New Beer Sunday (Week 776)

New Beer #4
First non stout from these guys

The review:
12oz can stamped TWI$T B#05781 poured into a snifter at fridge temp 5.8% ABV. The beer pours NE hazy orange yellow in color with nearly white head. The aroma is juice oranges or citrus peel. The taste is fairly tart with some saison funk and more of the citrus (grapefruit peel, lemon) before a barely bitter finish. The mouthfeel is thin bodied with above average carbonation and a dry finish. Overall, good.

Cheers all!

 

#2, milk stout, Colorado style.



4.06/5 rDev -1.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Pours a dark mahogany brown color with a tan head that dissipates quickly. This looks more like a porter than a stout. The peanut flour is very present on the nose, and there’s some milk chocolate as well.

The peanut flour is also present on the taste and there’s a bit of banana, too, along with milk chocolate. It would be easy for this to be too sweet, but it’s not that. A really nice sweet stout from WeldWerks.

 

Well what a kickoff - thanks for stepping up @woodychandler !

If you are gonna dive back in, might as well go for the deep end and pull on the big boy panties because this 13% beer is from the depths of the cellar. According to the bottle date, I have had this hanging around since October, 2012. Are ya scared yet, kids?



Jack's Abby Bride Maker. This is a 13% ABV lager wine classified as a British barleywine here. Ok...so how bad is bad? Well, it isn't showing any signs of abuse that I can taste. Fresh, no, but not oxidized in the least.

Pours a murky mahogany with a few big bubbles on top that fall to a bit of wispy microbubbles. Looks fairly flat, not lively on the carbonation. Like it should be for the style, I reckon.

Smells pretty boozy, but notes of oak, toffee and caramel are quite pronounced. Roasted malts, and I get a note of sweetness like candi sugar. Then the dark fruits take over, sweet dates specifically, which are a guilty holiday pleasure of mine, so Medjool dates it is...

The taste is huge...a beer this long in the tooth still laying down the goodness? It is sweet without hitting the annoyingly sweet level. Sweet is balanced by oak, roast, and a bit of vanilla. The dark fruit is not as strong in the flavor, and that is a good thing to keep the sweetness down. Very subtle bourbon. Bready notes ride underneath it all. A bit of a peppery phenolic sting on the finish that builds nicely and cleanses the palate a little.

It is on the heavy side, but not the thickest beer I have ever had. Ample sweetness lingers, a little bit of a tongue coater. The alcohol is pleasingly warming and there's some phenolic and oak in the finish that helps keep this big beer from getting obnoxious. Big, flavor bomb, sweet as I would want, yet restrained and subtle.

Overall, am I wishing this was younger? Sure, but I also wish I had bought enough to compare over years. This stuff tastes damned fine to me and I will enjoy sipping my way thru this beast of a beer. I will review it as is...there is nothing saying to me it would be unfair. Feeling this is a well above 4.0 brew. I have others of the Maker series stashed around here somewhere and I am not too worried (now) about cracking them open!

Good to be back on the NBS train again...

 

Disappointed the Eagles couldn’t pull that one out in the end, just wish Wentz didn’t get hurt, I think they would have won with him. Anyways on to my second new beer, 2SP Scissor Shoot Sake Style Lager.

3.93/5 rDev +6.8%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4

16 oz can poured into a pint glass

A- A slightly hazy golden color with a two finger white head.

S- Citrus, rice, pale malts, touch of earthiness.

T- Citrus, a little grassy, pale malts, rice, a little earthy:

M- Smooth, light body.

O- A nice refreshing lager, easy to drink.


Cheers NBS!

 

You're absolutely right but I don't know if I'd call your world weird. I had a similar experience and the more I thought about it, the harder it was to separate them in my head. Especially 'older'-style IIPAs or ones with 'red' like you have. I would encourage anyone reading this and hasn't to immediately go read the barleywine and IIPA entries from the bjcp side by side.

 

Great review. This is one of my tops DIPA when I can get it. Great price too.

 

Foundation / Brewery Vivant - Black Forest Magic. Awesome milk stout. Lasting rocky head retention/thick foamy lacing. Aromas and flavors of big tart/tangy red/black cherries, fruit skin/pits, milk/dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee, caramel, brown sugar, vanilla, cream, roasted nuts, toasted biscuit, and dark bread/crust; with lighter notes of molasses, licorice, raisin, fig, date, smoke, charcoal, wood, herbal, grass, pepper, and yeast earthiness. Light-moderate herbal, grassy, woody, peppery, roast, charred bitterness; and cherry tang/tartness on the finish. Medium carbonation and medium-plus body; very creamy, silky, bready malts; some sticky hops, chalky roast, and fruit acid/tang/tannins in the mouthfeel. Light-moderate increasing bitter/tart/tangy dryness; no cloying, acrid, astringency. Very smooth/soft, minimal warming 7%. Awesome balance of juicy/jammy cherries, lactose, vanilla, and rich malt complexity; with balancing earthy hops, and restrained fruity yeast. Light residual sweetness with lingering tart/bitter dryness. Loved it. Spot on English style example all around. 4.13


Cheers

 

Good evening all and thanks to @woodychandler for the excellent fill in. Today was supposed to be a drink beer and watch football day but alas everything was diverted when my kitchen faucet sprung a leak and I had to go out shopping. Then I planned on a grilled steak dinner and my grill shit the bed. However everything is fine now as new faucet is installed and for all you cast iron fans( which I am) the steaks were spectacular. However I now need to catch up with beers. Been waiting to try this splendid BIF gift from @SawDog505. Lets get to it.
Kettlehead 1-101 QIPA. OG 1.101
Pours a spectacular hazy orange with a slightly off white head that leaves a thin cap after a few and some nice lacing. Really.
Huge aromas of tangerine, crushed pineapple, passionfruit, cantelope, passionfruit, cannabis, peach and apricot.
Taste follows with lots of super ripe juicy tropical, tangerine, some grapefruit pith and pine on the finish with a balanced sweetness. Flavor to savor for minutes but highly drinkable for a 12.5%. Begs sip after sip.
Full flavor and rounded bitter/sweetness that has a lasting tiny carb finishing rather fresh hop green and surprisingly dry with a medium/full body.
Holy crap. Kettlehead is everything and more. This is just a superior quad IPA which is hard to pull off without being cloyingly sweet or malty. Hop man Hop.... A fantastic brew that I thank my friend and fellow BA member for sending me. Thanks again Tim. Well worth the wait!

 

HOMES Phosphene. Excellent Hazy IPA. Great rocky head retention/soapy lacing. Opaquely hazy green color. Aromas and flavors of big red grapefruit, tangerine, lemon, line, peach, pear, pineapple, apricot, passion fruit, papaya, mango, honeydew melon, guava, gooseberry, citrus peel/rind, wood, peppercorn, and pine hops; with moderate wheat, cracker, biscuit dough, light honey/toasted malts; and herbal, floral, grassy hop earthiness. Light-moderate pine, citrus peel/rind, herbal, floral, woody, grassy, peppery bitterness on the finish. Medium carbonation and medium-plus body; balanced creamy/silky/bready/grainy malts and sticky/resinous/rindy hops in the mouthfeel. Light-moderate increasing resin dryness, no hop astringency. Very smooth/soft, not overly aggressive, minimal warming 7.6%. Awesome Citra showcase. Extremely juicy, vibrant, dank, and earthy hops; with a great balanced wheat/oat/malt backbone. Mild residual sweetness with lingering resin dryness. Very impressive as usual for the brewery. 4


Cheers

 

Collective Arts Origin of Darkness - Voodoo. This was insane. Lasting head retention/thick foamy lacing. Aromas and flavors of huge milk/dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee, cinnamon, caramel, brown sugar, vanilla, bourbon, toasted oak, roasted nuts, and dark bread/crust; with lighter notes of molasses, licorice, raisin, fig, date, smoke, char, coconut, leather, herbal, grass, and yeast/oak earthiness. Light herbal, grass, roast, charred bitterness; and cinnamon/bourbon/oak tannin spiciness on the finish. Light-medium carbonation and fairly full body; very creamy, silky, velvety malts; some sticky spice, chalky roast, and oak tannins in the mouthfeel. Lightly increasing lingering bitter/spicy/tannin dryness; no cloying, acrid,. astringency. Insanely smooth/soft sipping; minimal warming 11.5% of barrel booze. Perfectly balanced super rich malts, cocoa nibs, cinnamon, and bourbon barrel presence/integration; with solid earthy hops, and restrained fruity yeast. Light residual sweetness with lingering hop/char/spicy dryness. One of the best flavored BBA stout's I've ever had. Not overwhelming on any aspect. Have a couple others in the series to try yet. 4.5


Cheers, have a good night NBS.

 

Well that game was interesting for sure.
Speaking of interesting for sure, this next beer is certainly that.

Japanese Ale Sansho from Iwate-kura Brewery.

I picked this one up a little while back when I was down at Uwajimaya, the big Asian supermarket in town. It seemed like a good pairing with some teriyaki.



Pour is a nice clean clear golden honey colour. Tight little head.

I really had no idea what to expect going into it. Nose is a perfumed floral note. Some grains, but mostly just the floral essence. Like the fragrance from some floral soap. I keep wanting to say geraniums, but I don't remember what geraniums/geranium soap actually smells or tastes like. Incense, soap, perfume: it's flowers, or at least the essence of them.

Flavour is the same. Sweet grains, but mostly that same floral essence. Imagine a light floral soap, but remove the soap part. That's what this tastes and smells like.

It's... it's not overtly enjoyable. It's not terrible, but I don't think I'll be grabbing this one again. The GF is less forgiving to it than am I. She doesn't find it drinkable. I wouldn't go that far, but like I said... not looking to repeat.


Cheers y'all hope you've got something if not good than at least interesting in your glass!!

 

Late NBS appearance for me. My fantasy football league met up at a dive bar where nothing good was on tap to divvy up the awards and watch the Seahawks, so I stopped at Nectar on my way home and had a very tasty Kriek brewed with Brett:

Tahoma Kriek from Double Mountain is brewed with Rainier Cherries, so the fruit flavors were a little different than a more traditional attempt at the style. Things were more citrusy, in a lemony kind of way. Still delicious, however, and no sign of the 9.5% abv in the taste.

 

Ahhh, my days of single travel...Thanks for inspiring a meandering memory down that old path.

 

Just showed my kids that classic "Christmas" film. Had to explain why he chose the name "Roy" as his nom de guerre.

 

Hello Late Night NBS.
Well as somebody mentioned earlier, I'm glad the holidays are over-( I love them, but time marches on).
I haven't had much in the way of new beers here so I popped my last can of this beauty to participate. It's fairly new, so please accept my lapse in protocol.

Nubuloid Series: Cannon & Mayall by Unsung Brewing in Anaheim.

Poured from a 16 oz can sold at the tasting room.
Fluffy head, good retention. Minuscule lacing.
Aroma is citrusy grass with a wet grain note.
Flavor is juicy orange zest, grapefruit pith, some grass and pine resin. Nuanced melon sneaks in for a bit before closing out with a bitter grapefruit pith.
Mouthfeel is prickly and active. Finish lively.
Overall, these guys really tempt me to try each and every release.

3.85/5 rDev 0%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75

Wishing you all a healthy, prosperous start to your new year. And may the beers be with you.

 

Ridgeway Criminally Bad Elf

This orangey copper barley wine is very clear. People like saying that hazy IPAs are like juice, but this beer is even more like juice to me. It’s sweet... really sweet. Tastes of caramel, grape juice and apple juice. It feels like a dessert that people would describe as “not worth the calories.”