New Beer Weekend #225

Hey there NBW friends! It's been a while, but I have a couple good ones to share this weekend, and then likely a bit of a lull again.

I stopped by my local this week on a whim and sure am glad I did. I've been wanting to try today's new beer for quite some time and was really surprised to see some packs in the cooler. I talked to the beer manager and he said he special ordered it and even then could only get a single case. (Also props to him for pricing it at $16/4-pack when he likely could have gotten quite a bit more.)

Does it live up to the hype? Almost. It isn't quite there for me due to the big alcohol presence, but pretty close and I'm glad I got the chance to try it. I'm going to save some for later this winter as I suspect that some of my reaction is because I've been drinking low abv beers all summer.

Alesmith Speedway Stout
12% imperial stout



Pours a completely opaque black with a one-finger brown head that dissipates quickly.

Straight off the pour there is little aroma; one has to search to get even a hint of dark chocolate, some brown sugar, slight licorice, and alcohol. As it warms, the brown sugar and chocolate combo come to the fore with a base of roast coffee coming through as well.

The sip starts with brown sugar and bitter chocolate, with roast coffee paired with a big hit of alcohol joining almost immediately. It feels bourbon-esque in how the alcohol accompanies and pairs with everything throughout the sip. Through mid-sip robust coffee, alcohol, chocolate, and burnt caramel/molasses all mingle together. Nearing the finish, chocolate and brown sugar take over again, with the brown sugar then sliding down to molasses and combining with roast bitterness for the finish proper. Alcohol lingers through the aftertaste along with oak (surely just an association due to the prominent alcohol and not really there, right?) and chocolate-covered coffee beans.

Low, fine carb and heavy body lead to a nice, smooth feel.

Overall, this is so close to being great, just a bit too much alcohol for me in the flavor. Bring this down around 8% (or hide it better) and build out the flavor profile slightly (I couldn't find any of the dark fruits other reviewers mentioned) while keeping the overall robustness and I'd be hooked.

 

Batch One Theory 8th Anniversary Cake by Southern Grist


4.41/5 rDev 0%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

Brewers Notes: A blend of Imperial Stouts that spent 22 months in a Stagg Jr. bourbon barrel, 18 months in a Nashville Barrel Company bourbon barrel, 15 months in a Southern Collective whiskey barrel, and 15 months in a Southern Collective maple finished rye whiskey barrel. It was then conditioned on pecans, caramel, cacao nibs, coffee beans, and vanilla beans.

Brewed in celebration of our 8th Anniversary.

Waxed and capped 500ml chilled bottle poured into a pint glass . Thick black syrup, one of the thickest pouring beers I have ever seen , faint brown layer immediately fades over an obsidian liquid

Aroma is cacao, whiskey , maple

Taste is cacoa, chocolate, fudge, whisky, hint of caramel, maple , coffee and pecans

Thick syrupy , slight effervescent , mouth coating syrup

Good beer

 

Founders oatmeal stout
..simple solid black appearance with minimal tan head
...at first body came off thin but as it warmed it felt more dense and left a pleasant coating in the mouth
..aroma is heavily roasted malt,dark and bakers chocolate, toasted grain, slight presence of milk chocolate and black coffee
...taste doesn't stray too far from the aroma with it having some mild sweetness but easily kept in check with all the roasted elements
..overall it is really well done but I thought it impressed even more after it warmed up

 

Jacks abby extra layer winter fest lager
...a sort of dark amber/chestnut appearance
...just below average carbonation with about a medium body which added up to a nice feel
...aroma is caramel/toffee, toasted dark bread along with some very nice malty nuttiness
..taste was almost identical to aroma, very mild sweetness.
..overall its a really nice beer and perfect on one of our first chilly evenings here in NJ

 

What!?!?! Is that a pomegranate tree? If so that is so cool.

And PS…thanks for getting us started again this weekend!

 

Mad Props to @muchloveforhops3 for this Big Sky State Beauty

Ronan Co-op Brewery's DIPA, 8.7% ABV; 4.12 overall

Pours an effervescent gold with a thumb+ ivory colored head. Minimal head retention & lacing

S: Tropical fruits, citrus & grassyness, becomes pretty catty once warmed up

T: Follows the nose, nice orange notes, papaya & a little dryness up front. Cattyness starts to assert itself once this beer warms up, along with some lime & plenty of dryness, a touch guava as well. Finishes with some tangerine, dryness, papaya & a little pineapple & lime

MF: Medium body, restrained carbonation, nice balance

Plenty easy to drink despite the ABV, old school DIPA

 

Good evening NBW
I picked up a straggler new-to-me oktoberfest this week.

Warpigs Cave of Dreams

12oz canned 07/23/24 poured into a mug at fridge temp, no ABV listed on label. The beer pours bright medium amber with light khaki colored head. The head recedes to a thin cap and leaves a little lacing. Aroma is mild, nutty, caramel and has a hint of a metallic note. The taste is semisweet pale malt with caramel and a not quite tart note. Mild bitterness. The feel is thin bodied with average carbonation and a mostly dry finish. Overall, not the best oktoberfest.

The weird tangy, almost tart note kills this one for me. I'm significantly below the rDev on this one. Bad can perhaps? Usually 3Floyds does lagers well just over hops them, so maybe it's just aging hop flavor. Luckily, I've got more beer to try this weekend.

Cheers all!

 

Jacks abby dark as hell
...appearance, dark as hell
...medium bodied with just below average carbonation
..aroma is malt and roasted malt along with toasted grainy dark bread. To the best of my abilities I pick up some mild coffee and bakers chocolate. If they made this into a scented candle I would actually finally buy one
..taste really doesn't stray too far from the aroma other than it almost comes off like a dry irish stout .
..overall, really nice

 

This is the kinda stuff I miss being able to get from DFH at the affiliated restaurants around Northern Virginia (that are all gone). I thought about posting in the BBC and DFH threads, but will randnomly throw thoughts here.

I perhaps understand how DFH might be putting effort into expanding, and therefore they needed more of more accessible beers to lucratively enter new markets. I was thinking maybe the BBC buyout could shift the main line production and allow DFH to get back to its roots of experimentation at a level to at least reach the major cities in the mid-Atlantic.

Sure, there's a selfish lean to this hope, but DFH was one of the breweries I found in this good beer journey. Yesterday is gone; understood and lamented.

 

I’m right there with you and it’s hard cause every time we go to Milton I still see THAT Dogfish Head.

Almost, and wish I did, take a picture of there taplist. It’s split, on one side it’s all the regular beers then the other half is brewery only stuff and it’s all just like the DFH beers of old and always one or two zombie beers like Chicory Stout.

I think like you I’ve realized it’s not realistic for them, or too risky maybe, or whatever; but man what I would give to buy that beer in bottles, among so many other of their old ones.

Milton isn’t that far is it???

 

Greetings everybody. Busy weekend so far with our annual manning of the kitchen at our church craft fair. We raised a bit over $1300 for the music program. It's definitely time for a beer!

Going back to Gnome-land:



Brasserie d'Achouffe McChouffe. A Belgian dark ale at 8%. This marks a new style for me, which was a bit of a surprise.

It pours a slightly muddy brown until you hold it to the light - it's a deep garnet red color. With the huge, rocky tan head it's quite striking (my photography skills can't capture it). Great cling.

On the nose it is quite pleasant. No doubt that it's Belgian - slightly yeasty, very faint banana and some subtle fruitiness. Then there is a brown bread smell with some brown sugar or caramel-like sweetness. As it warms a bit a mild spice note comes in along with some woody/earthy smell. This is pretty nice.

The taste - well, pretty accurately reflects the name and play on styles here. Up front, bready dark malts and some sweetness - brown sugar and more of a toffee than caramel. Doughy, yeasty, and slightly nutty mid-taste and definite spice in the aftertaste - anise. Pretty clearly defined, too. It's different than licorice - more of a fennel-like taste. A little woodiness. Fruit esters do come in but with subtlety- a very faint banana note and I'm finding what I think is plum and pear. I'm also finding some very light chocolate. Slight bitterness at the end of the swallow and a mild peppery phenolic nip.

It's not screaming 8%, but it's giving a pleasing warming sensation. It's medium-bodied and modestly carbonated. Eventually there is a little spicy tingle and a sweet malty aftertaste.

I think there's more going on here than I can pick out, honestly. I can get the idea that it's sort of a Belgian riff on a Scotch ale - not as "hefty", but picking up on the maltiness. It's quite enjoyable and I'd definitely get this again. I'll go 4.1 or so on the scale here. Gnome on, gang!

 

Audio Graph (formerly HiDef at the time this beer was created) - Black Hole bourbon barrel aged imperial stout

500ml bottle served in a WABL sample glass. If bottle is dated, I don't see it. It's 10.9% abv.

Pours tarry black with very little head, and the head that I see looks oily. Smell is boozy, bourbony, vanilla, molasses, char. Some anise.

Taste is quite boozy, more of a cherry sweetness, lots of sweetened coffee and chocolate, somewhere in the char there's a lot of vanilla, increasing coffee roastiness as I sip and it warms a little in the glass.

Mouthfeel is thick, but not for the style or the abv. Smooth, but not quite velvet. Overall, very nice.

I am delighted to be posting this from my brand new PC (built with @Beersnake's help), which is far, far more complicated than you think it is.

 

Good evening denizens of NBW, I picked this one up because I enjoyed the offering from Japas in the Extreme Stout box, Black Daruma. This one wasn’t at all what I expected but it was an excellent RIS.
The pour was very nice- stout black with a light brown head that left good lacing, a veritable sheet of it as the 4 cm head faded.
The taste is pure RIS, with all the roast bitter notes and deep malt flavors of coffee, espresso and occasionally a touch of chocolate. The vanilla I didn’t discern, and the tangerine was glimpsed at times but not always noticeable.
The feel was less viscous than expected but it didn’t detract from the enjoyment.
OA, not quite what I excepted but still very good RIS.
Cheers all!