New Beer Weekend #38

Greetings fellow NBW sots and RIP @scream

Omnipollo Daidalos



4.18/5 rDev -3.5%
look: 5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

Picked up a pint can of this at the local bottle shop because the write up on the website looked interesting enough to at least try a single. 2/26/2021 date on bottom. Poured into a DFH tulip this is probably not the first time I've given the look a 5 rating but I think it's impossible for an Imperial Stout to look better than this: very dark brown body with a full dark khaki head that takes a while to fade with abundant lacing. Smell is the weak point because until it warms up its mostly undefined sweetness. When it warms a chocolate syrup and coffee aroma emerge but more understated and uncomplex than I like. It's the taste where the almond flavors get added to the chocolate and coffee tastes, on the edge of being too sweet but never crossing that line. Alcohol is very understated. Mouthfeel is full while still being refreshing. There's nothing drop-the-hammer-so-sip-this-carefully aspect to this but you drink it slowly anyway to enjoy it.

Another good non barrel aged Imperial Stout. I may snag another just to enjoy it on a cooler night because tonight is warmer than ideal for this

 

Went with something light from @FrankenMiller tonight. It seems to be getting a little easier to find, but a well-made lager is so refreshing. This was the first time I tried reviewing one, though, and it was a little difficult for me. It's easy to pull tastes out of fruited sours or pastry stouts, but just a well-made lager? There's so much more nuance.

Anyways, Angry Chair Full Circle



4.18/5 rDev +7.2%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

Poured from a 16 ounce can.

Pours a transparent light gold color, with lots of carbonation. Smell is grain, not much else, but it's a good smell for a light beer. Taste is similar. Not much to it, but I mean that in the best way possible. Just nice and crisp. Same for the feel. Crisp, and easy to drink.

This is just a nice, simple beer, but if I lived close to Angry Chair, I'd have this in my fridge as often as I could. Perfect for many occasions.

 

It was the "Boat Ramp Champ" part that grabbed me. I'm not a big boater, but, between living on Lake Ontario and Puget Sound/Salish Sea my whole life, I've been around it enough to have seen my share of Boat Ramp Champs in my life. And, as a recovering OTR truck driver, watching the normies try to back down a ramp rarely fails to entertain me.

 

Congratulations!

 

I grew up on a farm, and with plenty of experience backing up farm trailers (with four wheels & front wheel steering on the trailer - so everything is backwards compared with a 2 wheel trailer), backing up a camper or a boat trailers is a piece of cake... I see a lot of people who can't even back up their cars! I had to call a tow truck so many times I lost count to rescue my daughter's friends who couldn't manage do back down our drive without ending up in a snow bank!

 

Kane port omna
..solid black appearance
...body is really nice with light carbonation. Body is about medium but has a slight creamy slick feel.
Aroma is a really nice mix of licorice, dark fruit, and roasted malts.. theres some dark chocolate and coffee.
..taste is mildly sweet with the dark fruit, licorice and malt adding up to an excellent tasting beer.
...overall this an excellent offering from kane

 

It was finally time for me to jump into the informal barleywine weekend with my NBS BIF folks. Nice to see a few in here already with some interesting reviews. I'm also drinking Summer Life, a collaborative bourbon barrel aged summer barleywine by Urban Roots and Sun King. This one came to me from @Dimidiata, and you may remember it from such classics as one of @Roguer's earlier reviews today. He did a great job talking about it, so let's get into the review.

Poured into a snifter, Summer Life was a cloudy mahogany with only a thin head covering the surface. I got a lot of bourbon on the nose with dark fruit and graham cracker crust beneath it. The taste gave me sweet bourbon up front before sinking into the depths of prune, toffee, and oak. I did not get hops on the nose, but I did experience a bit of a bitter finish. This helped to balance the sweetness up front, and kept me wanting more. Although sweet, it never felt sticky or cloying. The body hovered right around medium with enough carbonation to lighten it up a touch. It was quite smooth for the abv. This was a quality barleywine in an easy to drink size. Very enjoyable.

Thanks again for this, Christine! I wish I could have noticed the same hops on the nose that you did, @Roguer. I wouldn't be able to pinpoint the source, but as I noted I did get a bitter finish. I refrained from rereading your review before writing my own, but going back and looking at it now I can definitely see leather being in there as well. It won't be happening tonight, but I do have one more barleywine from this BIF from @FBarber that I'll hopefully get to tomorrow. Decisions, decisions...

 

Ok 1st up in busy day and while i loved the beer I was doing yard work so the cowler
Courtesy of @ovaltine in bif 13 went down too easy and did not get a full write up, but it was so tasty !

 

It's easy: hold your hand at the bottom of the wheel, and move your hand in the direction you want the trailer to go. If you get wonky, STOP! Pull forward a few feet. Restart.

 

Next up is something I was disappointed by, huge notch fan boy and there focus is session lager I had high hopes for 7abv lager from there but it just fell short .

3.73/5 rDev -2.9%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75

16oz can

L deep mahogany clear hints of ruby minimal lacing
S: muted but light toasted Carmel
T: also settle but light toasted sugar and toasted bread

M: crisp good carb

Overall huge notch fan but this lacks depth and flavor and left me looking for more

 

Wait, Barleywine? Yes, let’s! Very grateful to @kemoarps for this fine example - it had to travel a long way to get here.

Matchless Brewing 3rd/4th Anniversary Blend, BA Barleywine, 12.4%



(Yeah, the label kinda gives me a headache too, but not as bad as that damn peninsula thing)

A: Dark brown pour with a thin tan head that quickly fades to a lasting ring
A: Molasses, vanilla, campfire, raisins, booze
T: Molasses, toffee, smoke, dried fruits, burnt sugar, bourbon, peat (a virtual George Thorogood song in a can), sweet oak.
M: Low carb with thick, full body. Long warming finish turns increasingly smoky and peaty as it fades
O: Big boozy Barleywine, what’s not to like?? Tantalizing mix of rich flavors coupled with smoke and peat that really ramp up as it warms. I’m completely in favor. Thanks for sending this Kestrel, it’s a real treat!

 

Nice pic! That just looks delicious

 

Gotahold Brewing from Eureka Springs, AR Crooked and Steep BA Barleywine, 11.0% ABV; 4.06 overall

Pours a slightly murky brown with a finger of tan head. Average-ish lacing and head retention

S: Figs & port barrel, then Bourbon once warm

T: Cakeyness, toffee, figs, leafy & woody hops, plus barrel dryness up front. Brown sugar, toffee, oakyness, figs & woody hops as this warms, a little Bourbon & vanilla as well. Finishes dry with leafy hops, with some toffee & cakeyness

MF: Chewy, light carbonation, warming. Body thins out once warm

Toss of a coin as to whether this is an English or American Barleywine. Either way, on point & tasty, ABV is well hidden, but there. I will need to touch base at the store & see how much paid for this, to be honest, I'm not sure

 

Raspberry Tart by New Glarus

4.43/5 rDev +0.5%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

Bottle poured into a new glarus stemmed glass



Fizzy off white foam cap over a reddish brown cola liquid , settles to a thin layer

Aroma is raspberries

Taste is raspberries, sweet tart,

Medium sudsing , raspberry taste lingers

Good beer

 

Poured into a 16 oz Snulip glass not sure when it was canned. Pours near pitch black with a 2 plus finger sticky light brown head that leaves thin streaks of lace as it slowly settles. 4.25

Aroma deep dark chocolate, coffee grounds, vanilla bean, toffee, and caramel. 4.25

Taste follows dark chocolate, coffee, vanilla, toffee, and caramel. 4.25

Mouthfeel is bigger than average, a tad dry, fairly gentle carbonation, and at 9% it goes down easy enough. 4.25

Overall this is a really nice Imperial Stout that I would gladly pick up again. 4.25

 

Cheers to another NBW, all! Pretty mellow weekend thus far - made a batch of creamy mushroom soup this morning, survived a couple of hours outside under that damned ball of fire in the sky, and caught up on a few things around the house after being gone for a week. No complaints, but unsurprisingly, sitting down with a beer is where the fun starts.

I'm kicking things off tonight with Hop Field from Brewery Vivant, a farmhouse IPA, kindly provided by @Ozzylizard as part of the NBS BIF #13. Thanks again! The Sharks/Kings game is on in the background, but seeing as the Sharks are shitting the bed yet again, I suspect I won't need to dedicate too much mental energy to watching that.

The beer pours a hazy bronze with a half-inch of dense white foam that slowly recedes to a layer of tight lacing that refuses to die.

The nose opens with a vibrant blend of citrus and tropical fruits, featuring lightly sweet orange juice, pineapple, papaya, bright lemon flesh, guava, grapefruit, and tangerine. Layers of more subtle fruits follow with pear, melon, and hints of apricot. A light black pepper note wafts around in the background, while light caramel, honey, and lightly toasted wheat bread serve as a restrained malty canvas.

Fruit continues its dominance on the palate, with a wave of pear, melon, and subtle white wine grapes striking first. As it rolls onto the mid-palate, the fruit profile grows, with dry peach flesh, apricot skin, pineapple, mango, grapefruit juice, and orange flesh all join the fray. Some faint clove and pepper notes flit about in the background, while a firm malt profile centered upon light toffee and doughy brown bread serves as an anchor for the beer without being overbearing. Notes of grassy and floral bitterness pop up on the backend, along with more assertive pepper character, combining to dry out the beer before the finish. Every few sips, the malt threatens to move the beer into sweet territory, but it manages to stay on the right side of the line thanks to the mix of citrus, spicy notes, and restrained but firm bitterness.

Just shy of medium-bodied, effervescent carbonation keeps it feeling light and lively on the tongue.

Belgian IPAs - or farmhouse IPAs or whatever you want to call it - can be an odd style, but this manages to work remarkably well. It's a tad heavier and maltier than I'd prefer, but the breadth and depth of the fruit profile drive the bus on this and keep the beer interesting.

Score: 3.75

 

Hello New Beer Weekend!!!

A bit late to the Saturday game here. I was at work all day, and just busted my ass, and loved it. I really don't know how many times I went into the cooler to restock the rails and get product in there to cool off. I was walking like a very old man after work, but I'm happy as hell, because I like what I do, and who I work with.

I'm also a bit late tonight reading every post in the WBAYDN thread to honor @scream . Of course I had to pound back my last Voodoo Ranger in my fridge, and a shot of Buffalo Trace. I really wish I would have picked up a VR tall boy at work today so I could have enjoyed another to honor his memory.
Oh, well.

Now it's time for new beer here in my central Minnesota home, and this is a beer from northern Minnesota.

Edge Catcher - NEIPA - Outstate Brewing - Fergus Falls, MN - 8.2% ABV.

This beer really has me torn. I really love it as a standard IPA, all be it, a very murky one. There's tons of pine hops here.

That all being said, this beer is not a NEIPA at all. It's not soft, juicy, or full of citrus.

I have to wonder if this is a new style of IPA - a combination of the haze and murky of a NEIPA, and the pine of the standard IPA?

I like it, but, it isn't as it it's billed.


3.73/5 rDev -9.7%
look: 4.75 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75

Murky, hazy dark golden color, almost orange. There's a 2 finger white and very fluffy head. The head retention is damn good, and the head clings to the glass like super glue. It's insane how clingy it is.
The nose is fairly mild. There's a bit of citrus going on here, but very mellow.
Taste - There's a lot of pine in this beer, and this surprised me. I'm used to NE styles being mainly citrus, but this is pine, and I'm liking it. Tons of pine going on here.
The body isn't really juicy or soft, however the hops linger like crazy in my throat.
This is a great IPA, and it leans way closer toward old school/west coast, than NEIPA. It is damn good as an old school IPA, but misses the mark as a NEIPA. Maybe this is a new hybrid style?

 

Beer number two this evening is Head Full of Dynomite from Fremont Brewing, generously sent by @BBThunderbolt in a ninja box as part of the aforementioned NBS BIF #13. Thank you again! Head Full of Dynomite is a rotating series of hazy IPAs with each version featuring a different mix of grains and hops. This particular can - version 27 - was brewed with 2-row, rolled oats, flaked wheat, white wheat, and hopped exclusively with Mosaic.

The oats and wheat are immediately evident, as the beer pours a soft, hazy golden with a finger of dense white head that very slowly recedes to a small cap of foam that refuses to die.

Tropical fruits lead the way on the nose with guava and mango jumping out front, along with juicy orange and grapefruit. Hints of strawberry and peach add layers of depth, while subtle resinous pine sap sits firmly but unobtrusively in the background.

Mosaic throws its weight around on the palate, as vibrant berries and mango jump right out front. Soft peach and apricot quickly join the fray, along with grapefruit, lemon zest, and faint earthy notes. The back half of the palate features restrained piney bitterness that just barely balances the lightly sweet body, adding to the hop profile without derailing the fruit salad's dominance.

The body is unsurprisingly soft, thanks to the addition of oats and wheat, with moderate carbonation that keeps the beer gliding effortlessly across the tongue.

Considering how quickly the first eight ounces of the can disappeared - in spite of the fact that I was slowly sipping while evaluating and writing tasting notes - it's safe to say I'm enjoying it. Lovely hop profile, restrained but complementary esters, and soft-bodied - this is a damn good example of well-executed distro haze. Thanks again, @BBThunderbolt!

Score: 4.1