New Beer Weekend #283

That’s a bomber.,. the only brews sold in packs here are short bottles (25 cl) of stuff like Leffe, Grimbergen, Heiny. I’ll shoot a couple of photos nxt week of what common shelves look like & post them…, someplace.
Great to see you at the Zoom, fellow hair beast. Cheers.,.

 

Happy NBW!

Barn Town - Just, American Stout

16oz can served in a snulip. Date on the bottom is JAN1224. Got it in a trade.

Pours dark brown, darker than cola, moderate head on the pour that settles into a single, dense, dark island in the center. Smell is roasty, burnt nuts, coffee, maybe a dark chocolate vibe.

Taste is similar, leans a bit more toward the sweet side. Roast bitter takes on a slight char character. Nuttiness seems emphasized.

Mouthfeel is light, smooth, effervescent. Nice solid stout.

 

Deschutes black butte porter na
...solid black appearance with a thin lasting tan head
...medium carbonation with about the same for the body
...aroma is roasted malt, malt, mild licorice, dark chocolate and fudge, theres some mocha.
...taste has some malt yet the roasted malt makes it almost dry. Dark chocolate, roasted coffee beans and mocha
...overall its very good,especially for an na

 

Away Days - Hi Viz hoppy red ale

16oz can served in a snulip. Can is dated 10/27/25. Bought it yesterday at Beer Junction, reviewed today at @jonphisher's request

Pours dark reddish brown, with smallish head that settles quickly into a thick ring and a heavy dusting. Smell is pine and grapefruit, resinous with a gorgeous caramel and honey sweetness.

Taste moves more toward the roasty nutty side, but all the hoppy and sweet characteristics are still there. Malt has a really strong presence.

Mouthfeel is medium bodied, nice level of prickliness. Overall, nice and tasty beer.

 

Every once in a while, Total Wine surprises me with what they have on their shelves. This is one of those.

I have to admit, the label caught my attention. Then I saw the words “Barleywine Ale” and put one in the basket. Only later did I realize it was spiced.
The pour is strong coffee brown with a narrow beige head that left sparse lacing.
The taste makes me wonder a bit; normally I rate mostly according to style, but truth be told, this isn’t much like a barleywine.
So here goes.
The taste is dominated by the “Christmas” spices: nutmeg and cloves and vanilla and a hint of cinnamon. The barleywine aspect is very submerged in these spices. It’s almost like they expected it to be heated and consumed warm, like a mulled wine.
The feel is viscous, almost the very definition of the word.
OA, I enjoyed it, just not sure it’s true to style.

And this one will be my final one today.
Cheers!

 

Have a good New Beer Sunday. I basically slept for 24 hours on Saturday after eating a bunch of Cookout after the BA zoom call at 2AM, aside from reading some Murderland by Caroline Fraser in the afternoon. I finished up the book this afternoon, 3.75/5. The premise is mostly about how the 70s and 80s in the PNW had smelting plants and pollution of heavy metals caused mental deterioration and increased delinquency in the population. Mostly told the Bundy story, but also included Israel Keyes, Green River Killer, the I-5 Killer, the Night Stalker, and the Hillside Strangler. Second half was more interesting than the first. I started Babel by R.F. Kuang after that one, and it's an outstanding historical fiction so far. Great storytelling. 4.25/5

My wife is making sugar cookies for taking up to Ohio this week. Going to head up on the 23rd. Coming back the 30th. She got the cats a new toy. Frankie doesn't care for it, but Chuck and Boat love poking the ping pong balls.


State of Brewing Barrel Aged Stout from Aldi. Good head retention and spotty lacing. Aromas of milk/dark chocolate, cocoa, caramel, toffee, vanilla, bourbon, oak, dark bread, and light smoke/char. Taste of big milk/dark chocolate, cocoa, caramel, brown sugar, toffee, vanilla, bourbon, coconut, toasted oak, dark bread; light licorice, peat smoke, char, leather, tobacco, herbal, grass, pepper, and yeast earthiness. Light herbal/roast bitterness and bourbon/oak tannin spiciness on the finish. Medium carbonation and medium-full body; very creamy/silky malts, light sticky hop, chalky roast, and oak tannins in the mouthfeel. Lingering hop/char bitter and oak tannin dryness after the finish. Mild increasing warmth and lingering barrel booze of 11% after the finish. For $12 a 4 pack, a great bargain with well rounded malt complexity and barrel presence for the price. Just a tad thin, but I wasn't expecting it to be too viscous. Very smooth for the ABV. 4.1/5


Cheers

 

I stopped in at John's Marketplace in Beaverton this afternoon because the location will only be open until the end of the year, and I wanted to pay my respects. I intend to stop by at least one more time. It's been a useful, convenient, and well-appreciated business, and I'll be sorry to see them go.

I ordered a beer which isn't a style I prefer, but it's from a state I haven't ticked yet. So here we are. (Sorry, didn't take a photo.)

-----

Short Throw 2-Click Flare

Look:
The beer is a deep walnut brown that looks opaque black-brown in the glass. The creamy head of brown foam shrinks to a thick collar and an uneven skin pretty quickly, and leaves constellations of tiny, sticky dots.

Smell:
The nose...wait, where did my beer go? And who gave me this glass of liquefied moon pies? It smells like dark chocolate, marshmallows, black coffee, and a few drops of maple syrup.

Taste:
Flavor is pretty close to the smell, although I'm happy to say the maple comes through stronger. It's very sweet, like drinking chocolate frosting thinned out with some coffee and maple syrup. Marshmallows come through in the middle and coffee lingers in the finish.

Feel:
The body is statuesque. Voluptuous. The carbonation is as soft as a purr.

Overall:
This is much too sweet for me, but I like the body and the maple flavor. And darned if it doesn't offer _exactly_ what it says on the label. I probably wouldn’t drink it again, but I'm not sorry I tried it.

 

Away Days deserves some attention. They're doing good things. Although I feel like you're cheating on me with @vurt.

 

Christmas cantata at the church is in the books. Musical commitments are dropping off, thankfully. Minor stuff for Christmas Eve but that's it for a bit.

I think ya'll know this one:



Prairie Bomb is a rarity around here now. Picked this one up from a great store that sadly closed. Aged on Spaceship Earth coffee, cacao nibs, vanilla beans, and chili peppers.

Gorgeous pour. Looks thick and dark brown enough to call black. Luscious layer of mocha foam but it goes away fairly quickly.

Smells great - high quality coffee, milk chocolate, a faint whiff of vanilla. Roasted dark malts provide the foundation. Not getting any peppers on the nose but I kinda expected that to be the case.

Oh my. This is fun to drink. The first sip is excellent coffee, slightly sweet chocolate, and the stout base with just a little vanilla. After that the pepper shows up in the back of the throat and persists providing a nice counterbalance to the other flavors. It all melds together quite smoothly. Great warming from the 13% abv and the heat of the peppers. The pepper heat is fairly mild to my tastes, but any more would be too much. I do get a bit of fruitiness that I find when hot peppers are used smartly.

Feel is not quite as thick as I thought it would be. It's leaving a little bit of char behind. It's rich and luxurious.

Easy A here. I love the deft use of the peppers which could easily overpower the other flavors or just make the whole thing a hot mess (sorry...). The coffee flavor is fresh and high quality. The cocoa adds some sweetness and there's just enough vanilla to notice. Excellent beer.

@GreenBayBA - WTF??? The TV learned some new words yesterday...grrrrrrrr...good thing my grandson wasn't in the room!

 

Wow man. What a beer here. Dangerously easy to drink. A fab winter brew.
Central Waters Brewer's Reserve Bourbon Barrel Scotch Ale 12%
4.52/5 rDev +5.9%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25
12 oz can purchased July 2025 into a tulip glass.
L: Pours a dark fairly murky tobacco brown color with a little edge light, a 1" dark beige head that slowly recedes to frothy skin, light steady carbo, a few small fragments of sediment, medium-heavy full circumference lacing of perforated sheeting.
S: Toffee, a nutty note, caramelized malts, leather, tobacco.
T: Toffee, medium-sweet caramelized malts, buttery toasted grains, light bourbon, a touch of sea salt, distant sour wood, it has an oak wood barrel halo overall, gentle bitterness, lightly rich and has a toasty aftertaste, a touch of cocoa, tobacco, old leather.
F: Smooth medium-heavy bodied mouthfeel with a medium length medium-dry finish that is centralized. It is also subtly warming.
O: This beer becomes quite silky smooth and remarkably easy to drink at about 60 degrees F and above. It is expertly balanced. Amazingly I don't detect much alcohol in the aroma or flavor. This beer is world-class in its style.

 

I too was saddened by the demise of Bischoff. This was the beer of choice when we did Bivouacs with the German Reserves, usually at least twice a year, good times.

 

More beer schlepped down from Kansas

Jester King Garymancer West Coast IPA, 7.2% ABV; 4.13 overall with Mosaic, Simcoe, Nelson Sauvin & Superdelic Cryo Hops

Pours an effervescent & bright gold with one finger of eggshell colored head. Average head retention & above average lacing

S: Dankness & citrus, nose fades a bit down the stretch

T: Follows the nose, catty with oranges, some dryness & little pine. Some apricot sneaks through the dankness as this beer warms up, a little peach too, dryness & pine. Finishes a little dry, catty with nectarines & pine

MF: Medium body, slight carbonation, good balance

Hits all the right West Coast notes, pretty drinkable

 

More Kansas Booty

Firestone Walker XXIX Anniversary Ale ( old ale ) , 12.5% ABV; 4.42 overall

Pours an effervescent chestnut with a pinky + of mocha colored head. Near zero head retention & lacing, viscous

S: Dark fruits, Some bourbon, toffee, vanilla once a little warmer, some red grape notes late

T: Follows the nose, rich Bourbon infused toffee & figs, with faint leafy & woody hops up front. Vanilla, toffee, Oaky booze & leafy hops as this beer warms up, a trace of charred barrel. Finishes with toffee, Bourbon, figs, dryness & leafy hops

MF: Medium body, slight carbonation, warming

Wanted a thicker body, but this delivers on the flavor & nose. A proper fireside sipper

 

Funny Fuckin' glass.

 

Went out to see if I could find a few cool, locally made, gifts...Lo and behold the brewery was open.

Nebuloid: The Outcast by Unsung in Anaheim, CA.
On tap at the brewery.
Beautiful muted straw to golden color. Only a tad hazy. Fluffy white head rises just shy of 2 inches. Good retention with clumpy, cloudy lacing.
Nose is straight up Nelson. Only slightly cat pissy, definitely earthy, tropical and white wine grapes.
Flavor follows the nose faithfully. A mild cracky malt foundation really creates a good delivery of the hops.
Good carbonation level. Smooth tropical bitterness to finish up.
3.81/5 rDev 0%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75