New Beer Weekend #23

Glad this thread started early cause I didn’t think I was gonna be able to post but here we are...happy holidays!

I’ve always enjoyed opening a bottle Christmas morning at brunch. This bottle is back from when the pandemic began and Kane started to home deliver.



Nothing much appearance wise. Dark brown/light black color very minimal head with a semi vigorous pour. All that remains is a ring of carb where the beer meets the glass.

Aroma rich chocolate and coffee with a kiss of booze from the bourbon. It definitely has some oak wood smell to it as well.

Taste is very rich and full it tastes like a very strong coffee with a touch of milk and a shot of bourbon. The bourbon is pretty prominent in this one.

Mouthfeel is medium to full but it has a creamy body from the lactose I’m guessing. Carbonation is appropriate for the style. Considering how much bourbon I taste and smell I’m surprised at how smooth this goes down.

Overall glad I finally opened this beer I buy these beers and honestly never get around to them. I’ve learned to barley by any of this abv but still can’t hold back sometimes. Happy to try it and happy to clear fridge space.

 

Peace and Love!

For the holiday season I wish y’all: Peace and Love!

Which brings me today’s beer: Peace in the Valley Rustic Lager.

This beer was brewed by Singlecut in collaboration with Threes Brewing. How this beer is described:

“PEACE IN THE VALLEY RUSTIC LAGER

Brewed with local Spelt and Buckwheat our newest SuperGroup Series beer is with Threes Brewing. Outta nine lives, we spent seven lagering one of the most nuanced, delicate, and food friendly beers our tanks have ever seen. Peace In The Valley is a rustic lager, brewed with locally sourced malt, spelt, and buckwheat from the Hudson Valley and Connecticut. A touch of noble hops impart a spicy earthy citrus character, but the star of the show is the malt-rich sourdough, warm soba, whole grain seeded bread, and a double crisp finish thanks to a unique new German lager yeast strain that we’re head over heels for. Add a month or two in our horizontal tanks, and you’ve got a new classic. ⠀

ABV: 4.7%”

https://singlecut.com/beer/peace-in-the-valley-rustic-lager/

The terminology of “rustic lager” is something I am personally unfamiliar with but my guess is that it is a nod to the use of atypical grains (e.g., spelt, buckwheat)?

Well the above description reads tasty to me especially the part about: “…a unique new German lager yeast strain that we’re head over heels for”.

Will I be “head over heels” for this collaboratively brewed beer? Let’s find out!

Served in my Polish Pilsner glass:

Appearance:

Straw yellow colored with a fluffy white head.

Aroma:

The aroma is predominantly a grainy/bready. There is an aspect that makes me think of yeasty.

Taste:

The flavor follows the nose. Mostly flavors of grainy/bready but there is some herbal hop flavors in the background. There is a firm bitterness.

Mouthfeel:

This beer is thin - medium bodied with a dry finish.

Overall:

This beer is very good! It mostly features grainy/bready flavors but there is some pleasant herbal flavors from the hops.

@rotsaruch @RobH @KOP_Beer_OUtlet

 

Kane was at GABF three years ago and I was glad to try them. Their ba beers are no slouch.

 

An extra day of this thread - outstanding!!! I'll be back with a couple of beers later today. Merry Christmas, everyone!!!

 

Cheers to y'all and Merry Christmas!

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/60182/522457/



16 oz. can.
Canned 12/18/20.

Moderate to vigorous pour yields a one inch pure white head over a very hazy, light golden body with sticky lacing. Nose of mostly citrus (orange, tangerine.) Taste mirrors nose with all the citrus and finishing with citrus pith and peel bitterness. Nice feel and overall, a real nice stab at an IPA from Mount Holly, VT.
Cheers!

 

My neighborhood wine and beer store frequently stocks Three Heads Brewing beers from Rochester. Usually I pass, but Bromigo in cans was
worth a try.

Amber ale with maple and smoked malt. It is listed here as 6.5 ABV but the can says 7.5 ABV.
Dated 11/2/2020 and tastes fresh. A lot of maple both in aroma and flavor. The smoke is low key. There is enough hop bitterness and fruit to give the beer an edge. Not sweet. On a day when I am enjoying a lot of decadent dishes and staying out of the cold, this is a nice addition.

3.67/5 rDev +2.2%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75

 

Poured into a 16 oz Nordic pint glass canned on 11/02/2020. Pours a cloudy orange with a solid finger sticky white head that leaves big streaks of lace, with nice retention. 4.25

Aroma is tangerine, pine, herbal earthiness that is the best way to describe it, and grapefruit rind. 3.75

Taste follows tangerine, pine, slightly herbal, and a little shot of grapefruit really balanced. 4

Mouthfeel is a solid medium, a tad sticky not really dry, fairly soft carbonation, and at 6.2% ABV really crushable. 4.25

Overall this for me is kind of a hybrid, not West Coast or East Coast hazy, but tropical with some bitterness. Nice IPA. 4 Nice work having this start a day early @Roguer. New Year’s Day maybe the same? Cheers all.

 

I’ll follow the lead of @jonphisher with a themed variant of Kane’s Morning Bell.

Let’s get basic, bitches!





The beer pours opaque and very dark brown. Nearly black. A densely packed, tan colored head disappears but for a ring of foam around the edge of the glass. Some lacing as I drink the beer. No visible carbonation.

A lot of dark chocolate, cocoa, and coffee. These are the stars. Some cooling mint in the background. A hint of maple syrup. Although, there is a slightly offputting note that I sometimes get from maple, described as “fresh pumpkin.” It’s a vegetal note. Still a nice smelling beer.

The flavor is creamy chocolate, smooth and nutty cold brew coffee. The peppermint is present and nicely complements the coffee and chocolate. Herbal and cooling. Much needed deft hands brewed this beer. It’s not too sweet and the peppermint level is perfect. The coffee takes a bigger role as the beer warms, creating a drier, more roasty and slightly bitter finish.

The beer is light bodied and creamy with a minty cooling sensation. Some sticky sweetness on the lips.

Overall, I really like this beer. I was disappointed with the Pumpkin Spice version of Morning Bell because the pumpkin spice aspect was too dialed back. I went into this one thinking that “dialed back” would be good. And it is. If you don’t like peppermint, you probably won’t like this beer. But if you’re OK with peppermint, or an outright fan of the Andes / After Eight / Basic Bitch Beverage you’ll surely enjoy the beer.

 

Rogue Santa's Reserve Peppermint Bark Milk Stout, 8.3% ABV; 3.71 overall + 1.4% rDev

Pours an effervescent hazel tinged mahogany with a finger of rapidly falling tan colored head. Some head retention

S: Peppermint up front, not much as it warms, builds as it warms

T: Peppermint bark, some cocoa, a little vanilla & sassparilla & a little dryness up front. More peppermint bark & a little dryness & sassparilla as this warms. Finishes dry with a little vanilla & plenty of peppermint

MF: A little thin for the style & ABV, restrained carbonation

Nice flavor, but fall short in all other areas, except the nose & even it showed up late . More chocolate flavor & body would help, very mint centered

 

Poured into a 16 oz Nordic glass canned on 12/18/2020. Pours a hazy orange yellow with a finger sticky white head that leaves sticky gobs of lace with excellent retention. 4.5

Aroma ripe melon, papaya, peach, pineapple, mandarin, a hint of blueberry, and apricot. 4.5

Taste cantal, papaya, peach, mandarin, pineapple, blueberry, and apricot really juicy and rather balanced. 4.5

Mouthfeel is bigger than medium, a tad sticky not dry, rather creamy soft carbonation, and at 8.2% loaded with flavor but crazy approachable. 4.75

Overall this is another upper tier NEDIPA from this rather young brewery. If loving Definitive is wrong I don’t want to be right. 4.5

 

I have Yule Logger a Christmas named Baltic Porter collaboration between Little House Brewing and Tribus Brewing, two good Connecticut breweries.

Or is black with a big head nice looking beer. Aroma's sweet malty. Taste is a little too sweet for me but right on style. Pretty good beer wish it was a little dryer.

 

I’m with you @Snowcrash000 all barrel aged stouts should come in smaller packages. Can’t stand those bigger bottles.

 

Merry Christmas Everyone! Thank you @Roguer for extending the NBW to three days, going to take advantage of this with a couple more new beers this weekend. Perhaps we can celebrate the New Year next weekend in similar fashion.

Christmas Dinner is cooking and I pulled a new to me Double IPA, West Coast Style, from one of my favorite Chicago brewers.

Spiteful Brewing, Bitter Biker



Can Notes: 16 oz canned 12/1/20 14:06:28, 9.6% ABV. Can states 1 pint, 6 fluid ounces, but it is from their bomber labels at the label states 2012 and their original 1815 W. Berteau address.

Cyclists beware! This city is a minefield; potholes, ruthless cabbies, pedestrians texting, and a headwind from hell. Arm Yourself! This Double India Pale Ale was brewed for you. Zythas, Columbus, and Falcooners Flight 7c's hops, Botter Biker is our homage to the trials of the year round biker. Ride safe, stay bitter, and watch out fo those oblivious fools.

Appearance: Clear goldent tan pour, cream rich bubbly white lacing thick and generous, lives clumpy lacing in its wake. Mild carbonation throughout. 3.75

Aroma: Very bitter, dank pine aroma, floral citrus backing. Bold and pleasant. 4.25

Taste: Nice, very bitter offering. Strong pine lead, very dry, aspirin, grapefruit and citrus, floral backing, radish. Light malt presence or sweet offset but hops own this pour. Brewed as advertised. 4.25

Mouthfeel: Medium body, dry and bitter, creamy as well. Faint carbonation into the pour, light dry aftertaste. 4.0

Overall: This is a very good WCIPA, a double, by Spiteful. Rich complex taste profile, true to the West Coast IPA style. Very much appreciated with the skip of brewing 10/9 Bike Messenger IPA with the COVID situation. Well done Spiteful! 4.25

Will return this evening sharing a beer across the country with the brother I usually visit across the country in beautiful Las Vegas for Christmas. It's another beer brewed in Chicago, one that is unique and that I am looking forward to trying.

 

Merry Christmas, NBW friends. I have a couple of “special” beers on this special day. The first is from Wax Wings Brewing Company out of Kalamazoo MI, one of the “it” breweries in the Michiana (Northern Indiana/Southern Michigan) area.

Wax Wings is a “small batch” brewery that announces their releases on Facebook, which usually sell out in minutes. So when I saw on Wednesday that the release that morning still had availability Wednesday afternoon, I jumped in and made the 80-minute trek to Kalamazoo yesterday to pick up this and a Quadruple IPA that I’ll review tomorrow.

I’m glad I made the trip. And I can assure any NBW BIF participants that Wax Wings hops will make it into my target’s box in NBW BIF #13 in the spring of 2021. IJS.





4.35/5 rDev 0%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

Pours a very hazy pineapple color with a dense, creamy off-white head that belongs on a Star Trek episode (it’s a Klingon to the glass from top to bottom). Juicy citrus aromas on the nose, especially pineapple and tangerine, along with a bit of pine and more than a bit of sweetness from the wildflower honey.

The citrus is really forward on the as the beer warms, and the pine is in the background, but bless the beer godz for that wildflower honey, which arrives mid-palate and guides this big DIPA (9.5% ABV) into a slightly sweet, smooth finish that could be dangerous given the beer’s gravitas. Exceptionally well executed, IMHO.