New Beer Weekend #231

One of your best photos yet! Nice!

 

That sucks about the car, hopefully it’s a very inexpensive fix.

 

Merry Christmas, New Beer Sippers and commentators. I'm glad to see NBW extended for the holiday. I hope you're all having a very nice day! Autodidact Beer is less than a 5 minute drive from my home and I drink/review a lot of its beer. They have done a great job from day one. But this is special because it is the brewery's first true Imperial Stout. Autodidact uses the name Free Fall into Foreign Waters for its experimental brews and this is Free Fall No. 4. It is brewed with maple syrup, Auto's Good Morning coffee beans, and Madagascar vanilla. It was released on Monday, December 23rd.

Poured at 61°. The color is a very dark walnut-ebony and it sports a half finger cap of medium-khaki-colored foam and soapy lacing. Its smell includes roasted malt, burnt coffee, dark chocolate, modest maple syrup, and a whiff of tobacco smoke. The taste opens bitter and roasty with bakers chocolate, vanilla bean, acidic coffee, burnt nuts, and earthy char. I like the way Auto used the maple syrup; it plays against the bitterness but is not overly sweet. Recently canned, the high gravity is noticeable. This Stout has a full, plush mouth feel with mild carbonation, and at 11% ABV it should be savored slowly. Overall, I am excited to try Autodidact's first truly Imperial Stout. It is a tasty treat that portends well for future Stouts from the brewery.

4.19/5 rDev 0%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

I'm looking forward to some more new beer reviews over the next few days. Cheers, NBW!

 

Humble Forager/Barrel Theory collab Cedar 33mo BBA English Barleywine, 14% ABV. Pours thick and black with a slight ring of bubbles. Aroma is bourbon, dark fruit, brown sugar, and roast malt. Taste is quite sweet dark fruit, caramel, and chocolate. Excellent mouthfeel, overall world-class.

4.55/5 rDev 0%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.75

Another incredible BBA Barleywine from Humble Forager, this one without any add-junks, unless bourbon is an add-junk.

 

This beauty is from @snaotheus

Fremont Brew 6000, English Barley Wine, 11.9% ABV; 4.21 overall


Pours a chestnut/mahogany color with one finger of mocha colored head. Some head retention & lacing

S: Some plums & raisins, nose is muted, opens up a little more once near room temperature

T: Molasses, dried candied cherries, brown sugar & toffee, plus dryness up front, a little bit of leafy hops as well. Toffee sweetness, figs, leafy hops, & dark cherry as this beer warms up, faint amounts of woody hops too. Finishes with plenty of toffee sweetness, figs, dark cherry & a kiss of barrel

MF: Fairly chewy, slight carbonation, warming

I believe I had this on tap in Cali. That beer was a 10/10 this is a 9/10, still much to love. The nose & looks aren't keeping up with the rest of the beer

 

Chilling out with the family now that Christmas Eve and present opening is over. Excellent French onion soup for lunch, lots of electronics to set up and figure out. Family's first cat getting used to the people and the house.


Jester King - Atrial Rubicite

500ml bottle served in a pair of little WABL glasses. Blend 13, July 2023. Bought it at Craft Beer Quick Stop in Phoenix back in March.

Pours ruby red-purple, clear, pours with a big head and little retention, leaves moderately coarse uneven layer across the top. Moderate active carbonation. Smell is super jammy and berry, tart with a hint of straw and wood and must.

Taste is tart cherry and raspberry, a little sweet-tart candy tartness. A tiny bit of funk and must in the finish. Light juicy sweetness.

Mouthfeel is light, quite prickly. Overall, very tasty, very nice.

 

Merry Christmas, fellow beer lovers. Didn’t realize this thread was still going, but I’m glad it is. Just dropped my older daughter off at the airport and now it’s time for a relaxing evening with the Mrs. and my younger daughter. Might as well enjoy a new beer while I hang out.

This is Ouse Cassis Tilquin, a “Traditional Belgian Lambic Ale Brewed with Blackcurrants”.

4.25/5 rDev +1%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4.25
2018 / 2019 vintage

Appearance is a slightly dark cranberry color with a thin short lived slightly pink head. Nothing wrong with how it looks, but neither does anything stand out. Things pick up a notch with the aroma, which has loads of black currants underneath the tart lambic smell. Very inviting.

Taste picks up where the aroma left off. Not overly tart (to my well adjusted palate). The blackcurrants are really nice but don’t overwhelm the base beer, which is really nice in its own right. Could use just a hair more carbonation.

Overall, a very nice beer.

 

Lost Horizon Farm - Morgenkrieken (2022)

750ml bottle served in a snifter-ish glass. Bottled 15.01.23, best by 15.01.29? Can't read the year very well on either date. Keep in mind, in Germany it's likely DD.MM.YY. Bought it at Bar Oorlam in Hamburg in September.

Pours slightly hazy bright pink-purple, small head, turns into a thin dust, very little carbonation, but what's there is very fine. Smell is a little musty, a lot of cherry, tart and jammy, something red-winey about it.

Taste is a little less tart than I would hope (though awful close), definitely not sweet though. Cherry is clear, but balanced with wood tannins and fruit skin bitterness, generalized berry fruitiness also has a strong presence.

Mouthfeel is light, smooth, a little on the still side. This is quite good, though not world class.

 

from last night :

Got this as cost (20 dollars or so) about 2 years ago at one of my locals.
Put out an FT for 2 cans of VSOGDB and got crickets so i was left with it .
Got tired of staring at it so decided to share it with my wine loving aunt and her french husband Piérre last night.

It was too fruity and felt like i was drinking a carbonated push pop.
We got through 2/3rd of the bottle and i fell asleep before drinking more.
When i woke up on the couch i found the remainded was tossed along with 6 or 7 other wine bottles
Wasn't anything crazy, just a Kriek , but i think I'll wait for my trip to belgium before trying ANY other of this fruit beer. No bueno IMO
Bottle date was April 2021
3/5.
9verall : a dry and carbonated push pop beer.

 

Turns out I didn't forget to take a picture, just failed to figure out which SD card it was on...

 

Did your aunt and husband enjoy at least? Smart beer to share with wine lovers I’d guess

 

they didn't want anymore after the pour i served them similar to one in photo, but they did slam 4 wine bottles after so I'd guess they appreciated it but didn't care for more.

Beer and wine are so different so it's understood.

 

Things are quiet..but actually stayed pretty low key for much of the day. Time to relax and log in a big old beer... We didn't try this one on any of our visits to the brewery this year, but were intrigued. Or maybe the big beers we did sample clouded our judgement. Either way...



Splitting with the missus. Barreled Souls Fruitcake, 2023, bottle 249 of 860. This is a 12.6% American Barleywine and as the name suggests it has a lot of sh..tuff involved. Dried fruits - apricots, cranberries, pineapples, raisins. Almonds, pecans, walnuts, nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice. Is it an epic train wreck?

Pours a fairly clear dark brown until a bit of sediment kicks up at the end of the pour. Minimal beige colored head but it persists and the foam at the edge clings nicely.

Well, it certainly smells like a fruitcake, but the aroma is quite subtle. Besides the malts, the aromas are pretty laid back. Nutty but like mixed nuts - maybe a bit of walnut and pecan being identifiable. Fruit is similar - raisin for sure then some vaguely fruity support players. I can't say the fruit components listed are in there but there is a solid fruit component. There's a faint spice aroma - definitely cinnamon and allspice. The aroma intensifies with warmth but maintains balance.

This is a fantastic tasting concoction. It's a slightly boozy liquid fruitcake. All those components that were blended into the aroma start to make themselves known. The nutty component remains largely walnut and pecan with maybe a hint of almond. Sweet malts, brown sugar/molasses, dark sweet cherry. The added fruits are fairly easy to pick out. Apricot and pineapple, I get a familiar (to me, anyway) little kick of cranberry, and raisin leaning to fig probably supported by the base barleywine. The spices lay on top - but just a little. Cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg. There is surprisingly little residual flavor. It hits, delivers, says goodbye - making this sneaky drinkable.

The feel is silky smooth and not "thick" - feels fairly "light", in a way. It's minimally carbonated. A bit of a spice and alcohol tingle, not much bitterness. Pleasantly warming in the belly. A little saliva-inducing at first but ultimately finishes slightly dry.

Man, these guys are the kings of the five run homer...this potential train wreck of ingredients delivers. It shows a surprisingly deft hand in the brewing process and recipe development. The ingredients are used judiciously. This, to me, is one of those gestalt beers - the experience of the whole is what matters vs getting caught up on the individual components. I'm glad I have another in the pantry. Easy 4.5 territory.

 

Rusty rail pumpkin swirl from @Ozzylizard. Aromas of pumpkin, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla, cream, and brown bread. Taste of pumpkin, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, ginger, brown bread, caramel, brown sugar, peppercorn, light pine/dark fruit, herbal, grass, yeast earthiness. Light herbal bitterness and spiciness on the finish. Medium carb and body. Creamy silky malts/lactose, light sticky spice and lingering drying. No cloying. Minimal warming 6% abv. Very smooth and mellow spice intensity. No complaints. 4/5


Cheers

 

The Veil - Black and Blue Tastee

16oz can served in a little sample glass. Packaged on 11/15/24. Bought it a few weeks ago at Full Throttle Bottles.

Pours murky purple, small fizzy head. Smell is grapes, grape must, vanilla cream, strangely I think I get figs.

Taste is grape koolaid flavored with again a background of figs. Moderate tart acidity. Aftertaste gives me kettle sour vibes, but it's not a strong theme and I'm pretty sensitive to it.

Mouthfeel is thick though not redonkulously thick like I kind of expect from smoothie sours. Overall...it's all right. Fig is interesting, but fake-ish grape and kettle-sourness are really not my thing...which is why I gave the bulk of this beer to my wife, who's a lot more into this kind of thing than I am. I'll try to rate to style, though -- I think it's pretty good but not amazing by the standards for slushie sours as I understand them.

 

Some people's treasure is other people's trash

 

Buoy - Decapitator, BA doppelbock

19.2oz can served in a half shaker pint. Can is dated 10/03/24, but I had to get a flashlight out to see it, and it could still be "best by" since I can't read the first line (though I'd basically ignore that for a BA doppelbock). Got it from my brother in law yesterday.

Pours mostly clear, slight hazy in a dark amber / brown, looks almost dark yellow around the edges. Little head. Smell is mild dates and raisins, maybe a little vanilla and wood. Fairly muted overall.

Taste is sweet but not cloying, dates and raisins don't quite capture it, something more in the nutty bready direction. And maybe something vanilla-light enhances the sweet sensation.

Mouthfeel is medium to thick, not chewy, actually borders on dry. Overall, not stellar, but pretty good. Maybe the biggest downfall is that it ought to have more of a flavor punch, which may improve as it warms up.