New Beer Weekend #177

A classic

 

Thanks @AzfromOz for the down under opener

spent the day on the courts teaching new futsal referees proper mechanics. Altered my path home to swing by Trillium in Canton. They are expanding the facility …again . Was looking to purchase Death Mettle , it was tapped out. Love their Daily serving series and saw two new ones . Needed a beer to watch the MLS final and Massachusetts referee Ian McKay run the lines . Prosit Ian on your MLS assignment and honor as Asst Ref of the year

Daily Serving Raspberry and Blueberry


4.46/5 rDev 0%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

Chilled 16 oz can poured into a pretentious beer glass

Waves of raspberry jam on the pour . Aroma is juicy tart raspberries

Hazy purplish red liquid capped by a two finger pink foam , spotty lacings coat the glass, settles to a pink ring and island

Taste is juicy sweetart raspberry with a blueberry chaser

Low sudsing , thick , jammy , sweet , tart finish , slight tingly fizziness

Good beer

 

mahalo to @tasterschoice62 for this Grey Sail Brewing 11th Anniversary Triple IPA, 11.11% ABV; 4.25 overall

Pours a slightly hazed & effervescent amber with a thumb of eggshell colored head. Above average lacing & average-ish head retention

S: Tropical fruits, cakeyness & pineyness, some green melon & mangoes once warm

T: Plenty of pine, dryness & cakeyness up front, a little grapefruit as well. Dryness, pineyness & cakeyness rule the day as this beer warms up. Getting some guava at the end here in the finish as along with green melon, piney dryness & a touch of caramel

MF: Chewy, low carbonation, skewing a little hoppy

This a monster of an Imperial IPA, skewing very old school, fairly drinkable for the heft

 

Good evening beer nerds and geeks! Tonight I bring you a blast from the past: Goose Island BCBS #4 - An Oatmeal Stout with coffee and maple syrup.
IIRC, this was given to me by @FBarber, beer geek extraordinaire.
Poured stout black with an impressive light brown head (for a BA stout that’s 3 years old) which left spotty lacing.
The aroma was very sadly lost on me. Stupid Covid.
The taste leads with maple syrup which coffee strives and fails to balance. Still freaking tasty, just not as well balanced as I expected.
The feel is properly viscous, really nice sipping beer.
OA- thanks Frank, I enjoyed this a lot.

 

Cheers to @tasterschoice62 for this.

Proclamation Ale Company Piece or Peasies? Imperial Stout with Peanut Butter, Chocolate & Lactose 9.5& ABV; 3.21 overall

Pours an effervescent chestnut/mahogany with a sliver of caramel colored head, dissipates rapidly. Zero head retention & lacing

S: Cocoa, hints of peanut butter cup

T: Dryness, cocoa, a little Baker's Chocolate & a little vanilla, some peanut hulls/woodiness too up front. Sweetness dominates as this beer warms up, some vanilla. Finishes a little dry with peanut flavor, vanilla & a touch of cacao

MF: Medium body, slight carbonation. Body thins & the carbonation picks up as this warms, some boozy warmth. The weak point for this beer

Peanut butter beers for me are a tough nut to crack. Pun intended. Most taste forced or artificial, like this one. Happy to get to try this none the less

 

I would encourage you to purchase a six-pack if a single is not available to you.

Cheers!

 

Edit: Bulked it up to 3.34 after draining the can, got slightly better

 

Thanks again to @tasterschoice62 for this Definite Brewing Company Demi-Sec New England IPA w/Sauvignon Blanc Grape Juice, 7.4% ABV; 4.29 overall

Pours a pretty hazed gold with a pinky+ of eggshell colored head. crazy lacing & nice head retention

S: Mangoes, papaya, peaches, guava & white grapes

T: Green melon, lime, dryness, tangerine & a little grassiness up front. Dryness, grassiness, grapefruit & some woody hops as this beer warms up, with some green melon & passion fruit creeping around the edges. Finishes with plenty of grapefruit, green melon, peach white grape skins & dryness

MF: Medium body, creamy carbonation, great balance

Nice drinkability, easily the best grape/IPA I've had. This would do well in the Summer despite the heft

 

A huge thanks to @Roguer for including this brew in the barleywine/stout BIF My first experience with Fox Farm..



Echos batch 2, canned 08.17.22

P deep mahogany w/ a sm light tan head that recedes quickly to a ring
N smells good, med-bold aroma of honey and choc, hints of booze in there too, inviting
T a little more delicate than as I was anticipating; grainy malts, toffee, vanilla, a touch of bite from the booze/barrel, and light honey to round things out, lightly bitter barrel character lingers in the aftertaste, honey becomes more pronounced as it warms and profile becomes more rounded, more toastiness and nutty notes; pleasant for sure
Mf med to med-full bodied w/ med carb
O nicely done Baltic, the profile is a little more subdued than expected, but all the elements are there, an enjoyable brew and a good first impression of the brewery

Official rating to come shortly..

Cheers, BAs!

 

Hello New Beer Weekend!!!

Done with work for today, and, since it's cold, windy, and the roads are icy (after the slushy snow fell), might as well go big.


Darkness - 2023 Coco BA - Surly Brewing - Minneapolis, MN - RIS - 12% ABV

I was a not too sure about buying the BA variants this year, because I thought the 23' release of the base Darkness was not very good. Darkness, this year, was over the top bitter, and just lacking in flavor that I associate with the beer. This BA version of the beer, with additives, makes up for the sad state of the regular version this year. The bitterness is gone, and is replaced by a smooth feeling beer, with great flavors. Very impressed.

Review:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/13014/674555/

4.52/5 rDev +4.1%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
From a 16oz can canned on 10/30/23

This beer is pitch black pouring, and there is no light at all shining through the glass. It looked pretty thick while pouring. Overall the head was quite strange. It started out looking like there was going to be no head as I was pouring the beer. A head started to from after I was done pouring, but looked quite pathetic, just a few large bubbles. Eventually there was a 1/2 finger head that formed, and it went from looking pathetic to looking frothy, and fluffy. Very long head retention and, a good ring of lacing on the glass.
The aroma is just packed full of chocolate. I could get some hints of chocolate when I was pouring the beer. The chocolate does seem a bit sweeter, not very dark, and more of a milk chocolate. I am also getting notes of dark fruit - raisin, plum - vanilla, caramel, and coffee.
Taste - I am getting tons of milk chocolate in the flavor. It reminds me of a malted milk ball candy. The chocolate is sweeter, and not dark leaning, but not over the top sweet. I do get a faint char flavor, that is pleasing to me. I also get notes of the base beer, with hints of caramel, dark fruit, vanilla and coffee.
This beer is so damn smooth feeling. Creamy mouthfeel. Very full feeling. There's just the faintest hint of a burn.
I was not impressed with the base beer this year, it was just over the top bitter, but this is quite delicious. I am getting none of the problems I got with the regular Darkness this year.


One and done tonight. Be back tomorrow for more. Cheers!

 

GREAT START!!!

 

Well, thanks to @CarolinaCardinals for this gem.
Mother of All Bricks

A collab between 2 masters of Barleywines, Pelican Brewing & Jackie O's

Thanks to CarolinaCardinals for this absolute treasure.
Pours a deep dark walnut to mahogany hue with a khaki colored head that rises a finger in height and then settles to a fairly solid ring.
The nose flows with deep notes of toffee, dates, and the most sublimely light handed charred caramel and whiskey barrel hints.
Taste begins with a smooth vanilla tinged toffee, chewy medjool date, and then turns straight to a gracefully warm bourbon note that carries warm sweet notes and some silky char. Hints of light buttery almond, apple, and pear also can be gleaned from this profoundly rich barleywine. But all of this is delivered in a richer, "darker", uber-barleywine.
The mouthfeel is fuller than typical but the heft carries the load impeccably. The warmth is present but definitely not over the top. And the smooth finish is elegant.
Overall, this should be a collaboration on a yearly basis.
4.45/5 rDev +0.2%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5

 

Good day BAs! Back again with the Sunday morning New Breakfast Beer, thanks to @muchloveforhops3 and Barleywine Stout BIF #1:



Barrel-aged Stout (2022 vintage) – from Mountains Walking Brewery. 500 mL capped bottle acquired from @muchloveforhops3 in BSBIF #1. Reviewed 10/12/23 (Review 3190). Note that I use DD/MM/YY protocol.
On side of label “BOTTLED SEPT ’22”. Stored at 34 degrees at home. Served at 57.5 degrees F in a hand washed and dried Jester King snifter. The final temperature was 61.7 degrees F.
Appearance – 3.5
First pour – Ruby Brown (SRM 24), light barely passes through it.
Body – Black (SRM 40), opaque. Under direct light, same. When rear-lite, opaque body and ruby at the edges.
Head: Average (Maximum 1.5 cm, aggressive center pour), fawn, high density with a rocky top, fizzy, average retention, dropping to a 0.25 cm crown, and no cap.
Lacing – None.
Aroma – 4.5 – Strong macadamia and a bit of coconut when the cap is removed. The coconut quickly fades and is replaced by roasted malt and coffee. No yeast, no hops, no alcohol (10 % ABV as marked on the label).
Flavor – 4.5 – Begins sweet with distinct coffee and macadamia. No yeast. No dimethylsulfide or diacetyl. Weak gastric warming which does mount over time. No ethanol ever tasted. The bourbon barrels are evident on the exhale.
Palate – 4.5 – Medium; creamy; soft carbonation.
Final impression and summation: 4.25 Excellent Impy stout! The macadamia nuts are a unique touch and well-represented in both the aroma and taste. Both the coffee and coconut are initially present but tend to fade into the background with the bourbon barrels. The bourbon barrels are very smoothly represented and do not dominate – there are only a slight oakiness and no burning assault on the gastric mucosa. Overall, an excellent representation of the style. If I lived in the Bozeman area, I’d buy this by the case!
Rating 4.39, rDev +1.6%

Thanks Doug - an excellent representation of the style from the border of the Great White North!

 

Samuel Smith Organic Chocolate Stout

Picked up the gift pack because I like the glass (even though it's not as large of a glass as it used to be).

Appearance: Very dark brown, good creamy head.

Smell: Nice chocolate smell, kind of like powdered cocoa.

Taste: Mildly sweet, continues with mildly sweetened chocolate through the body, finishes with a touch of roasty malt. Medium-light body, easy drinking.

Overall: A very nice English stout, it's good to mix in some traditional styles occasionally. Nicely balanced flavors and very drinkable. Flavorful without being overpowering. Very nice!

 

Poured into a 16 oz Snulip glass canned on 11/30/23. Interesting they are stealing my sauce slang. Pours a milky yellow with a solid finger sticky white head that leaves a thin wall of lace with excellent retention. 4.75

Aroma is peach, passionfruit, mandarin, honeydew, a little lime, and apricot. 4

Taste follows, unique for sure. Peach, mandarin, passionfruit, honeydew, a little lime, and apricot big flavor. 4

Mouthfeel is above average, soft gentle carbonation, not sticky or dry, and at 8% it goes rather easy. 4.25

Overall I am liking this, unique, gorgeous, and a very well made NEDIPA. 4.25 Cheers all.