New Beer Weekend #124

A couple of Chicago beers today. One is ….. very bigly. The other is not.

This is the other.





4.24/5 rDev +6%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
Pours a beautiful golden straw color with a soapy white head covering a bit of unfiltered haze. Definitely looks the part of a Helles lager. Strong lemongrass notes on the nose with a bit of wheat bread. Lovely stuff.

The taste is led by the lemongrass from the noble hops and is assertive, yet leaves room for the slightly sweet wheat bread to provide balance - and this is with the beer being nearly 4 months beyond its “best by” date.

If it was fresher, I’d probably spontaneously combust.

The mouthfeel is crisp, pulling your face back in for another sip before you’ve finished the one you’re enjoying. Wow.

This is my first beer from Metropolitan, a brewery I’ve heard a lot about over the past couple of years. If this beer is any indication, they are more than worthy of their hype.

 

@Smakawhat Did you try Columbus' IPA too? @ovaltine sent me that one along with bodhi and creeper. That Columbus IPA seared itself into my memory forever, that is a beer I could drink again and again, I loved it. I liked the others a lot too but IPA took the cake for my preferences in IPA world.

 

I just got back from Hudson. I may go back to Hudson tomorrow to watch the Packers game. I might pick some up, I didn't look for this New Glarus beer. I was hunting for Whole Hog (Point) beer: Didn't find them. These two:
https://untappd.com/b/whole-hog-brewery-oatmeal-cream-pie/5107929
https://untappd.com/b/whole-hog-brewery-hazelnut-brownie/4047568

I plan on going to Eau Claire/Menomonie next weekend. Almost went today. These are on the radar:
https://untappd.com/b/zymurgy-brewing-company-wisconsin-zymurnator-iv/5145933
There Barleywine can be great. I have had a few different vintages before.
https://untappd.com/b/zymurgy-brewing-company-wisconsin-talisman-2019/3501274

 

Good evening NBW
My bosses daughter just moved to Dayton, OH. He asked if I knew any spots for beer shopping between here and there. I did my best to describe Jungle Jim's in Cincinnati. He thanked me by bringing back some beers.
Grainworks Scottish Mists


12oz canned 11/16/22 (2 weeks ago) poured into a tulip pint glass at fridge temp 5.5% ABV. The beer pours opaque dark amber with light brown head. The head recedes to a thin ring and single layer of bubbles. The aroma is mild with bready & toffee notes. The taste is semisweet toasted malt with earthy, bready heft and minimal bitterness. The mouthfeel is thin to medium bodied with average carbonation and a mostly dry finish. Overall, good.

Cheers all!

 

Goose Island Bourbon County Brand Stout - Heaven Hill (2022), 14.3% ABV. Pours the typical thick and black, with a one-little-finger of light-brown head that left no lacing. Nose is bourbon, toffee, and chocolate. Taste is chocolate, toffee, and bourbon, hint of vanilla, quite sweet, faintly bitter, nice bourbon burn. I haven't had the other versions yet, but this is world-class. Decent thick mouthfeel, overall world-class.

4.61/5 rDev +0.4%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.75

I'll have to hunt down the other bourbon variants. I like the 12oz doses. I'd prefer the color throwback labels though.

 

Tolling Bell from Short Fuse, a BBA Rye Imperial Stout, another Chicago area brewery that does some nice Stouts and Porters, but I won't say anything about their IPA's, cuz Mama always said, "if you can't say anything, keep your damned mouth shut". That being said.......


4.27/5 rDev -3.6%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
A thick oily pour, reminiscent of filthy motor oil, a brown head lingers for a moment, no lacing but a nice oily film covers the glass. Snot maker says dark chocolate, coffee and did I mention booze. Taste buds are thrilled by the vanilla, toffee, raisin, maybe a hint of orange peel. Thick'n chewy texture, smooth and easy drinking for 13%. Shortfuse makes alot of IPA's I had no use for, but their BA Stouts and Baltic Porter are terrific!

One final thought, this is pretty boozy........

 

Founders French Toast Bastard - I'm a big fan of their BA beers and regular BB and I love French Toast so I can't see how I won't like this. Pours a beautiful dark red color with a nice frothy head. Smell does remind me of FT and I can pick up the vanilla, cinnamon and maple. Taste is excellent, it's FT in a glass that hits the away but yet it's not too sweet and ends perfectly...I can pick up a bit of the base beer too. This is excellent stuff and outside of some warming the 11.1% is well hidden. This is a wonderful slow sipper and it's opening up a bit more as it warms.

On a related note I wish there were more Scotch Ales in general and I do have Bell's in the fridge patiently waiting for me. Budmo!

 

I am pretty bad at posting pics but I am enjoying a very special beer.

3F Framboos
4.32/5 rDev -4.4%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5
I picked this up last week at Vintage Estates wine and beer in Boardman OH. My favorite beer store. This 375 ml was very expensive but I have been after this beer for 15 years. Also got Hommage and may save that for beer rating/review #2k. Bottled on 18 Dec 2019.

A- Body is a uniformly hazy orange with a hint of pink. Perhaps sunset in color. There is no head or lacing to speak of.

S- The nose is complex yet simple. Tart raspberries, cheesecloth, funk, oak barrel, breadiness.

T- The flavor is much like the nose- sweet and tart authentic raspberries upfront with a light bready yeast backbone. The finish is quite sour but a softness from the oak barrel lingers on with some sourness long after you swallow.

F- Medium carbonation and a medium weight body. There is a lot of acidity in the body with a light bread yeast feel too.

O- This beer is truly world class. It's the definition of a traditional fruit lambic and it is brewed so carefully and so well. It definitely gets better and you appreciate it more as it goes down. It's quite expensive so if you don't like more traditional sours or you don't like raspberries than don't bother.

 

Was the use of menagerie to describe the grains a rather poetic use of the meaning of the word? I like the idea and melange would also have worked. I would love to try this beer. It is intriguing.

 

You do your beer hunting at Casanova? I try to stop there when I'm in the area.

 

#2, this is the bigly beer that I’ll join my friend @WunderLlama in reviewing today. I drove over to Binny’s in Evergreen Park (south side of Chicago) to pick up my allotment that came via a lottery - and they have a heaping helping of BCBS standard, 12 oz, and variants for you Chicagoland beer nerds that are so inclined to indulge in the BCBS world.

I’m also breaking out the Schell’s chalice, so you know this is a big deal. Let’s dance with Sir Isaac.







4.5/5 rDev +2%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
Pours as black as 3 am, with a dense tan head. Gorgeous big stout. The nose is packed with stone fruit aromas (surprise - figs!!!) , as well as the honey and brown sugar mentioned on the label. No lemon zest on my amateur nose, but a very nice barrel note.

I am salivating.

The taste is crammed full of the stone fruit flavors, and the brown sugar is a sledgehammer as well, with a bit of sweetness from the honey.

And oh, that barrel. Rich, decadent, and dangerous.

The mouthfeel is rich and velvety. Magnificent.

I am a BCBS fanboy, especially of the variants, and this beer is a great example of why that is so. It takes the base beer and goes in a direction you do not think will work, and you find yourself drinking it in gulps.

That to me is the definition of a world class beer.

 

Hellow NBW fam; happy to be back and really happy to have a new beer to share with you all. We did our first Christmasy thing of the year, other than decorating, and took the boys to the drive-through light show at Diggerland, 10 miles or so away. I took the short drive to Tonewood to get this beer today because I needed to replenish one of their beers and I really wanted to try this new one; an American adjunct lager clocking in at 5.2%.

Tonewood - Wading Out (5.2% AAL)





Pours very pale gold/yellow, slight haze but mostly see through, white head settles to a thin film with a couple splotches of lace from initial pour.

The nose is very vibrant to me with dry wafer like bread notes, some herbal aromatic undertones. The herbal notes are very nice and almost verge into floral territory; this slowly gets hidden by the growing sweetness as this beer warms; by the end though they balance out quite nicely.

Taste is noble hoppy first; distinct grassiness, gives way to white bread with low corn sweetness on the finish; almost has a bite to it, a drying sweetness.

Light body, but on the bigger side of light, there is a mouth coating interplay of sweet and dry; dry being the one that remains, a tangy dryness. Carbonation is lively but also creamy smooth at the same time, low but quite noticeable bitterness on the finish.

A beer I will replenish when when the last one is gone, very good, if you want a well crafted AAL. The body is slightly verging of the line of light to medium for me but it maintains a great drinkability nonetheless.

I think this will be it for me tonight everyone though I will see you all tomorrow...

----------------
Just to spread some holiday cheer this was the end of the Diggerland drive-through lightshow...

 

At first, I found it too sweet but even with just a few weeks of age on it, I like where it's headed flavor-wise

 

Ozark Beer Co. Amber Lager, 5.0% ABV; 3.55 overall

Pours an effervescent & not so bright amber/honey color with a thumb of beige colored head. Nice lacing & head retention

S: Toasty, not much else

T: Toasty, dry, some caramel notes, plus grassy hops up front. A touch of honey malt as this beer warms up, dryness & toastyness as well, a touch of apple sweetness too. Finishes sweet with some dryness

MF: Medium body, moderate carbonation, pretty good balance, perhaps a little sweeter than I prefer

There's nothing really wrong with this, but I like this style to have a very fat malt base or a distinctive hop profile, this isn't it

 

You and me both, Jon. I loved Bodhi and Creeper, but the base IPA was a revelation.

 

Hands-down, the best smelling beer ever. Like opening the cocoa tin when I was a kid. If only the flavor matched, too bitter for my taste.

 

I stopped there today, didn't buy anything. I've been there many times. I was a Dick's & Dibbos man years ago. I'm getting picky on what I buy, overstocked now, plus I have reduced my beer drinking. I'm having my first beer now since Tuesday night. It's a SN Celebration IPA

 

FWIW I interpreted the word "menagerie" as meaning that lots (as in a variety of types) of specialty grains were used to make this beer which is atypical (from my perspective) to produce a lager beer.

Cheers!