New Beer Weekend #274

Sorry @Victory_Sabre1973 I should have clarified I was talking about Jays experience with, if I remember correctly, a few not so stellar experiences with Forest and Main.

 

I was in Missouri last week riding bicycles with friends and limited my beer hunting to a stop at a Friar Tuck, and checking the beer aisles at some supermarkets. It was a great trip and now I am turning to the first beer I am drinking that I picked up off the shelf in St Louis


Dun Dun Dun DIPA from Hop Butcher For The World in Illinois. I gave effusive praise in my review.
4.45/5 rDev +4.2%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 5 | overall: 4.5
Smooth, slightly sweet opening taste, abundant citrus and tropical aroma and flavors, light bitter aftertaste. I'm a fan.

 

A good crowd at the "No Kings" rally this morning. Now I'm home watching Oklahoma/South Carolina. Last year the Gamecocks won easily, but so far in this year's game,the Sooners are dominating.
I'm drinking Hacker Pschorr Oktoberfest, a very nice beer.
The beer is copper-colored with an off-white head.
Aroma of sweet malt and herbal hops.
Taste of bread, caramel, and herbal hops.
Medium-bodied, very easy to drink.

 

Next up today was another good Ohio Imperial Stout, this time from Cincinnati's West Side Brewing:

Cold Brew Imperial Stout | West Side Brewing | BeerAdvocate





Think I'll have at least one more new brew after this. Cheers again!

 

Getting into Zünden from Schilling, a smoked Schwarzbier. It's a bit old with a born-on date of early May, but it has been safely stashed in the beer fridge since July.

Not a whole lot of descriptors for flavor that can be given, definitely the smoked malts give me the liquid smoked cheese flavor. Getting an ever so slight hint of chocolate in post sip aspirations. Overall, really well done and easier to drink compared to others of this style.
Rated 4.17.
Cheers!
Tom

 

Getting into a cherry wood smoked Rotbier from Schlenkerla.

Reviewed by CarolinaCardinals from North Carolina

4.09/5 rDev -2.6%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4

Picked up a 16 oz can from the Appalachian Vintner in Asheville on 8-2-25 for $5.50. No canning date; consumed 10-18-25. Cold stored since purchase.

Beer poured deep amber with a nice off white head with the original pour.

Nose is very nice as the cherry fruit dominates and the smoke for a change in ever so subtle on the back end.

Taste is caramel malts, cherries, and a hint of fruity smoke. Back end is well balanced with a trace of smoky bitterness.

Mouthfeel is light bodied with each sip very smooth.

Overall, this is a nice change of pace from Schlenkerla.

 

Avery Scotchkin BBA Imperial Pumpkin Ale (2017), 15.4% ABV. Pours dark brown with a one-finger beige head that left slight lacing. Aroma is pumpkin spice, largely clove. Taste is clove, cinnamon, nutmeg, and scotch, equally bitter and sweet. Mouthfeel is a bit thin, but overall excellent.

4.19/5 rDev -4.8%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4.25

Comparable to their Rum BA variant, except that one was a lot sweeter. A local taproom had a beerfest last weekend and tapped a 2017 keg of this, presumably the last year of their barrel-aging program.



Spotted this at Shopko this morning, likely all gone by now. Was tempted, but I still have half a bottle of 2023. I note the ABV went from 28 to 30. Good price.

 

Awesome to see all the new smoked beers this weekend!

I don't have a new smoked beer right now, just another Sierra Nevada IPA--Electric Torpedo.

Appearance: Slightly hazy yellow-gold, huge head.

Smell: Citrusy, bitterness.

Taste: Mildly sweet, gives a little pear & melon note before turning more citrusy. There's a cakey sweet note that lingers around the edges. Finishes with mild bitterness and citrus aftertaste.

Overall: From the torpedo mixed pack, this is a solid IPA, not super juicy or bitter, just down the middle. Another quality beer from Sierra Nevada.

Probably will be back later with another from this mixed pack!

 

Here's maybe my last new brew for the day:

Dragon Stout Fire | Desnoes & Geddes Limited | BeerAdvocate



Cheers once again!

 

Quick stop at Lazy Loon in Glencoe, MN.

Thing 1 - Vienna Lager- ABV ?

This is a beer that is ok, nothing special, nothing offensive.

Review :
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/36867/766225/
3.5/5 rDev 0%
look: 4 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.5
On tap at the brewery

Clear golden looking beer in the glass with a thick white head and some lacing.
Light biscuit aroma, pretty light.
Lots of cereal grain in the flavor. Sweetness, but not offensive. Caramel notes in the flavor.
Light crisp body. Clean feeling.
Glad I decided to go with this beer. Easy to drink and pleasing.

Off toward Hutchinson for a stop at Bobbing Bobber Brewing next. Cheers.

 

Happy NBW. I can't compare to pre-buyout Brown Shugga', but I thought this reissue was satisfying and brewed to style in any case - cheers!

4.01/5 rDev -0.5%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25

Now branded "Shugga' Original Recipe" - packaged on September 15th - enjoyed on October 18th, 2025 - poured from a 12oz bottle into my snifter.

Clear alazarin crimson body with bright candy apple highlights and a small stand of cornsilk foam. Low, soapy lacing; very good retention.

Gentle aroma suggests cherry, rock candy, and hints of leather and forest floor. Maybe a whisper of something medicinal.

Rich, bready malt with toffee, burnt sugar, cherry pits, and tobacco leaf. Moderate yet growing bitterness, clean and earthy with hints of citrus/pine. Medium-dry finish resolves to bread crusts, baker's chocolate, and apple butter.

Fairly full bodied for the ABV, though still zesty carbonation. Alcohol warmth synergizes with the resinous hop bitterness.

"Old school" malty, hop-forward American strong ale profile with plenty of heft.

 

Bobbing Bobber Brewing time here in Hutchinson, MN.

Princess Therese - Marzen - 4.8%

There's not a lot going on with this beer to be honest. It is ok flavor wise, just not a lot there.
Review:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/52949/544375/
3.5/5 rDev -2.8%
look: 4 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.5
On tap at the brewery
Clear looking in the glass with a caramel/amber color to it.
Faint caramel nose. Minimal aroma.
Light flavor. Notes of caramel in the flavor. Malty flavored beer.
Light clean bodied beer. Crisp and bubbly feeling.
This is an ok beer, nothing special, nothing offensive.

All right, next stop home. See you in an hour or so.

 

I want to thank @GreenBayBA for his welcoming invitation and his victory in beating @Beersnake to the start of NBW. Micah , keep your races on the computer and not in the real world. The memory of your neighborhood Fantasy Draft 5k is still posted on TMZ.
3 Sheeps The Wolf
This was gifted to me by our own NBW host Micah, and he sent me the very best of his rotation. 1st off, in BA 3 Sheeps, to me, is from a very important place in BA lore, and we’ve all seen major BAs enjoy, share, and drink from this brewery. I was very excited to receive this, and vowed to enjoy with special intention to its treasures.
Micah reminded me that if I was a ***** I could trade these big boys to other BAs for Hamms from PA.
Me: you got a lot of nerve
Him: how dare you
Me: I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and Gosh Darn It, people like me!



Reviewed by TCgenny from New York

4.53/5 rDev +6.8%
look: 4 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
Opened and the aroma hits big with notes of chocolate and mild bourbon. The beer is pitch black with a thin layer of light brown foam on top.
The aroma is rich and layered, with notes of chocolate, molasses, vanilla, bourbon, maple, and caramel.
The flavor is exceptionally smooth, showing caramel, maple candy, vanilla, bourbon, fudge brownie, deep malt sweetness, marshmallow, and a hint of raisin.
The alcohol content is very well concealed.
The mouthfeel is thicc, rich, delic.

 

Back at home, and I need a beer after my long day. So much driving.

O-Town Funk - Tremendous Brewing - St. Peter, MN - American IPA - 7.5%

The beers from this brewery have been the best ones of the day for me. This one is no exception. Malty up front. Full on hops on the back. A very well made beer that I'll enjoy as my closer for the day.

Review:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/69198/766256/
3.85/5 rDev 0%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75
From a 750ml Crawler. Filled on 10/16/2025

This beer is nice and clear looking in my glass and has a nice golden color to it. There's a nice light stream of carbonation bubbles in this beer that are rising to the top. There's a 2 finger white head on this beer that has pretty good head retention. There's a bit of sticky lacing on my glass.
The nose has a bit of a hoppy character to it. There's a bit of pine hitting my nose from this beer. There's also a bit of malt that touches my nose as well. The nose isn't too strong.
Up front this beer is all malt. Lots of biscuit hits my taste buds. The maltiness does fade fast, and goes full on hops on the back. The hops have a pine flavor to them, as well as an earthy flavor to them. This flavor is the finish, and it does linger on my taste buds. Nice lingering bitterness.
The beer is smooth feeling up front. The back has a lingering bitter feeling. Nice sticky feeling and nice fullness.
Decent beer overall. The malts start it off, the hops finish it off.

I am done for today. I am going out again tomorrow locally, but not sure if I'll have any more new beers. If not, see you all in this virtual bar next weekend.

 

Filthy McNasty
8% Russian Imperial Stout by North High Brewing



A chocolate orange stout from @Whyteboar. Thanks Craig.

Poured from a twelve ounce can, the body pours a deep brown with tan head. Very good lacing.

Aroma is a delightful orange-chocolate mix with each flavor equally present. I'm usually wary of orange in beer, but this one is well done.

Taste follows nose with the aroma flavors prominent. To my surprise, there is a substantial malty character that balances the other flavors creating an interesting mix. Strong coffee notes. A big hop bite appears mid-swallow and slowly fades on finish.

Good mouthfeel as the stout weighs in at medium or a bit more, appropriate to style and ABV.

A very good beer to sip and enjoy the flavors. I was not expecting to like this one as much as I do. Cheers.

 

Well, we ended up back at Sidereal Farm after a jaunt to Camden, Rockport, and Rockland. We did encounter the entirely peaceful No Kings rally in Rockland. It was weird - it was kinda sorta focused at city hall but was also spread out with folks wandering around downtown. And I have to say peaceful on both sides, as well, with police presence mainly to direct traffic.

On to the beers and they were pretty different. The photo gives an idea of the happenings outdoors - big fire pit, live music, mostly families and couples inside and out The were hand-pressing apples despite the yellow jackets.



Again from left to right.

Turbinado Brown Ale brewed with brown sugar roasted acorn squash. It's a very tasty brown ale that grew on me - I wouldn't know there was squash used but there's "something" in there and it mainly boosted the body of the beer.

Where's My Sock - Berliner brewed with red beets. Yup...beets. you could smell and taste the beet clearly. Very earthy flavor but offset nicely by the slightly tart Berliner base. Pretty as hell to look at, too.

My Foot's Asleep - I guess it goes with where's my sock? Their Belgian Strong Pale with golden beets added. This one didn't work for me. The sweetness and earthiness seemed to create a bit of a conflict for me on the finish. The Belgian part was fine.

Thyme After Thyme - saison brewed with "estate" lemon Thyme. Tasty, bright, lemony with just a bit of earthiness from the lemon Thyme. Very nice beer.

Not pictured were two more but the pic is contaminated with a cider and a mead and this is BA so I can't say those two beverages were excellent. The mead being very dry with carrots and ginger and the cider light and dryish with candied maple golden beets. I digress...

Zombie Girlfriend - saison with elderberries (no one smelled of elderberry nor was anyone's mother a hamster). The elderberry made an interesting addition- some "berriness" and a bit of tartness but a hefty earthy note - very good and interesting flavor and a weird light reddish purple color.

Going Going Back Back to Triticale - a lager brewed with triticale. For some reason I thought of Tribbles...i dont think they added any...maybe... Overall a different lager flavor - it has a bit of a twang from the triticale that smacks of wheat and rye which makes sense but the flavor was very clear. Kind of boosts the overall taste impact of a basic lager - just a little different spin.

No food tonight as we went to breakfast and lunch, but they twisted our arms about an apple fritter donut kinda thing so we had a good dessert! Huge chunks of apple in what seemed like a whole grain donut glazed with something delicious and ccinnamon.

I have something very different fromBarreled Souls in mind for tomorrow...will ask where it belongs in the data base as it's not in there and I have no idea where it belongs!

 

Sierra Nevada Phantom Torpedo

Appearance: Slightly hazy pale yellow, big head.

Smell: Stinky socks, then settles to mild citrus rind and slight melon.

Taste: Mild sweetness, then mid-palate is not overly sweet fruit cup-pear, melon. Medium bodied. Mild to moderate bitterness in the finish.

Overall: Last one in the Torpedo mix pack, might be a bit old. Decent flavor and ok bitterness, solid IPA as usual for Sierra Nevada.

 

A WBAYDN inspired response, but congratulations @Monkeyknife for your 3,000th unique beer rating! Hope you consider joining us, even if only for special beers you encounter.

Did Jeff @jzeilinger name this beer?

Always enjoy your tours of Minnesota and beyond breweries.

TL/DR Full Response: My previous Forest & Main beers have been good to great, so will still try new ones. I buy singles at a little higher price to avoid disappointment. Import purchases have had the biggest price increases the past five years, draft prices seemed to have risen higher than packaged.

Full response:

Forest & Main Quality
I had the same question after my rating, but after reviewing the previous 8 beer scores, I have enjoyed to really liked their beers. It's just the last two that have not come up well.

They have a good reputation, both on BA and also Chicago Beer Temple Proprietor Chris Quinn, originally from the Philadelphia area. I try not to trash a brewery or beer, but give an honest assessment. For breweries with higher than average expectations, or styles I love, I probably grade with a more critical take than the average BA. I'm glad to report back that I have enjoyed most of their beers.

Forest & Main Beer Overall Rating (April 2024 - Need to enter on BA)

• 04/07/24 - 3.50 Majorette (Can - NEIPA)
• 04/13/24 - 4.25 Bitter (Can - English Bitter)
• 04/14/24 - 3.50 House Lager (Can - Helles)
• 04/27/24 - 3.50 12th Anniversary (Draft - NEIPA)
• 04/27/24 - 4.00 ESB (Cask - ESB)

Net Score for ratings already entered in BA (2025)

• 04/27/25 - 4.44 Mild (Can - English Dark Mild Ale)
• 05/03/25 - 4.03 Pigeon of the Peak (Can - English IPA)
• 05/04/25 - 3.86 I Will Be You (Can - Saison)
• 10/04/25 - 2.14 Pilsner (Can - Czech / Bohemian Pilsner)
• 10/18/25 - 3.19 Sunray Lager (Can - American Lager)
• 10/19/25 - TBD The Lady (Can - Saison)

Pricey Beers
In terms of pricey, I spend a bit more (perhaps $0.50 to $1.00 per beer) to buy singles at Beer on the Wall, to avoid having three to five more beers I might not like in a 4/6 pack. I find it worth it for the new to me beers I rate each weekend. My weekday beers are many times $12-$14 four to six packs, plus my Revolution Deep Woods purchases and remaining cellar beers.

$4-$5 is my typical craft single can price point which seems to be the norm for many single digit ABV craft beers these days. $4-$6 used to be the draft onsite point, and now that seems to be $7-$9, at least in Chicago and Las Vegas.

Imports have climbed to over $10 for many drafts, and $6-$8 for many 0.25-0.5 Liter bottles, so I'm pretty much sticking with my GOATS in this realm, or a single draft or can by a trusted or well praised new to me international brewer.