New Beer Weekend #14

Glad you enjoyed it!

That's one of the few versions where you can really feel the style's Vienna roots showing through, yet there's still no compromises made either. It's solidly amber Marzen all the way.

 

Georgetown and Urban Family collaborated to create this interesting dark sour beer aged in Copperworks whisky barrels with peaches.

500ml bottle served in a WABL sample glass. I don't see a date on it. Bought it at Georgetown a couple weeks ago.

Pours very dark with little or no head. Not much carbonation. Smell is tart (sweet-tart) and boozy. Smells like Rodenbach, actually.

Taste is interesting. A little cough syrup, some oak, vague stone fruit, a strong bitterness that I can't explain.

Mouthfeel is thick, heavy, and still. Overall, it's just pretty good, but it's very interesting.

 

I’m finally getting to the third mystery beer I received from @Ozzylizard in the ongoing NBW BIF 12. I know from the crown and bottle size, this is another Pohjala beer. Another Estonian tick! I’ll try to guess the beer from the list of beers from that brewery here.



Pours a deep dark brown with a medium brown head that works its way to nothing fairly quickly. Little to no lacing as the beer is consumed.

Smoky malts on the nose. A little sugar. Hints of vanilla, chocolate and nuts, but fleeting and hard to tell if really there.

On the tongue, the smoky malted grain fades away. Milk chocolate takes centre stage. Balanced sweetness. I think there is lactose in this. No booziness to speak of.

The body is on thinner side, with limited carbonation. It does thicken slightly as it warms.

Enjoyable stout? Porter? Not sure.


I’m going to guess Must Kuld. My guess has as much to do with the ABV as it does the flavours. Let us see...



Well I’ll be!!

I can’t say I’ve ever had a beer with mushrooms in it before. After revealing, with a few last sips remaining, I might be able to get a small dose of mushroom in the aftertaste. I’d never have placed it in a million years though. I did get the smoke though!!

What a great mystery beer. Many thanks Bob. I enjoyed this!

 

Bad Weather, Dunkels Bock. Saint Paul MN
3.92/5 rDev 0%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4

Test from 750ml crowler can. Filled 10/15/20 6.7% ABV
Look: Dark brown body, that is more of transparent dark copper brown when held to the light. Nice lite tan head that leaves plenty of lacing.
Smell: toasted sweet bread
taste: Toasted bread, a little dark fruit, caramel. smooth and sweet but not too sweet.
This a solid beer. 3.91/5 overall

On a side note I went to Yoerg earlier today and tried there Black Forest Lager. Had a full pour. It was very good. better than this beer, but it maybe fresher too.

 

I had a very busy Saturday and today I have a nice relaxing Sunday. Some football and pumpkin carving, did I mention a bunch of New Beers? Poured into a 16 ounce Nordic pint glass canned on 10/2/2020. Pours a very hazy bright yellow, with a finger sticky white head that leaves a bunch of thin streaks of lace with excellent retention. 5

Smell is ripe melon, guava, pineapple, and apricot really juicy. 4.5

Taste follows guava, cantaloupe, pineapple, tangerine, and apricot. 4.75

Mouthfeel is big, sticky not dry, soft gentle carbonation, and at 8.5% ABV really easy going down. 5

Overall another amazing NEDIPA from Tree House. Always expect huge things and they always deliver. 4.75

 

Poured into a 16 oz Snulip glass canned on 9/25/2020. Pours near pitch black with a finger plus sticky mocha head that leaves loads of thin streaks of lace, with excellent retention. 4.75

Smell is cocoa nibs, vanilla bean, coffee grounds, toffee, and just a hint of banana. 4.5

Taste follows cocoa, vanilla, coffee, toffee, and again just a hint of banana. 4.5

Mouthfeel is big and rather creamy, maybe a tad dry, nice soft carbonation, and at 10.4% ABV really easy drinking. 4.75

Overall a really nice imperial stout, the banana made me nervous, but just a little of it was detected for me. Recommend for sure. 4.5

 

All this makes sense. I assumed it was an English style when I bought it and "confirmed" it here on BA. It goes to show how much bias that you can carry into a review. I just kept digging for English ingredients and elements and didn’t pick up the (aged Bigfoot) American hop aspect. I suspect this would be more enjoyable fresh and it makes sense that the reviews of the same lot number scored much higher by other BAs in the previous 18 months these have been on the shelf.

P.S. The label suggests the beer is good for three years, but that is assuming cold storage. This bottle had not been so fortunate.

 

Lost Forty just won best mid-sized brewery at GABF. I was a bit surprised, but happy for them.

 

Pours a very dark color with a slight head and lacing
Aroma has generous Brett, cherries, figs, cascara, coffee, cocoa and red wine hints
The taste follows the nose with a nicely balanced sour cherry, fig, cascara, coffee, cocoa and red wine flavor
A medium bodied decently carbonated beer
An exceptional red wine barrel aged Wild Ale

 

I didn't see that. I guess I need to revisit that news, because I don't remember seeing the Day Drinker on that list either

 

“Cellar” temps vary a lot because people here also refer to their bedroom closet as their cellar. But when people talk about “cellar temperature” in the context of beer, they are usually talking about a temp near the mid 50s F.

Personally, I drink almost all of my beers straight from my basement storage - doesn't matter if it's a barley wine or a pale lager. "Certainly" AALs too. My cellar temperature isn't even at "cellar temp." More like room temp. This week it's mid to high 60s. AALs are just fine if it's an AAL that I like. That's just me being me but I can assure you Jack that it's not from being "desperate."

 

I had several beers lined up for yesterday, but a last second change of plans involved driving to Rhode Island to check out a college campus with my daughter, thus derailing my beer plans for the day. That said, it was still a day well spent. I will say, it's been really hard not being able to take official college tours these last 8 months. The tours were an important data point for my older daughter when she was evaluating schools. Oh well, it is what it is!

Now, onto the beer! First up today is Idiom Imperial Porter from Griffin Claw Brewing Company, courtesy of @Whyteboar from NBS BIF #12. This is a good, Sunday morning sipper.

3.9/5 rDev -4.2%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4

I let this warm for close to 30 minutes to bring it up from fridge temp to a more appropriate serving temp before pouring into a tulip. Appearance is jet black with loads of thick, coffee ice cream colored head with very nice head retention. Good amount of lacing left behind as the head receded. Plenty of chocolate notes on the nose, mixed with other aromas I can't pick out specifically. Taste is nice and roasty, leaving behind a pleasant bitterness. Subtle underlying chocolate notes, but they are subtle. Fairly smooth on the palate, with medium carb and a nice medium feel. Good sipper for this fall Sunday morning.

 

I think a preconceived idea about the style of beer can make a tremendous impact on how we perceive the actual beer... and that's the case regardless of the experience of the drinker. Regardless of that though, it might not have thrown you off much in this case. I think there's a lot of gray area with the entire English/American barley wine concept. The fact that this beer was categorized as English here shows how this beer would be an example. Your description of it in your post sounds a lot like the way I'd describe it too. I thought it was sweet, fruity, caramelly, pungent and with an intrusive herbal or vegetal kick. Cheers man.

 

@JackHorzempa @nc41

I should add that I like beer cold too.

 

We all like what we like, the last warm beer I drank was in the field in Viegas PR qualifying the USS Garcia. We all got one beer and I took an Old Milwaukee because it was 14 Oz of beer vs a 12 ounce can, nothing ever tasted better. Circumstances do count, and those extra two Oz was precious.

 

Thanks!

 

Good afternoon(or morning, or evening), NBW. Yesterday turned into a busier day than expected, and that in turn pushed my new beer exploration to today. I actually did have a new beer last night, but I was too tired to give it the attention it deserved. Today picked up where yesterday left off, but I can feel that my productivity for the day has suddenly dropped off after a morning of house chores. Time for a beer!

It's a crisp 48 degrees outside and that had me in the mood for something on the maltier end of the spectrum. Being still mid-day I wasn't prepared to dive into anything too burly. It was then that I remembered the duo of beers that @jvgoor3786 sent me in the ongoing BIF. I can't think of a much better way to start off the day than with a cream stout right after breakfast. Today the pleasure landed with Ozark Beer Co.'s Cream Stout. This is pretty much exactly what I was looking for in this moment. Black in appearance and topped with a one inch brown head, it did not appear to be overly heavy. Roasted malt with just a hint of coffee were the only aromas I detected. The flavor was unsurprisingly heavy on the roasted malt and a bit of chocolate. A dry finish with only a little bitterness made this an incredibly easy drinker. The body landed somewhere above medium, with a soft and creamy mouthfeel. It's been years since I've had a Guinness, but this takes me back to the days that I'd lose an entire night slugging them down. I could easily do the same with this Cream Stout. There's nothing fancy here, but it's well executed.

3.98/5 rDev -0.7%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4