New Beer Weekend #284

Back for my first new beer of the day. Here it is

Ghost Vision: Citra Mosaic - Modist Brewing - Minneapolis, MN - Hazy IPA - 6%

I am not a fan of this beer to be honest. There's really no flavor up front. The way back is where the hops hit, but it is too late in the tasting profile for me. I am burping up hops, but I didn't get to enjoy them before getting to this point. Two months old, and the hops shouldn't be so damn faint.

Review:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/43654/712145/
3.45/5 rDev -13.1%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
From a 16oz can. Canned on 10/30/2025

This is a hazy and murky looking beer. Pale golden color to the beer. The beer has a 3 finger white head to it that is long lasting. There's some good lacing on the glass as the head dissipates.
The nose is quite light. I do get a hint of citrus in it from the hops, but they don't punch me in the nose.
Well the flavor is like the nose, but even less. Up front there's almost nothing. The hop flavor does come into play on the backside with a bit of bitterness that shows up way too late for my liking.
The body does have that bitterness on the way, way back. Body is ok, but lacking.
I really don't think 2 months old would make the hops fall off to where they are with this beer. Very underwhelming beer overall.

You're damn straight that I'll be back for more. I may do a cellar pull for my next one, and hope it is an upgrade from this beer.

 

This is one of my favorites, but like almost all unique imports, and the majority of Fuller's in general, I haven't seen this in years, sad face

 

Good day BAs! Today's New Breakfast Beer:



Maple Warlock from Southern Tier Brewing. Four-pack of 12 fl oz bottles from Franklin Beer, Franklin, PA. Stored on room temperature shelf at distributor. Purchased 26/12/25. $ 13.00 (including tax) ($ 0.271/fl oz). Reviewed 27/12/25, review 3663. Note that I use DD/MM/YY protocol.
Stamped on label “BESTBY 07/02/27”. Stored at home at 40 degrees F. Served at 50.1 degrees F in a hand washed and dried Jester King snifter. The final temperature is 56.4 degrees F.
Appearance – 4
First pour – Deep Amber (SRM 15), clear.
Body – Ruby brown (SRM 24), opaque. Under direct light, same. When rear-lite, ruby and clear in the direct path of the light, otherwise opaque.
Head – Average (Maximum 2.0 cm, aggressive center pour) Cream, high density with average retention, ending with a 0.8 cm crown and a rocky cap.
Lacing – Fair. Temporary low, rolling foothills of near-microscopic bubbles remain above the crown as the level drops, some areas have multiple skinny connecting columns.
Aroma – 4.5 – Maple, maple, maple, no hops, no malt, no alcohol (8.6 % ABV according to the label).
Flavor – 4 – Initially sweet maple with weak caramel, and a little pumpkin. No hops, no dimethylsulfide or diacetyl. Well attenuated alcohol - moderate gastric warming, not unpleasant. Ends slightly bitter.
Palate – 4 – Medium: Somewhat syrupy, almost sticky: Lively carbonation. Slightly sticky.
Style: Sort of follows the BA style description.
Final impression and summation: 4.25 Uncredited label art. Fortunately, the “pumpkin spice” aspect is minimal, allowing both the pumpkin and the maple syrup to shine. Very good iteration of (IMHO) the best pumpkin beer out there. Reminds me a bit of their Barrel Work Series: Sapsquash.
Rating 4.19, rDev +5.5%

Incidentally, for those of you having trouble posting images, I use my (old) digital camera, upload to my laptop, then use Postimages to stick them into BA.

 

Bent Paddle Game Plan IPA

Appearance: Clear gold, good head.

Smell: Citrus, rinds, bit of dankness.

Taste: Mild sweetness, then shifts to moderate citrus bitterness. Gets a bit of the dankness and/or vegetal note in the finish. Medium bodied.

Overall: Bent Paddle makes solid beers, so I picked up a 6er of this IPA. Balanced flavor, not too sweet or too bitter, kind of a mix of old and new school.

 

@Mdog , I've seen that at work, and I'll have to give it a try sometime, probably for the next NBW thread.

Time for my next beer. It is something I purchaced recently, but has been sitting on the shelves at a sister store for a long time. The manager there likes it when I come in, because I help her clear out the aged bottles.

Double Bastard in the Rye - Stone Brewing - Escondido, CA - American Strong Ale - 12.7%

Wow, this is more than I was expecting in a good way. So much flavor in this beer. The body is amazing. I wouldn't recommend putting 10 years on this beer, but, in this case, it worked.

Review:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/147/184619/
4.19/5 rDev -0.5%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
From a 500ml bottle. 2015 release.

Slight pop of the cork and a bit of smoke upon opening. This beer is a dark pouring beer. There's a nice amber hue to it when I hold it to the light. There was a 1 finger tan head that dissipated rapidly and left on lacing on the glass.
The nose is deep and complex. There's a lot of dark fruit that hits me and there's a slight funk to it. There's an oak note that hits my nose also.
This is an interesting flavor profile. Up front there's a cardboard flavor, but it fades fast. There's a hint of dark chocolate that hits my palate. I do get a lot of oak notes. There's a hint of dark fruit that hits my taste buds, but less than the nose suggested. There's somewhat of a char flavor that is pleasing. The finish has a somewhat wild and funky note to it with a bit of a lingering bitterness.
There's a creamy feeling to this beer. It has a smoothness at first. The body is full. There's that bitter feeling on the finish. There's not much of an alcohol burn.
I wouldn't have recommended having this beer age 10 years, but it worked. I am so happy I got the chance to buy and try it.

Will there be more today? I would say very likely. Cheers all.

 

You are in for a ride. That show is well done and very creative. Almost Lovecraft dark though.
Cheers!

 

Glad you scored that one.

 

Thanks for chiming in Todd. Totally appreciate all you and the mods do. Like I said earlier, I don't know if it had to do with the updates, or perhaps Cloudflare putting in code for protective reasons, but I can no longer simply copy an image from a google doc into BA. I'll eventually get around to trying an image hosting company again. FWIW, I would pay a little extra for making it easy to uploading pics on BA.

 

Thanks Bob! I like that Postimages has no limit and is considered one of the "safer" companies.

 

Cheers everyone! Started off today's new beers with this good one from Wolf's Ridge:

DIre Wolf - Salted Caramel | Wolf's Ridge Brewing | BeerAdvocate





With the name I was expecting this to be really sweet tasting, but I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn't. The salted caramel flavor worked really well with the base beer. Should have another beer in a little while!

 

Next up was another good imperial stout from Wolf's Ridge:

Dire Wolf - Finish Cabernet Barrel | Wolf's Ridge Brewing | BeerAdvocate





Even though it has some age on it, there's still a lot of cabernet character. Drinking pretty good! I think this will be the last of my new beers today, but should have another couple new beers tomorrow. Cheers again!

 

Triptych Proper Brown Ale, 5% ABV

Description from the brewery:
Proper Brown is our take on the classic English brown ale, built on Maris Otter, caramel malt, and a touch of chocolate for warm, toasty depth. Fuggle and Spalter hops keep the bitterness gentle and balanced, letting the malt shine in a soft, rounded pint. It’s uncomplicated, comforting, and exactly what a proper brown ale ought to be.



Pours a dark brown color, with a dense and rocky head that rises. Retention for days, and spiderweb looking lace left behind. This is a looker.
There is an odd copper penny like aroma up front. Which leads to the more traditional malty character you would expect, with a bit of a dusty yeasty aroma as well.
No issues tastewise however. Big baked bread flavors, toasted malts, nutty. Lots of nuance that continues to develop, like unsweetened bakers chocolate, a touch of light dark fruits/cherries, and a lingering earthy bitterness for a nice balance.
A medium body with effervescent carbonation at first. As this breath, it becomes ultra smooth. Which all leads to a very easy to drink example of the style.

Outside the odd aroma I picked up, which very much could be a me thing, this is a spot on example of the style. One I wish more breweries would make, and I bet that is even more true on cask (which I think I missed out on, but will try and make a trip to their Savoy brewery soonish ha). Highly recommended.

Overall score is 4.09, easy A-
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/30967/774388/?ba=champ103#lists

 

Hey friends! I'm happy to finally be contributing to this here thread. Mrs Phisher just took the chaos out of our house to in laws cause her sister and family just got in, I'll be there tomorrow for dinner. I'm taking advantage of the quiet to unwind and then get dinner cooking...what better time to open a beer.

Today's beer has coffee in it and anxious person that I am I try to not have coffee beers at night, if at all. So opening this one for today was a must, it's not often I can open a beer at these hours and focus on it. This beer is from the newly released, less than a week ago, spring variety pack from Dogfish, dad was right by there a few days ago and grabbed me one. They're 2026 calendar gives me a lot of excitement, so much that I made a thread about it

The concept of this beer reminds me of something Dogfish would've done before adjuncts were in everything. Would I prefer a straight up czech dark, probably, but hey it's Dogfish we're talking about and this spring variety is the bees knees, as are the rest of them if you ask me. This one has a kolsch, american amber, fresh 60 minute (only 3 weeks old!!!), and this one. Also what a label, the color scheme and artwork is gold if you ask me.

Without rambling anymore, here is the first of hopefully, at least one or two more new ones this weekend.

Dogfish - Czech-Spresso (Czech Dark Lager with Coffee 5%)




Pours dark shade of brown, crystal clear when backlit; initial head is nice, light brown, settles quickly but makes up for with a persistent film.

Nose brings mostly light toast, light acidity; coffee and dark fruit like, earthy and dry cocoa vibe, a dryness I always like to call ash like.

Taste is pleasantly similar; there’s toast, some bread; good balanced roast character that I didn’t pick up on from the nose, medium roast coffee; finishes espresso like though, think tame boldness; earthy on the finish.

Mouthfeel is light, maybe a tad thin; smooth carbonation to it with nice lager finish; clean and dries out slowly, light little bitterness lingers pleasantly.

This beer is pleasantly enjoyable in my opinion, would I buy a six pack of it; I'm not sure but that is more the purist in me I think. This is a perfect variety pack beer and a perfect Dogfish beer, sure adjuncts are in everything now but sort of reminds me of when they made Piercing Pils.

Czech-Spresso works, its a clean czech dark lager and the coffee just adds some to it; its not overpowering or in your face; good balance to it.

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Let's keep this thread busy this weekend