New Beer Sunday (Week 799)

Duct tape optional?

Cheers!

 

Lol, with a straight face? It’s kinda like a whisky review featuring Calvert or Seagrams 7. Makes my stomach turn thinking about drinking that awful stuff, they even smell bad.

 

No, mandatory of course.

This would be a professional AMLNBS event.

 

Schlitz ML was pretty good, Mickey’s as well, we used to do Colt 45 every now and then too. Haven’t had one in a long time and that was Mickey’s.

 

Well, we might as well just 'rebrand' next week's NBS as Sloppy Sunday then!

Cheers!

 

I think Mickey's was the last "macro" ML I had. Founders had a barrel-aged ML a couple of years ago that I liked quite a bit called DKML. It was a light one at 14.5% ABV. Three Floyds also has a ML that they rotate in every now and again called Region Riot that I've not tried.

ISO .................

 

So SSAMLNBS800. I like it.

I'll get a quote for t-shirts.

 

Whoa! After I slam down my two 40's I won't be able to pronounce that!!

Cheers!

 

Good morning NBS & thanks for getting us started @zid. I'd share a glass of this beer with you if I could. I think you would enjoy it. I've been looking forward to drinking this beer ever since it showed up on my porch

Aslan Rauch Spezial Bellingham, WA

Here are the brewer's notes: Organic Märzen Rauchbier 23 IBU // 12.0 P

FULL BODIED + BEECHWOOD SMOKE + SMOOTH

Modeled after the famous lager of Brauerei Spezial in Bamberg, Germany. The smokiness is smooth, well-integrated, and provides waves of complexity without being overpowering. Decoction mashed with Franconian malt, hopped moderately with Hersbrucker, lagered for six weeks, and 100% naturally carbonated.

HOPS:
Hersbrucker
MALT:
Beechwood Rauch Malz, Carafa, Caramunich, Munich, Pilsener, Vienna

My review:
12oz undated can received via trade 5% ABV per label. The beer pours bright, dark copper in color with light khaki head. The head recedes to a thin ring and island of tiny bubbles. No lacing and no retention after drinking half the glass. The aroma is moderate in strength featuring beech smoked malt in the form of campfire smoke. The taste follows with up-front campfire smoke, a touch of smoked ham and then fades to a barely bitter finish. The mouthfeel is thin to medium bodied with less than medium carbonation and a mostly dry finish. Overall, a good, clean, unflawed version of a rauchbier. It lacks the subtle complexity of the Bamberg versions, but I would drink it any time it was offered.

Big thanks to @beertunes for sending me this beer. Cheers all & enjoy the new beer in your glass today!

 

I learned a lot from this video.

He said he had to really look for it , he must pump gas but never go in, OE 800 is in every gas station in Nc.

OK is a 3.2 State, boy that sucks to live there, are there any others?

Different ABVs by region, it must be a hassle to brew and distribute.

It won a Gold Medal in the ML category, interesting blurb right there.

Rated it a 4.5/5, if you rate to style I’d say Mickey’s would probably be a 4 plus too.

 

Good afternoon, NBS. Today we have a beer that I bought because the GF would likely hurt me if she found out I passed it by. The beer is called Bicentennial - and I was smart enough to know that Maine Beer Company has not been around that long. Then I thought maybe it was a cheeky way of indicating a double dose (or dry hopping) using a certain hop varietal

But ultimately one of my two best guesses was right - it is in celebration of the brewery's home state's entry in the union (my second guess was Freeport's 200th year). So, this beer contains all Maine ingredients.

As I popped the bottle, I got a little whiff of hops - something like grass. Then again, I was outside so the actual hop aroma may be inaccurate. The pour seemed clear as the bubbles washed towards the bottom of the glass before swirling in a u-turn and darting towards the sky in a random rush.


The beer that I set down in front of me back in the house had a bit of haze to it, about what was expected, and the etched glass was helping support a bright white fuzzy cap.

The aromas didn't continue their rush to my nose, but I was getting a grassy to green pine needle aromas. Maybe I'll get back to the nose as I want to dive in with a sip.

My history with the brew and the pale color does not belie the expected malt profile - it's there to give the hops a floor to dance on. It's got a light white bread aspect at most, found underneath a mostly grassy bitterness that morphs towards piney. The aftertaste leans towards sappy pine.

After taking a second to just savor a third of the glass, I got back to work. The nose still seems a bit grassy, but I am also getting a bit of rotting citrus peels and a hint of something somewhat floral. In my sips I started noticing a small bit of wheat (seemingly husky thanks to the bitterness) in the opening malt profile.

Ok, I am not getting much citrus from this thing, contrary to Maine's tasting notes. Pine, bread, floral I get in degrees - but mainly this comes as a beer with cleaner malts backed by moderate bitter hops that start fairly mild, but grow and have a pretty long life beyond the liquid's exit down the gullet.


It's not challenging Lunch or Another One, but I'm curious what a side-by-side would show. There's just something about it, not sure exactly how to explain it. This is best I can come up with: the opening seems to set up the beer back end bitterness, but there is a point in the middle with the floral or whatever seems to throw the beer in a little tailspin briefly and I'd rather it not be there.

The GF likes it, but not as much as Lunch. Then she said it was near the top of the list of Maine Beers that fall short of Lunch (a group in which she discourteously lumped Another One).

 

Hetzelsdorfer Vollbier


Pours an amber to orange color with a huge, fine pored, stable eggshell dyed head.


Smells is of copper accentuated caramel malts, lighter grains and a whiff of matured hops.


Drinks quite refreshing with a well nuanced, lively carbonation showcasing the light bodied beer perfectly.


Tastes of sweeter malts, coated by bread dough and dried barley, wet garden herbs and a note of additional caramel. This turns dryer then, balanced by equally sweet malts with a gentle note of toasted nuts at the back end. Finishes with lots of toffee, even some licorice, calming hops and grains, creating a dryness accompanied sweetness, which goes down easily and pleasant.


Well done Vollbier which manages to appear strong headed and leveled at the same time, due to a well working interaction between powerful, sweet and gentle malts and dry hops.

 

Good afternoon from sunny CT, NBS crew! I'll openly concede that those of you live in warmer weather states have superior weather for much of the year, but it's hard to beat a beautiful late spring day in New England. Sunny, warm, no humidity, plants in full bloom all around. It really is hard to beat. I've been outside a ton this weekend. Biking, running, putzing around the yard. Even knocked back a few pints at an outdoor table at a local pub yesterday. All in all, it's been a fantastic weekend.

Couple pictures from this morning's run. There is blooming wild Mountain Laurel all over the place. This picture doesn't do any justice, as I was running through a section where I was surrounded on all sides by it.



First beer for today is HopHands, by Tired Hands, courtesy of @JayORear


3.94/5 rDev -4.8%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4

Canned in late April, poured into a Teku. Pours a straw colored yellow with an inch of sea foam like head. Pleasant appearance. Smell is the highlight of the beer, which isn't a huge surprise given the hops used (Simcoe, Centennial, Amarillo). Nice, hoppy taste with hints of grass & some lingering background citrus. Feels just a hair thin, but that's a nit. Overall a very solid beer.

 

Continuing my local and small, curb-side pickup focus I've had for the past weeks.

Another beer from the closest brewer to my house, Lakeville Brewing. They have re-opened at this point to reservation-only, limited crowd, spaced apart, yadda, yadda, but given my individual situation, I'm staying holed up only making occasional ventures into the outside world as necessary (such as no-contact curb-side delivery).

Lakeville Brewing Space Case Dunkle
ABV: 5.5%
IBU: 20



Roasty aroma, roasted coffee, earthy.

Deep and dark color, impenetrable to even a back-light. Khaki / dark tan head, thick and creamy initially, with a nice-looking cascade from a vigorous pour settling to 1/2 inch of thick head. Very good looking beer. Head retention is not too great, though. Cap and ring before too long.

Taste is earthy and roasty. Mild initially, with a moderate level of bittering starting in the middle and carrying on into the finish, resulting in a dry, almost Irish stout finish and aftertaste. Very slight dark fruit taste lingers.

Mouth feel is moderate toward the substantial side.

Overall, a tasty beer, but it seems to me to be more of a dry stout in the Irish tradition than a dunkel in the German tradition: roasty, dry, and earthy. It lacks the caramel/brown sugar I expected from the style, and the dark fruit flavors are mere hints in the aftertaste. Nonetheless, it is well brewed and enjoyable so long as your heart is not set on a dunkel.

L: 4.0 | S: 3.5 | T: 3.5 | F: 3.75 | O: 3.5 | Rating: 3.56

 

3 Fave Berliner Weiss. Stone POG, Carton Dune. (while I make fresh arugula pesto with walnuts)
Notorious P.O.G. | Stone | 4.7%
4.2/5 rDev +2.7%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4.25
Leave it to a favorite - Stone - to top my favorite hometown brewer, Carton, at the game of fruit and flower and herb inspired Weisse.
POG is one of my favorite people, and also: Passionfruit, orange and guava.
A) Hazed, lemon body, energetic but short lived head.
S) Amazing fruit, flower nectar. Original, tropical, transporting.
T) Adds the amazing melee of fruit and flower blossom, crusty sourdough, peppery finish, white wine, green apple tartness.
F) Suitable tangy sour.
O) Bigger than most others
Tangled Up | Carton | 7%
4.2/5 rDev +9%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Sour done well, Buy this. Thrilled to be its first review
a) Pours a berry tinged inky golden body that sprouts and supports a decent finger of head and lasting lace (at brewer).
s) Blueberry, yes, but mainly a lively vein of tart marbling your senses.
t) Sour coming dominant. A tinge / whiff of blue berry, green fruit, yeast, pickle.
f) complex, intensely sour as you'd like it to be, no halfway here.
o) Buy this and share the sour as a 1-of-a-kind delight.
Dune Fruit | Carton | 3.9%
4.2/5 rDev 0%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
On tap at brewer's tasting room.
I hike and paddle their source, the Sandy Hook barrier, all year round, so the cactii are baked into my landscape.
a) As with all fruit beers a bit loose bubbled, fast fade, low lace over a pleasing golden body.
s) complex original aroma, weiss and sweet/ pungent / fall ripe cactus flesh.
t) Suitably original and tart. Follows the smell, with the cactus like melon and salt.
f) Light body and carbonation. Crisp, dry, refreshing, puckering.
o) Jersey original.
Carton writes:
"While standing on Mount Mitchill, scanning our favorite local beaches, you can find paddles of the indigenous prickly pear cactus underfoot. Once you learn how to peel them (being carful of the less obvious finer thorns), there is a pleasing spring legume sweetness to be found. With Dune Fruit we add the meat of prickly pear paddles to a simply soured wheat beer to draw out their subtle vegetable sweetness and cut their viscidity with some acid. A delicate balance of vegetal and brightness in the form of an unassuming sour. Drink Dune Fruit because it’s the top of the summer and it’s time to shift that palate back to the sand."

 

The Drude!