New Beer Weekend #38

Joining in on the @scream tasting.

New Belgium Voodoo Ranger Imperial IPA. 9% ABV



Pours a beautifully clear golden/yellow color. A dense white head rises to over two fingers with excellent retention and lace.
Aroma is pine resin, orange/citrus/grapefruit rind all intermingle. Not much of a malt presents in the nose, but that is certainly not a bad thing for the style.
Taste wise again, pine resin with citrus fruits. More of a crusty bread malt character here, with some sweetness. Then bitterness lingers on forever it seems. This is more old school bitterness, and not a bad thing, but one I have never been a particular fan of. Especially with the relative simplicity of the pine/citrus hop character, the bitterness becomes the entire show after a while.
A full body that with crisp carbonation and is super clean and finishes dry. With the 9% ABV, and tons of bitterness this is a sipper, but enjoyable enough, especially while spinning my new Charles Lloyd Tone Poem album this afternoon.

This is the old school Imperial IPA that I never really got into. As the bitterness takes over after a while, and leaves me wanting some balance. Saying that, its a pretty well made example of the style, even if not to my particular tastes. Still, glad to see this type of IPA available fresh on the shelf.

My overall score is 3.71, which is not exactly, but getting close to B+ territory for me. I'll certainly enjoy the rest of the six pack.
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/192/260043/?ba=champ103#review

 

Greetings, NBW fam! Hope everyone is off to a great weekend. Spring has indeed come to western PA. I had to cut the grass for the first time this week, and today will top out at 80 degrees. My wife and I started our day early and spent 3 hours with a friend doing some birding in a local park. Armed with just my cell phone I was unable to snap any pictures, but we saw some beautiful avian friends - yellow bellied sapsucker, tufted titmouse, red bellied woodpecker, northern flicker woodpecker, and a turkey vulture. After that I went and stood in a beer line for the first time in 13 months as yesterday marked two weeks from my second vaccine. After a nice lunch, I was ready for a beer on the back porch. As @Roguer mentioned, I'm very much here to celebrate NBS BIF #11. I'll also be drinking a can of Summer Life that @Roguer reviewed above, but mine came from @Dimidiata. The mystery beer that I started my day with also came from her.

A warm afternoon like this called for some light refreshment. Yes, the contents were a mystery, but I had a good feeling about a corked bottle from Russian River. The beer, poured into a wine glass developed a quick settling head atop it's murky copper hue. The aroma was what I had been craving. I was greeted with Brett and some nice funk. Notes of oak, fermenting red wine, and an aroma that I can only describe as impending tartness. There was also something fruity on the nose, but that could be from whatever was housed in the oak that I'm detecting. The first sip was very funky and dry. The Brett was on full display and not much else. Over the next few sips the beer came to life. The funk mellowed a bit to give way to spicy oak, a bit of grain, and an increasing amount of fruit. This was all presided over by a bright but balanced tartness. A bit of carbonation lightened it up as it slowly faded from my palate. This was simply exquisite.

So, what is it? I tried focusing on the things that I felt confident about. I think the oak is from some type of wine barrel. That could also have added to the fruit profile that I tasted, but it could also be added. As my comrades in the BIF thread saw last night, focusing in on berry taste is not my forte even though I love them. Sometimes I even taste them when they aren't there, so I'm not confident that there is fruit added here but I'm open to the idea. After looking over some of the Russian River beers that could fit into this style I settled on guessing Supplication. I'm a bit more confident than 50/50, so let's find out the reveal. What's the beer, PJ?

PJ is not impressed with my correct guess because I refused to share with her. Thanks so much @Dimidiata! This is my first time enjoying this bottle and it's nothing short of amazing. The beer is long gone, but I'm still smelling the bottle. I'll be back later to review the summer barleywine on this day that feels like we've already crossed the solstice.

 

Another Voodoo Ranger for @scream
4.06/5 rDev +5.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

19.2 oz can poured into a snifter

A- A fairly clear golden copper with a three finger white head

S- Piney, grapefruit rind, citrus, caramel malts, touch of resin.

T- Piney, earthy, grapefruit rinds, caramel malts, resin, citrus.

M- Smooth, medium body.

O- A solid old school IIPA, easy to drink and nicely balanced.

Cheers!

 

Greetings fellow NBSers! A chilly, windy, slightly blustery day here in the Fourth Corner. Had to work a few hours earlier, but am now getting ready to drain some brews that I've recently acquired. How did I acquire them?, you ask. Well, mostly through NBS BIF #13! Keep an eye out for round 14 in late summer!

First up today comes from @Pinz412 , an English ale from Dancing Gnome called Bants. Lots of biscuit and a bit of citrusy hops: https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/47223/381280/?ba=BBThunderbolt#review

 

New Trail Bonfire DIPA. After @TheIPAHunter declared this might be New Trail's best DIPA yet, I had to get my hands on it. (I mean, I would have anyway, but he accelerated my purchase, for sure.) Most of you know I'm a big New Trail fanboy, but not uncritically; the gold standard for me so far is their Goggles DIPA, and only a couple have approached those heights. Let's see how Bonfire fares . . .

Pour is a gorgeous, opaque gold, with a pillowy white head that takes its time settling down. Leaves behind a nice lacing, as shown in the second photo. Aroma is more dark than bright, somewhere between an overripe orange and peach; there's also a bready vanilla, almost like a Nilla wafer, and just a hint of cannabis. All signs point to awesome at this point. First sip follows the nose, although with slightly more dankness than expected. Also, and this must be mostly subliminal, I'm detecting something a little smoky/ashy, but that's not something I've really tasted in this type of beer . . . it must be the beer's name that's suggesting that. As it warms, it grows more complex, with an interesting herbal undertone that I'm hard pressed to name. It's not off-putting at all, and somehow complements the dankness. Something unexpected happens about halfway through, the emergence of a more purely orange aftertaste that's, for lack of a better term, playful. It sort of demands the next sip while somehow masking the relatively high ABV (9%). Mouthfeel is awesome, both creamy and slightly effervescent, with a much drier finish than expected. Overall, just an incredible beer, at least on par with Goggles, although I'll have to have at least a couple more to assert that it's better, ha.

Anyway, I'm sure I'll have at least a couple more as I watch my first baseball game of the season. Covid, the lack of fans, and truncated season made it really hard to watch last season, but I'm fully on board for this one.

Cheers everyone, and see you tomorrow for the BIF share!

 

Feeling jealous that you're trying Supplication for the first time . . . a truly revelatory beer.

 

Got a great box from @FBarber a few days ago, and couldn't wait to dig into them. This one is Miscellanea (vol 3) from Off Color brewing.


4.21/5 rDev 0%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

Beautiful beer. Glowing, amber color. Minimal head, but not in a bad way. Smell is subtle, but all funk. It's complex, but in ways I can't describe. Taste is exactly what you'd expect from the nose. It's not sour, it's not tart, it's 100% barnyard funk. Every sip seems a little different. Great depth / complexity. I lack the skills to describe it properly, but it's a really good, funky beer.

Frank, I really liked this. Can't wait to try the other volume you sent me!

 

Passed my son yesterday leaving the same beer store I was headed to. We both came home with this.

3.87/5 rDev -3%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Poured from a 16oz can dated 3/19/21 to a Nonic at fridge temp.
Light gold translucent body with a very white ¾” head. Lacing is good.
Smells like an NEIPA, but milder… citrus rind and lemon grass.
Taste is a different story. Kind of soapy, but in a good way. Flavor is clearly hop prominent and the Cascade clearly dominates.
Mouth feel is medium with (here I go again) a soapy consistency (but in a good way).
Overall a pleasant ale and at 5% probably a good fishing or lawnmower beer.

 

Good Saturday afternoon, New Beer Weekenders. We just returned from our first wedding during the pandemic. The bride and groom are neighbors, in their early 70's. It's the second marriage for both. Such a good story for two nice people who lost their first spouse. It's a great day for deck drinking and I'm enjoying this TIPA collaboration between Magnify and D96. This is the lightest 10% IPA I've had in quite some time. It drinks more like 7.5. It's certainly complicated: hopped with Citra, Sabro Incognito, and Simcoe in the whirlpool and dry hopped with Citra, Strata, Nectaron, Cashmere, Nelson and Citra Cryo. You can detect the influence of both brewers. There is a touch of D96's Snake Fruit but it's toned down a bit. Similarly, the big, bold hoppiness I'd expect from Magnify is dialed-down. It's really fun to drink a beer brewed by two brewers I know well and enjoy a lot.

It pours an opaque, dirty orange with a large, fluffy, eggnog-colored head and a thick coating of lacing. The smell is more floral than fruity. But the fruit is evident in the first sip. The Citra hops in the whirlpool and in the dry hopping provide lots of lemon, grapefruit, and melon. They combine with notes of berry and cannabis from the Strata and pineapple from the Nectaron. At mid-palate I'm tasting the influence of the Nelson hops in the dry white wine. There are also notes of earthy cedar. It's complex and very flavorful.

4.22/5 rDev 0%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25

Cheers, NBW!

 

Greetings NBW! The local golf tournament is on rain delay so catching a rerun of the last F1 race



Hoping to get a few beers in this weekend, starting with this LIF prize from @BBThunderbolt in NBS BIF 13:

Boundary Bay Cool “S” Pilsner, 4.7%



This is just the second beer I’ve had from BB, both from @BBThunderbolt (and there’s more on deck). This one comes with a bit of reading material



As for the contents, it pours a clear yellow gold with a large but dissipating bright white head and some decent lacing. The aroma is cereal and grain with a whiff of grass. Flavors follow, with a solid dose of hops and peppery spice to perk things up a bit. Low carb, light body with a hoppy finish. Overall pretty tasty hoppy lager, light and refreshing.

 

Happy NBW BIF #13 share weekend!!! My first beer is from that beer nerd extraordinaire @WunderLlama, who destroyed my porch with 4 boxes of magnificent beers.

That is not a typo - 4 boxes.





4.35/5 rDev +2.4%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

Hazy orange juice color with a bone white sudsy head that provides excellent lacing. The nose is crammed full of tropical citrus notes, with ripe tangerines most prominent, and also berries and peaches.

The tangerine flavors are forward on the taste, and the berry flavors are more prominent, especially in the middle of taste, and there’s a nice sweet oat flavor that works exceptionally well to balance all the fruit flavors.

Another Tree House juice bomb, another winner, IMHO.

 

Another from one of the 3 boxes I got from @Pinz412 in NBS BIF #13, Hech Barleywine from Four Points. it poured black, like a stout, and had some stone fruit scents as well.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/54317/476886/?ba=BBThunderbolt#review

 

#2, sticking with Tree House hops from @WunderLlama. Absolutely love it.





4.42/5 rDev +2.8%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5

Pours a very hazy straw color with a beautiful white head. The can references a pilsner malt bill only, which is reflected in the color. The nose is dominated by orange and mango aromas.

The orange and mango flavors are forward on the taste, and are truly delicious, with balance provided by the bready flavor from the pilsner malt. What a delicious beer this is.

 

Tesselation, from Lone Pine ( ME) presents as a bright amber can pour with a 1 cm fine foam cap that dissipates quickly into a ring that persists on draughts.
The aroma is pine- forward with a whiff of malt sweetness.
The flavors are resinous and earthy hop notes over a biscuity malt base.
The finish is dry.
This is a crisp, flavorful offering.