

Good beer

 

Good evening NBS, hope everyone is enjoying the end of the weekend once again. Thanks to @lordofthewiens for this week's introduction. Another typical weekend for me. Got a couple nice beer hauls today and yesterday. Still visiting the local breweries for prowler fills. Still have plenty more I haven't visited too. #8600 will be this week. Also my #2000th MI state beer according to the advanced stat charts. Usual clean up of site edit queue all weekend, and I am still not finished.

Beer:

Outstanding blonde ale. Fantastic fluffy head retention/thick foamy lacing. Crystal clarity. Aromas and flavors of big lemon, orange, honey, cracker, white bread dough, toasted biscuit malts; with lighter notes of peach, pear, melon, red apple, herbal, floral, wood, grass, pepper, and yeast earthiness. Light herbal, floral, woody, grassy, peppery bitterness on the finish. Medium carbonation, light-medium body, and fairly crisp/clean finishing. Creamy, bready, grainy malts/honey; some sticky hops in the mouthfeel. Light-moderate increasing bitter dryness; no cloying/astringency. Very flavorful/refreshing, not watery for 5%. Awesome balance between clean/nicely rich pale malts and citrus/floral honey complexity; with solid earthy Nugget hop presence/balance, and restrained fruity yeast. Mild residual sweetness with crisp dryness. One of the best standard American blondes I've had in a long time. Glad I got the 6 pack as expected. 4.18


Cheers

 

Are you me? And do we live in the same place?

 

Sort of. Minor in Linguistics. Only 1 days's drive away rather than 3-4...