New Beer Weekend #245

Now this is the cat's pajamas right here. My mind is officially blown by this Ale. Holy F*cking stars is it ever gorgeous. One of the best Hazies I've slapped my lips onto. A beer with heart & soul. Interestingly, I told my wife that if we ever move from MN, I think Vermont would be next. Very handy.
Fiddlehead Mastermind DIPA 8.1%
4.24/5 rDev -4.3%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25
16 oz can mfrg date 2/21/25 into a nonick pint glass.
L: SRM 5-6 pours hazy medium orange gold with a pure white 1/2" head that stays frothy, light carbo, medium thick soapy lacing with sheeting.
S: Very faint fruits, a touch of green melon, distant citrus, a background metallic note.
T: Fruits, cereal grains, grapefruit, white grape, green melon, gentle bright citrus, lemon, tartness, pine resin, gently sweet. It has a really long resinous and melon rind lingering finish. It is fairly pale.
F: Brisk, juicy, medium-heavy bodied mouthfeel with a long lingering finish that is fairly dry.
O: A moderately bold tasting Hazy IPA that is resinous, tart, fruity, and has a dry finish. Well masked alcohol. It draws you in sip after sip and rents your mind with its long flavorful linger. Hence the name Mastermind. It is world-class in its style.

 

Kros Strain/Horus collab Barrelywine #12 Sandhills Crane 24mo Elijah Craig BBA English Barleywine, 13% ABV. Pours brownish-black with a ring of brown bubbles that left no lacing. Aroma is sweet strong bourbon and dark fruit. Taste follows, plus roast malt, moderately sweet, some bourbon burn, but in a nice way. Excellent mouthfeel, overall outstanding to world-class adjacent. If you like Elijah Craig and English Barleywine, this is the beer for you.

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

Another case where I should have bought more. Damn, should have known, most Barrelywine variants are safe bets.

 

Very interesting review. I first had (and loved) MM back in 2013 (?), and in recent years it's never quite lived up to its former glory. This makes me want to try yet again . . .

 

On tap...oh man. I'd freak. Locked in.

 

Forced to enjoy from the sidelines. Finally shook the massive cold I had. Was puttering in the yahd cleaning up storm debris and grabbed a vine without looking too carefully, realized what it was, and remembered I shouldn't play with even dormant poison ivy. Got on my legs but just a little bit so did the normal treatment. Urgent care, primary, antibiotic for two weeks and a round prednisone later to treat cystitis. I got a nice purple marker line on my leg so I can monitor the infection. Fun.

 

Schlenkerla Weichsel


Appearance: Clear dark amber, good head.

Smell: Good smoke aroma, bits of sweetness.

Taste: Smoky, a bit of caramel maltiness underneath. Medium-light body. Continues smoky through the finish.

Overall: Found a bottle of this newish beer from Schlenkerla. The cherry wood definitely gives it a different character than the beechwood. Kind of drier, straight “wood” smoke rather than hammy smoke. Tasty but I prefer their other beers.

 

My second FF beer of this NBW, Virid a Nelson hopped IPA.

3.79/5 rDev -12.3%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75
Purchased cold yesterday at the source, kept cold. Poured from a 16 oz can dated 02/19/25 to a Nonic at fridge temp.
The body is a milky pineapple-juice color. The head is quite white and the lacing is medium.
Taste is similar, the must rules, and it's a little funky. The grapes in the nose are gone. The finish is very hoppy and pleasant though. Alcohol can be sensed, but doesn’t annoy.
The mouthfeel is medium creamy and the carbonation is a little aggressive, but somehow works.
Not bad, but not the best Nelson dominant beer I have had.

 

Good afternoon NBW
With the way craft is abandoning my part of the rural Midwest, I think my new role here will be to grab whatever random trash singles they are selling in the coolers and give them a try. Here goes

Corona Sunbrew

24oz can stamped L114C019 poured into a perfect pint glass at fridge temp 4.5% ABV. The beer pours mostly bright orange tinted very light amber with off white head. The head recedes to a pencil thin ring and little else. The aroma is mild with no malt and just a hint of sweet orange. The taste is more hybrid orange soda/orange juice than beer. No malt, no hops, no bitterness. The feel is thin bodied with average carbonation and a semi dry finish. Overall, poor AAL but a passable orange soda with alcohol...

The only up side here is I was able to use my newly acquired $2 thrift store Perfect (Imperial) Pint glass. I've never seen one before. Probably holds 20oz and it's the old school SABL print and logos.

That's it for me this weekend. Cheers all!

 

Well, I think I had better go lighter after that last one, so here it is.

Floyds Deluxe - 3 Floyds Brewing - Munster, IN - AAL - 4.5%

This beer does deliver on what it promises. It has a nice malty flavor. I can see pounding these on a hot summer day.

Review:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/26/726795/
3.85/5 rDev +1.3%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75
From a 16oz can. Canned on 02/05/2025

This is a crystal clear pouring beer and a nice golden color. There's a lot of carbonation bubbles rising in the glass to produce a 1 finger white head. The head has smaller bubbles and is fluffy looking. The head retention is decent and there's some good lacing on the glass.
I am just getting a ton of cereal grain on the nose. There's a faint sweetness I get, but the aroma is all grain.
The flavor is less grain than I was expecting from the aroma. The front of this beer is actually a bit sweet, but not in an offensive way. The sweetness does go to a cereal grain flavor on the back. I am also getting a huge floral hit off this beer that is somewhat surprising to me.
This beer is lighter bodied as expected. The body is quite bubbly and crisp feeling.
I would say this beer would be damn tasty and refreshing on a hot summer day. Even on a cold winter-like day, it is damn tasty.

This may well be it for this weekend for me. If so, see you all next weekend. Cheers!

 

Good Sunday afternoon, New Beer Savorers and commentators. Last weekend was the second anniversary celebration of Autodidact Beer. For the event Auto released four collaborations - three IPAs and a Doppelbock. One of the releases was Sands of Sleep, a New Zealand-inspired TIPA brewed with Conclave Brewing - which is one of the very best breweries in New Jersey. Sands is hopped with New Zealand Cascade, Nelson Sauvin, and NZH-214, and includes lots of oats and wheat. I had a pour at the brewery last Saturday and thought it was a bit green so I haven't popped a can until now.

It pours a slightly muddy tangerine color with a very large cap of fluffy, bright white foam with excellent retention. It smells of lemon, lime, grapefruit, white wine, and oat sweetness. The taste is big and bold with fairly bitter notes of lemon and grapefruit balanced by sweet tropical fruit and oats. The wheat adds a crackery backbone. There is also a strong dose of earthy spices and peppercorn and more than a hint of pine sap. It finishes with lingering bitterness and even after a week in the can there is considerable hop burn. This ale has a solid mouth feel with moderate carbonation, and it drinks surprisingly easily for the 10.1% ABV.

I think it is still early for this ale. I'm hoping another week will mellow the hop burn. I may need a Tums after drinking this pint.

4.21/5 rDev -1.9%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

I'll be back shortly with a second TIPA. Cheers!

 

Cheers to the up side!!

 

damn, been lucky on that stuff all over the place near my property in Oklahoma. I do think some people have way worse reactions to it than others. Was always worried about Copperheads & Cotton Mouths, never saw a one, but did influence how I dressed when doing the yard/brush work until about June & then it was too bloody sticky & hot to care

 

Mountain Fork Brewery Small Batch Brewer's Select MFB, BA American Imperial Stout, 9.0% ABV; 3.56 overall


.75 L Bottle pours an effervescent cola/mahogany color with a pinky of tan head. No head retention or lacing

S: Tons of barrel & dark fruit, some iron notes once warm, fruitiness fades

T: Dark cherry, leafy hops, molasses notes & barrel dryness with faint Bourbon notes & hints of iron up front. Baker's Chocolate, leafy hops, oaky dryness & molasses as this beer warms up, roasty notes as well, a touch of brown sugar. Finishes oaky, with leafy hops, molasses & traces of Bourbon

MF: Medium body, minimal carbonation, a little sticky, a little warming, carbonation is outta whack

I expected more out of this one, can't see this getting any better with age. Probably the first beer from this brewery that has let me down. Body & carbonation really held this one back

 

No poisonous snakes here but the land was inundated with poison ivy, raspberry canes, bittersweet. I've slacked on spraying for a bit and kinda lost track of the ivy growing back. And yeah when it gets sticky I just keep the veggies alive - won't even mow. The actual allergic reaction wasn't bad (and of course i sorta ignored it) but it apparently triggered the infection or let it in.

 

New Zealand TIPA #2: Hi Vis from Oakflower Brewing Company. It was released on Friday and I had a pour at the brewery yesterday. It is similar to the Autodidact/Conclave collaboration I reviewed earlier this afternoon. It is hopped with Citra, Riwaka, Motueka, and Simcoe, and heavily oated. And I like this one better. It is soft and the flavors are big but delicate. The oaty sweetness really shines.

It's a hazy, burnished tangerine color with a modest, creamy, milk-white head and lots of thick, soapy lacing. The nose is primarily citrusy but with a strong sweet smell of oats. This is really flavorful! It has a big New Zealand vibe from the Motueka and Riwaka. I'm tasting lots of lemon, lime, and white wine grape. But the Simcoe adds pine resin and earthy, herbal notes. But the oats really shine, adding a soft, creamy sweetness that nicely compliments the other tastes. For such a high gravity ale it is surprisingly delicate. The mouth feel is plush and creamy and it doesn't drink like 10.2% ABV. I have to be careful not to drink it too fast. The 12 oz. can format makes a lot of sense.

4.34/5 rDev 0%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

I think it is the best IPA I've had from Oakflower. I hope everyone has a great week. Cheers, NBW!

 

Excellent review!
And it was great hanging with you in the Zoom last night.,., Cheers!

 

My only experience with something like that is I suddenly became allergic to beer stings. The Doc told me you can build that up in your body over time. Not the first time but maybe the 20th or whatever. If the toxins are similar it contributes, God knows, I have ran the gauntlet on insects and some other creepy crawlers.

 

Catching up during the rain delay, have less than 8 hours to rate a new beer before the clock strikes midnight on New Beer Sunday #1049.

Torrential Downpour 90 minutes ago. They should resume within 30 minutes.



Go Sox!

PS - Nice photo at Zion @WunderLlama ! Thought it was Bryce Canyon. Both Parks are must visits.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/new-beer-weekend-245.680333/page-3#post-8154737