New Beer Weekend #34

X-posted with WBAYDN? and Online Tasting: Porter

Gunbarrel Brewing Co. -- Midnight Rider (traditional London porter)



4.05/5 rDev +16%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4

Dark, reddish brown body sporting a fairly thin yet lasting head. Beautifully sweet smell infused with notes of roasted grains and chocolate. Rich malt flavor with tastes of milk chocolate and cocoa; very mild bitterness. Heavy body; thick and oily, very smooth; excellent residual sugar body; semi-sweet mouthfeel.

This is a deep, complex, and incredibly tasting porter. The mouthfeel is exquisite, coating the palate with lush, velvety sugary goodness. This is a very malt-forward beer. The overall balance is phenomenal, giving the beer drinker a most wonderful porter experience.

 

Lieber Waldi - I'm A Rocketdog

American Pale Ale with Mosaic, Bru-1 and Vic Secret hops, from Germany (5.4%).



Pours a hazy, dark orange coloration with a medium, fluffy head. Smells of biscuity, slightly caramelly malt and tropical/citrus notes of mango, pineapple and grapefruit, with some light herbal accents as well.

Taste is a good balance of biscuity, slightly caramelly malt and fruity, slightly herbal and resinous hops, with tropical and citrus notes of mango, pineapple, grapefruit and tangerine, as well as just a hint of pine. Finishes with a medium bitterness and some mango, grapefruit and pine lingering in the aftertaste. Smooth mouthfeel with a medium body and carbonation.

A very nice Pale Ale from a new'ish, small local brewery that I didn't really expect much from, but surprised me very positively. It's got a good old school vibe to it, but with a modern twist, feeling a bit laid back, with some mellow herbal, bitter and resinous notes, but also rather nice fruity highlights. There's a very nice overall balance to this, making it drink easy without sacrificing flavor, with a good body and mouthfeel as well.

Currently listening to: Tom Waits - Bottom of the World.

 

Good mor....afternoon, Weekenders! No picture for my first couple of brews today, both "local" offerings from across the river: Mocama Cosmico and FUMO.

Cosmico is a hazy NE-style IPA, with almost entirely late-boil and dry hopping, with fairly modern hops; El Dorado was the only hop used for bittering, or so I'm told. It's a hazy brew with a fairly mild and herbal nose, implying both dankness and juiciness, but not really bursting with either.

On the palate, this thing is a shocker. So unassuming in appearance and aroma, it's bursting with flavor, and superbly balanced. Very little dankness, which surprised me, given the varietals and the nose. The best NE-style IPA in North Florida? Some people seem to think so, and given one experience with it, I think it's got a chance.

4.11 / -1.2%
7.0% ABV

Fuso is an awkwardly named imperial milk/sweet stout, and it's hard to figure out exactly what's going on. I saw somewhere it was listed as a coffee milk stout, and there's a cinnamon-like note on the palate, but the brewery's description only mentions "heaping piles of Chocolate Malt, Black Barley, and Oats." Huh.

Well, I'm not exactly sure if they added anything (oats are an additive, obviously, but I'm talking about flavor additives specifically, and obviously using the word adjunct the way it's defined by, well, the dictionary, is just the dumbest thing ever according to people on the internet, so instead I'll use a whole bunch of words when exactly one would perfectly get the point across with zero confusion - but then, the soul of good writing, as you can see by this exercise, is to avoid brevity and conciseness at all costs ), but it tastes like they did.

Described by the brewery as leaving the impression "...of roasted coffee, artisan chocolate, and dulce de leche," I find I can't really disagree with that statement. It's not a perfect stout, but it's really tasty. If they managed this with basic malts, grains, and lactose, it's even more impressive, but I'm not quite convinced.

3. 89 / added to database
9.3% ABV

Cheers - be back soon with more, and pictures!

 

Yeah, but was it New England, Manhattan, or Rhode Island style?

 

All right, it's time for Picture Pages! Or, well, a picture, on this page.



Founders Panther Cub is a beer I was excited for as soon as I saw it announced. (Editing note: I know Founders themselves call this a "Robust Porter," which is debatable as a style to begin with, but at 9.2% ABV, this is clearly an Imperial Porter (not even touching the stout/porter discussion; the brewery calls it a porter => it's a porter). I have updated it as an imperial porter, because the imperial part is not really debatable.)

Founders tends to hit a sweet spot with imperial strength brews that are sub-10% ABV, or close: Founders Breakfast Stout (I'm always surprised this is only 8.3%) and Sumatra Mountain Brown (9%) are both below, and some of my favorite offerings from them are barely above 10%.

So here we have an imperial strength, but not overboard, porter, flavored with maple syrup and vanilla, and aged in bourbon barrels. I only know how to say "Yes, please," in a handful of languages, but this makes me want to be able to say "Yes, please," in all of the languages.

Can it really live up to the hype?

Short answer: yes it can, but perhaps not for the reasons you'd suspect.

What really stands out about this beer, the word I found myself overusing in my review, is balance. The nose is inviting and intriguing, but restrained. I suspect this one didn't see a ton of time in the barrel (a year or less), but it didn't need more.

Up front, the sweetness of the bourbon, maple, and vanilla are prominent; once that sweetness has been absorbed, the bourbon barrels and maple linger on in a woody dull bitterness, while chocolate, espresso, and molasses tones from the malt base start to express themselves.

Full bodied, with minor alcohol/boozy sting; really drinkable.

I think people will naturally rush to compare this to CBS, but I think better comparisons are Curmudgeon's Better Half (for the level of sweetness, delicacy, and balance) and Underground Mountain Brown (for the drinkability in a BBA imperial beer).

Oh, one more thing: yeah, I freakin' liked it.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/1199/522394/?ba=Roguer#review
4.38 / +5.0%

Cheers!

 

Founders Porter is exactly what they proclaim on the label: dark, rich, and sexy. It's overlooked, possibly because Founders is so big, and possibly because it's not 15% ABV, bourbon barrel aged, and doesn't have coffee or chocolate added. It's "just" a porter, but it's superbly executed, IMO.

 

FrauGruber - It's So California

West Coast IPA with Simcoe, Amarillo, Centennial and Citra hops, from Germany (7.2%).



Pours a slightly cloudy, deep amber coloration with a medium, fluffy head. Smells of biscuity, caramel malt and citrus hops, as well as some distinct pine resin also coming through.

Taste is a great balance of biscuity, caramelly malt and fruity, quite resinous, slightly floral and herbal hops, with strong citrus and lighter tropical notes of grapefruit, tangerine and mango, as well as strong pine resin. Finishes with a medium/strong bitterness and some grapefruit and pine resin lingering in the aftertaste. Smooth mouthfeel with a medium body and carbonation.

To be honest, I was a little apprehensive about this after their California Sippin' West Coast IPA, which I didn't enjoy all that much, but this really is a much better brew that is true to style and very enjoyable indeed. It's quite bitter and resinous, as a good WCIPA should be, with the pine resin being particularly distinct here, backed up by some citrus hops and a good, slightly sweet and caramelly malt backbone that balances out the bitterness very nicely.

While I think that this could have been even better without the Amarillo hops, which lend a certain floral accent to this that I'm not too keen on, it still makes for a very enjoyable West Coast IPA with a great, bitter and resinous character.

Currently listening to: Tom Waits - Lowdown.