New Beer Sunday (Week 783)

Come back often!

 

Blackrocks, Starman, APA, seasonal release, dated 1-20-20. Fresh enough for me! Two finger head retention, sustains throughout the enjoyment, grapefruit, citrus hops that are smooth with little bitterness, aroma same. Nice sticky lacing coating the glass, very enjoyable beer from da UP eh, Marquette MI! Who’s been to the UP? That’s upper peninsula for ya!

 

#2 for today.

August Schell Shift Happens DDH Lager
ABV: 9.0%
IBU: 80



Clear golden color with rising bubbles to a tall, thick and creamy white head with very good retention. It leaves heavy lacing behind as it recedes.

Pleasant, if somewhat subdued, aroma of bready malts and fruity hops - apricot, citrus, pine. The aroma doesn't knock your socks off, but it is interesting and inviting.

The taste is quite different for a pilsner-esque beer, as advertised with the "DDH" moniker. Fruits are first up, and not just citrus, but a mix of tropical flavors. As you take a sip, the aroma becomes a bit floral, and the taste is sweet fruits - apricot, perhaps pineapple, with a solid bittering beginning in the middle and growing through to the aftertaste. The aftertaste is a well-balanced presentation of the bittering off-setting the sweet floral body.

Mouth feel has a moderate to substantial heftiness (for the style), and is a bit sticky.

Overall, an interesting and well-brewed experiment by Schell's.

L: 4.25 | S: 3.75 | T: 4.0 | F: 4.0 | O: 4.0 | BA rating: 3.96

 

Good Sunday afternoon, New Beer Samplers and commentators. I've enjoyed reading today's responses to @cjgiant's opening query. Fifteen years ago I was going through my mid-life crisis/wine drinking period. It was the epoch of my life between drinking lots of Moosehead, Molson, Genny Cream, Heineken, and other beers of my youth, and my current fixation with craft beer. But it was an important learning curve because it taught me to appreciate (i) quality over quantity, (ii) differences in styles, and (iii) the creation process. Also, the idea of identifying different smells and tastes was something I had never applied to beer. So it all worked out fine and I'm back to my beer-drinking roots but in a way I could never imagine in my post-college years: savoring beer and appreciating it as something well-conceived and executed.

That brings me to today's first NBS review. I never tried a Russian Imperial Stout until about 10 years ago and it is my favorite beer style. Icarus Brewing, in Lakewood, NJ, is adept at this style and brews and really fine RIS called Kalashnikov. So I was excited to see Vlad to be Here on the shelves. It balances the sweetness of vanilla, honey, and dark fruit, with huge burnt bitterness. I opened the can at about 55 degrees but that was too cold. As I let it warm, the flavors blended and it became more seamless. It's an enjoyable Stout but a big one at 14.5% ABV. Here's my full review:

4.24/5 rDev +3.9%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

Canned on 2/4/2020. Poured into a snifter at approximately 55 degrees. It pours an inky black color with a large, frothy, medium mocha-colored head and lacing. The smell features roasted malt, dark fruit, freshly-brewed coffee, tobacco smoke, cinnamon, and vanilla bean. The taste opens with a lot of sweetness: vanilla, black cherry, brown sugar, cinnamon, and a hint of honey. But it quickly segues to profound bitterness: char, ash, and burnt coffee grounds. It's quite a taste transformation. As the glass warms, however, the flavor mellows and becomes more consistent. The mouthfeel is creamy and viscous with mild carbonation, and you can feel the warmth of the 14.5% ABV. Vlad should be sipped slowly. Overall, Vlad to be Here is quite good - provided you don't mind the bitterness (I don't). It's both sweeter, and more bitter, than Icarus's Kalashnikov RIS but the cinnamon and honey make it interesting and enjoyable.

I hope you're all enjoying your new beer(s) today. I hope to be back shortly with a local Porter. Cheers, NBS!

 

Good afternoon NBS
This can was impossible to photograph and I couldn't get the panoramic feature to work either. The beer is from Bare Hands in Granger, IN. It's a RIS called Mail Order Bride...

The review:
16oz CANNED ON 12/03/19 (nearly 3 months old) poured into a Spiegelau stout glass at just above fridge temp 10.2% ABV. The beer pours dense black with virtually no light penetration and quickly building rusty brown head. The head recedes to a thin cap. The aroma is strong with roasted malt conveyed as coffee, dark chocolate and slight campfire smoke. The taste is dark chocolate punctuated with caramel and dark fruit. There is a slightly ashy, yet enjoyable, strong bitterness on the finish. The mouthfeel is medium plus bodied with average carbonation and a dry finish. Overall, very good.

@woodychandler recently hooked me up with some authentic Russian Kvass in my quest to try every style. Hope he won't mind when a Mail Order Bride shows up on his porch...

I'm off to grill some steaks for a family dinner. See you all next Sunday!

 

My NBS is saved! I checked in earlier about a 7-month old IPA that I refused to comment on due to the age. However, I forgot that my wife brought home a growler of a Pilsner from our trip to High Nine Brewing yesterday. The beer is Philsner. I thought the name seemed unique but the BA database seems to have around 10 beers with similar names.

Visually, its a light clear gold with plenty of tiny bubbles rising throughout the session. The head, while respectable for this 24hr-old growler is nothing compared to the pillowy white head from the tap I have seen every time my wife orders it at the brewery. I'm talking a super white head that is somewhere between the Appalachians and the Rockies. It takes them 3 comebacks of tap pulls to get the glass filled at the bar. The aroma is classic cracker, grass, hay with a touch of sweetness.
Taste is on point with the malt as the star and the hops drying out the tongue at the end. Mouthfeel is mildly oily but that's an overstatement because overall the beer is clean and refreshing except with lots of flavor.
This brewery has only been open for 3 months and its the 2nd brewery within a mile of my house. They certainly have my new favorite coffee stout and this Pilsner is really good also. Watch out for this place.

 

Thanks for the review T! I’ve found Het Uiltje brews I’ve come across enjoyable, solid and typically superior to other local/EU craft beers - Cheers!

 

Cali Creamin' Vanilla Cream Ale given tome by @y2kawakami as a blind review.

3.79/5 rDev -1.3%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75

Pours a clear amber with a 2 inch white head that left spotty lacing. Smells of strong vanilla and sweet malts. Tastes like a cream soda with extra vanilla added and some sweet malts. Light bodied, highly carbonated, slightly artificial aftertaste. The best way I can describe this beer is an alcoholic cream soda.

 

Thanks as usual to @cjgiant for a great start to NBS! Back in 2005, my wife and I were relatively recent TN transplants and I had only a casual relationship with beer, usually seeking out craft such as my familiar Sierra Nevada in stores or choosing local Yazoo Pale Ale, which is still quite solid. It would be 11-12 years before things blew up here.

Speaking of local, New Heights is a great Nashville brewery that often is overlooked by people heading to Bearded Iris and Southern Grist. They were founded back in 2014 by great people from San Diego and they quietly and consistently put out some great beers. Navel Gazer is a good example. It's a classic American imperial stout and it's one of their flagship beers. It's rare to hear much about imp stouts without adjuncts these days, and I'd put theirs up with any of the greats. Anyway, last year they decided to amp up Navel Gazer NOT by adding adjuncts, but by extending the boil by 10 hours to ramp up the original gravity (31 Plato!) and increase the carmelization of the malts. How did it turn out?

As expected, this was quite viscous out of the can, just like motor oil. A standard pour produced an impressive thick and creamy tan head that lingered for quite a while. Nice aroma as well, with caramel, char, coffee, chocolate, and floral hoppy notes. This was rich and luscious on the palate with loads of dark chocolate as the primary flavor. Some caramel, and coffee gave it a bit of complexity. The high ABV and sweetness was cut with a sturdy dose of floral hops which were more present in the aroma than on the palate, but they left some hefty bitterness on the finish. This was a thick and rich beer with low-medium carbonation. Just outstanding IMO and a decadent twist on the regular Navel Gazer. Highly recommended!

 

NBS #2. The Extra Special Chocolate-Vanilla Porter from Two Ton Brewing in Kenilworth, New Jersey. This was one of the first beers Two Ton brewed but I believe it's the first time they've canned it. The cans were released last Saturday (2/15/2020). It's a solid American Porter featuring dark, bitter chocolate, burnt nuts, and earthy notes balanced by sweetness from the vanilla. I think I first tried this beer in 2018 when the brewery opened and have done so occasionally since. IMHO this is the best batch yet. One aspect of this hobby I really enjoy is following the progress of local breweries. While not yet a household name in craft beer circles, Two Ton's doing good work and they're really nice folks. Here's my full review:

4.04/5 rDev +4.1%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4

Reviewed 8 days after can release. Poured into a Two Ton snulip glass. It pours mahogany with dark cola hues and sports and full finger of creamy, light khaki head and sheen of lacing. The first aroma is vanilla followed by dark chocolate and burnt nuts, leather, and just a whiff of tobacco smoke. The smell becomes more pronounced as the glass warms. The taste opens with bakers chocolate, burnt nuts, and earthy char, balanced nicely by medium-sweet vanilla. There is a bit of acidity but not much bitterness. I really like the mouth feel. for a Porter it's creamy and fairly viscous with medium carbonation and the 7.4% ABV gives it good substance. Overall, this is a very good American Porter. And it's improved a lot since I first had it on draught. This is one of Two Ton's regular offerings and it's fun to experience every batch getting better. The future's bright for this beer and for Two Ton.

 

@Roguer sorry for your loss

 

This is my first time participating in a NBS thread, and I just want to send out my condolences and good vibes to @Roguer. My wife and I have two small dogs that are starting to show their age, and my love for them only grows each day.

15 years ago was about the time that the door into craft beer was starting to open for me. Before that my idea of living large was a sixer of Guiness or Bass because they were the most expensive options at the pizza shop where we bought our beer. Right around 2004/2005 I began going to a small bar that wasn't very popular, but had a great beer selection and an even better staff. I soon befriended everyone that worked there and it became my home away from home. I started out drinking and endless supply of Yuengling to branching out into some of the other beers on tap that I'd never heard of. Anderson Valleys Summer and Winter Solstice made a big impression on me. Philadelphia Brewings Fleur de Lehigh did as well, I'm not even sure if it's made anymore. Founders Breakfast Stout pushed it over the top and I was hooked into trying new beers as often as I could. I eventually strayed because the staff of that bar turned over, and I didn't feel like putting in the effort of trying to build that kind of relationship in a new location. For a number of years I continued to drink beer, but my passion for it just wasn't there. Then a few years ago I discovered Hitchhiker Brewing and their Usual Chaos sour ipa. I had never had anything with that kind of big flavor, and I was back into beer with the same excitement that I used to have. I quickly started trying a bunch of the locals and being pleased with most of them. Eventually I found my way to Dancing Gnome and it quickly became my favorite brewery. Their hop forward style of brewing was right up my alley, and I've been going back for pints and cans for the last few years. That brings us to today and this post.

In 2018, Dancing Gnome did their flower series. It was a once per month DIPA release that focused on experimenting with different hop blends. They followed that up in 2019 with their bird series. Again, it was a once a month DIPA release, but this time they focused on making small changes in their brewing processes(time, temp, ph, etc). To put an end to this series they've made a TIPA called Nest. The can is adorned with all of the namesake birds that came throughout the year. It was packaged on 2/21 and released on 2/22, so not only is it new to me, but also new to everyone else as well. I added it to the BA database and wrote a review as well. What follows is my review of "an 11% triple IPA hopped with a menagerie of Strata, Citra, Nelson, Amarillo, Simcoe, Mosaic, Centennial, and Idaho 7."



4.51/5 rDev 0%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.75

Look - It pours a deep golden haze, this time into a teku. A creamy head floats on top and clings to the glass.

Smell - The aroma is very present with notes of soft citrus with some dank underlying.

Taste - The taste is big and bold with layers upon layers of hops. I get orange first followed by sweetness that soon fades into a pleasantly bitter finish. This beer has a richness to it despite is intense hop flavor, and the 11% abv is hard to detect.

Feel - The creamy head is perfect on a beer this soft. I expected it to be a bit thicker on the palate, and was pleased that it wasn't what I anticipated. Any thicker and it may have ventured into overly rich.

Overall - I love Dancing Gnome's triples and this one is no exception. I can't wait to see how it changes in the next week or two, and I'm excited to go back for more.

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I have one more beer I'd like to add today, but time will tell if I can find the time to sit down and focus on it the way I'd like. Cheers, all!

 

Condolences to Roguer for his long lived and clearly long loved buddy. Even when you know it's for the best it's just the hardest freaking thing to do.

In happier news I have another entry from Jack's Abby's Keller series today that they're calling a "German Styled Porter". This beer apparently lived a previous life as "Heavy Trommel" but I don't recall ever getting a chance to try it under that name. The additional info on the can calls it a "Black Lager" but doesn't give any other info about what the name entails. A quick google search tells me that German Porters do indeed have a long history, so the name is more than just JA's attempt to coin a term for a lager version of a porter. 5.5% ABV and canned on January 2nd.




Look: deep cola brown that lets through a bit of amber if held up to the light. Big, very frothy, long lasting head. Leaves thick lacing through most of the glass.

Smell: Some rootbeer and cola (might have succumbed to my own suggestion above). Brown bread. Something between very dark chocolate and very dark coffee.

Taste: Much deeper taste than the nose indicates. Lots of very roasty malt, almost giving a slight char or smoke impression. Very little of the root beer like sweetness in the smell, but it comes out more as it warms. Nice bitterness on the back end.

Feel: thinner than an actual porter but still substantial in the mouth. Pleasantly lingering finish. Light carbonation.

Overall: delicious. This definitely reads more as a particularly roasty "typical" dark lager than it does like a lager version of a porter, but it's a delicious dark lager. This series continues to be a winner for JA.

Cheers all!

 

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