New Beer Sunday (Week 774)

Happy New Beer Sunday!!!
Well I reached back into my stash and found this wonderful beer from @Buck89 .
V. Latte w/ Yukio Coffee a Imperial Oatmeal Stout by Bearded Iris

16 oz can thanks to @Buck89 .
Pours a deep, dark brown. Foamy mocha colored head that asserts 2+ fingers, but dissipates to a thin filmy Rorschach patchwork.
Smell is robust, mildly fruity, coffee. A sweet cream note pokes in toward the middle only to retreat.
Taste is definitely coffee forward, but the smooth, round vanilla-tinged cream tames the dominant coffee notes with a mild sweetness.
Mouthfeel is medium, lighter than I expected, and finishes with the cream & roast.
Overall, a tasty coffe stout. I'm just wondering if the mouthfeel changed due to me sitting on it for a few months.

3.89/5 rDev -8.3%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75

Thanks John

 

HEY! Speaking of coffee beers I just popped, and wrote up, the V. Latte you brought me. Serendipity.

 

Cheers, Derek!

 

Poured into a 16 oz Snulip glass canned 11/06/19. Pours a very dark near black with a 2 finger head that leaves big webs of lace as it slowly settles. 4.25

Smell is sweet bakers chocolate, vanilla, and maybe some toffee, but that is it and it is wonderful. 4.5

Taste follows milk chocolate, vanilla, and toffee simple but tasty. 4.5

Mouthfeel is bigger than average, gentle carbonation, a tad sticky and slightly dry, and at 6.5% easy drinking but more flavor than most at this size. 4.5

Overall this is a great chocolate stout, will be really happy to drink the others. 4.25

 

You too, Doc!

 

Happy New DELMARVA (+ DC) Beer Sunday (Week 774)!

Man, it's good to be home! I was attending a monthly beer share this past weekend, but I fear that it is devolving due to a toxic presence. Further, I was blindsided by a supposed homage that I saw as a travesty. Now, I guess that I am the bad guy. Well, it is nice to be home.

I do not celebrate Christmas, Chan(dler)ukah or even Kwanzaa, having been overwhelmed by the holidays as a child. As a teacher, the ramp-up to Thanksgiving was bad enough with the subsequent ramp-up to Christmas being even more draining. With most of my family no longer in my hometown of Lancaster, PA, I generally do something low-key on my own. About five or six years ago, I hit upon making an annual (crock) Pot Roast, involving the meat (duh!), carrots, potatoes, celery, onions & beer. Each year, the beer varies with my choice this year being Ithaca B.C.'s Fuggly Sweater, a spiced Lager (!). I will report back on its success or failure next week.

I also bow in deference to one of my few current traders, @jkblr , who sent me a buncha nice stuff & is anxiously awaiting their review. I would like to drink, review & rate them as a whole, probably in this setting since WBAYDN only wants me to report in the here & NOW, otherwise known as "piecemeal". 8=( I REALLY want to close out the DelMarVa (+ DC) stint from last week with an eye towards New @jkblr 's Beers Sunday (Week 775) next week. I CAN only hope that this will be CANtisfactory.

All right, I begin with an old friend who I thought that I had closed out, only to be pulled back in, thanks to the good peeps at Dominion Pizza (Columbia Ave), who singled this one out for me on my last visit:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/22150/444791/?ba=woodychandler#review

All right! With that, I am off & running (or is often running, like from the local CANstabulary?)! I'll be back later with more ... stuff.

 

'twas three days before Christmas, and all through NBS /
were BAs reviewing new beer, from the worst to the best!

Happy holidays to every one of you guys and gals. I'm trying to get into the spirit, but I've been really depressed the past few weeks (probably not helped by the crappy weather and general seasonal blues), so I only have one new one today. It is a doozy, however!



I first had Black Note last year and really enjoyed it, though the bottle I had was "pre-aged" a year (we had just started getting Bell's distro in my area and a store near me purposely stocked 2017 and 2018 BN). I think I gave it a slightly negative rDev, but it is one of the highest rated imperial stouts out there, so I felt my 4.55 was fair. Anyway, this is a fresh bottle of Vanilla Black Note, clocking in at 11.3% ABV.

Pours a tar-black color with a thin ring of mocha head building up to about a finger. It sinks down to an even smaller ring after a few minutes in my glass, though what remains retains well for what it's worth. Decent legs and good lace... looks almost like an espresso crema, honestly. Low surface coverage, however, with all the bubbles clustered around the glass edge.

The nose is exactly as expected, and there's nothing wrong with that whatsoever! Intense, deep notes of hot fudge, vanilla ice cream, some barrel heat, toasted marshmallows, roasty and husky grains, with a bit of a note of whiskey-soaked raisins. I have never smelled a single beer before in my life that reminded me so much of a hot fudge sundae until this one. Absolutely immense!

Tastes like a sundae, too. Wow, this is extremely flavorful. Waves upon waves of immense chocolatey fudge, vanilla cream, roasted malts, cocoa husks, some leafy bitter hoppiness, and a very balanced helping of barrel-driven expressiveness. Only slightly woody, but quite bourbon/whiskey based on the palate. Definite dried dark fruit in here, with some flavors that remind me of port wine. A bit of earthy tobacco as well. The creaminess in the finish cannot be understated... this is a big ol' beer, but it's so smooth and rich that it never becomes overwhelming. Honestly, I don't think the vanilla is pushed quite as much as it probably could be, but I applaud Bell's for keeping drinkability and balance in mind with this one. I think this is great now, but I, of course, would like to try it after 6 months to see what that does to the flavors. Recommended fresh, though, of course. Quite great!

 

Welcome back my friend. We are all impressed with your commitment. My wife would love for me to do the same! Cheers Dave!

 

Good Evening all and thanks to @lordofthewiens for enhancing the Christmas spirit. Its all about family and giving. Speaking of.. @SawDog505 and I did a little BIF gift exchange and thats how this here beer is sitting on my table. Thanks again Tim.
Kettlehead The Agent IPA.
Pours a very hazy amber gold with a whitish 1/2" head that settles to a ring leaving some nice lacing as the beverage recedes.
Aroma is of orange, grapefruit pineapple and some pine.
Taste follows with juicy orange, grapefruit, lemon, pineapple and a little back hint of thyme.
Feel medium, soft and creamy, pleasingly bitter. Tiny bubble carb. Lingering flavors on the long finish. Highly drinkable and delicious.
Kettlehead has been everything I expected and more..... with more to come. Thanks again for the opportunity!

 

Final new beer for today, and continuing my Christmas theme.

St. Bernardus Christmas Ale
ABV: 10.0%
IBU: 20



Aroma is not too strong, but has the expected fruit / plums, sweet malts, and spice.

The color is dark coffee brown from the front, and a clear ruby red with a backlight. The backlight reveals fine carbonation bubbles rising to a thick, creamy light tan head, with regions of darker tan throughout. Decent retention, leaving streaks and sheets of lacing and a mounded top.

Mouth feel is moderate, perhaps thinner than expected for a beer this robust, smooth with a bit of carbonation feel.

Taste is plums, apple, spices, caramel, with a very slight bitterness in the middle which fades rapidly into the finish. Extremely easy drinking, belying its 10% ABV. Nice semi-sweet malt contribution, although the finish moves a bit toward the dry side. The aftertaste is a pleasant lingering of the various flavors. The finish remains semi-sweet, semi-dry.

Overall, a very nice Christmas seasonal, easy drinking (leading to easy zonking, given the ABV), excellent flavors, enjoyable finish. Great for sipping on a cold, snowy night, but too easy-drinking to actually hold off for the sipping part!


L: 4.25 | S: 3.75 | T: 4.25 | F: 4.0 | O: 4.25 | BA rating: 4.11

 

Picked my son up in Massachusetts last weekend for Christmas break, found a few stores and pulled a few fun ones including this one that I’ve never had before

Lawson’s Sip of Sunshine



4.47/5 rDev -2.6%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

Very appealing appearance, just enough cloudiness to fall just short of crystal clear. Straw colored with enough lacing to remind you of the fairly thick off white head. Nose suggests and taste confirms a great balance of both floral and grapefruit hop character while theres still an obvious malt presence in its biscuity finish. Very little aftertaste and virtually nothing lingering at all.

 

Happy NBS everyone! Had 3 new (to me) brews today:

Tilquin/Rulles Stout Rullquin

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/25923/102760/?ba=bluejacket74#review




Warped Wing Bourbon Barrel Aged Esther's Li'l Secret (2019)

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/33939/455409/?ba=bluejacket74#review




Jackie O's Soul Slab Imperial Stout

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/1432/414784/?ba=bluejacket74#review



Cheers everyone and Happy Holidays!

 

My favorite local BBA RIS, has some companions, this is Wild Onions Coffee Drago 2018, coffee from Conscious Cup, a local roaster.
Pours a solid thick, rich dark brown, minimal head that was gone in a flash.
Coffee is noticeable on the pour, not as much as I expected, maybe due to age, and of course some booze and some roasted malt, flavors match the aroma.
Overall a pretty solid beer, but I think I'll stick the plain old beer in the red can.
Hope you all have a great Christmas!

 

Greetings, fellow NBSers on this pre-Xmas NBS.

This will be my first Christmas not spent with my folks and my brother's brood, as I couldn't get the day off from work this year due to staffing issues. Consequently, I decided to double down and pick up the earlier shift as well and pick up as many holiday hours as possible. I've got some epic options when it comes to what I drink when I get home that night.

Yesterday I paid a long overdue visit to Humble Abode Brewing, located in an industrial area in northeast Spokane (they've been open over a year, I just rarely get up that way) I had a nice hazy/juicy IPA while there, but couldn't hang around as I wanted to get home to watch the Huskies beat Boise State in the Las Vegas Bowl. Friday after work I tried two new local breweries' (Lumberbeard and Project Craft) beers as well.

Today I'm watching the Seahawks as they (so far) let the Cardinals get the better of them. Not helping is this thoroughly "meh" beer I picked up at Trader Joe's.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/48360/370498/?ba=woemad#review
Way maltier and more herbal than I like.

 

My God, I've been through much the same with my eyes. I was diagnosed with glaucoma and had bad cataracts..I had one eye done at a time, a glaucoma procedure and cataract surgery and then the other eye a month later. I now have 20/20 vision again, but have lost some field of vision. I have new lenses, my pressure is down and it really is miraculous This was all over the last 6 months. The surgery was really very fast. Damn.

 

a couple shota of liquor to loosen up those vocal cords

 

Poured into a 16 oz Pilsner type glass canned on 12/05/19. Pours a very attractive hazy yellow, with a finger plus sticky head that leaves spotty lace with excellent retention. 4.25

Smell is guava, tangerine, pineapple, mango, and some grapefruit rind. 4.25

Taste follows guava, pineapple, tangerine, mango, apricot, and a healthy dose of grapefruit, but nicely balanced. 4.25

Mouthfeel is a solid medium, soft carbonation and gentle on the tongue, sticky from fresh hops but not dry, and at 6% drinks more like 7.5% in taste and feel, but hard to just sip. 4.75

Overall this is a great NEIPA and almost sessionable at its ABV and I can see me crushing a bunch of these on a hot summer evening, glad to have this in NH now. 4.25

 

Happy Holidays, NBS friends. Thanks to @lordofthewiens for the holiday-inspired opening post. Little O came to visit last week for the holidays because of his work schedule for the coming week, and we had a great visit and enjoyed some great beers together, as documented on WBAYDN threads throughout last week.

Now the house is quiet again (it’s amazing how much noise one average sized human being can generate in a house that is normally pretty quiet), and Mrs O and I are heading to Ohio to visit Mom in a couple of days.

First, though, a couple of new beers courtesy of @larryi86 and @2beerdogs from NBS BIF #10. The first is from @larryi86 and is a world-class wild ale from Tired Hands, IMHO.







4.35/5 rDev +2.1%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

Very hazy straw color with a soapy white head that dissipates quickly after an aggressive pour per the style. The color is reminiscent of some of the best Mosaic-hopped IPA’s I’ve had.

The peaches are prominent on the nose, as to be expected, and there’s the funky wild ale notes associated with the style, but what intrigues me most is the earthy aromas - they almost remind me of compost. I know that maybe sounds weird or bad, but it’s not - it gives this beer unexpected body for a 5.5% ABV beer.

The taste ..... tart. REALLY tart, but in a good way, with the peaches shining through along with the earthy notes for balance. The mouthfeel is crisp and spritzy, again per the style.

This fruity, tart wild ale is executed so well, not surprising coming from Tired Hands. They are the real REAL deal, IMHO.

PS: Happy Holidays from the ovaltines. I told you guys I outkicked my coverage by 40 yards.