New Beer Weekend #123

Whale Cousin

7% New England style IPA

Poured from a twelve ounce can, the body pours a hazy yellow with a good, fluffy initial head. Good lacing throughout the tasting.

Aroma is the familiar yet still enticing Citra citrus. Taste lowers the citrusy fruit nose and adds a light malty backbone. True to style, there is little hop bitterness - maybe a light touch at finish.

Good mouthfeel with pleasant softness. Carbonation is strong as even the most passive pour yields a big head. Patience helps here so enjoy the citrus nose.

An easy drinker that masks the ABV well.

 

Revolution Red Skull Ale, Imperial Red, 8.8% ABV; 4.23 overall

Pours an effervescent & slightly hazed Auburn with one finger of tight sandy colored head. Above average head retention & lacing

S: Bready, piney, toasty

T: Follows the nose, dry, cakey up front, some herbal hops as well. Plenty of pineyness, a little caramel & dryness, plus toastyness as this beer warms up. Finishes dry, piney, with a little caramel & grapefruit

MF: Medium body, slight carbonation, good balance

Potent Red Ale. but plenty easy to drink



Thanks to @ovaltine for this! Any time I get to try Revolution offerings, I am thrilled

 

Boulevard/Firestone Walker BA Wheat Wine, 9.9% ABV; 4.21 overall

Pours an effervescent & not so clear hazel with a pinky of tan head. Minimal head retention & lacing. Beer brightened up after the initial pour

S: Dark fruit & Sherry, a little peach

T: Follows the nose, hints of Bourbon & Oak up front. Leafy hops, barrel dryness, a touch of persimmon, peach, figgy notes, raisins & Sherry as this beer warms through, hints of red grapes& a little woody hop as well. Finishes with Sherry, candied oranges, figs & dryness, just a kiss of booze warmth

MF: Medium body, low carbonation, warming

A super solid collab that hits about all the right notes, but a sipper for sure. Just got more complex as it warmed through

 

Happy Thanksgiving Day / Weekend / Sunday Beer Advocates!

Starting the weekend with this beer won the FOBAB 2022 Gold Medal (and also a Bronze at GABF), the former in the Specialty Strong Porter Stout category. I sent a request to add the beer notes and update the ABV via the update tabs in BA. This is the first beer I am rating from this brewery, or from their collaborative partner J W Wakefield.

Cerebral Brewing / J. Wakefield Brewing Fuego Reserva



Bottle Notes: Received courtesy of the Illinois Craft Guild for volunteering during the final day of FOBAB. Refrigerated upon bringing home on November 5th.

Bottled in June 2022, 13.0% ABV, 16.9 oz. Brewed in symbiosis with J. Wakefield Brewing. Brewed by Cerebral Brewing, Denver Colorado (though FOBAB notes indicate this was brewed at their facility in Aurora, Colorado.

Barrel aged stout with fuego. Imperial Stout aged 32 months in Woodford Reserve chocolate malted rye bourbon barrels. Conditioned on Wood-Fired Guajillo and Chipolte Peppers, Filipino Cacao Nibs, and Mayan Vanilla Beans. Store cold, drink fresh.

Appearance: Poured the first half of the bottle into a thin glass snifter. Pours really thick Texas crude oil texture, very dark tan thin minimal creamy head which dissipates without a trace less than 1 minute in. Carbonation persistent the first few minutes. 4.5

Aroma: Getting a strong vanilla off the bat, I enjoy the aroma despite being hit or miss in terms of my like of vanilla in stouts. After a few minutes of warming, getting a really nice blend of chili peppers and cocoa, cocoa grabbing the reins several minutes in as I let this warm to a proper refrigeration. 4.5

Taste: First sips are very sweet, then getting the chili peppers and Woodford Reserve, the latter strong and smooth, to keep the proceedings within reason. My favorite aspect of this offering is the wonderful showcase of the Woodford Reserve barrel, the 32 months longer than most stouts have the benefit of soaking up the barrel and it pays off tremendously if you are patient enough to let this warm to a proper temperature (I recommend 15-20 minutes after refrigeration, perhaps less direct from a cellar). The stout, cocoa and vanilla support well, really enjoying the blend at proper temperature. 4.75

Mouthfeel: This is the second most thick stout I can recall by memory drinking, very thick on the pour and texture throughout. After letting this sit for 20 minutes before taking a deeper dive, the initial strong sweet vibes turned into a strong showcase for the Woodfood Reserve, and the chili peppers beating into submission the cocoa and the traces of vanilla. The dulling of the strong sweetness in the taste is a welcome development for my personal preference. The nose continues to trick you while drinking warm, as the strong vanilla and cocoa vibes continue unabated. Negligible carbonation persists throughout, beer drinks much stronger than the 13% ABV, though the bourbon dominance may be playing tricks on my mind. Thoroughly an enjoyable and unique body and experience. 5.0

Overall: This beer is the real McCoy. Tricked by aroma, this is no sweet kids cereal stout, but rather a expertly aged and blended offering. I don't seek "pastry stouts" these days, but glad I gave this one a go, as it brings the best in bourbon flavors, constrained but still impactful and enjoyable complements of sweetness to to glass, and a wonderful showcase of Woodford Reserve, one of my favorite bourbons back when I was a regular drinker. If those criteria are compelling to you, grab this if if you get a chance. Definitely want to seek out more Cerebral offerings and J. Wakefield styles I can enjoy. Well deserved Festival Medals for this World Class offering. 5.0

Not sure if this is getting wide distribution, but hopefully helpful for BAs to consider these two breweries and or the benefits for extended barrel aging for future potential offerings. My planned beer for tomorrow is an annual BA release from a brewery I've seen here over the years but only come to experience the past 1 plus years in Chicago after they started dropping here. Stay tuned and enjoy this tune while digesting your turkey and beer.

Musical inspiration - Jethro Tull - Thick As A Brick

 

Hoyne - Dark Matter

16oz can served in a big snifter. Dated AUG102022. In-laws brought it back from Victoria a couple months ago.

Pours basically black with a small head (I would have thought it was a schwartzbier if BA didn't tell me it was a brown ale). Smell is roasty, coffee, chocolatey.

Taste is similar, with a bit of a grainy sweetness. Tons of roast, maybe some anise, comes across with a substantial amount of a dark roast coffee.

Mouthfeel is medium to light. Overall, it's pretty good and pretty interesting, doesn't really fall into the brown ale category for me, but doesn't clearly fall into other categories either.

 

Something to be thankful for - generosity

NBW was started early this week as part of an extended Thanksgiving long weekend. I figured it would be appropriate for me to give thanks that I have a new beer that was gifted to me by a very generous benefactor: Casey Pils.

“German-style Pilsner

Our Pils is inspired by the delicate versions of the style produced in South Germany. We utilize a double decoction mash with 100% Bohemian Pilsner malt for a complex mouthfeel and then hop the brew with a mix of Czech Saaz and Hallertau Mittelfruh.”

There is an interesting list of ingredients there. The brewer chose to use Bohemian Pilsner malt vs. a German Pilsner malt (e.g., Weyermann) and conducted a double decoction which is more of a Czech style process, it is much more prevalent in Germany to conduct a step mash (no decoction). There is a mix of Czech (Saaz) and German (Hallertau Mittelfruh) hops.

Well, let’s see how this mix of ingredients and process results in a German-style Pilsner.

Served in my Polish Pilsner glass:

Appearance

Straw yellow with a big white head.

Aroma

There is a notable aroma that is a combination of bready malt and herbal/spicy hop aroma.

Taste

The flavor favors the rich malty flavor but there is enough herbal/spicy hop flavor to provide balance. There is a firm bitterness.

Mouthfeel

Light - medium bodied with a dry finish.

Overall

This beer is very good. The flavor of the beer is towards the malty side but as a discussed above there is a pleasant herbal/spicy flavor to provide some balance to this beer.

Given the above discussion of Czech vs. German ingredients/process: is this beer a German Pilsner or a Bohemian (Czech) Pilsner? There is more depth of maltiness to this beer than would be found in a typical German brewed Pilsner but the beer does have a crispness aspect that I associate with a German Pilsner. I suppose a coin flip is needed here?

For the interested student who might be interested in the topic of German Pilsner vs. Bohemian (Czech) Pilsner: https://www.morebeer.com/articles/Pilsen_Beer

Cheers!

@KOP_Beer_OUtlet @rotsaruch @RobH @beergoot

 

That looks like Odin's own vessel, drinking vessel that is!

 

The short answer: no, I have not tasted this beer.

Longer answer:

I have thought about trying this beer but I am aware that American hops (do you know what variety(s)?) are used as part of the dry hop of this beer. I am not averse to Pilsners being dry hopped (I dry hop the Pilsners I make) but my preference is that they be dry hopped using European hops (e.g., noble hops).

Cheers!