New Beer Weekend #229

Good evening NBW
A new 3Floyds mixed 12 pack hit the local grocery this week and contained 3 beers I've never reviewed including this brand new pale ale featuring Golden Promise malt and El Dorado hops.

Chain Sword Extra Pale Ale

12oz can PKGD ON 10/28/24 poured into a tulip pint glass at fridge temp 5% ABV. The beer pours mostly bright, pale amber with off white head. The head recedes to a irregular ring and leaves lots of spotty lacing. The aroma is mild with citrus hop notes and pale malt. The taste is bittersweet, earthy lemongrass over subdued, but tasty, Golden Promise malt. Medium bitterness. The feel is thin bodied with average carbonation and a mostly dry finish. Overall, tasty pale ale.

Random tidbit, but the mix pack also includes a Kolsch, which I thought was a bizarre choice for a December release, but I'll be reviewing that one tomorrow. Cheers all!

 

Well, time for my next beer, and my last new one today.

Cave-Aged Barrel-Aged Black Lager - August Schell Brewing - New Ulm, MN - European Dark Lager - 10%

Wow! This beer is downright delicious. It has such a nice flavor profile. It only lacks in the aroma department.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/417/682653/
4.34/5 rDev -1.6%
look: 4.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
From a 12oz bottle. I think it's best by 04/18/25, not sure.

Nice bit of smoke and a good hiss upon opening the bottle. This is a very dark pouring beer. When I hold it to light, I get faint amber hues showing through the glass. I can see a lot of carbonation bubbles rising in the glass and it produces a 3 finger tan colored head. This head is very long lasting with tiny bubbles. There's some damn great lacing on the glass as the head dissipates.
The aroma is somewhat light. I do get some roasted malt notes off it. There's some caramel and licorice notes as well on the nose.
Taste - This is a malty beer. I get a good smooth flavor here. I get a good caramel hit with some chocolate notes. I do get the licorice notes in this beer. Some bread and biscuit notes also show up. I do get hints of roasted malts and a faint hint of smoke.
Very smooth feeling. There's no burn here. Full bodied. Very easy drinking, even though it's 10%
Wow. This beer is downright tasty. The only knock is it is lacing in the aroma department.

See you all tomorrow for new beers.

 

Drekker Prrrty-O's Peach Ring Candy Sour, 6.4% ABV. Pours light orange with no head. Aroma is light peach. Flavor is peach, slightly sweet, moderately tart. Thin mouthfeel, overall good.

3.85/5 rDev 0%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75

Not impressed.

 

Double Double Flip by Tree House

4.47/5 rDev +0.2%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
Brewers notes: Autumn 2023 Vintage. We were on a quest to make a new phenomenal beer utilizing several rounds of barrel-aging, but we couldn’t settle on the name. Triple Double Oak? Triple Flip Oaked? Triple Drink? Triple Double? Double Check? Orville Mash? A call to our VERY good friend Buzz Clutterbuck sealed the deal: Double-Double Flip. With a metaphorical skid of barrel-forward flavor, Double-Double Flip erupts with a profile that’s like taking a flavor whip to your lip, do you catch me? Double-Double Flip is ready to get buck wild—guaranteed. It is factual. So pull up a chair just there catty-corner to those you love, and bring a parcel of Double-Double Flip to your next buffet. You’re going to enjoy it, end of paragraph.

Sealed very tightly in a 500ml waxed and capped bottle poured into a pretentious beer glass. Thick black syrup, no foam

Aroma is soy, umami on the pour, bourbon barrel, chocolate, cocoa,

Taste is sweet bourbon, tobacco, cocoa powder, barrel

Mouthfeel is thick, rich, syrupy, mouth coating, luscious

Good beer

 

Hey, kids. It's officially Insanity season here now that Thanksgiving has come and gone. Our grandson turned 8 yesterday. The show chorus the missus and I sing in had an outdoor performance at a tree lighting and we are temporarily frozen. We had two days to learn a new handbell song for tomorrow and now I'm learning to play four bells two in each hand for Christmas Eve. Tech and dress rehearsal plus two concerts next week for the show chorus and final prepping of the church choir for Christmas cantata and CE services. The tree is wrapped in a tarp outside, solar Christmas lights are doing absolutely no good strewn across the patio, but they are working. No matter what, the "gnomes" have decorated the woods paths! We'll come up for air in January...

@lordofthewiens - good to hear about the adoption. After a few years, our last crew of rescues are actually acting like normal dogs. Animals we've adopted always seem so...well...grateful and it is fulfilling for us humans, too. I think we all forget how much work it takes, but it is certainly rewarding.

My toes still seem frozen, so I'm going for a big boy beer that'll hopefully complete the thaw.



This is Mad Scientists, a 2022 English Barleywine clocking in at 13.7%. It is/was a collab between Maine's Barreled Souls and Equilibrium out of NY. The base barleywine had dried fig and vanilla added.

The beer pours a dark cola color that's a bit muddy, but clears up with a bit of warmth. No head to speak if but there's little bubbles here and there that like hanging on the glass. More like legs with just a little lacing.

Oh my...big vanilla on the nose bit not overwhelming. Fades a bit with some air time, but really strong off the bottle. Then rich toffee and caramel supplemented by sweet figgy goodness. It's a mellow and extremely well-blended "drink me" aroma. It reminds me of how a high quality pipe tobacco smells for some odd reason. There's really no sign of the big ABV.

I'm gonna skip to mouth feel for a change because it is extraordinary. It's creamy and smooth, a tad bit sticky, pleasant and gentle carbonation, enjoyably warming with no heat to speak of, and for the huge amount of flavor it's delivering it is clean as can be.

Yeah...the flavor. Big malts. Mildly toasty, maybe. Caramel and toffee followed by obvious fig and some subtle dark sweet cherry in the background. The vanilla plays over the top of the fig and malt adding to and enhancing the base flavors. The vanilla carries just a bit into the aftertaste. It is sweet but nowhere near being overly sweet or syrupy. I get a little milk chocolate. The flavor hits big and with some intensity, but it manages to reset quickly after the swallow. And again thinking about high end tobacco for some reason.

Nah...not diggin' this at all. Yeah...right...this is some excellent drinking, in my opinion. Man, Barreled Souls should teach the Red Sox how to hit the five run homer. This beer is an experience - everything is so superbly melded into a cohesive whole here. Nothing out of place, nothing remotely trying to dominate. Glad I have a second one...the missus had a sip and I saw the reaction. Maybe I'll share the second bottle - hey, not my fault she poured her own beer! This is an easy 'A' all day and twice on Sunday - thinking 4.3 or more. Well done!

 

Irlbacher festbier
...really nice clear amber appearance and lasting white head that all added up to an inviting look
Carbonation is definitely on the light side with the body being about medium
Aroma is grain,cereal, malt and a floral sweetness
Taste is very close to aroma with there being an almost tart sour candy likeness that shows up mid taste and lingers.
Another very good,interesting, enjoyable beer from a Costco box

 

And the award for the most funky looking beers goes to...

 

Oh, I'm jealous.

 

Mother Earth - Milk Truck Latte Stout

12oz can served in a footed pilsner glass. 06/13/24 is stamped on the bottom of the can. @2beerdogs handed it to me a couple months ago.

Pours dark brown/black with a minimal head but surprising staying power for the head it does have. Moderate quantity of very fine carbonation is visible. Smell is mocha ice cream. Coffee, chocolate, cream, and vanilla.

Taste is sweetened, vanilla-fied coffee. Chocolate doesn't seem to make an appearance in the taste.

Mouthfeel is smooth, creamy, silky, moderate chew. Overall, nice, easy to enjoy milk stout.

 

Well, yeah. But I haven't had one glow in the dark yet.

 

Picked up from Trader Joe's in Tulsa, my very first Hardywood beer & probably the first beer I've had from Virginia in a decade.

Joe-Joes's Choclate Vanilla Creme Stout, 9.2% ABV; 4.03 overall


Pours an effervescent cola/Mahogany with a thumb+ of tight mocha colored head. Minimal head retention & lacing

S: Cocoa: iron, vanilla, solid nose

T: Cocoa, vanilla some dryness, lactose for sure up front, hint of peppermint as well. Cocoa, lactose dryness/sweetness & vanilla as this beer warms through. Finishes with plenty of lactose, vanilla & chocolate sweetness, a little dryness also

MF: Medium body, fairly low carbonation, body this a bit once warm

No way I'd think this is that high a ABV. Well worth a go

 

Fair State Today is Tomorrow


Appearance: Yellow with slight haze, good head.

Smell: Lemony, hint of clove.

taste: Some citrus bitterness to start, then a very yeasty body with some clove. Finishes with a dry citrus.

Overall: This 4 pack was discounted and Fair State is good stuff so I picked one up. If I was handed this blind I'd guess it was a wheat beer or pale ale, not very pilsner-like in flavor. It was still pretty tasty, if not to style.

 

Ha, now you have something new to look for

 

Good evening all, and happy Saturday.
Tonight I dipped into the small stash I picked up near Nashville, Tennessee.
Black Belle - an annual released BBA stout. Not sure if they released it on Black Friday like a different BBA stout that is better known.

Poured stout black with a barely there light brown head.
The flavor is, well, typical for a bourbon barrel aged stout - bourbon and coffee, dark fruit and chocolate. The finish is more bourbon. Nothing grand, nothing low, just a solid BBA stout.
The feel is nicely viscous, not too much, not too thin.
OA, well done, I’d likely buy a couple each year if I lived in the area, it’s priced better than the more famous one.
Cheers!

 

Bourbon County coffee stout
...motor oil black appearance
...medium light carbonation with an above average body. Has a thick creamy feel
...aroma is an intense hit of malt,roasted malt, Bourbon, wood, alcohol and dark fruit. Coffee isn't making a big appearance
....taste is almost identical to aroma, have to agree with @Franziskaner the coffee has fallen off a lot
...overall it is 90% like the original ,very good obviously

 

Fox Farm - Oath

12oz can served in a snulip. I think the stamp says it was canned on 01/17/24. @Roy_Hobbs sent it to me in NBS BIF #18. Label says "Imperial Nitro Stout with Coffee and Cacao," also says it's Batch No. 1.

Pours dark brown, almost black, opaque. Shook gently and poured hard, per the instructions on the label. Lots of carbonation (nitrogenation?), thick dense creamy brown head, settles slowly, after several minutes still have about half a centimeter cap with sturdy meniscus. Smell is rich coffee and chocolate with a little bit of a hot note. Not screaming, but undeniable.

Taste is coffee, dark roast bitterness, anise and burnt molasses. Some sweetness, vanilla cream seems a little bit evident. Booze is certainly noticeable.

Mouthfeel is rich, smooth, velvet, without being chewy or sticky -- really nice. Overall, very good beer.

 

Fremont - Coalescence barrel aged cuvee

16oz can served in a Hoppin' Frog snifter. Packaged 09/17/24. Bought it a couple months ago at Fremont's Urban Beer Garden.

Pours black with a big fluffy head. Moderate carbonation, medium lacing as it settles into a thick, not quite even skin. Smell is...first impression was burnt coffee. Somehow I think that's the combination of roast, coconut, and vanilla. Burnt molasses? Burnt toffee? Soy sauce. Umami. Maybe spices and herbs.

Taste is basically the smell, but toned down and with clearer spice notes. Definite cinnamon, definite molasses. Some anise. I get some sweet vanilla and toffee and fig, but the burnt coffee and cinnamon/spices just kills it for me.

Mouthfeel is thick and rich, soft and wonderful. But, overall, I'm not drinking the rest of this beer. I don't like it at all.