New Beer Weekend #244

And next at Saint Arnold's beer garden...

Hello Hello, a Double Irish Stout. 8.4% ABV.



Pours a dark black, nearly opaque color. A small tan head forms, but with good retention and lace left behind.
Aroma and taste or both similar and simple...of toasted malts, light grains, baked bread and coffee. There is a coffee like bitterness lingering.
A bit lighter body than I was expecting for the ABV. This has crisp carbonation, but just a tad on the watery side. Not hard to drink though.

A "double" Irish Dry Stout...which seems more like it could be an Export Stout. Not bad at all, and glad to try it once at the brewery. Though I prefer their low abv Irish Hello much more.

Overall score is 3.64, B
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/337/695235/?ba=champ103#lists

It went well with their excellent Fish & Chips...as well as finishing up my Edna O'Brien true crime/horror/physiological character study of a messed up Irish youth that ends up committing murder in the Irish forests.

 

My Minhas adventure continues with:
Rhinelander Lager


Appearance: Clear yellow-gold, small head does not stick around long.

Smell: Very low aroma, hints of cardboard and caramel.

Taste: Neutral arrival, then slightly sour grainy flavor. Pretty light bodied, maybe a little fizzy. Finishes with the light sourness.

Overall: Another single from Minhas, not terrible but not particularly good either. Wet sour grains is an interesting flavor but not what I'm really looking for in a lager.

I'm curious if the slightly sour grain flavor is intentional as I could see some people enjoying it, kind of like how Rolling Rock was intentionally made with the DMS off flavor that gave it a distinctive flavor.

 

Happy Saturday, and greetings from West Michigan where it's 2 degrees above freezing for most but 1 degree below for us because we live in a swamp. Er, wetlands. Low lying damp area.
In any case, this is about the beer. One I think I carried back from Colorado last year and finally got to -

The pour is breakfast blend coffee brown and looks much like coffee with a very short tan head in the glass.
The taste is both mild and deep; lots of stuff going on. Chocolate and coffee are the primary movers and shakers, the supporting cast is a melange of dark fruit and floral hops, a little caramel and and bready malts.
The feel is surprisingly thin for the amount of flavor in there, but on the bright side it is very easy to drink quickly. So you can have another.
OA, I might prefer a robust porter over this, but if you like an easy drinking and smooth porter, give this one a try.
I’ll be back with a nightcap, need to build a shelf for my wife without disturbing the dove nesting on the top of my wood supply.
Wish me luck!

 

Thanks for the slightly early kickoff @Bishop ! Enjoying reading about your selections this weekend.

Do you find many beers on Untappd not on Beer Advocate due to style exclusions here and or no other users entering the beer @superspak ? I had to add more beers on RateBeer due to their European focus, but had more beers on the site due to their acceptance of additional styles or beverages such as ciders. I still need to catch up entering everything here, about 1200 beers to go.

Dig seeing those Fish n Chips @champ103 , Saint Arnold looks like a great place to stop for a pint and meal.

Those 3 Sheeps BA selections can be solid to excellent, need to seek out @Bishop 's bottle for you @Roguer .

 

Central Waters Brewer's Reserve Single Barrel Imperial Stout, 11.8% ABV. Pours black with a 1.5 finger brown head that left foamy lacing. Aroma is sweet bourbon and roasted malt. Taste is roast malt, bourbon, chocolate, faintly sweet, slightly bitter, light bourbon burn. Moderately thick mouthfeel, overall outstanding.

4.44/5 rDev 0%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

Wow, really liking this one. I'll have to get more while it's available.

 

Minhas Boxer Lager


Appearance: Clear gold, fizzy head disappears shortly.

Smell: Some sweet corn smell

Taste: Mild sweetness, then light grainy flavor with bits of apple. Light bodied. Finishes with more of the apple note.

Overall: Always intrigued by the 36 pack selling for under $15, finally trying a single Boxer. Not terrible, has some decent grain flavor before the apple note takes over. A 6 pack would get very tiring, let alone a 36 case.

 

Starting later than expected in part to catch up with the number of posts with the BIF increase. Find this thread ebbs and tides like the ocean depending on what is going on with the beer sharing threads. Love getting the greater exposure to all the different beers being mailed back and forth across the country and beyond..

I'm down to six BA beers, and sort of burnt out on the style with all the cellar clearing at this stage, but looking forward to trying the remaining beers which have received mostly good to great feedback from others. I have two planned collaboration BA selections between Firestone Walker and Revolution. Pulled the 2024 bottle first, saving the "home team" selection for Prime Time Sunday, though I have high expectations for both.

Firestone Walker & Revolution Oakpocalypse Now

3.79/5 rDev -13.5%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75



3/22/25 - (Bottle- Home) (Chicago, IL) Bottle Notes: Purchased at Beer on the Wall for $11.01 on October 25, 2024 at store temperature. I refrigerated this bottle upon returning home before opening this afternoon. 12 oz, bottled in 2024, Vintage No. 01. 11.8% ABV. Barleywine Ale Aged in Rye Whiskey Barrels & Red Wine Barrels with French Oak Staves. Firestone Walker in collaboration with Revolution Brewing. O. G. 31.5 p [PLATO]; F. G. 11.6 p [PLATO]. 700 cases produced [LTD.], Color 48 SRM [MEDIUM CHAR]. Barleywine Ale Aged in Rye Whiskey Barrels & Red Wine Barrels with French Oak Staves. Always refrigerate, Store at 45 F, Serve at 55 F. Beer before glory. Brewed by Firestone Walker Brewing Company, Paso Robles, California.

Firestone Walker Box Notes: It may not be the end of the world, but it's definitely earth shattering - welcome to the Oakpocalypse. Conceived in collaboration with the strong ale savants at Revolution Brewing in Chicago, Oakpocalypse Now is a Triple-Oaked Barleywine initially aged for nine months in Estate Oak Rye barrels inherited from WhistlePig Whiskey. We later racked half of the beer to Herman Story red wine barrels while adding new single-forest French oak staves to the remainder of the WhistlePig casks. The beer then spent an additional three months soaking up all of this oaky goodness. The result is an insanely complex barleywine with shades of rye whiskey and red wine, all interwoven with notes of vanilla, toffee, licorice and dark fruits. Enjoy this beer now, or cellar in a cool, dark place between 45 F and 55 F. Allow it to warm up in the glass when serving.

Appearance: Poured about 10 ounces into a 12 oz snifter, yielding a dark bronze murky base, light tan creamy head which quickly clings around the rim like humans on a gravitron, negligible cover above the rest of the base. 4.0

Aroma: Let this sit 30 minutes to yield a nice barleywine blend of malt, caramel, red wine, oak, and rye whiskey. Mild in strength, components drift in and out of the lead, enjoying. 3.75

Taste: Somewhat consistent with the aroma, though the malt is sticky and syrupy and dominates over the rest of the blend components. Red wine and rye whiskey follow, with caramel and toffee backing. Rye whiskey the only component helping stave off unmitigated sweetness. 3.75

Mouthfeel: Sticky medium to full body, drinks at or perhaps above the ABV; it's quite strong. Faint slightly fizzy carbonation, sweet over all, thank you rye whiskey for your efforts to contain. Barrels the primary finish component, rye whiskey and red wine, plus sticky sweet malt and caramel. 4.0

Overall: This is a solid effort and collaboration. Perhaps I waited to long to dive in, but really not a wide variety of strong flavors beyond the aroma. Sticky sweet malt and rye/wine barrels. As advertised, but not as nuanced or enjoyable as my high expectations from these two breweries. 3.75

 

Garage Beer - Lime





Notes:
P crystal clear light gold/yellow, 1f white hd, quick recession, med hvy act carb, med to med hvy lace
N med nose of lime followed by sweet cereal malts, corn, grassiness
T sharp lime over crackery malt, corn in fin/aftertaste in addition to some lingering lime notes
Mf light bodied w/ high carb, carb seems like it could be dialed down just a bit to let the profile shine a bit more, crisp, a touch watery in the fin though
O meh, alright; would be decent to toss back on a hot day, but really not enough here to make it interesting

Cheers

 

Our son and his girlfriend drove down from ABQ for a visit and they brought me a gift of beer. I am drinking Renegade Rebel, a hazy IPA from Flock of Moons Brewing Company. This is the fifth beer I've had from them, and they are becoming one of my favorite breweries.
The beer is a hazy orange color with a huge, fluffy white head. Some nice lace.
Sweet fruity aroma
I get a taste of melon, pineapple, and a little lime. No hop bitterness.
Very sweet and smooth.

 

Just one new to me brew today:

Tranquil Moonlight | The Bruery | BeerAdvocate





Not sure if I'll have another new one tomorrow or not, but if I do I'll post it here. Cheers everyone!

 

That's my understanding of how they're using the term. It was on their website or a can side at some point: It allows extraction of hop flavor and aroma without bitterness, so you can get those lovely floral notes you called out without a lot of accompanying bitterness.

 

I suppose that at something like 160 degrees, that "cool" is a relative term.

Cheers!

 

I see I'm not the first to post this in the thread, but here's a WCIPA from MadeWest's ongoing collaboration series (this one with Shred). Flavor didn't live up to the promise of the nose (although maybe I just don't like Strata hops that much), but it was suitably refreshing as we approach 80F on this early Spring day. Cheers!

3.9/5 rDev +1.6%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75

Packaged on March 6, 2025 - imbibed on March 22, 2025 - poured from a pint can into my Dogfish Head shaped pint glass.

Golden corn body, nearly clear, with a fist of dense ivory merengue. Rich, ropy lacing; superior retention.

Dank and fruity with hints of strawberry, grapefruit, tangerine, and marijuana in the nose. Hints of lemon-lime soda and cedar as well.

Bright, citrus-kissed (lemon-lime) palate entry with a lean pale malt base. Balanced with low but persistent bitterness. Fairly dry finish with hints of pine and lingering kiwi, club soda, lemongrass, and lime.

Zippy, medium-light body - crisp and refreshing.

Would pair well with pad thai or fish tacos (for example), though it is decent on its own.

 

Bozeman - Gallatin Pale Ale





Notes:
P clear gold, 2f hd, looks good, med hvy lace on one sd of the glass
N soft med bright hops, citrus, strawberry, some caramel undertones
T light caramel malt carries sharpish strawberry notes, fin mod bitter with citrus peel hanging around; some floral soapiness and a kind of odd dank/skunky note as well; develops into a strawberry/onion aftertaste- weird, and a bit off-putting
Mf light med to med bodied, med high carb; fairly dry
O not really the profile I was hoping for, tbh, a little too sharp and dry for my taste; that dank note and weird aftertaste throws it off a bit as well; got a couple more cans of this to get through (came in a mixed 12)- probably won't be revisiting after that..

Cheers!