New Beer Weekend #240

Campanula
Mortalis/ Bellflower Brewery



Fresh brew picked up at Avon, pours vibrant golden yellow murk with a creamy head and lacing lattice on the glass. Wow, aroma hits with lemony, limey, peaches very vivid. Taste is lemon heads, peach now and laters, soft and sweet with a hint of bitter. Feels soft, dry, smacky. Overall great dipa!

In Greek mythology, the Campanula is associated with Venus--the goddess of love and beauty. Today, Campanula is typically used to convey gratitude, humility, and love.
The bell-shaped flowers of the Fairy's Thimble (Campanula cochlearifolia) are said to be used by fairies as hats and goblets.

Cool collab with the mythology of Mortalis and the up and coming Bellflower Brewing.

 

Have a good NBS. Was up all night watching spongebob and MST3K: Devil fish with my wife, which is a really bad 80s Jaws ripoff from France. We were drinking the Aldi Glühwein that is like $6 and like a lightly spiced sangria. Also got the apple pie one top open later. I'm actually slowly reading Wine Folly on my ebook app to get familiar. I really want to take a beer Certified Cicerone test, but I need to do a bit of studying to make sure I don't miss any gaps

Standard 1AM Cookout Run. I didn't eat anything all day while I slept in. I have been wanting to play a new WWII Shooter, so I installed Medal Of Honor Airborne on EA games. I have a free EA Play basic subscription through my Xbox PC Ultimate subscription, but the EA app took a crap and was not letting me install the game, so I googled it and turns out I had to increase app permissions in WIN10 settings, for it to handshake between apps

Standard Cook out style big double Tray with corn dog and ranch wrap for me. I asked for large cajun chili cheese fries as a side order, and they seemed generous as they put it in a full tray! Best fast food of all time.



Edmund's Oast Sour Cherry Pineapple. Oct 2023 can. Solid head retention and minimal lacing from acidity. Aromas of big sour cherry, plum, apricot, pineapple, green apple, lemon, lime, and lacto funk. Taste follows with big sour cherry, plum, apricot, pineapple, green apple, lemon, lime, white grape/wine, peppercorn, lacto funk, wheat, bread, and light peppercorn/barnyard funk. Moderate lactic tart/sourness and some fruit tang/tannins on the finish. Medium carbonation and light-medium body; very acidic/tannic mouthfeel with some light grainy malts. A bit puckering, but still finishing pretty crisp/clean/refreshing with only mild lingering lactic acid on the palate after the finish. Very drinkable and not too lactic. A good amount of fairly jammy fruit without being a "Smoothie Sour". Just a normal fruited Berliner. 4.1/5


Cheers

 

Here's my take on another offering from Hofbräuhaus Traunstein.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/2876/651159/



"04 .09 .25 L130743" printed on back label.
Best by 4th of September, 2025, me thinks.

Moderate pour yields a nearly one inch white head over a ever so slightly cloudy, light golden body with some lacing.

Nose of yeast, hay, light toast, and slight pepper.

Taste mirrors nose very closely with a nearly dry, slightly black pepper finish.

Slightly less than medium mouthfeel and carbonation.

Overall, I wouldn't turn down another one and would recommend to anyone wishing to expand their horizons by getting into a very unique lager!

Cheers!!

 

Van Honsebrouck St. Louis Gueuze Fond Tradition


Never had a gueuze before, but gotta get that style tick....

Appearance: Hazy amber, tiny head disappears fast.

Smell: A spice that I can't identify, maybe acidity/barfy smell.

Taste: Tart, more of the weird spice taste, vinegary. I get a bit of apple when I burp, but not while actually drinking the beer.

Overall: Super far away from the styles I usually drink, this just tastes like a sour vinegary soup. The bottle is old, from 2014, so may be far past its prime. Oh well, a style tick I suppose!

 

Interesting! I love gueuze. Before trying anything like a lambic or gueuze for the first time, I tell people to stop thinking about beer. It's completely different from anything familiar. Think about cider or white wine instead.

A lot of them have "best by" dates a decade or more out from bottling.

Doesn't sound like a great experience for you, sorry about that. Hopefully it doesn't completely turn you off from the style -- a second try, you'll know more what to expect, won't be a WTF moment at that point.

 

Mukona Honey Lager
6.5% European strong lager



Poured from a 16.9 ounce bottle, the body is a nearly completely clear golden yellow with white fluffy head. Not much lacing.


Aroma is a pleasant honey. Taste follows nose as honey is the main attraction here. The bready malt bill blends well with the honey flavor. No noticeable hop flavor.

Mouthfeel is soft and light and, despite a large head at pour, the lager lacks carbonation.

A solid lager that I enjoyed. Caveat is you need to like honey to enjoy this one. More carbonation would really improve the beer.

 

Cheers NBW! Joining in late for the anniversary.

This one is hitting me right at the moment. I wanted a sipper but wasn’t up for anything super heavy or sweet.

350ml bottle poured into a goblet.
2024 Edition

L: Clear and effervescent, golden orange, one inch antique-white head, creamy foam fades to a thick collar and a wispy cap, leaves spots of slick lace.
S: Spicy yeast phenols, refined alcohol, pastry-like malt aroma.
T: Light Belgian yeast flavor, baking spices, attenuated sugary fruit syrup flavor, not overly sweet, spice and alcohol along with faint hop flavor balance the sweetness nicely.
F: Medium body, warm and pillowy, just enough carbonation to open with some tongue prickle, clean finish.
O: More refined than expected, has a liqueur character to it, nice lighter seasonal
sipper.
4.12 Overall

 

It's been a while since I've peeked in on a specific score given by a BA, but I was glad to see you gave that bee a sub-par score on looks

 

Yea I was wondering, that sounds a lot like butyric acid, not something I like seeing literally ever, but at least it wasn't ropey with Pediococcus. That is a rare but even weirder experience. A lot of those types of Gueuze can clean up the sick over time though. I just never had a personal experience.
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My wife is making cheeseburger macaroni Aldi hamburger helper tonight. Time to get drunk I guess lol.

Thanks @Ozzylizard . Shiner Brewers Pride Barrel-Aged Doppelbock 2022 release 1. Deep ruby brown pour, solid head retention, minimal lacing. Aromas of big caramel, toffee, brown sugar, raisin, fig, date, brown bread/crust, toast; light peppercorn, herbal, roast. Some booze. Taste follows through with caramel, toffee, brown sugar, raisin, plum, fig, date, apple, brown bread/crust, bourbon, oak, toast; light peppercorn, pine, herbal, grass, roast. Light-medium herbal/pine bitterness and oak tannin spiciness on the finish. A bit of tartness/tang from yeast. Medium-plus carbonation and medium body; balanced bready/grainy malt, sticky malt, and barrel tannins in the mouthfeel. Lingering bitter/sticky/tannin dryness with no astringency. A bit too fruity, and thin for the style on mouthfeel, but there is plenty of barrel and solid malt complexity. Boozy/warming 12% finish. Very good beer. 3.75/5


Cheers

 

lol
Certainly earned it!

 

I find myself being to generous on looks too. IMO: most big ABV and low pH beers get the pass for crap head retention, but otherwise I rarely give a 3 unless it just looks nasty(unless it has a reason to look nasty like murky fresh fruit)

 

Yeah, I am a little more harsh on having no head or retention. I wasn't always, but the way I see it now, there are high ABV beers and barrel aged beers out there that achieve decent heads, that last at least a fair amount of time and even those that retain at least a modest collar - so it can be done.

That, plus it is just the looks category - not a big part of the overall score in the grand BA scheme of things

 

It was definitely a much different experience than the usual beers I have. I've had some of the other "sour" Belgian/Flemish styles but not gueuze or non-fruit lambic. Reading some of the other reviews of the Fond Tradition, I think that maybe my bottle was not stored the best. It was probably sitting on that shelf at the store for 10 years in a green bottle, exposed to light and temperature variations. I did not get any of the fruit notes, just very tannic and vinegar. I'll try gueuze again sometime, once I have at least 1 beer from each style, might as well have a second or third!

 

That Glühwein I imagine is hangover inducing. Usually, one mug was enough to make me hunt a beer

 

There are some that are only worthy as salad dressing IMHO. The great ones usually always deliver, but there are some breweries that should turn in their Belgian cards & then abuse sometimes enroute to the drinker doesn't help either.

 

What a mess

 

This even a great or shite score there doesn't really move the needle

 

Last new beer from my Kansas haul.

Epic Brewing Big Bad Baptist Double Jam BA Imperial Stout with Coffee, Cocoa, Raspberries & Black Berries added, 11.5% ABV; 4.12 overall

Pours an effervescent ebony with one finger of mocha colored head. Viscous, some head retention & lacing

S: Loads of dark fruit, currant, dark cherries & berries

T: Cocoa, dark chocolate, raspberry, some dryness & raw barrel up front. Barrel dryness, dark chocolate & raspberries, a touch of Whiskey heat & some coffee notes once this beer is warmed up. Finishes with milk chocolate, sweet/tart Raspberry & a trace of Whiskey, plus some dryness & a little vanilla

MF: Medium body/chewy with dialed back carbonation, some warming. Carbonation picks up once warmed up

Pretty good imp stout, I thought the beery additions were restrained & that helped with drinkability

 

Good evening all!
Another cellar pull, this one is so much better than XI.

This was the best anniversary stout from Oddsides in several years. It seems that they discovered fruit in stouts *and* having the same freaking additives in their anniversary IPAs.
No, I’m not bitter at all.
But this particular one is chocolate and vanilla. Two flavors often found in stouts anyway.
As far as additive stuffed beers go, this is really good. The pour is good, had a decent head. For a ABV of 16.9, actually a little impressive.
The taste is actually legit; coffee and chocolate, light vanilla, and light bourbon.
Actually a lot more than that but those are the broad strokes. In short, delicious.
The feel is lightly viscous, maybe a little too light. This was way too easy to drink, and keep drinking until it was gone.
OA, this one annoys me that I only bought a single because I was not a fan of the direction the series was going. Oh well, we live and learn.
Cheers!