New Beer Weekend #14

A quiet Sunday. The only thing on my agenda is a Zoom meeting with the in-laws, so it's beer and football for me.
My new beer is Gilded Age, a porter brewed by La Cumbre. Canned 10/15/2020.
Black color, small tan head
Roasted malt aroma, coffee and chocolate
Espresso coffee, dark chocolate taste. A little molasses. A bit of char
Medium-bodied, easy to drink

 

Hello New Beer Weekend!!!

Why is it when a business closes EVERYONE wants to suddenly patronize it? Seriously! If you all would have been there the whole time, it wouldn't be closing for good.

That's what I'm going through with my restaurant. We have been having insane sales numbers since we announced our closing. 2 all time record sales in a week, and we demolished the one we got on Monday, yesterday by a mile.

It's good, but frustrating at the same time. Where were they when we needed them under normal circumstances? If we had sales even close to what we've been having the past week, we would have found a way to stay open for sure, and I would have been able to get paid this year, instead of living off savings.

Oh, well, one more week. Another thing, why the hell are they asking how I am going to enjoy my retirement? WTF! Do I look that bad for 47 that they think I'm old enough to retire? I guess I do.

Ok, enough ranting. Time for a new beer, and it's one I've had to add here. I'm also not 100% sure I picked the right style for it.


Talking Waters Brewing - Festbier. 5.8% ABV. Canned on 10-16-2020.

The reason I'm not 100% sure that I've got the right style is they also have a beer called Oktoberfest. Sadly I drank it Thursday, but didn't review it or add it on here. They call this a German Lager.

Now, how is it?

Good.

Malty, biscuit sweetness up front. More sweet on the back with a faint orange flavor, that I'm guessing from the hops they used to make it.

I'm liking it. Very happy with this pick up on my way home from South Dakota last Sunday.

Review:

3.79/5 rDev 0%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75

Pours a clear darker golden color with a touch of amber in it. 2 finger fluffy white head. Good retention, but almost no lacing on the glass.
The nose has got a sweet malt aroma to it. There's also a hint of orange here, that I wasn't expecting.
Taste - I actually get that faint hint of orange in the flavor. Lots of malty sweetness throughout. It is more biscuit up front, then sweeter on the backside with the hint of orange mixed in.
Crisp body. Somewhat sticky feeling going down. It clings to my throat, but not like an IPA.
This is one good beer. Very tasty.


There will be more today, I sure need it to get ready for my final week in the restaurant business. See you later.

 

Whats this? Another Pale Ale from Maine Beer Company that I have not had before? Thats a must get, automatically bought two on the spot when I saw this.

MO, American Pale Ale, 6% ABV


Pours with a slight haze, a golden/orange color. A towering white head forms with excellent retention. Plenty of lace is left behind has well.
The nose is really fresh citrus, pink grapefruit and pine sap. Not a lot of malt character in the nose, but that is just fine. I enjoy this.
Taste wise, again, that hoppiness up front and center. With pink grapefruit and pine sap. The malts are more apparent here and help balance out some bitterness. Caramel and biscuit malts to be specific. Bitterness lingers with a nice dryness.
A medium body that has crisp carbonation. Super clean and dry. Pretty damn easy to drink, before I know it I'm looking to open my other bottle...hmm.

Not surprising, this is a spot on classic example of a hoppy Pale Ale. As always, love the cleanness, and simplicity which makes this all the more enjoyable to have again and again. Obviously, highly recommended.

Overall score 4.13
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/20681/78906/?ba=champ103#review

 

Good afternoon NBW
I have been waiting patiently until the weather was cooler to open this monster that @TheGent sent this summer

Kane 2920 8th Anniversary Ale
25.4 oz waxed bottle approximately one year old poured into a snifter at fridge temp and allowed to warm up to room temperature 12.1% ABV. The beer pours medium brown in color with little light penetration. The head is light brown and settles to a thin ring and single layer of bubbles. Just a few tiny spots of lacing. The aroma is mild sweet malt with accents of oak and whiskey. The taste is semisweet toffee, rich malt, mild oak, vanilla and spicy rye whiskey. The finish is mostly dry and just barely bitter. The mouthfeel is medium plus bodied with medium carbonation. No alcohol presence in the aroma or flavor. Overall, excellent. There's a craftsmanship and balance to this beer that's really impressive and hard (for me) to put into words. I would not pass on any of these anniversary offerings, given the opportunity.

Thanks again Anthony! I asked for a New Jersey tick and you went way above and beyond.

Cheers all and enjoy the new beer in your glass today!

 

Drekker Chonk Peanut Butter & Jelly Sundae Sour, 6% ABV. Pours a thick and hazy blood red with a slight ring of bubbles. Nose is raspberry, black currant, peanut butter, and lactose. Taste is raspberry, plum, and peanut butter, with slight sweetness and slight tartness. Peanut butter in the aftertaste. Excellent mouthfeel, overall outstanding.

4.24/5 rDev +0.2%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25

Decent beer, though the peanut butter flavor is light for a PB&J beer. Watching the Packers (hopefully) win. First real snow of the season ends after the game, so we'll shovel, have some kickass stew, and watch more football.

 

Thanks for your contributions and letting me tick this beer!

 

Good weekend all and thanks to the initiator of this weeks thread.
We completed another section today, of our goal to complete the NE Trail before December.
Looks doable at this point.
Todays offering is from Tree House Brewing, Fall Classic, is an IPA with a very pleasant dry feel.
A welcome touch in these soft, wet, sweet, boring IPA days
Do good
Be well
Fall Classic

IPA - American | 6.9% ABV

Tree House Brewing Company
Charlton, Massachusetts

4.13/5 rDev +2% | Average: 4.05
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4

Poured from a 16 oz can dated 10/15/2020 into the test glass
A - Lemon drop yellow color, hazy and inviting. Lovely thick froth cap yields to sequential lace rings.
S - Pineapple, apricot, some guava, all tropics in this offering
T - Deviates from the aromatics, with a bit of pine, dried pineapple, white pepper,are ther no malts here?
M - Sharp start, semi sweet, then a hard tur toward dry, excellent clean finish
O - A very good IPA, not as soft on the palate, which I like, this has edges that are welcome. Fine hop expression with all the usual suspects. That said the construct is welcome, in particular the ashen dry finish.

 

Always time for new beer.

Man I am overdue for a Yeti!! been ages!



Poured from the can into a teku style glass.

Super rich filling head. Creamy and billowing large at three plus fingers height, it has a mocha light brown color and even dare I say looks slightly orange as well. Real neato! Body is super dark walnut brown and nearly black, not a hint of light getting through this at all.

Nice aroma. Rich roast malt notes, hints faint coffee, but an excellent round oak flavor and soft sweetness. Does have that milky vanilla sweetness, but has much more coffee tones and machiato like milk than vanilla. Hints a little spicy also, and a real nice experience.

Palate just gets the job done, but stays away from exotics. Real nice bright hop and char bitterness on first sip. The mouthfeel for oak comes a little weak and doesn't give the impression of long aged or a great depth, but just a solid basic one. Still the mid palate provides lots of classic and great stout flavors. Rich roasted char particularly, almost flirts with charcoal mixing with a light hop bitterness and dark chocolate finish. Aftertaste gets into more roast but also bitterness that gets hints of clove, and particularly some black pepper quality too.

Very nice stout, but seems to have lost it's vanilla edge. However, the Yeti rarely disappoints if ever.

look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25 | 4.24/5

Cheers!

 

Howdy NBSers! I have a few new ones up for today. First one is a smoked dark lager brewed with Maine maple syrup. Oxbow is traditionally pretty good to me, and this sounds excellent for the chillier weather we're finally starting to experience in MA.



Beautiful pour... quite dark and certainly unfiltered, but if held up to light, some ruby-ish highlights can be seen around the bottom of my glass. Sizeable head that builds up to about two fingers and settles at one, leaving behind a consistent sheet of lace as it does so. This is a very nice looking beer!

The nose leads off with some smoke and roasted maltiness along with a little kick of nuttiness (pecans/pralines) and, of course, a hint of maple syrup. Comes off to me like a slightly smokier schwarzbier, but it does clock in at 7%, making it quite a bit stronger than pretty much everything else in that style. This somewhat reminds me of a less-clean version of Jack's Abby's Smoke & Dagger, I suppose.

Big, acrid bitterness and some dry, roasty coffee upfront on the palate. Definitely a more "raw" version of something like S&D. A bit woody and nutty in the middle of each sip with some orchard fruit esters. Maple comes out a little more as it warms up and starts to open up, and with that element comes some sweetness that helps balance how bitter it came across at first. Medium body with firm carbonation and a semi-lingering finish of roasted malts and dark chocolate. Definitely like a stronger, smoky schwarzbier. Enjoyable, but not my favorite by these guys.

 

Round #2. Same name, different beer, different brewery.

Zipline Brewing Festbier - 6% ABV.

Standard Oktoberfest, and it does it well, in my book. I am happy with it.

3.71/5 rDev -4.6%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75

Pours a clear golden color. A bit darker golden. 1 finger head. Frothy and fluffy head. The head retention is decent. It dissipates into a ring that clings to the glass.
The nose is malty, of course. The malt isn't very sweet, but there is some here.
Taste - This is an Oktoberfest. Roasty malts. Tons of biscuit flavor here. Some sweetness here, but not crazy.
The body is decent. The beer does cling a bit to my throat with the roasty malts.
A good example of this style.


I'm sure I'll have one more new beer today.

 

That is a bufugly beer - like, mystically bufugly. The first time I had it, I literally said, “WTF???” out loud after I poured it.

 

I gave it a 3.50. For me as a notorious overrater, that’s like a “real beer nerd world” 2.00. It’s that bufugly.

I truly wonder if they had carb problems with that one, because something is off with the appearance.

 

Starting my Sunday with SARA Amongst Friends, thanks @Dimidiata!
4.41/5 rDev +3.3%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

Thank you Dimidiata for this
750 ml bottle, Batch 1 1/20, poured into a tulip

A- A slightly hazy bright red with a small two finger pink head.

S- Tart, cherries, oak, earthy funk, touch of sweet cherries, cherry pie like.

T- Sour cherries, some sweet cherries, oak, earthy funk, faint hints of wheat.

M- Smooth, crisp, dry, light body.

O- Cherries are very well done in this, super easy to drink.

Cheers!

 

As a precursor I add that I approach pumpkin beers like Charlie Brown approaches Lucy holding the football. I have the delusion that I’ll like the beer (or kick the football) and I end up on my back in a pile of leaves with a smirking Lucy holding the pigskin.



Wendy by Central Waters. A coffee pumpkin milkshake IPA. Bottled on 20300910. What a mashup of flavors and styles. I’m not picking up lactose that ostensibly makes this a milkshake.

Virtually no head or lacing. Nose is the most forward of aspects - cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, and ginger are prominently on display, but not the typical cloying aroma that is standard for pumpkin anything these days. Coffee is sadly (for me) in the background. I would have loved so see this balanced with the spices. Sweetness and a bit of hoppiness at back end and swallow of the hazy orange body. The spicing reminds me more of mulled cider than a pumpkin spice latte. Surprisingly not offensive as the seemingly impossible mixture in the subtitle would suggest.

 

Sorry to hear about your restaurant.

 

Siren Brew Oats on Oats on Oats


Pours an entirely hazed yellow-orange color with a medium sized, soon collapsing head.


Smells of an incredible intense hoppiness, leading with ripe pineapples, lusciuos mango and passion fruit among fresh cut limes. As fruit forward as the nose comes along, the aromas are quite intriguing and provide a pleasant depth.


Has a soft, slightly creamy mouthfeel with a lighter effervescence to it, just enough to make this refreshing and easy drinking.


Has an astonishing flavor intensity onwards from the very beginning, leading with uncompromising, bitter in your face limes, which get balanced by lighter mango, ripe kiwi and orange zest. Offers a creamy middle part, enriched by pineapple, white grape skins and dried herbs, with just a note of crackers, acting as a backbone to the hops. Finishes with a long going lime bitterness, passion fruit and oranges, creating a well working interplay between dry and fruity flavors, which stay on the palate for a while.


Well done New England Ipa with a convincing bitterness adding to the well working fruitiness.