New Beer Weekend #21

I believe it is low production. I live in Montpelier and saw it briefly about a month ago. Happily there are increasingly more good lagers produced up here. I enjoy your side by side reviews, thanks!
Cheers.

 

Howdy NB BA’s

Hold On To Sunshine
A sweet coffee milk stout with chocolate and peanut butter. 7.6 abv
Cross post from WBAYDN


Pours dark brown with a 1 inch foamy head into a tulip style glass at around 50 degrees
Aroma is roasted coffee a hint of peanut butter and a hint of chocolate
Taste is roasted malt and coffee forward with a peanut butter note finish that I liked a lot
Mouthfeel is full, low carbonation and pretty chewy. Slight tingle and then a fairly smooth finish. All the flavors come out
Overall it is a very smooth drinking stout, a bit sweet but not sickening. Kind of a low abv but it’s very full and filling. I liked it.
4.5 /4.25/ 4.5 /4.5 /4.5. 4.45. -1.8

 

Starting the day with a beer I received as part of a return fire box from @EricRub back in March. This one is Barrel-Aged Mocha Legion from Community Beer Co. New beer and brewery for me.

4.15/5 rDev -3.7%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

Pours black with an inch of medium-density beige colored head that hung around for a minute or two, leaving behind a decent amount of lacing. Rich coffee and chocolate aromas come off this in waves, with molasses and some fig-like notes underneath the more dominant coffee / chocolate. On the whole, this is very inviting.

Taste is heavy on the coffee, with plenty of roasty flavors. Not quite as nuanced as I expected based on the smell, but this does have a fairly long finish and some additional flavors seem to emerge long after I have swallowed a sip. In particular, the booze are more present late than early.

Overall, a well done beer. Perfect Sunday morning sipper.

 

Newest pastry sour from a local Keene NH brewery, Branch & Blade. Electric Water Coolers.

I was instructed to put it in the freezer for a few minutes to prevent gushing. Glad I did as I neglected to tell my son-in-law this info and his first can was a little messy.

Appearance: Thick, chunky, and fruity. Residue on the glass after a few sips.

Aroma: Astringent berry.

Mouthfeel: thick, smooth and creamy.

Taste: Fresh out of the freezer just cold and tangy. After it warmed a bit I could really get the cherry and whipped cream followup.

This brewery does a great job with these pastry sours. My favorite is still the caramel apple. But this one is right up there.

 

Time to kick the day off with this.
Peanut Butter Oreo from Backpocket Brewing. 6.1% ABV.

Not bad at all. There's a bit of bitterness that doesn't fit in, but the rest works well.

Review:

3.92/5 rDev 0%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Pours a nice dark brown color. Lots of carbonation in this beer. 2 1/2 finger fluffy looking tan head. The head retention is damn good. A bit of lacing on the glass.
The nose has a strong peanut aroma mixed in with a nice darker chocolate aroma.
Taste - Lots of dark bitter chocolate with a bit of peanut on the backside. Slight bitterness mixed in as well.
The body is decent. Slightly creamy.
Not bad. The bitterness takes a bit away from it, though.

 

I actually picked one of those up and after reading this Im anxious to try it.

 

Oxbow Brewing Co., Newcastle ME, “Majestic”, a blended farmhouse ale with grape juice added:



Bottled 7/21/20. Opaque deep amber pour with some clarity under a white head; ok cap retention; solid ring; soapy bands of lacing. Nose is Welch’s white grape juice with a whiff of funk. Grape juice upon entry, tart fruit - apples, pears, grapes; semi sweet base; light funk. Light body ; prickly moderate carbonation; crisp clean dry effervescent. Overall, very enjoyable; good tart fruit linger; light and easy drinking; not too tart nor too funky for a farmhouse. Nice!

4.25 | 4.25 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 4.25
Score: 4.38 rDev: I added to database

 

I feel really badly about this next one. I'm a big fan of Mast Landing Brewing in Westbrook, Maine. They make some of my very favorite, reliably consistent IPA's. I've avoided Gunner's Daughter for years because I knew goddamn well I wasn't going to like a peanut butter milk stout. But there it was, just sitting there on the shelf, and the compulsion to tick one more beer! overcame me...



Mast Landing Brewing Company
Gunner's Daughter, a peanut butter milk stout at 5.5% abv
1.9/5 rDev -55.7%
look: 3.5 | smell: 2.25 | taste: 1 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 2

From a 16oz can, dated 11/12/20. Served in a Mast Landing-branded willi becher.

Pours utterly black without discernible highlights. A big, bubbly, two finger-plus rocky head doesn’t last but a minute, leaving a few scattered dots of lacing.

A powerful stench of burnt hazelnuts - not toasted; actually burnt, charred, incinerated.

Taste is similar to the nose but more like burnt Reese’s Pieces, and used, dried out coffee grinds and old dirty ashtrays.

Feel is smooth, medium-light bodied and well carbonated... I’m sorry; I’m trying so hard not to taste the beer that it’s hard to focus on the mouthfeel.

Overall, reminiscent of drinking the water you used to rinse last night’s ashtray out with.

I am such a dick! Is it OK to delete a review of a beer that you should never have drunk in the first place? The thing is, it's not like it's just a style I can acknowledge that I don't like - it was really-and-truly, legitimately vile.

 

Drank this last night, took a few notes. Recycled pic, but a new beer to share.
Had to enter it into the BA database as well.
TRVE BREWING's People Power DIPA - 9%
Canned 10.30.20
(consumed about 6 weeks old)

4.12/5 rDev 0%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Brewed in support of the ACLU

L - Golden amber yellow; darker than one might expect, but see through (as one might from this brewery)
S - pine, fruits of the tropics, pith, grapefruit, and good sweet malt on the nose
T - Yep, as expected given the hop bill (Grungeist, Mandarina Bav), this is a larger version of Tunnel of Trees. Great taste, rounded, bitterness is present but not domineering. You'd almost never guess this is 9% - until you're hammered.
F - Good, carb is nice, head was OK, little lacing that I could tell.
O - a damn good big DIPA from TRVE, a surprise to find in my local shop. One of the few big WCIPAs I've been able to find this year of 2020

 

I was onboard from "Amarone-inspired," which has been a favorite wine of mine for years.

 

For some reason I can't figure out how to get the link from Imgur to post a picture here but my New Beer is Bell's Citrus Wheat. I picked this up as part of a mixed six at the Bell's General Store when I was there to pick up my order of Cafe Vanilla Black Note (I'm saving that for a future NBW).

The label states that this is an Ale with Lemon and Orange Zest. It clocks in at 4.5% ABV and was bottled on 9/20/20. It is part of their General Store Exclusive series.

L - Pale straw golden, slight haze with a thin but frothy clean white head.
S - Lemon and toasted malt.
T - Lemon, orange, toasted bread/biscuit.
F - Light bodied with moderate carbonation, clean finish.
O - Great beer from Bell's. Simple, but flavorful. This is one that would be approachable by many.

I really wish I had purchased more of these.

 

Good afternoon NBW
Today's new beer is Taxman Brewing Bourbon Barrel Qualified

The review:
12oz canned 10/30/20 ( about 6 weeks ago) poured into a snifter at just above fridge temp 10% ABV 28 IBU per can label. Now labeled as Bourbon Barrel Qualified. The beer pours somewhat dense, darker brown with a little light penetration revealing chestnut highlights. The head rises to a couple inches on a hard pour then settles to a thin ring and single layer of tiny bubbles. Minimal lacing. The aroma is mild with bourbon and barrel leading the way. Minimal notes of vanilla, candi sugar and dark fruits. The taste is semisweet caramel with accents of bourbon, oak, dark fruit and vanilla. Minimal bitterness. The mouthfeel is medium bodied with average carbonation and a drying (the barrel definitely offsets the malt here) finish. No hint of the ABV in the taste or aroma. Overall, very good. I feel like this beer is more bourbon barrel beer than quadruple, like 65/35, where I feel 50/50 is perfect. I will have no problem drinking or trading the remaining three.
Note: This beer gets even better at room temperature. The barrel blends in better and the toffee & dark fruits become more pronounced.

Taxman is pretty fearless about throwing their Belgian style beers in barrels of all types. Rum, port, red wine, various brandy and tequila barrels have all been paired with multiple styles. It can be hit or miss, but I have never been disappointed with their use of bourbon barrel.

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

 

Today is playing out much like yesterday. High ABV coffee stout in the morning, then switch over to New Glarus beers from @FBarber. This one is fantastic. Probably could have rated it even higher than I did. This is my third great New Glarus beer in the last two days. If you live in Wisconsin, you are lucky. Thanks, Frank for sending all of these my way.

4.24/5 rDev -2.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

Pours a deep burgundy color with a thin layer of moderate density head. Aroma is pure strawberry. It's driving me crazy as to what it reminds me of....it's just not coming to me. Whatever it is, it smells really good. Taste also plenty of strawberry, with the rhubarb also present. Minimal tartness. This beer is exponentially better than the fruited sours that so many breweries have been kicking out that are like drinking fruit puree. It has a balance and nuance to it that I just don't find as often as I'd like. Very good beer.