New Beer Weekend #258

From @2beerdogs Sante Adaruis Rustic Ales Left and Leaving Unfiltered IPA with Simcoe Hops, 6.8% ABV; 3.89 overall

Pours a somewhat hazed gold with one thumb of tight eggshell colored head. Pretty good head retention & epic lacing

S: Citrus, some grassyness, orchard fruits once warmer

T: Oranges, grassy, a little grainy, a touch of peach & apricot up front. Pomelo, apricot, a little dryness, plus leafy hops once warmed up, some grainy notes. Finishes a little dry, grassy with apricot, white grape & some muddled citrus.

MF: Medium body, dialed back carbonation, decent balance, a little gritty, but unfiltered

Drinks easy enough, hops were there but not in force, nose held it back a little as well

 

For today's new beer i am trying an "imperial" English Brown Ale from Homeplace Beer Company in Burnsville, NC called Free From Kings, a collaboration with Hillman Beer out of Asheville and Old Fort, NC. Onto my review:

4.18/5 rDev 0%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

Picked up a 16 oz single from the brewpub cooler on 6-4-25 for $4.60. No canning date; consumed 6-29-25. Cold stored since purchase.

Beer poured dark brown with a nice light brown head.

Nose is nice combination of toffee, light roast, and caramel.

Taste is really well done. The malt base starts with a light roast/heavy toasted malt that yields a good dose of toffee flavor. Getting some light chocolate in the post sip aspirations. Finishes with a toastyness that leaves no residual sweetness.

Mouthfeel is medium to full bodied with each sip being very soft and smooth.

Overall, this is another well done English Brown Ale from Homeplace!

Cheers!
Tom

 

Good Sunday afternoon, New Beer Sippers and commentators. I was pleasantly surprised to see bottles of Abraxis and several variants thereof in a local shop. I've had the original and the BA version before and they are superb. This afternoon, I've uncapped the 2024 Vanilla version brewed with Ancho chili peppers, cocoa nibs, vanilla bean, and cinnamon. Suffice it to say I'm not disappointed!

It pours a dark mahogany with a big, foamy, light mocha-colored head and lacing. The smell includes fresh coffee, cocoa, cinnamon, vanilla, and a whiff of pepper. Delicious! The chili pepper and cinnamon really pop and create instant heat. The cocoa nibs appear at mid-sip and temper the initial spiciness. At first, I had trouble tasting the vanilla bean but as the Stout settled and breathed it became noticeable. In addition to the adjuncts there is a solid, earthy char base. While the flavors are big and bold they blend very well. The mouth feel is less chewy than the BA variant but the 10.5% ABV is manageable. Overall, this is a very fine variant of one of the best American Imperial Stouts on the market. The only drawback is the format; I wish it were sold in 500 ML bottles. I hope that it doesn't lose anything by recapping.

4.42/5 rDev -0.5%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5

As always, reading your reviews and commentary is a highlight of the weekend for me. Have a great week, everyone!

 

Good afternoon NBS/nbw and thanks @Beersnake for hosting this week.
As for the weekly question, I do not have a seasonal increase/decrease in New Berrs.
I have to admit to following the fall season more closely though.
Todays offering is part of a fathers days mixed six of Rhode Island beers, as he resides there.
I really enjoyed the offering, however, not a Czech Pils by any stretch. If advertised as a north German pils, well then they did a good job.
As we head into the month of July there is a whirlwind of activity and change in our lives.
Team#1 visits from Taiwan for a monthe, construction projects continue and, my sweetheart is retiring at the end of July.
Its amazing around here

Pivo-tal

Czech / Bohemian Pilsner | 4.5% ABV
Pivotal Brewing Company in Bristol, Rhode Island

Reviewed by SABERG from Massachusetts

4/5 rDev +2.8% | Average: 3.89
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Poured from an undated can into the test glass. Fathers day gift from #2 son
A - Sunflower yellow, a touch of haze, pillowy 2" white cap. Cap stays for some time. Lacing is spotty.
S - Popped the can and imeddiately smelled lemongrass from the Hallertau, some basic cereal grain in the nose, along with a hint of earthy grassy Saaz.
T - All the nose and not much else. I refer to this in a good way
M -Bright on the palate. with a snappy start and finish.
O - Advertised as a Czech pils leans toward a very good North German Pils. With the hops chosen and a crisp element this is a very good beer.

 

Free Will Dystopias American Strong Ale, 20.1% ABV. Pours blackish brown. It's a 'still' beer, so no carbonation or lacing. I'm drinking this at room temperature. Aroma is strong alcohol (!), sweet dark fruit, and chocolate. Taste is strong alcohol, then chocolate and dark fruit, moderately sweet, slightly bitter, lots of alcohol burn. Decent mouthfeel considering it's a still beer. Overall outstanding.

4.42/5 rDev +0.2%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

This is review # 2,000 for me, thanks to @Ozzylizard for generously sharing this with me in a LIF box as part of the Stout/Barleywine BIF. In the next week or two I'll do a side-by-side with Utopias.

 

Cantillon - Le Plaisir, last new beer of this weekend. Headed to Venice early tomorrow morning.

750ml corked/capped bottle served in a champagne flute. 2024-25 cork, bottled 6 August 2024. Bought at Johnny's Off License in Rome.

Pours hazy light amber with no head (or at least no head that lasts more than a second), no visible carbonation. Smell is tart, grapes, oak, grape must, chardonnay without the butteriness.

Taste is green grapes, tart and oaky, hay-like hops, juicy sweetness (but not too much). Stone fruit makes a strong appearance, easily could imagine unripe apricot or peach.

Mouthfeel is soft and dry, smooth and pleasant. Overall, very nice beer, though not what I would consider Cantillon's best.

 

Congrats on #2000
Thanks for all your contributions.
Cheers

 

Thanks!

 

Thanks!

 

Congrats on the milestone, looks like you picked a special beer for the occasion. Cheers @bbtkd

 

Wait!! I didn't see any pictures of @snaotheus at the Bezos wedding, I didn't know you were invited

 

Thanks! When @Ozzylizard shared this with me I knew this was the special one I wanted as # 2,000.

 

Go big or go home ( drunk I presume )! Cheers on 2K!

 

Thought I saw him hanging with Tom Brady

 

Thanks! Yeah, I'm feeling it! Luckily I didn't drink the whole bottle. Since it's still and strong, it keeps like Utopias.

 

Trader Joe's find in OKC last weekend Hardywood Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Porter ( Imperial ) with peanuts & lactose, 9.2% ABV; 4.23 overall

Pours an effervescent chestnut/mahogany with 2+ fingers of mocha colored head. Average head retention & above average lacing

S: Plenty of peanuts, some chocolate, great nose, seems natural, not forced

T: Follows the nose, although more cocoa than chocolate, fairly dry, a little roasty up front. More peanut butter, some Baker's Chocolate, a little roastyness & cocoa once warmed up. Finishes a little roasty with a nice Mélange' of peanuts & milk chocolate

MF: Medium body, creamy carbonation, carbonation faded a bit once warm

ABV is well hidden, delivers on advertised flavors mostly wanted more Dark Choclate. That's why it didn't get a 4.5 on taste

Edit: Probably have hated 50 percent of the Peanut Butter/Choclate beers I've tried, another 30%+ were meh. I would buy this again in a heartbeat

 

Good afternoon all! Decided to open this bottle of Smooth Criminal from the Bruery today—it’s good. Preliminary review below. Cheers!

4.18/5 rDev +3.2%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

750mL bottle (2024 vintage) into a tulip. Pours a slightly hazy (possibly chill hazed) honey/amber with a thin beige head that settles quickly to a wispy film.

Aroma is fruity, malty, and sweet. Bready caramel malt, vanilla, brown sugar and vague spice notes.

Taste leads off with some bourbon-soaked dates and toffee/brown sugar with a subtle hoppy bitterness in the back. I don’t always notice this but the quality of the water is evident here with a pronounced clean mineral character.

Mouthfeel is on the medium side and this beer goes down easy.

Overall a really nice barleywine, highly drinkable, perhaps dangerously so at 12.5% (not the 15% listed here as of 6/29/2025).