New Beer Weekend #179

I was in Albuquerque last week and stopped at La Cumbre, whose Elevated WCIPA I absolutely adore.

The venue and their beers did not disappoint, as they had a great selection of beers on tap - and an equally impressive selection of to go beers, of which I muled home three 4-packs.

My one-and-done tonight is one of those, and it’s a big one. Let’s GOOOOOO, NBS!!!





4.29/5 rDev 0%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25
This WCDIPA from New Mexico features five hop varietals (Ekuanot, Meridian, Citra, Strata, and Mosaic) pours a nearly clear yellow color and sports a creamy white head that takes its lacing responsibilities seriously. Gorgeous beer.

The nose is a little dank and weedy, but the weedy note is actually more herbal - this is like you’re sitting in a hemp shop. There’s also citrus (lemon and tangerine) and berries, but make no mistake - this beer is about the weed.

That’s where the taste lands as well, with that weedy, herbal dank flavor leading the citrus and berry flavors that lurk in the background, with a decidedly bitter finish. Very nice.

The mouthfeel is crushingly dry, a world class finish on an adventurous beer that roams a bit on the flavor side, but is more than worthy of stop in Albuquerque if you want a big (8.8%) WCDIPA that is proud to sit in that beer nerd space.

 

Tree of Fortitude by Tree House


4.57/5 rDev +0.7%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

Brewers notes: Tree of Fortitude is our signature barleywine that has been aged in a variety of flavored Rum barrels between 14–20 months. It utilizes several distinct ingredients to both enhance and elevate the base beer to new, intriguing places.By implementing careful doses of vanilla, coconut, and lime, it carries flavors and aromas of sweet brown sugar, soft candied coconut, and a delightful underlying hint of lovely citrus. Once combined, these independently recognizable flavors harmonize into a pleasant blend that may just transport you to a more tropical locale. Wherever you find yourself drinking Tree of Fortitude, we hope you enjoy it in good company and in good health.

Blue Waxed and capped bottle , chilled and poured into a teku glass, black liquid, no foam

Aroma is rum , brown sugar

Taste is dark, sweet, raisins, rum, toffee , brown sugar, lime citrus on the finish, subtle coconut

Thick, heavy, viscous mouthfeel, slightest effervescent which quickly fades

Delicious sipping beer

 

Hell yeah, nice write-up of a great beer!

 

Good evening, my BA people; I hope the start of your holidays is going great and you are drinking lots of beer. I started with a Polar Eclipse from Rough Tail; sadly, that beer had the off-flavor of wet leaves. Next, I went to Pain Perdu from The Brurey, a Fabulous beer with some sweetness. My next beer will be 2 Turtle Doves by The Brurey. Sometime tonight, I will consume Sticky Bun by The Brurey as well. Have a fantastic night. I am glad to see people drinking some tasty stuff.

 

A Classic to consume during the holiday. Cheers!

 

Looks and sounds tasty! Hope all is well with you this year!

 

Here's a brand new offering from Foam Brewers!

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/45496/683730/



16 ounce can.
Canned on 12/13/23.

Moderate pour yields a one inch tan head over a black body with sticky lacing.

Nose of almost burnt toast, chocolate, and slight coffee.

Taste mirrors nose, minus the burnt toast, with chocolate in the forefront,
finishing with roasted malt, bitter chocolate, and slight coffee.

Good mouthfeel with medium carbonation.

Overall, a real tasty offering from Burlington, VT and should not be overlooked!
Cheers!!

 

A day of picking up food for tomorrow and baking cheesecakes. And cookies.

Splitting this concoction with the missus:



Caramel Apocalypse from The Brewing Projekt. It says it is a gose brewed with caramel, apple, vanilla, granola, sea salt, cinnamon.

It pours ugly, chunky brownish yellow with no head.

Smells immediately of apple, then well-caramelized caramel and pretty much ends there.

This is caramel candy apple sweet tasting but it isn't a bad taste. Burnt caramel and apple cider flavor and a grainy taste of granola. I get just a slight amount of cinnamon on the back end of the taste. If there is vanilla it's lost in the overall sweetness. I actually like the flavor but I'm not finding beer anywhere in the mix.

Texture is medium, a little light, soft grit like pulp. Very meek cinnamon in the aftertaste.

Ok...it's no looker and it's all out of whack as far as being a gose or maybe even a beer. I like the flavors but this might be better heated in a mug with a cinnamon stick. Haven't decided yet how I am going to score it, but I'm thinking 3.5 or so and that may be high. Kinda wish I hadn't liked the flavors...

 

Here we go. I've saved this last Rev beer from the amazing group @ChicagoJ traded me this past summer. Loved all of them, let's see how the last one holds up.

Revolution Brewing V.S.O. Gravedigger. Canned April 4, 2023. Kept chilled at 37 degrees since getting it home, on ice before then.

Look: Deep and dark, minimal head that dissapates quickly. Near the stem it is thin enough to reveal a deep cherry red hue.

Smell: Fig, chocolate, balsamic reduction, slight alcohol at the back of the nose.

Taste: Sweet chocolate, brown sugar, something from cognac I can't place.

Feel: Smooth and fluffy. It has slight alcohol burn with a crisp edge that adds some character and balance.

Overall: I could drink this daily. Not the best of the group but still stellar. I am so jealous of people who can get these from Rev so easily. The flavors meld well together but remain distinct. They rise and fall like waves.

 

Fair State Zoomie Catcher


Appearance: Dark amber, good head.

Smell: Sweetness, caramel.

Taste: Moderate sweetness, cakey, fruity. Caramel undertones and more of them in the finish. Kind of a slightly grassy hop note? Finishes sweet.

Overall: Decided that I needed to try Fair State's barleywine, so drove over and picked up a 4 pack. It is maybe a little more English style than American style, but kind of halfway between—not as sweet as English, not as hoppy as American. An interesting mix of flavors.

 

Panacea Brewing Netflicks and Chile BBA Imperial Stout, 12.2% ABV. Pours thin and black with a small head that dissipated faster than I could line up the shot. Nose is chocolate, bourbon, and chile peppers. Taste is chocolate up front, then chile peppers, some bourbon, and heartburn on the close. Thin mouthfeel with light carbonation, overall very good.

As far as a rating, I can't officially review this until I can identify the brewery. I can't find any evidence of a Panacea Brewing in Sioux Falls, as it says on the label. Panacea LLC owns Remedy brewing, so I suspect that Remedy brewed this ahead of some announcement. I'll do an official review when I know more, but I'd rate this no more than 3.90.

This beer loses points based on taking about 10 minutes to open it, due to the plasticized armor that only served to piss me off while keeping me away from the expensive beer I paid for. Brewers need to stop doing this, it's pointless and dangerous.

 

Good evening NBW
I've been on call for the last 48 hours and on the wagon as a precaution in case I was called in. Off the hook now and reaching into the new beer backlog.

Sadly, we get little in the way of Boulevard or Ommegang here anymore. I was pretty surprised to be the second review on this one.

Nitro Three Philosophers

16oz can stamped KC072423 12:41 23 JUL 2024 poured into a snifter at fridge temp 9.7% ABV. The can advises a hard center pour and provides a quick nitro cascade leaving medium brown beer with a quarter inch of khaki colored, tight nitro head. The aroma is mild with candi sugar, malt, cherry juice and clove. The taste is semisweet burnt sugar caramel, clove, cherry, rich toasted malt and a touch of earthy hop flavor with minimal bitterness. The mouthfeel is medium bodied with typical nitro feel and a semi dry finish. Alcohol is fairly well disguised here. Overall, good quad. I would still prefer old fashioned carbonation, but this works pretty well.

Cheers all!

 

Sure...I'll have another...

Now in the glass something that's certainly a beer:



This is Finback Ploom. The notes say: "Foeder-aged smoked lager - German style rauchbier. Amber in color, balance of rich malt and delicate smoke character with a pleasing sweetness at the finish."

Pours crystal clear amber color with an inch plus of off white, kinda dense foam. Falls to a robust cap that sheets the glass on the sip. As pretty as the last one was ugly!

Smell of fairly strong woodsy smoke and toasted malts, no particular hop notes. It seems it has an aroma and appearance that are highly appropriate to the style. Very clean and tidy smell.

Malty smokey goodness - very clear malt layered with a pleasing smokiness. The smoke is certainly noticeable, but it stops well short of any "meaty" character- handled nicely and balanced with the rich malts. There's a pleasant sweetness on the finish and a very mild spiciness that's gotten me thinking some variant of Noble hops were used. Maybe odd to say with a smoked beer but it's a very clean fermentation that's been well-lagered.

The feel is almost medium bodied. Carbonation is moderate as well. The bready sweetness lingers a little as the smoke tapers off. Kind of reminds me of a sweet tobacco cigar, in a way.

Ticking quite a few boxes. Nicely made lager with great balance of malt and smoke flavors. Subtlety in the smoke - I love my BBQ and smoker cooking, but I don't like feeling like I've licked an ashtray. This beer fits comfortably in a sweet spot for me. I'm feeling a 4.2 landing zone.

 

First official new beer of the holiday weekend is delayed a bit. We went to visit my Alaskan math teach friend in the hospital. Five weeks now since initial hospitalization, he's on the waiting list for a heart transplant as of almost two weeks ago. I'm surprised to learn that the average wait (at least at this hospital) for a heart is three weeks. He's in good spirits and aside from the new surgery scars and all the equipment attached to him to monitor everything and (literally) keep him alive, he looks and sounds like his normal self. I'm glad he's finally feeling up to visitors.

8 Bit - Mario Tart: Badlands. 16oz can served in a small snifter. Canned on 02-23-23.

Pours mostly clear, pinkish amber, smallish head peaking around a centimeter in height. Smell is kettle sour and raspberries, maybe a hint of vanilla.

Taste is tart raspberry juice, tangerine is evident mostly as a vague fruity sweetness, kettle sour character is present but not overwhelming.

Mouthfeel is light, dry, clean. Overall, pretty good beer.

 

Here's a tweaked Mandarin Twilight, after upping the abv.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/46275/644954/



4.33/5 rDev +3.6%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
16 ounce can.
Brewed for Upper Pass Beer Company by Zero Gravity Craft Brewing, Burlington, VT.
Canned on my birthday, 12/19/23
4 days old!

Moderate to vigorous pour yields a 5/4 inch fluffy white head with sticky lacing.

Nose of sweet citrus and tropical fruit and, after warming awhile, there is a hint of vanilla.

Taste of mostly mandarin orange and mango, with secondary flavors of papaya and grapefruit.
Finishes with grapefruit, lemon, and grapefruit pith bitterness.

Full mouthfeel with medium carbonation.

Overall, a really nice offering (and the first Zero Gravity brewed UPB beer
after UPB ended their relationship with Two Roads, CT.)

Cheers!!

 

Oh dear, your poor liver. Hopefully you are sharing!

 

Trillium Rink IPA, 7.0% ABV; 4.2 overall Thanks @The_Kriek_Freak, cheers Ira!

Pours a hazed gold with a pinky of eggshell colored head. Pretty good head retention & lacing

S: Green melons, preaches, faint bready notes & citrus

T: Oranges, green melon, slight dryness & lime up front. Green melon, tangerine & dryness as this beer warms up, a little white grape & pineapple as well, along with dryness. Finishes with green melon, a little grape, & pomelo & just a little dryness

MF: Medium body, restrained carbonation, good balance

Solid juicy IPA, very easy to drink

 

Thoughts for you Ryan, happy you were able to see you friend in good spirits; seems like a very hard situation.

@snaotheus