New Beer Sunday (Week 748)

Just about half-way between the 2nd and 3rd hours of the day here. Haven't gone to bed yet, and none of the beers I've had so far this day are new.

By any stretch.

Hope to see y'all later!

 

Am I the only one to have experienced finding out at a reunion that a friend from school now was a different sex than that person was in school? In my case a friend who was male in high school is now a female. What a strange moment when I realized who he/she was. No plans to go to any more reunions.

Definite plans to go to town and find some new beer(s) and join y'all, though. See ya inna bit.

 

New Beer Sunday: German Pilsner

Mornin’ NBSers with a heads up for Pils fans who haven’t been introduced to Industrial Arts yet. Also a special thanks to @lordofthewiens for his early start and his thoughts about about meeting up with folks “for old time’s sake.” As @cavedave points out it can sometimes be quite a shock.

Weather-wise this is shaping up to be a very nice day. Temperatures are expected to be in the low to mid 80s. It should be quite sunny and the humidity within a comfortable range. Great day for lots of things. In addition we’ve found a local student who needs a bit of summer income for an upcoming trip to Europe and who’s willing to do some weeding, etc. around the house. (Now guess who doesn’t have to worry about weeding the garden for a few weeks. )

This morning’s new beer is called Metric and is from Industrial Arts Brewing.

My review, in progress until the beer is finished or the Quiche is finished baking, can be found here:

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/42049/276108/?ba=drtth#review


The aromas/flavors of this beer are filled with herbal and slightly grassy, floral hops backed up by a bit of crackery malt sweetness that smooths out but doesn’t come close to hiding the moderate bitterness in the long dry ending. For me, this is a drinkable, enjoyable beer with that balance of flavors that invites another sip and makes one ready for a second can even before the first is complexly finished. (In other words, it is dangerously drinkable.) I think this beer would go well with a wide range of food. If you like German style Pils beers this is definitely one to try. I expect to pick up some more next time I find it reasonably fresh.

Cheers, all!

 

Sierra Nevada - Estate Farmhouse Ale

They call this a “wild ale aged in wine barrels.” I’m mildly surprised to see that this is also labeled organic. It makes sense though - the beer is made with organic (wet) Saaz hops and barley grown by Sierra Nevada. It also has wheat, and I don’t know if this was sourced from somewhere else. For all of the current brewer romance with having a farm, I bet that this approach to ingredient sourcing (for barley and hops) is probably quite rare. The yeast is “spontaneously fermented in [their] peach orchard” (their words).

The resulting beer is a very hazy copper with barely a head. Tastes of oak. It’s tart, but delicately so. The power of suggestion is making me think of peaches, and while the beer is vaguely fruity, there is no specific fruit flavor that is strong enough to override that power of suggestion.

Ultimately, the beer feels like a wasted opportunity. Sierra Nevada is doing something special with their “estate” approach - growing hops and barley, and then they color all over their picture with a big Sharpie by putting it in wine barrels. The dominant character here (oak) is the one thing they didn’t produce. This is what happens when trends get in the way of a novel idea.

 

(Un)happy No New Beer for Me This Sunday (Week 748)!

I guess that I hit it lucky.when I transferred from a private college prep school to the local high school as a teenager. The prep school has not had one reunion (that I know of) while I have been to every one of the J.P. McCaskey Class of 1983's reunions. We did not have a 5-year, but we have gathered every 5 years since. As far as a college reunion, Pitt does a "Alumni Gathering/Pitt Networking Day" on the first Thursday in June & while the local South-Central
coordinator does a great job, a lot of times, it is the same faces. I attended the one in Ardmore this year & it was all band-new.

The good news is that my prostate removal surgery due to CANcer was successful on Wednesday! The bad news is that I am on a catheter & meds until this coming Wednesday & thereby precluded from imbibing, even in small amounts. I go back up to Hershey Medical Center on Wednesday to have the catheter removed & I plan to drop in at Appalachian BC on the way home. It givesme something to look forward to.

I also look forward to joining you next Sunday for at least one, but until then, TTFN!

 

Glad to hear the surgery went well! Don't worry too much about the catheter and meds, they will be gone soon and there will still be plenty of new beers out there just waiting with your name on every CAN you buy.

 

Good morning New BSers! @lordofthewiens, thanks for starting today's thread.



Received from @jdell15 in NBS BIF #9. Reviewed 6/23/19. Thanks Jacob!
On bottom of can “PACKAGED ON 01/12/18”. 12 oz can. Stored at 42 degrees and served at 54 degrees in a hand washed and dried Jester King snifter. Final temperature 62 degrees.
Appearance – 4.
First pour – VERY dark brown, clear.
Body – Dark brown/black, opaque. When held to the light, still opaque.
Head – Small (Maximum 1.8 cm, aggressive center pour), dark tan, high density, very short retention. Rapidly diminishes to a one mm crown and a thin center island cap.
Lacing – None.
Aroma – 4 – Strong coffee and nearly as strong chocolate. As it warms, the coffee smell weakens, and chocolate becomes stronger.
Flavor – 3.75 – First swallow is shockingly bitter, but this smooths out on subsequent quaffs. Coffee predominates. Allowing it to warm in my mouth accentuates the orange which is totally missing at lower temperatures. Neither chocolate nor cinnamon appear. No alcohol (7.5% ABV), no hops, no dimethylsulfide, no diacetyl.
Palate – 3 – Medium, watery, soft carbonation.
Impression and interpretation – 3.75 – Definitely watery for the stout end of the porter spectrum, despite the added lactose. The appearance is that of Old Engine Oil, a favorite brew. The flavor becomes more balanced as it warms, with both chocolate and some orange ameliorating the coffee by the end.
Rating 3.75, rDev -3.6%.

 

Glad you are enjoying this. I too Love Metric, and one of our alumni from here also just sang its praises in a video review she does as The Girl Next Door. Glad to see it is making it down to you Pa. guys who have experience with well made Pilseners.

 

Here's wishing you a full and fast recovery. As a token of my great esteem I will not indulge in the obvious and extensive punnery suggested by your illness and long obsession with aluminum beer packaging containers.

 

I'm even more glad than you that some of their beers made it here!

 

Great to hear, and best wishes!

 

Great news, man! Glad to hear it went well and I look forward to seeing you around here with new CANs in the very near future.

 

I have enough trouble recognizing people I haven’t seen since 1975 who've gained 75 lbs like me as it is, let alone looking for a buddy in a dress wearing pumps. I’d be stumped right there too.

 

Weihenstephaner - Non-Alcoholic

First off, when I bought this beer, there were a bunch of beer business folks in the store talking about the trend of NA beers. Germans saw the value in this much earlier.

I couldn’t have set myself up better for this one. Before I opened the bottle, I was thinking to myself that this beer has no indication on the label what kind of beer it is other than “non-alcoholic.” I figured the absence of further description meant that this was a pale lager. It made me think about how synonymous pale lager is with beer.

Poured this very hazy beer and had my first sip... tasted like lemon. Blah, what’s going on here? Looked at the back label and saw text about cloves and a “yeasty spirit.” Dear me, this is a Hefeweissbier. Looking at the brewer’s website, it turns out that they produce a NA Hefe and a NA Helles... and the beers are appropriately labeled as such in Germany. Why in the world aren’t they labeling this beer for what it is? I would think that it’s not a choice that would help sales.

The beer is lacking structure. It’s thin. Tastes of lemon and soggy crackers. It’s not appealing.

My feelings on Weihenstephaner might really surprise some. I think the praise given to their Hefeweizen is deserved. I think their status in/contribution to the industry is really important. I also like the range of their beers and I think they make quality product. I’m just not really a fan of any of their beers besides the standard Hefe. This NA version will never be a decent substitute for it (or a desirable thing for me on its own terms). A NA Hefe also wouldn’t be my first choice for a NA beer, so this beer had a steep hill to climb.

 

My 50th high school reunion is coming soon. I''ll go, be proud of my beautiful wife, talk crap everywhere, and try not to behave like Barney Fife. I had a great time growing up, went to an excellent high school, but college was where I really learned teamwork and the world of ideas. My high school friends are still everywhere and coming back home constantly. I live in a wonderful place that is five houses away from where I grew up..We live in a forest.

 

It’s summertime: a new beer from the shore!

Most of the country probably uses the word “beach” but we Southeastern Pennsylvanians and New Jerseyites refer to it is as the shore.

The beer I will be discussing today is from Cape May Brewing and the new beer is called Concrete Ship Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Stout.

Now, you might ask yourself – what the heck does Concrete Ship mean? I regularly go to the Cape May shore so I already know what this reference means:

“S. S. Atlantus

The S. S. Atlantus is probably the most famous concrete ship. She was built by the Liberty Ship Building Company in Brunswick, Georgia and launched on December 5, 1918 and was the second concrete ship constructed in the World War I Emergency Fleet.

The war had ended a month earlier, but the Atlantus was used to transport American troops back home from Europe and also to transport coal in New England. In 1920, the ship was retired to a salvage yard in Virginia.

In 1926, the Atlantus was purchased by Colonel Jesse Rosenfeld to be used as ferry dock in Cape May, New Jersey for a proposed ferry between Cape May and Cape Henlopen, DE. The plan was to dig a channel into to the shore where the Atlantus would be placed. Two other concrete ships would be purchased to form a Y-shape where the ferry would dock.

In March 1926, the groundbreaking ceremonies were held for the construction of the ferry dock. The Atlantus was repaired and towed to Cape May. On June 8th, a storm hit and the ship broke free of her moorings and ran aground 150 feet off the coast of Sunset Beach. Several attempts were made to free the ship, but none were successful.”

http://www.concreteships.org/ships/ww1/atlantus/

A good story also needs a good visual:



Now back to this beer. Below is how Cape May details this beer on their website:

“Concrete Ship

Stout - Russian Imperial

ABV10.5%

IBU80

SRM47

Named for the sunken SS Atlantus, a retired WWI concrete ship visible from Cape May’s Sunset Beach, our Concrete Ship is a full-bodied Russian Imperial Stout. With just a touch of heat coming through thanks to the high ABV, we’ve perfectly melded the roasted barley and chocolate malts together, giving the final brew rich notes of cocoa and coffee. Bold yet insanely drinkable, Concrete Ship has a velvety smooth texture that won’t sink you.”

Now, I normally would just ‘jump in’ and detail my thoughts about a beer (which you will read below) but I figured for this beer I would first discuss what I look for in a beer like this. Firstly the RIS beer style is typically a very complex beer in and of itself but since this particular beer was aged in a Bourbon Barrel it should be expected that the level of complexity of this beer will be ‘kicked up a notch’ as Emeril Lagasse would phrase it.

For me the RIS style should have a Shrek like quality of “layers” (everybody loves parfait). There should be complexity from the assorted dark malts with assorted flavors of coffee-like, dark chocolate, dark fruits,…Given that this beer was aged in a Bourbon Barrel we should expect some residual Bourbon Barrel-like flavors such as a hints of vanilla, perhaps some subtle caramel, and maybe some toastiness from the barrel’s char. Hopefully the beer will not be too sweet or sticky. At 10+ %ABV there is likely to be some ‘heat’ from the ethyl alcohol but hopefully not too much harshness here. A bonus here would be if these flavor characteristics came in ‘waves’ with some aspect being more prominent in the fore-palate, others on the mid-palate and maybe others on the finish.

All this typing has got me salivating in anticipation. As Donkey said in the movie Shrek: “Do you have a tissue or something? I'm making a mess. Just the word parfait makes me start slobbering.”

Served in my Gulden Draak tulip glass:

Appearance:

Deep black in color with a HUGE tan/brown head.

Aroma:

Wow! Lot’s going on here!! Chocolate is at the forefront but there is some vanilla and even a bit of coffee. I am almost getting the impression of ‘creamy’ here (from the vanilla I suppose).

Taste:

Flavor follows the nose with chocolate being predominant but yes there is vanilla here and bit of coffee. This beer has a moderate bitterness.

Mouthfeel:

This beer is luscious! It is smooth but yet has the aspect of being chewy.

Overall:

In one word: EXCELLENT. This beer is great for the above detailed qualities but also for what is not there: no booziness, no off-putting sticky sweetness,… a beer with nicely balanced yet complex qualities.

As much as I enjoyed drinking this beer now (summertime) this beer would be even ‘better’ slowly sipping it in a comfy chair in front of a roaring fireplace on a chilly winter evening.

Cheers to the folks of Cape May Brewing for producing a BBA RIS that rivals Shrek in “layers”!

@KOP_Beer_OUtlet @rotsaruch @brianhink @RobH @capemaybrewingco

 

Howdy everybody!

I hope you guys are all enjoying your weekends and having some nice beers to boot. I am hanging out here at home before doing a tour later on this afternoon. I plan on prepping stuff for dinner and maybe tinkering with an idea to squirrel-proof my tomatoes and chiles. We'll see how that goes lol. Faced with the fact that despite my brain and thumbs I can't best those mangy bastards, I figure I'll have a beer.

This is Boreale's much-loved NEIPA with 100% Vic secret hops. I have had one or two single hops versions of this in the past and they fell short of the normal version. Thus I have limited expectations. Nonetheless, I'm sure it'll taste good regardless and it'll pair well with what is shaping up to be a beautiful day!



It pours a turbid milky straw color with a little white head that stays around fairly well, dotted-line lacing. Actually not very nice looking despite decent retention and all that. The aroma has some vague pineapple and other sweet tropical notes in addition to a whiff of oxidation but is mainly green and hoppy verging on grassy. Flavor-wise it is similar to the nose with more of a bite than I was expecting/wanted. Fruit skins, some hop/yeast burn, relatively bitter. It is a touch astringent, fizzy and coats your mouth in hop essence. This is not a terrible beer but I don't know if I'd go out of my way to have it again, either. I feel like it might be getting a little old (almost a month) for this style, but since they sat on it before shipping it out and since I'm over a week before the best before date I can only assume this is what they were going for. It (like other twists on this beer) was decent but not what I was expecting/hoping for, and at the end of the day it left me wanting. Additionally, as much as grumps tend to nit-pick this style, use scare quotes around it, etc. This is not to style. Anyway, it was not a drain pour, but I will probably stick to the straight ahead version from here on out. Batch-to-batch consistency issues and all

Hope you all are also enjoying this fine new beer Sunday. I hope to catch you this evening too but we'll see what happens.

Santé!

 

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

Cheers!

 

Today, I have one from someone who has “gifted” me many nicknames.
The jokester @y2kawakami

Beer: Rolling Thunder Imperial Stout (2019 Vintage)
Brewery: Rogue (Newport, OR)
ABV: 12.8%

Pouring from a 16.9 oz. bottle into a whiskey/tumbler glass, this beer pours out with streams light and dark brown mixing. It forms in the glass much darker black, but still keeps a brown highlighted ring towards the top when held to light. Pinky width of tightly packed, caramel colored bubbles rest on top.

The first whiff carries huge, prominent layers of dark fruit tangling with a bourbon soaked chocolate bar. Raisins, dates, leather, dry oak, slightly salty presence.

The initial taste brings back those deep dark fruits and mixes them with the rich, decadent dark chocolate. It’s almost like those organic dark chocolate bars that are 80% pure cacao. Those chocolate notes are beautiful. It then transitions into the dry oak and faint, accenting kiss of bourbon.

It’s not too hot with alcohol presence at all, and really just chooses to let that bourbon play as a nice accent. It has a bitterness in there, but a natural dark chocolate like bitterness. The sweetness coats the mouth before turning to a dry, oaky wood finish that leaves your mouth dry enough to want another drink. Medium bodied.

Overall, I really enjoyed this. It’s not overly complex but instead chooses to just lets the notes it has shine instead of trying too hard to find others. Really happy I got a chance to try this.

I am guessing I will be much over the average here on this one, because I thoroughly enjoyed it. It’s right up my alley. Thank you much Sean for sending this along. It’s been a wishlist item for years now.

Cheers NBS, I can’t wait to see what you bring to the share!