New Beer Weekend #44

Hooah!!!

...as a retired US Air Force senior NCO, I'm sorry to say there is no USAF battle cry that I'm aware of (maybe "where's my remote???)...'tho let it be known that I generally outshoot my neighborhood fellow retired USA vets at the local rifle ranges...



...I was a fixed comm guy (i.e., an IT dweeb in commercial world-speak)...[/QUOTE]

Fly,Fight. Win! I had 2 assignments that had me thinking I was in the Army. Did not dig sleeping in the shelter halfs

 

My first time dancing with this iconic juice bomb courtesy of a beer nerd friend in Texas. Super pumped as it’s pretty fresh, so let’s do this thing.







4.59/5 rDev -0.9%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

Pours a turbid pineapple color with a creamy, dense two-finger white head that provides minimal lacing. The nose is a cornucopia of citrus and tropical fruit aromas, with trip oranges, grapefruit, pineapple, and passion fruit vying for attention, and there’s an herbal note as well.

The taste mirrors the nose, with the ripe oranges and passion fruit most prominent on my palate, and the herbal flavor is significant as well, but it’s the slightly creamy flavor that keeps this beer perfectly in balance and dangerously drinkable at 8.5% ABV.

The mouthfeel is the softer side, per the style, yet substantial enough to support a beer of this gravity. I would imagine when this beer was added to the database nearly four years ago, it knocked the socks off of beer nerds everywhere and for good reason, because this stands up exceptionally well to the breweries in the Northeast like Tree House and Trillium that have perfected this style. World class stuff, IMHO.

 

Glad you enjoyed that, Larry. That’s a favorite of mine from Transient that they brew periodically. I think it’s a nod to Hopslam.

 

My last NBS entry this beery day (at this point, it's just gonna be drinking brews during the sunday night game), and the M's hung in fairly well for most of the game vs the Padres, but that Grand salami by Tatis just sealed the deal. Belching Beaver Phantom Bride: https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/30923/251067/

 

Greetings, beer people.

Something I see from time to time in what used to be the Northwest forum and is now the new Pacific forum is what we call SCIENCE. That's where you take two beers that are the same style from different breweries and test them against each other. So here's a little Sunday afternoon SCIENCE combined with New Beer Weekend.

On this cool and overcast afternoon, the beer lab at stately Vurt Manor is examining two beers I've never tried before: Wayfinder Older Gods Heller Bock and Block 15 Helles Bock.



These are brand new beers. The date stamp for the Block 15 beer reads "PKGD 05/13/21", while the Wayfinder can says "REFRESH WITH THE BEST 05/17/21".

Mrs. vurt poured the beers while I was out of the room, to keep me honest.

Look:
Both beers start on an almost identical footing. Beer 1 (left) is an ever-so-slightly darker and deeper gold than Beer 2 (right). Both are clear and bright. Beer 1 is capped with rather loose white foam, while Beer 2 has thicker foam which lasts longer and produces superb lacing.



Smell:
Both offer a tempting nose of rich, toasty malt. Neither are overly sweet. Beer 1 is more fruity (grape, apple skin) with a touch more sulfur. Beer 2 is less fruity (and what's there is more pear-like than grape-like), with a spicy hop finish. The malt in Beer 2 becomes more doughy as it warms.

Taste:
Beer 1 offers toasty, bready malt with mellow sweetness and a bit of rather unwelcome (yet not completely unpleasant) dry white wine character through the middle. Finishes dry with spicy hops and a malty aftertaste that lingers. Beer 2 starts sweeter, with a nice floral honey flavor to the malt. It is less fruity through the middle, but has a nutty flavor that is absolutely delectable. It finishes with toasty malt and a spicy bitterness that lasts.

Feel:
Beer 1 is leaner and drying. Beer 2 is softer and more full-bodied, with a gentle alcohol warmth.

Overall:
This was some very tough SCIENCE. Both are tasty maibocks with their own charms. But Beer 2 clinches the win with that nutty flavor and more luscious body.

Results (as revealed by Mrs. vurt):
Beer 1 = Block 15 Helles Bock
Beer 2 = Wayfinder Older Gods

I am happy that Block 15 made such a good showing in this SCIENCE. I'm also happy that I have two tasty maibocks to finish this afternoon, as I sit on the patio with Mrs. vurt and watch the new baby squirrels cavort in the yard. Cheers!

 

Back home after a run to Thousand Lakes Brewing in Parkers Praire, MN. Had a few new beers there, but no reviews of them. I will review this from @woemad , however, now I'm home.


J-Box IPA - Tricksters Brewing - Coeur D'Alene, ID - 7% ABV.

Damn, you don't find many old school IPAs anymore. They're all hazy, and juicy now. Don't get me wrong - I like them, but I also really like a good old school IPA. This is one of them. Very happy to try it, and thankful Fred sent this to me.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/30743/217452/

4.24/5 rDev +6%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

Nice very clear amber/golden color pour. A decent amount of carbonation gives this beer a 1 finger white, and fluffy head. That being said, the head retention isn't the best from the can. There's a bit of lacing on the glass.
The nose has a nice aroma from the hops, and it's a refreshing pine aroma.
Taste - pine for days. Tons of pine in this beer. No citrus flavors from the hops used. Very old school IPA flavor.
The body is quite sticky feeling. The hops really linger in my throat, and don't let go.
Solid old school IPA. It's always good to try a good one from this style.


I think I'm up for one more today. Be back in a bit.

 

New canning from Foley Brothers Brewing, Brandon, VT.
Go and seek out this juice bomb!
Cheers!!

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/30542/262943/



16 oz. can without a date, but we just received a couple cases two days ago for the first time.
Moderate pour yields a 1.5 inch white head over a hazy golden body with sticky lacing that has great holding power. Nose of fruit, mostly sweet citrus with a bit of tropical fruit aromas as well. Taste follows nose very closely with tangerine, ruby red grapefruit, mango, and papaya. Very tasty with a slight bitter finish that has hints of pine resin, but the fruit flavors keep that at bay. Nice full feel and overall, a quite delicious IPA deserving of your attention.
Cheers to the Brothers Foley for this one!

 

Well, I'm having another, and this is one I picked up today at Thousand Lakes Brewing in Parkers Prairie, MN.


Striped Overalls - American Lager - 4.8% ABV.

I know a lot of people dismiss this style as bland and boring. Well, I'd say, don't dismiss it. When done right, and this is, in my book, it can be damn good. This is. Such a nice malt bill. So flavorful, and I get a nice sweet honey flavor on the back that really makes me happy. Delicious.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/58377/470431/#navigation

3.99/5 rDev 0%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

This is a clear golden colored pour. There's some carbonation bubbles rising in the glass. The head comes out to a 1 finger white head. The head retention for this beer, however, is very poor. It doesn't last long at all, and just dissipates to a ring around the edge of the glass.
The nose is a very nice lager aroma. Nice and malty. It has a sweet bread/biscuit aroma from the malts. There's no hops in the aroma, which is right for the style.
Taste - Very light at first, but then the flavor kicks in. There's a ton of malts in this beer. I get tons of bread/biscuit flavors here. I also get something that surprised me - a honey like sweetness.
The body is light, as expected, but not too light. This beer isn't watery at all. It also has a crisp feeling to it.
I'm very impressed with this beer. A lot of people dismiss this style, but, when done right, they are damn good. This is damn good.

 

Kane Boardwalk Twist to finish the weekend.
4.5/5 rDev +1.1%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.5

500 ml bottle poured into a tulip

A- Black with a small mocha head.

S- Milk chocolate, vanilla, hints of cake cone.

T- Milk chocolate, fudge, vanilla, hints of roasted malts, touch of cake cone.

M- Smooth, creamy, full body.

O- A great pastry stout, does a great job tasting like soft serve you would get at the beach.

Hoping to enjoy some new beers in DC next weekend, until next weekend, cheers!

 

New offering from BBCo.
Pacific Sunrise Hops.
8.2% abv.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/33136/550788/



16 ouncer canned 05/06/21.

Moderate pour yields a 5/4 inch slightly off-white head over a murky golden body with a bit of sticky lacing. Nose of citrus (lemon/lime, tangerine) and tropical fruit (melon, mango.). After a little time aromas of berries are present with maybe a tad white grape. Taste mirrors nose with a tad berry flavor coming through. Nice feel and overall, a very unique aroma and flavor profile. BBCo fans need to search this out.
Cheers!!!

 

Sweetwater Troptimsitic Wheat Ale with Passion Fruit & Kiwi, 5.0% ABV; 3.53 overall

Pours an effervescent & bright gold with 3 fingers of pearl colored head. Descent lacing & below average head retention

S: Passion fruit & strawberries once warm

T: Follows the nose, also the promised Kiwi & dryness, plus a little tangerine up front. Dryness, grassy bitterness & Kiwi as this warms, a little bitter orange as well, plus a little passion fruit. Finishes dry with Kiwi Fruit & a little sweet orange

MF: Medium/Light body, fairly firm carbonation

Easy to drink but pretty meh in the flavor department, glad I only got a single

 

Today is my grandmother's 86th birthday. Happy birthday grandma! As a result, I woke up especially early for a family zoom call, that was really quite nice.
I had a beer planned for this weekend's festivities, but as I am incapable of single-tasking (it's either multi-tasking or zero-tasking. Nothing in between!), I was casually perusing the internet during the zoom call. One of the tidbits of information I encountered during said perusal involved the recent exposition of just how toxic this hobby can unfortunately be at times, and explicitly involved the brewery who brewed the beer I had intended to review today. Without going too far into the rabbit hole, I think it's important to listen to people's experiences and believe them when they share their abuse, so even if the stories involving the above alluded to brewery hadn't been confirmed by others within the industry in the NW forums, at the very least I wasn't really in the mood to drink their stuff, and certainly not to celebrate them in this glorious thread. That was a clumsy sentence, structurally, but I think it gets the point across.
So when I took the dogs for a walk, I opted instead to head over to the local open air market and grab, among other things, an alternative beverage option.

On a whim, I opted for this maibock from Silver City. I'm not especially well versed in maibocks, so there is certainly a fair amount of ignorance involved in this review. Forgive me! Or don't, that's your prerogative and is totally fine, too.



Copper Mtn - Silver City Brewing

Pour is crisp clear copper body, with an initial swell of mostly white head. Head settles down pretty quickly to not much more than a slight ring and some stray bubbles through the middle. Minimal lacing. Now that I've been working on it for a while, there is no foam whatsoever as I approach the bottom of the glass.

Nose is malts up front. Leads in with nice caramel, backed up by some lighter bready/biscuity character. All supported with some lovely grassy hops. Overall it just seems very pleasant.

Flavour has some of the same characteristics. Sweet malts lead in, though they are less specifically caramel and more in the sweet bread (NOT sweetbread, ha!), like a challah or something. The hops initially have a sweet floral quality that compliments (yes, with an 'i') the sweet malts, but as it warms, it gets a little bolder with a little more spice character, and even a bit of citrus zest, which kind of builds back into the floral and ties into the sweet malts. It's sweet enough that it slows me down from drinking too quickly, but overall it's nice.

Drinks quite clean, and beyond that sweetness, the finish actually builds to a nice light/moderate bitterness.

Like I said, I don't really know maibocks, so I don't really know how well this plays to style, but overall it's quite pleasant and enjoyable. The sweetness slows me down a little, and it drinks pretty much right on it's ~7% abv. I'm glad to have tried it, even if it isn't one that's going to turn a bunch of heads or be 'the truth' that convinces people who wouldn't otherwise enjoy them to get super into maibocks.
Cheers!

 

Prairie, Spectrum Sour ale with Cinnamon, Hibiscus & Chilli Peppers, 3.83 overall

I know there is another one listed but this is not a Saison & not 7.0% ABV

Pours an effervescent pink/orange with a thumb of fast falling beige head. No head retention or lacing

S: Berries, figs, pears, Hibiscus once warm, great nose, getting zero cinnamon or chilles though

T: Sweet & tart berries, saltyness, much dryness, getting a little Hibiscus & cinnamon, zero chille heat up front. More berry sweet tarts & dryness as this warms. Finishes dry, tart with berry & Hibiscus

MF: Medium body, fairly firm firm carbonation

Pretty drinkable sour, but nothing that truly makes it stand out

edit: These last few swallows I'm getting a little Cinnamon

 

Great read! Not debatable.

 

Well hello NBW (NBS version). Tonight I’m hitting a beauty from our very own @ovaltine Mike graced me with a few Transient gems. Tonight’s beauty, and she is gorgeous, is Honeystone, a DIPA brewed with... Anybody? Anybody? Yes, honey!

Well going to write impressions here and then plug into the review. I’m following @larryi86 and Herr @WunderLlama who also chimed in on this one.
Pour is burnished gold, just a shade lighter than eucalyptus honey. Fluffy white head breach of the top of my glass, great retention, slowly recedes and reveals clumpy layers of lacing.
Nose carries a gentle orange zest, pine notes, honey, pineapple, with a nuanced wet grain sweetness.
Flavor jumps off with a blend of grainy sweetness and understated orange, and me thinks hints of pulpy mango. As it moves around I’m again enjoying some wet grain and grass, some herbal notes that initially are mild onion but morph into an oh-so lightly and sticky dank note. This one really has some surprises.
Medium mouthfeel, mild carbonation, not quite fluffy but soft, with a slightly bitter, warm finish.
Overall, give this one some time. Sip on it because she really does have a lot going on.

Thanks Mike!