New Beer Weekend #298

Digging that can art as well, very Sci-Fi/Fantasy to me

 

Limoncello by Tired Hands
7.2% milkshake IPA



Poured from a pint can, the body is a faded lemon yellow with large fluffy white head. Very good lacing.

Aroma is a bright lemon with a bit of vanilla. Taste features a bitterness that works very well with the citrus. A bit of oat in the flavor.The vanilla's more in the background than the nose. At finish, things quickly dry up with a bit of lingering lemon bitterness. Nice.

Mouthfeel is quite nice, soft and medium.

An enjoyable milkshake IPA. Not a category I normally buy I'm pleasantly surprised though Tired Hands and their subsidiary Little Log Cabin craft some good beers.

As an addendum I'll add that I had a Crushable Church by Tired Hands earlier this week. A session beer that was, to my palate, awful. So bad I opted not to review it in case I got a bad single.

 

Advertised as a hazy IPA I didn't find it necessarily hazy as more opaque, though the golden coloration was very appealing to my eyes. The scent is strong in citrus leading to a juicy flavoring that was pretty much on style. Mouthfeel is medium-bodied though crisp and I enjoyed how boozy it 'felt' even though it only weighs in a little under 7%. A decent offering, indeed...

 

I got this one for my Son to try.
Spruce Brewing Company
Produced and Packed by.......
New Hop License, Inc.
Dallastown, Pa.
Maybe that's why it sucked?
It's not that good. It's got a weird sour off-putting funk in the middle that we both picked up on instantly after first swallow.
Whatever it is, it doesn't belong.

Not a drain pour, but I won't be getting it again.
I'll have to dig deeper into New Hop License, Inc. sounds like a contract brew? Either way, they dropped the ball on this one.
Cheers!

 

Now that it's warming up, it tastes oxidized.
Canned on 10/29/25.

 

I could check, but I do not know if the unredacted parts made it into your official review. I could argue if some of it should have, but this little bit of story around the beer is what I enjoy about this thread. It is something pretty small, but it adds quite a bit, I feel.

A little aside, for no real reason...
In my trips to visit family in east-central PA, we would pass by certain industrial places along the interstate. One became a Nestle's warehouse, and another became a Stroh's operation. I forget what the Stroh's operation was before - and though I feel it might've been another brewery - I can't imagine which (maybe @jzeilinger knows/recalls). Stroh's turned it over to Keebler (or their parent company) before I stopped running up to the area about a decade ago.

Most of this happened before I was [legally allowed to be] into beer; that plus distribution made it such that I was never really able to dig into Stroh's - though I wish I would've been able to, at least for the stories

I've done similar, and this can go into the reasons why things are as they are when the threads come up about "over-inflation of beer ratings"

 

Tree House Milky King Julius

4.2/5 rDev -5.2%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
Beautifully magnificent pour out of the can into my snifter lovely yellow golden murk with a creamy egg shell colored head that settles nicely into a latte head with a silky sheen. Aroma is scintillatingly tropical charged orange, pineapple, mango. Taste follows the nose with additional grapefruit, more melon as it warms. Juicy, yummy moderate bitter num num, mild smaky, really creamy. Tastes great!

 

The world needs more Baltic Porters. Especially Baltic Porters that are as good as this one:



La Cumbre Siberian Silk Baltic Porter

16-ounce can purchased at the La Cumbre Westside Taproom in Albuquerque, NM. Date stamp reads "CO 01/29/26 BB 01/29/27". I'm guessing "CO" is "canned on" and "BB" is"best by". Enjoyed in a nonic half-pint glass.

The beer is a very clear deep cola brown color with brilliant ruby highlights. The head of creamy tan foam slowly fades to an uneven ring, and leaves scraps of lacing after every sip. The nose is primarily dark chocolate, brown sugar, blueberries, and some roasted malt. The flavor starts off with chocolate that's more milk than dark. Really nice malt depth, and not too sweet! Notes of caramel, cocoa powder, lightly burnt multigrain toast, hazelnuts, blueberries, black licorice, and a pinch of dried cherry. Hints of earthy coffee with a breath of herbal/floral hops. The finish is quite roasty, with moderate sweetness and a firm bitterness that lingers. Mild alcohol note and a kiss of smoke in the aftertaste. The body is medium-heavy, with a nice creamy texture and medium carbonation.

Overall, Siberian Silk is a terrific example of a Baltic porter. It has a luscious base of chocolate flavors and a lively cast of nuances from nutty to fruity to herbal. Not too sweet, not too roasty. Rich but not heavy. Satisfying. Really well done.

 

Not super old, but maybe they aren't that good on the production quality side?

 

Social Project Sarazen Bridge ( on the 15th green at Augusta ) XPA with Mosaic, Citra & Motueka Hops, 5.9% ABV; 3.94 overall

Pours a bright & effervescent gold with 2 fingers of pearl colored head. Above average head retention & great lacing

S: White grape, a little citrus & green melon, nose is a little muted at first

T: Follows the nose, a little peach & apricot as well along with dryness. Some pomelo, passion fruit, green melon, dryness & cantaloupe as this beer warms up & a bit of peach & lime. Finishes with some lemon, green melon, dryness & white grape

MF: Medium body, slight carbonation, pretty good balance

Easy to drink, but the flavors aren't popping as much I thought they might

 

Happy Easter everyone! It was a good day, nothing exceptional for me, just a good day.
On to the beer!
Well, out of barleywines (at least new to me ones) for now -
So dealers choice. First up is a black IPA from Right Brain and the kangaroo sold it for me.

I’m rather fond of black IPAs, so had to try this one when I found it while looking for new stouts.
The pour is almost stout black with deep brown highlights. The beige head reached a half inch and left sheets of lacing.
The taste is actually more IPA than most of the style I’ve tried. Definitely hop forward, the Simcoe hops hold their own against the chocolate malts and midnight wheat.
The malts do show up but they are not the star of the show.
The feel is rather crisp, not exactly light but very easy quaffing.
OA, a fine example of the style, and one I will revisit from time to time.
Back later for my nightcap.

 

Cocoon Brewing Snow Apollo

Appearance: Cloudy yellow, big head.

Smell: Big pineapple note, melon.

Taste: Nice sweetness up front, followed by pineapple and mild citrus fruits. Soft feel. Finishes with mild melon, low bitterness.

Overall: Got this from the 2026 Minnesota BA Althing bottle share, not sure if it was @GreenBayBA @cheeseheadinMinneapolis or @LesDewitt4beer who brought this. Very nice NE DIPA, no hop burn, stays away from the mealy umami mouthfeel/taste that can put me off from this style. Pretty good stuff!

 

Good evening, all. Man it's 7:15 and still light outside - murky and drizzly but don't need the outside lights! Good Easter day. We had church service - handbells were spectacular if I do say so myself. Got home and had the weird traditional brunch of hard boiled eggs, kielbasa, and Portuguese sweet bread. No clue how that mess got started but it was certainly my mostly Portuguese with a wee bit of Polish side of the family. Grandson went off to his other grandma's for a few hours then back for an egg hunt and ham dinner. He's sporting his new low taper fade haircut and is strutting around like a peacock. He does look sharp...

I entered this one in the data base back in July last year but never reviewed it after sampling at the brewery. The missus liked it and brought some home. It's been refrigerated since day one, but certainly not fresh. So I followed half the instructions on the can...



Barreled Souls Vecna is an 11 percent abv Imperial sour with passion fruit, orange, and guava. This is a ramped-up version of Pogs and Slammers.

Pours murky gold with a gigantic foamy head that hangs for a few minutes and lands as a hefty cap. It doesn't really lace but the bubbles hang on the glass a bit before rejoining the liquid.

Smells exactly like what the label says. Orange, passion fruit, and guava. One hundred percent fruit bomb.

Ditto in the taste - there's a little sweet malt in the background but it's waaaayyyy back there. Fruit is clearly the star here and the sourness to me seems driven by the fruit- citrus and tropical and all the fruits contribute clearly in the blend. Once upon a time we drank sno-cones with Maracuja liquer - this isn't as sweet as the liquer, but the passion fruit makes a huge statement and I like that. It's not much beyond mildly tart - I think the orange balances out the tart passionfruit and it has vanilla-like sweetness.

Feel is a little on the juicy side and there's a nice citrus tingle that lingers. Slight citrus rind bitterness.

I don't know how they do the voodoo they do. Their barleywines, stouts, barrel aging and creative flavors on the big boy beers are absolutely on point. Then they can execute these wonderful fruity concoctions too? Given the food I've eaten today, I wish it was lighter like their Speakeasy series, but that isn't the beer's fault. Right around the 4.0 mark here.

 

Today's first New Beer (the Baltic Porter was from Friday night) is an India Red Ale from a couple breweries that make great hoppy beers.



Living Häus Kathy
(Collaboration with Pizza Port Brewing and Westwood Farms)

16-ounce can purchased at Noble Hop Bierhaus in Hillsboro, OR. No date stamp. (No bueno. When did Living Häus stop dating their cans?) Enjoyed in a small Becher glass.

Gorgeous red-amber body with a fluffy head of eggnog-colored foam. Above average retention and lacing. The nose is full of orange peel with some caramel and hints of peach and strawberry. The flavor opens with a huge punch of orange peel, followed closely by caramel, wheat toast, and a splash of grapefruit soda. Finishes with bitter orange marmalade, roasted malt, fresh peaches, and a whiff of licorice. Solid bitterness start to finish, and not too sweet. Medium-bodied and a little sticky with scrappy carbonation. There's plenty of red ale character here, but it definitely lands closer to IPA. Nice beer.

 

Small world! The brewery actually started out as Schaeffer before it was acquired by Stroh's and eventually was bought out by Sam Adams (who currently owns it). My father-in-law worked there from day one and retired as a Sam Adams employee a few years ago. They throw a kick butt Oktoberfest celebration for employees and their families (both current and former employees), we still attend every year, so much fun and Jim Koch shows up every year, whatta great guy and really personable!

Oh, man. We live only 10-15 minutes from that brewery, wish our paths would have crossed! !!

 

I am enjoying one at the moment.

 

I recall your posts about your dad's involvement with the brewery It always seemed like very good time.

So am I imagining the Keebler part? Or Nabisco, or something?

Anyhow, the times I was noticing all this was well before I was on BA. The GF and I did drive through town about 10 years ago to see my grandparents' places, which is about the last time I was through. We even got to go to Roadside America. And enjoy some Shoo Fly pie (top 2-3 desserts if made "wet" - rivaling but probably a step behind properly made coconut cake).