New Beer Weekend #203

Sounds great. I would be interested in the type of white wine and barrel it was contained in. As I have opined for years these beer and wine meldings are a rich territory for exploration. There really is no limit for the beverages of the future.....

 

Safe travels @russpowell - and have a great time!

 

Jalapeno Lime Fruited Kettle Sour by Sawdust City Brewing Co.
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/26774/610509/

Poured a 373ml can into a pint glass. A two finger white head on a hazy dirty lemon. the head diminishes to a layer.

Citrus in the nose.

A vegetal pepper taste. No heat. A lime finish.

Light body and moderate carbonation.

An interesting Kettle Sour. I was expecting heat but got a pleasant pepper flavour.

look: 3.75 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

 

So we had our May SAN last night, a week later than usual due to vacations and such. Back to just 3 of us so I kept it fairly light.

The Black Butte isn’t new, it was just so good I needed to share it with my friends. The rest were below 10% to keep us that needed to drive home from ending in a ditch or something.
Young’s is no Samuel Smith, it’s good on its own but for one that names itself Double Chocolate, you’d expect more than a little.
Nitro, so super soft feel while the bubbles lasted. Probably won’t be grabbing another one of these.
The Jet Black, at 4.7% was possibly my favorite of the night. It was also nitro but without the widget, and the taste had all the elements: Oatmeal milk vanilla stout is the description and I could taste each of those in nice balance. The feel was soft and accentuated the light sweetness. This is an ideal dessert beer that won’t mess you up.
Wig Splitter. Well, they said it was brewed with fresh ground espresso and it tastes more like coffee from one of those overpriced coffee shops that has been sitting around and got to room temperature than a stout. I kid not. The feel is similar to the room temperature coffee too. Weird.
Raze the Dawn - Inspired by Mexican chocolate but they went a bit too heavy on the chili flavor, that vegetal taste is just odd in my opinion. If that had been in better balance, this would have been a good beer.
Dark Truth, one of two imperial stouts that made the lineup. If you could describe the common denominators in a hundred different imperial stouts, this might be the result. It’s a great stout, it has almost exactly the specific characteristics that define the style, nothing more or less. It was almost weird in an incredibly normal way.
Rogue Shakespeare Nitro. This wasn’t imperial but it tasted more like one than any of the others, rich malty base and hops edge for that bite, all which rather clashed with the soft nitro feel. Think I might like the regular (non nitro) better.
And lastly, the pastry stout from Abomination. Midday Snack. And it’s most certainly a dessert beer, very sweet, overly sweet really, we had difficulty finishing the pint.
I know this is the cliff notes version, sorry! I’ll describe more completely in the ratings if you are curious.

 

Falling Knife Ancient Old Painless

Appearance: Dark brown, a little ring of head.

Smell: Big barrel wood, vanilla, some caramel, then a bit of red wine fruitiness.

Taste: Caramel sweetness to start, then some barrel vanilla and wood. Numbing to the tongue. A little booziness shows through, and a splash of red wine fruitiness. As it warms up the caramel and vanilla take over. Bourbon-y finish, quite long.

Overall: Probably the most expensive bottle I've bought of beer, this is a barrel-aged version of Falling Knife's barleywine. I haven't had the non-BA barleywine, but it seems the base beer is pretty solid. I've had several BA barleywines lately, and this one seems to be well done, not super hot and boozy or over-woody from the barrel. Quite tasty!

 

Yeah that one is pretty horrible I must admit. BUT their lite lager and Golden beers are actually Very tasty if you ever wana give them another shot.

 

Good to know... Not sure I have any desire to try anything from them. Maybe some other brand instead.

 

I will add one new beer for this weekends thread.

I met some friends at Holler Brewing yesterday afternoon. Before they showed up, I had a chance to write some notes down. I use to hold Holler in very high regard, not so much now. Though always curious to revisit and rethink my opinions...here is Springtobertest. 6.3% ABV, apparently making a spring/summer Fiestbeir offering.



Pours a clear yellow color. A one finger white head forms and recedes to leave some rings of lace behind.
A fairly neutral aroma, but not particularly bad. Sweet cereal grains is about all I can come up with, which is fine...enough.
Taste wise, cereal grains, honey and plenty of sweetness, almost under attenuated in that sense. Though, I guess I'll be generous and say it is perfectly "OK."
A light body and moderate carbonation. A watery thin finish, and again sweet. Just OK, something that can be had at the brewery and you don't have to think too much about it.

I'm trying to be generous here. Though this is just about as average and inoffensive as it gets. I love subtle styles and lagers. I think true lighter but flavorful Fest style lagers would work really good with the Texas heat if they were available more often, but there needs to be more here. I'm also constantly getting under attenuated/really sweet offerings from Holler lately (at least it seems that way to me).

Overall score is 3.37, a generous B score, should probably be more in line with a C+ but whatever.
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/45647/705136/?ba=champ103#lists

 

Jack's Abby — Intrepid Traditions: Pilsner

Another week, another Jack's Abby pilsner. In the last few months, there were several exclusive deals with supermarket chains: two in the Destination series at Whole Foods, several at Wegmans (and one more just came out), and this time at Trader Joe's. The vague description implies that there will be multiple releases here too. The only info on the can besides that it is German-style Pilsner, we get — 100% imported Pilsner malt and German hops, naturally carbonated.

The beer looks a lot like several other recent Jack's Abby releases — a bright yellow transparent liquid with a light, non-sticky head.

The nose is bready with spice suspiciously reminding me of the dry-hopped lagers JA is so good at.

The taste and mouthfeel make this suspicion stronger. But is it a dry-hopped lager? I cannot tell...

Overall, I almost feel like I need a side-by-side with at least Destination: Australia from the last week since I'm starting to get confused between all of these releases.

 

Drekker/Bluejacket collab 3 Greg Tomlette DNEIPA, 8% ABV. Pours hazy pale orange with a 3-finger off-white head that left light lacing. Aroma is tropical and citrus. Taste follows with pineapple up front, slightly sweet, slightly bitter. Juicy mouthfeel, overall excellent.

4.17/5 rDev 0%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25

 

Though I wouldn’t say I am screaming for a barley wine in the summer, but as soon as I smelled this English barley wine, I knew I was ordering one.


This is Cloudwater Behind the Mask, an actual English version of the style.

Pours a deep amber and fairly clear. Didn’t pay too close attention to the head as I was conversing with the staff, but I’m near the bottom of the glass now and there’s a decent amount of bubbles sitting on the beer’s surface.

The nose… smells like barley. I mean, my home brewing days are elicited with each sniff. There’s more spice and yeasty alcohol beyond what my wort would be expected to produce, but the base is right there. The whisky tangent my life has taken is buying in as well.

Dream state aside, there are lighter versions of quad-like aromas on this - medium dark bread, golden raisin, fig. Medium-plus viscosity, leaning full but not in a weighty sense. Spiced dark fruit bread evokes the nose, but doesn’t live up to that lofty goal. Falling just a bit short is not a thing the taste should feel bad about.

Time to see if my college’s baseball team can avoid a deciding game three in the baseball post-season.

 

Thank you for kicking off the weekend @Beersnake ! Was out Friday, but works out because I have two potpourri for this weekend, with the next three weekends themed for specific Chicago and Suburban breweries. Today's pour is a six week old APA brewed by the folks at Geneva Lager Works, also owned by the owners of Art History.

Finished with the live review, and while I have liked several of this brewery's offerings, this is not one brewed for me.

Art History Lincoln Highway

3.18/5 rDev -16.8%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3 | feel: 2.75 | overall: 2.75



Overall: This is six weeks old, so chalking this up to brewed as intended. Would have liked a more balanced offering to hops focused, though not surprised by the typical Midwest heavy malt take. It's OK, but glad I bought a single. 2.75

Hoping for better results tomorrow, will catch up with the thread in the interim.

Cheers!

 

I've fallen behind schedule getting to things in my fridge and this one kept getting pushed aside for older cans. Glad I finally got around to it as it's a great beer and brings back some great memories. This is Switchback's eclipse-themed release.

Switchback Dark Side Stout
5.8% Export Stout



Pours pitch black; completely opaque. A two-finger, frothy brown head forms with little coaxing and it lingers for a few minutes before dissipating to a coating.
The aroma is fairly one-sided, foreshadowing the taste. A hint of chocolate plays over a vast pool of roast: blackened bread, roast grains, black coffee, char. The chocolate comes out more as it warms.

A few seconds of semi-sweet chocolate, cocoa, and molasses at the front of the sip makes you think your nose had it wrong, but then the main show arrives. The entire rest of the sip is roast, intensifying as it goes. There is dark bread moving into burnt bread, then coffee and roasted grains. On the finish, dark roast coffee and char come to the fore and linger throughout the aftertaste. There's an underlying malt sweetness, which coalesces into a molasses base as things warm up, that keeps this from being bitter and allows the roast to shine. Only on the aftertaste does bitterness build.

Fairly light-bodied with moderate carb. The finish is dry with an almost sticky aftertaste.

Overall, this is a great export stout. It has everything I like about the style in spades and the transition from "bright" sweet to "dark" roast flavors is a great touch in an eclipse beer. If this had a smoother feel it would be exceptional.

 

Had a couple good brews from Hoppin' Frog today, their Peanut Butter Hazelnut Caramel Chocolate Cake Stout and the Bourbon Barrel Aged version:

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/14879/413753/?ba=bluejacket74#lists



https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/14879/602202/?ba=bluejacket74#lists



Both were good but in this case the bourbon barrel aged version was better. I know there was a lot going on with these but the barrel aged version was aged long enough where there was a nice difference between the 2. Might have another new beer or 2 later today or tomorrow. Cheers everyone!

 

My daughter is a flight safety analyst for Virgin Galactic, and today was Family Day at the Spaceport. We got to see a manned flight of their newest rocket, Unity. Very impressive. We even got to meet Sir Richard himself!
Now we're home and I'm watching golf. I have a new beer for today:Hop Drift, a cold IPA from La Cumbre.
This beer is a clear gold color with a small, persistent white head. There is a little bit of lace.
Aroma of citrus, a little pine, and some sweet malt.
Grapefruit, orange taste, Late pine. Caramel.
Nicely hopped, just the right degree of bitterness.

 

Jack's Abby — Pre Pro

Here we go again. Yet another lager from Jack's Abby, this time from Wegmans. BA classifies it as German Pilsner, however, considering American barley and hops, and corn mash decoction, it doesn't sound right to me.

This is a light yellow beer with a fluffy sticky head and no lacing.

The nose is of sweet yeast.

The taste is bread, malt, no trace of corn, plus a tiny hop bitter aftertaste.

The mouthfeel is full-bodied lager, almost bock-like, which is not surprising considering 5.8% ABV.

Overall this lager is delicious, but...

All these grocery stores' special releases are mostly priced around $11/4pack. Trader Joe's doesn't have discounts, so it is straightforward $11, Whole Foods prices them at $12 but constantly runs specials making them $9-$11. Previous Wegmans releases were priced at $14 but secretly cost $12 with a membership card. Pre Pro is going for $16 or $14 with the membership card. I have no idea why, or why Jack's Abby suddenly makes so many different "special" releases. I know it is an odd thing to complain about, but as of lately, there are so many choices, that it makes it hard to justify going for this specific beer even if I want to get Jack's Abby beer.

 

Long time, NBW. Here’s Plucky

Had a hand pulled pint but the Barman more or less ruined it.

Serving this at a warmer temp and I think that’s a good play.



There’s some sweet, pleasant malt character, it’s crisp but delicate. It’s an ale but very clean and palatable. Doesn’t really press the palate with fruitiness or sweetness. Hops are reminiscent of Marlborough sav blanc. There’s some earthy spice, dirty soil character. Very enjoyable and exactly what it portends.
Cheers!

 

My first Happoshu beer comes courtesy of @snaotheus, who hit me with a box out of the blue last weekend.

3.43/5 rDev +17.1%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
Appearance is an extraordinarily clear apple juice color with an inch of foamy white head with decent retention. Aroma is sweet and stronger than I expected. From a foot or so away it almost has green apple vibes, but up close that is a little more muted, with general sweet grains a little more prominent.

Some of the apple juice vibes continue with the taste, but with a little bit of cardboard and general adjuncts. Very light and refreshing.

I'm a firm believer that there's a time and a place for every beer, including light, adjunct laden mass produced ones. This is a very nice beer for a beautiful June day.


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@Beersnake to your question, I definitely skew to lighter beers in the summer. Mostly saisons & wild ales, but if I also love a good lager or pilsner at this time of year.