New Beer Weekend #293

Good afternoon NBS/nbw and thanks to @bbtkd for hosting this week.
Maple sapis flowing and the sugarhouses are open for business, a true sign of springs pending arrival.
Todays offering is from Firestone Walker, The 28th Anniversary blend.
A lovely and spirited blend that has you thinking with every sip,

Firestone 28 - Anniversary Ale

American Strong Ale | 12.7% ABV
Firestone Walker Brewing Co. in Paso Robles, California

Reviewed by SABERG from Massachusetts

4.31/5 rDev +0.5% | Average: 4.29
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
Poured from the 12 oz bottle into a large goblet.
A - Ruddy brown color, thin off white ring provides evidence of gentle carbonation.
S - Dark fruit salad, fig, plum, prune, add brown sugar, dark bread crust, and vanilla,
T - Black pepper, charred toasty bread, some molasses, brown sugar, then the fruit moves in, raisin, plum, blackberry, dark cherry.
M - Medium in body, start is sweet, then quick shift toward the center. palate coating is gradual and cummulative. Finish is smooth and seamless.
O - A delight on every level, flavors are rich and complex. the texture avoids being syrupy, and the linger is a gentle reminder that you really want another sip

 

No Gods No Masters
Euro Pale Lager
Wayfinder Beer
4.21/5 rDev +4.2%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
12/29/25. Poured into a Samuel Adams Perfect Pint.

A: Clear bright gold with 1-2 finger frothy white head with good retention and copious lacing in bands down the glass.

S: Doughy cereal grain maltiness and herbal, earthy hop notes

T: pale pils cereal grain breadiness with strong hopping with herbal, lemon, honeysuckle, and black tea. Bitterness is on the esge of medium.

M: Light body with clean dry finish.

O: Wayfinder knows their way around a lager no doubt. Stellar pale lager - hoppy, malty, flavorful, dry and drinkable.

 

Thanks for the start @bbtkd
I'm going to jumping for a second before the Purdue basketball game starts.
It's Special by Radiant Beer Co.
Had to enter this one into the DB.
On tap at barrel & Stave in Fullerton, CA.
Slightly darker than is typical for style but really pretty. Deep amber to brown. Slight sandy head leaves minuscule laving.
Nose and flavor are both nut forward with a background of mildly fruity notes. No diacetyl detected.
Mouthfeel has proper heft, low carbonation and finishes with a balance of sweet and a slightly dry and gentle bitterness.
3.81/5 rDev 0%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75

 

Destihl Suckerpunch
5.5% gose made with pickle brine.

Thanks to @LesDewitt4beer for this beer.



Opened from a twelve ounce can, the body pours a very lightly hazy gold. Small initial head. No lacing.

Aroma is sweet pickle with some hot pepper.

Taste follows nose as the pickle brine carries much of the flavor. The hot pepper is medium hot (by my standards YMMV) and works nicely with the brine. The beer beneath these assertive flavors is modestly sweet with a light sourness. Upon finish there is a light bitterness... or is it the peppers? Hard for me to discern, but the balancing effect ends up nicely.

Mouthfeel is good with medium to low carbonation.

A fun gose to try if you are a fan of pickles and hot peppers. Thanks Andy.

 

La Cumbre Project Dank: Neptune IPA (Centennial, Chinook, Meridian). These guys have been making great IPA's for 10+ years, so I have high expectations for this one.

Pours a pretty clear solid gold color with two fingers of a slightly off-white, dense head that dissipates slowly.

Aroma consists of orange marmalade, nondescript berry, some grapefruit, some herbaceous dank, simple syrup sweetness, some breadiness.

Taste is navel orange, ripe meyer lemon, yellow grapefruit, citrus peel, earthiness, some star anise, resinous pine, and black pepper from the hops and balanced by a bready, almost honey-like sweetness from the malts. Resinous, star anise, and black pepper bitterness on the finish.

Medium to high medium body. Silky, oily, little sticky. Little chalky on the finish. Pretty dry.

This isn't the best IPA I've had by them, but it certainly isn't a bad one by any means. I dig the intense and different (star anise/black pepper) bitter character on the finish. La Cumbre delivers again.
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4 = 3.94 overall

 

Good afternoon NBW
I have three of these from a mixed 12 I bought.

DFH Czech-spresso

12oz can stamped JUN 2026 poured into a pokal glass at fridge temp 5% ABV. The beer pours bright medium brown in color with garnet highlights and light brown head. The head recedes to a thin cap and leaves rings of lacing. The aroma is moderate in strength featuring sweetened coffee up front with typical roasted malt notes requiring additional attention to find. The taste is bittersweet roasted malt with more coffee, followed by nutty and herbal notes. Moderate bitterness. The feel is thin bodied with average carbonation and a mostly dry finish. Overall, very delicious and complex dark lager.

I enjoyed the beers from this recent mixed 12 more than I expected. Could have done without the three 60 minute IPAs, but the Kölsch, red lager and dark lager were solid. Cheers

 

Best, and only, variety pack I’ve bought in forever. Only thing I disagree on was the 60 minute, it had been too long since I had that beer. Having three fresh cans was a huge treat for me.

The summer variety looks meh but fall and winter are also top notch. Another new American amber, a smoked doppelbock with Dogfishy things in it, chicory stout again, shelter pale ale, and return of india brown ale.

Dogfish is winning this year! I can’t wait till aprihop comes back, should be soon but that one will only see regional distribution on Atlantic I believe.

 

Good afternoon BAs! Today’s new to me IPA is from cigar city, “never a straight answer“ a DDH DIPA, with enigma, galaxy, and comet.

Pours a semi hazy, deep gold with some clarity; OK cap Retention; solid ring; some soapy lace. Aroma is grassy citrus, melon, and peach. Taste follows nose with mild grapefruit peel bitterness. Medium light body; moderate minus carbonation; no astringency; slightly dry feel. Overall, a solid hazy lite, one I’d gladly drink again.


4.25 / 4.0 / 4.0 / 4.25 / 4.0
Score: 4.04 rDev 0 ; I added beer to database.

Canned 2/27/26 and purchased at the brewery. I’ll be sad to see the tap room fade away this month… Cheers!

 

Glad to hear you made it through safely and dug your way out! It wasn't too bad up here at all, but I keep hearing horror stories from down south. Maybe Wormtown will make a Blizzard of '26 so we at least get something good out of it.

That's some, um...creative...plating of those snacks.

 

Happy Sunday, I didn’t plan to have another new one this weekend but it got a little cooler again and I forgot I had this one last one from @FRANKHAZE so I’m sipping while cooking up an early dinner.

Another beer generously shared with me a month or so ago…

3 Sons - Dark Crispy Bois (Dark Lager 5%)



Pours a murky black coffee brown; light brown head, not the best at developing and collapses quite fast to mostly nothing.

Nose has chalky dryness to it I get from dark beers sometimes; earthy, ash, graham cracker with light burnt toast and some light sweetness.

Taste starts out with a little bit of sticky sweetness and that quickly fades to mostly a roast dominated taste, not much else to pick up on for me; simple but nicely pleasant.

The body is a little to thick; verges on syrupy and has a lingering bit of cloy on the tongue, little touch of roasty bitterness; nothing offensive here it just comes off in a strange ale-lager land like a sticky black and tan.

Overall a nicely decent beer; thanks for the share Frank. That concludes my tastebud tour of southern Florida and Atlanta area.

————

Have a great week everyone and I’m already looking forward to our time together next weekend, I will have to find something between now and then; which is exciting to me

 

That way they can charge more. Now you have to pay for the appearance and not just the food. It obviously works as a tactic!
Back in a bit with a brand new old (retired) beer from Bell's that I somehow missed the first time they were around.

 

You clearly have a more mature mind than I do. I was taking the juvenile route with my comment.

 

Back sooner than expected; I had planned to carefully savor this one.

The pour is the color of a strong tea with garnet color highlights and a very short beige head that leaves sheets of lacing. Impressive trick, that.
The taste is not at all what I expected from an imperial brown; way more dark fruits and almost a licorice aspect that somehow works. The bread flavors are more Wonder bread than dark roll, and I am not discerning any coffee at all. There may be chocolate covered figs though.
The feel is just a tiny bit viscous and the carbonation makes it lively. Nice!
OA, Hoping they still have some when next I head down to Bell's - they released Black Note last week and I haven’t seen it in our area yet.
Back later with a gaming beer,
Cheers!

 

So is that a brewery cellar-aged offering?? I can’t imagine they are reproducing the planet series given the change at the helm. But I’ve been wrong about things once or twice in the past.

 

Have a good NBS. Finished Unruly by David Mitchell last night. Loved it. History of England's king and queens by a comedian. 4.25/5 Started Mastery by Robert Greene before i passed out at 7am. Another fantastic psychological self help book about excelling in anything. 4.25/5

The celluary month bloated me up a bit, I am going to get my salsa mountain bike ready for spring and go find my bibs. Buying Julia a bike too. I need to get back into exercise. I'm almost 40 lol. Lots of bike friendly city accommodations

We came out to a new place called crust and craft. The brixx closed down I guess!

We asked the server when the brixx closed, it was only a few weeks ago. Same staff and quality with new owners. Even the wifi still says Brixx lol

New review: Gilde USA Broyhan's weizenbock. Charlotte brewery. Aromas and flavors of big ripe banana, bubblegum, clove, peppercorn, pear, apricot, red apple, raisin, plum, fig, caramel, brown sugar, brown bread, herbal, grass, light pine, and yeast earthiness. Light-med pine/herbal/grassy bitterness and yeast spiciness on the finish. Medium carb and medium plus body. Balanced creamy/bready wheat and sticky hop mouthfeel. Lingering sticky hop drying, no cloying sweetness. This is like banana bread with stone fruits. Minimal warming 7.5%. Spot on style, big yeast complexity. 4.22/5


Cheers

 

Hello New Beer Weekend!!!

Well, the adventure begins. I am in Jamaica. Might as well start off with this.

Red Stripe - AAL 4.7%

Well, I have had this once before back home probably 15-20 years ago. It was terrible, and I never revisited it. I habe now, and can confirm it is way better here.

Review:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/221/689/
3.68/5 rDev +23.1%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75
In a glass at the resort.

Clear golden pour, slight carbonation bubbles rising in the glass. 1 finger white head that has dissipated fast, with no lacing on the glass.
The aroma has a pleasing biscuit and grain aroma. Actually quite pleasant.
There is a faint skunk up front. This fades super fast. It is replaced by a nice buttery biscuit flavor. There's a hint of grain as well. Slight bitterness on the back.
Bubbly body. Clean feeling. Crisp feeling.
Wow, way better on tap at the source than in the states, and that's not just because I am here. It is better.


Slim pickings for beer, but there will be one more review. Cheers from paradise.

 

Following up with my final new beer of this trip.

Red Stripe Light - Light Lager - 3.6%

Tasty, but a step down from the regular.

Review:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/221/17627/
3.41/5 rDev +34.8%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
On tap in Jamaica.

Clear looking golden pour. 1 finger white head that lasted longer than the regular. No lacing on the glass.
Very minimal, neutral nose. Nothing there.
Light buttery biscuit flavor, more than I would expect from a light beer.
Crisp clean body, lighter than the regular.
Tasty, but I will drink more of the regular than the light.

Well, I will see you all from home next weekend, but plenty in the WBAYDN thread. Cheers from Jamaica.

 

Enjoy vacation @Victory_Sabre1973

 

Cheers @MutuelsMark for this one

Treehouse Very Jubilee, featuring New Zealand Peacharine Hops, 8.2% ABV; 4.29 overall

Pours a super-hazed with 2 fingers of meringue like pearl colored head. Great head retention & lacing
S: Citrus with lesser amounts of tropical fruit. Nose is the only thing really holding this beer back

T: Tangerine, lime, passion fruit & green melon & peach, some dryness up front. Peach, white grape & guava as this beer warms up, also tangerine, pink grapefruit, pineapple & dryness. Finishes with pineapple, tangerine, dryness, green melon & pink grapefruit

MF: Medium body, cream carbonation, some acidity

Easy to drink, nice juicy & deceptive delivery of ABV