New Beer Weekend #23

Congratulations on your engagement!
Best to you both

 

Pink Lemonade from Great Notion

16oz can split between a pair of SIP Fest 2020 snulips. Dated 11/27/20. Gift from my brother in law, so it was probably picked up at the Georgetown location.

Pours a hazy pink with a small head, moderate to low soda-like carbonation. Smell is mild, but basically pink lemonade.

Taste is very tart, fairly light kettle sour flavor but definitely there if I look for it. Raspberry or strawberry, lemon, pretty tasty. Not particularly beery.

Mouthfeel is light and quite dry. Overall, it's pretty tasty, easy to drink, but not particularly exciting to me.

 

Well....shit happens and Im back. Here is one of the last of 2 beers from the BIF 12.5 generous @woemad box.
Fremont Brewing Head Full of Dynomite Hazy IPA
Pours a hazy (yup) orange with an off white rocky 1/2 head that dissappears rather quickly leaving sparse lacing.
Aroma is strong citrus- ripe sweet orange, grapefruit, melon and pine.
Taste follows with orange, grapefruit, lemon. Starts up front with bitter orange and finishes with a pithy, piney, drying bitter. The middle seems to lack any body and/or sweetness which tilts this heavily to the bitter side. The malt is very light.
The body is medium/light and it is crisp and very dry on the finish leaving a coating of hops on the tongue. Carbonation is decent throughout. Its a decent brew but it seems to be stuck in between the WC and EC. And I dont mean in a Mid West IPA kind of way.
Hey I live in the land of Hazy IPAs- NE style so I guess Im influenced by that.
Still enjoyed the opportunity so Thank You @woemad.
I went to their website to find the version of this since its a rotating hop series. Canned 11/13 couldnt find it.

 

Good evening, friends. I rarely engage in active beer hunting, but I do make exceptions and in this case, a happy exception.

Tonight my glass is graced by Lagerness Monster, 2020 version, from one of my favorite breweries, Jack's Abby. I never had the previous version, but I will assume the resurrected "imperial Baltic porter" is faithful to the OG. From the brewery...

"During the first stage of the brewing process we mix hot water with our malted grains in our Mash Tun to extract the sugars from the grain that will later be fermented into alcohol. The resulting liquid from this process is called wort. For Lager Ness Monster we did this process once, then we refilled the Mash Tun with more grain. This second time, instead of using water to mix with the grain, we re-used our wort from the first batch and concentrated it. This allowed the wort to pick up more sugar than our normal process would allow, resulting in a 15% abv monster!"

Ok...I think the 2020 edition is 14%, but who cares?



For once, the picture doesn't lie. This beer is absolutely black, swallowing any light that dares any attempt to penetrate. The scant foamy head vanishes quickly, absorbed by the inky, forbidding depths below. I am going to call it awesome.

The smell is evidence of barrel residence - bourbon vanilla goodness, roast malts, coffee, chocolate, sweetness, and ample dark sweet fruits and I am leaning towards dates more than the usual suspects. Initially there was a significant alcohol hit on the nose, but it vanished.

This is just plain thick velvety goodness for the palate. Definite bourbon and wood notes, vanilla I find up front, then a layer of the fruity flavors capped off by more vanilla some sweet chocolate and just a fantastic smooch of coffee. The sweetness says molasses to me. The ridiculous ABV is found as a pleasant warming sensation in the chest, not in the taste. There is a slight bitterness and a slight tart tingle to this beer that stops it from being overwhelmingly sweet.

This is a high viscosity brew, thick and nearly syrupy but not quite. Damned near flat, sticky yet not annoying. The little tingle on the end says "more".

This is a beer for when you feel like you deserve a good beer. Decadent, rich, and waves of elegantly layered flavors. Certainly a sipper and I am glad I have my big boy panties on...drink this fast and it would kick my was. If I couldn't read, yet was well-versed in beer styles, I would say this is a big barrel-aged RIS. I don't really care - this is going to land in rare territory for me north of 4.5. How far north remains to be seen. Find it and buy before I do, folks - I bought two and will absolutely go find more, and let me tell ya...there won't be any leaving the last bottle on the shelf for the next guy! This is a beer well worth the price.

 

What a great review. Fresh Lambics is a novel and nice concept. For me, the Cantillon Kriek was eye-opening. Fresh or not that was a beer that stopped me in my tracks!

 

Wowzer. Ive had Baby Maker and Bridesmaker but this sounds other worldly. If thats not brewery only I intend on finding some. What an enticing review.

 

You nailed that and glad you enjoyed the box brother! Still owe you some Captains Daughter!

 

And my final mystery beer from @WunderLlama. It says "Christmas Day" but I'm bad at following directions so here we are.



A - cloudy amber, a finger of soapy off white head that dissipates rather quickly. White bits of something floating about.

S - caramel, yeasty bread, floral, spices

T - dark fruits, caramel malts, cloves, other spicy notes I can't pin down, plus something grassy/herbal.

M - light body, medium carb, dry finish

O - Is it a winter warmer? Some Belgian style? Overall it seemed fairly muddled, and I've got no idea what it is.

Nope... it's this:



Evil Genius Beer Company - Santa!! I Know Him! - Saison

Here's what the brewery has to say: "our holiday saison brewed with rose hips, chamomile, black currants and dark Belgian candi syrup. Deep, complex and intriguing, this bone-dry Belgian-style ale is sure to seduce you, or the one you're with. Roses, chamomile, and currants have long been considered powerful aphrodisiacs, so we decided to combine them with mysterious and beguiling Belgian saison yeast. The result is something very special and sure to help spice up nights spent at home during the cold winter months."

I'd prefer to be seduced by a well-made unfruited saison, but at least this was a good exercise in blind beer tasting. Thanks again, Maynard, for some interesting stuff to try!

 

Sneaking one last one in...my better half wanted to split a beer and we grabbed this one. I remember the first enjoy by fondly and ever since those first few I don’t think I’ve had one in a long time.



Pours a nice pale orangey/gold with some minor cloudiness. Nice initial head that leaves nice pillowy fluff and some lacing as it settles.

Aroma piney, citrusy and sweet. To me it is the perfect smell associated with west coast ipa. It smells very fresh and pungent.

The taste follows but pine takes the back seat and it’s mostly grapefruit and orange type citrus flavors. There some graininess in the very solid but not overly sweet malt backbone.

Mouthfeel is medium with soft carbonation, surprisingly not really the bitterness I was hoping and expecting to compliment the smell and taste. Moderate booze but I’d expect that in a 9% ipa.

Overall I love the smell and taste of this beer. The only knock I have is the abv and the lack of bitterness given the aromas and tastes. Glad to have tried it but also glad I only have the one bottle that was given to me by a family member. I’d try but a six pack ipa at this abv wouldn’t be my preferred purchase.

 

Another from @Coronaeus , Bellwoods Brewery Bellweiser Pilsner. A very nice take on the style.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/28820/324226/

 

Yeah...we have had most of the "makers" and this is another level in my opinion, even as good as the maker variants are. Limited distribution. Yankee still shows it in stock, but not which store. I'm fifteen minutes from Swansea...race ya! I don't know if Nikki's, Bottles, or High Spirits got any since we haven't ventured that way during Covid world. I don't usually enjoy spending 12 bucks on a bottle o' beer, but this one was worth it in my opinion... YMMV.

 

@Dimidiata i know you like saisons

I tried to find something in that style and that was seasonally themed . This looked interesting but I hadn’t tried it. Interesting ingredients . Hope this and all of the other beers were to your liking. Wishing you and your family ( and the pups too) a safe , healthy and hoppy New Year!

 

And now for my last beer from @woemad The mystery beer which he suggested be drank as a after dinner beer.
Pours a black as night with a 1/4 coffee colored head that recedes quickly to a thin ring with no lacing. Looks like we are in stout territory.
Aroma is dark roasted/chocolate malts, vanillin possibly from barrel?and I can always identify coconut in a beer.
Taste is loads of chocolate, coconut, sweet, possibly bourbon barrel vanillin but no burn, sticky on the lips with some nice bitterness balancing it out. Chocolate coats the tongue and this is full of flavor. That hoppiness creates a nice little hop buzz on the tongue.
Body is medium and this is not thick or syrupy. Carbonation is light but present keeping this lively. No alcohol except a small warming so Im thinking this isnt huge. A very enjoyable beer. Im surprised at the hop presence. Really nice. So Im guessing this isnt a huge stout. The body actually makes me think its a Porter. My guess:
Oskar Blues Death By Coconut- (can size could be a hint) .


And the winner is -
Icicle Brewing German Chocolate Cake Milk Stout.
Oh well I got the coconut and chocolate! A great treat and a fitting end to a fantastic West Coast treat.
Thanks Fred!

 

I will hit attleboro! Thanks

 

I'm usually bailing at Lo Cal IPA or anything else for that matter on the can. I've had some good low ABV beers, but I may have lost my taste for them. Unless we're talking some Cask Ale from the UK or Koslch...

 

Congrats on the engagement ! Enjoy the journey, I have !