New Beer Sunday (Week 751)

Good morning NBS, hope everyone is enjoying the end of the weekend once again. Should be a nice day up here. Kind of been running low on review beers myself. ICYMI I quit smoking last week, and haven't dipped in over 2 weeks since I started smoking more. I got a vaporizer mod kit on Wednesday and smoked my last cigarette the same day. Haven't looked back since. Way more enjoyable and I can do it in my apartment. Anyways, hoping to get a nice beer haul today when I take my bottles back to return.

Beer:

Another Bruery review for this morning. 5/2015 bottling. Poor head retention/no lacing as expected. This was awesome. Aromas and flavors of big caramel, brown sugar, cocoa, vanilla, toffee, marshmallow, bourbon, toasted oak, hazelnuts, and brown bread; with lighter notes of coconut, molasses, fudge, raisin, prune, fig, date, leather, tobacco, oak char, peppercorn, and yeast earthiness. Increasing booze in the aromas, but not overwhelming. Light herbal, grassy, roasted bitterness; and bourbon/oak tannin spiciness on the finish. Light-medium carbonation and very full body; very creamy, silky, velvety malts; lightly slick, sticky, tannic in the mouthfeel. Lightly increasing lingering bitter/tannic dryness; no cloying sweetness. Smooth sipping, mild increasing warmth of 16.8%, minimal lingering barrel booze. Awesome balance between super rich malts, vanilla, cocoa, hazelnuts, and bourbon barrel presence/integration; with mild earthy hops and restrained fruity yeast. Not overly sweet/heavy from lingering dryness. I was expecting a bit more out of this, but it got better as it got to room temperature. 4.1


Cheers

 

I started using Beer Advocate 6.5 years ago as a way to track and learn about new beers. It’s interesting to me to see how breweries have grown and thrived in this micro-brew explosion. The variety of styles and the quality of the selections have noticeably increased.

I can remember first walking into the Maine Beer Company several years ago. A nice little shoebox of a tap room, tight with coolers, some taps and a few tables. Had the good fortune to be invited to the Reny’s Department Store 70th Anniversary celebration ( great family owned chain in Maine) and stopped by MBC. I kept reading on their tap list that they had Dinner in bottles. A top rated beer on BA(#33 overall) and in Maine (#1). I gotta go back!

Parking lot is still the same but the entrance is on the side and downstairs. Big, airy, fresh, clean neat. Taps, dining, pizza, ...a very nice upgrade. And, coolers of beer, including the much sought after Dinner.



Dinner by Maine Beer Company

4.6/5 rDev -0.6%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.5

Bottle poured into a teku glass

Hazy orange liquid , small streams of carbonation, two finger off white , rocky, foamy big bubbled cap, good retention ,settles after five minutes to rocky islands and a solid layer . Nice creamy head on the second pour

Aroma is citrus , tangerine, orange

Taste is citrus , tangerine, orange

Hop taste, medium sudsing, hop taste nibbles and lingers nicely in the back of the mouth

Great beer , repeatable

 

Morning all, will be back inna bit with a new beer to help beat the heat. So dry here there is nary a fungus anywhere in the woods so what better way to not pick shrooms than with a beer in hand?

 

Mornin' NBSers.

Not expecting to have the time for any new beers this week. We've family arriving from Europe today and need to finish getting the house ready for guests before we pick them up at Philly airport. May be able to peek in once in a while to read about some new beers I'll want to try.

Cheers, all!

 

My recent road trip vacation

I have been away for the past 2+ weeks on a whirlwind tour of the North American northeast. I spent 4 days in Providence, RI attending HomebrewCon (National Homebrewers Conference), Nova Scotia (Cape Breton Island & Halifax), New Brunswick (Saint John) and Portland, ME. Other than HomebrewCon the principle purpose was vacation – sightseeing stuff but needless to say there was plenty of beer exploration/drinking going on. A vacation twofer!

The beer I have today is from Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. Frankly I had low expectation of the beer scene in this northern most area of Nova Scotia (and I was happy I had some of my homebrewed beers in the trunk leftover from HomebrewCon) but to my surprise and delight there was indeed plenty of good beer to drink there!

There is a bit of a backstory about today’s beer:

My wife and I went for a sailboat trip one day on an absolutely picture perfect day on Bras d’Or Lake and afterwards we were a bit parched so a quick trip afterwards to Big Spruce brewery was in order. We were very pleased when we pulled in to see the bucolic location of this brewery. Below are some photographs my wife took during our visit:



A view of the outdoor bar area



They have Adirondack chairs overlooking Bras d’Or Lake



The hop yard

At the outdoor bar I ordered a flight (four small pours) while my wife ordered a pint of their Pilsner. All of the beers were very good – excellent! Needless to say but I ordered more beer afterwards and I very much enjoyed drinking those as well. As we were enjoying the wonderful outdoor atmosphere and beers I started chatting with someone who happened to be one of the brewers. His name is Matt Wanamaker and I made mention I was from the Philly area and that the Wanamaker name is famous due to the large Department store of Wanamaker’s (which is now defunct). He replied that he is part of the family that started this store (and subsequent chain of stores). I even mentioned the Philly store was famous from an older movie and before I could finish he answered “The movie Mannequin”. Well I had such a good time it turns out I forgot my Phillies cap of “World Series 2008 Champions” and I was quite bummed about that but there is good news:

The next day we were in the area and I went to Big Spruce (again) to see if somebody turned in my cap and to my great joy it was there. I then asked if there was any chance if we could take a tour of the brewery and Matt generously spent part of the lunch hour with us showing us the heritage brewery (less than 10 barrels) and their newer, expanded second brewery just down the street. A wonderful tour and Matt patiently and freely responded to my numerous brewing questions. My wife and I had a great time! I even had a chance to chat with the owner (Jeremy White) for 10-15 minutes and he generously provided for me today’s beer: Big Spruce Hundred Cape Breton Wild Ale.

The Big Spruce brewery is surrounded by White Spruce trees so I asked Jeremy if they ever produced a Spruce Ale. He responded that the local trees (White Spruce) do not make ‘good’ beer but that he once brewed up a Spruce Ale using Black Spruce tips which he sourced from a nearby area but he was not too thrilled with how that batch turned out. I regret that I did not have any of my homebrewed beers with me (they were back in the motel); I would like to have given Jeremy and Matt some bottles of my homebrewed Spruce Ale using tips from my neighbors Blue Spruce tree which I think produces a lovely beer.

On the back of the can:

“BIG SPRUCE BREWING is Atlantic Canada’s first organic, on farm craft brewery and hop yard. We craft unfiltered, unpasteurized, unbelievably good beer.

ONE HUNDRED is the first beer ever brewed with 100% Nova Scotian ingredients: barley and rye from Horton Ridge Malt Co., our hops, our water and a wild yeast that we harvested off a pin cherry that grew on our farm. Floral and spicy, this ale resembles the white beers of Belgium, Sláinte!”

On the bottom of the can is a date of 21/12/18 which I presume means this beer was canned on December, 12, 2018.

Well, this is enough jibber-jabber. Time to drink some beer!

Served in my Tripel Karmeliet tulip glass:

Appearance:

Golden colored with a BIG white head.

Aroma:

A bright fruity aroma with a bit of bready malt in the background.

Taste:

Wow! The flavor is notably different from the nose. It is dominated by spicy (phenols) flavors with the fruity flavors playing ‘second fiddle’. In the background the malt backbone is subtle.

Mouthfeel:

Medium bodied with an off-dry finish.

Overall:

I think this beer is very good. The fact that the aroma and the flavor is noticeably different makes this an intriguing beer.

Kudos to Big Spruce for solely brewing a beer with solely local ingredients (especially the yeast*) and having the resulting beer work so well together. This beer is ‘magical’!

@KOP_Beer_OUtlet @rotsaruch @RobH @brianhink @CapeMayBrewCo

*There are lots of wild yeast out there that will ferment wort but finding a wild yeast that actually produces a tasty beer is a rare find.

 

Good morning New BSers! It's starting off to be a beautiful day here in NW PA - just about time to get the snowblower ready for this year's romp. @cjgiant, thanks for starting today's thread. You pose an interesting question. We had a "local" brewpub that opened in a town about 20 miles away - here in "the Wilds" that's pretty close. They opened back around 2005 - when Mrs. Lizard and I heard about it we became semi-regulars, heading there every couple of months for dinner and a couple of beers. The food was decent and the beer was generally OK but nothing spectacular. Then one day it was closed. Word was the owners had moved "south", a popular past-time here in NW PA. Eventually it re-opened under a new name, new ownership, and allegedly the same brewer. The food menu was different and the beers were generally different - my favorite was gone but those I didn't like remained. After a few years, there was a fire in the building they shared with other tenants and they closed due to smoke and water damage. After a couple of years of drawn-out repairs, they reopened. I never got back there before they closed this summer. My son tells me they have reopened under new ownership and a new name. I personally don't think they'll last using the same business model - instead of incurring the high costs of maintaining the restaurant, just brew and sell beer until their brand becomes popular enough to carry the food portion of the business. Until then, just serve bar food or utilize food trucks.

Today's NBS New Breakfast Beer:



Received from @jdell15 in NBS BIF #9. Reviewed 7/14/19. Thanks Jacob!
Dated “Best By 25/APR/2019” on bottom of the 12 oz can. Stored at 42 degrees and served at 54 degrees in a hand washed and dried Jester King snifter.
Appearance – 3.75.
First pour – Amber, clear.
Body – amber, murky, opaque. When held to the light, translucent.
Head – Large (Maximum 4.5 cm, aggressive center pour), tan with a marked yellow cast, medium density, average retention. Diminishes to a three mm crown and a thin, rocky, large island.
Lacing – Poor - a few small islands of tiny bubbles only.
Aroma – 4 – Sweet malt and dark fruit, more raisin than date.
Flavor – 4.25 - Flavor begins with more subdued malt than the nose would lead one to expect. This is followed by a hint of rotting fruit sourness, some date-fig sorbet, and some isoamyl acetate at the finish. No hops, no alcohol flavor or aroma (6.3 % ABV), no dimethylsulfide, no diacetyl.
Palate – 4 – Medium, almost syrupy, soft carbonation.
Impression and interpretation – 4 – Pleasing take on a Belgian Strong Dark Ale.
Rating 4.09,rDev -1.7%.

 

Happy New "CAN We Visit the Cape & Drink Some Beer, Aunt May?!?" Sunday (Week 751)!
As you may remember from previous NBSs & WBAYDNs, I am mostly homebound following surgery ~ 3.5 weeks ago. This time provided me the impetus to finally redd up the backlog of beer here at Chez Woody, the bulk of it in CANs. What I did was to take every CAN out of any carboard six-pack carrier in which it was lurking & put it into one of the new 96% PCR six-pack rings for easier identification. At the same time, I was looking to build brewery horizontals (same brewery, different/differing beers) for ocCANsions such as today as well as weekday exCANsions. Today marks a HIGHLY successful such exCANvation that will begin shortly.

We have been fairly fortunate here in Lancaster City & County, PA as far as retaining our breweries & brewpubs. I covered the PA beat for Ale Street News for ~ a decade, so I was & remain hip to what was opening & closing. Zuckfoltzfus BC in Mount Joy is the only one that comes immediately to mind, but they never really got well-established & then there were rumors of dissent between ownership & customers & then they were gone. 8=(

Enough of this maudlin stuff, let's have a beer! I immediately got bogged down with my first of the day, which was:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/25890/96616/?ba=woodychandler#review

I'll be back with more … stuff!
@CapeMayBrewCo

 

Rich gold color with white cap and lacing.

Aroma of ripe watermelon and that's about it. Nice aroma though, fresh, bracing and zippy.

Taste is surprisingly sharp at first, due in part to the sea salt I expect, followed by a richness of watermelon flavor. This is a difficult flavor to capture as anyone who's tried to make Watermelon Daiquiris can attest. Founders pulls it off here providing a sweet salty watermelon flavor resting on a simple grain base.

Light to medium texture with balancing carbonation.

I expect this will be pleasing to those who like the Gose style.

 

Good morning NBS!
I can think of two Cleveland breweries whose doors have closed since I’ve been here, though many more have opened. First is Indigo Imp whose beers were quite hit or miss. The other is Portside, which was both a brewery and a distillery. Their beers didn’t necessarily have the best reputation locally but I found myself there fairly often, especially for the unique fruits they often used in their beers. Their rum was pretty good too.

Today I offer another from a very recurrent brewery for me here, but they keep coming out with new and good beer.



16.9oz bottle poured into a tulip
A: Straw colored, hazy, no head
S: Grape must, green apple, lemon
T: Quite sour, green apple, lemon, vinegar, green grape, just a bit of malt/tropical fruit
M: Light body, sour, light carbonation
O: An enjoyable sour, overall 3.99 from me with the head being the only thing below 4. Just above its average

Cheers!

 

Three Floyds Dreadnaught

Today is going to have a slight Three Floyds theme for me. This is one I’ve wanted to try.

This beer is hazy but luminous, and a light copper / orange. It’s a lighter SRM than expected. Orange marmalade aroma. The taste is overwhelmingly dominated by hops. They are just so potent here that it’s amazing. Flavors of apricot, mango and orange are crushed by an unforgiving resinous bitterness. There is a structure that’s provided by the alcohol and malt though. Letting it warm to room temp brings out the orange marmalade in the aroma. It’s extreme, novel (but old-school), and delicious... and the label has a way of putting a spell on you. Really enjoyed this one.

@FBarber

 

Lion Bridge - Compensation / Workman's Compensation

This is a primer for my next Three Floyds beer, but that doesn't mean I'm not giving this one the same attention. It's a two time gold medal winner at GABF in the English mild category. I can never resist a "mild." This one is 4.7% ABV if the BeerAdvocate listing is still accurate. It's cloudy and very dark brown. It's watery (that's not a negative) and dry. Tastes of light cocoa and lightly roasted nuts. It's gentle and delicious. ABV might be a bit dangerous. This is a little gem.

 

Thanks @cjgiant for the great start to this weeks NBS.

Cheers!

 

A-Pours a dirty brown color with a slight head and lacing
A-Aroma has coffee hints
T-The taste follows the nose with a generous coffee flavor
M-A light bodied well carbonated beer
O-A good coffee porter

ps-I am going to miss Orange Whip IPA from soon to close Mad Fox Brewpub.
Not going to really miss SehKraft Brewery which closed about a year ago and was in the Clarendon area of Arlington, and was run by the Westover Beer Garden folks.

 

First up today, I will be enjoying one from @CanConPhilly and it will be my first from a brewery I have heard a lot about.

Beer: Sleeping Forever (2019 Version, blended with Apple Brandy barrel aged)
Brewery: The Veil (Richmond, VA)
ABV: 12%

Pouring from a 16 oz. can into a PAA Dino tasting glass, this beer pours out with a thick blackness. Even on a full pour, it doesn’t muster up enough carbonation to form a crown, however it does manage to make a few deep, dark caramel bubbles around the edge. Minimal highlights; very slight ring around top edge. Moving it around in the glass, it leaves a brown film on the glass as it settles.

The nose carries in a sort of Apple Jacks cereal presence right off the bat to me with the way the apple brandy and grains are mixing. It then very quickly turns to a boozy warmness tangling with roasty grains, and huge chocolate layers; chocolate pudding, slightly bitter bakers chocolate, brownie mix. I would guess this at higher than 12%, not because the booze, but because the amount of grain showing in it. It’s almost like touring a brewery with a glass of apple brandy in your hand.

The taste follows the nose well. The first thing I notice is a grain hit. Cereal like along with roasty, dark grains before showing a touch of the apple brandy and then traveling into the layers of sweetness, made of burnt brown sugar, peanut butter and the different layers of chocolate (pudding, bitter bakers chocolate, brownie mix).

The mouthfeel is thick and full. Syrupy feeling that coats the mouth. Ever so slight warming sensation; really nice, offers a touch without being too much.

Overall, this is a 12% monster and not in a bad way. Those grains really are a nice show case while still letting other aspects show and not ever seeming too boozy for what it is. I can’t believe they got the grains to show case like this at only 12%.

Thanks Matt and cheers NBS!

Can’t wait to see what you bring to the share!

 

A-Pours a hazy straw color with a nice head and lacing
A-Aroma has tropical and citrus hints
T-The taste follows the nose with a nice tropical and citrus flavor
M-A medium bodied well carbonated beer
O-A good DIPA

ps-for those keeping score and using complex mathematical algorithms on my beer drinking (you know who you are ) , the last beer was mostly a prain dour!

 

Good morning NBS and thanks @cjgiant for the start today. This is day 3 of the Green River Festival, lots of music, people and beverages. Always a good time to explore new (to me) bands.
Todays offering is from Lawson's Finest Scrag Mountain pilsner is perfect on this mid 80's degree morning here in WMass.

Cheers all

Scrag Mountain Pils

Lawson's Finest Liquids
Bohemian Pilsener / 4.80% ABV

4.03/5 rDev +1% | Score: 3.99
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4

Poured from a 12 oz can dated 5/13/19 into the test glass
A - Excellent clarity, allows for the viewing of tireless carbonation in action. A loose knit white froth is quick to exit. All this occurring on a straw yellow canvas.
S - A bit of fresh cut grass and lemon verbena, ride atop a fine thread of pilsner malts.
T - A narrow group of semi sweet grain, some cracker, a touch of herbal hops (Herzbrucker maybe).
M - Lite and crisp, excellent balance, with a tight dry finish
O - A very good offering from a talented brewer, excellent feel and flavors.

 

Three Floyds - Pride & Joy 3000

This review will mainly be about "style." Three Floyds calls this a mild. The fine print calls it their "interpretation of an American mild." One can assume that this is probably an updated recipe of their regular Pride & Joy... or perhaps it's just the same beer with a new name. Both beers are classified as APAs rather than pale milds on BeerAdvocate.. and that's definitely the way they drink. This beer tastes of pineapple and has a big bitter finish. It's light bodied. This feels like the little, little brother of Dreadnaught. As if Three Floyds got married too young, had a kid named Dreadnaught, got divorced, re-married, and had another kid named Pride & Joy. It just so happens that the baby brother looks like the monster from This Island Earth working as an evil butcher. Bring down the ABV of this one a bit and they might have the best "American session IPA" around.

It's funny having this right after the Compensation mild. That beer is a perfect example of the type of beer that a homebrewer would make after reading some set-in-stone style guide. Pride & Joy is a perfect example of an American craft brewer doing whatever the heck they want in the name of change. Milds are the kind of things that have changed a lot over the years in the land that birthed them. This one basically drinks as an APA going by a different name.

 

A-Pours a dark color with a slight head and lacing
A-Aroma has malt hints
T-The taste follows the nose with a light malt flavor
M-A light bodied lightly carbonated beer
O-A decent lager

ps-mostly prain dour!