New Beer Weekend #131

Back to the Future?



Today’s new beer is allegedly a re-brew of an old beer: Stone Ruination IPA.

On the side of the six-pack box (and can) it states (with emphasis in bold by me):

“Throughout our history, we’ve built a (fairly deserved) reputation for being obsessed with massively hoppy IPAs. And this groundbreaking creation you see before you is largely responsible for that legacy. Did you know that Stone Ruination IPA was the first year-round, brewed-and- bottled West Coast Double IPA on the planet? True story. As the technology and techniques for maximizing hoppy goodness evolved over the years, so too did this beer. Yet we still look back fondly on the impression it left on the palates of many. As a tribute to its roots, we’re bringing it back for a limited time in its original old school form– the quintessential representation of a West Coast Double IPA.”

From the Stone website:

“Style: Double IPA

ABV: 8.2%

IBUs: 100+

Featured Hops: Magnum, Chinook, Centennial

Flavor Profile: Intense resiny hop flavors with a light malt balance, a touch of alcohol warmth, and a strong, long-lasting bitterness on the finish.

Palate: Medium-full body with no perceptible sweetness and an intense bitterness throughout the palate.

Appearance: Pours a clear, deep golden color with a white head.

Aroma: Piney and resin with citrus-like, fruity cereal notes.

Overall: One of the first regularly brewed and bottled imperial IPAs.”

So, is this 2022 brewed beer really “in its original old school form”?

Below is from a post in the AHA forum in 2017:

“This is the 1.0 recipe but it should give you a starting point.

Stone Ruination IPA

94.2% 2-row pale malt

5.8% C-15 crystal malt

Magnum and Centennial hops

Finishing ABV=7.7%; IBU’s=105”

There appears to be a difference in ABV (i.e., 7.7% -> 8.2%) and a difference in hops used (i.e., Chinook is added to the 2022 version).

To the best of my recollection, I have never tasted the original version (or the 2.0 version) of Ruination so this will be my first drinking experience with this beer.

Served in my Spiegelau IPA glass:

Appearance:

Golden colored with a big white head; pretty clear appearance.

Aroma:

I am picking up mostly a resin-like aroma (almost piney) but in the background there is also some floral/herbal aspects.

Taste:

The flavor follows the nose with mostly a resin-like flavor but there some floral/herbal as well. There is just enough malt to provide a sense of balance. I do not perceive any aspects of alcohol. The perceived bitterness is moderate – high but nowhere near what I would expect of a beer that lists 100+ IBUs.

Mouthfeel:

Medium bodied with an off-dry finish.

Overall:

This beer is very good.

It is cleanly brewed such that for a 8.2% ABV beer you really do not perceive/taste the alcohol. I suppose this could be a ‘dangerous’ beer for the uninitiated?

Cheers!

@rotsaruch @RobH @KOP_Beer_OUtlet @o29

 

Seems for this one we had similar reactions…I too picked up something floral like in nature and agree 100% dangerous beer with how smooth it is..oh and on it’s a very good beer

Share some pics of that beautiful white stuff @Roguer. Something tells me we may not get any this year, the way our weather has been.

 

I didn't intend to do dry January, but ended up not having any for the first three weeks and thought "maybe I'll go the full month". That fell apart when I realized I have nothing ahead of me this weekend other than football (go Birds), soccer (go Arsenal) and maybe a little bit of work. That + a cellar that is around 52 degrees right now and fully stocked with excellent beer was enough to get me to crack one open.

This is Balam - Hale a BBA Imperial Stout with Hale Coffee and Mexican Vanilla Beans from Blood Brothers Brewing in Toronto. Both the beer and glass come courtesy of one of the most generous BAs around, none other than @Coronaeus


Appearance is typical for the style. Some reddish brown on the pour that settles into a deep, deep brown in the glass. Head wasn't robust (maybe half an inch), but did have an excellent, rich brown appearance.

I could tell the aroma was powerful from a couple feet away, but still ended up taking a big, up-close whiff which promptly made me start coughing such was it's strength. A more cautious approach revealed plenty of barrel and alcohol, but with a really nice vanilla sweetness that I really liked. I'm not getting any coffee on the nose.

Taste is interesting. As with the nose, vanilla and bourbon barrel dominate and the coffee is playing hide and seek quite effectively. I'm also getting some spice, almost like Westbrook's Mexican Cake. I have no idea why I'm picking this up as there aren't any ingredients I associate with having a little spicy bite, which makes me think it's probably the barrel. Feel is plenty viscous, fully coating the mouth.

Overall, I'm definitely enjoying this. A little more balance would take this from very good to outstanding, but that's a nit. I'd be happy to drink this any time. Thanks, Peter!

 

Yeah, likely no snow for us. One storm is coming through tomorrow and middle of next week but they are just calling for rain in our area.

I watched a weather report on 6abc (Philly) a couple of days ago and the weather guy speculated that for the rest of January and February we will likely not see any snow. Not much fun for the skiers and kids who like to go sledding on a snow day.

Cheers!

 

Thanks for getting things started, @Roguer. Enjoy your time in Maine.
My morning chores are completed, and it's getting time for some football.
My new beer for today is from the folks at Beer Drop. Cloud 9 Saison is brewed by Aspen Brewing Company and has an ABV of 6.8%.

A clear gold color with a medium-size white head. A small amount of lace.
Not much aroma. Grassy, a hint of spice.
Taste of clove, a little pepper.
Medium mouthfeel.
An OK beer, wouldn't want to drink a lot of it.

 

Thanks to @Roguer for kicking it off this morning. I have a couple from Duluth, MN-based Bent Paddle.

First up is Double Shot Double Black

Appearance: Black, good sized head.

Smell: strong coffee, chocolate, vanilla, wood, nice blend of aromas.

Taste: Weird, a tale of two beers in one glass. Starts out really nice with dark chocolate bitterness, nice mix of coffee and chocolate/vanilla/barrel flavors. Creamy feel. Then it takes a sudden left turn with a nasty metal/plasticy/bad bourbon hit. It corrects itself somewhat, the weird plastic note fades to almost nothingness and the dark chocolate comes back as I finish the glass.

Overall: Well, that was a different experience! I don't know I've ever had a beer show so many different faces within a single glass. Starts like your typical coffee-forward big stout, hard left into the ditch of terrible, small barrel/plastic whiskey crap, then saves face somewhat at the end. I suppose it was mostly good? I don't know that I've ever had a beer where the first taste was yum! Then second taste was gack! First time for everything I suppose! I'm also glad it was in a 12oz for $7 instead of a 22oz for $25.

Bent Paddle Cold IPA

Appearance: Clear yellow, ok head.

Smell: Mild lemon aroma.

Taste: Mild sweetness, lemony, bready note, clean feel and dry finish.

Overall: I can definitely see how “cold IPA's” are seen as similar to lagers, this one fits that description. Some lemony hops but otherwise bready and clean like a lager.

 

When I saw another Ruination post on NBW, I was wondering what would be said about the hop profile. I started thinking my recollections I brought up last week might have been from RuinTen, though my reviews of neither include the sensations of cattiness/onion/garlic.

I'm definitely going to pick this up if/when I see it.

 

Craig, my suggestion is that you look for this sooner rather than later. When I picked up my six-pack my local Retail Beer Distributor only had two six-packs on the shelf (only one after my purchase). I also visited a local beer shop to do some browsing and there was only one six-pack there. My guess is that only a small amount of Ruination was produced so there is a limited supply.

Or maybe the DC area got a larger amount delivered vs. the Philly area?

Cheers!

 

I was out at Equal Parts yesterday, a brewery on the east end of Houston. I don't get out to this part of town often, but I always enjoy Equal Parts when I do.

This is an interesting new lager from them...

La Grande, 4.5% ABV.

This is called a "French-Canadian" Lager by Equal Parts. Using a Canadian yeast strain, apparently, with Quebec-harvested malt, and French Barbe Rouge and Mistral hops. So its not an easy Lager to classify, American Lager is good enough for me...maybe if there was a North American Lager category (I kid ,I kid)



Pours with just a touch of haze, an orangish/yellow color. A two finger white head forms with good retention and lace left behind.
A fairly neutral nose. Some grains and light fruity hops in the mix. A perfectly fine subtle aroma, but could use just a bit more oomph.
Taste wise, a bit more pronounced here but still enjoyably subtle. Toasted malts and grains are noticeable. An almost fleshy fruity character of apricots and apple. Which gives this a candied fruity sweetness. A light lingering bitterness.
A light to medium body. An effervescent carbonation that is clean, but could finish a little drier for my tastes. Still, this is a very enjoyable lager to drink.

This has a combination of modern fruity hops within a subtle traditional lager base. Which I like. Tone down the sweetness a bit, and I would love this. Even so, I probably enjoy it more than the rating would suggest.

Overall score is 3.92, a solid B+ which on further tries might up the score to A- range. Another quality lager from Equal Parts.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/44383/637516/?ba=champ103#lists

I also finally finished Orhan Pamuk's wonderful new novel.

 

Yeah, I'm obviously not sure. I recall I never got a shot at... I think it was Liquid Poem... because I never saw it around me. Although it'd be great to grab (even if I don't dig it as much as I expect, the GF will be glad I got an IPA), but I won't be too upset if I miss out.

 

It is a very good beer but we are fortunate that there are plenty of other very good beers out there.

A potential 'downside' for Ruination is that it is quite pricey. I paid $17.49 (plus sales tax) for my six-pack.

Just from a financial perspective this will not be a repeat purchase for me.

Cheers!

 

Up next is a beer I receive from @Pinz412 in March of 2021. Justin was an active BA member when I first joined then more or less dropped off the face of the map. I hope all is well (I always worry a bit when people just disappear off BA)

Anyway, this is St. Eldritch, an American Wild Ale from Cellar Works. The bottle description is "Dark Belgian inspired ale aged in Cabernet Sauvignon barrels with brettanomyces. This beer has been further conditioned in the bottle and will continue to evolve if cellared in a dark and cool (55-60 degrees) location" (which it has been)

2.97/5 rDev -18.6%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 2.75
On the pour this is an almost bright amber, but once in the glass it's a much deeper reddish brown. Roughly a finger of khaki colored head that receded to a long-lasting cap and ring. Aroma is largely muted. I can pick up some faint funk and wine barrels, but it's pretty reserved overall.

Taste is......not my thing. I tend to love saisons, farmhouse ales and wild ales. I like barnyard funk, sour, tart, whatever. What I don't love is in your face brett, and that's what this beer brings. I can get a little of the Cabernet Sauvignon barrel flavor, but the brett is so in my face that I can't really enjoy this. Glad I got to try it, but not my thing.

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I remember the first time I paid $3 for a beer at a bar. Now under $3 a beer purchased at retail seems like a bargain.

@champ103 how is the book? I find the cover and title intriguing. I'm in the middle of reading a book about the United States in the run-up to WWII (The Borrowed Years by Richard Ketchum). I read Five Decembers (Edgar winning book...was excellent), then The Mosquito Bowl, both of which were set in WWII, which led to me busting out some of my dad's old WWII books. I think (know) I'm getting old!

 

Its excellent. Starts off as a Covid allegory, as the plague has shown up on this imagined island in the Mediterranean, which is called Mingeria. A Provence of the Ottoman Empire. It goes into detail on how the doctors would treat patients and quarantine measures for the time (in 1901). The plague gets out of hand from the doctors, then France, Russia, and Great Britain shut the island off from the rest of the world with a navy blockaded so people can't escape the island. Then it morphs into a story on nationalism as the island declares its Independence from the Ottoman Empire. 100 years later it morphs again to the multi generational story of a family traced from the first Queen of Mengeria to her great grand daughter. The great grand daughter turns out to be the Historian documenting and writing a book on all of this.

 

I couldn't finish the last beer, so I've moved on. Up next is JuneBug (Batch #2 bottled April, 2019) received courtesy of @adrock314


Pours an interesting peachy color with fizzy, short-lived head. Aroma has plenty of metallic funk with faint, generic fruity notes. Taste largely follows. There's a good amount of funk, again with a little bit of a metallic edge to it. The plum is there, but its presence is discrete, like the guy at the party you vaguely remember but might have trouble picking out of a lineup. Light, lively, fairly dry, and easy going down.

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@champ103 sounds interesting. I may have to check it out!

 

Hey now! Then Ruination is the beer for you!!

Just a few short years ago I was able to purchase locally brewed, high quality beers by the six-pack/12 ounce can (or bottle) for around 10 bucks. Those beers are now closer to 12+ bucks. 'Welcome' to the world of high inflation (and don't get me started on egg prices).

Cheers!

 

You gotta find someone with chickens, we get ‘em fresh down the road $5 a dozen. Better quality, better chicken life, way cheaper…we’re lucky x3.

I know two people to get them from and both have yet to raise price. They could for sure but I guess chicken people are good people, like us beer people.

 

4.04/5 rDev -3.6%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4

Bottled 5/11/2021 (best before end 2026) - enjoyed on 1/21/2023 - poured from a 750mL capped-and-corked bottle into my Troubadour tulip.

Rosewood body shines a cardinal tinged madder when held to the light. Dark, clear, with a fist of beige resolving to a lasting dense creamy finger. Rich tendrils of fine lacing; faint legs.

Tart funky aromatics, faint red wine vinegar, goat milk, and some vague winter spices and fallen leaves.

Quite malty, reminiscent of an English brown ale almost - toasted grain, oak/cedar, peppercorn, and spices. Low but persistent grassy bitterness. Moderate, phenol-laden yeast character. Fairly dry finish with a tart not-quite-floral edge. Hints of Assam tea.

Medium-bodied, soft, well carbonated with some lingering tannins.

Rustic, style-defying (as usual) dark, lightly (mysteriously) spiced winter saison.

 

Are you calling me chicken!?!