New Beer Weekend #109

Thanks, The New Abnormal is one of the best new beers I have had this year. Not expensive either $12.99 for a 6 pack of pints.

 

Greetings all from the great northwest where the wheat harvest is winding down and the dog days of summer linger on.

Today we have Stashadelica IPA from Hop Valley.
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/19378/533968/

A very drinkable and fruity brew. A product of some sort of frost cold process of the hops.

Until next time

 

What a long busy and exhausting weekend; closing this one out with one of my last remaining beers from our yearly VT trip.

Alchemist - Dark



Pours a deep deep dark brown, the brown is only noticeable on the edges when held to light. Attractive light brown head that has some nice retention, it is very cohesive and refrains from clinging to the glass.

Nose has a slight burnt toastiness to it with some subtle smoke impressions followed by dark fruit.

Taste follows the nose pretty much to a tee here, the main difference for me being the dark fruit note presents itself more prominently; becomes more dominant as the glass warms. There is a small amount of earthy hops on the finish.

Light but verging on medium body; roasty and dry finish. The hops show themselves in feel as well, they are present in an almost sappy sort of way on the tongue. It is a pleasant addition and adds to the dry finish of this beer.

I love almost everything about this beer. The body is slight heavy and it just so slightly takes away from its drinkability for me. With that being said I’m still enjoying every sip of this beer, it’s just my one honest critique.

See you all next weekend same time and place. Have a great week everyone!

 

My friend gave me a gift pack which included this one another one which I'm forgetting now. I reviewed in Jan 2021 so I must have had the 2020 bottling. I remember it being straightforward and well made.

Your comments on Le Dejeuner are I think why I never tried it, I don't put much stock in untappd but all I saw for that beer was sweet, sweet, sweet...

I still want to get to the lager loft (sigh)

PS have you seen the progress Slack Tide is making, looks like they have framed the new building, not sure when they plan to open it though.

 

Godspeed - Baby Svetly

12oz can served in a footed pilsner glass. Packaged 10/Nov/2021. Received from @Coronaeus in NBS BIF #15, for reasons lost to time (was it a LIF? A ninja strike? A consolation prize?)

Pours a slightly hazy light amber with a couple inches of head that fades slowly into a cobwebby pile. Smell is grainy/malty, a little bit of grass and honeysuckle.

Taste is surprisingly rich. Grain and grain husk, sweetness in the form of honey and/or honeysuckle, bright grassy bitterness in the finish.

Mouthfeel is medium weight. Overall, this is a really nice beer, surprisingly luscious for only 1.5%.

 

I’m glad you liked it. It’s a great option for when you want to keep the inebriation to a minimum. I’m a little surprised by the date. I didn’t even look at it I’m sorry to say. I bought it from the brewery in July. Not that it’s a beer that suffers too much from nine months in the fridge.

 

Time for another new beer.



Poured from the can into a nonic(k) pint glass.

Digging the burgundy and gold color scheme, ok I get it. As for the beer, true a nice golden color with excellent clarity and a simple off white head of three fingers. Pretty much ballpark and nothing crazy in the looks, just solid.

This is actually a nice aroma for a blonde ale. No hop action, just a soft malt bill with a light sweetness, some faint honey, and a bit of hinting chewy texture to go in the mix. It hints of a fuller bigger body to come maybe. Very pleasurable on the nose.

Palate is just solid. Soft malts, chewy with a grain sense of dense malt and lighter sweetness of grain and husk. Bit of a faint sweet fruit candy, almost jolly rancher quality lemon but sweeter in taste, and not terribly. Finishes with just a light bit of carbonation, but manages to maintain it's density.

Not always the biggest fan of American Blonde Ales, and was very skeptical about trying this, but I can dig this one, and that's saying quite a bit.

look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4 | BA Score: 4.09

Cheers!

 

Home at last NBSers and BAs.
The trip back and forth to Maryland has concluded. Approx 18 hours of driving between Fri-Sun.
Not totally into going into details on a NB but hey I have this nice B'day gift courtesy of @Nugganooch and this one I have to try -highly recommended by him and also its described on the can as a "San Diego Style IPA". Ive used that term before in describing that southern Cali style IPA. Clean, Crisp, semi sweet, floral, very fruity, drinking lighter than its medium body and drying with pine and grapefruit.
Im not sure where I saw that SDSIPA used but this epitomizes that in my mind.
And seriously I am in no way, shape or form trying to propagate a new style. Just personal opinions and thoughts.
So I think Ive pretty much covered my thoughts on this beer, which incidentally has a clear golden color upon the pour with a beautiful, dare I say, lager like bright white head that leaves lots of sticky lacing....
The rest I cant express better than whats on the can....Cheers!
Thanks Dane!
Great Beer!

 

Here's a new one from Northfield, VT!

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/43995/617898/



#LFGM

16 ounce can.
No canning date, but just canned last week and brewery is waiting for labels.
All Vermont New England IPA brewed with VT grown malt from Vermont Malt House
& Hopped with Vermont Chinook & Centennial from Champlain Valley Hops.

Vigorous pour yields a nearly 2 inch pure white head over a nearly bright body with sheeting lacing.

Nose of citrus, with notes of orange juice leading the way.

Taste is citrus with a bit of pine. Finishing with citrus pith and pine resin bitterness.

Very nice, medium to full mouthfeel.

Overall, a beautiful beer with great nose and nice bitterness.
Go find this one and you won't be disappointed.

Cheers!

 

Hectic weekend for Mrs O and me, so a quick “live” review for my contribution to this weekend’s hijinks. My local Bare Hands had their annual “Double Thai.p.a Day” yesterday, a celebration of their one-time franchise beer, Thai.p.a, in a double version with variants.

Thai.p.a is the first Bare Hands beer I had, 10 years ago I believe when they were not my local (we lived in Minnesota then) and I absolutely LOVED it - a hoppy WCIPA that featured Thai spices for a very unique beer that I would buy every time I came to South Bend.

Now Thai.p.a is a limited release beer (which makes me sad) and Double Thai.p.a still gets its special day. This is the one variant I’ve not enjoyed before, so here it is for my NBW friends.





4.34/5 rDev 0%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
Pours a very hazy orange color with a soapy, sudsy white head that provides minimal lacing. Dank citrus notes on the nose, primarily ripe tangerine, pineapple, and passion fruit, but knowing this series of beers, my nose is searching for the Thai spices, which are nowhere to be found.

The taste does provide some lime flavors (yay!) and a significant amount of ginger (double yay!!) to complement the very tasty tangerine and pineapple flavors, and there’s some berry flavors as well. Very nice.

Rich, soft, juicy mouthfeel per the style, this is very well done, though I wish the Thai component was a bit more amplified.

 

Shacklands - Putin Huylo

12oz can served in a footed pilsner glass. No date on the can. Received from @Coronaeus during NBS BIF #15.

Pours a light amber / dark bronze, clear, with a humongous, overflowing head, tons of carbonation. Smell is a little yeast, a little toffee and nuts, light spiciness.

Taste is interesting. Light toffee sweetness, light nutty bitterness, a little bit of tea, the spiciness is still there -- maybe slightly more herbal.

Mouthfeel is very light and dry. Overall, this is a really nice beer.

 

Didn't suffer at all, as far as I could tell. It was nice. Maybe they printed the wrong year!

 

Cell Block 304 from Parkersburg Brewing Company. WV I think.
Received via trade with a guy on Imgur.
This received a gold medal in 2018 so I was happy to get to try it. The hops are a bit too pronounced for my preference, but some I’m sure think there aren’t enough. The malts that get through are really good, and the honey is excellent- I’m still tasting it some 30 minutes later.
Not sure I’d drink it regularly, but happy to be able to try it.
Cheers all!

 

Second European beer in Summerlin, also second from this brewery during this trip.

Aecht Schlenkerla Helles Lagerbier



Bottle Notes: Split the 16.9 oz bottle, 4.3% ABV. No noted date.

Schlenkerla the historic smoked beer brewery Helles Schlenkerla Lager is brewed with fine Bavarian aroma hops and lagered in the 14th century beer cellars underneath the Schlenkerla brewery and maltings. It is boiled in the same copper kettles and bottom fermented by the same yeast as the classic Aecht Sclenkerla Rauchbier. It’s subtle smokiness hence makes this Schlenkerla style a unique representation of the traditional German lager beer type “Helles”.

Appearance: Golden a little murky golden tan beer, light carbonation, off white generous head leaves creamy full cover over the beer. Looks very good. 4.25

Aroma: Very smokey, nothing subtle about. Solid in terms of my likes, but buyer beware, and also would like to have had other aromas noted. 3.5

Taste: I am a fan of smokey beers, but not this one. Perhaps it’s too old or was stored poorly, but it’s just getting stale malt and unpleasant smokiness, not the pleasant smokiness from the aroma. Meh. 2.5

Mouthfeel: Light somewhat fizzy, smokey the overwhelming sensation. Drinks about the same abv as listed. Smokiness lingers after the pour. 2.75

Overall: This is the first disappointing beer from the brewery. I am noting to try on draft or a known fresh bottle to revisit if freshness is part of the issue. For the beer in front of me, it’s a disappointment. 2.5

My brother actually liked this more, but not necessarily a repeat purchase.

Also, I confirmed the Helles Marzen blend I enjoyed on cask from the same brewery is a distinct beer, a blended version. I’ll add the beer after I return home and get my bearings. We both loved the cask offering, which is also bottled.

Cheers!

 

Crumble Berry Ale

4.8% fruit ale by Fat Head's

The body poured an orange-amber with a small initial head and nearly no lacing throughout the tasting.

Nose is mainly berries with a touch of cinnamon.

Taste is berries, vanilla, malt and cinnamon. No perceptible hoppy flavor. The elements combine to make a berry crumble flavor. Slightly but not overly sweet.

Mouthfeel was acceptable with good carbonation.

Overall an enjoyable fruit beer. I bought this one almost a year ago and I see that they have brought it back this year on tap. Not my cup of tea, but it was refreshing and different. For my tastes, this ale is an improvement over their popular Bumble Berry Ale.

 

Good Sunday Eve, all. Quiet weekend, reasonable weather, did a meatloaf on the smoker for Sunday dinner. Finally perfected the recipe, or close enough where I won't tinker with it anymore.

So on to the beer. Branch and Blade I Am The Lager...got kinda talked into this one as being "quirky". Yeah...it says Brett Lager on the can. That qualifies as quirky in my book. So not sure how to add it to the ol' database here...but let's get to it.

According to the brewer:

"We invited our buddy Morgan up from Buttonwoods in RI to join us for a special brew day. We used a grain bill heavy in Pilsner malt, hopped twitch Hallertau Blanc, then fermented with a blend of our house lager yeast and a subtle Brettanomyces strain from our friend Justin at Sidereal Farm. Our first beer with Brett Lager answers whether it's us or the lager talking."



Well, if it's possible it looks like a lager. Crystal clear, golden color with a fluffy white head that persists well and laces great.

The smell...ummm...it is actually a little white wine-like with some mild tropical fruit. Biscuit-like malt underneath. It's mild and pretty inviting.

The taste opens with biscuity malt, slight sweetness in the mid-taste. While that happens, there's a mild lemon in the where did you come from category. There's a definite white wine grape thing going on, and after looking up the hop variety, that makes sense. The 500 pound gorilla is maybe the Brett, but I am not entirely convinced of that. I usually like Brett beers, but in this case I think maybe it took a perfectly good beer and fucked it up. There is an unpleasant bitter-driven aftertaste with a bit of a metallic taste. It all works until then. Then again, not sure if i can blame the brett because the aftertaste doesn't really seem brett-like to me. Maybe something else is jacked up, or I've not experienced the bad side of brett before.

The feel is medium, bright. Nicely effevescent. Very drying.

Overall, this is quirky for sure, and it's actually quite good until the hammer falls. I'm thinking Brett Lager may not need to be a thing? But can I truly blame the brett - dunno. The hop description is more of an aroma hop, not bittering. I'm hedging a lot here and am obviously rambling. I do that sometimes hoping to talk some sense into myself. I'm really not sure on this one.

 

Here's a new one from Tunbridge, VT!

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/46275/617892/



16 ounce can.
No date, but it is quite new; two weeks old tops.

Short pour due to the cat underfoot while retrieving my reading glasses after opening this,
my only can!
3/4 inch white head over a hazy, light golden body with lacing.

Nose of tropical fruit and slight citrus with some floral notes as well.

Taste of aforementioned fruit, very smooth with very little bitterness.

Good feel, might have been better if the can didn't fall (opened) on my desk chair!

Overall, I will have another in the near future, but this was quite a pleasant experience and would recommend.

Cheers!!

 

4.46/5 rDev -0.7%

look: 3.75 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

Poured from a 12.68 ounce bottle dated 11/5/20 into a snifter.

Look- Amber brown, clear, no visible particulate, fine cream colored head, below average head retention and lacing.

Smell- Very fragrant, black currant, tobacco, plum, blackberry, black cherry, brett, oak, black licorice.

Taste- Black currant, black pepper, brett, plum, blackberry, black cherry, transitions during the sip from sweet/sour to just sour.

Feel- Between medium and full body, very mouth watering upfront, highly dry at finish, soft, silky, sour finish, moderately mouth coating, below average carbonation.

Overall- Highly complex beer with an abundance of flavor and a powerful bouquet. Nice balance of plum, black currant, blackberry, and black cherry made for a wonderful experience.