New Beer Weekend #234

Do you go into your heated by space heater “East Coast Fortress of Solitude” garage to concentrate on the hockey, the beer review, or to enjoy the cold Winter?

Hawks and Leafs were disappointing yesterday, though that’s only a regular situation for the former the past few years. Nice that Matthews has returned, hope Stolarz can return as well healthy in February, though not sure he’ll reclaim the starting role with Woll playing well.

Cheers!

 

Dark of Night by Odd Side Ales. 11.53% stout aged in whiskey barrels. Thanks to @Whyteboar for the beer.



Poured from a twelve ounce can, the body is a jet black with a mocha colored head. Good lacing.

Aroma features the whiskey barrel and chocolate. Inviting.

Taste follows nose. The barrel flavor is not as substantial as I expected from the aroma. There's a light roasty char behind the light chocolate sweetness. The barrel is not hot and plays nicely with the malty goodness. No sign of the substantial ABV.

Good mouthfeel and substantial initial carbonation that quickly toned down to a pleasant tingle.

Super drinkable stout from the wizards at Odd Sides.

 

I got my errands done, and I'm back home ready to enjoy a new beer thanks to a former member here.

Seven Deadly Sins: Gluttony - Imprint Beer Company - Hatfield, PA - American Imperial Stout - 12%

Holy crap, this is a bizarre beer. I was not expecting what I got when I opened the can, but, what I got was damn well made and delicious. I will let my review do the rest of the talking.
Review:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/50965/729910/
4.54/5 rDev 0%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.5
From a 16oz can dated 10/23/24

This is totally a weird looking beer. I was expecting pitch black in color, but it's not. It''s a brown color with red hues in it. It looks quite creamy and thick. It looks like there's chunks in it. The head is also weird. I was think there was going to be no head at first, then it seemed to form from the abyss. While the head was forming I was saying "uh oh!" over and over because I thought it was going to overflow the glass. Thankfully it stopped as it reached the top. The head is dark brown in color and extremely long lasting with just a ton of sticky lacing on the glass.
The aroma of this beer is a pleasing mix of chocolate that seems to be more of a milk chocolate , and fresh raspberry. There's also a creamy hint to the aroma.
Taste - The flavor starts out with the raspberry up front. The raspberry is a bit tart, though there's some sweetness to it. The middle is where the chocolate comes into play and it mixes with the raspberry to add a bit more sweetness. The finish is where the creamy element mixes in with the other flavors to provide a nice finish.
This beer is about as thick as it could be. Very smooth and creamy. Extremely full bodied. It just coats my throat with a creamy feeling all the way down. There's really no indication that it's 12% - no burn or alcohol heat.
This is a very unusual beer. I would say this beer isn't for everyone, but it is a very well made beer, and they executed what they intended very well.

I'll be enjoying this for a bit, then I'll be back for another round at the virtual bar.

 

All of the above, we call it the freezer... in the spring/summer we refer to it as no man's land ...

In our small 2 bedroom house it is an extra room that acts as a godsend to us all, we play out there, got the kid's nintendo switch out there etc. But most it acts as the things you mentioned above.

Indeed, a few rough games in a row but stretches like this seem to be inevitable in such a long season. It has been nice to see Woll pick up right where he left off and hopefully he can stay healthy, then we'll have a nice one two combo going into playoffs.

As for the Hawks and maybe you have an opinion, I hope the lack of support doesn't hinder Bedard's development as a player and who he could become in the league.

 

Lunch beer - “Extra Sunny” by Charles Towne Fermentory, DIPA:


A solid DIPA from an excellent brewery…and I like Sun Gazer better…Cheers y’all!

 

Awesome, glad you have a spot to enjoy sports, video games and beer.

In terms of Chicago, Bill Veeck and George Halas were the last good owners here, and they have been gone for over 40 years. Danny Wirtz might be better than the last three generations of Wirtz, but their President and GM are out of their element. Not sure if I’d stick around as an UFA if I was Connor.

They haven’t helped him much bringing in guys like Taylor Hall or Corey Perry who they had to dump after rumors about Perry sleeping with Connor’s Mom. Corey scored the tying goal last night for Edmonton.

So even though they don’t have the excuse Montreal has regarding the limited pool of President / GM / Coaching candidates who must also speak Québécois, the Hawks’ lack of organizational talent is mostly due to nepotism and lack of motivation as long as they sell out games (see also Bears, Bulls, Cubs). Their new TV network has also been a disaster, as it’s still not carried by the local monopoly cable company. At least it’s free over the air, so I’m watching the team regularly for the first time since I had season tickets 1988-2000.

 

Next round that I'm enjoying in the VB is thanks to @Whyteboar

1825 - Greenbush Brewing - Sawyer, MI - Belgian Strong Pale Ale - 9.3%

This is a tasty beer. Nice hints of the Belgian yeast and I am digging the earthy hints in here. Tasty.
Review:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/25937/76290/
3.93/5 rDev +2.9%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
From a 12oz bottle. No date on the bottle.

Nice hiss and a good amount of billowing smoke upon opening the bottle. This is a murky looking beer while pouring and in the glass. The color is a brown/golden color. There's an insane amount of carbonation rising in the glass. The head is a slightly off white color, and 3 fingers in size. The fluffy looking head has great head retention is quite good, and there's a nice amount of sticky looking lacing on the glass.
The aroma has a nice grain smell to it. I get some hints of Belgian yeast in here with some bubblegum hints. Faint earthy aroma.
The flavor has some interesting notes that I'll try to put words to. I get a huge earthy hit up front. There's hints of bubblegum that show up in the middle. Some biscuit sweetness also makes it into the mix.
The body is bubbly feeling, which doesn't surprise me based on how it looked. The feeling is full bodied.
Very interesting beer, and I'm so happy I got to try it.


I'll be able to do at least one more today. Cheers!

 

Drekker Chonk Mixed Berry Truffle Sundae Sour, 6.8% ABV. Pours maroon with a ring of pink bubbles that left puree residue. Aroma is a berry mashup plus chocolate and lactose. Taste follows, with blueberry in the lead, quite sweet, slightly tart. Excellent thick and creamy mouthfeel, overall outstanding.

4.46/5 rDev 0%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5

Watching the playoffs, planning to crack open a big beer later. Stew in the crock.

 

My wife said I could have one of "her" sours. This is Southpaw Sour from Second Street Brewery in Santa Fe.
The beer is a clear gold color. A small white head quickly reduces. No lace.
Faint aroma of fruit.
Apricot taste, minimal tartness.
Thin mouthfeel. Not sour, not very tart.
Disappointing.

 

Okay, found the description but not the link. Not so adept on the phone with my search results. But on Amazon (or elsewhere) look for “libbey bourbon trail glasses”
That should get you in the area.

 

What kind of stew you got in the crock today @bbtkd

 

My daughter said to tell you raccoon.

But it's top round beef, spuds, onions, carrots.

 

Well my WBAYDN post for today's beer was a bit optimistic as this turned out to be pretty mediocre. Last one of the weekend for me. Hope no one ends up with a case of the Mondays!

Frog Alley Charley Brown Ale
5.5% American Brown



Pours medium brown with ruby notes and a two-finger tan head that dissipates and leaves decent lacing.

Not much going with the aroma. Some malt sweetness not quite to the level of brown sugar or caramel and a hint of earthy hops.

Thankfully there is more going on when it hits the palate. It starts off with sweet caramel and chocolate notes, which get some earthy hop companions part way through the sip. There are then hints of cocoa, dark fruit, nuttiness, and sweet coffee. It finishes sweet and fades with a whimper into the aftertaste.

Too light bodied, but with low and fine carb that keeps it from feeling like a soda.

Overall, this is close but doesn't hit the mark. Needs more body, bolder malt flavor, more hops, slightly more roast. Just needs more oomph all around. Rated slightly higher simply because I enjoyed what was there. Rating against the brewer's claimed style of robust American Brown would be another matter; it's neither robust nor aligned with the American Brown style.

 

Just a couple new to be brews today, the first was The Bruery's 2econd Imperial Stout:

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/16866/555332/?ba=bluejacket74#lists



Followed by Abita's Vanilla TRPL DOG Triple Brown Ale:

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/3/685049/?ba=bluejacket74#lists



Should have some more new brews next weekend, cheers everyone!

 

These?
https://shop.libbey.com/products/li...YZpWljZeY18lgZlFxZyo8AD5ypf4x6GuERT7MB3q16LkQ

 

Well, 12 days into dry Jan and I've lost some weight. Although I've only lost half of what @TCgenny says he lost I am absolutely sure I started out heavier than him.
So... here is an NA beer. I've seen a lot of good ratings on this beer and this week I read that Sierra Nevada does not post-process the alcohol out like a lot of breweries. They refined a special yeast and brewing scheme that keeps the alcohol below 0.5.
I drank two of these for this review, one from the can (like I was slugging a Heady Topper) and on from a glass. My ratings are consciously "to style".

3.89/5 rDev +5.4%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4
Poured from a 12oz can dated 10/11/24 to a Nonic at fridge temp. Purchased cold today for $10.99 for a 4/pack of 12 ouncers.
A slightly hazy light gold body sits below a ½” white head. The head fades to a single layer that stays quite long. Lacing is moderate.
The smell is bright and citrusy.
The taste is quite hoppy with pine prominent and citrus right behind. Finish is quite dry.
The mouthfeel is light and slightly oily but decent carbonation cleans this out fine.
I would absolutely put this at the top of my very low-count NA experiences.

 

Daydreaming of snow, but the only precipitation is ash...

4.14/5 rDev -1.7%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25

Packaged on 12/23/24 - enjoyed on 1/12/25 - poured from a pint can into my Dogfish Head shaped pint glass. Hops utilized include: Citra, Mosaic, Simcoe, Loral, Idaho 7, and Mosaic HyperBoost.

Nearly clear orange peel/marigold body with a fist of off white soft peaks. Massive, crenellated cap leaves broad sticky lacing in its wake. Excellent retention.

Potent aromatics suggest candied citrus along with mango and stone fruit. Hop presence dominates.

Zesty/spicy palate entry - crushed grapefruit/tangelo and wild berries dance around the edges, but an herbaceous/earthy bitterness asserts itself above all. Vary faintly catty (Simcoe?) at times. Dry, woodsy finish with some returning malty sweetness hinting at caramel and biscuits (malt bill seems slightly less lean than Swami's). Neutral yeast.

Medium-bodied, zesty and crisp; slightly warming.

Complex and unapologeticlly bitter WCIPA - very good.

 

Exactly!