New Beer Weekend #171

Your review has reminded me that I should mention and record the SRM of beers when doing my reviews. Cheers brother!

 

In honor of the Iowa State Cyclones winning their football game yesterday, here's West O Ames Lager:

Appearance: Clear pale yellow, ok head.

Smell: Corny.

Taste: Starts with mild corn sweetness, then follows with a little herbal bitterness from the hops. Light bodied.

Overall: This beer helps support Iowa State athletics, so I picked up a 6 pack for the football game. It's fine, maybe a little hoppier than I expected. Kind of reminds me of a cornier PBR as far as taste and hopping level.

 

Revolution barleywine
...has a bit of a cloudy murky brownish amber appearance with a thick full lasting head.
..medium light carbonation with an above average body. Has a thick almost creamy feel.
...aroma is caramel,dark fruit and bourbon which takes the center spot. Wood and malt follow which all comes together nicely.
...taste is almost identical to aroma with the dark fruit being a bit stronger but in a pleasant way.
Alcohol is there but for such a high abv its incredibly well hidden.
..not even a huge fan of this style but this went down very easily

 

Wow, great picture.

 

BBIS 2022


14% stout by Reuben's Brews

I shared this bomber with two friends and one could not go past a sip. Too much barrel for them. The other person and I enjoyed the barrel ride and sipped this one. Boozy out of the fridge, and boozy when warmed up. I'm fine with boozy stouts and even miss the booze in KBS variants that diminish the barrel's alcohol to feature the new flavors.

Poured from a twenty two ounce bomber, the stout is black with a good head. Not much lacing.

Barrel on the nose and in the taste. ABV is featured, not hidden. Other flavors under the barrel are a solid malty char, burnt sugar, and a wee bit of coffee.

Mouthfeel is solid. There's enough carbonation but it feels slightly thin for such a high ABV stout.

Definitely one note but if that note is your favorite song, crank it up.

 

Lazy Sunday of beer and football. Daughter and grandsons coming over for dinner.
My new beer for today is Sankt Paulidorf from Ellicottville Brewing Company. It is described as an IPA with German and New Zealand hops, and is 6.4% ABV.
A bright amber color with a small white head and a bit of lace.
Nice aroma, citrus and tropical.
Taste not as good as the aroma implied. Grapefruit, orange, mango.
Medium-bodied, light bitterness.
An OK beer.

 

Enjoy what looks like an awesome cozy and peaceful day for you @beergoot, the little things in life.

 

Hop Butcher Poppy Seed Bun APA (100% Riwaka). Canned 10/10/23.

Pours a hazy burnt orange color with two fingers of an off-white, dense head. Dissipates slowly. A few floaties in there. Looks more like an old school pale ale, but with a much more unfiltered look. 4.0

Aroma is that Southern Hemisphere earthy funk, juicy ruby red grapefruit, tangerine, floral, and some lychee from the hops. Malt brings some bread and simple syrup notes. 3.75

Taste is ripe ruby red grapefruit flesh, orange slice candy, lychee, orange and grapefruit pith, lemon, and floral, with that characteristic Southern Hemisphere earthy funk layered over it all. Bread, slight caramel, and table sugar come from the malt. Dries out into the finish with a light bitterness. 4.0

Medium body. Soft, slick, smooth, slightly oily, chalky. Light medium carbonation. 3.75

I was hoping for an all old school APA with a new school hop, but this is more of a mashup of new and old school qualities. Has much more balance from the malts and that classic APA look (albeit with much more haze), but is much softer and rounded on the feel with less bitterness than desired. The hop character is interesting though. Not my favorite pale ale by these guys, but by no means is this a disappointing beer. 4.0
Aggregate Score: 3.92

 

Welcome to New Beer Sunday #975! I present the second of two from Notch.

Notch Lojko Poiish Lager



Can Notes: Obtained via trade with Adam, @Qu3st on Beer Advocate on 8/19, refrigerated until this afternoon. 16 oz born on 7/20/23 at 9:28 AM, best by 11/20/23, can stamp #LagerIsLife.

4.5% ABV, 12 Plato, Triple Decocted, Open Fermented, hopped with Lubelski, lagered forever. Brewed and canned by Notch Brewing Company, Salem, Massachusetts.

Appearance: Poured about half the can into a long flute type glass. Straw faint golden crystal clear pour, steady light carbonation after initial pour. bright white head leaves light clumpy lacing, a bubbly ring above the base and intermittent razor thin cover atop. 4.0

Aroma: Nice grassy floral aroma leads, cracker, pepper, salt, mineral water. Mild in strength, enticing. 4.25

Taste: Flavors consistent with aroma but much stronger. Cracker, salt (likely balanced but stronger for my personal salt sensitive palate), pepper, grass and floral notes, in that order. Dobry! 4.0

Mouthfeel: Medium body, crisp, light and clean drinking. Hits the ABV mark, lightly dry, would say leans bitter, consistent with style, sweetness held in check nicely. Perhaps a bit more hoppy than a typical European version, but hits my preference. Salty cracker lingers on the finish. 4.5

Overall: Overall, this is a solid Polish Lager. Consistent with the few other versions using Lubelski hops, perhaps a bit more used than standard. Flavors and aroma came through as expected, the former bolder in strength than many in this style. Well crafted, thanks Adam for picking out for me! 4.25

I currently have two drink fresh beers left, the remaining one suitable for aging which I'll get to the next few months. Will be hitting FOBAB Friday and Saturday, so not sure how my Saturday will play out next week. Cheers everyone!

 

Good afternoon NBW
My wife asked me pick up some beers to keep in the fridge for visitors over the next few months. I picked up some Celebration & Guinness Extra along with the new SA winter mix pack. This one is new to me so here we go.

Oaked Vanilla Porter
12oz bottle enjoy before April notch poured into a perfect pint glass at fridge temp 5.8% ABV 35 IBU per label. The beer pours bright light brown in color with ruby highlights and khaki colored head. The head recedes to a rocky cap and leaves plenty of lacing. The aroma is mild with vague sweetness and cocoa powder. The taste is artificial vanilla right up in your face with underlying oak and more cocoa. Unpleasant frankly. Mild bitterness. Mouthfeel is thin to medium bodied with average carbonation and a mostly dry finish. Overall, unidentifiable as a porter and generally a miss as a beer at all.

I will say it comes together a bit as it warms, but it's still unpleasant. I should have something better for later...
Cheers all!

 

Hop Butcher Peak Nelson TIPA (100% Nelson). Canned 10/18/23.

Pours a saturated, full on haze that's golden in color. One of the hazier beers you'll come across. Produces a 2.5 finger billowing head that's very dense and sticks around forever. Impressive head retention, especially for the abv. I'm going to venture that this has to have a ton of oats/wheat thrown into it. 4.5

Aroma is Welches Sparking White Grape Juice, passionfruit, pineapple gummis, earthy funk, bubblegum, oats. Sweet as expected. A bit muddled, but is plenty juicy from the yeast and sweetness. 4.0

Taste follows the aroma well. White grape, big earthy funk, dank passionfruit, oats, pineapple gummis, bubblegum, slight booze, hop resin. 4.25

Full body. Super soft and pillowy. Dense, oily, chalky. Classic Hop Butcher soft body. Pretty smooth despite a bit of alcohol showing. 4.5

This is a bit muddled as expected. I feel like there's better examples of single-hopped Nelson beers out there that show of the hop better. However, there's no denying this is quite smooth for 10.5% and has a luscious mouthfeel that only Hop Butcher and a few others out there can do. Glad I got to try it, but not blown away by it. 4.25
Aggregate Score: 4.23

 

Another foeder-lagered beer from Wild East. Not unlike their Festbier, it doesn't taste or smell anything like what the style suggests, but this time it doesn't make it weird. Still, I'd stick to something more traditional next time.

 

Good Sunday afternoon, New Beer Samplers and commentators. We're very fortunate to have some excellent new breweries here in North Jersey. Two of them, Autodidact Beer in Morris Plains, and Oakflower Brewing Co. in Millington, collaborated on this Double IPA, Thunder Road. It's a New Zealand version, hopped with Nectaron and Wai-iti, and it's stellar!

Canned on 10/24 so 5 days old. It pours a dirty tangerine color with a very robust, creamy, milk-white head and lots of thick, clinging lacing. A really enticing appearance. The nose is bright and fruity with lemon, pineapple, peach, apricot, and soft floral hops. The taste bursts with tropical fruit: pineapple, lemon, grapefruit, lime, and mandarin orange. The Nectaron and Wai-iti hops work exceptionally well together. Beneath the fruit is an earthy, herbal, slightly piney base and it's cleanly bitter throughout. The mouth feel is plush and creamy with appropriate carbonation, and the 8% ABV is appropriate since it goes down very quickly.

4.27/5 rDev +3.4%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

This is the second collaboration between Autodidact and Oakflower. They are both brewing excellent beer. One more thing: they share the business model of brewing and canning small batches. The cans typically sell out in a week or two so the beer is very fresh. Great days, indeed!

 

Can't tell ya how many good beers I've had that, IMHO, are destroyed by vanilla. Dang. Cheers!

 

Activities all wrapped, I’m cooking dinner and drinking a beer my dad brought back from Spain for me…sadly green bottle was all they had so I’ll take what I can get. Here we go…

Lowenbrau - Original (Helles 5.2%)



Pours brilliantly clear gold with a beautiful sustaining white head; great initial lacing which slowly gets weaker but a thick film of white persists.

Nose is unfortunately quite skunky, but some light hops as well; and a light fragrant white bread note is also present.

Taste is less skunky which is nice; really awesome crackers white bread vibes, a very light touch of sweetness; touch of noble hops on finish.

Mouthfeel is very nice, light body, incredibly d dry and clean, low but noticeable touch of bitter; the carbonation is so vibrant and creamy at once; probably my favorite aspect of this beer.

Nice to try this beer, thanks to pops for bringing it home; hopefully one day a can or brown bottle finds its way to me.

Cheers all have a great week! I’ll be drinking a dogfish punkin and watching hocus pocus tonight with Mrs Phisher, tradition…

See you next week friends got some other goodies brought home from pops I’m really looking forward to opening and writing about.

PS @MacMalt my fridge has Knockdown in it again, it’s back!!

 

New beer #2 for today
I couldn't resist a fresh-ish four pack of Pipeworks IIPA when I came across it.

16oz can stamped PKG 08/14/2023 poured into a Spiegelau IPA glass at fridge temp 8% ABV. The beer pours mostly bright medium amber with light khaki colored head. The head recedes to a thin cap and leaves rings of lacing. The aroma is mild with candied citrus, resinous tropical fruit and caramel. The taste is bittersweet tropical fruit, light caramel malt, and strong, resinous bitterness. The mouthfeel is medium bodied with average carbonation and a mostly dry finish. Overall, excellent IIPA.

Cheers all!

 

Boulevard Dark Crator BBA Doppelbock, 12.5% ABV. Pours clearish medium copper, with a 1.5 finger off-whit head that left no lacing. Aroma is light fruit and caramel/toffee. Taste is lightly-roasted malt, caramel/toffee, fruit, and bourbon, moderately sweet, slightly bitter. Decent mouthfeel, if a bit over-carbonated. Overall excellent.

4.19/5 rDev -0.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4.25

Vikings subreddit is already ablaze, blaming Packers for Cousins' 'ankle' injury. No Packers were near him when you can clearly see the achilles flapping in his calf. He'll be looking up Rodgers' surgeon. Walking soon after the injury means nothing, Rodgers did too, it'll be the achilles, and he's done for the season.