New Beer Sunday (Week 804)

Wow. A 13% chocolate stout from Vietnam? You might well have posted the most unusual beer we'll see in this week's NBS.

 

I agree with your rating of Crushin' It. I was really disappointed with it. It reminded me of the cheap Shop Rite orange soda I used to drink as a kid. Not up to Cape May's usual standard.

 

Hello NBS! Right now I'm drinking a 2017 Barrel Series Brett Saison from Blackberry Farm Brewery.


Fermented with brettanomyces and aged in French Oak red wine barrels, this beer pours a lightly hazy amber gold color with a receding white foam head that eventually dissipates. The initial aromas of this had me enticed knowing it was going to be a lovely drinking experience, elegant funk, floral notes, some dry red wine, tannic oak, leathery brett, pale bready malt, vanilla, lemon acidity, some fruity esters, phenolic spice, earthy hops, all bundled up in quite a balance. The taste might be even better than the initial aromas, hard to even put in words accurately. The first tastes I get are of the fruity esters and saison yeast melding with the red wine from the barrel infinitely well, dry red wine notes, tannic oak barrel, slight leather, red berries from the wine, lemony citrus, grape, apricot, banana, apple, peppercorn clove spice, some farmhouse funk, hay, straw, vanilla, pale bready malts, and some earthy floral hop notes. It feels medium bodied on the lighter side, finishing dry with smooth carbonation.

This is a highly enjoyable wine barrel-aged brett saison imo. It is extremely well balanced and easy drinking, not really tart or sour, not too spicy or fruity or too much of anything. This is a really solid saison and good use of red wine barrels to age the beer and also impart some flavor. The brettanomyces isn't too funky even after a few years and displays a nice elegance with slight sweet leather notes and no real barnyard or horse blanket for me. Overall a really nice red wine barrel aged Brett Saison. Cheers everyone!

 

Alright, let's get on to beer #2, Wrench!



Now, this is obviously the beer IABC is most well-known for. It is a hazy IPA clocking in at 7.1% ABV, and marketed as a "Northeast IPA with notes of lush & tropical zest." This is batch 200(!), packaged on 6/23/20 (fresher than TotT, in other words).

Pours an opaque yellow-orange color with a light peach-like tint to it. Stable yet smallish head that retains well after a few minutes. Again, not much lace to speak of, though I do appreciate the haze here. Decent legs, too. Overall, I'm kinda iffy on the way these two beers have looked so far, but hopefully it's impressive in the ways that truly matter.

Okay, so some quick research indicates that this is one of them Mosaic/Citra bombs, which simultaneously tells me a lot and a little about the approach. Because Mosaic is a very chameleon-like hop, it can act differently in similar recipes, even ones where it's also been paired with the stalwart Citra. First sniffs give off starfruit, apricot, melon, clove-like spice, papaya, and a touch of orange as well. Perhaps even a bit plasticy? Not sure what yeast it used here but it definitely seems, erm... characterful.

Flavor is big on the melon component, which is super unusual for a beer with this hop bill, but it's unmistakable to my taste buds! Also in there are lots of interesting grassy, herbal, citrusy, and lighter (but still noticeable) tropical elements ranging from papaya to pineapple to under-ripe mango. Not much bitterness whatsoever, doughy feel... sorta medium but a bit heavier. Quite juicy in the finish with a slight spice in the post-nasal sensation. I'm a little torn on this one, honestly. It has some cool things going for it, but it's pretty far afield of what I expected. It almost doesn't feel a thing like any other Mosaic/Citra NEIPA I've had. I guess I'm just confused as to whether that is a strength or a weakness here.

On one hand, it does some different stuff than usual, but beers like this frustrate me because they make the notion of hop varietals seem almost fruitless to consider if the way they function in the recipe is so different from how they typically function. Honestly, the dryness and odd characteristics of this one really have me thinking they use a kveik yeast or.. something. I mean, I doubt it, but it's got my mind firing on all cylinders. I think it's probably a little overrated, or maybe not exactly my thing? Still happy to try it, and hoping the next one finishes things off in grand fashion!



Amazing, incredible album by one of the most criminally-underrated metal bands out there. Unusual, atmospheric technical blackened death metal with a sound that is all their own. Off-kilter, disorienting, and altogether bizarre. I can't get enough. I hope this album gives them the exposure they deserve, because KC are the real deal!

 

From the upward bound Sloop Brewing today I have Super Soft. Here is a picture with my super soft Newfoundland dog Carbon.

4.01/5 rDev -0.2%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Poured from a 12oz can stamped "canned on 6/23/20", to a Nonic.
Hazy peach-flesh color with a small white head that fades rather quickly.
Tangy orange rind smell.
Taste is a pleasing mix of strawberry and grapefruit with very little hop burn.
Body is medium to light and it could us a little more carbonation.
Glad to see an NEIPA packaged in 12oz format. Very drinkable at 6%.

 

Finally tick West Virginia to try a beer from all 50 states. Decent witbier for a 95 degree day. Banana notes and light grains make this a thirst quencher. Slight carbonation, but finishes easy enough.

 

Morning (still, just barely), all.

Been pretty steadily quite warm all week. 84° and clear right now, with 92° being predicted as today's high.

Last night I popped by Whistle Punk. They were unveiling their version of Black Is Beautiful, brewed in collaboration with Lumberbeard Brewing. It was brewed with vanilla beans, cacao nibs and toasted coconut.

Lousy light for a photo, but a delicious beer. Tasted like a candy bar, in a good way, and totally hid the 9% abv. I liked it enough to have two more. Sometime next week I'll pick up a 4-pk of cans and properly review it from home, but I wanted to drink it last night because all the profits from each glass of it were going to charity last night.

I also had a session version of White Bluffs' NOG (Nectar of the Gods), called Mini-NOG. NOG Is the best beer brewed in the vicinity of where I grew up, and Mini-NOG is a pretty solid session version of it.

Not sure what I'll hit today. I have several options available. See y'all in a bit.

 

Schiøtz Gylden Ipa


Pours a clear golden color with a bigger, spongy head atop.


Smells of lime zest, wheat and caramel malts among a lighter herbal note.


Drinks smooth and light with a well nuanced, soft, yet vivid carbonation, creating a nice refreshment.


Tastes of dried herbs, caktus juice and orange zest, together with bitter limes. Turns dryer then, tied together with some white bread dough and lighter wild honey among subduded caramel malts. Finishes fruity, heavy on oranges, highlighted by lime zest, crakers and resinous pine, making up for a crisp finish.


Well made, northern ipa, with a rustic hop profile to it, gently put into the spotlight by light and supportive malts.

 

@cjgiant, sorry to hear about the trouble sleeping... insomnia is unfortunately a malady with which I have a lot of experience, and it's no fun. At least this instance presumably on precedes a weekend day available for yourself (and obviously beer!), I find as frustrating as it can be to feel groggy/sluggish/exhausted on my days off when I want to do things for myself, it's even worse when it's impacting a day where I need to be mentally sharp and productive.
Sleep trouble around these parts has lately been exacerbated by the warm weather, and the last couple of days by a really pronounced gout flare that has woken me up, and then prevented me from getting back to sleep. That latter item is particularly frustrating as my GF recently started work on a new unit at the hospital, and was invited to go out to Mt. Rainier and try and catch a glimpse of the comet tonight after work. Every thing about that invitation is right up my wheelhouse and I'd be excited to join, but I can't really walk right now, let alone hike around a mountain after dark, so even if she does end up going it looks like I will unfortunately need to take a pass. Though that means I can partake in NBS to my heart's content, I suppose! So there's that.

Today's offering is Flemish Kiss, a beer from The Commons, a brewery that went out of business recently (if memory serves). I've had one other offering of theirs and wasn't overly impressed, but this is one that was specifically mourned a fair amount in the local forums when the closing was announced. I picked it up for that reason, and it felt doubly appropriate as I've been trying to muddle through teaching myself some Dutch, so, you know. Flemish/Flanders, beer, dutch, well regarded, etc.



Right off the bat: This thing has done nothing but sit in my fridge for the last couple of months. The most movement it's gotten has been in the last 15 minutes when I carried it from said fridge to the counter. Still, as soon as I pop the top (and pop is a very intentional onomatopoeia word there!), said cap hits the ceiling and bounces off over to the kitchen. I have about a second or two to plug the top of the bottle with my finger, like the proverbial little dutch boy in the dam (man their commitment to the whole Flemish thing is really thorough ;P) and rush it to the sink. Minimal spillage, thankfully. It settles down pretty quickly after that.


So aside from the initial surprise of the *pop*, I am also a little surprised at the pour as it comes out more copper/amber than I had anticipated. Likewise, not quite as clear as I expected. Settles in nicely though, as the pour made me worry it was going to be sediment etc kind of gunky, but no, it's just kind of... opaque. And pretty once you get it into the glass in its own way. The head is a quick fizz of fuzz that settles down into a simple island with a ring gathered at the glass.

Nose is fairly straightforward, but very pleasant and inviting. Lightly fruity sweetness from the hops with a lush brett tartness.

Flavour follows the same template: fruity hops with a nice tart kiss from the brett. There's an interesting almost woody bass note in the middle that provides further balance and really packages everything up in a nice bow. Just really nicely balanced pleasant thing that doesn't stretch too far into any of the directions, but provides a neatly bundled package of hops and brett, in a medium sticky body.

Unfortunately I must now add my voice to the chorus of laments at the passing of the brewery and specifically this beer in particular.


Hope you've got something tasty in your glass as well. Stay safe, stay smart, and cheers!!

 

Cute Newfie! Also seems well-mannered, judging by the fact that he isn't sticking his snout into that nice looking beer. I might not have been that polite if I'd been there.

 

This is great to read. I haven't had much from Deciduous, but what I have had were collabs they did with Dancing Gnome and released down here. It's awesome to see that their collabs have been very successful on both ends. Have you had a chance to try any of Dancing Gnome's beers? They're one of my favorite local breweries.

I visited Leeds last fall to visit a friend that had been living there for a number of years. We visited a BrewDog location there because the bar itself had a lot to offer including a lot of great American craft options. We enjoyed playing their shuffleboard tables and video games, but my friend took me there reluctantly because of some of the sentiments that @DoctorZombies indicated above. One of the big things that irked the locals was that BrewDog tried to copyright the word "punk" which did not sit well with most folks. While I did find them a touch overpriced compared to other bars, their selection was fantastic when it came to having other breweries available. We now have a BrewDog location open in Pittsburgh, but I haven't had a chance to visit yet as it opened right around the time that Covid started changing operating procedures. This is getting somewhat rambling, but I was trying to say that I can see both sides of what @Roguer and @DoctorZombies are saying.

Also, curse you @DoctorZombies for making me crave some Northern Monk and Cloudwater. I was lucky enough to visit both breweries when I visited England and both rank among my favorite taproom experiences that I've ever had. Great beer and great people at both places. I'll be back soon with my beer of the week, but wanted to chime in on these posts. Cheers!

 

Lupulin Lateralus Cacao & Coconut Imperial Stout, 11% ABV. Pours thick and black, with a two-finger brown head that left no lacing. Nose is coconut and chocolate, taste follows, with slight sweetness and moderate bitterness. Excellent mouthfeel, overall excellent.

4.12/5 rDev 0%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4

First beer after a one week break. Had hoped for more out of this one. Certainly not a pastry stout.

 

Very cool background story to the beer. I love Metropolitan lagers so I’ll have to keep an eye out for this one. Cheers!

 

I'm having a Bourbon Barrel Quad from Boulevard. It is a serious beer. Brownish amber color with a khaki head that fades, but leaves nice lacing. Smells of fig, raisin, candy sugar and brown sugar. Flavors of fig, cherry, plum, candy sugar and molasses. Thick, heavy mouthfeel worthy of a serious beer. I rated it a 4.47, which was a chunk above it's BA average of 4.28.

 

Holy hell, it's 98 degrees and absolutely brutal outside. I wouldn't even be here unless I needed to water everything to keep it alive .

This Duchesse Cherry just happens to be exactly what the doctor ordered:

It's an absolutely lovely beer- tart, nimble, complex. Even refreshing. I must admit that I'm not all that crazy about the original recipe of this beer, and it always struck me as lacking flow, or being disjointed. There's a sweetness on the finish that seems tacked on rather than an integral part of its makeup. That quality really works in this beer, however, and those cherries just may be the missing link. I like it a lot better, in other words.

Not that the cherry is all that dominant, although it is doing a lot of heavy lifting here. But it's also transparent enough to allow the rest of the beer to shine through. Lots of oak, tart wine vinegar, vanilla, sweet spices, grape skin are all nicely sharing the spotlight with that wild black cherry character. Overall it's an elegant and well constructed beer.

I had reservations with this one beforehand, and it turns out I shouldn't have. Really great stuff A (4.4).

 

I’m not normally able to participate in NBS, but the family is out of the house so I will take advantage of the quiet.

I picked up Setting Day Saison at the PEI Brewing Company shop in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island this past week on a family vacation. If you’re not familiar with The Island, I encourage you to check it out...with the exchange rate, it’s a great place to vacation once the Canada-US border reopens!

Pours quite a pale golden hue, aroma is classic Belgian yeast. Not the most flavorful I’ve ever had, at 3.5% it comes across as a pretty lightweight take on the style, but still satisfying. I like this as a summer quencher as much as anything, and it’s a great accompaniment to a summer vacation. Would love to pair with some PEI seafood and a warm summer evening....maybe next year!

 

Okay, here's my last entry for the day... Industrial Arts Torque Wrench, a NEDIPA clocking in at 8.2%. This is batch 25, packaged on 6/24/20, which makes it the freshest IA beer I've had today by one day. The more you know.



This one pours similarly to Wrench, its younger sibling beer, but with significantly better head formation and lacing! Finally, I was hoping TW would be the most impressive of the three and it's already starting off strong with sudsy legs and some sticky lace. Of course it has the requisite peach-tinged body that Wrench had, but this is strictly improved, the way I see it.

The nose is hop candy, resin, tons of aromatic tropical fruit and zesty citrus, and a solid helping of spice as well, perhaps with a side of floral aspects that feels measured and well-put-together. Quick research seems to indicate that this is an amped up Wrench including using the same hops (Citra/Mosaic), but also dosed with Cryo Simcoe, which I think is a great decision, as it seems to really cement this in a more logical place than its sibling beer. I almost get an acidic sour candy note here, but could just be a trick of the senses, as this really has more of a no-holds-barred intense hop explosion thing going on, overall.

First sip is thick and juicy with huge flavors of grapefruit, dragonfruit, papaya, mango, and juicy passion fruit. Man, this is really a league above the others I've had today. I mean, I'm a NEDIPA sucker (and a half, really) anyway, but jeeeez. They describe this one as "sticky & tropical juice" and there's no lie present in that description. It's both refreshing and face-melting in its intense dedication to the concept at hand. Soft and smooth (almost "smoothie"-like in complexion, to be entirely honest) but with a bold quality to it and some apparent (yet not over-the-top) ethanol heat. This is very, very satisfying. Probably doesn't quite crack into the upper echelon of NEDIPAs for me, but it's dang close, especially compared to other non-New England breweries trying their hands at this vaunted style. I'm a hometown purist at heart, of course, and this one gets pretty damn close to the Six Seams, etc of the world in my humble opinion.

Alright, that's it for me... one more review, but doing it in a "professional capacity" for the local newspaper. For the record, it's gonna be for Battery Steele's "Firn" APA.

I leave you with some bleak, dark techno/industrial...



Cheers all.